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tv   Washington Journal 12312021  CSPAN  December 31, 2021 7:00am-10:05am EST

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white and black. plus, you can join the conversation with your calls, text, and tweets and facebook posts. ♪ host: good morning everyone on this last day of the year of 2021. it is the year in review this morning on the work -- washington journal. we want to know your top news story of 2021. republicans dial in 202-748-8001 . it democrats 202-748-8000. independents 202-748-8002. you can also send us your top news story i texting with your first name, city and state to 202-748-8003 or post it on
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facebook at facebook.com/cspan. you can send it with a tweet at http://twitter.com/cspanwj. we will get your thoughts in just a minute, but the year began nearly 12 months ago on january 6 with hundreds of protesters storming u.s. capitol. protesting the certification of the 2020 election. since then, over 700 people have been arrested across 45 states according to u.s. day today. it took hours on that day to secure the capital. lawmakers continued on with the certification that evening. following that day, impeachment charges were drawn up against former president trump for inciting violence. presenting their case to the senate, upper chamber and the
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votes that followed. >> this was most -- this was the most partisan presidential impeachment in the history of united states. and we know impeachment are reasons we can explore at some other reason also is often becomes partisan, but this was the most partisan impeachment event of the country. it was also the largest vote for presidential impeachment. 57-43. we have a clear and convincing majority of members of congress who think the president incited violent insurrection against the union and against the congress. senator mitch mcconnell just went to the floor essentially to say that we made our case on the facts. he believes that donald trump
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was practically and morally responsible for inciting the events of january 6. he described it as we did, disgraceful dereliction of duty. the desertion of his office, and he made a series of statements that we didn't even make saying that this was not over yet by a longshot eventually and that there was the path of terminal prosecution for the former president, the disgraced and now twice impeached former president. host: the lead impeachment manager for the second impeachment of president trump. it was the january 6 insurrection your top news story of the year? according to a poll that is out today, americans verged on the lessons of the january 6 capitol attack and what they found is 59% of those believe that the
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attack was an attack on the government while 35% said no. when they broke it down by parties, 29% of republicans said it was an attack on the government while 66% said no. 93% of democrats said it was an attack on the government and only 5% said it was not. here is your independent numbers. your top news story of 2021. that's our conversation. democratic color, we will go to you. good morning. caller: good morning to you and thank you for taking my phone call and merry christmas and happy new year and i hope next year will be better. host: so your top news story 2021? caller: the topic that has been
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in broadcast right now today and we are at a crossroads, whether democracy will stand against the tyranny of trump and his allies. host: ed, akron, ohio. your top news story. good morning. caller: the january 6 riots. they still call it an insurrection. if it was an insurrection, somebody should have been convicted of insurrection by now. the investigation that is been going on through congress, still
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just another headhunting option. they don't want to know how people got in there or why people got in there. they just want to say our ex-president trump sent them there and they are out to get trump. that's what i believe. they did it from the beginning before he was ever in office and they are still going after him today. if you ask me, we had world peace with president trump in office. we were a self-sufficient country as far as energy. our president today, he ran on he's going to take care of the covid crisis. today, last week he says is not up to the federal government. i think we should defines the federal government because they don't spend our money properly.
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there are so many things. everything that the bided administration did, if you asked me, is -- biden administration did, if you ask me, is wrong. he said our president said we will leave no americans there. he said we will leave at this date and we left. host: michael, democratic color, -- democratic, on the line. caller: i like to switch it over to california with all of these ships and coming indicate get unloaded. we know throughout the whole state of california at the speed limit is only 55 miles an hour. some places in the united states
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it's eddie five miles an hour, but when you get to california -- 85 miles an hour, but when you get to california got to get to the whole state that wayne got to look at trying to get california -- that way and we've got to look at tried to get california. host: arizona, democratic, anthony. what's your top news story up to thousand will do one? caller: happy new year and to the team members all over the world. my top news story would be art versus science. i have used that strongly because politics are like an art. science is a study, in-depth. i want to phrase it in for
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--four areas. recycle, recovery, regenerate and renew. we are in a recycle where we cannot figure out what we are doing, what's going on. we are in recovery will be start to realize what's going on. we are in a regenerate will we start to take action, and i spoke about change. there we are in a renewal when we recognize we don't want to go back to that situation before, that we can do better. and that's why i say that we have let science drive us for a long time. it has helped us through many wonderful things, and now people are saying don't trust the science. so now they are using art to say science doesn't work. host: james, north dakota,
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republican. caller: how are you doing? of course it's the january 6 brian -- write it. that -- the january 6 riot. they build on it and use it at the weapon and lead us over the head with it. january 6 hasn't benefited us and the republicans. it benefited the democrats. it started off as a riot. then it was an insurrection. the next was a deadly attack. how was it deadly? there were five people killed. nobody had any guns on the trump side. there was no insurrection. one guy died of a stroke. one guy died of a heart attack. another guy was trampled. and ashli babbitt was murdered.
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another police officer, we were lied to about the fact that he was attacked and hit in the head with a fire extinguisher. he died of a unrelated medical issue days later. the only people who died in the attack were protesters who were killed or dropped dead. up and this was a resurrection of the parallel in history. in germany 1930 three, that was their capital and was believed later the germans themselves set the fire and blamed it on the communists. there was a young communist kid they put on trial and they executed him and interviews that the client down on all of the remaining media that was against him in the newspapers. it benefited the nazis. host: we will leave it at that.
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a couple of colors back mentioned the withdrawal of afghanistan -- couple of the callers back mentioned the withdrawal of afghanistan. after the president announced the withdrawal, nearly 20 years of war 10 days as spent an estimated over $2 trillion on the war effort in the past 20 years. here is biden in august announcing the withdrawal. >> we succeeded in what we set out to do and afghanistan a decade ago and we stayed for another decade. it was time to end this war. this is a new world. the terror threat has mis-tessa sized across the world well beyond -- al qaeda affiliates
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and isis attempted in syria and iraq. the fundamental obligation of a president, and my opinion, is that to defend and protect america, not against threats of 2001 against the threats of 2021 and tomorrow. that is the guiding principle behind my decisions about afghanistan. i simply do not believe that the safety and security of america is in the hands that is enhanced by continuing to deploy thousands of american troops and spending billions of dollars a year in afghanistan. but i also note that the terrorism continues in this pernicious and evil nature, but
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it is changed, expanded to other countries. our strategy has to change. we will maintain the fight against terrorism in afghanistan and other countries. we just don't need to fight a ground war to do it. host: president biden announcing the end of our involvement in afghanistan. take a look at the poll don that found --poll done, the president criticized for this handling of this situation. what republicans had to say about the way that the u.s. left afghanistan. >> several weeks ago, i said that this president will have blood on his hands. this week, we had 13 servicemen come home in flag draped coffins
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at dover airbase. last night our planes left in the middle of the night. we left afghanistan as the taliban celebrated its victory and we've all seen the images and how sickening it is that we had an unconditional surrender to the taliban. this president announced complete withdrawal with no conditions, that was a surrender of the united states to the taliban. they are celebrating their victory over the united states of america. i never thought i would see this in my life. it is everything. it is shameful and it's wrong to our veterans who served so well. we have emboldened our adversaries, and weakened our alliances. the military has a saying no man left behind. no one left behind.
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it's so hard to watch. i spent this last weekend on the phone as many of my colleagues did, state department, dod, trying to get these people out last weekend. trying to get our afghan partners out. american citizens out. school buses of young girls that were adopted in the choir at the university of afghanistan only to be turned away into the hands of the taliban. host: michael mccaul of texas and top republican on the foreign affairs committee in the house reacting to the end of military involvement in afghanistan. is that your top news story of 2021? we will go to shelley in wisconsin, independent. caller: hello, good morning. happy new year. host: we're listening.
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go ahead. caller: the january 6-inning cannot be put under the rug. we all know that trump instigated this. he was behind it. it cannot be. that is so despicable. this video is all over the world. he started this. to go against the congress and trying to steal the election, it's wrong. he cannot accept defeat and that's why he did this. host: pete, new mexico. thanks for waking up early with us. caller: i think it's the southern border. i don't know why the world, you
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know, the wall isn't finished. the wall is there. our tax money was spent on that. all these people coming in and our tax money is going to be spent on them. they are fly in them all over the united states. nobodies safe. they are letting people in that is crime, rape, theft, dealing drugs, all that. and i believe this country needs to set their foot down and let the government know that, no, we are not going to pay taxes if you going to that's if you are not one to use our money to protect us. host: here's an exchange between the homeland security secretary and senator lindsey graham at a judiciary hearing last month where they are talking about the
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border crossings and enforcement. >> people who come here illegally, how many of them have been released into the country? >> senator, i can break that down to the best of my ability. nearly one million, approximately 965,000 have been subject to expulsion under title 42 of the united states code. >> how many left? >> approximately 40,000 have been removed under our immigration authorities it in the department of homeland security like an hundred 40,000 no no approximately at 965 thousand were expelled. approximately 40,000 have been removed. approximately a hundred --
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125,000 unaccompanied children have been transferred to the custody and shelter of health and human services. the balance to the best of my knowledge and immigration enforcement proceedings -- >> where does that leave us? how many people are still here? >> of the 1.7 million, how many people are still here? >> i would ask the mate approximately 375,000 -- i would say approximately 375,000. >> do you believe if you had an immigration hearing, that person should be removed? >> i do. >> why is one million people still here after they get a final order of deportation? >> senator graham, as i
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responded to -- >> is the system working? >> the immigration system is broken. >> it's really broken in 4 million people have been ordered to leave and they haven't left. >> do you believe there remain in mexico policy is cruel? >> as it was implemented, i do. >> do you support permanently doing away with the remaining mexico -- remain in mexico policy? >> i do. >> do you think that will increase illegal immigration if we do? >> i do not because of the other efforts we have underway. host: an exchange between senate judiciary committee and the homeland security secretary. was that or is that your top news story of 2021? russell, south carolina, democrat. welcome to the conversation. caller: good morning.
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my top news story is how the hypocrisy of the republican party and how they seem to represent the greatest threat to public health as well as an argument whether we have a democracy or a democratic republic because there is a threat to that. none of the republicans voted for the antimissile bill -- anti-muslim bill. it's amazing because we are supposed to be a country that has freedom of religion. it seems that the only religion we have freedom of is whatever religion republicans want to embrace. no other religion has that freedom. the hypocrisy runs so deep, they say they are about election
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integrity. but to me they represent voter suppression. they say they are about freedom of choice, but they tell women they can't have the freedom to choose what they want to. i wish people would use the c-span archives to look at senator whitehouse when senator whitehouse, what he did when the supreme court showed amy coney barrett down our throats. a great example of the hypocrisy of the republican party. they seem to only accept, and i'm a veteran and i'm also an african-american, but it seems like the republicans only accept black people or black republicans like clarence thomas, larry elder, tim scott.
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people of color don't like, don't accept. it's hard for us to even stomach them. look at the representative in florida, a big his name is mcdonald. i've heard a lot of c-span people call him and say we should run -- he should run for president. he talks a that she talks against critical race theory like it's being taught all across america. we already know they don't want to teach black history in the red states. when i said the red states, the southern red states. host: alan, durham north carolina. caller: happy. i just want to follow-up with the gentleman to praise -- critical race theory. i'm a conservative.
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i'm not a republican. i'm not a democrat. i stay away from that. i want to do what's right for the country. i want to bring to point out. critical race theory, it is needed as far as our young kids of color and white kids to understand what people of color have contributed to this country and the great things that have been done, what they have done and the things that have been done to people of color to put us behind in reference to wealth due to the system and tip -- due to the system in which we are using today. a person of color has to never get my way through the judicial system as well as through the economic system. i'm not a victim. i'm too intelligent in using my strategies against this to giller system against me. however, i do well. dealing with the prejudice, donald trump cause this problem. he allowed white people to say
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it's ok to be prejudice and i'm better to you that's better than you -- better than you. host: is that your top news story? >> what happened -- caller: what happened at the capital. you these people denying that something went wrong. it was horrible. on our capital. your white people, not all, but there's too much prejudice which donald trump brought out. host: kirk in jackson, michigan. democrat. caller: hello. i guess my biggest issue is the people who keep calling in and pretending ashley barrett was --
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ashli babbitt was murdered. guns drawn warning you not to and not get shot. everybody knows that's exactly what was going to happen. that's what happens every time, but again that's my bigger issue which was donald trump and the action. i don't understand how people can know his own attorney general, his deputy, they all testified. trump repeatedly tried to get them to interfere in helping them steal the election. this is a direct attack on our democracy. this cannot be tolerated. i don't get it. i really don't. i'm sorry. i just don't get it. host: as the year comes to an
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end, escalations and tensions are on the rise between the united states and russia as russia puts troops on its part -- border with ukraine. president biden held the phone call with president putin of russia. they warn of danger to relations if danger to ukraine increases. harry, norcross, georgia. top news story of 2021. caller: as far as i'm concerned, the biggest news story of this year is donald trump is still not in jail. the ex-president who tried to stop the election is still out
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conspiring against our country. and he is free to do it for some reason. i don't understand why this man is not in jail. i'm going to lose a $1000 bet with my son-in-law. i bet for sure some member of the trump family would be in jail for now. ok thanks. host: mike, michigan, republican. caller: i'm wondering why, i hear all the top news stories, but nobodies talking about everybody starts with when slavery came to the united states, but there's 300, 400 years for that that things were being done to the natives that nobody brings up. why doesn't the news ever cover that story?
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that's the biggest story missed. host: you gotta listen and talk to your phone. bill, ohio, and dependent. caller: my biggest story is afghanistan. the big story to me is we left the airbase and 5000 prisoners were released and it turns out one of them was wanted, the suicide bomber that killed 13 of our servicemen and to retaliate, we killed a worker and seven kids. i believe that's all joe biden skill -- all joe biden's fault. host: on the capital nearly 12 months ago january 6, 2021. the hearing, a hearing was held
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investigating the january 6 the tag. representative liz cheney serving on that committee. >> in the weeks before january 6, president trump's appointees informed him repeatedly that the president's claims of election fraud were not supported by the events and that the election was not in fact stolen. president trump intended to appoint as attorney general so that mr. clark could alter the department of justice conclusions regarding the election. mr. clark has a -- has advised this and intends to invoke his fifth amendment privilege
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against self-incrimination. as mr. meadows nonprivileged reveal, meadows communicated multiple times with the member of congress who was working with mr. clark. this meadows has no basis to refuse to testify regarding those communications. he is in contempt. january 6 is without precedent. there has been no stronger case in our nations history for a congressional investigation into the actions of a former president. this investigation is not like any congressional inquiries. our constitution, the structure of our institutions and a rule of law, which are a part of what makes america great area -- are great -- makes america great are at stake. we cannot surrender to president trump's efforts to hide what happened. we will persistent, professional
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and nonpartisan. and we will get to the objective truth to ensure that the january 6 never happens again. host: liz cheney who serves on that committee investigating the attack on january 6. is that your top news story 2021? some mentioned you disagree with the investigation taking place on capitol hill. a republican on the floor talking about his criticism of the committee's work. >> the group is trampling on america's constitutional rights and the rights of the house or the rights of congress, like mr. meadows and current members of congress. they even include americans according to chairman thompson planning a legal, permitted and first amendment protected political rally.
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thanks to media reports, we know that democrats have seized their enemies and tax records, geolocation data and personal contacts. we know of hundreds of instances, it could be more, all we know for sure about this partisan investigation is that it is massive. it is happening without accountability and it is happening in secret. the select committee should serve as a warning to all americans, this is what you get with -- when democrats get free reign. harassment, contempt for the rules of congress. it all ends with their opponents in jail. host: republican there who wanted to serve on that committee. he was rejected by speaker pelosi. is that your top news story? logan, west virginia.
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democratic caller. caller: how are you doing? certainly, a lot of things happened 2021 that should've been the top news story. the pandemic leaving afghanistan -- the pandemic, leaving afghanistan. and certainly we should have left afghanistan. that war should have been ended long before this. the top news story has to be the january 6 incident where a segment, one of the two major parties in this country has acquiesced to a to radical, republican president to overthrow the government. how could that not be the top story, not only of 2021, but in
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the history of the united states. we cannot allow this to happen. the republican party acquiescence to this is a major story. we will no longer have a democracy if this is allowed to continue. host: next week marks the one-year anniversary of the january 6 attacks. there is going to be a hearing on capitol hill before the senate rules committee with the u.s. capitol police chief talking about what changes have been made since january 6. you also mentioned the covid-19 pandemic. want to share a couple of headlines with you. the washington post this morning, fda is poised to authorize booster shots for 12 to 15-year-olds next week. at that decision expected next
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week. you also have this headline in the new york times this morning. the global virus rate exceeds one million per day with this new omicron variate. ajay, republican. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span and washington journal. i think the biggest, among the wrong line. i should apologize. i'm independent, but i hope i can speak. my opinion is that the biggest story for 2021 is the elevation of disinformation and misinformation to an art form. i listen to the collins and i hear the stories that they must have been getting from fox and newsmax and basically propaganda
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and i just wrote a few things that i'm waiting to come up and speak with you. open borders, this idea that open borders and people born across the borders. trump was bragging about having built the wall, and now all of a sudden the borders are open. how do you explain that? five years of immigrants spreading covid. the pandemic isn't real or an attack by china. the vaccine has side effects. they are dangerous. all of this is false information being spread through right-wing propaganda media. january 6 with antifa and black lives matter which is amazingly crazy. even the idea of antifa is crazy. it hardly exists as an
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organization. the economy was better under trump than it is now. that trump was a godly man. they joe biden is sleepy or incompetent or suffering from dementia when he is very clear. a very aggressive agenda to reform this country. the idea of burning america, which is again, i hear it from the calls and i realize that a lot of people really believe this stuff because they repeat, that idea till the big lie and repeated enough and people will believe it. the idea that biden is sleepy is nonsense. he is getting a lot done. host: i want to show our viewers and exchange on capitol hill related somewhat to what you are saying about the pandemic.
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here is an exchange between republican rand paul and dr. anthony fauci over funding and the wuhan lab leak theory. >> the preponderance of evidence reports toward this coming from a lap and what you have done and that's is change the definition on the website to try to cover your asked. that is what you've done. you changed the website to have a new f initiative does not include the risky research that's going on. until you admit that it's risky, were not to go out that's when i went to get anywhere. you have to admit that this research is risky. >> you are still unwilling to admit that when they say they became sicker, the new virus, that's not gain of function? >> according to the definition that is currently operable, let's make it clear for the people who are listening. the current definition was done over two to three year.
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-- to three years, outside bodies, to conferencestw --o conferences, we commissioned external risk-benefit assessments and then on january 2017, the office of science and technology of the white house issued the current policy. >> on the same day the nih said that yes there was a function in wuhan. the same day the new definition try to define away what's going on in wuhan. until you accept responsibility, we are not want to get anywhere close to trying to prevent another lab leak. you won't admit that this is dangerous and that lack of dangerous, i think it's time that you resign. >> i would like to give the time
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to dr. fauci. >> if there were so many things that were agreed just misrepresentation, i don't think i would be able to refute all of them, but just a couple of them for the listens to hear for. you said that i'm unwilling to take any responsibility for the current pandemic. i have no responsibility for the current pandemic. the current pandemic, ok. number two, you said the overwhelming amount of evidence indicates that it is a lab leak. i believe most card-carrying viral virologists would disagree with you that it is much more likely even though we leave open all possibilities, it is much more likely this was a natural occurrence. third, >> 80,000 animals and no animals have been found with cobit. >> -- with covid.
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>> you made a statement moments ago that is completely incorrect, when you say we continue to support research at the wuhan institute of virology. >> august of last year >> no no, your statement. i wrote it down as you were writing. you continue to support research at the wuhan institute of research. >> you still support the research over there. you said it a month ago. >> i have allowed dr. fauci to respond. >> he ought to be challenged. >> we will allow dr. fauci to respond after you giving accusations like that. >> i don't have any more to say except to say as usual, and i have a great deal of respect for this body and senate and it makes me very uncomfortable to have to say something, he is agreed usually incorrect in what he says. host: last month exchange
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between dr. fauci and senator rand paul of kentucky. top news story of 2021 is the conversation this morning. there are the phone lines on your screen. michael, connecticut, independent. caller: thanks. my biggest story has got to be the pandemic because that has changed everybody's lives in ways, it's incredible. the fact to stop the steal actually works. it was only one person trying to steal the election and that was trump and he lost. stop the steal actually worked. you have to thank trump for that, for bringing the whole thing up. in those nitwits sitting in jail complaining that it's too tough for us because we attacked the capital. that's all of them. all of those people there?
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this january 6, i don't think anybody's going to show up like that. if they do, they have a different party to deal with. the concept, they are going to have guns this time. another thing to watch out for. the pandemic is probably, it changed my life, changed your life, changed my wife's life. she's known from school almost every day. it can only get better because hopefully it can't get much worse. trump is not coming back. stop the steal. it worked. host: tyrone, new york. caller: thanks for taking my call. the big story for me was china, russia, all these people that were considered a threat to america is not the real threat. they are not the threat.
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i realize that. four of our american presidents have been murdered by americans. all of the major issues to take place in this country is because of our own stubbornness and not realizing that -- and until we recognize that, we are going to continue to do the same thing over and over again trying to take once step forward and two steps back. we need to start paying attention that we are in the same boat together, and the same country. we need to work together to move this whole country forward. when they said white extremists, lack extremists. that stuff is only tearing down this whole country. if we don't get our act together , we don't have to worry about russia, china.
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we don't have to worry about all that. we going to do it to ourselves. host: scott, wyoming. it's your turn. caller: i wanted to comment on the january 6 troubles. i drove from wyoming to weston d.c. and did not go to the capitol building. i was at the washington mall. probably one million plus people. i wanted to dispel a huge myth that there was a white supremacist thing. i supported trump. 25% of the people there were not white. there were recent immigrants, the point i wanted to make is our freedom was not won in an election or through public discourse. it is through standing up for
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freedom and the fbi investigated me for going to the rally which was a peaceful rally. i didn't even go to the capital. the fbi, the united states government, nobody can take your freedom because millions of us will rise up. the same fate will befall the enemies. host: if you do not go to the capital, why would the fbi be investigating you? caller: i was called and extremists because i sent out some text or somebody called the tip line and reported me as a dangerous extremist because i said the election was stolen. host: what did they do? what did the fbi do? did they come to your house? caller: first they went to my son's job on the eighth of january. asked him where i was at and if
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i had training. i'm a military veteran and they know what training i've had. two agents tracked me down at a hotel in winchester and agents came and talked to me for about 20 minutes. i wasn't personally injured, but there are millions of us who are not going to surrender our freedom. those who try to take it away are going to fail. host: brenda, indiana, independent. caller: my top news story for the year is the insurrection denny berry six. i believe it was in insurrection -- january 6. i believe it was in insurrection , the end where it happen. if people stayed outside the capital behind the police barricades, it would just be a good old-fashioned protest rally.
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but they viciously attacked the capital. the bigger question for trump supporters to ask is why didn't their great president issue a blanket pardon for everybody? he came out and made a statement that he loved everybody and he thought you were so special, but then he turned his back on you and walked away. and he left you on the battlefield. by not issuing a blanket pardon to his supporters, they are facing federal time. they are going to lose their guns, their voting rights. i think the big question trump supporters should be asking is why didn't their great president issue everybody a blanket pardon? thank you. host: tom, illinois, republican line. caller: i think the biggest problem is the censorship. it covers every story. it covers big january 6 where we
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have all of this video, we can't see exactly what happened. they won't show us what happened. we have all kinds of, with the whole wuhan thing, the censorship from the beginning that it did not start and will hand -- wuhan. i think the coverage of the media, anything about hunter biden, anything about the money, and on hill -- fiona hill. she makes and yet she was out there talking about president trump and others people in ukraine. you have all the bidens making all this money and it's not covered. the censorship on elections and medicine, everybody trying to fight this nasty virus.
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medical doctors in the medical field that work with this stuff can't even say stuff online without it being censored. host: the pandemic obviously dominating for a second year 2021. it was also the year that president biden announced mandates, vaccine mandates. the supreme court we got friday is going to hear oral arguments into two cases dealing with president biden's vaccine mandates. republican governments have pushed back like ron desantis of florida. this is what he had to say about blocking the vaccine mandates. >> tennessee has done something and people were saying this was not something that was going to end up happening. if they understood what was going on. i made the call to say we've got to do this now because people are actually losing their jobs right now if we don't do this protection so we need to do that. and they stepped up so i think
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this is going to make a lot of difference for a lot of people. we are respecting people's individual freedom in this state and this is something that is very important. and ultimately, i don't know how it ever came to this point, but at the end of the day even dr. fauci, even these people would say no mandates and now they are saying you should not be able to work if you don't get it. some people think kids should not be able to go to school and this has gotten so far out of whack. of florida from the very beginning, when they were, all they wanted to do was bog down. we were opening the state, keeping the state open, keeping businesses open. host: ron desantis on vaccine mandates and what they are doing in the state of florida. one headline this morning,
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wildfire burning and hundreds of homes are under fire in boulder county forcing the evacuation. officials say the likely -- what likely sparked the fire is downed power lines as the wind gust exceeded 100 miles per hour. that story still developing out west. wildfires burning in colorado. gary, indiana. good morning to you. caller: the top story is the insurrection because if you know about history, that's what the great roman empire was corruption and infighting. supposed to be one nation under god.
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this shouldn't have been allowed to happen. the people responsible should go to jail because it was an act of treason and they should be held accountable. host: more than 700 people have been arrested across 45 states. at roger, michigan, republican. >> it's kind of funny about the caller: -- kind of funny about the insurrection. people do what they want to do regardless of the issue. it wasn't donald trump. it was every body else who did it. a president only has so much power to do certain things. just like joe biden. he does the same thing. i'm unvaccinated and have been for two years. we are a very healthy and so as far as the mandates go, let's go brandon and let's try to make
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this year a better year. and we need to get rid of the people who hate america and give america back to the people where it's always been. you have a good year and god bless everybody and let's go brandon. host: gary and georgia, democratic. caller: i just want to say the guy just said a keyword, america. where is america? that's what i want to know. i used to love this country. i still love this country. but it's a lot of fun justice. people just turned their back on america. america used to be a place where people can look up to. it's not like that no more. i go back to january 6. were coming up to the anniversary. disrespected democracy. being a democrat, we went out
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there, we won the election. republicans did not want to accept that. donald trump did not want to accept that because he's a loser. if obama lost, and i love obama, but if he was -- we are supposed to be doing things the right way. republicans need to quit their crab. a lot of them, -- quit their crap. united, where united. how come brothers and sisters can go defend our country and they're right here we can't even get a rock dust get along with each other. we got the rich don't care about the poor people. the government don't care about people.
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where are our borders at today? our democracy is being torn away. january zeus, the makes us look real bad. and it's a sad thing. and with coming up to the new year right now. to a new year, but the same old stuff. host: lebih go on to john and florida, and dependent. what's your top news story? caller: the election of president joe biden. the election was stolen from donald trump. i'm a military veteran and the thing i don't like about the democrats is they are further dividing this country. from up three class system to a two class system. they want to have a haves and the have-nots and that's not right. that's all i have to say and god bless america. host: sergio, florida, republican. >> -- caller: good morning. how are you?
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happy new year to you. my top story is president biden pulling us out of afghanistan. it was a waste of time of us being there and he did the right thing by pulling us out. we should have never been there in the first place. host: kathy, louisiana, and dependent. your turn. caller: good morning and happy new year to everybody. i'm really got -- i really glad we got out of afghanistan, but i'm definitely disappointed that we love to of dollars worth of military attributes and assets for the people we fight. i'm very concerned about the censorship. that should be the top news story. if you don't know that there were people who worked with the fbi trying to make people while
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the. they're calling everybody to go into the capital when most of the people over there were praying before and after donald trump's vote. i just can't see them strike with tactical precision on our capital. it's totally that this was not something that people did, it was something that was caused. people did not do this that are questioning the election. when you send out more ballots than are people that vote, when they come out with more ballots than our people registered to vote, you have a problem and you have a right to question it. and when you won't let republican poll watchers see what is going on, and you put up sheet boxes to what is going on.
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people have a right to question what is going on. host: what we are seeing on the screen, is this questioning it? caller: if you look at what happened and governor whitmer's kidnapping, it was the same mo. it was more fbi people involved in that. host: what proof do you have of that? caller: look at -- he is an informant for the fbi they won't let you see that film. host: how did you see it? caller: how did i see it? it is on the internet, and it is proof, because it is coming out of his mouth. how did i see it? it was hard to see because they are not letting people see it. host: dan in columbia, maryland, independent, good morning.
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top story of 2021. caller: there was a statement on c-span sometime last month that said there was zero evidence of election fraud and that told me because i saw a video out of atlanta of people pushing poll workers out and then pulling out cases of votes. the second one is this morning i heard somewhere that the mission in afghanistan was accomplished a decade ago and if that is the case, why didn't the government get us out then? why did we linger on for another 10 years or so? host: all right. david in texas, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i was actually thinking you're asking about what the biggest story was going to be for 2022, but also what is happening now with covid and lack of testing
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material and the new antivirals coming out and the current lack of inventory. it would appear that the biden administration must've term warp speed overboard. they signed the agreement with merck and pfizer back in june. what trump did was place orders with 10 companies to create the vaccines, prepaid all of them to go ahead and produce them, can they were pre-positioned. the day that they got the preapproval, a week after the election, those things were being handed out almost immediately because they had been prepaid and manufactured to avoid the delay of the manufacturer. you go back and look at what
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happened with the testing as far back as i was able to go, i was looking at the reports, they started testing in june i believe, pfizer did test for a few months and then the next group of people. the trump administration looked at what needed to be done and a prepaid, and had pre-manufacture and pre-position. anything from a bureaucratic standpoint they could put aside, they put it aside. now we don't have enough tests. there is already huge demand for tests, but what is going to happen is you have to have the test for the antivirals, because they will only have 265,000 of the pfizer antivirals it is for january pit will start to produce them for february.
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you look at the timeline on this particular version of omicron, it is probably going to be gone by then. they have to test before they can give you the antivirals. host: the d.c. mayor is requiring children to get a negative test for they return to school after this holiday. washington, d.c. becoming a hotspot for the coronavirus due to the new variant. we are talking about the top news stories of 2021. no one has tensioned president biden's agenda and capitol hill and senator joe manchin, democrat from west virginia, shooting down the health version of the build back better plan the headline in the washington post this morning, rising anger at manchin underscores a party divided.
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here is president biden last week on abc's world news tonight talking about the future of build back better. [video clip] >> let me turn to build back better. many say it is in peril right now in large part because of senator joe manchin. universal pre-k, the child tax credit, historic money to fight climate change in the words of your administration. you met with senator joe manchin a number of times. then he is on cable saying he is a no. how were you not able to close the deal? pres. biden: we have passed mark major legislation than anybody in the first year ever, ever. i am not given up on this. >> senator manchin's main sticking point is the child tax credit. are you willing to take that out
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if it means bringing him on board? pres. biden: i want to get as much as i can possibly get done. i still think we will be able to get a significant amount of what we need to get done, particularly as the american people figure out what is in this legislation. it is extremely consequential. host: president biden doing an interview with abc last week. your top story of 2021. gail is in oceanside, new york. caller: good morning i just want to say i voted for president obama and i voted for donald trump. i feel the story is that the democrats are making the january 6 the biggest story. i feel that they abused trump before he went into office, when he was in office and after he was in office. i believe that the people went there because they really feel
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that the democrats are doing everything so trump could not be president again. i don't believe they should have attacked the capitol, but they definitely should have had protests in front of it. i voted my whole life and when someone i didn't vote for became president, i said, he is my president and i want my country to do good. this is the first time in my life -- host: a few in north carolina, democratic caller. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to say about the january six insurrection, it is
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appalling that nobody realizes how crucial this is to democracy. especially with states passing laws where they can put anyone in there --i bring up their own electors. host: we believe it there. we will return to the top news stories in 2021 in our last hour. when we come back, we conclude our weeklong author's robert woodson founder, and president , emeritus of the woodson center, discusses his book “red, white, and black: rescuing american history from revisionists & race hustlers.” ♪
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>> next week on c-span, wednesday the senate rules committee holds a hearing on the u.s. capitol police since the january 6 attack. live coverage begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern. beginning at 7:00 a.m., coverage throughout the date marking the one-year anniversary of the attack. friday, the supreme court hears oral arguments in two cases dealing with the biden vaccine mandate for health care workers and the vaccine mandate for larger private companies. live coverage beginning at 10:00 a.m.. both the house and senate return in january for the start of the second session of the 117th congress. the senate takes up the president's climate and social spending plan known as build back better, despite west virginia senator joe manchin's opposition to the bill.
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also voting rights legislation which may require changing filibuster rules. there is also a february 18 deadline for both chambers of congress to pass additional spending to avert a government shutdown. watch these developments on c-span. or watchful coverage on c-span now, our new mobile video app. also had over c-span.org for a video live on demand anytime. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> book tv, every sunday on c-span two features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at noon eastern on in-depth, a civil war historian joins us to talk about the intellectual street of the united states. his books conclude gettysburg
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and robert lee. at 10:00 p.m. on afterwards, a former georgia cauldron -- republican congressman discusses the lead up to the first impeachment of donald trump. he is interviewed by a colorado republican. find a full schedule in your program guide or watch online anytime at book tv.org.
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>> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back shooting journal is concluding our author series -- welcome back. "washington journal" is continuing our author series. today we are joined by robert woodson, founder, and president emeritus of the woodson center, to discuss his book “red, white, and black: rescuing american history from revisionists & race hustlers.” thanks for being here this morning. why did you write this book? guest: well, because in 2019, a writer with the new york times released a series of essays written by black journalists
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called 1619, and they sought to reframe american history to feature slavery. they are saying that america's birthday is not 1776, but 1619, the date at the first 20 african slaves came on the shores of virginia and the conclusion was therefore america should be defined by slavery. in their essays they claimed that america is guilty of systemic racism and that america should be punished for her sins and should be ever defined by slavery and that capitalism also is an extension of white supremacy and therefore all whites are victimizers and all blacks are victims. this gave rise to critical race theory and then they published
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these in that school curriculums. so we felt that since the blacks are being used under the legacy of the civil rights movement being hijacked, we felt that black leadership should be pushing against that, so we brought together a series of scholars and activists and we published an alternative position and narratives called 1776. we believe the rightful birthday of america in 1776 and the signing of the declaration of independence. we do not want to author a point to point debate. we wanted to author an alternative narrative that challenges the assumptions in their books. they claim that the problems of 20% of the black america today that is out of wedlock birth and violent neighborhoods that these problems today are the legacy of slavery and jim crow and
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therefore the only solution with white america. we challenge that with information. we published a series of essays that challenges that notion and we get evidence that when whites were at their worst, blacks were at their best. black america should never be defined by the crucifixion of racial oppression and slavery. we are not defined by slavery or discrimination but we are defined by our resistance to it. in our series of essays, we chronicle the rich legacy of black resistance to slavery and jim crow. we built socioeconomic structures promoting our own independence and self sufficiency. we felt that america is a place
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in our virtues need to be defended. our essays are offering -- our books will first two weeks because america is hungry for accurate information about the history of america. host: nicole hannah jones was a guest on book tv's afterwards recently. i want to show our viewers what she said and have you respond. [video clip] >> we call this an origin story. >> an alternative. >> i think in a multiracial country we have to have many points of origin. you could certainly have a similar project looking at indigenous people and i actually hope there is something like that and how would we do differently about our country if we look at it from that lens. i think if we are going to engage in origin stories and the
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question is should we, maybe, maybe not, i think there is a usefulness to them and it is impossible not to have them. culturally as human beings -- >> we almost always do. >> you could academically argue that we shouldn't but i don't think we'll ever not have the stories that we tell ourselves about who we are as a people, country, nation. we do have to say there could never be one. the idea of a single unifying narrative in a country like the united states is probably impossible. why can't we teach multiple versions of origins and say that it is bringing the course of the origin story that tells us who we are as americans? part of at the 1619 project is gotten caught up in is that this belief was the project was intended to replace something, but it wasn't. it is intended to add to the
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history that we have, at a different perspective and hopefully challenge our society, schoolchildren, to question and be more skeptical and to say, many other perspectives are we not getting? how do we better understand this country hearing it from a lens from people who experienced it different ways. i don't the guy would get rid of origin stories. -- i don't think i would say get rid of origin stories. they can have a positive purpose but too often our origin stories have been manipulated to a degree that they just exclude, that they leave too many of us out, and that they are less honest because they are trying to tell a single version of who we are. i think more honest is telling a much larger, more inclusive version, because that is just
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more inclusive. host: what is your reaction to listening to the author? guest: i can't believe that is the same one i saw same just the opposite. she is not offering an alternative. schoolchildren today are embracing race grievance and children are being divided, america is being portrayed in 1619 as a criminal organization. therefore, the curriculums they are developing are being implemented in schools where schoolchildren who are white are being told that they are victimizers and therefore they are to be shamed. you have lacked children being separated. some school systems are having separate faculty meetings.
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there is all kinds of training, walmart, nike, all these corporations are paying millions of dollars for race grievance counseling to come in and charge the employees with being racist. this country is being torn apart by this poisonous vitriol coming from nicole hannah jones and the race grievance merchants. they are dividing this country at the expense of addressing real problems we are facing. the real problems facing america, we don't have a race problem. host: does racial discrimination exist? guest: it is but it is not the most important problem. the post -- most important problem we have is the destruction of our children. today, 100,000 children are
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dying from overdoses. the leading loss of black children is homicide. we have more killing in one year than 40 years. you have children in silicon valley from two parent households, wealthy parents, the suicide rate among teenagers is six times the national average. the real crisis in america is not racial. by having to look at life through the prism of race, it prevents us from addressing the destruction of our children in this next generation. host: what is the solution? guest: that's the problem. the solution is what the woodson center is doing. first of all, we must give voice to the people that are suffering the problems. whenever you generalize a group, all women, all black, and you try to apply remedies, it only
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helps those that are elites. we talk about women, jeffrey epstein, about the terrible abuse of those women. five years ago, geraldo rivera did a two hour documentary on the plate of -- the plight of black women in prison being raped regulate by guards. all of the victims were black and all of the victimizers were black guards and officials, yet it did not provoke any outcry. there were no demands for justice for these poor women, because it did not fit the nation of -- racial narrative. as long as a white police officer kills a black like freddie gray and george floyd, then there is outrage.
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then america is told our biggest problem is racial. it is not racial. race discrimination is a problem but not the most important problem. the most important issue is the martial and spiritual freefall that is consuming our children. in the inner cities, it is homicide, suicide, and drug addiction. what we are doing at the woodson center is we brought together thousands of mothers and voices of black mothers united. the woman running it is giving voices to the 80% of black americans who are against the funding the police. they are working to improve communities from within those communities. we are giving support and voice to them. 60% of black people do not believe racial discrimination.
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no one is giving voice to those mothers, the blacks in prisons, these women. that is because it is being viewed through the prism of race. as long as we focus on race, when people was a black face, it will go on addressed -- unad dressed. host: robert woodson, the author of the book “red, white, and black: rescuing american history from revisionists & race hustlers.” he says it is a response to the 1619 project offered by nicole hannah jones. in this book, there is this, prior to the 1960's, even in the face of jim crow laws, legalized discrimination and a lack of voting rights, the black
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community did not expense the widescale despair and destruction we witness today because of the strong christian moral code of conduct, and mutual assistance and strong families and communities. what did you find was happening in black communities across america at this time? guest: we had a strong moral and spiritual infrastructure that protected us against it. i was born during segregation in a low income black neighborhood. i never heard of an elderly person being mugged or assaulted on the streets in a black town. i never heard of a black baby being shot to death in a crib in a drive-by. that never happened, even though we were poor. between 1930 and 1941 the unemployment rate was already present during the depression,
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we had the highest marriage rate of any group in society. elderly people could walk safely without fear of being mugged by their grandchildren. also at the turn of the century, there were five black high schools in five major cities, new your, baltimore, they also had crumbling buildings. they had half the budgets of white schools, used text books. even with all of these disadvantages, most black high schools scored higher than any white school in those cities. under segregation. in some of those same schools that exist today, less than 10% of the students today are reading at even grade level. yet they have been under black control for the last 50 years.
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if race where the issue, tell me why at the turn-of-the-century the schools and students could function successfully in the presence of oppression and they are not today when most of the cities have been run by black democrats for the past 50 years. i really think they are using race to deflect attention away from wide blacks are failing at institutions run by their own people. host: why is that? guest: that is the question that must be addressed. because what we are facing is not systemic racism, it is in many cases systemic incompetence . the very fact that those same officials got elected on the premise that if we replace white people we will do a better job. they also have $22 trillion of poverty money over the past 60
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years that was spent with $.70 of every one of those dollars did not go directly to the poor. it went to those who served the poor. we developed a professional class of providers with a ask which problems are solvable but which are fundable. we created a commodity out of poor people that resulted in the greatest decline in the black community in the last 50 years, when even after slavery, one of our scholars found that even looking at the records of six major plantations after slavery, we found that 75% of those families had a man and a woman raising children. for 100 years, the nuclear family and christian values served as a protection against a storm of racism. yet in the last 50 years, we are
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witnessing these tremendous declines at the very time when political power was achieved. it is important for us. host: i will ask of yours to start dialing in with questions and comments. the publicans (202) 748-8001. dem dots -- democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. what kind of outlook do we need? guest: we need to go back in history and look at how we achieved what we did. in 1929 in chicago, we had what we called black wall street, 731 black-owned businesses.
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there was hundred million dollars in assets and out of wedlock birth was 1%. in other places, we need to go back and ask ourselves how do we apply old values to a new vision. there are examples of moral and spiritual centers of excellence today. we have a pastor in philadelphia taking those same values in the low income black neighborhood and purchased properly -- property and set up a life center. there are other senders who have created economic enclaves within low income communities and they are rebuilding from the inside out. we have had examples of violence being reduced in the programs at the woodson center. but we have got to do is apply
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old values to new vision. and this perhaps we need to have a moratorium in the black community about complaining about what white folks do. making white people less racist does not make like people more complete and prosperous. we must seek prosperity from within by relying upon ourselves and relying on those values that helped us through the storm of segregation and racism. host: we are talking with robert woodson. carrie, republican, you are up first. caller: good morning. it is so nice to hear from you on the station. i am a great admirer. do you have a radio station,
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everyday radio station to help the black people understand that her with the democratic party is doing? -- understand what the democratic party is doing? guest: i want to politicize this. you can go to any urban low income lack or white community and you cannot tell which political party -- black or white community and you cannot tell which political party is in power. the issue is not political. i think bill bennett said when liberals and democrats see poor people and black people, they see victims and people on the rights the aliens. it will not be found in politics. we've got to recognize that it will not be found by making white people less racist. we need to invest in grassroots entrepreneurs, small business
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development, and invest in the people suffering the problem. upward mobility for all people should be our goal and stop looking at life through the prism of race. america should come together and unite in addressing that moral and spiritual freefall that is consuming our children. the woodson center is organizing moms across race and ethnic lines to address ways to prevent children from continuing to engage in self-destructive behavior. that is where we need to be trading our efforts. host: we are having some technical issues. we are going to keep taking your phone calls with this conversation. robert woodson will be back with us in a couple of minutes. he is the editor of the book “red, white, and black: rescuing american history from revisionists & race hustlers.”
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he edited this book. it is scholars that came together to talk about black history, a response he said earlier to the 6019 project, the author of that nicole hannah jones. we are getting questions and comments for robert woodson. a democratic color, good morning. caller: -- a democratic caller, good morning. caller: i was wondering if you could get robert woodson to explain his opinion on what has happened to african brought over from africa. i have heard this line most of my life and i have seen the difference between the conservative line and the
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liberal line. i am a liberal and a democrat. i want to hear him explain and i think you will understand when he attempts to explain exactly what he thought of what happened to african-americans from 1619 in places like oklahoma and things like the atrocities committed against african-americans. i would like to hear him explain that. host: i will have him respond to that. ronald in florida, independent. caller: i have a comments and then a question. or i want to make a statement. the question is, it seems to be a conflict did he edit the book or write the book? host: he edited it. caller: so he is not the author.
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host: 20 of scholars came together for this book. caller: the other thing i want to point out, i never hear when you talk about racism, and that is i believe that racism is much less in these days. what we are facing is discrimination between the rich and poor. it is class termination and it is being confused many times with race termination. if you want to think further into that, you need to talk to the people about the word neoliberalism, which is a new and advanced portion of neocons we used to call them. host: this is one of the scholars wrote in the book. they prefer to talk about identity over capitalism and the inequities of capitalism.
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we have an atrocious wealth gap. it is not a white and black but if you keep rephrasing as blacks and white and shifted to a racial argument, you undermine the possibility of building a working-class coalition which by definition would be disproportionately black, female, latino, and still majority white. that's the kind of working-class coalition that identity politics tends to erase page or reaction to hearing that. caller: i think they are saying the same thing i am. host: so you are saying that people need to just talk about capitalism rather than racial discrimination? caller: democracy in this country is a joke. as soon as the election is over, the power elite takes over the congress. they are the real runners of this country, not the american people. host: mary in northampton, massachusetts, republican.
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caller: i really am concerned about something that happen. the smith college is being sued in federal court. the woodson center, is he coming back online? host: he is with us. caller: he is phenomenal. he spoke up when this first happened. alumni who worked at the college was discriminated against after a black student made false allegations and race baited and completely had three very long-term employees fired. and they started forcing classes on employees. the president did this, and it
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completely was false and has destroyed the college. he was one of the people who came forward, and i didn't know him and i was so proud that he spoke up about this divisive nonsense. the college is now getting sued in federal court. it was a disgrace. i have withdrawn contribution and i admire what he did. i am excited about this book, but it has completely divided the campus. i wondered if he could comment on that. host: he is back with us. we will have him respond. guest: you are absolutely right. a bullock student -- a black student has gone to elite prep schools refused to leave a dining room and brought false charges and as a consequence, the school had her charged and
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investigated and found they were false, but they still punished the cafeteria worker, a longtime security agent, janitor was fired, a security person was fired, and now all of the cafeteria workers were required to go through race grievance changes -- classes. the woodson center came to the defense of the white workers and made the point that injustice should be addressed whether it is being done in the name of social justice or not. we stood with those white workers and still do. that is the problem there is rachel tierney going on in the name of social justice. a white woman with a black lives matter t-shirt on beating a
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black mother, pushing her baby in a stroller because she was in a trump rally on penciling avenue. a white woman with black lives matter beating a black woman pushing a carriage and no outrage from the leadership and no outcry in the public about that. this is the kind of divisiveness that 1619 is creating. your other caller is right, what we believe is upward mobility for everyone at the bottom and a working-class coalition is what we are trying to build. america does not have a race problem it has a grace problem. we need to take race off of the table so we can address the needs of those black women in prison, low income moms who are seeing their children destroyed by drive-by, and is a matter of
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elites versus the working poor. the woodson center stands with the working poor and trying to shift the emphasis more to class than race. host: the one call you missed was a caller asking to have you explain what happened to africans that came to this country in 1619. guest: african came were enslaved, but let me say to you, slavery did not start with the united states. it has been a part of humankind since the very beginning. we are the only country in the world that fought a war to end slavery. there is no other country that fought a war to end slavery. when you talk about who owned
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slaves, when the five civilized tribes were on the trail of tears from georgia going to oklahoma, they carried with them 5000 african slaves, native american people, they were slaveowners as well. they also fought on the side of the confederacy against the union to abolish slavery. there is no innocence. there were some free blacks who owned slaves as well. there was a regiment in new orleans, a black regiment, that was formed to fight on the side of the confederacy. the whole slave issue is not as simple as it is portrayed. it is complex. it is an evil constitution, but lacks should never be -- but blacks should never be defined by slavery or jim crow.
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when the man talked about the greenwood section of tulsa, oklahoma, about it being burned down, but we talked about why. it was burned down because the black section of tulsa was more prosperous than the white section and it was because of envy that it was burned down. it was also rebuilt in 10 years. we don't talk about what it was like before it was burned down and destroyed nor do we talk about the restoration. that is what we need to emphasize, not just -- i call people who only emphasize the negative as crucifixionist rather than resurrectionists. host: let's talk to stephen in new york, democratic caller. caller: good morning.
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first, they burned down tulsa and built a million-dollar university and other million-dollar buildings on that property and never gave the descendants who still owe deeds to that land. you can't be upwardly mobile out of racial discrimination. educational, voting discrimination. slavery became jim crow which became open cursor ration. -- open incarceration. also white people have vastly more single-parent families. the single-family issue does not explain the overwhelming child poverty in the communities of color. white kill whites at a higher rate than blacks. black people are not more vallas he -- more violent. if slavery is a crime, then
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enslavers are criminals like george washington and thomas jefferson. is this book a history or commentary on history? thank you. guest: first of all, someone once said, and i agree, either we are going to deal with truth based facts, otherwise lies become normal. in our essays, we deal in facts. i hope you would look at the facts. we talk about incarceration rates. the question is, you heard me mention in the 1930's, 1940's, when we were in depression, elderly people could walk safely in our community without fear of being mugged. today, blacks in new york city, 32% of whites in new york commit about 3% of violent crimes.
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blacks are 21% and we commit 64% of violent crimes. incarceration rates at the turn of the century until 1955 or 1960's were fairly low. there was no so-called mass incarceration between the turn of the century up. we were not incarcerated during the turn-of-the-century up to 1965 when racism was enshrined in law when our families were whole during that period, why are we seeing the destruction in the last 50 years? it is important for us to address the facts and look at the data that when whites were at their worst, we were at our best. every city had our own hotel. what we were denied access to
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hotels, we had one in atlanta and miami. we had the saint teresa in new york, the st. charles in chicago. how did we build these great institution, our old medical schools. we had 100 colleges and universities. these were all black institutions that were developed during the time of segregation. so it is important for us to understand that our history of not oppression but how we resisted oppression by offering superior performance. host: let's go to joel and eagle, idaho, independent. go ahead. caller: thank god for bob woodson. i touch chemistry in a black high school before i was drafted
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into the u.s. army. i never saw any evidence of it racism and it certainly was not in my chemistry class. jason riley wrote a book that was called "please stop helping me," but it did not get much press. i think he hit on the same things you are highlighting. the mainstream media has a narrative that if it doesn't fit, you will never get on it. there was a black flight crew during world war ii called the red tails, and the white be 25 pilots wouldn't have anybody guide their bombing missions over italy unless they were with the red tails. the blacks have a strong history . one thing i would like to ask is -- how much do you think the misguided social policies of our
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congress has contributed to the situation that we face right now? i will take my answer off air. guest: first of all, let me give you another example of one of the best anecdotes, it used to be the dominant crucible in the black community. in 1943, there were no lack naval officers because they were prohibited from being naval officers. eleanor roosevelt pressured her husband to compel the navy to train them. they took 16 college-educated men and put them through officer candidate school. the navy was going to get these 16 cadets in eight weeks what they would give white cadets in 16 weeks in order to wash them out. when these 16 men found out what the game was, they covered the barracks windows with lank and
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stayed up all night and studied -- with black and stayed up all night and studied and when they were tested they were in the 90th percentile. the second time they were tested they scored in the 93rd percentile. eventually 13 of them were commissioned. today, that highest score ever obtained still stands. so black america understood that one of the best defenses against disrespect his performance. you mentioned the red tails. they did the same thing. they never lost a bomber. lack america -- black america understood that the best defense against genocide was to be necessary and the best defense against disrespect his performance. if we were able to perform in the presence of these barriers, the question is why can't we do
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it again today? the woodson center has spent this last 40 years going around the country and looking for excellence and raising money to support restoration in low income communities by identifying these social entrepreneurs and then taking the old values from the past and applying them to our grassroots leaders in these communities. we have i think an impressive record of seeing communities restored from the inside out. it has nothing to do with white people and they have no control over our destiny. it is in our own hands. when you invest in indigenous healing agents that they can collectively create an immune system and whole communities can
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be healed from the inside out if we just focus our attention on our strengths. if we can be solution oriented and promote resurrection and stop emphasizing fiction. host: let's go to bill in mobile, alabama, republican. caller: what a breath of fresh air. good grief. i wanted to give you a little history of my experience. i grew up in an all-white world and never had anything to do with any black people until i was out of law school, at which time i agreed to go teach an all-black junior-college. it was a shock in many respects culturally for me. the biggest cultural shock was that so many of the girls who were 17, 18, 19 years old had multiple children and no husbands. i had never been around that.
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i think what has happened now is instead of educating those girls to wait and find a man to raise their children instead of just having them, we trained the white girls to do what the black girls were doing. we have broken families. 40% of children are being raised are what is now being called single mom household. it is very cruel way to raise children. i can't tell you how impressed i am with mr. woodson. host: mr. woodson, your thoughts here. guest: i totally agree. but what you are describing is something that happened in the last 50 years. even those young women who are in situations, half of them recover and go on to live successful lives, but we do need
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to understand that 20% of lacks are poor -- blacks are poor, but only 7% that are married are poor. so marriage and raising children, if you are able to work and if you can wait until you married to have children and work, that that is the best environment to raise children. even if you fail, recovery from those circumstances is still possible and we have one public housing development that we worked with in the 1980's and early 1990's and washington, d.c., typical public housing, 670 children graduated and went to college from one public housing element because of the leadership of ms. gray at the
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residence who came together. they just about wiped out teen pregnancy by offering hope and opportunity for children under these kind of circumstances. again, we've got to promote innovative approaches that helps to restore people's self-respect and provide them with the means to be uplifted and to uplift themselves. host: robert woodson, the editor of the book “red, white, and black: rescuing american history from revisionists & race hustlers.” you can find his work at woodsoncenter dot org. we appreciate your time. happy new year. guest: happy new year to you and your listeners. host: when we come back to the topic, your top news stories from 2021. start dialing in.
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♪ >> american history tv, saturdays on c-span2, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 2:00 p.m. eastern on the presidency, a look at presidential train with bob withers who wrote the president traveled by train, talking about the role trains played in the presidency of abraham lincoln, frank roosevelt, dwight eisenhower, and lady bird johnson. at 8 p.m. on lectures in history, a professor of the new school discusses the role the fitness industry played in 1980's american culture with new business models for group classes like jazzercise, the rise of fitness studios and the sale of fitness tapes.
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exploring the american story, watch american street tv saturday on c-span2 and find a full schedule in your program guide or watch anytime at c-span.org/history. >> sunday on in-depth, civil war historian joins us live to talk about the early intellectual history of the united states, the civil war, and the reconstruction era. his book titles include redeeming the great emancipator, gettysburg, and his latest, robert e. lee, a live, joint -- a lie. join in with the conversation sunday at noon eastern on in-depth on book tv and before the program, is it c-span shops.org to get copies
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>> washington journal continues. host: welcome back. we will spend our last hour talking about your top news story of 2021. npr asked what they thought were the top stories of 2021. from the capitol riot to abortion rights, these the top stories of 2021. the capitol attack is number one. as they said it, abortion rights is a case before the supreme court. the mississippi abortion law that some scholars predict will test roe v. wade. listen to the oral argument. this is from justice sotomayor. >> the right of a woman to choose, the right to control her own body has been clearly set
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and never challenged. you want us to reject that right of viability and adopt something different. 15 justices over 50 years -- i should say 36 cases, have reaffirmed that basic viability. for have said no. two of the members of this court. 15 justices have said yes. they are of varying political backgrounds. now, the house bill in mississippi said we are doing it because we have new justices. the newest bandit mississippi has put in place, the senate sponsor said we are doing it because we have new justices on the supreme court.
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will this institution survive the stench that this creates? in the public perception that the constitution and its reading are just political acts? i don't see how this is possible. when they talked about watershed decisions, some of them, brown v. board of education, this one, they have such an entrenched set of expectations in our society. this is what the court decided. we won't be able to survive if people believe that everything, including new york versus
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sullivan, i could name any other set of rights including the second amendment, there are many who believe the court errored in seeing this as a personal right as opposed to a militia right. if people believe it's all political, how will we survive? how will the court survive? host: this was justice sotomayor over the mississippi law. this into one of the republicans on the court, justice kavanaugh talking about who should be responsible for making abortion policy. >> to be clear, you're not arguing that the courts have the authority to prohibit abortion or this court has the authority to order the states to prohibit abortion.
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>> correct. >> you say the court is neutral, the constitution is neither pro-life nor pro-choice. it leaves the issue for the people of the states or congress to resolve. is that accurate? >> it's up to the people. >> if you were to prevail, the states, the majority of states could or would continue to freely allow abortion in some states. they would be able to do that, even if you prevail. >> that is consistent with our view. it allows all interest to have a voice. i don't think anybody would think it was moving to change the law in a more restrictive direction. 4 from the oral argument over the mississippi law, npr writes:
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we are talking about your top news story of 2021. tony is in pennsylvania. we will go to you first. is your top pick? caller: happy holidays, america. my top pick would be climate change. specifically the way it is taken up in the media. i've been a longtime watcher of c-span. it seems like we just here
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corporate talking points. there are different think tanks that come on. the last segment would be a good example of it. it's a complex issue. we hear one very narrow perspective instead of a dialogue with maybe two people. i would like to see c-span identify the money behind these talking heads when they come on and what their biases are. climate change and don't look up as a great depiction of where we are headed. it's not good. host: cornelius in louisiana. your next. caller: good morning, greta. happy new year. let me say something. that was the greatest interview. i tried to get on. i think that is one of our
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greatest new stories. i hope you get him back. i used to be a democrat. i became a republican because of president trump and dr. ben carson. history doesn't say about the republicans after reconstruction that were on and swung with lack folks. he brought up that black regiment. i heard about them. we had black regiments in the revolutionary war that fought for independence. the british had black regiments and they promise them freedom if the british had one the revolutionary war. the country started in 1776.
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it did not start in 1619. blacks sold blacks to the spanish, the french, the english. that's how blacks ended up over here. that's the truth about slavery. i am part indian. indians had wars. they would enslave other indians if they defeated them. we need to have a true history of america and the world. host: i am going to move on to maryland. caller: good morning. i have a lot of problems with mr. wilson. he seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth. he stated the situation was better for black people during
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segregation than the same system . that is speaking out of both sides of his mouth. host: let me ask you, is that is your top new start? caller: that's a national issue, about what went on of afghanistan. i can't understand the united states was there for 20 years and the people there when america withdraw, the conditions were so bad. what the hell was going on there if the people left. i'm trying to figure out. the money they were sending there, it doesn't make sense to me. if the people are doing so bad now, what will be doing there for that long of a. of time. host: when all the money go? caller: why are the people
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starving? all of a sudden, it must've been that way before they were there. what did we do there? host: we will look at the al jazeera website. the next meal is a matter of faith. you have the front page of the washington post with his headline. the taliban cuts freedoms as it demands aid. william in kansas city. what is the top news story of
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2021? caller: i think it has to be the top new story of the 100 years, the critical condition of the american mocker c. i'm referring to the 48 states passing voter suppression laws and gerrymandering being used at record levels. it is cheating basically. there is no one who can fix the problem. actively trying to do that, it's the people, it's the body politic.
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no one seems to be seeing what is eminent and about to happen. when power is usurped, it will be hard to change the fact that steve ban is predicting 100 years of republican rule. this is going to have a catastrophic effect on american democracy and the west. economic impact, american standing across the globe, that's about to change. the people are still asleep. host: we are approaching the one-year anniversary of the january 6 attack when hundreds of protesters storm the capital. there are 729 people who have been arrested across 45 states. on that day, it took four hours
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for the officials to secure the capital. that conversation, what happened that day and what changes have been made, that conversation will take place next week. the senate rules committee will hear testimony from the capitol police chief about what has been put in place, changes since the january 6 attack. following that day, you had the impeachment, the second impeachment of former for inciting violence. the impeachment charges were led by jamie raskin, a democrat from maryland. here he is in a news conference following the senate debate and vote. >> this was the most bipartisan presidential impeachment in the history of the united states.
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we know that impeachment for reasons you can explore at some other time become partisan. this was the most bipartisan presidential impeachment event in the history of the country. it was the largest senate vote for a presidential impeachment, 57-43. the vote to impeach was 232-197 in the house. we had a clear and convincing majority of members of congress that the president incited violent insurrection against the union and against the congress. senator mitch mcconnell just went to the floor to say that we made our case, that he believes donald trump was practically and morally responsible for inciting the events of january 6. he described it as a disgraceful
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dereliction of duty and he made a series of statements that we didn't even make, saying this was not over yet by a longshot and that there was the path of criminal prosecution for the former president, the twice and preached -- impeached former president. host: jamie raskin led the impeachment of donald trump. that story topped the list of stories for 2021. we are asking you to tell us, what would you pick for the top new story of 2021. jim in missouri, we will go to you next. caller: i would echo my fellow missouri and it previous caller. the republican party, their war on democracy.
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voting rights, the tyranny of the minority. it takes more votes for democrats to get elected than for republicans. please have a town hall with joe manchin and christian -- christensen my. let them know from the people they are supposed to represent. host: what would you ask if you could have a town hall with those two senators? caller: how can somebody driving a maserati from his floating high-rise making millions of dollars off the coal industry claim to represent the poor people of west virginia? they need a lot of the things that build back better would provide for them. for joe manchin to say no, it's
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just not right. host: the president was asked about the future of his build back better agenda. here's what he had to say. >> let me turn to build back better. many say it is in peril because of senator joe manchin. universal pre-k, the child tax credit, money to fight climate change, you've met with senator joe manchin a number of times. you invited him to your home in delaware. he said he is a no. how are you not able to close the deal? >> let's talk about what we have done. we have passed more budget legislation in the first year ever. i have not given up on this. >>'s main sticking point is the child tax credit. are you willing to take that out if it means ringing him on
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board? >> i want to get as much as i can possibly get done. i still think we will be able to get a significant amount of what we need to get done. particularly with -- when the people find that what's in this. it's extremely consequential. host: the president with a bc, he will push for the build back better agenda. steve is in indiana. what is the top new story of 2021? caller: the oil crisis. we have biden letting russia open their pipeline up and closing our pipeline down. we know that biden is in bed with russia. and china.
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if it hadn't been for this oil problem we have, it run our economy. all the regulations they put on the truck drivers in california, that's why they all had to pull out. the biden administration seems to -- they are not winning at nothing. the first -- when he shut down that pipeline, he put everything trump had accomplished -- i think that what we need to do is
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open these pipelines back up. we've got more energy in the united states than anyplace in the world. host: that debate over the pipeline and our rising tensions with russia taking place on the floor. ted cruz blaming the biden administration. saying they looked weak against russia, particularly on the norge pipeline. >> george -- joe biden was sworn into office. january 24, boudin began building the pipeline again. because the biden white house made the decision to waive the sanctions. to give vladimir putin a multibillion dollar gift for generations to come.
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to set the stage for the invasion of ukraine i russia. when biden waved sanctions, ukraine and poland both said it was creating a security crisis in europe. it was increasing dramatically the chances that russia would invade ukraine. this invasion we are facing, it is joe biden's fault. it is also the fault of senate democrats. for two years, we had bipartisan agreement to stop it and we succeeded. when there was a republican president, we were perfectly willing to hold president trump to account to press him to stand up against it and he did. as soon as a democrat got in the white house, our colleagues decided that partisan loyalty
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was more important than national security. suddenly, we have seen the democrats in this chamber ending over backwards to avoid stopping it. i want to be very clear. a lot of discussion about joe biden having a phone call with vladimir putin today. it's not going to stop and invasion. what will stop and invasion, simply following the law and sanctioning norge stream two. host: that was ted cruz on the senate floor. another phone call took place between the american president and the russian leader. the crisis over ukraine escalates.
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the united states is pushing for de-escalation. the president is at his private residence in bloomington delaware, talking to president putin. let's go to linda in california. what would you say is the top new story? caller: i would want to know does it really mean no man is above the law. is that just saying? what is trump doing, just walking around? in an office or something? i dunno. he ought to be behind bars as far as i'm concerned. for what he's done to america.
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he hasn't been truthful. host: he is your top new story? even though he wasn't in office? caller: i am talking about last year. host: ok. caller: mary is in louisiana. mary? good morning. caller: good morning. my top new story is who you had on this morning. that was mr. woodson. i am so glad they put somebody on that knows the truth and tells the truth. i was a democrat for years. i am 76 years old. i used to vote democrat. i started hearing things in 2008 about the democrats and i checked out books.
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i went all the way back to 1619 when the first slave ships landed. i found out who the democrats really work. i changed my party to republican. there were many black people that owned slaves, especially in louisiana. a lot of them have been slaves themselves. i know you are ready to cut me off. there are a lot of them that know the truth. when i went to school, i had a teacher told us if you want to hide something from a black person, put it in a book.
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you know what? i've got many nephews and nieces in their 50's and 60's. they don't care who the president is. they don't care. black people don't vote because they're not interested. i have never been stopped from voting. host: let me get another voice and. barbara is in new york. caller: the collusion between government and media and the degradation of washington journal are my top stories. it's been sad to see brian lamb become a prostitute who services the cable industry. those are my top stories. host: in what way? caller: what do you mean?
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host: explain your criticism. caller: you are running commercials for the cable industry. you never used to do that before. the suppression of any dissent about the pandemic, all you bring honor people who say vaccination -- get the vaccination. you focus on pfizer. every once in a while you hear about j&j or moderna. it's all pfizer all the time. host: did you know that c-span is funded by your cable provider? caller: i do know that. you weren't -- you were running commercials. host: we have been thanking cable for writers since we started for the public service that they offer all of you by having c-span on your cable or however you get your television.
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we've been doing that from the very beginning, having them credit for something that they agreed to do in 1979, which is provide americans with this public service. that is allowing you to see unfiltered, uninterrupted our government work. the house floor, the senate floor. we bring you hearings and history and books on c-span 2 and c-span 3. it's providing you access to the decision-makers in washington dc. good morning. caller: my major story for the year and for the past three years is covid. i am a teacher. i teach at a college. i teach history. the most important story beside
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covid is the anti-intellectualism that is being pressed. if you listen to the -- that is also a policing problem. a lot of these people don't understand certain things. in 1960, malcolm x talked about race organizations would find a black person to speak against them. this is what mr. woodson just did. he spoke down about the 1619 project is started focusing on the 1776 project. my question would've been it, did you have any black historians? you weren't the writer of that.
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a lot of the things he said were historically incorrect. this is part of that anti-intellectualism, racist narrative being pushed by conservatives. he talked about the trail of tears. they use that to talk about the white slavery. somebody talked about the -- she just talked about black slavery. historically, it was black people who bought their way out of slavery and when they bought their wives and children, they had to list them as their slaves. that was paperwork. it didn't mean that they were slaves. we have to get back into school and get educated. a lot of are older and younger black people are refusing to be educated. they listen to this propaganda. host: we believe there. liam is in california.
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your top new story of 2021? caller: good morning. it's been over a year since i've called. i've been listening to the callers. i just don't understand, our president is compromised. what do i mean by compromised? there has been nothing on c-span about the laptop from hell. that is his son. why isn't something being aired about that? if our president is compromised, nothing can get done. since i turned -- i'm 78 years old. i turned independent after i voted for trump because i can think for myself. that doesn't mean that i am all for trump.
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i refuse to go along with that propaganda. he has woken up america. the insurrection, that thing on the capital was horrible. it made me sick to my stomach. i couldn't believe it was happening. those are the people that did that, they are the ones that are out of control. we've had biker gangs that are out of control. it's the same thing. they were upset. you must remember one thing. they were american citizens. the borders wide open. the border is absolutely wide open. they are not being tested for covid. your responders are being fired because they refused to take a shot.
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i am so upset. i hope this next year is a great new year. host: ok. on capitol hill recently, the homeland security was testifying about the situation at the border. here is an exchange between him and lindsey graham. >> 2.7 million people who come here illegally, how many have been released into the country? >> i can break that down to the best of my ability. nearly one million, nine junta 65,000, have been subject to expulsion under title 42 of the code. approximately 40,000 have been removed under our immigration
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authorities. >> where does that tennis? -- dennis? -- get us. approximately 40,000 have been removed. approximately 125,000 unaccompanied children have been transferred to the custody of health and human services. the balance are in immigration enforcement proceedings where --. >> how many people are still here? of the 1.7 million it, how we people are still here? >> i would estimate approximately 370 5000 are still here.
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-- 375 thousand are still here. >> do you believe if you have an immigration hearing and there is a final order of deportation, that person should be removed? >> i do. >> why is one million people still here? >> as i responded -- >> is the system working? >> it has been broken. >> it's broken if a million people have been ordered to leave and they haven't left. do you believe the remaining mexico policy is cruel? >> as it was implemented, i do. >> do you support permanently doing away with the policy? >> i do. >> do you think that will increase illegal immigration?
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>> i do not because of the other efforts we have underway. host: an exchange between the homeland security secretary last month. to those stories make your top new story of 2021? caller: happy new year. host: good morning to you. caller: i want to say thank you for c-span. to that one gentlemen, i want to say one nation under god. that other news story, pelosi is in charge of the security in washington dc. president donald had asked for security. that's on her. my thing is the way the virus is
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being reported. having cases is good. that helps heard immunity. i don't trust the filmmakers or pushers. every pill has a side effect. there are plants and they heal. they are herbs. i would like to hear the numbers of suicides since this started. about the numbers that murder the offspring. i would like to hear those. host: kevin in michigan. independent. caller: happy new year. my number one thing happened in
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the last week. i watched joe biden on tv. i would like for you to play this clip. he said let's go brandon. i have seen his wife looked at him like he was crazy. she knew what it means. he should know what it means. if he doesn't, i'm worried about does he know anything? this is been going on for months. to sit there and him not know what that means, i think we have a president who doesn't have all of his marbles upstairs. he needs a cognitive test. host: joe in west virginia. caller: i just want to comment on january 6. i've been in d.c. many times with huge conservative crowds.
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i talked to a park ranger. he said there were at least half a million people there. he told me that when our groups came to washington, they had no cleanup. we did all of these things. when other groups came, it would take them almost a week to clean up after the crowds that were not conservative. when the tea party first came into the forefront of the news, i heard a young girl from massachusetts. she said i met some of these people. they were like my grandparents. then she wanted to say something negative. if you look at the clips on what was going on in d.c. on that date, if you look at the people
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from the mall, it's all calm. you get to the capital, it's mayhem. those people are not conservative people. i've been there too many times. i know how we behave. churchill said that if you are not a conservative when you are, you have no compassion. if you are a liberal when you are old, you have no brains. you read bond hoffer. the madness going on in this country is from the leaders who lead the mayhem at the capital. i've been down there many times. i never saw people like me. there was none of that. host: all right. we heard your point. let's go to michigan. caller: good morning. good morning to the american people.
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i was listening to these republican collars. my top story would be the january 6 attempted to -- co up. that last call who said conservatives clean up after they visit the white house or the capital. they didn't clean up after january 6. they left dead people and they left the country in bad shape. hopefully we will have a better year. how the republican party can critique biden for one year but for the last four years could not muster the balls to critique trump.
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host: covid-19 pandemic continues to dominate the headlines. take a listen to this exchange on capitol hill recently. it was last month between rand paul and dr. fauci. >> the evidence points toward this coming from a lab. you've changed the definition on your website. that's what you've done. you've changed the website to have a new definition that doesn't include the research going on. we are not going to get anywhere. you have to admit this research was risky. your own agency has rebuked them. you are still unwilling to admit they became sicker. that's not gain and function? >> according to the definition that is currently operable.
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let's make it clear to the people who are listening. the current definition was done over 2-3 year time by outside bodies, including the nsa bb, two conferences by the national academy of science and medicine. we commissioned external risk-benefit assessment and then on january two thousand 17, the office of science white house issued the current policy. i have not changed any of this. >> on the same day they said there was a gain of function in wuhan. until you accept it and accept responsibility, we are not going to you to preventing another lab leak.
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you won't admit it's dangerous. i think it's time that you resign. >> i would like to give time to dr. fauci. >> there are so many things that are egregious misrepresented. i don't think i would be able to refute all of them. just a couple of them. you've said that i'm one willing to take any responsibility for the current pandemic. i have no responsibility for the current pandemic. the current pandemic. you said the overwhelming amount of evidence indicates that it's a lab leak. most card-carrying viral virologists would disagree with you. it is much more likely, even though we leave open all possibilities, it's more likely this was a natural occurrence.
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>> you tested 80,000 animals. >> your time has expired. >> you made a statement that is completely incorrect. you say we continue to support research at the wuhan institute of virology. you your statement said i wrote it down as you were writing. you continue support research at the wuhan institute. you set it a month ago. >> senator paul, i have allowed dr. fauci to respond. we will allow dr. fauci to respond after you've given accusations like that. >> i don't have anything more to say except as usual, i have a great deal of respect for this body and it makes me very uncomfortable to have to say
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something. he is egregiously incorrect in what he says. host: last month, senator rand paul and dr. fauci going back and forth over the covid-19 pandemic. you can find that hearing if you go to our website. bob is in wisconsin. we are getting your top news story of 2021. go ahead. caller: it would probably be the insurrection that didn't really happen. why was everybody mad. we watched live them shut down polling stations, cover-up windows, kicked out poll workers. even when congresspeople went they couldn't get in. we watched it live all night long. we watched people working when the machines were supposedly down. we saw mass balance dumps. in the morning when they all came back on it.
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how? why did the insurrection happen? because they needed to stop congress from presenting evidence. it was congress that was going to present the election fraud evidence and they had to stop the american people from hearing it and they did. we saw the fbi rallying up outside. they knew there were radicals in the crowd. why did pelosi stop when they requested capitol police? trump requested it. they said no. why did they do that? why did they waive people to the door? you can't take away video. we saw the cops waving people to the door. who were the people that broke the windows? why weren't they caught. they weren't trump supporters. host: there is news on this
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story. this is nbc. the committee asked the supreme court port to deny the report to shield records. they are seeking a trove of documents surrounding the capitol riot. let's hear from al in ohio. go ahead. caller: good morning. happy new year. the talk about rand paul and the stuff he was saying, it's ironic . mr. trump is the one that defunded the cdc which allowed covid to attack the world. i find that appalling. i have republican friends who do not want to take the vaccine. they still support this man. i find it rather appalling.
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that should be a big story for the past year. why hasn't he been prosecuted for his failure as a president. that's all i have to say. host: happy new year. darrell is in idaho. it good morning. caller: the bottom line is in world war ii, when we defeated the desert fox, we captured 250 thousand german troops who had to surrender. in the united states, 1,500,000 people have figured out how to get in the country. the constitution says we are supposed to protect the border. 83 percent of the people who are supposed to be not coming to this country overwhelm those
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250,000 prisoners. we don't even look at our history. russia was our friend in world war ii. they sold us alaska. we got the alaska pipeline. this thing with the covid, god says he is a protector. when you are a nation the way we've got it, look at all of these things. they cannot get rid of this disease. i haven't been vaccinated because i don't believe you as an individual should be looking for scientists to be sticking needles in you to safe your life. look at the food people eat.
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it's not good to be eating sea spiders. then you come down with sickness. you don't realize, maybe it's what your diet is and your lifestyle. host: as you talk about the pandemic in 2021 it, the headlines were about mandates. the president mandating vaccines. he did it for businesses and for health care workers. that debate is going to roll over into 2022. the supreme court is going to hear oral arguments. we will have coverage of that. republican governors have pushed back on mandates. here is ron desantis talking about blocking any covid vaccine mandates. >> montana had done something. people were saying this was not
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something that was going to end up happening. they understood what was going on. i made the call to say we are going to do this now. people are losing their jobs now. they stepped up. this is going to make a big difference for a lot of people. we are respecting people's individual freedom in this state. that is something that is very important. ultimately, i don't know how it ever came to this point. at the end of the day, even found cheek, they would say no mandate. now, they are saying you shouldn't be able to work if you don't do that. some people say kids shouldn't be able to go to school. this is gotten so far out of whack. from the beginning, they were bugging us. they wanted to lock down.
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we were opening the state, keeping the state open. host: that is the governor of florida talking about vaccine mandates. dale in ohio. what would you say is the top news story of the past year. caller: january 6 was it. it's amazing how they destroyed the capital. millions of dollars was done on the property. not one time did the president say thank you to the police officers. it's amazing how any republicans leave this man. if somebody breaks into your house, you want to find out who did it. now they are trying to hide what happened january the sixth. donald trump said it was a
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democratic hoax. so many people of his cabinet got the virus. now he's telling everybody to get the virus and he's getting booed. i am so amazed by these republicans. the american people had to pay their taxes. his name is all over the text. it's so amazing how these people support this man. host: i am going to go to north carolina. caller: ok. i'm the first one that's come up with this. the trump story this past year, there are so many of them. the worst of all, the number one for me is the shame fullness of most media in this country.
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including the major social media outlets. they have more blood on their hands then any rioters, murderers. they have incited riots. they have incited criminals. they have incited false racism. they have promoted lies. they have omitted the truth, attending it doesn't exist. they are the most shameful stain on this country this past year. thank you for letting me speak. have a wonderful new year. host: calvin in alabama. good morning. caller: good morning. there are so many issues that our country is going through. dr. fauci should be fired for incompetence. he tried his best.
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he's just not there. then we have term limitations would be the best thing i feel like for our country for senators and house representatives. we would get new people, new thoughts. progressive and nonprogressive thinking people, younger people that would be more in our generation. i hope you do a great job. you inform people like me that don't get to tune into every news program that comes on television. we can check in with you. i really appreciate c-span. host: thanks for watching. carolyn in texas. good morning. caller: good morning.
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thank you for taking my call. my top news story is how congress has been unable to pass the for the people act. this act has negatively -- the inability to pass this has negatively impacted minority voters, especially lack voters all over the country. this is why i take issue with robert woodson that you had on a while ago, speaking out against the 1619 project. he says it's important for us to look at the facts. her project, the essays deal with fact.
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i don't think a person would win the macarthur genius award as well as the pulitzer prize by putting out a book of lies. of course, she won both of those awards. with people like robert woodson out there speaking out against the 1619 project and downplaying racism, white nationalist can just sit back and let other people like that do the talking for them. these are the people who call in your show same thank god for bob woodson. racism is front and center.
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host: lisa is in shreveport. caller: yes. i would like to know if you are going to apologize to everyone, republican, democrat, and dependent, white black, whoever. both parties are involved in human trafficking. and could feel you at the white house. host: we are going to scott in hutchison kansas. caller: good morning. happy new year to you. i just think so often we don't look for the root cause. i wish we would do more of that. january 6 is a huge event. climate change is a huge event. i've heard a lot of callers say things that are just not true.
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about the election being stolen, more votes sent out that came in. they are adding the primary votes along with the regular election votes. it's meant -- misinformation. what i would like to see done is renew the fairness stock turn in media -- fairness doctrine so we can limit the fake news. host: we've got to run. thank you for watching today. happy new year. we will see you in 2022. doing
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♪ >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies, including sparklight. >> the greatest town on earth is the town new call home and it is our home too. that is why sparklight is working around the clock to keep you connected. >> sparklight supports a c-span as a public service, giving you a front row seat to democracy. ♪ >> sunday on q and a, washington post columnist michelle single terry on her book " -- michelle singletary on her book " what
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to do with your money when crisis hits." >> it may be long, it may be short, but life is going to happen and i need you to prepare now. i do a lotto financial seminars in my community -- lot of financial seminars in my community, and it is hard to get people to save and prepare when they are doing well. when they crisis hits, everybody is in frugal mode, they are ready to do it, but that is too late. the time to do it is when you have the ability to cut. it is easy to cut when you cannot pay for anything or everything is shut down. let's prepare -- let's be like that fireman or firewoman who
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are prepared for that fire. >> michelle singletary on her book " what to do with your money when crisis hits," on c-span q&a. >> next week, wednesday the senate rules committee holds a hearing on the capitol police since the january 6 attack. live coverage begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern. we will have coverage throughout the day marking the one-year anniversary of the attack. the supreme court hears two cases regarding vaccines. live coverage begins at 10:00
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a.m.. both the house and senate return in january for the start of the second session of congress. they take up the build back better plan despite joe manchin's announced opposition to the bill. democratic leadership also hopes to take up voting rights alleges nation -- legislation. there is a deadline for both houses of congress to pass budget legislation to avoid a government shutdown. you can watch on c-span now, our new video app. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. ♪

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