vu: next, a "kqenewsroom" special... richards: my motto now is, "start before you're ready." whatevyo new opportunity come way, jump at it. vu: ...authors speaking about everything from sexism in silicon valley... chang: the women sort of feel like, but they're damned if they do and damned if they don't." vu: ...to the role of religion in today's turbulent political climate. aslan: evangelicalism and the republican partyma have beeied as a single force, and this is the culmination of that marriage,d rhaps 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 revisiting interviews from our archives with dynamic, provocative authors. we begin with the politics of health care. fromcecile richards has beenic, provocthe president. and ceo of planned parenthood for more tn a decade. the organization offers low-cost reproductive health-care services

ro millions of people the country. one of those services is abortion, making the nonprofit a frequent target of conservative lawmakers who hafe threatened to cut ofral funding. richards announced in january tha2018 will be pr last at the helm oflanned parenthood, and she has a book out, "make trouble." it chronicles her stories of bucking the system and fighting for change from an early age. cecile richards, nice to have you here.gr richardst to be back. thank you. vu: well, in the introduction in your book, you write right off the topractically, "for the first time in my life, i'm wondering whether my own daughrs will have far fewer rights than i've had." which rights are you talking about, and why do you feel that way? richards: well, i'm obviously concerned under this administration and this congress at the effort to repeal women's reproductive rights, access to birth control. really basic, basic health-care rights is at risk, and that's, of course, the work we've been doing at planned parenthood this entire year is to fight back, o d we've been successfulr, and, of course, we've seen an outpouring of young women mobilizing, energized, running for office

and doing all of the things i think we need to do. vu: the trump administration has done a number of things. it's rolled bacontrace. it's allowed states to defund planning parenthood. it's cut funds for teen-pregnancy prevention programs.at lse is coming down the pipeline that has you concerned? richards: one of the biggest concerns frankly that we have is the kind of judges that are being put up into the federal judiciarnow, some of the most extreme judges, some of them not qualified.bi vu: and thest fight right now seems to be over the nomination of wendy vitter to louisiana district courts. planned parenthood has taken out ads against her nomination. whhe are your concerns abou and what do you think her nomination means for other bench openings across the country? richards: well, the concern about wey vitter is... and, yes, planned parenthood has been actively opposing her nomination because she has some of the most extreme views even on issues like birth control,li trying t birth control to violent death among women. she has not been rated qualified by the american bar associatione

she has no expe in the federal judicial system that would make hequalified. it seems that her only qualifications is that shhes on the far right ofepublican party. vu: and she supports the views of an anti-abortion advocate who says that contraceptives cause cancer. richards: and absolutely, and then we saw the aring, you know, her hearing before the senate. she wasn't even willing to say where she was b wn vs. board of education. i mean, this is the kind of fundamental... i tha fundamental issue in this country, and so we're just concerned that this administraon is putting very, very political nominees in the federal bench be that are going there for a lifetime. abvu: i want to also talkt s that you recount in your book. richards: mm-hmm. vu: you'vead quite a life. your mother, ann richards, was the governor of texas. richards: correct. vu: the firebrand that she was. richards: yes. vu: your father, david, is a civil-rights attorney, and you write in your book that your dinner table was never really about eating. it was for sorting precincts lists, so what's your earliesalmemory of being polit active?

richards: well, i mean, that was the... i had an incredible childhood. i mean, my parents were into every movement th came through town -- the farmworkers, the women's movement. i think the most important moment for us, though,en was y mom got to run the first campaign ever of a woman who was running for the state house, sarah weddington who had argued the roe. vs. wade case, and as kids we all got to be involved, and i saw firsthandth how hs for women to run for office and how important it wasd s because she won that race, and then, of course,av mom went on to her own political career. vu: and one of the most notable moments of your career, i meant we alled it nationally in 2015, was when congress investigated controversial videos about planned parenthood's collection of aborted fetal tissue. no evrichards: none.doing was that one ofnd.vu the toughest challenges during your tenure planned parenthood? richards: oh, absolutely. i mean, you know, fake videotapes that were used to try damage the reputation of the organization, we had five congressional committees

investigating planned parenthood, more than investigated enron or the financial crisis, but wethot through that, and k one of the most important things about that aring bwas it ended up beingt, an opportunity to educate millions of people in this country about the incredible health care that planned parenthood provides every single day me thousands of women rica. vu: and yet you're stepping down at a time when many women would argue that planned parenthood needs someate with your experienche helm. richards: well, wem really proud of whae done over the last 12 yea to invest in a whole new generation of leaders all across the country, and, of course, i wouldn't be stepping downth if i felt like we were at risk.ountry, we are actually stronger today than we've ever been in our 100-yeahistory. we have now more than 12 million supporters, which is twice the membe ahip of the national rifociation. we're making a difference in states all across the country, and i'll be an avid supporter of planned parenthood, we're making a difference in stfor my entire lithe country, but i think it's time for me to move aside and make space for someone new. vu: the 2016 presidential election, as you mentioned,

has energized many women, younger women, former housewives who now are running for office for the first time. they're becoming more politicay active whether it's through community volunteering or actually running for office, and you have had a longstore of being very politically active.es i mean, you prd the vietnam war when you were just, you know, in the 7th grade...h ds: right. vu: ...and you were a union organizer for a long time after graduating from college, so what would be the biggest piece of advice that you have for women who are now becoming politically active? richards: well, i think just dsk't wait for someone toou to do it. just jump right in right now. i think so many women wait until they think they have the rfect résumé whether it's to run for office or run an organization, but this is the moment.ee i've neverwomen this active, really, literally shaking the foundation of this country in every possible way, and i think that if we support each other, help women that are running for office, we really can make an enormous impactt ly in this november but two years from now as well.

vu: and yet, when the job came upor planned parenthood to head it, you almost didn't take it. richards: that's right. vu: why? richards: well, i mean, that's wh 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," you knowand i think a lotl, i've never dof women hold backbig. because they think they're not ready, and so my motto now is, "start before you're ready." you are, and, you know, don't overthink it. un just whatever new oppoy comes your way, jump at it. vu: and those are good words to end on. cecile richards stepping down from planned parenthood, vu: and those are good words so nice to have you here, and congratulation on your new book. richards: thank you very much. thanks. vu: turning now to the culture of high tech, silicon valley is home st some of the world's rofitable and innovative companies who are vying to create game-changing products and services, but according to bloomberg tv host emily chang, the vae ey is also a place whnder inequality and mistreatment of women run rampant. chang lays out her critique in her book, "brotopia: breaking up the boys' club of silicon valley."

nice to have you here. chang: thank you, thuy, for having me. it's great to be here. vu: well, how stark is the gender gap in the tech industry? chang:erso just lu i mean, women account for 25% of jobsti across the com industry, 7% of venture-capital investors. these are the people who decide what geek gets to be the next facebook,wo ann-led companies get just 2% of venture-capital funding, er not only are they upresented, they're just not getting the money that they need to start these potentially world-changing businesses. vu: but it wasn't always this wayk i mean, in your you talk abn world-changing businesses. who played a formative role in the computer industry, women like ada lovelpee, women like grace h tell us about them. chang: in the 1940s and 1950s -- meayeditolesinen t com ipud ing rrch most srted ustry.wh programming computr nasa,g coand then in the '60s and '70s, as the industry was exploding, they were desperate for new talent, s

and sotware company hired two psychologists to develop a personality test to identify good programmers, and what they decided is that good programmers, quote, "don't like people." vu: hmm. chang: well, if you look for people who don't like people, you'll hire far more men than women. that's what the resech tells us, and there's no research to support this idea that people who don't like people are better at this job than people who do or that men are better at this job than women,tu but it had pered this idea of the antisocial, mostly white, male nerd stereotype that persists to this day.ha vu: and sos why companies, you think, keep on hiring people who fit that stereotype? chang: so that test, for ample, was used for decades by companies as big as ibm, and that stereotype came to sort of permeate not just the industry but computer labses and parents and fami and then it was repeated in popular culture. a lot of people told me,well, this stereotype was created in fact, it wasn'tes." the tech industry created that stereotype,

and it has perpetuated is idea, you know, that a very narrow group of people are good at this when, in fact, we need people of all backgrounds making these products when, ibecause billionsd bille of all backgrounds are using them, men and women. of power imbalance by talkingo ciabout the sex parties that happen in silicon valley. what happens at these gatherings? chang: in silicon valley, worknd personal lives are very intertwined, and a lotsof business happens e the office, so whether it is at the bar or the hotel lobby or sometimes even in the hot tub. you know, i talk about an investor who has hot-tub parties at his house, d so there's a wide spectrum of social behavior that you see, ys and in many wa, these parties are lot more about power than they are about sex, and it's a power dynamic that is complete lopsided. vu: i guess some people may argue, "well, these women are co hng to these parties e a good time, and what is wrong with that?" chang: i spoke to over three dozen people now

and several who have actually come forward to me since i wrote the book, men and women. you know, the men describe a situation where they're challenging social moresal and nging traditional morality, where the women sort of feel like, "this is where powerful people are," ot they're damned if theyand . if they do attend these parties, orthey're disrespected iscredited. they may never see an investment, but if they doedt attend, they're lout. they're shut out of these important social gatherings, and, you knook some of the women i to actually had to... felt that they had to leave silicon valley in order to, you know,ne just do bu on a level playing field, and they decided to continue their businesses in new york. vu: it is a bit ironic, thoughi that people who pride themselves on disrupting things, that kind of environment is not really disruptive at all. some wouldstrgue it's very much thus quo, you know, with a lot of what has been happening in busess. chang: it's a tale as old as time, and i do think part of the problem...

chang: it'ssexism exists everywhere, but part of the n oblem with the sexismlicon valley is that this is an industry that prides itself on changing the world anbeing 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 in silicon valley,an it matters more nywhere because this is an industrychn, that is ging our lives every day, controlling what we see, controlling wh we read... vu: how we live, how we work, how we play. chan ...how we get around, the games that our children are playing, you know, but i... you know, i'm an optimistft even spending two years writing this book. i believe that the people who are changing the world, who have solved all of these incredib hard problems, they can change this too. if they can get us to mars and build self-driving cars and give u brides at the push ofton, they can hire more women and pay them fairly. vu: and it's funny that you just brought all that up about, s u know, taking us toand outer space.

elon musk has been very critical of your book. chang: mm-hmm. vu: he has said that... for example, one oiothe sex parties you med, he has acknowledged he was there, but he said no lurid behavior happened when he was there.s he thought it a compan. he said that your account was salacious, misleading, and you should be ashamed. how do you respond to that criticism? chang: that particular party, i never said, "that party was a sex party," but that was very disturbing and mirrors some of the behavior that we see in some of these other environments,d spoke to men and women who were at that party who felt uncomfortable, who described drug use, who described cuddling in the middle of the floor and one womain particular who felt that she was pressured in sexual activity and who would not have been there if such powerful people had not been there. vu: mm. chang: and so i came to this as a journalist. i don't have an agenda.'t i coulake this stuff up, and i uncovered some things that i found very troubling.

vu: all right. well, the niae of the book is "brot author emily chang, thank you so much.u chang: thank r having me andthe niae shining a light on these issues. i appreciate it. vu: no religion an. since taking office, president trump has enacted tough new immigration policies as well as travel bans aimed at restricting traveldo from pnantly muslim countries. in the fall of 2017, president trump retweeted three inflammatory anti-muslim videos posted by a far-right group in britain. that incident sparked an international backlash. i talked with reza aslan, best-selling author, religious uholar and a professor riverside, about the intersection of religion and politics in these turbulent times. aslan's latest book, "god: a human histor" explores the evolution of the concept of god. i sat down with him in december of 2017.e so nice to hu here. aslan: thank you. nice to be here. vu: so we'll get to your book in a moment, but first t wanted to ask you abose anti-muslim videos that president trump retweeted. but you were born in iran.you abose ayou are muslim.os

what's your reaction to that? aslan: i wasn't surprised by its this is a ent who has made anti-muslim sentiment the core foundation not just of his candidacy but of his presidency. he has brought the worst elements of the iheamophobia industry innited states, including members of actually southern-poverty- law-center-dignated hate groups into the white house itself. this is who he is, and i think we should stop etending otherwise for a moment here, and i understand t confusion that often arises when confronted withahe seemingly racist acts and rhetoric t th president routinely involves himself with, and these kind of things?why.y and maybe it's just because i think the simplest answer is the right answer, or maybe i've just been watching this too much, but the reason that he does thingsm

that s 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 trump. you've written about his supporters. in an op-ed in the la times, you liken trump's supporters to cult members. aslan: that's right. vu: can you explain that? aslan: i've spent a met of time around culers. i've lived with cult members. i've studied cults for most of my le, and i can say with a fair measure of confidence that the kind of rhetoric that i hear from trump's inner-core supporters sounds very much like the kind of rhetoric that i hear from cult members. after all, president trump himself made this very clear en he said that he could shoot somebody on 5th avenue and not se these voters, and that's precisely what we are seeing now. now, t as particularly exists ore element of his followers among the white evangelical base, which still supports him pretty extraordinarily, but you have someone one of his evangelicisors, a saying that trump is receiving downloads from god.

you have people like franklin graham, perhaps his greatest evangelical supporter, comparing him positively to prophets like abraham and moses and david. you have pat robertson saying that trump's authority is the authority 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 because if you lookhen? at the 2016 election, there was a cnn poll, right,at and oll found that 61% of white catholics voted for president trump. it was even highl among white evangeliters. aslan: 81%. vu: 81%, right. so how hashat role of religion changed in politics over the years? aslan: let's be clear. 81% of white evangelicals voted for donald trump.va 67% ofelicals of color voted for hillary clinton. these are people who believe the same thing, who have the same theologyo but ve a different skin tone, so again, we can't keep pretending

that race isn't the primary factor in so manyatf these discussions e are having here. this is an issue ong white evangelicals, and i would say that that's a good thing because what we are seeing now is an enormous amount of backlash from white evangelicals themselves, many white evangelical leaders who feel as though this is a day ofeckoning, that for many, many years, evangelicalism and the republican party have been marrieds 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 those who feel, including iran, as president trump does, buthat this is you say the right thing to do, to put some travel restrictions in place? aslan: these aren't "some" travel restrictis. they're blanket-travel restrictions. in the entire history of t united states,

not a single american has ever been killed on u.s. soil f by aeign national from any one of the countries that have been banned on trump's travel list. the u.s. military thinks it's a terrible idea. the intelligence community thinks it's a terrible idea. it's a joke to say that this is abt preventing terrorism. this is, again, another example of what has become a demonstrable routine of racist actions by this white house. vu: all right. now to your book, "god: a human history," it's more a study of how god is conceptualized rather than a history of god. you say that most of us try to humize god. what do you mean by that? aslan: well, it's this sort of natal impulse that we have that we project upon god our own emotions, our own personalities, our own characteristics, 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 religious conflicts around the worldha

because reallywe are doing is implanting in our sense of the divineha everythings good and bad about us, and so what i am advocating for is to reverse thatrocess, 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 wou create a more deepe more meaningful spirituality, but i also think that it could lead to greater relations and less conflict between religions. vu: and definitely much more about that in your book,f and sou're interested, definitely pick up a copy of "god: a human history."yo reza aslan, thanso much and sou'rfor being here. aslan: my pleasure. vu: recently, we talked with the former head of the sierra club, carl popeo about his ne titled, "climate of hope." he coauthored it with former new york city mayor michael bloomberg. businesses and local governments can battle climate changeals,

even when state and national governments won't. ce to have you here. pope: great to be here again. vu: well, inour book, ce to you say that it's time for a new type of conversation about climate change.yo what dthink is wrong with the way it's being discussed now, pope: well, we have like to rabout climate changeion?lk as this enormous problem which requires phenomenal sacrifice and nversation is, "who is going to pay the bill?" that used to be true it's not true anymor right now, climate change is a, and the question is, "who is going to take the lead?" that's a different kind of conversation. vu: and you also point t has talked about very long-te consequences, not something that people can relate to now. pope: that's exactly right, and if you look, erfor example, the cotion we're having, people don't realize that many of the states which have done the most to reduce their carbon ftprint are states like oklahoma and texas, which did it not because they had governors who cared about climate change' they d but because they had utility customers who wanted cheaper power, and wind is cheaper than coal.

vu: and so there was a pope: and it was immediate.ere? wholesale power rates in texas have been coming down signicantly because we're retiring coal and replacing it with natural gas, wind and solar. vu: and, you know, much of the debate over climate change omnters around doom-and-gcenarios, and you point out in the book that those scaring tactics w don't realk with people. why not? pope: frankly, if you're trying to get somebody... if you're a rock-climbing coachy and you'reg to get somebody to do a pitch that is harder than something they've done before, you don't int them to do it by s "oh, my god. this is going to be hard.an yoi'm not sure youo this."t by s "ono.my god. 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 worko you're going to have on." that's what we need to tell people about climate change. you say, "wait a minute. we got rid of a class of refrigeration chemicals

that were destroying the ozone layer. now, we have a class of refrigeration chemicals that are destroying the climate, but we know how to replace them with better stuff. we replaced the first set. we can replace this set."o so we needke it familiar and comfortable for people. vu: you also write in the book that the major contributors to global warming are buildings, right?s thate electricity we use in our homes, our offices, also transportation and the stuff we make -- steel, toys, furniture -- thate electricity we use in our homes, and so there are so many colex layers here, so what can i as an individual do? wh i are the top two thinan do to help fight climate change? pope: well, it depends on who you are because everybody has a differenton set of institu connections. everybody is in part of... people are part of families.pa they'r of communities. they vote for school boards.k they wr companies. they may teach students, and in all of those roles, you have an opportunaty to focus the conven on,

"how can we simultaneously make tomorrow better and do better today?"an everybody has those opportunities. you just have to look around you and say, "where do i pve connection to othple, and how can i work with those other people to speed up the rate of progress towards better outcomes for the climate, which are also going to be better outcomes anr making us wealthier healthier?" vu: we have this american lung association report that just came out this week that says, . "out of the top 10 uties with the most ozone pollution, eight of them are in california, including los angeles, sacramento and fresno," and at the same time we have a federal govement that is rolling back quite a few provisions of thclean air act. pope: well, the trump administration is making federal policies horrible. it turns out, that doesnve . for example, let's talk about air pollution in california. i've been working on this problem for 40 years. for 40 years, california has been trying to cbuan up the internal-cion engine,

and we've done really a remarkable job, to cbuan up and for most of those 40 years, washington was resistant. so most of the progress california made in cleaning up the car, which has now translated into national progress, was made by california 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, and california can take the lead and is taking the lead on getting that done. even though donald trump wants to pretend that electric cars aren't better than iernal-combustion cars, they are. vu: how is the administration's policies, viewpoints on climate change, for example, affecting the way that environmentalistsdo arg their work? pope: what really matters is, is it affecting ite way american electrconsumers behave? is it affecting the way american drivers behave? is iicaffecting the way am manufacturers behave? not so much. they all look at the trump administration and say, "eh, he's going to be there for a while. g heng to be gone. we're investing in the future."

there was a survey done of all the public utilitieswh trump announced, "oh, i'm going to bring back coal," and only one company out of 42 said that imewould change their inve strategy. the rest said, "we're not rsvesting for the next 3 y we're investing for the next 20 years,ne and th 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 companies over the costs of climate cnge. good or bad strategy? 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 t other side and saying, "well, if the government is not going to hold the oil industry accountable, individual citizens can." vu: all right. carl pope, thank you. nice to have you here. pope: great. nice to be with you. vu: and that will do it for us. as always, you can find more of oucoverage on kqed.org/newsroom. i'm thuy vu. thank you for joining us. ♪

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:a divided country elect a divided congress. i'm robert costa. welcome to "washington week." the history making class of freshmen lawmakers in the house upends the balance of hour -- power in washington. will there be bipartisanship or political war? >> a democratic congress will work for solutions that bring together because we've all had enough of division. robert: as democrats vow to also be a check on president trump, house republicans prepare to be in the minority for the first time in eigh w years. >>e will work with anybody across that aisle if they are there to work to move america forward. robert: and the president issues a warning to democratic investigators. president trump: they can play that game but we can play it better. robert: wecuss the new era of divided government next.