♪ judy: on the newshour tonight, democracy in crisis as president biden kicks off -- declining freedoms, others talk about the threat to democracy in the u.s.. then general in the middle east discusses flashpoints in the uncertain future of the region. and a polluted legacy. the air force and others contend with the community impact of chemicals linked to widespread health as shoes -- issues. >> many individuals have these chemicals in their blood. judy: all that and more on

tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by, >> fidelity advisors are here to help you create a wealth plan with tax sensitive strategies, planning focused on tomorrow while you focus on today. that is the planning effect from fidelity. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. consumer cellular. financial services firm raymond james. the kendeda fund committed to committed were sort of justice in meaningful work through its investment in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org.

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the full program after the latest headlines. the availability of covid booster shots is expanding to 16 and 17-year-olds. they clear them today for fixing and 17-year-olds are to receive a third those dose of the pfizer vaccine six months after the shot. the world health organization warns against courting vaccine shotas they fight the omicron variant. the white house braced for bad news on inflation, november numbers expected to show another spike. president biden pointed to a drop in gasoline prices and said the information being released tomorrow on energy does not reflect today's reality. it cited a drop in initial claims to jobless benefits to the lowest since 1969. the president spoke with ukraine's president, assuring him of support in the face of a russian troop buildup. this week he offered u.s. diplomatic efforts to address russia's security concerns. but the state department said that does not mean bargaining

await ukrainian territory. >> there have been absolutely no deals cut. there been no concessions made, no such elements even discussed. >> of what this is not is an effort to discuss of borders, to discuss ukraine without ukraine. we are not going to do anything with ukraine without our partner. stephanie: moscow said the time for negotiations is over and compare the situation to the cuban missile crisis. a freight truck packed with migrants crashed in southern mexico today, killing at least 49 people. seriously injuring dozens of others. the red cross tweeted photos, showing bodies under sheets. the migrants appear to be from central america but authorities have not confirmed their nationalities. a federal appeals court has rejected former president trump

about fast -- former president trump's efforts to withhold materials about the january 6 insurrection. he is expected to appeal to the supreme court. new york state attorney general letitia james wants to question former president trump in a civil investigation. the focus is on whether the organization illegally manipulated the valuations of its properties. the trump org call be investigation -- called the investigation a political witchhunt. that came as attorney general james suspended her campaign for governor of new york, running for attory general again. a bipartisan bill allowing for passage by a simple majority past a key procedural vote today. it would let democrats raise the debt limit without publican

support in the evenly decided -- divided senate. former senators jordi leader and presidential candidate bob dole lay in state the u.s. today. his casket arrived in a summer ceremony as lawmakers, friends and family gathered pay tribute. president biden praised him as quote a giant of our history and urged americans to follow his example. >> america has lost one of our greatest patriots. we may follow his wisdom, i hope, and his timeless truth that the truth of the matter is as divided as we are, you only way forward for democracy is unity. consensus. the only way. stephanie: dole's funeral is tomorrow at the national cathedral in washington. he died sunday at 98. a jury in chicago convicted after -- actor jussie

smollett of taking a hate crime on himself. his attorneys will overturn on appeal. the first lawsuits have been filed in the case of the michigan school shooting victims, a 15-year-old sophomore faces murder charges. the agro chemical giant has agreed to plead guilty to a legally using and storing pesticides in hawaii. they will pay a $12 million fine for allowing workers to enter cornfields sprayed with the chemicals within six days of application in violation of federal law. it also pleaded guilty to storing a band chemical on maui. they apologized and said they will change procedures and training. new york city -- new york's city council approved legislation that will extend the vote to

immigrants who are not citizens. some 900,000 green card holders, dhaka recipients and others -- daca recipients and others who are allowed to be in the u.s. could vote in city elections but not state or federal. the top u.s. general in the middle east discusses flashpoints in the region. despite a high vaccination rate, vermont's health system struggles with a rising covid cases. a new book suggest that discussion of antiracism has had a negative effect on the black community. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta use adios -- news studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of tourism -- journalism. judy: foreign policy, a trip to capitol hill and a covid

response must some of the items on the president's agenda today almost 11 months into his first term. he kicked off the day speaking to leaders around the world about the importance of global democracy. president biden says needs champions. i wanted to host the summit because here in the united states, we know as well as anyone that renewing our democracy, strengthening our democratic institution, requires constant effort. judy: our white house correspondent joins us to talk about the president's agenda. hello. we know at this summit for democracy, the president certainly in the background having to deal with an array of foreign policy challenges. remind us what those are. >> as you said, this was a day that was a microcosm of the challenges president biden faces. his schedule today it laid out the biggest challenges of his presidency, the democracy

summit, covid, is meeting with the task force, or whether it was him going to capitol hill and paying his respects to the late senator bob dole. when it comes to foreign policy at the democracy summit where he together more than 100 countries, the president said democracy is a fragile thing that needs to be protected. he also had humility saying that united states understands just as other countries how much democracy needs to be protected. talk to an administration official who told me the president approach that because of did -- january 6 and our issues. a mix of trying to approve democracy and confidence that he could still be a leader but officials see it as a beacon of hope still. when you add other foreign policy challenges, russia and china, two were not invited and were critical of the summit. the chinese issued a statement and a stinging report on american democracy, saying this is a country ruled by money. when you look at pressure, following the meeting and the call with president putin and

biden, russian officials also criticized the summit and the president has said he issued a stinging statement, straightforward statement to president putin, saying if russia were to invade ukraine and there would be strong economic sanctions levied on the country. those are some of the foreign policy, along with the issues with the consequences of the afghanistan withdrawal the president is facing. judy: then there is his domestic agenda. we know the bill back better what is laois and is working its way through congress. what how is the rest of the agenda -- how is it standing among american voters? >> this is the heart of the domestic issues he is facing. he was able to get through big policy issues, but there is an approval rating issue, there is a perception they're docketing done even when lawmakers are saying we have a lot to celebrate. i want to point out that joe

manchin is carrying a card listing some of the pompous men's democrat made. i want to read them. in march, $1.9 trillion has as part of the american rescue plan . that was focused on covert relief. in may, a covid-19 hate crimes act focusing on making sure people were not targeted because of their ethnicity. in november, a $1 trillion investment in and for structure, the bipartisan interceptor plan. here's interesting, they approve of him 41% -- 42%, and for structure, 56% to 31%. the president's approval ratings are lower than what people see his in for surgery plans and is agenda, and that is the issue the president is trying to bridge and that is in some ways dominating the conversations at the white house. judy: quickly, we know covid is also a continuing challenge for the president. >> that is right. the pandemic is something top of

mind. the omicron variant, the president sat down with a covid response team at the white house. he was not taking questions, but i shouted a question about rapid tests, is that has not been as available to americans as in other countries. that is still the number one priority, getting the pandemic under control. and it is the thing that is dominating all of the sectors and things we have been talking about tonight. >> reporting from the white house, thank you. >> thank you. judy: as president biden and international leaders discussed the decline of democracy around the world, some political waters are increasingly concerned about the survival of american democracy. they think it is also at risk. the newest cover story of the atlantic magazine is titled trump's next coup has alrdy begun, january 6 was practice. it argues that the threat from the u.s. is coming within as were publicans aligned with

former president trump worked up and the core of our democracy. the president is chosen by the will of the voters. atlantic staff writer bart gelman wrote the peach -- the piece. he joins us. this is full of eye-popping information but the title alone catches us up short. what do you mean by his next coup? >> i mean that january 6 was not an isolated event. it was parof a coherent plan and conspiracy to overthrow the results of the last election that went on for considerable time before and after january 6. and that republican operatives working on trump's behalf are now methodically looking around at all of the places where trump's first plot failed and looking to reinforce them. looking to remove obstacles that

prevented him from succeeding last time. judy: what are some examples you go through in this piece? >> one example is that they are seeking out all of the public officials, some of them elected, some of them nonpartisan administrators, who said no to the coup last time and said we will not change the vote count, we won't flip the outcome, joe biden one our state. -- won. they are hounding them out of office or making them irrelevant by passing new laws that take the power away from that office. judy: you pull this together and it is alarming. you write the prospect that the actual winner of the next election, there is a prospect that that person will be declared the loser and the loser will be certified as the president-elect. what makes you believe at this

point that these efforts by people who support, who are allies of president trump, could actually pull this off? >> the whole currency of presidential election is electors. each state has its own share of electors. and trump's strategy last time and the strategy that is being laid out now for the next time is to ask state legislators controlled by republicans in states that biden won to change the electors and say we are not going to count the ones chosen by the voters. we are going to put forward electors for trump because week, the republican legislature, say so. judy: you mentioned and we know that states like wisconsin, georgia and maybe michigan were in a position to make these

kinds of challenges. i want to zero in on what has happened in georgia since the election. there you have the authority for overseeing the election taken away from local officials in fulton county, which surrounds atlanta, and turned over to the state legislature. how does that play into the point you are making here? >> lets go through the list of everything that has happened in georgia at with respect to elections. you had a republican governor and secretary of state, both of whom certified that biden had won the election. that was their job, to reflect the actual count of votes in georgia. forhis crime against trump, the former president has declared war on the georgia governor, has recruited a candidate to try to replace him. the georgia legislature has removed the secretary of state's power over elections so the next

time, he won't be the one capable of certifying or decertify the election. they have changed the rules so that a board appointed by the republicans in the legislature can fire the election officials in counties like fulton county where atlanta is in most of the democratic votes are. they have gone systematically through all of the things that prevented trump from stealing the georgia election after losing the vote and they have changed them. judy: you also, there are so much to ask about, but you spent a lot of time trying to understand who the people are who believe that former president trump won, who don't believe joe biden was lawfully elected. you point out these are not lone wolves. these are people who are part of ordinary communities around the country. >> that's right. there was a typical profile for

politically violent people in the past. it has been young, male, unemployed and low education among other things. look at what happened on the january 6 insurgency. look at the defendants in those cases. there are lots of women. the mean age is 42 years old, so these are middle-aged people, well-off, white collar, own their own businesses. they are not small cells of violent predators, and they are not lone wolves. what they are is part of a mass movement that believes that trump was robbed of victory and believe that violence is justified to restore him to power. judy: how many people do you believe fit into that category? >> the best research on this i know of is done out of the university of chicago. they have found that there are

about 21 million americans who agreed with two propositions. one is that biden is an illegitimate president, and the other is that violence is justified to put trump back into power. 21 million adult americans. that is a very sad number for our political enterprise. judy: it is. what is your sense, bart gelman, how deeply held these beliefs are, how possible it would be to change minds? among these people? >> i have it often -- i have often wondered that and i decided to dig deep and find one angry trump supporter who believes that the election was stolen and believes that january 6 was a nonviolent peaceful protest against a stolen

election, and see what are the sources of his belief and whether i could affect his beliefs by giving him empirical facts. there is a firefighter from new york and he told me that it was not the patriots on january 6 who committed acts of violence. it was special forces units disguised as antifa who conducted the violence. i asked him, how do you know that? he said i heard it from this general on a right-wing video site. so i called the general and i asked him a few questions. and i discovered he had no information at all. he was basically making it up and surmising it. i went through the conversation

with the firefighter, explained that the pentagon had put out statemts saying there were no such special forces and so on, and he did not believe me. i could bring him the facts on a platter, but he was not buying them. judy: what does that mean for our country, in terms of what the white house can do, what people who are in a position of authority and the news media, what do you see as possible to address this alarming picture you're painting? >> i don't have a great answer for that. i think you could almost call it an epistemological crisis, in which we don't seem to share as a country any common foundation of basic facts. of basic truths. black is black and white is white.

you can be closely following the news as this firefighter is, and be fluent in all of the talking points of your political team and have no idea whether what you are hearing is true, because you are not watching pbs and you are not reading the atlantic. judy: and the result for the country is we will see what happens. between now and the next election. bart gelman, writer for the atlantic, we appreciate it. thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. ♪ judy: the united states has left afghanistan but it is just one part of a region that general

frank mckenzie counts as is was possibility. he oversees the middle east and southwest asia as the top general at u.s. central command. not only did he run the evacuation of afghanistan, but he commands troops throughout the region, especially in syria and iraq. he must keep his eyes on iran. it is a full docket and he sat down with nick schifrin this morning. nick: thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. nick: what is the threat from iran and how will they confront? >> it is the most serious threat in the region today, and it manifests in several directions. versus their expanded ballistic missile force, which they have expanded and in the past three years we have seen the addition of unmanned aerial systems, can be drones, typically of different sizes they could employ.

the other thing that is concerning his proxy forces. principally in the region, but it also has the capability to manifest globally. the nuclear program is also an area of concern. diplomats are working to find a way to reenter agreement with them, we try to do everything we can to support our diplomats as they pursue that. nick: nuclear program, proxies and missiles. tens of thousands of u.s. troops you command, dozens of bases can't deter iran from advancing, what can? >> we have deterred iran from state on state conflict over the past couple of years. that is a testament to the posture we have had. nick: but the problems the u.s. has had with iran have advanced. >> they have and they're are going to continue to. i don't think any posturing or elements we put in it will reflect that because they reflect decisions made by iran.

would we can do and should strive to do is affect iranian behaviors toward neighbors. nick: iran has increased its enrichment of uranium to 60%. is there a military plan if they increase it to weapons grade? >> we have all kind of plans that i cannot discuss with you. the best course is the devil medic truck. nick: there have been -- >> diplomatic track. nick: --what would ur role be in conflict with iran, with the u.s. the dragon? -- dragged in? >> we would support israel if we needed to. -- i will leave that one alone. nick: there have been attacks including a assassination attempt against the prime

minister that iran says they did not authorize, but what is the threat of militias in iraq given that those groups are less centrally controlled. >> they are less centrally controlled. we would agree with that. however, they are armed by iran. iran has a profound responsibility for the actions they take. the iraqis have to take action against the paramilitary forces that you noted are out of control, and i think that risk is going to rise over time. nick: why are you confident the training you are doing for iraqi forces will end up as it has, iraqi military folded in the past as you know and we just saw the afghan military whom we trained for 20 years fold. >> in both cases they folded because we left. we are not leaving. were going to keep a small platform that will be able to advise and assist in that is the difference. it is important to know that. nick: i want to start with

civilian casualties in syria. december 3 drone strike in syria might have killed civilians. we saw a video posted by a member of the family that says they were the victims. what happened? >> we are investigating and i can't share any more information. we take it seriously, we will investigate it quickly and have something very soon. nick: there was another case of civilian casualties in 2019. your investigation found the airstrikes killed four civilians and strikes were in to admit self-defense. but you also admitted you could not conclusively characterize the status of more than 60 casualties. this is also under investigation by the department of defense. the new york times reported were more than 70 fatalities. do you leave your initial investigation got it wrong? >> i can't tell you. have an ongoing investigation, so i can be silent, it the

investigation is complete. nick: people involved in the pentagon inspector general report told the new york times that they gave information and removed an opinion saying that the violation of the law may have taken place. you believe that? >> i don't but i guess what i believe will not matter. as it will all come out. nick: do believe theris any problem with the command climate or special operators and how they call in airstrikes? >> we had a long, tough fight in iraq and syria. in 2018 and 2019, we called in a lot of strikes. we've gone to elaborate to prevent civilian casualties. i cannot tell you in every case we have been able to, but would know about it, when we have an opportunity to learn that those casualties may have occurred, we investigate. nick: in syria, the main

objective is to prevent the return of them, but we have seen isys cells in eastern syria and southern syria attacking inside northern iraq. do you believe the mission is working? >> i do and here's why. we never have predicted a bloodless future with isys. we have always thought isys is an ideology of the mind, so it will recur. what you want to do is keep it local, and you want local forces to deal with it. that is what we are seeing in the case of iraq. judy: let's -- nick: let's talk afghanistan. since the withdrawal, have you identified targets and proposed any airstrikes? >> those are operational details. we continue to look in afghanistan for particularly isis-k and al qaeda targets and that continues. nick: are you able to see those targets? >> it is difficult. we are able to bring in what

forms overhead to take a look. in the long term perhaps we can reestablish relationships on the ground. nick: how worried are you about government collapse in lebanon? >> this is a dangerous time for the government of lebanon and they need to do some actions to get there house in order if they are going to be able to go to the various national agencies that can provide relf to restructure their debt. nick: the lebanese military has been trusted or has judy missy among any lebanese, that it is on the verge of group c. you met with commander of the armed forces. what is the u.s. willing to do to make sure they stay viable? >> i agree they are probably the best example of an institution that has trust by everyone. we need to take actions to ensure that they survive. nick: do you believe they will not? >> this is the most dangerous period they have been in, they

have a commander who is doing th best he can and they will continue to need help. nick: 30,000 feet on the region and china. do you feel pressure by policymakers who are more focused on china when it comes to the capacities you have? >> we need to be oriented on china as a pacing threat for us. with that in mind, we need to allocate resources conscious of that threat. however, china is a global problem, not just a western pacific problem. china has increasing interest in the region and we are going to see increasing chinese activities in the region as a result. principally economic now, and the long-term it could be military. nick: china has tried to increase its presence even the united arab emirates. what is the impact of chinese military actions on u.s. partners ? >> u.s. partners are looking for insurance, they want to know we will state. the department of defense has given that message.

the partner of choice is the united states. no one partners with china by choice, because the capability of their weapons is significantly limited. also the diplomacy that comes with china coming into a country, many countries in the region have seen the practice of it in the pacific and they are concerned. nick: from jordan, israel, even saudi arabia, they questioned the commitment. they've seen multiple presidents talk about wanting less of a footprint in the middle east. >> we do have less of a footprint but we are still here and we are able to decisively alter events. nick: general mckenzie, thank you. >> thank you, nick. ♪ judy: as the united states braces for the unknowns of the omicron. delta variant is still overwhelming to the country.

some states in the northeast and midwest have seen sustained, record-breaking case numbers. this look into how it is hitting vermont. >> vermont with its widespread and early adoption of vaccines and mitigation measures was held up as a model for how to handle this pandemic. but the last month, the state blew past its record case and hospitalization numbers. the surge that hit much of the south earlier this year has arrived in england. this doctor is the chief medical information officer and director of hospital medicine at rutland regional medical center in vermont. great to have you on the newshour. help us understand what you are seeing in your hospital right now. >> sure. we are seeing a lot of cases of covid. we did not see the number of cases that you mentioned earlier in the year, and we are seeing a large spike. it is in all avenues, in the emergency department, intensive care and inpatient units.

>> is your understanding that the bulk of these people are unvaccinated or vaccinated? >> the majority of the cases are under -- unvaccinated. there are individuals who have been vaccinated who are contracting covid, with the majority of the cases that require hospital people of care, the emergency apartment or the inpatient unit, are unvaccinated. >> help us understand. vermont has i believe the highest vaccination rate, 75% or something, in the country. we were led to believe that if we get to three quarters of the population, that we would not see what you are seeing. how is that happening? >> a couple of things that come into consideration. first, when those assumptions were made, that was based on the native virus, not the delta variant. that variant is far more contagious and the 75% number is not nearly enough to have herd immunity for a community.

it is higher, 90 plus percent. we did have a robust adoption of the vaccine, that was almost a year ago. people were rushing to get vaccinated. that immunity has waned and after 10 months the immunity has waned to the point in which people can contract covid. the people who are getting covid who have been vaccinated are generally not that sick. they're having mild illness. but they are spreading the illness to other individuals who are unvaccinated and are getting very sick and landing in the emergency department. it is a couple of things playing into that. >> how is the booster campaign going? >> not nearly as well as the initial vaccination efforts. the booster uptake in vermont has not been very good and that has contributed significantly to the spike we are seeing now. >> what we have seen with these other recent surges like in the south, cases went up and down.

are you seeing any trend line that looks good to you, or do things seem to be progressing in the wrong direction ? >> we are not. we saw a big peak a few weeks after the halloween holiday and another now on the coattails, related likely to thanksgiving and small, indoor gatherings. we have seen nothing however other than increased number of cases for the last several weeks, and unfortunately there does not seem to be an end in sight. >> vermont is rural and people live far apart from each other. there are not that many hospital systems to begin with. i've been hearing interviews with different tickle staff around the state describing a sense of burnout, that they are feeling this has been going on for a long time and they feel taxed. are you experiencing that? what are you hearing from staff in your facility? >> there is a level of exhaustion.

we are better poised than other places in that we had relatively good staffing for most of this. the last several months have been challenging both nursing staff and physician staff. there is definitely a feeling of fatigue. the numbers have been high among even before we were seeing the most recent covid surge. the amount of delayed care that has required inpatient hospitalization was very high and a covid surge on top of that, we have seen all humans at our hospital that we have never seen before, both in the acute care space but also in the icu. that can be challenging in the icu beds are complete filled in a hospital such as ours. it's not just our hospital, it is also the hospitals around us. it is o tertiary partners that are also taxed by this and our ability to transfer patients has been limited. it has been hard on staff, for sure. we have a positive attitude in this hospital, but it has been

very taxing on many people. >> given the trends, i know it is getting colder, the holidays are coming, omicron with its unknowns are coming. how concerned are you about what is down the road? >> if we did not have a surge plan in place, i would be concerned. it's about having the appropriate plans, so we have been working very long. we know that hospital systems were overwhelmed in the south and we never want to find ourselves in that scenario. we developed a robust plan that includes the ability to care for a large bird of patients. this has been challenging in this time. in the critical-care care capacity, not only here but the rest of the state, it has made it challenging. however, i am reassured that we have a good plan in place to deal with those volumes. >> dr. rick hildebrandt, best of luck to you. ♪

judy: the infrastructure legislation signed by president biden last month contains $10 billion for cleaning up drinking water that has been contaminated by us but civic -- why a specific of chemicals. but the problems go back decades and are located in any places around u.s.. miles o'brien oaks at the impact in one community in new hampshire and how -- looks at the impact in a community in new hampshire and how the air force is dealing with them. >> not far from her home in new hampshire, d and i are standing on a bridge over some -- mindy and i are standing on a bridge over some troubled water. >> components of the a fff

phones. >> aqua's film warming foam is an unsurpassed way to stop a petroleum fire. firefighters used to use it in writing exercises into does at least one fire up the creek at the nearby airport -- air force base closed in 1991. the foam is water and oil repellent, next to per floor needed chemicals, otherwise known as pfas, linked to human health issues and cancer. >> would you eat a fish caught out of this creek? >> i would not. the pfas compounds absorb into fish bodies. >> before the pandemic, she prepared a sample for me to bring to a bio geochemist at harvard. in her lab in cambridge, are focused on how it moves for the

environment and how it can harm human health. >> there been reports of cancer at high levels of exposure. there's a whole suite of oth impact, obesity, risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, a whole suite of outcomes we are concerned about or associated with exposures to these compounds. >> invented in the 40's, became popular in an era chemicals were widely celebrated as modern marvels. this was the entertainment at the dupont exhibit at the 19 -- 1964 welfare. ♪ >> the promise of dupont. >> to say these chemicals are ubiquitous today seems an understatement. besides a triple left, they are in teflon, boots, shoes, the list goes on.

>> we have seen between 98 and 99% of individuals have detectable levels of these chemicals in their blood. >> a big part of the problem is the same chemical bonds that make it so impervious, it also makes them practically indestructible. they persist in the environment and our bodies, so much they are called forever and michael's. this dr. -- forever chemicals. this doctor is working to see who is most at risk. >> for most people, the levels are detectable, they are low. it is different than these communities where you see individuals with orders of magnitude higher levels of exposure. >> water i brought her team from that stream was off the charts. there were three chemicals in it that far exceeded new hampshire limits on the chemicals in drinking water.

between 12 and 18 parts per trillion. andrinking water was the issue that triggered mindy into action. she is an environmental scientist and worked for the department of defense when she became concerned about a suspected pediatric cancer cluster in her town. >> i reported it to the state in 2014. i asked can you sample the water, the soil, is there something in common? >> the prime suspect came to light as part of a nationwide testing campaign. they discovered high levels of pfas at three wells that divide drinking water to the portsmouth region. one site among hundreds nationwide. the working group has documented 679 luke perry sites with suspected discharges of pfas. >> you are at the spot of the

original fire training activities. >> when i met him, roger walton was the coordinator for the base realignment and closure division of the air force. he took me where firefighters sprayed all of that foam for all of those years. unaware of the danger, the sprayed we are close to a two century old wealth that could generate one million gallons of water per day. businesses inside the footprint of the old base lie on it, including daycare centers. >> when it was detected in 2014, it was shut off and that set gears in motion for the treatment. >> the air force built an elaborate system of pipes and tanks to remove it from the groundwater. the water is filtered twice through granular activated carbon and needs of ion exchange resin. by august of 2021, they had removed enough from groundwater

to reopen the well. but nagging questions anger. there are more than 9000 distinct formulations of per fluorinated chemicals, but they are regulated individually, so in this case they are looking for only four types of effects -- pfas, those with limits set by the state. >> there is a lot we don't know about whether they are slipping through the treatment system or being treated. we don't know what the other chemicals could be when the samples come out of the treatment systems. >> in 2009, the industry introduced another formulation called gen x, claiming it is more inert. >> the answer is we don't know. we have not had the time to study it to say conclusively what the health outcomes are associated with exposures or human populations. we are not proactively regulating these chemicals yet,

but none of them looked to be particularly safe. >> in october, the biden environment protection agency announced a roadmap toward federal drinking water limits for these chemicals. this offers a preview of what lies ahead. for the pbs newshour, isles o'brien in portsmouth, new hampshire -- miles o'brien in portsmouth capture. -- new hampshire. ♪ judy: now we turn to our newshour bookshelf. jeffrey brown recently visited columbia university to talk with professor whose new book pushes back on ideas that have gained popularity in recent years amid the ongoing national debate over race and racism. >> recent election results in virginia, in which independent voters like these suburban

women, broke heavily for the republican candidate. it was a growing backlash against a trend in american culture. >> i don't see it as evidence of racism rearing its ugly head, it is not a backlash against the racial reckoning. it is a backlash against the certain kind of racial reckoning that alarms people with good reason. >> a professor of linguistics at columbia university and contributor to the new york times is one of the sharpest critics of antiracism theory, rhetoric and practice. >> i think an extreme point was hit in 2020 and everybody is rubbing their eyes and realizing that something too far. not that there is something wrong with a reckoning in general, but something went on what most even good people would consider sensible or fair. >>'s new book -- his new book pushes back on what he calls a new religion on the american left.

>> i wanted to write a book explaining that this new version of what is called antiracism is very harmful and sometimes even contemptuous of black people because if i say it as a black person is harder, not impossible, but harder to call me a racist or whites apprentices, and i also felt i wanted to get my version out the way i had been inking about it because i got the feeling that many people, including lack people, agree with me. -- black people. >> you are not denying that racism exists or that there is a structure in place that harms people that has historical roots that impacts individuals today. >> i don't deny those things at all. there is personal racism and there is structural racism, i wish people would not call it that. i like to think of it as there are racial inequities, some of them due to racism, sometimes it is in the past rather than the present. but calling it structural racism

encourages a kind of over supplication that discourages coming up with solutions that actually work. >> the murder of george floyd in 2020 led to protests in the streets and demands for a throughout american institutions. he calls himself a liberal. the results, he says have been performative on the part of many whites and harmful on the part of many blacks of whom suspect -- he contends society expect less. you said antiracism is racism. >> when you treat people with pity, you tell them they don't have to try as hard. >> let me stop you. >> when your idea is that because of people's history, they are not subject to the seams entered as everyone else, so if you say it is racist to subject black people to standardized test, because history makes it so they are not

as good at them, therefore they don't get good at standardized tests and run into them later. when you say black people should not have to take standardized tests, it is a short step from that to implying that black people are not as bright and sunny says it looks like black people are not as intelligent and you say they are racist and everybody knows there is doubletalk going. black people deserve better than those kind of societal dialogue. >> he points to the influence of books such as how to be an antiracist, and white fragility, which he believes overemphasize racial opposition and power hierarchies. the philosophy, he writes, seeping into american schools. >> i wonder if you are subject to the charge of over alarmist. you write these people are coming after your kids. very strongly which. >> everybody thinks i meant that as rhetoric. i meant it. this is trickling into our

educational curriculum. we have a debate over whether radical race theory is being taught in schools. those obscure legal papers are not being taught, something derived from apple -- that philosophy has become an underpinning, teach white kids that they are potential oppressors, black people that they are oppressed, that black people and why people live in opposition and engagement with the world should be focused on powering -- power differentials, rather than that and other things. >> there is what is called a reckoning, a rethinking. doesn't this country need a rethinking around social justice issues> ? >> no. and it's all because i don't think it's necessary, but this country's and moral culture have become more mature about the nature of racism, including

systemic racism, especially in the 2000 teens. this began with social media and the heightened awareness of the relationship between cops and young black men. those things were happening. >> what would you like to see? >> the reckoning we were having before. i'm talking about 2019. it used to be thateing called a racist did not bother that many people. we forget how that much -- how that changed by 1980. now if you are called a racist and it's almost as bad as being called a pedophile. that is good. that is part of a racial reckoning over decades at a white person feels that to be a racist is one of the worst things on earth. >> now he argues things have gone too far and cites cases in which which has been prescribed or someone has lost a job orbit publicly shamed -- four has been publicly shamed. >> a national trend that anybody

can see, and it is not just cherry picked examples. there is so much interest in this on the part of people who are left of center, it is not just fox news. >> you anticipated another critical response of your book, the real danger is on the right. the real danger is a threat to democracy and voting rights. it is banning books in the schools. do you see these as real dangers? >> they are and the ones i'm bringing up. the things going on on the left are real just as the things on the right are real. i am saying what i think most enlightened people think are worried about saying, because if you say it you get called a whites apprentices on twitter. i don't care of so many calls me a whites apprentices on twitter and i will keep writing. >> during much -- thank y very much. >> thank you. ♪

judy: that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and here tomorrow evening for all of us at the pbs newshour, please stay safe and will see you soon. >> major funding or the pbs newshour has been provided by >> for 25 years consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people do what they like. our customer service team can find a plan that fits you. visit consumer cellular -- consumercellular.tv. >> johnson & johnson, bnsf railway, the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the frontline of social change worldwide. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support

of these institutions. ♪ >> and wrens of the newshour -- friends of the news hour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you! ♪ >> this is pbs newshour west from weta studios in washington and our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >>

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