prices for prescription drugs of any people on earth. [applause] when we talks: about america today, it is important to understand, especially now in the holiday season, when families are coming together, that there are 11 million people in this country who are undocumented. and many of those people are living in fear, many of those people are worried about being deported. many kids are worried about seeing their parents being deported. in my view, this country and our congress must pass comprehensive immigration reform. [applause] passe sanders: and we must

citizenship to undocumented people. and of congress will act, i will use the executive power inherited in the presidency to do everything i can to protect undocumented people. [applause] bernie sanders: now, in this world today, as everyone knows. we are living in a crazy world and a dangerous world. we turn on the tv at bc disgusting things. tv and we see disgusting things. i think we all recognize that

isis is barbaric and must be destroyed. but in terms of foreign policy at military policy, it is not good enough for us to be "tough." enough for politicians to be ranting and raving about how strong they are when it is somebody else's kids going. [cheers and applause] so we have got to be not only tough, but we have got to be smart. hard about to think the consequences of military action. 2002, i listened carefully to what bush and cheney and rumsfeld were saying about how we had to invade iraq. i listened closely. i ended up voting against the war. [cheers and applause]

and it gives me joy, to tell you that much of what i said on the floor of the house -- 02 youtube and check it out -- turned out to be right. many of my fears turned out to be right and i will never forget the many funerals i went to in the state of vermont for my young people in my state never came home. and as the former chairman of the senate veterans committee, i understand the cost of war and know that 500,000 young men and women came home with ptsd or dramatic rain injury, not to mention the 6700 and never came home. the 6700 never came home. so we have to be smart.

to understand and learn the lesson of iraq. and that is we do not do it and we should not do it alone. [cheers and applause] bernie sanders: what we need is an international coalition. recently, when the heroes in that region, king abdullah of jordan made the following point. he said, terrorism is an international issue but it is issue as wemuslim islamghting for the against those who want to hijack and demonize our religion. -- and i thinkd he is absolutely right -- the way to destroy isis is to have the muslim countries on the

ground taking them on. [cheers and applause] now we havers: these united states, the u.k., -- theygermany, russia have an important role to play in that coalition. we have to provide the air support and maybe special forces and training for the soldiers in the muslim world. i will do everything i can to prevent -- i will not allow this country to be involved in a never-ending perpetual war in the middle east. [cheers and applause] bernie sanders: i believe that

if we are successful in putting together that coalition, if we demand that some of the wealthier countries in the region like saudi arabia, are paying their fair share into helping us destroyed isis, we can do that without the united states being involved in perpetual warfare. [cheers and applause] bernie sanders: brothers and sisters, we are living in a pivotal moment in american history. are the wealthiest nation in the history of the world but so many of our people are suffering. ofhave the highest rate childhood poverty of any major nation on earth. use unemployment that is off the charts, 29 million people with no health insurance. we have a child care system

and wes dysfunctional have millions of people working longer hours for lower wages. i believe that if we do not allow our opponents -- the --ald trump's of the world to divide us up as to whether we are white or black or latino, to divide is up as to whether we are gay or straight, man or ,oman, if we stand together there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. [cheers and applause] [chanting "bernie"] let me repeat: what i said when i began.

sanders or bernie anybody else, can do it alone. we need a political revolution. we need all of you to be a part of the revolution. and together we can transform america. thank you all very much. [cheers and applause] which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ] on our facebook page, we are asking, what is the most important issue to you? jackie says defeating the democratic party and larry clinton. john says preventing a republican president from nominating more supreme court

justices. logon to c-span.com for more c-span.org for more information. >> c-span takes you on the road to the white house. speeches, rallies and meet and greets. we are taking your comments on facebook, twitter and on the phone. and every campaign event we cover is available on our website at c-span.org. >> in just under one hour, c-span's road to the white house coverage continues with candidate hillary clinton in a town hall meeting in new hampshire. she will discuss economic issues and her results for working families while she worked as secretary of state. on can watch her live here c-span and we will take your calls immediately after. rallyow, the donald trump in health and head, south carolina.

he will be speaking to supporters at 11:00 eastern. you can watch that on c-span. next, a discussion with foreign correspondents on the dangers of reporting from the middle east logan, international journalist, matthew aiken and a vanity fair contribute in -- vanity fair contributing author. ok, welcome to today's council on foreign relations about the dangers of reporting from the middle east. memberso welcome the around the nation and around the world who are watching this on the live stream. i also want to mention that this meeting is held in cooperation with the livingston awards for young journalists which i procedures honor for young journalists under the age of 35

years old. they have three categories, local, national and international reporting. and if you go back and look at the list of winners, historically it is people like david remnick and a lot of others. a who's who of contemporary journalism. the awards are supported by the university of michigan, and the indian trail foundation. we have -- here from the indian trail foundation. we are lucky to have the winner of the two dozen 15 livingston award in the international category here with us today. he won for a story of whoever saves a life. it is a tremendous story about first responders. he did that last year. i thoroughly recommend that you read it.

it was in "master." -- it was in "matter." he does a great job at capturing the humanity of these responders. you capture the humor of the people who are living through some of this. he also did an amazing story for rolling stone this year from yemen. i will ask him about that later. yemen is under blockade. a 24 foot speedboat djiboutie street from to sneak into yemen. it is an amazing story. we will talk more about that. the award in 2013 for the 18 killings. a story about war crimes in afghanistan. he survived an ambush and

interviewed witnesses. he won a medal of courage for that story. he also won an award for another wartime story from afghanistan. and he now writes for all kinds of different places. gq.ing stone, the atlantic, thank you for being with us. is the author of the perfect storm. it is on the best story -- the best-selling list for many years. i think in 1996 you said you were going to afghanistan. you did a profile on -- and that became a national geographic documentary. he more recently embedded in the valley in afghanistan with the unit from the wanted 73rd combat team.

embedded along with the photojournalist it was filmed in libya in 2011. he used some of the material from that reporting and for the director -- for the documentary called restrepo. that one at sundance. in dangerouserest jobs for a long time. one of his early jobs was the guy who climbs the trees and cut rees.ranches off the tea he is also the author of death in belmont. you say you have sworn off reporting. i want to ask you about that. he has interesting things to say about the safety of foreign correspondents. laura logan, you know her. is on 60 minutes at cbs

news. she is originally from south africa. she was the only journalist from an american network in act at during the invasion in 2003. she spent nearly five years in iraq after that. she took some very dangerous assignments in afghanistan. a vehicle that was struck by a mine in 2005. and then later for in another ambush in a convoy along the border. that report 18 dupont columbia university silver baton. also won an overseas press club award and in 2011, covering the egyptian revolution, she was sexually assaulted by a mob and she talked about that on 60 minutes. she has since returned to middle

east war zone. reported from the frontlines against isis in iraq on 60 minutes. so thank you very much. let me start by asking, what motivates you to do this job? it seems like some people who do it are adrenaline junkies, there are others who are motivated by humanitarian considerations. was tod that your goal be a radical obituary writer. what did you mean? matthieu aikins: that is a reference to a term that -- she talks about how breathability, in terms of, whose lives matter? she uses the obituary page .unction

it is filled with the stories of the powerful, the famous and so, i think writing about the death and suffering of the ordinary people who are overwhelmingly the victims is a way of trying to alter the equation. you have said that it is a cause worth writing for -- worth dying for. are there really causes worth dying for? matthieu aikins: i think any cause worth dying for is at the heart of our idea of reality. in some cases, it is what can be said about journalism. kevin peraino: what is the trick? you are talking about grief

ability and you are covering nonwestern lives. what is the trick to getting readers interested in subjects with names that are hard to pronounce and live far from the u.s.? yeah, i thinks: we have all experienced a foreign story where they say, we need an american character in the story. that is one of the realities of the western media. which on one level is understandable because western readers relate to western characters. but the western press is not the local hometown paper. it is the global discourse of power that affects the lives and he foreign policy that affects the lives around the world. so i think one of the ways to get people interested in the is to write in characters.

in the case of the serious story, as a length of a thousand words, you get to tell the back story and you can make the characters relatable and funny and make people care about them. easy. is not it is something that i struggle with all the time. to make my work more percentages of the people who are affected who are nonwestern. lara logan: i just did a piece on 60 minutes where the main character spoke no english. ambassadore iranian spoke no english. and when you are writing for a magazine, you can't fake what your character say.

it is a difficult thing. i was heavily criticized when i went to liberia at the height of the ebola epidemic and did a story about ebola. how many journalists are willing to do that? did anyone want to go to liberia at the height of the ebola backpack? -- ebola epidemic? i interviewed many librarians -- many libyans when i was there and no one in new york in the screening room could understand what they were saying. me, stories are about rise above borders

and culture, about everything. as an african, it was my goal to find the african story that i could bring to the world that transcended the african this. my bosses don't care where the story is. they will commit to the budget but they can't do it on every story. we took the stories of the people. and we took them and put them in the hands of the americans who it waser there, because a legitimate question in the .nited states , she was inurses haiti in the earthquake, she's

been out to nigeria, if there ever was a person who was close to being an angel in a human form, it is that young girl. she went to liberia and did hundreds of blood transfusions in a day to try and track down ebola at the source. -- we use people like that. and in their eloquence and their passion and their sincerity, we pay tribute to the people who were living and working and doing that in a way to make americans care. and that is not a perfect system. i have sometimes spent four hours with an afghan man just trying to find out exactly when it was that they said that this farmer was killed by the americans who came in the middle of the night.

just to get a date. tuesday, tuesday, this tuesday? last tuesday? issue is a big thing. it's frustrating that people don't and -- don't recognize that this is the media. there are certain constraints you have to work within. it is kind of annoying to be criticized for that. [laughter] lara logan: i'm just saying. sebastian? sebastian, can i ask you about how you said you are done with war reporting? i don't know if that is true.

sebastian junger: i started war reporting in 1993. and it was the most incredible i could have imagined making. i was very traumatized. just about everything. war had never affected me personally. until my friend tim was killed. i knew people who had been killed but nothing that went to the center of my life. but tim was killed and that is what happened. wore long cover enough, it will cost you something. it could cost the lives of the other people that you love and it caught up with me and him. at 30 years old i would have made a different decision.

if i had not been married, i would have made a decision. but at the age of 49 years old married, suddenly war reporting, it suddenly seems like a selfish thing to do. selfish to the people that i care about. i wouldn't have thought about that when i was younger at all. but in my late 40's and 50's, it felt like, to the point where you have to put other people's welfare first, ahead of your own. 49, that meantof not going off for a couple of months. my wife and i got the news about him from a phone call from someone in israel. -- from someone in this room. so every time the phone rang in our apartment in new york, my

wife would think it was the worst possible news about me. paying more of a cost of my work than i was paying. it seemed selfish. kevin peraino: i think you are the only panelist with children? lara logan: go for the jugular. [laughter] my wife and i are both foreign correspondents and we have kids. it is something that you think about. i'm over when you are talking on 60 minutes, is that what was was therough your head kids. i'm curious about the process that he went through -- that he went through to get back to the front lines. it is an ongoing

struggle. i wrestle with it all the time. i did a story about christians in iraq. my daughter asked me if she could come with me. she is five years old and she said mommy, can i come. and i said no, i'm working. want to come with you, why can't i come with you? and i said he cut it is not safe for little kids. it's not a nice place for children to go. and she said, then why are you going? and i said, because everywhere there are bad guys and there are also good guys. and i will be with the good guys. and she said, if you don't come back, that means the bad guys got you. and i said, i will come back. but i have to say, not just going to war, try looking at your 5-year-old when you are

sterilizing every piece of clothing that is going with you and putting things in waterproof containers to cover ebola and one of the most brutal civil wars in history. very difficulte wasi have to say, matt teasing sebastian and i because he was in high school when we were in afghanistan. he is at the point when sebastian had to make that decision. i feel like i missed the beginning of syria because of egypt. and people looked at me like i was insane if the word syria came out of my mouth. so i felt very constrained. i think that there are smart ways to try to do these things carefully. lucky.e to be

timwhen your luck runs out, was killed with one of my very close friends on the same days in the same attack. and i was just recovering from egypt. and i pulled my car over in washington, d.c. and i was unable to drive what i heard about chris. it was a crushing blow. and when you come that close to dying, in egypt, i wasn't being at or bombs, i was just being raped by 200 men, those dangers are everywhere. to -- from c pj earlier. taken and thewere local iraqi people is still held

-- being a journalist is more dangerous than it has ever been. and i have never done it before. i find it insulting when people say that because leaving your 5-year-old at home and not knowing if they -- if you will come back because you are doing something interesting -- i believe you have to do it because you are passionate and they don't have everything that we have. could you walk us through your syria story? the one that you won the livingston for? this was last year in 2014, you went to aleppo. how did you get into syria? isis had been driven out of .leppo

how did you make your way there? how did you report the story? matthieu aikins: the reason i was able to go back is because there was -- between the syrian rebels and isis. isis had come back and they were pushed out again. and it isuld go back almost an impossible situation working in syria but the way that you do it is to have the right connections with the people on the ground, who are willing to protect you and who understand. and we went in with a rebel group. , astayed there with them group of first responders who as a massg every day casualty event in the united states, dozens of people being killed. they pull people out of rubble.

usually the regime would come back and hit the same site 15 minutes later as they are trying to hit the responders. them spent 10 days with and it was very intense. but they were doing such amazing that youwas something felt inspired by them. rare in these wars, to find the subjects who are inspirational and who are not just another group of men with guns involved in a dubious war. these people try to save lives. them that, lot in you had written about the brotherhood and war crimes.

even though they weren't fighting, they were doing it for each other. actually enjoyed it a lot of them because they were young it was their 20's and very interesting. anotherraino: interesting thing about the story is that you had a window of interaction between the rebel groups and first responders. you write about how the first responders halfheartedly waved back. what can you tell us about the intersection of the rebel groups? matthieu aikins: yes, it is like when you hang out with good al qaeda and bad al qaeda is not around. and they had out gotten in the fire truck and were running their own fire

service. totally, utterly confused. and the way that these identities may seem clear here between this group and that group, the extremists and the moderates, they are blurred on the ground. you wrote an: op-ed for the new york times around the same time where you said that washington and its partners want to push back against both president assad and isis at the same time. that was about a year ago. what is the state of that now? in your view? matthieu aikins: you could arm against isis, but i don't think it is substantially different in their philosophical ideology. kevin peraino: sebastian, i

wanted to ask you. you have been writing a lot about the process of returning home. you wrote recently about your own acute short-term ptsd. i want to ask a little bit about your views about this. maybe you could share your personal experience? sebastian junger: the first time that i really was deranged was in 2000. i had been in afghanistan and at that point, the taliban had an air force, and artillery, and we got hounded. we saw ugly things. war and no wasn't at one was talking about ptsd, i had no idea what it was. and it never occurred to me that you could be traumatized.

so i came back from afghanistan and i'm not a particularly neurotic person. and i was puzzled when i had panic attacks in situations that ordinarily wouldn't scare me. like the new york city subway in rush hour. [laughter] sebastian junger: all of a sudden i was having full-blown panic attacks. places,nicking in small small, crowded places and i was sure that everything i was looking at seemed like a threat. was somehow people going to turn and attack me. the trains were going too fast and they were going to jump the rails and plow into people on the platform and kill everybody. the lights were too bright. everything was a threat. rationally, i knew none of that stuff was a threat. but i couldn't take the subway

for a while. i had no idea that it had anything to do with my experiences in combat. i was thinking, wow. age 38, it's finally happening. [laughter] lara logan: that is what happens when you have babies. [laughter] years later, ir: was talking to a woman and she asked me if i had had emotional consequences from covering war. and i said, i don't think so. but i do keep having these weird panic attacks. and she's like, that is called ptsd. she said, he will be hearing a lot more about that. so i wrote an article in vanity fair magazine about posttraumatic stress disorder,

and basically there are two sorts. there is a short-term reaction which is adaptive. we deal with things that are threatening our lives, if you survive the threat, you can pass on the dna, you know how that works. so we react to danger in ways that are adaptive and help us survive. and in a short-term reaction, if you are in danger, the threat lasts one day, one week, a month. a couple of months. is to geta reaction you through the typical dangers. -- the typical dangers time. but there is ptsd that goes in that case, you're

not adapted to a short-term danger, you are maladapted. it is pretty rare. 20% wind up with long-term ptsd. maladapted is not good. isrote about why that rate so incredibly high in the u.s. military, it is way higher than the british military pretty -- british military. reservation, they were a warlike people, they fought like crazy when the europeans showed up in america. and they continue to until the end of the 1900s. were bet that the apache not getting long-term ptsd and maybe long-term ptsd isn't a function of the trolley when her, but it is the kind of

society that you come home to. you get over trauma easily if -- if you comeo home to a fragmented society, we have much higher suicide and depression rates then you find in poor societies and it shouldn't be that way but it is. maybe it is a function of what you come home to. i have moreo: questions about that. but it is 1:30 and i think i better open it up to questions from members. i want to remind people that this meeting is on the record and if you could raise your hands, someone will bring you a microphone and you can speak directly into the microphone.

please limit yourself to one question and keep it short. charles? hello, i run the livingston award. i have a question for each of you and all of you together. how has social media changed the reporting? the last timeer: i was in a war was 2007-2008. and there was no social media. that was pre-history. sebastian junger: it really didn't affect the soldiers i was with. we were on mars, basically. rocca beingi think slaughtered silently is a way of

how it has changed. there is a young group of people from raqqa. there, two germans managed to get permission and go -- whor state control grow up with those guys and did an incredible series about life there. but really, social media has become the lifeblood of much of the war coverage. organizations -- any journalist, overtime, you get to know their work and you get to trust them and they work to a certain standard. p on the a lot of cra social media.

everyone says that social media because they are not paid by any lobby groups. but once you filter that out and be honest about what you are dealing with, at the core of media, those two things come together to sustain. and without social media today, we wouldn't be in a good place. matthieu aikins: speaking from a personal experience, it has increased the amount of destruction in the coverage of war. i agree with what you said. i waste a lot of time on twitter. lara logan: i've never been on twitter. matthieu aikins: i was wondering. i was going to treat you. say there are young

freelancers who are able to ignore social media, it is a good tool of self-promotion. lara logan: that is the less attractive side of it. the slightly annoying side of it. you can talk about the cameras all over the city and get information out of their, and become something that people go to. the secretkins: program of croatian weapon supply to the syrian rebels was uncovered through social media. elliott higgins noticed that these croatian weapons were showing up in groups of rebels and it turned out that it is a pipeline of weapons through social media.

>> new york university, have any of you been confronted with a situation in which you felt you wanted to become a participant, rather than an observer? or in addition to being an observer? how has your journalistic training helped you in addressing a dilemma like that? lara logan: i've never picked up a weapon, because i would shoot myself in the foot first. i think your journalistic training is everything. your commitment to the process of being thorough and fair at putting yourself in everyone's shoes and trying to understand it. that is what protects your journalism. because if you just say, i don't agree with this person, i'm not putting their view in the story,

you are not advancing the conversation. it begins with understanding. do 5, 6, 7 hour interviews. it is why i drive every producer crazy. because trying to understand everyone's position, maybe it is because i grew up in south africa. that weup in something felt was noble, the fight for human rights. we grew up despising the right-wing and not having anything to do with them. and then i worked for a news agency and i realized that every time a report happened, i had to provide everyone's perspective. that is what our job was. and so in the course of that process, it taught me how to be open to everything.

it doesn't mean that i have to agree with it. i have been running a campaign in afghanistan for 15 years and they know how i feel about it. i think it is dishonest when journalists pretend they don't have feelings and are not involved. believeories because we that they are important and they matter. to everything i do when i walk out the door. the process of being a professional journalist and putting all of your work through that process is what protects us. and that is the danger of social media. you don't know how much of it is put through social media. you don't know how much is innuendo that is put out there anytime someone likes. on the blogs, how much of a journalistic process is there? i don't know.

but i have seen stuff reported on blogs that in one million years, i would not have reported because when i looked into it, it would not have stood up. for one thing,r: you are bringing in a fair amount of money and putting it economy by using a hotel or whatever. i'm not saying it is a bad thing, but let's be honest. i'm not saying it reverses the process but you are affecting things. i've helped carry civilians. i've handed him up to soldiers during firefights. gradation ofole things to be involved with and taking a ride on an american helicopter is making you part of a machine that you are reporting on. so i think it really comes down to your intent. your -- if you are doing

waything in a describable that changes the story that you are reporting on, then it turns into a circular drawing. but the way that -- but the idea that there is a priestly -- there is a pristine way of traveling -- there is a great story about where he goes back any time machine and he says, don't step off the path, and he does and he crushes a butterfly and a different person won the election. so to say you can go through these situations and never step off the path and kill a butterfly is unrealistic. one of the most common things about the war, and i see the phenomena that exists in social media, is that journalism has become political. and if you think about the and the way that it

had a powerful political impact on war and policy as a result, you go to these conflicts already as being in the game. lara logan: and can i say, don't forget daniel pearl. the first.l was and that tactic wasn't invented by these people. ,t was our job as journalists that context is critical. there are a lot of people who are eager to forget that context. changed it andl set the stage for journalism from that moment on. it was impossible for people to go and meet with al qaeda. and that became the moment when we realized how little they needed us.

they speak to their audience when they want to on their own terms in their own way. and that is one of the most powerful changes in the media landscape. in the front? from our clays. i have a question for all of you. what was your biggest misconception about the middle to bring itl free down to a specific country, that is changed by your own experience in reporting? kevin peraino: matthew -- matthew macon, do you want to go for that one? it is a toughs: one. i knew so little about these countries. [laughter] matthieu aikins: that may have been part of it.

think that one of the things i learned was how radically different it was with how people perceive the world and how the -- about 9/11 are held. level, but on one there is a view of a villain rather than a hero. and to see history through that lens has changed the way i thought about it. lara logan: i think for me was the misconception that the cia trained and funded osama bin laden and he fought bravely on the fields with us because there was only afghan commander who -- on theto have any force with him. osama bin laden only traveled once into the battlefield and he

did most of the work in pakistan. when youis powerful are there and you realize the role that pakistan plays. i think even syria doesn't measure up right now. so it is a misconception to think that afghans and arabs are the same. they are two entirely different people. they speak a different language. and the afghans feel powerfully how to worship islam. wasreatest misconception not understanding how unique afghanistan is as a place and as a people and it took me a long time to learn and understand and appreciate who they are for what they are. i think they are vastly

misrepresented in the world. of afghanistanea being the place of the great game and brighter coupling -- -- hold on kipling to your rifle, block your brains and go to your death like a soldier. sebastian junger: i was in afghanistan in the fall of 2000, and back home in the u.s., the election was hanging in the balance. remember, al gore and george bush? and the northern alliance fighters actually heard that there was a hung election in the united states. one of them asked me, quite concerned, do you think there will be a civil war in your country? [laughter] sebastian junger: and i realized

, the state of simmering warfare and conflict is a pretty common thing in a lot of the world. of war as being a dramatic, outrageous thing that sometimes happens and consumes everything. a lot of war is not that dramatic. five years,o on for 10 years, 20 years, generations. and to have the low level -- a lot of life happens inside a war. the first time i saw fire was in -- i was sitting with a nice of behindthe safety buildings outside and tracer fire was pouring down the street about 30 feet from us and we

were behind the building so we were safe and we had a really nice summer evening picnic dinner. and it was completely ordinary unless you were in the middle of the street, which we weren't. i didn't understand the ordinariness of war for many people in the world. -- is the exception. a lot of it happens in the slow-motion way so people accommodated in their lives and they adjust and they think it is normal. and they wonder if the u.s. will have their own civil war for a decade or two. i left with the afghan soldiers in the war with the taliban, and my cameramen -- i had him for a week and then he but the roof of the mud house cracked and gave way and he went hunting down and the

afghans thought that was the funniest thing they had ever seen. [laughter] lara logan: that is all they wanted to talk about when i saw them for the next few weeks. they would mind it. it.hey would mime that was the height of their entertainment. [laughter] wendi from the foundation of a civil society. what role and contact do you have with the american embassies and diplomat and american envoys when you are covering these wars? wildlygan: it varies depending on the american diplomat and the american embassy. i just came back from iraq and it was hard to find anyone in that country who wanted more coverage. american military were unbelievably difficult to deal with.

they didn't give us access to a single place. not a single trainer. i even have the benefit of living in iraq for a long time, i said, i know you have guys, all you have to do is send someone to the front gate and let us come in for one hour and give us some background. something for us. asked, is this the longest handover in the history of any world? because this is nonsense. we'll is that that if we can't get an interview, we will try to get a background briefing from that person. found organizations like that bending over backwards for coverage in any part of the world in any circumstance. supplementkins: u.s.

-- u.s. diplomats and embassies have become heavy bunker and that it is difficult to speak with people. they often can't leave the embassy. and getting in through the multiple layers of security is a hassle itself. sets another way that conflict has changed how it is difficult to see them. sebastian junger: i was evacuated from liberia during the civil war by the u.s. embassy. i was grateful to them because i was in a lot of danger, i was because the regime had figured me as a spy. i went into hiding. and it was very scary. i was very grateful to them. couldn't -- at all. i went to liberia and they debriefed me.

they wanted to know what kind of weapons i saw. we really put detailed stuff and at some point, a journalist effectively does become a spy. i don't know where the line is but you do have to be aware of it. can become. can become. it's really tricky. of granularity are you really functioning in a capacity you never intended to? i would say when i was attacked in egypt, i was very grateful there was an american embassy nearby, at least there was somebody you could lean on. using the veryup much at all, but there were two embassy people that came to the airport and helped me get on a plane. and in those circumstances when you are that afraid, it can mean a lot.

>> [indiscernible] i am a bureau chief here in new york and i'm a diplomatic correspondent. i've never been to a war front. i'm wondering the relationship you might have, the three of you, being the war on yourndents, being feet with those on the diplomatic front? and that light, what do you see yemen, syria, iraq, what do you see coming, having been on the ground? towhat is the next country get horribly invaded and destroyed? [laughter] >> i don't know. i was in yemen this summer. it was heartbreaking. >> that has already been

horribly invaded and destroyed. >> the country is fragmenting. libya, -- there are lots of good people wherever you go, whatever you are doing. and you gravitate toward the diplomats you feel that you can trust and respect and want to engage and those can be in any government, any government anywhere. i mean, you say what is coming next, but we are already in the middle of what is coming. is growing and spreading. .hat's not based on what i see it's in front of all of us. yemen is unresolved and syria is escalating every day, and

russia's engagement is escalating. interesting, of course, with ramadi, everyone is just a bomb factory, right? tens and tens and tens of thousands of bombs everywhere. the islamic state uses homemade bombs like land main -- landmines. when i was up in falluja there were still hundreds of these bombs and they are just everywhere. they can just put a rough detonator on it and they are using the children to blow up those bombs. there are some children that set 30 or 40 ied's in a day. ,hey are doing suicide bombers

using more suicide bomber's every day than has ever been witnessed in any war in the history -- and there is no shortage of them coming to die. it's incredible. the man from the shadows is no longer in the shadows, right? lebanon today just did a ra,soner exchange from al-nus which is al qaeda. kevin: good al qaeda. lara: good al qaeda, for now. i see those problems being widespread. sebastian: a good friend of mine has pointed out there is a new axis of power forming with assad, hezbollah, and

even china in their in some ways. and that is a really interesting development. it is being created as alsonterbalance, and it's connected to a shia-sunni conflict. lara: and it's also a counterbalance to a lack of western power. the saudis leaving the coalition in yemen -- sebastian: if you look at it from putin's perspective, this counterbalance things with the west. i have not been out there in years. i think he has a really legitimate point. >> thank you.

i am in the lively arts. here's a question. you all have been talking about fragmented societies you have worked in a lot in you know about it. i would be interested to know -- maybe all of this would be interested to know -- what do you think of the american, u.s. fragmented society, especially vis-à-vis what has been happening about refugees coming into the united states or not coming? if i can: actually, just jump in, i actually think that plays a big role in the really high levels of comments -- comment trauma -- combat trauma american troops experience. they are highly bonded to each other, committed to each other, doing missions together. re-creates platoon our evolutionary past, the way humans have evolved and lived, and they come back to modern society. here are the political parties.

they are literally accusing each other of deliberately trying to sabotage the safety and welfare of their own country. race relations are terrible. the gap the between rich and poor is getting worse. they come back -- no try, no platoon would ever treat itself that way. and soldiers somehow intuitively understand this and the come back to this country and they kind of can't believe it. a lot of the guys i was with -- they were in a lot of combat. you talk about war costing people something. it costs those guys a lot. just about every single one of them misses it and wants to go back. if you are returning to a cohesive, healthy society, you do not want to go back to combat. you are glad you are home. like the illness of modern life is what you are

talking about. then you can see it in things like immigration. we don't have any kind of cohesive response to immigration because we can't, because were not a cohesive society. were not going to have a cohesive response to global warming, to anything, until we start to see ourselves as one country, and i don't think that is ever going to happen again. >> we have time for one more question. from thejoel simon committee to protect journalists. all of the panelists have touched on this in various guises, could you talk a little bit about the journalists you have worked with and these places you visit? both the journalists that are part of your team and part of the broader information ecosystem and your understanding of these places. you just mentioned a colleague in turkey, for example. i would like to hear a little

bit more about that. i don't think that there i have leaned on them in every single place i have been. one of my closest friends is an who when i was trapped in egypt, he did not even pick up the phone. he got on a plane. i remember being my house in washington, d.c. they had my name in arabic. he had that made up at the airport. i'm really thinking how ironic -- i had almost been killed by an arab man, and the one person who is of the greatest comfort for me in one of my most difficult moments was an arab man. these are not matches

made in heaven. i remember when the marines were and thereo baghdad, were snipers all around and he was trying to get me to go inside and go to safety. imagine through the end of the war and everything, at the very moment when the city he wants to take me into the hotel basement and put me in safety. i'm like, i'm not going to he is screaming at me, you've got to go, you've got to go! and then i was screaming "i'm a journalist!" literally. there is a french journalist who reminds me of it every time i see her. but those people, there is no substitute for knowing every inch of ground. they help you understand

motivation. they help you understand history. they risk everything. he woke me in the middle of the night with his hand over my face and took me outside and said, don't tell anyone, but if you want to go back to baghdad, i will take you. i said, if they find you, they will kill you first. he said, god willing. if i'm going to die, i want to die in my country. those kinds of people. it does not mean every local , you putu work with your life and their hands. the ones who say, i will take a bullet for you, you know they are lying. whoones who really well, know the place some much better than you and can guide you and you trust and literally -- one of the greatest journalists in the world. no one does reporting on the

telegram like him. he writes for "the daily beast." he writes for a bunch of people. i embedded with the taliban because of him several times and there were times when we were on the road and he pulled his back because i understood he knew better than i did, you know? you can't go into syria if you don't have a good local network. some of that is local journalists's. some of that is local fighters. it begins with local fighters. behind every good story is a local fixer. lara: yeah, at least one. kevin: i think we have to do more for fixers. there are parallels to be drawn for freelancers. we have been independent journalists in conflict zones. that is all i have ever been. it's pretty difficult being out

there on your own and this war has been covered by freelancers. we talk about it, but there is an amazing program to train freelance journalists life sicking -- lifesaving medical skills. it means a lot to a young freelancer out there. you feel like you are on your own out there, so it means a lot. lara: they need something. matthieu: there is an award -- not enough people know about, more people should, for fixers.

basically a fixer is someone who is bought byo other local journalists. there is a movie with harvey keitel where he was the cleaner. the fixer does everything. the fixer fixes everything. they put you in contact with local politicians. they tell you when it is safe. they help you every way. sorry to stop you here. we have reached 1:00, 2:00 and they are pretty strict about it. thank you to the panel and thanks -- [indiscernible] [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> and a look here at our upcoming live coverage from new hampshire. this is portsmouth where democratic presidential willdates hillary clinton be holding a town hall meeting. running about 15 minutes behind schedule. it was supposed to start at 1:00 eastern time. she is expected to talk on her efforts on behalf of all of working families when she served as first lady, new york senator, and secretary of state. hillary clinton's townhall meeting scheduled to start any minute now live in new hampshire. we will be taking your phone calls after this event. also tomorrow, a donald trump rally in south carolina. he will be speaking to reporters tomorrow at 11 a.m. eastern. we will have live coverage of the truck rally on c-span as

well. what we wait for the event with hillary clinton to again, we will look at the final year of the obama presidency. also his state of the union and what he says will be a different state of the union -- instead of a laundry list of events, kind of an overview of the state of the union. we will be taking a look at that in just a moment.

>> and again, just waiting your for the campaign event with democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton to begin. a little behind schedule. while we wait, we will take a look at a conversation we had with "washington journal," talking about between 16 presidential race. host: we are back with consultants to talk about campaign 2016. we will begin with predictions. we are a few weeks away from iowa. what do you think will happen with the first caucus state? guest: i cannot wait for iowa to get here. the truth is we do not really

know what is going to happen -- at least on the republican side. i think we have a pretty clear idea in hillary will win iowa. the question will be by how much. i think she will be the democratic nominee. i like senator sanders. i really do. i don't see him having the organization and the background, and frankly, the ability to get people to the caucus and iowa, which is not an easy thing to do that hillary does. hillary, frankly, has been irking on this since 2007, so think she will be our winner in iowa. why do you say it matters by how much? it out, 70%, blows 80%, i think you will see support for senator sanders trundle. however, if he is closer, if he is 40% or 45% of the vote -- and remember, iowa is not a traditional election so the

caucuses are different -- if he has a strong showing in iowa, we may have a race on our hands. i would be surprised, but only because of the infrastructure needs to get people to the caucuses is not as easy as it looks. if he shows up with 40%, 45% of the vote, we could have a race on our hands. host: it's a little more difficult for you to make a prediction, i understand. trump seems to be ahead. ted cruz nationally. but ted cruz looks to be ahead in iowa. what's going on? most of the news media reports on national polls, and i am always quick to stop and say it's not national polls that matter. it's iowa, new hampshire, soft or and this year we go to the -- southstate primary carolina, and this year we got to the southern state primaries on march 1. that's really key, right? look. if you were to ask me 12 years

ago who is going to win the democratic primary i would have said, howard dean in a heartbeat, and john kerry came up and one. the name ted cruz has the best organization in iowa. trump is polling well in iowa. but liz made a very good point. it's hard to get people to caucus on february 1 in freezing black ice. they say they will have a record caucus, but no one is as organized as ted cruz and no one has as much support on the grassroots level. dean probably have the same thing on the democrats' side. this next month is going to be crazy because there will be so much money spent. if trump start spending money, which i still debate whether he he'sor how much he well,

going to go after him. it will be a freefall for the next month. let me add this to the caucus. you have to be in line for an hour. it's not like you can vote anytime during the day. you have to be willing to participate and show up at that point. guest: you have to be a very committed person. host: in the past, how many iowans have shown up to do it? i believe in 2008 the democratic side to the iowa caucus is the largest caucus attendance to date. the interesting thing -- help me out, philip, if i'm wrong -- it was 20% of the potential electorate. it's not that many people at all. obama got -- there were 240,000 caucus goers on the

democratic side. mitt romney -- there were 121,000 caucus-goers four years ago. that was the largest number they had ever had. the bush campaign is predicting 128,000 this year. there are activists all over i was saying it will be 150,000 republican caucus-goers. that would blow the numbers out of the water. remember in 2000, george bush got 80,000 in that election. is a trend going up. with so many candidates, there will be so many candidates driving so much churn out, they believe it will absolutely go up . how much is the question. i will go one step further. the chaos in the iowa caucus is what happens in the room. they have to be in line. as philip mentioned, it can be negative five degrees outside in

iowa. they will have to be in churches, gymnasiums, maybe somebody's living room and they are locked in that room from the moment they enter. they locked the doors. i think it is 8:00 p.m., and no one is allowed to leave until the caucus is finished. then the chaos starts because there is so much -- there are so many candidates on the republican side. let's say there are 20 people in a caucus somewhere in iowa, two for trump, and two for bush and three are for crews and then you have one and one and one and one , one christie, one k sick, one someone else. you have to, on the first round of balloting reach a certain threshold as a candidate. what if no one reaches the threshold? then a lot of people are released as delegates, and then they can go read a sign another candidate.

no one is going to know what is happening in those rooms. i will tell you from the 2008 , that isc situation where obama won it. they actually, the obama campaign had cut deals with edwards delegates in those rooms saying if edwards is not a viable candidate after the first round of balloting, those delegates would then go to obama. are you kidding me? this could go on for hours. we might not know for two days. thesec-span has covered caucuses throughout the years and of course our cameras will be there to give our viewers the flavor of what is going on in those rooms. but let's talk about the latest from new hampshire. you have the union leader with this editorial the other day, saying the jump campaign is voters'g iowa'

intelligence and comparing trump to biff from "back to the future." trump responded. [video clip] mr. trump: you have a failing newspaper. it is going down the tubers. if they cut it down anymore, you won't be able to find it. it looks like the things that they hand to u.s. the grocery store, the handouts? what do they call them, coupons? this guy -- he is a lowlife. i'm telling you. host: so, the publisher of "the union leader" comes out against him. he has endorsed chris christie before this. what do think of donald trump's strategy? is it smart to go after john

mcquade in new hampshire? guest: he seems to change the rules on everything that people think should happen. i tend to think he is trying to make news. there's a pattern that when people -- when other candidates get a little momentum, he will start attacking, or he started attacking cristy last night because christie has a lot of momentum in new hampshire right now. -- this ise interesting. you can usually tell how well a candidate is doing by how many events they have done in a state. done 131 events in new hampshire. he has some momentum. so, now you see trump go after going after he's the clintons, and then the news media drives that story and he is back in the news and then he's going after the "union leader." that is his strategy.

he has been doing that the whole campaign. he is number one in the news. the people that were making some rise kind of get stomped at the end of it. good headlines for these voters? guest: no. but i do think there is support for trump. i don't think he will win iowa. group we have a big, big of candidates that don't drop out in new hampshire, and right now k-6 does not see any reason to, rubio does not see any reason to, jeb bush is not going to drop out, chris christie is not going to drop out -- you have those votes spread out. it gives donald trump a chance. he's doing really well in the south. if he doesn't win in iowa, if he doesn't win in new hampshire, he comes to the south with a loss of momentum and he looks like a third rate candidate at that point because the media will be focused on so many other people. new hampshire is really the battleground for trump. before we get to calls, i

want to do this quickly -- donald trump going after bill clinton. tweets,clinton sending that she is letting her husband campaign. says, if she thinks she can unleash her husband with his terrible record of women's abuse on me while playing the woman card, she is wrong. her is smartly using husband as a campaign surrogate and simultaneously calling trump sexist. these open a door. it should surprise no one that trump is barged right through it." i absolutely agree with that last statement. no one in america should be surprised that trump has barged through any door. even watching the footage from

new hampshire -- i don't like donald trump. i'm not going to vote for donald trump. but i admire donald trump's ability to stand up in front of make fun of and terror down leaders across the country and every time he does it, people start to follow him. there is an antiestablishment problem throughout the campaign. does attacking john mcquade in new hampshire help them? yes, it does. john mcquade is part of the new hampshire establishment. does it get voters to the polls in new hampshire? that remains to be seen. just because they show up to a rally does not mean they're going to show up to a caucus in new hampshire. i have to admit, every time i see trump, i'm personally appalled as an american and certainly is a democrat, but as a communications consultant --

[applause] hillary clinton: thank you. [applause] >> hello, my name is brenda bouchard, and i'm an advocate. [applause] has, husband alzheimer's disease. my 89-year-old mother lives with us, she also has all timers. -- all timers disease. eimer's.

30 years ago, my husband asked me to marry him. -- iat time, he said to me want to build a life with you. in 30 years from now, i would like to sit on a beach with you and reminisce about the beautiful life we built together. next year, we will be married 30 years. had some wonderful memories, some really wonderful memories. but today, i the only one with the memories. he no longer remembers. for the person with all timers , howzheimer's disease horrible to lose your memories. but today i'm here to introduce hillary clinton. i'm not only here on behalf of my husband, my mother, and myself are in i'm here for the than 5 million americans that struggle with al timers with this disease every day.

i'm grateful to hillary clinton for giving them a voice. [applause] >> i'm here for the 28 million baby boomers that is anticipated will have this disease by 2050. i'm here because it's the sixth leading cause of death in the united dates. -- here because it caused cost more than $200 billion annually. during this presidential campaign, and the beautiful state of new hampshire, we have had so many candidates come through. i've had a great fortune to be able to speak to many of them. i been able to address 13 of them. supportive fore finding a cure around alzheimer's, there's no doubt that hillary clinton has bought this -- brought this conversation to the forefront. [applause]

>> i asked hillary clinton her first question at her first townhall meeting in june. and she listened. and she has put forward a thoughtful and comprehensive plan to offend -- prevent, and effectively treat alzheimer's by 2025. that makes her a pioneer, and differentiates her in the political field. [applause] >> next year, in 2016, we elect our new president. that person will walk into the oval office more than a year from now. hillary clinton is the person i trust, and i trust to get the job done for me, for the 5 million people struggling with alzheimer's today, for their caregivers. i would like to introduce you to hillary clinton, and also say, hillary, we're counting on you.

[applause] hillary clinton: thank you. thank you all. thank you. herereally delighted to be on the first winter day the season. [laughter] hillary clinton: to be here in this beautiful city in church -- and church that has been the site of a lot of occasions. and especially to be introduced by brenda, who -- as she said, i first met in a town hall in dover. when you call on people in town what, you have no idea they're going to say or what they are going to ask. when i called on her, she basically said i have a husband with early onset alzheimer's, i

have a mother with alzheimer's. i'm taking care of them. what are you going to do about alzheimer's? it really caused me to think hard about the kind of president i want to be. obviously, i want to be a president who gets the economy moving for everybody. and get incomes rising and more good paying jobs. i want to be a president that keeps us safe and secure and takes on the threat and dangers that we face. i also want to be a president who works for families, like brenda's. who understands that the problems we keep you up at night are ones that we also have to take seriously. it means the world to me to have her support in this campaign. and, as i've said to her and to others who have raised issues with me during the course of my time here in new hampshire, i will do everything i can to try and find answers.

alzheimer's, as she said, we have 5 million people currently suffering. the projection is for many millions more. it is the sixth leading cause of death in america. but unlike the other causes in the top 10, there is no real path to prevention or effective treatment, work your. as there is with other diseases that take so many lives. my proposal is that we tackle all three of those. what can we do to try and prevent it? what can we do to try and more effectively treated? -- treat it? and what would it take to invest in finding a cure? after talking to experts, the leading experts in our country -- not just in alzheimer's, but in other neurodegenerative diseases, like parkinson's, the overwhelming response was if we

invested just $2 billion more a year, we would make tremendous progress. shot at have a real understanding more about this disease, and trying to cure it. and the heavens and support what we are going to do on behalf of alzheimer's and the patients, the families, and the caregivers. [applause] hillary clinton: i want to thank my friend terry marelli, who i see here, for her great service and leadership over so many years, and for friendship. i want to just make a few other quick acknowledgments. to been we will move on ready for the questions. the mayor. i want to thank the mayor. where is mayor lister? i saw him somewhere.

there he is. thank you so much, mayor. wonderful to see you, thank you for your support. to the church, thank you for letting us be here today. [applause] and it to then: overflow, which i stopped by to see on my way here. it was packed. we thank you for your patience. they have a big screen, they are having a good time watching. we are delighted they are here as well. said, on january 20, -- someone will raise a hand to take youth of office and become our 45th president. that person will, after being sworn in and the celebrations that go with an inauguration, go into the white house, go into the oval office, and face the challenges that await.

be a consequential election in so many ways. because we've worked to do. -- we have work to do. i'm excited about the work to do. i'm optimistic about the work we can do together. [applause] hillary clinton: but i need all of you to be part of this campaign. to be part of the first in the nation primary. because in many ways, you are the first -- depending on how you define it, the last line of defense. the decision that hampshire makes is so important. i've had a great time traveling across the state, meeting by now thousands and thousands of people. having a chance to set forth my ideas and answer questions on whatever may be on someone's

mind. are going toat we make the right decision. not because my name will be on the ballot, but because all of us know what the stakes are. and how high they happen to be. so i'm excited, and very much looking forward to the sprint towards the primary. and to have a chance to hear even more for more folks here in the granite state about what is on your mind. about the big economic challenges, the security issues, and all those problems they keep you up at night. i have learned a lot, listening to folks here in new hampshire. i learned a lot about the struggles, the opportunities, the disappointments. fullu know, i have had two

townhall meetings just on the issue of substance abuse. when i made a list of what i was going to talk about this campaign, it wasn't on that list. on my first trip. new hampshire -- on my first trip to new hampshire, that was what was raised with me. and then visit after visit, i cards showing the pictures of beautiful young people no longer with us because of overdoses. , who those in recovery thankfully, were able to get help when they needed it. myself,andmothers like raising children because their children couldn't. lost to opioid addiction, heroin addiction. that's why taking the big issue to me. i will never stop leading with the values i was raised with, about who we are as americans, what we're capable of doing. i will never stop listening,

learning about what's on people's minds. i think you exit learn more when you listen. -- i think you actually learn more when you listen. and i will ever stop working with you to solve problems. that is the america i was raised in. that was the america i think we all share it should. -- cherish. and that's the america i'm going to do everything i can as your president to make sure it is stronger, at her, fairer for everyone going forward. better, fairerha for everyone going forward. [applause] hillary clinton: let me now turn to all of you. if you raise your hand, i think we have microphone somewhere that we will try to get to you. and give you a chance. this woman right there. please stand up. >> this is such an honor.

you look stunning, and i've always wanted to talk with you. i have been on your bandwagons that you were first lady. we are nine days apart, but i know why you look so much better, because you are younger. [laughter] >> to have this interaction. as a cancer survivor, three years ago, going through surgery, chemo, radiation, and having a job i loved, i was let go for my job in the private sector. redoer, i did come to myself as a justice of the peace in massachusetts. andi work now with elderly the council on aging. up close andeople personal that are delights, as well as being able to hear them. one of the issues i've heard lately is the hearing is a

problem. and that they cannot afford to buy hearing aids. because they are thousands of dollars. , thesenior myself now affordable health care for getting the supplements to medicare is an issue as well. because if you are not -- if you are too far above $100, $200 above the guidelines for medicaid or mass health, you cannot -- you have to pay full prices to supplements. but the seniors are saying they need help and hearing. have any of you heard this before that seniors who need help appearing cannot afford to get the hearing aids because they are so expensive? [applause] hillary clinton: a lot of people thought we would figure out a way to solve in the affordable care act, but we haven't yet.

it's something i take really seriously. , very can't hear well often, people kind of withdrawal. they become more isolated. some of the recent research shows that back and be a trigger for other kinds of conditions. aids, whennk hearing you can't hear, our luxury. they are a necessity. i'm going to do everything i can -- [applause] hillary clinton: to move them from what would be the elective , so, to a supported list the people who have financial problems will be able to get help to afford them. because you are 100% right. it's a growing concern. in part, because we have a lot more people living longer. in part because we have a lot more people losing their hearing earlier. some people say it's because of loud music that some of us are member listening to. reason, thereer

are a lot of issues around it. i'm going to do what i can to make sure we make hearing aids financially available on a sliding scale, so more people who need them can actually get them. [applause] this gentleman: right there. in the yellow tie. here comes the microphone. >> good afternoon. i meant to be in your neighborhood. i have a message for you, i'm from liberia. elected the first female president in the continent of africa. [applause] >> your hand is raised up, so take that out. -- to take that oath. liberia, the president of liberia says to say hi to you. i have to find my way here. do me one favor.

i want to take a picture with you and send it to her that i was here, as i promised. if you don't mind, please. hillary clinton: we will do that when we finish. don't let me forget. but the president of liberia, and was been elected twice come as you rightly say, the first woman president anywhere on the continent of africa has been -- [applause] has been anton: extraordinary leader. she inherited an economy in a government that was bankrupt. they had this terrible, long civil war that are just destroyed so much of their productive capacity, in addition to taking so many lives in leaving so many maimed and injured people behind. a lot of liberians left liberia because of the laugh -- the lack of safety. she has been, i think, incredibly focused on trying to improve the government.

improve the economy. and then she was dealt the terrible blow of ebola. then all that it meant to her country. i want to tell you a quick story. it's good to remember how important it is to keep trying to work with people, even if you have serious disagreements with them. visit the president why was secretary of state. i got a big briefing from all of her top officials about what was happening in her government. and what they were trying to accomplish. and then i was supposed to go speak to the parliament. there congress. she took me aside and said i want you to go speak about how hard democracy is. how hard we must work together. how we have to move past the past. she said to me, some of the very people who are now in the parliament are people who were very much involved in the civil war.

in some of the terrible things that happened there. to war crimesnt tribunals. but others, for whom there was in evidence, with a played minor roles, were actually elected. you can imagine. so i go to the parliament and i speak about democracy and all the rest of it. i take some pictures and do some visits afterwards. i thought boy, we think we have it hard. here she is, trying to work with peopleess that includes who were mortal enemies with one another against her, against others. and she is working so hard to make this democracy when it should be. against tremendous odds. so when we complain about our problems here in our country, we need to put them in the first -- into some perspective. we have to figure out how we work together even with people we disagree with going into the

future. so thank you. we will take a picture. i promise. this young lady in the red. then i will go further back. you so much for being here and taking my question. i am the mother of a 16-year-old boy who is smart and beautiful. he also really struggles with mental illness, and he is currently in an inpatient program right now. i think -- my family, i think anyone would agree that my family has incredibly great health insurance. and i know that mental health parity is the law. but we still have to fight for every single admission. every single new treatments that we have asked -- that the experts, his doctors all agree that this is what he needs to get better. and the health insurance company

constantly tries to whittle it down and only provide the minimum amount. with a sick child, i only have so much energy to fight this fight. and something just really needs to be done. hillary clinton: how many of you know someone with mental health problems? [applause] hillary clinton: how many of you know how difficult it is to get the medical care you need to help somebody with mental health problems? ist you are describing exactly the case. we passed a law -- i remember voting for it back in the day, another was another law passed, and incorporated into the affordable care act, or what they call parity for mental health trade in other words, if you have a physical illness, whatever it might be, you were supposed to get treated for it. if you have a mental health illness, you need to get treated for that too. one, we need finally to

remove the stigma for mental health. [applause] hillary clinton: too often, i hear from parents who say i no longer even tell people that my son has schizophrenia, my daughter is bipolar, my child has got chronic depression. because i feel like i'm judged. we are learning more about how the brain operates. that is one of the things we want to do. that's part of what my goal is for alzheimer's research. we have to understand the brain. we have to unlock its secrets. i applaud president obama for the investment in the brain project that his administration has made. weneed to remove the stigma, need to enforce the law so you get the quality and the number of treatments you need, whether it's outpatient or inpatient. i'm going to work with a mental health community, which is laid out an agenda about how we get

this right, once and for all. because it's not fair. it's not fair to the person suffering, it's certainly not fair to the families who are trying to cope without suffering and get the medical care that is needed. i will do everything i can to make it somewhat easier for you and your son, going forward. [applause] this young man: right here. president --ecome when you become president, what is your plan to connect mental health problems and guns to make sure that me and my brothers and friends are safe violent at school? -- safe from violence at school? [applause] hillary clinton: wow. i'm going to do every thing i can do. i'm never going to stop trying. now, we lose 90 people a day to gun violence.

homicides, suicides, and tragic, avoidable accidents. that's 33,000 people a year. i think we need to pass some laws that i have been advocating for. we need comprehensive background checks. we need to close the gun show loophole. close the online loophole. [applause] hillary clinton: and we need to make sure that the information that is needed to make the judgment about whether someone is qualified to buy a gun is in the record. very often, we don't have real-time information. because we also have to close what is called the charleston loophole. where the killer in charleston went to buy a gun. he filled out the form.

under the loophole, he could come back and get it after three business days. the information that he wasn't eligible because he had a felony conviction didn't come through until after he went and use that gun and murdered nine people. in a church like this, in charleston. so we have work to do. and the mental health piece of this is especially troubling. because you don't want to unfairly signifies people, but you want to protect the community, so you've got to have information. youkiller at virginia tech, might remember, have been committed. but that information was not in the records. people whoprohibit are drastic abusers with restraining orders against them from getting guns. and we certainly should get the congress to prohibit anyone who is on the no-fly list, the would-be terrorists, from buying guns in america.

[applause] hillary clinton: and we need to repeal the immunity from liability that was even to gunmakers and sellers by the congress. [applause] hillary clinton: so that we can ,o as good a job as possible trying to prevent people who shouldn't have guns in the first place from getting them. i know we can do this in a constitutionally consistent way. so i'm going to reach out and work with anybody, but i will also continue to advocate for this. because we are in a whole different era, where these mass shootings, these 33,000 people killed every year has become a

rebuke to us. that we can't figure out how to deal with this. i, personally, am asking gun owners to support these changes. because right now, what i just outlined -- comprehensive background checks and the like, is supported by 92% of americans. and 85% of gun owners. lives off ofobby fear and misinformation. it is willing to say and do whatever it takes -- [applause] hillary clinton: and it is really time for gun owners to form a different organization that will do more on gun safety, do more on gun responsibility, and hand up for the safety -- stand up to the safety of our children and our communities. [applause] hillary clinton: this gentleman

with the cap on has been standing up. when a u.s. the next question -- why don't you ask the next question? >> thank you, hillary. first and foremost, i want to say that i love you. and i really mean it. [laughter] -- myame is jim mackey, name is james accu. we hire young people to talk about issues. we create initiatives around those issues to build relationships with young people in the community. , all the --ston [applause] >> thank you. all the committees that are underserved. -- we just to you is lost one of our youth organizers, two days ago. from a tragic accident. there are 5.6 million young people around our nation who are

16 years old to 24 years old, who are disconnected from school as well as from work. and when they are not in school or at work, what are they doing? they are in underserved communities. so my question to you is -- what is your stance on supporting young people who really need opportunity, and more resources out there for better education, as well as better employment? and what will you do as president to help support those 5.6 million young people around the nation who is affecting? [applause] hillary clinton: thank you. thank you. first of all, thank you for being an organizer and reaching out to young people. that is so important. [applause] hillary clinton: i hope you heard what he said. think about this number. betweenion young people

16 years old and 24 years old, who are neither in school, nor work in that is a recipe for incarceration,r thatll kinds of behavior has bad consequences for themselves and for their families. it something i care deeply about, because if you look at where we are -- underserved communities have had a resurgence of poverty. suburbs, small towns and rural areas. native american reservations, coal country, this is across america. what we have disconnected young people from a path to a productive life. i think we've got to figure out how we rebuild that. i'm absolutely committed. let me say three t