vu: next, a "kqed newsroom" special...ar rich: my motto now is, "start before you're ready." whatever new opportunity comes your way, jump at it. vu: ...authors speaking about everything from sexismil icon valley... chang: the women sort of feel like, "this is where powerful people are, but they're damned if dey do and damned if th't." vu: ...to the role of religion in today's turbulent political climate. aslan: evangelicalism and the republican party have been married as a single force, and this is the culmination of that marriage, and perhaps it's time for a divorce. vu: hello. i'm thuy vu. welcome to a special edition of "kqed newsroom." on this program, we're revising interviews from our archives with dynamic, provocative authors. b in with the politics of health care. cecile richards has be the presidentla and ceo of pnned parenthood for more than a decade.er the organization olow-coste the presidentla reproductive health-care services to millions of people across the country.

one of those services is abortion, making the nonprofit a frequent target of conservative lawmakers who have threatened to cut off federal funding. richards announced in january that 2018 will be her last at the helm of planned parenthood, and she has a book out, "make trouble." it cofonicles her stories bucking the system and fighting for change from an early age. cecile richards, nice to have you here. richards: great to be back. thank you. vu: well, in the introduction in your book, you write right off the top practically, t "for the fire in my life, i'm wondering whether my own daughters will have fahafewer rights than i'v" which rights are you talking about,ee and why do youthat way? richards: well, i'm obviously concerned under this administration and thito repeal women's effore oductive rights, access to birth control. really basic, bas c health-care rights risk, and that's, of course, the work we've been doing at anned parenthood this entire year is to fight back, and we've been successful so far,, and, of cour've seen an outpouring of young women

and doing all of the things, i think we need to do. vu: the trump administration has do a number of things. it's rolled back contraception coverage. it's allowed states to defund planning parenthood. it's cut funds for teen-pregnancy prevention programs. what else is coming down the pipene that has you concerne richards: one of the biggest concerns frankly that we havee what else is coming down the pipeneis the kind of jncerne that are being put up into the federal judiciary now,so of the most extreme judges, some of them not qualified. vu: and the biggest fight right now seemto be over the nomination of wendy vitter to louisiana district courts. planned parenthood has taken out ads against her nomination. what are your concerns about her, and what do you think her nomination means for other bench openings across the country? richards: well, the concern about wendy vitter is...an yes, planned parenthood has been actively opposing her nomination bee use she has some of st extreme views even on issues like birth control, trying to link birth control to violenteath among women. she has not been rated qualified by the american bar association.

she has no experience in the federal judiciasystem that would make her qualified. it seems that her only qualifications is that she's on the far right of the republican party. vu: and she supports the views of an anti-abortion advocate who says that co.raceptives cause canc richards: and absolutely, and then we saw the hearing, you know, her hearing before the senate. she wasn't even willing to say wre she was on brown vs. board of education. i mean, this is the kind of fundamental... this is a fundamental issue in ts country, and so we're just concerned that this administrationer tis putting very,politicale nominees in the federal bench that are going to be there for a lifetime. vu: i want to also talk about the stories that you recount in your book. richards: mm-hmm. vu: you've had quite a life.r, your motnn richards, was the governor of texas. richards: correct. vu: the firebrand that she was. richards: yes. is a civil-rights ey, david,to and you write in your book that your dinner table was never really about eating. was for sorting precincts lists, so what's your earliest memory of being politically active?

i mean, my parents into every movement richards: well, i mean, that was the... i had an incredible childhoode that came through town -- the farmworkers, the women's movement. i think the most important moment for us, though, was when my mom got to run the firscampaign ever of a woman who was running for the state house, sarah weddington who had argued the roe. vs. wade case,as anids we all got to be involved, and i saw firsthand both how hard it was for women to run for office and how important it was and how exciting it wasca e she won that race, and then, of course, mom went on to have her own political career. vu: and one of the most notable moments of your career, i mean, we all watched it nationally in 2015 was when congress investigated controversial vide about planned parenthood's collection of aborted fetal tissue. no evidence of wrongdoing was found. richards: none. vu: was that one of the toughest challenges during your tenure at planned parenthood? chards: oh, absolutely. i mean, you know, fake videotapes that were used to try to damage the reputation of the organization,e we had f congressional s

investigating planned parenthood, more than investigated enron or the financial crisis, but we got through that, and i think one of the most important things about that hearing was it ended up being opportunity to educate millions of people in this country abouthe incredible health ca that planned parenthood provides every single day to thousands of women in america. vu: and yet you're stepping down at a time when many women would argue that planned parenthood needs someone with your experience at the helm. richards: well, i'm really proud of what we've done over the last 12 years to invese in a wew generation of leaders all across the country, and, of course, ni wouldn't be stepping d if i felt like that we were at risk. we are actually stronger today than we've ever been in our 100-year history. we have now more than 12 million supporters, which is twice the membership of the national rifle association. we're making a difference in states all across the country, and i'll be an avid supporter of planned parenthood for my entire life, but i think it's time for me to move aside and make space for someone new. : the 2016 presidentialecti, has energized many women, younger women,

former housewives who cew are running for of for the first time. ey're becoming more politically active whether it's through community volunteering or actually running for office, and you have had a long history in your life of being very politically active. i mean, you protested the vietnam war when you were just, you know, in the 7th grade... richards: right. vu: ...and you were a union organizer for a long time after graduating from college, so whaecwould be the biggest of advice that you have for women who are now becoming politically activei ards: well, i think just don't wait for someone to ask you to do it just jght in right now. i think so many women wait until they think they have the perfect résumé whether it's to run for office or run an organization,t t. i've never seen women this active, really, literally shaking the foundation of this country i've never seen women thin every possible way, and i think that if we support each other, help women that areomen running for office, way, we really can make enormous impact not only in this november but two years from now as wellu

and yet, when the job came up for planned parenthood to head itt. you almost didn't take richards: that's right. vu: why?ch ds: well, i mean, that's what i talk about in my book. you know, i thought, "well, i've never done anything that big. it's so hard. it's...you know, i don't have the skills," and i think a lot of wen hold back because they think they're not ready, and so mefmotto now is, "starte you're ready." you are, and, you know, don't overthink it. just whatever new opportunity comes your way, jump at it. : and those are goo. cecile richardnnstepping down from p parenthood, so nice to have you here, and congratulations on your new book. richards: thank you very much. thanks. vu: turning now to the culture of high tech, silicon valley is home to some of the world's most profitable and innovative companies who are vying to createg game-changoducts and services, but according to bloomberg tv host emily chang, the valley is also a place where gender inequality and mistreatment of women run rampant. echang lays out her critiin her, "brotopia: breaking up the boys' club of silicon valley."

nice to have you here. chang: thank you, thuy, for havinge.e. it's great to be h vu: well, how stark is the gender gap in the tech industry? chang: so just look at the numbers. i mean, women account for 25% of jobs across the computing industry, 7% of venture-capital investors. these are the peopleho decide what geek gets to be the next facebook, and women-led companies get just 2% of venture-capital funding, so not only are they underrepresented, they're just not getting the money that they need to start these potentially world-changing businesses.bu vu: it wasn't always this way. i mean, in your book you talk about women who played a formative role in the computer industry, women like ada lovelace, women like grace hopper. tell us about them. chang: in the 1940s and 1950s -t this is urprised me the most when i started doing my research -- women played vital roles in the computing industry. they were programming computers for the military, programming computers for nasa, and then in the '60s and '70s, as the industry was exploding, they were desperate for new talent, and so a software company hired two ychologists

to develop a personality test to identify good programmers, and what they decided is that good programmers, quote,d 't like people." vu: hmm. chang: well, if you look for people who don't like people, youthat's whatr more men the research tells us, and there's no research to support this idea that pleple who don't like pere better at this job than people who do t that men are better s job than women, but it had perpetuated this idea of the antisocial, mostly white, male nerd stereotype that persists to this day. vu: and so that's why companies, you thk, keep on hiring people who fit that stereotype? chang: so that test, for example, was used for decades by companies as big as ibm, and that stereotype came to sort of permeate not just the industry but computer labs and parents and families, and then it was repeated a lot of people told me, "well, this stereotype was create by tv and movies." in fact, it wasn't. the tech industry created that stereotype,

and it has perpetuated this idea, you know, that a very narrow group of people are good at this when, in fact, wroneed people of all bacds making these products because billions and billions of people are using them, men and women. vu: and in your book, yolealso cite another exa of power imbalance by talking about the sex partiesat appen in silicon valley. what happens at these gatherings? ang: in silicon valley, work and personal what happens lives are very intertwined, and a lot of business happens outside the office,th so w it is at the bar or the hotel lobby or sometimes even in the hot tub. you know, i talk about an investort- who has b parties at his house, and so there's a wide spectrum of social behavior that you see, and in many ways, these parties are a lot more about power than they are about sex, and it's a power dynamic that is completely lopsided. vu: i gueswesome people may argue,, these women are coming to these parties to have a good time,d at is wrong with that?" chang: i spoke to over three dozen people now

and several who have actually come forward me since i wrote the book, men and women. you know, the men describe a situation where they're challenging social mores and challenging traditional morality, where the women sort of feel like, "this is where powerful people are," but they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. if they do attend these parties, they're disrespected or discredited. they may never see if they doan investment,parties, but if they don't attend, they're locked out. they're shut out of these important social gatherings, and, you know, some of the women i spoke to actually had to...ey felt that ad to leave silicon valley in order to, you know, just do business on a level playing field, and they decided to continue their businesses in new york. : it is a bit ironic, though, as you're saying all this, that people who prine themselves on disruthings, that kind of environment is not really disruptive at all. some would argue it's very much the status quo, you know, with a lot of what has been happening in business. chang: it's a tale as old as time, and i do thinkart of the problem...

sexism exists everywhere, but part of the problem with the sexism in silicon valley is that this is an industry that prides itself but paon changing the worldh the and being so progressive, and yet if you just look at the numbers, i mean, the representation of women is just so horrifying. yes. you know, there's sexism in hollywood. there's sexism in washington, but i would argue that y it matters more than anywhere because this is an industry that is changing our lives every day, controlling what we see, conthow we work, how we play.u:, chang: ...how we get around, the games that our children are playing, you know, but i... yoknow, i'm an optimist even after spending two years writing this book. i believe that the people who are changing the world, who have solved all of these incredibly hard problems, they can change this too. if they can get us to mars d build self-driving car and give us rides at the push of a button, they can hire aire women and pay themy. vu: and it's funny that you just brought all that up about, you know, taking us to mars and outer space. elon musk ys been very critical r book.

chang: mm-hmm. vu: he has said that... for example, one of the sex parties you mentioned, whe has acknowledged there, but he said no lurid behavior happened when he was there. he thought it was a company party. he said that your account was salacious, misleading, and you should be ashame chang: that particarty,d toi never said,sm?ar "that party was a sex party,"e but that tas behavior at that party that was very disturbing and mirrors some of the behavior that we see in some of these other enviroents, and i spoke to men and women who were at that party who felt uncomfortable, who deribed drug use, who described cuddling in the middle of the floor and one woman in particularfe wh that she was pressured into sexual activity and who would not have been there if such powerful people had not been there. wh that she was pressured into sexual activity vu: mm. chang: and so i came ii don't have an agnalist.da i couldn't make this stuff up, and i uncovered some things that i found very troubling. vu: all right. well, the name of the book is "brotopia."

author emily chang, thank you so much. chang: thank you for having me and shining a light on these issues. i appreciate it. vu: now to religion and politics. since taking office, presidt trump has enacted tough new immigration policies as well as travel tns aimed at restrictivel from predominantly muslim countries. in the fall of 2017, presidp tweeted three inflammats posted by a far-right group in britain. that incident sparked an international backlash. i talked with reza aslan, best-selling author, religious scholar and a professor at uc riverside, about the intersection of religion and politics in theseurbulent times. aslan's latest book, "god: a human history," explor c the evolution of theoncept of god. i sat down with him in december of 2017. so nice to have you here. aslan: thank you. ce to be here. vu: so we'll get to your book in a moment, but first i wanted to ask you about those anti-muslim videot resident trump retweeted. you were born in iran. u are muslim. what's your reaction to that? aslan: i wasn't surprid by it.

thisthe core foundatiot just ofy anti-muslim sentiment buof his presidency. he has brought the worst elements of the islamophobia industry in the united states, including members of actuallyo hern-poverty- law-center-designated ithate groups into the house itself. this is who he is, and i think we should stop pretending otherwise for a moment here, and i understand the confusion that often arises within the media when confronted with these seemingly racist acts and rhetoric that the president routinely inlves himself with, and we try to figure out why. why would he do and say these kind of things? and maybe it's just because i think thsimplest answer is the right answer, or maybe i've just been watching this too much, but the reason that he does things that seem to support racism and white nationalism

is because he has proven himself to be a racist and a white nationalist. vu: and you've also not only written about president trumpt you've w about his supporters. in an op-ed in the la times, you liken trump's supporters to cult members. asyon: that's right. vu: caexplain that? aslan: i've spent a lot of time around cult members. i've lived with cult members.e tudied cults for most of my life, and i can say with a fair measure of confidence that t i kind of rhetoric thear from trump's inner-core supportersch sounds very like the kc that i hear om cult members. after all, president trump himself made this very clear when he said that he could sht somebody on 5th avenue and not lose these voters, and that's precisely what we are seeing now. now, this particularly exists in a core element of his followers among the white evangelical base, which still supports him pretty extraordinarily, but you have someone like frank amedia, one of his evangelical advisors, saying that trump is receiving downloads from god.

you have people like franklin graham, perhaps his greatest evangelical supporter,po you hacomparing hime tively to prophetsam, like abraham and mos and david. you have pat robertson saying that trump's authority a is thority of god, and anyone who refuses to obey it is disobeying god. this is not normal political rhetoric. vu: well, so where is this intersection of religion and politics heang, then? because if you look at the 2016 election, there was a cnn poll, right, and that poll found that 61% of white catholics voted for president trump. it was even higher among white evangelical voters. aslan: 81%. vu: 81%, right. so how has that role of religion changed in politics over the years? aslan: let's be clear. 81% of white evangelicals voted for donald trump. 67% of evangelicals of color voted fohillary clinton. these are people who believe the same thing, who have the same theology but who have a different skin tone, so again, we can't keep pretenng

that race isn't the primary factor in so many of these discussions that we are having here. this is an issue among white evangelicals, and i would say that that's a good thing becausw is an enormous amount of backlashhi from evangelicals themselves, many white evangelical leadere wh as though this is a day of reckoning, that for many, many years, evangelicalismbl and the rean party have been married as a single force, and this in many ways is the sort of culmination of that marriage, and perhaps it's time for a divorce. vu: you have spoken out against the travel ban as well, the one that applies to eight countries, including iran, where you're from, but what would you say to thoseho feel, as president trump does, that this is the right thing to do, to put some travel restrictions in place? a aslan: then't "some" travel restrictions. they're blanket-travel restrictions. in the entire history of the united states, not a single american has ever been killed on u.s. soil

by any foreign national from anyne of the countries that have been banned on tru's travel list. the u.s. military thinks it's a terrible ea. the intelligence community thinks it's a terrible idea. a itoke to say that this is about preventing terrorism. this iof again, another example a demonstiable routine of racist s by this white house. vu: all right. now to your book, "god: a human history," it's more a study of how gods conceptualized rather than a history of god.a yothat most of us try to humanize god. what do you mean by that?la well, it's this sort of natural impulse that we have that we project upon god our own emotions, our own personriities, our own characics, even our motivations, even our own bodies. we create a god that basically looks and acts, feels and thinks like we do, and that's precisely why we have so many great religiors conflicts around the

because really what we are doing is implantininin our sense of the d and so what i am aing forod is to reverse that process, to dehumanize god and try to think of god less as a divine personality and more as an underlying reality, as sort of the spiritual force of the universe. i think it would create a more deeper, more meaningful spirituality, but i also think that it could lead to greater relations and less conflict between religis. vu: and definitely much more about that in your book, and so if you're interested, definitely hick up a copy of "god:an history." reza aslan, thank you so much for being here. aslan: my pleasure. vu: recently, we talked with h the formd of the sierra club, carl pope, about his new book titled, "climate of hope." he coauthoreitit with former new yoy mayor michael bloomberg.op in the book,lays out a vision for how individuals, businesses and local governments can battle climate change

even ghen state and nationernments won't. nice to have you here. b pope: great toe here again. vu: well, in your book, you say that it's time for a new type of conversation about climate change. what do you think is wrong with the way it's being discussed now, and how woul cyou like to reframe tversation? pope: well, we have talked about climate change as this enormous problem which reques phenomenal sacrifice, and the conversation is, "who is going to pay the bill?" that used to be true. it's not true anymore. right now, climate change is an enormous economic opportunity, ho and the question is, s going to take the lead?" that's a different kind of conversation. vu: and you also point out that a lot of it has talked about very long-term consequences,th not sog that people can relate to now. pope: that's exactly right, and if you look, for example, the conversation we're having, people don't realize that many of the statesth which have donmost to reduce their carbon footprint are states like oklahoma and texas, which did it not because reey had governors who about climate change. they didn't, but because they had utility customers who wanted iheaper power, and wicheaper than coal.

vu: and so there was a money-making incentive there? pope: and it was immediate. wholesale power rates d texas have been comin significantly because we're retiring coal and replacing itith natural gas, wind and solar. vu: and, you know, much of the debate over climate change centers around doom-and-gloom scenarios, and you point out in the book that those scaring tactics don't really work with people. why not? i pope: franklyou're trying to get somebody... if you're a rock-climbing coach, and you're trying to get somebody to do aitch that is harder than something they've done before, you don't get them to do it by saying, "oh, my god. this is going to be hard. i'm not sure you can do this." no. you got to say to the person you're coaching, you say, "hey, this is like something you've done before, and i know you can do it, and you're going to have to stretch. you're going to have to work. you're going to have to be on." that's what we need to tell people about climate change. yo. we got rid of a class of refrigeration chemicalsde that werroying the ozone layer.

rnow, we have a class rigeration chemicals that are destroying the climate, rnow, we have a class but we know how to replace rthem with better stuff. we replaced the first set. we can replace thiset." so we need to make it familiar and comfortable for people. vu: you also write in the book that the major contributors to global warming are buildings, right? that is the electricity we use in r homes, our offices, also transportati and the stuff we make steel, toys, furniture -- ay complex layers here, so what can i as an individual do? what are the top two things i can do to help fight climate change pope: well, it depends on who you are because evybody has a differen set of institutional connections. everybody is in part of... people are part of families. they're part of communities. th vote for school boards. they work for companies. they may teach students, and in all of those roles, you have an opportunity to focus the conversation on, "how can we simultaneousmakr

d do better today?" and everybody has those opportities. you just have to look around you and say, "where do i have connection to other people, and how can i work with those other people to speed up the rate of progresr towards beutcomes for the climate, which are also going to be better outcomes for making us wealthier and healthier?" vu: we have this american lung association report that just came out this week that says, "out of the top 10 u.s. cities with the most ozone poution, including los angeles, eightsacramento and fresno,"nia, and at the same time we have a federal governmentg that is rollck quite a few provisions of the clean air act. pope:rawell, the n is making federal polies horrible. it turns out, that doesn't have to matter that much. for example, let's talk about air pollion in california. i've been working on this problem for 40 years. for 40 years, california has been trying to clean up the internal-combustion engine,

and we've done really a remarkable job, and for most of those 40 years, washington was resistant. so most of the progress california made in cleaning up the c, which has now translated into national progress,li was made by rnia without washington. we now recognize we can't do the job with gas power. we need to electrify vehicles, and that's how we're going to solve california's pollution problem,ca and californiatake thd and is taking the lead on getting that done. even though donald trump wants to pretendle thatric cars aren't better than internal-combustion cars, they are. vu: how is the administration's policies, viewpoints on climate change, for example, affecting the way that environmentalists are doing their work? pope: what really matters is, is it affecting the way american electricity consumers behave?e is it affecting y popamerican drivers behave?s, is it affecting the way american manufacturers behave? not so much. they all look at the trump administration and say, "eh, he's going to behere for a while. he's going to be gone. we're investing in the future."

there was a survey done of all the public utilities when trump announced, "oh, i'm going to bring back coal,e and onlyompany out of 42 said that it would change their investment strategy. the rest said, "we're not investing for the next 3 years. 're investing for the next 20 years, and the next 20 years we'll be using solar." vu: local governments in california, new york city, for example, even colorado this week, are now taking the strategy of suing oil and gas compa es foover the costs eveof climate change.ra, good or bad gy? pope: that's a good strategy, and that strategy has now been joined by a conservative-libertarian think tank in washington, so we're beginning to see people coming in from the other side and saying, "well, if the government is not going ryto hold the oil induccountable, individual citizens can." vu: all right. carl pope, thank you. nicegro have you here. popet. nice to be with you. vu: and that will do it for us. a ays, you can find more of our coverage on kqed.org/newsroom. i'm thuy vu. thank you r joining us. ♪

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robert: is the meeting off or on? i'm robert costa. inside the brinksmanship between ea.sident trump and north k plus, the latest on the russia probe, tonight on "washington week." president trump: i believe this is a tremendous setback for north korea and indeed a setback for the world. robert: president trump calls off a m face-to-faceting with kim jong un. but both sides say they are ready for diplomacy. president trump:nd when kim jong un chooses to engage in constructive dialogue and actions, i am waiting. robert: north korea responds and say they will talk at any time. they callr. trump's decision to back out of the june 12 summit extremely regrettable and insist they areo ready talk