♪ geoff: -- amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the newshour tonight, the new leaders of syria begin the difficult task of keeping the rebel factions united now that their common enemy has been overthrown. amna: the suspect in the new york city killing of the united healthcare ceo is charged with

murder. what we know about the alleged shooter's history. geoff: and, we look at the controversial changes robert f kennedy junior could make to vaccine policy as head of health and human services. >> he is a voice machine that continues to put out dis and misinformation in such a way that it sounds believable to the public. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160

years. bnsf. the engine that connects us. >> with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. >> the john s and james l knight foundation fostering informed and engaged communities. 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. geoff: welcome to the newshour. after 14 years of war, syria is seeking stability, beginning with a transition of power from the ousted assad regime. today the country's caretaker prime minister, appointed by the fighters who overthrew bashar al-assad, said the government transition process is expected to last until march. amna: meantime, the top u.s. general overseeing operations in the middle east was in syria today, visiting american-backed kurdish forces in syria's northeast who are under attack by turkish-supported militia. special correspondent simona foltyn reports from damascus. simona: the road to damascus is littered with remanence of assad's syria.

when we crossed from lebanon, the highway was still largely empty amid uncertainty over what is next. in the capital, the embassy of iran, once the closest ally, sat abandoned, signaling a possible new balance of power in the region. syrians gathered at one of the main squares, daring to dream of a future. there was tribulation among some, cautious optimism among others. >> i want syria to go back to what it was, that there is no distraction, that there is no sectarianism. i am syrian and you are syrian and that's it. simona: after 13 years of uprisings in civil war, the armed opposition brought down assad's government in a offensive that lasted 11 days. but now, many even bigger challenge lies ahead. forming a government that is acceptable to all syrians. a mother of three has one demand for syria's new rulers. >> i want them to be just for their people.

the people are exhausted from these last 15 years. it's enough. let there be justice. simona: the prevailing feeling his hope that this is a turning point for the better. days after bashar al-assad's government was overthrown, there is a festive mood -- mood in damascus where people are out and about, celebrating the end of decades of dictatorship. there is also uncertainty about what the next period will bring for syria as well as fear that the country code dissent into another bout of violence. syria's opposition consted of many competing factions. now that their common enemy is defeated, there is a risk they may turn on one another. the tensions are palpable. in the last few days, the american backed syrian democratic forces extended their reach capturing parts of the eastern province and igniting a backlash. he is from there and wants the kurdish gone. >> stf has no place here.

it is for the people, and assyria only. it is an arab area. we are not sectarian. we are not against any sect, but we want our land. the stf is a separatist movement that wants to destroy syria. simona: these men call on rebel -- the rebel leader to push the sdf out. >> we demand the syrian army to head there. we don't want more but if we are forced, all these none will wear military fatigues, and we will march. our job will not be complete until there is complete liberation of syria. we want one state, one syrian state only. simona: but who will rule this one syria? and how? the leading rebel faction turned governing body is from a islamic group. they used to be affiliated with al qaeda, and many here are skeptical whether these men have shed their radical past. hds has taken control of the

streets and administrative buildings. this fighter he would not give his full name said that it is building an inclusive transitional government. >> k syrian is syrian. no matter his relish -- is religion. we are all the sons of this country. now we are providing security. and there is big acceptance, and joy, from the population. and there is an understanding that this is a period of laying the foundations. simona: while uniting and governing syria is one priority, protecting the country's sovereignty as a matter of urgency. in northern syria, turkish backed forces are pushing into kurdish areas, while israel has taken control of syrian territory to the west. with assad gone, the fight to oust him is over. but a new struggle for syria is already unfolding. today, the biden state department issued a statement six weeks before donald trump takes office again saying it

would recognize a future syrian government based on four criteria. respecting minority rights, allowing the free flow of humanitarian aid, preventing syria from becoming a base for terrorism, and finding and destroying biological and chemical weapons. amna: what kind of response have you seen from the regional powers when it comes tthe overthrow of the assad regime? simona: there is a sense that regional powers are exploiting the power in damascus to pursue their own strategic interest. on the one hand, israel has been carrying out heavy aerial come -- bombardment campaign. the objective of this campaign is to degrade assad's military capabilities. however here, there is a concern that israel -- israel is using this opportunity to weaken many arab neighbor appeared on the ground, israel has occupied and taken control of 155 square kilometer buffer zone next to golan heights, raising fears of

a potential occupation. to the north, turkey has also pursued its strategic interests with turkish backed militias attacking kurdish towns. we have seen the commander visiting northeastern syria to try to reassure america's kurdish allies. overall, there is a lot of volatility, a lot of moving parts. although damascus appears pretty calm, it is clear the regime change is having ripple effects throughout the entire region. amna: reporting tonight from damascus, syria. thank you. ♪ geoff: in our other top story tonight, the suspect in the killing of united health care's ceo has been charged with murder in new york after he was found and arrested monday in pennsylvania. amna: at his first court hearing this afternoon, the alleged gunman would not go quietly.

26-year-old luigi mangione arrived for his initial court appearance in pennsylvania today. heat -- the accused killer shouting and struggling with officers outside. inside, he remained defiant, contesting extradition to new york where he faces his most serious charges. overnight, the first glimpses of a more cooperative man gianni, as he was seen hauled away in handcuffs and put behind bars after a six-day manhunt that led police more than 200 miles outside new york city. >> didn't even think twice about it. we knew that was our guy. he was very cooperative with us. amna: pennsylvania authorities have charged him with possession of and unlicensed firearm, forgery, and providing all's identification. by late monday evening, prosecutors in manhattan added a

charge of second-degree murder. for the brazen targeted killing of united health care's ceo brian thompson on a new york street last week. mangione was born and raised in a wealthy family. attending an elite all boys prep school in baltimore, graduating as valedictorian in 2016, he went to college at the university of pennsylvania in the ivy league, earning a bachelor and masters in computer science. he also had a last known address in honolulu. during that time, in hawaii, someone who knew mangione said he suffered from severe back pain due to a childhood injury. at one point, he left the island to get surgery on the mainland. a photo atop an x account believed to be associated with mangione shows an x-ray image of screws in a spine. it is unclear whether those problems were connected with his alleged targeting of brian thompson, or united health care. a law enforcement official told the associated press that part of a three-page handwritten

document found on mangione yesterday read "frankly, these parasites simply had it coming." and an internal police analysis viewed by the new york times found mangione believed himself to be a "hero" of sorts. the shooting has ignited anger and resentment, and even glorified violence toward the health care industry, both online and elsewhere. in new york this weekend, people even gathered to take part in a look-alike contest for the accused shooter. all of this has drawn condemnation, including from pennsylvania governor josh shapiro. >> in america, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint. i understand people have real frustration with our health care system. in some dark corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero. hear me on this, he is no hero.

amna: mangione is currently being held at a state correctional facility in huntington, pennsylvania while the battle over his extradition plays out. ♪ geoff: we start the days other headlines in southern california where thousands are under evacuation orders as a wildfire threatens parts of malibu. the franklin fire has burned more than 2500 acres so far, fueled by winds that have topped 40 miles per hour. thousands of homes and other structures are at risk, and students at pepperdine university's campus were at one point forced to shelter in place. l.a. county officials called on residents to heed instructions from authorities. >> when a deputy or another official comes to your door or you get a notification that there is a warning or

specifically an evacuation order, you need to evacuate. it saves lives and it actually impacts the lives of our first responders, because if they have to come in to save a life, they're putting their own lives at risk. geoff: the national weather service issued a red flag warning for los angeles and ventura counties, with a rare particularly dangerous situation designation. these tend to occur every three to five years in california. it is not yet clear what started the blaze. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu took the stand for the first time today in his long-running corruption trial. he's charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three different cases. netanyahu has long denied any wrongdoing, and told a three-judge panel in tel aviv that his testimony would poke holes in the absurd accusations. outside the courtroom, supporters rallied for the prime minister. but so too did dozens of protesters and family members of hostages still held in gaza.

they criticized netanyahu's handling of the war, and pointed to the international criminal court's push for his arrest over alleged war crimes in gaza. >> we are here to express support for the rule of law, to firmly oppose the fact that we have a prime minister who is both a criminal defendant and a war criminal. geoff: the prime minister's legal challenges go back nearly a decade and have caused deep divisions within israel. he has rejected any calls to step down. with just 41 days left in the oval office, president joe biden sought to shore up his economic legacy today in what could be his final speech on the subject as president. at the brookings institution in washington, the president touted his administration's policies aimed at boosting the middle class, and sounded a confident note that the economy is on firm footing. pres. biden: most economists agree, the new administration is going to inherit a fairly strong economy, at least at the moment. an economy going through

fundamental transformation. it's laid out a stronger foundation and a sustainable broad-based highly productive growth. it is my profound hope that the new administration will preserve and build on this progress. geoff: the president went on to highlight the 16 million new jobs that were created over the past four years. that's the most of any single presidential term. and he also touted the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in 50 years. inflation also dropped from a recent peak of around 9% to around 2.5% in recent months. but those accomplishments did little to sway voters, with high prices being cited as a primary reason for democrats' losses in the november election. u.s. wildlife officials are aiming to add monarch butterflies to the endangered species list. a proposal out today from the u.s. fish and wildlife service would designate the iconic black-and-orange butterfly as threatened with extinction. it would also set aside thousands of acres in california

as a protected habitat for the butterly. environmentalists say climate change is threatening their migration patterns, which span from central mexico all the way to canada. if the rule is finalized, the monarch would become one of the most widespread species ever protected under the landmark law. on wall street today, stocks ended lower as investors wait for tomorrow's report on inflation. the dow jones industrial average ended lower for a fourth-straight session, dropping around 150 points. the nasdaq gave back around 50 points on the day. the s&p 500 also closed in negative territory. and the oldest complete stone tablet of the ten commandments is set to be auctioned later this month. the marble block dates to the late roman-byzantine era, making it about 1500 years old. it weighs 115 pounds, stands two feet tall, and is engraved with 20 lines of faded paleo-hebrew script. the tablet was unearthed along the coast of israel in 1913, but

its historical significance went unrecognized for decades. keen observers note that actually only nine of the 10 commandments as we know them are present. sotheby's has set a pre-sale estimate of between one-and-two -- between $1 million in $2 million. still on the news hour come president biden considers preemptive pardons to protect critics of donald trump from retribution. a guide to combatting a recent surge of misogyny, including among young people. and we investigate the trade of a cotton byproduct that's become key to russia's war efforts. >> this is the pbs news hour from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: after president biden gave his son, hunter, an expansive pardon, legal experts have

questioned how a president's pardon power could be used moving forward. that includes questions around the possible use of pre-emptive pardons. to discuss, i am joined now by kim wehle. she is a professor at the university of baltimore school of law and author of the book "pardon power: how the pardon system works and why." welcome back to the news hour. kim: hello. amna: before we move into the questions that folks have, i want to start with that pardon by president biden of his son. it has drawn extra views, even from members of his own party. you have defended his decision to issue that pardon. tell us why. kim: it doesn't fall in the category of a self-dealing pardon. hunter biden is not someone where there is a concern that he will go on to commit violent crimes or additional crimes. he paid back his tax liability with interest, the gun charge was for a very low level events that even the likes of lindsey graham have said publicly probably would not have been prosecuted if he had not been the president's son.

and of course for both of those, he had relapsed into his addiction after the death of his brother. it appears to be the president is anticipating vengeance or retaliatory investigations or prosecutions of his son under the next trump administration, which donald trump has been very public about his plans to use the justice department for that reason. in the supreme court, last summer in its immunity decision, held car crimes committed using the justice department would be immune from any oversight. it seems like joe biden is responding to the moment that is this incoming administration that we have never seen an american history. it is almost a reaction to that, and less of a pardon for his own self-interest. amna: let me ask you about this moment we are in. related to these points you are raising, you are right. president elect trump has said he wants to use law enforcement

to target his political enemies. he said members of the january 6 committee should go to jail. all of that has raised questions about this issue of preemptive pardons, whether or not president biden should issue those. what do you make of those calls for preemptive pardons, and is it legal to do so? kim: we have been coining a new term, preemptive pardons. you can call them immunity pardons or protective pardons or safe hearted -- safe harbor pardons. the idea is in response to a troubling projection for the use of the department of justice in a retaliatory manner, the pardon power is extremely broad. there are no expressed limits in the constitution. in that any and, the court made clear, or underscored, that the pardon power is core. i think it would be very difficult to challenge legally a preempted or perspective pardon for these folks. there are of course, locating factors in that regard. they might not want a pardon.

the supreme court has made clear without an acceptance of a pardon, a pardon is not effective. is it a more generic one like jimmy carter did, they were not actually identified by name. or would it be folks identified by name in the bigger question is, does that make them safer or less safe from retaliatory actions from the trump administration if that is going to happen. but it would protect people that don't have the financial resources to fight a vindictive prosecution in court. that can be very expensive, even if you are innocent. and the law governing selective or vindictive prosecutions is very president friendly, very hard to prove that, because the theory is the president is the top law enforcement officer, the chief executive. and there's a tremendous amount of deference given to the choice of who to prosecute. amna: there is also the issue of

precedent that it sets. even members of his own party have said that president biden should not issue these kinds of preemptive or immunity pardons, as you say. even this newly sworn and senator adam schiff said, i don't want to see a precedent where you have presidents as they leave office issuing blanket pardons to members of their party or administration. i think it would be another dim munition in our democracy. he says this is unnecessary. do you agree with that? kim: i'm not sure i agree it is completely unnecessary. but there are many on the "enemies list" kash patel, the fbi director is on the list. as far as that revolving door of immunity partners -- pardons, that is a serious concern. that's when i faced before this topic came up. i agree overall with those who have said we are heading into treacherous waters when it comes to the rule of law and the constitution and the potential abuse of the massive powers of law enforcement investigations

and prosecutions by the incoming president of the united states. amna: president biden has 40 days left in office. when you look at the pardon power, what could or should he be doing with that power over these last remaining days? kim: what gets lost in the conversation around the pardon power is the original purpose, which is mercy. presidents, since reagan, where there was a political benefit to being tough on crime, have largely shied away from using it to achieve justice. there is no federal parole in the federal criminal justice system. we know there are problems with racial disparities, there are long sentences for nonviolent offenses. we know there are probably people on death row that are innocent. joe biden, as one of his elements of his outgoing legacy, which is under siege in this moment, could use that unlimited power to actually address some of the massive problems and the -- in the criminal justice

system, like for example he did with marijuana offenses, and president obama did in 2013 with respect to low-level drug offenses. the pardon power, it holds corruption and mercy in the same place. it could tip towards the more beneficial aspects of the pardon, if the outgoing president were to decide to use that power in that regard. amna: that is kim wehle, from the university of baltimore joining us tonight. thank you for your time. appreciate it. kim: thank you. ♪ geoff: more than 75 nobel laureates this week signed a letter asking the u.s. senate not to confirm health and human services secretary nominee robert f kennedy junior, citing his opposition to vaccines among their concerns. as we delve deeper into a range of issues connected to the incoming trump administration,

william brangham is back with another explaining, a look at kennedy's record on vaccines and what impact he could have leavy -- leading the nation's health agencies. >> just as the vaccines stimulate production by the body, billions of antibodies which build a wall. william: vaccines are easily one of modern medicine's most successful interventions. over the past two centuries, virtually eradicating diseases like smallpox, polio, measles, and many others that once regularly disfigured, disabled, and killed hundreds of millions of people around the world, many of them children. dr. michael osterholm directs the center for infectious disease research and policy at the university of minnesota. >> the bottom line is, for every two days we've lived in the last century, we've gained a day of life expectancy. that's incredible. and it's because of these tools, notably vaccines, that that's happened. william: that's not to say there are no risks to them, including occasional allergic reactions,

injuries and in rare cases, deaths. and public health experts like osterholm say it is important to examine and continually monitor any adverse effects. but on balance, those risks are far lower than those of the diseases they are protecting against. >> today if i were in an automobile accident and i had my seat belt on, but somehow the seatbelt jammed and i was unfortunately trapped in the car and the car caught on fire, this would be a horrible tragedy. would anybody say we got to eliminate seatbelts now? no, because, in fact, there have been many, many, many more lives saved because of seatbelts as opposed to not. william: yet, over the past couple of decades, there has been a small but growing vocal minority pushing back against vaccines because of perceived harms, including the debunked claim that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine causes autism. that linkage was put forward in a late 1990's paper in the

british medical journal the lancet. it was later retracted and has since been repeatedly disproven. the doctor behind that study, andrew wakefield, was stripped of his medical license. but over that period, robert f. kennedy, jr. who trained as an environmental lawyer, has become a principal player in this movement, along with wakefield. >> he is a voice machine that continues to put out dis and misinformation in such a way that it sounds believable to the public. william: in 2005, kennedy wrote an article for rolling stone magazine and salon that asserted a connection between autism and a mercury-containing vaccine additive, thimerosal. thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccines in 2001, and it was never used in the mmr vaccine. after that piece ran, the two publications discovered multiple errors in his work, and retracted it. a decade later, kennedy joined a group called the world mercury project, which a few years later became children's health

defense, which is a nonprofit that has been a principal promoter of misinformation about vaccines. >> that's when it seems that he really got embedded in the anti-vax world and saw a lot of -- in the anti-vax world. william: derek beres has long tracked kennedy's influence for his podcast, conspirituality, which is about the intersection of the wellness industry and online conspiracies. >> you have robert kennedy, you have del bigtree, you have a number of people who have been doing that work for a long time, but covid gave them the opportunity to have an even larger platform than they ever had. william: months before the covid pandemic began, kennedy met with antivaccine advocates on the island nation of samoa. which had seen a huge drop in its vaccine rates after a medical mistake killed two children. in late 2019 there was a measles outbreak there. 83 people died, many of them young children. kennedy later called the outbreak mild and denied playing any role in it. when covid-19 arrived to the

u.s., many americans became frustrated with the evolving and sometimes conflicting guidance on wearing masks and the protections provided by vaccines, as well as the many stay-at-home orders impacting schools, churches, and businesses across the nation. that frustration became highly politicized, and donations surged to kennedy's nonprofit, which went on to finance the documentary series called plandemic, which alleged a shadowy group was using the coronavirus and vaccines to get rich and powerful. >> if we activate mandatory vaccines globally, i imagine these people stand to make hundreds of billions of dollars that own the vaccines. >> i cannot think of anything more consequential for the anti-vax movement than plandemic. it struck an emotional chord at a time when everyone was locked inside and really confused about their own lives and about existence in general. and it's understandable that you would be confused by what's

happening if you've never experienced it. but that doesn't give people the right to spread misinformation to the level that plandemic did. and i think we're going to be feeling the consequences of that propaganda film for generations. william: post-pandemic, kennedy has continued to criticize the recommended vaccine schedule for children that is put out by the centers for disease control and prevention, as well as adult covid and flu vaccines. >> can you name any vaccines that you think are good? >> i think some of the live virus vaccines are probably averting more problems than they are causing. there is no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective. william: and yet kennedy has often argued that he is not anti-vaccine but in favor of vaccine safety. >> if vaccines are working for somebody, i'm not went to take them away. people ought to have choice and

ought to be informed by the best information. so i'm going to make sure the scientific safety studies and efficacies are out there and people can make individual assessments. >> let's be really clear about the fact that he is anti-vaccine messenger. and he has continued to be. we have many examples of that. the second thing is that in this country, and for that matter, throughout the world, when vaccines are licensed and approved, all the safety data that goes into licensing, that vaccine is made public. there is nothing hidden in a vault somewhere or if it were just opened up, the public would now have sunshine on a vaccine issue they did not have before. william: ultimately, osterholm says elevating kennedy to the head of health and human services could do a number of things to weaken vaccine policy and vaccine uptake in the country. by lending a veneer of legitimacy to his many disproven claims, allowing him to influence the licensing of new vaccines, and by firing many of the public health experts at hhs.

>> as we have more and more infections occur as a result of fewer and fewer people being vaccinated within, you know, literally a few years, we could be back into a period not that dissimilar to what we had happening in the early 1900s before vaccines. that's hard for people to imagine. william: for the pbs news hour, i am william brangham. ♪ amna: after last month's election, researchers documented a stunning rise in misogynistic -- in misogynistic rhetoric and attacks. laura barron lopez is here now with a conversation about what is behind that search and how experts are combating it. laura: in just a 24 hour period after election day, the institute for strategic dialogue

tracked a 4600% increase in mentions of the terms "your body, my choice and "get back in the kitchen" on the social media platform x. one post, by far-right activist nick fuentes, has been viewed nearly 100 million times. but the misogyny is not just online. for more on this trend and efforts to fight it, i am joined by cynthia miller idriss, a professor at american university and director of the schoola™s polarization and extremism research and innovation lab, or peril. cynthia, thanks for being back on the news hour. first, help us unpack this increase, what exactly did we see in this rise in misogynistic attacks online after the election? cynthia: first, we have been seeing that increasing trend for probably something like 18 months to two years over the last period of time on many social media platforms. and what we saw right around the election leading up to the election with a candidate who was a woman, a woman of color,

and then the reproductive rights that were also sort of at the heart of the election in many ways was a celebration in many ways, by some young men who were viewed the way this post reviewed many, many millions of times of this reclaiming of power over women and power over women's bodies. laura: and as i mentioned, at least, some of that same rhetoric and activity has since moved off-line. how and where has that manifested? cynthia: well, we've seen a lot of reports and heard a lot of reports, including in our lab from schools and universities, even from an elementary school who's a parent who reached out to me and said her 10-year-old daughter had heard a boy chant at her, your body, my choice. i mean, it's unclear if he even knows what he's saying, but he knows that it's a sort of slur and an insult to to say that we -- to see that. we had a man walking around a college campus in texas holding up a sign that said women are property. and we've had other kinds of chants of go back to the kitchen and, you know, sort of threats to women and their bodies on college campuses across the

country. laura: can you put this into the broader context of what we've been seeing around misogyny and sexism in recent years and what is driving this trend? cynthia: well, we've had just like we've had a normalization of other types of hateful rhetoric, anti-immigrant rhetoric, racist rhetoric, white supremacist rhetoric over the last 5 or 6 years, in particular, surges of that online, of conspiracy theories. we have had antifeminist rhetoric and rhetoric blaming women, often for a very real and legitimate crisis being experienced by boys and men. so it is one thing to say, yes, boys and men are more isolated and lonely. they are also the victims of bullying and violence at the hands of other men, a culture that valorizes dominance and aggression as sort of hallmarks of masculinity. but to take that crisis of men

and masculinity and make it a crisis of misogyny, you really need the online world incubating the kind of hateful rhetoric that we're seeing. laura: does posting misogynistic content, is that a predictor of future action? cynthia: it's not a direct predictor. you can't draw a one to one correspondence. but we know that the biggest predictor of support for political violence right now or willingness to engage in it or -- are among the top three predictors, depending on the survey, is misogyny or hostile sexism. so beliefs in a hierarchy of superiority, beliefs and the -- beliefs in the inferiority of women drive support for political violence. and we also know that other types of hateful rhetoric produce surges in offline violence. laura: does it drive actions such as domestic violence at all? cynthia: it does. it does drive actions like domestic and intimate partner violence and also other forms of stalking, harassment, rape threats, sexual assault. and those things are also predictors and underpinnings of mass violence. so when we see almost every

terrorist actor in the u.s. and a lot of school shooters had prior histories of harassment, stalking, rape threats, sexual assault and worse. so, you know, you have those types of problems that are red flags and warning signs and are often ignored. laura: today, your organizatio along with the southern poverty law center, released a guide not just a joke, understanding and preventing gender and sexuality based bigotry. it's meant to help communities deal with the issues that we're talking about. what is the purpose of this guide and who do you hope it reaches? cynthia: well, over the last two years, we've gotten increasing requests from parents, from teachers, from mental health counselors, faith leaders and others for help with misogyny and other forms of hate that are happening among boys, in particular, middle and high school boys. we just got another request from a school this week trying to -- what can we do? we will go in and offer training. we finally realized we need a

guide. and so the guide is lays out sort of some of the definitions, what are boys seeing online, what are some of the red flags and warning signs? how our girls exposed to some of this content. what's called travel wise content and ideas about what it is to be a man or a woman in society. and how are they being manipulated often by bad actors online who are trying to get them to pay for subscriptions to things and manipulate them for their own profit. laura: what are the top or what are the top recommendations that you're making in this guide to parents, but also teachers and others who interact with people who are susceptible to this content? cynthia: i think the first recommendation is to get seriously. and that's why we called the guide not just a joke, because so often it's dismissed as locker room talk or as just just a joke really, and it couldn't mean anything. it's not serious. and one of the things we really emphasize is that taking it seriously, attending to the harms that come from things like go make me a sandwich or get back in the kitchen or just jokey comments that actually sort of express a sense of entitlement to girls and women's

labor, servitude, the entitlement to their bodies, those are harmful. they're harmful to everyone in in -- in the community. and so taking it seriously and not reacting with shame because that can drive young people further online, but with curiosity about why they find these kinds of statements attractive is a really important step. laura: cynthia miller cynthia -- cynthia miller idris, thank you for your time. cynthia: thank you for having me. ♪ amna: it's been nearly three years since the russian invasion of ukraine, and there is no sign that vladimir putin's war machine is letting up, despite huge losses on both sides. and while armies may march on their stomachs, as the saying goes, they can't actually shoot without cotton. that staple commodity is used to make gunpowder and explosives, and russia has a steady supply from one of its former soviet republics. special correspondent simon ostrovsky investigated why that

is, and who's trying to stop it. simon: one year ago a powerful explosion tore through tashkent, the capital of uzbekistan, an authoritarian country that is russia's cap top supplier of nitrocellulose, a substance used in the production of gunpowder and explosives russia needs for its war in ukraine. the blast was so powerful it could be felt 18 miles away according to local media reports. it left a teenager dead, 163 others injured and some 600 tashkent residences damaged. the date of the explosion, september 28, 2023 coincided with the visit of michael kurilla, a high ranking commander in the u.s. military. >> thank you all for your attendance, today. simon: general kurilla, who is the chief of u.s. central command come ahead just departed uzbekistan after holding

meetings with uzbek defense officials, leading to speculation that the blast had something to do with him. but there is an alternative explanation, and it comes from a couple thousand miles away. my sources in ukraine tell me they had a theory for what happened, and it ties back to russia's war. so i've come to kyiv to see what i can find out. ukraine's security services are acutely aware of the fact that russia produces much of its gun powder propellants with this. it is a highly volatile substance called nitrocellulose, and much of it is derived from cotton pulp from the central asian states of uzbekistan and kazakhstan. andriy chernyak works for ukraine's military intelligence service. >> all those missiles that are currently being launched at ukraine, and all the drones that hit the regions and kyiv today, all of this is made with nitrocellulose." simon: when the nitrocellulose exploded a year ago, it was in a logistics warehouse near the airport being readied for

shipment to russia, according to agiya zagrebelska, who drafts sanctions policy for the ukrainian government. but, she said, uzbekistan considered halting the shipment under u.s. pressure so russian agents destroyed it. >> it was sabotage for pushing uzbekistan. simon: do you think it's possible that they destroyed the supply because they didn't want it to fall into western hands? >> yes, absolutely. i think that is the main motivation. simon: we are not sure what general kurilla said in his meetings, because centcom told news hour it wouldn't comment on private discussion between government officials. but here's what we do know. the united states and its allies have been trying to get uzbekistan and other countries to halt exports of the explosive nitrocellulose to russia for -- in an effort to hamper moscow's ability to wage war in ukraine. and so far, it seems those

efforts have been unsuccessful. according to denys hutyk of the economic security council of ukraine, uzbekistan skirted restrictions placed on the export of nitrocellulose by the biden administration last year by increasing its exports of the substance nitrocellulose is made from instead: cotton pulp. >> without nitrocellulose, russia's war machine would grind to a halt? >> nitrocellulose, once again, it's a final product. it is produced already in the russian federation. what russian needs, extremely, is raw materials, cotton pulp. and from what we can see right now, cotton pulp is included since the end of -- simon: ok, moving right along. i mean, do you think that explosion that we just heard was made using nitrocellulose and cotton pulp? >> yeah, it's possible.

so the propellant mix and most important, munitions, it is based on nitrocellulose. simon: even if it's a hypersonic missile? >> yeah, yeah. simon: ok. we might have to continue the interview in a little while. an air raid siren cuts our interview short as russia launches another attack against the ukrainian capital. russia still gets the lion's share of its cotton pulp and nitrocellulose and cotton pulp from central asia, just as it always has. and invariably it makes it into weapons like the missile that destroyed this children's hospital. so what is stopping the u.s. from imposing sanctions against the companies that produce it? in my search for answers, i traveled to washington to speak with officials, diplomats, and experts closely monitoring the situation. john herbst has served as u.s. ambassador to both uzbekistan and ukraine. we've got a store of nitrocellulose.

it blows up. what's your first thought? is it any accident? is it the ukrainians? is that the russians? who could have blown this up? >> i'd be astonished if it were the americans. my first thought was, of course, the russians. with the ukrainians do that? i don't know if they would want to. -- if they would want to upset uzbeks. simon: and why would you be astonished if it was, say, the cia? >> we certainly have the capacity to do such things. i've just not seen such boldness in american national security policy over the past three and a half years. simon: that boldness is however on full display in russia's relationship. while u.s. diplomats works behind the scenes to influence uzbekistan, russia's president vladimir putin made an in-person trip to the country in may securing a deal for a nuclear power plant as cotton exports

continued apace. while there, putin took a jab at american efforts to limit his country's trade with central asia, calling it imperialist behavior. >> we know that pressure has also been applied in the central asia region. somehow, i don't see everyone getting down on their knees to blindly follow directives from across the ocean. simon: when asked about talks with uzbekistan, the u.s. state department said only that its goal is to deprive russia of its ability to wage war in ukraine and restrict its access to revenue and dual use materials for its arms industry. >> uzbekistan does sit in one of the world's most difficult regions. it has china, iran, and russia. so they have to be cautious. so the fact that the uzbeks will make some arrangements with moscow, or for that matter with beijing is something we have to understand. i think we just want to make sure that there are limits to that relationship.

simon: meanwhile, a reuters investigation recently revealed the u.s. and its allies are facing a critical shortage of nitrocellulose, limiting the west's ability to re-supply ukraine with vital munitions. so could american influence flip uzbekistan from being a problem for the west to a supplier for ukraine? >> either the u.s. government could buy the stuff itself and that maybe we could use it too. we know that we are not producing enough arms. or it can help find someone who would buy. and obviously ukraine could be such a party. simon: meanwhile, the only real tools the west has to try to stop the flow to russia is to bring sanctions against this man, russian citizen rustam muminov. seen here with a delegation of russian officials visiting uzbekistan in june, muminov controls about 85% of uzbekistan's cotton pulp exports to russia through just two factories, the fergana chemical plant and the jizzakh chemical plant, also known as raw materials cellulose llc. >> using sanctions and targeting

those two legal entities. and this individual, this russian citizen can have impact on the direct supply chains of russian defense industry. simon: but even that may be difficult for the administration to do, while cotton pulp remains exempt from u.s. export controls. for the pbs news hour, i am simon ostrovsky in kyiv. ♪ geoff: nikki giovanni, a fierce and lyrical voice, whose work illuminated love, liberation, and the unyielding power of self-expression, has died. tributes are now pouring in from across the country as admirers and friends mourn the passing of a literary legend. writer, activist, and public intellectual nikki giovanni was an unmissable and unmistakable presence in american culture for more than 50 years.

>> i am not ashamed of our history because i know there is more to come. geoff: her poetry and prose published in more than two dozen volumes, grappled with race, sex, gender, and politics. and her commitment to fighting injustice inspired generations of americans from all walks of life. >> you cannot be afraid, and you cannot be worried about who does and doesn't like what you do. because there's always somebody that's not going to like it. if nobody doesn't like it, something's wrong with it. geoff: born yolande cornelia giovanni jr. in 1943, giovanni grew up in cincinnati, at 15, she fled a turbulent family life and a father who was abusive to her mother. >> i shouldn't say this on the radio but it was clear either i was going to kill him or i would had to move. and so i decided to move. >> if i dreamed natural dreams -- >> by the late 1960s, she had again moved to the northeast,

publishing militant, artful poetry that quickly made her a leading figure of the black arts movement. and a fiery, feminist counterpoint to the machismo she found in certain pockets of the civil rights movement. in 1971, in a now iconic interview with james baldwin, giovanni, then just 28, spoke to the problems she saw with the way some black women were treated in relationships. >> truthful to me when you light to everybody else. you lied when you smiled at that down on the job. lie to me, smile, treat me the same way you would treat him. >> i can't treat you like him. >> you must. you must. because i've caught the frowns and the anger. he's happy with you. of course he doesn't know you are happy. you grinned at him all day long. because i love you, i get least of you, i get the very minimum. i'm saying, fake it with me. is that too much of a black woman to ask of a black man? for 10 years so that we can get a child on his feet that says

yeah, father smiled at leather, he talked to me about school today. geoff: by 30, she was a genuine literary star. selling at lincoln center. over the next decades she published frequently and toured widely, often reading her poetry against the backdrop of gospel music. >> he looked at his dusty boots to say, sister, my time is getting near. geoff: giovanni spent more than 35 years as a professor of english at virginia tech. the day after a shooting there that killed 32 people back in 2007, the community turned to her for solace amid the tragedy. >> no one deserves a tragedy. we are virginia tech, the hokey nation embraces our own and reaches out with open hearts and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. we are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid. we are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. >> she reminded us all to always

be bold, to always speak your mind, to always lift your voice. and no matter who's watching or who's in the room, to be unafraid, to be unashamed. geoff: poet kwame alexander was a friend who had studied under giovanni at virginia tech. >> when i think of black liberation and black power and and all these things that nikki wrote about so eloquently is i like to think of this thing i call, matter of fact, black. the thing i think i learned from her, in that we have to remember our own humanity and not be defined by other people. we have to remind america and the world of our humanity as well. geoff: among a lifetime of accolades, she won an american book award and was a seven-time recipient of the naacp image award. and over a career that spanned more than half a century, she remained uncompromisingly herself. >> what i know is that i will not let the world change me. i think that whatever it is that

i have to give, i have some truths to give, i have -- there is some laughter. i'm a black woman. and black women, despite all of it, we still find a way to laugh. geoff: giovanni is said to have continued working until her final days. her final book of poetry titled "the last book," is set to be released next year. nikki giovanni died of complications from cancer. she was 81 years old. ♪ amna: later this evening on pbs, frontline presents a film about the deadliest shooting in maine's history which occured just over a year ago. geoff: produced along with maine public and the portland press herald come --, "break down maine," looks at the the breakdown with police, with the military and with efforts to get

the gunman mental health treatment prior to the shooting. >> please take into kill her army hospital where he is diagnosed with unspecified psychosis. he is transferred to a civilian hospital nearby for a higher level of care. >> the undergoes testing at for wayne's hospital, and the clinicians uncover some troubling thing. first and foremost, he talks about having a hit list, and he thinks about adding people that have aggrieved him to this hit list. he is diagnosed to psychosis, put on antipsychotic medication. he is on the phone constantly with his best friend, and he is talking about how he is furious to be there, and uses the phrase "playing the game." basically, i'm going to make these doctors think i'm doing better so they will let me out of the hospital. amna: "breakdown in maine" premieres tonight at 10:00 p.m. on your pbs station and

streaming on youtube. that is the news hour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: i'm geoff bennett. for all of us here, thank you for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- >> >> in 1995, 2 friends set out to make wireless coverage accessible to all. with no long-term contracts, nationwide coverage and an hundred percent u.s.-based customer support. consumer cellular, freedom calls. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york, working to reduce political polarization through support for education, democracy and peace. more information 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.] >> you're w

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