Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20240713

Major funding for thebs newshour hidas been prov by on a cruise with american cruise lines, you can experience historic destinations along the mississippi river, the Columbia River and ross the united ates. Amrican cruise lines fleet of small ships explore american landmarks, local cultures and calm waterwaui. American lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour. Consumer cellular believes that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you usear we offer a vty of no contract wireless plans for people who use their phone a little, a lot, or anything in between. To learn more, go to consumercellular. T and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Nsschifrin a new year has dawned in baghdad after u. S. Air strikes against an iranian backed militia, led today to one of the worst attacks on a u. S. Embassy in yea. Dozensof shiite militiamen and their supporters brokeo the outer gate of baghdads sprawling u. S. Embassy compound. They burned a reception area and security trailers, but eventually retreated after u. S. Marines fired tear gas, and iraqi forces helped with the rsbursement. The protest was esponse to sundays u. S. air strikes against that same militia. The u. S. Blames the militia for a rocket attack that killed an American Defense worker. Today the pentagon said it is sending more marines to baghda t and presidemp blamed iran. Iran has denied any role. On the ground from baghdad is Washington Post reporter mustafa salim, who has been reporting. From the ubassy throughout the day. I spoke to him a short while ago by telephone. Muchtsa, you were outside the embassy, you posted video on twitters, what did you see. Thoke into the Reception Office of the embassy an they said and they set up fire around all the. Embas and then the forces who did thing at the beginning showed up and tried to get between them and the americans. And the americans tried to push them awayby throwing tear gas and small grenades in order to pusthem away. Now proffer they are not leavi e american troops will go away. Schifrin so what were these protesters demanding, exactly . So they are demding the embassy will be shut down and the u. S. Troops will go from iraq. Schifrin theyre promising to stay at the embassy till their demands are met . They are. They have food, blankets, pillows and theyre safe. Schifrin last question, how do we know, or do ow how wide they got so far . Do we have any sense of whether the police were in on it and whether government officials were behind some of the protesters . P someice in therliament parliament, they were with them. Theled the movement. Schifrin muafa sali from the Washington Post reporting outside the embassy. Ll day. Thank you very mu thank you. Schifri for more on the latest developments in iraq we get two views. Bilal wahab is a fellow at the washingtonnstitute for near east policy, a Foreign Policy think tank. And Kirsten Fontenrose is director of the middle east Security Initiative at the atlantic council. Shioe ly served as senior director for gulf affairs on the National Security Council Staff during the trump adminisation. Bilal, how connected is hezbollah to iran . The closest any militia can get to iran, that is a documentary that iran has made lebrating the leader of h hezbollah in which he clearly says that he sees himself as a member of the larger iranianled resistance against the united stats and israel. Schifrin so christine krists that believe iran is attacking the embassy . We believe it is a direct relatiknship. We als the number two deputy announcedesterday that theyavthe backing from tehran, the thumbs up from urhran to go full throttle againstorces in iraq. Schifrin lets talk about the last couplof days, the strikes on sunday. Wwere talking toou earlier. You said the u. S. Is falling into an iranian trap, that thenow a proxy war between the u. S. And iran inside of iraq. Iran managed to put the United States in a position of, you know, damned if you act and damned if you do not responthd. E have been eleven attacks on Iraqi Military bails that use American Military advisors. Eleven such attacks and the Iraqi Government filed to protect or even investigate thoroughly who those attackers were. So the United States was put in a position to nddetself, and i think thats an inherent right. Nonetheless, theres a protest movement against the militias in iraq demandi their freedom and democracy that started u as of october 1, its been going on for three months, and pa and parcel of that protest movement was the nefarious influce that these militias played by defying the iraqi sovereignty d state, and by indulging in foreignism that has brought external attacks on iraq. So in a way by having todays protests at the embassy, they have managed to turn themselves from purpose administr into victims, and thats why this u. S. Attack is aofart he larger strategy of deterring iran and forcing accountability into tnrhesey militias, then thats a positive thing. But the iraqis fear, the iraqi reformists fear this is a oneoff that will divert attention from the protesten movfor reform into the grievous of the milit schifrin i was talking to iraqi officials over the last day and a haand they point out what bial wahab was saying, a otest movement against iran in the center of baghdad and instead of talking about that, these strikes mean we have been talking about u. S. In iraq and that is against u. S. National interests. Absolutely, and entirely in irans strategic interests. When their proxies attack and the u. Soc. Recies against them, iran loses nothing, no iranians die in the attacks, no iranian infrastructure is harmed in the attacks and iraqi resentment for u. S. In iraq grows. So this is in irans interest we are not paying attention that the iraqis are protesting against iran and hezbollah on attempts to reform their own government. You have remnants of a government that are all iranianbraked and controlled still calling the shots and all International Tension is now on what the u. S. Is doing instead of what the iraqi people really want. Schifrin so has the u. S. Fallen into a trap . Its not at weve fallen into a trap as a country. Dont think we have choice right now because we do have men and women on thowground sitting in harms way. We have not given them the authorities to respond previousla we havent a country legislated to allow kinetic action against the iranian network. So we have a Training Mission in iraq to work with the iraqi forces and they do not have the authoritemto protect lves in sufficient ways. So we dont have a choice right now but to react in aay that protects them. Schifrin but do we have a w choice and have a choice on targets . Some of the other criticisms by iraqi officials about strikes on sunday was about especially the ones in the west of the countrtargeted some of the fighters who were fighting i. S. I. S. , even though, yes, they are backed by iran, they are fighting i. I. S. And the u. S. Attacked them. Is that not a concern . That could be a concern, but i think that is a nuanced deta detail. Hezbollah is part and parcel of the iraqi grievous, the protest movement o one hand. On the other, they have cleay defied th iraqi state. Lets look at the targets. There were five, three were in waq, the othero in syria. Why is an iraqi groupin figg in syria . Theyre not taking orders from the iraqi state or serving in the iraqi interests, they are serving a noniraqi interest, so they are a legitimate target as far as targets go. However, the part that is worrying more for the iraqis aside from turning the headlines fr the grievous othe iraqi people and the form of the Iraqi Government into the victim of these groups is wt ppen in syria, the oneoff shot on thd e aslitary base after the assad regime used chemical weapons, he crossed the red line, the United States acted, that was a one off, that did not create deterrence because assad is so powerful and recovered from. Th those iraqis that seek a greater u. S. Engagementment and want reform are afraid this is just a oneoff because the iraqi militias have crossed an inamerican reon one hand and afraid the withdrawal of the u. S. Troops is only a tweak away as hpened in syria. Schifrin crirtsen, is it a tweet away . I dont think so, i think well see a rampup of actions. Schifrin you think it is the beginninof a slightly different strategy. Do i think that. The question asked the president why should we not pull out if are there with a Training Mission and it is training forcndes the control of an iranian backed minister of defense, why should we leave our people in harms way and why not pull them out . But the answer you got from the department of defense shiftent the departof defense is where the u. S. Had most pushback against escalation in iran because of the forces there, thinking this f we did anythg escalate, attacks would begin in true form against our personnel. We thats happened. We crossed thatrubicon, and what the president will watch is the Public Opinion and the are not the outcries against additional action. We do have men and women harms way. He has until january 7 to act in terms of imminent danger without a congressional opportunity to stop him. So i think were going to see a bit more ac ion in termsof addressing imminent threats only. Thats all the ahorities can cover at the moment, but i think it will be an interesting few days. Kirsten fonnrose, bilal wahab, thank you so much to you both. Thank you. S for having us. Schifrin in the days other news, north korea marked the arrival of 2020, ahead of a kim jong un said his military will soon unveil a new strategic kim warned the country will never give up its Nuclear Program unless the u. Changes its policy including easing sanctions. Against that ainst that backdrop, state tv showed an elaborate new years eve celebration in pyongyang, complete with firewopes and stageormances. Elsewhere around the world, the new year entered with both pageantry and pyrotechnics. Dignitaries in seoul, south korea, rang the peace bell at midnight, as crowds waved lights. In dubai, fireworks shot from the sides of the iconic burj khalifa tower. In ths country, new yorcity stepped up security as it geared up for tonights celebrations. Police in times square patted down visitors as they entered today. Many in the crowd came from around the world to witness it all tfirsthand. S is a once in a lifetime experience. We come from canary islands, its a little bunch of islands from spain and this is just something you have to do in ur life at least once and despite everybody has told us dont do it, its crazy, it gets hectic, its so cold, were just going to make it once. Schifrin other cities have their own midnight drops, including key west, florida, where a giant prop key lime wedge falls to a giant martini glass. But in atlanta, the peach drop, of an00pound fiberglass fruit, was canceled as officials look for a new location. For thousands in australia, fear of wildfires shadowed the festivities of new years. The annual fireworktacle went ahead, over sydney harbor, under a pall of smoke from fires burngutside the city. And in victoria state, the town of maadllacoota narrow escape. Sejal karia of independent television news, reports. Reporter pitch darkness at 9 20 in the mornin when daylight eventually punched herough. The fires had turnkies blood red. The fires had also forced the entire town to evacte. 4,000 people huddled on the wharves and beaches. While hundreds of others esped by boat, from the flames that were racing to the shore. We got all our boats out. We just jumped on them. We didnt even bring anything. Reporter every one of australias states is experiencing wildfires. Unecedented temperatures combined with strong winds and a eriod bolstering the flames. These fires particularly in east gippsland overnight and throughout yesterday were creating their own weather. Thats how fierce, thats how active those fires were. Reporter and while there have been lucky escapes with this car emerging just seconds before huge flames jumped this major highway linking sydney to melbourne. The fires have so far also claimed 12 lives. Four others are currently missing. And so in the days and weeks and i fear months ahead it will continue to be difficult i wish we had better news on new years eve. But one news we can always take comfitt in is the amazing spir of a rtralians. Orter the Prime Minister will now send military aircraft and navy ships to asseft with the fhting efforts. Schifrin that report from sejal karia of independent television news. Thousands of people in hong kong opened the new year with new protests, calling for democratic reforms and less control by mainland ina. They formed hurn lines that etched for blocks, and spilled onto keyoads. They were chased away later by riot police using pepper spray. Meanwhile, chinese president xi jinping appealed for stability in hong kong, in his new years message. Lawmakers in taiwavoted today to block china from meddling in their National Elections now less than two weeks away. The parliament banned foreign litical interference, amid allegations that china is secretly backing the opposition nationalists. They, in turn, staged a sitin. But ruling Party Legislators hailed the bill. transl and efforts to sow divisions are everywhere. Only the destruction of taiwanese democracy will satisfy china. Taiwan is on the frontline and urgently needs the a li infiltrati to protect National Security and the ppls rights. Schifrin taiwans government insists it is an independent state, not a renegade province. Beijinreg haonded with steppedup economic and military pressure. President trump says the u. S. And china will sign the first phase of a trade deal next month. He announced on twitter today that it will happen on january 15th, at the white house, with highlevel chtaese officials ng part. U. S. Officials say china will buy more u. S. Farm products, but e no details of the deal hen published. A key republican now says if theres a Senate Impeachment trial of president trump, she is open to calling witnesses. But, Susan Collins of maine also said today it is premature to ide who shld be called. Democratwant to hear from white house officit als who did stify before house committees. The Supreme Court of israel began deliberations today one prinister Benjamin Netanyahus political future. He has been indicted on corruption charges, and Good Governance groups want to bar him from forming a governmen if he wins reelection in march. It will be israels third election in the last 12 months. The former head of nissan, carlos ghosn, has turned up in lebanon, after jumping bail in japan. He had been awaiting trial on charges of financial misconduct. In a statement today, he sd hes a victim of injustice and political persecution. Ghosn is olebanese descent and grew up in beirut. Lebanon has no extradition trea with japan. And, on wall street, stocks closed out a big year with modest gains. The Dow Jones Industrial average wains up 76 to close at 28,538. The nasdaq rose 26 points, and the s p 500 added nine. The s p and the nasdaq had their best years since 20, up 29 and 35 respectively. He t dow was up 22 . Still to come on the newshour behind taliban lines life among the enemy in americas longest war. Eview of the a economy of the past decade. Giving to charity how the president s tax cuts have impacted what we give. And much more. Schifrin for months american diplomats have been negotiating winh the taliban leaders to a way to end the war in afghanistan. Amerpiican officials were the taliban would announce this week auspension of fighting but the details of such an agreemenort, such asow long this would last, and if it would be nation wide or just in urban areas remains to be worked out. Menwhile the war grinds on with attacks nearly every day. But what is life like for afghans who live under the control of the taliban . Ci correspondent Jane Ferguson traveled to wardak provorince fhis rare and unique look at those conditions. Reporter efforts to end americas longest war are once again mping up. This time, the u. S. Is pushing for a cbeeasefire re signing a deal with the taliban. That crucial gesturcould be agre to at any moment. In taliban controlled areas, a ceasefire, howevelong it lasts, will change the lives of many. Little agha waheed tells me his favorite subjects. He doesnt know his age but he knows he loves school. Nearly half the population of afghanistan is under 15 years old, and as long as this war ntinues, this will be the next generation of fighters. Onhis day, dozens of little boys, arrive for class, excited to be here. Its late afternoon, but there are so many children in this area and so few schools, they come in shifts. These kids have only known a life in wartime. Eir home in wardak province is just 30 miles from the capital kabul, but its firmly in taliban control. A real peace deal in afghanistan would give these boys a chance at living peaceful lives. While the taliban rules this regiorn with the gun, money fo the very few Public Services still comes from kabul. Schools in taliban areas are still technically state schools. Th tey are funded government and the people who wolyrk in them are technic government workers. Y that the areas that these kids come from are dominated by the taliban. This is one of the most violent parts of the country. I traveled here to wark, sneaking through government checkpoints dressed as an fghan woman, to see what life is like for People Living under the libae n and cl the fighting. The Insurgent Group agreed to allow us this rare access, yet they keep a watchful eye and escort everywhere. translated sometimes the boys join the taliban because of what they go through in the situation here. It effects them inside when their relatives were killed. Reporter mujib rahman is a teacher here. He says life on the front line of this war has taken a terrible toll on the boys, bringing with it stress ev an adult would struggle with, but these boys dream of a bettelife. translated i am hopeful that in the fure they will ave access to more education t to go toill college. Reporter people in these areas are surviving between two violent sides in this war. His colleague, esmatullah omari, told us that when government soldiers come to raid nearby villages they enter the school to usbae it as. translated whenever the Security Forcesthey break the doors and come in here and take our notebooks and stationary. Can you tell the Security Forces not to come to our school . Reporter there are no rls at this school, and one local told us the taliban banned them from attending. We asked the com nder in the area about taliban policy on schooling for girls. translated we have education for girls and ys in separate schools. We have created educational atmosphere for them in our areas. They are enjing their education. Reporter yet, despite his assurances, in a nearby village we found one small religious school. With only three little girls inside. They were terrified when they saw the taliban gunmen with us. Gettingn education however can sometimes seem like a luxury for an entire generation of children just trying to survive this war. The United Nations says this is the most deadly war in the world today, and in a report released earlier this month said nine children are killed or maimed every day. Its an increase over previous years, mainly due to suicide bombings by the taliban and fighting between the group and afghan and american forces. Taliban land mines blow up civilians travelling by road, and american air strikes also claim vehere. This area is constantly under surveillance, being watched from the sky. We are not going to stay very much longer where we are because we ha attracted a bit of a crowd of people. And we can hear some sort of Surveillance Aircraft above us, possibly a drone. We soon spotted several heyilicopters overhead. A peace deal has theotential to change everything for these people, but only the first step in a long, difficult road to a lasting peace in afghastan. The next step. Getting the taliban to agree sh e power and put down their weapons will be harder than gettiutng american troo these commanders foresee no compromise on the horizon. translated our struggle will continue either america ends its occupation of afghanistan, or judgement day. Reporter if the americans leave and there is peace in afghanistan, would yo tstill considhe americans your enemy . translated yes of course. The iunnfidels are our enl the day of judgement. We will continue to fight them. Reporter navigating an end to this war is among americas greatest foreign picy challenges today. For children like agha is would mean a chance at a peaceful life. A life the generation before him has only dreamed of. For the pbs newshour, im Jane Ferguson, in wardak, afghanistan. Schifrin at the close of the current decade, its worth remembering how it began. The u. S. Economy was sputtering, struheggling to correct in aftermath of the great recession. Consumd er confidence ached record lows, and hiring was at a near standstill. As Jeffrey Brown reports, no one then was predicting that it might close the way its turned out. Brown consider this the u. S. Economy is still in the longest expansion on record, more than 126 months and counting the 2010s with the first decade without a recession since ecord keeping began in the 1850s and the official unemp 5loyment rate hovers at year low. But wage growth, even with some recent g for most of the decade. And the continuing rise of wealth inequality is a major faor driving our politics the richest americans reap the most from a stock market that continues to reach new highs. Wsoe look a of the most significant economic stories of the 2010s with david wessel, th director of the Hutchins Center at the brookings institution, andatherine rampell, an Economics Writer and columnist for the wasd ngton post. Lcome to both of you. David, you and i did sit here 10 years ago. Things were not looking well. Thgeey wering better, but we werent sure. Thats right. Its really remarkable. I dont think either of foresaw what happen in the 2010s for really the decades of thehree lows. We had very low unemployment start of today, its a 3. 5 . 0 . Its been very low inflation. In fact, ilation is so low that the fed is struggling to try and get it up to its target. And partly for that reason, Interest Rates have been very low at the beginnithe decade. The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that the yield on 10 ye treasuries, which is kind of a benchmark, would be 5 rage in the 2010s. Today, its 1. 9 . Nobody would have predicted this. And it means its good for people who borrow, including the federal government. It s not so good for people who save having very low Interest Rates. An it makes the feds joa little tricky, because if we htave a recession, they do have quite as much room to cut Interest Rates as they once did. Up brown catherine, picn that, because its also were living in an era of high debt. Nd deficits these are things that in the past we thought those were bad. Those where hurt the economy, they dont seem to be. So theres a change in economic thinking and behavior. Exactly. So the general trend after world war ihas been that as the economy has improved, as unemployment has faaven, deficitsfallen to or in some periods, in fact, they have fflipped incal surpluses. Instead, what wsaw in this past decade is that as unemploymentontinued to fall, deficits instead grew. They got bigger. And today, Neither Party seems terribly concerned, at least at the moment, about fiscal responsibility, about getting deficits and debt back in line. Maybe thatll change. Of course, if we see a change in the white house or we change, we see a change in power in congress. But we have also seen an evolution. I would argue amongst economic thinkers. So those who are not as wedd to politics about whether we should care as much about deficits as we have erstorically, that maybe we were overly cod about keeping red ink to a minimum. Nd that said, you know, as david pointed out, Interest Rates have been very low, which has enabled us to have our debt continue to grow because debt servicing at low Interest Rates is cheaper today than it would otherwisbe. If in fact, we had 10 year treasury Interest Rates at 5 say brown as you pointed out as you started to point out, david, because they are so low, at takes awayne of the chief tools of the fed. If and when things do turn down. Right, thats absolutely right. Y just dont have as muc room to cut Interest Rates as they used to have. And that means the rwiession be harder to fight off and will if we had another recession, well start from a place where the federal government already has quite a bit of debt. Brown what about the stock market, the rising inequality, which is a long term trend, but reaellly exacerbated it defin continue. So, look, the stock market had a terrific decade. The s p 500 rose nine out of 10 years. The s p 500 iup nearly 30 this year, just this year alone. And half the stock market wealth in americas whole held by the top 1 of people. So as you point, astounding, i mean, its worth repeating. Yed s, half that it is h the top 1 . So what weve seen is that the trends began before this decade, but they continued and a growing share of all the all the wealth inmerica is held by a small number of opople. So thene tenth of 1 , the people who Bernie Sanders likes to talk about. Its about 130,000 households holds 15 of all the wealth in the country. And that has been creeping up for some time. Brown so, catherine, how much has that gotten into our i dont know, into our bones, into our National Discussion . How much is it changing the way people think about the economy . I think one of the overwhelming themes of the past decade is the rise ofconomic populism, partly in response to the trauma of the great ceion, which ended of course, before this decade officially began, but had e lingeriects as we had this very, very slow oucovery coming of the gat recession, and partly because of that greater concentration of wealth at the and so you saw both on the left and the right. A lot of frustration with the way that the economy had been working with things that had been taken for granted, ininclthe relentless march of globalization, for example, including the relentless march of wealth towards the very top of the distribution. And so you saw the rise of pythings like occu, right . More so on the left and on the right. You saw a lot of frustration with our trade policies g manifestemselves with greater protectionist impulses both on the left and the right, which wsaw enacted, of course, under this administration, undertaken by a republican administration, is historically unusual to see more protectionism. But i think the trade wars, as wl as other demand for a chan been running had been had been struirctured are at outgrowth of that frustratio now, whether that economic nopulism has actually won out terms of different policies is debatable. Certainly with the trade wars, the protectionist, isolationist, morpopulist impulses have gained steam again and the Republican Party as well as democratic party. But in terms of, lets say, the tax code, we just had this very top heavy tax cut that passed a couple of years ago. Andne would argue that that would cut against that that populist impulse. So there have been mixed actual policy gains for that movement. Brown i would ask you both something that looks back and forth, because in many peoples minds, the most existential crisis of the moment coming moment is the environment, Climate Change. And a lot of people would wonder, can our economep up with or how will it be shifted by whats happening environmentally . Well, i think its a huge challenge. There are two possibilities. One is we do somethg about it and that will cause great dislocations for the fossil fuel industry and the auto indust. So of thats beginning. The other is we dont do anything about it. And, you know, we lose half of florida to coastal flooding and stu like that. Either way, his economic impact, right . I think that i thi that the qution is, will we do something about it . And will we do something about it . Economically intelligent way. Economists like the carbon tax, for instance, or will d of do it in an ad hoc emergency measures fighting the one n rricane at a time . Browatherine, what do you say . I would agree with david that there is almost unanimous support amongst economists for a carbon tax. However, there you would see very little evidence of this amongst, for example, the 2020 Democratic Candidates who are currently running for president. There is nary a mention of or at least ve little emphasis on a carbon tax, which economists think is the most effective tool that we have available to fight climate chhege. Instead,s a lot of discussion of a green new deal, which means Different Things to different people. And i think the real question is how much is america willingo sacrifice . How much pain are we willing to endure to deal with this existential crisis . To argue that there will be a free lunch and it will be completely painless to try to get Climate Change under control, i think is unrealistic. But that is sort of the tenor of the debate right now. Of cou think about this is that we are already paying a carbon tax of sorts. Its just being paid disproportionately by places like erto rico, in florida and texas and coastal areas. Brown all right, catherine nkrampell, david wessel, tou both very much. Youre welcome. Happy new year. Happy new year to you. Thanks for having me. Schifrin stay with us, coming up on the newshour from the newshour bookshelf susan chois National Book Award Winning novel trust exercise. And a suggested antidote to the conflict plaguing the world. Giving to the 100 biggest charitithes iu. S. Rose by 11 in the past year thanks to big checks from the wealthy. But the share of those who give to charity overall continued its longterm slide. Small nonprofits have been hit thhardest. Lisadesjardins reports that analysts blame a number of factors, but say the 2017 tax law is having big impact. Desjardins were seeing those uneven giving trobds even in at economy, and thats leading many nonprofit leaders to worry as we head into 2020. For more, im joined by stacy palmer, editor of the conicle of planthropy. Essentially, fewer people are claiming Tax Deductions because of their critable donations . Right. One of the things that congress did when they changed the law is they said lets make it simpler to fill out your tax forms, so they doubled the standard deduction, that means that very few peoe itize anymore, only about 8 of americans itemize, and that means those people all have access to the charitable beduction, but everybody else doesnuse theyre not taking a writeoff for anything. And, so, something that was tended to simplifyhe tax system ended up having this inadvertent affect on charities and giving, sy people just dont have access to that charitable deduction anymore. Desjardins essentially, the deduction used to be 12,0 for a couple the standard deduction, so that amount you cou write off when youre doing your taxes and figuring out how many deductions between rtgage deduction and charitable, if youre a couple and have 24,000 in endeductions or more, th you want to take the wteoffs. Desjardins but thats not most people who have 24,000 in ductions. Okay. So now the question is now there are fewer people who can canho deductet a tax benefit from giving to charity, how is that affecting charities are they see ago big change in their donations . Charities think they are, especially small, midsize groups, theyay theyre dealing feeling the pain more than Big Organization and part of this is because people who are fairly wealthy, they can still itemize and get that tax deduction, butc most middss to middle class afflut people, those ahore the peoplelost that deduction and theyre the ones who dont have any incentive tou give b of taxes. Now, there are lots of other reasons people give or chse to give, but there are estimates that as much as 20 billion might have been lost charities in a year because of this tax change. Now, we should remember americans give more than 425 billion, so 20 billion is portant, but theyre still giving people are still giving very genersly, so is not the entire Charity Sector has been hit by this tax change. Desjardins lets talk about the wealthy. What does their giving look like . E know their incomes are going up at the top. Is their level of generosity also going up . A lot of the people who look at charitable gaffing think its not going up as m it should compared to their wealth. So certainly we see ver generous contributions and thats one reason giving hasnt gone down, bumpared to the amount of wealth people have, they just cant give it awa fast enough. Even people like mayor bloomberg who gives lots omoney to charity, hes promised to give it all away in his lifetime and he sll has billions and billions more left to give because he just gets wealthier. Desjardins i want towh understan youre saying, is it a problem of them not having enough outlets, or is it those at the top are gain morgue income than they are giving away . Its their decision, tyre not being as charitable as they are profitable, i suppose . Its probly a little biof both. In some cases, if they cant find enough places where theyve want to gihere they think they can make a difference, that might cause aig donor to hold back, but theyre also not saying, oh, i just made 20 billiokein the stock mart and i need to give it all away, so were not seeing people give proportionately to their increases in wealth, and thats the part that is srtling. We havent seen in this great economy an increase percentage to income people are giving in charity. Desjardins weve seen scandals involving the largest donors, for example the sacthklr famir connection to the yoipped crisis, Jeffrey Epstein, his chndarges related death to sex trafficking charges, how that is that affted the giving community, especially the bigns instituthat depend on the wealthy. What is that relationship like . Is there too much dependence on donors and how has that changed . Big nonprofits are looking at their relationships with big donors especially in cases like sackler and epstein where they think, what are our values . Is it appropriate to take money are from those type of people, because some alumni that took ney from sackler an epstein, they might not want to give anymore because theye disappointed in their institution. So it has a ripple effect, not because thetook money from nat one donor, but other donors will be disappointed. So many are looking at what pals policy should we look at and should we articulate who we will accept money from and should we make it clear we depend on small and mid ol size gifts from people, is it good to be runy billionaires, those are all the ll beions that people wi asking. You see political debates about wealth taxes, the same consideration in nonprofit world, too. What about small nonprofits, they dont have the big wealthy donors, how are they doinright now . Smaller charities are struggling to be able to persuade people to give. There ome a lot ofting causes, and middle class donors are giving less, weve seen a staggering drop in the number of middle class americans whoare giving. Perhaps in the last decade we saw as many as 20 million fewer people are giving to charity, so as ople are giving less, its harder and harder for small nonprofits to attract as many people as they need to give. Desjardins stacy palmer with the chronicle of philanthropy, thank you. Thank you. Sphwhrssment schifrin on the newshour bookshelf tonight, the setting is a high school for the performing arts. The locati an unnamed southern city. And the lessons are about consent, power, and memory. Trust exercise won this years National Book award for fiction. As part of our ongoing arts and culture ries, canvas, Jeffrey Brown met author susan choi ltt months miami book fair. Jeff started by asking her, why set a story in a high school . I think i was iniy exploring the relationships between students and teachers. Thats the relationship thats been interesting to me for my whole careerwand i really interested in the intersection between that relationship and this time of life,dolescence, the teenage years. Reporter why is it that at grabs you . I think its that n between, and, for give me, but the way you ask the question is part of at interests me. I think we dont really know how to talk about teenagers or adolescents. We dont know whether to think of them as adults or children because theyre neither. They have all of the intellecal abilities and emtional passions pasons and bas but much less judgment an experience. We dont know how to treat these young people who arent allowed to vote until theyre 1 sometimes cant drive till 16. Our rules surrounding it kind of betray our cultural incoherence. Brown its set in a erforming arts high school. These are young pe eoo are already looking at their lives in a very adult way. Theyve choosen dedicate themselves to a craft. Theyve chose ton spend their ingh school years do preprofessional training. They are thinking ahead. Brown they have an idea of who they want to be. They know who they want to be,and theyre almost like protoadults butheyre not adults. They have this very charismatic teacherwhos brilliant, incisive, influential. Their woved wev around him, and thats thrilling and thats dangerous, and, so, i wanted to explore what can happ in that ki of relationship. Brown so what you end up looking at are these kind of power relationships, right, betweeacstudents and rs, sometimes between students and other students, and, of course, it gto issues of consent, it gets to issues that are very much in the news a news program like ours these days. Right, what i certainly couldnt have plned would be how that exploration would beme a general national preoccupation afteryou know, the advent of the nationwide sort of Metoo Movement in the fall 2017, and i pretty much already finished this book in its entii was still working on the ending, and the ending of the book actually did change shape as a result of the nationaconversation taking place. Brown really . It came out in a big way as you were finishithng novel. They all came out. Brown does it surprise you . Surprises me and doesnt surprise me. It doesnt surprise me cause we havent solved the problems, we havent figured this stuff dout. Esnt surprise me because it feels like almost uncannynt moin the kavanaugh hearings and Jeffrey Epstein case where these are almost uncanny, reallife enactmentssuf i was trying to explore in this novel i started writing years ago. Its startling and worrisome and shows we have a lot to do. Brown what was your feeling as a writer, as youre finishing this novel, and suddenly it burst into a ind of National Conversation . I never tried to write tctimy fin but ive always been interested in writing fiction that is reflecting on my times in some way. Ive written a lot of historical fiction because i tend to find it easier to look back and to try to digest in that way. Ive never een made the effort to write about the now. If youre goingo write about the now as a fiction writer, you have to br e fastat be me. Ive taken five years for books. So its remarkable our now and my book did kind of arrive the same set of concerns. Brown another notable thing here is storyteling. The first part of this novel focuses on a young woman named sarah, and then, a certain point about halfway in, perspectivive shifts ahead inime, and then characters who were lesser parts of the initial story are nowt at the fore. Yeah. Thwas thinking a lot abou storytelling we do culturally and politically and historicallythe storytelling that happens outside of novels, that happens across our entire culture that involves us as natio trying to decide, you know, who we are, how were gngng to talk about t, ke one example would be immigtion. For memigration had hauls been a positive story. My parents and grandparents were immigrants. Immigration has been a strength of our country, and suddenly to see that story change so dramatically was enough to resly change my relatihip to my own storytelling. I guess its stran to say that now y storytelling is in this totally dierent form, the novel. I felt unhappy about a lot of the National Stories that were being told about my country, and im a citizen of this country and, yet, thats not my version of the sry, and i knew a lot of people felt that way, but i also started thinking out my fictional world, and i started thinking i wonder if there are characters my fictional world who feel similarly pissed off, marginalized and silenced about the story that unfolded today. Iwas a fun thought experience that middle east became a new idea for the direction the book would take, when this character who, up to that point, weve given no notice to, suddenly pushes herself forward and says, you havent been paying attention to me, but you should. Brown all rig, trust exercise, winner of the National Book award. Susan page, thank you versusan. Thank you. Schifrin finally tonight, we live in an era of outrage. Much of the country is polarized. We yell at each other onwitter and on tv. And ny of us livinside bubble of our own making, reinforcing our own opinions. And so we wanted to return to author en groffs humble opnion that, during days of division, the antidote, understanding, and empathy. Not long ago, i was out in the prairie where i jog every day when a man rode up on a bicycle and started critiquing my running form. I had not solicited his advice. I dont enjoy mansplaining even when i havent already run five miles. I asked him to go away repeatedly, but when he vepersisted, i gave him al hiding that im sure he has yet to recover from. Something in me at that moment just spped i felt two feet taller and as vast as the prairie itself. If youvever had a moment of road rage, or acted impulsively to fend off a pickpocket or bully, you know the feeling. The constraints of selfhood fall away and you feel as though you could breathe fire. The truth is, all humans have the capacity to snap. Neurologists tell us that deep in the brain, beneath the center consciousness in trt cerebral , theres a cluster of neurons that causes sudden aggression in lab aniatls when stim with an electrode. Its a healthy autoratic functionelfpreservation, the cause of the fight in fight flight. But just because its natural to snap in momentssnf tension d mean that we have to do so when were not being physically threatened. Our age is an exlaordinarily arized one. It can seem as though we are all yelling all the time. When we enter into rage, w enter a space that turns people into others who do not deserve the same respect or courtesy that we expect extended to us. In rage, we can refer to human bein aanimals, a way to psychically distance us from them enough to deny them basic human rights. After i raged at the man on the bike that morning, i ran home feeling nauseated. He had been elderly and had seemed a little lonely. By the time i came in the door, i had imagined an entire life r the man, down to the kinds of mugs he drank his coffee out of and the cat he owne i wished i could reverse time to react differently; instead of yelling, explaining calmly why what he was doing was unwelcome. Empat imagination. F radical through empathy, we can understf and the full scopee humanity of those whose actions oren ideas ous. We acquire empathy through imagini lives of strangers, through narrative, the books and films and television sho that dont reinforce our knowledge of the world, but rather challenge what we already know. Empathy is a musclehat is stronger than our neurological reflexes. If we exercise it every single day, it will be so strong that it can override reflexive anger. In this world, kindness must prevail. So lets give our empathy rigorous daily workoutstime spent imagining the lives and hearts of othersuntil we have become better than our basest impulses. In on instagram, test your knowledge of the major events that happened in 2019 by taking our instagram news quiz. Follow us on instagram at newshour and click on our story. And thats the newshour for tonight. On new years day, a preview of the new laws taking affect across the country. Thanks for spending new years eve with us. Im nick schifrin. Jorein us again omorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs neuhour, thank you and see soon. Major r funding e pbs newshour has been provided by before we talk abont your invest whats new . Ell, audreys expecting. Planning. Grandparents. We want to put money aside for them. So change. All right, lets see what we can do. Change in plans. Okay. Mom, e you painting again . You could sell these. Et l me guess change in plans . At fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan american cruiselines. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. P Ie Corporation of new york. Supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of International Peace a at carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support s these instituti and individuals. Program was mad possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. S d by contributions to your pbs station from viewke you. Thank you. So you dont think mcconnell will have to resort to the socalled Nuclear Option . Im hopeful he doesnt. Are yu questioning whether therare a movement in this country who are wite nationalists . Even seen it. How much of a denti s repsych alst lipping making . The western government accused the fcc of wage ago hybrid war with hackers. We can go deeper into topics. Everything isnt necessarily red or blue. We need to understand whats going on. We need tgo bind and under the stor not just to find out what happens but why it matters. Itical0ill be a pol rollercoaster but viewers can count on pbs to be there every step of the way. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access oup at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org hello, everyone, and welcome to amanpour co. This holiday season, were dipping back into the archives and looking at some of our favorite interviews from e year. So heres whats coming up. People dont re the quran. They recite it. And so reading the bible reading scripture is very like reading e libretto of an opera. Si youre m a lot of it. Karen armstrong, the former nun whos beme our most important interpreter of religion. I speak with her about her new book, the lost art of scripture. Then. So its a trauma for him, and thats what then drives his quest for living space in the east. He says, we need space, like the americans have. A new biography brings fresh revelations about adolf hitlers rise to power. Wh it means in our current era of nationalism. I speak with the author, brendan simm and