To organize and to criticize their governments and to protest peacefully. And that the rule of law should not include arbitrary detentions of people who exercise those rights. Oakland congresswoman barbara lee was one of seven california lawmakers who joined president obama on the trip. She joins me now. Congresswoman, thank you for being here. Happy to be with you. Well get to cuba in just a moment. I wanted to ask you first about the brussels attacks. They happened while you were in cuba. How did you find out about them and whavls your reaction . Officials the horrific attacks in brussels you know, are an example of kind of the real threats that the world is faced with. I heard about them immediately when i woke up early in the morning. Turned on television and was shocked, quite frankly. Here we were in cuba and the terrible terrorist attack occurred. And it just reminded us all, even while we were trying to make progress, 90 miles way from america, that we face some very real threats that we have to ensure that, first of all, the country, our country, is safe. The rest of the world, our National Security apparatus, our homeland security, theyre doing a fine job. It also reminded me that theres no military solution and we have to really make sure that we embark upon and continue with an engagement that does not add more hostility, more violence, more threats in the world which means we have to have a comprehensive approach, solution, work with our allies in the region, and try to disable, dismantle, and destroy isis in a way that doesnt create more terror and more hostility. Can you expand on that, on the comment you just made . Theres no military solution. You were the only member of congress to vote against authorizing use of force after the september 11th attacks. Would you authorize using force against isis now . First of all we have seen as afghanistan a blank check and it authorized the use of force in perpetuity. And afghanistan is still a nightmare. Iraq is still a nightmare. So the use of force in afghanistan and iraq did not work, quite frankly. We need and we cannot have these openended perpetual wars. We need a coordinated strategy that the military strike is always there. Military action, use of force, the president can always use that. We have to find a way to address the root causes of terrorism and also a way to support the allies in the region to come up with a diplomatic solution as well as make sure that our counterterrorism initiatives and strategies are working in collaboration wilt those in the region. But most pentagon officials will tell you that military action is not going to address the terrorism that were faced with in the world. In the meantime we seem to be having some luck with the air strikes. Defense secretary ash carter announced they were able to take out a top isis leader in syria with an air strike. I wanted to also ask you about your cuba trip, of course. Youve been to cuba at least 20 times. At least. Two decades now youve been a strong voice advocating normalizing relations with cuba. What types of major changes have you seen over the years in cuba . My first visit to cuba was probably in 1977. And it was a very interesting period then. Of course no americans were there at all. I went with my predecessor, a great leader, ron dellham. Belva davis went with us and we put together a film called yankee come back. We took a delegation of health experts, bankers, experts to look at the realities of cuban society. Fast forward to today. What you see now, you see many americans, you see i see just Little Things like more paint on buildings. For a white cubans could not purchase paint to paint buildings. And that was not a priority. A very poor country. But also during the special period as they call it after the soviet union left, i can remember very vividly that there were very few of those beautiful cars on the road because people could not afford the fuel costs. And more people were riding bicycles and walking. And while food was very hard to get, the rates of diabetes went down and their Health Indices in terms of some diseases went down because they had more exercise and they were walking more. What about the human rights issues, though . You know, lack of freedom, reports that dissidents are still being repressed by the castro regime. Despite the president s statement this week that there are no political prisoners. Do you share those concerns . You have to look at human rights in an international context. We have an International Standard of human rights. And i think every country, you look at vietnam, you look at china, you look at most countries in the world, weve got to address human rights in a very real way. And im very pleased that human rights and those issues are on the baseball. I also know and the president was correct to talk about human rights in our own country. When you look at mass incarceration, when you look at racism and institutional biases. We have issues here. The important thing is that people in a democracy, in our form of a democracy at least, we have a right to petition and try to change the government. I think its important that human rights be discussed but its also important, as the president said, to talk about it in a comprehensive way where were not the only country telling cuba they better get their act together on human rights, because we have issues we have to keel with our own self. Speaking of president obama you endorsed him back in 2007 over Hillary Clinton. In the current president ial race you have not epdoersed anyone. Why not . I am not endorsing because i want to see this primary process play out. I think its very important for people to raise their voices, to get engaged, to get organized, to get mobilized. I believe Bernie Sanders has really helped shape the debate, has helped put additional issues on the table that probably would not have been debated. I think whats most important that is we gain, we engage young people, seniors, people of color, and that we have a massive effort to get the vote out to make sure that donald trump and cruz are not whichever one or whomever will not be elected. So im going to engage and make sure that when im needed, to make sure that people get to the polls to vote for a democrat, i am definitely going to do that. Thats when youre going to step in. Congresswoman barbara lee, thank you so much for being here. Thank you already. Californias june primary usually considered too late to make a difference could be critical this year. This week the Public Policy institute of california released a new poll of california voters. In the republican race it shows donald trump with 38 support among likely voters. Ted cruz follows with 27 . John kasich has 14 . On the democratic side, Hillary Clinton holds a 4841 lead over Bernie Sanders. Kqeds politics and government Senior Editor scott shafer is here with our political roundup. You heard congresswoman barbara lee say she hasnt endorsed anyone, does that surprise you . Not really. They served together in the house, Bernie Sanders and barbara lee r. I think philosophically theyre very close. My guess is barbara lee like a lot of liberal democrats, her heart is with bernie and her head might be with hillary as the person she knows can probably do better in november. I wouldnt be surprised if she endorsed bernie but voted for hillary. Im sure with a lot of people shes split. Hillary clinton has been tom nating the bigger, more diverse space. Does she have the same advantage in california over Bernie Sanders . Yes and no. I mean, she does do very well among latino voters but not a huge advantage like weve seen in other states. She does very well with older voters, 45 and older. He does very well with younger voters. You know, the electorate here, democrats and independents can vote in the democratic primary. Independent voters tend to be younger, more male. I think hell do well to get those votes into the primary. So she does have support from the years of both her being first lady and her husband being president. She did very well against ohm here in 2008. So she does have some builtin advantages to be sure as you can see in that poll, 4841, its no runaway. How is the tumultuous campaign affecting is gop party in california . I think theyre excited on one hand, wow, were relevant, this june primary is going to matter, it never does. On the other hand i think theres worry, anxiety, handwringing. Bus a lot of the folks worry about donald trump at the top of the ticket. At the same time they see him bringing new voters into the process. I think because the primary is going to matter youre going did see, more hoping, more republicans come out to vote in june. That could help some republicans downballot. Maybe the two republicans running for the u. S. Senate. Overall i think theres a sense of dread about how this is going to turn out, how is this going to end up come november . Its a close primary, speaking of the republicans. Only registered republicans can vote. Does that play to anyones particular advantage . I think it does. By keeping it only to republicans, youre getting a more conservative slice of the electorate. Thats going to benefit the most conservative candidate, in this case ted cruz. And you kind of saw that too when they if in the ppic poll they took rubios support out and redistributed it, trump got most of it. I think hes going to do pretty well in california because of that, because of the fact that its closed. The ppic poll also showed that trump does well among women. Does that surprise you . It does but i was out on tuesday, out in san ramon, a womens republican event, the u. S. Senate candidates were there. I talked to a lot of folks, women. Trump, trump, trump, trump, trump. I was shocked how much trump support there was. Why is that . Hes strong, he says what he thinks, hes an outsiderer, we need to shake things up. Theres anger at the Republican Party. They feel, weve controlled congress, weve controlled sacramento, governor under schwarzenegger, and nothing changes. I think theyre so angry at the status quo that theyre taking a good long look at donald trump. Californias primarys a little different from other states in that we dont have a winner take all. There are 53 congressional districts. Each district gets three delegates. What impact does that have on the way that candidates campa n campaign . The vice chair of the Republican Party said its going to be handtohand combat, the battle of stalingrad what is she said. What it means is every congressional district, even liberal San Francisco has three delegates. Just as Orange County does. And the inland empire. If youre john case and i can youre looking to pick off some delegates here and there you might strategically campaign in certain places. If youre ted cruz you might go to places that a republican would never go, santa monica or berkeley even. Because there are three deleg e delegates available in those places. So theyre not just playing to a statewide audience. Its district by district by district. Theyre going to have to fight for those delegates. Lets talk about the u. S. Senate race as well. Because the ppic poll took a look at that. What does it reveal about tha race . Kamala harris and loretta sanchez, the democrats, continue to be one, two. Harris with 26 , sanchez 17 . And theres a big chunk of voters, 31 , who just dont know who theyre for. Part of it is because its been below the radar. Trump is sucking the oxygen, the president ial race is getting most of the attention. But its a little surprising to me Kamala Harris isnt doing better. Shes raised a lot of money. Raised a lot of money, spent a lot of money put not on things that reach voters. She hasnt been spending money on television. Shes been spending money on things shes been criticized for, expensive holt rooms and consultants. It is surprising somebody as well known, whos run statewide twice, is still at 26 in the polls. Shes got work to do. Shes still i think the one to beat in that race. But still pretty close. Still some time left until november. Well see. All right. Scott shafer, thank you. Turning to what we eat, americans throw out up to 40 of their food. According to the National ResourcesDefense Council and the harvard food law and policy clinic, one of the reasons for that, confusion over sell, buy, and Expiration Dates. Kqed looked a the this issue. Heres a clip from that story. Take, for example, the Expiration Dates found on packaged foods. When youre in the store youll see a use by or best by date. Just for the food quality, eat it before this date and you have the freshest product that the manufacturer can potentially give you. Expiration dates can confuse consumers into thinking a food is no longer safe to eat. But for most foods thats simply not the case. If you think about a product that you can leave out in the open soda, canned foods, walnuts. Those products of a their use by date or sell by date, theyre going to be just fine for the most part. If youre 30 days, 60 daze out, what starts to happen there is the food qualitys affected, not the food safety. Now California Assembly man david chew is tackling this issue with new legislation to simplify how food is labeled. How would your legislation change the way that food exoperation dates are labelled . We wanted to address the massive challenge of food waste. Were talking about 40 of all food thats produced in the united states, its been estimated to be over 200 billion worth of food that is discarded. For many consumers, as if you walk into a grocery store, buy four bags of groceries, and leave one in the parking lot. Right now there are over 40 states that have different laws on this. And federal . Theres no federal legislation, hasnt been for 40 years of discussion on this. There are close to two dozen different types of confusing labels on productions. How would your legislation change that . What were proposing is that we streamline and create really two uniform standards. First, a standard for food quality. Essentially a best if used by. The other standard would be for that small subset of food for which theres actually a health risk after a particular date. And we propose there be an Expiration Date, expires by label. Those two just on their own we think would really simplify things to address the situation. For example, we have a bunch of things here that i have to admit sheepishly came from my kitchen and that of our producer everyone has them. So we have macaroni and cheese that expired two years ago still good. Salad dressing, expired december of last year. For example, how do i know this is still good to consume . The reality is we probably dont know exactly whether thats good to consume because the labels are confusing. Which is why we need to really simplify the standards. And if were able to simplify the standards, were able to put food to use. Right now in the state of california we have 6 Million People that go to bed hungry. 1 of 4 kids. If we could just, for example, not throw away onethird of what were talking about, we could feed every hungry person in the united states. So these things probably are safe, including eggs after the Expiration Date . Probably. Again, i dont want to speak definitively. The issue is there is no standard, we need a uniform standard. What are the products that are that you absolutely should use by the Expiration Date . Theres a subset of products that even when refrigerated still could create bacteria that could make you sick. Typically often impacting pregnant women. For example, deli meats, unpasteurized cheeses, certain types of sausages that havent been fully cooked. The vast majority of foods dont even need a label. And our legislation doesnt call for every food product to be labeled, were simply saying for those Food Products that have lab labels, the labels should be simple, clear, so people arent throwing out their food. Its a huge environmental concern. California throws out over 5 million tons of food into landfills every year. Were talking over 8 million tons Greenhouse Gases emitted just in the state of california. A startling statistic. I want to point out that kqed asked grocery groups for their reaction. Heres a statement from the california grocers association. Any time a company that sells products across state lines is required to specifically create packaging for one state, it creates distribution challenges. What makes more sense is to have a nationwide standard and not just a state standard. Weve been talking to grocers. Everyone understands theres a problem here because of the fact there are 40 different state standards, two dozen different types of date labels. These manufacturers already have to come into compliance with all these different state laws. If there was a federal standard wed be completely happy about that. The fact of the matter is congress hasnt acted, we dont expect it to. And is they why you have this legislation. Assembly man david chew, thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Sunday monday happy days he played one of americas most Iconic Television characters on the sitcom happy days. Lately henry winklering entertaining children with a bestselling book series. Together with lin oliver theyve penned stories about a boy named hank zipster, a smart, funny, and resourceful character who is dislex irk. They hope the books will encourage kids to go for their dreams despite obstacles that get in their way. Welcome henry and lin. Hi. So nice to have you here. Were happy to be here. Henry, how did the idea for hank zipster come about . There was a lull in my acting career. And my manager at the moment said, why dont you write books . For children. About your learning challenges. And i said, because i have learning challenges, number one. And because i was told i was stupid and i believed it, number two. I cant do that. You had dyslexia . I did. I knew that, but when i was younger i had no idea. All i knew was i was called lazy and stupid, not living up to my potential. The second time that along lan berg alan berger suggested writing books he said, im going to introduce you to my bad friend lin, linda knows everything there is to know about writing childrens literature. I want to also point out that i was going through the books, its very interesting, because these books are different from your typical Childrens Book. I want to give an example here of how the font in this book is different. Lin, can you talk about that . The font was created by a man in holland who is himself dyslexic and has two dyslexic children. Hes a Graphic Designer and it occurred to him you can make the process of reading a lot easier for kids with reading challenges by designing a different kind of type. So that type is more heavily leaded. Its weighted more at the bottom so the letters dont float around on the page. And henry, how many of hanks adventures are drawn from your own adventures and experiences as a kid growing up with dyslexia . The emotion is mine. The emotion ive lived through. And it is true. We do not write down to the kids. So kids write us and say, how do you know me so well . But the humor is exaggerated. Lin and i have written every one of the novels in lins office. And we either make each other laugh or it doesnt go in the book. Oh, so if only one of you laughs the idea is dead . Thats right. Except sometimes i do argue and i think i say, please, lets just try this joke. If the editor says it doesnt work, ill take it out. Henry, you said you have struggled in school because you learn differently, were called stupid growing up. Thats right. You graduated from Emerson College and went on to earn a masters degree from yale school of drama. Right. What is your message to young people who face some of the s e things that you missed . It is simple. To the chirp, we say to every child that i meet on the planet, i promise you, how you learn has nothing to do with how brilliant you are. That your grades in school do not define you. Youve got greatness inside you. It is your job to dig it out and give it to the world as a different. So thats the underlying theme. Then we figure that humor is the gateway for them, the reluctant reader, the reader whos having real trouble reading. It is the gateway for them to read from now on. And lin, you have so much experience in Childrens Books. Youve written a lot of them, you helped start the society of Childrens Book writers and illustrators. You sold millions of copies of hanks books between the two of you. Weve probably sold 5 million books, and growing. Wow. And a tv series in the u. K. . Thats right, its on the bbc. Why do you think theyre so popular . First of all, i think families who have a child with learning difference really suffer. The books help them realize that they dont have to suffer. That what they have is somebody whos smart and creative and bright, who just learns differently. And in our society youre so defined by school. And your success is so predicated on how you do in school. I think people have embraced this series because it offers true optimism. Henry has estimated that 1 in 5 schoolaged children in the u. S. Are dyslexic. Let me say this, and i dont mean to interrupt you. No, not at all. All children have a challenge. Too big, too small, too tall, cant play ball. They have got acne or theyre not good socially. Children understand that there is more than one way to solve a problem by reading these books. That hank is resourceful. He gets himself into deep trouble. His glass is half full, he just spills it everywhere. You know . And he always overcomes it. He overcomes it. And nothing good comes to the bully. And i wanted to learn a little more about your journey as well. Do you think theres been much progress in dealing with dyslexia as a society . Since when you were a kid . There is certainly major strides that have happened. There are teachers who are being trained to teach the child who learns differently. But here it is. In america, we are teaching our children to take a test. And the teacher, its herculean. They have to teach the fastest kid and the slowest kid all the same information in the same amount of time. Cant be done. Somebody is going to fall through the cracks. 55 of everyone incarcerated is dyslexic. They must have fallen through some crack. Lin, whats the main message that you want kids to take away from these books . I think the main message is that each person is unique and whatever differences you have, as henry said, whether its a physical difference or a learning difference, thats unique to your personality. We each have our own fingerprint. Thats something to be celebrated, not something to be equalized. Were all different and thats a good thing. Henry, i have to ask you, because adults at a certain age, myself included, will remember you as the fonz from happy days. I was telling you how happy days helped me learn conversational english when i came to the u. S. As a child from vietnam. Whos more excited at your book signings . Parents who remember the fonz or the kids who read the books . It is a trick thierrific thi. The parents come because they watched me or saw me on arrested development or the waterboy. The kids dont know me except maybe theyve seen what the parents watch or the parents have shown them the fonz. The kids go, i love these books how did you know me so well . But heres how great the fonz is. He reads our books. Thats how loyal he is. Now i am the beneficiary of this because i know you as the fonz but now i also know you as the author. Henry winkler, lin oliver, thank you bows for coming in. Thank you for chatting with us. That is it for tonight. Im thuy vu. Thanks so much for watching. Go to kqednews. Org for more. Captioning sponsored by wnet thompson on this edition for sunday, march 27 Bernie Sanders sweeps the weekends democratic caucuses in washington state, alaska, and hawaii. Are fighters from other countries who join isis in iraq and syria actually creating rifts in the Extremist Group . And in our signature segment, a native american tribe, the cherokee nation, aims to eradicate hepatitis c from its population. We have this powerful intervention now in our hands and this excellent opportunity of wiping out this disease. Thompson next on pbs newshour weekend. Pbs newshour weekend is made possible by lewis b. And Louise Hirschfeld cullman. Bernard and irene schwartz. Judy and josh weston. The cheryl and Philip Milstein family. The citi foundation