Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20140702

The rules woodruff from outlaw to legend, Willie Nelson discusses his first album of selfwritten material in more than fifteen years. Well i think i innately knew that music draws people together and that good music is liked by almost everybody, you know people are going to like, because you like it. Woodruff those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions and. 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 Tropical Storm arthur neared hurricane strength in the Atlantic Ocean today. By late in the day, it was centered roughly 200 miles south of charleston, south carolina. It could skim the outer banks of North Carolina tomorrow. A swath of about 200 miles of North Carolina coast is now under a hurricane warning on this week that brings fourth of july vacationers. Arthur is the first named storm of the atlantic season. A bipartisan Government Panel reported today the National Security agencys internet surveillance is an effective tool against terrorism. The privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, a group appointed by the president , said the socalled prism program, under a provision of the foreign Intelligence Surveillance act, section 702, is constitutional. David medine chairs the board. Overall the board has found that the information the program collects has been valuable and effective in protecting the National Security and producing valuable foreign intelligence information. Outside of this fundamental core, certain aspects of the section 702 program do raise privacy concerns and push the Program Close to the line of constitutional reasonableness. Woodruff the panels report on internet surveillance contrasted sharply with its earlier finding on phone data collection. It said that effort lacked a viable Legal Foundation and should be shut down. The federal department of Homeland Security is moving to increase security at overseas wairps direct flights to the United States. News accounts today said u. S. Officials are concerned7umyc opd yemen are trying to create bombs to smuggle on to planes. The new security measures will take effect in the next few days. Officials did not specify which airports are affected. Israeli police and palestinian youths fought street battles in jerusalem today, as a new cycle of violence loomed the clashes were triggered by the murder overnight of a palestinian teenager. Lindsey hilsum of independent Television News reports from jerusalem. Reporter the clashes began this morning after a 16yearold palestinian boy was allegedly kidnapped by israeli youths in a van and his burnt body dumped in a forest in jewish west jerusalem. The air is acrid from the smoke of tires that the palestinian youths are burning as they throw stones at the Israeli Security forces. This seems to have been what some israelis call price tag, a revenge killing. Extreme israelis, possibly settlers, taking revenge for the killing of the three jewish teenagers in the west bank. Reporter mohamed abu khadeir was outside the mosque when he was seized. The police have c. C. T. V. Footage from a next door shop that apparently shows what happened. Inside the family home, his relatives sit in shock, they say translated for three people they turned the world upside down. But nobody cares about my son. Reporter last night a crowd of extremist israelis rampaged through the streets of jerusalem shouting death to the arabs. They attacked five arab men, two of whom ended up in hospital. This Morning Jewish settlers reportedly burnt a barn on a palestinian farm near nablus this morning. The graffiti in hebrew reads price tag, jewish revenge. This afternoon they held the funeral of mohammed abu khadeir, a palestinian boy in the wrong place at the wrong time. The danger now is that someone will exact vengeance for his killing and the cycle of revenge will never end. Woodruff in washington, the white house called the killing of the palestinian boy a despicable act. It urged both sides to tamp down calls for revenge. Woodruff in eastern ukraine, Government Forces say they carried out more than 100 attacks on prorussian rebels. The offensive began yesterday after countrys leaders let a ceasefire lapse. Meanwhile, Foreign Ministers from france, ukraine, germany and russia met in berlin. German chancellor Angela Merkel warned that moscow may face additional sanctions. translated regarding sanctions against russia, we have so far reached level two and we cannot rule out having to go further. We discussed this as well with the ukrainian president and many issues will be further discussed in connection with this issue. But no decision has been made yet. Woodruff later, the ministers agreed on a series of steps leading toward a possible resumption of the ceasefire. Police in hong kong forcibly removed hundreds of sitin protesters in the citys financial district today. Officers moved in around 3 00 a. M. After issuing a series of warnings to demonstrators who locked arms with each other. More than 500 were arrested. The protesters had staged an overnight sitin, following yesterdays mass march demanding elections free from mainland chinas control. Woodruff on wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 20 points to close at another record high, 16,976. The sandp 500 added one point to finish at 1,974, also a new high. And the nasdaq fell about a point, to 4,457. Still to come on the newshour the alleged mastermind behind the 2012 benghazi attacks appears in court; iraqi kurds contemplate independence from baghdad; heroics and heartbreak for the u. S. At the world cup; how the Civil Rights Act changed the nation; alleged fraud halts progress in afghan elections; and country legend Willie Nelsons new album. Woodruff the militia leader accused of involvement in the 2012 attack on an american diplomatic compound in benghazi, libya, had his second day in an American Federal Court today. Abu khattala was captured last month by the u. S. Military. This past saturday he pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges. The attack resulted in the death of four americans including the u. S. Ambassador to libya, christopher stevens. Here to tell us more about this case and what happened today is New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt who was in the court room. Michael, welcome to the newshour. Tell us, what did you see . What did you hear . Today was fairly uneventful. It started with ten minutes in the courtroom where they couldnt get the hearing device that mr. Khatalla was supposed to wear to hear his translator to work. It was sort of embarrassing for the court. After this the government came in and laid out their case for why they think he should continue to be held. It was similar to papers they had filed last night in which they said he continued to plan threats, i mean, plan thoughts against the United States in the past few months. And they said he had nowhere to go in the United States because he has no family here and he was likely to flee. After that his lawyer came up and said, look, we cant really question your contention that you want to hold him, but we do have some concerns about the case. You havent really provided us with a lot of evidence to back up what youve said about my client, and from there the government came back and said, well, we gave you some stuff and well be giving you more over next few days. The judge order for him to remain in detention and that was it. Woodruff well, did the government provide any evidence linking khatalla to what happened . The government has yet to provide any evidence that he was involved in the killings. That has not happened yet. What the government has said is it has videotape and eyewitness accounts that show that he was at the mission when they went back there after the first fires were set, and then he was with other of his militia members at one of their Training Camps before theyn ; annex and attacked that and killed two more americans. They have not given specific information, though, on his role in any of the violence. Woodruff but youre saying theyre suggesting they have that kind of evidence or north . Theyre suggesting they have that. The thing here is they have not played all their cards yet. They have only indicted him on one count. Thats a count of conspiring, a terrorist conspiracy charge. They havent gone as far as the murder charges yet because theyre still working on that evidence and theyre looking at what he said and what other stuff that they may have. So they. We have not seen everything yet. Weve only seen a little. Woodruff as you just reported, his lawyer, the publicly appointed or the governmentappointed public defender challenged them on the evidence. Is this going to be the defense . Or is this just the early, i guess, posturing . This is still very early. This is sort of posturing. The government, i find it hard to bereave the government would have gone all the way over to libya and used the Defense Department to do that without having a lot of evidence to base their case on and too bring him all the way back here. I think what the lawyers trying say, hes trying to push the government as far as she can to learn as much as she can as possible. Its undleer unclear what her client told her. As she said today, i have to look at press reports to learn what the government knows. Woodruff michael, tell us, how did khatalla look . How did he behave . Hes very calm. There have been no outbursts. Hes said very little. First day he had black sweatshirt and sweatpants. It was not a typical uniform by someone in jail. Today he was wearing a green jumpsuit that said prisoner on the back in white lettering. Woodruff is very much known, im sorry if youre having trouble with your ear piece, but is very much known about what happened to him on navy ship where he was held while they were bringing him to the u. S. . What we do know is he spoke with the interrogators. There he spoke with them as part of a sort of intelligencegatherrering discussion. They were trying to question him under a Public Safety exemption that allowed them to ask him what did he know about planned attacks or about past attacks or about anything that may sort of impact Public Safety. Beyond, that we know that hes cooperated with them. Hes told them what he[bhinq ÷c happened on that day, but what we dont know is whether hes told them anything about his role in it. We dont believe hes incriminated himself. Woodruff just quickly finally, michael, what happens next . Well, hes scheduled to appear before a judge next week, and this is the judge who will be handling the case. The first two judges hes seen have just been judges hes give an plea to and who have discussed his detention. Next week its the judge who is going to have the actual case. Could the jung set date for a trial . Possibly. But probably there will be more discussion tact evidence in the case, about the indictment, about what else the government may have. So we really wont get to sort of that meaty stuff until then. Woodruff all right. Michael schmidt with the New York Times. We thank you. Thanks. Woodruff now to the crisis in iraq, where dozens more were killed today. Here in washington, kurdish leaders are making their case for independence, despite pleas from the Obama Administration to keep iraq intact. Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner reports. Warner the city of tikrit has echoed with gunfire this week, as iraqi troops battle to regain control from sunni militants of the Islamic State, or i. S. I. L. Today, 100 miles away, in baghdad, Prime Minister Nouri Almaliki warned iraqs neighbors that the fighting there is just a sample of what could face them too. translated whether its alqaida or i. S. I. L. , their transformation to a caliphate is a message to all states in the region that you are inside the red circle now. I. S. I. L. Talked about the state of iraq and the levant and now talks about a caliphate. No one in iraq or any neighboring country will be safe from these plans. Warner maliki voiced hope that Iraqs Parliament will agree on a new unity government next week. But the shiite political leader gave no indication hed bow to pressure from sunnis and kurds to step down. Iraqi kurds have enjoyed autonomy in northeastern iraq since the 1991 gulf war. Millions of other kurds live in parts of iran, turkey, and syria. Now, iraqs kurds are taking advantage of baghdads battle with the insurgents. On june 12th, they took control of the oilrich city of kirkuk, a longrunning point of dispute with baghdad. Oil deposits that would eliminate any need for funding from iraqs central government. At the same time, their peshmerga militia blocked encroachments by i. S. I. L. Fighters, and fortified new frontlines. And, kurdish leaders are vowing to hold a vote on independence, a move Prime Minister maliki denounced today. translated nobody has the right to take advantage of the current situation. Saying we are going to hold a referendum on establishing an independent kurdish state. I tell the Kurdish People now that this will hurt you and it will send the region into a disarray that you will not be able to get out of. Reporter the u. S. Is also concerned. Secretary of state john kerry met in erbil last week with kurdish president Massoud Barzani last week, urging him to works things out with baghdad. Today, in washington, kerry received other kurdish leaders, including Falah Mustafa bakir, Foreign Relations chief for Kurdish Regional government. I spoke with bakir this morning. Prime minister bakir, thank you for joining us. Thank you. We have seen the collapse of the iraqi army up in the northern part of the country, in the face both the sunni militants from the Islamic State of iraq and your own kurdish fighters who seized all this territory up there, including kirkuk. Are we simply seeing the collapse of the iraqi state . Iraq as state did not exist that much. Iraq is an artificial state. Whats built on old foundations will not be able to survive. We as kurds have suffered a lot. We pay the price of keeping the balance between sunnis and shias in iraq. Time has come in order to correct that critical mistake. Were not ready to pay more prices for the instability of that area. The iraqi army collapsed because it was built or rebuilt on old foundations. It was not an army in order to protect the country and the people of the country. It was used against the kurds when we had political differences with baghdad. Therefore we lost hope in the new iraq. This was not the iraq that we have contributed so positively, and this was not the iraq that the americans have sacrificed their lives for. Warner so this additional territory the kurds have taken, youre building fortifications around it now, this is for good . We have not taken new territory. It was our territory that was taken by others. So we have waited for ten years in order to implement a threestage process of normal ization. Indeed, we have been betrayed. We did not find partner, so therefore, today we proved in to protect the people of theseqn areas, regardless of their national, ethnic and religious backgrounds. We said that its the people of these areas in a referendum, they will decide whether they want to be part of kurdistan or not. Were not when president barzani says there will be referendum and independence, thats for certain, and if, so how soon . We have done everything we can to help the political process succeed, but it did not succeed. People are not ready for sharing the power and wealth. People are ready only for monopolization of power, for denying others power. Therefore we are determined to go ahead with the referendum. Its the people of kurdistan who would determine their own future, and we hope the International Community will understand our position. In the last decade or so, we have introduced a successful government. We are land of stability. We are proud of our cultural tolerance and peaceful coexistence. Is that your message to the administration coming here, that essentially you have not left iraq, iraq left you, baghdad left you, and now the kurds are going their own way . Not only baghdad left us, baghdad betrayed us. Therefore we are working on two paths. One path to help the political process in baghdad. If there were any hope for it to succeed, otherwise we have to go our own way for the people of kurdistan to determine that. We hope that the u. S. Administration understands our position, looks at kurdistan for what it stands for. We have been the most loyal and faithful friend and ally of the United States. We stand for the same values that you stand for freedom, democracy, human rights, womens rights. We are proud of our history. Warner is there anything at this point that could keep kurdistan within iraq . Well, there is no hope for us. We dont want to stay with baghdad that has failed. We are not ready to repeat jni baghdad does not accept us. Baghdad does not want us as partners. Baghdad doesnt want to share the power and wealth. And theres nothing in it for us. Warner how has this message that youve already conveyed publicly and privately gone over with the Obama Administration . Not very positively. We hoped there would be a better reception. We are friends with the United States. We want it to be a longterm relationship, but we want it to be a twoway relationship. Warner what is the administration saying to you . They say, lets fix baghdad, but the kurds have suffered a lot. We the people of kurdistan have challenged saddam hussein. Chemical gas was used against us. Our people need and deserve a better future, and we hope that the u. S. Understands this position. Warner have you been planning this all along, as many people thought, or has the sudden advance of this sunni militant group i. S. I. L. , did it create an opportunity that suddenly the kurds could exploit . Not really. All the way through we have been thinking about that. We wanted to have an independent state. But the reality on the ground was difficult. The neighborhood is a difficult one. And the circumstances are such, but we have never given up on our identity. Warner but then the sudden advance of i. S. I. L. Essentially upended the chess board, and you think now the world is more ready to see this situation from the kurds point of view . After the events on the 9th of june when i. S. I. L. Came and occupied new territory, we woke up in the morning and we have got a new neighbor, a new state emerged next to us, and we have 1,055 kilometers of that new neighbor, which is the Islamic State, only 15 kilometers with the rest of iraq. This is a new reality. Were determined to fight terrorism, and kurdistan is the only state that has secured part of iraq. But we need the support of the United States and the International Community to strengthen our Democratic Institutions and to be able to fight the terrorists. Warner do you feel you need a green light from the administration to go forward with this . We hope that the u. S. Administration and the u. S. Public understands as a friend and ally, as a people who are looking to the west, as a people who want to strengthen our Democratic Institutions would stand by us. Warner but if the administration said to you, no now is not the time, would you still go ahead with independence . With all due respect, its the people of kurdistan who decide, and, yes, we will go ahead. Warner mr. Minister, thank you. Thank you. Woodruff americas exciting run in the world cup may be over, but these past two weeks have generated a new level of interest in the future of the u. S. Team, and the sport itself. Almost 22 Million People in the United States watched the match against belgum yesterday, strong numbers and particularly so on a work day, higher than the average ratings for the nba finals or the world series. And today theres still plenty of talk about what lies ahead. Jeffrey brown has more. Brown from sea to shining sea yesterday, americans embraced the role of soccer nation. I believe that we will win. I believe that we will win. I believe that we will win. Brown even president obama joined in the fun,taking in the match with a group of white house staffers. Go, go, go whoa, thats a foul brown the u. S. Squad forced belgium into extra time, before falling, 2 to 1, despite the heroics of american goal keeper tim howard, who had a world cup record 16 saves. Howard spoke this morning on a. B. C. Our heads are high because we couldnt have given anymore. We played four phenomenal games and last night everybody gave everything they had and sometimes you dont win but um were proud of ourselves. Brown head coach jurgen klinsmann, speaking just after the match, saw a big upside for american soccer. We now know that we can play eye to eye with the big nations. The teams that we faced here are pretty much everyones favorites to win the world cup. Brown as for the fans, the outcome produced a full spectrum of reactions, some serious, some less so. I feel that we played our hearts out, i think we did an amazing job. I look forward to the future, i cant wait, i cannot wait. Im boycotting belgian waffles, chocolates, stella artois, everything belgian is boycotted in Brooklyn Brown u. S. Soccer praised the fans, in a message to more than one million twitter followers. It read thank you for your support, passion and pride, the whole world cup. In the meantime, the competition continues friday with two matches featuring world cup powers germany v. S. France and colombia against hostnation brazil. Brown with me now is a woman who knows something about goal keeping and world cup madness Briana Scurry tended goal for the 1999 American Team that won the womens world cup after she made a crucial save. Shes also a twotime gold medla winner in the olympics as part of the u. S. Team. She retired in 2010 after an illustrious career, but also after suffering a severe head injury. Welcome to you. Thanks for having me. Brown i had to laugh. Tim howard told an interviewer, with so many shots coming at him, it began to feel like the clock was broken. Do you know the feeling . Yes. Im sure his minutes seemed like an eternity. Tim had fantastic game yesterday. You couldnt have asked more from him. Being a goalkeeper myself, i understand what it feels like. Can we get to the end of the game already . Youre playing a great game, which he did do, and he just wanted his team to be able to move forward in the tournament, unfortunately, they werent able to do that. Im sure this is different for everybody, but i wonder your experience, watching him, when youre in goal like that and shots just÷ ke. Thinking, oh, my goodness, its one of those days . They just wont stop. Or are you just laser focused, youre not even aware of how many shots you saved. Its interesting because belgium was coming at him wave after wave after wave. In watching tims positioning, he was dialed inch he was a warrior. Brown when you say positioning, explain what you mean. His angle in the goal compared to where the person was with the ball. Most of the time you couldnt get the ball past him because his angle play was so spectacular. Thats because he was focused. He knew he might have to take the weight of the team on his shoulders. At this point in the tournament when its round robin, its one thing, but in the knockout phase, a goalkeeper can carry team through. Brown thats the key to goaltending, positioning . Yes, its always been the key. It doesnt matter how it looks, as long as its effective. He was more than effective yesterday. Brown so it was a loss, but its being seen as a great. This whole experience is being seen as great victory for american soccer. Now, what has to happen to maintain that, you know to, make it more than just a once every four Years Experience . This world cup was one of the first that had social media just all over it. I think that was the one thing that got people more involved, feeling like they were part of team u. S. A. , was the social media. The players were very blue collar, very american, very much roll up your sleeves and get it done. They may not have been the best team on the pitch, but they sure worked hard. I think a lot of americans could relate to that. Now moving forward, weve got a new fan base bubbling up. Now u. S. Soccer and all its entities need to take that momentum forward and grow the game. Brown and that can happen through the professional game here, through young people . You think that can be maintained . I definitely think it can be maintained. We have a great momentum right now. If anything in soccer works, it works for everybody. So whether its the mens team doing well or the womens team doing well. This event really put soccer into the mainstream. So we need to grab on to that momentum and keep Going Forward with it. Brown even while celebrating whats happened, youre also trying to raise awareness of a problem in this sport, which is head injuries, not just for this sport,hief, for many sports. Its something you experienced firsthand. First, how big a problem is it with this sport, what should people know . Well, people should know that concussion and female soccer is the second highest rate of concussions. So its alarming. Its alarming. Our youth players, female in particular, are having more concussions reported than just about any other sport. Now with the world cup being as successful as its been there are going to be more kids playing. So youth safety with concussions is even more important now than before because youre going to have more youth wanting to play and we need to keep our kids safe. Your own experience came in 2010. It was not what we think of as the headers, which is probably where we think of concussion, head to head. Yours was what, a knee to your head . Right. I was playing goal for my team, the washington freedom. We were playing philadelphia. I was coming out for a routine ball. I was going to pick it up and the forward crashed her knee into my head. Unfortunately with concussion, its often not head to ball. Its head to head, head to knee, head to post. The side impacts are the worst impacts. Unfortunately, in april thats what happened to me. 2010. It changed my life. It hadnt been the same since. Brown how much awareness is there even to this day . In the world cup there was at least one incident that got a lot of attention. A player from uruguay was knocked cold. He came back and played. That was unfortunate situation. Fifa didnt handle that properly that. Uruguayan player was knocked out for 10 to 15 minutes, and they let him decide whether or not he should continue play. At that point you take that decision out of the players hands. It should have been clear to the medical staff and the officials that that player should have been done for the rest of that game because there is no reason to risk it. Brown so when that happen, how did it change your life . I had many different symptoms that i suffered through, and i continue to deal with. One was really difficult headaches, intense headaches. I had balance issues, problems with memory, concentration, learn, retrieving information. I had a basket of symptoms. It took me three years to even get to the right doctor to be able to diagnose what i had going on and to be able to get me on the road to recovery. Brown let me ask you briefly for now because well continue our conversation online, but what do you think should be done . Is it an equipment problem . Is it stopping headers, for example . Is it a training issue . What should be done in. The solution with concussion awareness is multifaceted. There are things that can be done on the prevention side. One of those things that i am in favor of is not teaching kids how to head until theyre 13, 14 years old. There niece need for an eightyearold to be heading the ball. We know that is true. Then after the concussion happens, knowing what to look for as a player, as a coach, as a parent, understanding the differences in your child and your player and knowing that, you know what, we might need to take this player out and be safe and get them back in when theyre ready. All right. We will continue this conversation. Im going to invite our audience to join us later online. But for now, Briana Scurry, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Woodruff today marks 50 years since president Lyndon Johnson signed the landmark Civil Rights Act into law, outlawing discrimination based on race, ethnicity and sex. Gwen talked recently with author todd purdum on capitol hill to discuss his new book, an idea whose time has come two president s, two parties, and the battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a detailed backstory of how the legislation came to be. Ifill todd purdum, author of an idea whose time has come. Thank you so much. One of the interesting things about this book i find is that as we sit here on capitol hill, there are so many people who most folks have never heard of, who really were the force behind the Civil Rights Act no, absolutely. I mean one of them worked here in this building in the Judiciary Committee hearing room, congressman bill mccolloch from ohio who was the ranking republican on the Judiciary Committee. Conservative from west central ohio, his district is represented today by john boehner. And he was just as conservative as john boehner in most ways, but, he was a fierce supporter of civil rights. His ancestors had been abolitionists before the civil war, and as a young man out of law school at ohio state hes gone to practice down in Jacksonville Florida and was appalled by jim crow segregation, and made it his business to become a strong supporter of federal civil rights legislation. Ifill it was easy to look at the way things happen on capitol hill now and the way they happened then, and you have to think to yourself, where does a bill mccolloch get the room to run, to be that kind of advocate . Yeah i mean he had a population in his district that was 2. 7 black, but he had something else, which was the Republican Party in those days still took very seriously its legacy as the party of lincoln and the party of civil rights. And remember that for most of the 20th century, to the degree that either party was paying attention to civil rights, it really was the republicans. Most black people in the south were republicans. So mccolloch made a deal with the Kennedy Administration when he proposed the bill. He said, if you promise not to water this down in the senate, as had been the usual practice, and if you promise to give us republicans equal credit going into next years president ial election, ill bring along my republican caucus. And thats just what happened. But could you imagine that happening today . One party removing the single most contentious domestic issue, as a political issue, and working cooperatively . Ifill republicans actually, a greater percentage of republicans in the end in the senate voted for it than democrats. By far, because the Senate Democrats were totally divided on the question of civil rights, the southerners, 18 southerners lockstep in unison against any change. And if it werent for the republican leader Everett Dirksen of illinois and his colleagues, they could never have achieved cloture and passed the bill. Ifill bill mccollochs partner in all of this was a democrat who was very much unlike him, he was from an urban area, Emanuel Celler from new york. Yep, from brooklyn, he was a immigration lawyer, he was a staunch defender of liberalism in all its disguises. Hed been in congress for already by this point something, more than 40 years. And he and mccolloch were polar opposites in many ways but they were close friends, and they and their wives socialized together. So while mccolloch was trying to work with the Kennedy Administration, manny celler was having to deal with the Civil Rights Coalition and the advocacy groups who wanted the strongest possible bill. And in the fall of 1963 they came to kind of a clash because the administration was afraid that the bill would be so loaded up with a Christmas Tree of items that it couldnt pass, and they had to work to work a compromise. Ifill in the popular retelling, Lyndon Johnson gets a huge amount of credit, which, a great deal of which he deserves, in getting this bill through the house and the senate just by sheer force of will. You describe him in the book as a riddle, sprawling riddle wrapped in an enigma. I love that term. So what was it about Lyndon Johnson that deserved the credit for getting this through, and how much of the credit did he not deserve . Well the credit he deserves is being fiercely in favor of it, and never compromising, never weakening the bill. After all, his reputation was as a master wheelerdealer, who in 1957 and 1960 had watered down the civil rights bill so that it could pass the senate. But in this case he said, were gonna pass the bill the Kennedy Administration had, its gonna be a strong bill, im gonna sort of make my bona fides on civil rights and theres not gonna be any doubt about it. He never once wiggled. But the other thing that i think is quite admirable and against the popular image, he had to restrain himself, he had to hold himself in check. He knew that he couldnt go in and micromanage the process in the senate because his former colleagues would resent him. So even though he resisted it and he was chomping at the bit that the pace that Hubert Humphrey the floor leader and Mike Mansfield the majority leader were setting, he let them have their day, and they prevailed. Ifill you tell a story about, some point during the debate there was a black man in the gallery who was watching this as a citizen, what happened to him . Well he said, this is crazy, you know, how can you be making, theres not a single black person on the floor and youre talking about 10 of the population here. How can you be doing this . He was taken off to Washington Hospital for mental observation, but it was a very reasonable statement to have made. Ifill it was a reasonable point. But there were a lot of african americans, Civil Rights Activists, Clarence Mitchell among them, who were basically in the gallery watching. All the time. All the time. There were five black members of congress, but we forget people like Clarence Mitchell, who was the chief n. A. A. C. P. Lobbyist in washington. He was such a constant presence in the corridors of this building and the capitol that he was known as the 101st senator. And he was there day and night; in fact, he and his colleague joe rauh who was with the Leadership Conference on civil rights, when the bill was about ready to pass the house, they were in the gallery and they got a frantic call from the white house operator that the president s trying to find them, wanting to know what theyre going to do about the senate. Before its even passed the house. Ifill before it even passed the house. Its interesting because when you look back on it now, there were all these pressures coming from all these different angles, but in the end was it a legislative victory, was it a moral victory, what was really driving people to what we, to the outcome . Well thats a great question. And i think at the end of the day you have to say it was a moral victory, because it wasnt just the insiders here on capitol hill who were doing it, there was a massive Grassroots Coalition of church groups, interfaith groups of all kinds, not just dr. King and the s. E. L. C. And the marchers on washington, but people in their communities day after day lobbying their members, knowing that you know, this person was a catholic and that person was a methodist and you should bring to bear, and it was really president kennedy in his speech proposing the bill who said we face primarily a moral issue. Its as old as the scriptures and as clear as the american constitution. And at the end of the day, even the southerners said you couldnt fight the golden rule. You couldnt fight do unto others as youd have them do unto you, its the most basic idea of fairness. Ifill fifty years later, its hard to remember why people objected to what seems to be a given now, equal rights, and a level playing field, which is how johnson put it. But at the time, this was an argument which was familiar to us now, which is an argument against government expansion, and government expansion over basic peoples control. This was gonna be a government takeover, this was gonna be a usurpation of private property rights, this was gonna tell businessmen who they had to serve and who they, its so much like the arguments that were made against the Affordable Care act, that you cant force people to buy insurance, thats un american, thats, its gonna destroy the constitution, its gonna create an army of snoops from washington, its gonna, and its very, that part of the argument that was in fact sounded very familiar to me as i was doing my research and it occurred to me theres probably not any nasty email that could ever cross president obamas desk that would too much surprise john kennedy or Lyndon Johnson in terms of the kind of interpretive mail they got. Ifill as you were working on this book and you looked back in that 50year span, did you, and you spend a lot of time in washington covering the issues of the day, do you feel Like Washington has grown in that time, or did it stop . Did its ability to do big things end then . It seems that the poignant part of this story is that this and the Voting Rights act are two of the last greatest achievements Congress Managed to do. And in some ways the coalition that brought these bills into being began to splinter as the 60s wore on, and debates grew up about affirmative action and busing and vietnam, dr. King and Lyndon Johnson were essentially estranged at the time of his death because of vietnam. So the paradox for me is that 50 years ago the country was every bit as divided as it is now, probably more divided. But the Congress Still managed to work together. Now, congress is much more divided than the country as a whole, partly because the districts are redder and redder and bluer and bluer, and people are worried not about losing in november but getting a primary from the right or the left. So i do worry that weve lost something essential that we really depended on 50 years ago. And just as we seem awfully lucky to have had the particular cast of characters we did at the time of the founding, it seems to me that 50 years ago we were pretty lucky to have that cast of characters too. Ifill todd purdum, the author of an idea whose time has come two president s, two parties, and a battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. Woodruff uncertainty still reigns in afghanistan over who will be the countrys next leader, weeks after a president ial runoff election. Preliminary results had been scheduled to be released today but were delayed after continued allegations of fraud. N. P. R. Reporter Sean Carberry has been covering the story from kabul. I spoke with him a short time ago. Sean, thank you very much for talking with us. First of all, fill us in on whats happened today. Happen today was the Election Commission didnt release the preliminary results from the runoff election. What they did announce is that theyre conducting an audit of about 1,900 ballot boxes, which consistent of roughly a million plus ballots that theyre reviewing. This audit was triggered by a determination that any ballot box containing more than 599 ballots, although the maximum is 600, will be audited to make sure there was no fraud. And this comes as a result of persistent calls by candidate abdullah abdullah, who has said from the moment the polls closed in the runoff election, that there was widespread fraud against him. Hes been pushing aggressively for measures such as this to conduct audits and evaluate the vote. Woodruff we know abdullah has been calling on this for several days. Why did Election Officials finally agree to go ahead and have this recount . He has been. And it got to a point where hes been releasing supposedly audio evidence, recordings of elections officials, other officials who were allegedly involved in coordinating fraud for the opponent. So theres been a building pressure from the abdullah camp. It got to be point that the United Nations has stepped in and has been doing behindthescenes negotiations with the campaigns and with the Elections Commission to try to find a way forward where abdullah will eventually accept the results that are determined by the commission, whether or not the results show he won or asher afghani won. Woodruff so is abdullah satisfied with the procedure at this point . Hes satisfied with this step. Hes sent a letter to the Election Commission with a number of demands, with a number of conditions for him to accept the outcome. This is one step. Its start. He wants to see a number of other audits. He wants to see a number over measures take on the determine whether there was fraud and to remove fraudulent ballots. He says ultimately if it gets to a point where the fraud has been excised from the vote count, he will accept the outcome. U woodruff what about his opponent, asher afghani, who as you point out, had almost a million votes more in the runoff . Right, asher afghani has basically been taking the high road since the vote. Hes been saying they won the election, they ran a better Mobilization Campaign before the runoff, they turned out more people, they won this fair and square. There is not widespread fraud on his behalf. Hes been calling on abdullah to honor the Election Commission process and procedure. Hes been critical of abdullahs pressure from outside the system and his withdrawal from the system. So hes basically convinced that the numbers hes seeing show that he is going to be the winner of this election. Woodruff so will afghani abide by this recount . He is grudgingly. He sent out a press release today saying they must honor the time frame and respect the Afghan People by giving them the results. Today his campaign softened a bit and said they are concerned with the ultimate transparency of the outcome. Again, they believe theres no fraud on their we half, so they are accepting this, but theyre still continuing to put pressure on abdullah and the Election Commission to adhere to the time lines and the procedures set out by afghan law. Woodruff finally, sean, how long is all this supposed to take before we know the results . The final results are supposed to come out on july 22nd. After these preliminary results come out, which are now scheduled for monday, theres another appeal period, another fraud evaluation period, and final results are scheduled for july 22nd. Afghan Officials Say this delay in the preliminary results will not affect the timing of the release of the final results. Woodruff nprs Sean Carberry in kabul, thank you very much. Youre welcome, judy. Woodruff finally tonight the continuing musical saga of the great Willie Nelson. Jeff is back with our profile. Im making music with my friends. And i cant wait to get on the road again brown hes 81 years old, hair still long, though no longer all red, more legend these days than outlaw, but still very much on the road. And i cant wait to get on the road everybody say it right here. Brown Willie Nelson has just released a new album entitled band of brothers, first album in years to feature primarily his own original material. At a recent concert in columbia, maryland, i asked him tact burst of songwriting. Some days you write it. Some days you dont. You learn to live with that. Roger miller said one time the well goes try and you have to wait until it fills up again. Brown you know what makes a good song after all these years of writing . I think i do. Brown yeah . Indeed, nelson has been writing songs and hits for five decades. Crazy for feeling so lonely brown crazy made famous by patsy cline in 1961, always on my mind in 1982 and dozens of others from more than 100 albums. All the while hes performed around the world, long ago becoming one of musics bestknown faces and voices. Time just slips away all this began in the tiny town of abbott, texas, a childhood in which he and his sister bobbi, who still performs with him on peian know, were raids by their grandparents. He wrote about those beginnings in his 2012 memoir entitled in pure willie fashion light me up and smoke me when i die. I read in your last memoir you started writing poetry as a kid. As i kid before i could play guitar, i was writing poems. Once i figured out a couple cords on the guitar, i started putting melodies to my poems. Nobody ever told me i couldnt, so i went ahead and done it. Brown you knew the words first . Usually, yeah. Usually something is said, and then the melodies are out there. Brown in that memoir you write about working in the fields picking cotton in 100degreeplus weather and thinking, maybe playing the guitar would be a better way of making a living. I would see these cadillacs drive by on the highway with the air conditioner and all, that and i would get a little bit jealous. Rion brown yeah . You remember that feeling . Heck yeah. Brown are you surprised these years later that it worked out . No, im a little surprised at how well it worked out. A band of brothers and sisters on a mission to break all the rules brown not only has it worked out, but it seems to have done so on nelsons terms. He had success as a songwriter in nashville in the 60s, went from his new base in austin, texas, he helped create a new sound for Country Music dubbed outlaw country. Whiskey river take my mind he appeared first Austin City Limits program on pbs 40 years ago and in the 80s was part of an allstar collaboration with johnny cash, Whalen Jennings andxdf l Chris Mcgrathn stoferson Chris Mcgrath kris kristofer son. He also reached new audiences with recordings of american standards. I innately knew that music draws people together and that good music is liked by almost everybody. I dont know anybody who doesnt like star dust, moonlight in vermont, crazy arms or your cheating heart. There are just certain sounds, music, that sort of you know people are going to like it. You like it and you try it out on an audience and sure enough they like it, too. Brown you come across in song as calm, gentle. Im a little surprised that i read in your memoir where you talked about the rage that has been there at times and that drinking somehow pushed that and marijuana later kind of helped it, suppressed it well, i think there must be a little bit of truth in high temper and red hair. Brown high temper and red hair. Have you heard that . Brown ive heard that. Im sort of living proof of that because i had flaming red hair and a high temper. And thats something that ive had to control and live with all the time. But at least i know what my problem is. Brown whatever you call it, even after all the awards and honors, theres clearly still a drive that comes out on stage. The guitar, as well worn as its owner, named trigger. I can be old and i can be still. Brown the unique phrasing has made nelsons singing so familiar to millions. Behind all this, it turns out, is a great deal of attention to keeping in shape. Nelson has a black belt in karate and another in korean mixed martial arts. While on tour, he told me, he rides a bike, works out with a punching bag, takes walks and thats how he can do this into his 80s. Really i thinkq < exercise that i do is singing for an hour and a half out on the stage because i use the lung, the biggest muss until your body, and i use it continually. I kind of watch myself and i kind of feel how that singing is helping me as i do it physically. Brown after a show do you feel better . I feel much better some does my sister bobbi and the members of the band. Brown so you think being on the road is keeping you healthy . You have to be a professional athlete to do it. Brown a professional athlete maybe, but somewhere in every tour he decides at least for the moment hes had enough. He wrote abot it in a new song entitled the wall. I hit the wall that really happens to you along the way, but i enjoy playing music and then i get back to it. Brown what happens when you havent played for too long . You get bored being home. Youre used to coming out and doing it. It is an addiction, no doubt about it, but its one of the good one, i think. Brown not only the performing, but the songwriting continues. Nelson has already announced that another album of new material will come out later this year. You cant tell me what to do you cant tell me what to do woodruff again, the major developments of the day. A federal magistrate refused to release libyan militant Ahmed Abu Khattala from custody, pending his trial in the 2012 benghazi attacks. Tropical storm arthur neared hurricane strength as it headed toward the outer banks of North Carolina, where some areas were ordered to evacuate. And a government Oversight Board found the National Security agencys internet surveillance is an effective tool against terrorism. On the newshour online right now, scientists in maryland want to know everything about a six millimeter seethrough fish because of what their brains might be able to tell us about our own. See how they peer into the minds of zebrafish, on our science page. All that and more is on our web site, newshour. Pbs. Org. And thats the newshour for tonight. On thursday, what the latest jobs report says about the health of the u. S. Economy. Im judy woodruff, well see you online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by when i was pregnant, i got more advice than i knew what to do with. 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