captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> brangham: good evening. i'm william brangham. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight: the trump administration again rolls back envonmental regulations, this time for coal plants. then, the world's worst humanitarian crisis. an on-the-ground report on the famine in yemen. >> in many other crises in the world, those people would be gettinfood assistance in an operation, but in yemen, the scale of the needs is outpacing the capacity and the resrces. >> brangham: plus, it's friday. michael gerson and jonathan capehart analyze the week in litics. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made adssible by the corporation for public bsting. and by contributions to your pbs yostation from viewers lik thank you. >> brangham: the partial government shutdown ended it first full week today, with no signs of negotiaons before the new year, and the new congress. president trump insisted again today that any spending billo

reopen the government must include billions of dollars in funding for a southern border wall. he wro on twitter that, "we will be forced to close the southern border entirely" if there's no money for the wall. the president has also cited the case of gustavo perez arriaga, the illegal immigrant accused of killing a policeman in northern california. he was arrested today in bakersfield. in modesto, the sheriff of stanislaus county, where theki ing occurred, said california's sanctuary law blocked y prior effort to have the man deported. >> based on two arrests foru. and some other active warrants that this criminal has out there, law enforcement would have been prevented, prohibited, from sharing any information with i.c.e. about this criminal gang member. ladies and gentlemen, this is not how you protect a community. >> brangham: investigators sayce ofronil singh was shot and killed after he pulled over pere driving drunk.legedly

new mexico officials now say a guatemalan boy had the flu when he died in federal detention, on christmas eve. eight-year-old felipe gomez d alonzo was the second ch die this month while in bord. patrol custo he had been held in new mexico, but passed away at a hostal in el paso, texas. meanwhile, the secretary of homeland security, krijen nielsen, visited el paso today to discuss the case with officials. in syria, the danger of new fighting escalated at a key town where u.s. troops have been supporting kurdish fighters. syrian forces arrived near manbij, apparently to aid the kurds against a possible attack by turkey. the turks consider the kurds terrorists. but a turkish build-up also continued, and president recep tayyip erdogan brushed aside the syrian move. >> ( translated ): we know there is a situation where their syrian flag has been hoisted, but there is nothing confirmed, serious yet. our entire aim is to make terror

organizations leave the area. if terror organizations leav i then theno work left for us anyway. >> brangham: the syrian and turkish military mov have accelerated since president trump announced last week that s. troops will leave syria. right now, about 2,200 are deployed there.cr s in indonesia struggled again today to reach an erupting volcano and assess the dangersof new tsunami. bad weather and an enormous cloud of volcanic ash spewing a mile high hampered the effort for a second day. the erupons triggered a nster wave last saturday that killed 426 people. mo than 40,000 others rema displace back in this country, flood warnings were out todaa from louisian new jersey as a powerful storm dumped heavy rain. it had already sent up to a foot of rain rushing through the reets of columbia, mississippi today. the downpours moved north and east. meanwhile, another storm brought

blizzard conditions across the dakotas and minnesota. wells fargo will pay $575 million in a settlement over the fake accounts the bank opened in customers' names. the agreement, made public today, includes all 50 u.s. states and the district of columbia. the company admitted in 2015 that employees opened millions of fake accounts in order to meet sales goals. it has already been ordered to pay more than $1.2 billion in penalties. and, wall street's rally ended today. the dow jones industrial average lost 76 points to close at 23,062. the nasdaq fell five points, and the s&p 500 slipped three. for the week, the dow and the s&p gained nearly 3%. the nasdaq gainenearly 4%. still to come on the newshour:st the trump ration rolls back environmental regulations t coal plants. the world's worsmanitarian crisis-- theamine in yemen. alysis from michael gerson and jonathan capehart on the week's

political news. and, mucmore. t >> brangham: tmp administration is moving to partially roll back yet another obama-era environmental rule-- this time, on the mercury emissions that come out of the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants. the environmental protection agency announced the proposal today, saying that the ct of these regulations outweighs the health benefits. mercury can cause birth defects, brain damage and learning disabilities in children. under presidenobama, the e.p.a. had said power plants must limit mercury and other pollutants, and it justified those rules by saying the changes would prevent thousands of deaths and save tens of billions of dollars. but president trump's e.p.a. doesn't agree with those calculations at all, and it said utilities won't have to comply with those rules in the future. juliet eilperin of the

ashington post" has beenri co the e.p.a. throughout the trump administration. nice to see you. >> great to see you. >> brangham: let's ck in time. in 2011, the obama administrati and his e.p.a. puts out these rules. this is considered one of irama's signature emental rules. what did they do back then? >> the rules mandated power companies reduce the mercury thatome out of the smokestacks of power plants by 90% over the course of five years, and, so, that's what was set in hogs there were a series of lawsuits about this questioning again how they came to this conclusion, but at was really what was triggered by the obama administration and accounts for why we've seenuch a decline in mercury from power plants across the country. >> brangham: so the rules, if they were intended to recuse mercury, they worked? >> they succeeded a nd 2016, the industry was in fully compliance with whama set

out to do in 2011. >> brangham: remind us why we care about mercury getting into the air. >> it's a porful neuoxin. there are also other hazardous pollutants emitted along with mercury. what happens is, over time, it can accumulate, for example, in fish, which we eat, and ultimately poses the greatest risks to unborn children and infants as their brains are developing. so it's somethin obviously, the medical communities are concerned about. >> brangham: you menetioned at time there were lawsuits. those were from the industry saying we don't want to com ypl? , both the industry and the number of states that were alive with industry challged this. one of the main issues that they raised was the idea that, when thobama e.p.a. originally calculated it, they said it would cost roughly 9.6 billion a year for the industry to install these pollution controls, and it would really only save the -- the limits on mercury would only

translate to $6 million a year in health benefits. >> brangham: 1 billion versus off6 million. >> yes, and they said if you take into account by cleaning up the power plants they are reduce nitrogen e oxllutants throirchgd heart and lung dig easy that likely what we're talking about are public health benefits in the range of 37 billion to 90 billion a year, so the benefits far outweigh the costs. >> brangham: i see. so that was the obama administration's justifications on the cost enefit analysis. >> yes. >> brangham: the ramp e.p.a. says that was the wrong calculation? >> they said the acting administrator for the epia.p. math.ufortd this as fuzzy he said, look, we're just trying to change the way we count t ings. the fu're cleaning up these other pollutants, these fine particles that cause lung

disease, these are what we call co-benefits, incidental and not directly tied to mercury, so we should exclude those altogether and very much changes the th, as you can see. >> brangham: they're not saying the co-benefits aren'ts, actually benefthough, right? >> right. they're not saying we're not assaying those don't exist or we're not trying to reduce the fine particles and other pollute minutes other rules, but for the purposes of this rule they're saying we're notoing to count them in the equation. >> brangham: is industry happy about this mov >> it's a very interesting question. what industry is very clear on is they want to keep the obama era rule in place becausesp they've alreadt the money to clean up their plants and they would consider it a competitive disadvantage if suddenly things were reversed and they take the scrubbers off. the fascinating thweng is and reached out to the biggs trade seengsd what they said esis, ntially, they understand that e.p.a. caneview th rules but most importantly the rules stay in place.

real, this is much more abt changing the calculus going forward from the perspective of trump officials. >> brangham: so interesting. as we've talked with you many times on the show, this is obviously a part othe much larger rollback of evironmental era -- obama era environmental yrules. wh look back on the year, the two years of the trump e.p.a., whse do you point to as other signature rol tacks? >> welre are a number of them, but i would say in terms of some of the most high-profile e.p.a. reverse also that we've had since trump has taken office, at the top of the list tuld be the repeal of he clean power plant. this was, you know, essentially -- >> the omnibus -- signature obama effort to deal with climate change by curbing the greenhouse gases that come out of power plants. so at this point the epia.p. has proposed its own version of this which is far less stringent. then you also have the fact that they've frozen fuel efciency standards for cars and light

trucks -- again, an arguably eagerly significant climate rule that came out to have the obama administration. again, in the past several weeks, we've seen a rollback of the wears of the u.s. rule. this is an extremely wonky rule but significant that essentially defines what waters are protected in the united states from bhiewngs, from being ained drained -- from pollution and drained. >> brangha lastly wknow scott pruitt, former e.p.a. chief, an andrew we wiler w weie act chief do. we see a policy shift at the top. >> you will see the controversial initiatives scott pushed being sidelined under the new administrator, things like doing a public de otever whether climate change is cause bid human activi, or one

particularly controversial proposal which had to do with easing pollution controls on diesel freight trks, so a few outlier things. but for the most part, what we're seei from rew wheeler and what you can expect in the coming years is he will pursue many of the same deregulatory initiatives that have been the hallmark of the trump era. >> brangham: juliet eilperin, as always, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> brangham: this month, the united nations announced that 73,000 yemenis are lunder famine conditions, and millions more risk dying from hunger as the country's humanitarian crisis spirals downward. since 2014, yemen has been torn apart by a civil war, pitting rebels who are allied with iran against the yemeni government, which is allied wi saudi arabia. saudia arabia, in turn, receives military support from the united states.

special correspondent jane fergusaged to visit rebel-held areas for the newshour earli and she returned this month to provide this exclusive report he worsening situation. and a warning-- some of the scenes in this story are very disturbing. >> reporter: when ikram bakil's mother removes her clothes, the extent of her suffering is clear. she is starving. below the waist, h body shrinks away to nothing. this is what famine does to a four-year-old erild. her moth aisha cannot bear to watch her waste away. she is overcome by a wave of grief as she tells us of her struggles to keep ikram alive. >> ( translated ): my husband's family sayi shouldn't worry about it. when i asked them to give mesa money, the "allah will take care of her." i tooker to the hospital. i sold a ring for $27 and got her treatment, but it didn't work. they sent us here and now they

are treating her, but she is still sick. >> reporter: the war in yemen has devastated the economy. millions are out of work, and the price of food and fuel has spiked. it is home to the worst humanitarian suffering in the world, with countless falies unable to feed themselves. the u.n. says two-thirds of yemenis need food aid and millions are on the brink of famine. i came here in june and found unimaginable misery. since then, fighting has intensified across the country, and i returned to find the crisis even worse. this hospital is in the capital, sanaa. only the lucky ones make it this ffr. many simply cannotd the bus fare. millions are stranded in rur oseas. to find some of th we headed out to hajja, high up in the

nortyemen mountains, where t main regional medical center is overflowing with crowds ofre desperate s and children. here we found dr. al maqtali, working hard to save lives. but, she only has medicine to give them, when what they really need is fo. they come back again an again, worse each time. how do you feel when you are treating them? >> i am feeling very, very sad because i cannot help them. when they came here in the outpatient, they are moderate malnourished. i cannot give them food-- from where i will give them food? after that, they are coming to the ward with severe malnutrition. this is the process. moderate to severe and dying. >> reporter: so you are forced to watch them get worse. >> yes. >> reporter: she's afraid this is only tip of the iceberg. many of the worst cases, she doesn't see. that's because so many parents can't even afford the cost of bringing their children for treatment.

do you fear that there's a lot that are still out there? >> yes. for one coming here, there is 20 not coming, maybe 20, 30, 50. we don't know. >> reporter: we headed further into the countryside. here at a basic rural clinic, parents waitedn line for their ildren to get examined. aey are all from the samea? this ar? >> yeah. >> reporter: the daily weighing and measuring tiny arms comes to the same conclusion every time: when the shows red, it means severely malnourished. driving deeper into the mountains, we learned of a family struggling to keep their newest born alive. here in their isolated community, they were living only onice and a prayer. hamoud abdullah is stunted and unresponsive. he has been malnourished his entire, short life. incredibly, he is two years old, but looks like he is just a few

months. his mother amany took him to the hospital once before. >> ( translated ): you could not imagine. when we brought him to the hospital, he was almost dead, and we thought he wouldn't survive. in the hospital, they said he was finished. they gave him oxygen and injections. we stayed for almost a month before returning home. >> reporter: now he is sick again, and there is no more money left for the journey back to the hospital. yemen's mothers are surviving on one meal a day, often just bread and tea. they are not getting enough nutrition to be able to breastfeed, and their babies weaken and die. the cost of a simple bus fare has spiked as fuel prices increased due to the war.ry half the count health facilities are shut, and even if fs amil make it to one, they then have to pay for a place to stay in the town while the child gets treatme. all too often, they leave the

hospital too ely, and return to a home where food remains scarce. it's not just hunger that claims the lives of yemen's children. diseases have taken hold here, too. poor sanitation and living conditions as a result of the war have spawned the world's worst cholera outbreak. every hospital now has to have cholera wards like this. five-year-old akram is barely conscious, suffering from dangerously severe dehydraon. nearby lies wadah, also five years old. he has been hospitalized with cholera twice in the last month. the ward is full of women-- mothers ill with the disease, all with children back home depending on them.ve saba just artoday with cholera. she has been sick for four days, and she just arrived today for treatment with cholera. she is one of five people that have arrived into this clinic so

far today. in the room next door lies ten- year-old yasmine. her breathing comes in painful gasps, as she struggle the deadly disease diphtheria. it's aillness that doctors here never treated before, havi been largely eradicated in yemen with vaccinations. but this waras undone everything. in the four yearthe conflict has ravaged yemen, the number of needy people has steadily increased. most here need food donations. the way this war is beinfought is directly causing the hunger here. an air, land and sea blockade on the rebel-controlled north of yemen, and saudi-led campaign of air strikes have brought the economy to its knees. millions of households have lost their incomes, and food pricesnc haveased. the rebels prevent aid workers from accessing areas near the front line, where many need their help.

nowhere else on earth are so many people going hungry. and the u.n. is struggling to keep up. >> if i would plot it on a graph, it's going like this. and the question is, how much can be done? if every year the needs are going to go up, if we we feeding three million people two years ago, and today we are ing eight million people and next year we are going to feed 12 million people, where is ll going to stop? the only way it wi stop is when there is peace. >> reporter: even if t. manages to feed 12 million people this coming year, .20 million need their he that gap is a reality that aid works here simply have to accept. >> in many oer places in the world, we would be feeding those people. in many other crises in the p world, thople would be getting food assistance in an operation. but in yemen, it's just the scale of the needs is outpacing the capacity andhe resources.

>> reporter: in yemen, this suffering is man-made. the war is causing the famine. the majority of those killed in this conflict are dying of hunger and preventable diseases. the starving are the it's casualties, children like ikram, the most innocent of victims. for the pbs newshour, i'm jane ferguson, in sanaa, yemen. >> brangham: stay with us. coming up on the newshour:a cap of the best television of 2018. the life of israeli writer and peace advocate, amos oz. and, turning salt from the dead sea into art.

washington, d.c. and the nation are closing the year in the middle of a government shutdown, with the two p as far apart as you can be over the need for a border wall. for some analysis on this week co politics, i'm joined by "washington postmnists michael gerson and jonathan capeha. mark shields and david brooks are away.el gentlemen,me. >> thank you. >> brangham: jonathan, to you first. the chasm between the democratic party and president trump over this shutdown fight over immigration gets wider and wider and wider. is it your sense that either side genuinely wants a utln, or do they actually relish this fight? >> i'll take president trump first. i think he relishes the fight. he's been talking about this border wall since his campaign days, he's been talking about it as president. a couple of things have sh ted -- who's going toay for it, was always going to be mexico during the campaign, mexico through most to have the administration, cod -- mexi through most of the

administration and now he's trying to put the american taxpayer on the hook f. the wa also the definition. nt's a wall, then slats, th whatever else. as for the democrats, i actually do think they do want to have a solution, not just when it comes o whenorder wall, but a it comes to immigration. we have been down this road at least two times ths year -- and correct me if i'm wrong, michaee said yes to funding for a border wall in exchange for otection for dreamers, or in exchange for rm and, eachre time, the president has rejected. each time the republicans have rejected it. so, now, i think, with democrats coming into the majority next week that we might see a push for that, but let's not forget something -- republicans still control the house, they still control the senate, and president trump is still in the whe house, and ey could do something with the majority that they have right now.

clearly, they're choosing not el. >> brangham: micdo you see any obvious end to this log jam? >> well, i think you're correct, jonathan, that democrats have the elements of maybe a deal .on th it's not as though they're talking about two massively different positions here. it's a rounding error in the budget. and i talked with a democratic senator today who said, you hiow, there are two positions that might solve problem, one including the dreamers, but said we no long trust the president, he has to move first: >> brangecause they put those on the table in the past and the president has saido to them. >> exactly, and pulled the rug out. and, so, he's the unreliable negotiating partner. the president and hispeople do believe that, first of all, they dominate the issu that instead of the speaker of the house having her issues, okay, they're going to dominate what the topic of discussion is, and

they think that that's a winner. this is really a case in which both sides think they're winning. i think it's not likely the president is winning, but i do think that this is a little bit different shutdown than in the past because it's a very partial shutdown. you're not shutting down veterans and h.h.s. -- >> brangham: which would be much more politically unpalatable. >> exact, i think the cost would be much higher. this is a partialshutdown, which could go on longer. >> brangham: you're saying the republicans have the chips. how much changes when nancy s take and the democr over next week? >> the biggest thick will be nancy pelosi will be spker, the democrats will have a big majority. but michael hits on something that is going to be the wildcard in all this and that's president trump. i talked to someone today on the ouse side who brought up the same issue that yought up,

which is no one knows what the president actually wants. a long time ago, senator schumer said negotiating with president trump is like negotiating with jell-o.ou i think whate going to hear is, from the democrats, here's what ou br plan i we can't move until we hear from dethe presi what exactly he wants, what are the contours of the deal, and then,ce that's out there, pray that he sticks to it because, as our colleague katherinwrites in a coln today, we've seen many times when the president will publicly say he wants this fill-in-the- at the last minute pull the rug out from under it, as michael said. >> it's particularly interesting ine majority of the senate, a republican, is tthe same position, a neutral position saying work this out, i'm no longer in this. and that is a strange game as well. i mean, this is supposed to be a unifng, governing py, and it is not on this issue right

now. >> brangham: n i ask you a question specifically about the president's rhetoric about immigratioand the impact that has on this debate? the immigrants who come to this country, they're notsaints, but they are not, as the president portrays them, a criminal, violent, contagiouat hoard e wants us all to think of them as. doesn't that rhetoric and the failure of anyone in the g.o.p. to step up and say, this is dangerous rhetoric, doesn't that make this debate really unsolvable if that's the way he portrays them? >> there are two levels here. there's a policy debate abt border security, and that's a valid debate. you n talk about whether yo want a wall or you don't want a wall, there's no evil approacr in e. the problem comes when you dehumanize migrants as a way o raise this debate and that's ohat the president has done, put at the centef the republican agenda byin dehumanmigrants,

and that's a very tough thing to get any agreement und. you can't, you know, come up with a comprehensive solution under those terms. the president would have to essentially give up some of that if he wanted a.eeme but he thinks that that is his best play, goig into the 2020 election. it's a little odd because that was his message in the mid-term election. didn't turn out all that well. but he did not l arny lesson from the midterm, as far as i can tell. he stiill thinks this s the unifying republican theme. >> brangha and jonathan, to this point, it's not just on immigration. it's on so many iues that the republican resistance to the president on syria, saudi arabia, climate change, whatever it might be, the president, he really has taken full leadership of hisar pty. >> yes. full leadership of his party, but also, as viewed through the prism of who heviewsas his

base. so we talk about the fact that the president has sf a solid 30% of the base. he tal only to them. this rhetoric, his closing argument, which, to my mind, was a racist closing argument about the immigration - themigrant hoard coming to the border, he's carrying that throughocause it plays well withhe people who are applauding him, people who are watching certain cable channels that cater to that an as we have seen in terms of the eaction to what the president may or may not dn immigration, the people who are on television or on radio who itght disagreeh him vehemently, they have outsized power in terms of the president in terms ofwhat he ll do and propose. so as long as the president caters to them and do not do what democrats and republicans in the white house and the oval office have done for generationu

get in that office, you broaden your reach -- he has not done that. he has made it a point exclude anyone whom he might view as someone who has not supported him or doesn't support him. >> brangham: michael, looking forward to next year, there's obviously the other elephant in the room, and that is robert mueller and what might or might not come out of thisongoing investigation, which the president has -- it has been a thorn his side, to say the least, for the entiry of the investigation. when you look forward and imagine how that might play out, what do you think is going to happen? >> the rumors are we might see something po in mid february. >> brangham: like a report from robert mueller? >> that's just ror. t if it were to happen in that time frame, then, you kno, there would be an assessment of how strong the case is here. i think there would be tremendous pressure within the democyatic constituto

support impeachment if there's a strong case made by mueller, and i think that may notgood politics. i've talked to some democrats wharen't sure that that's good politics, given the clintonex ple, but i think there's going to be huge pressure, and then that would be the centerpiece argument of american politics at that point. there will be no other topic as far as, you know, under the radar screen. i talked with a number of mcconnell's staff who said and asked the question what can you get du'e while debating impeachment? and the answs just enough to keep things going. i think that's the likely outcomhere. then you have the drama of the house. but then the drama of the senate, you know, we can only lose a few republicans, it's not a huge gap that has to be made up, and that, i think, is going to be the central dra of american politics. >> brangham: is that how you see it? >> oh, absolutely, and i think

especially if counselor muellers ts evidence that is overwhelming, i think that gives cover, not now, because the democratic party's position is let's impeach th without anything from mueller, but what a mueller report would do if ere is that evidence that we all think might be there, that gives everyone sort of centerpiece to foc on. i think democrats in the house would be compled to start impeachment proceedings, if the evidence warrants, and i think it would sort of focus the mind in the republican-controlled senate if those articles impeachment do come over.th ey have to take them seriously and have to debate them seriously and have to hold the president accountable and judge the fact as they are if we get to that point because, i think michael is right, it will be the central focus of american lifd e litics because the charges and the issues that we will be debating at that time will be

that serious. >> brangham: -- and it woul d putemendous strain on american institutions, the f.b.i., the way sse cong reacts, whether it's responsible or not responsible. >>rangham: how the courts respond. >> exactly. so it would be, you know, aat fascg historical moment when american institutions aretr in ds. >> brangham: let's just say that you have both put forward the example where it's con clwfs evidence, clearly black and white, but if i have to were more on the margins and there are weren't a smoking gu, doesn't that put the whole impeachment much in jeopardy? >> i think it's a very possible outcome that you will have a report that is strong enough for every democrat to suport impeachment in the house of representatives and not strong enough to bring any republica senators in the senate, that's quite possible. >> for conviction. right, r conviion. then you have a polarization

machine. i mean, you're divuniding the y in fundamental ways without a clear argument either way. you know, that's going to put huge strains on person political life. >> but i do think, though, that, even though there would be that strain on our political institutions, that should not be an argument for doing nothing. we have these proc place, and it's written in the constitution to safeguard against someone doing somethinga untowardis in violation of their oath of office and in violation of the trust of the american people, and i think, at a minimum, we have to let the process run its couknrse. yow, whatever that means for our institutions and our politics, that's what they're there for. >>rangham: jonathan capehart, michael gerson, thank you very much. >> thank you. good to be here.

>> brangham: it's the start of a long holiday weekend, and that likely means you're going to see some binge viewing among some members of your family in the coming days. that makes it a perfect time for jeffrey brown to get a sampling of this year's best tv-- traditional and otherwise. >> brown: itib utterly impo for anyone to keep up with all the offerings on television and streaming these days, but we have asked the impossible of two leading tv critics to give us a few of ther best. eric deggans is with npr and sonia saraiya is with "vani fair." welcome back to both of you. you bothehad "killing ." eric, you start. why did you love that one? >> this is an espioge show that turns every convention about espionage th iillers ots head. sandra figures out how to attract an amazing super asags

played by jody combsoer and how they had a mutual attraction that they're attracted to one another in a way and a cat and mouse game evolves where they each try to catch each other and try to oid each other. i think it's a wonderful subversion of all these espionage thriller shows we have. >> brown: let's take a look. i said it was probably a woman. he was a misogist and sex trafficker. he may not have considered a a passing woman a threat. she must have been ao get close. >> thank you. thank you, eve. >> brown: sonia, why did you love this one? >> just e fact that it's a woman tracking another woman and then, of course, jody comer who plays the assassin figures out this woman trying to assassinate her and stalks her back. there is a way the women compete which is a subtle aggression,

and the show is very funny in how it presents these two women competing and sort of trying to one-up each other. 's a fun and unpredictable show in that way. >> brown: t of themillions, eric, give us one or two orthofavorites. >> so i loved "barry" which is a show on hbo by bill hader, used to be on "saturday night live," and he plays a low-level assassin and decides he wants to try to be an actor when he follows a guy he's supposed to kill into an acting class. it's the darke of drk comedies, but somehow bill hadmr s it work. i also loved "homecoming," thist wonderful showrring julia roberts on amazon, where she plays this woman who's kind of a frazzled middle management person, running a program that's bicorporate run but fund the government that's supposed to be helping u.s. soldiers but slowly she figures out ther dark side to the program.

it's a wonderful, fast-paced, short episode drama. >> brown: sonia, what have you got for us? >> my favorite show of the year isthe good place." h a network sitcom where everyone's died which is a really weird plot, but kristen anbelieves the demon imprisoning them, played by ted danson, tv comedy veteran. it's a really funny, weird sho about existential crises. all the characters have to grapple with the fact they weren't good when they were alive and that's why they're in the bad place and they're trying to find an escape. it's a fun show. the other pick is "pose," which it's kind of a period piece set in the '80s, takes place in a queer ballroom scene in new york

where all the drag queen youse all of these people marginalized out of their own communities and families andet came tr to find a way to create a community. such an incredibly inlusive show but also heart rending. takes place at the h of the aids crisis. interesting and worth checking out. >> brown: we asked you to pick a greaperformance at stood out for you. eric, youicked m.j. rodrigues in "pose." >> do you know what the greatest pain person can fee is? the greatest tragedy a life can experience? it's having the truth inside oft you and you being able to share it, it is having a great beauty and no one there to see it! this young boy has been a discarde he is so young! he believes it has something to

do with who he is. >> brown: eric, what did you love here? >> so when you watch "pose" and you see this great y stat sonia described unfold, you have a sense that you're seeing a star born, when you watch m.j. do what she does wl, playing blanca. eshe, of course -- she, you can tell from the clip, doesziama acting work. we're at a point where there's pressure and advocacy to have transgender played by transgender actors and actsses and she's doing an amazing job playing the authentic performance when is what you ge when you cast transgender people in transgender roles.ro >>: sonnia you picked amy adams in "sharp objec," the drama. let's take a look at the clip first.

>> okay, in missouri, from nnessee. >> i know where it is. i asked what it's like. >> small. population 2,000 for years. hogy real industry is butchering, so you've got your old money and your trash. >> which one are you? trash. from money. >> brown: sonia, different from what we've seen or dobe re, you think? >> absolutely. it's like the dark side of amy adams, buadt amyams does such a great job of showing you how vulnerable and fragile thisn character is ad the story takes her back to her hometown where she has to confront a lot of ha truths aboutr family and where she's come from. amy adams takes you on ths journey into this character's worst nightmares and shs really such an incredible "rformer, it's a real treat to watch her sharp objects." >> brown: finish with the question we like to ask. the show that was completely and sadly overlooked, the one you really want to tell us about to

go back and look for. eric? >> i would say "sorry for your loss" which ihos a w on facebook watch, and it starsiz eth olson, you may remember her from the avengers meovies scarlet witch, but mais is a tender emotional dra where she plays a widow who lost her husband who is struggling to cope. it's a sense of what happens to a mily when you have a tremendous loss and then you have someone struggling to cope and how can affect evryone in that family. and it's on facebook watch which is anew platform tht people may not be used to watching original shows on. >> bro: yeah, jusother new platform for us to get used to, huh sonia, what's your choice? >> so mine is actually a film, but it was a film was never released theaterricly. it's tall "the tale." laura durham stars in it playing the director of the film who

created a ctionalized stry of the process she went through when he realized a relationship she had when she wa13 years old was an exploitive and abive one but shows you as an adult how she learns how toe grapth those memories and trying to understand what it means to be a suvivor of sexual assault, and i think it delves into a lot of stuff we talk out in the news now ia personal and heart-wrenching way. it's absolutely worth check ou >> brown: i don't know how you two do it toheep up wit all this, but thanks for helping us out, son son, eric e, thanks again. thank you. >> brangham: we wanted to take time tonight to remember the renowned israeli author amos oz. he died today of cancer at the age of 79. rthis novels, essays and s stories made him one of israel's most widely-read writers. ldwide,k was praised w and he was said to be a long- time contender for the nobel

prize in literature. oz wrote over 40 books, including "black b," "in the land of israel," and his acclaimed 2002 memoir, "a tale of love d darkness," which chronicled his tumultuous childhood, and his mother's suicide when he was just 12 years old. born amos klausner, he changed his name to oz-- which is hebrew for courage-- at the age of 14 roughout his life, oz was a leading advocate for peace witha thstinians, supporting a two-state solution as the bestis approach to theli- palestinian conflict. he appeared on the newshour senral times, most recently 2016 when jeffrey brown sat down with oz for a wide-ranging interview. oz spoke of how characters drive his novels.te >> always char first. >> brown: always? >> and i walk around pregnant ngth the characters for a time before i write a single hentence. and when, inside m or inside my guts, the characters begin to do things to each

other, what they do to each other is the plot. and then i can start writing. aat do we do to one another? it's the o only subject of literature, if you really have th squeeze it in a nutshell. >> brown: what ijob or role of a writer, in a country like israel? >> i resent the very tole of writers," or role of literature. i think the right term should be the "gift of literature," not throle of literature. >> brown: a gift. >> makes us look one more time at some thingshich we have seen a million times, and we see them afresh. or sometimes it makes us reconsider things that we were sure we knew or we were sure we. were convinced >> brown: but is it different in a country such as israel? >> i don't thinko. no k don't think so. i thterature is based on the deep human need to hearan storieto tell stories.

it doesn't have to serve any other purpose. >> brown: you have advocated a two-state idea long before it was a diplomatic solution, right? is that two-state solution dead? >> i don't think so. i don't see any alternative to the two-state solution. it is 50 years now since i, a few of my colleagues, first vocated the two-state solution. i 50 yeaa long time in my life, but it's a very short time in history. look, it's very simple. there are two nations rightly claiming the same tiny land. ouey just don't trust the other. there is a lack ofgeous leadership on both sides. you know, it's like a paent knowing that he has to undergo a surgery-- wanting to postpone it because it's painful, but the doctors are wards. they don't have the guts to tell the patient "let's do it now, the sooner the better." >> brown: you still have hop for it? >> of course, because i see no

alternative. >> brangham: today of course is friday, and in many cultes, that's the day to eat fish. but the health of our oceans mai danger from a different part of the fish industry-- the booming market for fish oil supplements. now, paul greenberg, author of three books on the fishing industry, offers his "humble opinion" on why we should simply eat more of the real thing. >> the average american eats only around 14 poundeafood per year, compared to over 200 pods of meat. yet some 18 million american adults-- nearly 8% of thonadult popula take fish oil supplements. as we think about eating light and getting healthy, my advice is to skip the pill and eat the fish instead.t fif, most omega-3 supplements come to us from little fish that big fish like to eat. h anchoviering, sardines-- these essential creatures are

the targets of what is called "the reduction industry"-- ado multi-billioar business that boils down tons and tons of marine life into f ftilizer, animd and, yes, dietary supplements. ft those little fish in the water, there'd be many more big fish to eat. no brainer, right? and if you get past the supplement fixation, it's clear that fish and shellfish are much more than simply vessels for omega-3s. fish are low in fat, high in protein, and overall a much lower-calorie way of getting sential nutrients into our bodies. yes, there are issues with mercury contamination with bigger fish, but it turns out that all those little fish that we normally reduce into supplements and animal feed are some of the lowest in mercury and other pollutants.rh s most surprising, seafood, both farmed and wild,t turns have some profound ecological advantages. errbon footprint, freshwat use, and conservation of open space all come out better with a

seafood-aning diet than a land meat diet. that's because land animals stand while fish float. a large portion of the food we have to feed land animals to bring them to market gets burned up simply by land animal's resisting the pull of gravity. fish, meanwhile, use all that energy to grow more meat for the ble. and, farmed mussels and oysters are even better. you don't have to feed tho guys anything. they get bigger and fatter just by filtering the water. of course, we shouldn't eat seafood with abandon. a couple meals a week-- try some clams or mussels-- and smaller fish like anchovies. and we should stay away from wild fish and shellfish that are over-harvested, and farmed seafoogrown using unsustainable practices. after all that, if you feel you must take a pill, there e now supplements made from much greener alternatives, like algae. in short, get your omegas. just be principled about it.

>> brangham: finally tonight,r ewshour shares," something interesting that caught our eye. sculptors traditionally user bronzerble or even wood to create their works, but one israeli artist works with ag rather strikterial. the newshour's julia griffin e plains. >> reporter: from ters of the dead sea recently emerged the glistening, dripping form of a ballerina's tutu. it was not weighted down by the heft of water, but crystallized in salt-- a dancers' costume, frozen in time. >> this mineral is really like rocks.so you put thing completely flimsy and weightless, and after the accumulation, you're raising something which has multipliedig its times ten, times 20. >> reporter: sigalit ethel landau is an israeli sculptor, video creator and installation artist. but for nearly 15 years, the southern basin of the de sea has been her studio. >> it's not the easiest water. it's not the nicest place to be

in august. but there is something about she de. i have a language going on there, definitely. >> reporter: at more than 1,400 feet below sea level, the dead sea lies on the lowest piece on land on earth. its mineral-rich water is nearly ten times saltier than the ocean and nearly devoid of all life. but, it has atacted health- conscious tourists for millenni in the summer, temperatures in the area regularly top 100de ees, and because heat speeds up the crystallization process, summer is when the dead sea becomes ethel landau's artistic partner.dy >> anyan just come and put your glasses in. and if you take good care and if you are lucky, you might end up with a beautiful piecet. but there is a limit. there's a right size and right time of year. >> reporter: as a chilel landau spent many saturdays with her family raxing on the israeli shore of the dead sea. after working indoors for years, she first experimented creating

art using per-saline waters in 2003. since then, she has placed nearly 100 handcrafted pieces and everyday items, such as shoes and musical instruments, underwater. some objects, like the ballerina's tutu, have biographical ties. ethel landau used to be a dancer. others play off the water's ability to transform, like this traditional yiddish mourning gown, now a sparking wedding dress. or, blue flags turned white. >> with a white flag, you cantgo to a presind say, look, this is a kind of healing process. a white flag wants to say something about sharing, about water, about coping. >> reporter: and while ethel landau's salt sculptures have traveled the world for museum exhibitions, she never loses the constant pull of the dead sea. >> i work in many mediums, but there is something about the dead sea that i'm proud of

ayalizing that i chose to close to it. >> reporter: a book chronicling ethel landau's work inead sea will be released in the spring. for the pbs newshour, i'm julia griffin. >> bra newshour for tonight. on monday, the best books of 2018. i'm wiiam brangham. thank you and good night. >> major fun newshour has been provided by: >> financial services firm raymond james.f >> bnsrailway. >> consumer cellular. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored bydu newshour pions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watchg pbs.

♪ >> hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." during the christmas holidays, we're dipping into the archive and looking back at some of this year's highlights, so here's what's coming up. an urgent warning from hillary inton in my exclusive interview at oxford university. and with comhit "broad city" and a new moir in her pocket, i talk love, vulnerability, and the rest with millennial superstar abbi jacobson. and then, historian jill lepore on the rootsit of pal tribalism. can political civility returne to resr democracies? ♪ ♪ >> uniworld is a pro sponsor of "amanpour & co."

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