captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, january 16: states brace for potential protests in the lead-up to the inauguration. >> i think this was the end of the beginning. >> sreenivasan: capitol hill siege. the people behind it, and the violence fermented online. next, on pbs newshour weekd. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the anderson family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. barbara hope zuckerberg. the leonard and norma klorfine foundation. we try to live in the moment,

to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no-contract plans, and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> sreenivasan: good evening, and thanks for joining us. as the nation counts down to inauguration day, and state capitals and washington, d.c. lock down in advance of possible violence, president-elect joe biden announced more members of his incoming administration today.

mr. biden and vice-president elect kamala harris also officially introduced key members of their science team, at an event in wilmington, delaware. in a first, mr. biden will elevate the director of the office of science and technology policy to a cabinet position, and named geneticist eric lander to the post. in washington, d.c. the national guard and law enforcement agencies are patrolling the mostly locked down city, with four days to go before mr. biden's inauguration. up to 25,000 national guard troops, with service members from every state and territory and d.c. itself, will be deployed by next week. the national mall and 13 rail stations in the d.c. area will be closed until the day after inauguration. state capitals across the country are also increasing security after supporters of president trump attacked the u.s. capitol on january 6. last night, a virginia man was arrested at a security checkpoint near the capitol. according to a court filing, wesley allen beeler tried to use

an unauthorized inauguration credential, and had a loaded gun and 500 rounds of ammunition in his truck. beeler was arrested for possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of unregistered ammunition, among other offenses, according to cnn. >> sreenivasan: today, committees of the house of representatives opened a review of the insurrection and requested documents from federal law enforcement agencies. dozens have been charged with crimes for participating in last week's attack on the capitol. the f.b.i. says it has identified at least 270 more. some of the rioters were familiar figures to authorities, but most were unknown, and as newshour weekend's christopher booker reports, they came from all walks of life. >> reporter: while the complexion and gender of those who attacked the capitol was overwhelmingly white and overwhelmingly male, the profiles of those responsible emerging from the growing list of arrests paints an unsettling portrait of just how wide america's hate has spread. 52-year-old bradley rukstales was, until last week, a c.e.o. of a chicago-area data and

marketing company. capitol police arrested him for unlawful entry. 49-year-old christine priola, in this photo on the senate floor, resigned from her job as an occupational therapist for cleveland schools. and, 38-year-old klete keller, a two-time olympic gold medallist, was identified by his u.s. olympic team jacket in a video taken during the attack. for those who have long studied extremism, the disparate biographies indicate an ominous turn in america. >> what's so frightening about what happened last week, as i would say, it represents the normalization of extremism. >> reporter: for more than 100 years, the anti-defamation league has been fighting against hate and anti-semitism. jonathan greenblatt is the c.e.o. >> it's not great when hate is a growth business, but over the last, you know, four, really five years, the climate in this country has changed dramatically. i think the trump presidency will be bookended, remembered by historian starting with charlottesville and ending with

capitol hill. in charlottesville, you had a hardcore group of about 150 to 200 white supremacists who converged in that college town from all over the country. flash-forward to capitol hill and indeed, again, had a who's who of right-wing extremists. and yet when those militants staged their attack on the capitol, they burst first through the doors, but they were followed by thousands of people. teachers and firefighters and police officers and ordinary people. >> reporter: greenblatt argues, the way these people followed the militants has unsettling historical analogies. >> what we have here is new to the u.s., but certainly not that novel. this is how we've seen islamist extremist movements develop, for example, in the middle east. al-qaeda and isis are hardcore terror organizations, but they rely on the radicalization of ordinary people to recruit and swell their ranks. this was a watershed moment for

the white supremacy movement in the united states, and they will use it to radicalize and recruit even more people. and that's why i think this is so troubling, because i don't think this was the end. i think this was the end of the beginning, and i think we're now moving into a dangerous new phase. >> reporter: does this change or alter your organization's approach? >> this will certainly alter the way the a.d.l. thinks about the problem. our analysts have been studying extremist movements for decades and decades, but what's worrisome is, we are moving into a new phase where more and more people are bei radicalized and willing to do the kinds of things like commit a clear criminal activity. >> reporter: are there any storical markers that you're looking to-- to essentially deprogram-- not just the hardcore, but thinking of that group that was behind the-- the push. how do we reach those people? >> well, i think one of the

things we need to acknowledge is that what happened last week happened in the context of a very complicated socio-economic cultural moment. we've seen the gap increase between the haves and have-nots. we've seen more and more jobs move overseas. we've seen covid-19 literally demolish communities, destabilize our economy, cost millions of jobs. this all fits into a narrative where people feel really alienated and afraid. layer on top of that, the role of the media, and i would point out social media in particular. >> reporter: it is hard to understand, though, because while the economic argument and understanding has been there, the olympic swimmer, the real estate agent, the c.e.o. from a chicago-based company-- i can't imagine that they are living on the economic margins in the same ways that others who have been displaced by manufacturing jobs lost.

>> radicalization isn't necessarily a process that happens only to a certain type of person. it may be that the out-of-work individual is more vulnerable to it, but we know from the annals of history-- whether it's political islam in the middle east, whether it's nazism in germany, whether it's communism in the former soviet union-- the intellectuals, the executives, the ordinary people can get swept up in the madness. that's literally what played out last week in washington. so, how do we fix it? i do think it's going to require a process of national healing. and before you can have unity, you will need accountability. and unless we have a full accounting for that offense, the country will never heal. >> sreenivasan: while the events at the nation's capital last week caught many by surprise, those who monitor extremism on the internet had already seen a rebellion brewing. charlie warzel is the "new york

times" opinion writer at large and reports on online radicalization. charlie, this attack on the >> this is a-- a multi-year process of radicalization, of the creation of a, you know, a pro-trump media environment that basically has created a durable alternate reality. and i think we could watch this, you know, build and build and get close to, you know, reaching ahead and-- and busting out of, you know, the online ecosystem into real world violence. you've seen it in some isolated incidents, but this was sort of the things we were always really worried about. >> sreenivasan: there is the content, which is the disinformation; and then, there's the platforms, which you've also reported on in great depth. how responsible are they for amplifying these mis-truths in a way and-- and even directing people to groups that are trafficking in it?

>> it's not that facebook caused this. it's not that, you know, this is only a platform problem. this is a huge problem. there's a supply issue and a demand issue. and, you know, the network-- the platforms are a part of the supply, but they meaningfully influence people and reward a certain part of their personality, and that part of the personality often tends to be extreme. >> sreenivasan: who is most susceptible to this? >> in terms of people who've just fall into these conspiracies or, you know, create this-- this colleive delusion with other people, that can just be normal individuals o, for, you know, whatever reason, find community here in-- in some way and-- and find a group of people who, you know, are-- feel, you know, like their people. >> sreenivasan: yeah. so, how easy is it to fall into the rabbit hole? and h hard is it going to be to try to help someone out? >> the-- i think what we found

that really one of the biggest things is this ea of community, that people find individuals who make them feel validated, who give them a reason. you know, the qanon conspiracy theory is really based in people oing their own research," and that research is empowering. it gives people, you know, a feeling that they are not only, you know, part of something, but really participating and advancing that cause through their own work, which is different than a normal, you knownews, which is passive consumption to some degree. in terms of getting out, i think it's-- i think it's incredibly difficult. it takes a lot of empathy and a lot of time, and it's-- it's just something that really can't scale. it's something that people, you know, in your life have to help you with. there's no video you can show a bunch of people who have been radicalized that will kind of, you know, snap them out of it. >> sreenivasan: you've toucd base with some of these people that were influencers that came to washington, d.c. from near and far. i mean, i know it's just the

people that you've talked to, but what are you hearing? what are you seeing? >> this siege of the capitol was a line in the sand for a lot of people. i think there are a number of people who are going deeper into radicalization. is-- it is a real-- you know, it is a tentpole for them and something that they're going to, you know, latch onto and become further committed to the cause. but i do think for other people, i-- i think-- i think this is going to be a bit of a sorting of this maga pro-trump movement. but i also think that, you know, as this becomes more of a, you know, commitment to potential real wor violence, there's a lot of people who are living comfortable lives who, you know, are somewhat political and-- and may not be willing to, you know, to risk all that for-- for this movement. >> sreenivasan: is there any idea of how large this population is? >> it's very unclear what the actual footprint of this movement is, you know.

as far as, you know, the true i don't know how big it is. i do think it is-- it is louder online than it might be in the streets. but, you know, like-- like you said, a-- a very small fraction could still be, you know, close to 100,000 people. and if those people are violent, that's, you know, that-- that's-- that's a scary thing to consider. >> sreenivasan: so, what does the biden administration do to try to tackle this? >> you know, the-- the idea of a massive lapse in-- of intelligence is-- is almost,ou as far as what the biden administration can do, i think there's a real fine line to walk. i think, you know, there's talk of a biden administration sort of disinformation head or-- or chief, i think, you know, working with task forces on, you know, white supremacy and political violence. i think all those things are very good. but i also think, you know, there's a fear among many civil liberties activists that, you know, this could also lead to some large overreach in terms of, you know, new domestic terror laws that then will be

levied at activists and-- and-- and, you know, social justice protesters and things like that. it's-- it's a-- it's kind of a scary time. i mean, you know, this is a-- we've seen a true threat spring up, and we haven't taken it seriously. and it needs to be taken more seriously. but, you know, we really want to be careful, i think, and the administration should really try to be careful to, you know, not use that as a-- as a justification to impinge on the rights of innocent americans. >> sreenivasan: charlie warzel of the "new york times," thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> sreenivasan: to hear more of our interview with charlie warzel, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: the rate of new covid-19 infections continues to rise all across the globe today. according to the "new york times" database, as of yesterday, the number of new cases around the world rose by 20% from two weeks ago, bringing total infections up to nearly 94 million and the death count to more than two million. the u.s. has also seen its number of new cases go up nearly 20% since two weeks ago. yesterday, there were over 240,000 new cases and more than 3,700 deaths. the situation is especially dire in california, which averaged more than 530 covid-related deaths a day over the past week.

for more on the covid-19 outbreak in california, i spoke with soumya karlamangla, health reporter for the "los angeles times." so, soumya, big pture, where is los angeles, in terms of dealing with covid-19 over the >> yeah, we're sort of in this holding pattern right now. we did see cases kind of climb and climb and climb. and then everyone was really worried about what was going to happen over christmas and new year's. and so far, we haven't seen a really obvious surge. were worried about this surge and while we haven't seen cases begin to drop, we are seeing a lower number of people in the hospital each day, which seems like the thanksgiving surge is dying down. and whatever we are going to see from christmas, it seems every single day gets a little bit clearer that this surge, if it even is a surge, is going to be blunted. >> sreenivasan: so what is the situation in hospitals now? are they still at full capacity? >> yeah, it's-- it's kind of

alarming that this has bome normal, but we have about, i think, 7,600 people in the hospital in l.a. county with covid, and in the summer-- which, you know, that was our big peak, everyone was worried about what was happening in california in july-- we had 2,200 at our peak in july. and there are many hospitals where there are no i.c.u. beds available. and maybe, you know, there are so we've gotten into this situation over the past several weeks where someone calls 911, they've gotten an ambulance, and then the ambulance drives around for hours looking for a place to drop off the patient. there was a report from the county health department this week that said that there was at least one ambulance that couldn't find a place to offload their patient for 17 hours. >> sreenivasan: oh, my gosh. >> that situation, you have people-- paramedics, like, doing c.p.r. in the ambulance, doing procedures in the ambulance. you have doctors coming into the ambulance to do whatever they need to do. and in some cases, the and we are, as the officials say, decompressing a little bit. our numbers are coming down.

but we're still at-- i think our peak was 7,900 or maybe even above 8,000. and now we're at 7,500. so it's not-- we haven't, like, escaped this situation que yet. >> sreenivasan: so the hospitals are sending the ambulancesway because they're too full. that's why the ambulances are driving around? >> if the hospital is full and their e.r. doesn't have any more space, they'll say-- they'll sort of mark in the system, like, "we're full, you can't come here." and it got to a place in december where, for multiple hours in a day, eve single hospital was full. and so what happens wn every single hospital is full, the ambulances circle, and at some point, the officials like to say this, "when everyone is closed, everyone is open." and so ambulances are either circling or they're just offloading them in places they shouldn't be offloaded because they have no other choice. >> sreenivasan: are there specific populations th are being impacted worse than others? >> yeah. we've seen this throughout the pandemic, but interestingly, the disparities that we see get wider when the cases surge. so we've consistently seen higher rates of cases and deaths

among latinos proportionally. so it's not just that california and l.a. in particular is a plurality, if not majority of latinos. we're actually seeing the rates of those cases, being much higher among latinos. and that's largely because they're essential workers, they might live in multigenerational households. and then, we could see it track very similarly with poverty levels. the sort of lower ur socioeconomic status, the more likely you are to have gotten covid and more likely you are to have died from covid. >> sreenivasan: how is this impacting vaccinations? >> yeah, california has really struggled with vaccinations. we rank in the bottom five states in terms of the percentage of our population that we vaccinated, nationwide. and there are states that have vaccinated upwards of 5% of their population, and we're still hovering around 1% or 2%. and that sort of cuts both ways. i mean, we are vaccinating more people, just raw numbers of people than anyone else, because the state is so big. but that also means that there

are huge numbers of people who aren't vaccinated and a lot of people still susceptible to fuel an outbreak. so we're going really slow. and that's something we've been trying to look into. we have reporters on this issue. and it seems like there's various bottlenecks, but it largely comes down to staffing, the people who need to administer a vaccine. it's like the systems haven't been stood up properly, and also the people who would be administering a vaccine are also often the people who are treating covid patients in the hospital. so california is probably one of the states that needs a vaccine the most because we are dealing with this terrible surge. but we're also one of the states having the hardest time administering the vaccine because of our terrible surge. >> sreenivasan: soumya karlamangla of the "l.a. times," thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> sreenivasan: last week's

riot on capitol hill was filled with symbols of hate. newshour weekend's ivette feliciano spoke with civil rights lawyer and founder of the equal justice initiative bryan stevenson about the racial implications of the violent event. >> reporter: bryan, some of what we saw at the capitol riot last week includes what for many are very painful images-- nooses, confederate flags, violent threats written on the walls of the capitol building. how do violent demonstrations like this impact communities of color, specifically black communities? >> well, i think it is particularly upsetting to africaamericans who have witnessed very different responses torotests throughout our lives. i grew up watching civil rights leaders who were committed to non-violence, peacefully gathering and still get battered and beaten by law enforcement. there was a presumption of dangerousness assigned to black

and brown people that would manifest itself during civil rights demonstrations. and, you know, black folks would put on their sunday best. they would try everything they could to present themselves as non-violent, non-threatening, just seeking basic rights. and still, they would get battered and beaten and bloodied. so, it's very hard to then watch people who are armed, who are talking about violence, who are coming with weapons, who are coming with nooses, be trusted in the way that these protesters were. there was a presumption of innocence assigned to the people in washington last week, which made that-- that so challenging for us. i rememb seeing amelia boynton robinson, a middle-aged black woman, beaten unconscious on the edmund pettus bridge. i grew up watching people like john lewis get beaten and bloodied and battered, and it was by law enforcement. and that kind of the challenge of-- of that memory with what we saw is really part of it. and it does reflect that the

problem that many of us deal with in this country in-- in communities of color, which is what it's like to live in a nation where you are presumed dangerous, where your lor, your race creates this presumption of guilt. >> reporter: obviously, there's a long history of black churches and communities existing under the threat of white supremacist attacks and violence. is there a heightened sense of danger in those communities right now? >> yeah, i think there is. mean, i-- i-- i think you're right, that activism for-- for equality and justice has always been met with violent resistance in-- by-- by many white people in this country, and-- and i and many people in the black church have-- have had to deal with those kinds of threats. where we've seen church bombings, where we've seen that history play out. and so, when people who are espousing these views of racial animus and bigotry and using the symbols of resistance to equality, like the confederate

flag, arm themselves and start roaming, you know, people of color feel especially targeted, feel especially vulnerable. but the-- the flip se to that is that we have grown up many of us aware, unintimidated and unafraid. we are committed to the kind of equality and justice that we were promised. >> reporter: and since the-- the riots last week and trump's impeachment this week, there have been numerous calls for unity and understanding. where does accountability fit in that? but also, what do healing and unity look like for people who have felt directly targeted by white supremacists and by the trump administration in the last four years? >> i-- i-- i really think that we have to understanthat we cannot be casual or indifferent to threats of violence, to calls for racial hierarchy and bigotry. we've learned throughout our history that when we tolerate the kind of violent mob violence that we saw in washington, we are all of this.

it's a-- it's an appeal to the lawlessness that shaped the lynching era. and so, if we understand that era, then i think we understand how vigilant it is that there be accountability, that we actually commit to the kind of security and promise of-- of fairness that-- that we talk about. on the other side of that, we have these long-standing issues that we haven't addressed, and we have to address those issues. i mean, the reason why so many people feel threatened in this moment is because they actually fear that we might do better when it comes to racial equality, that we might do better when it comes to gender uality, that we might do better in terms of inclusion and diversity. and some folks are threatened by that. and what we have to persuade people is that not only should they not be threatened by that, they should be excited by that because a-- a true commitment to human rights and equal justice, a true america requires that. it's not an option. it requires that. and that's the hope we have to share. >> reporter: bryan stevenson, founder and executive director of the equal justice initiative,

thank you so much for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> sreenivasan: that all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. for the latest news updates, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. stay healthy, and have good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the anderson family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. barbara hope zuckerberg. the leonard and norma klorfine

foundation. charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: consumer cellular. and by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like yo thank you. you're watching pbs.

♪ announcer: support for the pbs presentation of this program was provided by general motors. announcer: the world is ever-changing. what hasn't really changed is the way we move around it. but that way is giving way to a whole generation of people who will charge their cars just like their phones and who will judge vehicles not by the rev of an engine, but by the hum of change. the start button to an all-electric future has been pushed. david rubinstein: so, if you have a 5-4 prospective decision, does one of the justices go to the--another justice and say, "why don't you change your mind?" does that work very much, or-- ruth bader ginsburg: no. there's no horse trading at the court. david: you've also gotten a lot of attention for your exercise, uh, routine. [audience laughter]