Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour Weekend 20180114

The j. P. B. Foundation. The Anderson Family fund. Rosalind p. Walter, in memory of abby m. Oneill. Barbara hope zuckerberg. Corporate funding is provided by mutual of america designing customized individual and Group Retirement products. Thats why were your retirement company. Additional support has been provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. From the tisch wnet studios at Lincoln Center in new york, hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan good evening, and thank you for joining us. There is new fallout from President Trumps reported use of vulgar language to describe haiti and some african nations during thursdays immigration meeting with senators. U. S. Ambassadors serving in several countries including botswana and haiti were summoned to explain the remarks. At the united nations, ambassadors from african nations issued a statement calling the remarks racist and xenophobic. In addition, the president of ghana tweeted, we will not accept such insults, even from a leader of a friendly country. In an open letter obtained exclusively today by the newshour, a group of haitian american diplomats in the state department expressed their heartbreak and despair with the president s reported remarks. President trump denies using the expletive, but senator dick durbin, the only democrat present at the meeting, said yesterday that trump did indeed use that expletive. This controversy comes as haiti marks the eighth anniversary of the earthquake that killed an estimated 300,000 people. In november, the Trump Administration announced it was ending a special immigration status for nearly 60,000 haitians affected by that quake. President trump, who is spending the Holiday Weekend at mara lago in florida, blamed democrats for the stalemate on immigration in an Early Morning tweet. They are all talk and no action. Lawmakers have until next friday to pass a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. Among the sticking points in any deal are two immigrationrelated matters dreamers, people brought to the u. S. Illegally as children; and border security, including the president s proposal for a wall along the u. S. mexico border. Hawaiis governor says someone pushing the wrong button led to todays Ballistic Missile alert scare. The alert sent to millions of people even included the line this is not a drill. It t38 minutes for authorities to send out a second alert correcting the first and assuring the public that it was a false alarm. Iran is warning of a severe response to the latest round of sanctions from the Trump Administration. The administration is targeting 14 highranking iranian individuals and entities over alleged human rights abuses. This comes as the white house agreed to renew the suspension of other sanctions under the nuclear deal one last time. This is being described as a lastchance opportunity to fix what the president sees as flaws in the 2015 agreement. Irans foreign minister tweeted his response, calling the announcement of new sanctions a desperate attempt to undermine the nuclear deal. Residents of montecito, california, are being told to evacuate today as the city works to recover from deadly mudslides. The mudslides are blamed for 18 deaths in Santa Barbara county. It was a onetwo punch for the region that battled the thomas fire, which left hillsides scorched and destabilized before heavy rains triggered the mudslides. The thomas fire was the largest wildfire on record for the state of california. It was declared 100 contained yesterday. Haitianamerican state Department Diplomats respond to President Trumps comments. Read their open letter at www. Pbs. Org newshour. Sreenivasan in a new years day tweet, President Trump took on the pakistani government, criticizing what he called their lies and deceit and saying that the country gives safe haven to the terrorists. Referring to financial a sent to pakistan from the United States, mr. Trump added no more u. S. Officials later suspended approximately 2 billion in such aid. This week, pakistan responded by halting the sharing of intelligence with the United States, something of consequence for the war in afghanistan. For some analysis of the complex relationship between the two nations, i am joined from washington, d. C. , by reuters reporter Arshad Mohammed. So, lets first talk about the most recent news. Pakistan not sharing intelligence. How important is this . Well, there are different ports about this, and to be honest, we havent quite gotten to the bottom of exactly what has or has not changed. What i think is significant is that the statements made by some pakistani officials about not sharing intelligence is their way of retaliating for the planned aid suspension. And its also their way of basically underlining that the United States needs pakistan if its going to try to stabilize afghanistan. Sreenivasan when the president sent out his tweet, it seems like he was ahead of military advisers, intelligence community, state department, people who usually would be in on Something Like this. Absolutely. There are two ways to look at this. On the one hand, the direction, or the general direction of american policy had been clear, atstince august. In august, president tru gav a speech. He made abundantly clear that he was going to get tougher on pakistan, and that he wanted pakistan to do more to fight the Pakistani Taliban and the haqqani group. So the general direction of a harder line was obvious. On the other hand, you know, the new years day tweet stunned people across the agencies in the United States. And youre right, it included you know d. O. D. , the state department, the intelligence community. There had been a longer timeline expected on this decision. We were told that an assessment of pakistani compliance with american demands that they crack down on the militants was expected to be completed in january or february, and that a full kind of policy roll out, if they were going to cut the aid, wasnt expected until march or april. What ultimately happened was basically you had a bunch of officials who ended up having to work on their new years day holiday, and in four days come up with a policy to suspend aid. The most telling detail for me was that thursday night at the state department, two state Department Officials briefed us, and they were unable to say how much aid was actually going to get suspended. That is completely atypical. And a couple of officials told us that as of thursday night, january 4, the state department didnt have a National Security Council Decision memo. Normally, thats a memo thats written that lays everything out in precise detail whats going to happen when, and its all sort of tied up in a bow. And as of thursday night, they were still waiting for that memo. That shows thats the clearest indication of how surprised, caught off guard, and unprepared the broader washington bureaucracy was for the president s tweet. Sreenivasan all right, Arshad Mohammed of reuters joining us from washington wash. Thanks so much. Thanks for having me. Sreenivasan Rex Tillerson has said that ukraine is the single most difficult obstacle to establishing normal relations with russia. And just a few weeks ago, the Trump Administration decided to provide additional assistance to ukraine in the form of lethal antitank missiles as they fight against russian backed separatists. Newshour weekend special correspondent Christopher Livesay traveled to ukraine to see how that conflict continues to impact residents caught in the crossfire. Reporter kiev, the capital of ukraine, looks peaceful in the first winter snow, but, just 500 miles southeast of here, a war has claimed 10,000 lives, including the soldiers memorialized on this wall. Its a conflict thats inflamed teions between the u. S. And russia like nothing since the cold war. Russia has portred it as a civil war, ukrainian vs. Ukrainian. gunfire but at a Ukrainian Military Training Camp about an hour from kiev, soldiers we met had no doubt who they were fighting. translated against russian aggressors who are coming to our country. Its a fight against russian terrorists, in my opinion. translated i believe that there would be no conflict if the Russian Troops did not enter the territory of ukraine. Russia sees ukraine as part of its sphere of influence, and i think russia would like to insure that ukraine is not an independent actor. Reporter Marie Yovanovitch is the u. S. Ambassador to ukraine. She says ukraine has steadily been turning westward, seeking closer ties with nato and the european union. Tension reached a boiling point when ukraines prorussian president , viktor yanukovych, turned his back on a western trade pact in 2013, and pro european protesters took to the maidan, kievs main square. The protests were proeuropean, anticorruption and overwhelmingly peaceful. They braved months of cold and Brutal Police crackdowns that claimed dozens of lives. Eventually, after three months, president yanukovych fled to russia. The proeuropean protesters had won. I think the russians were angry over this. And so, the first move that we saw was the infamous little green men in crimea, a part of ukraine. Men arriving in uniform, in green uniforms, but no identification, and they denied sort of that they were anything but people of crimea. And within a matter of days, really, crimea was taken over by russian forces. So, when a part of europe is attacked, that is not good for stability, its not good for security, its not. Of ukraine, but also more broadly of europe, one of our best partners. Reporter the u. S. And e. U. Responded to the Russian Occupation of crimea with stiff sanctions, but the crisis in the south was followed shortly by another crisis in the east of ukraine, in the region known as donbas. Prorussian separatists took over entire towns declaring independence, further dividing ukrainians from one another. But who were the separatists . According to yuriy boyko, a pro russian member of parliament, they were simply local ukrainians who felt threatened by the maidan protests and the new prowest government in kiev. People on the. In the east of ukraine didnt understand what is happening in kiev. They saw the blood, they saw the shootings, they were frightened. They were speaking in russian. They were closer to russia. Reporter so, the russian speaki peoe in Eastern Ukraine, they. They were afraid. Reporter they were afrai and they felt closer to russia than to the country of ukraine . In this situation, yes. Reporter is this a civil war or is russia an aggressor . It is civil war with russian support. This is not a civil war. I think thats part of a russian disinformation campaign. Reporter so, we know that russia is operating in these areas. Yes, we do. Reporter its not russian speaking, prorussian forces who are ukrainians. These are russians operating in Eastern Ukraine. The russians are controlling both the Civil Administration as well as the fighting, and they can turn it up and they can turn it down. And weve seen that. Along the contact line. Reporter there is a cease fire in place, but its constantly being violated, according to alexander hug, who monitors the conflict for the organization for security and cooperation in europe. The o. S. C. E. Has more than 600 monitors on both sides of the contact line documenting fighting like this firing from howitzers, nighttime attacks on the water system in donetsk, and mortar explosions in the town of avdiivka. So, at least, as far as ukraine is concerned, this is no cold war. It is a very active war. We see on a daily basis thousands of ceasefire violations. And we continue to retrace the suffering of the civilian population that often live very closely or actually on the contact line between positions. Reporter who is breaking the ceasefire . Youre on the ground, what have you seen . We know that both sides do not adhere to the cease fire. Both sides maintain positions too close to one another. And both sides do keep heavy weapons in areas where they have agreed these weapons tanks, mortars, artillery, multiple launchrocket systems should not be. This is one example of an area where we see fighting. Reporter we decided to go to avdiivka to see the front line ourselves. Our trip began with a sixhour train ride southeast from kiev to the town of sloviansk. In the early days of the war, this road from the train station was dubbed sniper alley. It was one of the first towns to be taken by rebels in 2014. Right behind me is a mental facility that they occupied and used to launch mortar attacks on the Ukrainian Forces out there in the distance about where the woods are. Caught in the middle villagers like 59yearold yuriy, a car mechanic whose house was destroyed by shelling. Although he has russian roots his children fled to russia for safety he stayed behind to rebuild the family home. translated how can i feel russian . Im ukrainian reporter eventually, the Ukrainian Army bombed the Mental Hospital and retook the town, moving the contact line about 60 miles south to our destination avdiivka. To get there, we needed to cross checkpoints we werent allowed to film. We started out early in the morning on roads pockmarked by shelling. The donbas region of ukraine is rich in Natural Resources and farmland, but many fields are off limits because of the possibility of landmines. Avdiivka is in the socalled grey zone. Were told its safe during daylight hours. Most of the shelling happens at night. After more than three years of fighting, people have grown used to it. We found this woman selling handmade items by the side of the road. Knitting calms her nerves, she tells us. Water, heat and electricity are sporadic, with infrastructure constantly being damaged in the fighting and needing repair. Suffering the most are smaller villages like kamianka, just outside avdiivka. 78yearold Valentina Shmatok has lived here her whole life. She points to the front. There, she says, just across the highway. There was shelling just last night, she says. Farhana javid, a psychologist with the International Red cross, has been visiting this village weekly. She points out a root cellar where more than a dozen of the villagers are forced to take cover on a regular basis. Can you imagine this is the place they live . Reporter theyll sleep in here . They dont sleep. Basically, they bring their small stools, and they just sit here. There is no place to sleep here. Its cold, its stinky, ere is no electricity, and they have goough hell because many of their children are in different parts of the world. So, they are not able to meet them; they are not able to speak to them; and also they lie to them, telling them that they are fine, theyre all right, because they dont want to get them worried. Reporter we ask valentina how the red cross has helped her. translated they bring us Different Things and talk to us. Thats the only outlet for us. We never have rest here. Reporter the fighting is at a stalemate thats injured or killed more than 400 civilians last year alone. Both sides have called for u. N. Peacekeepers, but talks have not gotten far, and there is a risk this conflict will escalate. The u. S. Is upping the ante, announcing last month it will allow the sale of lethal anti tank weapons to Ukrainian Forces like those training near kiev. Russia sees this as another provocation. Meanwhile, some say russias strategy has backfired. You see the signs everywhere e. U. Flags, antiputin paraphernalia. On this monument in kiev, the peoples friendship arch built by soviets in the early 1980s, the russian writing has been defaced and replaced by the words glory to ukraine. Nadia vivchar is a student originally from western ukraine, now living in kiev. The conflict in crimea and then in Eastern Ukraine, has that united the country . It has united the people, actually. So, before this conflict actually started, i really didnt feel that much patriotic feelings toward ukine. And now, with all of these events and my friends going to the eastern part to fight, it makes people unite. It makes us unite not against somebody but to protect ourselves. Reporter Svitlana Zalishchuk agrees. One of the original proeuropean protesters, shes a member of parliament now and says ukrainians are united like never before. People think that kind of its western ukraine chose the west and Eastern Ukraine chose russia, and this is not true. 70 of our soldiers who were. Who went voluntarily to fight, they are russianspeaking people. You can speak russian, you can have relatives in russia, but it was choice not of the language or nationality; it was a choice of the future. And we are a country that. That has for sure a democratic future. Sreenivasan a number of American Companies are handing out bonuses and raises to workers as they expect to reap the benefits of the recently passed tax cuts. This week, walmart joined in, saying they will increase the starting pay for hourly workers to 11 and provide onetime bonuses of as much as 1,000 to eligible employees. But the news was mixed because the retail giant also said it would close 63 of its sams club stores and cut 3,500 store managers. Those jobs would be replaced by lowerpaid positions. For some analysis, i am joined by Michael Corkery of the new york times. So, 11 bucks an hour. Thats a good thing for lots and lots and lots the the largest private employer in the country, right . It is. Its a big move. You know, labor groups have been, you know, on walmarts case for years to raise that starting wage. They moved 2. Its, you know, some would say theyre playing catchup to where other retailers are. Target is at 11 and they moved that up in september. But nonetheless, theyre the largest private employer in the u. S. Its more than 1 million people. Its a lot more money in their pockets. But as you mentioned, this news, which was generally received positively, was somewhat complicated and marred by, on the same day theyre announcing this, this raise, they also closed 63 sams clubs stores. So their critics saw it as, wait, so youre giving here and take away there. What suld have been a great news day for walmart turned into a complicated one. Sreenivasan lets talk a little bit about the doanses. Roughly, how much are they going to spend on the bonuses and how much are they going to save on the tax cuts . So what theyve said is bonuses will cost the company about 300 million. The raises that theyre giving for the starting wage about 400 million. So all told about 700 million. Were not sure exactly and the company hasnt said how much theyre going to say from the tax cut, but an estimate we got shows its probably about 2. 2 billion a year. So much of it is going to be spent on employees, but most of it is going to be spent elsewhere. Sreenivasan what about the timing of these announcements . There are 120 or 130 Different Companies that have all announced this. But this is also part of the narrative that the Trump Administration is saying, hey, look, tax cuts are good. It was a gift to the Trump Administration. Republicans taking a lot of heat that the tax cut is mainly going to benefit the rich, and heres walmart that employs a million hourly workers, the working class some would say theyre not even working class. Theyre even below that in terms of a working wage. And here theyre saying its company is saying were going to use this tax cut, thank you very much, to invest and give more money to these, you know, lower wage peep. So, yeah, it was i mean, it was paul ryan was tweeting about it as exhibit a of look how great this tax cut is. Steve mnuchin, the treasury secretary was also touting it. So, yeah, it was a nice plumb for the Trump Administration. Sreenivasan it is a risk for companies that theyre taking sides in a political conversation, especially when the country is so divide and theyve got customers that are on both sides of the aisle . Yes, and i think walmart learned that when they announced this because i think if they hadnt if the company hadnt tied it to the tax cut, i dont think the criticism about the sams clubs closings would have been so tough on the company. I think, i mean, retailers are Closing Stores all the time. Its difficult and painful for the workers, but this, they really took it on the chin. And i think it was because they opened themselves up to it by politicizing what otherwise was a, you know, what scusm companie doing all the time. Sreenivasan all right Michael Corkery of the new york times, thank you very much. This is pbs newshour weekend, saturday. Sreenivasan kentucky is set to become the first state to have a medicaid work requirement. The federal agency that oversees state medicaid programs, the centers for medicare and medicaid services, announced on thursday a new policy that would allow states to mandate work or other Community Engagement activities. Kentucky was granted permission yesterday. In kentucky, the new requirements affecabout 350,000 adcipiult rets aged 19 to 64, about half of whom already have jobs. The changes exempt certain groups including pregnant women, fulltime students and the medically frail. The state will also begin charging recipients a monthly premium based on income. The latest numbers from the centers for Disease Control and prevention show we are in one of the most severe flu seasons in years, but it may have finally hit its peak. There are more than 60,000 confirmed influenza cases this season, and flu activity is widespread in every state right now except hawaii and the district of columbia. The c. D. C. Reports seven children died from flu this week, bringing the total number of fluassociated pediatric deaths this season to 20. Hundreds of newly released pages of Court Documents offer details into the Las Vegas Concert shooting investigation, but they offer no new insight into the motive for the mass shooting that left 58 people dead and hundreds more injured. The f. B. I. Says in the documents that gunman Stephen Paddock meticulously planned the attack and took steps to thwart the eventual Law Enforcement investigation that would follow. The f. B. I. Also found two email accounts linked to paddock that referenced bump stocks, which allow semiautomatic rifles to fire similarly to automatic weapons. The shooters girlfriend, marilou danley, was out of the country at the time of the attack, but she told investigators that they would likely find her fingerprints on ammunition because she helped him load magazines. The f. B. I. Said there was no evidence tt she knew of his plans. Sreenivasan finally tonight, chelsea manning, who had her conviction for leaking sensitive military information to wikileaks commuted by president obama, is entering politics. Manning filed papers with the federal Election Commission to challenge maryland senator ben cardin, who is the ranking democrat on the Foreign Relations committee. Thats all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. Im hari sreenivasan. Thanks for watching. Have a good night. Captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org pbs newshour weekend is made possible by bernard and irene schwartz. The cheryl and Philip Milstein family. Sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. Dr. P. Roy vagelos and diana t. Vagelos. The j. P. B. Foundation. The Anderson Family fund. Rosalind p. Walter. Barbara hope zuckerberg. Corporate funding is provided by mutual of america designing customized individual and Group Retirement products. Ths w were your retirement company. Additional support has been provided by and by the cporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. [jim] coming up on articuletee the kinetic sculptures of Reuben Margolin are extraordinary mechanic attempts to evoke the modern world. I know that sometimes that really gut reaction, i dont entirely trust it and its weird not to trust your gut reaction, but ive learned that sometimes if i back away and give it time that itll work. [jim] Jennifer Higdon is among the most performed living composers in the world today and shes part of a storied musical lineage. Our world is much noisier, so im aware when im writing a piece of music that im also marking our time here now. Im both a mirror of our experience, but im also the hammer saying are you paying attention . Are you paying attention . [jim] the art of skater and painter chemi rosadoseijo is founded in community activism