♪♪ >> Tonight on pbs news weekend, the Texas senate acquits Republican attorney general Kent paxton of all corruption charges at his impeachment trial. One year after the death of Amini in Iran, has life changed for women living under strict islamic law. >> We are still with that with our hearts and our minds.
And we are going to keep fighting until the mullahs are gone. >> For hispanic heritage month, we look at the life of the first openly gay candidate for public office, Jose saria. >> Major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by. >> Consumer cellular, how may help you?
This is a pocket doll. Somebody’s pocket, I want to let you know that with consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract. That is kind of our thing. Have a nice day. >> 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 to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. >> Good evening. I am John yang. This afternoon the republican-controlled Texas state senate voted largely along party lines not to remove embattled state attorney general Kent paxton from office.
The Texas house had overwhelmingly voted to impeach him earlier this year. The senate sat as a jury in the trial on charges, the house had brought that had been deliberating since Friday. The senate acquitted paxton on 16 separate articles of impeachment, including bribery, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and abuse of the public trust.
The charger center on his relationship with a wealthy donor. Afterward, the lieutenant governor Dan Patrick said it was all just politics. >> Thi vote will be the vote you are remembered for most. Our members already knew that. And have known that for the last three months. If only the house members who
Voted for impeachment would’ve followed that instruction in the house, we may not have been here. In the house the vote to send the articles of impeachment to the senate happened in only a few days with no time for 150 members to even study the articles. >> Paxton still faces a trial on
Felony securities fraud and an FBI investigation. Our investigative reporter is covering all of this. Were you surprised by what happened this afternoon, or did you expect this? >> We’ve known from day one it was going to be a high hurdle to get this impeachment process across the finish line.
What I mean by that is that we have always assumed that 12 Democrats would vote in favor of those articles impeachment. So, when you look at it, it was really a trial for nine Texas senators. That was the number needed to join with the Democrats to complete the impeachment process
And to convict can paxton on those articles. Even the fact that it was such a high burden, to do that, I think on the ground in Texas, as we saw the political machinery fire up, in many ways it was not a surprise to see the outcome that we saw this afternoon >> Mr.
Paxton issued a statement that blamed president Biden and he blamed the Republican speaker of the senate house. Who we called a liberal, saying it is just politics. But these were serious charges. >> They were charges that included bribery, misusing his office and — all dates back to allegations brought forward by
Eight whistleblowers in the fall of 2020. People who sat at the right hand of Ken paxton, top attorneys in his own agency, who shared the same Christian conservative values wanted to work side-by-side with Ken paxton to push those values and to push that agenda forward but again,
What we saw in the end, is there is a feeling that house impeachment managers and prosecutors did not really prove — in terms of the contention that yes, Ken paxton did accept a bribe, he did benefit from helping a wealthy Austin investor who was also one of his campaign contributors.
>> So, the evidence just wasn’t there during the trial? >> That seems to be the contention. It is noteworthy that as the trial was going on, the senators who were the jurors were prohibited from making public statement. There was a gag order in place for weeks. Now we are going about the
Process of really getting their feedback, getting a public statement. What might they say with regard to how they voted and why they did or did not vote the way they did. >> Ken paxton’s influence extends beyond the borders of the state of Texas. He has been a thorn in the side
Of democratic presidents, a strong ally of Donald Trump. How is this going to affect his influence. How does this affect his standing? >> In minds of many political scientists, this is going to be give Ken paxton a broad license to double down on some of the deeply Christian conservative,
Far right agenda her ein Texas, but again beyond. Ken paxton speaking to that in his statement today saying that the Biden administration should get ready, that he will continue to target their agendas and their policies, taking his work in Texas and putting it on the national stage. >> And politics aside, what is
Ahead for Ken paxton in terms of courtrooms? >> Well, certainly for Ken paxton, this is a joyous, a monumental day, day of victory for him, but as you mentioned, Ken paxton is far from out of the woods. There are those three state security felony fraud charges he’s facing that is happening in
Houston and a judge in harris county– in Harris county says she wants to get this case moving forward. It goes back eight years. We know through our own reporting there is an ongoing federal investigation, into Ken paxton concerning these same allegations, essentially the same allegations, and then last
But not least, Ken paxton is the subject of two ongoing complaints by the state bar on whether or not he violated the terms of his license, his law license in the state. >> The Austin American statesman, thank you very much. >> Thanks for having me. >> In the days other news, what
Was hurricane Lee is now a post-tropical cyclone that made landfall on Nova Scotia westerns coastline. The storm graze kneeling, lashing it with heavy rains and strong winds and high surf and large swells and choppy seas. Hundreds of thousands are without power in the united States and Canada, is falling
Trees and tree limb’s took out powerlines. The storm is forecast to weaken tomorrow as it moves inland over Canada and diminish on Monday. Negotiators for the uaw were back at the bargaining table today one day after thousands of autoworkers struck in plants in Missouri, Ohio and Michigan .
Ford is blaming the strike for 600 playoffs. GM said he could begin laying off thousands next week. The uaw president said the layofs won’t work. Libya’s government is investigating the collapse of the two dams that killed more than 11,000 people this week. Six days later, rescue teams are still searching for bodies.
There are estimates that more than 10,000 people are still missing. And north Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a stop today at the Russian port city of vladivostok, 100 miles from the north Korean border. As part of his visit to pressure that including a meeting with Vladimir Putin. Kim invested Russian weapons
Including hypersonic missiles and bombers capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. The visit has raised western concerns about a russia-north Korean arms deal. Still to come, what’s changed for women in Iran one year after sweeping protests follow the death of Amini? The story of a man who paved the way for gay political candidates
In America. >> This is pbs news weekend, from weta studios in Washington, home of the pbs newshour weeknights on pbs. >> It is one year to the days since the 22-year-old Iranian kurdish woman died in a hospital, days after the morality police arrested her in Tehran. They said she had violated the
Dress code that requires women to wear a head job an — a hijab. Penalties include a fine, prisoner floging. Iran’s biggest mass demonstrations against his clerical rules and years. Around the world today, demonstrators marched in solidarity to mark the anniversary of Amini’s death. In London there were calls for
An end to Iran’s strict islamic rule. >> The regime is really brutal. So we are fighting. If it takes one or 10 years, does not matter we never stop. >> In Berlin, calls for another revolution to depose the religious leaders who seized power in 1979 but in Iran a much different picture.
A heavy security presence to prevent a resurgence of Lester’s protest triggered by the death. The 22-year-old woman who was from a small city in northwest Iran, a member of the kurds, she died in government detention. Iranian officials deny it was a result of being beaten. Amini’s death unleashed decades
Of pent up anger at the clerical rules and their denial of political freedoms. Women l;ed the protest, fed up with the restraints put on them, including telling them how to dress. There protest now mushroomed into a global movement, women cut their hair. Their rallying cry — women, life, freedom.
>> To the — until the women of Iran are free, we are going to stand with you. Women. Life. Freedom. >> In Iran, authorities responded with a brutal crackdown. Or than 22,000 people were detained. More than 500 were killed in violent clashes with security forces. The supreme leader said it was a
Western plot. >> I say clearly that these riots were designed by America. They have sat down and planned this, they have planned this. >> The mandatory law is still in place a year later and authorities want to stiffen the penalties to up to 10 years in prison. In the morality police, after
Bein disbanded, resumed patrolling this summer. On the streets, more women young and old are going without the hijab. >> Do you think the morality police can prevent women from not wearing a hijab they cannot impose it like before. The numbers of people who do not obey is too high now.
They cannot handle all of us. >> And her name lives on. This kurdish family name their new daughter Gina, her kurdish name which means “Life.” >> This name is sacred because she is a sacred personality. We chose this name so that in the future my daughter knows that’s it’s not an ordinary name
For an ordinary person but for an exceptional and different person. >> Symbol of hope for women who want a better future. >> This week president Biden announced new sanctions on Iran. “In the face of continued oppression and violence the citizens of Iran remain committed to this movement and
To their fight for free and democratic future.” Iranians alone will determine the fate of their countries but the United States remains committed to standing with them. To explore this further, we are joined by an ambassador for amnesty international U.K. And an actor who is a. In popular movies and television shows.
This protest or this movement began over the hijab law, but has it encompassed more issues than that? >> Thanks for having me, yes, the short answer is yes. Amini was not just a young woman. She was a kurd and a Sunni, she was a member of minority ethnic groups.
What her death did, and she was just a normal woman, she was an everyday woman living her life. She wasn’t kill for anything but just expressing herself freely and living her life normally. Just for wearing a hijab “In appropriately” so, she really became a symbol of the antithesis of a male,
Geriatric intolerant ruling elite. >> We saw the tape, women going without the hijab, but also the morality police back patrolling. Has anything changed in the past year? >> We are not seeing the same numbers on the streets. But the revolution is very much alive in the hearts and minds of the people.
And the society will never be the same again. Hundreds of thousands of women are currently on the streets of Iran every day in major cities flouting their compulsory hijab law. And there are micro protests. Iran’s gen Z doing things like rollerskating on the streets of Iran to inject society with joy,
Because joy is a crime in Iran. Women cannot dance in public, they cannot sing or ride a bicycle, they have to sit at the back of a bus. This is more than about compulsory hijab. >> Her father was detained in the past couple of days, and before he was released he was
Warned not to do anything today to commemorate his daughter’s death. What’s life like for Iranians who are fighting the clerical rule and clerical rulers who make it clear they will not put up with any dissent? >> In one word, dangerous. These families have been harassed, silenced, imprisoned, killed simply for demanding
Justice for their loved ones. You know, there is a young child, a nine-year-old, who was killed with bullets while the protests were happening. And his mother, who’s seeking justice, is trying very hard to hold the regime to account, and sued the government. They stop them from commemorating their loved ones
And they actually killed the mother’s cousin while hewas commemorating the death of the child. This is the type of thing they are dealing with and his mother is now under house arrest. >> Today she is front of mind. The anniversary of her death. Do you worry and that in the
Other 364 days, her memory will recede and maybe the issue will recede and a lot of people minds in the west? >> I’m very worried about that. Today is the anniversary of her death, and we are seeing protests across the world. There is an epitaph on her grave
That says “Your name will become our code,” and it did because her legacy is one of fighting for, for a normal life, which is the middle slogan of women, life, freedom. You cannot forget that women’s rights is just one pillar of what they are fighting for. The other two being, a normal
Life, the right to live your life in just a freeway and freedom being the last word in this slogan. In those two last words apply to all. So, this has really captured the national aspiration. Now men are standing with women and more young men have been killed in the past year than
Women and that shows the solidarity. Something that really strikes fear into this misogynistic and patriarchal regime. >> In a statement president Biden said this is up to the Iranians, their struggle and fight, but we’re standing with them. Is the west doing enough to support this, do you think? >> In short, no.
Words are great but what we need is action. And there are number of ways we can do that. We haven’t ever been ready for the next uprising but Iranian have risen up multiple times in the past 44 years, and every time there is now an internet shutdown, black outs, there are
Mass fertility’s and — mass brutalities and a crackdown on the protesters. And what we need to be is prepared for next time. There will be a next time. The times between protests are getting shorter and hopefully the regime will be no longer about the people need us to ensure they have internet
Access, to ensure that the propaganda that these dictators in unison, Russia, China, Iran spew and spend a lot of money on cyber arms, we do not have the same capability. And funding to counter that propaganda. >> You said earlier that you thought that Iranian society will never be the same, but we
Have also seen the leadership crackdown harder and harder. Are you optimistic that things will change and change soon? >> Younow, it is hard to protect how long this is going to take, but I think it is. This is the twilight of the regime. The supreme leader is the oldest
Dictator in the logs dictator holding power in today’s wo– and the longest dictator holding power in today’s world. He has got cancer. His death will happen soon. And what happens the day after, we have to watch this space. In the meantime, we cannot allow that vacuum to be filled with more oppression.
We have to ensure that we are empowering dissident voices, opposition voices we need a unified opposition but we also need a multinational approach to Iran, we need an American leadership on Iran and hopefully bipartisan support for the people. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> For the start of hispanic
Heritage month we return to hidden histories. Tonight we like the legacy of a Latino American political activist and drag performer who left his mark on U.S. History by paving the way for gay candidates. >> United we stand and divided they’ll catch us one by one. >> Jose Sarria lived by those
Words throughout his life. As legendary drag performer, a gay-rights activist, and the nation’s first known openly gay candidate for public office. He was born in San Francisco in 1922, the only child of a single mother from Columbia — from Colombia. She allowed him to dress as he please, allowing teamed —
Going to him with dances in women’s clothing or to his goal of teaching was put on hold with the Japanese attack on pearl harbor. He left school and enlisted in the army, convincing the recruiter to overlook the fact that at five feet, he did not meet the minimum height requirement.
In the army he faced two obstacles — openly gay people work barred — were barred and he was the only let next soli — only let next — only Latin X soldier. Sarria was promoted and followed the officer to the European theater and the battle of the bulge. After the German surrender, he
Went with a colonel to Berlin where he found a revitalized queer scene. When Sarria was honorably discharged in 1947, he went back to San Francisco, eager to use his gi. Bill benefits to become a teacher but undercover officers arrested him for solicitation. To avoid publicity, he pleaded guilty, only to learn later that
It disqualified him from teaching. He went to work as a waiter and host at the black cat café, a long time bohemian hang out with the growing gay clientele. ♪♪ Hello, everybody I’m glad to see you are here ♪♪ >> What began as an occasional song became regularly singing opera parodies.
He became the club star act, billed as the nightingale of Montgomery street. He infused his performances with biting political commentary. In 1955 San Francisco crackdown on lgbtq+ establishments sending undercover police to look for reasons to shut them down and arrest performers. The harassment moved Sarria to run for the city board of supervisors.
Neither party would endorse him, but he got on the ballot as a Democrat. The nations first known openly gay candidate. >> My fellow citizens of San Francisco, tonight I would like to explain my platform, equality before the law. >> He lost but his campaign awakened the gay community to its political potential.
Paving the way for his friend Harvey milk, 16 years later, to become one of the nation first openly gay elected officials. For the rest of his life, Sarria remains an important figure in San Francisco’s queer community. He founded the imperial court system, regarded as the oldest global lgbtq plus charitable
Organization raising money to fight AIDS, domestic abuse and homelessness. Sarria died from cancer in 2013. He was 90 years old. Today, his legacy lives on through his foundation dedicated to preserving artifacts of queer history, in — his induction into the California hall of fame and the thousands of lgbtq+ candidates
Whov’e followed in his footsteps. >> And there is always more online, like this story about how an Iranian American ballerina uses dancing as a way to highlight social injustices in her family’s homeland. All that and mor on our website pbs.org. And that is pbs news weekend for this Saturday. On Sunday, with autumn
Approaching, the effect climate change has on the timing and intensity of fall foliage. I’m John yang. For all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. See you tomorrow. >> Major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by. >> Consumer cellular, how may I help you? This is a pocket dial.
Somebody’s pocket, I thought I would let you know that with consumer cellular get nationwide coverage with no contract. That’s kind of our thing. Have a nice day. ♪♪ >> And with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by
Contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. [Captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] ♪♪ ♪♪ >> You are watching pbs.
source
