Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20160512

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Sreenivasan baghdad was rocked today by the worst violence this year. Three car bombings killed at least 93 people and wounded 165 more. All of the attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group. Sirens blared throughout much of a long and bloody day in the iraqi capital. The first attack was the worst a truck bomb exploded at a busy market in sadr city, a mainly shiite district. The blast left burnedout cars, charred wreckage and smoldering shops and crews washing down the streets. translated many people were killed and you can see blood everywhere. They were poor people who were here to earn their living. And were killed in cold blood. Sreenivasan witnesses say the victims included brides and groomstobe at a beauty salon and barber shop, getting ready for their weddings. And hours later, two more bombings one at a Police Station in the north and another on the western side of the city. All of this on a day when iraqi officials announced isis now controls 14 of the country down from 40 in 2014. The commander of u. S. Ground forces in the antiisis campaign, said the group is clearly on the defensive. As weve seen, as the enemy loses more and more terrain they resort to some of these desperate acts. The Security Forces in baghdad have the situation under control. Sreenivasan but for many in baghdad, the bombings are in fact proof that Security Forces do not have things under control. translated they say that they have metal detectors to detect explosives. I wonder where such detectors are. How can such car bombs go though checkpoints . Sreenivasan its all fueling deep resentment of the iraqi government, as political leaders remain distracted by a struggle over fighting corruption. Woodruff Islamic State fighters in syria are also advancing again, on the ancient city of palmyra. Activists report isis seized a deserted rocket site about 40 miles away, cutting a highway to homs, the provincial capital. The militants destroyed temples and other treasures dating back 1,800 years, during a ten month occupation. Government troops recaptured palmyra in march. Sreenivasan isis is losing its allure for americans according to the head of the f. B. I. James comey said today the number trying to join the group has fallen to about one a month. Thats down from 610 a month in the Previous Year and a half. Woodruff in brazil, senators debated today whether to suspend president Dilma Rousseff on charges she violated budget laws. A simple majority of the 81 lawmakers could remove rousseff for up to six months, pending a trial that might make it permanent. translated this event and this moment in history show once again that no one, not even a president of the republic, is above the law. The law is for all, and we have the obligation and duty of respecting it. And that is exactly why i will give my vote for the impeachment. Woodruff brazil is facing its worst economic downturn in decades and a sweeping corruption scandal. Members of rousseffs ruling party argued today shes being made the scapegoat. translated lets say that she is removed permanently, what will happen . It will not solve the crisis, the crisis will only be solved by elections. Thats why i say, that the ideal for brazil would be to call for elections, together with the mayoral elections on october 2. Woodruff if the senate votes tonight to suspend rousseff, the countrys Vice President will become acting president. Sreenivasan back in this country, a colorado judge ruled that the man accused of attacking a planned parenthood clinic in colorado is not mentally fit to stand trial. Instead, Robert Lewis Dear will undergo treatment at a state Psychiatric Hospital until hes deemed competent. Dear allegedly killed three people and wounded nine others at a clinic in Colorado Springs last november. Hes charged with murder and attempted murder. Woodruff a former Police Officer in south carolina, michael slager, now faces federal civil rights charges, in addition to state murder charges, for a shooting that left an unarmed black man dead. The indictment was unsealed today in charleston. Slager allegedly fired eight times as walter scott ran from a traffic stop last year. Cellphone video captured the incident. Slager remains free on bail. Sreenivasan therell be no more payday lending ads on google, starting in july. The internet giant says its banning the ads because the industry is deceptive and harmful often charging tripledigit interest. Most internet searches go through google and the Company Controls the internets largest advertising platforms. Woodruff it was easy come, easy go on wall street today. Retail stocks dragged down the market, a day after the biggest gains in two months. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 217 points to close at 17,711. The nasdaq fell 49 points, and the s p 500 dropped nearly 20. Sreenivasan and, a small painting that turned up in a basement and turned out to be a rembrandt went on display today at the getty museum in los angeles. Its titled the unconscious patient, and its one of the Dutch Masters earliest works. Two people found the painting last summer as they cleaned out their familys home in new jersey. No word on how the painting got there. Still to come on the newshour donald trump prepares to meet with Speaker Paul Ryan can they find Common Ground . Taliban gains in afghanistans largest opiumproducing region; Public Transportation that goes up to 800 Miles Per Hour, and much more. Woodruff now, the latest from the president ial campaign republicans showed tentative signs today of trying to unify, ahead of a closely watched sit down in washington. Anyone have any questions . Mr. Speaker . Woodruff for the speaker of the house, paul ryan, the questions at the capitol this morning were all about donald trump. The partys presumptive president ial nominee meets tomorrow with the nations most powerful elected republican. Last week, ryan said he was not ready to support trump. Today, he said hes trying to be, as constructive as possible. We come from different wings of the party. The aim is to unify the various wings of the party around common principles, so that we can go forward unified. Woodruff for his part, trump also played down any rift with ryan this morning, when he phoned into fox news. I have a lot of respect for paul ryan. If we make a deal, that will be great. And if we dont, we will trudge forward like ive been doing, and winning, you know, all the time. Woodruff trump easily won yesterdays g. O. P. Primaries in West Virginia and nebraska, while West Virginias democratic voters handed a primary victory to bernie sanders. That did little to cut Hillary Clintons big lead in delegates, but sanders was undeterred. Let me be as clear as i can be, we are in this campaign to win the democratic nomination. Woodruff clinton kept her focus on trump, as she campaigned today in camden county, new jersey, one of the states voting june 7 i will stand up and fight for and speak out for every american that he attacks and he insults. How do you explain to your children, when someone running for president encourages people to be beaten up . Encourages violence . Woodruff clinton also challenged trump to release his tax returns. The new york billionaire said tuesday he is waiting for an audit of his finances that wont be ready before the november election. No matter what comes out of his meetings on capitol hill tomorrow, presumptive nominee donald trump has already created deep divisions within his party. We get two different republican viewpoints on the future of the g. O. P. From strategist mike murphy, representative Raul Labrador of idaho. Gentlemen, we welcome both of you. The two of you do represent part of the spectrum of viewpoints inside the Republican Party. Let me start with you, congressman labrador. Why did you decide, coming from where you do, to support donald trump . It was Pretty Simple. We have two choices, unfortunately, right now. We have donald trump and we have Hillary Clinton. Im not going to support Hillary Clinton. I know everything that shes going to do. I know the kind of people that shes going to nominate to the Supreme Court. I know the kind of people that are going to be her v. P. Ss. I know the kind of people that are going to be in her cabinet and i know the policies shes going to push. With donald trump at least we have an opportunity to work with him and we have an opportunity to sit down with him, and hes going to try to do some things that republicans want. It was a Pretty Simple decision. Donald trump wasnt even on my top 10 list of people for the nomination but he won the nomination fair and square, and i think its time for us to unify. Woodruff mike murphy, youre a republican who has probably never supported a democrat, but why isnt donald trump someone you can go along with . Well, to be clear, im not supporting Hillary Clinton. I think she would be an awful president. The problem is i know trump would be an awful president , too, and to support him, in my view, crosses a moral line and sells out every principle our party believes in. He is not a conservative. He is not a good businessman. I dont think he believes in anything other than himself and he is not qualified to be president of the United States both by some of the things hes said and by the clear lack of comprehension he has on a lot of complicated and important issues. So republicans like me are going to be focusing down ballot where we have a senate to reelect and house races and gubernatorial races we care a lot about but now way am i going to vote for trump. Woodruff congressman labrador, lets tackle some of that. You heard mike murphy say hes not qualified to be president. You know, he might not be qualified. Thats up to the people to decide whether hes qualify or not. But the reality is we know what makes Hillary Clinton disqualified. And on this race, we only have two choices. Im also going to be concentrating on the ballot. Im also going to be worried about the senate and the house. The reality is we have a very important decision that needs to be made about who the next Supreme Court justice is. There is only one person who is going to make that decision, and its going to be the next president of the United States. So im hoping we can influence donald trump to pick the right person for the Supreme Court, to pick the right person to be his Vice President. All those are very important decisions, and even though i disagree with him a lot, i think im going to disagree with Hillary Clinton a lot more. Woodruff why isnt that an argument to at least try to work with donald trump, mike murphy . Well, because everything we been trumps history, which tends to predict the future, is bad. Hes been a liberal democrat, hes pretended to be a conservative. The Supreme Court is important, but trump will put gary biewso it. I mean, hes totally uncontrollable. So taking a 100 to one bet that the one issue trump will be trustworthy and responsible on is the Supreme Court in exchange for handing him the presidency although, frankly, i think he cant win and will bring disaster to the party nonetheless is a fools bet. And the moral compromise you have to make to summit a candidate like that is too high a price to pay. The Republican Party can outlive four years of Hillary Clinton if we have to and rebuild a party in four years. Woodruff congressman labrador, just today or yesterday donald trump said once again he stands by his comments that senator john mccain is not a hero for having been shot down in north vietnam, having served as a prisoner of war. Is that something youre comfortable with je. You know, i am not comfortable with a lot of things donald trump says. He acts like a child many times. There are things he has to do. I know for sure what Hillary Clinton is going to do will be bad for the United States. With trump, least, we have an opportunity, and i dont think you need to make a moral compromise. What you need to say is im going to vote for a person but im also going to hold them accountable. Maybe for the first time, Congress Starts acting like congress. I think too many timeses we put on our jerseys and republican members of congress go with the republican president and allow the republican president to do things that they shouldnt be doing. And the democrats do the same thing. Maybe for once, the republicans in congress will actually stand up to a president of their own party, and i think thats pretty healthy. So i dont think i have to have any moral compromise. I actually have to make sure they hold him accountable just like i held barack obama accountable. Woodruff mike murphy, what about Holding Donald trump accountable . I have to admit im amused that the first time i think in his political career, that congressman labrador has ever talked about compromise is to sell our party out to a guy like donald trump. The fact strump is a wild card. I mean, this is president ial politics. Were not electing a secondclass ward healer. This is a big job. This defines who we are in our party and to roll over for that and the idea that now you have a republican president you can oppose, instead of a democratic president you can oppose, is specious to me. I dont buy that logic one bit. Woodruff congressman labrador, i want you to respond to that and also this new controversy thats arisen, donald trump saying yesterday he will not release his tax returns before the election after all. Today mitt romney put out a statement saying thats a disqualifier for the Republican Party nominee for president. You know, its funny to have mike murphy actually talk to me about compromise. Im actually the leader in the house on any kind of compromise on criminal justice reform. Ive been working on immigration reform. Im actually working on the puerto rico bill right now so it shows hes pretty ignorant on who i am and the things he stands for. Just because i dont like the things he wants to do for the party, which is to make it a centrist party that stands for nothing i think is one of the problems we have and the main reason we have donald trump right now, people like mike murphy who kept telling to usica pittulate with this president to do things against our principles is why we consider donald trump. Woodruff very quickly, i want to come back to the question of tax returns. Do it concern you that donald trump will not release them before the election . It does concern me. There are a lot of things that concern me about donald trump. There is a lot of issues that he has raised that are concerning. I think his reaction on certain people is actual concerning, and i think he should release his tax returns. I think hes using some skews right now that he cant do it because hes under an audit. I think thats prepost exprus i think he needses to come clean. This we agree. Im with the congressman on this. This tax thing say huge issue and trump thats come clean on it. Woodruff final thing for both of you. Donald trumps comments about women, the Washington Post ran just a few of them, statements hes made years ago that were derogatory toward women. Congressman, i cant repeat any of them here. How do you accept that and still support him . You know, i think hes done a lot of things that are terrible, but i think Hillary Clinton has said and done a lot of things that are terrible. Unfortunately, were picking between the lesser of two evils. I wish we had a nominee i first supported rand paul. Then i supported ted cruz. I think if more people in the party would have gotten behind a real you constitutional conservative like ted cruz i think we would be having a different conversation right now. But i am going to choose the person who i think will give us the best possibility to have a Supreme Court nominee that can actually be good. Woodruff mike murphy final word here. It is a choice between two evils and the way you fight evil is to never choose it. Woodruff and we will leave it there. Mike murphy joining us from los angeles, congressman Raul Labrador joining us from capitol hill. We thank you both. Sreenivasan its been 15 years since the fight began in afghanistan, but there are signs that the taliban is now strengthening. Isis is making its presence felt, too. The u. S. And nato formally ended their combat mission in 2014, but thousands of foreign troops remain to aid in the fight. Were joined now by special correspondent Jennifer Glasse in kabul. Jennifer, weveinoid an increase in the number of headlines about violence, the car bombs and so forth from afghanistan. Put this in perspective. How active is this fighting . Well, harhari we have seen fighting around the country. The taliban announced their spring officive in april and we have seen them fighting in the north in kunduz. Just in the last 10 days or so, were seeing an uptick in fighting in their heartland, in hellmans in the south of the country. We spoke to people in lashkargah, and they are very carbohydrate. They say theres been a lot of fighting, especially in the last nine or 10 days. They can actually hear the gunfire in the center of the city. They say the taliban have tried to attack a number of areas around the city, in the ring of security around the city. Theyve managed to take a few checkpoints and yesterday 15 afghan policemen were killed. Sreenivasan it seems that multiple forces here, taliban on one side, maybe isis on the other. Any idea of the scale of how large this opposition is . We dont know exactly how many fighters there are. The tral ban claimed to have thousands of fighters ready to launch an offensive this year. They usually exaggerate their numbers. What is clear is the taliban can inflict very, very large damage. Last year, afghan Security Forces took very heavy casualties. 5,500 killed, thats about 15 a day, and about 14,000 injured. That was 2015 alone, and theyre bracing for another difficult year. The taliban have been effective in the kind of attacks theyve carried out. So even when they took kunduz for three days last year, the first time they took a city, they only went in, stayed for three days, and went out. It really created a lot of fear. It was very effective, and yet they have been able to hold a lot of area in the country, and things have really picked up just in the last 10 days or so because its the end of the poppy harvest season, the opium harvest season in the south. A lot of taliban fighters take part in the opium harvest. Were told its going to be a bumper crop. So, of course, thats a lot more money for the taliban. As for isis they are largely in the east of the country, and their numbers are estimated to be in the hundreds but its very hard to tell. Sreenivasan how involved is the American Military in these battles . Well, there are about 10,000 u. S. Forces still here. Theyve got two missions train, advise, and assist and a counterterrorism mission. We know Afghanistan Special forces have been fighting alongside afghan forces. We just learned recently in kunduz half the september and october, when the taliban took the city for three days, American Special forces were fighting very actively in kunduz. We know there are also American Special forces guiding Afghan Special forces in hel man province, and about several hundred, 500 or more u. S. Army troops from the tenth Mountain Division are in helman province now. They got there in february. Thats a big mission. Theor trying to reform and retrain the army 215 corps. They fired all the commanders and all the leaders there. They are trying to get the afghans to be a little bit more aggressive, to get off checkpoints and to engage the taliban more effectively. Woodruff gl there has also been some change in military leadership on the american side. Has there been any sort of strategy or vision laid out on what might change in the near future . We know the new commander, general nickel son, is conducting a 90day review as to what should happen next right now there are 9,800 u. S. Forces in country. That is scheduled to go down to 5,500 by the end of the year. General nickelson is expected to give president obama his advice in the next month or so when he finishes that review as to whether he believes those forces should remain those 10,000 forces should remain in afghanistan. Sreenivasan all right, Jennifer Glasse joining us from kabul tonight. Thanks so much. Good to be with you. Woodruff stay with us. Coming up on the newshour the debate over allowing transgender people in the military; setbacks for the Carsharing Services uber and lyft; and mr. Darcy becomes a neurosurgeon a modern retelling of pride and prejudice. But first, we are kicking off a weekly series tonight that will expand our coverage of science and technology on our broadcast and online. Our science correspondent miles obrien will frequently be our guide on wednesdays, as he reports on a wide variety of subjects, including the environment, medicine, space and tech, and takes us to the leading edge of research and thinking in these fields. Tonight, we start with an ambitious dream to create a tubebased highspeed Transportation System of the future. One that would cost billions. You may have heard of it the hyperloop. Heres miles. Reporter no rest for the weary on saturday mornings at m. I. T. Sandwiched cheek to jowl between grad students building a High Performance electric racecar and a solar powered endurance vehicle, youll find the Hyperloop Team hard at work. On this morning, they were attaching the outer shell, or fairing, for the first time. I trusted it would fit. I trust our team. Our team is really good. So, its great to actually see if theyre on the pod. Reporter measure twice, cut once, right . Yeah. Reporter john mayo is on the cusp of getting his masters in mechanical engineering. He is project manager of a 30 member team that he hopes is on the cusp of helping devise a fifth mode of transportation to take its place beside planes, trains, automobiles and boats. Hyperloop is a cross between the pneumatic tube you use at the driveup teller, an air hockey table and a bullet train oh, and throw in concorde too. One of the big differentiators here is that tube, because you have less aerodynamic drag so you can go faster with less resistance. Reporter they are building this scale model to compete with about 30 other College Teams in a totally tubular challenge this summer to demonstrate the best prototype. The wiinning team, m. I. T. Reporter they are the team to beat after winning the design phase earlier this year at texas a m. The basic concept is not new; a short pneumatic train line was built beneath manhattan in 1870, but the idea was just a novelty then, and has remained in the realm of George Jetson dreamo vision ever since. But in 2013, this white paper changed the equation. Its a technical description of a supersonic hyperloop that would carry people from los angeles to San Francisco in about 30 minutes. A proposal like this would normally be dismissed, but the author was the real life iron man; elon musk, the founder of paypal, electric car manufacturer tesla and spacex, the private company that launches rockets into low earth orbit and lately, lands the spent first stages onto small barges in one piece. Elon has his way of making everybody excited about these seemingly outlandish ideas, but we have all the technology there to do it. Its just, you need the excitement, you need some funding behind it and you need people to push it and elon is the pusher. Reporter at that Award Ceremony in college station, texas, the pusher surprised his pushees with an appearance he got a rocket star welcome from his biggest fans. It was nerd nirvana. Its clear that the public and the world want something new, and i think you guys are going to bring it them, so congratulations. Reporter musk says he was disappointed by californias high speed rail line between los angeles and San Francisco, now under construction. He believes the trains just arent good enough their advertised top speed a measly 220 Miles Per Hour. What inspired me is i was stuck in l. A. Traffic and i was an hour late for a talk. And i was thinking, man, there has got to be some better way to get around. Reporter when musk got back to his desk, he started doing the math. His first thought those pneumatic tubes. But using giant fans to create a supersonic gust of wind for 350 miles would create way too much friction. So what if the tubes were sealed up tight . A vacuum and the pods were lifted with magnetic levitation . With no friction or wind resistance, there would be nothing to stop the pod from going extremely fast. But sealing a 350mile long tube tight enough to hold a vacuum is also a nonstarter. Three, two, one. Reporter the m. I. T. Team believes magnetic levitation is the answer, but with no vacuum required, just very low air pressure inside the tube. They are testing arrays of common magnets that would levitate the pod over an aluminum track. The engineering challenge the magnets provide lift, but also drag. Philippe kirschen is an aerospace and astronautics grad student. So the drag, this is the price that you pay. You cant get the free lift so you pay the price and drag, and our goal essentially is just to minimize the drag. Reporter philippe is betting his career on this technology. As soon as he graduates, he will take a job at Los Angelesbased Hyperloop One, a leading startup in this new field. Its cofounder and chief Technology Officer is former spacex engineer brogan bambrogan. Its going to be absolutely turbulence free, its going to be smooth. Were talking grandma friendly, dog friendly, child friendly. Its absolutely just a simple elevator ride away you get in, and you arrive at your destination ding. Reporter the hype over Hyperloop One has brought the company a hundred Million Dollars in investment. And while its an important step to demonstrate the electric propulsion system works, its likely the journey to reality will be a lot slower than a speeding capsule. Woodruff in fact, one key part of the hyperloop dream was put to the test today just how viable the propulsion system will be. Miles was there for that demonstration, which took place about 30 miles outside las vegas, and he joins me now. Welcome, miles. Tell us what exactly were they trying to prove today and how did it go . Well, i think if you were to put it in wright brother terms, this was not the kitty hawkpowered flight moment. This was probably one of the glider tests that were less familiar with that the Wright Brothers did before that moment. It was an opportunity for them to test out their linear electric motor, which will help drive this capsule eventually. They went from 0 to about 105 Miles Per Hour in all of about five seconds. It was a success, but in the grant scheme of things, an incremental success with many more steps to go. Woodruff so what do the owners of this venture, what are they saying at this point . Well, theyre trying to attract some investment, and theyre doing a pretty good job so far. Theyve got about 100 million so far, attracting some serious deeppocketed investors. Theres a lot of enthusiasm over this idea, and thus far, what the engineers tell me is theres no technological stumbling blocks that they foresee. Where it comes down to are the meddlesome oorves right of way and finding a way to make the tubes as straight as possible because the straighter it is, the fast effort you go. Woodruff but thats going to involve some technology, too. Just how practical a thing are we talking about . You know, its hard to say right now because theres a lot of thing that have to fall into place to make this happen. Given the level of enthusiasm that people have and given the fact that traffics not get anything better, the ideal of traveling 350 miles in all of a half hour has quite an allure. Getting the rights of way, building the tubes, making sure there arent too many sharp turns so it slows down so much that it ruins its allure is really something that remains to be seen. But given the enthusiasm, you know, we have to say this is something to watch for now. Woodruff you know, miles, i have to tell you, traveling in china last year, i rode on the maglev train in shanghai between downtown and that city out to its airport. Its only a matter of a few miles, but it went almost 300 miles an hour. How different is this from that . Its basically taking the train you were on in shanghai, which is one of the most its fastest, most sophisticate maglevs in the world, and putting it inside a tube. Youre essentially taking away the resistance of the air for all intents and purposes. And that allows you to pretty much double the speed. Woodruff and, miles, finally, we just want to say were look forward to seeing you on wednesdays going forward, a new segment were calling the leading edge. And i think were all looking forward to learning a lot from you. Well, judy, i guess you could say im kind of hyper about this experience. Im very excited to be back more frequently on the newshour doing science reporting. No one else is doing it like the newshour and we look forward to your suggestions. If folks out there have any ideas for science and Technology Stories that we can bring to you, by all means, let us know. Woodruff miles obrien. Its great to have you with us. Thank you. Youre welcome, jude i. Sreenivasan its been nearly a year since the secretary of defense declared the militarys ban on transgender soldiers outdated, but the pentagon has yet to issue any new directives, despite adlines. William brangham explores what it means to be transgender in the armed forces. Brangham in 2014, lieutenant blake dreaman was going to be one of the first women to serve on a u. S. Navy submarine. We got invited to the white house and this is me with the president. Brangham but by the time that vessel launched in late 2013, blake was physically transitioning to the male gender, and giving himself weekly hormone injections. I took my first shot the week before we got under way and i took them underway with us. Brangham blake is a transgender man. His sex at birth was female, but hes long identified himself as male. I probably knew when i was like five. Right . That something was amiss. But you grow up in the church, you grow up in bible college, that type of environment and you just learn to ignore it. Brangham blake is now stationed at the pentagon. He says most of the other officers treat him like any another colleague. The Senior Officers have been very receptive about it. Ive talked to numerous, all kinds of them for sometimes an hour or an hour and a half at a time and if you ask, im very open. Brangham the tide has slowly been turning for Transgender Service members like blake. Until last year, if a soldier, sailor, airman or marine changed their gender identity, pentagon policy was to give them a medical disqualification and discharge them from service. This was policy, but it wasnt always strictly enforced. But last july, secretary of Defense Ash Carter stopped these dismissals, and ordered the pentagon to draft plans to allow transgender people to serve openly. But that change came too late for some. As a man, Brynn Tannehill graduated with honors from the Naval Academy in 1997. She went on to serve as a navy pilot for over a decade. I was flying an s. H. 60b helicopter, thats kind of the full of sub hunting gear and surface search radars and infrared cameras. We could carry antiship missiles and torpedoes. Brangham she served in the persian gulf and elsewhere. And after leaving the navy, she joined the reserves, but soon realized she couldnt keep flying. I left the military in 2010, left the reserves, because i was dealing with gender dysphoria. I was dealing with the fact that i did not identify with the gender id been assigned at birth. Brangham now shes a military consultant. In her free time she makes her own medievalstyle body armor and participates in popular, oneonone mock combat. Gender dysphoria, according to the current thinking among Mental Health professionals, is the real, deepseated sense that the gender you were born with isnt really who you are. A survey of over 6,000 Transgender Americans found that 20 thats one in five had served in the military. Thats more than twice the percentage of the general population. Another study, by the u. C. L. A. School of law, estimates that about 15,500 trans people serve in the u. S. Armed forces, out of a total force of 1. 5 million. The same study found that there are about 130,000 trans veterans, out of 22 million total veterans. Well, the primary concern they have to live a double life, live secretly. And there are problems that arrive out of that type of existence. Brangham george brown is associate chairman for Veterans Affairs at east Tennessee State university. He spent fifteen years as an airforce psychiatrist. Since the 1980s dr. Brown has treated hundreds of transgender soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. And hes developed a theory about why so many trans men and women serve. 90 of the people i interviewed would say, you know, when i was 17, 18, 19years old i knew there was Something Different about me, about myself, and i really wanted to run away from this. I thought if i joined the military i could become a real man. Brangham however trans men and women end up in the military, Brynn Tannehil wants them to be treated the same way that all other federal government workers are treated. The federal workforce already has policies in place that allow other federal workers to transition, to change their names, change their gender markers, to use bathrooms, to use locker rooms. All of this has been worked out with every other federal agency. So the military is really kind of a little bit behind the curve on this one. Brangham she says v. A. Hospitals have been providing hormones and therapy to trans veterans since 2011. But thats not the case for Service Members on active duty or in the reserves. Tannehil says if a woman needs hormone replacement therapy to address menopausal symptoms or after cancer treatment, she can get it through the military health care system. But not women like her. If a transgender woman needs that same estrogen in the same doses she cant get it. Brangham according to a recent study in the new england journal of medicine by aaron belkin of the palm center, theyre a research and Advocacy Group that focuses on transgender issues, it would cost the military about 5. 6 million to pay for hormones and other transitionrelated treatments annually. And according this same estimate, about 188 soldiers would transition each year. While this represents just a sliver of the pentagons personnel, and its nearly 600 billion annual budget for retired marine colonel gary anderson, his concerns about trans Service Members go beyond just money. I have nothing personally against women in combat, gays in the military, or transsexuals in the military, or gay pregnant whales in the military, as long as somebody can show me that there is value added and not value taken away from the military readiness. Brangham anderson says that letting transgender people and gays serve has damaged morale. He claims its the lowest its been in decades. The cause . Changing attitudes about the l. G. B. T. Q. I. Community. I think progressive fascism is a fair description. I think weve got people who quite frankly, diversity is this particular pentagon and in this particular time frame has become a religion. Brangham in the past, the pentagon has said that the impact of letting gays and lesbians serve openly has been negligible. They have not yet studied the impact of Transgender Service members. But anderson also says that Transgender Service members present logistical challenges. Will there be a requirement for a third bathing and sanitary facility aboard submarines, on fire bases and so forth . We got stalls. Were mature enough to not you know, you shut the door, everybody knows, its not like theres any secret to what going on when you walk into the bathroom. Brangham according to the palm center, 18 countries, including canada, the u. K. And other nato allies have allowed transgender soldiers to serve. And tannehil says theres no evidence those militaries suffered any problems or setbacks. Theyve dealt with all the same issues that the d. O. D. Is looking at and they dealt with them 15, 16 to 20 years ago, including facilities, including medical care, including non discrimination and anti harassment policies. Brangham tannehil and others who watch the issue, are expecting defense secretary carter to make an announcement about the pentagons strategy by midsummer. They hope it will put to rest the uncertainty of serving while transgender. Sreenivasan now we turn to uber. The ride sharing giants rise has spurred a number of fights across the country. The latest move an agreement to create a Drivers Association representing about 35,000 drivers in new york city. That follows a recent settlement with drivers in california and massachusetts, and a decision to suspend service in austin, texas. Mike isaac covers this landscape for the New York Times. How significant was this agreement that uber made in new york . Its probably the largest to date that uber has had in a sort of positive agreement with any sort of recognized labor unions. Its the first time that uber haisactually recognizing a grouf drivers. Theyre not calling it a union because they lack some really fundamental issues that issues and abilities that unions have, can which includes the ability to collectively bargain with uber on pay. But as far as overall significance, its the first time uber is actually willing on agree to talk to one of these groups. Sreenivasan is this a step to prevent unionization or to have to call drivers employees . You know, uber has never really had good lines of communication with any of the drivers that work for them. One of the biggest complaint has always been, you know, for drivers that they cant get in touch with uber. If theyve been deactivated driving for uber they dont know why, often. Its sort of this first olive branch from the company saying okay were going to start listening to you and essentially give you a voice. Now, that also serves another purpose to, you know, sort of give a quasiunionstyle thing to drivers without actually making them employees, which would cost uber you know hundreds of millions of dollars more in overhead. So its kind of a its serving more than one purpose at the same time. Sreenivasan okay, now what, are the fights going on in the other parts of the country we mentioned, right in your home area, in california . What was the settlement there about . So in california and in massachusetts, there was a Class Action Lawsuit going on where a number of tens of thousands of workers were essentially suing uber for backwages for overtime, for expenses, essentially things you would receive if you were a fulltime employee. Now uber, you know, continues to call their drivers driver partners and has no real incentive to employ these people. So that had been going on for a while. Uber finally settled or agreed to settle the class action for up to 100 million. And some of the concessions that youre seeing in this new unionesque group formed in new york recently. Sreenivasan i say uber all the time but its almost a shorthand for uber, lyft, other Ridesharing Companies. They just pulled out of austin. It seems sometimes its ask forgiveness rather than permission. What happened in off the gine austin was an interesting battle for them. They were going up against the Slate Legislature over background checks, and uber has this process where they have an outside Company Performing background checks for drivers. Theyre usually turned around in a few days and drivers can get on the platform and start driving really quickly. The point of contention there was taxi drivers and cab drivers generally have to go through a fingerprintbased background check, which many people believe is much more comprehensive than the type of background checks that uber and lyft and other Ridesharing Companies are requiring. Uber spent i believe it was 9 million fighting that in the state legislature saying our background check religion very safe, you know, but a law passed that essentially sort of made their argument moot, so uber decided to call their bluff and pull out and see if the drivers in austin complained loud enough for the state to cave. Sreenivasan all right, mike isaac of the New York Times joining us from San Francisco. Thanks so much. Thanks for having me. Woodruff now, the latest addition to the newshour bookshelf. Jeffrey brown explores a new take on a classic novel. Brown theres a well off bachelor, a mr. Bingley, moving to town, and mrs. Bennett would just love to marry off one of her five daughters, preferably the eldest, jane. May be youve heard this story. Jane austinen pride and prejudice yes. It has been read and played with in many forms including films since. Now comes eligible part of the austen project which asks six contemporary novelists to rewrite austens books. Previous bestsellers include prep and american wife. Welcome to you. Thank you. Brown was this scary or fun to take on . Youre inevitably going to be compared to jane austen and a beloved book. I would say it was scary and fun. I mean, i always knew that i was writing this as an act of admiration and not as an attempt to improve upon pride and prejudice which, of course, we all know is perfect. Brown what was the mission . It was just supposed to be fun. I wanted to sort of show this admiration for pride and prejudice but also update it and not be so similar that you would know at every twist and turn what would happen. Its supposed to be entertaining and fizzy and engaging and kind of it can make you think about pride and prejudice or go back to the original. Honestly, some people have said you know, jane austen would love this. Or jane austen would be rolling in her grave. Probably neather. Its for some people. Its not for everyone. Brown so you set your novel in cincinnati, first of all, why . Its my home town so it was tempting and i had never set fiction there, even though i had written four previous novels. I feel like cincinnati and a small English Village in the early 1800s have certain things in common in that outsiders might not think theyre very interesting, but if you live there, you know theres drama brown theres a lot going on. Yeah, peoples lives are always dpieght them and people always have crushes an crushes d intrigue. Brown so here jane ben set a yoga instructor. Liz sea magazine writer. The two silly younger sisters are they spend a lot of their day doing crossfit workouts. I mean i can go on and on, right. Darcy is a haughty neurosurgeon now. Did you have great fun looking for comparisons to our time . Yes, i did have great fun. I felt like sitting at my desk, i was basically enjoying myself quite a lot. From the beginning, when these editors approached me and asked me if i would be interested in this, i said let me reread pride and prejudice and see if i can come up with ideas for modern parallels. And almost right away from the first page i thought this would be fun. I could do this. I have many ideas. And so, yeah, it was i thought in terms of structure or plot or things that happened, it wasnt it was more like trying to find the parallels and trying to bor oat architecture of pride and prejudice as oppose fod just almost thinking what are modern things i can insert into this old book . Brown im curious what, are the similarities, or differences that you found in her time and ourselves . So much of that period and those books are about the class society, right, gender relations . Is it similar, different . Dont you think in 2016, like, class its always sort of unspoken but always relevant. I think to me, i think maybe the biggest questions in pride and prejudice are will i find my soulmate . Will my soulmate recognize were souled mates. Why is my family so annoying . Thats an eternal question. Do i have a financially secure future. Those are eternal, timeless questions. Brown except nowadays in relationships there would be well, in your book, theres sex, for example. Sex i know, i know, i know heres the thing. Tried to be respectful of jane austen and her legacy and not be kind of over the top in that category. But i do think the book is set in 2013, eligible is set in 2013 and i feel like i aged jane and lizzie. Theyre approaching 40. It seems unlikely these almost40 women would have totally chaste relationships. So to me it seemed relevant to the plot and not provocative for the sake of being provocative. Brown when you first read jane austen, when you went back as a writer what, makes Austen Austen . Its interesting. I think a related question is why do people love pride and prejudice above all her books . Shes written so many six wonderful novels and people love all of them, but theres really a special place in peoples heart for pride and prejudice and i think shes in pride and prejudice shes kind of addressing a lot of themes that she addresses in the other books, but she achiefs this incredible, seamlessness and this balance, and shes just at the top of her game in terms of Character Development and language and insights about the human condition, and the romance is so romantic. Its almost like everything comes together so beautifully displb have you thought about why the endless remakes and twists . We were talking before we started about the the famous colin firtthis, in which a lot of people remember. Zombie movies get made. All kind of films get made out of this, right . Bridget jones. You can go on. I thought about this and wondered is there something almost darwinian in us that loves to watch a romance . I feel like to me as a reader or as a viewer of television, if theres a couple, and theres such palpable, romantic tension or sexual tension between them that im thinking to myself, kiss kiss i love that. Thats my favorite experience as a sort of consumer of a book or a tv show. And so i think that she does that just magnificently where you think, like, darcy lizzie youre meant to be together. Dont you know it . Cant you recognize it. Brown eligible is part of the austen project. Thanks so much. Thank you. Woodruff on the newshour online right now, what do rising food prices, wildfires and coral reefs have in common . One of our making sense columnists says its el nino. While the current bout of the climate phenomenon is due to die out over the next few months, the economic consequences could last longer. All that and more is on our web site, www. Pbs. Org newshour. Sreenivasan and thats the newshour for tonight. Making sense of grit. The hardwork key to success. Im hari sreenivasan. Woodruff and im judy woodruff. Join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. Fathom travel, offering cruises to cuba and the dominican republic. Travel deep. Genentech. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. Supported by the rockefeller foundation. Promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world, by building resilience and inclusive economies. More at www. Rockefellerfoundation. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. 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