c-span shop.org is c-span's online store. browse the latest collection of c-span products, books, home decor and accessories. there something for every c-span fan and every purchase helps support our nonprofit operation. shop now or anytime at c-span shop.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are in our open forum segment where you can call and talk about the most important political stories on your mind. we are opening up our regular lines. democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 748-8001. independents (202) 748-8002. you can always text us at (202) 748-8003. we will start off by pointing

out that on friday, the federal health officials said that all americans are eligible for coronavirus vaccine boosters. i bring to you a couple of paragraphs of the story from "the washington post." all american adults became eligible for boosters on friday, ending confusion over complicated guidelines that have slowed their uptake and profit unilateral moves by governors from maine to california to make the shots available more broadly. health officials hope that a straightforward boosters for all policy will prompt millions more to get the job before they travel or gather with friends and family over the holidays. many are concerned about the worsening picture as winter approaches. after new cases dipped to almost 69,000 on october 25, their lowest point in months, they began climbing again with a 70

average rise of 40% to more than 96,000 on thursday. that is from "the washington post." their story with federal officials making all american adults eligible for a coronavirus booster. what is on your mind? let's start with hooshie calling from nevada on the democrats line. caller: good morning. thank you for the chance to speak with you. i have heard a lot regarding healthcare costs, but nobody seems to be having a decent resolution and also approach to decrease the cost of healthcare. i would like someone to challenge me because i published a book related to the decreasing the healthcare operations and improving the quality of healthcare in our country. but nobody seems to be interested. also, asking the critical questions.

nobody provides me with an opportunity to show them what it is that i am suggesting and if you would like to look at my book, you do realize that this issue has been detailed and i have a lot of ideas and i hope that there are a lot of people that will be asking the questions, how can i do that. host: let's go to bill calling from georgia on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to point out that you are a spreader of misinformation. the kyle rittenhouse, who was a minor at the time of the shooting, his father lived in kenosha. ergo, he lives in kenosha. you never stated. you, yourself never stated that clearly he lives in kenosha, wisconsin. you kept saying that it is across state lines. he lives in kenosha, wisconsin

where his father lives. if you please correct that. host: let's go to robin calling from santa fe, new mexico on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for the opportunity to ask this question. i am currently on medicare, medicaid as a disabled person. but i will be turning 65 soon so i do not know if this is going to automatically change, stay the same. do i need to switch insurance companies? i am unclear what happens at that point in time. i also had a question about coverage for alternative medication. for example, i go to an acupuncturist and they have a lot of different chinese herbs, but none of those are covered under any plan that i can think of. additionally, what about medical marijuana? do you think that that will ever be covered under any plan? host: i'm going to suggest you

direct your questions for a medicare expert in your state. i can tell you that i do not know much about the medicare rules and what you should do. but there has to be somebody out there you can ask. let's go to gloria who is calling from massachusetts on the independent line. good morning. are you there? caller: yes. host: go ahead, gloria. turn your television down and go ahead. caller: also, 12 years ago, that is why i stopped working. i was 40 and i got sick and i got diagnosed with bipolar and depression. i am on disability also.

there was no way i was going to be able to pay medicare when it went up to $500. host: let's go to sue calling from florence, massachusetts on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. a lot of people are focused on the rittenhouse verdict. it is horrifying that you could go to another state and carry an ar 15 and end up killing people and get off. everyone should watch the trial for the ahmaud arbery murder. how we are as a country is going to be framed by how serious of a verdict of those guys get because i believe it is a modern example of the horrible culture of the south murdering black men. as a republican, if we really want law and order, we ought to hope that those guys go to jail

and they throw away the key. i just want to say that. i am a northeastern republican so sometimes they tell us we are not really republicans, but i'm a lifelong republican and i'm horrified by what happened to him. host: on friday, we also got a report on president joe biden's help from his physician following his physical the day before his 79th birthday. today is president joe biden's 79th birthday. here is a story from "the hill." president biden's physician on friday determined he was healthy and fit to execute the duties of the presidency following his annual physical the day before his 79th birthday. biden visited walter reed medical center for a colonoscopy and a routine checkup. kevin o'connor, positioned to the president, determined biden to be in good health. "president biden remains a healthy 78-year-old male who is

56 actually execute the duties -- fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency." o'connor wrote in a six page summary of biden's physical. o'connor did highlight areas that warrant investigation. biden's recent clearing and what he describes as a stiffened gait. " the president appears to be stiffer and less fluid. he does acknowledge early morning stiffness that improves throughout the day." that comes from "the hill" newspaper on president biden's health after he took his physical examination on friday, the day before today, which was his 79th birthday. let's go back to the phone and talk to eddie -- betty calling from riverside, connecticut on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning, everybody.

i was going to say about the kyle case, i think that they definitely made a big mistake. i am a big advocate for gun safety. my personal opinion, i think if that was a black teenager, a black man, or whoever, they would have found him guilty and put him in jail for a long time. also about the medicare, i was hoping to get in on that real quick. i have medicare and medicaid and i also have what they call qmb. it pays the premium for the medicare. also, i don't know about medicare advantage. when i had a total knee

replacement and i had a home health agency here for six weeks and even more just for physical therapy. and for whatever reason, i am glad i did not have medicare advantage because they told me that if i had regular medicare that everything would be covered. if i had plain old medicare, not medicare advantage, because medicare advantage for whatever reason, it might not have been covered. real quick, tuesday i had a desk removed from my -- a disc removed from my back. i stayed overnight and came home. i am also a lung cancer survivor. i do not have cancer anymore. with all of these things, all i

ever had was had was medicare and medicaid, and all i can say is god bless the democrats. host: let's go to jeff, calling from missouri. good morning, jeff. caller: good morning, jesse. my comment is on the idea of self-defense. on both cases, aubery in atlanta and the other one, they were both being attacked by individuals who had no respect for the fact that they were holding a gun. i am not into anybody being shot or killed, but you would think anybody with common sense would not try to go after somebody if holding a gun and try to take the gun from them. where is the responsibility to those who are invading the space of the person with the gun?

the gun was there for the reason that maybe they couldn't defend themselves against the crowd or against a bigger person or against a violent individual. so, i think people should realize that all are not able to defend themselves with just their hands. if you have the right to bear arms, you have the right to defend yourself. i wish everybody the best to lost anybody. i feel for everybody who was injured, but common sense has to prevail. host: let's go to sandy, calling from ohio on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i kind of agree with the guy that just spoke, but the woman who called in, she is just repeating democrat talking points. kyle rittenhouse's father lived

in kenosha, his grandmother lived in kenosha. the gun was with his father in kenosha. he did not bring it across lines. he was there to help put out fires because his dad lived in the community and he was worried. he was attacked by three men, one who had a gun, and they all three had criminal records. and if a black man had used a weapon to shoot people who were attacking him, trying to kill him with a skateboard -- the other guy tried to slam his head in the ground with his foot and the other had a gun, he would have been found in his sins, just like rittenhouse was -- found innocent, just like rittenhouse was. these people need to quit weighing in on things and stop lying -- the trial was shown on newsmax and fox. there was all kinds of video. if you want to know the truth,

you need to go find that video. host: let's go to omar, calling from brooklyn, new york on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse, good morning, america, good morning, black america. the people on the line calling about the rittenhouse case are trying to -- their way out of what happened. i would like all the black americans to pay attention and listen closely to how they speak. first of all, if anyone here is 17 years old, and you walk out at 17 years old at 10:00 at night, why are your parents not around? when i was going around after school when i was 17, i was arrested and my parents got me out. that was a light offense. this 17-year-old was walking around with a gun with no

supervision. this was a black lives matter protest because a black man. shot seven times in his back walking away from police. these three white men were expressing themselves by saying, this is not right. this is to show you guys, they are going to make it seem like it is -- to walk outside and kill people during black lives matter protest. they are trying to whitesplain their way out. you cannot. you cannot do that with a 17-year-old child walking around with no supervision. where is the background on this child, this 17-year-old, kyle rittenhouse? he got beat up by some black girls because he beat up a white girl in school. they videotaped it, put it on social media, and he was

embarrassed. he told his friend, not his father, not his mother, to buy him an assault rifle. host: let's go to matt, calling from maryland on the democrat line. good morning. caller: hey, how are you doing? host: good, matt. caller: as far as the last guy that just called, what he said, i agree with everything. that little rittenhouse boy is a criminal. he is a murderer. he killed two people shamelessly. i don't care what the law is in the state. by the way, he is not a resident because his father lives there, he lives with his mother. so he is not a resident. host: let's go to nathan, calling from denver, colorado on the republican line. nathan, good morning. caller: good morning.

what i want to talk about is how the, the democrats, they have been helping people with different many ways. but i feel like electing, letting the medicare people help us, there is nobody that would say hey, medicare people, you know, he is on fixed income. they need some help. there is no one that has been standing up for those kinds of people. it shocks me how everyone forgot all about the stimulus that was supposed to help the medicare recipients, and, you know,

everybody in that category. who's going to help those people, you know what i mean? ok, yeah, you've got this and that her children and for -- for children and people who are working, but who is going to help those people with fixed incomes? there are one million people on fixed income, mothers, fathers, grandpas. i don't understand that, you know? host: let's go to kevin, calling from lee, massachusetts on the independent line. kevin, good morning. caller: hi. i like your show. i have a suggestion for you. if you would like to do the rittenhouse thing over again, have people call in who have actually watched the trial and all that happened. host: do you think just watching

the trial means you understand all the issues involved? caller: uh, if you watch it and do a little bit of fact checking as far as what really are the laws and all of that, you can come to your own conclusion. but there's a lot of things that have been set on both sides of it that aren't necessarily true -- said on both sides of it that aren't necessarily true, and people are showing they have a lot of opinion and very little information. people would probably get along a lot better if they were more informed with real facts. host: i completely agree with you there, kevin. i have heard several people say that watching the trial means they are experts on what happened and the issues. i have to disagree, just because you watched the trial does not mean you understand all the

issues. that's why lawyers go to law school. let's go to barbara, calling from oklahoma city, oklahoma on the democrat line. caller: thank you, jesse. i'm just in shock. i can't believe that they are letting these people get by with these things. he is 17 years old,. -- 17 years old, period. i don't understand the law here anymore. every time they get into this, they are still trying to make sure that black lives matter, they aren't doing anything. they are like martin luther king. they have been together 20 something years, they left every day at 4:00 and got out of there when things got rough. they did not stay for riots and you have not caught any of them with a gun. the two people he shot did not have a gun and the one tried to

get his gun -- yeah, they were trying to get his gun. he came in and started shooting people. he had already got his gun off and they were scared of him. you are twisting and turning these things -- c-span, you should have things on that tell us, that see through these lies the republicans are getting going here. this is awful. we are going to lose our country and that boy will be in trouble again. just watch. host: let's go to david, calling from french lick, indiana on the republican line. caller: good morning, jesse. i find it interesting on the rittenhouse case, which i believe was adjudicated properly. both sides presented the evidence and the jury made the decision. the racism sensationalism used by the media is absolutely apparent, and nobody brings it up. joe scarborough said rittenhouse

was -- rittenhouse shot 40 times. one of the stories said mr. blake had been killed. in fact, he is paralyzed, but he is quite alive. displaying in -- this playing in on race for entertainment value, everyone is welcome to their opinion, but if this continues, the division will continue. politicians putting their nose in this when it has no apparent reason -- c-span i thought was a form to discuss political coverage of congress and associated facts, not racist sensationalism. thank you. host: let's go to ryan, calling from phoenix, arizona on the independent line. ryan, good morning. caller: good morning. i like your show, you did a good job, and i am calling about the

rittenhouse thing as well. obviously, half of these people didn't watch the trial. it's a sad deal, people lost their lives, but the kid was getting chased around. he shot in self-defense. his defense team proved that. the jury, obviously they dug at the truth. they took their time and the right verdict was announced, thankfully, in my opinion. self-defense has been a case for thousands of years. we definitely need that. not all those protests were peaceful. they were burning down car dealerships and stuff. the kid should not have probably been out there, but he was legal age for curfew. he went through it all. the system was correct. like the last caller said, these sensationalism, if people look at the fbi stats and stuff, the reality is a totally different picture than what these people

think. it's sad, you do a good job on the show, i hope americans can come together and quit the sensationalism. we are all the human race had good people for the most part. people need to wake up, and i am no expert, but i agree with the jury in the law was correct. -- and the law was correct. host: let's go to kathleen, calling from georgetown, delaware on the democrat line. caller: yes, good morning. i would like to say, there is so much racism in the world. it's terrible, horrible, but it happens everywhere across the country and across the world. ever since the bible with cain and abel, hatred has been a thing and it is always going to be a thing. i heard a saying the other day -- equality is an illusion.

thank you. host: let's go to jack, calling from south dakota on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for the show, i appreciate you have an open forum, but i agree, don't make comments if you haven't watched the trial. the woman from oklahoma -- losing our country? the borders are flooded with illegals, the gas prices are out of control, the food is getting out of control. talk about losing our country -- we are losing it at a rapid rate already. we need to wake up. for the president of the united states to make comments like he did about kyle rittenhouse, i believe it ought to be immediate impeachment for joe biden. thank you, have a great day. host: thanks for all of our callers who called in for our open forum segment. coming up next, our weekly spotlight on podcasts segments. we will be joined by hannah

mccarthy and nick capodice hosts , and producers of new hampshire public radio's civics 101 podcast. they will be here to discuss the creation of their show and the role of civics education in america. stick around, we will be right back. >> sunday night, -- >> people will pick up this book and say i want to know the story of how america came this so-called melting pot of different cultures and cuisines, where you can get mexican cooking off one block and indian cooking on the next. i want my readers to understand there's so much struggle embedded in that wonderful reality and you see that struggle in the stories of each of these women and we should

honor that struggle as much as possible. >> award-winning writer and an adjunct professor discusses his book profiling seven different women and how they transformed american cuisine in the second half of the 20th century. you can listen to "q and a on our podcast app. >> c-span offers a variety of podcasts that have something for every listener. "washington today" gives you the latest from nations capital and "books note -- book notes plus" has interviews with writers about their latest books. our occasional series features conversations with historians about their lives and work.