Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20160930

Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. Yut the ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Sreenivasan the president ial campaign erupted with new broadsides today. Donald trump unloaded on a critic who made headlines against him this week, and Hillary Clinton fired back. All of this, with the candidatel about to enter the final, fullto month before election day. Donald Trumps Campaign day began long before he got to president gerald fords tomb inf grand rapids, michigan. , early this morning, he unleasheg a storm of tweets against Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe winner. Trump had once mocked her weight gain, and clinton raised the issue in mondays debate. Today, the republican nominee charged machado had starred in a sex tape, and that Clinton Campaign helped her gain u. S. Citizenship. That came a day after trump raised former president bill clintons impeachment scandal. Machado called the charges cheap lies and saide on instagram the republican candidate insists on discrediting and demoralizing a woman. The Clinton Campaign called the allegations unhinged. Ga the candidate herself had an answer, to trumps charges, at an afternoon rally in coral springs, florida i mean, really, who gets up at 3 00 in the morning to engage in a twitter attack against a former Miss Universe . I mean, he hurled as manyer insults as he could. Ive said it before, and ill say it again a man who can be provoked by a tweet should be nowhere near the nuclear codes. Sreenivasan meanwhile, a Washington Post report found trumps charitable foundationw has never had the requiredth certification from the state of new york. That means the group has not submitted to annual audits. If the state attorney general finds the law was broken, he could go to court to make the foundation return money itet raised. Also today for the First Time Ever u. S. A. Today rendered judgment on a president ial race. It branded trump erratic, illequipped to be commander in chief and a serial liar but did not directly endorse clinton. Several traditionally Republican Newspapers have also come outpe against trump this week. The Trump Campaign is trying to fight back, with this new tv ad why arent i 50 points ahead0 you might ask. Maybe its because the director of the f. B. I. Said you lied about your emails. There was classified material emailed. Sreenivasan later today, he rallied supporters in novi,su michigan. When you cast that ballot, just picture a wall street boardroom, filled with the special interest who have beenav bleeding your country, and city, and every place else, imagine imagine the look on their faces when you tell them, youre fired fired. Sreenivasan away from the charges and countercharges, clinton today unveiled her new National Service reserve, in a speech in fort pierce, florida. I did not want this campaign to end without talking about it because it means a lot to me. Im trying to end the campaign focusing on issues that are really close to my heart, and this is one of them. Sreenivasan the end of the campaign comes, in 39 days. In the days other news a Disciplinary Court in alabama suspended chief Justice Roy Moore over gay marriage. Ay the panel found he encouraged probate judges to deny marriage licenses for samesex couples. The u. S. Supreme court had said there is a fundamental right to marry. Y. Moore is suspended for the remainder of his elected term through 2019. After that, hell be too old to run again, under state law. N, federal investigators in hoboken, new jersey have recovered one of the two black box recorders from a wrecked commuter train. The rain smashed through a barrier and into a stationie waiting area yesterday. One person was killed and more than 100 were hurt. The recorders should have data on the trains speed, brakingra and other conditions in the moments before the crash. The United Nations appealed today for a new truce in the syrian city of aleppo. But heavy fighting continued, and syrian and russian air strikes blasted more of the city into ruins. We have a report from alex thomson of independent television news. In rebel held east aleppo, the agony continues. Y it cant be independently verified, but he said russian jets dropped a thermobarric bomb, six killed, six injured, six missing. Another airstrike in the reporter another air strike in the besieged east of the city. Desperate to get out form this. But hands are all the rescuers have. Finally hes out, more or less in tact. The situation really is unfathomable. According to Health Officials there, thereve been 338 deathsh in the last couple of weeks due to the bombardment includingto 106 children. Reporter south, to the countryside near damascus itself, where people held a street protest in solidarity with those in aleppo, burning a russian flag. The posters say putin is a war criminal. In the grinding violence of o syria, street action like this where the revolution began, looks almost quaint six yearsluk on. John kerry voiced frustration over obamas approach to syria speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations generally assembly, said he advocated for more military action but lost that argument. In the philippines, outspoken president Rodrigo Duterte drew new criticism today, for comparing his war on drugs to adolf hitlers extermination ofi jews. Since duterte took office in july, more than 3,000 suspected dealers and users have been killed often, vigilantestyle. But he suggested thats just the beginning. Now there is three million, what is it, three million drug addicts, there are. Id be happy to slaughter them. At least if germany had hitler, the philippines would have me. Sreenivasan the world jewish congress, the government of germany, and others condemned the remark. Europes rosetta spacecraft s ended its Historic Mission to a comet today. Ground controllers crashed thele probe after surveying the surface up close for two years. Animation showed rosetta flying closer and closer before its final collision. It had collected vast amounts of data, and even sent a lander to the comets surface in 2014. Theres new guidance on zika for couples planning pregnancy. The centers for Disease Control and prevention now says men whove been exposed to the virus should wait six months, instead of eight weeks. It also warns against travel to 11 additional Southeast Asian countries where zika is present. That includes thailand, which today confirmed its first cases of birth defects caused by zika. Banks and Energy Stocks led wall street higher today. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 164 points to close at 1 18,308. The nasdaq rose nearly 43 points, and the s p 500 added 17. And, several governors in japan have joined a campaign for mener to shoulder the burden of childcare and housework literally. A new video shows them wearing 16pound vests to simulate being seven months pregnant. After grocery shopping, hoofingg up stairs and folding laundry, one says he finally understands what his wife put up with. In japan, women do five times the housework that men do. Still to come on the newshour an iconic israeli statesman laid to rest, the new, streamlined application for studentst Financial Aid, migrants saved from the mediterranean sea, only to be forced into prostitution,c and much more. Sreenivasan thousands gathered in jerusalem today, as israel laid to rest one of its founding fathers. Shimon peres, the 93yearold former president and Prime Minister, died on wednesday. William brangham has our report on the funeral. Reporter the Funeral Service for shimon peres drew delegations from 75 countries, and even temporarily united adversaries. Ve palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas shook hands with israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife. The casket was carried in, a military rabbi sang traditional prayers, and netanyahu spoke in praise of his longtime political rival translated he brought arguments from the left, i brought arguments from the right. Eventually, like two tired boxers, we stopped arguing. I saw in his eyes and i think he saw in mine, that the determination emanates from deep selfpersuasion and devotion to the cause of securing the countrys future. Reporter netanyahu has taken a hard line on dealing with the palestinians, while peres was israels leading proponent of conciliation. But the Prime Minister speaking in english hailed the Nobel Peace Prize winner as a visionary. Shimon lived a life of purpose. He soared to incredible heights. He swept so many with his vision and his hope. He was a great man of israel. He was a great man of the world. Israel grieves for him; the world grieves for him. But we find hope in his legacy, as does the world. Reporter the failed search for peace in the region dominated the eulogies. Former president bill clinton was in office when peres negotiated the 1993 oslo accords with the palestinians. He started off life as israels brightest student, became its best teacher and ended up its biggest dreamer. So for the rest of our lives, whenever the road we travel comes to a dead end or the good we seek to do hits a stone walls or the hand of friendship we extend meets only a cold stare, in his honor, i ask that we remember shimon peress luminous smile and imagine. Reporter president obama has sought in vain a final middle east settlement between israelis and palestinians. He called for building on the foundation that peres laid. Bu we gather here in the knowledge that shimon never saw his dream of peace fulfilled. The region is going through a chaotic time. Threats are ever present. C and yet he did not stop dreaming and he did not stop working. The last of the founding generation is now gone. Shimon accomplished enough things in life for 1,000 men, but he understood that it is better to live to the very end of his time on earth with aa longing not for the past, but for the dreams that have not yet come true, an israel that isha secure in a just and lasting peace with its neighbors. Reporter after the service, a military honor guard carried peres casket to its burial site, and he was laid to rest before a crowd of family, friends and world leaders. For the pbs newshour, im william brangham. Sreenivasan for High School Seniors around the country and their families, College Applications and costs. A key to all of it, of course, is what kind of Financial Aid can they receive . Its even more crucial for low and middleincome students whost may be leaving thousands of potential dollars on the table each year. Starting this weekend, there are important changes for a student filling out the free application for federal student aid, also known as fafsa. For one thing, theyll be able to fill it out months earlier it the hopes of getting informatioi as they try to choose a school. Lets fill in the picture. Kim cook is the executive director of the National College access network, which works closely on these issues. First, whats the significance of whats happening thisth weekend . Its tremendous. Right now, over 1. 4 Million Students left 2. 7 billion in Financial Aid on the table by not completing the free application for student aid. So these changes that will make the form earlier and easier for students are significant in helping many of those lowincome students access the money they need to attend college. Co sreenivasan one to have the significant complaints was w hohow complex it was and how muh information they needed. Ee there was a connection between the tax filing you can auto populate online. There is, its a data retrieval tool. Whats significant about the changes coming online tomorrow, the students can easily transfer the Tax Information because its currently available data. In the past d we asked studentso transfer information that wasnt available till tax filing deadea will be, but now were goingng back a year to make it easierr for students to populate the forms with the information. Sreenivasan there is alsois a gap between when you found out if a school wanted you or not and another couple of weeks or months to find out what Financial Aid you were going to get from them. Exactly, because of theus filing times that used to be in january, Financial Aid offices were under the gun to get award applications out to students so they could make important decisions about what kind of as was available at each particular school and where thes could afford to make the college choice. On the front end, there is a choice to ask students to think about which colleges they couldd apply or go to before they had any sense of age eligibility,li never mind what they would have now is a commitment to federal student aid in. October, they go into College Application sometime. Sreenivasan thisap is part s to have disincentive of the burdens of trying to gete in, i dont know how much moneyismon going to get or who will accept me, one competing with the other. Rights so, now were giving students an earl will i commitment of at least their federal audit, so a lowincome student who receives a pell grant and subsidized loans could have up to 11,500 of a commitment as they look around and, a, make the important decision college is affordableda and something for me and, b, where to go, that i have a commitment of money in my pocket to make this possible. Po reporter so what happens if the colleges just decide toid move all of their deadlines up . Theres been some concern especially for low and middle income households that the deadline creep adds a lot of pressure and decreases the amount of completed applications. That is a concern that students could have a real crunch so push what used to be a longer process of admissions and Financial Aid into the same three months. On the good news, regardless of how it plays out this year, the maym 1 commitment date holds steady. So students could have that information earlier, but they cant be pressured to commit to an aid package before may 1. Sreenivasan you said in the beginning but its staggering to think about 2 billion left on the table. Right. Sreenivasan how manyn students start the process and dont finish . Were trying to get the data. Now we know how many students dont complete. Only 45 of High School Seniors complete a fafsa by their High School Graduation. Some continue to complete it after High School Graduation as well, but thats still a Staggering Number when yoube consider that the fafsa is the ultimate predictor of whether a student will go on to enroll in college with 90 of those completing a fafsa enrolling in college. Sreenivasan its alsoo interesting there are multiplepl things. Its not just Family Income that figures out what kind of aid you get. Right. So income obviously plays a significant role, but the number in college, whether you family qualifies for other federal means tested benefits, where you go to college. Many factors factor in. The key message that we want to get across and is part of national fafsa Completion Campaign called form your future is this is your first step to going to college. All students should complete the fafsa and get the money foror which theyre eligible. Reporter and evenig whether the type of household youre iny what kind of siblings, if you have siblings in school. Exactly, number in household and college, all those factors come into play. We dont want any students to rule themselves out. Ou we want all students to complete the fafsa to get the money left on the table. Ab sreenivasan kim cook, k thank you very much. Thank you. Reporter stay with us. Ta coming up on the newshour foreign hackers target Voter Registration systems, and mark shields and david brooks take on the weeks political news. It but first, the harrowing story of Nigerian Women fleeing to europe for a better life, but finding themselves trapped into a life of prostitution. The latest figures from the International Organization for migration estimate that 80 of all Nigerian Women that make it across the mediterranean to italy are forced into the sex trade. At its heart are female traffickers who enslave women to extort tens of thousands of t dollars. From italy, special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports. Reporter asti in northernth italy prides itself as the capital of the countrys sparkling wine industry. But theres another side to this city its home to african women, rescued after being trafficked as prostitutes. Like so many compatriots, 26yearold blessing ighodaro was seeking a better life in europe. The mother of three arrived inre italy from nigeria in june after being deceived. Reporter after a hellish journey to libya across the sahara desert, blessing was puts in a crowded rubber dinghy and almost drowned in similarr circumstances to the 21 women who died in this boat in july. Reporter these images are of the aftermath of the july disaster in which 21 africaner women died. If the latest statistics are applied, at least 16 of the victims were facing a life of prostitution on european streets. In death, they were spared in one respect spared the pressure faced by blessing as the nigerian trafficker or madam tried to extort the 35,000 euros or nearly 40,000 she claimed was owing for the journey to europe. Reporter but blessing heard about a program in asti to help sex trafficking victims break free from the madam. She abandoned the streets,e despite the intimidation. Reporter but you havent paid her the money have you . Reporter 18yearold cynthia tells a similar story of falsey promises and being forced into prostitution. Like blessing, she broke with help from princess inyangce okokon. Princess was rescued from the sex trade, and is now dedicated to thwarting the madams. Reporter the victims of this potentially deadly trade are usually naive, illeducated, or poor. The Trafficking Networks especially prey on women from the african countryside. Reporter although four out of every five women rescued in the western mediterranean end up in the sex trade, princess believes the Italian Mafia is not guilty in this case. Reporter although their prime intention is saving lives, the reality for organizations rescuing migrants from drowning is that they have inadvertently become a key link in the t transport chain supplying prostitutes to europe. According to princess, the women are terrorized into compliance by black magic or juju. Reporter one of the most significant factors about the ever expanding migrant crisis is the disproportionately large number of single young men making the crossing to europe. Now these nigerian madams, have unwittingly, or on purpose, have found that this is a group thats going to make them a lot of money. Because all of the rescued girls that weve spoken to have indicated that the majority of their clients are african, or from countries where arabic is spoken, like morocco, and there are very few italians. The problem is their clientele is poor, the prices are low which means that the girls have to work extra hard to pay backo their debt. To hear a different perspective from provincial asti, weve come to prosperous milan, a magnet for african migrants, where europes reality kicks in. Many people find themselves living in the open here because neighboring countries like france, switzerland and austria have tightened up their border controls. Fabio di giacomo works for the International Organization for migration. Reporter and the perpetrators arent concerned about the age of their victims. Reporter onome efanadju is seventeen years old. Ye she came to italy last year and worked as a prostitute for two months before being rescued. Ue shes now a catering trainee at an Italian Company offering dozens of women skills to pursue a better life. Reporter this shows the psychological pressure to which the women are subjected. After ignoring repeated messages from the nigerian madam who trafficked her, blessing answers her phone. Reporter the personal tragedies are never ending. Ag gloria, a 32yearold hairdresser was lured to europe under false pretences, and as a result has lost touch with her three young children. Reporter the trade appears to be self perpetuating. Many of the madams arems themselves former victims of trafficking. Reporter unfortunately for northern italys streetwalkers, princesss rescue organization is running out of money and hasg failed to secure future funding. So the chances of escaping are reduced, and thousands more women are expected. For the pbs newshour, imm Malcolm Brabant in asti, northern italy. Sreenivasan concern has been growing about possible cyber manipulation of the u. S. On election since revelations in june that the Democratic National committee and democratic congressionalsi committees data had been stolen. U. S. Intelligence officialse pointed the finger at russian governmentlinked hackerske though wouldnt say so publicly. Separately, illinois and arizonas Voter Registration databases were penetrated in june, forcing them to p temporarily shut down. This week, f. B. I. Director james Comey Told Congress there hader been new attempts to penetrate many more state voter data bases. Margaret warner has been lookinr into this and joins me now. Jo so whats the real danger to the elections if Voter Registration databases are being hacked . Ha ri, on one hand it can be strictly criminal. People want to get addresses, phone numbers and emails and use them for criminal purposes and many states have had to deal with that in the past. But that information can be used to selectively used to manipulate the vote on election day. Send emails to voters in minority districts, for instance, your registration place or voting place has been changed. This has been done often by phone, its an old, old trick, or simply to delete them from the database and when they get there, there is incredible confusion. As a seen your homeland securitd official told me this afternoonf the other danger that worries us is just the news of these hacks undermined American Voters view to have the credibility of the American Election system and there are foreign powers that would like to do that. Ha sreenivasan do the u. S. Officials believe russians are behind this or the other related hacks . Yes. First they established they were t blind the hacks you mentioned behind the hacks, the dnc and ccc, you mentioned earlier. Fancy bear and cozy bear hacks, one is linked to the kgb called the gru and one linked to military intelligence. Mi i was told by cyberexperts involved in the investigations that the voter database hacks are the work of fancy bear which is the one side to Russian Military intelligence. This is the same outfit that, in ukraine, in ukrainian election twos years ago, penetrated the database of the ukrainian election authorities and tried to switch the actual plate that showed who was winning where. They didnt succeed, but the fake plate that showed someone else won ended up on tv in russia. Sreenivasan homelandi security jai johnston said this morning that by design or almost by reality, the nine different preprecincts dont use the same system or have the same databases so there is not a treat in manipulating the overall result. Hes right about that. Ab its a crazy system and 9,000 precincts. But there is an Internet Connection when most report toto the central commission, though that can be checked back. The other vulnerability is some states still used voter touch screens that leave no paper trail, so in pennsylvania and philadelphia, swing states, no paperst trail, whereas in bucks county, there is. So if someone who were smart picked swing districts in swing states and put malware in the computer, you know, the Voting Machines to go off that day and change every third clinton vote for trump or vice versa, it would be impossible to go back late around check. H sreenivasan whats the government doing about this considering were 39 days away . Not as much as many cyber experts would like, whatha jeh johnson did was call alll secretaries of state, had a conference, says there is a big danger out there and were ready to h help. He sent out a lot of new standards. He said you have to be sure to close the open doors. Do a lot of the precincts dont have the manpower or money to do it right. It i was told 18 to 20 of the states asked for and received nightly whats called cyber election screening where they basically run through the system and they alert the federal government does, Homeland Security does and says, by the way, we discovered something funny, you need to patch this. That said, that does not fix the election machines themselves. So what they did not do, the federal government chose not to do is declare a part of critical infrastructure. That would have given the federal government the abilityty to go really in, set up standards and send a message to russia that this is really a nono and considered grounds for retaliation. Sreenivasan margaretar warner, thank you very much. My pleasure, hari. Sreenivasan and that brings us to the analysis of shields and brooks. Thats syndicated columnist mare shields and new york timesme columnist david brooks. Here we are, monday night, youig were here after the debates, and now, my first question isnt about a significant policy discrepancy. The entire news cycle is concerned about whether or not he paid taxes and how he treed a beauty queen, how he treated her and is still treating her. Youre right. Although i dont think theyre book ends, i dontou think theye equal value or significance. I i think his disdain for paying taxes and selfidentification as a smart person for not doing so reveals any absence, a total absence of civicmindedness, citizen responsibility. I mean, the idea of John Kennedys ask not what you can do for your country ask not what you can do for your country but what you can do for your country is so alien to that. But the attack on Alicia Machado fits a pattern. A i mean, this is a man who, as Tony Schwartz who wrote the art of the deal the ghost writer of it and made trump merel a central figure in america in that book wrote, he said, every time hes criticized or caught for any of his lies, he doubles down, and thats exactly what he does. Usually, in the pattern with mr. And mrs. Khan, the gold star parents and with judge can you o pick on someone and try to overwhelm them. Sreenivasan the latino vote in florida, and weve seen since the debate, increase in search registration, searches in predominantly latino areas,ar according to the google. Is this going to matter the fact he called this mishousekeeping . S can that resonate and connect . If the vote can go lower. It may affect turnout in the latino community, because his support isnt super high norr with women. First, we should step back and be aware of its bizarreness that we are amonth away from electing a president and one of our candidates is up in the middle of the night tweeting. Its another day in paradise. To me, the significance of the tweets in the morning or the mis to have night were the solitaireness of the guy. Most campaigns, its a team. The administration is a team and there is a front person and ultimate insider but its a team effort, decisions are made and strategies are discussed and decisions. But hes alone in the middle of the night upending his whole campaign with this tweet storm and that tells me hes unorganizational and its been the secret of his success but its hard to imagine a president acting that way. Could i add one thing to what david said . And i agree with the point made. The discussion on the debate on iraq, all right, 2. 8 million americans have served in uniform many multiple tours in iraq and afghanistan over the last 15 years, 6890 have been killed,ve and donald trump discussed thatt war, it was all about him. Im it was about his alleged discussions, his discredited argument that in 2002 as a real estate mogul in new york, in private, offtheair conversations with sean hannity, he opposed the war. Ed turns out the war wasnt about the United States or those who fought it or those in that area who suffered through it, its about donald trump, and it comes back to that. A successful president ial campaign is always about the voters, their hopes, their lives, their futures, their country. Thats the only chance you havea to lead a country. C this is all about him. Clintons campaigning today in florida, a large cuban american community. Earlier this week there was a story led by news week and other outlets talking about how donald trump had business interestss trying to do business in cuba during the time there were economic sanctions and this might be a violation of those rules. Does that matter to thatt community there . The short answer is i dont know. The second answer is that the cuban issue, i think, has been dissolved by whats happened in the last four years, and it hasnt particularly hurt Barackb Obama in florida to take the position hes taken and, so, it may hurt him on some, but i have trouble believing the cuban American Population that was already super rep is super republican. The violation of the cuba law is symptomatic of one thing withit donald trump, and im a big fan of capitalism, but capitalism unrestrained and that youret just ant money and selfishness,f its a very corrosive and destructive thing. So whether bragging about not paying taxes and making money anyway you can regardless of ths law or decency or stiffing your contracts, thats when we see the def luges of what capitalism can become when the human beings to do it dont have a moral system to check the selfishness and thats what we see. Ee sreenivasan Hillary Clinton is trying to win back voters from thirdparty candidates. You think perhaps the libertarian candidate would havd pulled more from donald trump than her, but why is she not connecting . Shes never connected. Bernie sanders cleaned her clock with younger voters. There is not the sense of rebellion or inspiration or vision. I mean, you can check off all the boxes, shes good on the issues, good on Student Loans and so forth, but its an important segment. I mean, thisim was a key segment to the element. They represented one out of five voters, most between the ages of 1829 in 2012. They didnt turn out in 2014 and the democrats got murdered, and the over 65 represented 9 more than the 1829yearolds. 2 so its not a question simply of reaching and converting them. Its energizing them and getting them to the polls. O if i may just add, gar gary john who got the endorsement in shibh in the tribune news when he couldnt name the dal the dalair pope francis or anyone he admired, i think he hurt himself as a candidate with this group and anybody else. Sreenivasan david, how much is this the fact that the firsttime voters dont remember the empact a third candidate or a party can have . In the year 2000, these folks were maybe in elementary school. It would be interesting if the polls were super tight. She doesnt speak the language. Not that trump does, hes even worse. One thing people have a lot of, its future, and they want to feel some sense of rift and idealism about the future andd they want to be called and just saying ill give you free College Without any sense of lift or transformation of society which sanders offered, its not speaking the language of hope and inspiration, idealism, which hopefully peoplo of all ages respond to, and thats part of the campaign thats been lacking for her. You mentioned the endorsements on the chicago tribune, but the u. S. A. Today took an unusual step. A lot of papers are taking the steps, making their case for on candidate or the other. Do these endorsements matter considering how upside downid world the cycle seems to be . Or are we saying my facebook feed says this, this should whaa i should do . The oneness of editorial rating . Of course they do. Everybody sits on the edge of their seat. Ei im not sure people would say, well, i want to see what the Arizona Republic said, but when you get papers like that which in its history never endorsed a democrat, the dallas morning news, the last Franklin Roosevelt in 1940, the cincinnati inquirer Woodrow Wilson 1916, and i read it at the time, i think it has a cumulative effect. Ff because the theme is not an embrace of Hillary Clinton in the democratic platform, its a rejection i mean, its goingi on the record in categorical terms that hes unacceptable as a president ial candidate. I would say signed columns have a big impact mp laughter sreenivasan let me squeezeze in one nonelectionrelated question. This week we saw a strange thing from congress. This was a first veto of president obamas first entire eight years, about whether or not families should be able to sue saudi arabia, 9 11 families, and then it was overridden by congress. Then a day after that, we get people getting up to the podium saying, well, we have to kind of look at this again. I i have been a defender of congress for a long time. After they took off seven weeks and had to come back, they had to pick up clean shirts and checks and now before taking six weeks off, they vote on this, and by 991, the next day, Mitch Mcconnell said the president made me do it. T. You know, these unintended ramifications, he should havefi been stronger. Theyre puppets of the president. In that sense, it was an incredible scene to watch. Substantively, i side with the administration on. This we cant have a Foreign Policy where every individual gets to sue a Foreign Government and run our Foreign Policyli through the court system. So its tough to the 9 11 families but the president didnt make them sign a bill he opposed. I agree on that. Sreenivasan david brooks,an mark shields, thank you so much. With the Vice President ial debate on tuesday and two more president ial debates to come, check out watchthedebates. Org. Where you can interact wither every president ial debate since 1960. Senator , youre no ted kennedy. I almost resent Vice President bush. Binders of women. O i opposed the Death Penalty all my life. Sreenivasan now, the latest addition to the newshour t bookshelf. Its a closer look at the roots of the Islamic State in the wakh of 9 11 and the people affected by its spread in an unstable middle east. Jeffrey brown has that. Brown Lawrence Egbert lawree Brown Lawrence bright went to thailand. His 2006 book the looming tower on the growth of alqaeda and events leading to 9 11, won thee pulitzer prize. Now hes pulled togetherhe writings from the new yorker magazine, the product of many years of reporting in a new book titled the terror years from alqaeda to the Islamic State. Larry wright. Its good to be here. Brown there is a sense of wanting to tie things together. T did you see a guiding thread in your work when you went back to look at it . Yeah, i was planning to putnn together a collection of articles, but then when i lookee at all the work i had done on terrorism since 9 11, i never thought that i would still be writing about that 15 years later, but i realized these pieces had a narrative qualityal in terms of the evolution of i. S. I. S. And alqaeda and how its developed from 9 11 until today. Brown your weighin has always been the individual stories. Yeah. Brown but to tell a largerid story, whether theyre americans or egyptians, saudis, syrian filmmaker, these people staypl with you . Its a privilege to tell the stories, to meet these remarkable individuals and telll their stories. Its what i was born to do, but i dont think you can understand terrorism, radicalization, you know, we can analyze it to death, but unless you understand a single individuals journey, that makes it much more clear, r think, to the reader, and thats what i aspire to do. I want to ask you one particular going back captured on film. It was in syria in 2006 about the very small Film Industry at that time. And you wrorks i found a people who had been beaten into silence. Now, these years later, its impossible to think about a Film Industry, when we think about syria. But do you see a connection too what you saw then to today . Yes, unfortunately. Y the reason i went there is, you know, the middle east is a paradise for reporters except whente theyre targeted. I thought one day, syria is so quiet. It was like the dog that didnt bark. I went to the editor at the new yorker with this observation. But thats not a story. So i thought i will go to syria and see if i can understand their culture. Physical abuse was a common element. Everybody i met had been beaten by their parents, School Teachers or the police, you know, it was a culture that had already suffered an enormous amount of trauma and, you know, my fixer, this lovely young woman brown fixer is the local producer. Yeah. Her parents had been in political prison, her mother two and a half years, her father 13 years, he had been tortured and locked into isolation. He came home. What did he do . He beat her up on a number of occasions and locked her in her room. That was a common tale, and i think a lot of times when america wanders into regions that it so poorly understands, we dont know what were facing. Iraq was a classic example of us becoming involved in a cull culture we totally didnt understand. Brown youre also lookingo at us 15 years later. 15 years ago, people said the world changed, 9 11 changed everything. Did it, when you look back now . Americas changedw profoundl, and i reflect on the fact that i took a date to the airport one time when i was a young man inn high school. I didnt have money to take her out. It was dallas, texas. Ex it was called love field. But back then we walked out on the tarmac and climbed up into this international jetliner that had just come in from paris, we supposed, and we sat in the first class section and the stewardess brought us a snackn and then we went up in the faa tower, and i opened the unlock door, and they said, come on in, kids, and we sat down and watched them land the planes. That america is long dead, andd terrorism killed it. But if its forgotten, if that community of trust and safety is forgotten, then i think that we will have lost in some way in this battle against terrorism. Those are the liberties that we had, freedoms, and we often talk about that thats what were fighting for, but at the same time were compromising all those very freedoms. Re im not saying some of those compromises arent necessary,ar but we need to keep in our heart the idea that there was a country where those kinds of freedoms were freely exercised. E brown the book is the terror years, lawrence wright. R thank you so much. Mu my pleasure. Sreenivasan on the newshours online spirits were up in miami this week when 56 of the world5 best bartenders faced off in an intense competition. Jennifer le bechet of france took home the crown, becomingec the first woman to win the titlo of bartender of the year. Find our video of the event on our homepage. Pa all that and more is on our website pbs. Org newshour. And a reminder about some upcoming programs fromam our pbs colleagues. Gwen ifill is preparing forar washington week, which airs later this evening. Heres a preview ifill five days later, donald trump is keeping one story alive not about immigration or the economy orio trade, but about what he had to say about a beauty queen. Plus, the president loses a fight with congress over whether 9 11 victims should be able to sue one of our allies. Its a counterintuitive week, but well explain why it all kind of makes political sense. Tonight on washington week. Hari . Sreenivasan thanks, gwen. On pbs newshour weekend an elite team of Disaster Relief workers on an Urgent Mission to save italys cultural heritage. Thats tomorrows signature segment. And thats the newshour for tonight. Im hari sreenivasan. S have a great weekend. Thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. E. Supporting social entrepreneurs and theirei solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping, people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was madede possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. 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