geoff: i'm geoff bennett. judy woodruff is away. on the "newshour" tonight, the brutality of war. an apparent russian missile strike hits a trn station crowded with ukrainian civilians trying to flee the conflict, as the country's president warns of more atrocities to be uncovered following russian retreats. then, the blockchain bubble. some economists' warnings about cryptocurrency grow louder as the future of digital assets remains in question. >> we live in a world that's right now overrun by liquidity. a lot of money in the market. and that money is just going to a new level of crazy. geoff: and it's friday. david brooks and jonathan capehart weigh in on ketanji brown jackson's historic confirmation to the supreme court, and state efforts to enact new restrictive abortion laws.

all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major fundi for the pbs newshour has been provid by -- >> the landscape has changed, and not for the last time. e rules of business are being reinvented with a more flexible workforce, by embracing innovation, by looking not only at current opportunities, but ahead to future ones. resilience is the ability to pivot again and again for whatever happens next. >> people who know, know bdo. >> pediatric surgeon, volunteer, topiary artist, they raymond james financial advisor taylor's

advice to help you live your life. life well planned. ♪ >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation f public broadcasting and contributions to your local pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: an apparent russian missile slammed into a crowded rail platform today in eastern ukraine, killing dozens and wounding hundreds. thousands of people were waiting

for trains to evacuate the area, as russian forces look to re-focus their assault on ukraine's eastern region. meantime, the pentagon said it believes russia will call up as many as 60,000 reservists after six weeks of fighting have inflicted heavy losses on russian forces. special correspondent simon ostrovsky reports. and a warning for viewers, images in this story are upsetting. simon: these were the things they carried. a baseball cap. a child's stuffed horse now dyed in blood. a pet rabbit, its owner nowhere to be found. moments earlier, chaos, and one of the more gruesome scenes of this war. the dead and dying thrown about by what a senior defense official said was a ballistic missile strike on the more than 4000 civilians on the platform at kramatorsk's rail stop. most were women and children, all desperate to flee. and now, so many are gone. local officials recounted the horror.

>> there were many killed and injured here, as well as ambulances and police. also fire engines. the cars were still on fire. it was hell on earth. they all had shrapnel injuries. simon: this is what the area around the train station looked like just yesterday, with travelers packed in elbow-to-elbow. the ukrainian authorities had urged residents of the donbas region to leave the area as they braced for a major russian offensive. but this has turned into one of the single most deadly incidents since the start of the war. the tail fin of a russian tochka-u ballistic missile was found near the site of the strike with the words "for the children" spread painted on the -- spray-painted on the side. local authorities said at least five children died in the attack. kramatorsk is in a strategic location, in the government-conolled portion of donetsk, where western officials expect russia to launch a major

operation in the coming weeks, although a senior defense official today said russia continues to struggle with logistics and "will not be able to reinforce with great speed." speaking to reporters earlier today, kremlin spokesman dmitry peskov vaguely said the war could end soon. >> we are talking about, in the foreseeable future. simon: but this new video released by russia's defense ministry shows no sign of forces letting up in the eastern luhansk region. near kyiv's capital in bucha, now a horrific symbol of ukraine's pain, the grim work continues. police and volunteers gather evidence of war crimes. the victims, ordinary civilians. >> these are all killed and tortured people. shot at the close range, with their arms and legs tied. some were blindfolded. simon: today, forensic investigators began exhuming a mass grave.

officials say they found at least three sites of mass shootings during russia's occupation. hundreds are believed to have been killed. many still waiting to be found. earlier this week, journalists found the bodies of two women, who lay sprawled inside their home. their neighbor, iryna kolisnyk, says three other men are buried in her backyard. one of them, leonya, shot in the head while he mourned the death of a friend. >> he turns and says, this is my friend's grave. he was killed. soldiers walked behind him. and immediately after he said it about the killing, we heard the click and leonya is on the ground. leonya is gone. simon: today, president of the eu commission ursula von der leyen visited bucha and gasped at the horror as she was escorted through the trail of bodies. >> we have seen the crueface of putin's army.

here in bucha, we saw humanity being shattered. and the whole world is mourning with the people ofucha. simon: in their latest mission to kyiv, european officials also huddled with the ukrainian leader, in another effort to show their unwavering support. hours earlier, in an address to his nation, president zelenskyy warned the devastation in towns neighboring bucha could even be more dreadful. >> the work on dismantling the debris in borodyanka has begun. it's much worse there. even more victims of the russian occupiers. simon: in another village near kyiv, residents returned to what's left after enduring heavy russian bombardment. >> they did this to us. they did not fight on the battlefield with our warriors. they fought in the village. the russians hid behind our backs here and stayed in our houses, garages, and cellars, and shot at us. simon: the horrors they recalled echo the many allegations of

russian war crimes committed in towns across the northern region. for the "pbs newshour," i'm simon ostrovsky in kyiv. geoff: cities and towns across northern ukraine are being freed by ukrainian forces, as the russians redeploy to the east. one such city is trostyanets, northwest of kharkiv, the site of pitched fighting until its liberation two weeks ago. special correspondent jack hewson and videographer ed ram traveled there and found a city destroyed, its people reeling. jack: the scars of battle in the recently liberated town of trostyanets. civilians try to resume daily life amid the ruins of their community. the town will take time to rebuild, but the wounds of trauma will take longer to heal. on the outskirts of the town, we meet luba kryuchko, mourning the loss of her grandson. >> this is our cemetery.

jack: the 14-year-old boy and her twneighbors were killed as ukrainian and russian forces battled for the town, just days before its leration on march 26. >> i wish he could be just alive. it doesn't matter that the flat is ruined. we can rebuild it. but i wish my grandson was alive. that wld be the best thing that could happen. jack: luba shows us the destruction to her home. she was hiding in her basement when the artillery round struck. but her grandson and neighbors were not so fortunate. as she emerged above ground, she discovered a horrifying scene. >> the woman was lying there, without her head. look at what has happened. her head was blown off and all her bones blown apt, there in the basement, too. and here was my grandson's body. he did not run to the basement in te. we were in the basemt, and all

the body fragments got blown in there, also. jack: on the way up to luba's apartment, we meet victor. his son was critically injured in the blast. but when they tried to take him to hospital, they were stopped by russian troops. >> we got to the checkpoint at the crossroads between the hospital and the school. we were stopped. they shot in the air and searched the car. i said, we're going to the hospital with my injured son. they said, ride, but we will shoot you in the back. you can go, but we will kill you. jack: there is giant tear in luba's bedroom from the strike. but her grandson's death and the serious injury to her son have left a bigger emotional hole in her life. >> i don't know how to explain. it's hard. hard, of course. he lived with me, the child. jack: until luba finds the money to repair her apartment, she is sleeping on her neighbor's sofa.

>> we had everything, everything, until some man got weird ideas in his head that he should destroy everything. that is all. jack: luba's home was struck as fronts shifted around the town's edges. when the time came, locals say ukrainian forces took five days to retake trostyanets. at the train station, a focal point of the battle, there is evidence of some of the fiercest fighting. this is, or perhaps was, the city's train station and was used as a base by the russians while they were here. you can see the scale of the fighting that's gone on here. there are so many pockmarks in the concrete. there's boxes of russian armaments around. there were snipers positioned on top of this, and seven tags, according to locals.

-- and seven tanks, accordinto locals. the ukrainian military are already clearing the charred remnants of russian artillery units. emblems of an embarrassing strategic failure. the town was only ever expected to be a steppingstone to victory in kyiv. but as advances stalled, russia's presence in trostyanets became an cupation. emotions run high. after a month in hiding, residents are now reliant on humanitarian aid. >> they shot down people just for nothing, people that were just walking in the street with their children if they had not quickly run away. they went around with guns and kicked us out of our houses. >> i knew about the situation outside and did not go out. i was scared. you can see what happened to the city. >> they went into houses and beat people. they took and broke phones. they did what they wanted. they were barbarians.

god says you should love your enemy. it is impossible. i only have hate. jack: locals say the russians were civil at first, but after a couple weeks, the atrocities began. anger at russian violations is pouring out across the liberated towns of the north. luba's life has been changed forever. >> i told you that i have enough of this for the rest of my life. until i am dead, this pain, the hate, nothing else, the hate and anger, that is what i feel. i wish i could kill them myself, those who came here. that is all. jack: as more alleged atrocities are uncovered, luba is one of many burying their loved one's across ukraine, a country reeling from its loss. for the "pbs newshour," i'm jack

hewson in trostyanets, ukraine. geoff: and a note, our coverage of the war in ukraine is supported in partnership with the pulitzer center. ♪ vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy with "newshour west." we'll return to the full program after the latest headlines. a federal jury in grand rapids, michigan, acquitted two men of plotting to kidnap governor gretchen whitmer. the verdict came after 4.5 days of deliberations. jurors could not reach verdicts for two other defendants, and the judge declared a mistrial. that leaves them subject to being tried again. the four allegedly conspired to abduct whitmer in 2020. we will get the details later in the broadcast. a second member of the extremist group proud boys pleaded guilty today in the riot at the u.s. capitol, on january 6 last year.

charles donohoe admitted to plotting to stop coness from certifying the presidential election results. he agreed to aid in other investigations, which could lighten his sentence. the white house celebrated judge ketanji brown jackson's confirmation to the u.s. supreme court. on the south lawn, president biden and vice president kamala harris joined jackson, who's now set to become the first black woman on the high court. pres. biden: i could see it as a day of hope, a day of promise, a day of progress. a day when once again the moral arc of the universe, as barack used to quote all the time, bends a little more toward justice. judge jackson: it has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a black woman to be selected to serve on the supreme court of the united states. [applause] judge jackson: but we've made it. [cheers and applause]

vanessa: jackson will take the oath of office later this year, when justice stephenreyer officially retires. in israel, security forces have shot and killed a palestinian man who they say killed three people in tel aviv late thursday. surveillance video showed the suspect walking down crowded streets. later, chaos erupted when the gunman opened fire at a bar. police said he did not belong to any organized militant group. it was the fourth deadly attack in israel in less than three weeks. pakistan's embattled prime minister today criticized a supreme court ruling that blocked him from dissolving parliament, but he said he will accept it. the ruling cleared the way for a vote of no confidence in the government tomorrow. prime minister imran khan spoke this evening in a national tv address. p.m. khan: the verdict disappointed me. foreign hands were involved in the no confidence vote in pakistan. i was expecting from pakistan's

supreme court at least they should have considered this, this was a very serious allegation. vanessa: khan also said he will not recognize any opposition government. he called for peaceful protests on sunday. france is headed toward a presidential election on sunday, and a far-right candidate is surging in the polls. marine le pen claimed momentum, while president emmanuel macron has said the pandemic and ukraine delayed his efforts. if the polls are correct, macron and le pen will meet in a run-off later this month, as they did in 2017. more cities in china tightened pandemic restrictions today as a covid outbreak accelerated. total cases in the city have passed 100,000ince the outbreak began last month. shanghai is converting gyms and exhibition halls into isolation centers, with no end in sight for the lockdown. meanwhile, the u.s. state department urged americans not to travel to china due to arbitrary enforcement of covid-19 restrictions.

back in this country, alabama's governor signed into law one of the most far-reaching measures yet to block medical treatment for transgender chdren. it would imprison doctors for up to 10 years for prescribing puberty blockers or hormone treatment for trans youths under the age of 19. other republican-controlled states have adted related laws. in idaho, the state supreme court today temporarily blocked a law that man's abortion at six weeks. planned parenthood had petitioned to block the law before it was to take effect on april 22. idaho's abortion ban would be enforced on lawsuits based on a law in texas. meanwhile, larry hogan vetoed a bill that would have expanded access to abortion in the state. the motion picture academy banned actor will smith today from attending the oscars or academy events for 10 years. it's punishment for slapping comedian chris rock at last

month's oscars, after rock told a joke about smith's wife. smith said he respects the decision. he had already resigned from the academy. still to come on the "newshour," conventional economists' warnings of cryptocurrency's volatility grow louder. david brooks and jonathan capehart weigh in on the week's political news. and the minneapolis-based theater debuts a police play about race and policing. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from w eta studios in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism from arizona state university. geoff: as we reported, a jury in michigan found two men accused of plotting to kidnap governor gretchen whitmer not guilty today, and failed to reach a verdict against two others. john yang has our report. john: geoff, this was a case that made headlines just a month before the 2020 presidential election and amid protests over

government handling of the pandemic. federal prosecutors alleged a plot to kidnap a sitting governor from her vacation home in hopes of disrupting the presidential race and maybe even sparking a civil war. to help us understand today's acquittals and mistrials, we're joined by mark chutkow, a former federal prosecutor in michigan. thanks for joining us. you know, it sure seemed like the prosecutors had a lot of evidence here. they had accused conspirators who turned state's evidence. they had undercover fbi agents, they had secret recordings. now, obviously, we do't know what happened in the jury room. but what do you think happened here? mark: yeah, as you say, it's a bit speculation to figure out exactly what has happened in the jury room because they haven't talked. but i think that there was some underlying tensions in this case. one is where you draw the line between protected free speech and a criminal conspiracy. it was something that the government had to grapple in this case, especially with the

polarizing issues that you had raised abouthe pandemic and the shutdown. second, the question is, how far can the government go to be involved in conspiracy plot? here, the defense vigorously raised issues of entrapment, both by the government informant that turned to the state, and also undercover agents, and cooperating dependents. -- cooperating defendants. third, i think is on the flip side is how far can the government take this before they pull the plug? i have worked with fbi agents befo and there is a constant tension of, do we let the plot go on longer so that we can build a better case? or, do we pull the plug because we don't want anyone to be harmed? the concern here is if the informant loses access to the conspirators, then the government loses control and no one knows what's going to happen next. john: among the things that the prosecution had, they had accused conspirators pleading

guilty and testifying against the other defendants. does that usually carry some weight with juries? mark: that usually carries a lot of weight. in this case, the defense was arguing that the government entrapped them. and so, by the government being able to bring forward two people that were involved in the conspiracy who said, no, the government did not push me to do this. i was willing to do this. i acceptesponsibility for the fact that i did in fact conspire to kidnap the governor and the people on trial were participating with me, that ordinarily is very compelling evidence that oftentimes reassures a juror that there really is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. john: as you say, the defense argued that these guys were just talking, this was just free speech, talking about how much

they had to the government and that sort of thing. but there are they actually took some actions as well. mark: yeah, particularly the t defendants that remain in the case. they took a number of overt acts. they cased the cottage up in northern michigan, they but a mockup of her house so that they could practice, sort of like the navy seals did with osama bin laden in pakistan. they tried to purchase explosives. they bought night vision goggles. and they took a number of acts that were in furtherance of the conspiracy that may have caused the jurors some pause in terms of acquittal of those two types of defendants. john: and the prosecutors have said they do intend to retry those two. what did we learn about the defendants in the course of this trial? mark: well, we heard competing visions of the defendants from -- of the defendants. from the defense, they portrayed the defendants as beleaguered weekenwarriors that were angry with the government and that were just blowing off steam, that it basically was talking,

they never intended to go through with this, that the plot was a realistic. there was no time, date, or -- that the plot wasn't realistic. there was no time, date, or location for what they were going to do. on the flip side, the government showed that these guys really did intend to do something. john: you mentioned domestic terrorism, domestic extremism. governorhitmer released a statement after the verdict, ying she feared this would embolden extremists. and, you know, we have these trials here in washington against the january 6 defendants. the biden administration justice department says that they want to focus on domestic terrorism. what's the significance of what this jury did today in that context? mark: i don't think you can draw a bigger analogy to what happened on january 6, and i don't know that this is going to embolden other people, these -- other people. these defendants, two of them are still facing potential lg

prison sentences, and the other two had to face prosecution that was quite vigorous. john: mark chetco, former federal prosecutor in michigan, thank you very much. mark: you're welcome. ♪ geoff: today, there are thousands of cryptocurrencies. and every day, it seems, a new nonfungible token, or nft, is marketed. our economics correspondent paul solman explores the digital asset boom. paul: asset inflation gone wild. so-called hard assets like housing up 32% since the pandemic began. stocks up 84%, at least until russia invaded ukraine. but consider digital assets. bitcoin is up more than 600% since the pandemic. ethereum, the other main cryptocurrency, more than 2000%. >> what if you could own the virtual world? paul: and how about unreal estate, the right to occupy and

build in virtual worlds known as the metaverse? prices doubled in the second half of 2021 to $12,000 a parcel. finally, famously, the digital artist beeple sold an nft, a so-called non-fungible token, of a work of art last year for $69 million. >> we need a banana. paul: economist craig palsson explains the idea behind nft's with an example from 2019 art basel. >> when maurizio catalan went to miami and duct taped a banana to the wall, and this artist then said the asking price for this piece of art is $120,000. paul: there were three buyers. >> the next day, somebody came by and ate the banana off the wall. and yet that afternoon, the museum had duct taped another banana to the wall. whathese investors were buying was not the banana, which was going to go bad within a week anyway. they were buying a certificate

ofuthenticity. paul: which is all an nft is, an indisputable digital certificate of ownership, stored on a computer network that anyone can verify but no one can alter. in the digital world, then, a rotting banana can be a digital image, like bat-chomping heavy metal icon ozzy osbourne's cryptobatz. >> and as crazy as it sounds, all it is is just a jpeg of what looks like a cartoon bat. paul: college students jonah katsenelson and rhett fruitman tried but failed to get in on the initial release of ozzy's nearly 10,000 digital images. a friend hit pay dirt, however, and flipped his a week later. >> for four ethereum, which is the equivalent of $10,000 u.s. paul: more than 30 times his investment. but still just a minor exhibit in the nft menagerie. >> i have bored ape 6176. ul: nft entrepreneur lin dai bought his bored ape in december.

>> it's a very cool one that looks very rock 'n' roll. reminds me of keith richards. paul: and how much did you pay for it? >> at the time, it was probably just under $200,000. paul: $200,000! >> $200,000. it's probably worth about $400,000 right now. paul: now i know what you're thinking -- this is, well, bananas. like tulipmania in 1630's holland, when a single bulb went for more than a house. >> ♪ what goes up ♪ paul: not to mention the more recent dot com debacle. >> ♪ must come down ♪ paul: mortgage backed securities scandal, etc. so is digital mania just another historic bubble bound to burst? maybe, maybe not. professional stock market investor vitaliy katsenelson is a digital asset skeptic, but even he sees why prices have been skyrocketing. >> we live in a world that's right now overrun by liquidity. paul: a lot of money. >> a lot of money. a lot of money in the market.

and that money is just, you know, it's just going to new levels of crazy. paul: money being created by governments the world over, to the point that investors are scared it will lose its value. >> inflation is always going to be a concern because you can always print more money. paul: law professor tonya evans. >> you avoid that when you have hard capped money, like bitcoin, for example. paul: because there will never be more than 21 million bitcoin. >> bitcoin is this form of money that doesn't increase in supply, and you can send it to anywhere in the world. paul: crypto investor and author eric yakes. >> i can send it from my computer to your computer. there's no institution that it has to get checked by and verified by. paul: further, says yakes, it's great for immigrants working abroad. >> for the purpose of remittance payments and for the purpose of using it as a store of value, which is a very big issue in some of these low income economies. paul: which may also explain the appeal of digital assets to black americans, who feel discriminated against by the financial industry.

>> systemic racism has prevented black americans from meaningfully participating in the banking system. even with excellent credit and a great job history, if i were pulling out equity in my home, i would have to come up against perhaps redlining. i would come up against predatory lending. paul: no wonder 23% of black americans report owning crypto versus 11% of whites. >> as a matter of economic empowerment and generational wealth. paul: but what about the criminal activity crypto has facilitated? the energy all those blockchain computers gobble? or is the new-fangledness curbing your enthusiasm? >> edison, you're wasting your time, and it's sad. paul: then, larry david's new ad is for fuddy duddies like you and me. >> it's ftx. it's a safe and easy way to get into crypto. >> ehhh. i don't think so. paul: so, are skeptics making the same mistake about nft's? especially if an investor's crypto currency has exploded in

value, how better to spend it? >> there's a certain point in which an additional dollar to somebody who's very, very wealthy buys you very little in terms of a change in your lifestyle. paul: economist matt stephenson. >> but what economists call positional goods, which is your sort of status position relative to someone else, you have something newer, cooler, better, new ways to sort of flex your taste, your wealth, your status and so on. nft's would be very useful for that. paul: so say you take the plunge for a one-of-a-kind cryptobat. a historically hip ape. one of the new donald trump nft collection. couldn't trump at mt. rushmore, say, be the next campbell's soup can which, when first exhibited in 1962, was thought of as a joke? and how much does a campbell's soup painting by andy warhol go for now? >> many millions of dollars. paul: contemporary art dealer alex glauber doesn't sell nft' yet. but he knows that value depends on belief, in dollars, gold, art.

>> value is socially constructed. i mean, there's no intrinsic value to art. and it's based on consensus. paul: and it doesn't have to be consensus of a whole lot of people. >> no. the reality is a market is only as smart as the people holding the money. when it comes to art prices, especially at auction, it only takes two competing individuals to drive a price up. paul: hey, there are non-aesthetic reasons for nft's as well. to be part of a community, for example. >> so it's an exclusive membership. paul: like the bored ape yacht club to which lin dai belongs, its images coming with commercial rights. >> i can actually make t-shirts or hats with my ape design on it. paul: and, of course, as certificates of authenticity, nft's can have more practical uses. a deed to your home. a college diploma. so, investor katsenelson, still a skeptic? >> it's not a serious investment because you have no idea what it's worth. think about 1999 dot com bubble.

you were making a lot of money until you lost it all. paul: katsenelson worries most about unsophisticated investors. and indeed, nft's have plunged in value of late, and we know how famously volatile crypto currency is. >> a lot of times, they're putting their life savings in this investments. at some point, these people will lose most of their net worth, and that's what really pains me. >> as an educator and a lawyer, i would never tell anyone to push all of their wealth into this space. paul: so, too risky, professor evans? >> i think the risk is in not participating. and that's going to be critically important for a nascent asset class like crypto. paul: still too nascent for me, i should confess. but then, so it was in 2013, when i first reported on bitcoin, at $130 a coin. today, somewhere around $40,000. for the "pbs newshour," wiser perhaps but not much richer, paul solman.

♪ geoff:oday, president biden celebrated alongside judge ketanji brown jackson, who will make history when she becomes the first black woman to take a seat on the nation's highest court later this year. but bere she does, the supreme court appears poised to upend abortion rights, causing states to examine their own laws. and in ukraine, accusations of potential war crimes are raising questions about whether and how this country is morally obligated to intervene in war. that brings us to the analysis of brooks and capehart. that's "new york times" columnist david brooks, and jonathan capehart, associate editor for "the washington post." it is great to have the both of your with us on this friday. jonathan, judge jackson, as i am sure you saw today, she marked her historic confirmation to the supreme court with a moving speech from the white house, in which she celebrated the "hope and promise" of a nation where

it was possible for her family to go from living under segregation to a supreme court appointment in one generation. how did that moment strike you? jonathan: it was a fantastic moment. it has not been pleasant, where the ideals that are written down in our founding documents did not apply to us, either in whole, at all, or fully. but it is the promise in our founding documents that gave the enslaved the hope that they would no longer be enslaved. it gave the newly freed african-americans the hope that they would one day be full so dozens of this kind -- full citizens of this country. it was the words in those founding documents i gave the succeeding generations the hope that they could live out the

ideals lived in those documents. this is not a perfect nation and we don't always get it right. but on a day like today when you see someone as brilliant as judge ketanji brown jackson, whose parents worked hard, she worked hard, everyone around her worked hard to get her to this point, it gives me hope that the ideals in the founding documents do apply to us and makes it possible for other people, african-americans, but all americans to see that those words in those documents mean something and can be fulfilled, if only we open the access so that everyone can fulfill the dream. geoff: david brooks, as president biden was marking the moment and celebrating of the success of judge jackson, he decried the treatment of her by some republicans during the confirmation hearings as verbal

abuse. then there was that moment yesterday on the senate floor after the vote was called, after she was confirmed. democrats erupted in cheers and republicans, saved for mitt romney, who voted in her favor, republicans walked out. that was after senator rand paul held up the proceedings for 20 minutes. then senator lindsey graham, because he was improperly dressed, did not have a necktie, had to shout his vote from the cloakroom. this is the moment i was speaking of earlier. you can see the applause in the room and the republicans made their way out through the door. what do we make of that display? david: welcome to america in 2022. if you are a republican or conservative or democrat, and i am several notches to the right of judge jackson, it is still a day to celebrate. to move from segregation of the supreme court in one generation is pretty phenomenal and a sign

larger success. and we should all be happy. i saw a great picture of cory booker hugging cheryl and i for. just the joy on their face was radiating. until 1981, every signal supreme court justice was a white guy, now white guys are the minority on the supreme court. you can disagree and be a republican and vote against a democratic appointed nominee, that is politics. but after the vote is over, after she has been confirmed, have a little celebration for america. we are even letting protestants back on the street corner. [laughter] so, i think there has to be a moment whenever you lay partisanship aside and see national progress and national celebration. geoff: jonathan, as you know, the white house wanted a bipartisan confirmation vote. in the end, they got three

republicans.collins , murkowski, and mitt romney. does it matter that tre were republicans who voted in favor? as you know, democrats could ha done this with 50 votes plus vice president harris breaking the tie. jonathan: i do think it was important, particularly for the first black woman to be on the court, for there to be a bipartisan stamp on her confirmation, no matter how many republicans were there. we should keep in mind that her 53-47 vote with three republicans is a better showing in terms of bipartisanship than what the previous justice who was confirmed, just as amy coney barrett, got. she got zero democratic votes for her confirmation. the fact that judge ketanji brown jackson will head to the court with three republican votes i think is a good thing in the grand scheme of things. what i worry about is not so much who voted for her confirmation. i am worried about what was said about what is going to happen if

there is another supreme court nomination for president biden. senator lindsey graham saying if the republicans take over the senate after the midterms, a nominee would not get a hearing. senate minority leader mitch pmcconnell following that up yesterday by saying the exact same thing. that to me are the dark clouds hanging over our democracy. that is much more important to worry about than judge jackson only getting three republican votes in her confirmation, which i think is a good showing considering how broken things are in washington these days. geoff: david, i want you to weigh in on that point. i was struck by the fact that senators collins and murkowski used their statement in support of judge jackson to say they believed the supreme court confirmation itself, the process itself, was broken. do you share that view? if so, what is the prescription to fix it? david: it is broken even by

washington standards. i went back to sandra day o'connor. she gets confirmed 99-0. it used to be 70%. it used to be the test, does the person have judicial philosophy that is roughly within the mainstream? is the person a person of wise temperament? that used to be the test. those issues are now basically off the table. for justice -- in this process, it is clear she has a judicial temperament. she has a phenomenal temperament. i have been so impressed with her handling of the rough circumstances the last few weeks. but this thing has turned into a culture war. it is about senators using their moments on tv to raise whatever culture war issue happens to be on tucker carlsen's show that week. that is what we saw in the confirmation hearings. it is the core thing happening in congress the last five years. you don't get a congress to pass legislation.

you go to congress to get on tv. it has become a performative act. frankly, the way you get power in congress these days is to do what aoc did. you build up a public platform and everyone has to listen to you in congress. there used to be a distinction between showboat, people who want to be on tv, and workhorses. that distinction is gone because the number of workhorses is minimal. geoff: too many showboat, not enough workhorses. i am writing that down in my notes. as we talk about the supreme court, one of the major cases sitting before the court right now is abortion access. oklahoma lawmakers have approved a bill that would make performing an abortion a felony, except in the case of a medical emergency. oklahoma is the latest republican led state to enact new restrictions on abortion access. jonathan, oklahoma following in the footsteps of texas. jonathan: yeah. when president clinton was in office, he had the mantra that

he wanted abortions in this country to be safe, legal, and rare. i think that is a sensible mantra. but the supreme court's decision to let that unbelievable texas law to go into effect while under legal challenge i think is what set off this ar race between blue states and red states when it comes to abortion. oklahoma, texas, missouri, all trying to restrict a woman's right to choose. and you have blue states that are democratically led states that are looking to codify roe v. wade in anticipation of the supreme court either wholly overturning roe v. wade or gutting it in the way they did with the voting rights act, in that it is a statute but you cannot enforce it.

so i think what we are in for, until the supreme court makes its decision final, we are going to keep seeing this happening. once the supreme court does what we think it is going to do, then god only knows what is going to happen in the states. but this much we do know, and this is why everyone is so concerned about the future of roe. when president trump was running for president, he said on the campaign trail and as president that he would appoint justices to the supreme court who would overturn roe v. wade. he got three supreme court justices placed on the court. that is why we are having this conversation. even though we are speculating about what would happen, with a 6-3 conservative majority on the court, roe is in danger, and that is why these states are moving fast in terms of their philosophy on roe to do whatever

it is they are going to do on abortion rights access or abortion access. geoff: in the couple minutes we have left, what do you make of that point, that one of the reasons that conservative states are moving forward with these pre-viability bans is not that they are afraid of legal challenges? they think they will have a from the audience with the supreme court. david: that is certainly the case with legal scholars i know who think that roe is on the way out. whatever anyone things of the underlying issue of abortion, i think it has been politically corrosive for our country that a solution was imposed by unelected officials from the top down. iowa's thought if we got out of roe, we could -- i always thought if we got out of roe, we could have a conversation about abortion, and we would have diffent states with different solutions. there was some possibility, until 10 or 15 years ago, that

we would wind up where some of the european countries are, with some restrictions and at different levels of restrictions, but somewhere in the middle. i think that would hav been an ideal circumstance 10 or 15 years ago. the underlying problem with that hope is the ates are polarized. for whatever reason, states have become one party rule. within those one-party legislatures, the people on the farther right or farther left seem to exercise total control, at least on this issue. so you get these laws that are polarized one way or another. there is still a possibility that that middle position, which is roughly where 51% of americans are, which would allow abortion until a certain time, then taper it off and make it harder later into the pregnancy. john roberts seems to be wanting to head toward that solution. at least he has made some indications in that direction. the problem is he might be a minority of one on the court right now. we seem to be heading on abortion as so many other issues as polar extremes, two value

systems, nonoverlapping views. geoff: a split country. david brooks and jonathan capehart, we appreciate your insights. have a great weekend. ♪ geoff: prosecutors this week declined to charge a minneapolis police officer in the fatal shooting of amir locke, a young black man who was shot and lled in a predawn no-knock raid. it comes nearly two years after the police killing of george floyd. those killings have forced parents to grapple with how to talk to kids about racism and policing. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro looks at a book-turned-play helping with those conversations. it's part of our arts and culture series, "canvas," and our ongoing race matters coverage. >> it's manny. keep the doors locked. >> there's been a shooting. fred: it's a moment now

all-too-familiar in american life -- the killing of a black man at the hands of police. >> everyone's safe. but there are racial overtones, if you know what i mean. >> a police-involved shooting. they called us all in. fred: moments of tension that traumatize communities and ripple nationwide. that tension takes center stage in "something happened in our town." >> mom! did you see where the cops killed another black man for nothing? fred: originally a children's book by a trio of psychologists, it tells the story of two families -- one black, one white -- navigating the aftermath of such a killing. >> the police thought he was reaching for a gun. >> well, josh's mother said they shot him just because he's black. >> that's not true. your uncle manny will tell you, the police have a job to do, . fred: playwright cheryl west adapted the story for the stage and it premiered at the children's theatre company in minneapolis earlier this year. 12-year-old de'anthony jackson, a minneapolis native, plays the

lead character, josh perkins. it's a role not so distant from real life for jackson, whose young memory is seared with the killing of george floyd. >> everybody was talking about it. and then sooner or later, people was just burning stuff. my mom was crying and stuff, and it was just like crazy because she was crying because another black man got killed. plus, she's thinking, like, what happens if that happens to one of my sons? in school, sometimes i'll just be thinking in cla like, when is the next one going to happen? >> dad, why are you getting so mad? >> i'm angry because we're still fighting the same fight. still being treated terribly. because 30 years later, i'm having to have the same talk with my sons that my father had with me. fred: kevin west plays josh's father, calvin. >> just sitting here listening to him saying, when is it going to happen again? that pains my heart for their m.

pains my heart because he's a 12-year-old kid. he shouldn't be having to think in those terms. but the world we live in, he's been forced and many other young people have been forced to take a look at what can happen. fred: the book version of omething happened" first came out in 2018. ann hazzard is one of its authors. >> one of our main goals was to help families across the spectrum be able to talk about race and racism. black parents historically have had to do that to keep their children safe and to preserve their self-esteem. but many white parents haven't addressed race or racism, and weren't sure how to start. and i think our book offered families a helpful tool to get started on those conversations. fred: attention surrounding the "new york times" bestseller spiked in 2020 after george floyd's murder. that year, it became the american library association's

sixth most-challenged book for its "divisive language" and "anti-police" views. in a letter to governor tim walz, minnesota's largest police association, the minnesota police and peace officers association, asked the state to stop recommending the book for use in classrooms, saying it "encourages children to fear police officers as unfair, violent, and racist." >> cldren get the message of the book. the message is that it's not fair to treat people differently based on the color of their skin. not once have we ever had a child say, the message of the book is that police are bad guys. fred: timothy douglas is the play's director. shortly after he accepted the role, he took a walk to the south minneapolis intersection now known as george floyd square. >> i sat on one of the benches opposite the spot where george floyd took his last breath. and it came to me that this is not a directing gi this is an assignment. and because it's an assignment,

i surrendered any tie to dictating what the outcome should be, what the final product should look like on the stage. i just entered the first day of rehearsal, and together we just started creating. fred: the play they created follows josh and his best friend, emma, as they try to make sense of the events gripping their community and straining their own relationship. they grapple with their perception of emma's lovable uncle manny, a white police officer character cheryl west added to the adaptation. and then, there's josh's older brother malcolm, another new addition, who butts heads with his parents over the killing and sneaks out of the house to join the protests. >> there's power in numbers, and i have to stand up and be counted. >> but you're wearing a hoodie. they sayou'll get shot if you wear a hoodie. >> that's exactly why i need to do this. when my little brother equates wearing a hoodie with getting shot. fred: in just the second week of rehearsals last february, minneapolis police fatally shot 22-year-old amir locke while executing a predawn no-knock

warrant. the killing touched off more demonstrations and, director timothy douglas says, shook the production. >> after all the demonstrations, -- i made assumptions about how much progress d been made in this city. and that was completely shattered when i looked into the faces of people here the day after amir was killed. fred: the theater brought in a counselor to address the emotional trauma on the cast and crew. for de'anthony jackson and kevin west, "something happened in our town" is meant not just to help families with difficult conversations. it's also a vehicle for change. >> theater is designed to speak for the current -- for the time. hopefully, we can put this to bed. that's my goal with this whole process, being a part of it, telling the story. hopefully this story isn't being produced and produced and produced and produced and produced. because if it is, the problem isn't changing. clicks there needs to be a change. it's not something that i want, it is something that we need. fred: and perhaps nowhere is it needed more than in the

theater's backyard. for the "pbs newshour," i'm fred de sam lazaro in minneapolis. geoff: fred's reporting is in partnership with the under-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. coming up on "washington week," yamiche and her panel analyze the week's news, including the discovery of russian atrocities in ukraine. plus, ketanji brown jackson's historic ascension to the supreme court. and i hope you'll join me tomorrow on "pbs news weekend." we'll talk to astronaut mark vande hei about his recent record-breaking spaceflight. and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. for all of us at the "pbs newshour," thanks for spending part of your evening with us. have a great weekend. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪

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tonight, the durability of it is also the real problem in the environment. >> a special report about the impact of plastics on our environment. >> if plastics were a country úthey would be the fifth larges emitter of greenhouse gases. >> hello and welcome. tonight, we bring you a special episode that is all about plastic. is a big part of everyday lives. it is made all kinds of medical