Also called for the release of those detained without charges but land said this was unacceptable Britain's parliament will attempt to defy prime minister Boris Johnson's BRACKS It plans today as lawmakers seek a way out of the impasse that's gripped the nation since the 2016 vote to leave the European Union the House of Commons is confronting Johnson over his insistence that the U.K. Leave the E.U. On October 31st even without a withdrawal agreement today it will consider a measure that will try to block a departure without a deal Johnson said Tuesday he will seek a general election the lawmakers succeed taking his message directly to the people in his bid to deliver BRACKS It. Is going to do more I just told negotiations to tell I'm not the point I was delayed to bring it to attention so you could be the only way to resolve this but it's unclear whether he will have the votes for such a move the Labor leader Jeremy Corbin said he'd welcome a vote but only after no deal BRACKS It is off the table. Good Bill Struth. Was there was an order to tell you that I would still have to tell you will on Tuesday Jones and lost his 1st vote in parliament since becoming prime minister and July and has seen his tenuous grip on power weakened by defections from his party that cost him his working majority a total of $127.00 military construction projects are being sidelined by a Pentagon decision to shift $3600000000.00 to build part of president trumps border wall Defense Secretary Mike Mark esper approved of the transfer of funds on Tuesday officials say details about the projects losing their funding will be released after Congress has notified the Pentagon accompt trawlers says the projects are being deferred and not. Canceled though there is no guarantee the funding will be restored by Congress the money is to be used to build 175 miles of wall along the US Mexico border Congress approved 1370000000 dollars for Wall construction in this year's budget same as the previous year but far less than the $5700000000.00 at the White House that. Authorities believe all 34 people who were sleeping below deck on a southern California pleasure boat perished when flames raced through the boat Monday as it anchored off Santa Cruz Island northwest of Los Angeles the search for survivors ended Tuesday at least 20 bodies have been recovered and officials continued efforts to bring in others spotted on the ocean bed some may still be inside the sunken boat. Under withering criticism the trumpet ministration is reconsidering its decision to end a program that allows a seriously ill immigrants to apply to stay in the country whilst they undergo life saving medical treatment Christopher Martinez reports the top administration has moved to and the medical deferred action program came with little fanfare last week when people in the program began receiving letters telling them to leave the country within 33 days or else face deportation to reach for many Democrats such as presidential candidate Joe Biden they're literally giving notice Judy's family that they got to unplug their kids to get them out of hospital or take them out of America why did that ever happen in United States other Democrats have also weighed in East Bay Representative Mark to Sonia has sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security asking them to reconsider the case of a Concord resident from Guatemala who is getting treatment for a rare genetic disorder treatment that is not available in Guatemala the trumpet ministration says it will now reopened certain medical deferred action cases for people who have been sent denial letters Congress member disowning A has introduced a bill to help the Concord woman who is getting care under the program reporting for Pacifica Radio News K P.F.A. Christopher Martinez the state assembly has approved legislation designed to crack down on doctors who sell fraudulent medical exemptions for vaccinations but Governor Gavin Newsom's office said immediately after Tuesday's vote and he'll seek additional technical amendments affecting one of this legislative sessions most hotly debated issue the bill by Democratic Senator Richard Pan of Sacramento but allow state public health officials to investigate doctors who grant more than 5 medical exemptions in a year and schools with vaccination rates of less than 95 percent official say lower rates are road to community immunity limits measles outbreaks like those that reach their highest level in decades this year upon. On and say the measure improperly interferes with doctor patient relationships mostly sunny today in the San Francisco Bay Area highs in the seventy's and eighty's lows tonight in the fifty's in the central San Joaquin Valley sunny and hot with high is above 100 IMAX Pringle NEWS returns at 830 on. Good morning you're listening to up front I'm Capt Brooks there is a conservative Christian group exerting a lot of influence in Washington D.C. And a few other places they call themselves the fellowship or the family you may remember author Jeff Sharlet writing about them and now there is a new mini series Netflix documentary directed by Jesse Moss that takes a deep dive look into the organization to the mosque is a documentary filmmaker his 2014 film The overnighters was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars has directed for independent feature length films 3 television documentaries and produced 15 documentaries must teach us filmmaking at San Francisco State University and lives in the Bay Area with his family good morning thank you for having me really excited actually to have you here I watched the entire mini series in one sitting thank you for watching we had one of our interns come in and was like Have you heard about this organization called the family and I was like you talking about went promptly home that night and watched all 5 episodes. Fascinating terrifying and intriguing So tell me listeners who who is the fellowship the family who has a little well there and amorphous and in some ways hard to describe organization but I think the closest analogy might be a ministry there are a Christian ministry they have a long history which we can get into they were born in the 1930 S. In Seattle so here on the West Coast they now operate from a headquarters in Arlington Virginia just across the Potomac River from Washington D.C. And they are a very influential and very secretive Christian ministry that preaches to people in political power both in the United States and around the world I want to get into their identity as Christians. It's not your traditional viewpoint of Christianity they've got their own by. All right just as Jesus on the front of it that's right there they print a little book that's actually the work of Doug Coe with a longtime leader of the organization who just passed away he reduced the Bible in the New testament to the 1st 4 books and it's his own interpretation and it's embossed with the word Jesus on the front and they give this to people who attend the National Prayer Breakfast and some other other events so it's up in a way a representation of a different kind of theology which is the pioneering vision of the fellowship we could talk about that and rather than you hear most Christian not all but most Christian theology be about sort of lifting up the the struggling the weak the poor the hungry they're about lifting up God's chosen leaders that's right that that was the vision of the founder of the organization Abrams virility who was a minister in Seattle who had a vision that Christianity had been getting it wrong and that rather than preach to the down and out which is how I traditionally understood the teachings of Jesus he should preach to the up and out the politically powerful and by doing so he could have a kind of trickle down effect if if they caught the idea his idea and came to his understanding of the teachings of Jesus that they could and then in turn have because they had political power that they could reach the masses so he concentrated his efforts 1st in Seattle on the politically powerful elected officials and business leaders in the 1930 S. And then took his vision to Washington D.C. In the forty's and fifty's and from there it grew and that's right it's really an inversion of the way many of us think about. The teachings of Jesus. I have to say as I was watching trump a few weeks ago look up to the sky and say I am the chosen one the language from the mini documentary rang in my head what is Trump's relationship with these people that's a great question and really a motivation for me in undertaking the series the project was as you pointed out it's based or inspired by a book by Jeff Sharlet called the family and a 2nd book called C. Street which was a further investigation into their work and influence and I started the project about 2 years ago after reading Geoff's books and I had a question which was what 2 questions one was was this group Jeff had written a book the books had come out about 10 years ago and my question was 1st is the group still relevant Are they powerful What are they up to the 2nd question is can they help me understand the Evangelical Relationship to Donald Trump but how is this community this constituency people of devout faith wrap themselves around someone like Donald Trump someone seemingly so on pious in his personal conduct and his political action and I hope that in the theology of the fellowship and the story of this group and their theology that I might come to understand that relationship and the group's relationship to Trump himself and it I definitely this is explored in the 5th episode of the series really it did help me understand how I mean what the fellowship embodies is. I guess a willingness to see political leaders as God's instrument that God works through people like Donald Trump and that they as. Their. Vision of. One world under God that this can be achieved by working with people who may be themselves flawed instruments but nonetheless doing God's God's work and that this is not an aberration that what we see now that this . This view is been part of the strategy the religious worldview of the Fellowship since its founding in the 1930 S. And it's not I should say an aberrant strain of thinking this is a very powerful very influential group they are behind the National Prayer Breakfast which is an annual event in Washington D.C. At the at the Hilton Hotel in Washington has been held every year since Eisenhower was president every president has come this is really a testament monument to their influence that this event and it's not just a president coming in giving an address it's actually brings people from around the world political leaders many influential Washingtonians it's an it's a very. It's a striking testament to their power talk about the evolution of the National Prayer Breakfast like how it began where it is now and then I want to get into how you got into this invite only shorewall that well the movement the fellowship was at in its early years known as the Prayer Breakfast movement and this was part of the founder Abram's Verdi's idea was that by bringing leaders together political leaders and business leaders around the breakfast table that you could minister to them and you could spread this idea of this unusual theology and if they because they were powerful you could do more work rather than by say. Establishing a church and opening your doors to anybody who might be interested this was a very specific and particular vision that you would bring these powerful people together around this idea and that you might then harness their political influence to get more and also evangelize and so this was known as the Prayer Breakfast movement and it started in Seattle and then the prayer breakfast was exported to Washington D.C. a Perm took it to Capitol Hill and he established what is now known as the National Prayer Breakfast and from there the prayer breakfast movement grew to become an international phenomenon There are prayer breakfasts in many many countries around the world some of which are the work of or have been. Created as a result of the work of the fellowship are people who were inspired by the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington bringing that idea back home to their their countries and so in one episode of the series we explore the Russian National Prayer Breakfast and how that came to be so it's still very much is a movement of Prayer Breakfast Jeff Sharlet. There's something kind of I've been I went to the National Prayer Breakfast last year didn't I got a ticket you actually. Can't buy a ticket you have to be invited and. I'm not quite sure how we slipped in with a ticket but we were given tickets and I wasn't allowed to film because no cameras are permitted but I was able to kind of freely move around and meet people and have some interesting conversations which are are some of which are actually in in the series and. It's but what's kind of boring I mean as you would imagine I think for some of us the idea of a prayer breakfast you know if someone eat pancakes and somebody stands up and says a prayer ice enough fine but Jeff Sharlet uses the phrase the evil of banality there is behind the banality of the surface of a prayer breakfast actually much more going on and that is what the series attempts to unpack and I should say I'm not a conspiracy theorist I have my documentary work is not trafficked in conspiracy theory neither is Jeff Sharlet And I think that his work what impressed me about the book is it rests on very solid reporting a great deal of historical work and investigative reporting and this series as well rests on fact which has not been challenged and this is a real organization they have a website they have tax returns in yet they do hide and so there's a tension there that's what we wanted to explore in the series of so many follow ups to what you just said let's start with the fact that the high they are the secret organization. But you managed to get them to talk to you they don't like to talk when they were in their infancy. The founder was more public with their work and when Doug Coe the 2nd leader of the organization took over in the 1960 S. He very intentionally took the group underground that was a word he used in in in the fellowships own archives are documents that Jeff Sharlet and our production team were able to dig up and look at and they're fascinating because they tell the history of the organization in their own words I think they're kind of strong evidence to what their motives are and how they chose to work and secrecy. They call they refer to themselves. As a non organization. And they made it Doug Coe recognized that they could be more influential if unlike many organizations of the Christian right you know if you summon an image of who that might be you imagine a you know a pulpit pounder on television right with a you know a large mass of congregation. Perhaps someone embroiled in some scandal OK that's a popular conception of some version of the Christian right that is not the fellowship they have always intentionally operated very differently and to great success because they I think what what Doug Coe said is that they do their best work invisibly and they work relationally I mean these are so small groups the original Prayer Breakfast was a small group of men and their organization still very much is small groups of men almost. Therapeutic in their way to meet together and talk and share openly like a Bible study I don't mean to cast a negative a light on it and in fact I attended one such group is going to get into that OK and hold on to that will come to that but. But so you asked about secrecy and they are not a transparent organization they are they there is no church they have no denominational affiliation. You can't go to a meeting of the Fellowship unless you have a ticket to the National Prayer Breakfast and even there it's not quite clear Well they don't take credit for organizing the event in fact that's another. Reflection of their sort of lack of transparency secrecy is that they are. Present the National Prayer Breakfast the invitation is actually provided by a group of members of Congress. But the event itself is actually organized by the Fellowship Doug Coe who until he passed away would would be in the called the shadows behind the stage not sometimes acknowledged by a president and you see that in the series but someone who didn't want the limelight and recognized I think astutely that he could be more effective in his ministry work if he was not on stage like Billy Graham he was referred to as the the stealth Billy Graham or the shadow Billy Graham Billy Graham course was. Incredibly telegenic and monumental figure. But but Doug Coe was the opposite Let's talk about the 2nd leader of the organization described by a bunch of leaders including Hillary Clinton as a mild peaceful loving spiritual. Leader mentor what do we know about him Well that was another big motivation for the project was to really to the extent we could understand this incredible. And influential leader of the organization for decades. By all accounts somewhat unassuming and yet quietly charismatic in the room I was I loved asking people about Toto and hearing them come try to explain his charisma his power his influence and I think he was like the organization a sum of contradictions and that he was had great humility I think which is admirable and yet clearly a design for secrecy and in that you read the archives of The Fellowship in the words of Doug Coe and this was. I think clearly his intent to take the group underground again so so. Someone of obviously an ability to really connect and powerfully move and inspire people and yet committed to a vision a theology that again is. Quite different to what we commonly understand to be. Those teachings of Jesus and his he was very close to a number of presidents and powerful political people and you hear them at the National Prayer wrecked prayer breakfast talk about him but I think you know I can see that we you know. We never fully under ravelled the mystery of Doug Coe but I think he deserves he deserved our attention in the series because he's little understood and yet wise has been enormously powerful in building this organization so it's about some of the contradictions it almost like Doesn't this power I mean this is a man that had a old for lack of better word uplifted the loyalty that Hitler was able to command among Nazis that's right one of the more disturbing things that we included in the series are and what I think was fond of doing as Jeff Sharlet has reported is extolling the virtues of a 30 certain model of authoritarian leadership and we excerpt as a sermon he gave at the navigators which is a ministry in based in Colorado and in it I mean he talks about what he's talking about is that the power of a small group of people to do extraordinary or in this case terrible things he invokes. Hitler. Now and. It's it's curious in a way that the models of leadership that he extols are these models and not you know he could certainly have invoked the you know the power of nonviolent resistance that we've seen you know in the last 4050 years and yet he talks about the Red Guard and someone who. Who who was forced to cut off her father's head as a an expression of ideological conviction and this is a disturbing story and this you know you might argue he's he's going merely making a point about what he calls the the power of the Covenant and there's a scene that Jeff described Jeff Jeff Sharlet joined the fellowship right as a young man and he lived for a time at the fellowships youth ministry which is called Ivan wall in Arlington Virginia it's part of their compound and while he was there he. Had a chance to attend some small group discussions with Dou