nline sports betting to out-of-state corporations in places like new york and boston. no wonder it's so popular... out there. yeah! i can't believe those idiots are going to fall for this. 90%! hey mark, did you know california is sending us all their money? suckers. -those idiots! [ laughter ] imagine that, a whole state made up of suckers. vote no on 27. it's a terrible deal for california. we win. you lose. the midterm political football continues to bounce. i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. if i had asked you last november what would be the dominant issue driving midterm voters, you might have said crime. do you remember all the images of smash and grabs in los

angeles and san francisco and new york city? there was also the related issue of the soft on crime soros-backed district attorneys. larry crasser in in philadelphia. george ghast toen in los angeles. san francisco's jessica dean ended up being recalled in june. crime remains an arsenal. for a while i thought it would dominate the cycle but in january the football bounced again to baby formula. that month began an ever worsening supply of formula after a recall plant shutdown and supply chain issues but in february, putin surprised the world with the invasion of ukraine around the global and america many offered to help. would that war affect voters in november? or would it be a domestic cultural war because in march florida's governor desantis signed into law the bidding war for sexual identity from

kindergarten through third grade. and when disney's ceo denounced the law the company became a lightning rod and desantis invoked revoked the special tax status. and but then in may, another mass shooting. this time at the robb elementary school in uvalde, texas, the gun issue suddenly became potent until it faded yet again. in june came the first prime time january 6 committee hearing which drew 19 million viewers would the insurrection be a midterm motivator? but that month also brought a new high in national gas prices, $5 a gallon, $6 in california. surely, that was going to shape how people voted. inflation hit 9.1% in june, a 40-year high. but wait, there was more. on june 24 came the supreme court decision on dobbs and

overturning of roe versus wade. it had been anticipated since the alito draft was aleced but now we saw it for real. and in its wake, kansas voters resounding the state constitution. and a special election between two quality candidates in new york's very purple 19th congressional district was won by the democrat who made the race about a woman's right to choose. democratic pollster tom bano wrote that abortion had been the most potent issue he'd seen in 28 years in the business. yet in july, president biden suffered his lowest approval rating ever. so did that mean democrats were doomed? in august, biden signed the inflation reduction act with climate change and health care provisions a surprising win. then he announced his forgiving student loan forgive chance became a hot button issue that is until september when the

border came to forefront with the shipping of might go grants to martha's vineyards by governors. yes, using them as pawns but shining the light on what's happening where 2 million have already been arrested trying to cross the border this year and who knows how many others got through. but the football is still bouncing. this week, russia aired putin's video address to the nation calling for a partial mobilization of people with military experience. roughly 300,000 reservists. he accused the u.s. and europe of using nuclear blackmail. and warned if the territorial integrity of our country is threatened we will certainly use all of the means at our disposal to protect russia and our people. he flat out said he's not bluffing. and of course, throughout the entire time line looms ex-president donald trump. he's the focus of the ongoing january 6th hearings. the target of the doj in mar-a-lago. the tinmaker of election denying candidates. still making speeches, tv

appearances. and don't forget the roller coaster stock market which this week plunged to its lowest level since 2020 which impacts retirement plans and the economy generally. we've had so many last minute factors in past elections. think the 2008 economic grash and barack obama. anthony weiner's laptop in 2016. hunter biden's laptop. or even the timing in the release of the covid vaccines. we still had no idea what last-minute bounce the ball could take in the 45 days between right now and november 8th. so, could the biggest october surprise be the unpredictability of vladimir putin's end game in ukraine, presciently, the day before putin's announcement thomas l. friedman wrote of unease in europe about the russian leader and listed lead pads for russia's outcome all of

them messy. one of them ukrainian victory with putin doing something crazy as humiliation stare him in the face. outcome two splintering western allies and engaging ukrainians. outcome 3, a less dirty deal. we go back to the lines where everyone was before putin invaded but would putin have could be ousted first. because he would never abide by the undeniable implication that his war was completely for knot. thomas friedman joins me now, the author of seven best-selling books including "the world is flat" and most recently "thank you for being late." tom, thank you for being here, how does the resistance of the putin draft assist your scenarios and outcomes? >> well, the way i look at it michael, these are resistance movements, the report that young

men in russia, some are breaking their own arms or searching someone to break their arms to get out of the draft. the question is just how big putin's big lie is. because putin's big lie is that ukraine had been taken over by nazis, the leadership. and that it was serving as a dagger, a nato dagger, aimed at the heart of russia. well, michael, we know how russians react when nazis are on the other side of the border and a dagger is pointed at the heart of motherland. it was called world war ii. it was called adolf hitler and 5 million russians died resisting that. here the russian people are telling vladimir putin we don't believe a word you're saying. not only do we not believe that, i'm looking for the quickest way out of this country. that's one thing that tells me. the second thing, something not complementary about the russian

people, i don't mean two generalize, one has to say as long as the war wasn't touching them, as long as the rape of ukraine wasn't touching them, they were safe to sit at home and do nothing. but as soon as he called up 300,000 reservists people headed to the exit. we still haven't shown the full blown resistance is that the ukrainians have shown to defend their country. >> to your last point, do you think that's the reason why the reports suggest that this draft is particularly focused on minority groups and those in rural areas. is he concerned that if he does it a different way, it will foster more unrest in urban portions of russia. >> exactly. michael, it's so cynical it's breathtaking. basically, he's gone to prisons, putin, and offered get out of

jail free cards for any convict, no matter what crime, ready to go to the front line for six months, oh, by the way, if you desert there, we'll shoot you. obviously, he'sal afraid of the middle classes in st. petersburg and moscow, looking at since the beginning of this war to pull in young men to the far reaches of russia who don't even know where ukraine is, half of them, in order to not basically provoke the connected middle classes of these urban areas. >> russians have to know this is an admission of failure. there would be no need for 300,000 reservists to be brought up if things were going well fight against ukraine? >> surely, they must know that now that something has gone off. especial since there have been 80,000 to 100,000 killed and wounded in the war, a lot of people have gotten the message but it's a police state. it's a population that's been

cowed. and it's a population that has made a devil's bargain with putin, you let us get economically better off and you can do whatever you want. >> so simultaneous with this draft is, of course, troops going door to door in the so-called referendum. we refer after crimea. i think the vote was 97% approved. and probably had a margin of error. doesn't that set the stage, tom, that those eastern most regionens wants to part of russia, there are, ukraine is fighting against people whose self-determination they don't respect? >> yeah, it reminds me of president bashar al assad in the middle east. saying mr. president, you won by 99.8% of the votes. only 2% didn't vote for you.

what more could you ask for? he said their names. in areas that are vastly depopulated it shows you how absurd it is. but it's telling you just as you suggested, michael, i think the game plan is to have the referendum and next the provinces and then maybe say they're part of russia. and, oh, by the way, the europeans who acknowledge that, willing to recognize that, we'll turn our backs to you. that is where it's problematic. he will say to the russian people. i got you something, i got you two more russian states as miserable and broken as they might be and then say to the europeans now i'm consready for cease-fire. watch out for some scenario of that version. >> your reporting in "the new york times" suggesting that support in the european union is very broad but shallow. can the same thing be said about the united states senate here at home particularly with the

republicans? >> absolutely. i think the republican support, especially the pro-trump maga republicans, a bunch of them voted against the last round of funding for ukraine. as we get into winter, energy prices and food prices continue to rise, and i think if republicans take over the house, there's going to be a real problem sustaining this level of financial support. >> final question with tom friedman, so put it all together, what, transfer, should be the posture of the biden white house relative to zelenskyy? to encourage him to go for it, all-out victory against russia? or is this the opportunity for some negotiated settlement, if it's possible? >> you know, michael, i'm very wary about suggesting what we should do because i think it's a daily fluid situation. i think at some point if the pressure rises and the european union starts to fracture and support there's going to have to

be a conversation with zelenskyy. at the same time, you have to just have such admiration for the ukrainian people with desire to fight for their homeland. that's what makes it such a delicate situation. one has to hope, at some point, zelenskyy will take the lay of the land and figure out where is the best place to slice the pie there. but i think we're in the beginning of that conversation. >> thomas friedman, thank you so much, always appreciate when you're here. >> thanks, michael. >> what are your thoughts? tweet me at smerconish. hit me up on social media is what i'm trying to say. i'll share some throughout the course of the program. what do we have? i seriously don't think he has an end game. meaning putin doesn't have an end game. hey, i think as suggested in my question to tom friedman, there's no way to read this, there's no amount of misinformation that he can supply to the russian people are going to convince them of anything other than it's not going well and failing.

otherwise, why do you need 300,000 more reservists to sabre rattle at the western world including the potential of nukes. surely, they know. and the resistance is fascinating to watch. and i think that's the reason why, and tom who knows far more than i do about the subject seems to back it. you but that's why he's going to minority groups and rural areas because he worries if he tried to implies 300,000 from urban areas it could be the end of vladimir putin. still ahead, with historically unemployment rate why are so many men not working? and out of 32 head coaches in the nfl, 32, only three are black. is that due to racism? "the washington post" has an in-depth investigation and one of the reporters is here. and it inspired this week's question at smerconish.com. i frame it this way -- is racism the reason? only 3 of 32 nfl coaches are black.

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is the nfl racist when it comes to hiring head coaches? nearly 60% of the nfl players are black. so why are only 3 of the 32 head coaching jobs held by black coaches? that's the question examined in a new series launched by "the washington post." among the findings, although black coaches tend to perform about as well as white coaches, they have had to serve significantly longer as midlevel assistants they're more likely to be given interim jobs as full-time ones and held to higher standards keeping their jobs. back in 2003, the nfl under intense pressure introduced the

rooney rule requiring to hire one of color. it was named for the pittsburgh steelers owner dan rooneys who was chair of the workplace diversity committee. back cnn, there were only three black head coaches. 19 years later the tally is still just three. todd bowles of tampa bay buccaneers, and mike tomlin of pittsburgh steelers. brian flores fired in january filed a lawsuit accusing the league of its teams engaging in hiring practices. and joining me now one of the five bylines on "the washington post's" michael lee who is the sports reporter on diversity issues. michael, i would think that the nfl owners would be prepared to hire satan if they thought the devil was going to win them the

super bowl and make them money. >> well, i think the one issue that we discovered, at least in the nfl, probably every walk of life, is that when it comes to black coaches and the opportunities that they've been given in the nfl it really comes down to what your vision is of what a leader is, and what you imagined as a man that can step on the field and get the men out there to win games. and for a lot of these owners, many of whom who have inherited teams when they think about a leader, a black man doesn't fill that equation in their mind of what they see, what they expect to see. so that's one of the things that has to be changed the hearts and minds of people making those decisions because right now when it comes to leagues hiring black coaches to lead their franchises it doesn't come to heart. >> i read some remarks from "the washington post." one explaining caught my eye. i'm going to put it on the screen and read it aloud to you. one of your readers has said the nfl has done a terrible job in

conclusion at the highest levels which is disgusting considering the number of incredibly capable people available for promotion. that draws a response from another reader who says you're saying the nfl would rather hold capable people back than profit from capable people. really? what do you think about that exchange? >> i think that for a long time, we looked at the game and thought everything was fine. especially looking at the quarterback position. you thought that your guy could sit back in the pocket for a long time and pick a spot and lead a team to win. but then all of a sudden you see guys like patrick mahomes and lamar jackson step on to the stage and all of a sudden your perception of how a quarterback can achieve has changed because you decided to step it up and do something different. now the game is more exciting you see kind of a free-flowing schoolyard game that's collecting a lot of points and

now your mind-set changes because you thought everything was fine but then you realize if you try something different it could be even better. so, i think that's what a lot of black coaches are asking owners to say, yeah, the game is fine. you can win games without hiring us but maybe the game can change for the better if you diversify and give coaches the option to change things for the better. >> by the way, people should logon and look at it because it's very visual. there's a lot of data. and there's a lot of anti-neck d anecdotal information. you interviewed a lot who said i showed up for a sham interview. there's also data. can we put up on the screen the winning isn't everything slide? i want you to explain to the audience, to my way of thinking what you're documenting is a white coach and black coach with the same record, the black coach has a greater likelihood of

being fired. explain what i'm showing to the audience. >> well, i think if you just go back this past year, brian flores just completed back-to-back winning seasons with the miami dolphins the first coach in nearly 20 years to do that for that franchise and he was fired. so you have to ask yourself, what's the standard and the goals, why do you dismiss a man? it's happened throughout multiple times in the nfl that coaches have been fired after winning seasons. you look at detroit, they haven't had a winning season since he left. if it's that much higher to what standard, you have to ask about the fairness of that. since 2017, five coaches hired over the next five years. all of them are gone now. none of them were able to make it through five years. and most of them were gone after fewer than two years. so how much of a lease do you

have to succeed if you are hired and given an opportunity? and i think that's one of frustrations for black coaches is that the standards keep moving, the criteria keeps moving and shifting and it's really creating a situation where you ask yourself what more do i need to do? if money isn't enough and the opportunity to only get one or two years how is that fair. >> michael, quick final question and it's complicated. what's the fix, if there is one? >> well, i think that the nfl is trying to do its best to try to, you know, put coaches in the room, create a feeder system, so they can actually see black coaches in the position of leadership. but i think the only thing that's going to happen for the owners to look inward so they don't get the public pressure for the demand that they try something different. when you have a league that's 50% black it should be representative not just on the field but also in the front office and on the sidelines. and i think it's going to require just more from ownership

to try to take that lead and provide opportunities. if they don't, we'll constantly come around every hiring cycle with frustration and anger. >> michael lee, it's a series. so there's more to come. i'm going to keep reading and encourage others likewise. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> social media, what do we have, kathryn, from the world of twitter, i believe. >> no, what percent -- the answer to the question, what percentage of football players are black, is that racism? also no. rob, 60% of the players, 9% of the coaches, what explains it? by the way, someone said, why aren't you similarly asking about asians or hispanics or women? why aren't there more representative of those? well, because it's the disparity of a league that has the majority of black players yet so few in the coaching ranks. how do you fix it?

i wonder if the players are going to take more of a stand in all of this, if they are dissatisfied. sore is sort of the work span of those players so short that they're concerned with keeping their own jobs. i want to remind you, this is the poll question at smerconish.com. i have no way of knowing how this is going to turn out. is racism the reason why 3 of 32 coaches are black? register for that and i'll give you the results at the end of the hour. up ahead, you can't just measure american workforce by the low unemployment rate. there is also a nilf factctor ---n-i-l-f -- and i shl explain.n. finding the perfect developer isn't easy. but, at upwork, we found her. she's in pragubetween the ideal cup of coffee and a truly impressive synthesizer collecon.

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not in labor force is what it stands for. my next guest says despite historically low unemployment numbers and 11 million jobs that still needs filling the u.s. actually has a labor force problem on par with the great depression. in a recent "washington post" piece titled "what's behind the flight from earth in a post-pandemic america" he writes, the rate was 3%. there's another 11% who are nilfs. dropouts who are neither working nor looking for work. add those two together and the real out of work number is 14%, up where it was in 1940, at the end of the depression. and before america entered world war ii? why did this happen? nicholas eperstat joins me now. he just published the plan mark book "men without work

post-family edition." so they're not working why are they not in the unemployment numbers? >> this is a system that was devised for unemployment numbers in the great depression. it never occurred to our statisticians that there would be men neither working nor looking for work. today, however, for every guy who you just mentioned in this prime age group who is unemployed, jobless and looking for work, there are almost four out of the labor force. so we're missing a huge portion of the problem. >> so, i take it, if they're not included in the numbers, they're not collecting unemployment, how are they staying afloat? >> very important question. my study shows that at least before the pandemic, the majority of these not in labor force prime-age men were collecting some form of disability payments. there are a lot of different programs that don't talk to each other. it's not a princely lifestyle,

it's a miserable lifestyle, but it's an alternative to work. >> what are they doing during the day? >> it's a terribly dispiriting picture that they themselves paint through self-reported time use data. basically, they say, that they don't do civil society. that they don't do worship much or volunteering or charity. even though they've got a lot of time on their hands, they don't an awful lot of help around the house or members of the home. they report that they watch screens. about 2,000 hours a year, almost as if it were a full-time job. and they also report, almost half of these men report, that they're taking pain medication every day. >> who are they? i mean, what are the demographics of the 11 million that you're talking about? >> well, i mean, there are more than 7 million labor force dropout guys in this prime-age

group, michael. so 7 million, you've got some of everybody. >> right. >> but they skew strongly towards less educated. however, about 40% have at least some college. they tend to be -- they're much more likely to be never married. much more likely not to have kids at home. much more likely to be native-born rather than foreign-born. with respect to ethnicity, it skews more towards african americans are overrepresented but latinos and asian americans are underrepresented. >> i mean, on one hand, i read the book as you know, and i'm listening to your presentation and i'm saying this is a situation out of control, and, by the way, why does no one talk about it? on the other hand, i'm saying if this is uniquely american, maybe good for us, that we take care of our disabled where others don't. your thought? >> it is proved that no other

modern affluent country has done such a remarkable job of this race to the bottom for labor force participation for guys. if we thought that these men out of the labor force were volunteering and helping in this community. or uplifting themselves, it might be one thing. but this is the seed bed for depths of despair in modern america. >> why are we putting it in the context only of men? is it an uniquely male phenomenon? what about women? >> it started much earlier for men, michael. it started in the mid1960s. it's been almost a straight line upwards in this flight from work for guys. since about the year 2000, we're starting to see some worries and trends for younger women as well. i wouldn't say it's a red flashing light yet. but at least a yellow warning light. especially for women who are

labor force dropouts without kids at home. and not currently married. >> and, finally, dr. ebber statistic, if you're right about this, why isn't the government taking on these individuals? >> i'm wondered about that myself. i only have guesses. one is our social construct doesn't look at these prime-aged men as a protected group so we don't tend to think of them as a vulnerable group. they're also not out in the streets setting cars on fire and being a menace to society. they're much more likely to be at home living desperate and sometimes miserable lives. and it's easy to overlook that, i'm afraid. >> well, it's a sad portrait. and the ripple effects to families and extended ones and communities is another important part of your book that i've really not addressed but people

need to know that. thank you so much for being here. i appreciate it. >> thanks so much. >> more social media reaction now. what do we have? intrainspect and you shall find. increasing dependence on parents are the roots. it's a complicated picture. i had no idea there was such a large segment of our society of men who i was about to say able-bodied but i can't say that but of prime age and not reflected in the unemployment numbers. when you factor that in, we're at a level of men not engaged in work. problematic for them and problematic for their families. i'm sure truly some of them are disabled and probably can't function. and probably many can. i want to remind you to answer the poll question at

smerconish.com. can't wait. is racism the reason? only 3 of 32 nfl coaches are black. still to come, wait until you hear about this amazing long lost pair of world war ii marine regiments seeking to prove which had the best football players among them. they built a field just before heading out to one of the battles. bud bissinger is hear to tell the story of the mosquito bowl.

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it's one of the greatest stories you've never heard until now. two marine regiments on guadalcanal island in the middle of world war ii stocked with amazing college football players including several all-americans. after a lot of trash talking about who was better, they decided to prove it on a playing field. and so they built one out of dirt pebbles and shards of coral. and on christmas eve 1944 with

more than 1,000 marines attendance, they faced off in a game known as the mosquito bowl. months later, some of them would fight in one of the hugest battles in okinawa. this latest story remarkably explained and told in a book called "the mosquito bowl" by buzz bizzinger, a pulitzer prize reporter whose previous book was called "friday night lights." buzz, your book about "friday night lights" seemingly about football, but it's about a lot more than just a football game. explain. >> well, that's right, what are you look for when you're trying to write a book? you want narrative. you want drama, you want great characters. and yes like "friday night

lights." it was not about football, it's about sports and football as a sociological phenomenon. i tried to dot same here. these guys were great football players but this is really a book about war. it's a book about taking these men from their early days in the 1920s as children, high school, college, into the marines and ultimately into the horror of okinawa, a battle that i think is forgotten. i think the readers will connect with these guys. i hope they love these guys. and the narrative pull is who makes it and who doesn't. 65 who played in this game, 65 great young men, really kids, 15 were later killed several months later at okinawa. and when i read about that, i said, that's a story, if i can get to it, that's a great story. and i love what you say. the best story you've never read. >> 65 who played in that game. 15 didn't make it.

65, three all-americans, seven captains, 18 would-be drafted. what accounts for that concentration of football talent in those two regiments? >> well, i think it has to do with football players and the way they think of themselves. they're tough, they're macho, and they wanted the marines. they wanted the marines. they wanted combat. one of the two i write about, david shrchreiner, he could hav been a phys-ed instructor, he said no, i'm an american, i'm a patriot. they knew what they were getting into, they went into the officers training program where they could still play football at college campuses and then into the marine corps. >> despite the bloodbath that was okinawa there's an uplifting

side of this book which is the lack of a red state/blue state divide in that era. >> that's one of the things that has gotten to me. i've thought about this a lot. as horrible as world war ii was, as awful as it was, there's an underlying message in this book what we as a country can do and did do during the war. we showed how powerful and beautiful we can be when year in unison, when we're all in the name of defeating a common foe. >> buzz there was a 19-year-old who was at okinawa and he shares your name. and when you began this project, wrong, you had no idea? >> i had no idea. i knew my father was a marine at okinawa. i didn't know what he did. i knew nothing about him because he never talked about it. that was his private zone. i didn't want to go there. but in doing research in the book in the beginning, i might as well look at some of his

records, i'm looking at the records of so many others. michael, it was eerie, i mean, it was eerie, i got his muster rolls. his name is my name, harry b. bissinger. there he is, a rifle man at okinawa. what's so freaky, he's at the 4th regiment, which is one of the regiments that i'm writing about. that put me over the top and that was a book i had to do. and i must tell you, i get choked up, my dad passed 20 years ago. and in doing this book, i cannot begin to tell you how proud i am of him. and how i just -- i just want to hug him. i just want to thank him. and maybe this book is kind of a way of doing it. >> you have no way of knowing for sure, but presumably, he was in attendance at the mosquito bowl? >> well, knowing my father, my father loved sports, he loved football, he liked beer and all

the marines, 1500 of them watching the game were pretty tooted up on beer. and he liked to gamble. a lot of them were gambling on who would win, the 4th or the 29th. all the stars aligned. i think he probably was there. i have no doubt that he knew some of the guys that i wrote about because he was in, you know, the same regiment. i keep thinking about that. i mean, that's kind of amazing. that's amazing. so, i like to think he was there, and sort of i'm speaking almost, writing through his eyes. >> and finally, sadly, no footage, no video, no audio remains of the mosquito bowl? >> no, and people -- i will say people have adored the book. it hit t"the new york times" best-seller list right out of the box, hit number eight. first of all, the game was not that exciting but nothing exists. look, if there was footage ifs there wag anything, i would have

gotten to it but i could not. the mosquito bowl itself keeps the book together. >> back to where i began, it's about a game but really not about a game. so much more. best and worst tweets and youtube and social media comments and the result of the survey question. you can vote at smerconish.com. is racism the reason only 3 -- it's going to take investing in some things you've heard of and some you'd never expect. it's going to take funding innovation in renewable energy, helping reduce carbon footprints, and big bets on environmentally consnscious construction. citi has committed 1 trillion dollars in sustainable financing to help build a better future. because to reach net zero, it's going to take everything. ♪ ♪

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time to see how you vote at the poll question for mers.com. is racism the reason only 3 of 32 nfl coaches are black? hit me with it. two-thirds say yes, and not too shabby. more than 18,000 who voted. if not that, what explains it? what could be the ex planation? here is some of the social media reaction. why is everything about race? unbelievable, says michael. well, michael, how do you not comment on that when you have 32 different teams. by the way, 13 of the nfl franchises have never had a black head coach. at what point do we have the conversation? if not now? more social media reaction. this came in. what about a woman nfl coach? why is that not discrimination. all right. i think the answer is, the reason i am -- it's not me.

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good morning, everyone. it is saturday, saept 24th. >> good morning. grateful you are starting your