I dont write for opioids anymore. And it is having a negative effect. Woodruff all that and more, 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. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention, in the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. 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 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 republicans in the u. S. Senate are working overtime tonight to push their version of a tax reform bill toward final passage. They won a key procedural vote this evening, and they are trying to craft compromises in their own ranks, with democrats unanimously opposed. Lisa desjardins reports from the capitol. This is our chance. This is our chance. Reporter another big moment for the big g. O. P. Tax bill Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell opening debate on the senate floor today. We will be one step closer to taking more money out of washingtons pocket, and putting more money into the pockets of the hardworking men and women we were chosen to represent. Reporter but democratic leader Chuck Schumer accused republicans of rushing to pass a flawed bill. Id understand the rush if the republicans were sure they had a great tax bill, but they are not sure. I know so many of my colleagues, and they expressed real misgivings. Reporter those misgivings do exist a least, among these nine senate republicans. Four of them tennessees bob corker, arizonas jeff flake, oklahomas james lankford, and kansass jerry moran, are worried the bill could raise the federal deficit. To win them over, republicans are working on a trigger. If deficits loom, it would raise taxes or in one version, cut spending to bring in more money. Wisconsins ron johnson and Montanas Steve Daines say theyve won a bigger tax cut for small businesses. For maines susan collins, the issues are health care and the state and local tax deduction. And arizonas john mccain and alaskas Lisa Murkowski each has multiple concerns. The president tried to seal the deal with Congress Today by appealing to the public, in a speech in st. Charles, missouri. So right now, americas tax code is a total dysfunctional mess. We want a tax code that is simple and fair, and thats for all americans. Reporter missouri, of course, is a state where republicans hope they, and their agenda, can pick up a senate seat in 2018. For the pbs newshour, im Lisa Desjardins on capitol hill. Woodruff in the days other news, the u. S. House of representatives has voted to require that all members and staff have annual training against sexual harassment, a measure the senate has already okayed. It was easily approved on a voice vote. This on the day that two more wellknown news media figures were fired over allegations of sexual misconduct. Nbc news terminated today host matt lauer, one of the highest paid figures in the tv news industry. And, Minnesota Public Radio severed ties with Garrison Keillor, the former host of a prairie home companion. We will take a closer look at the allegations, later in the program. Pope francis wound up his visit to myanmar today, without publicly mentioning buddhist violence against rohingya muslims. The vatican said leaders of myanmars small catholic minority had urged him to be cautious in what he said. Francis addressed the countrys religious leaders today, and urged restraint and peace. translated it is the particular responsibility of civil and religious leaders to ensure that every voice be heard. If we are to be united, as is our purpose, we need to surmount all forms of misunderstanding, intolerance, prejudice and hatred. Woodruff the pope also held an outdoor mass for at least 150,000 people. He spoke of decades of ethnic conflicts in the country formerly known as burma, and he urged forgiveness. In the netherlands, a stunning end today to the war crimes trials from the bosnian war of the 1990s. Right after an International Tribunal upheld a 20year sentence for croatian defendant slobodan praljak, he shouted i am not a war criminal and drank a small bottle of poison. He died later in a hospital. Back in this country, police in tampa, florida have charged a man with the serial killings of four people since early october. Howell Emanuel Donaldson was arrested last night. Police say he targeted people near bus stops in one neighborhood, with no apparent motive. A gunman in reno, nevada opened fire from the 8th floor of a condominium building overnight. The suspect also took a hostage before being killed by a police swat team. No one else was hurt in the incident. Records show a unit in that same reno highrise was once owned by stephen paddock. He killed 58 people in last months mass shooting in las vegas. President trumps nominee for health and Human Services secretary vowed today he will fight to lower drug prices. Alex azar spent ten years at pharmaceutical giant eli lilly at a time when the firm raised prices for insulin and other drugs. But, at his Senate Confirmation hearing today, azar stressed his independence from the industry. This is the most important job i will ever have in my lifetime, and my commitment is to the American People. Not to anywhere that ive worked in the past or any industry ive been connected to in the past. Woodruff if he is confirmed, azar would replace tom price, who resigned under pressure for using taxpayer dollars to charter private jets. In economic news, Third Quarter growth in the u. S. Was the best in three years. The latest estimate from the Commerce Department says the economy expanded at an annual rate of 3. 3 . Meanwhile, outgoing Federal Reserve board chair janet yellen told congress that small hikes in Interest Rates are key to stable growth. We want to do this gradually because if we allow the economy to overheat, we could be faced with a situation where we might have to rapidly raise rates and throw the economy into a recession, and we dont want to cause a boombust set of conditions in the economy. Woodruff this was likely yellens last appearance before lawmakers, before she steps down. President trump has nominated Jerome Powell to replace her. And on wall street, blue chips advanced, but tech stocks sank. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained nearly 104 points to close at 23,940. The nasdaq fell 88 points, more than 1 , and the s p 500 slipped one point. Still to come on the newshour the threat from the latest north Korean Missile launch. President trump retweets antimuslim messages. Cell phone privacy before the u. S. Supreme court. And, much more. Woodruff now, north korea tests a new missile, rattling nerves in asia and in washington. William brangham has that. Brangham the north korean news anchor hailed the latest launch, delivering a statement from the nations leader on state tv. translated kim jongun declared with pride that now we have finally realized the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force, the cause of building rocket power. Brangham the broadcast showed an image of kim signing the order to launch. The new missile, dubbed the hwasong 15, flew farther than any north korean rocket had before. It soared to an altitude of nearly 2,800 miles, then dove into the sea of japan, within whats known as japans economic exclusion zone. That means, if shot on a flatter trajectory, the missile could have flown some 8,000 miles, reaching washington, d. C. It remains unclear if the North Koreans have figured out how to either fit a Nuclear Warhead onto the missile, or created one that could survive reentry into earths atmosphere. But on the streets of the capital, pyongyang, North Koreans played their dutiful part, cheering the announcement. translated the Missile Launch has brought us another victory. Our success has once more cracked down on the u. S. , which is unable to see its coming death. Brangham south korea responded with its own drill, firing off missiles into the sea. And, president moon jaein spoke with President Trump by phone. His spokesman said hed warned the situation could get out of control. translated president moon stressed that we should prevent a situation in which north korea misjudges the Current Situation and threatens us with Nuclear Weapons, or a situation in which the u. S. Takes into consideration preemptive strikes. Brangham mr. Trump also spoke by phone with chinese president xi jinping. Afterward, mr. Trump tweeted that new sanctions on the north would be forthcoming. The Chinese ForeignMinistry Said xi is gravely concerned. This afternoon, the u. N. Security council held another emergency meeting on the norths continued defiance of u. N. Resolutions. So what does this latest launch mean for u. S. Diplomacy . For that, we turn to joel wit. He was part of the team that negotiated a Nuclear Agreement with north korea during the clinton administration. Hes now a senior fellow at the u. S. Korea institute at Johns Hopkins university, and founder of 38north, a website that focuses on korea. Joel wit, how concerned should we be about this latest launch . Well, of course, we should be concerned because north korea is obviously moving to the development of a missile that can reach the United States, but this is not new. This is the third test theyve conducted, and weve known for some time that they are moving down this road. So it just reconfirms whats going on and its, of course, very dangerous. Brangham the North Koreans argue they are now a fullyformed nuclear power. Is that true and, if so, what does that do to our diplomacy . Well, the reality is north korea has had Nuclear Weapons for some time now, and theyve also been able to put them on missiles that can reach other countries in the region, like our ally south korea and japan. So now they are expanding their reach by developing missiles that can reach the United States. So they have been a Nuclear Weapons state for some time now, they have been a threat to other countries in the region, and now theyre going to be a threat to the United States. Brangham does that provide an opportunity, though, to open up talks of some sort that might be productive . Well, thats a very good question, and it sounds counterintuitive, but, in fact, north korean policy is based on creating a nuclear shield so they can develop their economy. So if the North Koreans now feel that they have developed enough of a nuclear shield, they may want to pivot to better relations with the outside world in order to somehow develop their economy, and that gives us leverage over them to try to get them to move towards stopping their programs, reducing them and, in the very long term, getting rid of their Nuclear Programs in return for gradually building economic and other ties with them. So its quite possible theyve reached the pivot point now, although well never know unless we really sit down and discuss this. Brangham if you were talking to the president of the United States and his National Security team what would you counsel them to do today. What i would say is we should be imposing more sanctions on north korea because of their bad behavior, and, sure, we need to prepare for the possibility that there will be some military confrontation, but, at the same time, we need to seriously explore the possibility of a peaceful way out of this confrontation, and that means a serious dialogue with north korea face to face. We need to sit down with them and discuss issues of mutual concern and, of course, one of those will be north koreas Nuclear Weapons program. Brangham how likely do you think those talks are . Well, right now usually, when i talk to people, i lay out three scenarios. One is there will be a military conflict on the peninsula, whether because of miscalculation or deliberate. Second is that the United States will back down, that President Trump and the administration will have to back down from their threats and third is there will be a diplomatic track that will be pursued. I would say the chances of diplomacy now are anywhere from 10 to 20 and the other two are much higher. Brangham joel wit from Johns Hopkins university. Thank you very much. Thank you. Woodruff President Trump is wellknown for his use of the digital social media platform, twitter, both to tout his accomplishments and to lambaste and make fun of others. But this morning, he ignited a new firestorm when he shared what are widely seen as virulent antimuslim messages. The president said nothing about the furor, as he left the white house today. Hours earlier, he had retweeted three videos, originally posted by a british farright activist. One, from syria in 2013, shows a muslim man railing against idols and smashing a statue of the virgin mary. In a second, also from 2013, islamist protesters in egypt attack opponents, and throw one off a roof. The third video, from earlier this year, shows what it claims is a teenage muslim migrant in the netherlands beating up a youth, who is on crutches. Dutch news accounts say the attacker was not a migrant, and never mentioned the boys religions. The clips were first shared by jayda fransen, a leader of britain first, a farright fringe group that opposes what it calls the islamization of britain. President trumps retweets touched off a storm in the house of commons. Somebody in his position, doing what he has done and said, not only in his own country, but now, you know, getting involved in the debate here, hes normalizing hatred. Woodruff and in a statement, a spokesman for british Prime Minister theresa may said, it is wrong for the president to have done this. But White House Press secretary Sarah Sanders defended the retweets, as she acknowledged they may be misleading whether its a real video, the threat is real. And that is what the president is talking about. Woodruff sanders also said Prime Minister may and other World Leaders know that these are real threats. For more, im joined now by rizwan jaka. He runs interfaith and Government Relations for the all dulles area muslims society, or adams center, the second largest mosque in the United States, located in virginia. And, Jonathan Greenblatt, the c. E. O. And National Director of the Antidefamation League, a civil rights group. He served on the staff of the obama white house. And we welcome both of you to the program. Rizwan jaka, let me start with you. I watched all threes of these videos, theyre very disturbing to look at, particularly the one throwing a young man off a rooftop, the other one beating up a young man in crutches. Are these real videos . First and foremost, obviously there were actions in those videos. There are some reports some of them were not sure the authenticity. Regardless, they are horrific actions and do not represent the muslim communitys and islamic principles. We condemn the actions, real or fake. Obviously, we are absolutely concerned about this retweet and the antimuslim sentiment behind it. Woodruff Jonathan Greenblatt, what was your reaction when you saw the president s retweets . I think all of us were fairly stunned to see the retweets. The fact of the matter is extremests already feel emboldened because the president repeatedly equivocated the unequivocal, whether charlottesville or other incidences, there are no fine people among the nazis. But the fact is when President Trump retweets our endorsements, and, so, we track it and werent surprised to see david duke and other rightwing extremists celebrating today that the president is pushing out prejudice. Woodruff rizwan jaka, what does it represent to you when you see this from the president . You know, it represents just kind of an amplifying of antimuslim sentiment and these you know, trumping up these stereotypes, and it is something that is very concerning to us because theres a rise in hate crimes and bigotry towards muslims. Obviously there are continuous hate crimes towards the jewish and other communities, and were very concerned about that, these amplification of the messages, as the Antidefamation League said, this isnt the first time. There