tv PBS News Hour PBS September 16, 2020 3:00pm-4:00pm PDT
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captioning spohoored by productions, llc >> woodrf: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, a slow moving hurricane hits the u.s., raising fears of flooding as the storm batters the gulf coast. then, millions of acres ablaze,s spreading smar as europe. how the wildfires areva ating the western u.s. plus, how to vote-- what we knol about n ballots and what before making theice inderstand the pandemic. >> because of all these mail-ine vobeing counted, we likely won't see a winner declared on election night. on tonight's pbs nr.t and more
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>> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems--or skollfoundatio so >> the lemfoundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made rible by the corporation public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: it's been a long, damaging day along much of the
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u.s. gulf coast, with hundreds of flooded homes, plus broke bridges and rain by the bucketful. hurricane sally has weakened since it struck the alabama- florida state line before dawn. but, major damage is piling up. stephanie sy has our report. >> reporter: waves of swollen waters crashed onto southe shores. coast this morning as a category 2 storm, and is moving forward at a glacial pace. in mobile, alabama, winds of uph to 105 miles pr swept through empty streets. >> there it goes! . >> reporteand downed trees in backyards near the state border with florida. >> holy moly! >> reporter: in pensacola florida, a portion of the massive thremile bridge collapsed in the high winds, apparently after a crane crashed onto the roaay. >> pretty windy, blow you over. >> reporter: residents likerh trent t, were left to wade through knee-high water as rainfall reached 20 inches, and
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kept coming. the storm grew rapidly last weekend into hurricane force a it made its way past southern florida and up the gf of mexico. climate scientists have found evidence that hurrican are intensifying more rapidly, while producing more rain and stalling, and they've linked those impacts to human-caused cimate change. ken graham, at the national hurricane center, says "sally" illustratethe potential damage.. >> when you get a slow moving storm, it just compounds the issues. it's longer to be able to putn that r the ground, longer to push that storm surge in, so ale combination of the rai and storm surge when its a slow moving storm, you just have the opportunity to put torrential ngerous rainfall onto the ground leading to flash flooding. in fact, with tropical systems historically, 90% of the fatalities in tropical systems is from the water. >> reporter: officials in alabama and mississippi had urged residents in flood-prone areas to get out.e but, snored the evacuation
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orders. park painter of fish river says he's endured false alarms before. >> a lot of times there's hurricanes and they don't end up tting as bad as people s they will so i guess everyone's thinking it'going to be like that again and then everyone tecked up, moved last minu. >> reporter: the storm's sloe speed also ms path less predictable.ts meteorologredicted it would hit biloxi, mississippi, but that changed last night, sparing the city. mayor andrew "fo gilich told the pbs newshour he's relieved. >> it had been right on your throat, you know, right on our backyard. and we would have a lot of issues which would include, you know, the downed trees, the downed power, thoseven the communications, which was always a big ing. i am relieved that people are back at work this morning. >> rorter: hurricane sally's lashing of the gulf coast comes just three weeks after hurricane laura hit with deadly force. this atlantic hurricane season
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has been among the most activeor on r with some 20 named systems so far. for the pbs newshouri'm hanie sy. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, dozens of wildfires kept burning across the pacifices nortand california. president trump declared ast federal di in oregon, where several small towns have been razed. t, improved weather is helping. in california today, crews etstopped a fire just 500 from the famed mount wilson obseatory. federal health agencies and the pentag today outlined plans to make covid-19 vaccines available, for free, to all americans. the campaign would begin gradually, late this yr or early next year. at a u.s. senate hearing, the head of the centers for disease
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control and prevention cautioned that the supply will be very limited at first. >> if you're asking me when is it going to be generally available to the american public so we can begin to take advantage of vaccine to get back to our regular life, i think we're probably looking at thirde q-- econd quarter, early third quarter 2021. >> woodruff: redfield also >> president trump said director redfield made a mistake in his estimate. redfield defended his agency's scientific integrity, and he dismissed claims that c.d.c. scientists are plotting against president trump's re-election. that charge came from trum appointee michael caputo at the health and human services department.he today,epartment announced he's taking a two-month leave o. abse the "big ten" conference hasld reversed fand will play college football after all this tifall, with pandemic precs. officials today announced eight
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regular-season games, ng next month, plus a conference title game. that would make the winner eligibleor the national championship. in theresidential campaign, democrat joe biden blasted president trump's latest statements on the pandic. president played de needt, the for masks and said he had done all that could be done.ok biden today in wilmington, delaware. >> all the president had to offer last night, president trump, was the same weak and feckless inaction. let me be clear: i trust vaccines. i trust scientists. but i don't trust donald trump. and at this moment, the american people can't either. >> woodruff: biden also dismissed claims by the trump campaign that he is trying to undermine public confidence in a potential vaccine for political gain. a u.s. house committee has issued a scathing report on the
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boeing 737 max. it blamed failed government oversight, and boeing's failure to fix problems, for crashesle that k346 people. it also called for major reforms.l wescuss all of this after the news summary. the ste department today defended the firing of inspector general steve linick. he had been reviewing an $8 billion arms sale to saudi arabia, among other things. at a department officials rejected democrats' allegations of a cover-up led by house foreign affairs chairman eliot engel. >> the fact that we had to drag you up here kicking and threaming itself makes me ink trying to hide the. has been >> the i.g.'s removal was not about retaliation on any specific report or investigation. there have been a variety of unsubstantiated allegations in the media that the secretary recommended removal of.g. because of some awareness of these investigations. nothing could be further from
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the truth. >> woodruff: linick is one of several officials who've been dismissed from oversight res in therump administration. the parliament of japan elected yoshihide suga today to be prime minister. he had long been the top aide to shinzo abe, who resigned as prime minister due to chronic illness. after his election, suga promised to focus on the pandemic and economic troubles. he also called for even closer ties with the u.s. the u.s. justice dartment has with computer hacking more than 100 companies and organizationst u.s. and worldwide. the five suspects remain at large.at invests say they found no direct connection between the hackers and the chinese government. today it has no pl raiseunced interest rates, at least through 2023, in order to boost economic growth. chairman jerome powell said the economy has recovere
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quickly than expected, but the outlook is still uncertain. >> the labor market has improved but its a long, long way from max employment and it will be some time getting back there. tothink that's the best wa think about it. in many parts of the economy, there's just a lot of disruption and its very hard ot say where we are. >> woodruff: powell also urged congress to do more, but lawmakers remain deadlocked on a new relief package. on wall street, tech stocks led much of the market lower, despite the fed's announcement. the dow jones industrial average maged to gain 36 points to closat 28,032. but the nasdaq fell nearly 140 points, and, the s&p 500 slipped 15. and, the well-known intellectual and jazz authority stanley crouch died today, in new york. he gained notice in the 1970's as a highly original, and highly confrontational, writer andur
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cu critic. e championed jazz, denounced rap music and wrtensively, including a biography of jazz great charlie parker.ou stanley was 74 years old. still to come on the newshour: what went wrong with the boeing 737 max. how to vote, either by mail or in pern, for november. a deserate journey to the cliffs of dover. and much more. >> woodruff: tragedy in the skies: two boeing 737 max jets crash in 2019. the cause: multiple failures along the way. amna nawaz explores a new, blistering report reveals the extent oerrors and the need
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for change. >> nawaz: judy, that report was issued by the democratic members of the house transportationco ittee. and their investigation into the crashes in indonesia and ethiopia fou what they called "a horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by boeing's engineers, a lack of transparency on e part of boeing's management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the f.a.a." the report also found "boeing tsthheld crucial information from the f.a.a.,ustomers and 737 max pilots." our own aviation correspondent, miles o'brien, continues to cover this story and joins me now. miles, welcome back. it's always good to see you. we should note this isn't the first investigatcrn into those hes but it is the most comprehensive. it's also striking they seem to find a problem o a failure a every single step along the way. how unusual is that? >> it is unusual, amna. this is systemic problem. this is not just an isolated situation. what the report paints is a
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picture of a company in a very competitive landscape, trying to get an aircraft to market, cutting corners financially, seeing problems that crop up at a low leel, and those problems not being addressed by the company. and meanwhile, the regulator, the federal aviation administration, using its -called designees, that is to say boeing employees that arewa supposed to behing all of this, not aware of much of this, and to the extent the f.a.a.as aware, overruling overranking people at the f.a.a. who raised ncerns. this is a problem that requires a fundamental re-think ono hw aircraft are designed, built and flown in this country. >> nawaz: let me ask you what they found about boeing's role in all of this because earlier investigations found a problem with something called the mcas system, feeding bad dta that would force the nose of the plane down. did we find t anything about this report about what boeing
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knew and the problem and how they handled it? >> engineers, pilots were seeing the problem which ultimately led to the two fatal. crash the problems were raised and nothing was done about them internally within boeing. that didn't t to the f.a.a. either. so what you had was a serious problem, a problem that, you know, ultimately led to the loss of life that was being over an over overlooked. >> nawaz: the report found when it comes to the f.a.a. that the entire regulatory system is flawed and it needs to be repaired and the thing we should point out is, despite all those problems, the f.a.a. signed off on the plane, it was deemed compliant. how does that happen? >> yeah, how can it be compliant and considered safe and still have two crashes. obviouslthat doesn't all add up. what you have is a system that, over the years, for decades, the f.a.a. has essentially outsourced its capability to inspect inchese pesses and sign off to the companiesth
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selves, so-called designees do the work for them, they don have their foot soldiers on the ground. it would require of money and change in the f.a.a. process to change that. but maybe it's time t start thinking about not allowing the companies themselves to police thei own procedures. >> nawaz: spokesperson for boeingas this to sa, they say we have been hard at work strernting our safety culturedi rebu trust with customers, regulators and the flying company.says the company's thoughts and prayers remain with the families of those who died inhe crashes but the 737 maxre jetin groundedorldwide. will we see them back in the air soon? >> this is a multi-nation effort. the united stas, brazil, canada, regulators in all these countries working together to get these aircraft back in flight. there are airworthiness
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directives out there that would fix the technical problems, but will take a while to get to the point where this plane will be back in service, including .a. administrator of the f. steve dixon is a very accomplished airline pilot, he'll fly it, there will be several other reports, a an airworthiness directive and they'll remove the ground order and recertify to fly, but this will take time and nody wants to put a date on the calendar. k you so: miles, th much >> you're welcome, amna. >> woodruff: and a quick correction, in my introduction t s report, i said there were two crashes in 2019. in fact, the first wasfa in the of 2018. we regret the error. >> woodruff: how do eak a stalemate? lawmakers and the white house
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remain at odds on how to agreeto on reliehe economic casualties of covid. despite the odds ha group of u.se members on both sides of the aisle are trying to each the dide. >> yang: judy, the of 25 house democrats and 25 house republicans calls itself the "problem solvers cau its new plan has a $1.5 trillion dollar price tag offering added unemployment benefits, starting at $450 per week. new stimulus checks for lower- income americans: $1,200 per adult and $500 per child. $500 billion in new aid for state and local governments. and as much as $25 billion in rentalssistance. the two co-chairs of the "problem solvers caucus" are democrat josh gottheer of new jersey and republican tom reed of new york. they join us from capitol hill. as you can see, appropriately distanced for the panmi mr. gottheimer, i'd like to
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start with you. caucus were less thanm enthusiastic about this -- your proposal, the eight chairmen issued a statement saying it was nogh to save lives or boost the economy and said, in certain areasit was even a step backward. given that, how do you use this as aay to chart a path forward to show howompromise is possible? >> well, i have a deep respect for our chairs and their priorities, which is why all of them are actually in our package from state and local support to unemployment to $1irect checks. you know, what we focused on when we came together as democrats and republicans was how do we get over the humps that have kept us stuck fore th last four months without giving any relief to the american people and to small businesses? you can talk about something we voted on foumonths ago but how do we actually get parties back to the table to get things done
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instead of fihghting with e other? that's within our objective. we got democrats and republicanp together at a framework together of a bipartisan agreement and, to me, doing temething is much betthan doing nothing. >> mr. reed, i do want to askre you whatou hearing from the white house. what are you hearing from your epublican colleagues and other chamber in the senate. >> i will tell you, if you look at whathe white house has said, mark meadows, what the press secretary said today, the highlighted our "problem solvers aaucus" work as a step in the right direction they are willing to go in the room. as the speaker said, we are staying in d.c. till we get a deal done. those are all positive statements that we initiated a thaw in the gridlock. from my per specific, we did what we wanted to donned that was to sw that congress should ant can do thi >> reporter: you talked about getting over some of the hurdles and bumps in the road that
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blocked an agreement. from your perspective, frm the republicans' perspective, what were some of the toughest bumps and last sticking points to get over? >> obviously, when you're discussing state and local aid we had a great discussion and one of the concerns is when you look at how weroke that don, we made sure it covered actual expenses for past and future covid 19 related expenses, that when you talked about lost revenue by local and state goornment, you talked abut documented lost revenues as shown before the covid 19 in comparison to where we're at on state and local budgets. we got ths boostd reducers because it could be a $1.3 trillion deal if weet vaccine and hospitalizations under control and don't see an outbreak of theus viroing forward. that got a lot of people going. now we're basing it not on politics but conditions in reality, based on what is truly kneeled by the american people, not at is needed for political
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purposes. >> and mr. gottheimer from the democrats' point of view, what were some of the priorities that the democrats and the caucus had to compromise on? what were some of the tough gives from the democratic side? >> what we figured out is if we shorten the timetable and say let's get through the nex inauguration, let's get help for food insecurity for those who need help, her the state and local and for our schools, and we all came together and we can agree to tse things. as t just said, we put in these things caloled bosters and reducers, so it's at one-five right now, but if the virus is still spreading the way it today and don't have a vaccine widely distributed by march, boosters kick in and itco s a $2 trillion package, and as tom ss gets reduced if we are at a much betterlace. that's where we started to come together a said we can mee our priorities, let's stop fighting over the top linech
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number wverybody keeps talking about, and we hope our leadership and the white house and everye can come to t table and use our framework as a starting point just to get something ne to help people because we can't go home, frankly 's unconscionable to go home without helping folks. >> rep morte. gottheimer, what does it say about the current situation the fact you have millions of ameriinns huacross the country financially and so with thevi coros itself that is a group of relatively junior members who are sitting down, reaching aross the aisle while the leadership and the white house aren't talking? >> the 50 of us came together and we've gotten to know each other over the lat year. we spend time together, we don't just talk but listen one another. that's the best way to break a gridlock is by i realiziyou sit in a room together and keep working it,e spent at least 100 hours on it, keep working on the problem over and over again and you can get success.
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you have to be willing to try. we're encouraging leaders, if you sit in the room atry and we're willing to help in any way possible to gethis done and i think we owe it to the american people to get it done. >> reporter:mr. reed, same question, from your perspective, what does this say tht is is a group of as your colleagues say freshmen and low-ranking members that are sit doing and doing this? >> the common bond of the "problem solvers caucus," we have been aroune fourars, is we are committing to putting america first. we understand we're in a political town in washington, d.c., but also we're committed toescting each other. i'm a proud republican, josh is a proud democrat and eve member of the "problem solvers caucus" carries that with them. but we respect and trst each other, we listen to each other and this is the only forum where this occurs. s"the "problem solvers caus about trust and rp, but being -- and recognizing that we are republicans, we are democrats, but at our heart, we're americans first. >> reporter: representative josh gottheimer, democrat of
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new jersey, representative tom reed, republican of new yk, co-chairs of the "problem solvers caucus." gentlemen, thank you very much. thanks for having us. you, john. >> woodruff: amid the pandemic, tens of millions of more americans are lookg to vote by mail than in past elections. but there has been a lotf misinformation around the process. william brangham has this report about the current state of voting by mail, and how to make sure your vote is counted. >> brangham: there's a lot of confusion around voting by mail this electason. people are worried whether the vote will be secure, and whether all the tes will be counted. that's especially critical after more than an estimated 500,000 mail in ballots were thrown out ry disqualified during pri elections earlier this year. in addition to user error, another major concern is driven by the immense amount of
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misinformation or conflicting information swirling around. it's coming from political parties, from president trump in some cases, and even the u.s.vi postal s. for example, the state ofec coloradotly sued the postal service to stop it sending out this flyer to people, since it includedin incorrecrmation about how coloradans can get their mail in ballot.r colorado and fher states-- hawaii, oregon, washington and utah-- already conduct their elections entirely by mail. this year, in part because of the pandemic, cafornia, montana, nevada, new jersey, vermont and the district of columbia have decided to mail ballots to all active voters. officials in some red and blue states are trying to increase access to mail voting amid the pandemic. ohio, a republican-controlled stne, held an entirely mail primary election this april. >> the democrats are trying to rig this election because that's
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the only way they're going to win. trump's repeated, baselessdent claims that mail-in voting is riddlewith fraud, and that democrats are trying to use it to rig the election. his own campaign is mailing out flyers to its supporters across the country encouraging them to vote by mail and assuring them that it's safe. governor, spencer cox, told the newshour that universal mail voting in his state has increased voter participation, and, like in all states, mail-in ballots are carefully screened for errors or irregularities. we take painstaking procedures and efforts to make sure that there is no fraud.se and we have no rampant voter fraud. b >>ngham: meanwhile, some other organizations have inadvertently sent out bad information to voters.ce the nonprofier for voter information sent vote by mail applicions to half a million virginia residents, but with the adwrong return addresses, ng to the confusion.
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meanwhile, the president continues to give voters bad information. several times, he's told supporters to vote absente which is a type of mail in voti in some states where yo need to be approved to receive a ballot. and then he's tellinthem to also try and vote in person on election day, to somehow check whether their first vote was counted. >> make sure you send the ballot in and then go to your polling place and make sure it counts. >> brangham: not only is voting twice illegal-- it's a felony in all 50 states-- but election officials warn this will lead to delays at the polls on election day. in fact, in most states, voters can track their mail in ballotsn ne, rather than going to the poll in person. if you're confused about any of this, visit the website of your state board of elections, or secretary of state. track your ballot onne, how to fill it out correctly so it's not rejected, and any other questions you have about voting. is that unless the presidential
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election is a cleauslandslide, beof all these mail-in votes being unted, we likely n't see a winner declared on election night.ic election ols in critical battlegrounds of pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin and other states aren't currently allowed to begin counting mailed-in ballots until election day. so, if an estimated 60% of voters planning to vote by mail, it could be another day, a few days, or even weeks to count all the ballots. >> brangham: president trump kes falsely saying that an such delay would be de-facto evidence of fraud. >> you know what? you're not going to know this-- possibly, if you really did it right, for months or for yea. because these ballots are all going to be lost, they're all going to be gone. >> i think it's all designed to create so much chaos that no >> brangham: the worry for many democrats is that president trump might try to declare
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victory on election night, without waiting for mail-in ballot results to be counted. polling shows in this election, democrats are more likely to vote-by-mail than republicans but it's important to stress that a delay doesn't mean the results will be fraudulent, according to propublica's jessica huseman. >> and if there is any delay, we just assume that there is a problem when ireality at that me that we need to count the votes, makes absolutely sure it allows for time for election administrators to make sure that all of the counts are accurate. ad brangham: so we might all have to make somstments for our our election night expectations. for the pbs newshour, i'm >> woodruff: we wao continue our regular look at how this election is seen across the country wi patricia lopez, an editorial writer for the "star paul, minnesota.ns us from st. and daniel garza is president of brthe advocacy gro, the initiative, which will host a policy forum with vice president pence on frida daniel is also a former white house stafr in the bush administration and he joins us
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from mcallen, tes. we welcome both of you. we were listening to president trump's remarks at the white house just about half an hour ago, patricia lopez. the president again conning to -- continuing to cast doubt on mail-in voting. the people you talk to, how much confidence do they tell you the havee integrity of the american voting system? >> they have a high degree of confidence, and in minnesota, they've taken special precautions because we have been through this before with the frankecoleman race and others. so there is a ballot tracker t you don't ha check your ballots at the polling place a second titme. re's a bar code that's help match up thiong withill personally identifying information. sohis goes way beyond the old signature match. given l those things -- and we have had an unprecedented number of applications for absentee ballots come in. the secretary of state here thinks it's as mu as a third
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of the state could vote either by mall or early. w druff: interesting. daniel garza, what about where you are? what are people saying to you about homuch confidence they have in the voting system? >> there is confidence in the voting system. latinos in texas will tell you that where they have moh to haveconfidence is actually in-person voting because they feel that there is a high rejection rate for latinos in texas when it comes to mail-in ballots. the rule change from county to county. for example we'll start october 13 early voting, but you have to get your application by the 23rd. some counties ask it be45 days prior. so you have to do some research and know what's going on.t the reason they prefer to do voting in person i because names in the mail-in ballots haveto match exactly, and latinos like to use their that is a problem.and someti
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many don't have permanent addresses. we have a high volume of senior citizens who are inenior citizen homes here and are tranceient as well, and many require oral assistance because of language. so the possibility of disenfranchisement is real when it comes to mail-in ballots. virginia we know 5% of all of the il-in blts were rejected. this is an extraordinarily high number, so there's worry aut that. over two-thirds of latinos will tell you they prefer mail-in ballots -- or, i'm sorry -- >> woodruff: i was going to say, we know there was a lot more attention paid to this year. it does put ar geater burden on voters themselves to find out what the rules are. want to turn broadly to the latino vote, the vote among hiss banks. you kno patricia lopez, in minnesota, i know the latino community is not enormous, buts to the hnic voters, the
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latino voters you speak with, what are they saying about this election, about the the thinking biden? >> there's a lot of emergency amonththese voters. are engaged in a way that i think they havysen't aleen because, as they told me, they feel direct connection between policies and the effects on their lives. a lot of them havseen that play out in the immigration we have a lot of re called mixed status families here. so you have daca recipients. you have, you know, older people who have immigrated themselves, young american-born children. so all of them see a directco ection. there's a lot of, you know, anti-trump enrgy. the enthusiasm for biden is not quite as high. a lot of tm are more intense on voting against trump than for biden. >> woodruff: and, daniel garza, what about the latino -- i know you're very involved in
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the organization libre, but even beyond that when you talk to people about the latino vote, what are you heainng? >> i tthere's something different this time around for donald trump that he actuallyth has a recor he canhow case and it is one that benefited the latino community tremendous withc reord unemployment, record wage groh and homeownership, these are all things that helped tremendously to increase the prosperity for latinos. so they have now, as opposed to a 2016, a record to run on. at the same time, i think they're generate ago lot of excitement. they're mobilizing latinos to recruit latinos to persuad latinos. this is very important because for latinos, it's very important that we relate to the messenger, folks who have a shre language, a shared culture, shared experiences, and when latinos are going door to door talking to latinos, this generates excitement. the flotillas, the cavans, the
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in-person advance the president is doing -- >> woodruff: and you're saying - you're saying that's happening despite th pandemic? >> that is happening despite the pandemic. obviously, i think people are trying to take steps in respecting the protocols for the restrictions in state by state. we're going to make sure we comply fully with arizona state laws when we ve our policy meeting with the vice president, but it will be in person wan audience, absolutely it will. >> woouf patricia lopez, what kind of outreach are you seeing from the biden and the trump campaigndoor to door versus virtual? >> i think a lot of it has been virtual. you know, the candidates themselves, and we will have both president trump and vice president bidenll, former vice president biden here on friday when early voting starts. so that will be sort of a kickoff for that kind of-p son engagement.
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but there have been door to doo volunteers. i don't think there's a sense here the trump record has been particularly positive for latinos, not among the people io have talke they are wary. i think they have seen a lot of the effects of their concerns about i.c.e. and covid and essential workers in that they don't account for as much as others do and that's been disturbing to a lot of them. the one thing i keep hearing about is a lot of them are very intrigued by kamala harris andel he may be a part of a new message, a new tone that the biden camp is trying to send, disconnecting them from the obama administtion because obama was a very mixed bag for him. he created the daca program and a lot of deportations under president obama, and for some in the latcommunity, that's been a little hard to get
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behind, but they feelverall muchorse about trump. >> woodruff: we'll continue to reach out on the campaign. patricia lopez, daniel garza, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: five years into the refugee and migrant crisis, the numbers of people fleeing to europe are dropping, due to the pandemic. except in one place: a record 6,000-plus asylum seekers crossed the english channel to the united kingdom this summer from the french port of calais. human rights groups are warning of the danger of a right wing backlash. from the port of dover, special correspondent malcolm brabant reports. >> we want our country back! we want our country back!
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>>eporter: furious that record numbers of asylum seekerson are landing hese shores. >> these are invaders, you should be protecting us, not them.r: >> reporte one day this summer, more than 40de it across the channel from france 21 miles away. >> 409 w it the other day? are they isis? are th daesh? are they taliban? are they somalian pirates? you don't know who you are letting . >> reporter: the protest began by the port where migrants arrive after being rescued. weon the busiest day last , there were over 20 some saved from this dinghy in the world's busiest waterway. given the callousness people traffickers, these children were fortunate to make it. an unknown number have drowned. britain finally formally leaves the european union on december the 31st. and the people smugglers are telling the migrants across the channel in calais, that they have to get here before that
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deadline kicks in. that's when, according to government rhetoric, britain is really going to take control of its borders. but if anything, these crossings are proving that britain is unable to stop them from coming. >> our streets!te >> reporr: britain's economy depends on free flowing traffic in dover. the demonstrators' weapon? a blockade. our streets.ts, not yo we pay you. do your job. >> we're just reflecting the anger. it's t the people who sit ame who're angry, but don't come out and ut. keyboard warriors! >> reporter: ken tranter is a former mayorf dover, from the left leaning labour party. tranter argues that asylumte seekers are trbetter than thousands of homeless british military veterans. >> brita is under attack and that's not being-- i have no orcism whatsoever, although i'm called far rightttending this march, i'm a socialist. i want everyone to have that chance. but i want to know who we're giving the chance to. we're not having someone who's disappearing into the black
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economy. >> refugees are welcome here. >> reporter: the labour mayor of a nearby coastal town counter attacked. >> our culture is not just british, it is not just english, it is built up of people from all over the world and i am proud to stand in solidarity >> no surrender. we want our country back. >> reporter: dover is a symbolic battleground.ar for 1,000 ye its white cliffs have protected britain, especially in the second world war. live streaming a sentimental wartime song from his tent, rally organizer nigel marcham, veteran.or the little ♪ ♪ >> reporter: marcham's td tics blockadedover for several hours.ci
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veterans ppated but so did white supremacists and other groups. ay>> i think we should alwbe concerned about the far right, no matter how small. >> reporter: joe mulhall monitors far right activities for hope not hate, a non profit. >> i don't think we cae the threat they pose by its scale necessarily. it only takes e person to attack someone.on it only takes e person on the far right to attack a migrant or to attack a migrant tel. >> reporter: migrants in temporary accommodation are taunted an extremist group, britain first. >> you can see migrants there. all the migrants there with their bags. all being ushered out of view. you stay in hotel? >> reporter: in the darkness, another sinister development. vigilantes have been going to sea to turn back asylum seekers. they're called little boats 2020 and are led by jeremy davis, a wedding disc jockey. davis is infuriated by scenes like this, featured in a tweet from nigel farage, who orchestrated britain's departure from the european union.
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>> we got involved in this'r because being absolutely taken to the cleaners by our own government. they're allowing people to come in. we don't know whetair they're trrs, whether they're terrorists. >> attacks on migrants and anti refugee rhetoric doesn't only come from the far right. there's a broader societal issue here. but i guess the thing the farof righr in terms of a challenge is that they're often way more extreme, much more violent. and it's worth remembering we're seeing record numbers ofs terrorist arreom the far right. this is a dangerous bunch of people. >> reporter: the cliffs have been used as a canvas toight back by syrian war refugee hassan akkad. >> five years ago, i was on the other side of this channel trng to cross here. these cliffs were actually visible from our makeshift camp thand they represented hop i would live a safe and stable life here in britain. >> you know the reality. the resources th we, people like us, take in is really really really tiny compared the resources that the country has. >> reporter: kolbassia haosou, was a political activist in chad.
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he survived torture, fled central africa and arrived in britain in a shipping contair.er >> i've been he, i work, i pay taxes, i do everything that a citizen needs to do. i also contribute to the economy of this countr >> reporter: one contentious area for anti-immigrantt activists is tfugees fail to seek asylum in one of the countries between their homeland and britain. >> they are coming through hundreds of safe countri. they're stopping off in calais and they know that we are a soft touch and that has got to stop. >> so there is notng under international law which requires an asylum seeker to undertake a particular journey in theires for safety. >> reporter: human rights lawyer sonya sceats heads a non profit called freedom from torture. a she salum claims have been halved i recent years. >> they are very small numbers in thecheme of things, but there is a real sense of political panic which has been cultivated by the government for litical ends.
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>> reporter: last year britain wathe fifth most attractiv european destination for asylum seekers, with 45,000 applications, a long way behind germany, france, spain and greece. pre mister boris johnson isni pl new legislation which will make deportations easier. >> we will address the rigidities in our laws tt make this country, i'm afra, a target and a magnet for those who would exploit vulnerable people. >> for hundreds of years people have come to britain as a beacon of freedom and safety. and that tradition is on the line at the moment. >> reporter: human rights groups blame government's policies for encouraging right wingers. here they tried to force theke police to ta the knee to honor british veterans. >> whoill take the knee for the veterans? >> shame on you. shame on you. >> you'll take thenee for black lives matter, but yout won'ke the knee for veterans who have died. >> they've got nobby. they've got nobby. >> reporter: after taunting the
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police for hours, the little veteran was arrested, but released later the same day. >> you're not english any more. >> reporter: the climate confronting asylum seekers mayio be detting, but the lifeboat crew honors the inteational maritime covenan to protect those in peril on the for the pbs newshoi'm malcolm brabant in dover. >> woodruff: it was a momentous decision: a recent supreme court ruling thamuch of eastern oklahoma remains indian country, granting jurisdictional ntrol for criminal justice cas to the muscogee creek nation and four neighboring tribal nations. leaders are in twoofand tribal virtual discussions this week to address issues facing indian country today. one topic of conversation: the
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impact of "mcgirt v. oklahoma," which, for native americans, goes well beyond the law. jeffrey brown has the story, part of our ongoing arts and culture series, "canvas." brown: richinda sands grew up in rural oklahoma. as a girl she worked as a pecan picker. to family members later in lifed she was c"mamagee"-- creek for "little mother." last october, she died of complications from diabetes at age 73. >> she was also the symbol of all the sacrifice that went into ensuring that my family s a tribal identity today. >> brown: jonodev chaudhuri is richinda sand's nephew.si >> when the de of mcgirt came out, she was the first i rson i thought of. >> brown: chaudh ambassador for the muscogee creek nation, a diplomatic position representin tribe's sovereign interests. he seehis ¡mamagee' as hi family's last matriarch, her life wrapped up in issues the supremcourt spoke to. >> it was a life of struggle,
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and it's consistent with the struggle that all of our families as muskogee creek have faced. and to have affirmation from the federal government's highest court that despite our struggle and beca the sacrifices of people who came before us, our nation remains whole and our reservation remains whole, it was a powerful momenthat resonated with me on a very deep personal level. >> brown: that struggle and sacrifice trace back to what's known as the "trail of tears": the 19th century forced removal of the muscogee and other indians from their ancestral lands in the southeast to reservations in what would become oklahoma. today's map still carries the clues: ¡tallahassee' and 'tulsa' are variations on the same creek word for ¡old town'. >> our story is a story of difficulties, but rebirth and a continued chain.e beca the ravages of time
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and unfortunate efforts by the state government and the federal government to dismantle this notion of home in our lands, itc was an esicept, feeling ng home in your nation's lands. and that's a feehat many crks know. but that's also a feeling that i think a lot of native american folks know wherever the rervation or their territo is. >> brown: the mcgirt decision, written justice neil gorsuch, declared the lands remain within indian reservations. i its direact is on crimes committed by tribal members on the reservation, giving the tribe and the federal government jurisdiction rather than the state. >> not one inch of land, not one fistful of sand changed ownership by this ruling. it simply was a regnition that the muscogee creek nation's boundaries had nev been disestablished or destroyed. but that's not what brought mom and their siblings, my uncle cliff, my aunt aloween and my uncle leon. and they're there with my
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grandparents. and each one of them had passed away in many ways due to the direct or indirect effects of i removal, whethbe poverty or lack of resources to health care. my aunt was the first one to make it out of her 50s. >> brown: the covid pandemic is hitting native communities especially hard, the country is again focusing on its continuing history of racism. feelings, too, abo ruling your and where things are now? absolutely. the moment that we find ourselves, i think, is beyond just pure readings othe law. the case itself was a beautifully written, well- reasoned opinion, but it exists in a larger context. and that context shows that have to fight to keep the gains >> brown: a context, and level. history, that include richinda sands. for the pbs newshour, i'm
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jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: how dyou picture a pandemic? tonight's brief but spectacular focuses on a photographer documenting funeral homes and health care workers. his images captured in march appeared in the "new york times" magazine. he spoke with us about his work in new york city in late may. >> we were photographing in the emergency department at queen's hospital, where two f.d.n.y.ra dics had just wheeled in a man who was going into cardiac arrest from vid-19. the hospital at the time was completely overwhelmed with patients at that moment, it was all handh on deck to sav man's life. and we watched for 10 minupas as these twmedics flanked by
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hospit workers, nurses and doctors all like, gave this man all of possibly could in order to bring him back. they broughtim back after working tirelessly. casually, at the end of it, everyone just got back to work. it was just men and women operating at the highest level of professionalism and heroism. most of the work that i've done for covid-19 has been done with the "new york times" magazine. we really wanted to focus on what we had lost as a city. and what we had lost as a city were 20,000 lives. new york is a place of many stories, but it really started to become one story, and the story was in the hospitals. over the course of six days, we ended up visiting nine municipal hospitals and clinics across
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five boroughs. working on this type of story requires i think, an overdose of mempathy. if tent is emotional, i allow myself to feel emotional.g in feehat, i really hope that it impacts the picture.gi one of the tthings about vibeing hospitalized with 19 is from the second that you are hospitalized and leave your familyyou won't see them again until you get out, if you're lucky enough to get out. there were no flowers, there were no visits, there were no family members iwaiting rooms. there was a new york before covid. and there's a new york after. and i've had a few momen of realizing that the world is going to look very different permanently. this is a moment that is larger than all of us. my name is philip montgomery, and this is my brief but spectacular take on reporting
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the pandemic in new york city. >> woodruff: and you can find all of our brief but spectacular ories online at pbs.org/newshour slash brief. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here vening.w for all of us at the pbs newsayur, thank you, please st safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs h newsho been provided by: >> you can do the things you like to do wh a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at consumercellular.tv >> when the world gets your mind. goes through with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your le. management.lity wealth
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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 individuals. ra >> this prwas made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs u.ation from viewers like thank you.
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hellnd everyone, a welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. coast-to-coast crises, still trailing in thes, po trump loyalist michael anton tells us why he thinks the president does deserve four more years. and -- >> they only see the side they want to e. >> the heartbreak and hope of gaza producer brendan byrne joins us with his film, on the human side we almost never see. plus -- >> we're going to have a lot of building back to do. a lot. >> philanthropist melinda ges delivers a stark warning. poverty and hunger rise as covid brings global progress to a grinding halt. then -- t
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