PBS NewsHour full episode Aug. 30, 2017

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Harvey hits again.
The relentless rains move east, but as the sun finally shines on Houston, a clearer picture
of the death and destruction emerges.
Then: the science behind extreme storms.
From Beaumont to Bangladesh, we explore the role of climate change in the latest scenes
of devastation around the world.
Plus: the fallout from Turkey's failed coup -- how those accused of supporting the government
overthrow are now being targeted as enemies.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Fifty thousand people have been arrested; 150,000 people have either
lost their jobs or been suspended.
The purge has targeted every aspect of society.
MILES O'BRIEN: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK)
MILES O'BRIEN: Harvey is back on land tonight, and finally moving on.
In its wake, officials in Texas and Louisiana are beginning to calculate the toll, at least
21 confirmed deaths, 32,000 people in shelters and tens of thousands of homes damaged or
destroyed.
William Brangham begins our coverage.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: After five days of record rain, nearly 52 inches, the skies stopped
pouring, and the Houston area finally saw sunlight again.
Better still, officials announced nearly all waterways have now crested and should start
going down.
Jeff Lindner is with the Harris County Flood Control District that includes the city.
JEFF LINDNER, Harris County Flood Control: The water levels are going down.
And that's for the first time in several days.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But the danger here is obviously far from over.
Police today confirmed that six family members drowned when their van was swept away in a
bayou.
And officials are still monitoring levees that are straining under enormous the load.
If those barriers were to fail, even more homes would go under.
Meanwhile, the rescues continue.
The Coast Guard kept searching in Houston.
Overnight, volunteers and others joined in to help people stranded in lakes that used
to be neighborhoods.
MAN: Well, you have just been saying everything on the news, and it's just close to home,
and, you know, that's just a thing Texans do.
I mean, we just got to go out and lend a hand.
I just can't sit at home knowing that people need help.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Early estimates say more than 48,000 homes have been damaged.
The city's convention center is full to the rafters, and now two more so-called mega-shelters
have opened their doors, including TV Pastor Joel Osteen's church that can hold 16,000
people.
He'd been criticized for not taking in storm victims earlier.
Many have harrowing stories to tell.
At a mosque-turned-shelter in Stafford, Texas, today, one woman recounted her family's escape.
WOMAN: We just felt like, oh, my God, if we don't get out now, it might be like impossible.
Like, the water is getting everywhere.
And you could see people holding their bag, like, trying to get to the front of the street,
just so someone could come pick them up, because it's really hard to move in cars.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In response, the state has activated 14,000 National Guard troops.
Another 10,000 are coming in from other states.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner says his city urgently needs more federal help as well.
SYLVESTER TURNER, Mayor of Houston, Texas: Right now, there are many people who are angry.
They are frustrated, OK?
And they want help.
And that's why I'm saying to our federal partners and that's why I'm saying to FEMA, people
are angry and they're frustrated, they're wet, they're out of their homes, OK?
And they want assistance yesterday.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Meanwhile, the storm itself made landfall again this morning, early, near
Cameron, Louisiana, and slowly pushed north.
But even as it weakened, it dropped more rain on the Texas-Louisiana border region.
Parts of Southwest Louisiana are now coping with flooding.
And Port Arthur, Texas, was all but cut off by surging water, after 20 inches of rain
fell in a matter of hours.
Overnight, a civic center shelter was overrun with gushing water that sent people climbing
up into the bleachers.
Evacuee Beulah Johnson narrated the scene in a video posted on social media.
BEULAH JOHNSON, Flood Victim: We came here for a safe place to get away from high flooding
in our house, to get away from being trapped in our house.
And we end up being trapped here.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Elsewhere in Port Arthur, the nation's largest oil refinery closed.
Twenty miles away, in Beaumont, Texas, a toddler suffering from hypothermia was found clinging
to her drowned mother after they were swept from their vehicle last night.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott warned today that the toll both in deaths and damage is likely
to go much higher.
GOV.
GREG ABBOTT (R), Texas: The worst is not yet over for Southeast Texas, as far as the rain
is concerned.
There will be ongoing challenges both during the time that rain continues to fall, as well
as for approximately four days to a week to come.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham in Houston, Texas.
MILES O'BRIEN: That sad story of a mother's ultimate sacrifice is just part of what is
unfolding now as Beaumont bears the brunt of the storm.
As Beaumont takes the brunt of the storm, it is taking a physical and emotional toll
on first-responders, as Haley Morrow of the Beaumont Police Department told me when we
spoke a little while ago.
Officer Morrow, thank you very much for being with us.
I know you're very busy.
First off, that horrible story of a mother who perished saving her child, tell us what
details you have on that.
HALEY MORROW, Beaumont Police Department: Well, we were dispatched out in reference
to a water rescue.
And when officers and first-responders arrived, they found the woman and her child floating
about half-a-mile away from where they were swept into a canal and their vehicle flooded
out.
The first-responders are on Zodiac boats right now going out and do these high-water rescues.
And so they were able to follow the water and they saw this sweet little baby, pink
backpack, sticking up out of the water, and she was clinging to the back of her mother,
who was floating along.
And she was hypothermic.
But she's OK and she's expected to make a full recovery.
But, unfortunately, CPR was attempted, but we weren't able to save the mom.
MILES O'BRIEN: I know you wear a uniform and a badge, but you're a mom, too.
What's it like to have to deal with something like that?
HALEY MORROW: I am -- to be honest with you, receiving that news even just as a first-responder,
as a mother, it's devastating.
And, you know, it's a true testament to the will and the sacrifices that parents, not
just parents and mothers go through in what they will sacrifice which, in this case, Colette
sacrificed her life to save her child.
And so we're so sad about the circumstance.
The silver lining is that the sweet baby is alive and will make a full recovery.
She's with family.
We have been in undated with questions about the baby.
She's 3 years old -- about her status and who she's with and if she need to be adopted.
But she's with family.
Of course, they're dealing with a very, very grief-stricken time and we're trying to support
them as much as possible.
MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.
Please let us know if there's any way we can help.
Give us the big picture, if you could, the extent of the flooding in Beaumont right now.
HALEY MORROW: Well, right now, we are having major flooding, unprecedented flooding in
this area.
All of the major interstate and state highways are flooded getting to our city.
Our service roads and many of our major thoroughfares inside the city are flooded.
We have nonstop high-water rescues going on right now.
They're trying to get me accurate numbers, but, of course, they're just so swamped.
We know we have done at least, but probably much more, 700 high-water rescues.
And we do have two confirmed fatalities, one being the story that we just talked about,
and then we had another fatality this morning.
So, it's devastating.
And our first-responders have all experienced some type of devastation.
Some are just -- are facing their own damage to their home, and they're on extremely exhausting
shifts.
And they just keep persevering and going out and saving people.
MILES O'BRIEN: First-responder are citizens, too, and many of them go out and do this work
when their own homes are damaged.
And you are married to another police officer.
You said you're a mom.
What is that like trying to put your personal life aside, your own concerns for others?
HALEY MORROW: Well, I'm not only a police wife, a police officer.
My father is a Beaumont police officer, as is my brother, and my sister is a 911 operations
dispatcher.
So, in situations like this, my mother is the one who keeps the children, and we get
her evacuated when we need to.
And so it's hard.
It's really hard for our first-responders who have had to leave their families and their
homes that are taking water to come in and do their job.
And, you know, that's on their mind.
But when they get here, they're so strong and they just continue to go out and do the
work.
And that's what we're here for.
We are the first-responders.
And we want to always remind the citizens that we're coming, we're going to come and
save them, and we just pray that our families are OK, too.
And I know those first-responders would love any prayers and good thoughts that anyone
wants to send their way.
MILES O'BRIEN: Officer Haley Morrow, the public information officer for Beaumont Police Department,
we wish you well.
HALEY MORROW: Thank you.
MILES O'BRIEN: Online, you can hear my full conversation with Haley Morrow, where she
warns about the spread of misleading and false information on social media, and how that
hampers their efforts.
As we have heard, the scope of the recovery is staggering.
There are some 24,000 National Guard troops deployed to assist local and state responders,
and we're still just in the rescue phase.
Colonial Steven Metze is a public affairs officer for Texas Military Department.
We spoke a short time ago.
Colonel Metze, good to have you with us.
I know you're busy.
We will get right to it.
Give us an idea of the scope of the deployment right now.
Is this unprecedented for Texas?
COL.
STEVEN METZE, Texas Military Department: I looked it up today.
We haven't deployed this many people since World War I.
So, this is literally the most we have deployed in 100 years.
MILES O'BRIEN: Give us a sense of how many troops are in the field and the kinds of mission
that they're doing right now.
COL.
STEVEN METZE: So, we're getting a constant stream of troops and equipment every day.
It's constantly increasing, on our way to 14,000 organic to the state of Texas, plus
the stuff that we're getting from other National Guards, plus the stuff that we're getting
Title X federal troops in and equipment as well.
So, all those are coming in right now.
There's still a lot of people in imminent danger, so our focus right now is still search-and-rescue.
We're starting to do a little bit of critical life support, which is basically when you
have organizations that have food and water that they need delivered.
We help them get it to where it need to go.
We set of points of distribution to help it gets to where it needs to go safely and orderly.
So, we're starting to see a little bit of that.
And there are several other roles we're going to have to play before this whole thing is
over.
But we're preparing for several contingencies as it stands right now.
MILES O'BRIEN: And I guess a lot of people wouldn't be aware that the National Guard
kind of has a mutual aid pact with other states.
Tell us what kind of help you're getting from out of state.
COL.
STEVEN METZE: Absolutely.
Yes, we have -- the governors between the states talk and put these agreements in place.
I know right now we have helicopter search-and-rescue teams from North Carolina, South Carolina,
Utah, Nebraska, Arizona, Virginia.
I know we have search-and-rescue ground teams and boat teams from Utah, California.
I think there are way more than that.
Those are just the ones that I know off the top of my head.
But we have got offers from every state, and we're filtering what we need and taking what
we can get one at a time as it comes in.
MILES O'BRIEN: Do you have a tally right now of the number of rescues you have accomplished
collectively?
COL.
STEVEN METZE: Just within the Texas Military forces, we have done about 4,500 ground rescues,
another 450 air rescues, and that is -- that doesn't include all the stuff that's happening
with the Coast Guard and the Air Force and the Navy.
There's doing other stuff.
And all of our rescues, of course, are in coordination with local and state authorities.
Right?
So, we're working with DPS.
We're working with the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
We're working with Texas Task Force 1 and 2.
They're the ones who are actually pulling people out of the water while we take them
there on helicopters and that sort of thing.
MILES O'BRIEN: I get the sense from talking to you that you're still very much in the
middle of this and could still be ramping up your response.
Is that accurate?
COL.
STEVEN METZE: Oh, we're absolutely continuing to ramp up right now.
Like I said, people and equipment are pouring in every day to help us with this.
And we're looking at it in the long run.
We have got a long way to go still.
We're doing 24/7 operations, and no one is slowing down until we're confident we have
done everything we can.
MILES O'BRIEN: And as the storm moves toward the east, obviously, you're deploying along
with it.
Is the nature of the mission there more critical?
COL.
STEVEN METZE: Well, we certainly focus wherever the need is.
And we definitely flex people up toward the Beaumont and Port Arthur area for early this
morning and we're still continuing to flex people there now.
So, we're going wherever the mission need is greatest, but we're not leaving any of
the other areas right now.
We're just continuing to add.
MILES O'BRIEN: Seeing these scenes of people being rescued, they're quite harrowing from
afar.
You have been much closer to it.
What has been it like for you?
COL.
STEVEN METZE: It's pretty amazing.
We're seeing things, like we're having helicopter rescues that happen at night, which is something
we have never done before.
The other night, we were looking at footage of four teenagers hanging on to a stop sign,
and the stop sign was -- the water was up to the stop sign, rushing water, and they
were all holding on to it.
And the helicopter lowered people down to pull them off of that stop sign.
We're seeing little kids wrapped in garbage bags to keep them dry with only their heads
exposed being pulled out of houses, holding on to soldiers and airmen as they're being
pulled out of neck-deep water.
So, seeing some of this footage is really powerful stuff.
Mothers with infants on helicopters.
People with broken legs being pulled out of houses.
So, there's a lot of really powerful stuff happening.
And it really makes us think -- and our hearts and prayers continually go out to the people
that are affected by this hurricane.
And we're going to continue doing everything we can until we're confident we have done
everything we can.
MILES O'BRIEN: I guess all we can say at this point is, thank you for your service, and
everybody else in the Texas National Guard.
Colonel Steve Metze is the public affairs officer for the Texas Military Department.
Thank you.
COL.
STEVEN METZE: Thank you.
MILES O'BRIEN: The record-setting flood has, of course, forced tens of thousands from their
homes and into shelters.
Our P.J. Tobia has been talking to some of those displaced in Houston today.
P.J., this is a new shelter.
Just describe the scene there for us.
P.J. TOBIA: Yes, sure, Miles.
This is the NRG Center.
It's a massive convention center and meeting hall in Southwest Houston.
It has the capacity for 10,000 people.
It has 900 evacuees in there right now.
They are expecting 1,500 more evacuees sometimes later tonight.
When the doors opened last night and again this morning, some 3,000 Houstonians turned
out to volunteer, to pitch in some way.
Obviously, that was far more than they needed.
But one man was kept around.
His services were definitely required.
JOHNNY MANDOLA, Houston: We try and volunteer, give away food whenever we can.
And I don't own a boat.
There's nothing I can do watching on TV.
But what we can do is help feed all these people inside.
MILES O'BRIEN: Obviously performing a very important task.
But give us a sense about all the other things those folks behind you need.
Are they getting what they need?
P.J. TOBIA: Oh, absolutely.
As you walk in right behind me, there's tables and tables and tables of food, toiletries,
bedding, pretty much everything you could need.
And there is a lot of need here.
We spoke with one woman who is here with her seven children at the shelter tonight.
WOMAN: You know, they know that we have no house, lost everything.
It is, for me -- because I say, OK, baby, we're OK.
We're together.
And everything -- we're going to get back everything, but not even with -- sad.
They are sad.
MILES O'BRIEN: Do you have a sense, P.J., of where most of these people are coming from?
P.J. TOBIA: Sure.
First of all, of course, they're coming from all around Houston and the broader region.
The George R. Brown Center was another large venue in town that was filled to capacity
some time yesterday.
So, they opened up this one.
Some of these people are coming from primary evacuation centers, so they're plucked from
their house by boat or by car and taken to a local school or mosque or church.
And then they're brought to a place like this.
One woman we spoke with was actually evacuated twice, once when her home was inundated with
six feet of water.
She then escaped and was evacuated to her sister's home, which then was put under mandatory
evacuation when a chemical plant in her neighborhood had flooded.
WOMAN: Basically, I just took all four of my children.
I couldn't take no clothes or anything.
My mom was able to grab like her breathing machine and like all her medicines that she
needed.
We took maybe like one pair of clothes, which is what we had on.
P.J. TOBIA: Folks who are getting ready to bed down here for the night are looking forward
to moving on from here, although they're not sure exactly when that is going to be able
to happen.
And there are still many more people coming here.
As I said, earlier, we were driving around town today and just saw whole neighborhoods
completely flooded, still very much inundated with water -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN: It's a very long road ahead.
P.J. Tobia in Houston, thank you very much.
P.J. TOBIA: Thank you.
MILES O'BRIEN: Harvey has strained the health care system in Houston as well.
Aside from attending to the injured, there are also lifesaving treatments need by patients
with chronic diseases.
One of those is dialysis.
Tomeka Weatherspoon from Houston Public Media visited the DaVita Medical Center Dialysis
facility and filled me in a little while ago.
Tomeka, thank you for being with us.
First off, just give us an idea of how many people we're talking about here.
TOMEKA WEATHERSPOON, Houston Public Media: Well, when we arrived, there were upwards
of at least 100 people in the clinic.
When I was talking to some of the volunteers and the staff there, they were saying they
had seen hundreds, hundreds who had come in during the storm.
They were only closed for one day, and that's just because Sunday was horrific for anybody
trying to travel.
But other than that, they have been open and they have been seeing patients and getting
quite a bit of overflow.
MILES O'BRIEN: Try to give us an idea of how serious this problem is, Tomeka.
If someone misses a dialysis appointment, that's a big deal, isn't it?
TOMEKA WEATHERSPOON: It's a huge deal.
Honestly, if you miss an appointment, these treatments are regularly and scheduled for
a reason.
It's deadly.
It's potentially deadly, potentially fatal if you don't receive these treatments.
Dialysis itself is to clean out the blood.
So, certain types of liver and kidney diseases, they're unable to do that.
So it's really critical that they're able to get these treatments.
I talked to a doctor, Dr. Olivero, at the clinic.
And he was just telling me how his staff is working nonstop pretty much to administer
these treatments to all of these people.
DR.
JUAN OLIVERO, Houston Methodist Hospital: What is an inconvenience for many people,
having these types of storms, it can be a matter of life and death to these dialysis
patients.
MILES O'BRIEN: Tomeka, I know you have had chance to talk to some patients.
How are they coping?
TOMEKA WEATHERSPOON: It was really difficult, actually, to be in the clinic.
There were a lot of people waiting for this lifesaving treatment.
And just the distance people had to come to get there, it's really -- it's really, really
tough to kind of witness that.
But the patients I was able to speak with were really optimistic and really grateful
to have a clinic that was actually open when their local clinic had been closed due to
all of the flooding and just difficulty with traveling.
I talked to a patient while she was receiving treatment.
Her name was Debrah Payne, and she was just really happy to still be alive.
DEBRAH PAYNE, Dialysis Patient: I was afraid.
I just -- I didn't know what I was going to do.
And I'm sure all the other people who couldn't make it who know that they have to do this
to survive were concerned about whether they were going to make it here or not.
MILES O'BRIEN: This has to be a huge strain on the hospital staffs.
Give us sense of how they're coping.
TOMEKA WEATHERSPOON: Well, they're being really optimistic, much like some of the people,
the patients that I spoke with.
They were really passionate, and really, really cared about helping everyone that was there.
But they were still working incredibly long hours.
And, honestly, you can see them a little bit tired.
You can kind of see it in their eyes.
But they really cared about what they were doing.
They were understaffed, and, you know, had not as much resources as they probably need.
But they were just really, really passionate about helping everyone that was there.
MILES O'BRIEN: Tomeka Weatherspoon with Houston Public Media, thank you.
TOMEKA WEATHERSPOON: Thank you.
MILES O'BRIEN: A reminder that, if you're looking to give to Harvey relief efforts,
you can donate to a number of groups working on the ground.
Organizations, including the Red Cross, are accepting donations online or by phone.
President Trump turned his focus to the hurricane victims today.
He'd talked a lot about the recovery effort and the federal response during his visit
to Texas yesterday.
Today, he was in Springfield, Missouri.
The subject was tax reform, but he made a point of circling back to the ravages of Harvey.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: To those Americans who have lost loved ones,
all of America is grieving with you, and our hearts are joined with yours forever.
MILES O'BRIEN: Mr. Trump plans to return to Texas and possibly Louisiana on Saturday.
In other news: The president and his secretary of defense gave out mixed signals after North
Korea fired a missile over Japan on Tuesday.
Mr. Trump appeared to dismiss diplomatic efforts, with a tweet that said, "Talking is not the
answer."
But Secretary of Defense James Mattis said just the opposite a short time later, as he
met with his South Korean counterpart at the Pentagon.
JAMES MATTIS, U.S. Secretary of Defense: No, we're never out of diplomatic solutions.
We continue to work together.
And the minister and I share a responsibility to provide for the protection of our nations,
our populations and our interests, which is what we are here to discuss today.
MILES O'BRIEN: Meanwhile, the Pentagon released footage of a missile defense test today off
Hawaii.
It said the U.S. Navy successfully shot down a medium-range ballistic missile.
The Pentagon is calling in a panel of experts to study the issue of transgender troops.
Secretary Mattis says he wants recommendations on whether those already serving should be
allowed to remain in the ranks.
President Trump has left their fate to Mattis to decide, but he's ordered a ban on recruiting
any new transgender troops.
The U.N.'s human rights chief warned the president today to stop attacking journalists.
Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein spoke in Geneva.
He said it's dangerous for Mr. Trump to brand news organizations fake and single out individual
reporters.
ZEID BIN RA'AD ZEID AL-HUSSEIN, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Is this
not an incitement for others to attack journalists?
And let's assume a journalist is harmed from one of these organizations.
Does the president then not bear responsibility for this, for having fanned this?
MILES O'BRIEN: Al-Hussein also called on Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro to stop violating
human rights and crushing dissent.
He said the country's democracy is only barely alive.
The Russian government confirms that it received an e-mail from President Trump's personal
lawyer during the 2016 campaign about a business deal.
Michael Cohen was pushing for plans for a Trump Tower property in Moscow.
A Kremlin spokesman said today that Moscow didn't reply to the e-mail.
In Myanmar, some 18,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh in the last week.
The U.N.'s International Security Organization for Migration reported today they're fleeing
attacks by government troops.
It's the latest conflict between the minority Rohingya and the country's Buddhist majority.
RAFIKA BEGUM, Refugee (through translator): In Myanmar, they are killing us.
They burn our houses, killing Muslims.
Because of that, we have come here.
They rounded us up with helicopters, looted our belongings, chased and killing our men.
They killed many people, so we came here.
MILES O'BRIEN: In response, hundreds of Buddhist nationalists called for a crackdown at a rally
in the capital city of Yangon today.
They say Rohingya militants started the trouble.
More than one-and-three-quarter million Muslims began the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi
Arabia, today.
They came from around the world to circle the Kaaba, tracing the footsteps of the Prophet
Mohammed.
It's the start of five days of rituals.
The Saudi government has a security force of 100,000 in place to guard against violence
or a deadly stampede, like the one that killed thousands in 2015.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first gene therapy for use in the U.S.
against childhood leukemia.
It was developed by Novartis and the University of Pennsylvania, and alters a patient's own
white blood cells to identify, modify and kill cancer cells.
Novartis says the treatment will cost $475,000.
In economic news, the Trump White House has blocked a rule that employers report payroll
data by gender and race.
It would have taken effect next March.
Business groups lobbied for rescinding the mandate.
They said it would do little to address wage gaps.
On Wall Street, stocks moved higher on news that second-quarter growth was the best in
two years.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 27 points to close at 21892.
The Nasdaq rose 66 points, and the S&P 500 added 11.
And they painted the town red today in Bunol, Spain, literally.
More than 20,000 revelers hurled 160 tons of tomatoes at each other, in one of the world's
epic food fights.
The famed Tomatina festival is what it's called.
Afterward, crews hosed down the streets.
The event began in 1945, when the first tomato fight broke out among local children.
And that's your "ketchup" on the news.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": did climate change make Hurricane Harvey worse? -- we
examine the evidence; the political implications of the storm damage; we hear from the voices
Turkey's president is trying to silence; and much more.
And the Associated Press now confirms that the death toll from Harvey has risen to 12.
But as we focus on Texas and Louisiana, nature is also taking a devastating toll elsewhere.
Heavy monsoons are paralyzing Mumbai, India, right now.
More than 1,200 people have died so far.
Connecting the dots between a global warming and extreme weather is not a simple job for
science.
That is the topic of our Leading Edge segment this week.
Scientists are loathe to get ahead of their data, but what they see in Houston fits like
a key piece in a giant complex puzzle.
First, the disclaimers:
KERRY EMANUEL, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: It's difficult to say anything
about individual events.
MILES O'BRIEN: Kerry Emanuel is a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
KERRY EMANUEL: We have a lot of extreme weather events.
Whether or not the climate changes, to attribute a particular event to climate change is next
to impossible.
RADLEY HORTON, Columbia University: Because, for those really rare events, it's hard to
even know how common they are before you get to climate change.
MILES O'BRIEN: Radley Horton is a climate scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory.
RADLEY HORTON: You probably want to have 500 years of data, 1,000 years of data to estimate
those statistics.
And, of course, we don't have data records to go back 500 years or 1,000 years.
MARSHALL SHEPHERD, University of Georgia: I'm very uncomfortable talking about causation
of one particular storm, in the same way that I can't identify what particular home run
was hit by a baseball player because of steroid use.
MILES O'BRIEN: Marshall Shepherd is a professor of geography and atmospheric sciences at the
University of Georgia.
MARSHALL SHEPHERD: I think that we know that steroid use likely increases the probability
or chance that there will be more home runs in baseball.
But can I conclusively say that that particular player hit that particular home run because
of steroid use?
I don't know that for a fact.
MILES O'BRIEN: So, let's begin on the firmer ground, the facts.
Over the past hundred years, global temperatures have risen 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and global
sea level has risen about eight inches.
No dispute about that.
RADLEY HORTON: It doesn't sound like much, but for a lot of the coastal cities in the
U.S., places like Norfolk, Virginia, we're already seeing much more frequent nuisance
flooding events.
MILES O'BRIEN: And, in fact, while our eyes have been fixed on Texas and Louisiana this
week, large parts of Norfolk are underwater because of a run-of-the-mill tropical system.
And in India, monsoon rains caused floods that killed 1,000.
RADLEY HORTON: We're getting high water along the coast when there's no storm at all, water
levels that used to happen maybe once every decade or so happening every couple of years.
MILES O'BRIEN: And while the atmospheric temperature has increased, the real heating has occurred
in the oceans.
And warm water is like high-octane fuel for a hurricane.
RADLEY HORTON: Once those upper ocean temperatures, especially near the surface, get to about
80 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer, you now have a source of warm, moist air.
That is the fundamental fuel of a hurricane.
MILES O'BRIEN: This is where the science gets a little bit harder.
Does this warmer water necessarily mean that there will be more powerful hurricanes?
KERRY EMANUEL: What all the models and theories seem to agree on, at least globally, at this
point is that the frequency of the very high intensity, Category 3 or 4 or 4 events, should
go up.
If you look at the most powerful hurricanes on the planet, they have winds near the surface
of about 200 Miles per hour.
It's conceivable that, 100 years from now, the top-ranking hurricanes will have wind
speeds of, say, 220 miles per hour, OK, about a 10 percent increase.
MILES O'BRIEN: Scary and foreboding as that is, the strength of a hurricane is just part
of the picture.
A warmer climate means more moisture in the air, and that is leading to more rainfall.
RADLEY HORTON: Even if the hurricane strengths stay the same, we will probably see more rainfall
in those hurricanes in the future, because the upper oceans are going to be warmer, because
that warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture.
That means that, even if the storm strength is the same, you will probably see a little
more rainfall occurring during those powerful hurricanes.
KERRY EMANUEL: We're very confident that freshwater flooding will become more problematic as the
climate warms, freshwater flooding in particular from hurricanes.
Models show that.
It's a very simple theory.
That's a big worry.
MARSHALL SHEPHERD: We're seeing quite a bit of urban flooding around the world, and particularly
in this country, many of our storm water management and built environment infrastructure is developed
for what I call the 1950s rainstorm.
MILES O'BRIEN: We have built our civilization right to the edge of safety for a very specific,
and until recently, very stable climate.
MARSHALL SHEPHERD: There's something called stationarity.
And what that essentially means is that storm water management, roads, building design,
built infrastructure, assume that the intensity of rainfall would basically stay the same
forever.
And what we're seeing in the scientific literature is that the most intense rainstorms are now
more intense, and this overwhelms that built infrastructure.
Going forward, I think the built environment infrastructure planning, engineering communities
will have to increasingly consider these weather and climatic changes in their design.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: This is going to happen quickly.
That's what I'm signing today.
MILES O'BRIEN: But 10 days before Harvey hit Houston, the Trump administration moved in
the opposite direction, overturning an Obama era rule that federal projects be designed
to account for the risk posed by climate change.
And yet the data is clear: There will be more events like this to follow.
RADLEY HORTON: We see that when those climate models are run in the future, with those higher
greenhouse gas concentrations, we see more extreme events of certain types, more heat
waves, more heavy rain events and more frequent coastal flooding.
KERRY EMANUEL: We're inside the experiment.
It's the largest experiment we have ever done on the Earth system, for sure.
MILES O'BRIEN: We produced that story in conjunction with PBS "NOVA" and the online weather app
MyRadar, part of an upcoming series on the link between weather and climate.
We turn now to the political news of the week, the reaction to the president's visit to Texas
Tuesday, his tax reform goals outlined today, and divisions in the Trump administration
playing out in public.
John Yang has that.
JOHN YANG: Thanks, Miles.
To discuss all that, we're joined again by Karine Jean-Pierre.
She's a senior adviser to MoveOn.org, a contributing editor to Bustle, which is an online women's
magazine, and a veteran of the Obama White House.
And also Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union and the former White House
political director for George W. Bush.
Matt, let's begin with you.
Your old boss learned the pitfalls of dealing with natural disasters.
MATT SCHLAPP, Former White House Director of Political Affairs: He doesn't like being
called old.
I just...
(LAUGHTER)
JOHN YANG: Your former boss.
MATT SCHLAPP: OK.
JOHN YANG: After you left the White House, I should also add.
MATT SCHLAPP: Yes.
JOHN YANG: How is President Trump handling his first major challenge dealing with a natural
disaster?
MATT SCHLAPP: It's tough for presidents.
They are damned if they do, they're damned if they don't.
They're criticized for going down and getting the attention off those whose lives are in
danger.
But then when they stay back and try to monitor things from the Situation Room, people say
you're not showing compassion and you should be out there talking to folks.
So, I think Donald Trump understood that there were going to be critics no matter what he
did.
And I think he demonstrated to the American people and really to the international community
that he has compassion for those whose lives have forever been affected, those who have
lost their lives.
He's bringing the power of the federal government to everything that can be done possibly to
help these folks.
And this is going to be an ongoing, long recovery.
This is something that we -- I think President Bush realized, and his dad before him in Hurricane
Andrew, which is, when you have devastating storms like this, it takes years to recover.
And some people will never get their lives back.
JOHN YANG: Karine, what is your take?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, Democratic Strategist: Well, I'm going to agree with Matt on one
thing here.
It is going to be a long-term recovery.
And that's my concern with Donald Trump.
You know, yesterday, it was like a -- it's almost like it was like a 24-hour TV show.
And my concern is, for him, he needs to understand that this is monumental, what we saw in Houston.
The whole city is underwater, practically.
The Gulf Coast is in a devastating situation.
And what we have right now with the Donald Trump administration, he hasn't staffed up
in the most crucial departments that are going to be leading this effort.
We're talking about Department of Homeland Security, SBA, Small Business Administration,
and also FEMA.
And there are hundreds and hundreds of positions that are crucial for this, and he hasn't staffed
up.
And he can't blame on the Senate.
He hasn't brought people to be nominated.
And, secondly, is, when he created his budget that went to Congress, there was slashes to
FEMA, to SBA, to DHS, to programs that were incredibly important.
(CROSSTALK)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: So, what is the long-term -- so, what is the -- is he understanding
what the long-term affect truly is, and how is he going to change that, going to fix what
is going on?
MATT SCHLAPP: It's conservatives who make this argument, like, let's get good conservative
Republicans in charge of these agencies, because we don't always trust the career folks.
I'm going to take the defense of the career folks.
Even when you don't have political people in charge, you have hundreds, thousands of
competent career people in these agencies.
I think General Kelly, is the chief of staff, someone who just came from Homeland Security,
who has relevant experience in these areas, is really advising the president well.
I think it's wrong to say, just because we don't have political people in place, that
the career people in place can't do the competent job.
And every step I have seen, from what the federal government can do to help these folks,
they are hitting it right on mark, even though this tragedy is terrible, people have lost
their lives, a policeman lost his life.
It's terrible.
You can't do anything to change that.
But we shouldn't assume that the federal government and the career civil service can't do their
job as well.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Look, we were both in a presidential administration.
I was in the Department of Labor as a political person.
They are incredibly important in helping kind of guide the policy of the agency.
MATT SCHLAPP: Sure.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: So, I disagree with you on that.
And also, how about the funding?
He cut, he slashed important programs for those three agencies that I just mentioned.
MATT SCHLAPP: Unfortunately, at some point in our history, we decided that every emergency
that happens in this country becomes a federal emergency.
As a conservative, I don't like that approach.
But don't worry.
I guarantee you that we will keep the 100-year trend in all the money that's needed to try
to fix the problems that this natural disaster...
(CROSSTALK)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Well, we need to help people.
There are people who are suffering, and they need to be helped.
MATT SCHLAPP: Yes, absolutely.
Absolutely.
JOHN YANG: But also, Matt, on that point about the road ahead and the federal funding, the
Northeastern, not only Democrats, but Republicans, Peter King, Chris Christie, are reminding
the Texas delegation now what of they said after Sandy, when a hurricane -- when they
wanted to find offsets.
And the Texas -- members of the Texas delegation, Republican delegation, voted against the Sandy
funding, emergency funding.
Is there going to be a similar fight this time, do you think?
MATT SCHLAPP: Are you assuming there's some hypocrisy in politics?
(LAUGHTER)
MATT SCHLAPP: I'm shocked there's gambling here.
The fact is, is this, which is I think it would be good to have all spending, emergency
spending, offset.
We are $20 trillion in debt.
Congress seems to have no appetite to have any fiscal constraints on things.
I do think that these emergencies do overtake other priorities.
I also think it's smart, because of our kids and grandkids, to be responsible with our
fiscal policy.
So, I think it's OK to pay for these things.
But it's OK to change the order of what is important.
When you have a great disaster like this, I'm OK, I'm comfortable with it being a greater
priority than other projects.
JOHN YANG: Karine?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I think that Ted Cruz should own up and apologize and say he
was wrong, and he shouldn't make people's lives and suffering -- people are dying and
suffering out there.
He shouldn't turn it into a political issue.
MATT SCHLAPP: Congress never has a problem appropriating money.
This is really not an issue.
They're really good at it, as a matter of fact, too good.
JOHN YANG: Well, the other part that Congress is often good at -- or people say Congress
is good at -- is raising money, is the taxes.
President Trump gave a speech today outlining his vision, his goals for tax cuts and tax
reform.
They're still looking for their first really big major legislative victory of this presidency.
Are taxes are going to be it, Matt?
Is this going to be it?
MATT SCHLAPP: Just so you know, the Pew Foundation just came out said this is the most productive
Congress we have seen in half-a-century, because don't gloss over the fact that they have actually
had great achievements on these congressional review acts, over a dozen, to pull back on
regulations.
So, I just want to make sure we understand.
I think it's fair to say that they stubbed their toe on health care.
And I have been the first one to say on this show over and over again this is a massive
problem for those Republicans who promised to repeal and replace Obamacare and voted
differently.
If they don't get a big tax cut bill done this year, I think it's a massive political
problem.
But I do think they're going to get it done.
JOHN YANG: Quickly, Karine, the last word.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: I think they're going to have a very difficult time getting it done.
We have even heard from the Trump administration saying, hey, because we weren't able to repeal
Obamacare, we're not going to be able to get this tax reform done.
So, I think it's going to be an uphill...
MATT SCHLAPP: We're going to get it done.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: I don't think so.
JOHN YANG: Karine Jean-Pierre, Matt Schlapp.
(CROSSTALK)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: The people will not allow this.
We will fight.
We will fight tooth and nail, just like we fought Obamacare.
(CROSSTALK)
JOHN YANG: Thanks a lot, Matt, Karine.
Thank you very much.
MILES O'BRIEN: It has now been more than a year since that failed coup in Turkey.
You will recall, elements of the military tried and failed to overthrow the government.
Since then, the government has mounted a widespread purge in the name of security.
Critics of the regime claim this has led to a fierce campaign to silence criticism across
all aspects of society.
Special correspondent Nick Schifrin reports from Istanbul.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Thirty-nine-year-old Aynur Barkin has long been a proud member of Turkey's
opposition.
She's always known her activism carried risks, but she never anticipated being labeled an
enemy of the state.
AYNUR BARKIN, Activist (through translator): They want us to teach the way they like.
They want us to dress the way they like.
They want us to obey them wherever we go.
And we say no.
We have our own identities and values that we believe in.
We believe in democracy.
NICK SCHIFRIN: For the last 15 years, she's been a third-grade teacher, the kind who takes
selfies with her 8-year-olds.
But she's also a self-described leftist who's opposed the government's education policies.
And one day in February, she looked online and learned she had lost her job.
AYNUR BARKIN (through translator): They do not take your statement or give any notice.
There was just one sentence that read, they might be in contact with terrorist groups.
Might.
They do not have conclusive evidence.
It's all hearsay.
NICK SCHIFRIN: She and these other fired teachers lost their jobs because the government said
they supported terrorists, in other words, supported last July's failed coup.
The government says elements of the military tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the administration,
even sending tanks toward downtown Istanbul.
By the end of the night, 234 died and more than 2,000 were injured.
Five days later, the government declared a state of emergency, saying the coup was organized
by religious leader Fethullah Gulen, who runs a widespread social movement in Turkey and
lives in exile in Pennsylvania.
In front of millions of supporters, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to crush the coup
plotters and what he described as Gulen's society-wide conspiracy.
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, Turkish President (through translator): From now on, we will examine
very carefully who we have under us.
We will see who we have in the military, who we have in the judiciary, and throw the others
out of the door.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Under the state of the emergency, the impact has been enormous; 50,000 people
have been arrested; 150,000 people have either lost their jobs or been suspended.
The purge has targeted every aspect of society.
The fired teachers often clash with police.
Two of them started a hunger strike to protest what they describe as the government's forcing
them to submit or starve.
AYNUR BARKIN (through translator): If we apply for a new job, the possible employer will
find a code that says person was dismissed by decree.
So nobody is willing to employ you.
They are willing me to starve.
DR.
OZDEMIR AKTAN, General Surgeon: I'm a physician, and I'm a doctor, and I'm an academic.
And I ask questions.
And now our system is prohibiting asking questions.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Dr. Ozdemir Aktan is a general surgeon at a private upscale Istanbul hospital.
He's also been a prominent critic of the government's politics and health policy.
He was the head of the Turkish equivalent of the American Medical Association.
And in February, he was fired from his government hospital and teaching job for -- quote -- "links
to terrorist groups."
DR.
OZDEMIR AKTAN: I was one of the academics who have signed the letter asking for peace.
And that was considered as a support for PKK.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The PKK is a Kurdish militant organization considered a terrorist group
by Turkey and the U.S.
It's declared a desire for independence, and targeted state institutions, like this police
station last year.
On Turkish TV, Erdogan labeled Aktan and other academics who pushed for peace talks with
the PKK enemies of the state.
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN (through translator): They have titles before their names, like
professor and assistant professor, but that doesn't make them intellectuals.
They're unenlightened.
They're vile.
Those who side with the cruel are cruel.
Those who side with massacre commit massacre.
NICK SCHIFRIN: That was five months before the coup, which means the coup only accelerated
the President Erdogan's crackdown already in progress, says Dr. Aktan.
DR.
OZDEMIR AKTAN: Turkey always looked to the West, and tried to be more to be like a Western
country.
We want democracy.
Well, we want freedom.
But now we are getting away and away from the Western population.
That means less democracy.
YENAL KUCUKER, Turkish Heritage Organization: I don't think this is an identity change.
This is about priorities.
And the national security of the country is very important.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The government declined our interview request.
But Turkish Heritage Organization executive director Yenal Kucuker echoes the government
argument when he says government structures had to cleanse themselves of people who support
Fethullah Gulen, especially the military.
YENAL KUCUKER: In specific divisions, there are certain generals, commanders, different
ranks getting their instructions from -- not from the military, but from those who were
outside of the military.
There was a cleanup campaign, so to speak, to eliminate those who are affiliated with
Gulen movement.
NICK SCHIFRIN: That campaign has extended into journalism, and it's a fight that the
Cumhuriyet newspaper knows well.
Turhan Gunay is the newspaper's books, magazine editor.
He shows off mementos and the newspaper's century-old tradition of opposition.
What happens to people in Turkey right now if they oppose the government?
TURHAN GUNAY, Cumhuriyet (through translator): I can only answer this question through my
own experience, and that is, you are thrown into jail.
The government has no tolerance for the slightest criticism.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, Gunay is free, surrounded by a fraction of the books he's spent the
last 33 years reviewing.
But he spent nine months in prison with his colleagues.
And they were just released last month.
That's him on the left in the blue.
They had been accused of aiding a terrorist organization.
Did they provide any evidence?
TURHAN GUNAY (through translator): No, they didn't.
There was only the accusation, aiding and abetting the PKK.
But we have no connection to them.
After all, we are just journalists.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Cumhuriyet journalists have been arrested by previous Turkish governments,
and Turkey has suffered three previous successful coups, the last one in 1980.
But Gunay says today feels different.
Since last year's coup, 150 media outlets have been closed.
And like all critics who've been jailed or fired, his passport's been taken away, so
he can't leave a country that he says is becoming an open-air prison.
TURHAN GUNAY (through translator): Turkey is a civilized, secular, and Muslim country.
It was founded on that and molded on that.
But, today, the people we call secular, modern, or civilized are cornered into certain spaces,
and the areas they live in are fast being destroyed.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The government has stood by its characterization of the Cumhuriyet newspaper
as pro-coup.
And last month, one year to the minute after the coup, Erdogan recommitted himself to what
he describes as strengthening the state.
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN (through translator): The July 15 coup attempt wasn't the first
attack against our country, and it won't be the last.
For that reason, we will first rip the heads off these traitors.
We will cut their heads off.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The crowd responded, "We want executions, we want executions," even though
the country banned the death penalty 13 years ago.
What is the state of the justice system in Turkey?
OMER KAVILI, Attorney (through translator): People have become afraid of saying what they
have seen or standing as a witness to what they have witnessed.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Omer Kavili is a lawyer for a 33-year-old 1st lieutenant in the Turkish
air force.
That's him on the right with his family.
He's accused of being a coup participant.
In total, thousands of Turkish service members are on trial, part of the largest legal proceedings
in Turkey's modern history.
Kavili says his client didn't help the coup plotters, and the only evidence the government
has presented is a video during the coup of his client walking in a hallway.
Can your client get a fair trial?
OMER KAVILI (through translator): This is no trial.
As he gives his testimony, we should be able to ask questions.
But our microphones are turned off.
I can't speak to my client because, between us, there is a wall of armed police.
We don't know the evidence against us.
We don't know who testified against us.
If you call that a fair trial, to hell with it.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Kavili shows me how, every time he goes into court, authorities cover
up his phone's cameras.
He says, in this environment, the defenders feel like the persecuted.
OMER KAVILI (through translator): They are already tailing me and tapping my phone.
I'm under constant surveillance.
They can detain me anytime they want.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The government's defenders acknowledge the coup was a turning point,
but they argue it was for the better: The people prevailed, and the military learned
its lesson.
YENAL KUCUKER: This was the first attempt coup attempt the Turkish people were able
to stop.
This is democracy, and this is an elected government.
The only way for the elected government to be -- to leave this post is basically with
elections, with the ballot, not with bullets.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, amidst Istanbul's high-rises, posters depict failed takeover attempts and
men labeled martyrs who died defending the government.
Authorities here are keenly watching their own people.
And, in the name of preventing another coup, they're targeting all their perceived enemies.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin in Istanbul.
MILES O'BRIEN: Finally: In the face of so much tragedy, a group of gospel singers was
able shine some light on a convention center shelter in Conroe, Texas, last night.
Take a listen.
(SINGING)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MILES O'BRIEN: Say amen, somebody.
And that's the "NewsHour" for tonight.
I'm Miles O'Brien.
Thank you.
See you tomorrow.
PBS NewsHour full episode Aug. 29, 2017 Sun returns to storm-ravaged Houston, but 'worst is not yet over' National Guard’s Harvey rescues haven’t ‘slowed down’ PBS NewsHour Weekend full episode August 26, 2017 Erdogan's crackdown targets every aspect of Turkish society How will the Trump administration handle long Hurricane Harvey recovery? What police and first responders in Beaumont, Texas are facing after Harvey Colorado apprenticeship program turns the factory floor into a classroom Did climate change make recent extreme storms worse? PBS NewsHour Weekend full episode August 27, 2017

PBS NewsHour full episode Aug. 30, 2017

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