To be profitable there will be no changes for retirees or union or production workers and the $20000.00 workers can still get a pension based on benefits they've accrued so far but they can't make any more progress towards a bigger pension instead they can pay into a 401 k. Retirement plan Karen Friedman is with the nonprofit Pension Rights Center and she says G.E.'s had a generous pension plan a wonder that most companies but freezing the plan is a cost cutting measure Sal This is a way for the company to do better and though you know the workers are going to do worse the company says that returning g.e. To a position of strength has required quote difficult decisions Chris Arnold n.p.r. News Michigan's governor says she's growing increasingly concerned about the effect of an extended walkout by the United Auto Workers Union against General Motors Gretchen Whitmer visited workers on a picket line today the g.m. Plant near Lansing she says she thinks and Porton both sides find common ground on Wall Street today the Dow was down 95 points this is n.p.r. Live from k.q.e.d. News on Jeremy Siegel hundreds of public employees in Santa Clara County are in their 5th day of rolling strikes to call attention to what they claim are unfair labor practices in turn the county filed a complaint with the state on Friday against the striking workers who are represented by sci you local 521 calling the walkout unlawful social services worker Griselda Lindo says they plan to keep striking until their issues are resolved quite honestly there's probably not going to incite Well yeah and funnel that's like opal it's like one team 3 Well thank you we're all willing to continue this fight the county's chief operating officer Miguel Marquez says the intermittent nature of the strikes have had minimal impacts on county services Pacific Gas and Electric says it's considering turning off the electricity in nearly 30 California counties later this week as. Because the National Weather Service says it's expecting some of the windiest conditions of the season in parts of the state starting late tomorrow night into Thursday the gusty offshore winds and dry conditions are raising fire concerns p.g.d. Says in an effort to prevent its infrastructure from igniting a wildfire it could turn off the power in most Bay Area counties and many others in the utility service area the company says the main period for weather risk is early Wednesday morning through Thursday midday why have more on this story coming up in a half hour I'm Jeremy Siegel This is k.q.e.d. News support comes from Stanford health care where patients and physicians turn when health care matters most support for n.p.r. Comes from the ring foundation in support of N.P.R.'s continued mission to create a more informed public one challenge than invigorated by a deeper understanding of events ideas and cultures and you are listeners of k.q.e.d. Support for k.q.e.d. Comes from Geico protecting people in their vehicles for over 75 years Geico is proud to offer emergency roadside service to Bay Area drivers learn more at Geico dot com or 180947 auto. Looks like we'll have mostly clear skies tonight becoming partly cloudy though by morning with overnight lows into the fifty's then for your Tuesday cloudy along the coast in bank partly sunny inland highs cooler sixty's seventy's and low eighty's inland currently 73 degrees here in San Francisco. This is All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Ari Shapiro and I'm Mary Louise Kelly it is time to bring home u.s. Troops from Syria that was a tweet from the president this morning it made many people think the president was acting on his longstanding goal of getting u.s. Forces out of long running wars in the Middle East he also appeared to be clearing the way for Turkey to cross the border into northern Syria but what has followed today has been confusion and criticism of the president followed by more tweets from Trump including one in which he threatened to destroy the economy of Turkey n.p.r. National security correspondent Greg Meiring is here hi greg Hey Mary Louise it feels like it might be a good idea to just back us up 24 hours or so we know that President Trump had a phone call with President ever to one of Turkey and then all this spilled from there what happened right Will these presidential phone calls with foreign leaders continue to be highly problematic Trump spoke with the Turkish president aired on on Sunday and then late last night the surprising White House statement that Turkey was planning to send its military into northern Syria Well that's exactly where the u.s. Has about a 1000 forces they fought the Islamic state there they've stayed there and maintain the peace but it wasn't quite clear what was going to happen but then the president followed up on Twitter this morning and said quote It is time for us to get out of these ridiculous endless wars many of them tribal and bring our soldiers home this created the very strong impression that Trump would follow through with this pledge . As the president clarified if that is in fact what he was signaling he wants to happen well he's tried he was asked today this afternoon if he was siding with Turkey by allowing them to come across the border and he denied this and explain for now this this Turkish incursion is expected but he was just moving a small number of u.s. Special operators out of harm's way let's have a listen well I'm done starting with anybody we've been in Syria for many years you know Syria was a. Yes to be a short term hit just a very short term hit we were supposed to be in and out that was many many years ago and we only have 50 people in that area that's a small sector so he's saying it's just moving these troops out of the way so if the Turks come through they won't there won't be any clashes in that it's not a large scale u.s. Withdrawal Ok so it is not the full pull out that he announced he was going to do back in December and then and then he walked that back right in fact the Pentagon the State Department and a senior White House official have all given briefings sort of trying to clean up the confusion that the president caused by this in saying that they the u.s. Opposes a Turkish incursion and that Turkey will be responsible for whatever happens if they come across the border into Northern Syria right stay with Turkey for a 2nd because I mentioned this tweet that came out today President Trump threatening to destroy the economy of Turkey what's the context right so he's made this sort of ominous warning 1st by tweet and then 2nd when he made some remarks again today and again here's what he said about Turkey I have told Turkey that if they do anything outside of what we would think is you Mame to use the word a 2nd time we talk about Hong Kong we talk about this they could suffer the wrath of a an extremely decimated economy so Turkey is a NATO member of the u.s. And Turkey have been holding joint security patrols there's a ton Trump Tower in Turkey's largest city is Stamboul you know in fact there's 2 of them there Trump Towers in Istanbul very briefly Greg what kind of reaction are we hearing high level criticism across the board in fact it's been quite striking that Republicans like Mitch McConnell Lindsey Graham and Mitt Romney have all come out harshly against the president right that is n.p.r. National security correspondent Greg Myre Thank you my pleasure. Now to New York where today a federal judge issued a strongly worded decision ordering President Trump to turn over years of tax returns to the Manhattan district attorney that decision was quickly stated by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals these rulings come from a grand jury investigation into whether Trump's business dealings ran afoul of the law in New York joining us to discuss the case is Andrea Bernstein co-host of the Trump Inc podcast from w. N.y.c. And Pro Publica I understand Hey Arthel great to be with you good to have you back remind us where this investigation started it actually had to do Stormy Daniels Right right so the case started in the u.s. Attorney's office with the investigation of Michael Cohen and the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels that office eventually decided not to continue with its investigation so the case was picked up by the Manhattan d.a. Who sought Trump's tax records as part of his investigation into whether any felonies had been committed in New York state and when he asked for the tax returns Trump's lawyers sued in federal court and what arguments did each side make so the president trumps private attorneys argued that a president cannot even be investigated and the Manhattan district attorney said there's no way you can do this because it will stop any all local prosecutions everyone we're invest we're investigating will be able to go to the federal courts and say you can't do this the Department of Justice has also weighed in on the side of president trumps private business and they've argued that the president deserves a hearing in federal court but the judge came down very strongly against Trump's lawyers position and so after people have been waiting for years to see President Trump's tax returns for about an hour this morning it looked like they actually might get a chance to but no right so it was not an ambiguous decision that this federal judge wrote he said it was an extraordinary claim of immunity that the president was making that it would stretch to cover every phase of criminal proceedings including investigations grand jury proceedings and subpoenas. Indictment prosecution arrest trial conviction and incarceration so it's worth pointing out the reason the special counsel did not indict the president was because he said Justice Department policy says you cannot indicting a sin the president what the president's lawyers then I get in this case is the president cannot even be investigated and the judge said no that the investigation has to be allowed to go forward and if it can't it would mean not only the president but and I'm quoting here any accomplices could escape being brought to justice do we know of any accomplices I mean who might the judge have been referring to there so we don't know exactly but we do know that the president's business is the examined for falsifying business records because those hush money payments they were claimed to be illegal retainer which they were not 3rd parties are being examined as well and this is a major aspect of the D.A.'s argument which the court has now agreed with you have a local prosecutor looking into local crimes and he's saying what no one can be held to account if they did a crime with the president if you extend this argument the president could have actually shot someone on 5th Avenue the judge was implying and if he did no coconspirators could be held to account if you went along with the Trump lawyers arguments according to the federal judge today so the 2nd Circuit has issued a stay what happens next he has asked for expedited arguments as soon as this Friday there's already a case in front of the appeal circuit the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals this is the trump v Deutsche Bank case which is a congressional case that was argued last August but this is different because in that case Trump's lawyers were saying Congress doesn't have a right to do a law enforcement investigation this is a da asking for the tax records so we're in uncharted territory as to what the 2nd Circuit will do and here Bernstein thanks a lot thank you She's co-host of the Trump thing podcast from w n y c n Pro Publica. A deadly car crash in England has the British prime minister urging the United States to waive immunity for a u.s. Diplomats wife here's what happened the woman the diplomat's wife allegedly struck and killed a British man in a road accident then she flew back to the United States under diplomatic immunity as N.P.R.'s Frank Langfitt reports from London the incident has sparked fury in Britain the American woman and so cool as pulled out of a u.s. Air Force communications base northwest of London in August and began driving on the wrong side of the road according to police they say she then slammed head on into harry done 19 who was riding a motorcycle Harry's father Tim said police thoughts a cool ass would stay in the u.k. Dunn's mother Charlotte Charles spoke to Britain's Sky t.v. It just shocked and pulled something out to get on the painting having an overweight. Just only need to come back it's not much to ask she's left a family. Under the 1961 Vienna Convention most diplomats and their family members are immune from prosecution in host countries but u.k. Prime minister Boris Johnson said the rules shouldn't apply in this case I do you want think that it can be right to use the process of diplomatic immunity for this type of purpose and I hope that and sick you last will come back and will engage properly with the process is of more was that carried out in this country if we can't resolve it then of course I will be raising it myself personally with the White House the u.s. State Department expressed its condolences to Dunn's family in a statement it said senior officials give waiver requests in cases like this quote intense attention given the global impact of such decisions but added quote immunity is rarely waved on Twitter Britain's called the Us position appalling. And so it's a cool acid been cowardly It's a horrible situation and made all the worse by the fact that it involves a family that's completely Craig Barker is dean of the School of Law had London South Bank University he started studying diplomatic immunity in the 1980 s. After a London police officer was killed by a bullet fired from the Libyan Embassy and the u.k. Government let the Libyans go Barker's gold abolish diplomatic immunity and at that time I was outraged I was appalled and thought well I'm going to I'm going to be the one that sorts the Sarit and for years afterwards I finish my Ph d. I'm afraid to say at the time I sort of flipped because I saw the benefits Barker's as immunity exists to protect diplomats and their family members from harassment or false charges by hostile host countries you can imagine how easy it might be for a foreign government with all the facilities they have to create a situation where a foreign diplomat Lukes then he guilty Parker says the Vienna Convention has been very effective at curbing such abuses the law professor doesn't expect the u.s. To waive immunity for fear of creating a precedent in that case he says Dunn's family could try to seek redress in an American civil court Frank Langfitt n.p.r. News London. You're listening to All Things Considered from n.p.r. News Good afternoon I'm Lori Sanders and coming up 20 years ago Microsoft was sued for unfairly undercutting the competition more on how that case unfolded coming up on all things considered but 1st a check of our freeways and a Bart the light with Steve in town Lori we do have a 10 minute delay on the. Warm Springs line in the Dublin Pleasanton Warm Springs Richmond in Daly City directions due to earlier police activity also delays in Santa Rosa Southbound one a one slugger's from Hopper down to Corby a crash in your commute East eighty's going to be a slow from Central Avenue from Richmond all the way out to an old and approaching Richmond Parkway we have a 3 car crash on the right hand side by Stephen John for take you easy Thank you Stephen his report brought to you by 8 by 8 business phone lines support for k.q.e.d. Comes from the crowd in school in Berkeley where music changes everything children who love music find a home of the crowd in school a transformative day school for grades 3 through 8 Learn more at Croton dot org slash day school u.c.s.f. Developing powerful tools like the u.c.s.f. 500 genetic test that can identify lifesaving therapies for rare cancers learn more at u.c.s.f. Dot edu on the next fresh air. Countertenor Anthony Roscoe stands out he's about to star in the Metropolitan Opera as production of Philip Glass's opera. He sings in the range one song by cust Roddy men who kept their high voices by being castrated before puberty joined us. Fresh air comes up this evening at 7 pm here on k.q.e.d. Public Radio and that at 10 the rebroadcast of forum as our climate change is set as our health health researchers are warning of serious side effects that go along with a warming planet the toll that climate change may have on our physical and mental health coming up tonight at 10 on the rebroadcast a form of support for n.p.r. Comes from little passports their new science junior subscription for kids aims to inspire curiosity designed to bring projects to life while utilizing new sciences concepts more at little passports dot com The Conrad and Hale Conrad. And Hilton Foundation working to improve the lives of individuals living in poverty and experiencing disadvantaged through the world learn more at Hilton Foundation dot org And you are listeners of k.q.e.d. Good afternoon the time is now 520. This is All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Ari Shapiro and at Mary Louise Kelly this month an All Tech Considered why everyone wants to break up big tech. From federal regulators to Congress to state attorneys general everyone seems to be trying to figure out whether major tech companies have gotten too big too powerful and maybe broken antitrust laws for clues about what Google and Facebook and Amazon and Apple might face we're going to take a look back at one of the biggest anti trust cases of the past few decades after weeks of mounting tension today the Justice Department in a coalition of 20 states filed a pair of broad antitrust lawsuits against the world's leading software company Microsoft that is from our show on May 18th 1998 the case had actually started to take shape almost a decade earlier and the end of it wouldn't come until years later I'm here to explain the lessons that today's big tech giants can take from the Microsoft case is reporter Abbi Robertson of The Verge at a Roberts welcome let's start with that moment 1998 Walk me through the landscape of what was going on in terms of Microsoft and federal regulators starting to think very hard about reigning it and Microsoft had been skirmishing with the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission for almost a decade at that point over how did it achieve massive dominance in operating systems and then in 1905 Bill Gates realized that he had missed the Internet what does that mean he had missed the internet Microsoft had focused so much on making Windows important that it had missed that the Internet could make operating systems almost obsolete and there was this one company making this one browser Netscape Navigator that had achieved a really strong presence already and Microsoft realized that Fane needed to stop them right around this time Bill Gates ended up 10. Defying before Congress the products that Microsoft makes have a very short lifetime in terms of their attractiveness to customers in the span of the term of a senator we create a product it becomes a very popular product and then that product has no demand whatsoever Addie Robertson if you go back and listen through all of that testimony to the thrust of it is Bill Gates mounting a vigorous defense of Microsoft saying it's not a monopoly was that a an argument that regulators and city attorney's general bought ultimately Now ultimately they decided that Microsoft had been incredibly aggressive at trying to drive Netscape out of business which they ultimately did they would pressure companies not to work with them and they were also giving Internet Explorer away for free so they were just massively undercutting this product that was partially paid by using their incredibly popular operating system and integrating this browser right into it what do you see as lessons learned the similarities between how the Microsoft case unfolded and what companies Apple Amazon Google Facebook are facing today maybe the clearest point of comparison is between Microsoft and Google you have a company that controls this whole stack of technology it runs an incredibly popular operating system it runs incredibly popular apps on top of that operating system and it uses those things to push other companies out arguably one of the lessons is that this genuinely is an issue even if it is sort of giving these things away for free even if it is saying oh you cannot install this you can go and take your own promo turn it of and Staal it the law has said that these things have an effect that these things can still be damaging I suppose worth pointing out that Microsoft is still around is actually doing pretty well is there a lesson there for these companies facing potential litigation the. That you know they might come out of it and be doing just fine a decade 2 decades from now yeah I think the big argument around Microsoft was that the point was not to kill the company that the point was to make the company sort of more circumspect about shutting out competition so when a company like Google shows up and starts working in the web Microsoft realizes that it can operate and it can work without mercilessly destroying them is reporter Abbi Robertson of The Verge thanks very much thank you. Support for All Tech Considered comes from ultimate software dedicated to putting people 1st with solutions for h.r. Payroll and talent management learn more at ultimate Software dot com ultimate software people 1st and from c 3 day I c 3 dot AI's software enables organizations to use artificial intelligence in enterprise scale solving previously unsolvable business problems learn more at c 3. When William Kalen was a pre-med student one professor suggested he get a taste for laboratory research it did not go well it turns out in hindsight that virtually everything that could have been wrong in a laboratory was wrong in this laboratory and I remember getting a c. Minus which for a premed is like having a wooden stake driven to your heart safe to say William Cohen overcame that scene minus just fine not only did he make it through medical school and launch a career in research today it was announced he will be awarded the 21000 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine n.p.r. Science correspondent Richard Harris picks up the story after his disastrous start in the lab William Kalen figured he would focuses attention on treating patients and indeed he started down that path settling into a job at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and it became increasingly clear as I was treating more and more patients with cancer as a young man the obvious truth which is if we were ever going to improve the treatment of these diseases we had to understand them better and that. To him deep into the science of disease and deep into the laboratory he was interested in a hereditary cancer called Von Hippel Lindau disease and the tumors that these patients develop are notorious for over producing various distress signals that are normally and deuced by low oxygen following this curious trail and having no idea where it would lead Kalen dug into the proteins in genes that cells used to sense oxygen levels and to adapt accordingly Fortunately this line of investigation sort of collided with the line of investigation that have been started by Greg cements and Peter Radcliffe so many at Johns Hopkins and Radcliffe at the University of Oxford were chipping away at this from a completely different direction Happily the lines of research intersected and happier still for these 3 physician scientists they will share the 2900 Obo Prize for their work in discovering the mechanisms by which our cells sense oxygen and adapt Kaylan who is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator says there's already a drug for kidney cancer that interferes with this system but more importantly now that we really understand the circuit there are multiple other opportunities to intervene therapeutically several new potential cancer drugs are in the works and this is not just about cancers this issue Jane who has just launched her career at u.c. San Francisco studying oxygen in the body oxygen as absolutely critical to every aspect of health and disease and certainly most of the causes of death in developed nations are actually linked to a lack of oxygen and a lack of nutrients those include stroke and heart attack as it happens Jane also stumbled into this area as she was studying something different mitochondrial disease yeah that's the beauty of science the temptation in medical research these days is to focus on a very specific objective but killing argues that curiosity driven research like his can really pay off let's generate new knowledge and let's just hope that on occasion that knowledge is. Sufficient to allow us to do something that's useful Richard Harris n.p.r. News. This is n.p.r. News coming up on All Things Considered Ari Shapiro talks with Representative John Garamendi about his recent trip to the Ukraine with a bipartisan delegation but 1st let's find out from Stephen Chong why to 80 is slow leaving San Francisco. Well Larry it's just the evening commute unfortunately drivers will be stuck on southbound $280.00 from runner on Mary posed to us 25th at Cesar Chavez and slow again from one on one to Monterrey Boulevard let's go to Concord East on Highway 4 before we'll pass road this crash just came in the 2 left lanes are obstructed to all 4 How are the 2 left lanes by this motorcycle crash and Santa Clara eastbound 237 is jammed up from Moorpark all the way across a span outside evil just a reminder the Niners home game is tonight by Stephen John for take you easy Stevens for a part brought to you by 8 by 8 business phone lines support for k.q.e.d. Comes from one medic home a primary care practice with same day appointments 247 virtual care and new locations around the bay more at membership at one medical that come pager duty from digital this digital disruptors to the Fortune 500 over 12000 companies around the world use pager duty to keep their digital operations always on learn more at pager duty that com This is k.q.e.d. News I'm Jeremy Siegel on the same day as the 2 year anniversary of the deadly fire storm that swept through the north bay in 2017 the Bay Area is expecting some of the same weather that contributed to the destruction seen across wine country starting tomorrow night parts of the north and east bay are going to see strong and gusty winds that combined with the low humidity could make conditions ripe for Wildfire the National Weather Service says a fire weather watch will be in effect for the north and east bay hills and valleys and the Santa Cruz Mountains through Thursday for more on this we're joined by San Jose state's crag Clements he directs the university's fire weather research laboratory and Professor Clements How bad is this and can you put it into context for us well the winds that are forecasted are going to be strong now it's still forecast hasn't been verified. But what's different this year than previous years is there fuel moistures are normal and slightly above normal in some places in the Bay Area and that's due to the fact that we've had slightly cooler weather in the coastal areas of northern California and we've had some late precipitation so we had some rainfall in May that really reduces any large fires when the life almost is high because it's cooler and we've had more rain the fires don't tend to grow as fast and we're also reporting today on how Pacific Gas and Electric is warning people across the state including almost all of the counties in the Bay Area that they could cut power due to these conditions to avoid sparking a fire with their equipment does that seem like a good call do you given these conditions I think the public safety power shut off are a good call right now what p.g. Is doing is saying hey it could be all of these areas but ideally it will probably be just a few Once the higher resolution forecasts come out probably tomorrow or later tonight they'll be able to fine tune What's the wind corridors are that they expect to be really critical So even though it's you know many counties are included in this fire weather watch it most likely will be less you studied fire behavior I mean what is it about these conditions with gusty winds and low humidity What is it about this that that makes things so dangerous at times like this well when the humidity is low and what's going to happen is that the our forecast model of how this is showing that we're going to have humidity is in the teens down the page maybe 10 percent and higher elevation so what that can do is it really cures out what we call the one hour fuel for the fine fuels those are the dead grasses that you see on the cured grasses you know the golden hills of California. Fires generally start in those types of fuels and can carry very rapidly if you can get into the few the brush like the chaperone the big shrubs then it gets more intense and then you can get spotting generator from those fuels and then you can carry into the forests now if we didn't have the wind we wouldn't be as worried because with the big wind you get long range Spadina spot is where an ember is carried in the wind far downwind from the actual fire front and it ignites another fire and so that's what we saw in the campfire that's what we saw in the tubs fire the big wind driven fires are caused by the embers that are being lost and carried down when with a very strong wind so when we get these down so when storms that are being forecasted that's why it's so critical because not only are we drying out the fuels ahead of that wind we're going to potentially if there was an ignition it would be a rapid rate of spread Krag Clements is the director of San Jose state's fire Weather Research Laboratory professor Clement thanks so much for your time great thanks for having me I'm Jeremy Siegel This is k.q.e.d. News support comes from Total Wine and more with over 3000 steer it's an experts to provide advice on signature cocktails now open in Stephen's Creek support for k.q.e.d. Comes from Sam Sarra an industrial Internet of Things company over 10000 customers worldwide use I'm sorry to improve the efficiency safety and sustainability of their operations now hiring at Samsung red dot com 1440 Multiversity presenting the practice at 440 a design your own yoga retreat with luminary instructors offered in a partnership with Yoga Journal January 17th through the 20th 1440 dot org slash k.q.e.d. Support for n.p.r. Comes from m.d. Anderson Cancer Center where physicians treat all types of cancer with a team of nearly 21000 all devoted to ending cancer and providing. Hope to patients more at making cancer history that come a.t.p. And h.r. Partner committed to designing a better way to work with h.r. Talent Time benefits and payroll informed by data and designed by people learn more at design dot a.t.p. That come and you our listeners of k.q.e.d. Temperatures cooling off tonight right now temperatures still quite warm 82 in Oakland it's 80 here in San Francisco this is All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Mary Louise Kelly and I'm Ari Shapiro a bipartisan delegation of Congress people is just back from Ukraine it was a trip to the design to strengthen the u.s. Ukraine alliance and it was planned before news broke of the whistleblower complaint against President Trump involving that same country Congressman John Garamendi led the delegation as a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Democrat from California joins us now welcome Congressman. Good to be with you one central question any Pietschmann inquiry is whether President Trump demanded help investigating a political rival in exchange for u.s. Aid to Ukraine and I know that aid was a central topic on your trip so what did you learn about Ukraine's reliance on American assistance. Both 1st of all Ukraine is an extraordinary country these citizens of that country are determined to be independent they have been fighting a war against Russia for the last 5 years they've lost 13 to 14000 soldiers in the field Crimea has been stolen from them and they continue to fight in the Donbas Asian eastern region they are strong they are resolved and they have a new government and whether I'd like to do Sayed it's absolutely essential absolutely essential when the government when President Trump withheld that money it put them at dire risk the bullets the ammunition the equipment that they need to fight back against Russia was in that money and it and the president withheld it and officials tell you that their understanding was that it was withheld for a substantive reason or for political pressure and what was their understanding when you spoke to them. We actually decided not to get into that issue we wanted to know what their needs were what they what equipment they needed for the future how they were going to protect their coastline issues of that sort the training that's necessary we did not consider ourselves to be there to ferret out further information that's going to be done in the halls of Congress Ok so I understand you didn't discuss that with Ukrainian officials I know you also met with Bill Taylor who is the sharks a.s.r.s. At the u.s. Embassy in Ukraine he is one of the people involved in the text messages that were turned over to Congress did you ask him about those texts in particular one saying that it was crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign Yes we did discuss that with him he said that it was true that the text is accurate. He didn't go into further discussions beyond acknowledging that his deal was that it was the wrong thing to do and obviously he said that in his e-mails and made it clear he is he knows Ukraine he is a very very good person for us to have there at this extremely awkward and very difficult time between the United States and and Ukraine and as he was raising this for red flag I mean did he explain to you anything about his reaching out to the White House or State Department about the aid being delayed I mean what was his narrative of what was going on at the time. But he did share with us was that it was essential that we. Tell in any way possible of the of the new Ukraine government that the Congress of the United States stands firmly with Ukraine regardless of what the president may be doing and that in the new legislation that rewriting the National Defense Authorization Act that we make it clear that there will be a continuation of the money that they need the aid that they need the the soldiers that are training their troops all of those things and we did that and talked in our last 30 seconds or so what did you craniums tell you about being at the center of this massive American political story. They're very very concerned we met with the parliament it was of concern to the parliamentarians when you speak to them privately. What I found was a group of leaders that are strong resilient and they're going to soldier on they're going to protect their country all right Congressman John Garamendi senior member of the House Armed Services Committee thanks for joining us thank you Meanwhile House Democrats continue depositions of President Trump's inner circle this week a name that keeps coming up is Gordon fall in line the ambassador to the European Union who's expected to testify before a closed house panel tomorrow like Bill Taylor someone was involved in the text messages that are now at the center of the House impeachment inquiry here to talk about Solomon's role is n.p.r. White House correspondent Franco or don't Yes Hi Frank Oh hello tell us more about who go. And is and how he ended up being a bastard to the European Union well Gordon someone is a prominent Republican donor who made his money managing hotels largely in Seattle and Portland Oregon it appears he hasn't held a full time position government before being named as a bastard to the European which was last year he's what's known as a political appointee interesting Lee during the campaign he tried to distance himself from Trump in 2016 actually backing out of Seattle fundraiser when Trump criticized the parents of a Muslim American soldier son himself as the son of Jewish parents who escaped persecution from Germany but any hard feelings that he had about then candidate Trump didn't last very long because someone later donated a $1000000.00 to the president elect's inaugural Phone So explain how the ambassador to the European Union which includes a lot of countries but not Ukraine ends up being central to the White House's negotiations with Ukraine right my sources from the administration tell me they also find it very odd that son when the ambassador to the e.u. Is even dealing with Ukraine it's not traditional that the e.u. And Bassett are gets this involved with Ukraine there are already lots of different u.s. Actors with interest in the Ukraine there is Kurt Volker He's the special envoy who is trying to help end the conflict with Russia there is energy secretary Rick Perry who is engaged with energy talks with Ukraine but someone he seems to have developed you know a special report with Trump and he boasted actually about the role that he would have when he spoke with Ukrainian t.v. Earlier this year we have what are called the 3 Amigos and the through amigos our Secretary Perry again investor Volcker and myself and we've been tasked with sort of overseeing the crane u.s. Relationship and mind you that all this is happening even as Trump and his officials are in the process of at ousting the u.s. Ambassador to Ukraine who Trump recently called Bad news. What kind of reputation has someone built during his brief time as a diploma you know in some ways someone is kind of like Trump he's a businessman he made his name in the hotel industry people I spoke to said he has kind of a similar brash personality a wheeler dealer someone with a lot of confidence he's kind of a larger than life character when he hosted an Independence Day celebration in Brussels he actually brought in Jay Leno as entertainment the criticism is that sunlight is part of this new model of foreign diplomacy in the Trump era like Trump's ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell another outspoken political appointee Sunline is kind of unconstrained by traditional protocol and has been openly critical of allies such as the e.u. So he has been called to testify before the House Committee tomorrow what are members of Congress going to be asking him well they're going to ask him about his tax with Volcker about talks of scheduling a visit by the Ukraine president to the White House he'll be asked about his own tax about Trump wanting a quote unquote deliverable that will certainly get a lot of scrutiny because they appeared to be tied to a commitment by Ukraine to investigate the Biden family someone will also be asked about other texts from other diplomats who raise questions about whether u.s. Assistance was based on the condition of investigating the Biden family someone has been defensive on these tax and at one point he tried to take the conversation off the tax and try to get them to be just phone calls so that'll be very much the focus of the questioning and we'll see what comes out of that n.p.r. White House correspondent Franco or done yes thank you thank you. You're listening to All Things Considered from n.p.r. News. More than a 1000 African migrants many of whom have risked their lives to try to get to the United States have been stuck in limbo in southern Mexico they want to be able to travel north to the u.s. Safeway very frightening to go on mass if they don't get Mexican travel documents but Mexico is under pressure from the Trump administration to stem the tide of migrants N.P.R.'s Carrie Kahn reports for nearly 2 months hundreds of African migrants have been camped out in the southern Mexican City atop a Chula they've pitched dozens of tents in front of the main Mexican immigration detention facility here. Kids kick around the tattered flag soccerball concrete plaza in front of the facility while women listening to music squat under a canvas tents and cook rice and soup on small charcoal cookers. Once the afternoon rains come the camp daily turns into a muddy mess despite the terrible conditions the migrants from countries including Cameroon the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola say they won't leave until they're guaranteed passage to Mexico they fear if they set out small groups without proper documentation they'll be arrested or sent back to Guatemala immigration authorities here had been issuing African migrants travel documents until the summer they stopped under pressure from the trumpet ministration Henry a migrant from Cameroon who won't give his last name out of fear of retribution says he had to flee as village as soldiers attack them last October he says he got separated from his family and spent months looking for them sneaking back into Cameroon from neighboring Nigeria several times. Because I kept thinking. He finally decided he had to flee for good and cut a plane to Ecuador it took him several months walking through the jungle taking buses and paying off corrupt officials in 7 different countries before arriving in Mexico. Greg there's a problem started you know it was the worst he says Africans can't find work here in Mexico's poorest state he says there are no jobs and racism against blacks is terrible he was told he could only apply for asylum something he says he won't do Luis Garcia Viagra than a human rights activist has taken on the Africans cause and says under Mexican law the migrants have a right to a humanitarian visa or residency. If the immigration officials don't start legalizing these people if they don't start giving them documents then we will begin to March in mass from here on Tuesday he says the migrants say they feel safer in a large group activists very grand says there are more than 4000 Africans stuck in the city and says the mass March of migrants to Mexico will quickly recall images of last spring's migrant caravans which caught the eye of President Trump something Mexican authorities want to avoid Mexican immigration officials denied N.P.R.'s request for an interview in a press release today they say they will begin providing documents to the Africans but didn't say what brought about the change in policy for the Africans though it's unclear what fate awaits them even if they do make it to the u.s. Southern border last month the u.s. Supreme Court ruled that migrants could be denied asylum if they hadn't requested protection in a country they 1st passed through Carrie Kahn n.p.r. News Mexico City. You're listening to All Things Considered from n.p.r. News and coming up a. Things Considered in the new book The crossed out notebook a screenwriter is kidnapped by a film director and is kept in a basement where he works day after day that story coming up next but 1st let's check out our freeways and commute with Stephen Chun find out about the cemetery. East 92 right at the high rise we have the stalled car in the right lane lorry and it's backed up all the way to Oakham you know let's go to Concord where there's earlier crash used for right it will pass road right before rather still blocking the 2 left lane traffic passing in the 2 right is jammed up to 680 including really snarled on here to 42 northbound approach and signals that you Southbound one on one before Oakland road a 4 car crash on the right shoulder back to Lawrence expressway I'm Stephen John for k.q.e.d. Thank you Steve in his report brought to you by unbound dot org Support for k.q.e.d. Comes from Comcast their internet essential is come cast as connected more than 8000000 people from low income households to high speed internet most for the 1st time more at Comcast Corp dot com slash Internet essential Geico protecting people and their vehicles for over 75 years Geico is proud to offer emergency roadside service to Bay Area drivers learn more at Geico dot com or 180947 auto Hello I'm Jane Wales host of world affairs well not seen as a colonial power the u.s. Has had a legacy of expansion in the cases support Rico and the Philippines next on world affairs journalist at us and author Daniel him of our will talk to us about the legacy left this expansion and how that history might affect attitudes with the end and toward Frederico an American territory tune in Monday night at 8 pm right here on k.q.e.d. We're going across America to Kansas to hear how far and fast its politics and economy are changing I'm Joshua Johnson in Wichita next time on one essay when a comes up at 11 pm this evening. This is All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Mary Louise Kelly and I'm Ari Shapiro a few years ago the Argentine screenwriter Nicol last year called on it won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the film The Birdman you wrote this adaptation I did and you're directing and starring in the station the numbers that are in that same year are 180 to one for directing Birdman now the screenwriter Jack Obama has written a new novel called the crossed out notebook and it is about a screenwriter and director in this book the director locks the screenwriter in a basement holds a gun to his head and forces him to write a screenplay that will change the course of world cinema when I asked about the parallels between his own life and the plot of the novel jacket on and told me he wasn't thinking about in your e 2 when he started writing in fact he picked up the pen after his father died and he flew from New York to went to Cyrus to help the family and I was in mourning and I opened a notebook and basically started writing like you don't start it was screenplay that I should never have written and I couldn't stop like I did I wrote Lake nonstop for months so the thing with the novel for me was I learned a lot about writing and the differences between writing literature and writing screenplays can you give us one example well there is an extreme difference for me which is when I read literature it's all about like the sentence that you go one sentence at a time and it's like you don't know exactly where you're going with screenwriting I think it's the opposite of these like you need to structure a lot to develop characters to know everything as much as you can before you type the 1st work already know where the scene is going before you begin writing it you know so much detail as you can the kind of pressure that the main character Pablo feels is existential pressure is like write this or you'll be killed you're locked in the basement you're fighting for your freedom I know the pressure that you feel writing a screenplay is not that but are there parallels there. For me there was something that intrigued me and from the distance I thought it wasn't going to work which is to use the material like all the details of writing and the difference of writing a material for a novel like I thought that was sort of weird but I was excited about trying it and even making that novel a sort of a thriller in a way so I'm all about the act of writing exactly what I try to do is put it in this extreme form where everything is life or death and also the ambition of doing something that is going to change the scene of my history you know that to make it in this situation where yeah it's still seen it might still art like nothing happens if you make a movie and it sucks I mean it's just it's fine the world keeps turning you know but when you are and you go to stick and you truly want to create something that's unique there is going to be studied for ages the brush very soon men's because what you face 1st of all is your limitations and it becomes. Like not not a pleasurable venture is that a pressure that you put on yourself when you're writing. I think the perfectionism and it's like it's a mistake I feel that we are basically imperfect everything we will ever do is going to be imperfect in a way but at the same time look it's a contradiction because you have to do the best you can and if you have to make sure that you're doing the best you can there's nothing left there that if you can fix a line you can fix a word if you can fix transition from seem to sooner or later you should do it just take your time you should become obsessed with the thing but at the same time you have to know that it's going to be completely imperfect. And also have those ideas in your head at the same time or you're right here this is one way that your main character Pablo gets through it by imposing a strict routine on his life in this basement prison cell basically is that key to your process of writing to yeah completely that's completely out of your graphic and that's totally out of our graphic Yeah. Yeah and the thing that I like about bubbling away that it's scary but enjoys that he has dispersed anality that I relate to where he suffers Du Pree cement but at the same time he sort of accepted it it's like Ok I'm here the only thing I have to do is write and for me writing it's a little bit of that is a realistic version of that it's like I have to just stay home the whole day I have this very specific routine I have the different beverage just during the day in the morning is coffee in the afternoon nice Monte with an Argentinean sort of green tea drink then I drink a little bit of whisky in the evening and sometimes what I do is just have to be at home the computer has to be on the draft has to be open but then what I do is like I'm going to just sit down and drink some coffee and read or something I tell myself that I'm enjoying the morning but somewhere the need to write is there we never actually get to read the screenplay at the center of the plot how closely did you map it out do you have a screenplay that the reader has never seen or do you have an outline No I had one but he didn't like it so I thought it was better to sort of create the idea that something amazing can be done another know completely what that's about leaving that hole there like it makes you feel in the blanks and believe that he could be something amazing you know. I want to ask you about a section where Pablo describes the act of writing and it's bleak. To read this part of the book Ok. If you reach the end of a screenplay feeling that writing it was easy that there's no great secret to screenwriting then the draft isn't working. You have to suffer you have to beat your head against the wall you have to feel like it's all for nothing you have to look at yourself in the mirror and realize your face the c.e.o. Dick because we all have idiotic faces even worse idiotic ice you have to laugh like crazy at least once a week you have to cry you have to read what you wrote and cry because the scenes are sad but because they are pathetic you have to spend hours and hours you mention in other possible professions you have to spend hours and hours thinking up valid excuses even if they are lice justify the failure it goes on and on and. It's how you feel about writing I think of the novel as a comedy in a way yeah I mean sort of like this except for a diversion of it I mean I mean I see a grain of truth in that I've definitely had moments writing where I felt some of those things yeah I mean it's just for me like writing anything it's like what I enjoy the most and even when I read novels it's like when you put yourself in this mask you know what you saw 1st one of yourself but he's distorted he's not completely you and you know way you know allows you to be even more truthful than if you're trying to be realistic All right I'm a Mormon and everybody's going to read these and always true so I have to and I like you become more tactical than if you're writing fiction and from the sort of mask and I tried to do that I tried to put myself in that situation where I was playing with things that had to do with me that they're real but at the same time I was on this such a rated level of fiction and did you send the directors that you have worked with an early draft with a letter of apology. I sent him the book I sent to the Centenary to the book but what if you say about it. I think enjoyed it. And we were working together in a new project so I think Oh Ok so everything's cool. Well Nicholas. It has been great talking with your veterans graduation thank you very much the book is called The Cross out. You're listening to All Things Considered from n.p.r. News Good afternoon I'm Laurie Sanders sits just before 6 o'clock in our continuation of all things considered but 1st time to realize that its support for n.p.r. Comes from p.b.s. With retro report on p.b.s. Host Hedley funny and humorist Andy Borowitz explore the history behind today's headlines premieres tonight at $98.00 Central on p.b.s. The financial services firm of Raymond James personalized wealth management advice and banking and capital markets expertise along with a legacy of putting clients financial wellbeing 1st learn more at Raymond James dot com math Naisi and committed to building math success critical thinking and problem solving skills teaching students face to face in more than 1000 franchise locations more at math dot com and you the listeners of k.q.e.d. Just before 6 o'clock time to check in with Stephen Chan and find out what's going on in the Bay Bridge lore you spelled eighty's going to be really jammed up leaving the Bay Bridge slow for the maze there was a break between cutting and Buchanan but continued slowing out to put no big point used on Highway 4 before will pass road into conquer this earlier 2 car crash still obstructing the 2 left lanes backed up to pitch a ko as well as on your northbound 242 approach which stay. From 680 and what city one northbound sluggers from with 11 you up to 92 I'm Stephen Chang for k.q.e.d. And his report brought to you by Un-Band dot org Support for k.q.e.d. Comes from Log Me In featuring the all new Go To Meeting software built for the future collaboration so people can connect around the globe and get things done learn more and go to meeting dot com This is. North Highlands Sacramento Good afternoon at 6 o'clock. Truck through the American people want to do about the American. Politics in full throttle the giant war chest for the president's reelection campaign is being used for ad buy It's Monday October 7th and this is All Things Considered. And I'm Ari Shapiro this hour what happens next as the u.s. Moves troops out of Turkey's path in Syria when you were on the ground in northern Syria you may never see the Americans they truly are the presence that you never see but you know is there also should there be a road back for men implicated in me to scandals I just feel like. I just like he kind of blew it so why do we need to give you another chance or 3 And speaking of scandals why a tweet from the general manager of the Houston Rockets has sparked an uproar in China 1st the news. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Jack Speer House lawmakers are so pinning the Pentagon and the White House budget office as they continue their impeachment inquiry into President Trump the deadline to comply is October 15th in the meantime N.P.R.'s anyhow do reports lawmakers expect to hear from u.s. Diplomats who had to Capitol Hill this week the 3 House committees leading the impeachment inquiry are continuing their closed door depositions of key figures in the probe courtin Sunland is expected to testify the u.s. Ambassador to the e.u. Worked on negotiations with Ukraine which is not in the e.u. At the center of the inquiry is Trump's request that Ukraine investigate Joe Biden at the same time military aid was being withheld in one text message turned over to House investigators someone wrote the president has been crystal clear no quid pro quos Marie Yavanna vich former ambassador to Ukraine is also set to appear accused of disloyalty by Trump allies she was recalled from her post in May Trump said she was quote bad news in his call with Ukrainian President Amy Held n.p.r. News Washington over the weekend news broke a 2nd whistleblower has now come forward in the Ukraine affair were not a lot more is known about who that individual is according to N.P.R.'s Ryan Lucas who says it's still giving investigators more ammunition in their impeachment inquiry though one of the lawyers on the legal team Mark Zaid says this 2nd individual has spoken with the inspector general that means that this person now qualifies for Will blower legal protections under the law says this individual has not filed a formal complaint which means that he or she is almost more like a fact witness at this point who can possibly corroborate material N.P.R.'s Ron Lucas top administration officials had tried to downplay the 1st whistleblower but the fact a 2nd person has now come forward is increasing pressure on the president European Union is reacting with a lot to the u.s. Decision to withdraw forces protecting Kurds in northern Syria Teri Schultz reports Brussels is warning Turkey not.