tv PBS News Hour PBS July 12, 2019 3:00pm-4:01pm PDT
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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, secretary of labor alex acosta resigns amid criticir his handling of a sex crimes case against billionaire jeffrey epstein. then, fearing a massood, the latest on a slow-mtoing tropical expected to drench louisiana, threatening leveesround new orleans. plus, as theegal marijuana industry expands, questions remain about raciadiversity in the business and who will reap the economic benefits. >> we're hoping that we can correct that by keeping the money within the community, employing people from our community, and allowing themo y to circulate as many times as humanly possible. >> woodruf and, it's friday. mark shields and ramesh ponnuruo
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brea the divide among democrats, the resignation of alex acosta, and more. all that and more, on tonight'sb newshour. >> major funng for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> ordering takeout. >> finding the west route. >> talking for hours. >> planning for showers. you can do the things y like to do with a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular.mo learn re at consumercellular.tv >> babbel. a language spanish, french, italian, german, and more. >> financial services firm raymond james.
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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 possible by thcorporation for public broadcasting. pd by contributions to yo station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the u.s. secretary of labor, alex acosta, is out. when president trump met with reporters at the white house today, he had acosta by his side to announce his resignation, just before mr. trump left for a trip to wisconsin. acosta held a press conference of his own earlier this week, defending his involvement a
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2008 lawsuit involving allegedse trafficker jeffrey epstein, who then received a sentence that critics have called "unusually lenient." today, acosta criticized newsth coverage ocase, but said he did not want to be a k.straction to the administration's w the president paid him a compliment. >> he's a tremendous talent. he's a hispanic man. he went to harvard, a great student. and in so many ways, i just hate what he's saying now because we're going to miss him. but please, alex. >> it would be selfish for me to stay in this position and continue talking about aase that's 12 years old, rather than about the amazing economy we have right now. and so, i submitted my resignation to the president, effective seven days from today, effective one week from today earlier this morning. >> woodruff: the newshour's yamiche alcindor was at theor white house thng and joins me now here at the studio.
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>> so yamiche, this ep steen story keeps growing. we know there was a court filing in new york that accuses mr. epstein of witness tampering, paying potential witnesses against him $350,000. so we are watching that new development. in the meantime, you were at the white house often the south how this resignation come lawn. about? >> well, this was anun mfortable moment, retaryortable week for sec acosta. there is a thing call a perp walk, where a high prfile suspect is going to be coming into the police station. this is what this felt like today. i.t. felt like alex acosta wasin brought before the camera to explain is he the probleme straction against the great things that the trump administration is doing t it's importaremember how he got here. how he got here is te president essentially forced acosta to go
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before the capital last, defending himself against the backlash, the president decided to take a coue of days and decided he couldn't basically do well enough. this was assembling acosta's idea butpr thesident decided he wasn't going to be able tous stay on behe didn't look good for the administration. the president is trying to distance himself from jeffrey epstein. they used to party toque, have not necessarily underage women but young women at these fathers, to not talk about what he might knoabout his possible human trafficing and abuse of chnodren. this igoing to go away. even though pleax acosta is leaving th administration, effective july 19th, we see that the president might still have tdeal with this. >> woodruff: you see the president fugher distanc himself from jeffrey epstein.
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yamiche, you know there has been a number of high departures, from the administration. >> the revolving door from the white house keeps spinning. cabinet officials being forced out or resigned times. i want to put up a tblask, patrick shanahan, acting secretary of defense, he withdrew, the president withdrew his nomination to be permanent defense secretary, because of domestic violence. and jim mattis reigned because he was essentially upset because of the president's nooument he was going to beithdrawing are troops from syria. there have been a number of individuals withdrawing from the-m. ugoihave annal acting
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labor secretary, acting defense secretary, acting u.n. could hebassador. in so many ways administration will have so many gsople in acting roams. the important ths that these people will be now preliminaried, not be able to have agendas, not make theth decision might be able to make if they had permanent jobsd within theinistration. it is important to note there are noti las, in the administration, alex acosta was the only latino member in the president's administration. >> woodruff: th haven't been confirmed by the senate, which is what one needs to do to be le to carry outs the job. what are boiling are what expected to bethis large scale raidd on immigrants arohe country by ice. what more was the president sahing about this s morning? >> he insisted that these raids would start on sunday. my question i put to hildm, wou
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it be putting law enforcementic and polat risk? here is what he said to me. >> it stas on sunday and they're going to take people out and going to bring them back to their countries, take criminals out, put them in prison or put pem inrison in the countries they came from. we are focused on criminalscas much as wn. >> the president says they are focused on criminals but thereo is going this thing called collateral deportations, you may be swept up in these if you are in the wrong place in thewrong time. news reporters that they're worried about having to depart babies and having to deal with families. add to that the fact that there are all these groups that are now going to be setting up hot lines and rapid response networks to really try to give support to immigrants who are bracing for the worse.e migrant today told a national network that they people a hurricane is comine
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the people missing work that are really, really scared about this but the president says this must ha >> woodruff: a lot of uncertainty, we'll bewiol this all weekend and reporting on it on monday. ymp >> woodruff: as tropical storm barry closed in on the state of louisiana this evening, residents and local officials prepared for its arrival overnight as a hurricane-lev storm.oh asyang tells us, the seeatest risks may not be the winds, but intenain and a likelihood of significant flooding. >> yang: waves, wind and rain began hitting new orleans and louisiana's gulf coast today as barry neared hurricane strength. forecasters warn the storm could linger over the state through sunday and drop up to 20 inches of rain, triggering serious flooding.
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the mississippi river is already unusually high from a wet spri. earlier this week, new orleans' french quarter flooded after heavy rain. sandbags were being filled and distributed. flooding could hit further north, including baton rouge. rachel young said her family is t taking any chances. >> so they're already preparing, like boarding up windows, got ac of sand. it typically doesn't flood in that area, but you never know, soone're taking every precau necessary. >> yang: governor john bel edwards warned of the risks. >> nobody should take this storm lightly just bause it's supposed to be a category one when it makes landfa. you just go back to 2016 when we we didn't have all the advanced warning that we have today. and we had 56 out of 74 parishes declare a major federal disaster because of those floods. >> yang: there were some
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evacuations in low-lying areas, but new orleans mayor latoya cantrell told resident shelter in place. >> stay dry as best as possible. again, high and heavy rainfalls, this is what we're preparing for. make se you, again, stay put. >> yang: in the city's lower ninth ward, devastated in 2005 by hurricane krina and the collapse of levees, many ng it out.are stic but they are watching the levees and potential storm surge. >> it's an eerie feeling. you don't ever get comfortableun l you know it's over. >> we're not evacuating.ju we'r going to ride it out. tiwe've kind of taken the de that this is what we've signed up for. we live in new orleans. this is what happens. >> yang: the margin of safety could be thin. in new orleans, the mississippi is expected to crest tomorrow at abt 19 feet. the city's levees range from about 20o 25 feet.
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for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: state officials remained confident today that flood waters would not overtop the levees. to explore the concerns over rain, storm surge, and how long this storm mht last, i'm joined by ken graham, director of the national hurricane center. ken graham, welcome back to the news hour. so please giver us the latest information you havhe track of this storm. >> yes, the latest information that we have is justhis very large storm, somewhat disorganized, but at te time, strengthening through the afternoon. so 65 mile-an-hour winds and just an expansive syste covering much of the gulf of mexico. a very similar track that we've been talking about for the last couple of days, slow movement. so just a lot of tropical storm force winds well outside thend cone big rain event. whether it becomes a hurricanes or a totropicalrm, that is just a few miles an hour. got to prepare for the rairchlt
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and storm surge. >> woodruff: you mentioned several times the swness of it. why does that add to your worry so much? >> slow is our them sis. slow moving storms compound the issues. the slower the storm the more chance there is to dump a lot of that rainfall about the slower nceainfall, the more ch the storm to pushes rain into those bayou survetion. ou s. en the winds saturate the soil, put the winds on top of that, more trees down, more power lines down. you get more power outages in sa ation like this as well. >> woodruff: we know new orleans was already hit with alo of rain in the middle of this week. how much does that compound the couern? >> when resaturate some of the soil it really doesn't help things at all. because you look at this, we don't even issue a risk higher than this. is is a high risk of flash flooding and in the areas of red that is aderate risk.
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you saturate some of those soils, it compounds the issue. that's why we have this area here that we don't issue that very often. a high risk, 50% chance anybody in this area can see flash flooding with this system. >> woodrf: ken graham, what are you and your colleagues telling people who live in that area right now >> we are telling them the trop cam force winds are alreang matheir way on land. it is time to prepare yourself, the time is runing out. we are letting people know, be careful. don't be in the areas where te storm surge is, the rain and the low areas of t bayous, get out thereof. this is the forecast for the storm surge, three to five feet on lake porsch pon really tropical system has been from the inland rain, half of
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those in automobiles. so we are telling people when the rain is ththreflooding is there please stay off the roads. >> woodruff: people course remember katrina and the horrible devastation and loss of life. do you compare something like this to that? >> usually the mess is we tell people we tell them never to compare storms. it's interesting because ception isisk pe based on their preeives experience with storms. everyone is so different. little wiggles matter. 20, 30 mimes in either dirulectn spell a couple of feet of storm surge versus six or sen feet. you tell people, are careful comparing storms, th are all different. we talk a lot about hazards and we want people to listen for that, let's ve those conversations. >> woodruff: finally quicklyny how ays, how long do you think we're going to be talking about this storm? >> through thend wee it's interesting with this slow
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movement. over the next 24 hours or so making landfall but with time, if you look at this monday morning, monday afternoon we're still going to be a troipical deprekto arkansas. well inland mississippi, trchlz, evening stretching up into missouri with time. we're going to be talking about that into next week, not just a coastal occasion. we'll be talking about it over the weekend and even to next week. >> woodruff: ken graham, director of the national hurricane center, we appreciat it. e absolutely. >> woodruff: in y's other news, congressional republicans and democrats clashed over poor conditions at detention sites along the u.s.-mexico border. they spoke at a hearing of the u.s. house of representatives' oversight committee. and, they traded arguments over reports of crowded, unsanitary
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facilities. >> we do have a crisis at our border. it is one of morality. as we have seen this current strategy unfold, int cruelly created by the trump administration, dead set onse ing a hate-filled message that those seeking refuge are no >> our agents are just completely overwhelmed. they are exhausted. not only are they exd out in the field, exhausted inside the stations processing, they are exhausted with all the rhetoric coming down through the media and this congress. our own congressional leaders are vilifying our agents. these are the people holding america's ont line. >> woodruff: border crossings from mexico were down in june, but still exceeded 100,000 for the fourth straight month. meanwhile, there is word that two house committees may postpone hearing from former special counsel robertueller, on the russia investigation. he is scheduled to appear bere the intelligence and judiciary committees on july 17.
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reports today said majority democrats are considering ae- ek delay, to allow for a longer hearing, and give lawmakers more time for questioning. the house today approved a defense policy bill, including limits on president trump's authority to take militaryon acgainst iran. it also bars using pentagon funds to pay for a southern rder wall. progressive democrats tacked on other provisions, and the overall bill passed without a single repubcan vote. the president has promised to veto the measure, but first it has to be reconcil senate version. the first components of russian missile defense systems have arrived in turkey, or u.s. objections. the turks said russian military planes flew in parts for the s-400 systems today. they were unloaded at base outside ankara. turkey's foreign minister defended the move. >> ( translated ): as we've always said, s-400s are a done
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deal, and the process ues in its course. our defense ministry has made the necessary statement. there is no problem and the delivery will continue in a healthy way. >> woodruff: the u.s. has threatened nato ally turkey with economic sanctions, and says it will cancel plans to sell f-35 stealth fighters to the turks. but turkey says its defense minister told acting u.s. defense secretary mark esper today that ankara is not tilting toward moscow. in chicago, r&b singer r. kelly had his initial court appearance today, on federal charges of sex crimes and racketeering. sedictments in chicago and new york say that hehis entourage to lure women and underage girls into illegal sexual activity. they also allege he paid out thousands of dollars in hush money. kelly was already facing state sex abuse charges in illinois. president trump fired back today
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at paul ryan, former speaker of the u.s. house of representatives. ryan retired from congress in 2018.ne book, "american carnage," quotes him as saying he could not stand to work with mr. trump any longer. in a separate quote, ryan says, "i'm telling you, he didn't know anything about government." the president today called ryan "a terrible speaker" and a "baby," and blamed him for losing the g.o.p.'s house marity. the fedel trade commission has approved a $5 billion fine for facebook for mishandling users' personal information. "the wall street journal" first reported the action. it said facebook would still be allowed to collect and sha data with third parties, but under stricter oversight. the deal still needs justice department approval. and, on wall street, the stock market climbed to new highs, led by tech and industrial shares. the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 244 points to
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close at 27,332-- a record. the nasdaq rose 48 points, also reaching a record, and the s&p 500 added almost 14,e to finish abov3,000 for the first time. still to come on the newshour: how race is a factor in theju legal maa boom. strong statements from liberal freshman members of congress rifts in the democratic party. mark shields and ramesh ponnuru break down a packed week of political news. and, joan baez reflects on her art and activism as she embarks on her farewell tour. >> woodruff: now, the finalur installment ineries, "the green rush." in our previous pieces, we've seen how the marijuana industry is booming across the country. but, amid this growth, there are serious concerns that those most
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affected by decades of marijuana criminalization are being left out. yamiche alcindor is back for this report, part of our occasional series "chasing the dream," on poverty a opportunity in america. >> these are all the amazing oducts we carry at simply pure. >> alcindor: in the marijuana industry, wanda james has made f na herself. she opened her first dispensary in 2009. since then, her company, simplyo pure, has be one of the premier brands in denver. james is also a pioneer. >> we were actually the first african americans legally licensed in americto own a dispensary. >> alcindor: but as the industry grows, james now finds herself more of an outlier. when you look around thatab ca industry, as an african american woman, what do you see? >> white men. white men. white men. white men. >> alcindor: more and more uaates are moving to legalize recreational mar. those efforts have led many to look into issues of diversity and question who ends upti beng the most from the
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industry. data is hard to come by, but a recent survey of nearly 400 marijuana businesses found that more than 80% were owned by white men. the numbers also show that african americans and latinos bore the brunt of marijuana criminalization. the american civil liberties wion found between 2001 and 2010, black peope nearly four times more likely to be arrested for marijuanaha possessionwhites. that, despite roughly equal rates of use. >> the collateral consequences of even a petty drug offense is huge. >> alcindor: art way was the colorado state director for the drug policy alliance for nearlya a . >> you know, you're talking ngout consequences when it comes to employment, hou education. and here we have a demographic who is already dealing with an uphill battle when it comes to broader structural inequity. >> alcindor: for james, those w consequence personal. >> my brother was caught up in that at age 18. he was caught with four ounces of canbis, which is about
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$160 worth of street value for cannabis. and that cost him ten years of his life. when he first went to a privatized prison system, for the first four years, my blackr tiotcked cotton every day >> alcindor: now, and states are trying to address this issue, with varying degrees of success. in colorado, diversity wasn't a part of the initial legalization effort. >> people didn't know 'tat they didnnow at the time. i think people were just trying to get this passed and get arted, and then, you kno make sure we get this up and running. >> alcindor: ashley kilroy ise director of fice of marijuana policy for the city of denver. >> we were worried about what io d do for our city. we were worried about what it looked like, might look like, for crime in the city,t it might look like for our youth. i knowusiness owners, who i talked to, they were just worried about making sure they didn't go to jail. >> alcindor: last yeardenver started a program to seal records of people withow-level onrijuana charges.
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so far, though, ly a few hundred people have applied. and this year, the city plans to use about $11 million in marijuana tax revenue for affordable housing projects. >> we've got a lot of these broad brush approaches, and we redon't think, you know, t one magic bullet. i think nothing is off the tabli and we are w to choose whatever we think is going to make the biggest impact for denver. >> alcindor: still, advocates say the city is simply not doing enough. instead, they want to lower the barriers to get into the marijuana industry. >> minorities just don't have a strong-enough footprint to outweigh the money issue. >> alcindor: joshua littlejohn has been making marijuan products in colorado for years. he wants his own license toin expand his bess. but so far, hasn't been able to get one. in 2008, he was convicted of a misdemeanor marijuana posseson charge. >> the biggest thing is the opportunity to change my life. not only my life, but my kids' life, and their kids. so that's what attracted me off just out the gate. >> alcindor: but opening a site can cost millions of dollars in real estate, legal fees, and
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regulatory compliance. and, despite his experience in the industry, littlejohn says investors look at him differently. >> i think that it's a fear... it's just a fear thing. >> alcindor: a fear of what?e' >> fear that not going to do the right things. or fear that, "okay, yeah, you had this industry before, but you've only done it illegally. you don't know how to do it." or, i guess,t the level that they feel-- and this is verbatim, i've had people tell us: "you guys cannot do how we can do it." >> alcindor: denver says the city nee to time to study to issue. it's now trying to collect demographic data to build ael program to hp minorities get into the industry. >> alcinr: since colorado legalized, other states have tried to deal with this issue from day one. massachusetts was the first state to include language in itt legin specifically addressing the issue of social equity. >> i had worked on the campaign in colorado, and i think that none of us understood at the
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time how important it was to include in the law from the i beginning thatt has to be intentional and deliberate that >> alcindor: shaleen title is one of the commissioners on the state's cannabis control commission. it created a licensing program that prioritized applicants from areas designated as disproportionately affected a marijuohibition. they also plan to set up training and technical assistancerograms. but here too, progress has been d ow. the state has granout 150 licenses. noonly three have gone to ty business owners, and none of the priority applicanthave had their applications approved. chauncy spencer is one of those applicants. he wants to open a dispensary and grow operation in boston. much of the delay comes frommu thcipal approval process, and for him, the biggest barrier isn't financial. >> we don't have the political capital, we don't have the knowledge base to t things moving.
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and it's extremely unfair when we have to go up against lobbyists who have millions of dollars at their disposal. >> alcindor: still, the costs arhigh. he says, while waiting to get approved, he's spent more than $80,000 on rent alone. >> i used to get pizza overth e. >> alcindor: but for spencer-- who was arrested in 2004 for growing four marijuana plants,th somethin would now be legal in massachusetts-- it's worth it to be a part of the industry. >> we're hoping that we can correct that by me by keeping the money within the community, employing people from our commity, and allowing the money to circulate as many times as humanly possible and provide >> alcindor: cannabis commissioner shaleen title acknowledges the flaws, and says more can be done >> i think the major l for other states is, what massachusetts has done ithe bare minimum.
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so you have to require equity. you have to require accountability. on top of that, i would like to see loan funds. had like to see more reinvestment int communities. i'd like to see expungement and just, in general, more of a central focus>> lcindor: the state is now planning to offer certain licenses exclusively to social equity applicants for two years, pending public hearings.so there' cause for optimism. advocates in states like connecticut and new jersey-- which are interested in legalizing marijuana-- say social equity will be a top priority at every stage. still, as millions deal with scars from the war on drugs, there's deep skepticism any state can fully undo those harms and get inclusion in the marijuana industry right. r the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: stay with us. with two dozen democratic candidates vying for the party's presidential nomination, the debate over what the party should stand for is front and nter.
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la lisa desjardins reports, that battle is also pying out inside the democratic-controlled house of representatives. >> desjardins: for the house speake a difficult issue: >> i said what i'm going to say on the subject. >> desjardins: that was yesterday, when nancy pelosi was asked about the public airing of what had been mostly privan frustrationsr caucus. those began months ago, as a group of new members, including new york's axandria ocasio- cortez, pushed openly for the partto move more to the left at one point, she protested in pelosi's offpie for her sw, progressive "green new deal." pelosi reached out, offering ocasio-cortez spot on a new climate change committee. but she told her no, pointing out that temporary committee had fewer powers than others. soon, ocasio-cortez and three other freshmen women of color emerged as a tight, vocal group of activist members. but they did not openly break with pelosi... until this month. >> this is bigger than a funding debate
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>> that's right. >> desjardins: as congress heard more news of child deaths and poor treatment of migrants at the border, democrats initially passed legislation to force better conditions. te desjardins: but that bill hit a wall in the sena, >> we already have our compromise. >> desjardins: so pe compromised, agreeing to a more generic border funding bill that didn't require better treatment. >> desjardins: the only democrats voting no? those same four freshman, sometimes called the squad. and ocasio-cortez's office went further. her chief of staff raised race in a tweet that attacked moderate demrats, writing," they certainly seem hell-bent to do to black and brown people today what the old southern democrats did the '40s." he deleted those words, but a few days later, pelosi told the "nework times" the group mad themselves irrelevant, saying, "they're four people, and that'y how otes they got." next, pelosi went behind closed doors with her caucus, making an
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traordinary plea for unity, and at one point saying members should come to her with complaints, not tweet about one another. but the squad of four felt they were being wrongly scolded. and ocasio-cortez told the "washington post,"it was just outright disrespectful. the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color." that comment resonated with another prominent democrat, progressive caucus leader pramila jayapal, who also said, "i don't think the speaker is used to having a group of members who have bigger twitter followings than her." which brings us back to pelosi's response. >> at the request of my members, an offensive tweet that came out of one of the memberices that referenced our "blue dogs" and our "new dems" essentially as segregationists. o our members toense at that. i addressed that. we respect the value of every member of our caucus.th diversity of it all is a woerful thing.
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unity is our power, g d we have a ght, and we're in the ecena, and that's all i'm going to say on the su >> desjardins: this all goes deeper than large personalities at odds. pelosi's democrats hav policy divides between moderates-- many of whom are iis vulnerable dicts-- and progressives, who are not. it is a fight about not just who democrats are, but what they want to do. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: and thabrings us to our weekly politics analysis with shields and ponnuru. that is syndicated columnist mark shields, and ramesh ponnuru of the "national review." david brooks is away. >> hello to both of you. >> hello judy. >> in lisrea'port, what's been going on, this series of agreements between speaker pelosi and newly elected women, democratic members of the house. they have been called the quad
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squad. what do you make of this? how serious isis th >> it's serious judy in that it represents a profound change in our politics. there was a rule you didn't getn to l any freshman member's name until he or she had won a serk term because that was what their first term was about, arning the place, learni what they are supposed to do and then getting reelected. that is no longer the case. i mean, aoc comes inith 4.7 million at which timer followers. so she doesn't need the traditional means of communicating going to press release or talking on television. she's just available. so it's a ream -- i mean it's not politics is the most imitated of human artr fo, with the possible exception of adjournment. donald trump told you you couldt bypaditional media. that is what these are doing.
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i just wish the four members of the mod squad had known, theof skilancy pelosi and people who worked with her to win backi the ma after eight years. >> woodruff: they are accusing her of not beng liberal enough. >> yes. >> woodruff: with ramesh what do you make of this? >> nancy pelosi has remarked that she and these members are in deep blue, solidly democrati distrith the glass of water with a d after its name could win the en.ect but most of the swing districts are in moderate districts. they can't take the same positions. and you add to that, in the senate, there is always going to be frus strayings. when legislate passes the house -- legislation passes the house and doesn't get anywher in the senate, a blame game where people can't just accepto
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you have one half of one of the three brarches of government. branches there's going to take some time you take some losses. >> woodruff: you are referring to money for border, where speaker pelosi ended up going along with republicans. >> exactly. just picking u on ramesh's point. what is it, 12, 15 yearsg ao, since barack obama electrified the political world. and particularly thmocratic party, at the convention in boston where he said, we don't -- we woirm an awesome god rica.ue ame we have gay friends in red america. there is no red -- there's only the united states of america not a blue united states. i mean i just wonder if that kind of a speech and that kind of a spirit would be well received in this present climate of democrats, who are fractious, divided and i thinkea inngly divisive group. >> woodruff: is this rameshpe
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from your peive is this the kind of split that lingers into next year's and infects and spims over into the presidential ce qums. ?>> i don't think many voters ae ing to sproat on the inside despite against democrats, especially since many are not going to bon the presidential ballot, the ones we're talking about anyway, it's harder for the democrats to have a unified message where they're talking about their shared agenda and their prosecuting the cse against trump about they are all pointing fingers at each other. >> it is very good point judy. the reality is that the mocrats i think are mrs reading the results of 2018. in 2010, you recall, the republicans won au stnning majority in the house and barack obama was reelected two years later. in 1994, bill clinton was
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crushed and yet, republicans swept into power, the first time in 40 years, and two years ago later he was reelected. a congressional eleion mid term is entirely different from a presidential election. and i don't think that's quite understood by some of these fractious democrats ght now. they'd better figure out 30 million people voted in the are primaries in 2006, 130 milln voted in the general. that 130 million what el was said wl be rmembered, the first tuesday after the first monday, by what is said in new hampshire, what is said in iowa, and i think democrats will be ll advised to remember that.uf >> woodrf: i want to turn to president trump, ramesh and yesterday we were all waiting for the president to announce that he was going to sign an executive action or take an executive action in order to add a citizenshipion to the census. as the day wore on we learnedhe thathite house, the president decided not to do that. complicated set of reasons, it was harder to do than they
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thought it was going to be. instead they are ordering government atncies to put ou information to share it, with the commerce department, we knre about who's in thisho country, w documents. what is this say about president trump's efforts to go aft immigrants? does it know an end? i meanwhile what else do we look for here? >> well i think it says ae cou of things about this administration. one, this is the biggest legal defeat thatt suffered. it had a mixed legal result from the supreme court, but the ultimate end of it was that they didn't get their way in putting the citizenship question on the census. they ran up against the clock and th ran up frankly against their own incompetence. that's the take away number 2.su theme court said i-you can add a ciiotizenship queto the census but you have to dot the i's and cross the t'snd provide us with your information, that is what the mirgs was incfapable o doing.
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that's why led them to thaet plwhere they can't follow through on. >> woodruff: you ended up with s theuation mark ordering the government to turn over health orcords, social security r of individuals who may are may not be citizens. is thamore harmful than potential reply asking them this on? >> potentially it may be but it's a stinging rebuke of the president. the president does not admit defeat. the president took a stingg defeat last november. learn today that it was paul rhine's fault that the republicans suffered the loss of the house in november 2018. the closing of the gov wernment, thn't a defeat for the president. so he can't accept that it is a defeat. i think all of this, quite frkly, to look at it in a very uncharitable way, is nothing bu ar campaign. to intimidate people from the census. and ther therefore, to lead to n
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undercount. >> woodruff: a fair cign? >> look, i think there's an open question about whether bengressional districts ca drawn based on thoating eligible population or based on ttal population. and obviously, what republicans want to do is draw the lin according to the voting eligible lopulation because that wil increase their representation in congress. but that's the real motive. but they werent willing to say it and defend it openly in court. again i think that's why we ended up with this alternative which as you pointed out doespr have some ivacy implication which are troubling. >> the sprob the constitution, doesn't say anything about voting age population the >>constitution. we shall see. >> talking about a number o people. at the same time, we have a number of social programs, the formula is based upon the people who need it in maneria. if you are living nextoor to people and your family qualifies
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for and need for an you're denied it because somehow they're undercounted in yr district that's unjust in the final anasiinhumane. >> that's right. there is a lot of federal money that is tied to these sorts of numbers so the stakes are very high. >> woodruff: quickly circle back to the prmocrats, the idential race. we had some movement in the presidential race, eric swalwell got out, tom sti rese,ervati mr. impeachment, who has won millions of ads for impea many, he is now running. bernie sanders has issued his with ads. he doesn't want their endorsement. how much different does money make in the politics? >> it is the mother's milk of
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politics. there are two things that, rememb politician, money, and i can't remember the second one. obviously, number ofeople wh contribute, $65,000, or $130,000 in september, is enough to get on the stage in september. it is, to hire a campaign and all the rest of its. as far as banned he is just borrowing a page from groamp cleveland whose nominating speech at the 1884 convention is, we love him most for the enemies he's made. the big money that is opposed tt you anereby give you a virtue. i think it's a totally with reasonable strategy on banned part. >> there are so many pastes candidwho have been big spenders and no gone all the way.
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john con lly, jebsh, if you are tom sti reservatione, igois nog to be the money that determines whether he winlz or not, what he has got tohow is he has omessage at a takes off. maybe being an impeachment perspective, they will rally to him but that i think is the question. >> woodruff: is whether impeachment mark is the cache this can get him not only into the degates. >> and talking about a suicide note judy. >> holman: ross perot died this week. mark he was remembered as somebodywho talked about deficits,t sanding there with his charts. aseople whoovered his campaign, what does this mean? >> he wasu si generis.
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he quite frank in 1992, he ran a campaign judy that forced the two parties to confront the national det. and if you will recall, from the founding of the country to 1980, nine wars, one depression, run up a total indebtedness of $1 trillion. in 12 years of sply side economics under reagan and bush we havadrupled that. ross perot said you got odo mething about that, it's unfair the your children and grand children. republans didn't want to touch it, acknowledge that it happened on their wap. that bill clinton was forced basically by rs perot's persuasiveness to address it. the only balanced budgets in the past half century since world war ii was bill clinton's as a consequence of that. >> woodruff: only 30 seconds. >> and i thinkt the oher thing that comes to mind is whatever
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disagreements one had with ross perot, he wn't running for himself, not for fame or fortune. he was running for serious better than his country and i think that is something to admire. >> woodruff: on that note we thank you both, ramesh ponnuru and mark shields. >> woodruff: finally tonight, joan baez has been a major voice in american folk music and politics since the 1960s. jeffrey brown visited baez at her northern california home recently, as she wraps up her careerith a farewell tour. it is part of our arts and culture series, "canvas," and our look at "american creators." ♪ ♪ >> brown: on her current tour,
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joan baez sings "deportees," a song about migrant workers she's been performing for decades. ♪ ♪ a familiar theme, with new relevanc and a familiar voice, even asm it's changed fr famous soprano voice, with its three octave range. it's part of the reason, she told me, this will be her last tour. ♪ ♪ >> my first vocal coach, very smart man, i asked him when i was in my 30s, i said, "when will i know it's time to quit singing?" he said, "your voice wl tell you." and it has. >> brown: baez has been making music in public since the late 1950s, renowned for reworkalgs of traditiallads as folk music rose to popularity. her first album came out in 1960. from early on, political activism mixed with the music.
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she sang at the 1963 march on washington, against the vietnam war, and on behalf of many other causes over the years. but when we met recently at her northern california home, as she prepared to go back out on tour, the 78-year-old had more down- to-earth concerns. >> i'm not as young as yesterday. >> brown: are u feeling it as you prepare to go? >> feeling my age? always. stuff hurts. you know what i mean. you're laughing.yo >> brown: but re still going to get out there on the bus? >> i'm going to get on that bus pe it doesn't completely break my whole system. >> brown: last yea a baez releasalbum titled" whistle down the wind," ten songs by writers she admired.
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♪ ♪ >> brown: it was her first y recording in trs and, she says, also her last. >> conceptually, it was like an echo to the first album, even down to the song josh ritter wrote, a folk song, "silver blade." and the first album had "silver dagger." ♪ ♪ >> brown: the earlier song was a traditional folk ballad of a wronged woman. the new one, captured on this music video, has a new twist. ♪ ♪th >> ifirst song, "silver dagger," of the young maiden, her mother's threatening her, "don't get married. the guys are all like yo father."
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and she caves, you know? e d then the new one, not at all. des off with the guy she falls in love with.o he turns out a rotten guy, and he rapes her in his castle. and instead of her crawling away to never again have anything tow doh a man, she stabs him in the back with a silver blade. and what i say to the public is, "ladies, doesn't mean you have to assassina the guy. you just don't have to let him treat you like that anymore." ♪ ♪ >> brown: baez says she's not a nostalgic person, but she has been going back to listen to her younger self. >> i've been listening to that voice. it's hard to connect it with myself now. >> brown: you mean you've been listening to it, just-- >> just to listen to it now be'suse it's brilliant, and one of a kind. and i can say that, because my job is maintenance and delivery. the rest is a gift. >> brown: and when you look back at that person who had that voice?
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>> ballsy. >> brown: llsy, yeah? ambitious? >> no, not ambitious, really. not for myself. probably very ambitious about the politics, trying to get something done, and reading everything and being on top of it, and in that sense, you know, >> brown: do you feel like the moment shaped you? or were you and others shaping it? >> well, that was a special period of time, during which this enormous amount of talent blst exploded. and one of the ps now, is that people will look back and they want that now. and you cat have it, i mean, you can't have a repeat. something new has to emerge.rm but yes, it me and i'm happy to say i helped form it. >> brown: these days, baez stays active in political causes, but warns people against romanticizing the 60s. she calls herself a "realist." >> we're facing a massive defeam
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if not theistration, and it's global warming. i don't know whether my grandchi is going to have a life, let alone a good life. my remedy for that is be in denial eighty percent of the time. >> brown: be in denial? that's how you feel? >> yes, just one foot in front of the other. then you take the 20% and you do your daily life. and part of that has to be, what are you going to do for everybody else?at re you going to do for the human race? and for that everybody has to choose. but they have to choose. >> brown: she looks to young people to speak up and take action. >> i'm not the standard bearer. i'm not out in line.ont of the the kids are doing that. th really are. and i want to support them any bly that i can because i think the kids are prothe only ones who really get it about climate change. i really do.in they looheir future and they say, do we have one? >> brown: baez has a new
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creative outlet now: painting: portraits that once again mix politics with art. she calls her subjects-- people nelson mandela and glor steinem-- "mischief makers." >> this ishe only "i know what i'm going to do when i retire" kind of thing. it's probably nogoing to be fixing my roses-- oh, that'll be part of it. >> brown: you just used the "r" word, to retire-- is that what you're doing? >> no-- i've never used it before! it's sort of like saying "80." when i realized i was going to be 80 in two years i was just mortified! around the house saying "80, 80, i'm going to be 80!" ( laughs ) until it lost its horror. ♪ ♪ joan baez is now performing in europe on the final leg of her final tour. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in northern california.
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♪ ♪ w druff: on the newshour online right now, with a new documentary exploring the life and work of nobel prize-winning writer toni morrison, we share recommendations for seven authors who have followed in her footsteps. that and more is on our website, www.pbs.org/wshour. and comias up on ngton week," robert costa will have the latest on the trump administration's plans to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants this week, plus speaker nancy pelosi tamps down reports of tensions betwn
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house leadership and a group of freshman lawmakers dubbed "the squad." that's later tonight on "washington week." tomorrow on pbs newshour weekend saturday: the latest from louisiana on tropical stm barry. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> advice for life. life well-planned.mo ararn at raymondjames.com. >> consumer cell. >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian, german, and mo.
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>> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the wil foundation.a hewlett for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world.ww atewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. captioning sponsored by newsho productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org
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♪ hello and welcome to "amanpour & company." today we're looking back at some of our favorite interviews from this year. so here's what's coming up. >> thank you to my very good friend rupert murdoch. there is only one rupert that we know. >> a deep dive into rupert murdoch's empire of influence. the reach of the media mogul and his family. >> plus, adaptingamerica's best y.ved novel for broad my conversation about their take on "to kill a mockingbird" and why it remains as relevant as ever. ♪ f> and one of the greatest jazz musicians our time. walter isackson sits
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