PBS News Hour : KQED : August 2, 2024 6:00pm-7:00pm PDT : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive (2024)

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. ♪ >> good evening. i'm geoff bennet. amna nawaz is away. on the "newshour," economic warning signs. slower job growth and rising unemployment put more pressure on the federal reserve to cut interest rates. american who is were detained in

russia arrive home. we speak to the family who were released. >> it's unbelievable how much we've missed our sister. >> and the harris campaign pivots from a threat to democracy and leans in to calling him weird. >> what we're seeing here is a way to talk about this that is still on message. it's still on the theme. but there's some joy. there's some merth and verth to it. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the "newshour" including jim and nancy doveman and the robert and virginia shiller foundation, the judy and peter bloom kevlar foundation

upholding freedom at home and abroad. ♪ >> for john s. and james alknight foundation foster informed and engage communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the young going -- ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the "newshour." this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs news station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the "newshour." the u.s. labor market slowed down notably last month and looked weaker than expected creating just 114,000 new jobs.

that's down significantly from the average of 215,000 jobs a month over the past year. the unemployment rate ticked up again to 4.3%. that's the highest since late 2021. the reaction to today's report is raising questions for the second time in as many days about whether the federal reserve has waited too long to cut interest rates. economist mohammed el-aria has been very vocal about this, he's the president of the came bridge college and at aloins. thanks so much for being was. >> thanks for having me geoff: first, what do it and recent economic data tell you about the economy is right now. mohammed: they tell us that the economy is weakening in a much broader and miss much faster rate than most people expected including the federal recenter. geoff: is this weakening or slowdown the direct result of the fed strategy of keeping

interest rates high to fight inflation? >> it is. and it was meant to slow the economy. the question is do you get a normalization or do you get something worse? or to use the economic language, do you get a soft landing where you sacrifice some growth, but it's worth it for bringing down inflation or do you get a recession where you damage americans' well-being even more after having hit them with a high price increases? and the set of data that we had recently as well as what you get from companies suggest this is beyond the normalization. so you've got two concerns right now. and you see this in the marketplace. one is about a growth scare, and the second one is about another policy mistake by the fed. >> does this raise the specter of a recession further down the line in your point of view? >> my guess is about 35%.

but we've got to be careful. a recession would really damage the economy and would be particularly problematic for low income households. they're already suffering, geoff. they're suffering from having rundown all the pandemic savings. hiring is slowing down. their credit is maxed out. so the last thing you want to do is unduely damage the labor market because that's the only source of income. there are no other buffers now for the low income households. geoff: was the fed late in recognizing this slowdown, this weakening as you describe it? >> yes, and it's the second big policy mistake in my opinion since we've had the pandemic. the first one is broadly recognized. they call inflation transitory when it was something much more than. that therefore it was slow in moving against inflation and now i fear that they are slow in moving against economic

weakness. if they're not careful they will end up making both mistakes in one cycle. geoff: what kind of cut should we expect? are we looking a t a half point or a quarter-point nut the interest rate? >> that's what's remarkable. because as of two or three days ago the narrative in the marketplace, oh, they have time. only a handful of us were warning that they should start immediately. now suddenly, the market has priced in as 70% probability of a cut by half a percentage point. now normally the fed cuts by a quarter percentage point. so it if starts with half a percentage point that is a quite a signal. my gut feeling is they won't do. they'll cut by a quarter percent sent age, but 70% of the marketplace believe it will be more than that. geoff: something struck me and our team here is that those unemployed for 27 weeks or more totaled 1.54 million people.

this is most since february of 2022. can people hope for a particular uppity tick in hiring if the fed make these interest rate cuts? are the two connected? mohammed: it will take time. up with of the accepted policies whether you cut interest rate, this acts with long and variable lags. so it doesn't have an immediate effect. in fact, we are still feeling the consequences of what was an enormous increase in interest rates in a very short period of time over five percentage points that had to be done quickly because the fed fell behind. so it will take time to feel the impact of the cut. and i'm glad you focus on this point of longer term unemployment because what we know from history is the longer you are unemployed, the more unemployable you become. and that is a real social economic and political issue. so it is important that we avoid

long-term unemployment going up even higher. geoff mohammed e-ari ax, always a pleasure to speak to you. thank you. mohammed thank you -- mohammed: thank you. geoff: rarely has an airport seen such joy after long delays but last night was no ordinary night at joint base andrews in washington, d.c. three americans held by russia returned home to a presidential welcome. nick shiffrin is here with that. nick? nick: geoff, perhaps even more important than the hugs about handshakes from the president and the vice president, the joy of the relief of the families of the political prisoner after greeting their loved ones. first he had to shake the commander in chief's hands but

then aaron got hug his mom and left her as she had raised him up during his detention. ella wrote him every week and worked tirelessly to secure his safety for 491 days. >> what about the show of support? >> it's -- it's -- it's a moment. >> paul why land's reunion with his sister took five and a half years. she criticized president biden for leaving her brother behind. overnight, the three shared a smile and a l.s.u. kremashima after a brief presidential race held her daughter tight. convicted of spreading falsings in. three american families are hole. whole again. >> his daughters and all the family members got on the president's phone. >> paul why land here.

>> i've got somebody who has lived in the oval office. she knows the office better than i do. say hello. >> paul, it's i credible. >> there was one more call to make to vladimir karamirsa sentenced for 25 years for tree san for decades of pro democracy activism that included two fail poisoning attempts. his work was conned by his wife evgenia whom he thought he would never seen again. >> i was sure i was going die in prison. i don't believe what's happening. i feel like i'm sleeping. instead of hearing the vote karamirsa traveled to germany with the other dissidents and vowed to continue their work. >> i not only believe and i know for sure that i will definitely return to russia. and that the day will come when russia will become a free, nor ma'am, civilized company. >

>> after his conviction for spreading false information for criticizing the war on ukraine. he demanded not to be freed in a prison swap that would only empower putin >> in exchange if the release of up with murder and 16 people who commit nod crime, this is a difficult dilemma because it motivates putin to take new hostages. >> as for the americans at 2:00 a.m. they arrived at a rehabilitation vimentin san rehabilitation center in san antonio. >> paul why -- whielan said he felt good. >> glad to be back with my family and not to be with the rush yeah's nonsense. >> thank you so much. welcome back. to the "newshour." we had you on in this studio

just about 10 days ago. sentenced for six and a half years for spreading falsehood about the russian army. and you told amna nawaz that day this -- >> no matter what we say it doesn't adequately describe the pain that we go through every day. we go about our day thinking about what other humiliation she's subjected to by the russian government. we see the empty chair at our dinner table. we go back we go to bed dreaming of that union. >> it's full filled. how does it feel? >> it's a much happier occasion for us to be on pbs. surreal really. we were so happy to embrace her and welcome back home. >> we're over the moon and happy

to have her back. it's unbelievable how much we missed her. >> pavel, how is your wife doing? >> obviously, this unjust imprisonment has taken an emotional and physical toll on her well-being and she is now receiving her medical treatment that she wasn't receiving for more than nine months. i think she's doing ok. at least emotionally, she's excited to see us. so she is in good spirits. and now this new chapter begins of re-entry grating of the world for more than nine months of wrongful detainment in russia geoff: may i ask, how are you doing? >> look, i'm still processing what happened yesterday. it was unreal. being in the oval office. we weren't quite prepared for that phone call call. president biden took us to his

desk and we were able to hear a l.s.u.'s voice. i was overcome with emotion -- alsu's voice. i was overcome with emotion. the situation was so fragile. there were so many unconfirmed single source reports. and when we were on the tarmac, i think i finally realized she's about to come out and we will be able to once again hug alsu. >> bibi, how are you feeling? >> i'm so overwhelmed. thank you for congratulating us on our mom's return. i'm so really happy. we didn't think it would come so soon. it's been a good crazy day of our life. >> you b described how surprised you were of the phone call in the oval office. how surprised were you in general in the last few days and

week? your wife was moved. the three americans were signing clemency papers. how much did you know about what was going on to the release? >> well, over the past several months we've learned to keep our expectations and, you know, our emotion honestly in check. and we had some knowledge particularly about alsu and only about alsu. you know, something that we couldn't discuss. i was disheartened by various leaks and unconfirmed reports. there was so much uncertainty about the situation. we received a phone call inviting us to the white house. we have to keep it under wraps. it was interesting to be on the other side of the story having

information or not willing to share with journalists. but it worked -- it all worked out. and i'm happy -- it just so happened that the visit almost coincided with our -- took us to a taylor swift show. so we're a little bit conflict. we're not sure what we might do. we sended up missing the show. hopefully we'll make it one day. >> i have a feeling if you publicized and you missed a taylor swift show in order to meet alsu as she was released, i have a feeling that someone might reach out to you for a little bit of help with tickets. >> i hope so. we have a new campaign underway. [laughter] >> pavel, may i ask one other question too. you know how important your wife's work was in russia. do you think she would ever be willing to go back? >> we'll just have to wait and see.

she is in a fragile state right now. she needs recuperation and readjustment. and so we look forward to guide her, and you know, to provide assistance with that process. yes: you say she's in a fragile state. what kind of state? did you get the sense that she was in when you were talking to her? >> it's apart that she's lost some weight. she needs to get some nutritionist advice, i think. get back into her exercise routine. we're a family of runners. you know, but we're there to support her. we know that, you know, and she know that is -- know that is we're -- her friends and her family are very much ready to support her every step of the way. geoff: hopefully she feels world's support as we all cover her homecoming and her reunion. pavel and bibi thank you so much. >> thank you for having us.

♪ stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with "newshour" west. here are the latest headlines. u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin has issued an order revoking plea deals with the plotters of the september 11 attacks. the agreements reached earlier this week include add deal for khalid shake mohammed, the master mind of the 2001 attacks. in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table, he and two of her accomplices had ag agreed to plead guilty in a written statements, austin said "effective immediatefully the exercise of my authority, i here bi-withdraw from the three pretrial agreements." austin also said he was relieving the overseer of the war court at guantanamo bay and reinstating the cases as death penalty case. as questions continue over the assassination of former

president donald trump, ronald rowe said today that his acts were not on the same radio system as local law enforcement on the day of the shooting. that caused valuable time when local police warned via radio that there was an armed assailant on the roof of the building outside the security perimeter. this afternoon, rwe told reporters his agency takes full responsibilities after he partially blamed law enforcement during congressional testimony earlier this week. >> this was a secret service failure. they should not be blamed. there was somebody who did radio out that they had seen the individual with a weapon. what i can tell you is that that piece of information, that vital piece of information and by no fault of anyone, it was a very stressful simp way, it did not make it over. >> turning a broad to venezuela's disputed presidential election. the biden administration has

recognized nicholas maduro's opponent as the winner. ecuador, costa rica has done the same. this comes as a fellow opposition leader, marina machado said mask men ransacked her office. including from maduro himself that he would arrest his political rivals. ma duo has yet to produce evidence of his claimed victory. mourners held a funeral for ismail hane cross-examination eia. attendees prayed over his coffin along with his bodyguard at the national mosque in qatar. palestinians in jerusalem also mourned his death. he was a main negotiate or for hamas in cease-fire talks with israel. last night, president biden said the assassination was not he helpful for negotiations. and he urged israeli prime

minister ben ja minute netanyahu to act quickly. >> i'm very concerned. i had a very direct meeting with the prime minister today. and -- very correct. we've got to -- we have the basis for a cease-fire. they should move on it and they should move on it now. >> hezbollah resume rocket and artillery fire against israel today. it ended a pause on these cross borders strikes following the killing of a top hezbollah commander in beirut this week. the u.s. is sending additional military force to the middle east as tensions in the region grow. the department of defense announced the deployments today. they include a firefighter jet squadron and cruisers capable of going against ballistic missims. this will help troopsrd in the region and increase defense of the israel. the leading global authority on food security has declare add

famine in the darfur region of sudan where more than half a million people have fled the spiraling violence of the country's civil war. special correspondent layla milana has the latest from inside sudan. layla: i'm in port sudan which is the wartime capital after the capital assessed last year by the rapids support was held in session. they have found evidence of famine in zamzam camp in north darfur where 200,000 people live and in immediate risk of famine in port areas of sudan. that means that over 20% of people are at immediate risk of starvation, malnutrition and debt if nothing is done by september, millions of people in sudan could be facing full famine which will be the greatest famine of recent decades. they say there is no famine anywhere in sudan and they deny claims that they have been

stopping aid. for the pbs newshour i'm layla milano allen in sudan >> renewed calls for a cease-fire so humanitarian aid can get through. a spoiler alert, we have it the laest from today's action at the paris olympics. one of our star sprinters sha'carri chardeson breeding through her opening heat of the 100 meters. americans secure add spot in the final for the four by 400 meter mixed relay breaking the world record along the way in the pool leon per hand extended his lead with a fourth gold in front of the home crowd. team u.s.a. leads with 43 overall. still to come, on the "newshour," jonathan capehart and eliana johnson analyze the busy week of news at home and abroad. a new book details the fascinating true story of a

formerly enslaved man who was crucial to creating jack daniels whiskey. and poetry comes to the national parks. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: the democratic national committee announced today that vice president kamala harris has secured the number of delegates in a virtual role duel win the party's nomination which will be made official after voting ends on monday. while on the campaign trail, the vice president is trying some new language on for size like calling her opponent donald trump weird. our white house correspondent laura barron-lopez has more. lawyer laura: vice president harris is trying something new. to call it as she cease it.

>> he and his running mate sure have a lot to say about me. and by the way, don't you find some of this stuff to be plain weird. >> it's a notable change from when president biden was in the race. >> do you want to go back to the cast of donald trump as president? >> much of his language focused on donald trump as an existential threat to the country. >> it's about freedom it's about demock set now campaign press release called trump old and quite weird. and democrats across the board are leaning into her harris's blunt approach from possible vice presidential picks commenting on his behavior. >> have you ever seen the guy laugh? if he does he laughs at someone. >> and criticism of j.d. vance. >> every day it comes out that he's done something more extreatment and more weird ander rattic. >> that's just the start

in an ad released by a pack focused on young voters, the conservative playbook project 2025 is personified as people desperate to control your personal life. >> your genitals are reserved for pro creation. >> if you freeze 12 eggs you should be required to have 12 babies or else you're a serial killer and i'm definitely not a serial killer are you? >> this shift in language is a strategy that could prove effective as harris rushes to define her opponent in a new way. according to david carp of george washington university. >> the serious messaging that this is a threat to democracy if we take him both seriously and literally this time. that's important but it's also a bummer. and what we're seeing here is a way to talk about this that is still on message. it's still on the theme. but there's some joy. there's some merth and there's some verb to it. >> since they changed their tunes, republicans have tried to find a response.

former . candidate vivek ramaswamy said that democrats are being dumb and juvenile. while president trump tried to use her words against her. >> you know, who is plain weird? she's a weird person. look at her past. >> but for republican strategist joshua navatny donald trump should stay focused on attacking harris's record. >> stay off the personal stuff and talk about how she mismanaged the border crisis. talk about the inflation and the economy. i don't think anyone is sitting there saying, you folks in we enjoy pain twice as much for our groceries than we did a couple of years another those are winning issues here. i would ignore the weird comments and all of. that i think that will backfire on democrats being mock and childish and kind of be inept beneath them. >> donald trump is no stranger to name calling recently saying harris is dumb as a rock demonizing her on the campaign trail. >> she has no clue. she's evil.

and even mocking her by,-racial heritage. >> she was indian all the way and all of a sudden she made a turn and all of a sudden she became a black person. >> trump's reactions are another side the weird attack is landing, carp said. >> part of the reason we know this is working well isn't just that it's going viral online, but that it has her opponents stuttering in response. and saying it's not fair. when you have your opponents reacting in way that is amplify your message and make them uncomfortable, you keep on doing that. >> when we fight, we win! >> michelle obama when they go low, we go high may no longer be democrats north star but it could boost harris's underdog campaign. for the pbs newshour, i'm laura barron-lopez. >> on the major political story shaping the week we turn to the analysis of capehart and johnson.

eliana johnson editor in chief of the washington free beacon. brooks is away this weekend. so clam harris has past the threshold to clinch the democratic votes. this is the same day that the campaign raised $310 million in july. this is the biggest haul of the 2024 cycle, more than double what donald trump's campaign in the r.n.c. raised in the same month. jonathan, it was far from the guarantee that democrats would remain as unitednd as energi -- united and energy geezed? >> the law firm is pretty speck tackett -- the launch is pretty spectacular. >> if he's not the top of the ticket and it's not vice president harris democrats are going to lose. and i said that because there were people talk. there were moves afoot to leapfrog over the sitting vice

president for someone else. that did not happen. and i think the way the vice president comported herself spoke well of her, the team around her, her commitment to the president. and i think that once the president endorsed her which was very, very important, the level of enthusiasm went from zero to 1,000 in, you know, in a nano second. and we see, you no, according to the supreme court money is speech. so $310 million raised in just cash in the month of july. but the buck of it in the last 10 days. that says something. the democratic party is energized. they're thrilled. and her campaign speeches and her events show that it's not just that they're -- like you've got a new candidate, but there's some passion behind her. geoff: and for donaldrump, he's now facing criticism for falsely claiming that kamala harris misled voters about her

race. she's also having to defend his vice president j.d. vance who is being scrutinized disparaging childless women. the vice president has a real record that republicans could scrutinize but donald trump keeps reverting to these race and gender-based attacks. why are he and his campaign strugglingo find a line of attack that sticks? >> one thing on the democrats before that is in terms of uniting the party and getting people excited, it helps not have a primary where democratic candidates were pummeling each other in -- terms of trump he's he's veering off into weird space. he's not a particularly disciplined messenger. i don't think anybody is particularly surprised to see this. they need to settle on one message and one line of attack against clam harris whether she's san francisco liberal who's views are out of touch and

to the left of those of the average american or the she's flip flopped or change in every position she ran on in 2019. and so, you know, if they do that they can say she doesn't believe in anything. she's able to say anything to win president. pick one to harper home. i'm sure that's what suzy wild and trump's campaign managers are telling him to do. but trump is trump. he's the same candidate he's always been. >> and they learned their lesson from 20 s.u.v. that now they tried to respond aggressively but they use his attacks to re-emphasize their own message. are we seeing more of that? >> we -- we are. here's the thing about the vice president and -- and her campaign's responses to the racism and misogyny coming from donald trump. she gives one line in any of her campaign speeches and she moves on to talking about the bind-harris record.

and then what a harris administration would do if she's entrusted with the presidency. so they're not paying attention -- they're not -- they're not giving it undue oxygen to keep it going. and so i think they're doing what they need to do. meanwhile on the social media side, however, they're all over it. so many memes. so many little video that is the young people can share where she -- where the campaign is responding to the ridiculousness particularly from nabj with, you know, donald trump saying she turned black, which has set off a whole meme on its own. geoff: we demand the vice president could name her running mate any time this weekend. certainly by tuesday when she and her running mate are expected to have their first appearance in philadelphia. and i'm told that she has settled. she's narrowed her list of final lists to these six. kentucky governor andy be sheer.

pete buttigieg, mark kelly, illinois governor j.p. pritzker, minnesota governor tim walls, and pennsylvania governor josh shapiro. this is according to two sources familiar. the conventional thinking is that the v.p. pick doesn't matter the grand scheme of things is that different in this election cycle? >> it could be in that harris has a more difficult road home in the electoral college. if i were her, the harris campaign is not asking me for advice. i would pick someone that could help her win. and some of them come from states are competitive. mark kelly had a very testy divorce in 24. and josh shapiro. i think those two are probably the frontrunners. my money would be on shapiro. but i have no special insight into this process. >> jonathan, do you have special insight into this process? >> i have no special insight into this process.

every four years we talk about the vice presidential pick doesn't really matter. but tell that to john mccain in 2008 where sarah palin looked real great i was in the hall when she gave the hockey mom -- hockey mom speech and thought, ooh, obama's going to have some issues here. and then within a couple of weeks, completely imploded. and so the vice presidential pick does have an impact as donald trump is seeing. >> i actually don't agree with that on palin. i think palin actually helped the mccain ticket even to in retrospect people thought she was a total moron. she excited women at the time than he otherwise would have gotten. >> initially, but come on. a couple of katie couric interview, charlie gibson. she didn't know anything. >> i don't think she heard them. geoff: i want to talk about the fact that "the wall street journal" and former marine was

part of the biggest prisoner exchange since the cold war. lasting take aways. president biden said that it was a feat of diplomacy. >> yeah, not bad for an 82 year-old man. everyone said had cognitive decline. we were questioning his mental acuity when you read the tiktok of what happened in "the wall street journal." that man was all over it. this was a huge diplomatic feat. but this was also a huge victory for the united states and for the american people to bring those americans home is something that should be universally celebrated. >> and the detail that he was on the phone with his slovenian counterpart basically coordinating this deal just an hour before he announced that he wouldn't seek re-election. how does that strike you? >> well, that -- that -- that example is something that, you know, i've interviewed the president twice. in both interviews i came away with one really distinct

impression. he loves that job. the fact that he's got all of this stuff going on but he is on the phone trying to make a deal, that's why he wants to be president that's why he loves the job. it's about getting something done. eliana? eliana: it's wonderful that they're home. we need to stop doing deals where we terrorists for reporters and dissidents. what dictators wouldn't take more hostages to make that deal? in order to do that we need to impose serious consequences on the hostage-taking nation. and that's not something i've seen from the biden administration. we don't do deals like, this we will find more americans behind bars unjustly detained in despotic nations. geoff: thank you both. >> thanks, geoff. >> thank you ♪ geoff: jack daniels is a

famous american whiskey brand recognized all over the world. but jack daniel didn't create the particular method. he learned it from a formerly enslaved man named nearest green, master disturb. fawn weaver was traveling abroad with her husband when she read a "new york times" about nearest green. that article sent fond on a mission to learn more about him. she would create premium whiskey. seven years after launch, fawn weaver now owns the most successful black-owned liquor empire led by and all-women executive team. fawn weaver shares nearest green's story and her own journey in her own book "true in whiskey."

i recently sat down with her. >> fawn weaver, welcome to the "newshour." >> thank you for having me. >> the story of nathan nearest green, uncle nearest to his family and friends is one of the most remarkable and until recently little known american stories. how did you first encounter it and why did it resonate so deeply with you? >> it was on the "new york times" international edition. i didn't drink jack daniel. but we all knew what he looked like. and there was a black man seated to his right. and the headline was jack daniels embrace as hidden ingredient helped from a slave. i think every black person was fascinated by that because we've known that we've been at the trade marks we couldn't trademark. patents we couldn't patent. and we're very curious about

well, what were the things that we were involved in in the beginning that we had at least some type of assist with or -- or what did we invent? we didn't know. i think it's important that we're all just learning that. geoff: and the picture -- this black man isn't uncle nearest but his son george. but this picture became a false narrative, and the false narrative is that jack daniels owned slave. and that he stoled the recipe. and he got crept and it became your mission to correcting the story. >> and cleaning that up. the amount of time that we called newcasters and saying hey, you got this story wrong, can you take that down? we'll give you the true story. and the reason i thought that was important is you have this man, this white man that by all accounts may have been our first a -- alie.

and he was torn in the press. he was one of the people that stood up for us. i said no, no, no, we can't allow this to happen. we have a story that comes forward. it's a good american story. and both people involved black and white were incredible people. i can't allow one of them to be torn down just because of his race. >> because uncle nearest was a mentor to jack daniels. >> absolutely he was. >> there are so many inflection stories but the one that struck me deeply. is that you and your husband were living in los angeles. and you took this trip to lynchburg, tennessee. you planned to be there for four days to continue your research. but along the way you find this farm and you decide to buy it. and you move from l.a. to lynchburg. but that is when all of the doors started opening. >> absolutely. let me be clear, we didn't find the farm. it was jack daniels, one of his descendents his now eldest living decent dan who said to

me, you know that farm in the book, most of that takes place on this farm. it's where we now know the original jack daniel distillery was birthed. it's where jack daniel distillery number seven. and it's where jack grew up and all the rest of that stuff. you realize it's for sale? this is happening in a matter of hours of us showing up in ly lynchburg, tennessee. that's where it all began. when we decided we were going to buy this 3 is 13 acker farm. and now we had to restore where he grew up and the stream led to the distillery and excavating the ground to find all of the historical elements and putting it on the historical registry. those four days turned into a lifetime. geoff: well, fast forward with the support of green's descendants you lauren this

company. now has a billion valuation. it's the best-selling spirits land if the world led by and a all-female executive team. huge success. but this the beginning, how did the parent company of jack daniels respond to this research that you were doing and this plan to -- to launch a company around uncle nearest? >> in the beginning it was very interesting with their company. in part because you had people who saw immediately, ok. we have a problem, which is everyone now thinks that our name sake was a slave owner that she stole the recipe from a slave and we can't clean this up. and so this woman has now done all of this research. she's gathered thousands of documents from six different states. done over 100 interviews and she can actually clean this up. on one side you had probably half of the company that was like listen, just let her do what she's doing because it benefits us. then you have the other half of

the company that could not get out of their way because they couldn't wrap their head that they were allowing what they considered a competitor to emerge. and that was tied so closely to their brand. and this went on for years. geoff: wow i know you get asked all the time how you as a black woman confront the challenges you nice the spirits industry dominated by white men. i want to flip that question on its head. >> please do. >> how do you being the exception use that different perspective, the different entry point, the different point of view, the different approach to benefit your business? >> so i love that you switched it because that would have been my answer. and the reason it would have been my answer is that i'veen in this industry now for seven years. i've seen more white males fail than any other race or gender. and so i looked at me coming in as a personal of color, as a woman -- as a black woman. i looked at that as an advantage. it's the same advantage i

believe just being an american. when i walked into a room, full of billionaires just -- just because it's a room full of billionaires, it's a majority white male. well, who do you think they remember at the end of that time in that room? and so i have always seen being a black woman in america as an advantage. i think it's all a matter of mindset. how do you look at it? how do you position it? when you walk into a room, are youen comfortable to walk into that room because no one looks like you. if i walk into a room and no one looks like me, that means everybody's looking at me. so i have this biggest advantage in the room. >> there's this ubiquitous american brand known all around the world that there was this black man nearest green and that you are the steward of his name, what does that feel like, fawn? >> i don't want to call it a weight or a burden because sit such a blessing and it's such an honor but it comes with enormous

responsibility. i'm in the middle of my book tour. every place that we've gone to soldout events. and the lines are super long. i can't count the number of people that come up to me with tears in my eyes because of whey represent to them if i could do this in the whiskey industry and the bourbon entry where before me there was no one that was a white male, then if i could that, they can do it in tech, in banking. they could see themselves doing it. that is a huge responsibilities because my success gives them belief and gives them hope that they can do it as well. are geoff: fawn weaver co-founder of uncle nearest whiskey. thank you so much for speaking to me. >> thank you for having me ♪

>> there's a new yearlong pride jet by the nation's poet laureate bringing poetry into focus and what's at stake due to climate change. jeffery brown reports for out in series art and action exploring the intersection of art and demock sit it's part of our candace coverage. >> it was a walk in the park with poetry. national park service ranger alusia scott reading the poetry of mary oliver. >> look, the trees are turning their own bodies into pill lars. >> oliver who died in 2019 was known for her love of nature and this was one of her favorite walks around black water pond on the cape cod national seashore in massachusetts. taking that walk this year one of today's leading poets, u.s. poet laureate adaly moan launch ago project she calls "you are

here." >> i kept thinking that nature and poetry work so beautifully together to bring us a sense of awe and wonder. i feel like poetry is a way that opens us up to a deeper experience with nay cute and so the two of them working together is really beautiful. >> please join me in welcoming our 24th united states poet laureate, ada ly moan. >> one part of you are here is poetry in the parks bringing classic pomes by past writers into the natural world itself. >> one, two, three, poetry. [applause] >> ly moan chose to kick it off here. a place for all who come here to read, contemplate perhaps to write something of their own >> i really wanted to offer a moment of reflection and deeper intention in the parks. >> what does poetry do? >> poetry ignites a place in you

that is receptive to a deeper kind of attention. and a poem, sitting and reading a moment even a very short one, can allow you to receive the world in a different way. >> that was certainly the impact the pew hits prized winning -- pew hits prized winning poem. >> she could find one of those pen sills and make sure she could write it down. >> oh, really? that was poetic litter. >> poetic pencil litter. >> to live in this world, you must be able to do three things. >> poetry in the marks elaboration with the poetry society of america and notably the national park service is

also about a farm impact on the world around us, the destructive force of climate change. ranger hannah works in interpretation and engagement at the national head quarters. >> yeah, when we think about our national parks we see theically mat change impact. i think a project like to is another way to approach communication about what's happening to the natural world, right? and connecting that through a different means, through poetry allows visitors to immerse themselves, find themselves in these landscapes and think about how they have a connection to the natural world. >> project bringsly moan into seven national parks around the country, featuring significant menopomes relating to each. >> this is another dear poet and poem -- >> she read the seven pomes at province towns fine arts work city including the valley by

jean valentine. >> the valuey, edge by edge -- >> for cuyahoga, national park in ohio, the earth is a great thing. for great smoky park in tennessee and north carolina. >> the earler certificate a living thing. it's a black shambling bear -- >> cloud song by ofelia sepeda by 's suaro national park. >> greenly immerge blue in counselor, they emerge. >> it requires no visits to the great outdoors. she commissioned new work for an anthology from contemporary poets addressing our lives as part of nature. a new kind of nature poetry reflect traumatic changes for millions and for the earth itself. >> now when we write about nature, there's solistagia. there's worry, there's anxiety.

>> what is that? it's basically being nostalgic for a place that you are in at the moment because you know it's shifting and changing. and i'm not quite sure how cl clear-idaho our poetry can be if we're not making room for our whole selves and those parts of us that are grieving, those parts of us that are furious. and those parts of us that are trying to figure out how to make impactful change. >> that you are here project also includes a kind of call to action by a social media to encourage people to share their poetic responses to the prompt. and to bailed community of concerned citizens. back at the park, ranger clay hannah reve refirst to the day f demock -- refers to democracy for all. >> we see parks as a place for people to come together, right? we are programming the audience first.

we're audience centered. we're not telling people how to think. make them think, right? and to interact with each other. >> in an unusual partnership addaly moan partnered with scientist contributing a poem to an official report. forly moan, there's the ultimate belief -- for limone she impacts lives even at a time like this. >> bauds it feels like to me like we can get very myopic and feel like we are the only person going through whatever it is that we're going through. and in reality all of us need to recognize that what happens in this world happens to all of us. >> one, two, three. >> after our time together, ada limone took her project to mount rainier and national redwood park in california.

her visits continue in the fall. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffery paul at the cape cod national seashore in provincetown, massachusetts. >> in october, ada will send some of her poetry to outer space. it's been engraved into the europa spacecraft set to take off for a trip to jupiter's smallest moon. the so-called message in a bolt project invited people around the world to sign on to the pope 2.6 million are have their names sten skilled their names on to micro chips mounted on the spacecraft. ♪ -- stencilled their names on to the microchips mounted on the

spacecraft. >> as always, we have a story about a backlog in missouri holding upstate subsidies for more than 1800 childcare providers. be sure to tune into "washington week" for a look at yesterday's historic prisoner exchange and for the latest on the presidential race and following donald trump's comments about kamala harris's race. a look at history of identity and its role in american politics. and that is the "newshour" for tonight i'm geoff bennett. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thanks for joining us. have a great weekend. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> wand the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the "newshour" including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. >> the walton family foundation,

working for solutions to protect water during climate change. so people and nature can thrive together. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- >> and friends of the "newshour." ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions from your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> this is pbs newshour west from weta studios in washington,

and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ [captioning made possible by cbs sports, a division of cbs broadc

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. jeffrey: kamala harris will soon hit the road with her running mate. that in the meantime, she seems to be enjoying taking the fight directly to donald trump, who just this week question her racial identity. >> i didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black, now she wants to be known as black. so, i don'tw.

tv

Co-anchors Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett and correspondents offer in-depth analysis of current events.

TOPIC FREQUENCY

Us 20, Harris 12, Donald Trump 10, Sudan 7, Jack Daniels 7, Biden 7, Geoff 7, Russia 6, Washington 6, Kamala Harris 4, Jack Daniel 4, U.s. 4, Fawn Weaver 3, Trump 3, Ada 3, Tennessee 3, Palin 2, Josh Shapiro 2, Jonathan 2, J.d. Vance 2

Notes

This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code).

info Stream Only