they needed to say. and they said that this african american studies course doesn't have any value. i've been speaking to my friends about this via text, et cetera, and one just recently texted me that they're trying to erase our history, and that's exactly what they're trying to do. this is anti intellectualism. this is anti black racism. when we talk about systemic racism, this is exactly what we're talking about. it's the way by which we go about ensuring people cannot learn about plates and burdens that african americans went through and go through today. i don't know what rhonda sanders is talking about, i have not seen the curriculum. i'm actually the son of the director of the african american studies program at the university of soccer alana who,

by the way, was a member of the civil rights movement. i just think it's a shame what rhonda santas is doing. nobody will stop him because they're afraid of what might be next for desantis. >> david, obviously there's a lot of talk about critical race theory, and that was a focus target of a lot of states of republicans. this is african american studies, which is different. the democratic florida state senator tweeted that florida curtain has ap costs for european history, japanese language and culture, german language and culture, italian language and culture as well as spanish language and culture. adding, quote, it's crazy how african american studies made the chopping block in florida. to that, what do you say? >> anderson and bakari, as well, i did, believe it or not, read the 82-page syllabus today, which i can send you. the letters sent to the ap board said we dismiss this as presented. and the future, if the college board would like to work with us on something that would meet our criteria, we'd be happy to consider it again. what i was told anderson and bakari, this was declined because they sought to teach

progressive doctrine such as sexuality and critical race theory, which is violating a n april 2022 law that the governor desantis sent, his anti woke act. i am simply telling you -- i have not dealt in and read every chapter of the syllabus, but i glanced through it. it's pretty dense. i am tell you what the reason was. the state of florida, governor desantis said they believe in education, not indoctrination. >> bakari, what do you make of the? >> i mean, it's ridiculous, i have a great deal of respect for david urban, but we just got done celebrating martin luther king jr. day, and you have individuals who say these quotes, the i have a dream speech, et cetera, but they don't even know who he was because we don't teach the history correctly. people whitewashed his legacy. they don't talk about the fact that he was a rabbit revolutionary. they don't talk about the fact that he's talking about wages

and improving to play a black folk day in and day out. i think that the fact we refused to teach the accurate history of this country, we refuse to talk about april 4th, 1968, where dr. king was assassinated. every eight, 68, the massacre, we are stuck but unit that year, when rfk was shot, you have all of these black soldiers coming home, being treated like second class citizens. that is not something that is a fairytale, it's a history of who we are, and rhonda sent this in this administration in florida is completely ignorant to the fact. everything we talk about about our history and who we are is not critical race theory. my being is not critical race theory, its american history. wrap your heads around the. if you're a shame of it, that's on you. let's at least educate and use it the quick way about where history is. >> bakari, i am not arguing with you, i am just giving the reasons that were put forth by the governor's office. it says in the letter, as presented, we find this ap course does not pass are muster.

please come back with another course or if you would like to work with us, we're willing to do that. i am not sure they're dismissing it out of hand or saying they will not do it at all. >> david, politically, does this work for governor desantis? this is a popular thing for governor desantis among republican voters in florida? >> look, i think that the governor has taken up this anti woke, will come to die in florida. he's taken it up pretty aggressively. i am not quite sure that this may have been rolled out in the best way. i think a lot of explanation should be explaining on this. i don't think it's dismissing the ap course out of hand. i think it's dismissing this particular ap course. >> in general, ap courses are actually serve the most prestigious and the public education system. a pea courses, those are the most prestigious courses. it's actually a lot of attention put into them, not put into them, they are advanced placement, so it's

often the students who have excelled the most that are able to even qualify for those courses. it's interesting that this is probably -- i don't know how many ap courses that the desantis ministration as they can issue it, i would probably guess not any others. >> i would guess that you correct, anderson. again, it could use better articulation. again, i don't think the desantis submission, i'm not speaking for them, but i am taking the letter and interpreting what it says. it says, i believe as presented, this course did not pass muster in the law that we just passed. come back again, and were willing to sit down and talk. >> david urban, bakari sellers, we'll see what happens, thank you. just ahead, a bit after the top of the hour, the end of a busy day that so the culture hits

that ceiling, the limit congress sets on how most the federal government can borrow and pay for what congress already spent, loans already taken out. that last bit is key, it's like being unable to make the car payments to agree to make when you bought the car. that said, not that the limit has been reach and a default draws closer, house republicans will seize the threat of a default to leverage future spending concern the biden administration. more on this now from cnn's jessica dean who joins us in the capital. jessica, the treasury secretary janet yellen sent a message to congress that the debt limit has been reached. she's begun, quote, extraordinary measures. where do democrats and republicans stand tonight? >> pretty far apart at this point in time, anderson. as you just laid out, what we're hurtling towards right now is the potential for economic calamity worldwide. that's what is at stake here. we never defaulted on our debt, and we have heard from several leaders, including senate minority leader mitch mcconnell today that that will not happen. here is the state of play as it is right now. house republicans have been adamant, led by house speaker kevin mccarthy, that they are not going to sign off on what is known as a clean debt ceiling, it would just be clearing the debt ceiling. they want to attach that spending cuts and a fiscal agreement before they do any other. they want to negotiate it

before they signed off on raising the debt limit. the white house has been equally adamant that they don't want to negotiate at all, so that's really where we are at this point. mr. connolly also saying today that he believes negotiations will take place. senate majority leader chuck schumer really pinning this on what he calls maga republicans and saying nothing about negotiations, and the house and senate come back next week, this is what they will be squarely focused on. we do know that some bipartisan talks on guns will percolate, but those early stages. the bottom line is that it's an uncertain time appear. >> or do moderate republican stand on this issue? >> right, they will be key, especially in the house. remember, house speaker kevin mccarthy has this very slim margin. he can only afford to lose for. democrats will need these moderate republicans to join them, if they're going to be able to clear and negotiated bill or a clean debt ceiling limit. what we are hearing from these moderates, and the districts that president biden won or swing districts, they really don't have an appetite to just do the that ceiling.

they also want to see some negotiating happen. that is something that democrats think that they will kind of cave on. republicans think that democrats are going to cave on this and so, here we are at this stalemate right now. we can anticipate this to be involved and chang this decisio, but i think it's fair to say at this point, all the lights are blinking, and they have got to find a way to move forward. >> are there any discussions about changing the way the debt limit is set. this is happened before. >> this is happened before, it will probably happen again, and it continues to be an issue, but i think the fact that you and i are even having this conversation, this difficult to just raise the debt limit means that them finding a way forward to kind of overhaul how they do this seems like a dream, a pipe dream at this point. at this point, they got to focus on how they will do. this will there be negotiations? who are democrats, if anything, are willing to concede? the white house continuing to

maintain that they are giving up nothing, and republican saying that they are simply not going to sign off on this without any negotiations. they are going to have to find some way forward, and it's not just all american people and the economy here depending on the. it's the global economy. >> jessica dean, appreciate it, thank you. perspective now from abby philip, anchor of inside politics sunday and also senior political commentator and former obama advisor, david axelrod. david, the white house, remember the physical battles with obama ministration and house republicans, do you think they're taking the right position to say no negotiation, we want a clean debt ceiling? >> i think, anderson, we're in the first part of the first act of a play here, and i think it's early for them to take any other position. first of all, i think they saw what happened in 2011, where we went right up to the brink. there were significant givebacks made, and they were painful and disruptive. i don't think they want to say,

we will reward this behavior because they think it invites it again and again. that set, sometime between now and june, this is going to have to be resolved. it's likely going to be result between some of the more moderate members of the caucus on the republican side and the senate, as well. so, i think we will see several more chapters here before this thing is done. >> abby, some of the house republicans were advocating for negotiations on the debt ceiling are from swing districts. what does that tell you about the unity of house republicans on the issue? >> yeah, i think that for now, it's not exactly a radical ideal among republicans to want to have some kind of, some kind of negotiation around spending when it comes to raising the debt ceiling. the question is how far will that go? how long will they hold that line? i think the moderates, frankly, are going to ask with what they can get, but at some point, it's going to be very politically painful for them to basically hold the country hostage to this debate. you know, right now, i think that you have all of these republicans in these democratic districts, who are saying, let's gotten to the table. but at the end of the day, this

kind of politics actually is not that popular. i think the american people generally in the past have understood that this is just a normal part of business of running a country, and i think it is the most popular to do this kind of debt limit crisis among the people who are running in districts whose waters are on the far-right of the party. they don't really have to worry about the messy middle on this. for those biden district republicans, it's a completely different story. >> david, when democrats control the house during the trump administration, we did not see this shutdowns on the debt ceiling. why are republicans willing to use this for leverage if democrats aren't? >> first of all, i think the republicans leading the charge here are not governing republicans. they're willing to take the country to the brink.

we saw that in 2011, when the tea party republicans came in. it's interesting that you raise's point because one of the people not urging republicans to hang tough and use it as leverage to reverse everything democrats did in the last two years is donald trump. who had an eight trillion dollars to the deficit and debt, who raised the debt ceiling. three different debt ceiling increases. >> there was not a lot of talk by republicans during the trump years about the debt. they went from the tea party, where there was tons of talk about it to silence. >> they were hibernating dead hogs. during the period of the trump presidency, so there's a lot of posturing and a precursor here, but there's no doubt, look, part of governing is that there will be give and take on issues expanding, particularly in a divided congress, but the question is whether you should use the debt ceiling and the threat of essentially blowing

up the global economy in a way that would hurt families and communities across the country as a bargaining chip. it's like a murder suicide pack, and i think this is what the biden administration is resisting. >> abby, how close do you think the u.s. will have to get to it that the fall before we start to see a real attempt for an agreement? it's one of these things like kabuki theater, everybody knows the roles are going to be played, and this has been seen before. you know it will be a close. you kind of wish they could cut to the chase, but i guess these are the movements everyone has to go through? >> look, i don't want to make any predictions about how this will go, but i do think that we need to learn from what we just experienced in the speaker vote, which is that they forced that into an historic 15 vote round to elect mccarthy as speaker.

i think that mccarthy is dealing with a group of mayb e as few as five and as many as 20 people, who are willing to take things to the brink. under those circumstances, yeah, it's probably a pretty good bet that we are going to get as close to the brink as we possibly can get. i don't think we can even rule out that that line will be cross because already some of these hard-liners have said that they don't mind crossing the line. they don't mind basically pushing the debt ceiling, which would actually have catastrophic impacts on the united states. >> abby philip, david axelrod -- >> anderson, before you let me go, let me just say that there were 242 republicans in 2011. that gave them a lot more power to work their will. there are 222 now, which means that moderates also have some power if it comes down to it. i think that there are a lot of pages to be turned. here >> david axelrod, abby philip, thank you so much. much more now on some of the numbers, how often we've been

here, what americans think about it, what could happen next. joining us now is our one and only senior data reporter, harry hendon. you see the stand us before, how often do the showdowns actually? >> i think a pretty easy comparison for baseline of how often things occur is whether or not they occur more often than the summer olympics. if you look, since 2011, we've had 14 debt ceiling crisis. it doesn't, 11th doesn't 13, 2021, not 2023. there's only been three summer olympics during that time. 2020, 2016 and 2012, so this is occurring much more frequently than it used to. if you look it up early, the only one before them was in 1985, with new gingrich. there was no such thing as a that ceiling crisis, and now it's in three happening every three years. >> what does numbers say about how much americans focus on the federal deficit? >> the whole idea is that republicans are bringing up the thought, the federal deficit is too high, the federal debt is too high, we just asked this question, a polar just last this question which is essentially what is the top priority for congress and president biden coming up in 2023?

you know the federal deficit ranked, a 4%. 4%, the economy and inflation was much higher, abortion was slightly higher, immigration is slightly higher. the fact is that the federal deficit is not something that voters really care about. so the people who care about it are the few people on congress and maybe some moderate republicans as well. for most americans, the federal deficit is just not that big of deal. they care much more about, if you're talking about economic issues, inflation and the money going into their pocket. >> it's much more tangible. what do americans want when things are on the precipice from the leaders, are the numbers on that? >> yeah, we start off saying, right, this is happened a few times recently, much more than it used to. so we can look at numbers in 2011 and 20 teen, one essentially we are right on the brink, from 2011 especially. we have a cbs news asking this question, you want an imperfect agreement that essentially answers halting, or would you rather the u.s. to fall? >> for a debt deal you.

don't >> you sort of want, does not give you everything but keeps the u.s. from defaulting. where do you want the u.s. to default? the vast majority said, we want that agreement. less than 20% said that they wanted to default. look, this is the first part of the opening scene, as i think david put it, but the fact of the matter is, when it gets to the end, no one wants to default for except maybe very few americans. >> what other numbers from 2011 tell us something? >> there are a few things that 2011 tests but number one, which is, when we had that going on, what happened? first off, the stock market went absolutely insane, and basically went off a cliff. two, the u.s. government credit downgraded, and what did that mean, it was harder for the u.s. government to borrow, and it was harder for americans to borrow. right now, it's this abstract thing, the debt ceiling limit,

who cares about it, but if it actually gets close as we did in 2011, i can tell you this much, there will be a lot of americans caring about it. they are not going to look what's going on, and i would not be surprised that president biden approval ratings go down, and i would not be surprised if republicans in congress approval ratings went down, because that's what happened in 2011. of course, this is a new era and year, but sometimes, i like to think that history can tell us at least a little something. >> that's why you studied history? >> that's why i study history. a study stats, i study history, and i study what i will get -- >> you probably took ap courses? >> i did take a peek courses, as a matter of fact. i am sure that was not much of a surprise to you. >> not a surprise at all. thank you. coming up next, another claimed

by george santos revealed is not true and what some teens and his districts, voters in 2024, make about the lies. >> and later, the surprising recognition of the new zealand prime minister. what she says she will not seek reelection. the house whisperer! this house says use the realtor.com app to see three different estimates. also, don't take advice from people who don't know what they're talking about. realtor.com to each their home.

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what? it's true! and that's all thanks to chase first banking. freedom for kids. control for parents. one bank with tools for both, all with no monthly service fee. chase. make more of what's yours. >> earlier in the program, not 11 fish responded john feel to me every lie that your santa tells leaves a trail of pain behind him. he and his mom worked on an 11 we're talking about the newly uncovered immigration records contradicting santos's claim that his mom was at the world

trade center during the 9/11 attacks. except illness that resulted in her death because of that. the records indicate that she was in brazil between 1999 and early 2003. this of course is only one of too many lies he told. the umpteenth time heap apparently done what every parent does every child what not to do, which got us thinking about what voters in his district might make of all of this. gary tuchman went to find out. >> port washington new york shutter icicle in nassau county is in the heart of representative george santos is third congressional district. >> i think he's an embarrassment and pathological liar. >> we sit down with a group of a pea u.s. history students at the high school. they are 16 and 17, which means that they will all be old enough to vote in 2024. >> how many of you would register as an independent if you can register today? how many would register as a democrat? how many of you would register as a republican? >> their history teacher

estimates that republican leading students are outnumbered by democratic leading students by a almost 2 to 1 margin at the school. but -- i >> have not found one kid who sympathetic to george santos. they know the importance of the numbers in the house of representatives, and although santos represents them for issues that they agree on, they don't have sympathy for the man. >> 16-year-old student is one of the future democrats. >> i think it's a very scary situation for us, having someone who is so clearly lied and fabricated's entire resume representing all of us. >> 16-year-old nathan jackman is one of the future republicans. >> i like how the nassau gio peeking out against him, but obviously, kevin mccarthy should come out against him, and i should have a vote on the house floor in order to expel him from congress. >> we asked the teacher if we can watch a class discussion about sent. this >> it definitely places some mistrust on your political party. >> these are junior a pea students. >> first of all, what is your initial reaction to knowing that your representatives

integrity has been called into question? romero? >> it's kind of shocking because how could you trust him? could you just lie about his life and everything he has done, happening just him to do the right thing? >> how are his lies perhaps different from others, or is it fair game to lie in politics? >> i think one of the worst things that he lied about, in my opinion, is lying about the origin of his family being that they were from -- there were survivors of the holocaust. >> i think that it's an obvious choice given that we live in a community where there are lots of jewish people. we live in new york, that's where 9/11 happened. he's using things directly correlated to our lives to make himself some better because we have emotional attachment to these events. >> especially in politics, your reputation will always stick with you. everyone will remember him as the guy who lied about everything and still got into congress. >> has it gotten to a point in politics where we don't really care about integrity?

>> you think about it, because will be a plan to call to soon, if a college finds out that we lied about everything on our application, they will immediately kick us out, but he lied about everything and he will get to say that were being held to a higher standard of integrity than politicians in this country. >> before we leave the high school, we ask our panel of students this question. >> you're a constituent of congressman santos. if you could say one thing to him, what would you say tim? >> i just want to know why he felt the need to do all this? >> what would you say to him? >> if you really want to represent artistic, and you care about the voters and the people, you should resign? >> what would you say? >> resigned to keep democracy working properly. >> apologized and resigned now, it's enough. >> for the good at the constituents of new york's third, resign. >> you? >> for your district and for your party, resign. you? >> step down. >> gary joins us now. it's another a big class, we could spark kids there. >> various markets, a lot of disillusioned kids, but that does not mean that they're apathetic. what they tell us is that this inspires them. it's a lesson that when it comes time to vote for the first time in 2024, when they

vote for congress and president, they need to investigate thoroughly, research thoroughly, have the advantage of having smartphones, which you and i did not have what we were doing our investigative work for our first for. the prince will do as much work as possible. gary tuchman, thank you so much. the leader of new zealand suppresses or country with her sudden resignation. why jacinda ardern is stepping down and what has brought her so much international fame ahead? science proves quality sleep is vital to your mental, emotional, and physical health.

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,. >>,. christiane amanpour was the first to interview internationally when you took office into thousand 17 so we turn to our chief international anchor for this resignation. christiane, it's great to have you on the program, were you surprised to hear the prime minister say that she no longer has enough, in her, words in her tank to do her job justice? i never heard a world leader being candid about that? >> i, know and do you know she really was candid, that was the hallmark of her leadership. , and look, she clearly has been through a lot the country's been through a lot. she's been six years in office, and she had crisis after crisis after crisis. there was the massacre at christchurch, obviously covid and the lockdown, then having gotten rid of covid, covid within vengeance and a whole

group of people who really did not want to deal with a lockdown anymore because the economy suffered. there were a lot of crises that she had to do it, including the climate and other such things. >> you've interviewed the prime minister three times. she's the head of the government to a comparatively small country. she had a lot of cultural and political influence worldwide. what do you think a country? >> i think you're absolutely right. at one point they called it jacinda mania. she was 37 years old when she became the youngest female leader. she had a baby while on the campaign trail. she had another one while in office, and she made that a hallmark, that's sort of humanness, a hallmark of her premiership, and i was always quick touched by the fact that she would answer your questions, there was no spin or stuff like that, and she really wanted to be a new kind of leader. i remember when i interviewed her in york at the u. n., her first time out the shape of the baby with her to the u. n., to

the interviews and things like that, and she basically said, look, most leaders deal in economic or security markers. we can do that as well as doing well and doing good in terms of social well-being, and terms of the well-being index. i think that was the hallmark of her leadership and style. >> did you get a sense in the wake of the massacre of christchurch, the exasperation and disappointment that the prime minister felt with other countries, particularly the united states, regarding gun safety? >> i did. i have to say that that massacre by a white supremacists of some 51 muslim 's was the worst in memory in new zealand. she stood out by going there immediately, by wearing the head scarf, by putting on a black, modest jacket and then hugging people. that was something that was really central to her.

she had written they are us on her first when she heard about it, and that was what she did. she treated everybody as if they were one, not foreigners and this in that, all religions are the same for. in any event, i did ask her about it several weeks or months later, when we met in paris, and this is what she told me. >> we will continue to be a food producing nation that those animal welfare issues and so on and has a practical purpose and news 4 guns. you can draw a line and say that does not mean you need military style semiautomatic weapons and assault rifles. you do not. new zealand is by and large absolutely agreed with opposition. australia experienced a massacre and change their laws. new zealand had the experience and change its laws. to be honest with you, i did not understand the united states. >> look, i never heard a world leader say it like that. in 26 days, with a coalition government, bipartisan support and popular support, she said

that they had reform of their gun laws saying, as she said, a haunting country, a food producing country, which obviously involves guns. in the reform and control, she did it at the massacre. >> it's interesting to see what her legacy would be in their country and on the global stage and also what she does next. >> yes, what she does next, we don't know yet but certainly, that legacy. remember, anderson, she was elected shortly after trump became president, and then she was considered the global anti trump. when he was an isolationist, she was for interaction with neighbors and the world and globalization was a thing, where he was sort of demonizing foreigners, she was much more inclusive to refugees and even in my first interview with her, she talked about offering new zealand as much as she could, as a refuge for climate refugees in the pacific region. >> christiane amanpour, thank you. coming up, they stand off

between germany and the u.s. between tanks in ukraine and a diplomatic effort underway. also an ongoing look at the british fighting in ukraine and the role played by mercenaries in russia known as the wagner group.

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>> as russia's former president raises the specter of nuclear war if his country loses in ukraine, a major impasse has developed among ukrainian allies about supplying yet more

western made tanks. the holdup is germany, a major manufacturer of those tanks, whose approval is needed but they have not given it yet. secretary of defense lloyd austin arrived in germany today to aid in negotiations, just as the biden administration announces second largest ever aid package -- secured it package to, 0. 5 billion dollars. the package does not include u.s.-made and one abrams tanks, which is germany's demand, if it is to send tanks at all. we've also learned tonight that the cia director bill burns was in ukraine last week discussing battlefield planning, with president zelenskyy. ukraine's leader today called the issue of tanks pressing and very sensitive. those were his words. he said, quote, the courage of our warriors and -- motivation of our ukrainian people it's not enough against the tanks of the russian federation. cnn's ben wedeman has this report on the bloody brutal battle that ukraine's witching against russia, including a mercenary force known as the wagner group. >> they've been through the

valley of the shadow of death. most, but not all made it out in the valley alive. but not unscathed. on this stretch of road, overlooking the battles from bakhmut and soledar, is just safe enough to deliver the wounded to medics. strewn along the road, a bloodstained stretcher, and discarded, bloody flak jacket. these troops are just back from the front at soledar, they took wounded, they were facing wagner fighters, they say those fighters were attacking in waves. now, they're going back to safer ground. the combat they saw ways intense. >> there were regular troops, says this soldier. and in front of them just me, convicts, impacts, on drugs, without armor and helmets, for

them, life has no value. >> [speaking non-english] >> down in the killing fields, the shelling goes on without letup. [sound of artillery] for the medics, there is no rest. >> sometimes, the mortars don't give us any breathing space, and a totally, a this medic tells me. we have many casualties. and when the snipers come, there's many dead, wounded. troops transfer a fallen comrade from their armored car to a van. here, the shadow of death hangs heavy. >> ben wedeman joins us now from ukraine. where does this iteration stand now from soledar as you know? >> anderson, it's a bit confusing because the ukrainians have yet to actually acknowledge that they are forces are out of that town,

but you get closer to the front line, you get closer to solid our, and the situation becomes much clear. we have been speaking with soldiers that their area. they say, yes, we basically pulled out, and at the moment, we understand that some of the villages that we were in around soledar have been coming under intense russian bombardment. so for instance, in that report, we did see a soldier coming from the area around soledar but inside the city itself, it does appear that the russians are in control at the moment. the worry now is that they've taken soledar, that they're going to start trying to encircle adjacent a city of bakhmut, which is about nine miles to the south of there. what we have seen on the ground from inside bakhmut is that the fighting there is beginning to get quite intense, anderson?

>> ben wedeman, appreciate, it you and your team, stay safe, thank you. coming up, why one north carolina community is tired of crypto and calls it a racket -- literally, a noisy neighbor destroying their blue mountain peace. so you can have more success tomorrow. ♪ one thing leads to another, yeah, yeah ♪ get $150 bucks. and i'm traning gronk for the $10,000,000 kick of destiny.

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about the cryptocurrency market lately usually involves words like fraud charges, bankruptcies or losses, measuring the trillions of dollars. even some of those who did not investing crypto are experiencing steep losses and peace and quiet. cnn's bill weir explains. >> this is the sound of green mountain fog, certified by quiet parts international, one of the most peaceful spots in north carolina. thanks to their rare local law enforcement, the laws against noise pollution, meanwhile, about 90 minutes away, beautiful cherokee county sounds like this -- it is stack upon stack of computer servers, and the fans needed to cool them. this is what is known as a crypto mine, and it makes the sound of people in san francisco trying to make virtual money. >> how do you describe that noise?

>> we are probably sitting at about 65 decibels right now. when it's about at 75 or 80 decibels, i would say a jet engine. a jet engine never leaves. >> 16 months after the mine fired up without warning, mike put his house up for sale in frustration. >> there'd be turkeys out and the field and do year high the hundreds. you don't have that anymore. >> while tom misses the wildlife -- >> you don't sleep at night -- >> phyllis says she feels trapped. >> you can actually lay your head on the pillow and hear a hum up through the walls. >> have you thought about moving? >> we are 73 years old. we are we going to go? >> imagine a game where the dice have a billion sides, and the first person to rule a ten wins. that is essentially crypto mining, and to play that game these days, you need computers, thousands of computers and 24/7,

365. and after china outlawed cryptocurrency and crypto mining, more more minds like this began popping up in appalachia, places where the power is cheap and the regulations are either not existent on unforced. >> but in this deep red republican pocket -- >> it's that noise 24/7, that is -- nothing to help these people. what are you guys going to do to help? >> the mine has upended local politics. >> i like to be behind the scenes, and i like to stir the pot. i knew that we needed to win an election. >> it's annoying. >> outrage over the mine helped flip the balance of power. in november's county election -- >> calling on u.s. senator thom tillis -- >> with a new board of commissioners now asking for federal help in ending american crypto mining.

>> -- to introduce and champion legislation through the u.s. congress to ban and or regulate crypto mining operations in the united states of america. >> [applause] >> when asked over linkedin for reaction, chandler song, one one of the mines co-owners, wrote oh boy, they wanted us so bad a year ago. as for the proposed ban, it is unconstitutional to say the least. song and his crypto mining cofounder made forbes 30 under 30 least a few years ago, and recently claimed quarterly revenue of $20 million. but when asked follow-up questions, song went silent. he's mine in murphy has not, so far. but the county attorney is looking for a legal way to shut it down. it's a cautionary reminder that the next time you hear a places peaceful as green mountain form -- >> you're playing with our lives. it's torture.

>> chances are someone got loud and fought for it. >> bill weir joins us now. there are more minds puffing up throughout appalachia like this. what is the attitude towards crypto mining? in the state? >> it's really interesting, a neighboring county force them out, will not be allowed in. others tried to move them into industrial sites or soundproof them. what is interesting is the huge christmas winter storm that gripped the south. some of the first rolling blackouts in tennessee valley history. it hit this town of murphy. when they started to get plunged into the dark on christmas eve, they went down to check the mine, and it was still running. this is sort of public outrage, the image of it right now, a tough spot. the more the folks don't come out and talk to the community -- it would be one thing if some of that money was staying in murphy, but he's maybe paying property axes taxes on a couple acres of farmland, so there's a lot to be figured out here. >> bill weir, fascinating

stuff. thank you. the news continues, cnn tonight with laura coates is next after a break. i work hard, and i want my money to work hard too.

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