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An art collector with Broad influence opens his own museum

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A general view of The Broad Museum prior to a dinner gala in Los Angeles, California, September 17, 2015. The new museum built by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, featuring their collection of modern art, will open to the public on September 20. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni - RTS1O3T

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HARI SREENIVASAN: Los Angeles’ cultural scene is about to get a big new showcase for contemporary art. A new museum opens this weekend featuring the work of major artists from the past six decades, all from the private collection of a longtime arts patron.

Jeffrey Brown takes us there for a preview.

JEFFREY BROWN: Billionaire art collector Eli Broad still remembers how he managed to acquire this early painting by modern master Roy Lichtenstein.

ELI BROAD, Philanthropist: A Parisian collector wanted a lot of money for it. I wasn’t going to pay that. So what I did is, I wrote a check for X-million dollars and said, you could take the check, send me the art, or tear it up.

JEFFREY BROWN: Really?

ELI BROAD: And we ended up with the art.

JEFFREY BROWN: Not something that most of us can do, but Eli Broad can and has for more than four decades. The results can now be seen in the brand-new $140 million Broad Museum in Los Angeles.

Designed by the firm of Diller Scofidio and Renfro, it features an outer honeycomb veil that allows natural light to filter in, a floor for storage of art works that visitors can peer into, and 30 galleries filled with big names in modern and contemporary art, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Kara Walker, Jeff Koons, and many others, including Jasper Johns.

A number of these, I understand, were in your home.

ELI BROAD: They were indeed.

WOMAN: Sorry about that.

JEFFREY BROWN: Well, why that — why do you make that face?

ELI BROAD: Well, I decided we want the best work to be shown in public, so we stripped a lot of work off our walls. I want it seen by the largest audience possible.

JEFFREY BROWN: It’s a long way from Eli Broad’s modest childhood home in Detroit, where, he says, there was no art on the walls.

The son of Jewish Lithuanian immigrants, Broad graduated from Michigan State University, married Edye Lawson, and started a business building tract homes in the suburbs of Detroit.

It grew into KB Homes, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders. He later created SunAmerica, a large investment company. It all propelled Broad onto the Forbes list of wealthiest people in the world. Last year, his net worth was estimated at over $7 billion.

He is a major philanthropist in education and medicine, as well as the arts, one known for keeping a strong, even controlling hand in his various projects.

ELI BROAD: We pledged to give 75 percent of our wealth away during our lifetime.

JEFFREY BROWN: And you’re sort of smiling as you say that. Do you — is it fun, a fun thing to do, to give it away?

ELI BROAD: I see it as investment, rather than just charity.

JEFFREY BROWN: What’s the investment? What do you mean, investment in what?

ELI BROAD: You want a return in education. You want to see scientific and medical research breakthroughs. And the art, you want to share it with the broadest possible public to get more people interested in art.

JOANNE HEYLER, Director, The Broad Museum: This is a work by Los Angeles artist Robert Therrien.

JEFFREY BROWN: The Broads began collecting art in the 1970s, and for the last 26 years have relied on the professional advice of curator Joanne Heyler, who will now serve as director of the new museum.

She showed me one of the more whimsical pieces in the collection.

So, under the table, it’s a child’s-eye view or something?

JOANNE HEYLER: It does feel like a child’s-eye view, an almost “Alice in Wonderland” experience.

JEFFREY BROWN: Over time, the Broads acquired 2,000 works of art, adding a new piece almost every week. And the collection has long functioned as a kind of lending library, with some 8,000 loans to more than 500 art institutions.

Heyler says it’s been rapid-fire buying, but always with an eye toward a public mission.

JOANNE HEYLER: We’re deep investors in an artist’s work, so we really want to know what we’re getting into when we buy.

JEFFREY BROWN: Investors in the sense of — not as in buying it to make money, but…

JOANNE HEYLER: Investors in the sense of art history, investors in the sense of trying to promote their work to the public, not in any financial sense.

JEFFREY BROWN: Do you feel that’s a big role, to be part of art history? Is it that grand, in a sense?

JOANNE HEYLER: Well, you shoot for that. You aspire for that. And, again, when you’re in the realm of contemporary art, you can’t be sure. And you have to like not being sure all the time.

MARK BRADFORD, Artist: I like these snap lines.

JEFFREY BROWN: One of the artists the Broads have collected in depth is Mark Bradford, who we visited in his huge studio in an industrial part of South Los Angeles. His Scorched Earth painting, about the aftermath of the L.A. riots, is featured in the inaugural exhibit at the museum.

As a young artist just out of grad school, Bradford said, he’d heard of the Broads, but:

MARK BRADFORD: It was all just folklore to me, the Broads, the Broad collection.

JEFFREY BROWN: You didn’t know what that meant.

MARK BRADFORD: I didn’t know. I probably — probably, the first time said the Broad, I probably said the Broad.

JEFFREY BROWN: Years later, he says this of the Broads’ influence:

MARK BRADFORD: I think it’s important when collectors collect in depth of an artist, because you don’t feel like they’re just doing baseball cards: I have one of this and one of this and one of this. You really feel like they’re committed to your work over the long period. And that, for me, means something, because you can see your growth in the work.

JEFFREY BROWN: Oh, really?

MARK BRADFORD: Sure. You go, oh, that was good, or, whoa, I’m a little bit better. Oh. But you can see that…

JEFFREY BROWN: Just looking in one place.

MARK BRADFORD: One place.

JEFFREY BROWN: In his collection.

L.A. Times art critic Christopher Knight applauds that kind of long-term commitment, but wishes the overall collection reached beyond so-called blue-chip art and deeper into what’s been produced in Los Angeles.

CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT, Los Angeles Times: The primary limitation of the collection is that it’s a market-driven collection, which is a very narrow sliver of the very active art world of the last 30 years. And I wish it had a greater representation of art that has been produced in Los Angeles.

There is nowhere to go where one can see the evolution of the development of art in Los Angeles. There isn’t one. And there should be.

JEFFREY BROWN: Eli Broad, though, is obsessed with developing L.A. as a leading capital of the art world. The new building is part of an arts district he’s helped create, stretching along Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, and including Disney Concert Hall and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

What was the idea that you wanted to…

ELI BROAD: The ideal one is to create a vibrant center for a region of 14 million people. And I consider this to be the regional cultural and civic center for the region of 14 million people.

JEFFREY BROWN: Which it didn’t have?

ELI BROAD: It did not have before.

JEFFREY BROWN: Whether the new Broad helps further that vision for downtown is one of the big question marks as it opens this weekend.

From Los Angeles, I’m Jeffrey Brown for the PBS NewsHour.

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Smartphone user? The 2016 candidates are watching you

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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton takes a photo with a supporter after speaking at a town hall meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada August 18, 2015. REUTERS/David Becker - RTX1OPHZ

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HARI SREENIVASAN: As you heard, presidential campaigns are ramping up their rhetoric along with ads and events. But one of the most intense fights under way is happening off camera.

Our political director, Lisa Desjardins, reports on the 2016 battle taking place on our computers and phones.

LISA DESJARDINS: With all the gentility of a marching band, the presidential campaign is under way and booming. But like much of America, you may think the 2016 presidential fight has yet to really enter your life.

Do you think any of the campaigns are paying any attention to you right now?

WOMAN: Not really, no.

MAN: Very little.

WOMAN: Not a whole lot.

MAN: Probably almost zero.

WOMAN: Not really, no.

LISA DESJARDINS: And last question, do you have a cell phone?

WOMAN: Of course.

MAN: Yes, I do.

WOMAN: I do.

MAN: Yes, I have a cell phone.

MAN: Yes, I have a cell phone. It’s a very big part of my life because I do a lot with my cell phone.

LISA DESJARDINS: If you have a smartphone — and two-thirds of us in America do, according to the Pew Research Center — you are already on the radar for most 2016 campaigns. That’s because campaigns left and right are now amassing more and more data about voters, and they’re trying to influence you this time around using this.

STEPHANIE CUTTER, Co-founder, Precision Strategies: The ability for campaigns now to target individuals on their mobiles with customized, individualized advertising, it’s remarkable.

LISA DESJARDINS: That’s Stephanie Cutter. You may recognize her as a former spokeswoman for President Obama. In 2012, she and team Obama won a national campaign by dramatically expanding their data operation, turning out troves of voters by transforming millions of pieces of their personal data into a targeted campaign.

Now everyone is upping their digital game, including super PACs. Traditional on-stage debates have given way to digital face-offs on Twitter.

JEB BUSH, Republican Presidential Candidate: Yes, they broke the law, but it’s not a felony.

LISA DESJARDINS: And Instagram. Two weeks ago, Donald Trump’s Instagram feed contained three anti-Bush attack ads. How did he respond? Bush put up a YouTube video, of course, questioning Trump’s GOP loyalty.

QUESTION: Then why are you a Republican?

DONALD TRUMP, Republican Presidential Candidate: I have no idea.

LISA DESJARDINS: But the bigger digital battle is quieter at places like Precision Strategies in Washington, founded by some Obama veterans. The firm is working now for the Clinton campaign. And their next cyber-land of opportunity is the cell phone.

The number of Americans with smartphones has leapt by an estimated 660 million people in just the three years since the 2012 election to roughly 200 million now. About as many Americans are on Facebook. Of course, that includes some kids not old enough to vote, but it is still a voter data gold mine, and campaigns are working to connect that Facebook information to public information about how often you vote and to your cell phone, all that with the goal of targeting you at the right time with the right ad.

This is one reason campaign Web sites all ask, first thing, for your e-mail.

STEPHANIE CUTTER: If somebody signs up on your Web site to get information from your campaign, that’s easily matchable to Facebook, to Twitter and a whole host of other platforms. So your complete online identity can quickly be known to the campaign. And they can communicate with you through all these different touch points, with your permission, of course.

LISA DESJARDINS: In this, Facebook is critical. Last month, the company sponsored a Republican debate and set up this lounge for reporters. Recently, the company made it easier to track some voter information, opening up its huge universe of data for campaigns to exploit.

ANDY STONE, Policy Communications Manager, Facebook: There are now 193 million people on the platform every month. That’s more than there are registered voters in this country. So, there’s a whole team of people at Facebook that work with not only campaigns, but also elected officials, advocacy organizations, to help them use the platform as effectively as they possibly can to reach the people that they are trying to reach.

LISA DESJARDINS: But Facebook has competition.

NICK SCHAPER, President, Engage: A lot of folks are talking about Snapshot.

LISA DESJARDINS: Nick Schaper runs the Republican-leaning strategy firm Engage. He’s talking about Snapchat, an app that is changing cell phone use, especially for young people. Don’t understand it?

This is how Snapchat works, quick videos like this one that you personalize with text.

Then the videos or photos disappear, either immediately or the next day. The idea has caught fire. Now Snapchat has launched a news division, curating the best videos and photos from people around the country into one story that can get millions of views. Take the Republican debate in August. Twice as many 18-to-24-year-olds watched that debate through Snapchat than on TV.

NICK SCHAPER: It’s not only being able to connect with the younger generation, but in using just a new medium that gives them some new advertising opportunities and new marketing opportunities and paid promotion opportunities to reach voters, is going to be pretty powerful.

LISA DESJARDINS: Campaigns are racing to harness that power. In the meantime, voters, watch your smartphones.

Lisa Desjardins, PBS NewsHour, Washington.

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Shields and Brooks on GOP debate standouts, Pope Francis goes to Washington

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shieldsandbrooks

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HARI SREENIVASAN: But, first, the second Republican debate is in the books, so what’s next for the candidates? Is Donald Trump reopening the discussion about where President Obama was born? And Pope Francis is making a historic visit to U.S., with stops at the White House and Capitol Hill.

To the analysis of Shields and Brooks, we go. That’s syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

All right, David, I want to start with you.

This debate has happened now. Who has won, who has lost kind of happened last night. We have been talking about that for a while. But who capitalizes on this going forward? Who is actually able to use this to leverage more fund-raisers? Because that’s going to become more important in the next couple of months.

DAVID BROOKS: Well, first, I have been predicting for 37 straight weeks that Donald Trump will fade.

(LAUGHTER)

DAVID BROOKS: And I could be wrong this time. But I’m confident. So I may be wrong, but I’m confidently wrong, that I think he’s going to begin to fade, in part because I think he’s gotten a little boring and also a little hapless.

He can afford to look offensive. He can afford to look distasteful. He can’t afford to be boring or incompetent, because his mastery is the whole basis of his campaign. So, I’m feeling a slide. So, we will see.

As for the risers, it’s no accident. It’s no — not controversial. Carly Fiorina, if you’re on stage with 11 people, one of the acts of genius you have to have is the ability to create a signature moment that can be broadcast and rebroadcast. She has that. She has both the creativity to create those moments with some nice phraseology and also the passion.

And so she’s clearly, I think, rising to the top tier. This is a party that does — I do not think, at the end of the day, they do not want crazy, so I don’t think they want Trump. They also don’t want Milquetoast. They don’t want vanilla. And Jeb Bush, I’m afraid, is sort of stuck in pseudo-vanilla land.

And so they’re going to want — I think Fiorina is right up there and I think Marco Rubio would be the other one, bit of an outsider, a genius for taking complicated situations and explaining them in a way that is clear, without being oversimplified. And so I think you have those two, Fiorina and Rubio, who will get the biggest boosts.

HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, besides those two, Mark, who takes this to the bank and makes a convincing case to people with deep pockets?

MARK SHIELDS: Is the debate over? I’m not sure that CNN was going to give up that audience. It just — it kept going into extra innings.

Hari, I don’t disagree with David certainly about Carly Fiorina. She was the consensus breakthrough winner. She did several things. She did have the signature moment, as David mentioned, but she was also fact-specific. In other words, people argue the facts and question some of the facts, but running against Donald Trump, who is a substance-free candidate and would — avoids issues like a T-shirt, the reality is that it gave her a particular standing.

The, also, advantage she had is, she took that insult of Trump’s and turned it on him in an organic fashion. She didn’t — in other words, she didn’t come in, and this is — grew right out of the event itself, out of the debate, and it came to her, and she grabbed that moment where Trump had mentioned remembering Jeb Bush’s comment on cutting women’s health.

And just as women — just as Mr. Trump remembers Jeb Bush’s comment, women will remember what he said. So I think, in that sense, we’re always looking for something shiny, fresh and new in the press. And voters are to some degree and this year. And I think she fills that niche.

I think that John Kasich, the governor of Ohio, missed an opportunity. He dwelled on his 18 years in Congress, which is not a credential that people are looking in this outsider year. I thought Marco Rubio was incredibly competent. He spoke in complete sentences, complete paragraphs. His text was good.

He’s too senatorial. And that’s the problem. If you look at his language and presentation, it comes across as too senatorial. Again, voters are not looking for a senator. And I just think Jeb Bush was — it wasn’t working for him. It wasn’t natural. His confrontation over his — the insult by Trump to his wife, he backed down. And I just didn’t think he had a good — Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, had to reassure his donors afterwards. And it hadn’t gone well.

That was — the indication was that by — he attacked the press. He attacked CNN, criticized them.

HARI SREENIVASAN: So, there was a recent moment where a voter asked Trump a question, and implicit in that question was the birthplace of President Obama. We’re going to go ahead and play a clip of that and also a reaction from Hillary Clinton. And we will talk about some other reactions. Let’s just go to the tape.

MAN: We have a problem in this country. It’s called Muslims. We know our current president is one. You know he’s not even an American.

DONALD TRUMP, Republican Presidential Candidate: We need this question. This is the first question.

MAN: But, anyway, we have training camps growing where they want to kill us.

DONALD TRUMP: We’re going to be looking at a lot of different things.

And a lot of people are saying that, and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there. We’re going to be looking at that and plenty of other things.

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, Democratic Presidential Candidate: I would, you know, call on him and call on all of the candidates to stop this descent into the kind of hateful, mean-spirited, divisive rhetoric that we have seen too much of in the last months.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Now, Mark, the Hillary reaction is almost predictable. But other Republican candidates came out against this as well.
MARK SHIELDS: That’s right. Chris Christie on “The Today Show” this morning said — criticized it and said he would not have done it. Lindsey Graham was even more vocal on an Andrea Mitchell interview today.

To me, this is — Barack Obama is a Christian who was born in Hawaii. Barack Obama is a Christian who was born in Hawaii. I mean, what we have is feeding paranoia. Right now, 43 percent of Republicans, according to CNN’s latest poll, believe Barack Obama is a Muslim; 54 percent of Trump supporters in the same survey believe he is.

Donald Trump has stirred this, he’s sustained it, he’s exploited it. This is a real character check, and it’s a character defect, if you don’t stand up and say this is unacceptable and it shall not stand.

If a Republican cannot criticize Donald Trump on this — on these grounds of not rejecting and rebutting something so outrageous and indefensible as — in this question, then they just ought to withdraw from public life.

HARI SREENIVASAN: David?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I sort of agree.

You would hope that everybody in this day and age has sort of a bigotry response, that when somebody says something clearly bigoted, like Muslims are a problem in this country, that you have a response, and the response is one of visceral disgust, and you would hope we would hear something said about African-Americans, Latinos, black — women, whatever group it is — and he somehow didn’t have that response.

And, in contrast to John McCain, four years ago — four years ago, had a similar question, and he did have that response: Oh, that’s a man of honor.

And one of the things that’s interesting to me about Trump is 99 percent of businesspeople are people of business, but also people of honor. And so they don’t check their values or their principles at the door when they do their business deals.

So, when you hear Trump talk about his business, oh, I bought that politician, I bought that politician, I contributed to them, I contributed to them, the only thing that matters is the outcome, is the bottom line, the revenue thing. And that carries over into the way he talks about politics.

He evaluates politicians, he evaluates policies and he evaluates events by the polling data. And if you have got no qualitative, no moral calculus going on in your head and you’re all just looking at the numbers, well, then you get this sort of moral obtuseness and no reaction to what was clearly a bigoted statement.

HARI SREENIVASAN: OK.

Now to someone who has a clearly moral compass paying a visit to the United States, the pope, really, in several ways, I think reintroducing the world to the idea that this position has transformative power in it.

And that doesn’t necessarily sit well with everyone. I was doing a Periscope earlier, kind of behind-the-scenes look, and someone says, how do you feel about the pope rewriting the Ten Commandments, right? There are many people around the world who think perhaps this progressiveness is too much.

MARK SHIELDS: Well, the pope, Pope Francis, is coming to Washington. He’s never been to Washington, never been to the United States before. We know we’re the center of the universe. Somehow, it has escaped him in his entire life.

But several things. One is, he’s the antithesis to big-money politics. I mean, this is somebody who spends his time with — he listens to the voiceless. He remembers the forgotten. He sees the overlooked, whether it’s the immigrant, or the refugee, as we saw, or the day worker, or the sick, the handicapped, or the lonely.

I mean, he really does — he does embody — I fear he’s going to make both parties — I know he’s going to make both parties very uncomfortable, because his message is not trimmed for politics. He’s going to make the Republicans quite uncomfortable on the question of poverty and the obligation that we have to act collectively. He’s very pro-politics. He believes in politics.

He’s very strong on the environment and on climate change, contrary to many Republicans, including Marco Rubio. But, at the same time, he speaks fondly and well and consistently about protecting the unborn and those in the late stages of life who face death. He is — really, it’s going to be remarkable to watch Joe Biden and John Boehner, both Catholics, the vice president and the speaker, sitting behind him, and applauding different passengers and kind of pretending they didn’t hear others.

So — but I hope it doesn’t become political, because this truly is a remarkable spiritual moment in a very secular city.

HARI SREENIVASAN: David?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I just want to underline that last comment. I hope we don’t overpoliticize this visit.

The first thing we’re going to see is our countrymen, thousands, millions of them moved by faith, their eyes looking to heaven, their heart warmed by God’s love. And we’re going to see that in public. And we’re going to see that in tens of millions of people. And that will be a moment of seeing faith in a way we rarely see it in this country in public.

And, secondly, we will see the example of the man. The message is the person. It’s the way he conducts himself. His love for the poor is not out of any self-congratulatory. He — whether you’re Jewish, Muslim, atheist, whatever, he is the embodiment of the Christian virtues that I think we all admire, the — seeing the meekest, seeing the poorest, seeing the lowest, and lifting them up, and seeing the brokenness in people, and then lifting them up with joy.

And so, to me, it will be a theater of spiritual — a spiritual theater more than a political theater. And I suspect tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people’s lives will be changed, in the way that politics can never change them, from within. Their lives will be transformed because they will be at this visit. And they will be moved by something they had never felt or only have felt weakly before.

And to me, that’s just a seismic event, whatever happens to our political culture.

HARI SREENIVASAN: David, so what about — how does that translate when that spiritual theater is finished? Does that translate into any sort of policy action or rethinking something that might be in the works in Congress that’s stalled?

DAVID BROOKS: Well, I hope it transforms hearts. And I hope it transforms hearts in the ways Mark just suggested.

The pope is not going to visit the homeless or the prisoners once in his visit. He’s doing it six, seven, eight times in the visit. So, the constant focus will be there on those who are hurting the most. And I think that enlivened attention will carry over into people’s eyes, both in their private lives and their private giving, but also in their public lives.

Mark has said this many times over the years. We have a political culture focused on the middle class. We have lost some of the contact with the poor, some of the contact with the needy, and not only — and not from high to low, and, frankly, some of the compassionate conservatism and some of progressivism has been from high to low, but treating the poor as those closest to God and worthy of respect maybe even more than everybody else.

And that’s an attention that has been absent from our political culture or in short supply, and maybe it will be in slightly bigger supply.

MARK SHIELDS: I think David said it very, very well, just that wherever he goes, he brings the cameras with him, and an incredible number of cameras, as we know.

But as soon as he finishes Congress — and it’s the hottest ticket in the history of Capitol Hill. I mean, people are fighting to get in. Former members and senators can’t even get into the gallery to hear him. They have set up a JumboTron outside.

He’s going to have lunch with the poorest of the poor in the Center City in Washington sponsored by Catholic Charities. I mean, these are the addicted. These are people with alcohol problems, with psychological problems, the homeless. And he doesn’t allow us to look away. He forces us to examine those who are living on the outskirts of hope.

HARI SREENIVASAN: All right.

Mark Shields, David Brooks, thanks so much for joining us.

MARK SHIELDS: Thank you.

The post Shields and Brooks on GOP debate standouts, Pope Francis goes to Washington appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

What happened for two Syrian families who made it to Germany

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HARI SREENIVASAN: For many of the people the NewsHour correspondents and teams have met, their ultimate destination, their promised land is Germany.

What was initially an open-door policy has seen modifications, as German authorities have reinstituted border controls, and draft legislation would limit generous state benefits to only certain refugee populations.

William Brangham updates on the stories of two families he first met in Hungary. Tonight, we meet them in Germany, where their lives have taken, for now, very different turns.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: While refugees and migrants have clashed violently with police on the Hungarian border this week, their attempts to enter into Europe are, for many of them, just the beginning of a much longer journey.

Last week, we followed two Syrian families along the grueling, unpredictable migration from the Middle East towards Germany. Both suffered sleepless nights, chaotic border crossings, and a maze of ever-changing rules and challenges.

Now, only a week later, so much had changed.

HAMEED YAKDI, Syrian Refugee (through interpreter): It’s a good feeling. After a long, hard effort and great risk, we arrived here. Thank God that we made it here. It’s a very strange feeling.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Hameed Yakdi and his family from Syria were lucky in many ways. Not only did they make it through Hungary before this week’s violence broke out and the sealing of the border, but, in Austria, they met Hameed’s brother, Muhammaed, who immigrated to Germany two years ago, and helped guide them the rest of the way.

HAMEED YAKDI (through interpreter): I felt safe the moment I reached Germany. I have a family that welcomed and helped me. I have not had to struggle. When I ask, they answer right away. They have lived here a long time, and they make me feel at home.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But many of the tens of thousands of refugees who’ve already arrived in Germany are not quite as lucky. We last saw Majdoleen Diab exhausted, bedding down for the night with her husband and daughter in a warehouse on the Austria-Hungary border. At that point, they’d traveled thousands of miles by boat and train, car and foot.

But now, a week later, they have finally arrived in Germany.

MAJDOLEEN DIAB, Syrian Refugee: The journey, it’s very hard. You see. We need a month for rest.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Their 2-year-old daughter, Maral, was sick with a cold from the road, but at least they now had time to sleep it off.

Soon after arriving in Germany, the Diabs were transferred north by German authorities to a small town on the Czech border. Majdoleen says they were afraid they were being deported.

MAJDOLEEN DIAB: We are opening GPS, oh, oh, we are near the Czech. We are near the Czech. We think — he give them to Czech. We are worried. But we were — arrived. It’s a very, very wonderful village.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It is here, in this social-hall-turned-refugee-camp, where they will likely stay for months as they wait for their asylum applications to be approved. This is now home to about 100 asylum seekers from various countries and backgrounds. All were given I.D. bracelets, and for now, instructions to simply stay put.

Juliane Scheer is a German asylum lawyer in Munich.

JULIANE SCHEER, Asylum Lawyer: For the first three months, people have to live in certain refugee centers. And, from there, they are distributed.

They have a special legal status. They cannot be deported, but they also have certain restrictions, for example, for the place where they can live. They cannot just look for — for work or they cannot just look for an apartment. They have to stay in these refugee camps.

MAJDOLEEN DIAB: It’s hard. Waiting, it’s hard, because we haven’t know what we are waiting now. We have breakfast, stay about one hour, taking shower, eating lunch, and stay, not — not important.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Back in Munich, the Yakdi family is now staying with extended family, and they may eventually have to go through the same process and move away. Their cousin Ruaa has been through it before. She came to Germany 15 years ago as a refugee from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

RUAA ADNA SULAIMAN, Yakdi Family Cousin: They have to be patient. And they have to bear everything they will be facing. It’s not hunger. It’s not unsafety. It’s — everything is offered for them here. But the procedures, it will take time, and some people give up so quickly.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Hameed’s brother, Muhammaed, came from Syria two years ago. In alternating English, Arabic and German, he explained his reasons for immigrating.

Muhammaed Hameed, Syrian Refugee (through interpreter): When my brother asked me the first time, he wanted to come to Germany. I said, come, but not for you, for the children. Here, your children can learn, study better, better than even in our country when we didn’t have war. Here, it is better than our country. We have to say that, better learning, studying, a better life.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: While she waits to begin a new life with her family, Majdoleen Diab has already started learning German. The German government says they will grant asylum to virtually all Syrian applicants, but the process could still take months.

She says they’re committed to starting a new life here. She wants to go back to being a hairdresser, and Ahmad wants to return to work again in metal fabrication. And, most importantly, they want little Maral to get to school.

AHMAD DIAB, Syrian Refugee (through interpreter): Once I start working, I can build a new future here. At least my daughter gets an education and can finish her schooling.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Maral will go to a German school, read German books, have German friends. And while they’re grateful to be here, Majdoleen says that, in many ways, her daughter will grow up in a very different world.

MAJDOLEEN DIAB: It’s very hard, because the person, he leaves his country and his parents, his friends, his memories, everything. In Syria, we had noise and many people and many cafe and many everything. And we had the neighbors. We had friends. We had everything. But, here, we feel lonely, lonely here.

We leave our country for her future. We need a future for my daughter. And our country now, we haven’t future there.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: There are many challenges ahead for the thousands of refugees who have already arrived in Germany and other European countries. But, for most of them, the first challenge is to wait.

For the PBS NewsHour, I’m William Brangham.

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Video shows California police striking teenager after allegedly jaywalking

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Video still courtesy of Edgar Avendano.

Video still courtesy of Edgar Avendano.

Footage emerged Thursday of police officers in Stockton, California, violently arresting a 16-year-old boy for allegedly jaywalking.

Bystander Edgar Avendaño posted video, taken Tuesday, of the incident to his Facebook page. The video shows the teen, identified by his family as Emilio Mayfield, curled up in the fetal position, while an officer seems to press his baton into the teen. Both the officer and the teen have their hands on the officer’s baton.

“Get off,” the boy yells, while the officer can be heard saying, “stop resisting.” When the teen sits up, the officer appears to strike him twice across the face with the baton. The teen then holds his face and cries. More police officers arrive, and four wrestle the teen to the ground to arrest him, while five others stand around.

During the altercation a small black object that looks like the officer’s body camera can be seen lying on the sidewalk in the background of the video. After the altercation, the officer picks it up and attaches it to his uniform. A Stockton Police spokesperson told Vice News that the officer’s camera fell off during the incident.

“The kid got stopped for ‘jaywalking’ when he barely stepped out of the bus,” Avendaño wrote in text accompanying the video. “He was two feet away from the sidewalk when the cop stopped him for ‘jaywalking.’ The cop was telling him to take a sit but the teen kept walking to his bus but the cop kept grabbing his arm & the kid took off the cop’s hand off his arm so the cop took out his baton and that’s when I started recording because everything happened too quick.”

Stockton Police spokesperson Joseph Silva told NBC News that an officer responded after a teen he had told to get on the sidewalk refused to listen and used obscene language.

“If everyone would just learn to comply with the lawful orders from police officers and not try to hold or grab any of our weapons, force would never have to be used,” Stockton said.

Because force was used, the altercation is already under automatic administrative review. It is the latest in a series of videos that have led many in the public to question the use of force in police departments.

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Elated to reach Greece, migrants face obstacles on the road ahead

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Volunteers from Israeli and Danish NGO's pull a dinghy overcrowded with Syrian refugees at a beach on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from Turkey  September 18, 2015. The dinghy lost its motor some one hundred meters from shore.  REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis  - RTS1SBM

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HARI SREENIVASAN: There are many way stations on the long and hard march from the killing fields of the Middle East, North Africa and Afghanistan. Many of those perilous journeys stop over on the Greek islands off the Turkish coast.

Tonight, special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports from the Greek isle of Lesbos, where tens of thousands of refugees and migrants have landed on their uncertain voyage toward Europe.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Just after dawn, and volunteers direct the day’s first arrivals to make the five-mile crossing from Turkey. The flimsy boat was spotted by Englishman Eric Kempson, a Lesbos resident, who’s been up at dawn every day for months to shepherd the refugees to safety. Kempson has inspired other Europeans to help, at a time when the E.U. is bitterly divided over how to respond.

ERIC KEMPSON, Volunteer: Now we’re at 40, 45. The other day, we had 50 boats. You know, 50 boats is 2,500 people. It’s absolutely crazy. And the amount of accidents is unbelievable, boats sinking, people in the water. We’re rescuing every single day.

We’re civilized people here in Europe. And for these people to have suffered the way they have suffered, when you see them get off the boats, they’re all elated and everything else, and then you see them a few hours or a few days later, they’re different people. They don’t know what the hell is going on here.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Today’s sea was kind. It isn’t always.

How do you feel about being here?

MAN: Happy.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Only a handful of children were on the boat. Most were men, whose first thought was to phone home. Kempson’s wife, Philippa, has noticed a clear trend.

PHILIPPA KEMPSON, Volunteer: The last weeks, most of the Syrian people are from Damascus, and the stories we are hearing is that they have hung on and hung on. And now Damascus is — it’s — the war is spreading to all the areas of Damascus. So, they’re leaving really quickly now. These are people that were in Damascus a week ago.

So they’re running really quickly. So, it’s nothing to do with the numbers pulling them, because they know how bad the situation here is. They’re very media-savvy. They have their phones. They’re in contact with people who’ve already come. They know how bad it is. But they’re — what’s the alternative? They’re not allowed to fly to Europe. They have to make this journey. We have forced them into — the more fences we build, the more we force people to make journeys like this.

MALCOLM BRABANT: It’s estimated that 60 percent of those crossing to Lesbos are from Syria.

EHAD EL GHALIB: Life there, it’s not good. It’s not healthy. Children, it’s not safe. Our home, it’s not safe. Everything is not safe.

MALCOLM BRABANT: The next biggest national group setting out for Northern Europe comes from Afghanistan, where fears about of ongoing violence and insecurity, driven by the Taliban and Islamic State, abound.

EQBOL GULZOT: The most important point is just the insecurity and different bad situations that forced us and others to leave our homeland and hometown. And just we want security, we want a shelter in order to have a better life in the future.

Our education is left incomplete in our country. But we are trying our best. And this is the target and aim of our parents also and others to pave the ground of education for us, for our small brothers.

MALCOLM BRABANT: The people behind me are waiting for a bus to take them to Mytilini, which is Lesbos’ main town. And that’s an improvement on when I was here four months ago, because they had to march for two or three days to reach the ports to catch a ferry to Athens.

But the European Union’s inability to construct a coherent policy to deal with this crisis means that the new arrivals have many more difficulties than those who have trodden this road before. Getting to the fringes of Greece is painfully slow, but every day, new obstacles are being placed in their way in the Balkans and Central Europe.

But their first impression of Europe was one of kindness, as they were greeted with food, fluids and genuine concern. For this child, the journey was quickly forgotten in a slightly surreal encounter on the beach. This young Syrian recorded his landfall for posterity. He’s making history. But the scenes he will capture in the coming days may not be so peaceful.

For the PBS NewsHour, I’m Malcolm Brabant in Lesbos.

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News Wrap: Overwhelmed Croatia moves migrants to Hungary

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A migrant carries three children as others scramble aboard a train at the station in Beli Manastir, Croatia September 18, 2015. Migrant numbers in Europe will build up in coming days and their flows may fragment further into new routes, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday, urging the European Union to grasp a last chance to resolve the refugee crisis next week. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh - RTS1QFV

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HARI SREENIVASAN: Wall Street worried away all of the week’s gains today, amid fears of slowing growth worldwide. The Federal Reserve had cited the state of the world economy yesterday when it opted not to raise interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 290 points today, to close back near 16380. The Nasdaq fell 66 points and the S&P 500 slide 32. For the week, all three indexes lost a fraction of a percent.

Confusion reigned across Southeastern Europe today, as countries competed to move desperate migrants to each other’s territory. Croatia’s government announced it could not cope, after 17,000 surged across its border with Serbia in 48 hours. So, the Croatians began moving migrants into Hungary, which was working to expand its razor wire fence.

Jonathan Miller of Independent Television News reports again from the scene.

JONATHAN MILLER: The dispossessed were dumped in no man’s land between Croatia and Hungary at 2:00 p.m. local time, brought here in great convoys by buses by the Croatians, unwanted, unwelcome.

But this is a highly provocative act. Neighboring Hungary has made it abundantly clear that it doesn’t want these wayfarers either. As Hungarian Humvees and troop reinforcements arrived, Hungary’s foreign minister accused Croatia of encouraging masses of people to commit the criminal offense of illegally crossing its border.

Noor and her friends are from Aleppo in Syria. After all they have been through, being caught in the middle of a game of chicken between two E.U. countries doesn’t faze her.

The government of Hungary has said that, if you cross, it is illegal.

WOMAN: It’s illegal. What we do? Just stay and wait.

JONATHAN MILLER: A group of asylum seekers, including a family, broke away from the Croatian police and made off through a field towards the frontier. Police gave chase and rounded them up, but suddenly the atmosphere softened.

For all the bad blood between these two fractious neighbors, a fleet of Hungarian buses drove into no man’s land. It took ages to load up, and it wasn’t exactly done in good grace, but the burly Hungarian police oversaw the whole operation. The buses drove off.

The unwanted have been taken to two registration centers close to the Austrian border. Austrian Interior Ministry said there had been no coordination between Budapest and Vienna. In Tovarnik, scene of yesterday’s mayhem, they continued to pour in from Serbia right through night, despite seven of eight border crossings being closed by Croatia. A train took 1,000 to Zagreb.

But we found 3,000 people standing for hours in searing heat waiting for buses. They’d all spent the night in the open. The U.N. Refugee Agency says it can’t do anything until they’re asked to with specific requests for assistance, which they haven’t had. This whole situation is actually quite manageable, its spokesman told me. It’s just they have no clue how to do it.

WOMAN: We know how to do the job, but the responsibility, the moral and legal responsibility here, is on the countries in the European Union. What’s missing is a collective European Union action. Countries have been trying to do it on their own and then, at some stage, they say they can’t. So they need to do it together.

JONATHAN MILLER: E.U. leaders won’t meet until next Wednesday. Croatia has thrown down the gauntlet to Brussels today. Hungary’s furious and so are the Serbs. Now everyone says they’re swamped.

HARI SREENIVASAN: We will have first-hand reports on either end of this desperate journey, Greece and Germany, after the news summary.

In Pakistan, Taliban gunmen killed 29 people when they stormed an air force base in the northwest. It was the militants’ deadliest strike yet at the Pakistani military. Officials said 16 of those killed were worshipping at a mosque inside the compound. The assault triggered an hours-long gunfight before the attackers were killed.

The death toll hit 182 in South Sudan a day after a fuel truck erupted into a fire ball. Hundreds more were being treated for burns. The accident happened west of the capital, Juba, as people were siphoning gas from the truck.

The United States and Russia moved closer today to military-to-military discussions on Syria. It came amid fresh reports of Russian tanks and fighter jets arriving to support the Assad regime.

In London, Secretary of State John Kerry said President Obama believes military talks are an important next step. Kerry met with the foreign minister from the United Arab Emirates.

JOHN KERRY, Secretary of State: We’re looking for ways in which to try to find a common ground. Clearly, if you’re going to have a political settlement, which we have always argued is the best and only way to resolve Syria, you need to have conversations with people and you need to find the common ground.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Ash Carter spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart, a first step toward direct military talks.

There’s word the U.S. Marines will ask to exclude women from some front-line combat jobs. The Associated Press reports the Marines have made that formal recommendation to the Navy secretary. It is in sharp contrast to the Army, Navy and Air Force. They are expected to open all battlefield positions to women.

Republicans in the U.S. House voted today to block Planned Parenthood’s federal funding for a year. Party leaders hoped the votes would appease conservatives, and persuade them not to force a government shutdown over the issue. The debate was sparked by secretly recorded videos of Planned Parenthood officials discussing how they harvest fetal tissue for research.

REP. DIANE BLACK (R), Tennessee: Congressional investigations are under way. But there are more than enough lingering questions to stop the flow of money, taxpayer dollars, to this abortion giant until our work is complete.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), Florida: As a woman, mother, and breast cancer survivor, I refuse to take that threat lying down. Republicans’ own investigations turned up nothing. Yet some of their members are willing to risk women’s lives just to score political points. Enough is enough.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Senate Democrats have vowed to block the bill in that chamber.

A South Carolina man is now accused of failing to sound the alarm before the church shootings in Charleston and lying about it afterward. Joey Meek pleaded not guilty today to charges in a federal indictment. Meek has said Dylann Roof told him he was about to — quote — “do something crazy,” but knew no specifics. The FBI now says that was a lie. Nine people died in the church attack.

The United States has handed over one of China’s most wanted fugitives from corruption charges. He had been in this country since 2001. State television showed businessman Yang Jinjun arriving back in China today and being taken away in handcuffs to face bribery and embezzlement charges. Chinese officials hailed the development.

MAN (through interpreter): The successful repatriation of Yang Jinjun is the result of the close communication and cooperation between Chinese and U.S. law enforcement authorities. This marks major progress in China-U.S. law enforcement cooperation in pursuit of corruption suspects. We appreciate the efforts and help that the U.S. government provided.

HARI SREENIVASAN: In the past, the U.S. has been reluctant to send fugitives back to China, given its history of human rights abuses. This new move comes just days before President Xi Jinping’s first state visit to Washington.

President Obama spoke with Cuban President Raul Castro today, ahead of the pope’s visit to both countries. The White House says they discussed efforts to restore ties during the phone call. It came on the same day that the U.S. eased its longtime embargo of Cuba. New rules are designed to make it easier for tourism, telephone and Internet firms to establish a presence in the island nation.

The Environmental Protection Agency is accusing Volkswagen of deliberately violating clean air laws and ordering a halt. It means fixing nearly half a million V.W. and Audi diesel cars made since 2008. They contain so-called defeat devices that activate emissions controls only during official testing. The systems are turned off during normal driving. V.W. could be fined more than $18 billion.

And campaigning wrapped up today in Greece ahead of Sunday’s general election with no clear winner in sight. Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned last month after members of his Syriza Party rebelled against new austerity measures. Today, preparations were under way to set up polling stations. Municipal workers were busy delivering voting booths, ballot boxes and other supplies.

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Ahead of pope’s visit, Obama and Raul Castro speak by phone

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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro had a rare phone call Friday ahead of Pope Francis’ impending visit to both their nations.

The White House said Obama and Castro commended the pope’s role in “advancing relations between our countries.” Francis was instrumental in the secret talks that led to a thaw in relations between the Cold War foes, even offering the Vatican as a neutral location for negotiations.

Francis’ visit to the U.S. and Cuba comes as the two countries painstakingly work to normalize relations after a half-century diplomatic freeze. Earlier Friday, the U.S. eased rules for citizens wishing to travel to Cuba or do business with its growing ranks of independent entrepreneurs, a step aimed at kindling greater economic freedom on the island.

The Treasury and Commerce departments said the regulations that take effect Monday simplify procedures for tourism, telephone and Internet investments, and money transfers to Cuba.

Even as the U.S. and Cuba move forward on easing tensions, deep differences remain. Cuba wants the U.S. to fully lift its economic embargo on the communist island, a step the Republican-controlled Congress opposes. The U.S. also has concerns about Cuba’s human rights record and detainment of political prisoners.

“The leaders discussed steps that the United States and Cuba can take, together and individually, to advance bilateral cooperation, even as we will continue to have differences on important issues and will address those differences candidly,” the White House said.

Francis is due to arrive in Cuba Saturday. He’ll then travel to the U.S. for a multi-city visit, including a White House meeting with Obama.

Obama and Castro first spoke in December after the secret process to restore diplomatic relations was revealed. They also met in person earlier this year during a regional summit in Panama.

 

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Russian fighter jets in Syria raise serious questions, Kerry says

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) meets with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed about the ongoing Syrian crisis, in London, Britain, September 18, 2015. Photo by Evan Vucci/Reuters.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) meets with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed about the ongoing Syrian crisis, in London, Britain, September 18, 2015. Photo by Evan Vucci/Reuters.

LONDON — The United States is disturbed by Russia’s movement of tactical aircraft to Syria, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday, acknowledging that the jets could pose a threat to American and allied military forces.

U.S. officials say Russia moved a small number of fighter jets to a base in Syria on Friday, hours after U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter talked with Russia Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in the first military contacts between the two countries in some time.

“Clearly, the presence of aircraft with air-to-air combat capacity … and surface-to-air missiles raise serious questions,” Kerry said, responding to a question after meeting with British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond. The Russians have deployed at least one such system, according to an American official, who was not authorized to discuss military matters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Russia says its recent military buildup in Syria is designed to fight the Islamic State group. While IS lacks an air force, the Russian aircraft are capable of striking ground targets and providing close air support for ground forces, a U.S. intelligence official said. The official was not authorized to discuss military matters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Russia’s military moves in Syria are its first major expeditionary force deployment outside the former Soviet Union since the war in Afghanistan, the official said.

Kerry said the military-to-military talks with the Russians are designed to make sure there are no incidents between Russian and American forces. The discussions also amount to a tacit acceptance of the Russian buildup, after weeks of warnings from Washington against any Russian escalation in Syria.

In another apparent concession, Kerry stated explicitly that the U.S. could accept a resolution to the Syrian war that allowed President Bashar Assad to remain in place for a time before departing, as the U.S. long has wanted.

“We’re not being doctrinaire about the specific date or time – we’re open,” Kerry said, adding that Assad doesn’t have to leave “on day one, or month one, or whatever.”

He later added that the U.S. considered Assad a magnet for the foreign fighters who are filling the Islamic State group’s ranks.

“So there’s a lack of logic,” Kerry said, for the Russians to say “they are bringing in more equipment to shore up Assad at the same time they say they are going after” the militants.

Meantime, a Syrian rebel group claims it fired rockets at a coastal air base said to be used by Russian troops. In a video posted Friday, members of the Islam Army warn the Russians that they will not enjoy peace in Syria. The fighters are then are seen loading and launching multiple rockets from a mountainous area.

Kerry and Hammond said they also discussed the situations in Yemen, Libya and Ukraine. Kerry also urged restraint in response to days of clashes around the Jerusalem holy site known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

“All of us join together in urging everybody to keep the calm,” Kerry said.

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Black Lives Matter movement won’t endorse a presidential candidate

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WASHINGTON — The Black Lives Matter network will skip a presidential endorsement but keep up its political activism by confronting candidates about the treatment of African-Americans in the United States, one of the group’s founders says.

In an Associated Press interview, Alicia Garza discussed the organization’s refusal to settle on a preferred candidate in the 2016 race to succeed President Barack Obama and pledged to press ahead with protests and interruptions during the campaign.

“Sometimes you have to put a wrench in the gears to get people to listen,” said Garza, who spoke at the 7th Annual Black Women’s Roundtable Policy Forum last week.

The Black Lives Matter movement traces its roots to the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012, and gained national ground after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, last summer. Since then, deaths of other unarmed black males at the hands of law enforcement officers have inspired protests under the “Black Lives Matter” moniker.

Some are affiliated with the original network founded by Opal Tometi, Patrisse Cullors, Garza and their allies. Some are not, although they use the slogan.

Black Lives Matter activists grabbed headlines when they disrupted a Seattle rally last month right before Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, was about to speak. Others claiming to represent Black Lives Matter have met with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush.

The Congressional Black Caucus, a group of African-American lawmakers in the House and Senate, also was focusing on criminal justice and police reforms during its annual legislative conference this weekend.

The Democratic National Committee acknowledged the Black Lives Matter movement at its Aug. 1 meeting in Minneapolis with a resolution saying it “joins with Americans across the country in affirming `Black lives matter’ and the `say her name’ efforts to make visible the pain of our fellow and sister Americans as they condemn extrajudicial killings of unarmed African-American men, women and children.”

The network said the resolution would not get its endorsement, and Garza reaffirmed that the official Black Lives Matter organization will not endorse any political party or candidate this election cycle.

“Black Lives Matter as a network will not, does not, has not, ain’t going to endorse any candidates,” Garza said. “Now if there are activists within the movement that want to do that independently, they should feel free and if that’s what makes sense for their local conditions, that’s fantastic. But as a network, that’s not work we’re engaged in yet.”

In the future, the organization may become more involved with candidates and parties, and even run candidates, she said, but added that “we’re not there yet.”

“It’s too early in the development of the network and it’s too early in the genesis of the movement to rally around anyone in particular who hasn’t demonstrated that they feel accountable to the Black Lives Matter movement or network,” said Garza, who also works with the National Domestic Worker Alliance.

“What we’ve seen is an attempt by mainstream politics and politicians to co-opt movements that galvanize people in order for them to move closer to their own goals and objectives,” she said. “We don’t think that playing a corrupt game is going to bring change and make black lives matter.”

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‘Now it’s me as their elder': After a mother’s death, a struggle to finish school in Kenya

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timeforschoolkenya

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JOAB ONYANDO, KENYA: I think if I go to school, and God helps me, I’ll become a pilot or a mechanical engineer.

I want to be just a pilot.

It’s not a pilot. It’s an engineer.

When the government introduced free primary school, it was like every child wanted to join school.

NARRATOR: Joab Onyando’s family could never afford tuition for school, until 2003, when Kenya makes primary school free for the first time in nearly thirty years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning, school.

STUDENTS: Good morning!

NARRATOR: More than a million new students flood the system. Joab is 10 and his brother Gerald is 7 when they begin first grade, walking to school each day through the sprawling Nairobi slum they call home, Kibera.

(SINGING)

NARRATOR: Their class has 74 students, and one teacher.

Free education isn’t entirely free. Like so many others from Kibera, Joab’s family struggles to pay for school uniforms, books, even pencils. His father, Alfred, is chronically unemployed, while his mother Leah takes care of the children.

Just having enough to eat is always a problem.

LEAH ONYANDO, JOAB’S MOTHER: The way I see it, if he goes to school, his life will improve tremendously, and he’ll be able to get me out of this misery, so I always encourage him to read and learn.

NARRATOR: But shortly after Joab begins school, he’s hit with a terrible blow.

JOAB ONYANDO: The last time I saw her, that day in the morning, she was fine.

NARRATOR: His mother dies, at the age of 28.

JOAB ONYANDO: She told me that I should take care of my brother and my younger sister. I stake care of Gerald and Filgona.

NARRATOR: Unconfirmed rumors that his mother died of AIDS are enough for Joab and his siblings to be ostracized by their neighbors.

JOAB ONYANDO: When my mother died, nobody didn’t want us. Even as friends. Not even when we were playing with their children. They were chasing us away.

NARRATOR: Joab runs away from home. Joab becomes one of Nairobi’s 60,000 street children.

LEAH ASEGO, JOAB’S TEACHER: I think the playmates were trying to lure him to go to the streets.

NARRATOR: Teacher Leah Asego sends some of Joab’s classmates to find him.

ASEGO: He told me, “Teacher, I didn’t want to know where I was heading to.” So that is a boy we rescued again to come back to school.

JOAB ONYANDO: She told me not to care about what people are saying.

NARRATOR: Now in fourth grade at age 12, Joab is doing well with his studies and is named class monitor.

JOAB ONYANDO: Jones, sit down. Hey you, Ondinyo, sit down.

NARRATOR: By the time Joab is 15, his father remarries and moves out. Joab honors his mother’s wish that he look after his brother and sister.

JOAB ONYANDO: Now, it’s me as their elder, and then Gerald and Filgona.

NARRATOR: Joab is now head of the household, and must find a way to feed the family. A school program provides fresh vegetables and other staples meant only for the children. But the free food attracts a visitor: their father.

JOAB’S FATHER: They go some vegetables. So I can take a piece or two pieces for my consumption on the other side.

JOAB ONYANDO: If there’s no food, we will just sleep. Sometimes I feel angry at my father. Sometimes you feel as if why your — my mother was the one to die?

(SINGING)

NARRATOR: Despite the hardship, Joab stays in school. Mrs. Asego keeps close track of him, involving him in poetry performance competitions to keep him motivated.

Joab graduates eighth grade in the top third of his class. He gets a scholarship to a strict boarding school called Nakeel. Because he started school so late, he’s an independent-minded 18-year old, entering ninth grade. And that’s not an easy transition.

PAULINE NABWANA, JOAB’S TEACHER: Here in school, there are rules and regulations. There are duties allocated to each student. Sometimes Joab might not have done the duty and you find that he has to be given another day of punishments.

NARRATOR: Joab begins finding excuses to go home to Kibera. Until one day, he just doesn’t come back.

JOAB ONYANDO: I’m not going to Nakeel. People didn’t understand me. People didn’t understand my life. Didn’t know where I was coming from.

NABWANA: I wish Joab would have really known he had a chance to excel. At least to bring himself out of that quagmire.

JOAB ONYANDO: After I dropped out, I was just in Kibera. I was doing nothing.

NARRATOR: His grandmother finds him living on the streets again.

She takes him to her village in western Kenya. Joab survives as a subsistence farmer, out of school, for the next two years.

His education has reached a dead end.

But his brother Gerald, who started primary school the same day as Joab, not only stays in school but excels. The little boy Joab took care of after their father left them is now 19-years-old and class president.

JOAB ONYANDO: I was very happy for him. I know my brother is a leader.

NARRATOR: Gerald’s future depends on national exams. If he does well, he could go to college. A future that now seems out of reach for Joab.

JOAB ONYANDO: I don’t like being here. The way I’ve been in the streets of Nairobi, and the way I see life now, I would follow any rule, just for me to be in school. I’ll do anything, just for me to stay there.

NARRATOR: Joab asks our film crew for a ride to Nairobi, where he hopes to find a job or some training. Kibera has changed little since he left two years ago. If anything, it’s more crowded and desperate. Without intervention, it seems unlikely Joab, now 21 years old, will find his way back to school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Time management, will it be a challenge for you?

JOAB ONYANDO: No, I won’t have any problem with time management.

NARRATOR: But Joab gets another chance. With the help of his former teacher at Nakeel boarding school and American sponsors, Joab is accepted to a day school outside Nairobi, far away from Kibera.

JOAB ONYANDO: I’d like to be a civil engineer. Like build a bridge, that this bridge was constructed under the engineer, Joab.

This is the last chance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Make use of it properly. Don’t mess. Yeah?

JOAB ONYANDO: Yes.

The post ‘Now it’s me as their elder': After a mother’s death, a struggle to finish school in Kenya appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

‘The world caught up with me': At 88, painter Alex Katz continues prolific work

Puerto Rican radical group Young Lords retake NYC in museum exhibit

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Máximo R. Colón / Partido Young Lords / ca.1970 / Gelatin silver print / Courtesy of Máximo R. Colón

Partido Young Lords, c. 1970. Photo by Máximo Colón at El Museo del Barrio

The Young Lords, a largely Puerto Rican group of radicals, virtually took over parts of New York City in the 1960s and early 1970s fighting for self-determination for Latinos and against racial discrimination and inequality.

What started as a turf gang on the streets of Chicago in the fall of 1960 ultimately grew into a Puerto Rican nationalist party that expanded to New York City — as its members opened offices in the Bronx, East Harlem and the Lower East Side. “They grew up during a period of struggle and they had a profound sense of responsibility to the community.”

Now, the radical social activists have reclaimed their territory at three New York museums with the exhibit “¡Presente! The Young Lords in New York,” which explores the civil and human rights activism of Latinos through photography, film and other artwork to showcase the legacy of the Young Lords.

“They grew up during a period of struggle and they had a profound sense of responsibility to the community,” said Johanna Fernandez, a professor of history at Baruch College and co-curator of the Bronx Museum exhibit. “That experience of seeing the discrimination in the schools, in the hospital, at the police station, radicalized them emotionally at a very young age,” she said.

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Digital prints at Loisada Inc of the Young Lords’ announcing the formation of the group at Tompkins Square Park in 1969. Photo by Hiram Maristany

Organizers announced the formal founding of the Young Lords at a public rally to commemorate the Cuban Revolution on July 26, 1969, at a bandshell at Tompkins Square Park in the city’s Lower East Side.

In an era defined by protests — largely those calling for an end to the Vietnam War — the group’s radical beginnings were further influenced by the militant group, the Black Panthers, who fought against racial prejudice and police brutality in the 1960s and 70s.

The Young Lord’s members were generally young and were often the primary English speakers of their families. Many attended universities in the U.S. but later dropped out to join the organization.

The group developed a 13-point platform that combined principles of racial justice and socialism as well as calls for for Puerto Rican sovereignty.

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Pablo Guzman, Yoruba of the Young Lords, at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Photo by Fred W. McDarrah

One of the Young Lords’ first actions became known as the “Garbage Offensive”, when the group blocked a portion of Third Avenue in 1969 with discarded waste to protest what they said was the Sanitation Department’s neglect of East Harlem.

The more intimate moments of the Young Lords’ community work were documented by Hiram Maristany, a former member of the Young Lords.

“It’s important to show photographs of them not just in the march, at the protest, doing the action but in quiet moments too when work is being done…the more reflective moments,” El Museo curator Rocio Alvarado said.

The group’s activism also led to the creation of the group’s weekly publication, Palante, which translates to “forward in struggle” or “right on” in Spanish.

“They were a revolutionary organization and there is a history of newspaper production in radical Socialist organizations,” Fernandez said. “[Palante] was the means by which the Young Lords put their ideas out to the community about issues like Puerto Rican independence.”

Archives of the newspaper cover a large section of the El Museo and Bronx Museum galleries.

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Installation view of the Young Lords publication “Palante” at El Museo del Barrio. Photo by Connie Kargbo/NewsHour

The group later staged two lock-ins at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, known to many in the community as the “butcher shop of the south Bronx,” to protest what they saw as poor health conditions and racism toward people of color at the hospital.

Many in the hospital staff supported the Young Lords in demanding better treatment and access to information for patients. A draft text outlining how patients should be treated at Lincoln Hospital eventually led to the first Patient Bill of Rights.

Installation view at the Bronx Museum of the Arts of Palante (2015) and Women of the Young Lords (2015) by Sophia Dawson. Photo by Vanessa S. Clifton​.

Installation view at the Bronx Museum of the Arts of Palante (2015) and Women of the Young Lords (2015) by Sophia Dawson. Photo by Vanessa S. Clifton​

But while the Young Lords fought for better treatment and services for their community, women within the organization quietly battled what they saw as a misogynistic environment.

Documented in the exhibit, “Women of the Young Lords: The Revolution within the Revolution,” the Bronx Museum tackles the internal politics of the women who pushed back against the organization’s status quo.

These women rejected the idea of “Revolutionary Machismo,” a tenet included in the first draft of their 13-point platform. Instead, the women of the Young Lords lobbied to include “Down with Machismo and Male Chauvinism” as part of the plan.

At a recent panel discussion Denise Oliver-Velez, the first female leader of the Young Lords, called Revolutionary Machismo “the oxymoron of the century.”

Working with Young Lords Women’s Caucus, artist Sophia Dawson created a painted collage that pays tribute to the work of the women of the Young Lords in fighting for gender equality.

Art installation "Theater of Struggle" by Adrian 'Viajero' Roman. Photo by PBS Connie Kargbo/NewsHour.

Art installation “Theater of Struggle” by Adrian ‘Viajero’ Roman. Photo by PBS Connie Kargbo/NewsHour

In the Lower East Side, the Loisaida Inc. space honors the icons of the Young Lords and their ‘theatrical brand of cultural activism.’

The entrance of the exhibit, by Brooklyn artist Adrian ‘Viajero’ Roman, is a shrine-like mixed media installation that serves as a memorial to not only to the Young Lords but to the generation’s community activists as a whole.

The exhibits are currently on display at the Bronx Museum through October 15; El Museo del Barrio through December 12; and Loisaida Inc through October 10.

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Following debate, Trump rivals see reasons for hope

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Republican presidential candidate and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina speaks during the second official Republican presidential candidates debate of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, United States, September 16, 2015. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson - RTS1HUV

Republican presidential candidate and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina speaks during the second official Republican presidential candidates debate of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Sept. 16. Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s rivals emerged from the second Republican debate newly confident that the brash billionaire will fade if the nomination fight takes a more substantive turn, and that they can play a role in taking him down without hurting their own White House ambitions.

Yet that may be little more than wishful thinking in a race that so far has defied standard political logic.

“I keep looking for the speed bump that knocks Donald Trump off track,” said tea party co-founder Mark Meckler. “I haven’t seen it. We’re in uncharted territory.”

Trump may have had a lackluster performance in Wednesday’s debate, but he’s proved every prediction of his campaign’s demise to be premature. Often, he’s emerged from such moments with stronger support.

Even if Trump does falter in the coming weeks, several dozen Republicans interviewed by The Associated Press after the latest debate said no candidate is positioned to seize control if there’s a void atop the unruly Republican field.

Jeb Bush cannot escape stubborn and strong skepticism from conservatives. On Friday night, the former Florida governor stuck by his support for the Common Core education standards, and drew boos from a crowd of thousands in South Carolina.

Scott Walker has been knocked from his top-tier status. For the Wisconsin governor, the campaign focus is squarely on Iowa. “Maybe not enough sizzle,” said Daniel McCabe, a 65-year-old Republican from Stamford, Connecticut.

Former technology executive Carly Fiorina is emerging after a strong debate performance. But for now, she lacks the money and organization for the lengthy campaign most expect.

“I think that there’s interest in hearing new ideas because the old haven’t been working,” said Gwen Ecklund, the GOP head in Iowa’s Crawford County. “People are really still all over the board.”

Trump’s rivals say the debate, before a television audience of 23 million, did little to reshuffle the 16-candidate field. But they contend it was pivotal in exposing Trump’s vulnerabilities, most notably his glaringly undeveloped policy positions.

“I have big problems with his lack of interest in learning about the job of being president of the United States,” Bush told Fox News. “This is a big, serious job and you have to have the skills necessary to lead.”

Steve Munisteri, an adviser to Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s campaign, likened Trump’s debate performance to a long-running television show on the brink of cancellation.

“He never really gives any specifics, so most of his appeal is kind of reality talk show entertainment,” Munisteri said. “It’s the same old shtick every time.”

On Friday, Trump released just his second policy paper, posting to his website a statement outlining his support for expansive gun rights. That’s a stand on which there is almost no disagreement in the Republican Party.

With four more debates before the Iowa caucuses Feb. 1, the party’ establishment wing is banking on Trump’s policy gaps becoming more troublesome as the first voting nears.

For Robert Morse, a 67-year-old Republican who attended a Trump town hall meeting Thursday in New Hampshire, the candidate’s vague prescriptions for addressing the nation’s problems are cause for concern.

“Well, he hasn’t been real definite about that, has he?” Morse said. “If he’s going to really be in the running, he’s got to start putting down real facts that people want to hear about.”

Trump’s rivals were also heartened by signs that the businessman known for his sharp barbs sometimes flinched when criticism came his way.

For some, it validated their decision to engage Trump in the second debate rather than continue with the hands-off approach most took throughout the summer.

In post-debate calls with donors and other supporters, Bush advisers singled out his defense of his brother, former President George W. Bush, when Trump challenged his record. “You know what? As it relates to my brother, there’s one thing I know for sure: he kept us safe,” Bush said to cheers from the audience at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California on Wednesday night.

After that exchange, Bush’s team noted, Trump went silent for 37 straight minutes.

The most blistering onstage rebuke of Trump came from Fiorina, the former CEO at Hewlett-Packard. Asked about Trump’s attempt to explain away his insults about her looks, Fiorina said simply, “I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said.”

That Fiorina was even on the stage was a triumph of an establishment eager to showcase the only woman in the GOP race.

With the implicit backing of GOP officials, Fiorina’s campaign lobbied debate host CNN to change the participation criteria to allow her to participate despite her low poll numbers.

While many question her ultimate viability, the businesswoman is viewed as a powerful political weapon in the GOP’s push to court women, particularly in a 2016 contest that features Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Fiorina, Bush and several other candidates followed the debate with appearances at Republican gatherings in South Carolina and Michigan. Trump was scheduled to attend the South Carolina event, but pulled out Friday, citing a “significant business transaction.”

It was the second eyebrow-raising moment for Trump on the heels of the debate. Thursday in New Hampshire, he declined to correct a questioner who wrongly said President Barack Obama is a Muslim and asked what Trump planned to do about terrorist training camps on U.S. soil.

Two days later, Trump tweeted that didn’t think he was “morally obligated to defend the president every time somebody says something bad or controversial about him.”

Assessing the full impact of Trump’s uneven debate performance will take time.

Polling is notoriously unreliable at this stage of a campaign and heavily influenced by name recognition. Because Trump is largely financing his own campaign, the whims of wealthy donors offer little insight into his standing with voters.

On Friday, Trump told The New York Times he was prepared to spend $100 million of his own money to win the nomination. For other candidates, fundraising will consume the rest of their month ahead of the looming Sept. 30 deadline for reporting their money totals to federal regulators.

Donors and fundraisers for most candidates are predicting a paltry showing, given that the reporting period covers the traditionally slow summer months – a time they say was further exacerbated by the puzzle of Trump’s enduring prominence.

It’s one at least some voters are ready for Republicans to solve.

“Republican primary voters are looking for somebody who will lower the size, scope, and cost of government and promote freedom, liberty and opportunity,” said Mark Weymuller, a 55-year-old Republican from Naperville, Illinois. “Hair is not an issue.”

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Iran nuclear deal is done, but debate in Congress isn’t over

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WASHINGTON — It’s a done deal, yet opponents of the Iran nuclear agreement won’t go quietly.

The 60-day congressional review period has expired, and last week the State Department outlined its plan to put in place an accord that aims to prevent Iran from becoming nuclear-armed. Congress is poised to start cranking out legislation to reinstate sanctions or shore up what some lawmakers say is an ill-fated pact with a state supporter of terrorism.

Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has begun a series of hearings on the U.S. role and strategy in the Middle East that will examine the deal’s implications.

“It’s going to take a while. It’s a very substantive issue,” said Corker, R-Tenn., who opposed the deal. “It will be a complex piece of legislation.”

Confronted by Democratic opposition, Corker said, “Let’s face it. It’s going to be one bite at the apple.”

Republicans failed when Senate Democrats banded together to block a resolution of disapproval from ever reaching President Barack Obama. On Thursday, the State Department said Obama would start issuing waivers on Oct. 18 so the U.S. is ready to grant sanctions relief if Tehran meets its obligations to curb its nuclear program.

Iran has to uninstall thousands of centrifuges at its facility at Natanz, its main site for enriching uranium; convert an underground nuclear site at Fordo into a research facility; and redesign its heavy water reactor at Arak so it cannot produce weapons-grade plutonium. Iran also has to ship its stockpile of enriched uranium abroad, and comply with an International Atomic Energy Agency investigation into its past nuclear weapons work.

It’s not clear how long that will take.

If the IAEA finds that Iran has complied with key nuclear commitments, then sanctions imposed by the U.S., United Nations and Europe on Iran’s energy, financial, shipping, auto and other sectors are to be suspended.

“This so-called `Implementation Day’ won’t come for six to 12 months,” said Mark Dubowitz, a sanctions expert and an opponent of the deal with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based policy institute.

One idea being discussed in Congress calls for shoring up oversight of Iran’s compliance. Another measure would reauthorize the Iran Sanctions Act. The law was passed in 1996 to pressure foreign companies not to invest in Iran’s oil and gas industries; it has since been expanded.

Other legislation being weighed would strengthen security for Israel, which Iran has threatened to destroy, and for U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf worried about Iran gaining influence in the Mideast as a result of the deal.

“Although the congressional review period may be over, now the real work begins,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said in a speech Thursday at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Coons said preventing and deterring Iran from cheating must be a priority and even “marginal cheating and ambiguous evasions of the deal” must be met with a heavy club. “Iran must not be left with any doubt that it will feel the pain of sanctions from the entire global community the moment it violates the agreement,” he said.

He also wants the U.S. to improve Israel’s ability to strike Iranian targets; ensure Israel’s access to ordnance and aircraft needed to deter an Iranian attack; and provide for the sale of additional F-35s, plus more funding for Israel’s array of anti-rocket and missile defense systems.

To further stabilize the region in the wake of the deal, Coons said the U.S. needs to strengthen the Gulf states’ ability to counter threats from Iran.

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, one of only four Senate Democrats to oppose the deal, wants Congress to renew the Iran Sanctions Act “to ensure that we have an effective snapback option.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he will propose legislation with Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to address some of the deal’s “shortfalls.” Blumenthal and Cardin are Jewish and faced heavy lobbying from their constituents. In the end Blumenthal supported the deal; Cardin opposed it.

Blumenthal said the two will offer legislation to provide an effective way to put sanctions back into place if Iran cheats, ensure strict adherence to the agreement, and enhance security assistance to Israel, including new joint-training exercises and inviting Israeli pilots to train to fly long-range bombers.

Looming above all this debate is whether the agreement will last when Obama’s successor walks into the Oval Office in 16 months.

Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Scott Walker and Mike Huckabee have promised to abandon the accord. Asked if he would authorize a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, Sen. Lindsey Graham replied: “If I believed they were trying to break out and get a bomb, absolutely. And here’s the most important thing: They know I would if I had to.”

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Prost! Millions cheer with beer at Oktoberfest in Munich

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Beer drinkers from around the world converged in Munich, Germany, on Saturday, to raise a stein to the start of the 182nd Oktoberfest.

More than six million revelers dressed in traditional Bavarian lederhosen and dirndl dresses were expected to flock to Theresienwiese, the 420,000-square-meter official grounds, over the next two weeks for the 16-day beer bash.

Held annually in the Bavarian capital since 1810, the festival is a mainstay of German culture, featuring a smorgasbord of southern fare, including roast chicken and pork, sausages, dumplings, Sauerkraut, pretzels — and, of course, Oktoberfest Beer.

Visitors cheer with beer during the opening ceremony for the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, September 19, 2015. Millions of beer drinkers from around the world will come to the Bavarian capital over the next two weeks for Oktoberfest, which starts today and runs until October 4, 2015.       REUTERS/Michael Dalder   - RTS1UI9

Visitors cheer with beer during the opening ceremony for the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, September 19, 2015. Photo by Michael Dalder/Reuters.

Only beer brewed within Munich city limits and that adheres to the “Reinheitsgebot,” or German Beer Purity Law, which limits ingredients to only water, barley and hops, can be served at the official Oktoberfest. More than 6 million liters were consumed last year.

Other cities around the world also hold their own Oktoberfest celebrations modeled after the original Munich event, which runs this year until October 4, one day after German Unity Day.

A general view shows the festival ground during the opening day of the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, September 19, 2015. Millions of beer drinkers from around the world will come to the Bavarian capital over the next two weeks for Oktoberfest, which starts today and runs until October 4, 2015. REUTERS/Michael Dalder - RTS1WGE

A general view shows the festival ground during the opening day of the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, September 19, 2015. Photo by Michael Dalder/Reuters.

Customers fill a tent after the opening of the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, September 19, 2015. Millions of beer drinkers from around the world will come to the Bavarian capital over the next two weeks for Oktoberfest, which starts today and runs until October 4, 2015. REUTERS/Michael Dalder - RTS1U81

Customers fill a tent after the opening of the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, September 19, 2015. Photo by Michael Dalder/Reuters.

A waitress carries beer in a tent during the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, September 19, 2015. Photo by Michaela Rehle/Reuters.

A waitress carries beer in a tent during the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, September 19, 2015. Photo by Michaela Rehle/Reuters.

A waiter carries plates with snacks in a tent during the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, September 19, 2015. Millions of beer drinkers from around the world will come to the Bavarian capital over the next two weeks for Oktoberfest, which starts today and runs until October 4, 2015.    REUTERS/Michael Dalder - RTS1UH2

A waiter carries plates with snacks in a tent during the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, September 19, 2015. Photo by Michael Dalder/Reuters.

Women decorate gingerbread Oktoberfest hearts with icing at the Fesey company factory in Munich, Germany September 15, 2015. Fesey will produce about 1000 gingerbread hearts with the word 'tolerance' for the upcoming Oktoberfest. The proceeds will go toward the Caritas charity organisation. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle - RTS1861

Women decorate gingerbread Oktoberfest hearts with icing at the Fesey company factory in Munich, Germany September 15, 2015. Fesey will produce about 1000 gingerbread hearts with the word ‘tolerance’ for the upcoming Oktoberfest. Photo by Michaela Rehle/Reuters.

Visitors ride a ferris wheel during the opening day of the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, September 19, 2015. Millions of beer drinkers from around the world will come to the Bavarian capital over the next two weeks for Oktoberfest, which starts today and runs until October 4, 2015. REUTERS/Michael Dalder - RTS1WLR

Visitors ride a ferris wheel during the opening day of the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, September 19, 2015.  Photo by Michael Dalder/Reuters.

Visitors arrive on the opening day of the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich September 19, 2015. Millions of beer drinkers from around the world will come to the Bavarian capital over the next two weeks for Oktoberfest, which starts today and runs until October 4, 2015. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle - RTS1U37

Visitors arrive on the opening day of the 182nd Oktoberfest in Munich September 19, 2015. Photo by Michaela Rehle/Reuters.

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Clinton tries to rally unsure democrats with partisan fire

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U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Community Forum on Substance Abuse at The Boys and Girls Club of America campaign event in Laconia, New Hampshire, September 17, 2015.    REUTERS/Faith Ninivaggi - RTS1MSA

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Community Forum on Substance Abuse in Laconia, New Hampshire, on Sept. 17. On Saturday, Clinton spoke again in New Hampshire as she tries to regain her footing in the primary contest. Photo by Faith Ninivaggi/Reuters

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Hillary Rodham Clinton attempted to rally thousands of influential New Hampshire Democrats on Saturday with a fiercely partisan message, as she struggled to regain her footing in the primary contest.

Calling viewers of the three-hour Republican debate and two-hour undercard on Wednesday night “gluttons for punishment,” Clinton accused Republicans of focusing on problems the country faces rather than solutions.

“Fifteen candidates, five hours and not a single fighter for the middle class,” she told more than 3,500 party activists and elected officials gathered for the state party’s annual convention. “Republicans are not just deeply inaccurate, they’re increasingly out of touch and out of date.”

Her fiery, nearly 45-minute address marked Clinton’s effort to turn the focus of her party beyond primary divisions, casting herself as the strongest contender for Democrats eager to maintain control of the White House. She vowed to combat attacks from “the super PACs and the Koch brothers” and promised to fight for causes that have rallied the Democratic base like gun control, criminal justice reform and paid family leave.

But she saved her toughest critique for front-runner Donald Trump, whom she accused of “trafficking in prejudice and paranoia.” Clinton has repeatedly sought to link Trump’s controversial statements to the rest of the GOP field, arguing there’s little difference between his views and those of the Republican Party.

“By the way Donald, when you say you cherish women, that really doesn’t make it any better,” she said. “Why don’t you stop cherishing women and start respecting women.”

Clinton remains the front-runner nationally, with tens of millions in her campaign account, endorsements from top party officials and hundreds of paid staff at her Brooklyn headquarters. But though she still leads in early national polls, she’s no longer out front in surveys taken in the first two states to vote: Iowa and New Hampshire.

In recent weeks, her message of middle-class prosperity has been overshadowed by interest in her use of a private email account and server while she was secretary of state. In the meantime, Sanders’ anti-establishment campaign seems to be resonating with rank-and-file Democrats. Speculation is also growing that Vice President Joe Biden may jump into the race, a possibility that would scramble the primary field and only complicate Clinton’s prospects.

Though Clinton has repeatedly declined to comment on Biden’s presidential aspirations, she’s portrayed herself as the clear successor to President Barack Obama, praising his signature achievements and arguing that she would continue much of his work.

“I will proudly carry forward this record of Democratic achievement,” she told the party activists on Saturday. “We know what works and what doesn’t.”

Most Clinton backers left after her address, leaving an audience of raucous Sanders supports behind for his speech.

Sanders, a longtime liberal fighter, highlighted his fidelity to progressive causes. He stressed his opposition to the war in Iraq, a contrast with Clinton whose support for the invasion undermined her 2008 primary bid.

“I am a proud progressive,” he said. “That is what I did yesterday, that is what I did 25 years ago, that is what I’ll do tomorrow and that is what I’ll do if elected president of the United States.”

And like Clinton, Sanders spent a fair amount of time going after his would-be Republican challengers on a long list of issues. It “really hurts,” he said, to hear “so many of his Republican colleagues” talk about entering a war with Iran. He charged that GOP “family values” are simply code for opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage. And he accused them of sabotaging future generations to keep corporate dollars flowing from fossil fuel companies opposed to tacking climate change.

“They’re more worried about their campaign donations than their kids or their grandchildren,” he said.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley struggled to capture air in the Democratic primary field dominated by Clinton and Sanders. He reminded convention Democrats of his 15 years’ executive experience as Baltimore’s mayor and Maryland’s governor, experience his rivals lack. O’Malley pledged to fight for stricter gun control, higher minimum wage and holding down college costs.

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Trump argues against gun control, background checks in policy paper

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during his "Make America Great Again Rally" at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa, Tuesday on Aug. 25, 2015. Trump took heat for recently using the phrase "anchor babies," which was then echoed by fellow GOP contender Jeb Bush. Photo by Ben Brewer/Reuters

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during his “Make America Great Again Rally” at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa, Tuesday on Aug. 25, 2015. Trump, who once advocated certain gun control measures, says he is a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment. Photo by Ben Brewer/Reuters

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who once advocated certain gun control measures, says he is a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment and that gun rights should not be infringed upon.

In his second policy announcement of his campaign, Trump argues against expanded background checks and says the government should not place any kind of limits on the types of firearms people can own.

“The Second Amendment to our Constitution is clear,” he writes in the summary, released Friday on his website. “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed upon. Period.”

The position paper is the second Trump has released so far and mirrors many of the National Rifle Association’s talking points. There is little disagreement among the Republican field on the topic and appears aimed at firing up his conservative base.

In the paper, Trump, who has skyrocketed to the front of early GOP polls, offers several specific policy proclamations.

He says he wants members of the military stationed at bases and recruiting centers to be able to carry firearms and wants state-issued conceal carry permits, like the one he has, to be valid throughout the country.

“A driver’s license works in every state, so it’s common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state,” he writes.

He also argues against the expansion of the background check system, saying the current system must first be improved, and says he opposes all restrictions on magazine capacities and gun types.

“Law-abiding people should be allowed to own the firearm of their choice,” he writes. “The government has no business dictating what types of firearms good, honest people are allowed to own.”

The positions are at odds with the ones he expressed in his 2000 book, “The America We Deserve.”

“I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I also support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun,” he wrote then. “With today’s Internet technology we should be able to tell within 72 hours if a potential gun owner has a record.”

Trump has also shifted to the right in other policy areas, including abortion rights and health care.

More often, Trump sticks with vague talking points, like calling for better enforcement of laws already on the books, or describing problems without offering concrete solutions.

Under a section entitled, “Fix Our Broken Mental Health System,” for instance, Trump declares, “Let’s be clear about this. Our mental health system is broken. It needs to be fixed. Too many politicians have ignored this problem for too long.”

But aside from calling for an expansion of treatment programs, Trump does not outline how he intends to do so.

“We need real solutions to address real problems. Not grandstanding or political agendas,” he concludes.

The paper was released shortly after Trump cancelled a planned appearance at a candidate forum in South Carolina, citing a “significant business transaction” that needed his attention.

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What’s next for talks between the U.S. and Russia?

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) answers a question about the ongoing crisis in Syria during a news conference with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in London September 19, 2015.   REUTERS/Evan Vucci/Pool - RTS1WJI

Watch Video | Listen to the Audio

HARI SREENIVASAN, PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND ANCHOR: New York Times correspondent Michael Gordon is traveling with Secretary Kerry. He joins me now via Skype, from London.

There’s been an escalation of military activity from Russia into Syria. What does the U.S. plan to do about it?

MICHAEL GORDON, NEW YORK TIMES: Well, basically, the United States tried to stop it. About two weeks ago, the Russians began flowing equipment to an airbase south of Latakia.

And initially, the Americans didn’t know what was going on.

But they’ve deployed housing now for — as many as 2,000 personnel. They’ve deployed more than 200 marines to protect the base, some tanks, some artillery, some armored personnel carriers.

Now, they have air defense and several aircraft armed with air-to-air missiles.

And the hope initially was to stop it, and the Obama administration tried to get states in the region to close their air space, but Iraq didn’t go along, and the Russians are there, and now, there are Americans trying to make the best of it.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Now, the Russians say that these are primarily defensive positions or postures, right?

MICHAEL GORDON: Well, the Russians are deploying systems to Syria with an eye toward, they say, fighting the Islamic State.

So, yes, they’ve deployed force protection around this base, but they’re going there, ostensibly, to help the Assad regime fight the Islamic State militants.

So, it’s not a purely defensive configuration. And the concern that the Americans have is since they couldn’t stop them from getting there and the Russian ignored their warnings, how do you de-conflict so the Russian aircraft and the American-led air campaign against the Islamic State don’t bump into each other and you don’t have an incident.

HARI SREENIVASAN: So that means there’s going to have to be coordination on figuring out when there are perhaps Russian boots on the ground and when there are American drones flying overhead, maybe going after the same ISIL targets.

MICHAEL GORDON: Well, the American Americans have war planes overhead, not just drones, and not only the Americans now. There are Arab nations involved, Turkey’s air force is involved, the Brits have a drone, the French may join in.

So, you have aircraft that are operating, and not just drones, over Syria, carrying out air strikes, and then you have — these are not really Russian boots on the ground.

These are Russian — presumably it’s going to be Russian airpower. It hasn’t taken any action yet. And, yes, they’re going to have to deconflict so they don’t get in each other’s way and you don’t have an incident.

But, you know, the American concern goes well beyond that. I mean, they’re worried that there’s a hidden Russian agenda here — perhaps not so hidden — that the Russians may also be there to prop up Assad — Bashar al-Assad, and keep him in power, at least for a duration, and that the Russians may also be there in the event that Assad is overthrown they want to influence and help determine what the new leadership of the country looks like.

HARI SREENIVASAN: And keeping Assad in power is still in direct opposition to what the Obama administration wants, right?

MICHAEL GORDON: Yes. But the Obama administration hasn’t done very much to get Assad out of power. All of the airstrikes in Syria are not aimed at any of Assad’s forces. They’re aimed at the Islamic State.

And, indeed, the Pentagon’s training program that has failed so miserably, one reason it had failed is the rebels who are being recruited were being told they couldn’t fight the Assad regime.

They were there only to fight the Islamic State. Well, surprise, surprise, not a lot of Syrians wanted to join for that reason alone.

HARI SREENIVASAN: All right. Michael Gordon of The New York Times, joining us via Skype from London today — thanks so much.

MICHAEL GORDON: OK, thank you.

The post What’s next for talks between the U.S. and Russia? appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

Looking back on 10 years since the Gulf Coast’s ‘forgotten storm’, Hurricane Rita

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A church with a cemetery in the background is damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita in Cameron, Louisiana, September 24, 2005. Hurricane Rita left the U.S. Gulf Coast reeling on Saturday from two powerful storms in less than a month, with renewed flooding in New Orleans, widespread power outages and roads across hundreds of miles closed by debris, although damage was less than feared. REUTERS/David L. Ryan/Pool - RTRPAWG

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Even 10 years later, the hurricane season of 2005 is unforgettable. First, in August, Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Then in September, an even stronger storm made landfall: Hurricane Rita.

Charlie Whinham, from Louisiana Public Broadcasting, reports from Cameron Parish in Southwestern Louisiana with this look back.

CHARLIE WHINHAM: Now, while Katrina garnered all of the headlines for very good reason, Hurricane Rita did its damage as well, causing $12 billion worth of damage.

And folks around this part of the country consider Hurricane Rita as “The Forgotten Storm”.

Many coastal communities were simply washed away. Fortunately, no one in Cameron Parish died.

Rita was the fourth strongest Atlantic hurricane on record. Katrina ranked sixth.

But Katrina hit a larger populated area killing an estimated 1,836 people across the Gulf Coast and causing $108 billion in damages.

In Texas, Rita prompted the largest evacuation in U.S. history. The combination of severe gridlock and excessive heat led to 107 evacuation-related fatalities, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Ten years after Rita, there remains signs of hope and progress.

South Cameron High School reopened in 2010. The new school is 19 feet above ground, built to withstand hurricane force winds and flooding.

In 2006, the South Cameron Memorial Hospital received a $2 million grant from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund.

It is one of the many financial pieces of the puzzle to keep this place open.

There is also renewed hope that jobs from the oil and gas industry will return. Cameron Parish boasts a pair of multi-billion dollar construction projects set to open over the next three years.

The post Looking back on 10 years since the Gulf Coast’s ‘forgotten storm’, Hurricane Rita appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

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