captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: >> it is a short term solution, so we don't have this dangerous little period. >> woodruff: new hope for a health care law? two senators push a bipartisan deal to fund obamacare subsidies for two years. then, the pentagon launches an investigation into the deaths of four u.s. soldiers in niger, after president trump deflected questions about his response by knocking president obama. and, the rise of the right in europe. neo-nazi groups gain ground in sweden's politics, as the country grapples with an influx of migrants. >> experience shows that when

you adopt the ideas from these right wing parties, they spread. these parties have their agenda implemented by other parties. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> collette. celebrating 100 years of travel, together.

>> babbel. >> bnsf railway. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> 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: two influential u.s. senators have reached across the political divide to try to stabilize the health insurance market under obamacare. the two-year plan would fund federal subsidies for insurance companies to cover low-income clients. president trump cut off those

payments last week. tennessee republican lamar alexander and washington state democrat patty murray said their compromise gives states more flexibility. >> we concluded that the best course would be to take this limited bipartisan first step, that would avoid the chaos that could occur during 2018 and 2019 if premiums continue to skyrocket and millions of americans find themselves without a way to purchase health insurance. >> when republicans and democrats in congress take the time to work together under regular order rather than retreating to partisan corners, we can truly get things done to help the people that we serve. >> woodruff: our lisa desjardins joins us with more on what's in this deal and its prospects. first, what's in it? >> all right, let's go through it. it's a two-year deal to try to stabilize the healthcare market. first it would fund the cost sharing subsidies for two years

the president announced last week he was not going to fund unless congress acted. it would also allow anyone in the individual market to buy a catastrophic plan, judy that's limited to people under 30 years of age. finally, it would streamline the waiver process for states so states. who like they had an exception or particular need could get waivers more quickly from the affordable care act. president trump who said he was going to end the csrs and wanted congress to act sails he supports this short-term. he wants repeal and replace long term. >> woodruff: catastrophic plans, what does that mean? when you talk about waivers, what does that mean and how would this change it? >> catastrophic plans are only available to people under 30 years old. they keep all the essential benefits that every other plan has but if a person under this plan gets sick they would be on the hook to pay more. they pay a hiring percentage of

their healthcare costs. they're gambling they won't get sick when they buy the plans but get a much lower premium. everyone could buy the plans under this deal. when you're talking about the waivers, the examples they give in congress congress is iowa wants a waiver, seiko pays for opioids would have to be higher because they have a problem with opioids or a few emergencies and have counties that don't have insurers and is a fast track process for the waivers to go through. >> woodruff: why do sponsors think this changes or helps the market? >> they think it will individuals who have soaring premiums more options especially the catastrophic plans and more importantly will fund the subsidies that are really driving the insurance market quite wild. >> woodruff: so the $64,000 question, what are the prospects? what does it look like? >> the $1 trillion question. unclear. i think the best hope for this is they will get democratic and republican votes and, in the

senate now, there's a lot of positive feedback from both sides. however, we have to watch in the house where already one conservative mark walker is coming out against this waiting to hear from the speaker of the house himself, but this probably has the best chance than anything. it's worth to note senators spent five weeks on this. doesn't sound much. in the last deal, they had five hearings on this, only one hearing in the rest of the year. they're saying this show is how the senate can do things if given time. >> woodruff: it was so interesting when murray and alexander came together some weeks ago, it was said no chance. it's been resurrected. >> these two senators have worked quietly behind the scenes, the exact opposite of what we've seen with the drama previously on healthcare where there were big moments and people come to the microphones, these two senators have plowed ahead and seems they have been thinking about the dangers of individuals to what was happening. >> woodruff: working largely quietly behind the scenes. >> imagine. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins, we thank you. >> you're welcome.

>> woodruff: and in the day's other news, >> woodruff: and in the day's other news, a federal judge in hawaii struck down the trump administration's latest travel ban. that temporarily blocks enforcement of the order nationwide, but the justice department said it will appeal. the ban extended to six mostly muslim nations, plus north korea and venezuela. pennsylvania congressman tom marino withdrew today from consideration to be president trump's "drug czar." that followed an investigation by the "washington post" and cbs news. they found that marino was key in passing a 2016 law, that limits the drug enforcement administration's ability to rein in opioid distribution. a new verbal battle has broken out between the president and republican senator john mccain. it began last night in philadelphia when the arizona senator, and former vietnam p.o.w., appeared to criticize mr. trump and his followers. he cited a list of failings: >> to fear the world we

have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain the last, best hope of earth, for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism, cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems. >> woodruff: the president answered by saying: "at some point, i fight back, and it won't be pretty." in turn, mccain said: "i have faced tougher adversaries." in afghanistan, taliban bombings and shootings left at least 74 people dead today. the worst was paktia province, in the east, where two car bombs killed dozens, including the provincial police chief, and wounded more than 100 others. taliban militants also staged attacks in the south and west of the country. in syria, militia forces, backed by the u.s., say they have retaken the islamic state

group's de facto capital. the city of raqqa had been under isis control since 2014. the battle to recapture it began in june. today, kurdish-led fighters celebrated as they moved into the city center. the u.s. military said 90% of raqqa has been taken, with pockets of militants remaining. there's word that u.s. air strikes in yemen killed dozens of islamic state fighters on monday. the strikes were apparently carried out by drones. the pentagon says the targets were training camps for recruits. in northern iraq, kurdish forces withdrew from more territory today, as iraqi government troops advanced. it came on the heels of the kurds' vote for independence. federal forces and allied militia had already forced the kurds to leave the area in and around kirkuk and its oil fields. iraq's prime minister said that paves the way for talks. >> ( translated ): i call for dialogue on the basis of

partnership in one country and under the constitution. the referendum is finished and has become a thing from the past. we hoped that they would cancel it, but we have finished it on the ground. >> woodruff: meanwhile, the president of iraqi kurdistan, masoud barzani, insisted the referendum will not be in vain. another 10,000 to 15,000 rohingya muslims fled buddhist myanmar into bangladesh over the weekend. drone video showed snaking lines of refugees, making the trek to already crowded camps. many told of villages torched by mobs and soldiers. others said they were starved out of their homes. back in this country, a new fire broke out in the san francisco bay area, just as crews had made major progress against other fires in northern california. thick smoke billowed from the new site early today, as it burned through forests in the santa cruz mountains. weary fire crews said they're calling in more help. >> so, the idea is to hit it

pretty hard with aircraft and hit it with ground resources at the same time. we've had north winds, a lot of drying, and everything's really, really dry. so it's-- it's challenging. >> woodruff: in southern california, yet another fire spread on mount wilson, about 25 miles from downtown los angeles. it threatened a historic observatory and communications towers. president trump's overall wealth has taken a hit, as his new york real estate loses some of its luster. "forbes" ranks him 248 this year on its list of the 400 wealthiest americans-- down nearly 100 points from last year. his estimated worth is $3.1 billion. microsoft co-founder bill gates again tops the list. he's worth nearly $90 billion. and on wall street, the dow jones industrial average traded above 23,000 for the first time. in the end, it gained 40 points

to close at 22,997. the nasdaq fell a fraction, and the s&p 500 added one point. still to come on the newshour: president trump's claims that past presidents did not call the families of fallen soldiers. puerto rico's water crisis after hurricane maria. the far right makes gains in european elections. and, much more. >> woodruff: now, new questions surrounding the deaths of four green berets in niger, and the role of the president as consoler in chief. john yang has the story. >> reporter: sending young americans into harm's way can be the most serious decision a president makes. consoling the families of the fallen has become the latest controversy to engulf president trump. to bolster his claim that he

does more than his predecessors, mr. trump today invoked the dead son of his chief of staff, retired marine general john kelly. >> to the best of my knowledge, i think i've called every family of somebody that's died. now, as far as other representatives, i don't know. i mean, you could ask general kelly-- did he get a call from obama? >> reporter: kelly's 29-year-old son robert, a marine lieutenant, was killed in 2010 when he stepped on a landmine in afghanistan-- an episode kelly rarely talks about publicly. kelly and his wife did attend a 2011 memorial day breakfast president obama hosted for gold star families. mr. trump ignited the furor when he was asked about his public silence on four green berets killed two weeks ago in niger. >> if you look at president obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls-- a lot of them didn't make calls. i like to call when it's appropriate, when i think i'm able to do it.

>> reporter: reporters pressed him to back up the claim. >> i don't know. that's what i was told. all i can do-- all i can do is ask my generals. >> reporter: the response from former obama officials was swift and forceful. former attorney general eric holder tweeted this photo and insisted: "stop the damn lying. i went to dover air force base with 44 and saw him comfort families," a reference to one of mr. obama's late-night trips to pay his respects to troops killed in afghanistan. mr. obama and president george w. bush often visited wounded warriors at walter reed and bethesda hospitals, a practice mr. trump has continued. in february, the president and his daughter ivanka went to dover for the return of the remains of a navy seal killed in yemen-- the first casualty of his administration. so far this year, the pentagon says 16 americans have been killed in action. another 17 sailors died in accidents. in the first year of the obama

presidency, 344 were killed in action. during last year's campaign, mr. trump publicly feuded with the kahns, the parents of a muslim american solider killed in iraq, after they criticized him at the democratic convention. today, the kahns said president trump's "selfish and divisive actions have undermined the dignity of the high office of the presidency." the current controversy comes as questions are being raised about how and why the four soldiers died in niger. senator jack reed is the top democrat on the armed services committee. >> i think the administration has to be much more clear about our role in niger and our role in other areas in africa and other parts of the globe. they have connect it to a strategy. >> reporter: the pentagon is investigating the deaths. reportedly among the questions: did commanders adequately assess the risk, and was there ready access to medical support?

president trump was scheduled to make telephone calls to the families of the four dead green berets today. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: it's been almost a month since hurricane maria destroyed much of puerto rico, and killed at least 48 people. the island and its residents are still coming to grips with the scale of the devastation. william brangham brings us the latest. >> brangham: many puerto ricans are still in the dark, without electrical power. hundreds of thousands still have no access to running water, and the rebuilding of the countless damaged homes, roads and facilities is just beginning. the associated press reported yesterday that almost half the sewage treatment plants on the island are still out of service, increasing the risk of contamination and disease. i'm joined now by david begnaud, a correspondent from cbs news who's been reporting there since the storm hit, and is just back

from his latest trip to the island. david, welcome to the "newshour". i wonder, we saw many of your reports and others of people still three weeks out from the storm who are still drinking from streams and creeks. you heard i mentioned this a.p. report about fears of contamination. how are people getting water now? >> the governor of puerto rico said this morning he's aware of those reports and they're looking into it. what's concerning, william, is three weeks after the storm and at least a week after the allegations first surfaced people might be trying to drink from toxic wells at what's known as superfund sites, the governor of puerto rico is still saying we're looking into it and telling people to stay out of rivers where sewer may be spilling in and today telling them to stay away from the coastal areas. they're still debt pratt to get water. no one seems to be able to figure out howo to get enough water to every single person on the island that needs it. as long as people need water,

it's still emergency phase. nearly four weeks later, no one seems to be able to move from the emergency to the recovery. >> brangham: so we see people drinking out of pvc pipes they've rigged and poked into the side of a creek. people are just drinking that water straight without boiling it, is that right? >> absolutely. look, they've got the p.v.c. pipes tapped into the mountains so it's coming out of the stream that way. i saw a woman walk up to a potable water tank that the military had brought in and she had a clorox bottle. i said, ma'am, you're putting drinkable water in a clorox bottle? she said, it's all i've got. that was a good scenario. the other scenarios are people drinking from streams and creeks and rivers who have no water filters, who have nothing, they're just taking the water. listen, the government got a million water purifying tablets within the last week. it took almost three weeks to get those. now there's a large push to bring in water filters.

i have to tell you, most of the water filters i'm seeing brought in are coming from the private sector and people who are flielg them over and plirnl hand delivering them. >> brangham: i know you have been doing a lot of reporting on the u.s.s. comfort, the u.s. naval hospital off the shore of puerto rico, but i understand it hasn't been fully utilized. can you tell us the reporting there? >> the two men running the ship told us nearly 87% of the ship is empty. sounds alarming, right? # hundred beds, 87% are empty. they said we stand ready for whatever the government wants to do. we are waiting to be told by the government. i said to the governor, exactly what's happening? he said i'm not satisfied with the protocol from the beginning. he said initially they were prioritizing only the most critical go to the comfort. then he said there was a layered

process complicating things. the governor said i started to take out the the lawyers and said take people on the ship who may not be critically ill but need food medical care and can't get it at the hospital where the lights are flicker and the ac is not running. within a matter of hours, i got a tweet from a third year medical student who said it's a nightmare reaching the comfort. he said we have a pediatric patient who needs to get off the island either to the mainland or the comfort and he said i went through google to get a number. within about 30 minutes of the tweet going out and that medical student's story being posted, the governor's spokesperson responded with numbers that should be able to help. the bottom line here, william, is that asking relentless questions and the good work of journalism is what's making a difference there. it's no one person. there's no heroic work that's being done by any journalist other than people going back to the same officials and asking the same questions relentlessly

seeking the right answer that will make a difference. >> brangham: one of the other pieces of reporting that you did that was very early in the story was the backlog of supplies trapped in container ships on in the ports in puerto rico. i understand some of those supplies are now moving. can you tell us, are they getting to where they need to be throughout the island? of san jn

have been moved. supplies are intend for grocery stores around the island. private companies brought in the shipping containers, paid for supplies but couldn't move them s news, thanks for your time.e >> you bet. ten sidesteps the real issues.om r the same thing.ople to fight

>> reporter: when addressing her fellow neo-nazis, forslund's rhetoric sharpens. >> i'm the welder's daughter, the forester's grandchild. my line consists of hard-working men and women. it's people like them we can thank for the welfare system that our lying politicians are now giving away to imported trash. >> reporter: clearly expecting trouble, the movement's leaders have a muscular protection detail, marching past a silent protest. the sign reads "no nazis on our streets." this protestor would only give her name as johanna. >> they are racist people. they are people who think that certain people are better than others, and i will not stand for that. it's not something that i think has a place in a modern society. >> reporter: experts say the resistance movement is recruiting aggressively, and

believe this demonstration is emblematic of the rise of the far right. it took place on yom kippur, the jewish day of atonement. allan stutzinky is leader of gothenburg's jewish community. >> ( translated ): nazism has returned. the descendants of the murderers are today organizing the same marches, waving the same flags, shouting the same slogans, and have the same racist agenda. >> reporter: anna johansson is a member of the governing social democrat party. it's considering outlawing the nordic resistance movement. >> in sweden and in denmark, and in other countries, extreme parties are growing, and the hatred is spreading around. >> reporter: "go home to mama," he shouts. "nazi pigs," chant the anti- fascist protestors, as a bottle flies through the air. >> if someone calls themselves a nazi, most of us would dissociate with that person. that's nothing we stand for ourselves. i never call myself a nazi. i'm a national socialist. >> reporter: hitler's party was also called national socialist, but damon, a 40-year-old welder, insists he's a non-violent family man.

>> the demographic landscape of the whole of europe is changing, so, it's a concern about preserving my heritage for my family and our kin. ( protestors chanting ) >> reporter: this demonstration has been stopped short of its destination. the nordic resistance movement is currently trapped between a line of police and anti-fascist protestors. and it looks as though this demonstration isn't going any further. violence briefly erupts as the resistance movement tries to break through police lines, and several marchers are arrested. >> we are not your enemy. we are the government's enemy. ( nazi chant ) they say we live in a democracy, but we have never had an election about if we want to take all these people in. >> reporter: in 2015, when europe's refugee crisis began, sweden copied germany's open door policy, and 160,000 migrants entered the country. two years on, sweden has tighter borders and has begun deporting some of the newcomers.

the new atmosphere alarms floid gumbo, entertaining an anti-nazi rally. >> i came to sweden over 20 years ago. the climate in sweden, the people, were so friendly. and things were completely different, more welcoming. and i feel that things have gradually changed. i'm very concerned, because i have children, because i'm thinking what i experienced is not the same atmosphere, climate that they are going to experience here. >> it's not so long ago that the nazis ruined europe. that makes me very worried. the german elections were terrifying, i think. >> reporter: johansson is referring to last month's success of the right wing alternative for germany party, or a.f.d. with 13% of the vote, and now the third largest party, the a.f.d. is demanding angela merkel imposes tougher immigration rules. >> the a.f.d. only came into existence because merkel deserted the traditional conservative christian voters. they were looking for a home, and the a.f.d. has offered them

a safe place. >> reporter: hugh bronson is deputy leader of the a.f.d. in berlin. a.f.d. is demanding angela merkel imposes tougher immigration rules. your opponents claim that you are a party of hate. what's your response to that? >> we embrace foreigners who respect our laws, pay their taxes, send their children to school, and go about their normal life. the problem is with people who abuse the system to have a better life, to let others pay for their better lives, or who are criminals. >> reporter: outside the opera house in dresden, former east germany, singer luca bergelt is dismayed by the political landscape shifting to the right. >> my fear is that they will tear europe apart. they are going to raise up the walls again, they're going to build new walls between the countries, that europe will get more close into itself.

>> reporter: anti-immigrant sentiment is strong in dresden. the city was the birthplace of a pan-european, anti-islamic movement, and it delivered the largest number of votes for the right wing party. on a holiday to celebrate german unification after the fall of communism, retired engineer wilfried schmidt explained why he sent a message to angela merkel. >> let's put it this way. we all need to recognize that germany is undergoing social changes that are becoming harder to control. for one, there is mass immigration from difficult regions that is increasingly uncontrollable; of people with entirely different concepts of life; from fundamental differently structured societies that are problematic. >> reporter: about one million migrants poured into germany in 2015. chancellor merkel consistently defended her pro-refugee policies, but now she has been punished by voters who believe she ignored their concerns. chancellor merkel has promised

to listen to the people who voted for the a.f.d., and she says she's going to try to win them over with what she calls good politics. but she will not countenance having the party in her coalition. the chancellor needs to find new partners who are prepared to be tougher on immigration. as she tries to forge a coalition, the chancellor has agreed to put an annual cap of 200,000 on the number of immigrants, something she previously refused to do. but will it be enough to woo back people who deserted her at the election? a question for werner patzelt, a political scientist at dresden university. >> since chancellor merkel has made so many u-turns in german domestic politics, it would not be a surprise if she would try to do a u-turn to win back a.f.d. voters. but this is a really hard political task because so many of them are so much disappointed by the christian democratic union in general, and by chancellor merkel in particular, that they will do anything to avoid going back. >> reporter: back in sweden, the

governing party is horrified at the concept of conceding ground to right wingers, and is trying to isolate them. >> experience shows that when you adopt the ideas from these right wing parties, they spread. these parties have their agenda implemented by other parties, and i wouldn't like to see this happen in sweden. we share this world. we're all here. there's enough space for us all. >> reporter: but that's an appeal that an increasing number of swedes are rejecting, as the country and much of europe go through a crisis of identity. for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant in gothenburg. >> woodruff: the hashtag, #metoo, has millions of women sharing stories of abuse, shining a spotlight on a troubling reality in our society. it was first used in 2007, but

when actor alyssa milano tweeted it sunday night to talk about sexual harassment and assault in the wake of the harvey weinstein story, it went viral. the hashtag was tweeted nearly a million times in 48 hours. facebook reported 45% of users have friends who posted "me too," as women wrote about their experiences, the workplace and culture, and what should change. we explore some of those issues with fatima goss graves, president of the national women's law center; lisa senecal wrote about her own experience for the online news site, daily beast. she's with the vermont commission on women. and, melissa silverstein is the founder of the blog and website, women and hollywood.

lisa senecal, you've had a personal experience with sexual harassment and that's drawn you to the #metoo campaign movement. tell us what happened. >> sure. like most women, i've had a number of experiences with sexual harassment beginning with my first job when i was 15 years old and it's really been out of and on throughout. the most egregious offense was an actual assault that occurred with a male executive. unfortunately, because of an mba and we can go into the evils of nondisclosures another time, but because of that there isn't a lot i'm able to say about the specific event, but the issue of sexual harassment and aad finally having this come to the floor, so many women are already familiar wit from being on the receiving end and i think especially with the #metoo

campaign, it's been really wonderful and an eye opening experience for men to realize how pervasive an issue it is. >> woodruff: from your experience, it was a business setting. melissa silverstein, you have been writing about women in hollywood for ten years and that's where the harvey weinstein story came from. if it's been going on in hollywood forever why hasn't it been talked about more before now? >> well, i think there is a culture of silence created around this man and within this industry people were afraid. people are afraid for their jobs. it's a very relational industry where if someone black lists you, you won't get your next job. so i think the way a person is able to conduct himself for 30 years like this was to build a culture of fear, to make people sign on disclosure agreements and to get them to shut up. >> woodruff: fatima goss graves here with me in washington at the national women's law center. we've talked about hollywood and

the business workplace. is there any field of work where this isn't going on? >> right, the issue of harassment and assault, it's a hollywood problem that really is an everywhere problem. it affects industries across the board whether you're high-wage jobs, low-wage jobs, male dominated fields but also female dominated fields. restaurants are some of the areas where you have some of the highest rates of e.e.o.c. charges and that's not a male dominated field. >> woodruff: the equal employment opportunity commission, the e.e.o.c. lisa senecal, some people are saying they're uncomfortable with this #metoo campaign movement because they're saying, once again, women are being asked to go public with what happened to them, but there is no promise there is going to be anything done about it. how do you see this? >> i don't necessarily believe that women are being asked to come forward. i think this is an opportunity to come forward if that's

something that women want to do, but there's no obligation to do it and there's been a lot of support for letting women know that if this isn't something you're comfortable with at this time, no one is obligated to tell their story and no one is allowed to force you to tell your story before you're ready. but the stories are important. without them, the degree to which this happens across all industries, across genders as well, we know that this happens to men, this happens to the transgender. it's not specific to women, although it affects us more frequently. until we have a critical mass of women who are able to get the men in their lives, the men that they work with to understand how pervasive a problem it is and then can get men to begin to act on this because this isn't a women's issue, this is a violence issue, and an issue of

power and who has the power. so until the people who still primarily do hold the power, which is primarily men and primarily white men, until they're going to begin to act, then the problems are going to persist. >> woodruff: melissa silverstein, how do you see that? what is it going to take for this to be a change? >> the fact that we're having a global conversation about sexual harassment, i have been doing media for the last week all over the world, people are really enthralled by this and want to see change. this is a global issue and hollywood is a global industry. 70 cents of every dollar of hollywood studio movies are made outside the united states, so people are looking for hollywood to step up and, today, we had a leader in hollywood, kathleen kennedy, to say we need to have a commission, cross-industry commission of people who are going to look into this and put

a stop to it once and for all. >> woodruff: and pick up on that fatima goss graves. just across the board, what is it going to take? >> right. we know that there are things that would make a difference here. if employers had processes that their employees actually use, you wouldn't have harassment in the shadows. right now, most people don't report harassment to anyone, and it's because they think their employers won't do anything or, worse, that they would experience retaliation. >> woodruff: because that's been what happened. >> it is. they're right to believe they will experience retaliation because they do, they're shamed and blamed. but employees can make a difference. they can take it seriously and communicate that to their workplace. they can also have the right policies in place and, finally, they could, when someone comes forward, be really clear that they take it seriously and that they will not tolerate retaliation. those are things that aren't happening among employers

frequently enough. >> woodruff: lisa senecal, as somebody who had it happen to you in a business environment, what changes need to be made in the workplace? what has to happen? >> well, i agree completely with what was just said. too often, the workplace education that goes on is incredibly insufficient. it's more of companies wanting to check the box and say that they did their sexual harassment training and it isn't truly something within the culture of companies that they believe that this is a problem and it is a right of all people within that company not to be harassed. so until steps can be taken more seriously and when a woman or anyone comes forward with an accusation, it does have to be taken so much more seriously, and the knee-jerk response of, in my case, cannot be to shame

the woman, can't be to blame her for somehow bringing this on herself, and putting them back in the position of being victimized the second time because they're not taken seriously when they come forward. >> one of the things that's so fundamental about this is how this is so normalized for all of us to go through this kind of harassment, especially in hollywood, and how people kind of laugh off, oh, you know, that's locker room talk or, you know, this is the movie business, get used to it, and what we need to do is pierce that veil of the normalization of this kind of conduct because it starts with, you know, the comments and then it can escalate very quickly. so we need to just change people's attitudes and get rid of the toxic masculinity. hollywood has no much institutionalized sexism that sometimes i feel like we need to just start over, if possible. >> woodruff: joining us, also, is lee gilmore, a professor at welly college who's written a

book about why we doubt what women say about their lives. lee gilmore, why haven't women been believed and taken seriously on this, and could we now be at a moment when they are? >> it's good to be with you, judy. i think we have a persistent and a pervasive culture of doubting what women say, especially when they're bringing forward accounts of harm into the public sphere. so we have these pre-made default cultural narratives of women's reliability, we have a he said she said which is a false give narrative. we have a notion of it didn't likely happen and you can't trust what women say. none are based in fact but it's a cloud that's allows us to doubt any woman before she speaks up and it's quite intimidating. if we're at a point of change, we really are at a moment where i think we have a new level of visibility and we have the

opportunity to amplify the voices of women who are speaking out. so, insofar as we have that opportunity, this is a forum of solidarity and more women speaking can lead to change. >> woodruff: fatima goss graves, as somebody who works on these issues from a legal standpoint, are we, could we be at a watershed point or is it just a whole lot more complicated? >> the culture change typically has to go together with both the enforcement of the laws and the policy change so we're at a tipping point, surely, on culture change. but i will tell you, you know, the national women's law center runs a hotline and we have a network called the legal network for gender equity, so attorneys are joining with us and will be ready to take these cases but, those people who are making these calls and contacting us, i think that shows there are people ready to come forward on social media and there is power

there, but seems there are people who are ready to come forward in other ways, too. >> woodruff: i want to ask you about the role of men in all of this. lisa senecal? >> i think it's critical for men as allies to be coming forward and supporting women who do come forward. men also need to be willing to call out other men, whether that's one-on-one, whether it's in a group setting within a company or socially, if a man hears, sees someone doing something inappropriate, they need to have the courage to stand up even in front of other men and say it's not okay, it's inappropriate behavior and it's not going to be tolerated, and until it's also men joining in, women can't do this by themselves. there is an organization, a call to men, that i'm a figur -- thaa big fan of and the mantra is if

women could have stopped abuse they would have done it already. it's true. it's not going to be something women will be able to do alone and until people look at this on a larger scale and understand this affects the bottom line of the companies, it affects productivity, it affects, you know, absenteeism. across the board, this is not a women's issue, it is a human issue. >> woodruff: melissa silverstein, what about that? we shouldponent out men are themselves victims of sexual harassment and abuse at times. >> i feel this is on men. the men are most of the perpetrators, they're also the collaborators and at the weinstein company, the board was all men and all complicit in creating an environment that allowed this to thrive. in hollywood, there's not a single woman, even the people at the tippy top of the industry who don't report to men. this is also about getting more women into leaderships toes and holding the men accountable. the men in this industry need to

step up and say we want to be -- we want to create this industry in a way that women can thrive and don't have to experience this anymore. >> woodruff: lee gilmore? e're talking about awareness and accountability. so as wonderful as it is to have increased visibility, with the long history of sexual harassment and discrimination, we need new levels of accountable. i i co-the notion harvey weinstein's board knew about the accusations and refused to charge him. we have examples of ample behaviors. we need to correct them. the role of men is important, minimally they can be witnesses. >> woodruff: fatima goss graves, the role of men and how we prevent this. >> we've had a little conversation about men as survivors but the conversation we haven't really had is what happens when men are abusers or enablers or allow this to happen in the workplaces, in schools,

or in women's everyday lives. so now we have an opportunity culturally for that conversation. that culture is going to have to hit where policymakers are, it's going to have to hit where employers are to make a real difference. >> woodruff: it's clear everyone is hoping this is a watershed moment, that things will change as a result of what's happened here, but we will see, and we appreciate all of you joining us in this conversation. fatima goss graves here with me in washington. lisa senecal, melissa silverstein and lee gilmore, we thank you all. >> thank you. >> woodruff: finally, a conversation about education reform and some of its shortfalls. it is the subject of a new book by a familiar face, who joins jeffrey brown for tonight's "making the grade."

>> brown: for close to two decades, education reform has been on the agenda of democrats and republicans alike. school leaders around the country and major philanthropists who have influenced the debate. it's all led to big changes, new laws and programs, tougher requirements and additional funding, lots more testing, and occasional school closings and teacher layoffs. but what has it all brought? our former education correspondent john merrow chronicled these efforts for our program for many years and now looks back and into the future with a critique and with prescriptions in his new book "addicted to reform: a 12-step program to rescue public education." first, hello again, john. >> nice to see you, jeff. >> brown: nice to see you. "addicted to reform" means what? >> well, reform are attempts at changing that really don't change things. what i'm saying is, for many many years now, we have been tackling small problems which are really symptoms, not the

real issues. i can give you a quick example. >> brown: go ahead. while the administration focus was on raising graduation rates to get it from 70% to way up, four things happened. one is good, people came in and tutored the identified failing kids, helped them and they did well. three bad things happened. one was credit recovery which is basically a computer scan, you sit in front of a computer for a week and get a semester's credit. almost every school district in the country relied helve rion computer credit recovery to get kids to graduate. the second thing that happened, officials would say, jeff, i think you could do well if you got a go ahead, just go get a g.e.d. so if you ander were not doing well, we would be helped out the door. the graduation rate would go up because i'm gone, but the school would not see i did the g.e.d.

the third thing, they cheated to get kids over the bar. the problem country graduation rate, it was much deeper. >> woodruff: i mention republicans, democrats alike, so many different players involved and i was wondering when i was looking at the book, is it agreed upon what we're after anymore? are people going to go back to first principles like that? do we know what mean, the funde

of school is to help grow adults. you look at the three words, help is a team effort, grow is a process -- you can't just take a test score and say we're done -- at do our kids repeated by do. hen an awful lot of poor mott going to be easy.atte,be

but there are 12 steps. you have to acknowledge that these reform efforts have been superficial. you have to say -- look at eachc kid and say how is this child smart? what can we do to bring out that kid's strengths.tr we have to measure what matters. >> brown: let me ask you a personal question, does a q because you covered these things for so long. so when you went back to look, are these things you werer feeling at the time? t did it kind of bubble up for you to look at, you know, i want to now take a big picture look at all the problems i've seen? >> i think it bubbled up ward the end of, you know, 41 years, most of which were with you guys. i was committed to hearing everybody and, even if i had strong feelings, the "newshour" would never have let me put them on the air. but i don't think i had them

till i started thinking about the end all the marvelous people who worked hard to change things and then seeing things really hadn't changed.dn why was that?wh and then i started analyzing maybe we're just going at superficial problem, you know, y raising test scores, that should not be the end of schooling. you know, people talk about the achievement gap.en first we should say, wait a minute, thrans expectations gap, there is also an opportunity gap. if you close those two gaps, the outcomes will take care of themselves. >> brown: all right, your book is "addicted to reform." john merrow. >> thanks very much, jeff. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now: the precious metals in your jewelry and gadgets may have come from neutron star collisions. that's one of the stellar takeaways astronomers based in the u.s. and europe made thisd

week. we delve deeper into the science on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour.ne and tune in later tonight. on "charlie rose," director rob reiner and actor woody harrelsor and the new film about the 36th president: "l.b.j." and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again rightn here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and we'll see you soon. . >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. >> bnsf railway. >> collette. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social changeri worldwide. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in

education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation forb public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.st thank you.

captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

>> rose: welcome to the program. we begin tonight with president trump's press conference earlier today. >> i hope hillary runs. is she going to run? i hope, hillary, please run again! >> rose: we conclude with walter isaacson, the biographer of a new book about leonardo da vinci. >> he's a retruvian man and that's a symbol of an atonnishingly good science, proportions of human, start and science. that's leonardo. i think it's a self-portrait and it's him standing in the earth, the cosmos and how do i fit in. >> rose: funding for charlie rose is provided by the following.