captioning sponsorho by newsur productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy wdruff. on the newshour tonight, a breakthrough night at the ballot box-- democrats deliver diverse candidates historic wins, while republicans back defenders of president trump. then, in the jury's hands-- closing arguments wrap in the trial of the presimpnt's former gn chairman, paul manafort. and, inside the pentagon's partnership with silicon valley and their effort to innovate along the digital front line. >> government likes to look at hotspots around the world very persistently more reliably and so there's a lot of commonality between what we do for the commercial sector as well as for defense and intelligence. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new ndnguage, like spanish, french, german, italian,ore. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org.

supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by con station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: presint trump has de good on a threat to strip a leading critic of his security clearance. john brennan was c.i.a. directod under prt obama. he's been scathing on mr trump's conduct, and accused him of making treasonous statements at a summit with rus president putin. today, white house press secretary sarah sanders said brennan has used his security

access to ke "unfounded and outrageous" claims. >> mr. brennan'sying and recent conduct characterized by increasingly frenzy commentaryis is wholly incont with access to the nation's most closely-held secrets and facilities, the very aim of our adversaries, which is to sow division and chaos. >> bren said later the action was politically motivated but insisted he will t be muzzled. the president's statementt add eight other high ranking officials are under review. lawyers made closing arguments today in the trial of paul manafort, president trump'sch former campaigr. federal prosecutors said the case comes down to, in their words, "mr. manafort and his lies." the defense accused the government of cherry-picking information to support charges of bank and tax fraud. we'll get a full report, later in the program. the u.s. senate has returned to work, with more democrats agreeing to meet with supreme

court nominee brett kavanaugh. he called today on indiana's joe donnelly and north dakota's heidi heitkamp, both from red states and both up for maelection this fall. kavanaugh's confon hearings are scheduled to begin september 4th. in italy, the death toll from tuesy's bridge collapse in genoa reached 39 today. italy's gornment vowed to hold the bridge operator accountable, after reports that the 50-ye b- old span hn crumbling for years. ben chapman of independent television news has this report from genoa. >> reporter: it looks like the aftermath of an earthquake, but this was a manmade disaster. and today in the ruins of this bridge the scale of the human cost of this catastrophe became clear. robert robioano, his wife acilia and their young son samoule were among those killed. they were going on holiday. their car filled with beach

toys. andrea chrulli was an amteur footballer and the father of a young son was killed on his way to work. alberto falfani and his fiance marta deenzi were due to get married next year. rescue teams working through the night to locate survivors say they pulled around 12 peop from the wreckage. but at hospitals families of the missing were desperate for news alanother-in-law answer his phone briefly last night but she still doesn't know what has happened to him. >> ( translated ): we know that there are others he says the dogs are smelling them. but there's a huge amount of debris. we don't whether to break the concrete or lift it. >> reporter: the enormity and horror of whatappened here is really apparenwhen you stand underneath this bridge and take in not just its height the but

the sheer expanse of the section which is now just completely disappeared. and for drivers yesterday the fference between life and death in some cases was just a matter of seconds. and with grief here there is also anger with calls for managers at the private company which maintains it to resign. italy's deputy prime minister matteo salvani say those responsible must pay. but as the investigation and recriminations begin, italians just want know how a vital piece of infrastructure could simply crumble taking so many lives with it. >> woodruff: that report fromn ben chap independent television news. monsoon rains in southern india ha triggered landslides and killed 67 people in the last week.th e worst is in kerala, where officials announceantoday that gerail service is cut off. floods have submerroads and displaced thousands of people. he deluge also damaged an

estimated 20,000ses. turkey slapped new tariffs on u.s. products today, up to double the previous len rice, cars, coal and cosmetics. it's retaliation for higher u.s. tariffs on turkish metals. that, in turn, targeted turkey's prosecution of an american evangelist on rrorism charges. vice president pence warned today that "turkey would do well not to test (president) trump's resolve." back in this country, a top cleric urged roman catholics not to lose faith, after an explosive report on pennsylvania priests molesting some 1,000 children. washington, d.c. cardinal donald wuerl has denied transferring priests and covering up abuse when he was bishop of pittsburgh. today he made no direct mention of the allegations. instead, at a mass, he called for helping the victims.>>

he pain is something we knead to accept responsibility for in helping survivors. we can also ask our lady's intersession for those wo may be, because of this terrible plague of abuse, experience a lack of confidence in the churc- >> woodruff: the investigation y pennsylvania found claims of abuse against roug0 .priests going back decad students began a new year today at marjory stoneman douglas high school iparkland, florida. a gunman killed 17 students and faculty there in february. since then, the school addedon $6.5 miln security improvements. and, on wall street, stocks tumbled after shares in the technology secr took a hit. the dow jones industrial average lost 137 points to close at 25,162

the nasdaq fell nearly 97 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 21. still to come on the newshour: a night of firsts: the candidates who won big in last night's primaries. closing arguments in the trial of former trump campaign chairman paul manafort. a deadly bombing at a school in afghanistan, and much more. >> woodruff: democrats deliver groundbreaking victories, ast presidump's supporters score wins. lisa desjardins begins our look at the major take-aways from primaries in four states. >> desjardins: america has not. seen this vermont electric co-op c.e.o.st chriine hallquist is now the first openly transgender person to win a major party's

nomination for governo she trounced her democratic competition in tuesday's primar >> it's not just about the transgender communit it's not just about the l.g.b.t. community, it's about all marginalized communities. >> desjardins: vermont was part of a national night of firsts for democrats. nain connecticut, former nl teacher of the year jaha hayes could become the first black woman in congress from new england, thanks to her prima win. >> tonight is the beginning of the real fight: the fight for the soul of this nation. >> desjardins: and in minnesota, ilhan omar is poised to be the first somali-american in congress and one of the first muslim women in coress. a refugee at eight years old, she nodded toward history. >> i think about the kind of hope and optimism that all of those eight-year-olds around the country and around the world get from seeing your beautiful faces

neelect and believe in som like me.so humbly thank you. >> desjardins: also ina, minnesot the man who was the first muslim in congress, onrepresentative keith ell survived his primary race to become state attorney general, despite recent abuse allegations from an ex-girlfriend. >> i want to assure you that it is not true. and we're going to kon ghghting all the way throu >> desjardins: for repubcans, a rough night for those like former minnesota governor tim pawlenty who have oply opposed president trump. he lost a primary for his old job by nearly double digits. and in the razor-close g.o.p. primary for the kansas governor's mansion, close trump ally and sometimes controversial secretary of state kris kobach emerged the winner, after god.rnor jeff colyer concede president trump tweeted his congratulatires to the blican winners today, and declared it's a "red wave." >> woodruff: here now to dig into last night's results are

newshour's lisa desjardins and stu rothenberg of "inside elections." thank you both for being here. stu, first, let's talk about the democratic firsts. how groundbreaking are they? >> i think it was a pretty significant night, judy. first transgendered nominee, african-american, somalian-americans. this is a democratic party that looks different than it tid 4 or 50 years ago. >> woodruff: really changing. over the long haul re, democrats have lost reagan democrs, southern conservativ democrats, they've left they, pao there's been a long-term change. so i think over the last couple of y'srs theeen a dramatic change in terms of intensity, the number of people involved, the energy among voters who -- among political folks who, in the past, would have been considered kind >> woodruff: lisa, what is the secret with these first candidate, the first somali

american and first transgender, what are they saying? i think, on the one hand m of these candidates are campaigning not on their groundbreakingness but also on policy, also, as we saw in vermont, gubernatorial democratic candidate there ms. hallquist is campaigning on rural issues, especially, but also talking about breaking ground for transgender america. e think many democrats wer proclaiming last night a big night for them, but when i look more deeply, juy, i think these were individuals who were able to break very particular glass ceilings, they are pieo near as in their areas, but when you look more deeply at the competitive races in the country, i looked at 62 of themo likely to flip seats, in those races democrats have actually far fewer minorities than the country has at large. so i don't think this is a sweeping trend for democrats. i thillnk they are stiehind as are republicans in their gondidates, but we're see few individuals who are breaking ground. >> woodruff: but they're getting a lot of newsttention

because of some of these firsts. stu, let's turn to the republicans, president trump calling it a red wave. maybe we should call ate trump wave. are they winning some of them because they recommend placing him? >> absolutely they are. he's the dominant figure in the political party. if you esm brace him, his supporters are lekely -- mor likely than not to embrace you. if you reject him, voters are going to reject. i thi te president is messing around with with us on the red wave. he can't believe tha all the survey and national data, polling and individual races suggests the contrary. i think heust messing around with us. that being said, he is the single most important person in the republican party right now. >> woodruff: but i come back to trump wave, lisa, because, what, tim pawlenty minnesota, people are saying he was punished because he wasn't pro-trump enough. >> right, he had opposed the president when he was a ndidate and now circled back and said he supports the president now.e

but epublican voters didn't believe mr. pawlenty. i think he had anr otoblem, judy, and pawlenty lost by almost 9 point, significant for a two-term governor.s he's seen washington insider, someone who left the state and became a lobbyis so i think the part of the trump wave is an anti-shington wave that helped the president get his job and are hurting republicans who are tid to washington. >> woodruff: but, stu, if it is a closeness to donald trump that's helping some of these republicans, how does that help them or no in november? how does it affect their chances in the election. >> it may hurt them in november to the extent the elections in november become a referendum on the president and other voters come out. sure, trump voters will come out and will help republicannd ates. the problem is the candidates who are associated with the. and only with the president, swing voters,ndependents,

white suburban women with college degrees, they --hose kind of voters may not look on these trump congressional candidates, gubernatorial, senate candidates in a friendly way. >> woodruff: lisa, what are we seeing for the l right now? >> right. i think, overall, there was a moment where the republicans were picking up some steam. now i think it's shifting back towards democrats again, but i honestly think september is going to be the month thawill ll us a lot more than this moment. i think last night the midwestern races ary important to watch, not just minnesota and wisconsin, which, by thehay, were two of te closest races in 2016, but also illinois, iowa, those kinds of places, and i think s, if the get these sort of exciting story lines out, as we've seen last night, they feel like that's going to help them get more people to the polls. >> woodruff: and, u, i notice there was a story in the "new york times" today saying thgdemocratic party is say to many of their congressional candidates, you can craft your own mesge, we're not going to give you a nationwid message

that's one-size-fits-all. >> i think that's it. it's the rigreht strategy,at strategy, the winning strategy. wever, to th extent the party is recruiting candidates who arb talkint medicaid for all, eliminating i.c.e. and things like that, i think there is a danger for the democratic party as a whole, not individual candidates in new yord ct, whatever, but nationally nat the democrats will fall in the trapb again ing the party of higher taxes, more spending, social engineering.u and,y, i think back to, i guess, 2006, right around that election, before and ter the election, i was talking to rahm emanuel, and chuck schumer wasai ng the democratic senate campaign committee, and they both sadosix was a test, to show the votershether or not the democrats were now grownups and could handle the checkbook anth rucountry when they took the majorities in congress, and they were worried that this was

a testing time, and i think democrats need to worry that w they need n, of course, in 2018, but then they need to prove thathey can govern more broadly, not just to nar stitch wednesday yes. >> woodruff: you talk to people on the hill all the time. what are you hearing? >> that's right, i thinkat demoare feeling the wind is now at their back, but i als feel this is for democrats, they have an identity issue, that they know they neto address that now and they want these sort of exciting stories ofit diveto be more than symbolic and to run more deeply. one thing i wa tontion is that that woman, ilhan omar, who looks like she wilhe next congressman from minnesota, she is going to change policy athe capitol, in the house of representatives the capitol, shyou are not allowed to have yr head covered. she is a practicing muslim who has to have her head vered. we'll hear more about it. >> woodruff: she is favored.

a healy democratic district, that's right, she's favored. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins, stu rothenbg, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: the first trial for special counsel robert mueller's team is now in the hands of the jury. prosecutors argue documents prove that former trump campaign chairman, paul manafort willfully committed bank and tax fraud.th defense never called a witness, claiming the evidence points to clarical mistakes, not a crime. na nawaz has the story.aw >>: it has been two weeks filled with laying out detailed accounting recortn and a star s whose credibility is in question. y r william brangham has been in court for these ments, along with today's closing arguments and he joins me now. how are you doing, william? >> great. all right, let's talk about the prosecutiofirst her

this is the day to sift together two weeks of testimony and evidence. what's the heart of their case here? >> ist just as you say, a complicated series of crimes they alleged manafort pupose traitd and they try to boil it down to basically two things, that he made millions and millions of dollars while he was a political consultant in ukraine, he stashed that money in overseas bank accounts and didn'taant to payxes on it, so he hid it from the government. then when that come in about 2014 dried up, the prosecution alleges that he went to a bunch of u.s. banks, lied to them to get more money to keep funding what they argued was this very l lavifestyle. so that's the essence of the argument. the key phrase today was the prosecutor said he lied to keep more money, he lied to get more money. remanafort's money is lit with lies. >> so what about the defense? they rested the whole case without callinea sin witness. how do they counter the prosecution's case? >> they're trying to makthe argument that paul manafort waso

busy running litical operation in ukraine and that a lot of these aleged crimes weren't necessarily crimes, that he didn't know he had to file certain forms, that he didn'tks mislead the ba that he was somehow being duped by other people who worked for him. they kept talking about how he would build a team around himself and somehow those people bre tolame. the defense was really trying to argue that other people were responsible for the crimes and not paul manafort. >> one to have the people was a man named rick gates, former deputy chairman under manafort at the trump campaign in 2016 ad also his right hand in his consulting firm, also the star witness for the prosecution. how did his testimony play? >> it was so interesting because the prosecution used rick gates a great deal, but when it came time for closing arguments the prosecution didn't use rick gates for an hour, seemingly trying to distance himself.

the defense said rick gas was lying on his taxes, had a secret life, had an affair with a woman many london, all of which were entered into the recorand accurate. so they were trying to argue lick gates was really the mastermind behind of this and that for the ross pcution to lean so much of its case on rick gates was a fundamental flaw with their cas the interesting thing was that the prosecution in their closing today said, oy, the fact that rick gates may have had an affair with someone ten years ago in london doesn't change the fact that paul manafort committed tax fraud. so they're trying to separate the two saying our cooperatingbe witness may non angel but paul manafort is still guilty. >> i have to ask you, you're the room there, paul manafort is also there watching his protojay testify against him. did he react a ? >> he would -- it seems as if he was trng to burn a hole in the side of rick gates with his eyes. he would stare at rick tes the entire time gates was testifying. gates vr his part almost neer

looked at manafort, butnafort looked steely and angry at gates the whole time. >> the case is being brought by the same time working for special counsel robert mueller, the team looking into russian interference in the 2 election. did the word "russia" even come up? >> no, it ddn't, an in fact, partly by design. i think the prosecution wanted to say we'rt talking about election, we're not talking about the president or collusion, this is about whether manafort committed these financial crimes. yes, as you say, this does come out of the mueller investigation, and the assumption is -- remember, paul manafort jointed the campaign originally to help him with the convention, quickly became campaign chair, was involved ino the not trump tower meeting, so it's believed prosecutors think paul manainrt might havrmation he's not giving them. he is now being prosecuted fore thry serious crimes. if convicted on the crimes, the prosecution theoretically could try to press him and say tell us

what you know and we'll make it go lighr the sentencing. >> closing arguments are behind us. what's at stake for paul manafort? >> the jury gets to decide starting tomorrow on the verdict here. if he's found guilty on most or all of these he could face the st of hisfe in prison. he has another trial coming up in september alsoo related similar financial dealings, that's happening in washington, d.c. so it looks pretty bad now forn paul mafort. there's a lot of charges stacks up against him, yet we stilln' know if he's going to be convicted on any of it. >> william brankngham, tha good to talk to you. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: the pentagon joins forces with silicon valley startups. and renewed controversy surrounding an indian-american character on the simpsons. now, a day of horror in

afghanistan. itas nick schifrin reports comes amid a bloody week there. >> schifrin: in a country fighting for its future, the bombs today found the children who were learning to build it. gurney, after gurney, after gurney of shia teenagers whody were sg for college entrance exams, killed by a boys and girls who dreamed big, none of whom will ever see their 20th birthday. family members were in shock and had to say goodbye. >> ( translated ): my brother was studying at the education centre and he was killed in th blast. i am here to receive his body. >> schifri classroom, where hundreds studied. the whiteboards where they learned, the benches where they sat, and t books from which they read, all stained by their blood. ere was no claim of responsibility, but attacks on

shia are usually by the sunni extremists of isis. the group has targeted lightly guarded schools, mosques, and cultural centers, bter being wey u.s. and afghan forces. 70 miles to the south, the strategically important city of ghazni lies on the country's primary highway, and today residents picked up e pieces after a five-day siege. one of the city's markets was gutted, and many homes are now n les of rubble after fighting between the talid the afghan army. outside a local military base, army vehicles are burned and abandoned. nearly 200 fighters, soldiers, and civilians died in the city. at one point, bodies filled a corridor at the provincial hospital. local tv footage over eke wed showed buildings burning, and taliban fighers walking freely through the city's streets. the fighting forced residents to flee.pe they were stopat afghan checkpoints, escaping with only what t>>y could carry. translated ): there was no electricity, no water and no food, we were living hungry.

>> schifrin: today authorities are back in charge, and starting to cleanup. afghan soldiers patrol the streets and show off what they called a captured fighter. they reclaimedhe city, but they didn't defeat the taliban, admitted afghan battalion commander faizurraan khan. >> ( translated ): we pushed back the enemy fm the city completely by force, where i am standing now is the front line. the taliban are stil.around the ci >> schifrin: the u.s. military in baghlan today, taliban fighters overran an afghan army base and killed 36 soldiers. yesterday, fighters captured an entire company of afghan soldiers in faryab. and in the south in zabul, they attacked a police checkpoint and killed 4 officers. tonight in kabul, outside theal school, a memorial, and a candlelight vigil for the

victims, and for another deadly day. for more on the attaday, and where efforts to both fight, and engage the taliban stand, i'm joined from kabul y sultan faizy, the bureau chief rkr iha, a h news agency. and, here in studio with me isey david se he's a senior associate with the center for strategic andud international s, a washington think tank. he also seemed in the u.s. ssy in kabul, and was a top pentagon official working on afghanistan and pae stan during sh and obama adminirations. thank you to you both. sultan, can i start with you? we've just seen this horrific video from kabul today. what does it feel like in the w?ty right n >> people are really pessimistic about their security, especially in that neighborhood because, in that neighborhood, you know, the islamic stathas carried out several deadliest attacks that has, you know, really caused

serious, you know, damages, and people are very cautious because the structure of the security inside kabul has kind of changed because you see blast walls everywhere, sot has got a military kind of face, i mean the kabul city. so every day people have fear, and they are scared of suicide , tacks or coordinated attacks throughout the ciople are actually pessimistic about the gornment and people have been raising lots of questions, especially in the recent weeks, that taliban and other groups have launched deaiest attacks. >> some of theessimism, david, we've seen that extends throughout kabul and across the country is signicant, but the afghan army did succeed, right, in keeping the taliban from

taking over the city. do you see that as a success? >> well, it'one of the things where the military success doesn't necessarily equal a political success, but, militarily, the afghan army proved again, as it has repeatedly over the four years since the u.s. pulled most of our combat forces out, that they can cake on and defeat the taliban anyti there's a head-to-head military confrontation. but the cost the military confrontation exacts in civilian lives and dsruptionundermines the credibility of the government, undermines people's confidence in the government, that and in many ways is the purpose ofhe atacks. while the tall bap would love to take the city and hold it permanently, even if they can't, this kind of attack advances their political objectis which is especially important in the potential runup to peace talks. he i want to talk about peace talks but sultan, i want to come back to you for onew question, people in afghanistan respond to the

increase number of attacks seen lately from the taliban across the country?ic >> bly, people, you know, want security and public services, so the government,ou from one side, know, we have been witnessing that -- the approve of the government towards the peopleor, you know, giving a better public service has been weak, and that's why, especially in terms of justice, taliban tually, in some areas, have been the priority for people to go and seek justice because they are very quick and there is no rruption or bribery, anything like that, but, still, there ar many people afraid of war, afraid of tal >> david sedney, as you see the taliban usindifferent tactics across the country, do you see them trying to prove both to afghans and to americans that they contain leverage not only

over some of the country, but as the u.s. is pursuing peace talks with the taliban? >> well, that's very accurate. the taliban have opened up to peace talks following a really impressive peace plan proposed by president ghani earlier this year and, mopost imantly, a cease fire that president ghani offered a little over a mon ago and the taliban accepted for part of the time. he offered a one-week cease fire, the taliban acepted for three days. there's supposed to be another such cease fre next wek. both the government and the taliban have said they are thinking tbout joining inhat cease fire, though neither has formerly proposed it. historically in afghanistan and others before ere are cease fire, the insurgent pounds additional attacks to grain iority, prove power and ideally seize territory. so that is what i think is happening overall. at the same time, there are some

within the taliban who arees oning continuing the war. some of them, after the last cease fire, did not go back to the bate. some of them established local cease fire in some areas in afghanistan. by forcing the fight, it is trying to prove to its waveringy members that re the path of the future and, of course, all of this, in the en, depends on whether the peace talks go forward and that is still very nascent, very early stage may come to fruition but may not. >> are there element of the taliban leadership who wasn't to pursue peace? >> yes, definitely, there are elementso testify taliban leadership who want the pursue peace, but more so the taliban fighters and the people who support the taiban, the taliban have to be responsive to political pressu and those taliban who want peace have a very strong voice right now. the same time, there are hard liners who want complete vuct riand who don't want peace, so

the taliban leadership has to have a lot of discussions inside before it moves ahead. and, of course, on the government side, there are some of the same divisions. >> and sultan faizy, i assume from the afghan people's perspective, the desire is frankly for peace after so much war, righ >> exactly. when the taliban entered the cities during the truce on the eight days, people re acually acting very differently. they acsatuall, you know, a spark of hope for -- youw, kn for a longer-term truce or peaks talks. >> david sedney, briefly, in the time we have left, it was a tough day, a lot ofmies when it comes to afghanistan, especially for those of us who spent a lot of time there. is there hope? >> i think so. i think the chances for peace are the best they have been in 18 or so years i have been rerking in afghanistan. doesn't mean thereat, it

means they exist. i have to say there are other actors involved -- russia, iran, pakistan -- all of whom can play important roles there. this is going to be a complex pathoward peace, but i believe it exists if there is sufficient will on all sides. >> david sedney, sultan faizy, thanks to you both. >> woodruff: next, special correspondent michael cerre looks at the gipwing relationetween the united states military and the high- tech firms of silicon valley. it's tonight's installment of "the leading edge," our weekly series on science and innovation. ko reporter: at the height of last year's north an missile crisis, secretary of defen james mattis was in silicon valley visiting diux, the defense department's innovation unit.

experimental presumably, he had more than a passing interest in the projects it's working on, with miniature sateltes for looking at any spot on the planet 24/7, even through clouds. artificial intelligence programs for scanning millions of aerial images to detect changes in activities. maritime drones for patrolling remote coastlines. the defense department recently- a forward operating base of sorts here in california's silicon valley to get closer to the new technology companies they need to help them with some of their more imdiate strategic and tactical needs. don't let the artillery pieces out front confuse you. ssthe mission is to act leike a military or government operation and more like venturea casts and entrepreneurs. >> i am the managing partner in an interim capacity diux. >> reporter: so your using more of a venture capital term than a military title >> there's a lot of things that we do here that are done differently.y >> reporter: nmmander sean

heritages not your typical commanding officer, nor is diux a typical military office with uniforms, cubicles and the d.o.d.'s, the department of defense's, more regimented mindset. >> we have a strg relationship with v.c.'s across thecoilicon valleystem and we leverage a lot of their portfolio companies solve dod problems. >> reporter: for small tech start-ups, the military's beauracracy and lengthy procurement requirements can cosume more time and resour than they can afford. that's especially true for new technology projects that could be obsolete before they get through the traditional contracting process. tech entrepreneur raj shah ared that with his first start-up . >> and after my 10th meeting with some senior general realizing how long things were taking we stopd pursuing that market. r orter: shah, a former air force f-16 pilot, a mckinsey consultant and entrepreneur,

went back on active duty to run diux for two years before recently returning to the startup world. >> there is a civil military divide. and so because of that many companies don't look to d.o.d.to as a cr and so what diux is trying to do is bridge thatun gap bridge orstanding and itidge the gap of process. >> reporter: the my has been closely connected with the silicon valley since it "started-up" in the 60's by funding the first semiconducter developers and the first satellite surveillance and submarine missile systems in respse to the launch of thesp e and arms race with with the soviets. >> we are building an infrastructure of sensors in e to change the way we collect information of what we do here on earth. >> reporter: diux is helping aerospace engineer and entrepreneur payam banazadeh kickstart capella space, his start-up building a new generation of smaller, cheaper, and for some purposes, better

intellites out of this non- descript facilitan francisco. >> we can quickly redesign and reiterate and we do everything here in-house that allows us to go from design a concept in a paper napkin to whe we are now which is we're launching a satellite in two years. >> reporter: like so many silicon valley start-ups from hewlett packard to google, payam developed his idea while studying at stanford where he took a "hacking for defense" course partially sponsored by diux. >> we can do global coverage night and day all weather with satellites looking at everywonre arth. which could be modify after the project started. >> we've done about 60 of the deals so far, worth about $200 million.

we're about $200 million and our average time from hosting our solicitation to desithe project and awarding the project getting it on contract is about 75 to 90 days which is light speed for the department of defee. >> we can see how many cars are on the streets of paris and we can do that anywhere in the world. >> reporter: kevin o'brien is the chief operating officer of orbital insight, an artificial intelligence and machine wlearning company diux isking with to decipher the avalanche of new aerial imagery too massive for humans to analyze in realtime. >> the power of these new constellations is that you can look at every corner of every inch othe planet every day. and so when you think about that we can identify different types of objects whether they're carst r their trains or planes whether it's roads or new buildings to be being developedr orter: orbital insight preferred working with commercial clients until the military could catch up to silicon valley's deal making speed. >> so our first contract with diux took about six months are contracts that we're working with them now take about six weeks. >> reporter: diux is different from darpa, the defense advancer

re projects agency, the original and much largerge military rncy, which works eron more futuristic, long term technology projects. >> so our business model ion focuseolving the problems msster cheaper and better than traditional mechan therefore we do not go for a 100% solution out of the gate looking 10 years down the road. we look for an immediate solution that is practical right out of the chute. >> reporter: most of diux'spr fundinrities come directly from what they call "operators," military peoplin the field working on real problems, like trying to coordinate mission critical air refueling operations in the middle east using a whiteboard of all things. diux contracted a silicon valley software company to develop a management app with an internal air force team recruited by diux's colonel enrique oti. >> they started writing the code and they started learning from a commercial company how to writ the code how to use the technologies how to interview and they were able to put

together from nothing to work in combat operations in four months. >> reporter: the air force recently cancelled a more than a half billion dollar contract with northrop grumman, a major defense contractor, for being more than two years overdue in deliveri similar types of air operations software. >> reporter: former google c.e.o. and alphabet chairman eric smidt chairs the defense department's innovation board and has been working on guidelines for the military's use . artificial intelligence more than 3,000 google employees hacently signed a petition, and a dozen engineer resigned in protest to some of google's highlighting ethical concerns some technologists have with ntributing to what they consider to be "the business of war." >> well guess what? government likes to look at hotspots arounthe world very persistently more reliably and so there's a lot of mmonality between what we do for the

commercial sector as well for defense and intelligence. >> and so we have very strict privacy guidelines we have v strict rules on what will and what we don't do. we've never come across anything to saying that's a showstopper. >> colorful socks are very important, especially "star wars" socks. >> reporter: as much as they make light of adapting the silicon valley work style while serving on the new frontlines of tech warfare, most of the military personnel assigned to diux have served overseas as war fighters with tactical units. they appreciate the difference between a "cool" new technology they are helping develop and its intended mission with much different risk-reward metrics. >> we would rather leverage autonomous technology to map ou thttlefield before a human has to go into harm's way. we're trying to buy down risk. >> reporter: buying the risk by leveraging the nation's tech capitol.fo r the pbs newshour, this is

mike cerre reporting from mountain view, california. >> woodruff: n, hari sreenivasan and comedian and documentary film-mak hari kondabolu look at the effects of exclusion and stereo-typing in american comedy, entertainnt and media, particularly the stereotyping of south asians in the character, apu, on "the simpsons," the longest-running prv.etime scripted series on >> we've had an amazing run in the past few years, there's like 14 of us now, oh look how'd i get there, that's progress in real time! >> sreenivasan: comic harind olu has been thinking about how he fits into america

as the son of immigrants for quite some time. here he is in 2012 on the totally biased with kamau bellsh . >> because growing up i had no choice but to like this, apu, a cartoon character voiced by hank azaria.ko >> sreenivasanabolu felt so strongly about thnegative stereotype perpetuated by apu from the simpsons he made a documentary.be >> i should ompletely happy but there's still one man who haunts me, apu nahasapeemedilon. "please pay for your purchases and get out and thank you come again", how many of you had to deal with apu or deal with that being referenced?" >> sreenivasan: since the documentary aired on trutv kondabolu has moved on to a netflix standup special tackling issues like race relations in thage of trump. >> and i know they're trump

supporters because after the hate crime they yell 'trump!' >> sreenivas: we met in jackson heights, a neiborhood in queens with a high south asian population. kondabolgrew up near here. he has an unconventionalnd backgrouor a comedian. he worked as an immigrant rights organizer in seattle and got his masters in human rigs from the london school of economics. we sat down at a local indian snack shop to talk about his standup and the simpson's response to his documentary >> i think, first of all, i was surprised the simpsons even responded. do you know what i mean? i made a film that i thought wa heartfelt and-- and very genuine, and funny. and, like, a love letter to my community. >> sreenivasan: cause you're a fan of the simpsons. >> i love thewsimpsons. p on the simpsons. i would say a ton of-- you know my sense olot of my sensibilities come from watching that show every night when i was e kid. because they're mpsons. so i imagined they would've come up with something clevnd it was just kind of like, "ah, we don't care. we don't care what you have to say." i don't even think thesaw the movi >> something that started

decades ago and was applauded t,d inoffensive is now politically incorrhat can you do? >> some things will be dealt with at a later date. >> if at all. >> sreenivasan: did it upset you?t >>set me as a simpsons fan. not so much as an indian- american. and-- lisa wouldn't say that. lisa would've been the ultimate social justice warrior. she would've been the first one on my side. >> sreenivasan: yeah. >> now all of a sudden it feels like, you know, they threw her under the bus. >> sreenivasan: you-- you know, you're tryin' to get-- throughout the film you try to get a response from hank azaa. and he didn't in the film. but he did say something on colbert. >> i really want to see indian, south asian writer, writers in the writing room, not in a token way but genuinely inrming the new direction this character may take including how it is voiced or not voiced. i'm perfectly willing and happy to step aside or help transition it into something new, i really psonsthat's what the s does. >> sreenivasan: when you saw that, what went through your mind?

>> it would've b said that to me in the film. >> sreenivasan: sure. >> but i thought it-- it was a really graciou thoughtful, and he definitely had thought about, like, the reason why this is important ts we wanted to be seen as valid. you also got a sense that hank doesn't make these choices. >> are you sure you want a child apu? >> you know i do, i mean there comes a time when a man asks himself who will float my corpse down the ganges? >>o that's you guys. >> today yto look like apu y, somewhat. no that's not funny. >> do either of you identify with that charter in any way? >> no i don't think so. >> when you see that does that bother you? >> they paid him, he did it. >> sreenivasan: you kno w, i-- i still remember there was a kid inigh school, ian-- i-- i won't say his last name. but you know, i-- i mean, apu's catchphrases were used as a bludgeon against-- >> yeah. >> sreenivasan: all south asians at the time. >> yeah.

>> sreenivasan: it was just-- it wasn't that sophisticated-- >> no. >> sreenivasan: a putdown, right? it was kind of cheap. and-- and-- >> right. reenivasan: as a brown k you're like, "that's all you got?" you know, it sort of-- >> well and-- and that is all they had, because they're-- nobody knew much about us-- e thing that i've heard a lot of is, "well the simpsons makes fun of everybody." ad thacan be true of any kind of comedian. like, if you make fun of everybody, it's equal opportunity offense. what's your problem? why can't you take a joke? i can take a joke, first of all. it's just it's been the same joke over and over again for 30 e-ars. like, after a wh it's like, i know the punchline already. >> sreenivasan: right. >> like, you know, what else do you got? >> sreenivasan: yeah. >> and the second thing is it's not really a fair fight if i'm not allowed to respond. the media wasn't talking about us or giving us opportunities. and secondly, i was eight years old. >> sreenivasan: you know, you also point out that there is ami long history otrelsy in this country. but it seems apu has not changed or evolved-- >> yes. >> sreenivasan: in the time that he has been in america. >> i mean, i think the strange thing is i think a character

like apu wouldn't probably be made today in th form-- because it's so basic. but the simpsons is 30 years old. so this character was kind of grandfathered in you know that a white guy does the voice? >> sreenivasan: you were one of the first comics i remember seeing that actively chose not to do inan accents. >> first of all, i'm not really good at doing accents. so whyould i go with something that isn't my strength, right? if i'm doing it, i'm basically doing hank azaria's impression, which is just him impression of peter sellers' impression-- >> sreenivasan: right. >> which is just his impression of some indian dude he met once, maybe. so-- and another is, you know, i feel like my parents, and a lot of immigrants, already get made fun of r their accents. there's a self-consciousness. and that's a way of silencing people. i didn't wanna further that. >> sreenivasan: how do you see this documentary, anthis in the context of a larger conversation about immigration right now? >> like, there's nothing wrong with being a convenience store owner, for example. but what does a real convenience store owner have to say? what are their stories? there's a million stories and i think if we were able to

humanize each other, and humanize immigrants, i think it would be harder to be okay with large groups of people being sent away, our neighbors being upported, families being split we need john brown white people, that will sacrifice their money for the movement, we need john brn white people that will sacrifice their power for the movementwe need john brown white people that will sacrifice their lives for the movement. people of color we have a role in this as well, we'reonna tweet about it and write facebook posts. >> sreenivasan: kondabolu's standup often mentions his mom. >> for a woman in southern india in the '70s to have her own ce as a doctor, i mean, that wasn't a common thing. >> sreenivasan: that's a big deal. >> it's a huge deal. and then to have to give it up because you're gting married, and then you're raising kids, and you have to pick a different life.th k my mom had this incredible sense of humor, and she still has this incredible sense of humor. and it's a way for her to survive. i think the mom stuff on my albums and on my special, to me,

e really important partl because you hear about the tmigrant parent in differ people's specials, and they're just accents. if you want to know a stereotype about indian people that not everyone knows, it's this. indian people love mangoes. you might be thinking, well ha, i love mangoes. no you don't! my father ate a mango in 1973 that he bought at a roadside stall in india and the story is rye mango was very juicy. that's the whole s >> sreenivasan: yeah. did you-- did you think the bit about the mangos was gonna be as funny for the rest of a as it was, probably, for south asians watching it? >> think that it was reall successful in part because it must seem absurd to people. a frui when i started writing comedy, i always thought, "what is gonna make the majority white audien laugh?" >> sreenivasan: yeah. >> that's what mainstream means, right? >> sreenivasan: yeah. >> and after a whileyou want to expand and be like, well i'm a full person. i have a culture. i have things that shaped me into what i-- alto what i am.

how come i'm notng about these things? >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, a nearly 900- page report on decades of sexual abuse by clergy in pennsylvania includes dozens of testimonies provided by victims. we take a closer look at the allegations and share words from the survivors at our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonigh i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again hereto rrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> maj funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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>> does it give you some kind of comft that your critics are es?ing from both sid >> no, because i could still be wrong. >> this is not how border crossings, how people come into the u.s. seeking asylum what it usually looks like, but i think, look, this may be her best chance to get past these guas right now. >> mr. trump won the congressional district overwhelmingly by about 20 20 points. the question is whether e enthusiasm for president trump will convert into enthusiasm for a different republican. >> does the presidency that interfered in the 2016 election and possibly the midterm as an attack on democracy? captioning sponsored by

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♪ >> there are 1.4 billion people in china, 230 million of them under the age of 14. when we talk about china's future, we often talk about new technology, new cities, new developments, but none of that would mean much without the human factor. this is a typical primary school in chengdu. it has 2,000 students. [ speaking cnese ] these are the rising stars of china, next on "yan can cook." ♪ [ >>peaking chinese ] ♪ ♪