Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20240712

Want to work on the engineering side of this issue. Judy all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by since our beginning, our people anas been their financial wellbein that mission gives us purpose d a way forward. Today a andlways. For 25 years, consumer cellulars goal has been to provide wireles service that helps people communicate and connect. We offer a variety of no contract plans. To learn more, visit consumercellcular. Tv. Johnson johnson. The john asked and james l night foundatn. More at kf. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcastin and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Judy the u. S. Is now averaging s ughly 40,000 new confirmed covid19 infectich day. The caseload has more than doubled this least 10 states, mostly in the south and the west. Today, the nations Top Health Expert sounded nt warnings abe recent surge and spoke about the development of a vaccine. H wit multiple states seeing casesikes in coronavirus the senate heard caution today from the nations top Infectious Disease expert. I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,0 per day if this does not turnaround and so im very concerned. Dr. Anthony fauci testified at a hearing alongside other he did say he was hopeful about a vaccine coming by this winter at the earliest. There is no guarantee, and anyone involved will tell you, thate will tell you a safe and effective vaccine, but we are cautiously optimistic. Dr. Robert redfield, director of the, clled this virus the greatest Public Health challenge in a century. Daily cases are increasing. After an extended decne. We are seeing significant increases in the southeast and southwest regions of this nation. All the witnesses stressed the importance of the few tools we do have. Social distancing, handwashing, and wearing masks. And now a growing number of conservative voice many who resisted masks before, are coming out in support of them. Republican Committee Chair Lamar Alexander of tennessee had a message for President Trump, who has been particularly resistant to wearing them. Ive suggested that the prnaident occasy wear a mask, even though in most cases s not necessary for him do so. The stakes are too high for this politicalat dabout pro trump, antitrump mask to continue. Todays hearing comes as the to paint a rosier picture oicf e pandem than Public Health officials. The Coronavirus Task force, spoke this afternoon we are in a much better place today thanks tohe whole of government approach that President Trump initiated at the very outset of the coronavirus paemic. Earlier, former Vice President and Presumptive Democratic nominee joe biden excoriated T Administration r its handling of the pandemic. It didnt have to be this way. Month after month, as other leaders in other countriesook the necessary steps to get the virus der control, donald trump failed us. As the virus spreads in a number of states, svee officials ad to dial back their reopenings. On monday, texas and california both reported record increases inew infections. Cases in florida are also soaring. In arizona, hospitalizations have nearly doubled in the last two weeks, prompting governor dougsc ducey te back his stateseopening. Meanwhile, the 31nation European Union announced today it will op its borders to 14 other countries. Unitedit states, because o outbreak, is not on that list. Judy with more than half the country grappling with thisvi summers surge, hyzaar in congress for a new Economic Relief packa. We turn now to the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. She represents california, one of thet states hit hardd earliest. Madam speaker thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. As we have been heahing, there isnew surge. Alarming reports on the comeback of this pandemic. At the same time, people looking to the congress for Economic Relief. But right now, democrats and republicans seem to be in your you set over the weekend you think republicans will come around. What are democrats prepared to . Speaker pelosi what weed were prepo do is pass the heroes act, which we did. Everything is in there, 99 of it is what republicans have voted for before. Butos you ghrough these statistics about covid, act, we have an answer. He heroes we can open up our economy by testing, testing, testing. They are talking about masks, i agree. Washing your hands, i agree. Keeping her distan, i agree. But testing, tracing, treating, and distancing are the tools we ha this administration has been a rrible failure. I dont want to dwell on them. I want to go forward. But for them to say their plan from the start has put us in a good place, over 125,000 people died from this because the president called it a hoax, delayed, denied, death. We have in the bill the testing that is the answer. All of the scientists tell us, the academics tell us you must test many more people every day. Test, trace, and then treat, so that we can stop the deaths. Which are disproportionately huing our communities of color, as well. In that bill is an answer. It is a strategic plan. I havent thought strategically. Our first bill on march 4, on the covid issue, was for testing, testing, testing. A recent bill, the most recent bill, was about helping Small Business and testing. And they still haventra ed a strategic way to go about it. Instead, they are just i mean, i feel soad for the Vice President for what hes being forced to say. Judy but for legislation to be passed, both parties have to be on board. The republicans have said you have said the republicans need to give some. My question is we heard thele senate majoriter Mitch Mcconnell say today that this unemployment benefit, 600 a week abovehe normal is too much. Aid it homes paying people to sta from wor mpis that an e of something that you think democrats are prepared to give on . Speaker pelosi forgive me for not appreciating giving so much time to Mitch Mcconnells objeions to 600 to people who are out of work. But in this bill, and the first pillar of it is honor our heroes. State and local assistance to local government for outlays on the coronavirus, as well as the revenue lost because of the coronavirus. If you look at speaker. Gov heroesact ace look anypn the country and see how those places are helped by the hees act, and then remember this all of that money is one half of what the republicans h in their tax break, which gave 83 of the benefits to the top 1 . So he is saying we need a pause we need a pause i helping state government, we need a pause in unemployment insurance, we need a pause in food the food stamps, we need a pause in all this because hes worried aboutso some poor p getting 600. That is in negotiation, but it not a reason for him to make it as if we have no place to go. All of those other things the republicans have voted for before. Shame on them. Shame on them for not helping state and local governments. Democrats and republicans outside the congress of come together to say we need these resources. We have to balance our budget by june 30. Shame on them for worrying about 600 when everybody is goinirto lose t uneloyment insurance by the end of july if we dont act soon. Judy let me tur you, madam speaker, so much to ask you about. National security question. That is this new evidence that it looks very solid that the russians paid the taliban to kill u. S. Troops in afghanistan. The New York Times is reporting President Trump was briefed on this back in the house is saying he was whbruary. Not briefed. Who do you believe esther and markkebelieve . Sppelosi if the president wasnt briefed, thewere probably afraid to tell him any bad news about russia and his friend putin and that they might be afraid that he would call putin and warned him of what we knew already. But whether thent presi the point isce is that f protection is the purpose of intelligence. Im 25 years in intelligence. Force protection, how we initiateostilities, how we respond to assaults, how we protect ourroops. For somebody to make an assault on our troops and their to be any question as to whether the commanderinchief would be briefed about it tells you what disarray exists in the white house and how serious this problem is if they are even afraid to tell them. Whether he was briefed, i dont know. U hear two different schools of thought. I wont go into any of it. It remains to be seen. We will have a briefg of the gang of eight tomorrow. There will be a briefing in the intelligence committee. Ivesked for a briefing for the entire congress of the United States and perhaps we will learn more. What we do know is if you were not briefed, he should have been. If he were not, why wasnt he . What does putin have on the president heat would withhold that information . Know veryone you well, former defense secretary leon panetta said that for the sake of american lives lost, because of thi someone has to be held accountable. Who do you think should be held accountable . Eaker pelosi again, we have to get the facts of all of this. But the fact is the buck stops at the president of the United States. If information was withheld from the commanderinchief w because the afraid to tell them about his friend putin, that is quite an indictment. But lets do this, lets protect our troops. Lets make sure that this cant possibly continue to happen. Our men d won in uniform, we owe them so much. You think force protection would be just such aiv and that the white house would be in such disarray about when they knew told the president and when. Wh we get more information, i will be able to label it it should never be the case that the president should have awareness of it or the white house should have awareness of it and not act on it. Judy another important issue, police reform. As you know, the house has the Senate Republicans tried and failed. Right now, the two sides seemed very far apart. Are you and other democrats going to reach out to try to find Common Ground . Speaker pelosi that is d to the senaocrats. First of all, when you are in a negotiation and the other side wants nothing, it is hard to negotiate. Exactly what their bill is was nothing. It made no differenc they had language just like ours, but they had no deed, so what wont make a difference. It is up to them to negotiate with senate democts so they can have something they can pass in the senate. Theyatont have anything could pass in the senate, much less pass in the house. That is up to them to do their negotiation and then they can but we cannot the message that would go out to the country if the sene republicans said this is all you are going to get , rhetoric and no results. Judy and in your view, is there going to be is something going to happen on that . The American Peopleook at the protests that ppened just days done so far, congress h nothin Speaker Pelosi coness has done something. Judy but no legislation has been passed. Speaker pelosi the senate has not acted in a way that makes the difference. The question is for thes republic the senate. Are they willing to have a negotiation with the democrats inhe senate . Work in congress wi will from there. But we are not going to negotiate as to how many okeholds would be a compromise between the house and the that is not goingppen. We ban chokeholds, they dont. Supposed to negotia what Common Ground we might find . No. No chokeholds. That is ou position. That doesnt mean thereouldnt be some other areas where we might have some negotiation. But that is Mitch Mcconnell has called himself the grim reaper. That l anyislation that goes over there will die in the senate cemetery. It is a mo unfortunate metaphor or analogy to use. When d people arng because of the coronavirus and he will not engage in testing, tracing, treating, and distancing with a strategic plan. Where he will not open up to real negotiations on what we do about eing police brutality, y recognizing that m our men and women in blue honorably perform their duties, but som dot and that has to stop. Macconnell wants a pause. A pause isnt happening in hunger in america, where people are coming to food banks who never thought they would. Nt is not pausing in america and we passed a bill to help the grim reaper is going to put a stop to that. A pause to that. I do believe that they understand that if we dont a to invest in our economy soon that it wont work from now. Just ask the cd. Irman of the talk to the secretary of the treasury, who knows we have to do something. But again, they dont want to admit the consequences of covidt so they donant to do testing. They dont want to admit the consequences, so they dont want to honorary heroes in this and comp andth they fodollars spent. There is a big difference here, but you know what . We have to put the oth stuff behind us, go forward, and as you say, try to find the Common Ground that is necessary to meet the needs of the American People to open our economy, honorary heroes, put money in the prikets of the an people. When we do so, we will also be f fighti voting at home. Dont forget, speaker. Gov heroesact. Look up and see how much money is spent in any region in the country. Then understand, it is one half of what they on their tax scamntpe benefiting 1 of the population with no stimulus to the economy excepns keeping billf dollars of debt into our children. 600, please. Judy House Speaker nancy pelosi. Thank you very much. Speaker pelosi thank you, judy. Judy as we reported earlier, a number of states were just a few short weeks agoreopen businessec spaces that had been closed to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Not now. Iawiis back to explore how some of those states are thats right. E course. One of those stes is arizona, which as we reported before bars and gyms and other businesses have been order to close again because of a spike in cases over the last 10 days or so. Joining me now is the former top thank you for beie. Arizona. For people who have not been paying much attention to what is happening in arizona, these stressed out. King, hospitals how did it get this bad . What has happened . In a nutshell, arizona had a very successorl stayathome r that ended on may 15 forget arizonans were terrific about it. They participated in a big way. Wtht happened is that as we emerged from that stayathome order, we went into essentially an honor system transition. Businesses were encouraged to follow the cdc mitigation measures. Bars and restaurants were allowed to open, but encouraged to follow cdc mitigation recommendations. But there were not any Performance Measures or compliance criteria or enforcement, so the behavior businesses and the people of arizona reay devolved into prepandemic behavior. As we know,s this vi live soft foolish Human Behavior and we are where we are now. It really exploded. Between memorial and now there enhas been a trus increase in cases and we are at our hospital capacity, awell. Capacity, meaning hospitals arp . Literally full yes. Director and the governor announced we are in crisis standardof care. I hope many of your other states never get to this stage. It is a process by which in our hospitals doctors and health re providers are in a position where they need to make really important decisions about who ge a limited care that is available. Essentially, it is something that happens when the resources that you have are inadequate to treat the people that need care. It is everybody. Ovid patients, when it is crisis standards of care, it applies to everybody i ectr. That is where we are sadly today. Unfortunately, this is something that was avoidable. It goes back to thatoot use. I encourage everybody in all the other states, as you emery from your s at mortars, make sure your elected officials put in comp enforceable and you leverage the areas that you can leverage so that you mobilize your stakeholders. Th we did not d. Thinking ouout describing this position that doctors and nurses and hospitals are faced with of having to make these really horrendous decisions about who gets care and who it is that stressed these are the kinds ofhings we saw happening in new york and new jersey in the early parts of the pandemic t and ny are happening six months on. What are you hearingffrom hospitalials . They must be in a terrible state. Well, at the boots on the ground level, in the Emergency Departments and on the floors and in the intensive care units, they are exhausted already. This has been going on for a few months the months now. Now we are in crisis standards of care with nond in sight. So just exhaustion. There have been two sets of 00letters that more than physicians signed to the governor urging him to take action earlier to put in some performance criteria throughout the month of may and into early. Ju i think the biggest warning signal was really at memorial day. When we saw the behavior across the state with nightclubs going up tood the firecapacity, free champagne. It was a freeforall and as a result we are seeing this huge increase in cases of people in their 20s and 30s. Fortunately, they are less likely to end up in intensive care than our seniors com up with those viruses leak out into Nursing Homes and assisted Living Centers and other populations that are at higher risk. It is a situation i hope the other states avoid with wiser policy choices. Indeed,r we hope that y example in some way can be some sort of guidance for them as well. The executive director of the arizona Public Health n,associatiohank you so much for your time. Good evening. Thanks. Newshour west. We will return to Judy Woodruff the latest headlines. A few updates on our top story w after speakih governors of neighboring states, colorados g governor is closrs and nightclubs to prevent a coronavirus spike. And idaho reached a new record in daily cases today,in a 365 to its total. Congressional democrats scoffed at the president s denial that he knew about allegations of russianounties on u. S. Troops in afghanistan. The New York Times reported he received a written intelligence briefing in february and the Associated Press said the whitee house first be aware of the alleged bounties in early 2019, after being briefed by white house officials today house intehaigence committeeman adam schiff said that his information the presavent ought toknown. There are frequently times where a president of the United States will be briefed along with caveats. This is what the community has to say, this is our assessment, is is the limits of it, but you dont deprived the president of information he needs to keep the troops safe because you dont have it signed, sealed, delivered. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh Mcenany setharesident trumnow been briefed on the intelligence related to thosed reports, but she sat intelligence still has not been verified. When we brief the president s when there is a strategic decision to be made. Those of the kind of things that are briefed to the president , when they are deemed credible. In this case, it was not briefed to the president. There was no consensus, it was not credible. Will always protect americant troops. The Presumptive Democratic president ial nominee joe biden weighed in on the alleged the idea that somehow he didnt know or resent being briefed, it a isereliction of duty if that is the case. If he was bri was done about this, that is a dereliction of duty. We will have more on all of this after the news summary. The Supreme Court has made it sier for religious schools to obtain public funds. Fivefor conservative majori upheld a montana Scholarship Program for private education that makes donors eligible for ste tax credits. Montanas highest Court Previously struck thatowas a violation of the states ban on state aid to religiousls. In china, president xi signed the controversial Hong Kong Security bill into law today. Beijing lawmakers applauded after passing the legislation that criminalizes succession a step secessionist activity with up to life in prison. Hg kong, chief executive carrie lam defended the new law. On the legislaill not undermine one country, two systems and hong kongs high degree of autonomy. Hong kong is a free anoc diversifiedty. We respect differences in e opinion and str reaching consensus. But the one country principal is nonnegotiable and could not be compromised. As without one country, two systems will stand on shaky grou. No american state flag will bear the confederate emblem as of tonight. The governor of mississippi signed a landmark bill this evening that retires the flag, under pressure from protests against racial injustice. A Broad Coalition of state legislators passed a law to change the flag two days ago. Results from last weeks Kentucky Democratic Senate Primary race are in. Former marine pilot amy mcgrath never late edged out progressive narrowly edged out progressive charles booker. She will take on Mitch Mcconnell in november. Beloved comedy writer, actor, and director carl reiner died last night of Natural Causes at his home in beverly hills, lifornia. His prolific career spanned seven decades and as we report entertainment gen every [laughter] fm the start, carl reiner was a Television Comedy pioneer. Firs appearing in 1950 is the sharp witted straightman on sid s caesarour show of shows. There he met mel brooks, with wh he created comedy classics, like this bit about a 2000yearold man. You want to see my drivers license . He created, produced, and acted in one of the most celebrated comedies in television history, the Dick Van Dyke show. Inhe 1970s, he saw success on the big screen, directing films including the jerk with steve his son directed films like when rry met sally, carl reiners wife had this infamous cameo. Ill have what shes having. He was actively at work well into his years in sitcoms, in movies like the oceans eleven franchise, and on w twitter,re he would share his musings, movie reviews, and political views right up until prident trump. Ing about back in 2016, he spoke with the newshour about how his love of comedy was born and how it stuck with him. My influences comedy started with my parents love of comedy. They always sought out comedies. The Marx Brothers where their favorites. Will get through life more comfortably than those who dont. Carl reiner was 98 years old. Still to come, reactions ntinue to reports of a Russian Military Unit Offering bounties to kill u. S. Troops. Innovators search for new ways to make ventilators to help coronavirus patients. And much more. This is the pbs newshour. From weta studios and in the west from the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Judy n we return toor intelligence r that russia was making bounty payments toba the ta to kill u. S. Soldiers in afghanistan. We have reported that Russian Military intelligence provided financial incentives to the taliban to target u. S. Ros and that Russian Support to the taliban was always a priority for intelligence officials. To understand more about afghanistan and how raw intelligence becomes a product for the president and senior officials, we turn to douglas london, 834year veteran of the cias clandestine service. He retir last year. Welcome to the newshour. U. S. Officials first talked about Russian Support forhe taliban back in 2018 and 2019. Wevecl reported that ed bounty payments. Whats your understanding of the increase in russen support to taliban over the last year or two . Clearly there has been great interest under always has been in russias posture toward afghanistan. Cethere has been evidf Russian Support, financially, anmilitarily, to the tal militants. The press reporting is consistent with what we would expect. Relationship might gethe russian strengthened as the russians are looking to maneuver for a postu. S. Place in afghanistan. We reported that some of the initial intelligence about these bounty payments was made on the discovery of money within taliban fighters control and interviews of talin fighters. But that is only one piece of the puzzle. The New York Timess reporting at the u. S. Also knew about Bank Transfers from Russian Military intelligence to taliban leaders. Is that the other piece of a puzzle that the Intelligence Community woulbe looking for . The u. S. Has always been trying to develop sources within the taliban. Obviously, as has been reported, after those are taken intos. Custody by Afghan Forces were temporarily by u. S. Forces. The reporting suggests that low level fighters wouldnt be dealing directly with the russians obviously for the purpose of security. You would not have russians runnitg around bags of money dispensing it. How important was all this information and how was it packaged as ielligence for senior officials including the president . N it comesom a variety of means. Unit intelligence, the civilian external collector. We have seen how nsa is taking and signals intelligence and digital information. There are numerous intel agencies collecting it. It is put together by the analysts, who are reviewing it, looking for the credibility and putting it together in products that will g up to consumers, policymakers such as the president. Looking at press reportinthat suggests there was a president s daily brief in the matter on the 27th of mebruary woue a great deal of sense because as you recall, the United States and the teleman signed their agreement on the 29th of february. Have to mention that the white house is denying that the president was specifically briefed and the white house said today that intelligenct briefed to the president because there was no consensus and there was no strategic decision to be made pure coare tse the only times that the president s t those kinds of decisions . Nature of the strainedts the relationship between the white house and the intelygence communnd a lack of understanding an appreciation for the intelligence product. We dont provide information to the president after weve confirmed dead. We want to use the president s daily brief to put things in the president s radar that is important, that require his attention. And put it in context, as well. En if there is lack of great consensus among the community, that is going to be reflected in the products brief to the presenent. The preswill be advised that something is significantsa and as sonal as russian would be brought to attention with all the upper caveats and qualifiers. We wouldnt wait for there to be consensus. Let me play you what the white house spokeswoman said today about leakers. These are rogue intelligence offirs who are imperiling ou troops lives. We will not be able to get very likely not be ablto get a consensus on this intelligence because of what wase leaked to w york times. Members a going after trump . It could be and that is despicable. The director of the cia, the director of the nsa have all said in the lt 12 hours or so that they have an objection to the leaks themselves. Is that n a major problem . The leaking of intelligence that seems to be classified . I think it is reasonable to assume that the president and the whitein house is to try to change the negative in this. Leaks every great danger. The compromise sources. But think about the topic. We are speaking to bounties. The taliban or the russians wanted bounties, that means ty want peoplo know there is an incentive and reward for killing americans. I dont condone leaks. Under the circumstances and i could imagine those who provided the information felt a bit of frustratio at having informed principles and the president of thehreat from russian incentives and the disssal of that intelligence, some of those folks might have thought that theynd their comrades were being placed in harms way by aa administrationwas not as coerned for their interests as much as their ownolitical interests. Thank you so much. Judy the pandemic is forcing innovation. John yang c explores petition to make better ventilators as part of our breakthrough series. Why dont we bring your Computer Operator over and they can give you a tour of the machine . This is how a team of high sschool stude and recent graduates came up with a ventilator design during the pandemic. A shaky videoconference. A very easy to hit and use actual water. The teacher assembled the team, including a 15yearold sophomore. A list of resources and they told us to write as much about ventilators as w could. We were thinking about what built, distributed. Ould be we designed a ventilator that with be put together screwdriver and an allen key set. They are part of the covid19 challenge, a virtual competiti to design ventilators that can be built cheaply and readily with available components. S in the early d the pandemic, there were fearsli largely unrd so far for a variety of reasons that u. S. Hospit ventilators. Out of we are searching t globe for additional ventilators. Ou y cannot find them. Other countries are trying to get them. And anesthesiology resident at Massachusetts General Hospital in boston thought up thee covid19 challenge wh selfisolating with his wi after he was exposed to a ronavirus patient. I got a little bored. Hehr got bored on day. [laughter] it did not take that long. I used to be a medical device designer. I used ventilators every day. But wheed i sta learning about the ntilator shortages, it became very natural toe m to want to work on the engineering side of this issue. Emily, who works inat edn, is head of operations, organizing the than 20 residents running the competition. All of the residents were taking on roles and ctsponsibilities that were not rt of being a. We have one person managing our social media. The other person managing the website. Also doinghe it without ability of being it in the same room. There were 213 entries from more than 40 countries. A team o medical and technical experts selected seven finalists. One of them, a small team in i did not expect to be a finalist. It was truly a surprise. Hunter, ceo of a company that urmakes lux ecoaccommodations, based of this design in a pet t projec has been tinkering with for years, a commercial coffee machine. Iin had a coffee ma prototype. Instead of water, i started putting air into it. I did not know what to expect, but it looked like promising results, so that led me to the that kind of outside the boxg thinas key for another finalist, the students at baxter academy, a Public Charter School in portland, mne. Wid not have this preconceived notion of what a ventilator should look like. My professor talks a lot about groupthink. Our brain get stuck about the idea of what we nt to do before we start exploring of what could potentially be a better option. The key to innovation is having people who dont come from your field apply their insights. A group that you mention from scotland that created their ventilator from what was initially a coffee maker. I dont imagine that an anesthesiologist or typical medical device com would ever have looked at that design, but here he has developed ais design that ery feasible as a safe ventilator and very economical. All the designs are free for anyone to download in hopes they ventilators are iort supply. Re as the medical Community Gains experience with covid19, some physicns have begun using ventilators less often in certain cases, but that vices remain a key part of treatment. There is no way to ventilate these patients safely. They are criticaparts of our icu. Ventilators used in u. S. Hospitals can cost between 20,000 and 50,000 and the federal government is spending an average of 15,000 each to addbout 2,000 ventilators to the national stockpile. The cost of these designs . We built this for about 2500 and that includes the price of the 3d printer that you would very cost effective. Parts. The parts are less than 700. The covid19 challenge presented challenges to learn from. My knowledge of ventilators was zero and it has been one of the sharpest learning curves i have er encountered. Nights and days were spent reading medical journals, finding out about how these work. And a lot of these things that were stumbling blocks i think lead to better design overall. We have a low Pressure Regulator that drops the pressure down. That was delayed in terms of getting to us. We were using a scuba regulator you can buy at y dive shop. It also served to inspire. We are dealing with so much distress in the world, from economic stress, political and social stress, from obviously the stress on our Health Care System and people losing loved ones every day. For people to commit thetoelves so muc something and to see it come to fruition is we were doing our presentation and i was thinking we wereri h rocket engineers and phd student speaking, im a 15yearold. I try not to think of it as we are pitted against each other, but being in the same collaborative space as those voices is a reallgreat opportunity. And even if neither of these ams is the winner announced wednesday, they have already gained and given so much. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Judy u. S. And israeli officials met today in jerusalem ou discuss what be one of the most dramatic changes to the middle east map in dec. Outside and israeli settlement in the Jordan Valley, palestinian and israeli protesters say no to annexation. An israeli minister member of combatcets for p i just feel i cannot stand quietly. I cannot swim in the mediterranean, have fun, when these crimes are hapning here. My name. A palestinian the result is that the food, safety, and social life,ifhe community will be affected so bly if the annexation plan happens. Is really Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised annexation during election campaigns and got a green light from President Trump. The United States will terry over the territory that my vision provides to be pe t of the st israel. This is the current map ofnc the west bank,ding the Jordan Valley, occupied by israel at the end of th1967 war. This is the map in the u. S. Proposed peace plan. Brown is israel. Green is palestinian. The Jordan Valley becomes part of israel as to the israeli settlements. In exchange, land swapse across diterranean and egyptian border, part of a future palestinian state. Which is w opposition comes from some Israeli Settlers already in the west bank. And means that this may be an israeli controlled community, but will be surrounded by a palestinian state. Who knows how they will treat us as an elave that is inside their desired state . Thhis woman lives in israelied settlement creat in 1977 in the heart of the west bank. Stshe and many other ank settlers save u. S. Support provides opportunity and netanyahu is not going far enough. It is something we have dreamed about. Why not grab it in both hands . We do not want to commit to a two state solution. We have rejected tha before. We will continue rejecting that. Senior u. S. Officials, including the u. S. Ambassador to israel, have been working with netanyahu on the details of annexation. Cthe administratils it an israeli decision and the two sides have not agreed on how ch israel will annex. Netanyahu said he will continue talks with thein u. She coming days. The settlers who support anhexation sayear of a palestinian state is exaggerated. He American Ambassador called it that the palestinians will turn into canadians. We all know how the border between the United States and canada looks. If that is the border israel is going to have with this palestinian entity, i think we the mayor of one setopement with aation over 10,000 says the trump plan answers israels security concerns. Ive been assured that wouldp president t means is going to be an entity that wont have its own army and wont have controover its borders. Palestinian leaders call the plan immoral. It is not a question of how much they will annex. The whole issue is annexation itself. You cannot be a litt pregnant. [laughter] big thief. E a small fee for a theft is theft. It is illegal. A long time Palestinian Leader says the u. S. Is not an honest bker, after moving the u. S. Embassy to jerusalem, endorsingnn israelsation of the heights, and cutting y nding to the u. N. Agencat assists palestinians. 30,000 Palestinian Police and inteigence officers stopped communicating with israeli counterparts. Civilian coordination has also stopped. You cannot ask us to be bound shattered and destroyed, that the u. S. Has totally shredded. We are saying this is a new ballgame. One possibility is smaller annexation of the most established israeli settlements, but the proponents of a two state solution s even that would make it palestinian state impossible. If nexation takes place in that area, it will be basically a sealed road connected to other areas in pales one, pathis disjointed, discontinuous palestinian entity. A long time activist and expertn jerusalems geography and history says the settlements that a Bank Challenge the idea of a contiguous palestinian state and annexation would leave the palestinians around those ttments without protection. The palestinians are under military occupation. The selers carry around israeli law on their back as if it were a backpack. There would probably be some palestinians and we will turn them into stateless people, just like we have with the palestinians of east jerusalem. European Officials Say they could punish israel for a large annexation. The united nationsecretary general warned any annexation would be a seriousla von of international law. After decades of failed peace attempts, one mayor is pushing a san that hes gives legitimacy to settlements. May be by looking at oue conflict t a different perspective, may by giving it a different way of negotiation, we will bable to create a better reality and not just oppose it because its Something Different that hasnt been brought to the table up until now. The u. N. Says annexation remains illegal and even at this 11th hour, it is not clear how far israel will go. Judy and now for tonights brief but spectacular and i look at the pandemic through the eyes of a Palliative Care specialist. Dr. Diane meyer is the director of the center to advance Palliative Care in new york city. Palliativear is a new medical specialty focused on people who work in this field are trained to be able to communicate eectively and in a m caringner with people who are going through some of the most frightening experiences of their lives. Unfortunately, that is now happening on a n scae of us have ever experienced. The public knows what is going they are watching tv, they are following social madio, they are what we are finding to our surprise is that people welcome these conversations. They want to talk about what they would wt should they get sicker and if it is a Family Member because the patient is o sick to talk, they are relieved that someone is asking them. Some are very clear. A tube down her throat and be in an icu. Then there are other people who say i know my dad, he wants to live, he wants you to fight with everything you have. We honor those wishe whatever they are. I trained as an internal medicine doctor and then specialized in geriatrics. I saw a lot of suffering. The medical professional seems so caught up in our technology and in getting the nt test done that we forgot these were human beings we are taking care of. I either had to do something about it or leave medicine altogether. I along with colleagues scott some grant money and started a Palliative Care program. Im running National Organization which is located in new york city and thaeis my fullt job, until now. Until covid19. Now, i am all hands on deck contributing my time to those conversations with patients and families by phone, that frontline clinians dont have time to have. We are also trying to help familiesph talk be or by tablet with their loved one in theta hos and helping to coach them about how to do that. Becauseis very hard to talk to someone you cant see and who may not be able to aner you, either because they are on a ventilator or theyre too sick. Even when people are sedated, they can hear and they want to hear your voice and things that are important to say should be said. Things like thank you for being my father, please forgive me for things i did that hurt you, i love you, and when it isime, goodbye. The benefit of bein able to say those things to someone you love while they are still here is ulincale. It is our job to make sure people hav othatortunity. My name is dr. Diane meyer and this is my spectacular take on how to show compas doning this covid19 pandemic. Judy so thankful for what she is doing. And you can find all of our brief but spectacular segments online at pbs. Org newshour brief. That is the newshour for tonight. Im Judy Woodruff. Stay safe and we will see you soon. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and cy. ] major funding has been provided by complicated, a lot goes through your mind. Fidelity wealth management, and advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. Management. Ce consumer ular. Johnson johnson. Financial Services Firm raymond mes. Ccarnegporation of new york. Supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement , andhe advancement of International Peace and security at carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public oaasting and by contributions to your pbs station frou. Viewers like thank you. P this newshour west. Fromos weta stun washington and ou bureau at the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Sisisic [danielle] comfort food is noslgic, nourishing and all about pleasure. In our modern lives of busy days and sleepless nights, fo that provides comfort has never been more indispensable. 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