tv PBS News Hour PBS January 22, 2025 3:00pm-4:01pm PST
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15 hundred active-duty troops to the u.s.-mexico border to carry a president trump's immigration crackdown. >> the new administration ends diversity programs. >> dozens take stock of their lives and homes that are now in ruins as a tenuous cease-fire holds. >> we hope to god that the truth will be the opening of the door to goodness with security and peace of mind, and that we will return to rebuild our homes and live a human life. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- >> is a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with kunod, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of leisure.
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supported by the john d. and catherine macarthur foundation co committed to building a more just and peaceful world. 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. >> welcome to the news hour. president donald trump's second term began with a flurry of unilateral actions and showing no signs of slowing down. >> day by day the president's hard-line immigration policy is taking shape. a new executive order targeting migrants at the southern border comes as the u.s. military is beefing up its presence there. >> on his second full day in
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office from president trump, more executive orders. today directed agencies to remove undocumented migrants at the border. and military orders -- as the pentagon announced it will start deploying 1500 active troops to the border. they will join the 2500 national guardsmen there now and have a support role, including logistics and construction. the same day that his border czar told fox that border encounters have dropped since trump took office.p>> last 24 hl apprehensions, 766. >> more news, last night mr. trump pardoned russ albrecht, the founder of silk road, a dark web marketplace where drugs were illegally and anonymously sold. he was given a life sentence nearly a decade ago. but libertarians fought for his release. in miami, the former leader of
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the neofascist proud boys arrived at the airport a free man. trump erased his 20 two year sentence for seditious conspiracy on january 6th. and in the halls on capitol hill, oath keepers founder stuart rose appears, one year after he was pardoned for gathering weapons and plotting to violently overtake congress. >> i don't second guess. >> asked about the pardons today, house speaker mike johnson supported trump and cast a blind eye to the violence and assault of that day. >> peaceful protests and people who engage in that should not be punished. >> trump has kept a furious pace. last night holding an impromptu news conference. >> we're going to do things that people will be shocked at. >> he was asked about his attempt to keep tiktok operational despite a hovering band under law. he suggested putting it in the hands of american entrepreneurs including elon musk. >> are you open to him buying
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tiktok? >> i would be. >> he dismantled dei programs. a memo directed federal agencies to place all dei office staffers on paid leave starting today. house progressives vowed to push back on his agenda particularly his crackdown on immigration. >> he is trying to flood the news with all of his actions. we will hold him accountable and defend the vulnerable. >> congress is moving, too. >> the yays are 262. the bill passed. >> the house gave final passage set to be trump's first bill to sign. it requires federal authorities to detain some undocumented immigrants. it passed with dozens of democratic votes. also tonight, fox news is broadcasting a sean hannity sit down with trump, his first tv
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interview. >> besides an order sent in 1500 active-duty troops to the mexican border, late today the defense department announced it had been tasked with supporting the department of homeland security's deportation flights and assisting in the construction and -- of temporary and permanent physical barriers along the border. for perspective we turn now to retired rear admiral james mcpherson. he served as undersecretary of the army and as the army's general counsel during the first trump administration and had a career in the navy serving as its top lawyer in uniform. welcome back to the news hour. the plans as has been laid out for the active-duty troops at the southern border in support of deportation flights, do you view that as an appropriate use of the military? >> it is not unusual. we have had the military on the board's since the 1990's. they have always been in a support role, supporting customs and border protection through
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transportation. through medical support, through communications, through surveillance. they have never been involved directly in law enforcement, enforcing immigration laws by arresting individuals captured. it is my understanding that this current deployment will keep with that current, that previous mission. in other words, these troops will be in support of customs and border protection. they will not be engaged in law enforcement. that may change dramatically in the days to come based upon the executive orders the president signed monday. >> based on that order i know there are a lot of questions because senior military officials to go on to say they anticipate many additional missions ahead. what could those entail? could u.s. military troops be asked to arrest migrants at the border to try to stop them from crossing, and would that be appropriate? >> to try to stop them from crossing, the answer is yes. those two orders, the first one
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declared a national emergency at the southern border. that is not unusual. the president did that in 2019 during trump 1.0, and as a result the transfer of funds to the border wall. but this national emergency has wording that was not included in that first one in 2019. it attempts to preclude the legal challenges brought against the transfer of fun. the second executive order he signed was more important which directed northern command, the geographical combatant commander for northern america, mexico and united states and canada, to change what is called their unified command plan. i'll plan that sets forth the mission, the responsibilities of what a combat and can pander does. and directed to change their plan to include sealing the border, maintaining the sovereignty of the united states and repelling invasion. if that is done, and active-duty troops are sent to the border, they will be sent to the border not to enforce immigration laws, but to repel an invasion.
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which is very different. they will not be involved in a law enforcement road but -- rollbot a military role. >> you are using the word invasion which we have heard from the president using repeatedly. as you point out the order numbers have been coming down dramatically over the last several months. they did reach record highs in the previous administration. do you view what is happening at the southern border as an invasion? >> the facsimile do not support that. as we heard from the border czar. even in the past few days the numbers have dropped. and they have dropped to what they were even in the trump 1.0 administration. i do not think it change the plan of including, repelling an invasion has any factual basis. >> u.s. forces in iraq and afghanistan were asked to provide security for cities and villages peer whycan't u.s. military forces do similar missions along the u.s. border? >> because they were opposing an
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armed force. they were engaged in an armed encounter. they were engage the mission of our military and that is to fight our wars. we do not have a war going on at the southern border. we have a law enforcement crisis perhaps but that is not an invasion. >> one of the things nick schifrin reported today was this deployment increases the number of troops at the border by 60% to 4,000. the number could go high as 10,000. what is your reaction to that? >> again, at the current deployment is in support of border protection. i would say that border protection may use them in extended manner but onto the court orders,, under the current law, they cannot be used to enforce immigration law. >> 10,000 troops at the border. what does that say about the use of active-duty troops? >> it says they are being ill- used. it's detracting from their
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mission to protect our country and detracting from their operational tempo and detracting from their readiness. i think it does a disservice to our military to send them to the border to try to engage in apprehending illegal aliens, if you will. >> we know this president has directed the incoming secretary defense and homeland security chief to report back within 90 days if they think that the insurrection act should be invoked. a law that would allow u.s. troops to be used in civilian law enforcement on u.s. soil. what is your reaction to that? >> that is a dangerous route we should not be taking. these current exec of orders only speak to the southern border. they do not speak to the military in the interior of the united states, the insurrection act would give the president the authority to do just that. to use our armed forces in chicago, and detroit, and atlanta. i think that is dangerous. >> that is rear admiral james mcpherson joining us tonight. thank you for your time. we appreciate it.
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>> thank you. >> we start the day of headlines with snow and plenty of it. a massive winter storm has left record-breaking amounts across much of the gulf coast anna karolina -- and the carolinas. >> in north carolina they were digging out today as the storm finally moved offshore. at least three people have died across georgia and texas. the coastal city of galveston saw a significant amount of snow for the first time in two decades. new orleans saw a record 10 inches of snow smashing the previous record set in 1963. the nba had to postpone again. 2000 flights have been canceled in and out of the u.s. today as airports begin to resume normal operations. in its wake, the snowstorm left
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frigid temperatures across large parts of the country. more than 60 million americans today were under some form of cold weather alert. but forecasters say a slow return to more normal temperatures will begin, we'll bring some relief by the end of this week. meantime, southern california is facing dangerous weather conditions as it battles new fires. the hughes fire erupted this morning fronting evacuation in parts of northern los angeles county. it has exploded in size burning through more than 5000 acres in just hours. the next threat is rain. and that is expected to move in on saturday. county officials say heavy showers could wash debris, including toxic ash, into local waterways. >> rain is in the forecast and the threat of mod and our fire impacted communities israel. we have to be prepared. this includes clearing drains and roadways, preparing our debris basins and taking other
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critical flood protection measures. >> officials also say they ordered an investigation into the emergency alert system. after residents in altadena where 17 people die say they did not get in evacuation warning until hours after the fire started. in tennessee, police say a female student was killed and another student injured during a shooting at a nashville high school today. authorities say the 17-year-old male shooter was a fellow student at antioch high school. he said to have opened fire in the school's cafeteria before shooting and killing himself. the injured student was grazed by a bullet and is being treated. today shooting comes nearly two years after a gunman killed six people at a nashville elementary school including three children. the trump administration is halting some communications from federal health agencies to the public. in a memo, acting secretary of the department of health and human services ordered an immediate pause on all
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regulations, guidance and announcements, press releases and social media posts until the content is reviewed and approved by a political appointee. the measure affects agencies such as the cdc and the fda. memo says the pause is in effect until february 1. britain's prince harry claimed a monumental victory today after rupert murdoch's tabloid issued a rare apology for " serious intrusion into his life." it is the first time that newspapers acknowledged hacking his phone, spying on him and misusing his private information between the years of 1996 and 2011. the media giant also agreed to pay the duke of sussex an undisclosed settlement, and it acknowledge the intrusion on the life of harry's mother princess diana. harry has blamed the media for the car crash that killed her in 1997. on wall street today, stocks and at higher. the dow added about 130 points
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on the day. the nasdaq jumped 250 points to close above the 20,000 point level. the s&p 500 hit the all-time high during the day and close with a gain of 37 points. in the songwriter hall of fame has a new class of inductees representing the best of rock and r&b and country and funk. ♪ >> ♪ we want the funk ♪ >> george clinton is finally getting a spot after a career of hits with parliament funkadelic and his collaborations with artists across hip-hop and r&b. the doobie brothers also made it in with members tom johnson and michael mcdonald and patrick simmons inducted. mike love of the beach boys joins his bandmate brian wilson in the hall of fame. and so does country music writer ashley gordy with 81 radio
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singles under his belt. the ceremony takes place this june in new york city. still to come, the trump administration cancels flights for refugees who were already cleared to settle in the u.s. we examine the president's plans to expand energy production in the u.s. and rollback climate initiatives. and how incarcerated firefighters are helping battled the blazes around los angeles. >> this is "pbs newshour." from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> as we reported earlier, the trump administration ordered all federal employees who work in diversity equity and inclusion roles to be placed on paid leave starting today. in a memo issued by the office of personnel management, agencies supervisors are also asked to submit a written plan by the end of the month for
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dismissing the employees. part one of the administration's efforts to up end dei efforts nationwide. jeff green covers dei for bloomberg and joins us now. welcome to the news hour. thanks for being with us. so, the memo tells agencies to put the staffers on paid leave by 5:00 today. a plan to fire them they need to have by next friday. in the way of one example, there is a watchdog group called american transparency that says the department of health and human services alone employs 294 dei staffers, but do we know how many federal employees we are talking about? >> we don't it is one of the things we are trying to figure out. the scope is not clear but it is likely to be hundreds of employees, not a small number. >> why don't we know those figures? >> because it was not immediately available and how the order was structured, and it's something we have been tracking in terms of how many
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dei employees there are. as it was saying in the corporate america, we do not know how many of these people are employed in that specific role. >> there is been some effort to gather some of this data in the biden administration. there was an executive order in 2021 that mandated all agencies to have a diversity plan to strike to track -- to start to track the data on hirings and promotions. in their first report in 2022 they had demographic data for the workforce it said it was about 60% white, 55% male overall and at the senior executive level, 75% white, 60% males. but this is not just about the federal workforce, is it? this order directs agencies to make sure contracts and grants aree in line. what is the impact? >> well, the impact goes beyond that. he's also asked these agency heads to identify nine companies
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or institutions public companies and institutions of large size that might be violating dei laws and come up with a plan to investigate them. this goes way beyond the federal government as of the executive order that came out last night. every company in america has to stop and take notice of what happened today. >> are there any challenges or new steps in place that could prevent these sort of policies from going into place? or is it just that these employees will be fired and all these private companies will have to adjust their plans as well? >> those are basically two different questions. for federal employees, trump is the ceo of the administration and he can fire people. as he wants. it does not mean they can -- there cannot be litigation later but he does have the ability just like anybody who runs an organization to decide who works there and who doesn't but there are some limitations their union contracts that might control some of what he can do. but when it comes to the external actions, that is unclear. he can definitely ask is
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agencies to come up with a list and he can have that list and publish a list. it is not 100% clear what what happened to that list. he could have the attorney general or the department of justice or the department launched an investigation into these companies. that is within, all of these things are technically potentially within the scope of what donald trump can order his administration to do. >> these are issues you have tracking. give us a sense of where this order, this effort stands in the broader view of the trump administration when it comes to deo? >> well, that has been this expectation that he was going to do something about dei and building up to this over the last couple years, there has already been a conservative backlash against dei which prompted many companies to scale back. and so, there has been the sense that when trump came and there would be some exclamation. it was not clear to what level. i think this is beyond some
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people were expecting but may be in light of the conservatives them, we were warned this would happen. >> jeff, thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> when it comes to immigration policy, president trump's executive order suspending all refugee admissions into the u.s. has far reaching consequences, including for those who helped america's mission in afghanistan. our white house correspondent has more. >> tens of thousands of afghans including family members of active-duty u.s. military are now in limo. despite some already receiving approval to relocate to the u.s. joining me is sean vandiver, the president and of afghan evac, working to resettle afghans who work for the united states prior to the 2021 withdrawal.
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almost 2000 afghans had already been proved to resettle in the u.s. before january 27th. that was the date the executive action was supposed to take affect but overnight, the state department canceled all flights, canceled processing, what are you hearing from families and people who were expecting to relocate to the u.s.? >> i want to add some clarity to that number. about 2000 was the number we expected to travel over three months. what we thought it was going to be but it is indefinite. so people are being pulled all flights now. flights are being canceled but the truth is there more than 10,000 afghans who are fully vetted, security vetted, medically cleared, and ready to go, and now they don't know what coming next. we have asked the state department to give very clear guidance to them that we hope they will do that. they have not confirmed that yet. but look, the truth is is that these people have been waiting for 3.5 years in many cases.
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r&r stuck in limo yet again. and it feels very much like august 2021, we are getting frantic text messages people are begging for help. my phone is draining. so fast. and people are terrified. >> we should clarify the president's executive action does not apply to afghans approved for special immigrant visas, people who worked for the u.s. armed forces but it will impact thousands of others as you said. refugee admissions were on the upswing in recent years, reaching around 100,000 in the last year but the trump white house argues that the white house -- the u.s. lacks the ability to absorb large amounts of migrants including refugees with uncompromising resources, safety and security for americans. what is your response to that? >> so, special immigrant visas are not impacted by this. that is really important for them to hear. the idea of the country cannot absorb these folks is like, i do not think it's real.
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and what is really important to note is that u.s. is a legal immigration program and the vetting that people go through to go through, the united states refugee admissions program is more strict than police officers or our military or any number of folks, it is the gold standard in vetting. if you're coming here is refugee, we know you're safe. >> trump has spoken often about the chaotic military withdrawal from afghanistan in 2021, blaming his predecessor on the campaign trail but this action, how does it affect the overall mission to safely evacuate and resettle those afghans who helped the u.s.? >> just like you said, president trump talked about this on the campaign trail. we are hopeful that because he brought it up at every debate, every day at the r, he did a much better job than president biden of standing by the families. we know that he cares deeply about afghans.
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we think this is a mistake and we know he values loyalty. we know he likes to make a deal. we are hopeful that he and his administration are ready to come to the table and talk about how we can make a deal to protect these loyal folks that stood by us for 20 years. these people are family of the united states active-duty service members and the u.s. military, they are partner forces that train alongside our green berets, train and fought and bled alongside our green berets. women who flew in the afghan air force, judges and prosecutors, all sorts of people that did everything they could do stand up to the idea of america and because they did that, they are at risk. we owe them a debt of gratitude and we owe them their shot at the american dream. >> you call this mistake, are you and others talking to the trump white house about reversing course on this or about providing an exemption for afghans? >> we've been trying to get a hold of them. their phones don't work yet. we want to work together.
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we worked with the biden administration for 3.5 years. afghan evac is a nonpartisan organization. we have the trust of afghans, and for good reason, afghans do not trust the u.s. government. we have to rebuild that trust and make sure that we deliver on our promise and president trump signed a deal to close us out of afghanistan. we are confident he is ready to see us through, he has to know the impacts of the orders he signed. >> i spoke to a servicemember in the army's 82nd airborne and he told me his sister and her husband are still in afghanistan, that they had almost been done with the process and the only thing he was asking of the government was to help his family who he said remains in danger and is being threatened by the taliban. as a veteran yourself, what do you say to these service members? >> first i have to say that i'm so sorry you are experiencing this. i don't think president trump meant to do this.
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we hope he did not mean to do this. it is so important that our commander-in-chief stand by members of the military. we talked about lethality during this campaign, and it is really hard for members of the military to be ready to serve if they are worried about the taliban. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you. have a great day. >> within hours of taking office, president trump declared a national energy emergency as part of his plan to push for more oil and gas drilling and to boost fossil fuels peer but that is not altered the president also started a process to reverse much of what former president biden did on green energy, big changes that could ease her and new regulations on greenhouse gases and cut development of electric vehicles. as he did during his first term,
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president trump said the u.s. will pull out of the international paris climate treaty. we turn to scott waldman, white house reporter. thanks for being with us. the u.s. is right now producing more oil and natural gas than any other country in the world at any point in history. so, what does declaring a national emergency, national energy emergency actually do? what does it achieve? >> well, trump said that it was necessary because he wanted to ensure basically the security of the electrical grid and as well as the nation's security. he claims that the grid is potentially unreliable and has been failing at some points. and that a big boost of energy is needed to fix that. what the actual order will do in terms of the powers that will give him, they are very limited. it is not going to give him a lot of additional powers to boost energy in this country.
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that is going to be based on the market. and the willingness of drillers to put, to do fracking and throughout the country. and that is not going to be really affected by this. i think the way the energy emergency is written is that it is supposed to alleviate some pressures that states and other entities have placed on pipelines and other infrastructure, in particular, but just sort of declaring this with the stroke of a pen does not mean that you can supersede state and local laws. the federal government does not have that power. it can come of course come control what happens on the federal land, but a lot of this infrastructure is on private property, on state property. throughout the country. and so it is not as simple as just declaring that we will have this big boost of energy because an emergency has been declared. >> what then strikes you as the most significant action the president has taken on energy and environmental policy?
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>> well, certainly pulling out of the paris climate agreement. that is something everybody expected him to do. and that's going to take, technically takes a year. trump has said he will do it immediately been under the terms of the agreement it should take a year. it takes u.s. out of the leadership position, when it comes to international negotiations and also leading the way. the biden administration try to make the u.s. the leader once again in particular driving clean energy economies. regardless of what your politics are i think the biden administration demonstrated fairly thoroughly that there is a lot of energy jobs to be created in the green energy space. so, that's one thing that trump did. also pulling back, saying he's going to pull back some of the funding that is going to under the inflation reduction act, which is a climate centric bill, some of that funding to ev chargers. to, that is going to build
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battery factors for ev's. a lot of that has been congressionally appropriated but i think the trump administration and we saw this today in the hearing with his pick for the office of management and budget, he's basically saying that they will use, go against the 1974 impoundment act, that would give the president power to withhold basically funding that congress has appropriated when it comes to this, this clean energy. i think that that is certainly legally on tested and that will end up being a fight that goes all the way to the supreme court. whether they can do that. i listened to a hearing last week where this was brought up and senator rand paul from kentucky was very critical of the administration's plan to withhold funding if that funding had to be for clean energy projects. >> there is certainly market forces that continue to propel the transition to electric
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vehicles, but can the trump administration hold up the ev tax credits? >> you know, yes, they can sort of, i think it is safe to say they will try. again, money's congressionally appropriated. whether they can do that is up to a court fight coming up. they pledged to start with holding it and even elon musk, has signed up. musk believes it will hurt companies like gm and ford and hyundai and other companies that are making ev's. musk thinks it will hurt them more than it hurts tesla but whether any of this survives the oncoming court battles remains to be seen. >> if you take the energy policy and combine it with the trump administration pulling the u.s. out of the paris climate accord, what impact might all of this have on efforts to curb the wet -- the worst effects of climate change? >> well, certainly trump, who
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denies climate science does not worry about climate change and scientists have said for many years that increasing fossil fuel consumption will drive the worst effects of climate change. we're already seeing climate affecting us throughout the country. obviously in los angeles right now. there is what -- those wildfires have been fueled by climate change and made worse by climate change. it did not start the fires but it made them far worse by creating or contributing to dire drought conditions that of desiccated the landscape or created fuel for that fire. there are also areas where rising sea levels are claiming homes throughout the country. so, certainly just leaning into fossil fuels, stripping away any plans to cut carbon emissions it's going to make that worse. but again, we are talking on such a long time scale here. four years of the trump administration. are not going to set back the u.s. efforts in a way that will not be fixable by some future
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administration down the line. every moment now according to scientists is important to combat climate change but it is not like all hope is lost. i actually talked to biden's climate advisor, gina mccarthy today and she said she was cheered after seeing some of the executive orders because she said they will not hold up in court and she knows more is coming to try to dismantle biden's climate legacy but really she said it will take a lot more than what we've seen so far. >> scott waldman thanks for sharing your insights with us. >> thanks for having me. >> today, president trump's middle east envoy said he would travel to the middle east and be part of a team of " outside observers" situated inside and along the because a strip -- the
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gaza strip to ensure safety. nick schifrin takes a look now at the relative quiet in gaza, and what palestinians are finding as they return home. >> today in rafa, the damage and destruction is apocalyptic. a gray ghost town of dust and debris. structures flattened into pancakes, buildings obliterated or blown into carcasses. gaza city used to be one of the most densely populated spots on the planet -- population more than half a million. today, stripped of green, a shell of what used to be. in south gaza, diggers. the first step to clearing the rubble so families can return home. like this family whom we filmed today arriving for the first time to their home turned into a mountain of ruins. they salvaged what survived, a
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wooden chair, a single mattress, books amid the debris. they left this home intact eight months ago. today he called the destruction worse than a nightmare. >> when we came here today we were expecting to find something from our homes but we were honestly surprised. it is an area that has been completely destroyed. if you panic, around you'll see something that is unfathomable to the human mind. >> in this west rafah neighborhood it appears that no structures still stands. and yet, they smile and a brace, even if their future is uncertain. >> today, we're living in indescribable times, we have no idea what is next for us. we do not know how we will live or rebuild. we don't know. >> israel says hamas use rafah as a base of operation with tunnels beneath the homes. boys who've been displaced for months try to be boys, but are
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confronted with their former homes, their former neighborhoods, their former blocks left uninhabitable. israel's air campaign was one of the largest ever in modern warfare, against an enemy embedded in civilian infrastructure, which today is crushed right near the coast we found this house where the walls have become windows and debris fills the floor as far as the eye can see. >> what am i going to recover? i can't recover anything. it is all ruined. full of soot. let's not kid ourselves, look what happened to us. >> and, when you look around, hamas is back. residents say they are providing security, overseeing the removal of rubble. these men either fought or hid during the final and have now dusted off their uniforms. if israel's goal was to limit
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the group entirely that goal has not been met. which is why far-right finance ministers vows to bring down the coalition government unless israel resumes the war after the cease-fire. >> we will be glad and emotional for the return of some of our hostages, but we will remember the hardware that awaits us after that to go back and fight until victory. >> how confident are you that you can keep the cease-fire in gaza? >> i'm not confident. this is not our war, that is their war. >> president trump the cease-fire's longevity but also imagined gaza as an opportunity for investment. >> gaza's a phenomenal location. on the sea, the best weather. everything is good. it is like, some beautiful things could be done with it. >> palestinians urged trump to push israel to extend the cease-fire.
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>> my message to trump is a big one. we want peace and we do not care about anything else. that's it. enough war. >> the war's pause has allowed a surge of aid. >> 2400 tracks have entered gaza since the cease-fire began sunday but there is a long way before their hunger can be satisfied. until then, he sits scarred by the schism this war wrought. his granddaughter is more willing to save memories of a life displaced. >> we hope to god that the truth will be the, opening of the door to goodness the security and peace of mind and that we will return to rebuild our homes and live a human life after the suffering we have seen and the pain we have lived. >> and, after the suffering and pain, there is a desperate hope that the fire will not return. i'm nick schifrin.
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>> the fire danger in southern california is far from over and as first responders continue their battle against major wildfires, there is also renewed attention around a lesser-known group that is also on the front lines, incarcerated firefighters. stephanie sy has more. >> more than 1000 of the firefighters that have been battling the southern california wildfires are convex, part of a long-running state program. training and deployment onto the fire lines is voluntary with inmate firefighters making a maximum of about $10 a day or $30 if they work at 24 hour shift. they may also qualify to get two days shaved off their sentence for every day they worked for the state has become reliant on these men and women during the increasingly long fire season and the program has estimated to
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save california tens of millions of dollars a year. supporters say the program offers a pathway out of prison, but critics say the work and pay are exploitative. for more i am joined by sam lewis, an executive director of the anti-recidivism coalition. thank you so much for joining the news hour. i understand that you have personally visited these firefighters at their base camps very recently. tell me, how is their morale? are they pumped that they are able to help in this crisis? >> absolute. i was able to visit both of the base camps. morale is high. as one of the hand crew said, this is my way of giving back. i made mistakes but this clearly demonstrates the redemption as possible. and so, through the football -- we threw the football around, they had great food from people that donated. we had a lot of other people that visited to let them know how much that we appreciate them
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and how grateful we are for them helping suppress this affair. >> i've seen pictures of celebrities visiting these incarcerated firefighters. i know on the fire lines they have to wear special uniform, and orange in a depicts them as inmates. do they face unique challenges in their role, and are they treated him differently than other firefighters as far as you can tell? >> i could not tell the difference. for instance, both firefighters that are not incarcerated and hand crews were 24 hour shifts. they sleep intents. when it is time for them to take breaks at the fire line, they literally will lay on the ground, and that is true of regular firefighters. i have pictures of firefighters using their helmets to take a nap when it is time for them to have a break. so the difference is, one person is incarcerated and the other one isn't and the pay is another. however, i must say that assembly member isaac -- has introduced a bill to fix the pay
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and equity in this program. >> some of them get paid as low as a doll ar a day. the program has drawn criticism over the years. i want to play what a criminal justice reform advocate and former inmate firefighters yourself told us earlier today. >> it is wild to think that we're not even paying minimum wage to people during this extremely dangerous work but that is the other issue. it is very dangerous work. folks are often signing their rights away to be out there fighting fires on the fire ground. and, you know, folks are not being equipped with the path to a solid career firefighting wages when they come home. that is not to say they are not programs that exist, but they are not enough. they are not sufficient for what we need to actually be supporting people to make their way into firefighting careers when they get home. >> what is your response --
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about compensation but what about some of the other points that she makes? >> in the past, those points were correct. pay, the assembly bill 147 is not passed yet, it is in progress. but i would hope that voters would definitely support assembly member isaac bryant in making sure that hand crews are paid the equivalent of the lowest paid firefighters. in terms of a pathway, we've helped create a pathway with fire fired and the department of corrections called the ventura training center. this is an incredible program that allows people that have been incarcerated that are hand crews and fire camps to come home, trained to become certified firefighters, get the record expunged and get there -- their emt's. there was a second site we just opened up in the past year
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called the los angeles training center. and this, we've completed our first cohort. we are about to start our all women's cohort that would also create pathways for people that are coming out of these camps to become full-time cal wildland fire or municipal firefighters. >> you were incarcerated years ago, sam. i imagine you and others of face stigma once you've paid your debt to society. you go out and it is hard. we hear over and over for the formerly incarcerated to get jobs. is it any different for these firefighters? >> initially it was, but now the ventura training center has been up and standing since 2018. we put over 200 formerly incarcerated firefighters into firefighting careers. and so, when they are welcomed into this unique community, of firefighters, as i've heard some
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of the chiefs say, it is a way of life, not just a career. and so they are welcomed into a different lifestyle. and it is 100%. we would love for you to be able to see some of our graduations because this is 100% true when it comes to welcoming people that have been incarcerated into a different level of redemption, demonstrating that they have always had value as human beings. now we see them being given the opportunity to live their best life and become their best version of themselves. >> sam lewis with the anti-recidivism coalition. thanks for your insights. >> thank you. thank you so much. >> now we remember some of the lives lost in the california fires. authorities are still searching but so far at least a eight people have died. at least two victims families have filed lawsuits against southern california edison alleging that the utility company was negligent and its equipment may have sparked a fire.
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as we learn more about the victims, we are taking a moment to focus on the legacies they leave behind. tonight we continue with these eight stories. ♪ >> mark was born in the soviet union and came to the u.s. in 1980. the 80-year-old ran three miles every morning including on the day he died. his granddaughter said his motto was study math, keep money in the bank, and do three good things every day. kim died in the eaton fire after telling friends she was not going to evacuate. the 77-year-old lived alone in altadena and was a private person. her longtime friend jeannette told reporters "her house was everything. it was her haven, her sanctuary and security." 69-year-old jeff lived in his malibu home for 41 years a beloved husband, father and grandfather. in every fire that came before, he worked to keep nabers safe.
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his family said he was the protector of our home and our neighborhood. our father's absence leaves a hole in our family that can never be filled. charles mortimer was a world traveler with an infectious smile who lived life to the fullest. in a statement, his family said "he will be remembered as a man with a quick wit, a brilliant mind, and a love for his family." mortimer was 84 years old. annette refused to evacuate her pacific palisades home, despite the police from neighbors and loved ones. she did not want to leave her pets behind. a beloved dog, to parents and a canary and a turtle. she was 85. edwin, 94, loved vintage cars and is remembered as a kind soul to those who knew him. his friend dennis told reporters " when my time comes, if i can be half the man he was and go to the same place, then i will be ok with it."
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evelyn, 59, lived next to her brother who was helping to evacuate their disabled mother. he told his sister it is time to go, and thought she was following them. he told reporters " i don't know why she did not leave. it is just so much." 84-year-old -- a native of china, lived alone in altadena after losing his wife during the pandemic. his son planned to visit his father soon and said his dad " taught me how to think critically and solve complex math problems. thank you, dad. rest in peace." >> during the pandemic, a project called artists and ed lde was formed to connect artists with older adultsr. the founder share their takes on
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the art of bringing people together. >> so, in march of 2020, there was this thing that was happening in the world that forced us all to spend lots of times at home. and we all started getting really worried about the elders in our own lives. we realized if we were worried about our parents, about our grandparents, surely there are so many other elders that are experiencing a sense of prolonged isolation and we started learning about isolation as a health risk. we started project called artists and elders with the idea of bringing individual artists and individual elders together for creative exchange. for you, as a performance collective, we started making performances together in 2017. and we make performances that bring diverse groups of strangers together and we think about performance making his giftgiving. >> gifting experience, like all
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giftgiving and gift receiving, is a sort of experience, the experience of opening up a present at christmas or the anticipation of giving something to another person. >> thinking about what would make a great gift for that specific person, that really gives us a lot of information and enthusiasm for what were doing. >> my grandparents, phyllis and milton, and they lived to be in their mid 90's, and they were our biggest fans, they loved to see performances. they would always say they do not understand the art, but they love me and they love the people that i work with. so, when they became too ill to come to see performances we had the idea that would make something for them and their homes. this idea bring a performance, creating something for spoke, something with the intent to move specific people that we know, that was the genesis of some of these ideas. >> in our process we get to know people and we spent a lot of
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time hanging out, getting to know the things that keep them ticking. and remake experience is that hopefully move them in the world. something i discovered in the artisan elders and working with older folk is that we don't ask a lot about their futures. that is one of the most fun things to do in our process. >> there's this stereotype that all people need to be taken care of of. it isn't tantalizing. one thing we do is listen. we listen a lot. we ask a lot of questions. we want to know what lights you up. this act of generosity, although it is us giving something, it actually feels like it is reciprocal. >> my name is ryan. >> my name is erica. and this is our brief but spectacular take on -- >> how to bring people together as art. >> that's great. you can watch more brief but spectacular videos about aging at pbs.org/newshour/longevity.
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>> that is news hour for tonight. >> for all of us at pbs news hour, thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- >> on an american cruise line churning, travelers experience the maritime heritage and culture of the maine coast and new england islands. our fleet explores american landscapes, seaside villages, and historic harbors where you can experience local customs and cuisine. american cruise lines. proud sponsor of pbs news hour. >> friends of the news hour, including jim and nancy biltmore and the robert and virginia schiller foundation. the ford foundation, working
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