Welcome to matter of fact. How separate are church and state . Thats the question the new political docuseries the family tries to answer. The family is a conservative Christian Group that for decades used its proximity to power to influence policy. It hosts small bipartisan prayer groups and has put on the National Prayer breakfast since 1953. The family also is known as the fello fellowship and remains secretive by design. Journalist jeff sharlet author of two books about the organization, the family and c street, served as one of the series executive producers. He also lived with the group at its headquarters in arlington, virginia, just outside of d. C. In my 20s i stumbled my way in and what i found was a secretive Christian Organization called the family that had been hiding in plain sight for 80 years. There were congressmen, senators, World Leaders soledad jeff sharlet, its so nice to have you, thanks for joining us. Jeff hi, soledad, thanks for having me. Soledad you bet. Give me a description of what the family really is. In broad strokes, it sounds like its a bunch of committed christians who believe in prayer groups. Jeff one of the oddest things about them is they actually reject the label christian. They see themselves as transcending all religion and their idea of jesus as trumping any other faith. Its the oldest and most influential and oddly, its in many ways the most secretive Christian Conservative group washington. It goes all the way back to the 1930s and Franklin Roosevelt when they organized as an antilabor movement to oppose roosevelts new deal. And in the present day, they seek to exert influence as they put it sort of behind the scenes , thats their terms. The leader, longtime leader of the group is a man named doug coe, who says the more invifble invisible you can make your organization, the more influence it will have. Which is true, which is why we have lobbying and disclear law which over the years they have managed to evade. Soledad so is it about their religion or is it about just amassing power for purposes that are out of religion . Jeff you know, i almost sort of want to say yes, yes to both of those things. Their religion is sort of distinct. Its not the kind of evangelcalism that most people would be familiar with this their churches. Doug coe says, trying to explain how he understands who jesus is he says to understand jesus you dont speak of, you know, a lion or a lamb. The common denominator of those monsters he says, you look at the strong man of history, says look, and im quoting here hitler, lenin, mao, and the common denominator of these monsters, the fash is and communists he is neither the common denominator is strength whereas most people look at jesus believers ask and see a message of love. They see a message of strength and power. Soledad well, it seems like theyll embrace a flawed person. Just being a flawed person kind of allows you an opportunity to repent and come back from being flawed. They focused overseas for a long time. They believe if youre in power, god put new power. They say everybody is concentrating on jesus came for the sheep. What about the wolves . They said were here for the wolves and were interesting in the most powerful wolves. They said we seekut the wolf king. Trump is their wolf king. As they describe him as a godshamed man. Obviously being used by got to achieve ends they think are valuable and they see this as a longterm project. Theyre not interested in the immediate public limelight. There are ways in which they can see moderate because theyre willing to work over this long period. Soledad do you think your work and other is have undermined the power of the family at this point or no . Jeff i dont want to take too much credit but the movement is much larger than any journalist can grasp. They sometimes like to call themselves a christian mafia. Their own internal documents are stuffed with talking about ways in which to keep their work secret. The biggest thing we can do is say lets make it visible and inning in the Netflix Series we were able to get a lot of these guys to sit on camera and talk about what theyre doing for the first time. We gave them their say. Theyre allowed to say why they think its appropriate in a democracy for political figures to be meeting and pursuing a mixture of church and state beyond the public eye or beyond, as they put it. They have this pretension bit of latin, beyond the incident of the vox populi, which means beyond the voice of the people. Thats not democracy. Shoich jeff sharlet, the docuseries, is a fiveparter on netflix based on your two books. Thank you for joining me. Next on matter of fact. We have to advocate, agitate and make sure that our voice is being heard and that were being taken seriously. Inside the fight for one neighborhood to change yet remain the same. Neighborhood to change yet remain the same. Plus, pulling the plug on better than olay . Olay regenerist faced 131 premium products, from 12 countries, over 10 years. Olays hydration was unbeaten every time. Olay, face anything. [ soft piano music playing ] mm, uh, what do you do for fun . Not this. Oh, what am i into . Mostly progressives name your price tool. Helps people find Coverage Options based on their budget. Flo has it, i want it, its a whole thing, and shes right there. Yeah, shes my ride. This dates lame. He has pics of you on his phone. Theyre very tasteful. Dprevagen is the number onemild. Memopharmacistrecommendedng . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Be right there baby. Unlike ordinary diapers pampers is the first and only diaper that distributes wetness evenly into three extra absorb channels. They stay up to three times drier so babies can sleep soundly all night wishing you love, sleep and play pampers dprevagen is the number onemild memopharmacistrecommendedng . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Upbeat music no coverup spray here. Cheaper aerosols can cover up odors in a flowery fog. But febreze air effects eliminates odors. With a 100 natural propellent. It leaves behind a pleasant scent youll love. [ deep inhale] freshen up. Dont cover up. Shipp its one of the most popmatic urban housing issues and exists across the country. Area deeped to be too boor to be worth the investment or regentryifying. With that, Affordable Housing backs unaffordable for the unaffordable for the People Living there. The city of louisville is hoping to improve one of its most historicistricts b without displacing the people who already live there. Its an audacious experiment but can it work . In our series russell rising, we track the development. Heres part one of our series. The neighborhood was really vibrant. It wasnt as dilapidated. Haven harringtons family goes back more than three generations in west louisville. He lives and works as a radio talk show host in russell, the neighborhood where we grew up. This is the infamous ninth street divide. During the urban renewal they made this beloved boulevard that frustrate separated West Boulevard from downtown boulevard. Soledad part of a 1960s urban development that split the city by rails. Havens beloved russell neighborhood, known as the harlem of louisville, was decimated. For decades to come, the banks also engaged in red lining, lit rag rit literally drawing red lines around communes communities they will considered too high risk. Louisvilles former mayor, charles farnsley, laughed when he described the motive behind the socalled renewal project. Their motive was, as they told me, to drive the negro back from the central area. They felt that way downtown wouldnt become the black belt. It was a childish idea and a cruel thing. It was called negro renewal by the negros and it almost always tore down the homes of black people or poor people. Soledad today a new renewal effort is under way, this time one that intends to include africanamericans in the recovery. Russell leverages 867 million to revive that neighborhood, just west of louisvilles bustling downtown. Sadiqa reynolds, president of the urban league, has raised about half of the 35 million to build an indoor track and field facility. Why did you pick this spot . Well, to be honest with you, i feel more like this spot picked me this community deserves this, we deserve to have an opportunity to live in the place where we have really suffered and sacrificed, to watch it grow and watch it become something better. Surf still, this is mounting anxiety over whether improvement will lead to jennette think gentrify occasion, which displaces the people who already live there. Its about who gets empowered, who benefits from the investment . Do the investments come into the hands of the folks of a who have a connection to tha neighborhood historically. Soledad kevin fields, who leads the Louisville Community centers is pushing developers to include community input. Do you feel like the developers are listening to the people . We had to advocate, agitate and make sure that our voice is heard and that were being taken seriously. Surf did it get ugly . Weve worked with a group of concerned pastors of russell and because of the faithbased leadership, it probably didnt get as ugly as it could have gotten. [laughter] lord, we ask you now to bless this church, this community. Soledad reverend Geoffrey Ellis is one of those pastors. He ministers to the people of russell, where 60 of the nearly 10,000 remaining residents live below the poverty level. You want this neighborhood to change . I want it to change for the best. Have the resources to have a developed neighborhood, not underdeveloped. I want to it be a part of a larger community, which which is louisville. When we come back, could talking politics on the job send send you to the unemployment lionel . Employees often accept certainly terms of employment. Some of those could include agreeing to limit your speech. Why the First Amendment may not protect you at work. Plus, one state bans popular favored ecigarettes. Will others follow . Soledad they say dont talk politics at the office. All we do is talk politics here. Companies, including google cracking county on frill speech at work. Googles ceo recently sent a memo to employees saying sharing ideas with employees helps build community but talking about politics does not. 65 of employees were ok with talking politics. 25 were undecided so what is legally safe and whats off limits . Is there a constitutional right to free speech at work . Tonya cyclones is an ethics lawyer. So nice to have you. Thank you for having me. Soledad what is speech when were talking about free speech . Dwesh we have to look at the context of where we are. In terms of the First Amendment, this there is this freedom of speech, which basically tell us that the government wont try to shape a persons speech but it could be different under employment. Free speech includes expression of political ideas, political views, but it could be limited in certainly private organizations. Surf so if you work for the government in a public capacity, does that mean youre protected and your free speech rights are protected more than say, you work for a private company . In the executive branch of government, this is the hatch act, when we talk about speech, generally, yes, Government Employees have a right to free speech but if they work for the executive branch, they are predicted from engaging in certain political activities. Soledad which is why Kellyanne Conway is constantly being called out for her violations of the hatchell act. Most people work for private exeavens. So does that mean theyre not predicted protected if their employer says, you demeed to go or say this or take down that poster of the candidate that you support. They have to do it . Its interesting. Free speech covers all, but the key is employees often accept certain terms of employment and some of those terms could include agreeing to limit your speech. Oftentimes when employees go into a new organization, they will sign policies without fully understanding what they mean. Soledad in 2004, lynn golf was fired. She had a Carrie EdwardsKerry Edwards sticker on her car. Her employer was a bush fran and she lost her job. Again, its about what the employer has agreed to. When an employee takes a job, theyre in there for a specific goal for the organization. Soledad yes, but, heres my pushback on that. I get the sense that if the woman had a bush sticker on her car and her boss was a bush fan, theres certainly an implication that she was not just a distraction with a political sticker. It was that the political sticker didnt match her bosss political leanings and thats why she was fired. At the end of the dale its really about the political environment and about the specific environment of that particular organization so whether its one political official or another being talked about, its a matter of how it impact that is place of employment. Surf as a lawyer, do you gust just tell people shoosh dont talk about politics. Even though polls showed that people are overwhelming ok with having those political conversations. I have to admit, especially as a lawyer, i do advise people to minimize their conversations about controversial cop topics period. There has to be a lot of reconciliation that takes place in the workplace. People need to relate to onere on an one another on an ongoing basis regardless of how things change. Thats easier if you focus more on Common Ground so i would say thats an absolute best practice. Just minimize. Soledad lawyers never give you the advice run in and lead with controversy. Never. Tonya sloan, no nice to have you. Thanks. Coming up next, one state is the first in the country to exdistinguish ecigarettes. Plus, art on wheels. One of the most important things you can do is to make sure you call 811 before you dig. Calling 811 can get your lines marked. Its free, its easy, we come out and mark your lines. We provide you the information so you will dig safely. Leave the structure, call 911, keep people away, and call pg e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. Y y paint something soledad now to our weekly feature we like to call were paying attention even if youre too busy. Michigan is the first state in the nation to ban flavored ecigarettes. Governor Gretchen Whitner says flavors like fruit looms and vanilla wafer attracts children to them and ultimately hooks them. She said ecigarettes can deliver tobacco more than twice as quickly as tobacco cigarettes. Last month, state officials announced the state is investigating at least six cases of severe respiratory illnesses linked to vaping. The ban will last to six months but can be renewed. Health advocates have applauded the decision. The American Vaping Association calls the ban a shameless attempt at back door prediction. In june, San Francisco became the first city in the United States to ban ecigarette sales. When we return, how much would you pay for this truck covered in from feety . Why the price tag could top seven figures. The ross fall Fashion Event has all the looks for way less. Check this out thats yes for less. Get the brands you love and save 20 to 60 off Department Store prices. At the ross fall Fashion Event. On now. And you get first dibs on that brand. At that price . Thats yes for less. Seriously, get the fall brands and styles you love and save 20 to 60 off Department Store prices. At ross. Yes for less. Soledad and finally, its art on wheels. Banks see the anonymous bangsy, the anonymous street artist is rolling out one to the largest creations ever at the auction block. At the request of a fan, banksy began painting this volvo truck in 1989. The artist finished it a couple of years later. It was used to tour through europe with the turbo Zone International circus. According to officials, it could festival up to 2 million when it goes on sale. Hopefully it wont destruct. Last years piece girl with a balloon slowly shrunk into a shredder that was hidden in the frame as soon as it stole for 1. 1 million. Thats it for this edition of matter of fact. Well see you back here next phoenix week. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] robert handa hello, and welcome to Asian Pacific america. Im robert handa, your host for our show here on nbc bay area and cozi tv. We start with sarisari storybooks, beautifullyillustrated books for youngsters. Written to the diverse cultures of the philippines, these multilanguage books celebrate the quirky magic of filipino storytelling, or so says the publisher wholl join us today. Then one of the magic spots of the bay area, the hakone foundation, is having its annual gala celebration next sunday, a celebration of the spectacular yet intimate Hakone Gardens in saratoga, which offers scenic beauty and a fascinating history. After that, one of my favorite events and certainly for those who love japanese food, it is time for tabemasho 2019,