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tv   PBS News Hour  PBS  April 26, 2024 6:00pm-7:01pm PDT

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wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10network. made for streaming. ♪ >> good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff bennett is away. israeli celebrates passover as many remain displaced and the
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war rages on. as college protest against the war in israel spread, a look how it differs from wars past. and the seafood produced by the forced labor of north koreans >> the globalized world that we live in and how it routes through china means that many if not most brands in the u.s. are tainted by this. ♪ >> major funding if the pbs newshour has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the "newshour" including jim and nancy bildman and the robert and virginia schiller foundation, strengthen
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plan.orgful >> wand the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the "newshour". >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs news station from viewers like you. thank you. >> i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy. here are the latest headlines. egypt has sent a high level delegation to israel hoping to revive talks for a hostage deal and cease-fire with hamas. but cairo also warned against an israeli assault in the city of raf along the boarder with egypt. much of gaza has been reduced to a wastelands with u.s.
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individuals estimating 30,000 tons of debris will to be removed. they say it will be a mammoth job. are we're talk about 14 years with 100 trucks. so that's based on that figure 14 years to remove with approximately 75,000 work -- 750,000 work days, personal work days to remove the debris. so significant numbers when it comes to debris. >> the u.n. said 65% of the buildings destroyed in gaza have been residential one. >> the military announced a new weapon's package. it includes more patriot missiles but not the initial battery that is ukraine had wanted. still in washington, defense secretary lloyd austin believes this package along with other weapons will meet ukraine's needs. >> they need other types of interceptors as well. so i would caution us all in
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terms of making patriot the silver bullet. i would say that it's going to -- it's going to be integrated era as we've said so many times before that really turns a tide. >> the new weapons package will cost some $6 billion. another member of secretary state antony blinken warned xi jinping about sum porting the russian war. blinken told xi that they must stop supplying russia with material or the u.s. will ago. >> we are committed to maintaining and strengthening the lines of communication between us so that we avoid any miscommunications, any misperceptions, any miscalculations. and we are committed to responsibly managing the
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relationship. >> for his part, xi said china and the u.s. must seek common ground rather on engaging vicious competition. britain's king charles will return to public duties next week after a three-month break for cancer treatment. buckingham palace said that doctors are very encourageed by has progress so far. the palace has not said what kind of cancer the king has. in nebraska a powerful tornadoer to through omaha through structures. no deaths have been confirmed. more than three done tornadoes were reported throughout the plains and midwest today. the biden administration has delie leyed a ban on menthol cigarettes. mr. becerra said it is clear to have more conversations to have and that will take more time. since 80% of black smokers use
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menthol cigarettes, the ban could have angered black voters. u.s. will have to cut back some salmonella to prevent food poisoning. a final agriculture department regulation applies to frozen, bread and stuffed raw chicken. it takes effect this year. it causes 420 deaths and 1.3 million infections annually in the u.s. still to come on the "newshour" -- the connection between forced north korean labor and some of the seafood that ends up on american plates. david brooks and jonathan capehart will be here. and and spending four decades together. >> this is the pbs newshour from
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weta studios in washington and in the west from the waller cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> this week, jews around the world are observing passover. the festival of liberation that marks the historic exodus from ancient egypt. joy is tempered with loss and trauma. they will celebrate while displaced from their homes. their loved ones still held captive by hamas. alli rogan has more. >> in the rugged hills of israel, this man patrols his town where no one lives. >> lebanon is so close but this town of 2,000 had to be evacuate ed under government orders. david moves around in a golf cart. he says it's faster when the rockets crash. his town is nothing of what it
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once was especially now at passover. >> it's very sad. it shouldn't be this way. it's very apocalyptic. >> since october 7, israel's northern border is an undeclared second front line hezbollah fires rockets and missiles weekly into metula. nearly 640 homes have been damaged. and only handful of civilianians like david chose to stay behind carrying an automatic riflele ways. >> this year we are not going celebrate passover. it's very hard to celebrate when your family and your town is not with you. >> his office is now in a bomb shelter. he says none of this is normal. >> every mayor needs to represent and take care of his citizens, a place that's alive that has places to work, children in school and daycare. and here there is nothing. >> no family, no nothing no. personal life.
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we came back to the times that we've been in the military. that's what we're doing defending our own. >> another resident, david in combat gear helps guard the interest entrance to metula. >> i'm not going to be with my family. i'm away from them. i'm going to do passover with our new family, all the guy that is lives in metula and decideed to stay and defend the village. >> many families from metula fled to siberius where scripture says jesus walked on water. today it's a haven by those displaced by war. the sofia hotel is a home away from home like this rabbi they left metula with their 11 children. they struggle from -- being away from home. they say they will survive. >> this is what we're trying to
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do. >> at the dinner, the rabbi tries to keep the spirit high with traditional songs. the table is set with special delicacies and the room is peopled by the community that was shaken but resilient. >> the people are trying to be happy to do our best to sit together, to talk, to tseng. not be all the time sad because it will be sad if the winning of our enemy. that's sarah's granddaughter and it's that childhood joy that she wants to protect. >> i don't want them to feel like this is the end of the world. no, we're strong. >> even this festive dinner is without -- is not without dispare. it reminds them how many children are kept in darkness for more than 200 days. dozens of families still wait for their families still held captive by hamas. >> i buy myself a new dress and
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new shoes. and this year i couldn't beautiful i felt how can i buy new dress and new shoes with the hostages. for me it's very hard because i i think about the mothers with the hostages hell they go through. feel like all the world should get up and scream and get those hostages out. it breaks my heart. >> that pain during passover has for 22 years has been air breathed in natania. this hotel was the target of the deadliest attack by inn israel by hamas during the second intifada. >> what we get for 22 years, it's like the 911 in america. what we get now in the -- in the -- in the october 7, the 7 of october is much more, much more. much more. rina husband was the hotel duty
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manager and among those killed while trying to stop the bombers. >> it was my husband and me. >> she had to raise her six children by herself. she was also the manager of the hotel and had to keep it running. every passover is a grim reminder of her loss. given what she suffered at the hands of ha marks october 7 did not surprise her. >> we know exactly that -- that -- that hamas want to kill us. they don't want us to be in israel. i have no illusion that is they will want peace every day. some days because 22 years before, my husband had been killed. and think think now with them, they want to kill us. >> this passover as she has for the past two decades, ri, in a relies on her family to manage her grief. >> americans have to sunday
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understand that we have to finish hamas. we can't live with them. hamas and the palestinian population has to change the hamas. >> the rituals of passover this year in israel are many days the same from lighting the candle to the rituals. but those are forever changed. now, there's a prayer for the hostages in gaza and a resolve that a passover like this will not come again. for the pbs newshour, i'm alli rogan. ♪ amna: one of the biggest developments of this week has been the expansion of college protest and encampments. encampments continue to pop-up including today at the university of north carolina. meanwhile, protestors at
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columbia say they cannot reach an agreement with the school and intend to keep theirs going indefinitely charges have been brought against students as well during clashes. >> over night more violent clashes between pro palestinian protestors and police this time at ohio state university. officers moved to disperse a crowd after an hours' long demonstration siting rules banning overnight events. more than a dozen people were arrested. >> the latest wave of protests and encampments follow demonstration at columbia university last week. similar scenes have popped up at scores of other colleges over the last several days and have led to hundreds of events. video from emory university yesterday shows officers pin ago protestor to the ground and tazing him. some demonstrate ors are calling on their university to cut financial ties with israel. >> we came together to make
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demands on the university to divest the endowment from corporations that profit off of israeli genocide to disclose where our money is invested in the first place. >> while others want to bring attention to the war in gaza. >> we want to be visible. the university should do something about what we're asking, about the genocide that's happening. >> five minutes to leave the premise. >> many say today's demonstrations echo college protest movements in the past including against the vietnam war. >> what people are telling to tell the american people is that the country shouldn't function -- the country shouldn't function while this war is going on. >> that includes a historic demonstration at columbia university itself in 1968. students occupied campus buildings demanding the university cut ties with a think tank in pentagon weapons research. it was melt with a heavy police response. other vietnam pro nest the
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1960's, 1970's led to clash with authority. but overtime they help to shift public opinion leading the u.s. to withdraw. they called for divestment from south africa to end apartheid. today, some students say they're taking lessons from those protest. >> that's been a demand from student, staff and faculty leading back to the anti-divestment movemet here. >> no more hiding! no more fear! >> >> as protests spread to campuses across the country, some say parallels between today's demonstration and college protest in the past. stephen mintz is at the university of austin and angus
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is historian at american universities. let's stewart what the protestors are calling for here? what do they want as a result of these demonstrations? >> it varies campus by campus. what we're looking at is they're looking for a divestment of the university's financial relationships with israeli companies, a disentanglement of the universities from relationships with the israeli government or military and transparency as to the nature of those relationships where they currently exist. >> profess or, what do you make of the demands as profess or johnston have laid out? do you think they can be achieveed? >> i think they're very likely to be achieved. the protest of the 1960's. it was possible to achieve some kind of accommodation. first of all, one of the demands, an tend to the military draft received widespread
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support throughout society and richard next knicks -- nixon's administration would make that happen. there were some practical goals like study programs, women study programs, co-education at the university and regulations. there was a lot of ground for accommodation and compromise. and i don't see that much right now. >> profess or, -- profess or, what do you make of that? do you agree? >> the easiest demand is a demand for transparency with israeli institutions. and that is something that is certainly winnable on a lot of campuses. i also think that in a lot of ways the anti-apartheid movement of the 1970's and 1980's is a much better ana log than the
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mass student movement of the late 60's in some ways. and i think it's important to remember that in the case of the anti-apartheid movement, the calls for divestment on campuses began in the mid 1970's. and it was a very, very long and slow process by which students were adjusting people's views of -- of the -- of the crisis itself. >> what you do make of that professor mintz? it cow be a long change of changeing peel's minds when it comes to this issue. >> the concept today is very different than in the 1960's, 1970's when higher education was growing and the federal and state investments in higher education were increasing. today, the situation of american higher education is extremely precarious. public support has diminished. funding is hotly debated in many
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of the states. there are threats in some state legislatures to tax endowments to tax university property, to tax university income, donations to many of the leading universities have declined. this is a very treacherous moment especially for the most well-endowed and highly selective institution. amna: do you agree with that? is there a chance that protestors lose support the longer the protest go on because of what the scenario that professor mintz has laid out? >> the protests themselves have been moderate in their tactic. we're not seeing as we did in the 1960's, rioting, rocks being throne at police, even buildings being burned down. the protest themselves have been pretty moderate. the thing that is inflaming the
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situation right now in terms of their tactics, the thing that's inflaming the simp -- situation right now is bringing in the cops and using the police not tonight engage in mass arrests against students but arresting and beating and abusing faculty as whelm i think it's really -- as well. i think it's important to point out that there are a number of campuses in which the university has decided to take a hands-off approach. m.i.t. is one. berkley is another. and at these, the encampments have been proceeding with very little issue and very little drama. >> profess or, what about that? because we have seen some pretty heavy-hand tactics in some case. at your campus, the university of texas at austin, dozens of people were arrested. police in riot gear were called in to disperse the crowds. is thisness >> right now, we have many brand-new presidents unseasoned senior administrators making
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decisions. one suspects that administrators who were knowledgeable about past history have more dealing with students had better rapport with their student population that is this would be playing out extremely differently. what we need see on the part of senior administrators is a real willingness to step out of their office, communicate with the students, and try to achieve some kind of accommodation. >> are you saying that you don't believe that the police should have been called that in inn some of these circumstances? >> absolutely not. and the lesson of history could not be clearer this that this only escalates the situation. it worsens the situation. and it results in a degree of alienation that's very difficult to overcome. >> so given all that professor
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mintz i'll ask you, i'll ask you both, where do we go from here? how do you see this unfolding in the weeks ahead. professor stint in >> i think the conversation needs to be made more productive in this country, if you want political change, you build coalitions. and what i'm not seeing on campus right now is an effort to have effect effective protests that will bring people together. when people hear and tie american sentiments, they are radically turned off. the demonstrators in my view should be calling for peace, for the release of the hostages and an american foreign policy that will really renut a two-state -- result in a two-state solution. >> i'm heartened by the fact
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that despite what professor mintz a lot of faculty have been turned not support of the students. others turning out in support of the student's right to protest without being harassed and without being abused by cops. i think we are seeing the development of a new coalition on the campus. and i'm very heartened by that. and i hope that administration or thes take heed of that and do their bit too to de-escalate the situation as whelm >> that's profess or angus johnston from the university of new york and profess or stephen mints mintz from the university of texas at austin. thank you both for joining me tot to want. >> you're very welcome. ♪ >> in our interconnected college liesed economy goods produced on one nation end up on she was halfway around the world. while consumers hope there's some way to protect the workers
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and the pickup truck wes buy, some american companies have alleged links to forced labor. william speaks with a journalist documenting the forced labor behind chinese seafood that ends up on american plates. >> in recent years, americans have been eight increasing amounts of seafood, it's considered one of the healthier sources of protein. but a series of new investigations by the outlaw ocean project reveal that the way a lot of that seafood ends up in our stores and on our plates comes at an extraordinary human cost specifically workers from north korea who are forced to work in chinese factories. here's an exserts of our recent investigation rougher 2023 was a highly successful year for dung gan seafood. it's based in china opened a large new plant at the compound in this chinese city that sits along the north korean border.
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the company doubled the amount of squid that it exported in the united states. in celebration of its success they threw a huge party at its annual meeting with dancers, fireworks and a high-tech dance show. the problem though is that a crucial reason for its success was the widespread use of cheap north korean labor. they were part of a much bigger state run partnership between china and north korea where workers are selected by the north korean government and exported across the border to work in chinese seafood plants. this is a huge problem because it violates very clear and strict u.n. sanction and u.s. law prohibiting the use of north korean workers in this very fashion. >> joining me now is the reporter you just heard outlaw oceans founder and director, the pulitzer prize-winning writer,
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joe erbina. we look at a series of these seafood plants in the city that you just mentioned near the north korean border. tens of thousands of north korean works. how did those workser get from north korea into china? >> this is a long running program between china and north korea, the two governments coordinate the selection of workers for different industries, then transfer them into the country, usually in the two-year contract where is they stay in china most often at lock down plants where they're not allowed to leave. the north korean seek these jobs because they typically pay much better than what they could northwestern north korea. and there's a rigorous selection process in north korea for those who get to go. they're mostly women. and the selection process by the north korean government usually is a vetting that insures they don't choose people that might defect. >> so this is labor for chinese
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factories. what is the upside for north korea here? >> north korea because of the sanction largely is desperate for capital, you know, you know, for money. and so this is a multi-million money make making business where they send their workers abroad. and that's a strong chinese cap that they can use to buy weapons or oil or consumer goods. >> let's look at another excerpt about what the cps like in some of those factories. >> workers tune have to sign two or three-year contracts. after they arrive in china, managers confiscate their passports. if works attempt to escape or complain to people outside of plants, their families at home can face reprizals from the government. the work is relentless. shifts run 14 to 16 hours. workers receive up to one day off per month and few if any holidays or sick days.
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in seafood plants, the women sleep in dormitories sometimes with 30 people to a room. workers are forbidden from tuning into local tv and radio and from leaving factory grounds on the company. they describe loneliness, violence and a crushing sense of captivity. >> your report also documents even worse conditions, violence, sexual abuse, particularly among the women that you're talk about here. can you describe a little bit about what their lives are like? >> this is a brutal type of work. long hours in tight quarters, relentless pace. so they're captive on facility that is are run by men. this is this was one of the big revelations the extent of sexual violence against the women and when work stopped because of covid there was no work and no income and therefore the women were pressured into prostitution. >> i think a lot of american consumers would be horrified
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that the conditions under which they might be buying the food the store come from conditions like these. what retailers are we talking about? >> unfortunately, it's most retailers, most of the large ones. so this investigation that looked specifically at the use of north korean labor, you know, found that some of the seafood was ending up in, you folks in routeing through plants like that are supplying trident which supplies mcdonald's, you know with fish sticks but also cisco, largest food company in the world that supplies public schools and federal prisons and u.s. congressional cafeteria also getting seafood from these plants but then the major grocery store china, wal-mart. the global leads world we live in and the way that seafood in particularly largely routes through china means that many if not most brands in the u.s. are -- are tainted by this. >> so when you approached these companies and say here's what we're documents coming out of china and the conditions there,
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what -- what do they say in response? >> most stone wall us and don't answer questions. some engage and say we're investigating. we'll get back to you. and still others say we've taken this seriously. we've severed ties with this in particular. the overall underlying issues are the audits the inspection that is they're supposed to be going to check for these issues aren't working. this auditing market which it sends inspectors into plants which is soccer balls or seafood around the world has big problems, big challenges. they're doing unannounced visits they're doing announced visits so they tell the plant when they're coming. that's a flaw. but the other big flaw is that sean: a distinct environment and there are certain things not allowed in china. if you want to stay in the country whether a journalism organization or an auditing firm or a seafood company, there are certain no-go topics.
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the weegars are one of the topics you can't bring up and expect to be there on tuesday. >> thank you so much for being here. >> thanks for having me ♪ amna: legal cases involving former president trump and some of his closest association yeahs play out in court. meanwhile as foreign aid begins to arrive in ukraine and the middle east, protest boil over on campuses across the u.s. for more, on a consequential week overseas and here at home, we turn to the analyst of brooks and capehart that's new york times columnist david brooks and jonathan capehart associate editors for "the washington post." great to see you both. a big week when it comes to the form -- battles of former
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president trump. his lawyers argue immunity should be absolute. what did you take away from the arguments and the way the justice steam be approach this? >> i was commenting on the fact that a lot of the conservative justices didn't seem interested in donald trump. they were interested in the precedent i do find it intellectually interesting. it was weird that trump was barely mentioned in some case. and so normally you would say a president is not above the law, of course, it's simple. the president is not above the law. no one is above the law. if you look at democracies in decline, sit a pattern that people in office use their power to diet and throw in jail people in office before them of the opposing power. we're in a nation democracy in decline. so it does make you think, well, if the republicans -- there should be some protections against that i don't know where you would draw the line between
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those presidential action that is are immune to indictments and convictions and those who are not. but in the democracy in decline you have to think how do we build in more guard vials we don't criminalize political disagreement. >> the first thing we can do is toer collect someone who would crash from the guard rails and enable him to crash through the guard rails. the idea that this supreme court could possibly hand down a ruling that would force the judge to go through the counts and figure out what are private acts and what are official acts in order to determine whether the former president is immune is insane. i mean, this country is almost 250 -- 250 years old if my math is right. only until the election of donald trump have we ever had to contemplate this question.
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and until we stopper electing executive that is are the shame gene we have to answer that question. but the fact that we are here, it's really disturbing and throng the questioning back and forth really made me wonder whether the supreme court -- do they really want to squander their -- their public standing such as it is by handing down a decision that everyone will look at and go what are you doing? >> do you think we'll gate clear answer from them on this? jonathan? >> don't think. so >> i don't think so either, no. >> moving on then. [laughter] >> there were a few other cases i want to get your takes on as well because they're very different. both involve former president trump in new york. there's the hush money trial that's continuing related to a payment that he made to an adult actress in 2016. we heard from a tabloid journalism david perk confirming that he did bury stories that
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could have harmed then-candidate trump. and meanwhile in arizona, his former chief of staff mark mark meadows and rudy giuliani were indictmented -- indicted. did either of those developments in these cases change the landscape for trump? don't think they change the landscape. i was morbidly fascinated by the tabloid editor's testimony. paying people hush money to burying stories. it's like a moulinetter world that trump had entered. -- it's like a moral netherland. it's all the people you think are corrupt. and a bud of mine in here. not indicted, not invited. we're enter ago different layer
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of new york than i was used. to that's what we're confronting and we've been confront it for a bunch of years but -- >> how do you look at these cases? >> the testimony of david pecker was fascinating. mine, you know, i lived in and worked in new york for 16 years. i work a at the new york daily news. the "new york post" was a competitor. so i know this world. so david peck sore not -- the is not foreign to me. what he's talk talking -- talk about is not foreign to me. but for the public to hear what's gone won that kind of tabloid newspaper is fascinate. let's not forget we're talk about a former president who is in court over particular hush money payment who is -- has been found liable for fraud and sexual assault who couldn't be in washington for the immunity hearing from when he was president this. guy is going spend -- has been spending more time in court than on the campaign trail to run for re-election. i think what makes this week and
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the case so fascinating is that we're watching this guy be held accountable for at least a sliver of what he's -- allegedly done. >> and meanwhile in the new york case has now violated the gag order a total of 15 times and count. >> and counting. >> is there anyway for former president trump to be reigned in on that front? >> an entire administration try dod that. >> no. >> i need to ask you about president biden because we should mention as you know, oftentimes when authorities don't want you to talk about something, lit get announced on friday afternoon. we did have an announcement from the biden administration. they're delaying the ban on menthol. we know that's peels to black smokers. 81% of black smokers smoke menthol seg respects. this has been an effort that the f.d. has pushed through for 10
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years. why do you think the biden administration decided to do this now? >> i haven't spoken to him about it. but i hope it was out of a sense of some sense that adults can make up their own mind. i frankly had the reaction when mike bloomberg in new york tried to ban the big gulp sodas. too much naanee state. i've seen the study on the menthol sig cigarettes. but at some point we're a democracy where adults goat be treated like adults. everyone know this is stuff is really bad for you. and people make their own decisions. >> jonathan, this is about politics. this could alienate black voters that president biden needs. what do you make of that? >> i want to jump off of what david was talk about. cigarettes are addictive and menthol is an addictive product that has a disproportionate in packet on african americans,
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sorry as an african-american, like at the f.d.a. and say, you know what, good for you. folks should be doing this. folks should be for -- be forced to quit meaning this is not good for you. this is about attempting to save your life. and i think -- maybe i agree with you on mike bloomberg and the big gulp sodas. the first thing mike bloomberg did when he was mayor of new york city that people started screaming about the naanee state is bang cigarettes in bars and restaurants and now everyone loves him for it. and so i think sure if the bind administration is trying to pay politics by dumping this announcement on a friday afternoon, fine, elections are decide on the margins but in tend what the f.d.a. is proposing needs to be done. it's about saving lives. >> we continue to report on the spread of these campus protest. pro-palestinian protest.
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somehow do you like at these? should this be a warping vibe to the bind administration? >> people aren't making distinctions here. most of the protestors are appalled by the horrors the palestinians suffering and they're well motivated by compassion. there are some people that are hard left people. they goat have their views. there are a lot of people who anti-semitic and violence. you should not be said as the columbian students say zionist students should not deserve to live. you should be expelled. if somebody says go back to poe land or approvaly go back to gaza, that's ruining the community of the campus. and so those people should be expelled that's the distinction should be made. and somehow the people threatening the community by threatening violence. they're not being expelled. and that would have a deterrent effect that would separate the bad actors from the people who are well motivated to try to save lives. as for the bond administration i
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do why the the chicago convention is going to look a lot like 196. that will be terrible for the biden administration. the president will look hapless an powerless. harvard does this sir vey what, are young adults are interested in israel-gaza is 50-60. and so a lot of people i know are passionately on both sides of this issue. but most young voters are interested in inflation, crime, the normal issues and so it's important for us, especially those of us who are in educated circles not to generalize from the immediate experience because people are thinking about very different things than this. >> jonathan? >> i agree with you, david, i think the discussion about what's happening on -- in these pro is test miss ago lot of nuance. not whenever is protesting is anti-semitic, is rooting for violence or is even causing the violence. they are there for legitimate reasons. if a person of the college
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community is disrupting and say ing racist anti-smicket things, then yes, they should be expelled. but we should be mindful that who are these people who are saying these things? some might be members of the university or college community. but some could be from the outside. and my big frier the b.m.l. movement is folks from the outside. that is my big concern when we talk about this latest national protest. amna: here's to nuance and facts. thank you to both of you for bringing that to the take. always good to see you. >> thanks, amna. ♪ few musical acts have enjoyed
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the life of bon jovi. hulu tracks the highs and the lows of the grammy-award-winning band four decades together. recently geoff bennett spoke with jon bon jovi about thank you, good night. the bon jovi story. s the for our arts and culture story, canvas. >> welcome to the "newshour". >> this is a real honest look at the setbacks and triumphs. what has then experience look like reliving your past and what it all means for your future? >> it was emotional because a lot of life was lived. >> why share it now? >> 40 is the milestone, you know, even if it's tonight first 40. 40 years is a long time to be making music as we have. so i wanted to mark, this milestone. we were archiving everything that i didn't realize what a horder i have become.
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so it made it easy for the story telling. the vocal surgery was not the plan. but this was a couple of years in the make. i'm not afraid to show emotion. it's just that we haven't had the platform for it. >> to have led one of the world's most successful bands to have a 40-year run doing that, that doesn't happen by accident. what has it required of you? >> i love what i do. but it's hard work. it's like anything else. you know, it's your craft. but it's also your passion. and then by being true to what you are, which was important early on and to remain to that. you evolve as a man and as a writer. and people come along for that ride. >> and you found success early in your early 20's. how were you able to grapple with mega watt fame eso early in life -- mega watt fame so early in life [ >> probably our yup bringing, in the time in which we were born,
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family, the band could close the door and say do you believe what just happened. [laughter] so a lot of that was living a life. >> you talk in the dock you series about one of your biggest musical idols, bruce springsteen. >> he played with my band when you -- i was in high school. he's so many, many millions of people's hero. but growing up from that jersey shore scene where he made it famous and johnny fold up in those footsteps, those were guys not only i could look up to who were 12 and 13 years older, but they made the impossible seem very possible because they were in essence right outside your window and now our relationships are bond for, you know, ever because we've become very close.
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>> this dock you series focuses on the band's setbacks and your soar vocal cord surgery. you came off stage in 2022, and you realize you might not ever be able to perform live. >> it's not like i couldn't. it was more of a decision that maybe i wouldn't. i tried everything i could. there was something happening. but a picture couldn't show it to you. when a singer has something like a nodule it's a pimple on a vocal cord. you can site visually i wasn't having that what i was realizing is that one of my vocal chords was atrophying. after a lot of hole listic and praying and anything i could do including going out on the road to try to beat it into shape, i came to the conclusion that i needed to find the right surgeon and i need. >> there is no bon jovi without you and your voice. what did that feel like to have the thing that you love to do taken away from you?
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>> the truth is, i had hadn't had to think about that because i was in recovery. the surgery has worked. for me now, the bar is getting back to that two and ha half hours four night as week. so that's the process that i'm in now >> the documentary feature yours former guitarist who you describe as your perfect foil. >> everyone wants a right hand man if they're lucky enough they have a friend like that he had dom see me and he says i need to be your guitar player. when we clicked and hit it off, he became the perfect right-hand man. and in 2013, he left the band. >> how big of an adjustment was it when he officially left? >> well, there was a big black hole on that side of the stage for sure. but there was nothing that was going to hinder me from continuing to write records and go out there and sell out shows, you know? sorry to say it, but look at the
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marquis, you know? >> has he and that dock you series? >> we watched it together. it was wonderfully emotional to be together just the two of us watching it. >> what do you think sets bon jovi apart from other bands? >> i don't know. if i did i would bolt it and sell toy somebody else. but i think it was the hard work, the joy of doing it. we persevered by writing songs that people can relate to. and i've been on this 40-year journey that people may have gotten off the ride along the way. but it's been honest and open. so you can feel yourself in those shoes and in different parts of your life, the way i've written about them in mine r. one of those songs can have living on a prayer" classic, one of the best rock mel disever. but when you were writing it, i'm not so sure about this, maybe it's a song for a movie respond track. how did that song ultimate come to life? >> it evolved. when we had written it on that day. it was a very simple chord structure.
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the melody, the lyric was finished. we knew all that but it came to live when the band got the room and we developed baseline and ticko was playing the drums. and that's when it popped. that's when the change changed on the end. >> tommy used to work on the dots. that's how we write. ♪ >> with an accuse course tick guitar and a stand up byiano. there were no drum machines. there was nothing like that yeah, it's good. it's good. it's good. >> did you know that it could be as enduring as it is? "you give love a bad name" was the single. prayer was so different. and it was the second single. and of course, the billions of streams and all that stuff. >> right, right. who knew?
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♪ >> we've -- you've got a new album reported in nashville. what does nashville lend to the bon jovi sound? >> i remember when i was a kid my mom said find your influences influences. somebody said to me during the course of this promo, what's the first music you remember hearing? and the thing that came to mind initially was beatles and gene autry. so there was always a little bit of a country thing that i was aware of as a little boy. but it wasn't what drew me to music. what draws me to the city was that i jokingly say these are my people. it's a song-writer's community every guy that's pumping gast gas is a great song writer and they're still making a living doing it. >> do you think you might tour again? >> i hope so. >> well, so do we. john bon jovi, the docuseries is streaming now on hulu. really good to talk to you.
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>> you, too, buddy. ♪ ♪ amna: later tonight on pbs, actor john lythgoe goes back to school. in art happen hearsay with john lythgoe, the arthur and humorist shares his passion for arts education trying his hand ad at pottery, dancing and sing. -- singing. ♪ snowflakes whisper neth my window ♪ [applause] >> i choose to take that as a compliment. >> i have a question for you. >> yes! >> does he use his falsetto?
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>> i think i dropped it the last few times. and it's fine. >> i believe it's -- it's like for everybody here it's confidence -- that you have the confidence because the confidence controls how you perform. that's all it is >> and just what the heck, it's my voice. so i sing in my voice. and i don't think anybody really throwing things at me. >> , no they better now not. >> art happens here premiering tonight at 10:00 on pbs. be sure to tune into "washington week" the atlantic tonight for a look at former president's trump's turbulent week in court and the pro palestinian protests erupting across the country. and mow ecuador went from a model of stability in south america to a hot bed of gang violence and turf wars. and that is the "newshour" for tonight. i'm amna nawaz.
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on behalf of the entire "newshour" team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> it was like an ah-ha moment. this is what i love doing. ♪ >> early stage companies have this energy that energizes me. >> these are people who are trying to change the world. when i volunteer with women entrepreneurs it's the same thing. >> i'm helping people reach their dreams. i'm thriving by helping others every day. people who know know b.d.o. ¤ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the "newshour" including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. certified financial planner professionals are proud to to support pbs newshour, c.f.p. are
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>> this is pbs newshour west, from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024]
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wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. jeffrey: crucial american military aid is on the way to ukraine thanks in part to the @bio headed for taiwan as well as israel just as pro-palesestinian protest intensify on many elite college campuse