>> bnsf railway. >> genentech. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, 51 state department officials sign a letter urging the obama administration to abandon its policy in syria and carry out air strikes against syria's president. then, ahead of the olympics, we dive in to the story behind brazil's deadly waters, and how local residents are risking it all to fight pollution. >> ( translated ): they shot at me in front of the fisherman's association, shrapnel hit my waist, but i knew i had to keep fighting. other fishermen have been killed. >> woodruff: and it's friday. mark shields and david brooks analyze a full week of news. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: iraqi special forces pushed into the heart of fallujah today, for the first time since islamic state fighters seized it in early 2014. the breakthrough came nearly a month into an army offensive to recapture the city. troops paraded the iraqi flag through the city's streets today after taking the main government complex. later, the prime minister declared victory.

the people of britain mourned today for jo cox, the member of parliament who was brutally murdered yesterday. rohit kachroo of independent television news reports on the day's events. >> reporter: if ever there was a moment for unity perhaps this was it. today, leaders became just mourners, walking through the silent streets in the footsteps of so many others. they came to the place where jo cox lived and is loved. to share their sadness. one by one with flowers and then with moving tributes. >> today, our nation is rightly shocked and i think it is a moment to stand back and think about some of the things that are so important to our country. >> she was taken from us in an act of hatred in a vile act that

killed her. it's an attack on democracy what happened yesterday. it's the will of hatred that killed her. >> reporter: they announced that parliament will be recalled on monday. >> reporter: she is mourned as a campaigner but missed most as a mother. her husband posted this today. messages from the prime minister, from friends, from strangers told of the impact of her death. it's the motive behind it though that's still a mystery. >> woodruff: the accused killer, thomas mair, remains in custody. investigators are looking into possible links to far-right extremist groups. grieving families held more funerals today in orlando, for the victims of sunday's nightclub attack. mourners consoled each other at a service for two of the 49 killed in the mass shooting.

also today, orlando's mayor announced that a fund to help the families has collected $7 million. this was also the anniversary of the charleston, south carolina, shootings. one year ago today, a white gunman shot nine black parishioners to death at the emanuel a.m.e. church. today, governor nikki haley and other leaders joined in a memorial service, paying tribute to the victims: >> they taught us amazing things. we will forever be changed. the mother emanuel 12, we will always talk about. i don't want it to be talked about on an anniversary. i will always talk about it, whether i'm in state or out of state. i will always talk about these people who changed my life. and i will forever be grateful. >> woodruff: the alleged shooter, dylann roof, is facing the death penalty in both state and federal trials. in germany, a court has convicted a former guard at the auschwitz death camp of aiding

in 170,000 murders. reinhold hanning is now 94. the judge ruled today he was part of the nazi machinery behind the holocaust. survivors welcomed the decision. >> i feel that my loved ones who were murdered finally got some justice, acknowledgement against that my murdered mother and father now perhaps can rest in peace. >> woodruff: hanning was sentenced to five years in prison. he has apologized, but says he never took part in actual killings. investigators have found the second black box from the egyptair flight that crashed in the mediterranean last month. the recovery of the cockpit voice recorder boosts hopes of determining the cause of the crash. all 66 people on board died when the plane disappeared, may 19.

a world sports body today upheld the ban on russia's track and field team for the upcoming summer olympics. the international association of athletics federations found that moscow has not done enough to clean up widespread doping. president vladimir putin denied his government was involved in the doping, and russian officials said they may appeal. and, on wall street today, stocks finished the week with more losses, amid worries that britain will leave the european union. the dow jones industrial average shed 58 points to close at 17,675. the nasdaq fell 44 points, and the s&p 500 dropped six. still to come on the newshour: dozens of state department officials break with president obama on syria; dirty water threatening the summer olympics; the case for britain staying in the e.u., and much more.

>> woodruff: how do you end the war in syria? it's a question that has plagued world leaders since the start of the devastating civil war. today, we learned the extent of disagreement inside the u.s. state department about the course set by president obama. chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner reports. >> warner: for five years, the savage syria conflict has killed some 400,000 and put millions more to flight. now, 51 mid-level diplomatic officials have gone on record advocating a dramatic shift in u.s. strategy-- they've signed an internal so-called "dissent letter" calling for "targeted military strikes" against president bashar al-assad's government. the dissenters argue it would help bring an end to the war, and deal a major blow to isis.

andrew tabler, an expert on syria at the washington institute for near east policy, is familiar with the document's contents. >> if the assad regime violates the cessation of hostilities and uses it to further its position on the battlefield, in such cases military force could be used. second, if humanitarian assistance is not provided or is impeded in some way, military force could be used. >> warner: in copenhagen today, secretary of state john kerry said he had not yet seen the memo, but welcomed it. >> it's an important statement and i respect the process very, very much, and i will probably meet with people or have a chance to talk with them when we get back. >> warner: the memo came through a channel created for state department employees to register policy disagreements without retaliation. when conflict broke out in 2011, early on, president obama called for ousting assad. in 2012, he threatened military action.

>> a red line for us is if we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. that would change my calculus. that would change my equation. >> warner: but after a regime chemical attack killed more than 1,000 syrians in august, 2013, the president did not launch military strikes-- nor step up arming the syrian rebels. more recently, he's launched u.s. air strikes in syria, but only against isis. instead, russia intervened last fall on assad's behalf, bolstering him. today, russian air attacks hit anti-assad rebels battling isis in southern syria. a spokesman for russian president vladimir putin warned today any u.s. move targeting assad's forces would "plunge the region into total chaos". andrew tabler's response: >> if you look at this over time, whether it's the united states and the threat of use of military force in 2013 or israel's continued use of strikes inside of syria, this is something that the assad regime is known to respond to.

>> warner: all of this comes as a february cease-fire has largely dissolved. it did let humanitarian aid reach some syrian communities, but others remain cut off by assad loyalists. and peace talks backed by secretary of state kerry and the russians have shown no progress. an august 1 deadline for a political transition won't be met. plans now are only to resume talks then. >> woodruff: and margaret joins me now. margaret, how unusual is this to have so many diplomats weigh in like this? >> you put your finger on it, judy, it's unprecedented of anyone in the history of the state department. usually these are solo letters, never have you seen 51. that shows the depth of the frustration. i talked to former ambassador of syria robert ford who as you know two years ago resigned publicly because he felt he couldn't support the policy, that the president wasn't supporting the the opposition sufficiently.

he said when you're in the state department, you must follow the commander-in-chief. if you can't, you have to resign. he said the danger for the mid-level people is they're all people with young families with mortgages to pay and it can be risky even though the rule is no retaliation. >> woodruff: so how widely held are the views in the state department? >> widely held from the people i that yotalked to not only at stt intelligence and defense agencies. you have all these people dead, and whatever has been tried has been a failure, but for someof these officers who are acting to try to implement the policy, as fred hoff who used to be the envoy of the syrian opposition and resigned at the protest of lack of action, he said the gap between belief and duty has weighed heavily on very conscientious younger officials and by that he meant duty to the commander-in-chief -- you're not the elected one -- but the

belief this whole policy is leading us down toward destruction. >> woodruff: now to rio de janeiro, where late today the state government declared a "state of public calamity" over a major budget crisis. in just seven weeks, the summer olympics will open. among the many concerns for athletes competing in the games has been the waters of the heavily-polluted bay where the sailing competition will take place. but thousands of brazilians' lives and livelihoods depend on this troubled body of water. newshour producer jon gerberg and npr's lulu garcia-navarro bring us this story of their life and death fight to save the bay. >> reporter: alexandre anderson is a hunted man, targeted for

his work on these treacherous waters. every day as he heads out onto rio de janeiro's guanabara bay, he's on a mission to defend the bay he calls home. he tells us its stark beauty hides a dark reality. >> ( translated ): we hope the olympics will show the world another bay. there is the bay for the rich, for visitors to see, and there is the bay of the fishermen who are suffering. that is the bay of excrement, garbage, and oil. it is the guanabara bay of violence. >> reporter: alexandre took us on a tour of that bay. he knows it well. he grew up fishing here. but as the bay got more and more polluted, he became an activist, who leads a fishermen's organization. the ecological devastation here is hard to miss. he shows us a mangrove swamp used as an illegal dumping ground for trash. raw sewage is also pumped into

the bay, from communities that have no access to sanitation. but for alexandre anderson the biggest polluters are not only the residents who lack basic infrastructure, but also the petroleum industry. this is one of the biggest refineries in the area. and it's right on the banks of the guanabara bay. and you can see here in the water-- it's slick with oil. rio de janeiro, a world famous beach town, is also brazil's oil and gas heartland. energy accounted for 13% of brazil's g.d.p. in 2014. and almost three quarters of the world's recent deepwater oil discoveries have been made in brazil. the guanabara bay is the industry's hub. alexandre takes us to an oil industry shipyard and points out broken eco-barriers, meant to stop paint and chemicals from leaking into the water. >> ( translated ): all this material contains heavy metals,

some are very toxic. it is an environmental crime. this is a company that is using a natural resource and polluting it. the small quantity of fish that we have left here are being contaminated, or being killed. >> reporter: alexandre points out guards protecting the site. he's had run-ins with them before. we speed away. alexandre spends his days documenting these infractions and reporting them. he says the authorities do little to stop what's happening. >> ( translated ): we fishermen understand that the guanabara bay has life yet. the guanabara bay is a nursery for many species. if only they would stop polluting and the government would start acting. >> reporter: in a statement issued to pbs newshour, the state environmental secretary said the problem is that many groups have oversight of the bay but they don't have "a common plan or vision for its recovery and preservation." >> reporter: in the absence of government, alexandre says the fishermen have become the guardians of the bay instead.

many, like him, have become vocal advocates, staging demonstrations and taking other actions to call attention to the state of the bay. brazil's national oil company, petrobras, is responsible for at least two major oil spills in the bay that severely damaged the ecosystem. for alexandre, speaking out against one of the most powerful economic forces in the country almost cost him his life. >> ( translated ): they shot at me in front of the fisherman's association, shrapnel hit my waist, but i knew i had to keep fighting. other fishermen have been killed. >> reporter: brazil is the among the most dangerous countries in the world to be an environmental defender. one of alexandre's colleagues was brutally murdered. his body tied to his fishing boat and sunk after being riddled with bullets. alexandre is in a federal protection program and lives in a secret location. up until recently he had a permanent security detail. he blames the shadowy forces protecting the oil industry for the violence.

the state oil company petrobras-- also at the center of a massive corruption scandal-- released this statement to pbs newshour. "petrobras is unaware of these incidents and rejects any act of violence against the fishermen," it read. "the company maintains a dialogue with the fishing and other communities that surround the guanabara bay. petrobras is also a company that, along with other activities, invests in social and environmental projects in the guanabara bay. all of our projects rigorously follow the various government environmental controls and are licenced." prosecutors have been investigating several murders and disappearances of fishermen on the bay. a state prosecutor who has dealt with alexandre's case told pbs newshour he had no proof directly implicating the oil industry in the deaths. >> ( translated ): it is involved in an environmental and economic conflict in which there is a clash between development and the environment, and in the midst of this conflict, deaths occurred. >> reporter: the polluted waters, from the oil industry, from the raw sewage and trash

dumped into the bay, have also hurt the fishermen and their families in other ways. alexandre takes us to visit the oldest fishing community in the region, in a town called surui. romildo soares de oliveira is the president of the fishermen association here. he tells us young people are leaving, the community is dying because the bay can no longer support their livelihood. brazil promised to clean up guanabara for the olympics. that could have meant a new start for the artisanal fishermen who have been plying their trade on the bay and its tributaries for hundreds of years. >> ( translated ): we had hope for the olympics. we end up believing in these false promises to clean up the bay, bring a better bay for the fishermen. we were excited, but the end of this soap opera is always the same-- nothing happens. >> reporter: the water which they rely on for their survival has been proven to carry dangerous viruses and bacteria-- with devastating consequences.

romildo introduced me to a group of residents. they've seen family members become severely sick, hospitalized for weeks. yuri chagas, a 14-year-old from surui, went swimming in the river after he cut his foot. it began to swell and he was hospitalized. >> ( translated ): i was a month there, urinating with pus. i almost had to amputate the leg but later they decided it wouldn't be necessary. i've had to do physical therapy because i was walking with crooked leg. >> reporter: some have even died. antonio batista reis lost his 11-year-old son, fifteen years ago. >> ( translated ): at high tide, the kids used to bathe in the river. i do not know what happened. one day he went to bathe and came back with itchy eyes. we took him to the clinic and his eyes began to swell. he then went to the hospital-- and died. >> reporter: reis, like the others, is sure the polluted

water was the cause. we took that assertion to alberto chebabo, head of infectious diseases at rio's federal university hospital. he said there is no way to prove a direct link, but he said ingesting or even touching the bay's water can result in a number of diseases. and he said that children are at higher risk. >> ( translated ): if you look at the statistics of hospitalization around the bay,, there is a clear picture of the risks to people being exposed to this water. when you consider this population, especially children, living in these degraded areas, it is very easy to see the link between the bay's environmental contamination and these diseases. >> reporter: back in surui, antonio reis, a fisherman himself, says he says he has no choice but to continue to work in the waters that he believes killed his son. >> ( translated ): the most majority of the people here, about 80% live from the fishing. we have to fish, we have to find

a way. there's no other solution. we have to risk. >> reporter: he says the people have a right to clean water. but romildo, the president of the fishing association believes nothing will change. >> ( translated ): a lot of people talk about athletes, about olympics, but lives are being cut short here. people do not talk about it but lives are being taken. >> reporter: as we head home, alexandre anderson tells us he believes this place can be restored. he says he has fought for the bay long before the olympics, and he will continue, long after the games have come and gone. for the pbs newshour, i'm lulu garcia-navarro of npr, in rio de janeiro.

>> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: mark shields and david brooks take on the week's news; poems marking one year after the charleston church shooting; and a middle school graduation speech-- in the style of this year's presidential candidates. but first, it is less than a week until voters in the united kingdom decide whether to stay or leave the european union. as we heard, campaigning was suspended for a second straight day today because of the shooting death of a lawmaker. last night, our economics correspondent paul solman explored the arguments in favor of brexit-- or exiting the e.u. tonight, he hears the case for remaining, part of his series on "making sense" of financial news. >> this is a two-tiered debate, hearts and minds. >> reporter: at the oxford debate union last week, the audience seemed to side with those in favor of the united

kingdom remaining in the european union. >> i've never heard the phrase "workers rights" come out the mouth of any of the three leading protagonists. ( applause ) >> the man in the desert is sovereign, he is free, he can do whatever he likes, but he has no power. better together. >> reporter: and the remain sentiment certainly prevails at mansfield college, where i'm spending the spring term. >> we should definitely stay in europe- absolutely, unambiguously. >> reporter: lucinda rumsey teaches old english literature. >> we should be in europe, because it's good for europe to have us in and we should be contributing. we're a rich country and we should be contributing and helping people. >> reporter: but why then has there been so much support for leaving? well, one reason, rumsey speculates: >> lots of english people hate the french, hate the germans since the kind of-- since the wars, and so they kind of come back to that.

they don't want to be in that club with those people. they just don't like them; they haven't liked them since the 13th century- they're not going to like them now. >> reporter: but put prejudice aside, says paul flather, who runs the europaeum, an association of top european universities. the costs of leaving, he says, are simply too great. >> every single financial, economic report of the last two weeks have unanimously pointed out that we will have between 2-4% down on growth. >> reporter: because of less trade? >> because of less trade, because of having to renegotiate agreements and not being able to sell things, of tariffs, losing markets. i think 40% of our exports go to europe. only 3% of theirs come to us. >> reporter: economics, the key to conservative prime minister david cameron's case for remain. >> the shock to our economy after leaving europe would tip the country into recession.

this could be, for the first time in history, a recession brought on ourselves. >> reporter: and what about mansfield's students? >> i'm for remaining. >> i think we should remain as well. >> remain. >> i think britain should remain. >> reporter: luke charters-reid came to oxford from a low-status state school. >> i think pretty much all the students i spoke to, want to stay in europe. i think it's better off for students who are thinking about the jobs for when we leave and i think those jobs are more secure if we remain in europe. >> the lack of confidence people would have of a britain outside of europe, would itself cause losses in jobs. >> reporter: ella grodzinski says no one can predict what would happen-- >> --but it seems to me that the predictions of what will happen if we stay are much more solid and grounded than the predictions of what will happen if we leave. >> reporter: rashan farouhi is more emphatic. >> the world is going to carry on globalizing without us. for me personally, i would perceive the opportunities in the job markets to be more international and i would probably leave britain; if we

remain, i have a strong case for remaining in britain myself. >> reporter: so you think that there is a possibility of brain drain, essentially. >> absolutely, the job markets will shift abroad, more to the states, more to germany, more to the emerging markets in asia. and the prominence of london as a financial sector will massively decline if we leave. >> reporter: but wait-- these kids go to oxford; their futures are assured. what about britons who feel their wages, jobs and safety are threatened by immigration? peter bergamin hails from canada. >> i think when times get tight, people tend to look for easy answers or easy solutions and this is exactly what's happening now. this is why you see these moves towards these populist leaders. they approach things from, let's say a primordial, nationalistic perspective, right? it's all about ethnicity on some level, "britishness" on some level, which usually means, a certain stereotype. >> i sense that there's been a failure on the part of the

governing elites. i don't think we've explained properly what changes are happening in the world and the benefits of being in a big club in an international, much more interdependent, much more complicated world. >> reporter: paul flather has been a journalist, diplomat, and professor in england, but was raised in india. >> i actually came as a migrant on a boat through the suez canal, but i'm so british that i sometimes put, you know, other brits to shame, you know, the village green the sound of cricket bats, and sunny teas and lovely sandwiches, but we can't pull up the drawbridge. >> listen, there is a kind of fiction around the business of sovereignty. >> reporter: mansfield's head of college, baroness helena kennedy, is also a human rights lawyer and a labour party member of the house of lords. >> being the sole operator, far from giving you this swaggering, you know, independence and freedom, actually makes you low

on the list of people that, um, nations want to do business with. they want to do business with bigger blocks and a tiny, wee country like, uh, the u.k., isn't going to figure very well in all of that. >> reporter: but in the end, says kennedy, the remain case is bigger than just economics. >> europe is a union of nations making us close enough that we would never think about ever getting involved in conflict again, about coming together in order to defeat things like fascism, about coming together to prevent the kind of horror that i imagine could easily happen just now. >> reporter: so finally, how did the vote go at the oxford debate union? 227 in favor of remaining.

only 79 for brexit. next week, we'll see if the rest of the country mirrors those results in any way at all. this is economics correspondent paul solman, reporting from oxford, england. >> woodruff: at the moment, polls show more british voters are in favor of leaving the european union. but the betting markets, which have often been more accurate, see it differently. there, the wagers are weighted toward britain staying in the e.u. >> woodruff: now to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks. welcome. gentlemen, begin by the terrible thing that happened last weekend in orlando, this 29-year-old man who displayed erratic behavior,

marx through much of his life. are there any lessons fromthis? >> i'm not sure there are, judy. i have been amazed how polarized our nation is. ordinarily, historic events this tragic -- there have been none this tragic, i guess, just the sheer magnitude, but there is sort of a united feeling in the country, and that's been missing. we can blame politics and our politicians and we will, but i think it reflects the country. we live in a couple of different worlds. republicans overwhelmingly think it's a matter of islamic terrorism, and that's where all the attention is. democrats overwhelmingly respond it's the availability and promiscuous availability of weapons without background checks or adequate controls. so i guess tragedies like this

have historically brought out the best in the country and i don't think that's happened this time. it definitely hasn't. >> woodruff: we think of 9/11. exactly, we think of other times of tragedy. even charleston. >> i actually think of a cheerier view. i thought there was an mazing amount of simple grief for the victims and the families, and the fact a large percent of them were gay was not an issue. it was my perception that these were human beings, god's creatures and there was an outpouring of grief for the people. i think the political thing was divisive. most people said it was terrorism and a hate crime at the same time. it can be both. that's what struck me about the week is sometimes the divisions we have between psychology and politics and religion, those divisions don't really make sense in practice. we've seen this so many times

with so many different shooters, they're the same personality type. you begin with a sense of humiliation, personal failure, personal disappointment, personal injury. that turns into a sense of grievance. the problem is not me, the problem is the world. then that turns into sort of moral outrage at the evil people that are doing this. then that gets weaponized by some sort of rad wall ideology that allows me to justify the violence. and then you walk town the line. they walk down the same series of steps and it's the social isolation of young, angry men. >> woodruff: to your point, mark, when you look at the reaction of the political leadership, donald trump focused on terrorism, on what he likes to refer to as radical islam, very different from the emphasis, at least, from president obama and hillary clinton. >> yeah, no question. and while i agree with david and the points he makes, and i think they're strong points, i just add the f.b.i. is coming in for

some, i think, undeserved criticism that somehow this was a man with bad thoughts, outrageous thoughts. we don't arrest people in this country. we don't incarcerate them. there is no thought control. it is acts. there weren't any acts other than reportedly his abuse of his wife which doesn't rise to the level of the f.b.i. in his local law enforcement. but you're absolutely right. first of all, president obama is at his best at times like this, and it's a terrible thing to say, but he was at charleston, at knewtown, after gabby gifford. in a strange way, it brings out the best in him. there is a cool at th cool detat barack obama, a remoteness emotionally most times, and he's so accessible in listening to the victims' families and the survivors and how much it means to them and how genuine they feel he is. and i ethought he had a choice

to go on the lgbt -- there are three elements, the lgbt, the terrorism and the guns, and he4t available where they may get some action and that's what he chose to emphasize. as far as the others, i thought hillary clinton was quite measured, very calibrated, responsible, and stood in stark contrast -- a little more hawkish than theth. and stood in dark contrast to donald trump who squandered what is the one area where republicans have a decided advantage, which is national security and sort of homeland security and he just -- i mean, first of all, congratulating himself at the outset and then insinuating and innuendo that the president was somehow involved was beyond the pale. it makes him unacceptable as a national figure. >> woodruff: how do you size up the reaction? >> somewhat agreement. if i had to rank them, i thought

hillary clinton's reaction was the best. it combined the gun issue, the gay issue and the islamic radicalism issue if we want to use that word and i give her credit for mentioning that. in acts like this, it's not driven by religious faith but driven and shaped byñi bin laden jihadist ideology and i think the president is wrong not to say that. i have a comment in my column by peter bergen and he's a friend and said saying islamic terrorism is not related to islam is saying christianity is not related to christians and their view of yes ruse let me. for the president to say what he does, it reeks of political incorrectness which drives people to donald trump. every other world leader uses the term. we can all distinguish between the few terrorists who are radical islamists and the other

law abiding, normal, peace-loving muslims. >> woodruff: what do you think? >> i think radical islam is defamation of a faith, whereas radical islamist, yes, rather than radical islamism. there is a difference. when you slip into the den congratulations of an entire faith which obviously is the position that donald trump has been comfortable with, an area he's been comfortable in, it is not only not in the national interest, it is dishonestñi. >> woodruff: the president called it a political talking point, the insistence on trump's part he use that. >> i am not comfortable with "radical islam" for that reason, people don't become terrorist when they become more faithful.

>> exactly. there is an ideology attached to islam as sometimes there is with christianity and judaism which is a shaping ideology which magnifies people and sets them off on killing sprees. >> woodruff: the move on part of democrats to pass legislation on gun control, do you see any possibility of a change there? >> i think there is a change in mood. i think in an election year, we're four months away from an election, i think there is a good development, judy, quite frankly, in the group that's assembled by stanley mcchrystal and the veterans coalition for common sense mark kelly to try and bring control, some sensible background checks. i think there is where it's going to have to come from, i really do. but the democrats have an advantage, make no mistake about

it. if you don't fly, you don't buy, which, is i think, a dangerous position in a civil liberties basis because donald trump in charge of a don't fly list is something that should sober every american citizen. >> woodruff: do you see it going anywhere? >> i don't. after all the different kittle we've had, hasn't gone anywhere. susan collins has an attempt at some sort of moderated list that she hopes some republicans get, democrats get behind, but the prospects in the house are slim. i would say, you know, i support all this legislation, but i'm not sure it would be super effective. this guy was actually looked into by the f.b.i. he actually had checks, and it's just very tough to predict human behavior. >> woodruffbehavior. judy, there is no reason in the united states for civiliançó circulation of assault weapons. none. it's indefensible as a product.

they shouldn't be manufactured in the united states no more than bazookas or flame throwers. >> woodruff: donald trump, political path ahead, david. he was having a lot of tense words this week with republican leadership with congress, with other republicansçó in his own party. his poll ratings are slipping. what do youñi see. >> in i see mild to mass panic in the republican party beca he really is sliding. we talked ant it before in the last few weeks, he was even with hillary clinton and in the last few weeks, it's been, zoom, collapsing and picking fights with the republicans. any sense of buy-in is now just fraying. i don't know if they will do anything against him. to me the significance of this week politically is would the country rally around him on xenophobic or anti-terror mood, and the answer so far from the polling is, no, he did not get any help from this week politically and, therefore, i think there is a real hardening

against him from an awful lot of americans and political prospects fleiss this week seem extremely dire. >> woodruff: what do you see? he stopped trump movement. the death rattle sounded, then comes back again. you don't beat somebody with nobody, and there is nobody, there is no alternative. everybody wants an alternative -- not everybody but probably a lot of republicans, those on the ballot in november wouldñi like to have an alternative, but there isn't. you put a face on that and there is nobody there. so he will be the nominee. he's got the strong argument, i have more votes than anybody in the history of the republican primaries and they won't try to take it from him. i'm reminded in 1972 when democrats tried to stop george mcgovern. they thought he would lose and cost them seats. >> woodruff: bernie sanders made a statement last night. let's listen. >> it is no secret that secretary clinton and i have strong disagreements on some very, very important issues. it is also true that our views

are quite close on others. i look forward in the coming weeks to continue discussion between theçó two campaigns to make certain that your voices are heard and that the democratic party passes the most progressive platform in its history and that democrats actually fight for that agenda. >> woodruff: what do we make of this, david? >> it's marriage counseling. the sanders and clinton people will come together. it has to happen in stages so healing can happen, but i would be shocked in the democrats weren't pretty united by the end of the summer. >> woodruff: just by what he said. >> yeah. it's an acknowledgment not a concession. bernie sanders is indispensable to the democrats and their well being, taking back the senate. he is the leader to have the movement. they need him. he was a generational candidate more than an idñi logical candidate and voters under age

45 are bernie and hillary needs them and he needs her and it will only be a shotgunxd marria, but, you know, it will be a marriage, believe me. >> woodruff: and we may be watching this at the convention. >> absolutely. >> woodruff: mark shields, david brooks, and you both will be there to talk about it with us. happy father's day to both of you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: even as the country's attention has been focused on orlando for much of the week, today marked the anniversary of another mass shooting, when nine people were killed in charleston, south carolina at the emanuel a.m.e. church, known as "mother emanuel." we look back through the thoughts and words of two local poets, part of the community that's been coping with the tragedy since then. t was a crazy night. my wife and i were watching the

news online and we were watching everything unfold. there was a whole bunch of fear because the shooting happened five or six blocks from our house. >> i felt somebody punched me in the stomach. i physically reacted. then i had to go to work. i teach at a college two blocks from mother emanuel. it was a crime scene, did they had not caughtñr the killer yet. >> i. marcus amaker. 'm marjory wentworth. music of doves ascending, yellow crime tape tad to the wrought iron fence weaves through bouquets of flowers and wreaths made of white ribbons like rivers of bright pain flowing through the hours. >> circadian rhythms. at groundñi zero of death, the

voice of god will sound like an alarm clock waking you up from a dream. >> the arts community in charleston has been folded into the healing process and that was immediate. poetry is, in a time of crisis, a great way to find the language for something people don't have. and they want that language. people crave some way of articulating what they're feeling, and that's what poetry does, iñr think. >> i think that, for a long time, a lot of people my age, especially, racism is not really this tangible thing, but then when this happened at the church, it really became the most real thing that we've ever experienced. >> you open your eyes and see yourself not as a woman or as a man, but as a spirit who had been breathing in an illusion. >> i think in terms of the larger issue in the city, the state and the country, you know,

the flag is down as a result of an horrific crime, but the condition that exist around that, the sort of social justice issues based on race have not changed in our city. one week later, the funeral bells ring. lines of strangers still bring offerings. nine doves tossed toward the sun. one week later, the funeral bells ring while churches in small towns areñi burning. nine doves tossed toward the sun because there are no words to sing while churches in small towns are burning. a blur of white wings ascends like music. >> i see an awakening that's happened in this city. i have been awakened. it's not like i didn't know racism was out there, but to see it in this tangible, real way so close to where i live is really

a big awakening and, for me, it feels like the time for small talk is over. if we don't change afterñi this, then what is going to change us? on june 18th, the voice of god sounded like an alarm clock and woke us up from a nightmare. it was the day after a massacre, when illusion becameñi reality, when darkness was a dagger in our hearts. from this day forward, the voice of god sounds like an alarm clock, waking us up from a dream. our eyes are now open to the restlessness of our souls as we confront the relentlessness of racism. i will not rest until we can sleep peacefully again.

>> woodruff: and to our "newshour shares:" something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you, too. as this graduation season comes to a close, we took a closer look at the advice given by actors, politicians and industry leaders to college graduates around the country. here are some highlights: >> take care of yourself. eat your vegetables. get some exercise. floss. use your turn signal. i know that has nothing to do with taking care of yourself, it's just a pet peeve of mine. >> as the great philosopher, benjamin affleck, once said: "judge me by how good my good ideas are, not by how bad my bad ideas are." you've got to suit up in your armor, and get ready to sound like a total fool.

>> i hope that you walk without pain and that you are grateful for each step. and when the challenges come, i hope you remember that deep within you is the ability to learn and grow. you are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. it's a muscle. you can build it up and then draw on it when you need it. >> cynicism is so easy, and cynics don't accomplish much. as a friend of mine who happens to be from new jersey, a guy named bruce springsteen, once sang, "they spend their lives waiting for a moment that just don't come." don't let that be you. >> i've imagined many possible futures in my films, but you will determine the actual future. and i hope that it's filled with justice and peace. and finally, i wish you all a true, hollywood-style happy

ending. i hope you outrun the t. rex, catch the criminal, and for your parents' sake, maybe every now and then, just like e.t.: go home. >> there will be blind alleys and one-night wonders and soul- crushing jobs and wake-up calls and crises of confidence and moments of transcendence when you are walking down the street and someone will thank you for telling your story because it resonated with their own. i feel so honored to be a detail, a minor character in the story of your graduation day. i feel so honored to bear witness to the beginning of your next chapter. i'm painfully aware of what's at stake. i can't wait to see how it turns out. thank you and congratulations to the class of 2016. >> woodruff: and we wanted to share just one more: chicago- area eighth grader jack aiello mixed a large dose of humor into

his graduation address last week. he delivered his entire speech using impersonations of the leading presidential candidates and the current commander-in- chief. take a look: >> hello. and congratulations, you are now getting to hear a speech from the magnificent donald trump. and let me just tell you that thomas has been such a great school. you know, we did all the regular sports you'd expect, like basketball and soccer. but we also did some unique ones too. like on rainy days, we would go into the small gym and do yoga. and i am proud to say that i have completely mastered the downward dog. thank you, president obama. i'd like to start off by thanking the great hard-working

teachers of thomas middle school. they have been our champions. they've given us the skills we need to get through 6th grade and through 7th grade and through 8th grade and now we're going to take those skills and apply them to high school. and finally, to conclude this entire graduation speech: i would just like to say that the bottom line is this. as far as schools go, t.m.s. is in the top one half of one half of 1% of schools in the entire country. thank you all so much and congratulations to the class of 2016. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now: did lou gehrig actually have lou gehrig's disease? a team of scientists say it's unclear-- repetitive head injury can result in a syndrome that

mimics a.l.s. all that and more is on our web site, www.pbs.org/newshour. and a reminder about some upcoming programs from our pbs colleagues. gwen ifill is preparing for "washington week," which airs later this evening. here's a preview: >> ifill: thanks, judy. last weekend's horrific shooting in orlando, florida revived all sorts of debates, in washington, and on the campaign trail. we'll wade into the week's arguments about terrorism, guns, hate crimes, immigration and what politicians are willing to do about any of it-- on the one-year anniversary of the charleston church shooting. that's tonight, on "washington week." judy? >> woodruff: on tomorrow's edition of pbs newshour weekend: a report from jordan, inside the growing economy of the world's largest syrian refugee camp. that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you and good night.

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