i'm michael spemerconish in philadelphia. america is having trouble speaking just when we most need to have a national conversation and what is proving difficult is establishing new boundaries that don't completely shut down dialogue. in sacramento the nba kings play by play tv announcer was fired from his radio job and resigned from his tv role. grant pappier caused a fire storm when responding to a tweet from nba player da marcus cousins who asked what is your take on black lives matter? napier replied all lives matter. every single one exclamation point. many cried foul including chris webber who said demarcus we know and have known who grant is. the team knows as well. i've told them many times. they've seen it. they know who he is. there is a history here. five years ago napier defended then l.a. clippers owner donald sterling when he made racist comments. napier said sterling couldn't be racist because he had hired doc rivers and elgin baylor. this time napier apologized. then there was drew brees the

new orleans saints quarterback initially said that kneeling during the national anthem disrespects the flag referencing colin kaepernick's sideline protests from 2016. >> i will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the united states of america. when the national anthem is played and when i look at the flag of the united states i envision my two grandfathers who fought for this country during  world war ii one in the army and one in the marine corps both risking their lives to protect our country and try to make our country and this world a better place. so every time i stand with my hand over my heart looking at that flag and singing the national anthem that is what i think about. in many cases it brings me to tears thinking about all that has been sacrificed. >> again the response was immediate. many athletes took issue including lebron james and richard sherman.

saints safety malcolm jenkins responded with a pair of instagram videos one of which he later deleted. jenkins said this, quote, we're done asking, drew. and people who share your sentiments who express those and push them throughout the world, the airwaves, are the problem. and it's unfortunate because i considered you a friend. i looked up to you. you're somebody i had a great deal of respect for but sometimes you should shut the f up. brees apologized via instagram writing in part i take full responsibility and accountability. i recognize that i should do less talking and more listening and when the black community is talk k about their pain we all need to listen. for that i am very sorry and i ask your forgiveness. enter ellen degeneres. she tweeted, and deleted, what did she regret? apparently saying this, quote, like so many of you i am angry and i am sad people of color in this country have faced injustice for far too long for things to change things must change, we must commit ourselves to this change with conviction

and love. some objected to her use of people of color as a word choice. others thought that she was milk toast. ellen then issued a tearful apology. >> i know i'm not going to say the right thing. i know there are going to be a lot of people who are going to be in disagreement with what i say, but i have a platform and i have a voice and i have always stood for equality. i have always wanted to be the voice for people who felt like they didn't have a voice because i know what that feels like. and maybe you don't agree with how it's coming out but you have to understand it. >> here in philadelphia, inga saffron the pulitzer prize winning architectural critic for the "philadelphia inquirer" wrote a thoughtful essay including this. you can be appalled and heartbroken by our country's deadly racism but still quake at

at what the damage portends for philadelphia. racism is built on strong foundations. the momentary satisfaction of destroying a few buildings does nothing to remove that crisis. it was initially accompanied by a headline which she did not write which said this. buildings matter, too. the newspaper issued an apology saying while no such comparison was intended, intent is ultimately irrelevant and editors attempt to capture a columnist's nuanced argument in a few words went horribly wrong and the resulting hurt and anger are plain. the "new york times" drew fire for an essay by a sitting u.s. senator republican tom cotton in support of the government using troops to quell rioting saying in part, some elites have excused this orgy of violence in the spirit of radical chic calling it an understandable response to the wrongful death of george floyd. those excuses are built on a

revolting moral kwifl ens of rioters and looters to peaceful, law abiding protesters. a majority who seek to protest peacefully shouldn't be confused with bands of miscreants. protests of the times having published senator cotton's thoughts came from both inside and outside the "new york times." a number of employees expressed their disapproval of the peace. more than 800 staff signed a letter protesting its publication. one tweet came from the "new york times" magazine writer nicole hannah jones saying i'll probably get in trouble for this but to not say something would be immoral. as a black woman, as a journalist, as an american i am deeply ashamed that we ran this. taking note from the sidelines, veteran journalist, multi emmy award winning broadcaster jeff greenfield weighed in. he said, about senator cotton's op-ed of the "new york times," if you don't want an op-ed page that prints views you strongly disagree with you don't really want an op-ed page. you want a my-ed page.

for sharing his thoughts, greenfield then became the brunt of enmity including from "new york times" opinion columnist who replied saying this. free and open discourse carries an implicit within the accepted bounds of democratic society. now the "new york times" has said it won't run senator cotton's essay in tomorrow's print edition as planned. by the way, i want to know what you think. go to my website this hour. smerconish.com. answer this week's survey question. should they be running it in sunday's print edition? now, here are my thoughts. if we choose to disengage we'll fall into a trap established by those parties more interested in division than unity. maybe we can learn a thing or two from a viral video. this is a former nfler who this week published a nine-minute video titled how to have an uncomfortable conversation with a black man. it's been viewed more than

6.5 million times. the video is simple in presentation. it is just him looking straight into a camera addressing from a black man's perspective such thorny issues as white privilege, systemic racism, white on black crime versus black on black crime, and why can an african-american say the "n" word when a white person never can? here is a clip of what he had to say on that subject. >> the "n" word is synonymous with oppression, execution, and subordination. black people took something that was meant and originally used as evil and we turned it into a term of endearment. so white people, i submit that you can't, shouldn't, nor should you ever have a desire to say that word whether quoting the rap song, the movie, or anything. >> on my radio program this week he told me why he made the video in the first place. >> there is a clear, racial divide. let me stand in this gap and try to connect my white brothers and

sisters to my black brothers and sisters and it's obvious, it is so obvious, michael, that my white brothers and sisters across america are ready to help. they just don't know how. and so i wanted to give them a crash course on how. >> that's the lesson. yes, this national conversation is long overdue but beyond the talking we need to listen. not shut out. even if it is sometimes uncomfortable. you don't need me to tell you emotions are raw. people are very upset. more raw, more upset than i've seen in my adult lifetime. people want to talk about it. that's good. sometimes they choose the wrong words. words that strike others as horribly insensitive. in that raw moment, the backlash is instantaneous and it can be harsh. the harshness stills further dialogue and we're all poorer for it. let's keep on talking. when the speaker errs the

listener should correct nicely. when the correction comes the reply should be thoughtful. we not only need that form of constructive dialogue. we must have it. a house divided against itself cannot stand only through reasoned national discourse born from love not hate, patience not anger. can we achieve equal justice under law. joining me now to discuss nba legend turner sports analyst sir charles barkley. charles, are we ready as a nation to have the kind of conversation that is necessary? >> we've been ready for a long time, michael. you know, it's interesting listening to your message. you can't make everybody happy. no matter what you say there are people out there who are angry, evil, mean. they're never going to listen. that is one of the reasons i never, never use social media. everybody tries to play god, judge, and jury.

i'm never going to use social media for that aspect. because it doesn't matter what you say. some people just got bad lives so they're always going to be negative. but we wanted to have this conversation for a long time. we need to have this conversation. and i'm all in. anything you want to talk about. >> so first start with your reaction to the killing of george floyd, the resulting protests, and the response by president trump. >> well, that was the first -- first of all, it is stressful, stressful being black. you think about what we have been through just in the last three months. you saw the young man in atlanta, georgia, who was shot who was out jogging. i mean, if you can't go out jogging without getting shot that is just sad. secondly you saw the young lady in new york screaming at the young black man because he told her to put her dog on a leash. she says, no. i'm going to tell the police a black man is harassing me.

that was her safety net. then you see mr. floyd. i think that was the reason everybody is so upset, we've heard about these incidents before. this was the first time i think in my lifetime i've actually seen a person die right before my eyes. and you see this cop got his foot on his neck and he has his hands in his pocket like he's just sitting there chilling out. and i think that, to me, was the most painful aspect, to hear this man begging for his life, telling people he can't breathe. you got people standing there saying, hey, dude, he's telling you he can't breathe. i think just to see somebody die to me that was, man, just so sad. >> it also has to make you wonder. you referenced the ahmaud arbery case in georgia and of course the george floyd case. where would we be, charles, without the video? because my hunch is without that video, it would have been the police officer in the georgia case the former cop's word that would be accepted and none of us

would be any the wiser. >> i think that is what really frustrate black people all around. when you see stuff on videotape, that is the only proof you have. and if you can't get justice when you have a videotape, you're never going to get justice. i mean, think about that. if you see what your eyes see on a videotape and there is no recourse judicially, you'll say, what do i have to do to be seen and heard? that is the problem we all have with this situation. >> the president said yesterday that the greatest thing for race relations is economic recovery. is he right? >> well, he is about a hundred years behind, yes. first of all, people talk about black and white. it is really just about economics. you got all the poor black people. they're in the worst neighborhoods. they are in the worst schools. so they're already behind the, quote-unquote, 8 ball growing

up. so we got a lot of crime in our neighborhoods. some of it is obviously self-imposed but you have to realize if you put all these black people in bad neighborhoods and don't give them a quality education, they're never -- there are going to be some exceptions, athletically, entertainment wise -- but the majority are not going to make it out of the hood. >> charles, roger goodell, i think i have footage and i want to show you and everybody else -- roger goodell representing the nfl yesterday took some ownership of the mishandling of kaep ka mishandling of colin kaepernick. >> around the country emblematic of the centuries of silence, inequality, and oppression of brook players, coaches, fans, and staff. we are listening. i am listening. i will be reaching out to players who have raised their voices and others on how we can improve and go forward for a better and more united nfl

family. >> what do you make thaf reaction, charles? >> well, listen. when you run a $20 billion business, you have an opportunity to go back in these communities and make a difference. you know, listen. i'm not going to bash roger goodell. michael, two weeks ago they were bribing teams to hire black coaches. i mean, come on. let's be realistic. two weeks ago they were going to give you draft picks, which is basically bribing you, to hire black coaches. so the nfl has a long way to go. you know, same thing with college football. the lack of black coaches but the nfl is -- the fact they have to bribe teams to hire black people, that is a joke and really sad. >> i respect your independent thinking. i love that i never know what i'm getting from charles barkley other than your take not tethered to talking points. talk to me about president trump in the past week in the

aftermath of george floyd's killing. >> well, you know, i guess i'm not going to bash the president. i'm not a fan of the president. but i'm not going to bash him because this thing started way before him. way before him. to act like these three years he's been in office he's responsible for everything, i think that is disingenuous. i will say this, though. he's the president of the united states. he's supposed to look out for everybody. not black, not white, not hispanic, not rich, not poor, not jewish. he is the president of the united states. and i think you can fairly say he has done an awful job of trying to represent all parties even going back to charlottesville, virginia. but i think he has lost the fact that he represents everybody in the united states. and the truth of the matter is, he doesn't try to build people together. he doesn't try to build an alliance. and he is awful when it comes to

the pandemic and when we talk about racism, he has not said anything amazing to make you think, okay. he was willing to listen. he has done nothing like that. the first thing he should have said was i just saw a man get killed on national television. that cannot happen. that's all he had to say. no, these guys out here looting and protesting, i'm going to bring in the military. he didn't say you know what? we cannot have a man killed by the cops on national television. i represent everybody in the united states and that is where i think he dropped the ball. >> charles, you know, we claim you as a philly guy. i came into the studio this morning and i drove around the city hall apron. you know the lay of the land in philadelphia. and national guardsmen are already in place because today will be a big day of protests not only in philly but all across the country. what is it you would say to

those coming out to protest wherever they might be, big city, small town, today? >> listen, i'm for protests. i'm never going to be for rioting and looting. i've always been against that. but march in peace, talk to each other, and the thing is, michael, i think you have to be really careful when you're protesting because if it gets out of hand one thing that scared me just watching tv the last few days about this pandemic is still going on and when they are spraying tear gas into these crowds, obviously everybody is taking their masks off and coughing and coughing and coughing. so i think, listen. let's make sure all these protests are peaceful because the last thing we need is a big repeat of this coronavirus. >> just to circle back to where i began, i hope dialogue like this continues. what most concerns me beyond justice for george floyd is that

if people are shut down and are unwilling or afraid to have candid conversation, we'll never advance. your final thought? >> listen, you cannot worry what every fool on the internet says about you. like i said, i never use social media. i never read social media. you know, you talk about ellen degeneres. people complained about something. you talk about the op-ed pieces. listen, you cannot make everybody happy. but you know what you can do? you can do your part to be part of the solution. the only person you can control is you. that's the only person you can control. >> sir charles, thank you as always. >> thank you for having me. be safe. >> i'll see you soon. what are your thoughts? tweet me @smerconish or go to my facebook page and i'll read some responses during the course of the program. from twitter, you misunderstand free speech, smerconish. it goes both ways. people are free to speak. employers and the public are

free to reject statements. that is free speech as well. well of course, tania, i am not asking you to accept the words of tom cotton in this instance. my question is not do you agree with senator cotton. the question is, is that a viewpoint that should at least be given an airing for consideration? it is a two way street. i totally agree with you. but the instances, not all of them, the instances i offered at the outset of the program are -- i mean, ellen degeneres has to offer a tearful apology because what she said was milk toast? come on. that is ridiculous. how willing do you think ellen degeneres will be in the next instance to participate in conversation? and hers is a voice you want at the table. that is my premise. remember, i want to know what you think. go to my website. smerconish.com. i just used this as an example. should the times be running a united states senator's opinion in the sunday print edition.

they're not going to. should they have? still to come during the peak of unrest after the killing of george floyd this pickup truck rammed its way into a shop-rite in an impoverished community here in philadelphia. returning its residents to life in a so-called food desert. i visited the store to find out what happened. and, interestingly, woke up yesterday, i did, on the other side of america. literally. that is the name of meek mills' new hit song about racial inequality. i think you'll be interested in how the song ends. >> the first step i would say i grew up in america in a ruthless neighborhood where we were not protected by police. we grew up in these environments around murder, you see murder, seven people die a week. i think you would probably carry a gun yourself. would you? >> yeah. i probably would. balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo-hoo! great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to

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meek mill just dropped what is the first protest song responding to the aftermath of the killing of george floyd and there is an interesting twist to it which i'll explain. meek's new song is "the other side of america" and paints a vivid picture of street life and addresses racial inequality and police brutality. he draws on his childhood and time spent in prison in 2017. believe it or not, yours truly has a cameo. i didn't even know about it in advance. the song starts with an audio clip of donald trump's famous appeal to black voters, the what have you got to lose? >> what do you have to lose? you're living in poverty. your schools are no good. >> and it ends with this exchange that i had with meek mill on this program back in december of 2018. >> if you grew up in my

neighborhood, you see seven people die a week, i think you would probably carry a gun yourself. would you? >> yeah, i probably would. >> yeah. >> yes. >> so here's the back story as to how i ended up in the song and getting me i guess into "rolling stone" magazine. >> the first step i would say, i grew up in america in a ruthless neighborhood where we are not protected by police. we grew up in ruthless environments, we grew up around murder. you see murder. you see seven people die a week i think you would probably carry a gun yourself. would you? >> yeah, i probably would. of course there was nothing scripted when he was my guest. i certainly hadn't expected he would turn the tables and ask me a question. what prompted it was me asking him, to respond to a critic who said that he was not the ideal spokesman for criminal justice reform. and as you heard, he painted a picture of his environment, which he does at length in this new song while answering my

question he asked me if i'd carry a gun in the same situation. and what immediately flashed through my mind was that i had done exactly that in suburbia. so there was no way i could truthfully say that if instead i lived in the city i would not have done so. which i guess is why that reply now ends the hot new song. ahead, when they release a covid vaccine, will you get it? surprising results from a new survey. also surprising was the way the results were described by the two news organizations who commissioned the poll. and this truck rammed its way into the shop-rite in philadelphia. looters trashed what had been a model store for urban working class neighborhoods. >> please explain to me how this represents getting justice for george floyd. somebody explain to me how this represents getting justice for me getting beat up at 18. somebody explain to me how this represents injustice for the inequality in the corporate

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this is live footage from london where protests over the killing of george floyd have literally jumped the pond. as i mentioned to charles barkley earlier in the program, today expected to be a major day of protests here in philadelphia and, indeed, around the united states, but this is something you're seeing or we're seeing in the united kingdom. in the wake of the george floyd killing countless stores around the country were ransacked and looted. here in philadelphia among the victims were two of a chain of shop-rite stores that had been opened to help impoverished neighborhoods, one of which looters rammed open by driving a pickup truck through the barricaded doors. during the 2008 presidential

race, barack obama visited one of these stores and was so impressed with how they helped the community that the owner jeff brown ended up being a policy adviser to michelle obama's let's move campaign fighting childhood obesity and was her guest at obama's first state of the union address in 2010. brown is ceo and chairman of brown's super stores. six of his 12 markets are in former food deserts that lacked access to fresh produce. he employs 2,500 people, mostly from local communities. 600 of them are formerly incarcerated. the urban stores' employees are 95% african-american. i visited jeff brown in his fox street branch as he supervised cleaning up after the aftermath. >> this store was broken into and looted and we really didn't get the police support we needed. then the second night came around. we were trying to clean the store up and get it back open. and we had a much larger force

of looters. we had a 12 or 15 workers trying to get the store back in shape. and there was over 20 looters. >> so they were out numbered. >> they were out numbered. and my guys are working people. not violent people. and they were really crazed, violent people here attacking the store. my people are inside scared to death. >> i wouldn't blame them. >> in the background, they have these almost little bombs that are going off constantly. and so when you're in the store you keep on hearing, boom, boom, boom! >> are this he throwing them for distraction? >> no. they're using them to bust into atms. >> oh, my -- they came equipped. >> it is extraordinarily intimidating. you feel like you're in a war zone. now they're trying to use the truck to bust the second set of doors. >> do they succeed? >> they get in. yeah. they succeed enough to get in. >> reporter: was there one ring leader from what you can see or was it just a completely organic, unplanned assault? >> you know, the first night it

seemed like there was a ring leader and a purpose to destroy the store. and the second night it was just looters. they were here to steal. my team had to go to the roof for safety and repeated calls to police, no one came to their rescue. they ultimately called the fire department to get a ladder and get them off the roof. i really didn't think this would happen to us because of our almost loving relationship with the members of this community. we have video of the looters and we don't recognize them and we don't think it was our customers. >> reporter: i'm looking at what looks like a credit union or what is left of a credit union and some atm machines that were clearly broken into. what can you tell me about this? >> this neighborhood was a food desert. this was not only a food desert but they don't have banks. they often don't have proper health care. and so when we built this store we designed it for this community to help the people that are suffering here. one of the things we put in was a credit union that would allow them to have an account with no money. because they won't need to go to a check cashing store then. what the looters did is they

attacked this tool to help people. they destroyed all their machines. and as you can see, they were after money but they went way beyond money. they destroyed our ability to help people. the first night actually they were after destruction. they destroyed registers and our self-checkouts. the second night they came looking for cash. when they broke in again. and they destroyed all our self-checkouts. this is probably $300,000 in equipment here. >> reporter: was there cash in there? >> no. because we knew they were going to come so we took the cash out. they went after our safe. they worked for many hours trying to break into the safe and couldn't. but they destroyed it. and they destroyed all of the security equipment, cameras, computers. >> reporter: i see you have a pharmacy as well. was the pharmacy hit? >> yes. so this store not only has a pharmacy but a health clinic. because there isn't good access to health care in this area. and this health clinic is designed to serve the most needy patients. they have a sliding scale and they'll serve patients that are

sick for $20. they smashed up the health clinic. and this pharmacy was hit and they -- it took them time to break through to the pharmacy because as you can see it is pretty well protected. and of course they were after narcotics. >> reporter: you think this is what they were most after? >> what they stole -- yes. this was one. liquor. because this store is wine and beer. anything valuable. diapers. big detergents. >> reporter: not food. >> they weren't interested in $1 or $2 items. they came here to steal stuff to resell it. some of the stores you see them like across the street trying to sell the stuff. and the police are rounding them up. >> reporter: tell me what caused you to get into this business. >> well, i am a fourth generation grocer and my family has -- >> reporter: in the dna? >> it's in our dna and it is in philadelphia and our family has served the poor for all four of those generations. >> reporter: and so a store like this employs how many people? >> this store about 300 people, almost all from the

neighborhood, and this store in particular, and the other store that was damaged, has been a very open employer, hiring a lot of formerly incarcerated people that don't want to go back to jail and we teach them the grocery business. >> reporter: it is really a main street, not a supermarket, right? it is a health clinic, a pharmacy, a bank, a supermarket, all under one roof. >> we are absolutely committed to this community. we don't blame the people that live here. i must have five or 10,000 messages from my customers in tears and heartbroken for what happened for two reasons. one, a lot of them have recited our 32 years of this work of how it made a difference in their lives and they can't live without it. and the second, they can't believe a person that has supported them for all this time would be attacked like this. >> reporter: it looks relatively clean now as compared to the footage that i've seen from the news and from your cameras. so i imagine you've done a heck of a lot of cleanup already.

>> yes. because what we're most focused on is not letting the victims of this community -- we're victims but my customers are victims -- we didn't want them to suffer longer than they had to. >> reporter: so these are the doors i just saw the pickup truck back right through? >> yes. that is correct. they drove right through this set of doors. you can see we repaired them. and then to the next set of doors. >> reporter: does it cause you any second thoughts about wanting to do business here? >> you know, the disappointment is that the police were just in over their heads and they couldn't protect us. i mean, i have the assumption that they'll be there when we need them. and it's unsettling that they weren't. but i don't blame the people in this neighborhood. i think they were victimized like i am. and i'm compelled to be there for them. >> while the store was closed brown donated food that would

have spoiled to help feed the hungry. the good news is the fox street store opened friday. brown's parkside shop rite will reopen on monday. let's check in on your tweets and facebook comments. from facebook there is this. michael if the folks who live in those neighborhoods cared about that store they would not have looted it. kelly, you have a little bit of a trigger finger there. maybe you fired off the facebook comment before you heard the whole package. he doesn't blame the folks from that community. the folks from that community are the tens of thousands who responded via social media to him saying, hey, we're on your side in this. and it's a tragedy. i want to remind you to answer the survey question @smerconish.com. the "new york times," there is this controversial essay that senator tom cotton submitted to the times. they already ran it electron kali. it caused huge blowback both outside and inside the "new york times." now they say they're not going to put it in the sunday print edition. should they? that is my question.

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question, if and when there is a covid-19 vaccine, will you get it? to me it is a no brainer. it is a hell yes answer. that is my initial reaction. after what feels like months of political squabbling over hydroxychloroquine and face masks, a more traditional way to prevent the spread of the covid-19 virus may be on the horizon. this week dr. anthony fauci shared that, quote, by the beginning of 2021 we hope to have a couple hundred million doses of a coronavirus vaccine. i was surprised to see the results of an abc news/"the washington post" survey which sampled american attitudes on

the issue. the coverage was presented as glass half empty glass half full. keep in mind abc news and "the washington post" were partners in the survey. so how did they cover it? the headline at "the washington post" was this. 7 in 10 americans would be likely to get a coronavirus vaccine, poll finds. the one over at abc news? 27% unlikely to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. republicans, conservatives especially. the publications' lead-ins aside i of shocked to see that nearly one-quarter of americans in the midst of a pandemic are uninterested in getting the vaccine. so who makes up the coalition of the unwilling? well, republican women, for one. a mix of groups expressed less interest in getting vaccinated. 46% of republican women. 45% of very conservative americans. 40% of republicans. 37% of evangelical christians. first-hand experience with

covid-19 and its devastating medical and economic impacts appears to be a significant driver of vaccine favorability. americans living in hard hit areas are especially likely to say they'd get the vaccine. 81% of people in u.s. counties with the most covid-19 cases say so. compared with 61% of those in counties with the fewest cases. 78% among northeasterners and urban residents versus 65% in the south and 63% in rural areas. this week i solicited telephone calls on my sirius xm radio program from people who have no intention of getting a covid-19 vaccine. the results were not what i expected. the callers were not anti-vacers, not conspiracy theorists. some were in health care. many worried about both the efficacy and safety of something generated in such a rushed environment at warp speed as the president says.

there are only two ways out of this pandemic. herd immunity or a vaccine. and where attaining herd immunity seems a long way off and a vaccine seems we hope more in the short term, the latter will not solve our problem if nearly one-quarter won't get it. because that one-quarter will pose a risk to the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions who are most vulnerable. as we begin the process of reopening, public health officials must anticipate the concern of many. what good is it if one-quarter won't get it? we check in on your tweets and facebook comments. this comes i think from facebook. what do we have? too rushed. waiting at this point for more information. want to know what i'm getting into before i take it. can't trust the administration to do the right vetting. well, cyndi is typical of people i heard from not ascribing to some all vaccines are bad mentality or area 51 conspiracy theories but people saying i'm not sure. i'm going to need to be convinced that the efficacy and

safety of it have been tested. still to come your best and worst tweets and facebook comments and we'll give you the final results on the survey question, that controversial tom cotton essay that ran electronically in the "new york times." should it have been put in sunday's print edition? go vote. with the freestyle libre 14 day system, a continuous glucose monitor, you don't have to. with a painless, one-second scan you can check your glucose with a smart phone or reader so you can stay in the moment. no matter where you are or what you're doing. ask your doctor for a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. you can do it without fingersticks. learn more at freestylelibre.us.

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time to see how you responded to the survey question at smerconish.com. should the "new york times" run senator tom cotton's op-ed in sunday's print edition. survey says -- 65 -- wow.

i must say i'm surprised with the outcome. i'm in the 65%. the two thirds of nearly -- well, 12,500. i have to say, i'm not one of these who on the right is, oh, look at that liberal "new york times," i love the times. i probably read, on a daily basis, two dozen newspapers, not cover to cover but there's one i touch, the times. every day there's something in the times that speaks to me that i would not see in any other publication. i am sympathetic to those who work at the times saying cotton could imperil black lives with what he's advocating. and it's not hate speech. i think they do a disservice to themselves by saying his viewpoint is not welcome here. it's an op-ed page. and i want to go there and read alternative points of view. as i said at the outset of the

program in my opening commentary. we can't shut down. when people say things that we deem to be offensive, we can't go into shutdown mode because those voices remain then, better that they stay engaged in our conversation and we try to convince them they're wrong. one more, what do we have? why aren't you wearing your mask and just wearing it around your neck at the grocery store, when you and the grocery store owners aren't standing 6 feet apart? >> we had our masks, we wore our masks at different parts of the interview. we tried to maintain a distance. i think we did a pretty good job doing so. when we were recording, we weren't able to be heard. that's the honest answer. up next our "sesame street" friends are back to talk about racism, the nationwide protests, parents submit questions at

cnn.com/sesamestreet coming together. a town hall this morning at 10:00. thank you so much for watching. i'll see you in a week. usaa was made for right now. and right now, is a time for action. so, for a second time we're giving members a credit on their auto insurance. because it's the right thing to do. we're also giving payment relief options to eligible members so they can take care of things like groceries before they worry about their insurance or credit card bills. right now is the time to take care of what matters most. like we've done together, so many times before. discover all the ways we're helping members at usaa.com/coronavirus because i trust their quality they were the first to have a vitamin verified by usp... ...an independent organization that sets strict quality and purity standards

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hi, i'm layla, i'm hoping for a better change in people to make sure everybody is treated equally and everybody is kind to one