Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20141215

Hundreds of years . Thousands of x years. We dont know. ninrnr woodrufftplus, two years after the Elementary School shooting deaths in newtown, connecticut, why a majority of americans now support gun rights over gun control for the first time in more than twenty years. Those are some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by c lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your life and become youre own chief life officer. c and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for t8and by contributions to your s station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff a siege that gripped downtown sydney, australia all day and much of the night, is finally over. But it came at the cost of two hostages dead, along with the gunman whod held them. Our chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner reports. Warner the storming of this chocolate cafe in sydney began with loud bangs, in the wee hours of tuesday morning. After police swept into the building, a hostage appeared, helped down the street by officers. Moments later, another hostagec was carried out sobbing. Several other people were wheeled out on stretchers. We have accounted for 17 hostages and that includes five escaped yesterday. We have as you have reported twc deceased amongst and six that were uninjured. We also have a lone gunman who has been shot and killed and we have a male officer shot in the face. Warner it all started 16 hours earlier, during sydneys monday morning rush hour in one of the citys busiest shopping districts. A woman shouted, he has a gun so everyone started running away like crazy. Warner pictures broadcast on australian tv showed hostqgm standing in the window of the Lindt Chocolate cafe with hands up. Some were forced to hold up a black flag inscribed with the islamic declaration of faith. In the ensuing hours, a trickle of hostages fled or were freed. Nearby Office Buildings were evacuated, including sydneys era house. And Prime Minister tony abbott addressed the nation. This is a very disturbing incident. It is profoundly shocking that innocent people should be held hostage by an armed person claiming political motivation. It has been a difficult day, yes, it is a day which has tested us, but so far, like australians in all sorts of situations, we have risen to the challenge. Warner hours into the siege, the hostagetaker was identified as j iranianborn man and self proclaimed sheikh, haron monis, who was out on bail on charges of Sexual Assault and accessory to murder. In 2009, monis appeared at a sydney courthouse, for writing abusive letters to families of australian soldiers killed in afghanistan. Ak manistan. This pen is my gun and these words are my bullets. Ill fight with these weapons against oppression. To promote peace. Warner australian soldiers fought with the u. S. Led coalitions in both iraq and afghanistan against alqaeda and the taliban. More recently, australia joined the 60 Nation Coalition to fight Islamic State militants taking part in air strikes over iraq in early october. Just this past september, Australian Police made dozens of raids to disrupt an alleged plot by Islamic State Group Supporters to behead australian citizens. c woodruff well get more from sydney and hear about the u. S. Intelligence take on what happened after the news summary. Oil and stocks picked up today where they left off last week going south. The price of crude sank below 56 a barrel in new york trading. c it hasnt been that low since may of 2009. And, the Dow Jones Industrial average lost almost 100 points to close below 17,181; the nasdaq fell 48 points to close at 4,605; and the s p 500 slipped 12, to 1,989. In the middle east, palestinian officials vowed today to press forward with a new bid for statehood, at the united nations. A spokesman for the fatah movement, led by palestinian president mahmoud abbas, announced the decision to try to force israel to give up the west bank. c translated the palestinian leadership decided to go to the u. N. Security council next wednesday to hold a vote on a draft resolution which calls for the end of the Israeli Occupation of the west bank within two years. The resolution will be submitted to the Security Council after a scheduled meeting has taken place between arab Foreign Ministers and europe ministers with secretary of state johnc kerry. Woodruff a second resolution at the Security Council calls for a twoyear deadline on negotiations about statehood. Israel opposes both resolutions. And today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with secretary of state john kerry in rome. Kerry meets tomorrow with the head palestinian negotiator. The death toll in central indonesia rose to 56 today after a friday mudslide that flattened a farming village. 52 others remained missing. More than 3,000 rescuers used dogs and excavators to comb through wreckage. c teams used their hands to dig out bodies trapped under the mud before carrying them away for burial. Back in this country, president obama saluted troops returning from afghanistan, and marked the end of combat operations there. He traveled to joint basec mcguiredixlandhurst and told some 3,000 soldiers that their willingness to serve overseas has kept the nation safe. Thats the selfless character of our military. Those are the precious gifts that you give america not just this time of year but all year, every year. You never stop serving, you never stop giving, you guys are like santa in fatigues. Woodruff some 13,000 foreign troops, mostly americans, will stay on in afghanistan to Train Afghan Forces and help fight al qaeda and the taliban. Back in washington, democratsc pushed to make the most of the final days of their senate majority. They are trying to get confirmation votes on more than 20 stalled president ial nominations, before going home for good. Come january, republicans wil c control the senate. This was deadline day for americans enrolling for Health Coverage on healthcare. Gov. Customers who want a health plan as of january first have to sign up by midnight, tonight, pacific time. Thats 3 00 a. M. Tuesday, eastern time. The federal site covers 37 states. Other states have their own websites, with different deadlines. Still to come on the newshour. The bloody aftermath of the australian hostage showdown. The political divides in the democratic and republican parties and what they mean for the next congress. An activist stunt may have damaged an ancient nazcac treasure in peru. Shifting american views on guns and violence. From wearable fitness devices to drones, tech trends to watch in 2015. And, the excruciating final hours of president George Washingtons life. c woodruff we return now to the deadly hostage standoff in australia. Stuart cohen is a freelance journalist based in sydney. Hes been reporting the story for npr. I spoke to him a short time ago via skype. Woodruff stuart cohen, thank you for talking with us. First of all, what more can you tell us about this incident and about the ending of t the way police stormed it this cafe at the very end . Well, it was very much a real surprisec ending to to this whole siege. It all happened in the middle of the night when it was looking like things had quieted down for the night. Police were just sort of standing around holding their ground and kind of at the 1 00 in the morning, Police Released the name of the hostagetakerc, haron monis, and then that was a bit of a sur pris there because they were keeping that name under tight wrapped. And then just before 2 00 in the morning, there was a scattering of hostages that suddenly made a break for came running out of the building. And then within 30 seconds to a minute, thats when the chaos began, several grenades were thrown, gunshots were fired and the police stormed the cafe. All very unexpected in the middle of the night like that but as they said in the press conference, they heard shots fired within the cafe, and they decided that was the time they feeded to if they didnt act then, that there was likely going to be more hostages killed. There was some question as to whether or not perhaps the gunman had started falling asleep at that time. And thats when some of thec hostages tried to make a break for it and then the gunshots were fired. But thats all going to come out in the investigation in the coming days. Woodruff now what more is known about the hostage taker . We know hes iranianborn. Yeah, he is iranianborn refugee. He has been in australia since around 1996. And considers himself a cleric. There was a person on Abc Television here in australia saying that he actually was a cleric in iran before he came to australia. But he was sort of a australia. He was considered a bit of a fringe cleric. He was convicted for writing hate mail to sending hate mail to the families of dead australian soldiers who werec killed overseas. And more recently he was charged with multiple counts of Sexual Assault as well as charged as an accessory to the murder of his exwife. So really very much a violent criminal who was out on bail. Woodruff an very quickly, how much is it believed, how wide is it believed that there are represented in australia extreme views as those that i guess were lead to believe mr. Monis had . Well, there are some views as you recall back in september the terrorist raids in sydney there was believed there were people out there who were getting ready to carry out terrorist attacks. Tony abbott the Prime Minister talked about the possibilityc of lone wolf attacksment but when it comes to this man, haron monis, its starting to come out that he was less of an lone wolf terrorist and more of just a really, sort of desperate man whose lawyer told Australian Television that this really was the ago of a desperate man. This was not a person who was carrying out a concerted terrorist attack. But a person who was out on bail for several serious crimes and was really looking at just a desperate act with nothing to lose. Not so much someone who was committing a concerted terrorist attack on behalf of isis or any other organization. Woodruff stuart cohen, joining fuss from sydney. We thank you. Youre welcome, judy. Woodruff and now for a read on how u. S. Intelligence officials are interpreting the australia attack, we turn again to our Margaret Warner. c margaret, we just heard the reporter stuart cohen saying his lawyer says he thinks this was the ago of a desperate man. But there are still questions out there. Su have been talking to top intelligence officials, what do they say . Warner the u. S. Is deferring to Australian Authorities to put together the back story of what took this man over the edge. I mean he clqb ly had antiwestern, proislamic views. So the u. S. Is very close cooperation with them. But they do consider this attack significant, this incident significant. Not as brandnew, but as part of a morphing trend. In other words, after 9 11 for more than a decade the thought was the threats to the u. S. Would come from some kind of al qaeda mastermind large scale plot. Then the lone wolf phenomenon starting in 09. But really starting now with the rise of the is group, specifically calling on their sympathizers to carry out attacks against werners in their home countries. They see, its just racheting up and keeps morphing. The perpetrator may be desperate, incompetent or deranged as they often are. But it still is considered a threat by Senior Intelligence andc counterterrorism officials in the u. S. Government. Woodruff so how much of a threat do they see here in the United States . They are looking for lone wolves all the time, we know that. What is their reading in this country . Well, the reading in this country is that so far so good. There havent been many similar attacks heru. c but they point to a couple of things. In september there was an audio speech given by a spokesman for is calling specifically for attacks on americans, canadians, australians and others, and you have seen a numbering think of those attacks in canada in october. Think of the hatchet attack of somebody who had just converted to islam, attacks four officers on the street in new york in october. So there is that. Secondly, you know, the fbi just two weeks ago last night issued a warning to American Service personnel especially who may be traveling back here for the holidays in their uniforms,c saying they had evidence that isis, they said, or isil, overseas was looking for likeminded individuals here in the United States to attack some of these soldiers. And warranted u. S. Service personnel to be very careful in their own social media postings. So there is definitely a feeling that givenc their more sophisticated social media outreach, the fact that it has become harder and harder to track and stay on top of, that there is a threat. Woodruff so in just a few seconds, why dont they think there have been more of these attacks before . Warner an very quickly, one, they do believe the u. S. Ms. Limb community is better at alerting authorities when a kid seems to be going over the edge. But two, there is incredible u. S. Surveillance. We have been arguing about that for a year and a half now, the tradeoff between privacy and u. S. Security. The u. S. Does collect this metadata. They try to stay on top of who is connecting with whom. They try get not content when they feel they have a ability or the probable cause. But they somebody said to me today, we are lacking the resources to stay on top of this kind of morphing threat. Woodruff Margaret Warner, we thank you, once again. c woodruff the u. S. Senate was working over the weekend and still in session tonight as democrats hope to push through a slate of nominees. Newshour Political Editor Lisa Desjardins reports that the final days of this congress are exposing some telling divides in both parties and a glimpse of whats ahead. Reporter inbetween. Right now, everything at the u. S. Capitol is in an awkward but pivotal inbetween state. The capitol dome is under repair at the same time as the senate and house chambers undergo a reconstruction of power. I didnt write this bill. The Senate Democrats didnt write this bill alone. c its a compromise. Reporter Senate Democrats in their last days in power are grappling with a rare public split, leaders like harry reid and Barbara Mikulski are defending the compromise spending bill that passed this weekend. Its a monumental achievement flip for showing how we can worc together, we can govern and we can get the job done. Reporter the white house joined in too at a Pivotal Moment saying the administration supports passage of the bill but that the administration objects to the inclusion of ideological and special interest measures. That led to a very rare split. Im enormously disappointed that the white house feels that the only way they can get a bill is to go along with this. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi wasnt alone. Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren also rallied the left condemning the bills provisions that help banks. c the American People did not send us here to work for wall street banks, they sent us here to work for them. Reporter in the end, the more liberal voices lost, the bill passed. The yeas have 56, the nays have 40. Reporter meantime, the righc saw its own fissure exposed again this weekend. If you believe president obamas amnesty is unconstitutional, vote yes. If you believe president obamas amnesty is consistent with the constitution, then vote no. Reporter texas republican senator ted cruz, against the wishes of g. O. P. Leadership, forced a weekend vote on immigration, his motion failed. But notably, it forced the senate to meet saturday, allowing harry reid to out maneuver republicans and schedule votes on key nominees. Like anthony blinken, who is up for deputy secretary of state. Hes opposed by republicans in part due to his role in bringing american troops out of iraq. Such nominations will likely bec democrats last wins before they move between being in power and how they will operate as the minority come january. Lisa desjardins pbs newshour. Woodruff joining us now to analyze this congress, how it performed, and the emerging faces. Todd zwilich is the washington correspondent for p. R. I. s the takeaway. And amy walter is National Editor for the cook political report. Welcome to you both. Hi, judy. So lets talk about where, as we watch what happened in this congress over the last few days, amy, the role of harry reid, the role of nancy pelosi, what does it is a about what the role is going to be going forward. Pelosi has already been in the minority. Harry reid is now going to be in the minority. There seems to be a big divide between the pragmatists and purists. The pragmatists were like harry reid in the white house saying weve got to deal. It is not the best deal in the world. c but its better than anything were going to get once were in the minority. So lets just all agree to push this forward. The purists which in the nancy pelosi category and a lot of the liberals that you saw withc Elizabeth Warren say its worth having a fight over an issue like you saw the wall street journal bank issue, about writers inserted in the last minute. This is not a debate for democrats that is necessarily going to go on in the same way tas will for republicans because this is it for democrats. They are now out of power. They are in the minority. This is the last best chance they could get for stuff they wanted to see in the next year. Woodruff so todd za well itch, up close, the democrats have a strategy for how they operate, a minority in both houses. I think nancy pelosi sent a very clear signal as to what her strategy is going to be. Its true she is in the minority and john boehner is the speaker still with an even big mare jority. c but john boehner it has been proven time and time again t was proven with the cromany bus bill, the omnibus with the cr, we hate it but there it is, it was proveen that he very often will not have the votes to pass this bill with just republicans. Need nancy pelosi. Woodruff you are talking about Speaker Boehner. Over in the house. I dont usually revert to sports metaphors but i will use one. Very often john boehner will have to make an endrun around the conservatives in his party and run down the sideline. And nancy pelosi showed that she can and will stick her foot out when he runs by and trip him. If he does not give her some concessionsment now she lost that vote. But she was able to bring a lot of people with her. And she was able to really make it close. On the senate side, mitch mccon sell the new majority leader. He has 54 votes. 54 is not 60. He will need some democrats and Mitch Mcconnellc has already lowered the expectations. He did it on the very night that he was reelected in kentucky, to say i can agree with the president. We can pass some things that we agree on. And the ball was really very low. A trade deal, Corporate Taxc reform which is worth a lot of money but not exactly an issue that rattles the national cages for politics. So he knows he needs democrats. Woodruff so amy, todd is making a good point. Yes, the republicans now have majority in the senate but they still dont have the 60 votes you need to get pretty much whatever you want. What is their strategy . What does their approach have to be . This is where mitchman con sell in a similar predictment to where harry reid was in this last year which is Mitch Mcconnell is looking forward to 2016. He has a lot of his senators up in 2016 in very blue states just as harry reid this year had his senators up in very red states. So Mitch Mcconnell has that balancing act where yes, he wants to push in ac conservative agenda. But he also wants to make sure that he protects his most vulnerable members who sit in blue states. And that was a lot of the tension that we saw on the democratic side, right. Where you had democrats who tried to distance themselves from the president , never got a chance to take those votes because harry reid was woodruff what does all this mean, todd, in terms of what can actually get done . I mean you have the president ial election kicking in. Were going to start hearing announcements pretty soon. You are talking about Mitch Mcconnell, he has a number of his members who are already running or about to announce theyre running. How does it affect what actually can get done . Well, like i said, the bar is pretty low for legislative efforts. I think over the next year and a half and two years. I think everybody recognizes that. There is a lot of bipartisan support sort of in the center for a couple of trade deals for Corporate Tax reform maybe. But that brings us back to Elizabeth Warren and her moves this past weekend. Because i think that sends a very important message. Not necessarily to harry reid and Senate Democrats. It sends a big message to the president , to barack obama, the dynamicsc of his negotiations such as they are, and they have been few, with congress have shifted. Now harry reid is out at the centre of those negotiations. Its Speaker Boehner, Mitch Mcconnell and the president. Elizabeth warren has said through her actionsc, mr. President , you make a deal on trade, you make a deal on a nominee, you let republicans slip in. Erosions to dodd frank into some bigger bill, you are going to have to deal with me. You may get it passed because i cant stop you but i can make you pay for it politically and make the left of this party, the progressive and liberals who are up set this party got kozey with wall street, i can make them very mad at you. Woodruff dow look at these divides were watching in both parties getting bigger or what . A frantic effort . I think its really important to understand, at least where the divides are. I think on the republican side, there are some serious policy differences that are significant and i think are going to continuec to dog republicans going into its 2016 president ial, especially in an issue like immigration. On the democratic side, there is much more unity around policies, procedure they may have differences. So thats number one. The second part, when we talk about the polarization of congress and why its getting to be as bad as it is,c theyre just simply no moderates left. There are five democrats in the house right now, five, who sit in a district thatback Bam Barack Obama did not carry. When we talk about how does john boehner find allies, how does Mitch Mcconnell find allies . Theyre gone. The other big piece of this too is in more than 100 years we have never had this many house members serving in the United States senate which is why the house is looking, and in the senate is looking a lot more like the house in terms of its behavior, in the all are none, not compromising, not working sort of behind the scenes. Taking it to the brink. Yeah. So thats what we have to look forward to. I think a lot of that barack obama is controversial. Hes controversial on the right. Hes got two more years. He still ties house republicans, especially. Congressional republicans in knots. They this know how to make constituency does not want any deals with barack obama. Thats not going to change. And thats going to pull both Speaker Boehner as he tries to deal with the reaction to immigration and inch mcconnell as he tries to steer his party towards a successful run in 2016, its going to pull him to the right. Itn not easy. Woodruff todd za well itch, za wellish, amy walter. Thank you. Thanks, judy. Woodruff for the first time in two decades, countries around the world agreed in principle this weekend to reduce their rate of Greenhouse Gas emissions. The accord reached in peru breaks a long impasse and lays the groundwork for a crucial meeting next year. But nations have until next spring to spell out specific plans and very few ground rules have been set. Back in peru, the conference wrapped up but theres now anger over what happened to a Historic Site in the host country leaving potentially permanent damage. Jeffrey brown was in peru and just returned with this report. A giant picture called ac geoglpim of a humming bird etched in stone and sand by san an sent peruvian peoples t is a small part of a World Heritage site that entranced and mystified people in our own time but according to peruvian officialsc this footage shot by a drone and provided to the pbs newshour shows something more. Evidence of expense extensive damage to the site that could now become used in a legal action. You see here. It began a week ago when before dawn 20 members of the Environmental Group greenpeace trekked to the site which is strictly off limits to visitors. In letters they spelled out time for change, the future is renewable, greenpeace. It was a message aimed 260 miles away at the Climate Conference in lima where leaders from 196 nations were negotiating over limits to carbon emissions. c from here sending a strong message to political leaders and with this we expect that they take action urgently to avoid the worst impact of climate change. It was bold, brash and public. c greenpeace shot and released its own video of the action. The kind of big statement the group has been known for in the past. Greenpeace also for example projected a message promoting solar energy on a mountain overlooking the world famous peruvian site of matchu pichu. Greenpeace may have intended one message but this quickly mushroomed into an international message, one that peruvian authorities here took very seriously. The people are responsible, it childish to lay out a message in completely lose respect for the law, and absolutely lose regard for what they were actually damaging. Reporter i was in peru last week as thisc unfolded, at another of the nations important archaeological sites. Where i spoke with Louis Castillo vice minister of culture and himself an anthropologist. What was your reaction to the greenpeace action. Well, first, i think indignation because this happened hnd is completely unacceptable. Then a little bit of sadness because peru has really prepared for these world summit. He told us that a delegation from greenpeace had come to him with an apology but it wasnt enough. But to tell you the truth, i dont care for that i mean i care for basically one point, these things were damaged. They have to be returned to their original status. Some people have to Face Criminal Charges because that is unavoidable. And the process already started. The lines have long been a source of wonder but there remains much uncertainty about their originsc and meanings. They consist of hundreds of pictures that are thought to have been created over a long period from 500 bc to 500 ad. Seeing from above, they at one point famously inspired a theory of extra terrestrial origin but scholars believe they may have had a ceremonial or religious function. They were drawn in ac sense by removing a thin patina of dark rocks covering light sand. This is one of the driest regions in the world, the lack of water and winds helped preserve the lines for centuries. But theyre still quite fragile fragiles. When you step on it, you break the patina and expose the bottoms. How long does it take for nature to lift again all that sand, and take, and expose again and create the patina. Hundreds of years . Thousands of years . c we really dont know. When archaeologist does visit as they did last week to assess the damage, they wear special pads on their shoes to broadly distribute their weight. By contrast, photos taken byc perus Culture Ministry showed footprints and overturned rocks allegedly by greenpeace demonstrators. And the drone footage captures what the Ministry Says is other damage. The outline of what appears to be the letter c from the greenpeace message. These horizontal lines that show where the message was laid out and in large paths where the activists walked in and out of the site. I apologize personally to the people of peru. An all those around the world who were offended by our actions. This is not who we are. Reporter after arriving in lima over the weekend to meet with peruvian officials today, greenpeace issued a video apology acknowledging the Public Relations fallout for his organization. We must nowc commit our full attention to making amends. I am committed to explore all options to the best of our ability for repairing any damage. Reporter late this afternoon though pebu ian vice culture minister castillo told me by phone that greenpeace had yet to provide a full list of the International Group of participants who are thought to have fled the country. He said peru still plans to pursue criminal and civil cases to doirjs future such actions. Im Jeffrey Brown for the pbs newshour. Woodruff next, the change in public attitudes, and state laws, when it comes to gun rights and restrictions. Its long been one of the mostc divisive issues in america. And today, several families who lost loved ones in newtown connecticut sued the gunmaker. The lawsuit was filed a day after the second anniversary of the massacre of 20 children and six adults at sandy hook Elementary School. c the gunman, adam lanza, had already killed his mother, and ultimately shot himself to death as well. Now, families of ten of the victims are suing the manufacturer, distributor and seller of the bushmaster ar15 rifle that lanza used. The suit alleges negligence and wrongful death, and argues the weapon shouldnt have been available to civilians because its a military weapon. Nicole hockleys sixyearold son dylan died in the sandy hook shooting. Shes now one of the plaintiffs, and spoke to pbs newshour weekend. Dylan was shot five times. So if we had a ten magazine, ten bullet limit, you know, insteadc of a 30, for all i know dylan could be alive today. Woodruff after newtown, the state of connecticut did adopt some of the most restrictive gun policies in the nation. They include, a ban on large capacity magazines holding more than ten rounds. c background checks for all gun and ammunition purchases. And a prohibition on scores of assaultstyle weapons. Overall, a San Francisco group the law center to prevent gun violence says 37 states have passed nearly a hundred new gun laws since 2012. And, some 200 lawmakers from all 50 states have formed an alliance against gun violence. But gun rights advocates, including connecticut state representative rob sampson, argue that even limiting magazine capacity will not prevent tragedies like newtown. You can change a magazine in literally one second. If i was to shoot you and say, have to change magazines first, boom, im done, youd never get to me in time. You wouldnt even try. Woodruff that sort of opposition has blocked congressional action on new gun legislation. And the president s nominee for u. S. Surgeon general, dr. Vivek murthy, has been caught up in the debate, for arguing gunc violence is a Serious Public Health issue. Woodruff for more on all this, we turn to Carroll Doherty, director of Political Research at the Pew Research Center for the people and the press. And, joseph de avila, who has been reporting on this and related stories for the wall street journal. We welcome both of you. Jofs de avila, why are these families suing . Well, theyre suing, being sued over the past weekend and what theyre trying to do is basically a lot of them are asking for their day in court. What has happened is that there was a law passed in 2005 that basically has not allowed any lawsuits against gun manufacturers. There is onec exception. There is one of these exceptions is negligent entrustment. So what essentially theyre arguing is that these lawsuit, in order for it to go forward, theyre saying that thec manufacturer of the gun and the distributor and also the store that sold this gun are basically selling a weapon that is unfit for civilian use. And negligent entrustment, to give an example, it kind of works in a way where one party gives a product to another party and trusts that product with that additional party. And if that other party commits harm to a third party, that is basically what happens under negligent entrustment. So this is this act is essentially saying this is what happened here. And basically they would want to have their day in court because they feel that this weapon, thisc ar15 is not fit for civilian to use. Woodruff and their lawyers are arguing that they think they have a good case . They think they have a good case. It really hasnt been tested at this level before so its going to be interesting to see how that plays out. Its really going to be up to a judge to determinec whether a manufacturer putting a gun into the marketplace to be purchased by the general public, whether that is included in negligent entrustment. And thats going to be determined by a judge. Woodruff so carol doherty, youve been look at what has happened on Public Opinion on against, guns, what you you seen since newtown. You saw a rise in gun for the first time in our polling on this broad measure of support for gun control versus gun rights, for the first time you see significantly more,c 52 favouring gun rights than gun control, 46 . Woodruff are you able to drill down a little deeper and determine why that is . Deep partisan gaps remain. But one of the interesting things is the regional shift. In the northeast there is still strong support and unwaivering sport for gun control. In the south and midwest inc particular, support has dropped. Woodruff but is it i mean its counterintuitive, in a way, because after newtown, after the shooting of congresswoman giffords, other highly publicized school shootings, despite all that . Well, you still see support for individual measures, these specific measures like tougher background checks, things like that, large support. This is the overall climate, though, and its quite a bit different than it was in the 1990s when almost 2 to 1 support for gun control after the column columbine shooting. Woodruff you snow joe de avila, we mentioned a little while ago that thec state of connecticut passed some new restrictive gun laws. What has happened in other states, though, in the two years since the shooting there at the school . There has been quite a few other states that havec also strengthened their gun laws. Some 37 states have done something to improve the gun laws and some of the restrictions in those states. Connecticut is one example. They passed a universal background checks. They expanded their ban on what they call an assault rifle. Theyve also banned the sale of large capacity magazines. New york state did some similar measures as well as colorado. And you see in other states, alabama, for example, where some of the gun laws are, have been loosened there. In alabama,c they have made it easier to get a concealed carry permit. In georgia, for example, there you are now able to take a gun into a bar or into a church or into a school. Woodruff and what about the rolec of organizations like the National Rifle association, the nra, other of these National Gun Rights groups, what role have they played in seeing these laws get changed . Well, they have been lobbying for laws such as the ones where in some of these states where they have is loosened some of the regulation. They have definitely been in favor of those types of measures to make it easier for some people to either own a weapon or in some of the areas where they can carry a weapon. And certainly in some of these states that have passed stricker gun laws, theyve definitely been out there lobbying against these specific measures. Woodruff Carroll Doherty, when you talk to folks about why they have different views on guns and whether thec laws should be stricker or looser, do they give reasons of why their views what do they say . When we asked about the senate bill, the failed senate bill last year, or i guess in 2013 and we asked people who, you know, their reactions afterward, youc know, some people who said that they supported background checks generally were a little wary of legislation. They are worried about big government, worried about slippery slope to further control things like that. I mean even the objectives, support in principles, there is a concern about new national legislation. Woodruff and joe de avila, we see most of the attention that was on the states, its moved away from congress. Right, because they havent had any luck at the federal level. And thats one of the things that some of the families have mentioned, as to why they wanted to bring this lawsuit in connecticutc, some of the sandy hook families because they have had no success at the federal level some they thought they would try it in the courts. All right, we are going to leave it there, joseph de avila of the wall street journal an Carroll Doherty the Pew Research Center. We thank you. Thank you. c woodruff its the time of the year when many people buy the latest gadgets for holiday gifts. But for all the convenience and cool features, plenty of red flags and worries have been raised about whats happening with all the data they collect. We have a look ahead at where this is heading in the marketplace. Hari sreenivasan is in our new york studios with the conversation. Srennivasan as 2014 comes to a close, were going to take a moment to focus on some emerging trends in the tech world that you can expect to hear more about in the next year. They range from an expandingc universe of wearable clothes and accessories that include electronics and technologies, to Wireless Networks at home that can monitor your personal health, to possibly smarter drones. We didnt say you would necessarily like all of them. But we did want to take a look ahead. And for that we get the views tonight for amy webbc, entrepreneur writer and digital strategist whose annual report of emerging trends is widely watched in this sector. So i mentioned wearables. Six months ago, a year ago when i bought this watch that monitors my heart rate and my sweat and how many steps i take. I was pretty nerdy and i was kind of a small group of people that quantified their selves. But now the Christmas Holiday season, you see the flyers that force and flex and all the other ones that are out there you see a lot more gyms are wearables beyond the nerd world into the mainstream yet . Well, one of the things that happened in 2014 is that wearables jumpedc from being watches and fit bits and sometimes glasses you could wear, to devices that service all different types of purposes. And in fact, were tracking about 290 different wearables right now. One of the neat things that were seeing going to the next year are wearablesc specifically designed for children. So these are watches and different devices that parents can give to their children and those devices do different things. So in some circumstances they track using geo location, where children are. And that is obviously for safety purpose. There are some other devices that parents can outfit their children with to help them remember to do their homework. But the interesting thing with wearable devices is they are still connected to something else. So it iss not possible to really wear one of these wearable devices without it connecting to your mobile phone. And because it connects to your mobile phone, that means you are a part of a bigger network, and the data is living somewhere else. So when you wear a wearable device, you are part of tiys network. And as a result, there are some concerns about privacy and security and trust. Srennivasan what happens to that information and who controls it . Im managing that there are companies and technologies coming to fill that niche as well to try to protect that information for you. Sure, well, one of the thins that happened late this year,c 2014, is that a court of law used fit bit data in a court case. And it was discovered that fit bit has been selling its data to third parties without the knowledge of the people wearing the device. Now they werent breaking any explicit terms of service. One of the things that when we purchased these wearable devices and all of this exciting new technology, very few people think about what happens on the other end of that tech. And you know, in the case of fit bit, it turns out that there was another company that was looking at our data, looking at wherec we were and how we were using the device. And fit bit is certainly not the only player in this space doing that. Srennivasan so i have seen now there are cell phones with strong encryption. Is there going to be email with stronger encryption and even social networks that i share and who i share it with . So there is a device coming out called the black phone which launched this past summer am but it launched in very small release and it will be much more available going into next year. The black phone is interesting because it encrypts everything. And if you are calling another person with a black phone, essentially that entire conversation is untraceable. So people who are looking in and that can change from Law Enforcement to run of the mill hackers, they can tell that a phone call was made but they cant really easily pinpoint where the call was made or to whom. And it doesnt just go for phone cause t also gos foreemail which is also encrypt kd. Now tho]t in cybersecurity enforcement will tell you that the best way to not be discovered is to not use anything that plugs into a wall am but these phones are certainly a harbinger of whats to come. In addition to the phones, were seeing a big trend in content, this is content that you can post anonymously. And that content disappears. So there are some networks that gained prominence this year, whisper, secret, these are apps that you can use on your mobile phone. Post secrets or gossip about other people, and then that content is either not traced back to you or in some cases it pite go away. Srennivasan one of the more searched for terms if this Holiday Season is drones. And its not just tenyearold boys or 14yearold boys that are interested. Were also seeing the use of drones happening more and more in the commercial space, slowly as the permits come out. Tell us about intelligent drone. What is an intelligent drone versus one we go and buy at the mall . So you know, drones themselves arec, you know, theyre mechanical devices. Theyre Little Things that you can fly. Theyre actually drones that are nonflying machines. They are drones that look like bugs, drones that look like little vehicles that you can sort of control on the ground. In the past its always required 100 human intervention. So a human has toc control all of the movements. The software, the processes that powered po kerr decisionmaking and allow machines and computers to sort of think for themselves, we call that Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, in that space there have been some pretty significant advancements over the past 12 to 18 months. And when you mary that technology with our mechanical technologies so, that would be the drones, what we get are economist vehicles that are not only able to fly or to sort of move around on the ground, but can start making inferences and decisions. And if you couple that with camera technology, oftentimes drones are outfitted with cameras. c and one of the really interesting things that has happened over the past few years is that the algorithms that power Image Recognition have gotten encede incredibly strong and incredibly capable so that they dont just recognize a face. But if that person gains weight or loses weight, puts in coloured contacts, the camera is still able to lock on to that persons face and recognize them. Srennivasan thats a lot to think b amy webb, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks, hari. Woodruff finally tonight, George Washingtons final hours and the medical mystery that continues to surround the death of our first president. This weekend marked the 215th anniversary of his passing. We posted an essay online that garnered lots of interest about that history. Jeff is back with our conversation. c brown in december 1799, George Washington was about two and a half years into his retirement. And still very actively managing his estate at mount vernon, virginia. In the Early Morning hours of the 13th, following a day on horseback in freezing rain and snow, he woke up with pain and shortness of breath. By 10 00 that night, he was dead. We know a lot about whatc happened in those hours from an account written by washingtons chief aide, from notes by his doctors, and from later detective work by medical researchers. Dr. Howard markel is the director of the center for the history of medicine at the university of michigan. He wrote the piece on our website and joins us now. So dr. Markel, a seamingly healthy George Washington wakes up in the middle of the night with shortness of breath what happens then . Well, first, you know, he was out overseeing his estate and developed a sore note throw and some horseness but when he woke up he simply couldnt breathe, hisc throat was so inflamed he couldnt get air in. Martha his wife was very concerned. So she sent out for his aide decamp kornl tobias lear who then sent out for some doctors and a bloodletter. Brown now bloodletting is the chief. J÷ of treatment, right. A number of doctors came in and what did they do . What kind of treatment . Well, it was a major modality, back then, humoral physiology was the key to medicine. There were four body humors, black bile, yellow bile, flem and blood. And when you had an inflammation and his throat was sign flamed and couldnt get air through it, they thought if you removed blood, you would reduce the inflammation. So all told his doctors took out about 80 ounce of blood over 12 hours which is about 40 of an adults blood volume. Brown 40 . So is it possible or likely what what they did made his situation worse . Well, it certainly didnt help him. You know, other treatments they gave him during that eriod were enemas and drugs to make him vomit and something called blisters where they applied spanish fly on to his throat which raises a painful blister, again to remove these terrible humors that are caution the inflammation. But if the disease itself didnt get George Washingtonc, the doctors certainly did. Brown well, speaking of that, do we know, really, in the end, what did kill him . This has been argued since about two minutes after George Washington died. And doctors love to argue about what the greats from the past history of died of. Its a great argument because you can never really prove it so the argument goes on and on and on. But there have been many different diagnosis glen, peritonilard pneumonia, and epiglottis so severe that it basically strangled you. c it is fascinating as you write to go back through the detective work from that moment and then on even close to our own time. What would have happened today, when you compare what happened back then to a scenario today . Well, regardless of the cause of thisc blockage of the back of his throat, viral, bacterial what you have. We would have infew baited him. We would have inserted a tube through that blockage to allow him to breathe. And if that did not work, he would have had a tracheotomy, and that would have completely bypassed the blockage. And hopefully with some iv fluids, adding fluid to him as opposed to drawing it off tharbltion might have gotten him through the night and the day. Brown it is also, of course, the never ending interest in the man himself. And as you read the account of the time, you sort of see his character coming through up to the very end. He was ever the gentleman, and general washington, in extremists took the time toc thank etch and each and every doctor personally for the care they gave him. Sow was a remarkable man. Brown and you just finally, what makes this so fascinating and interesting for you . Well, firstc its George Washington, and so of all the founding fathers, he seems to be one of the foundingest, the first president of the United States and the father of our country. But also thats such a great man was also all too human, and death came to him in a rather gruesome way, is a fascinating story to this historian. Woodruff dr. Howard markel of the university of michigan, thanks so much. Thank you. Woodruff you can read dr. Markels column on George Washingtons death on our homepage at pbs. Or woodruff and as we close tonight, late developments of the day. The Senate Confirmed thec president s choice of vivek murthy. A manhunt continues outside of philadelphia from a man who allegedly killed six people including his exwife and a 14yearold child. On the newshour online right now, its day eight of our 12 days of newshour, and todays gift will be music to your ears literally. Dowflnad the newshours theme song as a ring tone that you can put on your cell phone. See those and all of our gifts, on our homepage. All that and more is on our web site, pbs. Org newshour. And thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Well see you online and again here tomorrow evening, for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your life and become youre own chief life officer. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. 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