host: and we are back from that brief house pro former session and for the rest of today's show on "washington journal." we will be taking your calls, getting your thoughts about what's on your mind. republicans can call 202-748-8001. democrats had 748-8000 and publicans can call 202-748-8002. rick, you have been waiting patiently from traverse city, michigan. caller: i want to comment i am a gun owner. i have grown up around guns but i have some real concerns that perhaps the message was not getting through to the

congressman that there are some real issues that need to be addressed. need believe that they their own security. security is provided at their own town halls. oftentimes the representatives don't want to have a town hall because they don't want to face the issues. to give them additional security, i think appropriate security is fine. i think we missed the bigger picture. even those of us that are gun owners think that a reasonable period of time is valid. it's harder to get driver's license than it is to purchase a gun. very few people need an ar-15 or 300-round magazines to go deer hunting. as a matter of fact, i don't think i've ever seen any of those in the field.

so with that i just think we need to make sure that congress doesn't once again insulate themselves from what the rest of the public may deal with on a day-to-day basis. those are my comments. host: all right. and bill is calling in from marietta, georgia, on our democratic line. bill, what's on your mind today? caller: good morning. hope you have a good weekend, my detroit young lady. listen, hey, i have two pionts. the n.r.a. guy, the guy that's a gun owner and talks about one gun for killing a deer. a lot of guys sport shoot, they go out for competition and everything else. the gentleman from "the washington examiner," he wants to allow congressmen to have and carry guns anyplace but no one else can in the country. and usually if a guy is going to do something to hurt you, he's not going to walk up to you and pull a gun on you. he's going to have the gun out and you're not going to be able

to reach for your gun or anything else other than reach for your bottom of your pants to stop from, you know -- have a good weekend. you understand what i'm saying. host: ok. and programming note, this weekend c-span cities tour continues as "book tv" and "american history tv" travels to hyde park, new york, as we explore the city's history and literary life. town superadvisor eileen talks about the historic's many sites. >> hyde park is located in the beautiful hudson valley. 90 miles from new york city. located right on the edge of hudson river in duchess county. we have many attractions. we are the home of franklin roosevelt as well as the first presidential library. we're also the home of the cullnear institute of america -- culinary institute of america so those are very important highlights for anyone visiting hyde park. we have the vanderbilt historic

site, which is a beautiful hudson river estate. we are home to eleanor roosevelt's and hyde park history is a living history. you know, it's something growing up here, which i did, it's part of our daily lives. and so we honor our history frequently through parades and through visits to the local homes, it's just part of the ethos of being a hyde parker. host: and make sure to tune in to the weekend -- this weekend to "book tv" and "american history tv" as we travel to hyde park, new york, and to watch the video of hyde park and all the cities we visited on our c-span cities tour. you can go to c-span.org/citiestour. we are taking your calls today for the rest of the show. taking in what's on your mind.

ruben is calling on our democratic line from fort lauderdale. hi, ruben. caller: good morning. host: and what did you want to talk about today? caller: yes. i don't think it's a good idea for -- because the democrats and the republicans, they are not getting along together. right on television. host: so what do you think, then, members of congress to do should -- should do to feel safer, ruben? caller: need to go to work. that's what they need to do, go to work and we won't have this problem. host: ok. and, again, last night was the congressional baseball game. that's what members of congress were practicing for when that attack happened on wednesday. and many of today's front pages it talked about the unity that was exhibited at that game. the front page of "the boston herald" said "team u.s.a.: republicans and dems join on

field for wounded fellow congressman." the sentiment also expressed in some of our front pages today including from "the chicago tribune" which said "democrats go to bat for congressman scalise," showing folks there putting those who were wounded in the attack going on the field and getting applause there. and "the denver post" said "a good time to pray," the shooting captures both sides of the gun debate but last night was about baseball and unity at the ballfield here in washington, d.c. david is calling from todd, north carolina. hi, david. caller: hey. bear with me for a minute. you are taking comments on twitter of a minute long and then people are deleting video comments on the facebook platform. what i think the

representatives need to do is page where we can put our consensus to what we think we should have to live under in laws and all the line items to illustrate a contrast between what the representatives are doing despite our best interest with all this bolesering of fake economies trying to -- bolstering of fake economies trying to keep it -- rather than those trying to hold their assets securely. need to have a better platform. not to replace the obstructionist system but to give us a contrast. host: ok. and the c-span does not delete comments made by our viewers on our social media pages.

sandra is calling from michigan on our republican line. hi, sandra. caller: hi, there. host: and what's on your mind today? caller: well, i'm calling because i noticed how many empty chairs there are in the house and senate frequently. and i'd like to point out that i sent my legislators to washington in other words to legislate, not to play baseball. i don't have anything against baseball. i'm glad that they could pray together and have unity on the ballfield but they need to have unity in the house and the senate, and they need to go work and they need to have less recesses and less breaks and more work. the rest of us go to work. those of us who are employed work every day, monday through friday, not leaving on thursday night and coming back on maybe monday and working for a couple days and then heading back home. i really would like to see our senate and house forgo this august recess or whatever it

is, however long they go home. there's very serious things to be decided in our nation. we've got security threats. we got health care problems. we've got tax stuff. instead of just arguing and ranker going on in the house and the senate, they need to start getting along on the floor and talking and legislating and backing the agenda of the president that we elected. host: sandra, let me ask you this. a lot of times that lawmakers spend on those recesses, they are back in their home districts. they're holding office hours and town halls and meeting with their constituents. do you think that's an important aspect of their job too? caller: well, it is and it isn't. when it turns out to be the town halls that we've seen recently, they end up to be news media -- they're just arguing and people are yelling and people from other districts

are coming in. i don't see that it's as fruitful. i think they need to take the platform that they were elected and the agenda they were elected to go to washington with. even the ones on the other side of the aisle. when the majority of the people in the electoral vote says this is the agenda we're going with, i think the democrats need to make a decision to say, ok, let's give them a chance. we've had eight years. let's give them their four and let's not be obstructionist. host: ok. norm is on the democratic line from bell port, new york. hi, norm. caller: hello. i'm calling up on a totally different topic. today the president is scheduled to be in miami to i guess shut down a lot of the openings to cuba that the obama administration had done and i really think it's the very wrong move on the part of the president to do that because i've been to cuba on many of these people-to-people trips.

and i've seen how the changes are happening very positively for the cuban people. they e president stress have terrible human rights abuses. there's a very small majority of the cuban people that would really be affected by that because these would be the dissidents that are against the cuban government. most of the cuban people are benefiting from having more contact with the american visitors. it really is unbelievable the changes just in the last three to five years. they're getting internet access. they have wi-fi. you see people -- looks like the parks in the united states. everybody's texting each other now. it's just beyond belief. this is totally nonexistent five years ago. host: more on the president's announcement today in miami of his cuban policy, which will be

carried here on c-span at 1:00. but "the new york times" reports president trump on friday will move to halt the historic reapproachment between the united states and cuba, set in motion by former president obama, delivering a speech in miami in which he plans to announce he's clamping down on travel and commercial ties with the island nation to force the government of raul castro to change its oppressive ways. the plan includes stiffer rules for american travelers visiting cuba and a sweeping prohibition against transactions with companies controlled by the military which runs vast segments of the hotel and tourism sector. again, c-span will have live coverage of the president's announcement, of his new cuba reforms here on c-span at 1:00. and next we have melanie. she's calling in from phoenix on our independent line. what's on your mind, melanie?

caller: hi. good morning. yes, i just wanted to say about the gun debate issue. first, i wanted to send my thoughts and prayers to representative scalise and his family and, of course, all those affected in the shooting. i wanted to do a girl thing and tell you you have a beautiful dress on. i love it. and then on the question of whether congress should carry a gun or not, i think this has not been mentioned but i might have missed it. i do believe they should be able to carry. i think we tend to forget there are a lot of veterans -- excuse me -- part of the military in congress who are trained, including navy seals and who several members have been combat. i believe stripping of them of their rights is not the right thing to do. i think one of the comments earlier about -- what about the people not carrying? just to bear in mind, i was law enforcement and in the military. it takes a lot of practice and you need to know what you're

doing. however, part of what makes them being a target is knowing there are no weapons there. an ardent target or a stronger defense is not knowing who is carrying and who is not. bear in mind the congressional members may be carrying and they don't say whether they are or not, that does tend to make it a little bit stronger and give them that act for the defense. i just wanted to pass that on. that's my thoughts. thank you for listening to me today. host: ok. and another programming note, c-span's newsmakers, which airs sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. interviewed the top democrat on the house veterans' affairs committee this week, congressman tim walz of minnesota, and he was asked if president trump is delivering on his campaign promises to veterans. here's his response. mr. walz: i think he's done pretty well, ton onest with you. there's been communication. we have talked with them.

i think obviously he overstated where the v.a. did many things right before. it was not the most corrupt, inept agency in the federal government. and i think there were a lot of things that hurt employees that were there. i do not deny, he continues to focus on it. we continue to have communications with them. he certainly made the, you know, the focus and the leadership did on moving some v.a. bills. certainly they're politically popular but they needed to be done too. some of it political posturing. $50 million for a white house phone -- i didn't want to be facetious. i asked for what that telephone number was. if you call it was supposed to be operational on day one. all of us, you cannot do that. we already have a hotline, a bill i authored, that gets millions of calls, is answered. certainly had some of its problems. we're continuing. so some of it is a little bit

hyperbole. a little bit is show. i cannot deny they continued to focus on it. host: that's c-span's "newsmakers" with congressman tim walz. you can check that sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. you can see it on c-span.org and on c-span radio through our free radio app. and you can check that out this weekend. a call from maryland on our democratic mind. what's on your mind today? caller: yes, hi, good morning. i want to make two broad comments. the first one i know everyone is talking about the possibility of them carry guns in the capitol. i don't think they should have special treatment. if they are allowed to carry guns, then everybody in the capitol should be allowed to carry guns in. that's number one. the issue with guns and the fact it's taking over the news, this is what people with in

day. lives every people lost multiple members of their family. that's not news. i will add my own two cents to c-span. i know we've been talking so much what's been going on with the rhetoric. i think it's very important for c-span to truly consider having two opposition views at a time. a lot of times people see information and nobody really challenges them. sometimes people call in with misinformation and there's nobody really to really challenge that information. i would suggest a timed call so everybody has a fair amount of time to hear their views where some people don't feel like some people can talk forever and some people are not given enough chance to talk enough. that will be my two cents. i don't think a law make sher should get paid $80,000 and given money for added security. i don't have added security

when i go to work. trust me, my job is not as secured as well. host: ok. arlene is calling from cleveland on our republican line. good morning, arlene. caller: hi. how are you today? host: good. what's on your mind? caller: you know, i was a mentor at schools for 15 years, and i belonged to the foster grandparent program and the kids call me granny jones. our kids are in bad trouble. there's nobody home. society is made up of people, the kind of people you raise in your home determines the kind of society. when you took the father out of the home, broke up the family structure, we don't -- the kids have no place to go. anytime you see young people dying at early ages, they have no self-worth. they haven't been taught anything. when i was coming up, the last thing we wanted to do -- i'm from the 1950's -- was to die. i remember being at my girlfriend's house at 14 and say, i wonder who i will be

living with when i'm 90. it never occurred to me. this is sad. i'm here to tell you how many kids has -- asks me, granny, can i come home with you? because there's nobody at home. thank you very much for your time. bye. host: ok. in some other headlines today from "the hill," it reports that the justice department is issuing a warning about anonymous sources. the justice department issued a statement thursday night warning the media and other americans against believing anonymous sources and warning that the justice department doesn't confirm statements from unnamed officials. americans should exercise caution before accepting what's true any stories attributed to anonymous officials, particularly when they don't identify the country, let alone the branch or agency of government in which the alleged sources supposedly are affiliated. deputy attorney general rod rosenstein wrote thursday in that memo.

the president has been very vocal about unnamed sources cited in news reports. although sometimes those unnamed sources are white house officials. diane is calling from knoxville, tennessee, on our independent line. hi, die avepblet caller: hi, kimberly. nice to see you. i want to go back to the shooting. i think we're missing the point. he guy was -- he was disgruntled because of the laws and things that the republicans are pushing on us. now, go back to obama. mitch mcconnell said their goal was to make him a one-term president. they were on vacation for the whole eight years of that man's presidency. when trump started running for violence all of this

started happening. people being spat on in the face, being beat on at rallies, being hauled off in handcuffs. the man was trying to send a message. republicans, you need to start thinking about the people, not yourself, but the people here in this country. we're not going anywhere. it's not one group of people country. it's all of our country. and we need to do that. we need to show that action. be for your fellow man, not just for yourself. and a lot of this balance and stuff -- violence and stuff will go away. if you suppress people, how can they get their message across? and i'd like to thank you. and one other thing. gretta and john, they show their partiality every time

they are hosting c-span. i wish they would put their party, leave it back in the back when they come out to host the show, because everybody knows they're republicans. stark republicans. i don't need to see it when i'm watching c-span. host: james is calling from mississippi on our democratic line. hello, james. caller: he had, good morning. i think -- hi, good morning. i think the main argument -- well, first of all, i believe the terrorists are winning. and i'm not talking about terrorists from other countries or religion and stuff. it's the terrorism that incorporates suspicion among the american people. they have got us terrified. i'm talking about the people on the right. probably the people on the left.

but suspicion, that's the thing. we suspect everybody. we don't trust anybody. so we have to make sure we have guns to protect us against those people. they say we need to capture the minds of the terrorists. we need to capture the mind of all the terrorist victims, and i'm talking about all the eople that are suspicious of just suspicious. and christianity is brought up as an argument of, you know, we don't want our bibles taken away. then we don't want our guns taken away. all this stuff. suspicion, that's what the terrorists are doing. and, again, not violent terrorists. they can be talking terrorists.

they can be people like bannon and these far right. you got to be scared of this. you got to be scared of taxes. you got to be scared of this. you got to be scared of that. and that's what i wanted to say. i am just frustrated that the message is just not getting out there. let's cut out all the suspicion and all the hate. host: ok. gary is calling in from pennsylvania on our republican line. what's on your mind today, gary? caller: ok. i wanted to make a couple of points. first, i want to make quickly in regards to the gun issue, the second amendment wasn't written because, you know, like the deer are coming, the deer are coming. it's not a hunting, you know, issue. i heard the gentleman earlier today calling about how you don't need a whole entire clip that holds a lot of bullets to go deer hunting. that's true. it's not a deer hunting issue.

it was written because to protect the citizen from all -- citizens from all enemies, foreign and domestic. my feeling on that is a lot of people misunderstand it. they look at it as a hunting issue. the other thing i want to mention is with the news media the way it is now, it just jim me, like, you know, clapper and comey can get up there and say there was no russian collusion with trump and the media is beating it like a dead force. the horse is so dead it's like a skeleton and the media is beating the heck out of it. the people on the left, they are just having such a meltdown now that trump's our president that they're just, you know, grasping at straws which way they can to defame him and to make him look bad. when his predecessor, obama,

was in and back then democrats were like, loretta lynch meeting with bill clinton on the tarmac, you know, with the benghazi cover-up, just before the second election of obama and they were blaming it on an obscure video instead of being honest and truthful. yet, nobody went out after them for obstruction of justice. host: ok. and max is calling in from germantown, maryland. max, we just have a few seconds left. can you tell us what's on your mind? caller: in a few seconds i just want to say, the gun violence, you know, hit home at me saturday, hit home to the guys on the baseball field there. but, you know, it goes to speak that something needs to be done. guns are a product. it needs to be