Things Considered from n.p.r. News. I'm Michel Martin the Justice Department overturns Obama era guidance on federal marijuana enforcement we talked to the man who wrote those rules this was the line we drew the policy we thought would achieve the crater's public safety with regulation and with control and Aaron Sorkin known for movies like The Social Network and Moneyball turns his attention to a new subject it's the true story of Molly Bloom who ran the world's most exclusive poker game 1st the news live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm joining Herb's President Trump today signaled he would be open to some sort of dialogue between the u.s. And North Korea and as N.P.R.'s Bracton Booker reports the remarks came during a wide ranging press conference at Camp David the presidential retreat in Maryland flanked by congressional Republican leaders President Trump said he would be open to having talks with North Korea's Kim Jong un Trump put aside his usual disparaging comments about the North Korean leader like calling him little Rocket Man and drawing comparisons over who has the bigger nuclear button to say he would agree to talks over the phone absolutely of the problem tensions are high because of North Korea's expanding nuclear program and because of escalating rhetoric between Trump and Kim next week North Korea and South Korea u.s. Ally are set to have their 1st formal talks in 2 years Bracton Booker n.p.r. News in Memphis today a protest over the city's recent removal of a Confederate monument has met been met with massive police presence including law enforcement from neighboring Arkansas and Mississippi Christopher Blanc of member station w.k. I know in Memphis reports no damage or injuries were reported a Facebook group called Confederate NY No one has. The city's area code rallied Civil War buffs and white supremacists to protest last month's removal of 2 statues and action some say violated state law police advised residents to avoid the downtown area even as many protesters and counter protesters like Dorsey Molina of the Tennessee women's faith collective arrived from out of town some of our members were in Charlottesville we know what hate can do that August protest in Virginia turned violent Memphis blocked access to the parks where the statues had stood and barricaded the streets with dump trucks and police cars people on both sides were kept far apart ultimately pro Confederate demonstrators spent 2 hours circling the city in a caravan of about 50 cars for n.p.r. News I'm Christopher blank in Memphis as of 6 am this morning in New Hampshire the temperature at the summit of Mount Washington was 36 degrees below 0 tying it in 2nd place for having the coldest recorded weather on the planet Washington Observatory meteorologist Mike Harmon says the temperature bottomed out at 38 degrees below 0 and the wind made it feel much colder coldest winter shill we were able to calculate the morning with about 97 degrees below 0 so quite a chilly morning now the National Weather Service says the eastern 3rd of the country will be gripped by bitter cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills throughout the weekend and wind chill advisories and warnings are up for several states along the Eastern Seaboard but the National Weather Service also says temperatures are expected to rise in the East this week rain is expected on both coasts this is n.p.r. News from Washington. From k.q.e.d. News I'm Jeremy Siegel Well it is the weekend as I'm sure most of you know and hear it k.q.e.d. We thought it would be a perfect time to look back on some of the most popular stories of the week one of our most commented on is about the new sales force tower which is set to open in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood sometime this year you know that big building in the skyline that's impossible to miss yet I think you know it well these listeners definitely know it and have opinions on it not necessarily of the positive nature let's take a listen. How could you have done that to the most beautiful and recognize our lying. When I no longer live in the area and I nearly crashed on the Richmond Bridge the 1st time I saw that horrible alley whole it's my childhood memories ruined. Now it's just bad from a distance as that of the quote. The sales force tower resembles a sleek bottle of water nothing magical artistic mystical romantic or even dramatic about the thing. It's a huge waste of glass and steel and it could have been something truly iconic but alas it's not. Listeners clearly are not fans of sales force tower but are you keep the conversation going and hit us up on Facebook and Twitter let us know what you think and did you know the top of that tower will soon be home to some unique public art we'll tweet out a link to that story we're at k.q.e.d. News I'm Jeremy Siegel see you tomorrow. Support for k.q.e.d. Comes from Personal Capital the smart way to track and manage complex financial lives board personal capital dot com slash k.q.e.d. Support for n.p.r. Comes from the Kerry. Trust's presenting after the fact a new podcast from Pew that explores facts numbers and trends shaping the world more information is available at Pew Trust's dot org slash after the fact and the listeners k.q.e.d. This is k.q.e.d. F.m. 88.5 San Francisco and. 89.3 North Highlands Sacramento more of all things considered right now on k.q.e.d. Public Radio. This is All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Michel Martin we're going to start the program today talking about the big political story of the day a new book called fire and fury inside the Trump White House has set off a volley of accusations between President Trump and the author of the book Michael Wolf I consider it a work of fiction and I think it's a disgrace that somebody. Have something do something like that I did a quick interview with him a long time ago having to do with an article but I don't know this man I guess sloppy Steve brought him into the White House quite a bit and it was one of those things that's why sloppy Steve is now working for Joe That was President Trump speaking at Camp David today where he's meeting with Republican leaders sloppy Steve being a reference to former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon who's described in the book as questioning Trump's capacity to handle the job notably Steve Benen has not to this point disputed the tone or accuracy of the quotes attributed to him now we're not in a position to verify the claims made in the book but because of Bennett's critical role in the Trump campaign and because the president and his allies have spoken so forcefully about it we're going to focus on the political implications of this and for this we called Robert Costa He's a national political reporter for The Washington Post moderator of p.b.s. Is Washington Week and he was nice enough to stop by our studios in Washington d.c. Robert thanks so much for joining us once again great to be with you so 1st the book just came out yesterday in fact the publisher accelerated the timing of the distribution of the book in response to the fact that the White House was so unhappy about it but for those who haven't read it can just give us some of the highlights that have gotten such a reaction out of the White House the biggest reaction has been over Bannon's comments about Donald Trump's family and specifically about a meeting Don Trump Jr had last year with a Russian lawyer then in the book is published saying that was treasonous and it was unpatriotic to have that sort of meeting but the bigger picture of this book is not really about Bannon It's about President Trump and it's about the way his own advise. And confidant see him through the lens of these conversations with Michael Wolf and there's a portrait that's painted That's the president is somewhat incompetent that's the view of the advisers in this book now the president is known to react strongly to slights large and small but I'm interested in how you interpret his reaction to this so far you would have to be careful of president trying to not read too much into these kind of episodes because advisors in his orbit they come and go maybe the relationship with Bannon has fully on ravelled but there's been so many ups and downs in the band in Trump relationship over the past 2 years and Bennett was just talking to the president just weeks ago he was just talking at the present he was he was actually talking to the president about that that Alabama Senate race where both Banon and the president backed Roy Moore who was credibly accused of molesting teenage girls decades ago and they were talking throughout the whole midterm map for next year and that's the political question now as the president has to make choices about races this year for Senate for house for governor and where he lands and who he supports ban is not going to be that big of a force that's why you saw the biggest smile in Washington about this book was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell because he knows the president now seems to be moving more toward the mainstream of the Republican Party at least in his alliances politically than with man and in fact the president talked about this earlier at Camp David he was asked whether he'd be supporting any Republican Senate candidates taking on incumbents and this is what he said. This morning you know I think. He had some of the losses to say. You know and I think as far as I'm concerned that was a shape that was lost it should never. And who is he talking about there he's referencing been of course the president did support Roy Moore as well but you see the president fed up with band in his long time strategy and now he's standing there at Camp David this weekend with Mitch McConnell with other leaders from the have. And it's a projection that the president and this White House after passing a major tax bill they for the moment are moving more toward the g.o.p. Not that hard charging band in style that defined them in 2017 I do feel though I have to ask you about the the aspect of the book that has gotten a lot of attention as I said earlier we are not in a position to verify the truth or falsity of the statements that were made in this book about President Trump's abilities but he addressed them this morning he tweeted that he is quote not smart but genius and a very stable genius at that at which point we cannot ignore the fact that that particular concern has reached him so the question then becomes how does the political leadership of the country react to this there have been long simmering questions in Washington among members of both parties but in particular Republicans about the president's conduct his behavior his fitness for office and the president had to address those a simmering questions head on a Camp David because it's now not a similar it's a boil but the thing that stands out in my reporting is this so many people around the president still stay in the administration sometimes they grab privately today that they don't like the way he acts but they stay there if I can to sort of clarify that so you've covered the president for a long time you've covered the campaign your reporting indicates that there is a concern about his behavior there are many concerns throughout the administration if they ripple through every day whenever he turns on Twitter it veers from thinking the president's on presidential at times to not being fit for office what's so important to pay attention to what people say publicly because so often this Michael Wolff book in my reporting the reporting of other people grows privately and until that really gets public it's hard to pinpoint and say it's there's a real upheaval about that issue that's Robert Costa He's national political reporter for The Washington Post moderator of p.b.s. His Washington Week and he was kind of to join us in our studios in Washington d.c. Robert Costa thanks so much for joining us once again thank you as. We just heard President Trump spoke earlier today from Camp David where he's meeting with Republican leaders about their priorities moving into 2018 and he said that one of the topics on the agenda is immigration especially what to do about so-called Dreamers undocumented immigrants brought to the u.s. As children in September President Trump rescinded the deferred action on Childhood Arrivals program or DACA which protected dreamers from deportation and allow them to work legally he left it up to Congress to come up with a legislative solution by March but this week 3 former homeland security secretary argued that if Congress is going to implement a new immigration program they need to do it quickly ideally within the next 2 weeks former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff who served under President George w. Bush is one of the people making that argument and he's on the line now Mr Chertoff thanks so much for speaking with us I'm happy to be on the show 1st of all I wanted to ask why you decided to sign this letter the 2 other signatories who are served under President Obama who originated this program why did you decide to add your voice to this argument well I'm acutely aware of the challenges of implementing a complicated program from the standpoint of his Department of Homeland Security and I've believed that having a fair resolution of this situation for dreamers is in the best interest of the country as well as a humane thing to do but I'm also well aware that as with any other big program you've got to do it right and if you don't have the time to implement it then you wind up with the worst of all worlds it doesn't work well for the dreamers and it doesn't work well for us so explain the time crunch given that the deadline is in March Well you know it would be great to imagine that in the world of government or in the world of the private sector everything works flawlessly but my experience is you have to kind of prepare for glitches so in this case you need to put in place a set of rules and regulations about how people come forward what form of identification is appropriate what chi. Records checks have to be made how do you verify people actually came when they were children as opposed to last year and setting up the protocols and then behavioral to communicate with all the offices around the country to make sure everybody understands exactly what they have to do is going to take Sean weeks yours will want to leave a little margin for error because sometimes unexpected things happen and the lesson you want to do is to rush this is the end because I do you wind up excluding people who should be included or you include people who should be excluded and that then becomes a problem when you were homeland security secretary you worked with a bipartisan group of senators on an immigration overhaul bill that would have just you know these issues and you know in a bigger way that bill ultimately failed so do you think this Congress has any more appetite to move forward in that way than they did when you were serving in government very few people I've met actually argue that on the merits people who came to this country when they were 2 years old through no fault of their own turned out not to be legal but now have lived here their whole lives I've I've met very few people who want to have them kicked out at the same time I understand that there's a desire to balance that with funding and support for increased enforcement I think that's a reasonable request so it strikes me you could get a fairly narrow bill that addresses a couple of relatively non-controversial issues and get that done within a very short time frame and that might by the way be a very good inspiration for the possibility of tackling a broader shut of issues over the longer term if you go is there a national security argument to be made about adjusting this apart from making sure that people are who they say they are let's say that they are who they say they are but is there a national security aspect to this that you can. Describe for us if Congress can't come to a resolution on this I would say this I was a 1st book course if we can't get a resolution and the dreamers are forced to leave it will be a loss 1st of all cut to the employers and for those who are actually serving in government or doing something that benefits the government there's going to be a loss fair there's going to be a very negative message about the way us views people who are not born here which is going to have a ripple effect around the world in terms of the way people view us and then I think if we can't get this done properly you're going to be distracting from enforcing against serious bad people by having people run around trying to round up dreamers or expel them and I just from the standpoint of having an orderly Well prioritized enforcement process that would be a mistake. That's Michael Chertoff he was secretary of Homeland Security from 2005 to 2009 He's now executive chairman of the Chertoff Group that's a security and risk management advisory firm thanks so much for speaking with us happy you're. Listening to All Things Considered from n.p.r. News. After hits like Moneyball and West Wing Aaron Sorkin has become one of Hollywood's best known screenwriters but when he met the young woman at the heart of his new film he decided it was time to hop into the director's chair I love the story I want to write the story now in this case I want to see it all the way to the screen Aaron Sorkin on his new film Molly's game Saturday on All Things Considered from n.p.r. News support comes from and where hundreds of scientists are working to transform medicine through advances in human genetics learn. Dot com Coming up in 40 minutes it's live from here with Chris the only they just let out of. The show it was broadcast live from San Francisco tonight and we will hear it. Live from here with. Public radio. I'm Janine Hearst with these headlines President Trump is pushing back against a new book that portrays him as a leader who doesn't understand the workings of the presidency and whose competence is questioned by aides tweeting he is quote like really smart and quote a very stable genius Trungpa spending the weekend at Camp David the presidential retreat in Maryland the Italian coast guard says at least 8 migrants died more than 80 others were rescued off the coast of Libya today when their dinghy spring a leak and started to sink former President George h.w. Bush is offering condolences on the death of astronaut John Young saying he was more than a good friend he was a fearless patriot died Friday at the age of 87 from complications of pneumonia. N.p.r. News in Washington. Support for n.p.r. Comes from Babble a language gap that teaches real life conversations in any language including Spanish French and German Babble's 10 to 15 minute lessons are available in the App Store are on line at Babel be a. Dot com The Craig Newmark foundation committed to the values of fairness opportunity and respect the Neumark Foundation supports veterans and military families voting rights and truth in journalism and women attack and the listeners of k.q.e.d. Good afternoon it's 520. This is All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Michel Martin now it's time for the barbershop that's where we talk to interesting people about what's in the news and what's on their minds joining us for a shape up this week Kevin Blackistone He's a professor of journalism at the University of Maryland and a frequent e.s.p.n. Commentator he joins us in our studios in Washington d.c. Once again Kevin welcome back Happy New Year thank you also with us is former n.f.l. Wide receiver and tight end Nate Jackson his acclaimed football memoir slow getting up a story of n.f.l. Survival from the bottom of the pile was a bestseller He joins us from n.p.r. West in Culver City California natives good to talk to you again as well good to talk to you thank you and Natalie Weiner is a staff writer for the Bleacher Report the digital sports news outlet she joins us from our studios in New York good to have you with us as well Natalie thank you so the n.f.l. Playoffs start today so we decided to keep things n.f.l. Focus and no we're not talking scores we want to talk about some of the big issues in and around the sport which is like it or not the biggest ratings driver on television so you know in that sense it's an important you know cultural institution and I want to start with an issue that goes beyond football that was in the news this week and that is the trumpet ministrations decision to reverse Obama administration guidance to federal prosecutors which was to shield legal marijuana from federal involvement except in narrow circumstances such as cartel activity or where it suspected being sold to minors and so we're going to have more on that in this program later but I'm bringing this up because the issue of marijuana has been a big one in pro sports including the n.f.l. So Kevin Blackistone I'll start with you what's the state of play on this well this year the n.f.l. And the n.f.l. Players union the n.f.l. P.a. Actually started talking about the use of marijuana as an option to opioids for for pain treatment within a fellow players and if there's anything that is more amazing in sports I don't know of it that watching n.f.l. . Players put their bodies back together week after week during the season it is like walking like walk watching the walking wounded and so this is a real issue and in fact one player earlier last year and during the summer a former New York Jets player sued attorney general sessions over the possibility that he would actually start to move in this direction so it's a big deal because there are a number of players who have all but testified to the success that marijuana has had for them in dealing with pain he said but it's still banned in most professions and it is now whether the whether the state in which the sports franchise is located allows it or not right is that salute banned it is something that the that the n.f.l. For a long time said that it would have nothing to do with but it has changed its tune changes tune in 2017 so you know I look at this in another way too because I look at this as an attack on black male athletes why does well because they make up almost 2 thirds or 2 thirds or more of the n.f.l. They play the positions that suffer the most in terms of collisions and getting injured because they play the skill positions and they play the positions that on defense that have to make so many solo tackles and so this is to me an attack on their livelihood and I think it's a real concern for in a felony n.f.l. P.a. Now you know you've lived this I mean you've written about it and you've lived this and you've become an advocate for medicinal marijuana and part for pain management I just wanted to talk and ask you you know what are the attitudes about this in the league among the players and do you see and I'm wondering whether you think that the trumpet ministrations stance on this is going to affect the die. About this I think the troubled ministration stance will affect the the league's view of this but the individual teams and the players themselves they're going to use what they need to stay on the field like Kevin said they're putting Humpty Dumpty back together again every week they know what works for their body and so the league and the union are supposedly going to talk about this and that's good they're listening to the players for once but I do want to push back on Kevin's assertion that the skill position players get hurt more than the linemen the linemen are where the c.t.e. Findings are centered won't 111 out of 112 brains cut open had c.t.e. The majority of those players are often 7 defensive linemen that is the epicenter of the carnage on the field and these guys need access to the medicine that works for them we're all kind of waking up to this opioid scourge n.f.l. Players themselves are 4 times more likely to develop opioid addiction after playing and so I think this is the league just kind of listening but as far as long as it's a federally illegal drug the league itself I don't think will change the policy but there is a distinction between recreational use and medicinal use and my belief is that football players are using it medicinally I'm going to talk a little bit more about injuries in a minute so talk a hold I thought a minute I want to bring Natalie into this and and just now I want your perspective on this. I mean I think it's in the N.F.L.'s best interests to bring medicinal marijuana and cannabis usage more broadly into the fold because obviously c.t.e. Is sort of central to what they're to their long term health if the league wants to sustain itself it needs to look at solutions to this and there are very there's very preliminary research that suggests that c.b. D's cannabinoids can be used to help prevent brain injuries so if that's a real thing you know the n.f.l. Needs to invest in that because that means that football you know a serious concern in football could be addressed let me talk a bit more about injuries and I'm going to go back to you on this and this is something that you've written very movingly about. You get the sense that this season that the injury somehow were worse or more brutal than they have been in previous years is that your sense of it and one of the reasons this is an issue that it's of course on the human level it's an important issue but there are also people who believe that that is part of the reason that the that ratings are going down that there are people who just find it just too hard to watch especially when you understand the long term consequences of these injuries I mean obviously President Trump has a different perspective on this and we'll talk about the protests in a minute but but what's your perspective on this I mean do you feel is it somehow getting worse. I'm not sure if it's getting worse or if our car tension is getting more focused on it because television production ability now gives us the ability to zoom in on every single little hit and see these guys seizing up or unconscious or having the fencing response when they get hit whereas in the old days you didn't have that kind of high definition reality in front of you on the screen to see it and I think the n.f.l. Is very aware of this and so they're trying to manage it they have this tent on the sideline where an injured player they pull him into a tent and pull the tent over him and I don't think that does anything to help kind of you know establish some transparent guidelines for the n.f.l. It does seem as if you know they're trying to create the illusion that it's not as dangerous that is as it is but we've been having this conversation about the dangers of pro football since for over 100 years and and it seems like we always come back to the game and so I do think adjustments could be made to the game to make it a little safer but the danger in the violence is what some people enjoy about it well let me go then to the protests and Nelly I'll go to you 1st on this because that as I said earlier you know some argue that you know the injuries this season I mean like Aaron Rodgers Andrew Luck ranch's ear which is a particular kind of it was a legal hit but he's still recovering from it is one of the reasons that ratings really are down others like President Trump say it's those taken the protests and there's been a lot written about this and so now I'm going to go to you on this 1st because you you've written about it I mean 1st of all what is the state of these protests at the end of the day would you say that they were successful or not. I mean it's really different just depending on who you talk to I personally believe they are successful there were players still protesting through the end of the regular season I just wrote about this players kneeling players raising a fist players sitting on the bench all during the anthem all to convey the message that police brutality and systemic injustice are unacceptable you know and I think the fact that they continue to reiterate that it may seem redundant or it may seem like President Trump has derailed things with his comments that are kind of you know intentionally trying to make people misunderstand what's going on but at the end of the day fans are still saying these words police brutality systemic injustice and the fans I spoke to at least even when they're trying to deny you know that the players don't have a point they're still saying it's not about racism you know so I think just the fact that they're keeping those conversations urgent and happening I think it's really important Kevin where you think well depends on what metric you use if you use a metric in terms of involvement of players the truth of the matter is there's the small percentage of players all year long actually been involved in the protests with the exception being coming right after the Alabama stump speech that Trump gave in which he. He spat an expletive at the players' mothers that got them to stand up. And then there's the negotiations and went on between a faction of the players and the league about making some sort of contributions to social justice issues or forums and that is going to be in the neighborhood of one $100000000.00. And it's just a fact that we have continued to talk about this all year long. And it continues to be some of an issue so I think I think in the long run I think I think it has helped I think it's been good very quickly I only have about 30 seconds left what do you think. Yeah. It gets definitely caused some some ripples in the league I know owners don't like it and so it'll be interesting to see of the players who did demonstrate this year how many of them will be back on rosters next year because I know that coaches and owners will be discussing you know how to deal with the more politically active players among them they want to keep all the distractions out and I know the players want to play as well but they want their voices to be heard so it's difficult Well thank you all for letting your voices be heard over the course of the year and more to come thank you Nate Jackson Kevin Blackistone and Natalie Weiner thank you all so much for speaking with us thank you thank you. We want to take a moment now to remember John Young NASA longest serving astronaut his career at NASA was filled with firsts including being the 1st to fly in space 6 times young was also one of 12 people to walk on the moon today he died at the age of $87.00 N.P.R.'s Russell Lewis has this remembrance when it came to John Young There were many superdelegates if anybody deserves the title of legend it would be John Young That's Andrew Chaikin a space expert who has written extensively on NASA He said John Young was special he was copilot on the 1st Gemini mission in 1965 and then commanded a Gemini flight the next year in orbit at the moon on Apollo 10 and then in 1972 he commanded Apollo 16 just minutes after landing on the lunar surface he peered out the window and was at a loss for words. For our. Great barrier here. For shaken says Young's NASA career up to that point culminating with the moon landing had been impressive you know that alone would have qualified him for being in the Hall of Fame of of astronaut careers but the thing that really made him a true legend was in 1981 when he commanded the very 1st space shuttle mission. Good then your core problem. Young was an aeronautical engineer who later in his NASA career served as the chief of the Astronaut Office choosing those who would fly on the shuttle He also advised on engineering operations and safety matters Chaiken says Young was a force at the space agency he would go into meetings with the specialists for a particular system and he would say in this kind of country boy way well you know I don't understand much about the such and such but what gets me is and then he would proceed to ask a just completely penetrating technical question that would just you know flatten. People young avoided the limelight but was outspoken and known for writing hundreds of memos pointing out safety flaws in operational concerns in his autobiography he said he felt responsible for the loss of the shuttle's Columbia and Challenger because his crews were on board he wrestled with how the agency could have missed the signs in a 2004 n.p.r. Interview young said the future of the human race of survival is not on Earth but in space I mean it's pretty obvious you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out if you look at the you never world consequences and you look at our technologies that we need to make it you'd come to the same conclusion then you know you can take a lot of thinking but you know somebody ought to be worried about it John Young Navy test pilot 6 time astronaut and 42 year veteran of NASA Russell Lewis n.p.r. News. You're listening to All Things Considered from n.p.r. News. Thomas Monson the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints the Mormon church died this past Tuesday he spent nearly a decade at the helm of the 16000000 members church now per church tradition 93 year old Russell Nelson will fill the vacancy but we were wondering what this change could mean for the church and could it signal any shifts in church policy we called Matthew Bowman to talk about that he's professor of history at Henderson State University and author of the Mormon people the making of an American faith he was kind of to join us in our studios in Washington d.c. Professor Bowman thanks so much for joining us thank you for having me 1st of all would you just tell us about the office itself I mean the president also has another title which I'm going to ask you to tell us what it means Schorr so his official title is President of the Churches of Christ of Latter day Saints are presiding high priest of the priesthood of the church but he's also sustained by the membership of the church as a prophet that is somebody whom God will speak to that is not actually an ecclesiastical office he is not ordained to that office the same way say the pope is but it is an office and he is accepted by the members of the church as holding what could you tell us a bit more about what distinguished Thomas month since tenure and is there some way you could point to that Russell Nelson might either continue it or change it sure Thomas Monson was president of the church for nearly 10 years but he had been in church leadership as an apostle for 50 years before that he was known for a long long time as someone who really emphasized the importance of service it's under his tenure for instance the church now going to massive effort to aid refugees from Syria he added care for the poor and needy to the official mission of the church is something that should be done his tenure has also there was also very marked by disputes in the church especially over issues of gender one of the 1st things that happened after he became president church was the church got involved in California's Proposition 8 an effort to make same sex marriage and legal in California since Sunday. But other such dispute just national average woman's issues as well isn't it also true that under his leadership the age that women could go on mission was lowered yes to 19 I believe that is what allows more women to go on mission isn't that yes as a liberal move well and one that will probably bring more woman involved into church leadership So tell us about the expected new president Russell Nelson I'm not some internal church leadership relatively late he was a heart surgeon before he joined the highest ranks of church leadership Nelson has recently on given talks in churches conference encouraging women to get more involved in the church encouraging male beaters to listen more to a woman but he also recently spoke out in defense of a policy in Iraq in November of 2015 in which the church made a policy that same sex couples who got married would be excommunicated and their children cannot be baptized and tell age 18 until they're only going adults I'm Nelson has been the most visible defender of that policy so are there specific things specific to the Mormon church that he's got to confront Cheryl wonder we haven't mentioned yet is the continued a transformation of the church the majority of Mormons actually do not live in the United States of outside the United States predominantly in Latin America and Africa activity rates participation in the church in those areas has been rather low and there are a lot of reasons for that John but one commonly assumed is that the culture of the church the policy of the church are very much marked by the American West and a culture kind of middle class United States and one thing that Nelson will have to do is to think harder about that that's Matthew Bowman He's a professor of history at Henderson State University professor Bowman thank you so much for speaking to us thank you for having me. This is n.p.r. News. At least to lessen the impact of this fiasco but I stayed silent I'm originally from New England and this is a common strategy. We pretend something hasn't happened by not talking about it growing is for more true stories told by the theme high anxiety go to the mall the Radio Hour from p.r. Acts. Coming up tonight at 10 on the. Public radio followed by. What you mean and what comes out of your mouth. Different things. Probably present. Movies of the mind storytelling be. Joining us tonight at 11 o'clock k.q.e.d. Public Radio Good afternoon it's 540 with Laurie Sanders. I'm Janine Hearst with these headlines after a month long war of words president from says he would absolutely be open to talks with North Korea's leader this comes as Pyongyang and South Korean officials are set to discuss the North's participation in February's Olympic Games the Mega Millions lottery is set to pay out the 4th largest jackpot in the game's history officials say the winning ticket was sold in Florida another big jackpot is on the line tonight the Powerball game is up to an estimated $570000000.00 the 5th largest game in history and the Eastern u.s. Is expected to remain in the grip of bitterly cold temperatures this weekend forecasters have posted wind chill warnings and advisories from Virginia up through Vermont I'm joining her n.p.r. News in Washington. Support for n.p.r. Comes from Babble a language at that teaches real life conversations in a new language including Spanish French and German babbles 10 to 15 minute lessons are available in the App Store or on line at Pebble Beach. Dot com Cancer Treatment Centers of America working to outsmart cancer through the use of genomic testing to profile each individual's cancer and reveal possible treatment options learn more about prison cancer treatment at Cancer Center dot com and the listeners of k.q.e.d. . This is All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Michel Martin as I mentioned earlier in the program we're going to take a few minutes to consider the latest action in the legal debate over marijuana and the week when California legalized the sale of recreational marijuana the trumpet ministration indicated it wants to move in another direction opening the door to a return to aggressive federal enforcement of Marijuana Laws before we go into the news of the week we want to understand how pot became so political in the 1st place as long as there's been the United States there's been marijuana John who deck is the author of marijuana a short history and deputy director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution who Doc says that for the 1st half of the nation's history cannabis was treated much like any other pharmaceutical cannabis is something you would see in an apothecary but he says around the turn of the 20th century the plant was drawn into a heated debate over Mexican immigration and marijuana the Spanish term for the drug came into use marijuana sounded foreign and it was something that was used by foreigners so it was inherently scarier than just saying cannabis by the 1930 s. It became the Jazz drug that was a drug that you'd find in New Orleans or Chicago or Harlem it was associated with African-Americans and it was another way to vilify an outgroup using this drug Who Dat says that marijuana was included in a broader national push to restrict recreational drug use and threatening rhetoric about the dangers of marijuana it was repeated over the decades by officials at the highest levels of government America's public enemy number one in the United States drug abuse eventually in 1970 Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act President Nixon signed it and that outlawed marijuana in the United States because it declared marijuana what is considered a schedule one substance we. Means that it is illegal in all circumstances no questions asked until 1996 when California passed a ballot initiative legalizing medical marijuana that sets off a chain reaction of other states during which time the federal government was wringing its hands trying to figure out what to do about this growing problem but all the while states were ignoring the feds and following each other into creating this broader system of medical marijuana availability in the United States which brings us to 2013 when the Obama administration stepped in with a set of guidelines that outlined a more flexible approach for prosecutors and then this week or turn to General Jeff Sessions rescinded those guidelines now some in law enforcement applauded the move but others including Republican lawmakers in states like Colorado and California sharply disagree we want to know what the change could mean so we ask the author of the Obama era rules Deputy Attorney General James Cole Well I think the biggest issue has really yet to be seen whether or not it creates an uncertainty in this industry that has grown up about whether it can continue to function and I think one of the issues you look at in that regard is what will the prosecutions be going forward is this going to be a change and attitude and actual enforcement or is it going to be pretty much business as usual and things are going to continue as they have been that's yet to be seen and it'll take some time for that to show itself so given that we've already seen that there are a number of states where marijuana has already been legalized I mean you're a prosecutor in those states what do you do federal prosecutors don't have infinite resources and they have to make choices and one of the choices is now going to be in light of the will of the voters of my state am I going to use those resources to prosecute in consequential marijuana cases or business related marijuana cases or am I going to use it on something that may mean more to the voters and to my. Constituents I think that's going to be part of the equation each prosecutor's going to go through so if you're in a state where there isn't a tolerance for legalizing marijuana What do you do if you find that it is creating public safety issues if you find it's creating harm in your community you're probably going to go unprosecuted what if you find that it's not I mean it's just the for the I mean that was one of the issues underlying the push in some places to decriminalize marijuana use or to outright legalize marijuana use is the sense that people were paying a very high price for a very small infraction I guess I'm wondering how do you think this is going to play out in you know further confrontation with law enforcement or what the federal government for years has not been prosecuting simple possession cases for marijuana that's just not worth the federal government's time the question is going to be whether or not they go after businesses because if they go after businesses then they're going to create a level of uncertainty that may have ripple effects that go through that industry there's tax revenue for the states that become at risk there's jobs that become at risk and if the industry isn't there you have the cartels coming back and in the gangs coming back and before we let you go this may be outside of your area of expertise but I was wondering if you think that we sending this guidance could be a forcing mechanism for Congress to take action here and try to establish some nationwide framework for thinking about marijuana I think it might be because you have more and more states that are growing in their marijuana legalization programs you have the amendments that are currently on the Justice Department appropriations bill that will not allow the Justice Department to use any of its funds to prevent the implementation of a state's medical marijuana program this is an area that really screams out for some more clarity the best clarity can come from Congress that's the place this needs to be dealt with that's James Cole he served as deputy attorney general under the Obama administration he authored the so. Called Cole memo which directed federal marijuana and force meant until earlier this week when it was rescinded by Attorney General Jeff Sessions thanks so much for speaking with us thanks for having me here today. You don't have to be a movie buff to know Aaron Sorkin you know him from movies like The Social Network Steve Jobs and Moneyball and television shows like The West Wing over more than 2 decades of screenwriting circuit has made a name for himself as a master of crackling dialogue complex character study and nailbiter political drama circus latest film has all of that and something else it's his 1st time in the director's chair the film is called Molly's game it's a fictionalized account of a real person named Molly Bloom and Olympic level skier whose athletic career ends in a dramatic wipeout looking for a change of pace of for something to occupy her time before she goes to law school she stumbles into the world of underground high stakes celebrity poker games next thing you know she's in the sights of the Russian mafia and u.s. Prosecutors Molly Bloom as portrayed by Jessica chest pain Here's a clip from Molly's game it's a scene where she's confronted by one of her celebrity clients played by Michael Cera over control of the weekly game these guys want to play cards with me not. You know the biggest winner in this game is you know the 2nd biggest winner is book. 10001 that is my business literally between you dealers and the service you're taking a lot of money out of this game not as much as I'm bringing 10010000 that doesn't go in my pocket. My money your money is my money and Aaron Sorkin is with us now from our studios in New York Aaron Sorkin thanks so much for speaking with us thanks for having me a lot of your films have focused on larger than life figures like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs what was it that drew you to this story the story of Molly Bloom Well you know I was asked to read the book by lawyer I know socially and I was asked to meet with Molly and I read the book the book is a wild ride it's the true story of Molly Bloom who in her twenty's and thirty's ran the. World's Most Exclusive high stakes underground poker game C.E.O.'s billionaires movie stars sports figures politicians would win or lose millions of dollars in the course of a night at Molly's table sometimes in the course of one hand and so I read the book and. I did not think it was something that I'd want to make a movie out of it wasn't until a couple of days later when I sat down with Molly Bloom and saw that the book was just the very tip of a very large and complicated iceberg that I began to get interested. What I discovered was that Molly was an honest to god real life movie heroine found in an unlikely place that this was a morality tale of doing the right thing when the wrong thing is easier more profitable more expedient that it was a story about decency and that it wasn't a story about all the shiny objects that the decadence the money the glamour of the Hollywood bald faced names the poker that was the backdrop for a much more personal much more emotional and much more inspirational story what was decency important to you decency at the heart of it was that important to you incredibly important I like meditations on decency under any circumstances in the times that we're living in now when you come face to face with decency It's like a cool glass of water in the middle of a desert and that's what happened when I met Molly glume Ali is a brilliant one and when we meet her at the beginning of the movie she has a gold plated future or whole life is ahead of her Molly was ranked 3rd in North America in women's moguls and was on the u.s. Ski Team and is about to at the top of the movie run the 3rd and final qualifying round to make the Olympic ski team she's going to do that then she's going to go to Harvard Law School with an Olympic medal around her neck and then she's going to start a foundation that cedes entrepreneurial women and she comes $100.00 yards from that goal when just a fluke accident happens. That sends her off course both literally and metaphorically into this crazy world of underground poker instead of that perfect life that she was supposed to be living you started working on this film quite some time ago but it's coming out now yeah in this moment you know you're telling a story about a woman navigating a world of powerful sometimes abusive men who make all the rules and she's trying to figure out her place in it and I'm just wondering if you you know feel like this adds to that conversation in some way that you may not have anticipated at the time which How could you have but I don't know what do you think now well I would happily trade the fortuitous timing of the movie for a world in which it wasn't quite as relevant as it is right now obviously Yes 1st of all let me confirm that Molly does not again to a world a very powerful man that often times these men are. Less than respect for each other jerks their jerks and moreover when one of these powerful men feels that Molly. Is not sufficiently impressed by their power or is paying more attention to another powerful man and they're paying to powerful men in Milan they ruin her they enter and there's a contradiction there because they're all also in love with Molly you know there's there's a massage me going on there so it is very much reflective of what's going on today I think it was probably reflective of what was going on 50 years ago too it's just that sunlight has been poured on this for the last couple of months ever since the rotten foul in New York Times Expos as of Harvey Weinstein you know before I let you go I was reading some of the background notes for the film which you know the studios make available before you do an interview and they're going to tell you what the filmmakers thoughts were and if you keep people on one of the things that was interesting in the liner notes for you is that it said that you don't want to name names you didn't want to be a gossip film you don't want the audience to sit around wondering Who are these celebrities at these poker games you know now that we're in a moment where people are holding powerful people accountable for their bad conduct I wonder is there any part of you that regrets not naming some of those names of people who behave badly toward Molly I think that you ask a very interesting question. So I want to I want to ask this is as fulsomely as as I can. No I right from the very beginning I knew that I didn't want to gossip about anybody I don't like gossip and I think that we were living in a time of gossip I think that social media has served as a force accelerator Moreover if you're going to make a movie where your heroine is heroic because she refuses to as you put it name names to gossip about people even though it would mean that she would eat all her money is taken away by the government even though it means she would get her money back be able to restart her life guarantee her freedom she'd be kept out of jail she still refuses to name names she still refuses to talk about guys who weren't very good to her but what you're asking is if Molly was sexually harassed or even got for been sexually abused by one of these guys that is that's still a noble thing that she's keeping it to herself. And let me try to answer the way I think Molly would answer that question. Molly would do anything to protect someone to warn someone if they were in danger Ok if they were about to go on a date with or have a meeting with or audition for someone that Molly knew to be dangerous but that wasn't the case here Molly also because I talked to her about the the culture we find ourselves and now what's going on you know the me too movement and Molly distinguishes and thinks it's important to distinguish between Borash behavior piggish behavior and dangerous behavior so I think that's the answer that Molly would give and I think that Molly is a more credible source on this than I am so I'm going to give you Molly's answer while I kind of take some time to listen to everyone else before I give you mine that's Aaron Sorkin he is an Oscar and Emmy winning writer he directed his latest film it's called Molly's game and it is out nationwide on January 5th he was nice enough to join us from our studios in New York Aaron Sorkin thank you so much for speaking with us and Happy Holidays to you thank you very much and Happy Holidays to you and we had a chance to put some of those questions to the real Molly Bloom you can hear that interview tomorrow. For Saturday that's All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Michel Martin before we go tonight I'd like to say thank you to Ray Suarez for filling in for me over the holidays and I'd also like to give a special shout out to my colleague Robert Siegel who on Friday concluded 30 years as host of All Things Considered every weekday he showed us how to do it day in and day out for 3 decades not to mention his decade of work in other capacities at n.p.r. He will be missed I on the other hand will be back tomorrow thank you for listening we hope you have a great night. Support for n.p.r. 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