Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170627

Woodruff plus, the nashville sound. Acclaimed singersongwriter jason isbell finds music in lifes tough conversations. A lot of people in my family told me, growing up, that cities were terrible places and anything outside of our little circle was scary and dangerous and frightening. I wrote that song based on that kind of fear. Woodruff all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff the United States senate will not try to repeal and replace the Obamacare Health care law until after the fourth of july recess. Republican leaders gave up today on getting a vote this week. Our Lisa Desjardins begins our coverage. Legislation of this complexity almost always takes longer than anyone else would hope. Reporter Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell was forced to accept the reality not enough republicans are ready to vote for the Republican Health care bill as it stands now. At least five republicans said they opposed even beginning debate thats three more than mcconnell could afford to lose. So now its time to revise. Consequently, we will not be voting on the bill this week, but were still working toward getting at least 50 in a comfortable place. Reporter mcconnells math got tougher after mondays report from the Congressional Budget Office. It found the Current Senate bill would leave 22 million more uninsured by 2026, than under obamacare. That includes 15 million who would lose medicaid coverage. The average premium would decrease in 2020, but plans would offer less coverage and have substantially higher outofpocket costs. Supporters of the bill highlighted the c. B. O. Finding of 321 trillion in deficit savings. And alabama republican Richard Shelby reminded his colleagues that theyd all campaigned on repealing obamacare. We need some votes. And a lot of people ran on repealing it. Now were going to see if they keep their word. It is difficult for me to see how any tinkering is going to satisfy my fundamental and deep concerns about the bill. Reporter the bill hit problems on two sides. Moderate maine senator Susan Collins said she is a no because of one year defunding to planned parenthood funding and also to the size of medicaid. Medicaid is also the concern for dean heller, whose state of nevada has expanded medicaid under the Affordable Care act. Meanwhile, several g. O. P. Conservatives, rand paul, mike lee, ron johnson and ted cruz, said the bill doesnt repeal enough and spends too much on subsidies. Party leaders mounted a full court press to convert those no votes. Vice president pence met with senators at the capitol, and President Trump held a private meeting with rand paul at the white house. Democrats, meanwhile, remained uniformly opposed to the bill. They hosted a protest on the steps of the capitol, holding pictures of constituents they said would lose coverage under the republican plan. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer if our republican colleagues stick to this base bill which so hurts working families, which so benefits multimillionaires, and them almost alone were going to fight the bill tooth and nail. And we have a darn good chance of defeating it. Reporter late today, buses ferried republican senators to the white house for a sit down with President Trump to talk things over. So were going to talk and were going to see what we can do. Were getting very close. But for the country, we have to have health care, and it cant be obamacare, which is melting down, and if we dont get it done, its just going to be something were not going to like and thats okay, i understand that very well. Woodruff well talk to lisa, who has been running around on the hill all day long, joins us now. So lisa, where do things stand. Well, they do want the take a vet after the july 4th recess, so a lot of folks are saying theyll come up with a bill in the meantime on recess. No, john thune said they want the revise their bill and get out a new draft this week. Which is ambitious. They want to do it before senators go home. Woodruff what is the main problem here . Why is this failing so far . There are a couple problems. One, the c. B. O. Score. The bill was already in trouble, but when that score came out. Woodruff the Congressional Budget Office. The Congressional Budget Office score, which show 22 million americans lose insurance. It was the depth of the report that republicans really got thinking about. Senator bob corker told me he read it at 4 00 a. M. This morning and asked the c. B. O. To give a briefing today. Also, judy, republicans werent ready. Some of them havent even read this bill, including chuck grassley. He told me he hadnt read it yet. Woodruff so given all that, what will it take to get them to 50 votes . Leadership isnt sure yet, but they have more money to spend. They can spend more money on opioids, Health Savings accounts, something most republicans agree on, but no one can answer that question, judy, yet. Do they decrease the medicaid cuts somehow . Unclear. Do they shift how theyre reforming the social care act . Unclear. Its very difficult. They say they can do it, but they obviously havent figured out how yet. Woodruff and finally the real of President Trump in all this . Right. There are question marks about that. Some say they were worried this meeting today would be one where he makes republicans feel better but doesnt do anything to change this bill. There are others, like john mccain, who said this kind of a Situation Requires president ial leadership. Clearly the president is showing that tonight. Woodruff Lisa Desjardins has been reporting and will go back to reporting after this. Thank you, lisa. And we will talk to senator rand paul about his concerns with health care legislation, right after the news summary. In the days other news, a new cyberattack caused major disruptions across europe and elsewhere. Ukraine was hit hard, where banks and the power grid were breached. Government computers also locked up, as ransomware scrambled data until payment is made. Also affected, russias state run oil company was hit, along with danish shipping giant a. P. Mollermaersk and u. S. Drug maker merck and company. Last month, a similar attack spread to 150 countries. The u. S. State department has declared china to be among the worst countries tolerating human traffickers in the world. The annual listing today put china in the same category as north korea, syria and zimbabwe. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson said chinas record is marred in part by its continued support of north korea. The north korean regime receives hundreds of millions of dollars per year from the fruits of forced labor. China was downgraded to tier3 status in this years report, in part, because it has not taken serious steps to end its own complicity in trafficking, including forced labors from north korea that are located in china. Woodruff even before the announcement, Chinas Foreign Ministry rejected the findings. Brazils president , michel temer, is now facing corruption charges. The countrys attorney general formally accused him last night of taking a bribe of 152,000. Temer called the charge fiction, but its up to the lower house of Brazils Congress to decide if it has merit. Temer took office in may when president Dilma Rousseff was impeached. European antitrust officials fined google a record 2. 7 billion today. In brussels, the e. U. Competition commissioner said the internet giant highlights its own businesses and buries search results for rivals. Google has abused its market what google has done is illegal under e. U. Antitrust rules. It has denied other companies the chance to compete under merits and to innovate, and most importantly, it has denied european consumers the benefits of competition, genuine choice and innovation. Woodruff google has 90 days to change its ways in europe. Otherwise, it faces penalties of up to 5 of its parent companys daily global revenue. Back in this country, three current and former Chicago Police officers were indicted today in the killing of a black teenager, laquan mcdonald, by a white officer. They are accused of a coverup. Mcdonald was shot 16 times by officer Jason Van Dyke in october 2014. He was charged with murder a year later, after video of the incident was released. Van dyke is in jail awaiting trial. And, on wall street, selling gained momentum after the Health Care Bills delay raised new questions about the trump agenda. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost nearly 99 points to close at 21,310. The nasdaq fell 100 points, and the s p 500 slipped 19. Still to come on the newshour republican senator rand paul on divisions over the health care bill. The white house warns syria about chemical weapons preparations. Warren buffett opens up about his personal taxes and philanthropy. And, much more. Woodruff i spoke a short time ago with republican senator rand paul of kentucky, one of the key votes that could determine the future of the republican effort to repeal and replace obamacare. Senator paul, thank you very much for join us. Is there any doubt in your mind that if the volt had gone ahead today or tomorrow that the bill would have failed . I dont think there were enough votes, but i think there also hasnt been enough time to have a full discussion. We just got the bill last week. We just got the c. B. O. Score on monday. There needs to be a little bit more time to absorb this and also to discuss what are the changes the leadership might be open to in order to get it to pass. Woodruff well, speaking of that, you met with President Trump at the white house earlier today. You tweeted after your meeting, you said, the real donald trump is open to making the bill better. Is the Senate Leadership . My question to you is, the president is meeting now with the rest of the republicans in the senate, what changes is the president wanting to see in this bill . I dont think its so much him lobbing us for changes, its us asking him for help and getting the changes done. I think he has the bully pulpit. He has a great deal of influence with the Republican Party on both the house and the senate side. And i think the bill right now to the conservative point of view doesnt have enough repeal, in fact, it looks like were keeping a lot of obamacare, even the architect of obamacare, Jonathan Gruber said, dont worry, were keeping obamacare. So we think there needs to be more repeal. Thats the message i took to him. But also i took a specific list that were sending to Senate Leadership, and were saying, if you address these item, theres a possibility we could vote for this bill, but its got to look more like repeal and less like were keeping it. Woodruff well, as you know, what the president has said about the house version of the bill, which many people said was tougher than the senate bill, he said it was mean, and he wanted a bill with more heart. So where are we on this . You know, i think there are vary use ways you can characterize both republican and democrat proposals. President obama i think wanted what was best for the country, but i think it didnt work well, i think we have the death spiral, and particularly peopleups in the individual market are going through the roof. I think republicans want whats best for the country also, but i think theyre not fixing the death spiral of obamacare. Theyre going to subsidize it with a lot of taxpayer money. So characterizing something as mean or generous i think goes to peoples motives, and i think it is sort of why we have such an angry country now. We think people have ill motives, but i think republicans want people to have health insurance. We want people to be healthy. So do democrats. We just see a different type of Economic Situation or different types of government or more expansive government and how we can do it. Woodruff one thing you talked about wanting to do away with, senator paul, is the Obamacare Tax on individuals making over 250,000 a year. That would be. Thats the money thats being used to pay for many of the subsidies for people with lower incomes. Right. Woodruff its a transfer, taking money away from those who have more to give it to people who have less, but that troubles you . No, we already do quite a bit of that, and its call medicaid. The problem or the fundamental flaw of obamacare was that they put regulations on the insurance, about 12 regulations, which increased the cost of the insurance, and so president obama wanted to help poor, working class people, but he actually hurts them by making the insurance too expensive to want to buy. I had someone at the house recently doing some work, and he said, my son doesnt have insurance, hes paying the penalty because its too expensive. So president obama said, oh, we want to make insurance perfect for people, but he added all these regulatory mandates, made it to expensive, young, Healthy People didnt buy it and people remaining in the insurance pool were sicker and sicker, thats the adverse selection and the death spiral of obamacare. So really we do need to discuss the intricacies of what worked and what didnt work in obamacare. I think the better way to do this is to let individuals have the freedom to choose what kind of insurance is best for them. The government doesnt always know best. Maybe the individual should be allowed to choose. Woodruff senator, i heard you and ive read of some of the comments you madery sethly. You have some very strong views. You would like to do away with the tax on high earners. You talked about doing away with the mandates in obamacare. You talk about Health Savings accounts. But other members of the senate, including other republicans, their they have different ideas. They are worried about these cuts where. Is the Common Ground . Were going to see if we can find it. One thing that horrifies me is we would be giving taxpayer money to very, very wealthy corporations. The Insurance Companies make about 15 billion a year. Theyve doubled their profit margin under obamacare, and so now were going to take a lot of this and call it a stabilization fund, but really its a bail out of Insurance Companies, and i just think thats wrong. I just cant see why ordinary average taxpayers would be giving money to very, very wealthy corporations. An analogous situation would be this we all complain that new cars cost too much. Why don we have a new car istanbulization fund and give 135 billion to new car companies. We could do that in any industry, but its not really good economics. What it is, youre simply transferring money from the ordinary average taxpayers to very wealthy corporations. Woodruff but senator, my understanding is that plan was put in there to take care of some of those people at the lower income level because of these changes in medicaid. I still dont see where the middle ground is between you, other republicans, and certainly with democrats. Actually, the money in the stabilization fund, 130will, which i call an insurance bailout, was put in to try to cure the adverse selection that obamacare created by making insurance too expensive. Healthy people didnt buy it. They tried to fix it by forcing young people the buy it through an individual mandate. Even that didnt work. So the way the republicans fix it is they dont actually fix it. They subsidize it. So we have to fix what went wrong with obamacare, not just recapitulate something thats broken. Woodruff what youre saying makes it sound like youre still uncertain this is going to pass . Yes. Im uncertain whether its going to be enough of a repeal bill for conservatives. And we need to adhere to our promise. We promised people wed we peel it. We talked about the problems of obamacare. We shouldnt leave half of it in place and expect things to be better. Senator rand paul of kentucky, we thank you. Thank you. Woodruff the white house today reinforced a stark warning to the regime of syrias Bashar Alassad against using chemical weapons. Last night, the administration announced that the u. S. Had detected potential preparations by the regime to use the banned weapons, again. Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner reports. Reporter from the White Reporter president assad was seen today touring a russian air base, just hours after last nights white house statement warning that his regime would pay a heavy price for launching another chemical attack. Today, the pentagon elaborated, saying the u. S. Has seen active preparations for chemical weapons use at shayrat air base, near homs in western syria. Nancy yousseff is Senior National security correspondent at buzzfeed. The pentagon told us that planes to conduct aerial Chemical Attacks in the past being moved around on sharaad airfield. We also heard reports of chatter happening on the ground in preparation for a possible imminent attack. The number of people who knew was so limited, and the message from the white house was so ominous, that it created a real confusion that we are just not used to. Reporter a chemical weapons attack was launched from that same base in april, killing dozens of men, women and children. The syrians denied responsibility. But President Trump ordered the u. S. Military to fire 59 tomahawk missiles at the base. Mr. Trumps response was a sharp departure from his predecessors caution about intervening in syrias civil war. In 2012, president obama famously warned that the use of chemical weapons use would constitute a red line, triggering u. S. Action. But instead, after a deadly august, 2013, attack on a damascus suburb, thensecretary of state john kerry and russia worked on a deal with assad that aimed to rid his regime of chemical weapons. Trump Officials Say that strategy clearly didnt work, and its taking a tougher approach to syria and its key backers. U. N. Ambassador nikki haley spoke at a house hearing today. I believe that the goal is, at this point, not just to send assad a message, but to send russia and iran a message that, if this happens again, we are putting you on notice. Reporter a spokesman for russian president Vladimir Putin retorted, such threats to syrias legitimate leaders are unacceptable. Irans foreign minister said, another dangerous u. S. Escalation in syria on fake pretext will only serve isis the Islamic State group. Since the april 3rd u. S. Missile barrage, the u. S. Has had several confrontations with proassad forces, shooting down a Syrian Air Force jet and an armed iranianmade drone. In response, russia has threatened to target Coalition Aircraft in certain areas of syria. Today, its unclear what the broader u. S. Strategy is. Is the u. S. Committed to a form of deterrence against the regime for possible Chemical Attacks . And if so, in what form . Going forward, will the u. S. Put out a statement every time it suspects chemical weapons attacks . Is that what we are to take away form yesterdays statement . Reporter for the pbs newshour, im Margaret Warner. Woodruff now, to the second part of my conversation with billionaire Warren Buffett. I spoke with him last week in omaha, at the nebraska furniture mart, the Largest Furniture store in america. It is just one small piece of a huge portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway. One of the things the republicans are looking at, as you know very well, is doing away with the socalled obamacare. The surcharge on people earning a higher income. Yeah. Woodruff so republicans are looking at taking that away, or doing away with that, which would mean a tax cut. Youve said yeah woodruff for people like you yeah. Well, i, i, i brought my tax return along for the last year. I filed this on april 15th. And, if the republican, well. If the bill that passed the house with 217 votes had been in effect this year, i would have saved i can give you the exact figure. I would have saved 679,999 or, over 17 of my tax bill. Theres nothing ambiguous about that. I will be given a 17 tax cut, and the people its directed at are couples with 250,000 or more of income. You could entitle this, you know, relief for the rich act, or something, because it ive got friends where, it would have saved them as much as, it gets into the 10 million and up figure. I, i think members of the senate and the house get 174,000 a year. But most of em have, if you look at the, the disclosures, they have substantial other income. If they get to higher than 250,000, as a married couple, or 200,000 as a, as a single person, they have given themselves a big, big tax cut, if they, if they voted for this. Woodruff well, speaking of taxes, lets just use that as a, as an entry point to talk about it. You shared some of your tax return with us for 2016. Thank you very much. But before i ask you about that, how wealthy are you . I mean, im reading that youre worth 77 billion . 99 of my net worth is in Berkshire Hathaway stock. Every share of that stock has been pledged to philanthropy. Im a trustee for that stock. Its still in my name, and every july youll see me next month, ill give away 3 billion worth of it. So itll go to society. But, if you add up whats in my name, if we go down to my safe deposit box, we will find some stock certificates that are worth that much. But as i, you know, as ive written, they have no utility to me. They cant do anything to make me happier. Im already happy. I, i, id be happy with, you know, certainly with 100,000 a year, i could be very happy and, they cant buy anything for me that i want. If they did, i would buy it. And, they do have utility to others, so ive got this system to essentially try and translate that into vaccines and education, and all of that sort of thing. Woodruff but the reason i bring that up, Warren Buffett, is that thats your, your wealth, your worth. And, yet, on your tax return, you earned 19 million something right. Woodruff 19 and a half million last year. Your effective tax rate was 16. 3 percent, which we we, we looked it up, this is what an average couple, a married couple, no children, taking the standard deduction would pay on an income of 136,000. In other words, a couple who earned, you earn 143 times more than they do, but your tax rate is the same as theirs. Yeah, i pointed that out in past, in the past and, and, its even worse than you say, judy, because youre looking at what that couple would pay in federal income tax. But, they are also paying payroll taxes, in overwhelming cases and, and, my cleaning lady has a 15 percent tax. You know, just, just from social, just from these Social Security that she and her employer pay, but it would, it so, shes, shes at the, its, its, its kind of incredible and, now they want to cut it no, they want to cut it for me. Do i i mean, you know, they, i mean, i, i i dont look like somebody that deserves a cut woodruff well, they, the republicans are talking about lowering taxes absolutely. Woodruff on the, on the they want to cut my tax 17 . They, they saw those figures and were shocked that i was paying that much, apparently. Woodruff but, but theyre theyre talking about doing away with some of the, some of the deductions charitable deductions, maybe. Mortgage deductions, maybe. State and local tax, taxes paid as deductions. Do you have a thought about you cant really talk about specifics without looking at the whole thing. But, if theyre talking about making it revenue neutral, you know, i think if theyre going to make it revenue neutral. It ought to be, it, it ought to be something other than revenue neutral for the guys like me. Our, our rates should go up, allowing others to go down somewhat. Woodruff they also, as you know, want to, want to tackle Business Corporate tax rates, theyre talking about the current corporate rate, lowering it from 35 to 15 . What would that mean for you, well, it would, it would, it would mean for berkshire, in all probability, that we would pay less in, in u. S. Federal income taxes. But, until you see the final thing, you cant tell. Berkshire hathaway is the second Largest Corporation on the fortune 500 this year. I dont know any case where our competitiveness is being hurt by the federal income tax rate on corporations. Woodruff estate taxes . A thought about that . Oh, estate taxes. I mean, i, im, you hear people call it the death tax. There are going to be two and a half Million People die in the United States this year. How many estate tax returns are there going to be . Probably about 5,000. And the interesting thing is, if i talked to somebody about welfare mothers or Something Like that, they say how debilitating it is to have these food stamps, and it takes away their incentive to do anything. If a kid comes out of the right womb in this country, theyve got food stamps for their rest of their life, they just call em stocks and bonds. And their welfare officer is their trust officer. I mean, i think i having a significant estate tax, that starts at a fairsized level if youre going to have to raise 3. 5 trillion, i think thats a good source of revenue, and that i, it shouldnt apply to, you know, 99 of the people. Woodruff youve been very, i mean, very open about your own taxes, and, and people have taken a look at that, and theyve also looked at Berkshire Hathaway, it has been pointed out that Berkshire Hathaway does take advantage of the legal ability to defer taxes, and well, thats because woodruff in deferred taxes . We have cash, things that we, just like you, if youve got a stock thats gone up a whole lot, until you sell it. But thats just the law. And, were, were going to, we dont have any, any, any of the cayman islands, or anything like that stuff. But we, we, we follow the law, and, and we got a million shareholders, and i think they probably expected us to do that. That doesnt mean i dont think the laws shouldnt be changed in some way. But i follow the law in terms of my personal return. I do not send them an extra 5 million, to the treasury. Woodruff your philanthropy weve talked about it a little bit. Its, its legendary. You and bill gates, Melinda Gates have come together and, and i guess broken all records imaginable for, for giving. At the same time, its being pointed out that youre also making, you first made that pledge 10, 11 years ago 2006, yeah. Mmmhmm. Woodruff 2006. Youre now making so much more even than you did then, people are saying, well, wait a minute, you know, is he going to be giving more away . How, how do you think about that . Well, ive got it set up so that if i make more, i do give more, because i, im giving on a schedule, and that schedule ends 10 years after i die. So, its all, so im not setting up, and, actually, they cant use it for endowments or anything. It has to be spent within ten years, really, after my estates closed, but call it after i die. Woodruff how much influence do you think you had on other, others with wealth, with means, to give . To be as generous as, as youve been . Well, a lot of people come back to me on that, and basically, i said, you know, if youre extremely rich, and youve got children, my theory was, you give em enough so they can do anything, but not enough so they can do nothing. And, ive had more people come back to it, so, apparently i was smarter in 1980whatever it was than i am now. But that seemed to have some influence woodruff are you comfortable today with what youre giving . I mean, does it feel, does it its exactly what i wanted to do. Woodruff does it feel like e right its the right thing. Woodruff thing to be doing right now . Its the right thing, because for example, that every life is of equal value. I mean, the truth is, ive got a lot of wealth, little pieces of paper, says Berkshire Hathaway on it, that are claim checks on all kinds of goods and services in the world. They can buy anything. I can buy 400foot yachts and have 20 homes and all that. I wouldnt be happier. But they can buy anything. And, once they move into the, into the hands of people who are working like hell on getting something accomplished in areas i want them to, you know, i love the idea of getting, getting em used, and thats what theyre doing. Woodruff you said it, it wouldnt make you happy to have a hundred, 200 homes and yachts and so forth. What does make Warren Buffett happy . I, i just have a lot of fun doing my job i mean, i can do anything i want, basically, as long as it doesnt involve athletic ability. You know . But its, but if its something i can buy, i can buy, i can buy anything, basically. Ive been on 400foot yachts, and ive, ive lived the life a little bit with people that are, have 10 homes and everything. And, i live in the same house i bought in 1958. And, if i could spend 100 million on a house, and itd make me a lot happier, id do it but, i, for me, thats the happiest house in the world. And, its cause its got memories, and people come back, and all that sort of thing. So, i am doing what i love to do with people i love. And it doesnt get any better than that, judy. And, but i should be. I mean, why, why in the hell, why should i be working at 86 . At something that i dont like, or with people i dont like . Woodruff and i see youre drinking a cherry coke. Right woodruff how do you stay healthy . Well, i think i stay healthy partly by being happy, actually i, i think that, i think it really helps if your stomach isnt grinding all the time, and youre doing things that you dont want to do, or youre working with people that, you know . So i, ive gone very light on the, on the diet advice. I, i eat like a normal sixyear old, but if you look at the mortality statistics, i mean, sixyear olds dont die very often i mean, the diets doing something for em woodruff how much sleep do you get . I get quite a bit of sleep. I like to sleep. So i, ill, ill usually sleep eight hours a night, and that no, i have no, no desire to get to work at four in the morning woodruff so many people look at you and they think, oh my goodness, this man, hes accomplished so much hes been so successful, hes 86 years old, and hes still going strong i love it. Woodruff so, what do they, so, whats the secret . The secret is to find what you love to do i mean, i tell the students, look for the job that you would take if you didnt need a job. I mean, its that simple. And, i was lucky enough to find it very early in life, and then, the second thing is to have people around you that make, feel good every day, and make you a better person than you otherwise would be. I mean, thats the ultimate it, its, i have more fun doing this than anything else i can think of in the world, and ive seen a lot of other things you could do in the world. Woodruff Warren Buffett, thank you very much. Thank you, judy. Woodruff and for the record buffett is c. E. O. Of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns b. N. S. F. Railway, one of the funders of the newshour. Woodruff now, a Sexual Assault scandal that has rocked Baylor University, and ignited questions over whether the university ignored the complaints of victims. The school confirmed in recent days that it is also the subject of an ongoing n. C. A. A. Investigation. Thats the focus of our weekly segment, making the grade. John yang has the latest. Yang more than a dozen women have filed lawsuits against baylor, the countrys largest baptist university, saying the school ignored or mishandled their claims going back several years. The schools board of regents has acknowledged that 19 Football Players were accused of criminal, sexual or physical assault. One of them, tevin elliot, was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The head football coach, art briles, was fired, and the president , ken starr, quit after he was demoted. Paula lavigne is a reporter with espn, investigating these allegations. Shes the coauthor of a forthcoming book on the baylor Sexual Assault scandal, called violated exposing rape at Baylor University amid College Footballs Sexual Assault crisis. Paula, thanks for joining us. Remind us of these allegations. Theyve been around for a while, but remind us of the scope, how far back they go, the nature of the allegations at baylor. Right. The allegations go back for more than a decade. In court cases alone, you have 15 different women filing title ix federal lawsuits against the school in cases involving domestic violence, Sexual Assault, but depending on who you talk to, there are hundreds of cases. Many of them involve Football Players, but actually this is a much larger problem. They involve regular students, fraternity members, i mean, you name it, it is a huge problem at the school, and another sort of interesting layer to it is the fact that were talking about the Worlds Largest baptist university, and a lot of these women are saying, you know, part of the problem here was that the schools christian values really did not foster an environment in which women were encouraged to come forward or in which their cases were taken seriously, and you compound that on top of the issues with the prominent Football Team and, yeah, the scope, it just touches all aspects of Higher Education and of Sexual Assault on campus. Yang what can the ncaa do, and what can it not do in cases like this . So thats a really good question. So a lot of people, if youre not familiar with college sports, its important to know that the ncaa is sort of the arbiter over amateur college athletics, right . And their purpose is to ensure fair competition and amateurism. Okay. So a lot of people think. They want the ncaa to do something about this. There is a huge call for the ncaa to address this. But the issue is that Sexual Violence, addressing Sexual Violence, addressing criminal behavior on behalf of athletes really isnt something thats technically in the innocence ncaas wheel house. So for people to understand what their scope is, its important to understand a particular term that the ncaa uses, which is extra benefit. Okay. So when we think of extra benefits, we often think of studentathletes being given money from boosters or fancy cars or allowed to basically skate on a class. Okay. The ncaa in this case, for people who are. People on the outside who are familiar with the investigation and people who are familiar with the ncaa are saying, well, one way they can get enforcement in a case involving Sexual Violence is to say, okay, are these studentathletes getting an extra benefit if they are being diverted from judicial affairs, if they are getting a pass from local law enforcement, if coaches or administrators are hooking them up with Legal Counsel and maybe theyre not paying what a regular student would be paying for that Legal Counsel . All of those sort of things that a regular student, who gets in trouble, might not be afforded, theyre saying, well, maybe the innocence way can consider that an extra benefit, and in that sense, it could come in and take some enforcement action. Yang the issue of Sexual Violence on College Campuses has gotten a lot of discuss. Talk about sort of the bigger issue here of how Colleges Even outside athletic programs are dealing with that. It is a huge issue. Theres been statistics that have been backed up by Numerous Research that one in five women will experience some sort of Sexual Assault while in college. Right now its more than 200 colleges and universities under investigation by the u. S. Department of education. However, this is a perfect time to be talking about this, because a lot of the federal governments civil Rights Enforcement actions are being called into question right now, and one of those deals specifically with title ix, and title ix is the venue that the u. S. Department of education uses to enforce how colleges and universities are addressing Sexual Violence. And there are a lot of people who are saying schools should not be involved in what is seen as a criminal matter. And a problem with that is that thats pretty shortsighted. Because title ix does a lot more in addressing Sexual Violence than just determining whether or not an alleged prerp at the present timor perpetrator is responsible for the act. You mentioned the case involving tevin elliot. The young woman in that case, i mean, she saw her accused perpetrator convicted. However, her Biggest Issue was the fact that she didnt get the Counseling Services, she didnt get the Academic Services. She was basically left floundering. She ends up dropping out, doesnt get to pursue her dream and has the transfer and move back home. There is nothing in the criminal Justice System that provides that sort of remedy, and thats what title ix is designed to do. Its designed to force these schools to address specific cases of Sexual Violence in part to determine whether or not someone is responsible. But the bigger part, the part thats often ignored, is by providing a safe campus for these women to attend, providing Counseling Services if they need them, providing Academic Services to make them whole again so they can continue their education. Yang Paula Lavigne of espn, thank you. Woodruff china is leading a trilliondollar project to build a 21st century version of the silk road, the trading routes that once spanned asia. And it is on that original silk road, in central asia, where we again catch up with paul salopek. He is on his out of eden walk, its an aroundtheworld, reporting project that began four years ago. Hari sreenivasan recently spoke with him. You are going the walk into china. My deadlines are often seasonal, right . So im crossing deserts and mountains across central asia, and the trick is to cross the desert in the cold part of the year and the mountains in the warm part of the year. Guess what . I havent been able to do that so far. Im been subversed. Tell me about that desert crossing. You had the plan ahead and stash water. One place you walked up to, the water was gone. Thats right. Its one of these physical challenges of walking across desolate landscapes. We had to put some water caches out before and i had the walk to them, and to my great surprise, one of the caches, this big waterless area, this badlands the size of arizona, had been broken into. And the water had been taken. And that was a big surprise, because local shepherds would probably never this that. They know how valuable water is. So i dont know who took it. My walking partners at the time and i had to resort to using the Satellite Phone to call in for help. Who lives out in these deserts. Tell me about these nomads. What are these herders like . Well, this part of the world, central asia, is one of the two big hot spots, if you will, left in our current age in the early 21st century for pastoral no mad, for people who still move with animals. The other one, of course, is north africa. When it turns green, they move their flocks and move with their flocks as their ancestors did. You have been following this silk road that myons before you have. The silk record was an artery of trade not just of luxury item, not just of commodities, but of ideas, right . Buddhism proved along the silk road route. Inventions like paper, which conveyed ideas. People, culture, art, music, all of these things moved along these camel caravan roads, and its interesting to be walking them today, hari. Were entering a phase of backlash. The silk road was the first real experiment in globalization about 2,000 years ago. Most of us would have trouble finding these countries on the map. How has the former soviet republic fared . Whats life like there . Kazakhstan got lucky. They had Tremendous Energy reserves. And one of the great challenges, believe it or not, of walking with a car get horse across these open steps in todays day and age was getting around Gas Pipelines. Theyre everywhere. So i was kind of bumping into Gas Pipelines and turning right or left hoping i would eventually come to a gate. So kazakhstan has done well in this lottery of Natural Resources. Uzbekistan has done less well. Uzbekistan is an ancient part of the world where they had silk road cities that had many, many tens of thousands of people. They had universities. They had temples. Theyve kind of fallen on harder times. They dont have the Natural Resources that kazakhstan does. Now im in kirgizstan, a smaller Central Asian republic thats very mountainous. That is basically capitalizing on its natural beauty, eco tourism to makers way ahead. Lets talk about the people youve been walking with. I imagine you get to know these people youre walking hundreds of miles with. So ive walked about 6,000 kilometers out of ethiopia since january 2013. I have crossed about 13 borders. Ive passed through about a dozen countries and territories, many languages within those territories and countries. And along most of the way, about 95 of the way, i have been walking with local people. Thats part of the project. This is a project about the humanity. Its a project about what connects us and what separates us, so i need to have local people. And its truly amazing. In conversations about the is world becoming more dangerous, is it becoming more turbulent, i have to remind my readers that at least in my experience, the world is an incredibly hospitable place. And all of these folks who walk with me, mostly men, but some women, have become like family to me. I literally put my life into their hands. And im being passed like a human baton from walking partner to walking partner. What does that do . It gives me great heart. It gives me great energy. It proves in a very concrete way my safety, that most people are good and most people will help you out, even if theyre strangers, even if theyre from another culture, even if they dont look like you or speak in the same words that you speak. Its been more than four years since youve been walking on this story. Now what have you discovered about yourself . As you know, i covered many conflicts for many years as a war journalist, and i saw a lot of the dark side of human nature. I have run enter a few scrapes on this project. You know, i was ambushed twice in turkey. I got shot at on the west bank. Ive had my water cache broken into in uzbekistan. But i can remember those items, those incidents because they stood out, because the vast joint of my interactions with people across the world on foot has been fantastically positive. I think its simplified my writing, and i think made it better. And the same applies basically to my daily life. When your world and your problems and your anxieties are calipered by your legs and by the extent that you can walk in a day, say 20 miles or 15 miles, it eliminates a lot of unnecessary worry. You dont expected too much energy worrying about things that are beyond your control. Paul salopek, we wish you the best of luck. Thanks a lot, harry. Hari, good to talk again. Woodruff nashville has long been considered the beating heart of the Country Music world, but the new album the nashville sound by jason isbell is infusing the genre with rock, folk and blues. The grammyaward winner has turned heads with his lyrics, which this time around address topics like poverty, race, and love. Jeffrey brown recently joined isbell on the first stop of his international tour. Last of my kind, so many people with so much to do the winters so cold my hands turn blue. Brown in his song, the last of my kind, jason isbell creates a character based on people he grew up around in rural northern alabama who fear how the world is changing. Am i the last of my kind . Am i the last of my kind . A lot of people that i grew up with, went to school with in alabama, and a lot of people in my family who told me growing up that cities were terrible places and anything outside of our little circle was scary and dangerous and frightening. And i thought about the effect that had on people. When you start to believe that, and you let yourself be so afraid of other people and the outside world that you never feel a connection with the rest of humanity. I wrote that song based on that kind of fear. Cumberland brown in both ballads and hardcharging rock n roll songs like cumberland gap, isbells storytelling prowess has made him one of todays most acclaimed singersongwriters. His last album, something more than free, won two grammys and achieved the rare feat of topping folk, rock, and country charts in 2015. Now 38, hes back with a new album titled, the nashville sound, and we joined him and his band, the 400 unit, at the thomas wolfe auditorium in asheville, north carolina, on the first day of their new national tour. Once again, isbells songs are filled with rural country characters, this time also reflecting the nations political and cultural fears, as well. Its just hard to tell people who are my family that anybody in government really cares about them because i dont think i can sell that. I dont think i can convincingly tell Middle America that the government gives a damn. Brown we hear about the disaffected white male, you know . Yeah. You hear about that. And i think a lot of people try to tell us that thats who elected our current president , but i dont necessarily believe that because i know a lot of disaffected white males and disaffected white people in general who didnt vote at all because they didnt think anybody gave a damn about them. Brown they just didnt believe in the political system. No. They thought the system had been broken for a long time. Brown isbell started out as many do, in bands that travel by van wherever the gigs take them. His first break was as a member of the southern indie rock band, the driveby truckers. That came to an end when his drinking and drug abuse grew so bad he was thrown out of the band. It took him several years to sober up and restart his life and career. Before i stopped drinking, i thought, if i quit drinking, am i still going to be funny . Am i still going to be a good songwriter . Am i going to still be a rock and roll person . People going to still want to be around me . And then, is my creativity going to be there if i quit doing these drugs . Am i going to be able to record in the studio . These kinds of things. Now, they sound so ridiculous even just coming out of my mouth like, of course, thats not where the work comes from brown but i can see where the anxiety comes from because, i mena, in your business, its a thin line, isnt it, between making it and not making it . Yeah, its hard. Its really hard to make a living writing songs and singing them. Really, really hard. A lot of people, they try it out like as a lottery ticket. Then, if it doesnt work, they go do something else. But thats not the tradition i come from. I come from a group of people who pretty much set themselves to do this for the rest of their life, whether it kills them or not. And thats how i was early on. Thats how i still am. Brown now, hes on the road with his wife, amanda shires, herself a singer and songwriter who performs on her own and as band mate with her husband. And theyre joined by their almost twoyearold moon shadowloving daughter, mercy rose. Isbells recent breakthrough success allows some newfound traveling comforts. Weve recently gotten to the point where we can have multiple buses, and thats something i never really thought that i would get to. Maybe one bus, thatd be great, with a trailer behind it with our gear in it. That was always the goal for me. Brown this is how you judge where youre at . Oh, god, yes. Brown by whether its a van or one bus or two buses . Yeah, its practical concerns because ive always made the art i wanted to make, and ill always do that. Im going to judge my level of success by whether or not i can hear myself on stage, or whether or not my wife can come along with me and have a mirror to put her makeup on in, and the baby can have a bunk with this dog gate we bought at petco and bolted to the outside of the bunks so she doesnt roll off in the middle of the night. Brown in one beautiful love song on the new album, isbell writes and sings as himself about a future of joy and sorrow with his wife. If you can write a good love song now that actually adds something to the canon of love songs, then youre qualified, in my opinion. Thats tough. Thats like painting a picture of a tree that needs to exists. How many times have people done that before . Brown another song getting much attention tackles racism in america today. Its called white mans world. Its important for me to just continue to notice that there are doors that are open for me that would not be if i was not white or if i was not male. Im not guilty about it, and im not ashamed of it. I had no control over it. I need to consider those things because if i dont, then im just running wild and never really considering what privilege that i have and how to make the world a better place for people dont get what they deserve. Brown jason isbell and the 400 unit will tour the nation this summer and into the fall. For the pbs newshour, im Jeffrey Brown in asheville, north carolina. Woodruff on the newshour online a poet pays homage to the late writer David Foster Wallace by finding poems in the pages of his most famous work. That and more is on our website, www. Pbs. Org newshour. And thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Join us online, and again right here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and well see you soon. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. Carnegie corporation of new york. Supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of International Peace and security. At carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org youre watching pbs. Welcome to the program, we begin tonight with a supreme courts decision today to temporarily reinstate part of President Trumps travel ban. We talk to adam liptak of the new york times. Importantly, the court says that if you have some relationship with the United States, if you have a relative here, if you a job offer here, if you are a College Student and you go to college here, then the travel ban doesnt apply to you, you can still come under the ordinary rules. But if you are a complete stranger to the United States, then President Trump is entitled to keep you out while the administration decides what it wants to do about strengthening its screening and vetting procedures. Ree former white house chiefs of staff and a card for george bush 43, jack watson for president carter and john