william: good evening. i'm william brangham. amna nawaz and geoff bennett are away. on the "newshour" tonight, climate change is a definitive factor in the heatwave gripping much of the world, as another study provides further proof of the human impact on our warming planet. uncertainty abounds at the border after a judge blocks a key part of the biden administration's asylum policy and texas refuses to remove floating barriers in the rio grande. plus, on the front lines in ukraine, the grinding counter-offensive continues with incremental progress, as soldiers and medics face the horrors of war. >> with time, you understand that you need to tune out and do your job very calmly. because on how composed you are

a person's life depends. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including kathy and paul anderson, and camilla and george smith. >> pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. >> the john s. and jane knight foundation. more at kf.org.

>> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. william: welcome to the "newshour." in coming days, more than 100 million people in the u.s. will be living under a heat advisory as a brutal heatwave moves into t. a new analysis finds the heat that's been baking the u.s.,

mexico, and europe over the past month would be "virtually impossible" without human-caused climate change. it comes from an international group of researchers known as the world weather attribution. to help us understand more about this real-time assessment, we're joined by bernadette woods placky. she's the chief meteorologist and director at climate central, an independent group of scientists and communicators. so good to have you on the newshour. this new report is part of a field of what is known as attribution science. can you tell us a little bit about what this study showed about the connection between climate change and these heat events? bernadette: attribution science is when we can go into individual weather events and tease out the role of climate change. one, our knowledge of a specific weather event. heat is one that we know a lot. two, historic temperature records. we could go back in time to see what happened before. three, model data.

we can look and model different scenarios in our environment. when we bring down levels of carbon dioxide or bring those up, we see changes. when we put all of that together, we have attribution science and get confidence in whether we could re-create this event or not. william: this report indicated it was impossible for these heat waves to be as long and as severe absent climate change. bernadette: correct. sadly, that is not surprising. we know when we add more heat to our atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels that that translates into bigger, stronger heat events which is the foundation of all the climate changes we see. william: is it simply a factor that this is a warmer atmosphere and we see warmer events? is that how the mechanism works or is it more complicated? bernadette: it does not mean everything a place is getting the extreme heat all the time. we are still going to have weather.

when we really raise that platform to a different level where we start with our heat, you add additional heat into the whole earth system, it will play up more intensely and more frequently with these big heat events. william: every time we do a story like this, critics always say, oh, it is hot in summer time how surprising. how can we tease out the distinctions between summer weather and climate change? bernadette: it is always hotter in the summer than in the winter, correct? but certain summers are hotter than others. what we are talking about right now his record after record after record after record. you have to look at the pattern. it is not just one individual event in one season. we are looking at southern parts of europe, a lot of north america and mexico, china, all at the same times. that is a lot of the globe spiking records like we've never experienced before. this continues to happen. william: we are also entering

the period of el niño which could warm the oceans and change the weather. remind us what el niño is all about and how that might be playing into this. bernadette: el niño is a natural phenomenon that happens in the pacific where the waters are warmed naturally. that changes some of her weather patterns around the globe. it also adds additional heat to the atmosphere so when we get el niño years, there is a boost in the global temperatures. when you want to look at the big picture once again, our el niño years of current years are breaking records, and they are well above el niño years of the past. william: i want to ask you about some of the solutions. we know we have to drastically reduce our emissions to start this human contribution to climate change, but as your organization well knows and as you strive to try to overcome, getting this change implemented is very difficult. do you believe that this current

series of records falling globally, as you described, is going to be able to move the needle in any meaningful way? bernadette: people are understanding more and more the connection between what we are experiencing and climate change. the warming is happening faster than our responses. two things are happening at once. there are some amazing solutions happening, being implemented around our country and globe, but we've waited a long time to implement those solutions. so, our warning curve is faster. we need to bend that warming curve and that is what gets really interesting. yes, we baked in a certain amount of warming already. however, this is not per se the new normal. this is a changing normal. we are still on a path to even hotter unless we make those changes. it is upon us to make those changes. william: how confident are you we are going to do that? the reason i ask is we've had 30 years of international negotiations to address this and very little to show for that. emissions still going up,

temperatures keep going up. bernadette: they do, it is frustrating, especially when you follow this daily. however, we do know a couple of things that do help people stay focused on a future like this. if you take us back pre the paris agreement we were on a path to five, six degrees of warming. what we are expensive right now is 1.2 degrees celsius of warming. with the implementations and the changes we've made, that five or six degrees of warming has come down. it's come down closer to a three -- if you squeeze out all the commitments, it could be eight two. -- a two. it really depends on human behavior. as we all come together, we already bent that curve but we need to accelerate and supersize our actions and bend it even faster. william: thank you so much for

being here. bernadette: thanks for having me. william: in the day's other headlines, wildfires raged across southern greece, and the tragedy deepened when a tanker plane crashed, killing the two pilots. these fires come as temperatures there pushed back above 104 degrees. emma murphy of independent television news reports from the greek island of corfu. emma: with warm natural resource, they seek to save another. scooping water from the sea to douse the flames engulfing the land. fires now threaten thousands of hectares. record high temperatures tend to dry land, and the suspected work of arsonists now leaving lives, homes, and livelihoods in peril.

>> here is close enough. >> from this side up. now the wind changed, so that is the dangerous thing. wind become stronger, that is not good. now the wind comes to us. the flames are here behind, they are there. emma: it was meant to be the village festival tonight. now, they hope the village will be saved from the flames. as the flames encroached, more villages were evacuated. >> there is nobody there. emma: those caught in the path were taken to safety in nearby towns. even the animals were gathered up and moved away. it seems like this is being replicated across the island. these are closing roads because fires that were previously under control have been whipped up by the wind. it is the middle of the day here, and it already feels like it is going dark because of the smoke.

there are constant flurries of ash coming down. the heat wave across parts of europe and north africa has had a devastating effect. in algeria, and has now been confirmed 34 people have died, including 10 soldiers involved in rescue efforts. meanwhile in italy, palermo airport was forced to temporarily close when fires came too close for it to safely operate. elsewhere, fire crews were tackling a blaze dangerously near one of the biggest hospitals. patients were evacuated as the flames approached. temperatures are respected to remain high for the next 36 hours, as efforts to contain their impact continue. william: that report was from emma murphy of independent television news. in israel, the ongoing backlash over parliament's vote to weaken the country's supreme court was on full display today. full-page ads of black ink covered major newspapers with the message, "a black day for

israeli democracy." and, thousands of doctors walked off the job in protest for a 24-hour strike. >> tomorrow, the physicians can go back to work, but i can say that thousands of them are not going to be silent because there is a strong feeling, including myself, that we cannot work as physicians when israel is no more a democratic state. william: israel's military also acknowledged today that more and more military reservists are asking to be excused from duty, as a form of protest. meanwhile, new violence erupted in the occupied west bank. the israeli army said its troops killed three hamas gunmen in a shootout near nablus. china today removed its foreign minister qin gang with no explanation. he's been on the job for less than a year and was an outspoken defender of china's increasingly aggressive foreign policy. qin gang had disappeared from public view almost a month ago.

the chinese foreign ministry has issued no comment on his removal. russia has rejected new calls from the united nations to reinstate the black sea grain deal. moscow pulled out of the agreement last week, cutting off exports of food products from ukraine. in brussels today, european union officials discussed how to ship the grain to nations that rely heavily on it. >> the decision on the part of russia, not only the invasion of ukraine which was illegal and unjustified, but this action that sees once again, on the part of russia, the use of food as a weapon of war, is absolutely intolerable. the consequences of the closure of the black sea route a few days ago pose a problem for the output of grain from ukraine, but also for international rkets. william: separately, the u.n.'s nuclear watchdog reported land mines have now been spotted around the zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern ukraine. the site has been under russian control since shortly after the war began. back in this country, ups reached a tentative deal with the teamsters union, likely

averting a crippling strike. on any given day, the company ships about a quarter of all packages in the u.s. if ratified, the five-year agreement will mean higher wages for workers and air conditioning in delivery trucks, among other things. legacy admissions for children of university alumni are under new scrutiny. the education department said today it will investigate whether the policy at harvard is biased in favor of whites. it's the latest fallout from the supreme court decision against affirmative action in admissions. bronny james, the oldest son of basketball superstar lebron james, is in stable condition this evening in los angeles after suffering a cardiac arrest. the 18-year-old collapsed on the court monday during basketball practice. james ranks as one of the nation's top high school point guards, and he's committed to play at the university of southern california this fall. the biden administration today issued new proposals to expand insurance coverage for mental health care.

they'd require insurers to assess whether there's equal access to mental and physical health benefits, and take remedial action if needed. the proposals are subject to public comment before being finalized. and on wall street, stocks made modest gains ahead of tomorrow's federal reserve action on interest rates. the dow jones industrial average was up 26 points to close at 35,438. the nasdaq rose 85 points. the s&p 500 added 12. still to come on the "newshour," president biden designates a national monument to emmett till. republican presidential candidate vivek ramaswamy discusses his run for the white house. steph curry reflects on his remarkable basketball career and the new film that documents his rise. plus, much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from

weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. william: there are several new legal fights brewing over migration across the u.s.-mexico border. today, a federal judge blocked the biden administration's attempt to limit asylum seekers after several immigrant-rights groups sued, arguing biden's policy was unfair and a repeat of a trump-era policy. separately, the department of justice is suing the state of texas for putting floating barriers on the rio grande river to try and deter people crossing from mexico. the doj says texas failed to get authorization for the buoys and that they pose a risk to public safety. texas' republican governor greg abbott shot back, writing "mr president, see you in court." to dive into the latest, we're joined by "texas tribune" reporter uriel garcia. thank you so much for being here.

what is the argument that the department of justice is making? uriel: the doj is arguing is the rio grande is an international border, and for any state to want to implement any kind of barrier on international waters, it needs the federal government's permission to do so. in turn, it is an international border that is shared with mexico so mexico would have to be involved in those talks as well. mexico has filed a complaint and is investigating if texas violated any sort of international laws or agreements between mexico and the u.s. william: again, people who might look at that video and see those floating buoys, it is not totally clear how they stop people from crossing. what is the governor arguing those things actually do and why is it putting them in the water? uriel: something to note is we are talking about the texas-mexico border being about 1200 miles. those buoys aren't a small section of the border. i believe it is about 1000

feet. so, people can cross around it, but for the migrants who are crossing through, they are encountering these buoys. it is supposed to basically make it difficult for migrants to swim across the rio grande. and, of course, if it makes it more difficult, we are talking about a very consequential thing which is migrants dying in the rio grande. william: this also comes after a week ago, we saw this leaked memo that was urging texas state troopers to treat migrants coming across in some truly inhumane ways. using barbed wires, including pushing some of those people back in the water even though there might be children. remind us again what else that memo might have said and what the impact of that has been. uriel: it was the houston chronicle who first reported this and we were able to see those emails ourselves. it wasn't email that a trooper

told his superiors, or his bosses, that he was concerned about some of the tactics or some of the orders that troopers were given. among the orders was to deny water to some of the migrants that were waiting on the riverbanks on the american side. in one case, the emails say that troopers were ordered in one case to push migrants back into the water which included children there. there were other cases -- the emails also detailed other instances where a pregnant woman was having a miscarriage, was entangled in some of these wires as well. a child had his leg broken as he was trying to swim around some of the wires that were actually in the river. the emails provided very specific examples, but also alluded to potential inhumane

orders, as the emails say. william: has there been any blowback to this, to this revelation? uriel: yes. shortly after that reporting, dps told the texas tribune that they have opened up an investigation to determine if these allegations from these troopers are shoe or false. at the same time, dps has been on a pr campaign. tweeting out videos and pictures, and sending out emails detailing cases in which troopers have been helping migrants who are dehydrated or need medical attention. so, they are on the defensive. at the same time, the governor has defended his policies, but has denied their have not been any orders to deny water or push migrants back into the rio grande. william: i want to talk about this judge's order knocking down the biden asylum policy. remind us what biden's policy

was and what the judge said about it. uriel: the biden administration policy said that it required migrants to seek asylum in a third country before seeking asylum in the u.s. if they didn't, they would most likely be denied asylum if they were seeking those protections in the u.s. today, a judge, as you said, struck down that policy. william: i understand this will be appealed and may go up through other courts. in the meantime, does this change things for people who are waiting on the others of the u.s. border hoping to appeal for a asylum into the u.s.? uriel: at least for the next two weeks, as the district judge said, he will keep the policy in place. we will see how the appeals court decides, but for now, the status quo stays the same. william: all right, uriel

garcia, thank you for being here. uriel: thank you for inviting me. william: the fighting is continuing at a grueling pace along the 900-mile-long front line in eastern and southern ukraine. russia has so far put up stiff and deadly resistance to the ukrainian counter-offensive with the support of the pulitzer center, special correspondent jack hewson and filmmaker ed ram report on the war and its ghastly effects. two notes -- we've blurred some imagery at the request of the ukrainian military to disguise certain locations and sensitive equipment. a warning, many details in this story are violent. jack: deep in the forest in the outskirts of backhmut, ukrainian forces are back on the offensive.

we're moving quickly through this undergrowth, making sure we spend as little time in the open for fear of being identified by russian reconnaissance drones. under threat from return fire, soldiers rushed with a soviet-era and prepared to fire on russian forces. their target is a small village a few miles away occupied earlier this year just south of bakhmut. >> there was a command post and may be a machine gun position and we were firing at it. jack: as we talked to the gunner, we were cut short by incoming rounds. >> watch out. fire! jack: then immediately, a command to fire.

protected from shell fire, the command identifies its targets on the ground. the situation is a reversal of three months ago. back then, the ukrainians held the town as russians encircled them and pounded them with artillery. now, the russians hold the center while the ukrainians are making gains on the flanks. >> we were targeting the enemy's infantry units and we achieved our aim. some units were destroyed and some fled. russians are well trained and educated. they use formulas to calculate their targets, so there artillery is very precise and they have more ammunition than we do. jack: tired but determined, ukrainian troops are pushing forward to take what is theirs. under pressure to make gains. russian forces are learning to fight smarter and it's easier playing defense.

with approximately 100 square miles taken three months, progress is slow and comes at great cost. at field hospitals like this one, soldiers with horrifying injuries arrive every day. dozens of casualties, wounds inflicted by shrapnel, bullets, and landmines. >> everything is fine, for god's sake. jack: but everything is not fine. he lost his foot and will be disabled for life. we are at a stabilization point where ukrainians are making gains, but it is a huge human toll. this man behind us just had his right leg taken by a mine. it is hard to comprehend his stoicism, showing few outward signs of pain as the remnants of his right foot were sliced from his body and placed into a

plastic bag. ukrainian military hospitals are actively targeted by russian shells. these medics risk their lives just by coming to do their work. >> artillery strike to our building, you can see it. walking in this place only, in the basement. the main reason is to be close to the front line. in this case, we can treat heavy patients. jack: their job is to keep patients alive. to outsiders, it is shocking. but for this paramedic, the blood has been normalized. >> a regular person has not seen anything like this, but with time, you understand you need to tune out and do your job very calmly. because on how composed you are a person's life depends. jack: one might think all this suffering would push the ukrainians to negotiate for peace. but right now, seems like this

just make them more furious. most want to fight on until they retake all of the invaded land. how long do you think you can keep doing this? >> we will take it on no matter how much time it takes. we hope it won't take too long. jack: his injuries resulted from pushing into occupied ground. hundreds of thousands of russian landmines are proving a deadly obstruction to ukraine's counteroffensive. as andrea is evacuated to a city hospital, medics prepare for their next patient. since kyiv's offensive push begin in june, there have only been modest gains. now 100 miles north, ukrainian forces are coming under increased pressure to hold the line. there has been a buildup of russian forces over the last two weeks in one city. under forest cover, soldiers

load a rocket battery on the back of a truck. they race off to targeted position a few miles from here. relaying the coordinates, taking aim. and they unleashed their first salvo. they try to match russian firepower. >> in the past week, we have been working more actively with than before. we are trying to suppress them every day. jack: the need to be quick as they switch positions, because they are always being watched. seven rockets. that is the biggest salvo they

fired so far. they must've found something of value to be throwing that much weight at it. with ammunition running low, the u.s. has started to supply ukraine with controversial cluster munitions, which as of last week are being fired from these very forests. >> well, in comparison to what we use, the launch of one cluster munition is equal to four or five ordinary shells. sure, they would be really helpful here. jack: most of the world's nations have agreed not to use cluster munitions because unexploded bomblets litter landscapes for years after conflict, maming innocent civilians. back at the stabilization point near bakhmut, a casualty arrives. his unit says he was killed by a russian cluster munition. an example of how devastating these controversial weapons are.

human rights groups deplore their usage by both sides. what do you say to people who criticize ukraine for wanting to use cluster munitions against the russians? >> to these critics, i can say come here and fight shoulder to shoulder with our boys and then you can criticize. jack: it is back to the battlefield, and the grueling fight. the troops resilience driven as is their nation's by a seething anger of every loss. for the pbs newshour, i'm jack hewson near bakhmut, ukraine. william: a new national monument dedicated to the murdered

teenager emmett till and his mother honors three sites critical to till's story, and central to the birth of america's civil rights movement. this announcement comes in the middle of a heated debate over how best to teach children about race and american history. laura barron-lopez has more. laura: on what would have been emmett till's 82nd birthday, president biden designated the emmett till and mamie till mobley monument, enshrining the ground where till's brutal murder propelled the movement for civil rights. >> let us not be seduced into believing that somehow we will be better if we forget. we will be better if we remember. laura: till was 14 years old in 1955 when he was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered after being accused of whistling at a white woman in money, mississippi. his mother chose an open casket at his funeral, forcing the

world to confront the violent racism of the jim crow south. the new monument protects three places critical to that story. the spot on the tallahatchie river where till's body is believed to have been found. the illinois church where they held his funeral. and the mississippi courthouse where his killers were acquitted by an all-white jury. reverend wheeler parker, jr., till's cousin who witnessed his kidnapping, marked the country's progress. >> back then, in the darkness, i could never imagine the moment like this. standing in the light of wisdom, grace and deliverance. laura: the president's declaration comes as a number of republican-led states are restricting how black history and the country's legacy of racism are taught. >> at a time when there are those who seek to ban books, bury history, we're making it clear -- crystal, crystal clear. while darkness and denialism can

hide much, they erase nothing. laura: florida governor ron desantis, a republican presidential candidate, came under fire last week after his state introduced new standards for teaching black history and the new curriculum's framing of slavery. among other lessons, the curriculum says middle schoolers should be instructed that "slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit." desantis defended it. >> they're probably going to show some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into, into doing things later in life. laura: today's announcement comes a year after the president signed a law named after till that makes lynching a federal hate crime. for the "pbs newshour," i'm laura barron-lopez. to discuss all this, we turn to eddie glaude, jr. he's the chair of the african-american studies department at princeton university. thank you so much for joining us. the designation today of the emmett till monument comes 60

years after his murder. what is the significance of today's announcement? eddie: well, first, let me say it is a pleasure to have a conversation with you. i'm no longer the chair of african-american studies at princeton, i'm just a regular professor. it is an x ordinary moment to insist on -- extraordinary moment to insist on history, in some ways memorialize, to recognize the power of everyday, ordinary. people. to call attention to violence and brutality that surrounded the death of emmett till. it is unlike traditional memorials or civil-rights monuments. it is more like that in montgomery where you see the violence of our history in the forefront, not the triumph of the story. it is important in this moment when you have people denying history, engaging in curricular

shenanigans and the like. it is a critical intervention in the battle for our story. laura: president biden gave these remarks today as republican lawmakers and conservative organizations at the state and local level are challenging the teachings of race and black history. the state of florida just released its new african-american history education standards which include instruction that "slaves developed skills which in some instances could be applied to their personal benefit." is that historically accurate? eddie: no. remember, history is not just the detailing of facts. it is an interpretation of what happened. we know that those who were enslaved acquired certain skills as they work encrypted to labor on behalf of those who owned them. that is the equivalent of saying the holocaust was beneficial

because those who were conscripted help to build the german war machine. it does not make sense factually and morally. the claim is really about absolution, trying to make sense of and trying to make the claim that the evil of slavery actually produced good so that you can wash your hands of responsibility of the consequence of that evil institution. laura: another part of this curriculum i want to ask is for lessons on some of the worst incidents of mass racial violence in u.s. history. the tulsa massacre in oklahoma, the ocoee massacre in florida. these are listed as acts of instruction on "acts of violence perpetrated against and by african-americans." what do you make of that framing? eddie: i find it insulting. i understand the anger of the vice president in this regard. it is as if when

african-americans defend themselves, somehow that is the equivalent of those who seek to oppress them. i think much of this debate is rooted in the necessity for forgiving. many people don't want to believe what has happened and what is happening to black folk in this country. they don't want to know about the cruelty of slavery. they don't know -- want to know about our encounters with police. there's his ongoing denial because they refuse to believe what we are saying. what we have to do is do exactly what president biden suggested. we have to tell the truth to shine a light. laura: i do want to ask you with a few seconds we have left, what are the stakes of this, the stakes of children learning history in this way? eddie: well, we have to produce the kinds of people democracies require. what we choose to leave out of our stories and who we choose to leave out actually reveals the

limits of our understanding of justice. are we going to be moral monsters or the kinds of people that democracy requires and needs? so, the stories are absolutely critical to whether or not we are going to survive. laura: professor, thank you for your time. eddie: thank you for having me. william: in the crowded race for the republican presidential nomination, there are governors, a senator, and even a former president. then, there's vivek ramaswamy, a first-time candidate who has spent millions of his own money to capture the attention of primary voters. and of now, it seems to be paying off. he is polling higher than many of his competitors who have far more political experience. lisa desjardins has our conversation. lisa: ramaswamy will share the stage with several of those

candidates at the first gop debate next month after his campaign announced recently that he has met the fundraising and polling qualifications. before jumping into politics, ramaswamy ran a biotech company, managed a hedge fund, authored books including "woke, inc.," and made regular appearances on conservative media. the son of indian immigrants, ramaswamy is clear and vocal on the campaign trail, criticizing the left on cultural issues and pledging to pardon donald trump. just 37 years old, he's also hoping to be the youngest president in american history. and vivek ramaswamy joins me now. the big question, why should republicans choose you as their nominee? vivek: i think i am best positioned to advance our america first agenda, ticket even further than trump did, but also unite the country in th processede -- the process. i think we live in an interesting moment. i think it is a 1776 moment. if you want incremental reform, there are plenty of other candidates. i stand on the side of

revolution, the american revolution. reviving those 1776 ideals today. when it comes to shutting down the administered state, restoring three branches of government rather than four. declaring independence from our enemy, communist china. reviving national pride in the next generation. growing the economy. i think i am the candidate best positioned to achieve these things because i am delivering on my own vision of how to actually accomplish them. that is why i am in this race. lisa: former president trump has a massive lead right now in polls about the republican race. i want to ask you who other than president trump do you think is your next toughest competition, and what makes you a better candidate than former president trump and that other person? vivek: there are only two candidates who matter in this primary. president trump and myself. i went from 0.0% now to polling third nationally, second in one national poll that came out last week. i think very soon, this will be

a two-horse race. the question is this, who is going to actually take our america first agenda even further? i think he was a good president. i agree with many, if not most of his policies. the reality is 30% of this country suffers from psychiatric illness when he's in the white house. people start to disagree with policies they otherwise would have agreed with just because he's the one advancing them. my question is for the republican base is who is your actual loyalty to? if it is to this country, then who is to advance that agenda even further? not just building the wall, but by using the u.s. military to secure the southern border. i'm achieving more than trump did with our own shared agenda to put this country first, but at the same time, uniting the country in the process. lisa: i hear you talk about trying to unite the country, but you're also talked about pushing

an agenda further from a man who you say people suffered under in some form. what does that mean, pushing that agenda further? how is that better for the country? vivek: i think the way we get to national unity is not by compromising on our principles. i think it is about being uncompromising about the principles that set the station into motion 250 years ago. principles like self-governance over aristocracy. principles like the pursuit of excellence and meritocracy. the idea that you get ahead in this country not on the color of your skin, but on the content of your character and contribution. lisa: let me ask about that. i know you are someone who opposes affirmative action. you and i have talked about this. you told me you don't see a difference an opportunity for people based on color in this country, but we do know, data say that black mothers and babies are more likely to die at a rate of two to three times those of whites. when it comes to income, blacks and hispanics often earn on

average a third less than whites. where do you think those disparities come from and how would you address them? vivek: they come from disparities in the fatherless epidemic across this country. 25% of kids of all skin colors are born into fatherless homes. those kids are eight times more likely to end up in jail, in poverty. those kids are more likely to suffer from mental health disorders during life, to underperforming schools. regardless of what race they are. now, let's take a look at the racial disparities. it's upwards of 50%, 40% plus of black kids born into single-parent household for asian american kids, it is single digits. that is would ask planes the difference in achievement, not systemic racism. lisa: i wanted to come back to former president trump. you have said that candidates should pledge to pardon him in his classified documents case.

we now expect an indictment for him related to january 6. does your pardon approach extended to his role on january 6, and how would you describe his role that day? vivek: i am guided by the facts and the law. if the indictment should be issued, i would read it for making a commitment. i did read the first two indictments. both alvin bragg's politically tortured indictment in the state of new york, invoking federal law to bring a local case. i think in both of those instances, those are politicized persecutions. lisa: and on january 6? vivek: i would have to read the indictment, but based on the facts i am aware of, i think it would be a mistake to bring that indictment. to be clear, in each of these instances, i would have made very different judgments than trump did. i would not have handled those documents in the same way. i would have handled january 6 very differently. but a bad judgment, even a very

bad judgment is not the same thing as a crime. when we start to conflate the two, i think that is a dangerous precedent for political weaponization of police power. i think that will take us in the wrong direction, closer to a national divorce, when i want to lead us forward to a national revival. lisa: you are number three in national republican polls, but some of your views on things like abortion, affirmative action, those are out of step with what independents and some swing voters are. how do you win in november? vivek: i respectfully disagree with you on that. there's something fundamentally un-american about using racial quota systems. i think the same comes to securing the southern border. most americans are on the side of actually doing it. when you look at my top policy measures for this country, i think more americans are actually united around the basic principles and that is why i am confident we will deliver a ronald reagan style mandate, an electoral mandate, a landslide

like reagan did in 1980. that is what i am delivering. if that was the reagan revolution back then, it is the ramaswamy revolution this time around. lisa: vivek ramaswamy, thank you for talking with us. vivek: thank you. william: a new documentary gives insight into what turned nba superstar steph curry into the generational game-changer he is right at the time when curry was just starting to break through. geoff bennett has the story for our arts and culture series, "canvas." >> here's curry for the record. it's good! geoff: he's the best shooter to ever take to the court. >> the all-time three-point king in the nba. geoff: with seemingly unlimited range, steph curry transformed

how modern basketball is played since he entered the nba. but, to call him just a shooter is to undersell his magic. curry's acrobatics around the rim, passing vision, and leadership on and off the court are just some of the skills he's showcased in a career packed with nba records and four championships. >> the dubs dynasty is still very much alive. geoff: curry's career is as inimitable as it is improbable for a player recruited in high school by exactly one college, the small liberal arts school davidson college. his underdog story is chronicled in a new documentary, "stephen curry: underrated," produced by curry's media company, and by ryan coogler of "black panther" and "creed" fame, who himself grew up a warriors fan in oakland. i spoke with them last week about the film. steph curry and ryan coogler,

welcome to the "pbs newshour." >> thank you for having us. geoff: and steph, given all of the success that you've had over your career, it's really in many ways easy to forget your origin story. that in the early days, you had your detractors, you had your skeptics, people who said that you weren't tall enough. >> at 6'2", he is too skinny for the shooting guard position. do not rely on him to run your team. that was the draft report on stephen curry. geoff: looking back now at all of that, did that serve as a motivator for you? >> absolutely. i was undersized, kind of a scrawny, skinny kid. even going to the middle school and high school ranks and starting recruiting, quickly found out that those big-time schools weren't going to knock on my door and offer you scholarship offers. i had to really try to find out what my identity was.

proving people wrong in a sense. i tried to channel and i had my mom painted a very good perspective for me at those ages of, you know, everybody just wants to be seen, you know, have an opportunity to showcase who they really are, what they're really capable of and what they offer to the world. but more my motivation was to prove myself right. geoff: ryan coogler, why did you want to have a hand in telling this coming-of-age story? >> being a warriors fan, like i owe steph a lot of favors. man, i owe you a lot of debt. you know, he's been responsible for a lot of pride and just good times for me and my friends and my neighborhood. i wasn't as familiar with this story as i should have been. when i watched the first cut, i was like on the edge of my seat. with everything that's going on and people need things that make them feel good, things that inspired him and are fun to watch, but also make them think deeply about themselves and how the world views them, how to move to it. and i think this film hits all those boxes. geoff: much of the documentary focuses on your years spent

playing basketball at davidson college. what does your former coach bob mckillop mean to you? >> there is no me on this level without coach mckillop finding that connection with me, coming into my junior year of high school and just the way that he built me up and saw me, you know, my potential more than i even saw for myself at the time. he had been building the davidson program for over 20 years by the time i showed up. and the way that he teaches and coaches, the full person, the athlete, and the man. you know, it resonated with me in terms of truly finding that was going to help me realize my full potential. geoff: ryan, was it a challenge to tell the story of someone as universally well-known as steph curry is? was it hard to find something new to tell folks? >> this film is about the power of family, community, and mentorship, and the power that comes with truly being seen. and i think from that viewpoint,

it wasn't hard at all. the masses know stephen curry, but i don't think the masses know this story. i think knowledge of steph will get people into the door in terms of going to the theater or pressing play on a film, but the story is so universal. it's so relatable. this film is about self-discovery, but also it's about the power of love. you know what i'm saying? and watching steph kind of transform into what he's going to become just because somebody recognized what he was at the he was at the time. not looking at him said, oh, this guy isn't this tall, so x, y, or z, or he can't do this. this is what he can do. and that thing that he could do, you know, shoot the basketball at a prolific level. it's changed basketball. geoff: what was it like sitting and watching this film? >> it illuminated so many great memories, but it also reintroduced me to the impact that we were able to have in that run and what was going to come of it. i also realized my first college

game at davidson, i had 13 turnovers in the first game and you have a memory of how bad it was. but then i watched the film and i saw the highlights for the first time in 15 years and it was 100 times worse than i remembered. and so, i think about how low it was at one point to where it is now. definitely gave me a lot of gratitude and appreciation. geoff: ryan, what resonated the most with you about steph's story? >> this film has a profound effect on me as a parent watching this because it, you know, there's two relationships, i think, kind of at the heart of this movie, steph's relationship with his mom and his relationship with his coach. his relationship with his mom is about him going back to school, you know, and he's doing his thing that's incredibly difficult. at a time when he's doing a lot, he's got sponsorships and subway commercials and trying to take his team to the championship and trying to break the three point record and trying to raise his kids.

and he's doing a term paper, you know, over zoom. and i'm just thinking that's difficult, man. that's not easy. why are you doing that? and you realize it's because he told his mom he would. i look at coach mckillop and i look at the fact that he actively saw steph for what he was, not what was missing or what he could give him in a few years but he saw what steph could give him now. i thought that was so exceptional. we had an event in new york a couple of days ago where i got to see coach mckillop again. and i shared that with him. and he said, hey, do you have kids? and i say, yes, i do. make sure you look at your kids that way. look at them for what they are right now in a moment, not for what they missing. and i've thought about him every day since. geoff: steph curry, your legacy is still being written. how do you want people to view your contribution to the game of basketball? >> i still feel like i'm in the prime of my career in a sense of what i'm able to accomplish out there and what the future may

hold, trying to achieve, hopefully win more championships and push the envelope as far as i can. but i mean, the biggest thing is just inspiration, right? like there's something outside of me and the stats and the three-point record and championships and all that, that gives people hope and belief in everything that this film speaks about. everything ryan just said about what coach mckillop has taught me along the way. basketball has opened up so many amazing doors and it's changed so many lives for the better. and to be able to do that in a very meaningful way is very surreal to me, just because this is a game that i just love to play from the time i could walk. and now, you realize how it's over-delivered on impact. geoff: well, steph curry and ryan coogler, i appreciate you both. thanks for your time. >> thank you. >> thank you for having us.

william: online, watch steph curry ace another sport he is passionate about -- golf. he tells geoff what it felt like to recently sink a hole-in-one. that's on our instagram. and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm william brangham. on behalf of the entire "newshour" team, thank you so much for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our customer service team can help find a plan that helps fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic

engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

introducing a technological achievement so advanced... it rivals the moon landing. wow! ok. rude. that's one small step foran.

one giant leap for mankind. ♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. the biggest internal crisis in israel's history. as the government passes a controversial move to weaken the supreme court. and mass protests continue. i ask a leading journalist what this means for their democracy. and -- >> it is horrendous. i've never been so scared in my life. >> urgent evacuations at the height of holiday season as wildfires consume parts of greece. another sign of devastating climate change. and in the united states, i speak to attorney missy sims, an expert and activist richard wild, in their effort to hold oil and gas companies accountable. and, spain