captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good eveninuf i'm judy woo on the newshour tonight: a country on strike. france comes to a nationwide standstill, as protests over pension reform close schools and stop trains. then, anatomy of a conspiracy. how a disproven narrative tying ukraine to interference in the 2016 election found a home in the white hofre. and, it's ay. as the u.s. house drafts articles of impeachment, mark shields and david brooks are here to analyze the process and the president's troubled summit with nato allies. plus, a new exhibit veals the inspiratn that led a struggling artist named vincent to become the beloved pain van gogh. >> the thing is, as soon as yo bel somebody a "genius," you

"oh, they have this magical gift"-- but actually it's of whole lother people and it's the world.ll >> woodruff:hat and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ no moving omy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> consumer cellular offers

no-contract wireless plans that are designed to help you do more of the things you enjoy. whether you're a talker, a texter, browser, photographer, or a bit of everything, our-b u.ed customer service team is here to find a plan that fits you. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv d >> the forfoundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing ipport of thetitutions: and iends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by e corporation for public broadcasting.

and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thanyou. >> wdruff: u.s. unemployment lohas now fallen to a 50-yw, as hiring picked up steam. the labor department todaye reported that employment rate dropp to 3.5% in november, down from 3.6%. meanwhile, employers added 266,00new jobs last month, the biggest increase in ten months. today's strong jobs report sent stocks soaring on wall street. the dow jones industrial average surged 337 points to close at 28,015. the nasdaq rose more than 85 points, and the s&p 500 added 28. florida officials have confirmed that a gunman who killed three people today at naval air station pensacola was a member of the saudi air force.

the attack happened in ath classroom whersuspect was undergoing aviation training. shveral people were woded, before an office and killed the suspect. governor ron desantis said authorities are investigating several possible links to terrorism. >> the government of saudi thingsneeds to ma better for these victims. and i think they're going to owe a debt here, given that this lswas one of their individ when you have a foreign national involved, you know, particular in that part of the world, the investigation is obviously going to be different than if it wereb just sy from a local community. >> woodruff: in washington,p president trid that saudi king salman had called to offer condolences and assistance. k >> tg said that the saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter, and that this person in no way, shape or form represents the elings of the saudi people, who love the american people so much. >> woodruff: this was the second deadly shooting at a u.s.

military base this week. the first happened at pearl on wednesday.shipyard in hawai a u.s. navy sailor fatally shot two people before kill himself.ry milifficials said today that he had been unhappy with undergoing counseling. the white housis refusing to part in the house of representatives' impeachment proceedings against president trump. white use counsel pat cipollone wrote a letter to the house judiciary committee's chairman jerry nadler and demanded an end to the inquiry, calling it "completely baseless." meanwhile, house republicans said today that they want to hear testimony from hunter biden, the former vice president's son; from house intelligence committee chairman adam schiff; and from the anonymous whistleblower. the death toll from a migrant boat that psized off mauritania rose to 63 people today.

the vessel was headed to spain's canary islands when it ran out of fuel wednesday and overturned off the coasof west africa. some 150 migrants were on board. most were from gambia. the u.s. sanctioned three iraqi militia leaders today over the killing of anti-government protesters. the men are accused of leang iranian-backed paramilitary groups that shot atmo trators. more than 400 people have been crackdown on protests demanding today, a senior stpartment official left open the possibility of imposing moreon sanc >> we're not done. this is an ongoing process. these designations don't prejudice future designations, and we will be doing further designations in the future. >> woodruff: in central baghdad today, thoands of protesters flooded the streets demanding the formation of a n government. later, iraqi officials said tha

an attrgeting those demonstrators killed at least 15 people. lebanon's outgoing prime minister appealed for international aid toda amid the country's worst ec crisis in decades. prime minister saad hariri st letters to several countries, including the u.s., asking for help in securing credit lines. for months, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across the country to accuse the government of mismanagement and corruption. china today waived tariff hikes on u.s. pork and soybean imports onid ongoing trade negotia in september, beijing had promised to lift the duties in the hopes of securing an agreement. washington is seto impose a new round of tariffs on $160 billion of chinese goods on december 15. oil prices surged today afr opec reached a deal committing d to some of tpest oil output cuts this decade.

at a meeting in vienna, the group's oil producing countries and their ally russia agreed to cut an extra 500,000 barrels per teday through the first quof next year. ste move aims to prevent an oversupplynd bil prices. hrth carolina republican congressman geording announced today he won't seek re-electioin 2020. his raleigh-area district now leans heavildemocratic, after a court ordered the congressional map be redrawn. duncan hunter said today that he will resign at tar end of the he faces charges of misusing campaign funds. there are now 23 house republicans who are not seeking reelectionext year. still to come the newshour: france is brought to a halt, as the nation erupts in protest over president macron's pension

reform. how a fringe conspiracy theory about ukraine gained currency in the oval office. mark shields and david brooks break down a week that brought us even closer timpeachment. and, much more. >> woodrf: for a second raight day, a general strike brought much of france to a halt. the streets are filled with protesters denouncing president emmanuelle macron. as nick schifrin tells us, it's macron's ideas on reformingon sacrosanct secof the french national retirementsy em that have sparked outrage across the country. >> schifrin: in the city of light, dusk arrives early, in a cloud of tear gas. protestors have shut down parisr and much oance. phalanx of police arge at

demonstrators, and show little restraint. police have arrested hundreds. in a nation founded on revolt, demonstrators have held up the ag-- and much of paris' public transit and schools-- for two days. hundreds of thousands of protestors from all walks of life are united by opposition to proposed pensions reforms. >> ( translated ): retirees areo hereh are here. this shows that we are all affected by this bad proposal, and are all here to say tha we don't want it. >> ( translated ): i demonstrate for the next generation. i doubt that younger people wila haension like we currently have. >> schifrin: this is the french uncens' greatest show of for since 41-year-old emmanuel macron was elected president, promising fundamental reforms to an economic system considered anti-business, with pension reform at the center. >> it's the most ambitious reform than macron has introduced. >> schifrin: jean pisani-ferry helped design the pensionrm

reas a macron seor advisor. complex system morsparentmake a and fair. >> it's a very ambitious reform, the reform of the pension system. we have a fragmented pensions system. the ambition of the reform is to create a unified system. which favor mobility, so you could easily move from one sector to another, and in terms of fairness, it would be the same rules forveryone. >> schifrin: france has one of the world's most protective pension systems. france's average retirement e is 62, and the country spends 14% of its g.d.p. on pension.av thage for leading industrialized countries is 8%. these reforms don't actually chanhoge n protestors fear the reforms could lower pensions and increase the retirement age, tapping into larger economic concerns. >> ( translated ): reforming the pensions was the last straw, webeening ythiast few years,

whether it be unemployment benefits, or job cuts in the public sector. f>> schifrin: and as thatr increases, macron's considered out of touch. his crics call him imperious. and he misread his 2017 election landslide, says pisani-ferry, who is now athe peterson institute in washington, d.c. >> these was never a real debate on issues. and i think macron misinterpreted that by saying, he has got a mandate to do what he had proposed. and that put him very much out of touch with the perception of inequality, and the anger, and what we see in many of our societies, our people feel they are left behind. >> schifrin: for more than a year, yellow vest protestors have demonstrated e hi cost of living and rising fuel costs. they carried the cross f lower taxes and wage increases on weekends, to lose work days. today's protestors are mostly unionized employees unafraid to spend workdays on the streets.

and that means they threaten macron's entire reform agenda. >> if he has to capitulatethis ans the ability to do anything significant until the end of thm ill be destroyed. >> let's be serious.n: >> schifn europe, macron's become an outspoken voice, standing up to president trump,u and calling foamental reforms to nato and european defense. but if he loses his domestic reform battle, that imperils his international agenda, says pisani-ferry. >> part of his legitimacy internationally has been based on the ft that he's perceived as a reformer, as someone who is able to tacklehe problem of frenchociety and french economy. you cannot be unable to dore rms at home, and ask for reforms at the international level. >> schifrin: today, the majority of france supports the general

strike. macron's fundamental reforms, are being fundamentay challenged, and the protestors vow to keep going until the pension reforms are abandoned. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: this impeachment inquiry underway began with with ukranian presphone call volodymyr zelensky. but president trump has repeatedly charged that the real wrongdoing was by ukrainians. he asserts that theyagolluded nst him in the past. william brangham begins our look at this theory, and where it mai havenated. i >> branghathat now infamous phone call with brought up two distheories he wanted the young ukrainian president to investigate. utweine r hg amoea wbost investigate the bidens. but the other request was about

an unproven allegation that the ukrainians were somehow working against trump, that it was hacking of theratic em national committee's computer server back in 2016. we're going to look at this second issue-- why it's not true, where this idea cos om, and how it's now morphed into a much larger accusation about how ukraine allegedly interfered more broadly in the 2016 election. our guide is our very own lisa desjardins. lisankwelcome. >> tou. >> reporter: so much to ge through on all of this. tell us morebout this theory that president trump has that he brought up with president zelensky about ukraine's t involvement hacking of the d.n.c. >> this resolves around the server the intense community overwhelmingly concluded was hacked by the ru containing democratic party information from the democratic national convention. the.

has long resented the idea the russians got inolved if his favor. he embraced the theory it was the ukrainians trying to help out clinton who may have had something to do with this server. this is the favor he sad zelensky for. let's look at the partial transcript from the cal with president zelensky. president trump said i would like you to find out what happened with the whole situation with ukraine. they say crowdstrike, the server. ey say ukraine has it. also, the president brought this up in a press conferencee ovr availability in october. >> how come the f.b.i. never got the server from e d.n.c.? the servinger they sayls hed by a company whose primary ownership individual is from raine. >> so now we can explain what he's talking about.tr crowe is a cyber security firm hired by thedoms to look into this hack. ed is not owy ukrainians, it is owned by two americans including this man, dimitri

alperovich, you may have seen him on thenewshour" talking about cyber security in the past. while the f.b.i. did not takepo ession of the d.n.c. server as the president noted, neither did crowdstrike, they don't have it, they had no connection to ukraine. there's zero evidence ukraine had anything to do with the server at all. >> reporter: the president and supporters point to other evidence, they say, that show some ukrainians, at least, ha real animus towards then candidate tru1mp back in 26. what's the evidence for that? fi>> two things. t, republicans pointed to this op-ed run in 2016 written by the ambassador to the u.. from ukraine, that ambassador raised concerns about wht then candidate trump was saying about crimea. ump was kind indicating he may be okay with the russians taking over crimey and the concerns about that. republicans say that's an example of bias. the second example involves a

democratic national committee staffer named alxaeer chalupa. you've heard that name around. she said in her off work timno as part of her job, he was interested in trump campaign chairman paul manafort, had questions about his past in ukraine and spoke with officials at the ukrainian embassy. she said they didn't give her much guidancthan they would have given anyone else but a ukrainian staffer from the time said it went beyond that. he's offered no proof. we take from this there were individuals looking ie trump campaign or miffed bias, but in the case of the ambassador, was a case of national interest. there's no evidence of any larger ukrainian government efforts to try and undermine the trump campaign.o >> reporter:where did this idea come from that ukraine, more broadly, wasrying t interfere? >> we may not know all of the actors, but let's start with the press. first of all, there was this article from politico in 2017 saying ukrainian efforts to sabotage trump, that's a blari headline b you dig deeper,

really the only evidee is about the one democratic staffer, and that article says there was no deeper effort, they had no proof of a top-down effort. th 2017. flash forward to earlier this year, and you say in the hill in march, reporter named john solomon in a aiece entitl input out this idea there was a ukrainian plot to help clinton. now, it should be noted that this -- particularly this report, william, now is under investigation by the hill, as is john solomon's reporting. the president, though, pickeup on it. he tweeted the very next day -- or that y, he saw that report, and you see this idea starting to take hold.ap rudy giulianeared on fox news a couple of months later, also putting out theseeries. what's happening here? the intelligence community is looking at this a they have recently, according to the "new york times," concluded actually it was russia that put o tuthese ideas that ukraine was behind any election meddling in 2016,

certainly something that benefits russia that's been in the hot spot -- >> reporter: push blame off russia on to ukraine. >> yes and the intelligence community concluded that's what happened according to the "new york times" reporting. people might remember fiona hill on thnational security staff, she testified to this about a week ago in the impeachment hearings. >> there are some questions and statements i've hea, some of you on this committee appear to believe, that russia and itsty secuervices did not conduct a campaign against our country and that, perhaps, somehow, for some reason, ukraine did. this is a fictional narrative that is being perpetrated and propagated by the russian >> one more note on this.ves. vladimir putin himself last month said he paid attention to this a sort of joked in a happy way he's glad ukraine is getting the blame. >> reporter: despite theev seeminence it might be the

russians trying to gin up this idea, we are seing some members of the g.o.p. parroteing these points. u>> first, i'll play a s byte from louisiana senator john kennedy. raine medk both russia and election. i thinit's been well documented in the financial times and poltico, in the economist and the washington examiner, eve on cbs. >> also notably, the senate intelligence chaman richard burr known for being cautious told me and a few other reporters a couple of days ago, there's no difference the way russians put their finr rly on on the scale and how the ukrainian officials did it. this saying these arewo equal things saying this iswi e mis ofhe pubcans bulookg at senator lindsey graham, an ally of the president, but he said i'm

1,000% confident that the hack of the democratic national convention was by russian operatives and no one else. so you see a battle for what's n are true t when really the evidence is overwhelming on one side that the russians attacked us in many ways, and there'snc almost no evithat the ukrainians had a government-wide attempt to tryto meddle in 2016. >> reporter: lisa desjardins, thank you so much for helping us wade through this.>> ood teamwork. you're weome. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: behind vincent van gogh'son masterpieces. and, the difficulties farm workers face in maintaining their health. i a milestone wewashington: the impeachment proceedings iaainspresident trump advanced to the house jud committee and speaker nasipenclo direed house chairmen a begin draftiicles ofil and facing impeachment back home, president trump faced

nato allies in londothe democratic primary field shrunk, again. re to help us make sense of it all are shields and brooks. that is syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks. okay. rink, shrank, shrunk. >> shrinking right in front of you. >> rr: we're moving ahead. let's start with impeachment, mark. the speaker did say i want you want you to begin draftingi articles. judiciary committee held a hearing with constitutional scholars on wednesday. where does this argument stand now that the president should be impeached? >> i think the argument is straightforward, that the president elicitly usd hi power -- il illicitly used his

power to maybe subvert another country to participate in and sabotage an american election, upcoming, not 2016, you know, as revisiting that. he's talki about the election of 2020. that's it.k, you know, i think it's cleghtforward, in violation of not only hitrs oat but of the express position, will and law of the unitedes stongress, and, so, you know, i think it's pretty ear. >> reporter: is it clear to you? >> it takes two to have angu nt and we don't seem to have an argument because we have the democrats who are hap to talk about it and the white house doesn't seem interested in confronting the argumenwith e other side so that's their decision in the house. i wonder gat they'ng to do in the senate. is the white house coming? are they going to leave it to republican senators? i agrewith mark, the evidence is prelming. hearings.ry mmtee haen y imtu sn

they heard from sclars. monday they're going to have what's called an evidence is either side -- both of you are saying the white house isn present ago defense but some of the republicans on the committ are saying this whole thing is a sham. i mean, how much headway are the republicans making with th hamming at?at they i man, eli repns have been united. i mean, so, i don't know if there's headway to make. and in the nation. their position is pretty clear. they're going to stick with the president, regardless.of it's kin fascinating to me, there's a little vignette, i think, that sort of encompasses and explains this whole thing. in the 2018 eleion, the 11t 11th district of new jersey, a republican seat held for 25 years, the democrats nominated a rather remarkable candidate, a navel academy graduate, mother of 4, who hadeen a helicopter uilot and a federal prosecutor and nancy pelosiorted her,

but before the election, mikey cheryl, a democrat, called nancy pelosi and said i'm getting an awful lot of criticism, i'm going to have to announce i will not support you as speaker if i do win. nancy pelosi said, oh, meyk forget about it, go win, that's what matters. that same lection in utah,yo love, the only black republican woman in thein congressa district that wascr ibly white, 290,000 votes cast, she lost by o-third of 1%, and donald trump, said myi ve didn't show me anyove and she lost. that encapsulates where we are on the combatants. 'sit's pelosi against trump. >> and trump had an argument of a sortoday which was 256,000 new jobs.

>> yes. the economy is a big factor here, an so, as long as he has that economy, the republicans will be sticking with it -- sticking with him and the atmosphere with thens republi will be good. nancy pelosi had one of the best momentof the year saheying doesn't hate donald trump, she's going to pray for donald trump. that was a beautiful moment of, well, she said it's her catholic faith, her christian witness. >> she was quoting st. augustine, hate the sin but not the sinner.ep >>ter: so do i hear both of you saying you think the democrats are correct to be moving forward with this impeachment, that this is a wise move ont? their par >> i don't know if it'wise. imperative move, if they don't do it, they will never, aga, be able to face themselves in the mirror or look at history's judgment thathey watched a president do this. they saw a president do this

openly and, clearly, d did not act. i mean, that is just simy saying -- it's abdicating all power and changing our system.i >> pelderstands two contradictory facts, one, they have to do this for constitutional reasons, and, two, it could hurt swing voters, but it'sot thenversation she wants to have, about hong kong and so on. they're doing e right thing to do it and as fast as they possibly can. i'm struck by how mitche mcconnell willct in the senate. does he want to drag this out as a way to deep mocratic senators in there or does he also want to get it out of the way? if i were him, i would probably want to get it out of the wayo., >> reporter: lot of questions. meantime, ile this is going on in washington, the president is london meeting with n.a.t.o. leaders. mark, once again, the president managing to get into a squabble with his counterparts. is this something that you think is having a bigger effect on the united states or is this

something that is limited? thiss a video of the other leaders apparently mocking isesident trump. his something that's just about him or is this affecting h united states? >> well, judy, i went back and checked the record. it's the first time that donald trump, at least publicly, 1987 took a full-page add in the "new york times" saying japan was having a freighter sail through the persian gulf and they ought to pay for it, otherwise the world, opec, china and russia would be laughing at us, iran was laughing at us. this was a constantheme throughout his campaign, you know, that the world is will lag i was unaware of the world laughing at us, to be honest with you, but iofaw evidenc the world laughing at the president of the united states. i mean, the leaders of the free world laughing at him and what had been his egosm and ego sentriesty just run rampant at

the intemperatures of anybody else. that's what struck mebout that vignette you described. >> reporter: is that about him or is it about the dismount. >> it's about twm. mytter feed was interesting that day when the video came out because the left side of my twitter feed ws saying, this is terrible, everyone's laughing,na and trump can't get along with foreign leaders, and the right side of my twitter feed s saying this is awesome, donald trump can't get alonga with foreign lrs. so they liked the idea he was having a fight. ly say from the right side of the universe, mockery is a sign of higher status to people they think are less intelligent oro lessod. so a lot of people who feel that everyone is looking down on them see mockery as an elitear phenomenon thim. and it's read very differently, in my experience, in differepa s to have the country. so i think this is an example of how see the world differently.i think it's indispd trump is hurting our relationship with our allies, i

think that's iisputable. i had a friend in the state department saying most of what we do hee not foreign policy, it's foreign relations. we do relationships. as mark will tell you in politics as in life, relationships are 98% of the turingand if you're tor your relationships with your allies, they're not going to be there when you need them. >> in the meantime, a dozen and a half democrats running for president. kamala harris drpped out this week. we saw an interesting exchangebi between joden and a voter yesterday where joe biden looked gry. he got pretty how is the race shaped -- has the race shaped up at thi point, given a number of candidates have now dropped out? >> well, ia mean,mala harris, why not, first term african-american senator running for the presidency, barack obama did it.

two major differences, barack obama was once-in-a-lifetime political talent and, secondly, he was the onl anti-war candidate in an anti-war party. everybodelse had supported the iraq war. she was for single payer health insurance until she was against it, and she got caught in the changing worries. i mean, a woman who had been a district attorney, an a.g., was a real plus, you know, kind of proving her toughness, bu aall sudden, in this democratic party and in changing vals, the question became what about prisoners' rights and so forth. so i think, you know, i think the pr-mortems on campaign in both politico and the "new rk times" tanned "the washington post" on the internal strife ormost -- >> rr >> woodruff: and we talked about that last week. the detcrats are left wih

fewer people of color. >> and, you know, i think as people have said, politics plays on twtter and beto o'rourke and kamala harriwere two of the most identity politics candidate. i think it's true that democrato think other ple are racist and won't vote for an african-amthican. i thin's the explanation for why cory booker who i think has run a very good campaign har not doneand why she has not done better and they're lefi with tall white debate stage. >> woodruff: and among those left in the race, we mentioned squabble with a voter this week. you had three obama administration officials endorsing pete buttigieg. what about the. endismorm

>> well, the john kerry is not unimportant. i don't think endorsements -- they mean a lot more on the back of a check than a political campaign, unless it's the spouse of one candidate endorng that but iowa, heopponent. was the nominee, he was the secretarsecretary of state, cery one of the simple themes of joe biden's campaign is that the world is in disarray, as w' just been talking about, and it's going to take an awful lot of effort andr expertise day one to reassemble it. and it's a little bit of slap at elizabeth warren at the same time. >> kerry endorsing. deval patrick, even. i think the obama officials endorse buttigieg is a bigger deal just becau he needs credibility, c37-year-old do this, and that lends some credibility to him. but i think joe biden had one of the best weekshe campaign. he had an ad mocking

president bush, president trump, wishful thinking, and he went, after the vothich i think voted vig, showed toughness, shows he's doing well and controlled the news cycle which he hasn't done in a long time.is >>ree. i disagree with davi i think that joe biden can take on a voter,ut he -- you want to do pushups, you want to run,t you o take an i.q. test? itlooks like a little bit like a mini trump and that's not the way joe biden will win this campaign if he's going to win it. >> woodruff: mark sh, davibrooks, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: vincent van gogh. but an exact diagnosis is still disputed. the eay death at 37, thought to be a suicide, but again, not certain. what we do know is, he was a hefficult, pained man, who produced some oforld's

most exuberant paintings, and became one of the most beled artists of all time. jeffrey brown takes us to a new exhibition, with an interesting origin story of its own, that helps us see how he got there. it is part of our ongoing arts and culture coverage, "canvas." >> brown: it's the most famous "stare" in art history: the one and only vincent van gogh. >> i say to visitors, if you'res sitting onol in a bar, and someone turns to you with thisyo lookmight want to move. and this says something about vincent: he is out there emotionally, and "this is my life." >> brown: will south is curator and his inspirations," at the columbia museum of art in south carona's capital cy. it presents a less-familiar van gogh-- the wayward, struggling, largely self-taught young man who learned from looking hard at the world anthe work of artists around him.ng this is seow van gogh

became van gogh. >> that's the question we sought to answer. he doesn't come out of the womb it takes a lot of e, a lot of experimentation, a lot of false starts, a number of early successes. you have to look at a lot of things to arrive at "starry night." that doesn't just come out of "where. >> brown: in facarry nght" and most of van gogh's the last few years of his short life. they rarely traveland are not here. what is here?, 12 van gog loan from museums around the country, surrounded by works by 30 other artists, most from earlier in a drawing of an old woman by jean francois raffaelli, next t one by van g a worker. a japanese woodblock print of a plum garden, side by side with van gogh's "orchard with arles in the background" notice the tree branches. jean-francois millet's paintin of two peasants, next to van gogh's "beef cart."

van gogh would retain some elements of what he saw, even as he later exploded them into his own revolutionary style. >> all those things are coming in, and he's going to reshuffle those things constantly. the thing is, as soon as you label somebody a "genius," you stopooking for sources. what's there is this tremendous background of effort end struggle axperimentation, thate constantly bris forward.: >> broe source for this exhibition is an hour away from columbia, in the town of aiken, in a gilded-age, 60-room estate that had fallen into disrepair and neglect when steven naifeh and gregory white smith bought it in 1989, slowly restoring it over the next 25 years. it was here that the t men, profession and life partners before smith died in 2014, wrote their pulitzer prize-wning biography of jackson plock, and then spent a decade researching and writing an acclaimed biography of van gogh, published in 2011.

>> the thing we came away with from the ten years, the most, important lesss the lesson of resilience. resilience in the face of adversity. it was constant, but somehow he just picked himself up every day and started painting again. >> brownit was also here that naifeh and smith began buying art, as a way to see through van gogh's eyes. they couldn't afford actual," "van gogut they combed auctions to find works by lesser-known artists they knew he'd admired. we're looking at the list of artists he admired, the artists that he saw in an exhibiti, that he wanted theo to make sure that he went to see. >> brown: artists such as georges michel, who painted this landscape. the van gogh wall know and love would create something very but naifeh makes the case, he got there through artists like michel.es >> he leehind the coloring of paintings like this, but what he keeps are certain things like

these dynamic clouds, these wonderful clouds. and if you think about his late, most advanced landscapes, they may be brightly colored, but theyave these wonderful, tempestuous, exciting, j.ilant clouds and they come directly out of georges michel. these were paintings that are in the exhibition. >> brown: naifeh lent part of his collection to the columbia museum of art for the new exhibitionincluding this painting by adolphe monticelli, whose work van gogh greatly admired. >> what's astonishing about monticelli is how abstract he is. the other thing that's important in it is the thickness of the paint. it's almost sculptural. >> brown: yeah, you can see. >> look, look at this in here. and he also painted what's >> brown: next to it: van gogh"" this is getting clo thes." van gogh that many know, right? >> yes. >> brown: because we look around and i imagine a lot of people coming to the galleries are saying, "this doesn't look like a van gogh." >> wel the van gogh that we know is only the van gogh of the last four years of his life.

so what's really helpful is to realize that art hiseven with somebody as revolutionary as van gogh, is an ongoing dialogue between each and the artists that came before.wn >> bthat was a lesson being passed on to a group of local high school art students who visited the exhibition, and then made their own works, inspired by van gogh andis interest in japanese art. paige williams and oherod are both 17. ee i think it's so cool to how van gogh kind of took inspiration and techniques from other artists and incorporated that. n owhiva he ansformed it into wi, st.owt >> and he focused re on the emotion within it, while this other person didn't. so you can tell the diffence in artists. >> brown: i'm curious about how often do you get to see a vango or van gogh exhibition? >> never ever. >> brown: never? >> no. as famous as he is, i just honestly don't think i've seen really any other majorous paintings in person.

>> i just feel so fortunate, able to see these famous works, d i'm able to not see them through a computer screen.♪ ♪ >> brown: pulling in both art lovers and people who aren't regular museum visitors was very much the idea for curator will south, who says this exhibition carries a largermbition. >> there's this id wn you're in a moderately big town, really a small big town, that we are new yorks of this world. and in a sense we are, but that doesn't mean waren't a capable town, an aggressively smart town.yb evy needs to experience art. but if they can make it here an we can gem a similar experience-- not the se as being on fifth avenue, but a similar experience-- then we should. and we need to do that. th's our responsibility. that's our job. and we take that very seriously. here through janua 12, 2020,n and will later travel to sifta barbara,nia and

columbus, ohio. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in columbia, south carolina. >> woodruff: and we will be back shortly th a look at how a farm worker community in arizona is addressing the challenges of but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it is a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. w druff: for those stations staying with us, as marijuana legalization has swept the country, investors are seeing green. in california, new companies are scaling up operations, while some smaller businese fighting for survival. solman has the encore story. >> so, we have about 60 to 70 different strains at a given time.

>> reporter: at east of eden in salinas, california, pick your cannab flower, any flower, a labeled by bra t.h.c. punch. well, here is one. berry o.g... >> 29.is >> reporter: .9.7, so you really high off of this, i take it? >> anything above 25sell oualmost immediately. >> reporter: is that right? >> right. >>eporter: paul henderson, formerly with goldman sachs, now c.e.o. of grupo flor, which owns two dispensaries and will open 18 more within a year. >> we will do around, right now, $1.3 million a month in sales. >> reporter: right here? >> from this store alone, yes. >> reporter: and grupo flor isn't just retail. in a few years, the firm's become one of california's largest cannabis companies,ai from r to cultivation, to manufacturing and distribution. co-founder mike bitar had been in commercial real estate. >> and i just happened to stumble ross cannabis and saw how lucrative it was, and realized we shld get in the business. >> reporte by 2016, when

californians voted to legalize narecreational adult marij use, bitar and partners had already snapped up one-and-a- half million square fe greenhouse space lying fallow since the cut flower business emigrated to south america. bey'd grow cannabis instead. >> there might na larger wealth-generating opportunity that i will see in my lifetime again. i mean, it's staering what can built in this industry right w. >> reporter: $ billion was invested in cannabisyear alone, and, says industry researcher john kagia, bige ime players ving in. >> constellation brands, the world's largest alcohol company, and altria, the world's largest tobacco company. but you have also seen companies like molson coors, lagunitas brewing company, cvs and walgreens getting into this space. >> reporter: this is the green rush, chasing an estimated $350 kagia thinks a trillion within 15 years. in santa barbara county, acres of white structures house some of the biggest grows in the

world. grupo flor is rushing to keep up. a recent operations meeting, new employees, new dispensaries... >> they're targeting this cation to be the dispensary for celebrities. >> reporter: ...and over speakerphone... >> greetings from colombia. >> reporter: ...new operations overseas. >> we incorporated grupo flor colombia in february of this ar. we're also loong at mexico. and last but not least, we are looking at asia as well. >> reporter: in salinas, fences block the product fr public view, while razor wire and guards protect the high-profit plants from thieves. >> a farm like this is ever- flowering. harvesting.g and always , reporter: five crops a year in this greenhouys grupo flor's gavin kogan, vs. just one or two outdoors. this is one of the firm's seven california sites. >> rht now, what's happening in california is aggregation. companies are acquiring other companies. and so, if we don't cultivate,

we lose our supply chain, and we can get crushed out. >> reporter: crushed oe oliver bates. so, you cultivated marijuana for 25 years. now you are out of the business and broke? >> now i'm out of the business and broke. >> reporter: bates grew cannabis for years in the monterey counte hill big sur. but with legalization came rules and regs.ut >>de investment came in and lobbied their interests and made sure that, in the new regulation, that only commercial greenhouses were allowed to grow cannabis. >> reporter: so you cannot have an outdoor farm in monterey county? >> yes. i have been giving away weed, all my weed. i can say a pound of mine made t the grammys, and it was a big hit. >> reporter: but it's not legal >> it's not legal yet. >> reporter: what are you doing for a living now? >> consulting and working for ee. i'm actually not making a living right now. >> reporter:ow are you surviving? >> i'm broke. day by day, you know, and really lp-- help from friends at this point. >> reporter: further north in

>> this is really difficult to do. it takes a lot of capital. regulations are heavy. we're overtaxed. and so where i really feel thesm pain coming fol farmers is that ty're having to face the obstacles we face, without the capital, and without the people and the business know-how to really do an>>ffective job. eporter: and without the cost advantages of the black market, from which they have me. nikki lastreto's mendocino farm is now legit, but most of her neighboring farmers aren't. and theyose as much of a threat as her corporate competitors, she says. >> right now, they'rable to sell at $1,500, where we're getting, after all the expenses involved, the taxes, et cetera, and the packagg, about $900 a pound. >> reporter: and if you're a seller on the black market? >> you sell it on the blac market, you just dlike the old days. you just grow it in seclusion,

hope the cops don't find you, and find buyer, and they come right up. they pay you cash. and it's out the door. >> reporte no permits? no permits, no licenses, no taxes. the disadvantage the black market has is, of course, li in the old days, they have to worry about the cops. they have to worry aboutrc helicopters ng overhead, getting busted. >> reporter: so, you're in thepo odtion now... >> it's very odd! >> reporter: ...of rooting for the helicopter >> it's difficult, though, because they're our friends, they're our neighbors. and it is what we used to do. so, how can i judge them? b >> reportek in monterey county, where only greenhouse growing is allowed: >> we're going extinct. we're really fighting to survive. >> reporter: oliver bates lobbies to makleoutdoor grows l. and what does he think of big new operations like grupo flor?i m furious that they have no respect for the people that brought this to them. >> reporter: the people who paid their dues? >> the people that paid their dues, the people that spent their lives hiding in the bushes alom helicopters, feeling like they were crimin and for that, i will be forever furious. >> reporter: lawyer and grdeo flor co-fogavin kogan is conflicted. s i spent mt of my time

cannabis attorney representing small grows. it affects me to be seen as a threat and somebody th against their interests, because i don't conceive of myself that way. >> reporter: but he is a threat, due to the economies of scale of industrial production, as prohibition comes to an end. for the pbs newshour, this is business and economics correspondent paul sman in northern california. >> woodruff: finally, farm workers face major challges when it comes to access to health care, but the southeast arizona area health education center, or sea-hec, is working h to improlth care for farm workers with a unique solution. here's producer anikka abbott. >> reporter: bend, pluck, place, repeat. for hours a day, workers at nature sweet farms in southeast it's work that requires strength, skill, and good health. public health expert jill

gunsey de zapien says farm work often causes muscle and back issues. >> everything is built for harvesti crops, for packaging. it is built to make it happen fast. t it's not buiprotect the >> reporter: the nl center for farm-worker health says the ertop three things farm wo suffer from are obesity, hypeension, and diabetes. workers like dillon valenzuela do what they can to get ready for the day. >> ( translated ): when we enter, first we have to exercise, sttch out, then we put all the protective clothes onor the greenhouse. y reporter: even though t prepare for the work, some farm workers struggle to maintain their own health. 400 people are working in this tomato plant. the majority here in the greenhouses and almost 95% of them speak spanish primarily. language is one baier to healthcare.

access is another, says gail emrick, executive director of the southeast arizona area health education center, or seahec. >> particularly precarious with farm workers is the type of labor they're involved in, v shift wosus ongoing or formal employment. and so some people may have health insurance and health coverage, and others may not >> reporter:he national center for farm-worker health says across the country arers uninsured. even some with health insuraede have limitccess. the ratio of people to doctors in rural areas is 2,500 to one. >> it's not sayi necessarily that we don't have enough health professional it's saying that they're not distributed well throughout the country. >> reporter: here in winchester heights, an unincorporated latino neighborhood just ten minutes from the farm, there are no doctors. the closest town with a medical facility is 20 minutes away. enter the southeast arizona area

health education center, whose goal is to help residents inar ruras gain access to healthcare. in winchester heights, they helped build a community center where public health interns train resident volunteers, known as promotoras de salud. after receiving training healthcare workers, like aida dominguez, go door to door in winchester heights to teach health, like nutrition and sun protection. >> and then she told me, "i am so grateful because i didn't know but now i know that you have to use a hat." >> reporter: latino farm workers say the community center and health workers have made anhe impact on theith. having promotoras who speak their own language and come from their own community make a >> (etranslated ): it's important to have a social environment an to be able the adults, the elders, so we

will be united. >> reporter: along with healthcare, the health education group is now also teachingsi nts how to run their own non-profit. they plan to turn the communit center over to the people in winchester heights next year. for the pbs newshour, i'm anikka abbott with cronkite nin winchester heights, arizona. >> woodruff: before we go night, a brief npdate. it has been a busy evening at the u.s. supreme court. the court has blocked a request from the trump administration to lift a b federal executions. for 16 years, there have ben no death penalty executions in federal cases. also, ta supreme court hs temporarily granted the president's request to bck ruling by a lower court that

required banks to hand over president trump and his family's financial vordz to congress.ic juruth bader ginsburg signed that order. the stay gives relief fornly a week while the court considers the q. a federal appeals court ruled earlier this week that deutsch bank and capital one must turn over what they have of the president's personal and financial business records. there are two other cases before the court involving subpoenas for the president's financial and that is the ne for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and wel see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railwall >> consumer ar. >> supporting socialep entrneurs 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 prograwas made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioneby media access group at wgbh

hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co.", and welcome here's what's coming up. barely back from the n summit, and trump is hit with articles of impeachment. >> our democracy is what is at stake. >> i'll speak to republican mia love and democrat russ feingold. and in the dtiisive uk els -- >> make britain great again. this is a great country. what does this mean?r: >> repor speak to centrist and independent rory stewart chabout the most dramatic oice in recent british memory. plus, harvard professor drgeorge church digs into the ethics of genetic experimentation. ♪