president's in-box podcast, senior vice president of council of foreign relations thank you for your time. that is it for the program but please join us tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern for another edition of "washington journal" and enjoy the rest of your day. c-span -- c-span c-span c-span [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023] >> "washington journal" involving you to discuss the latest issues in government, from washington and across the country. coming up sunday morning

democratic strategist and republican strategist discuss campaign 2024. mike johnson's election as house speaker and government funding deadlines. then the u.s. military and defense aid to israel. "washington journal," join the discussion at 7:00 a.m. eastern sunday morning on c-span, c-span now or c-span.org. >> 2024 republican preside hopefuls former president d trump, ron desantis, tim s and former u.n.mbassador are among thos speak at the joeish coalition in las vegas. today on c-span, c-span now our mobile app or c-span.org.

>> next week on the c-span networks the house and senate are in with both chambers continuing work on 2024 spending legislation to fund the federal government for next year. the senate will vote on president biden's ambassadoto asia and anthony blinken and lid austin testify before the senate appropriations committee on the $106 million ergency supplemental funding for israel and ukraine and other national security ringsment also on esday the secretary of holand security and f.b.i. director testify before the senate homeland security committee on threats to the homeland. wednesday federal reserve chair holds a news conference following the federal open market committee meeting. watch next week live on the c-sp insurance or c-span now our apand go to c-span.org for

scheduling information or stream video. live or on demand. c-span your unfiltered view of government. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government fund the by these television companies and more including charter communications. >> kphraert is proud to be recognized as one of the asbestos internet employers and we are just getting started with 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. charter communications pports c-span as a public service with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. host: good morning, it is sat october 28, 2023 the gaza strip is in a communications near

blackout as israel expands ground operations. in the u.s. police in maine undered a man hunt with a suspect in the state's worst shooting found dead. here in washington the new speaker of the house louisiana republican mike johnson has begun settling into his new role. we are looking toer your top news story the republican line is 202-748-8001. democrats at 202-748-8000. independents can reach us at 202-748-8002. if you would like to text us you can do that at 202-748-8003. include your name and where you are from. we will start in washington with louisiana republican mike johnson who moments after his election as speaker of the house on wednesday delivered remarks about his plans for the role. >> i think all of our people and

all the american people at one time had great pride in this institution. but right now that is in jeopardy. we have a calendar before us right now to rebuild and restore that trust. this is a beautiful country. it is the beauty of america that allows a firefighter's kid to serve here where great men and women served before us and strived. we are at a introduce time the world is in turmoil but a strong america is good for the entire world. [applause] >> we are the beacon of freedom and we must preserve this

experiment in sever govern tphapbgs. we are only 247 years into it and we don't know how long it will last but the founders told us to take good care of it. i want to tell all of my colleagues what i told the republicans in that room last night. i don't believe there are any coincidences in a party like this. i believe the don't believe is very clear that god is the one that raises those in authority. he raised all of us. i believe that god is ordained and allowed each of us to be brought for this specific moment. i believe that each of us has a huge responsibility today to use the government god has given us to serve the people of this country and they deserve it and ensure our republican remains -- our republican remains as a beak of in a world that desperately needs it. host: we do want to hear your thoughts on your top news story of the week.

our numbers are 202-748-8001 for republicans, 202-748-8000 for democrats. and 202-748-8002 for independents. some stories we are following this morning are the election of the house g.o.p. speaker with reserve johnson from louisiana getting that role. also the ongoing israel-hamas conflict the mass shooting in maine, house democratic dean phillips countering joe biden earlier and plea and immunity deals in the trump trials. let's start with richard in spartan, new jersey, on the democrat line. good morning, richard. caller: good morning, good morning. we will talk about the middle east because i'm in a conundrum. it is hard to pick a side and be on the moral high ground. this is a real problem for me.

i realize if you split the pie differently i have a solution for anybody with the same problem. how about away divide it between the people who want peace and are practically mounded and want to settle down, divide the land and live in peace. and those people who are ideologues basically religious crazies who feel that spongebob the holy one gave their particular religion to that real estate exclusively. those are the enemies on both sides. the israelis and arabs who are against peace and want to vanquish the other side. they are the enemy and i don't support them and the people who want peace are the people i support. now i feel like i'm on the moral high ground. host: jack in develop vin dale

-- in melvin dale, michigan on the independent line. caller: good morning. it is a difficult time right now because i hear news from a corporation you think there's a conflict. but if you avail yourself of the technology we have in the 21st century which is the internet and social media you can see a literal genocide ongoing, israel just bombing children left right and center and our tech dollars supporting that. i like how the new speaker the first thing he does is wants to give military aid to israel to do more genocide so i went to america first, that is israel first. >> carl in north little rock, arkansas on the independent line. caller: i'm not quite for sure what y'all are having the man

discussion today. host: the top news story of the week, whatever your top news star is, karl. caller: oh. well, obviously it ought to be peace in the middle east. however, israel, they need to do what they need to do. for anybody to say stop, nobody said oh stop to what you call them, hamas. what does hamas mean? is there a definition for that or just a name like democrats, which at the seem to be in the same line, death and destruction to anybody for their own needs.

the people are talking in free palestine. palestinians and israelis are actually the same people. you go back to judah, i believe -- well, the names up in biblical times. i can't pronounce them. i'm from the arkansas cotton fields, ok? but they need to -- these people that are nothing but for death and destruction, which is the palestinians, israel gave them a land that they call the gaza. and these people that, they are not looking for land. they just want to kill good --

god fearing people. the palestinians if they want to be free, go to southern israel and -- host: karl, i want to bring in a piece of tape here. after offering another declaration of support for israel at the white house earlier this week president biden delivered some remarks about the safety and future of palestinians. here is a portion of that from wednesday. >> they equally deserve to live side by side in safety, dignity and peace. there's no going back to the status quo as it stood on october 6. that means ensuring hamas can no longer terrorize israel and use palestinian civilians as human shields. it also means when this crisis is over there has to be a vision of what comes next and our view it has to be a two-state

solution. that means a concentrated effort from all the parties, israelis, palestinians, regional partners, global leaders to put us on a path toward peace. in the past few weeks i have spoken to leaders throughout the region including king of jordan, president of egypt and palestinian authority and just yesterday with the crown principals of saudi arabia about making sure there's real hope in the region for a better future. but the need -- i mean this since 150er8 -- the need to work toward a greater integration of israel while insisting that the aspirations of palestinian people will be part of that future as well. i'm convinced one of the reasons hamas attacked when they did -- i have no proof, it is my instinct -- is because of the progress we were making for reintegration of israel and overall. we can't leave that work behind.

i continue to be alarmed about extremist settlers attacking palestinians in the west bank, pouring gasoline on fires. this was a deal. the deal was made and they are attacking palestinians in places they are entitled to be. it has to stop. it has to be accountability and it has to stop now. host: back to your calls with michelle in auburn, maine. caller: i want to talk about the masshooting in maine. goodness they found him and he is deceased so our community can first of all be out of lockdown that we have been in a couple of days. and it seems like since this happened the focus is onuns.

i agree that guns are a big part of the problem. if youook at other countries, certainly they don't have these kinds of mass shooting episodes like we do here. t also think that we need two -- it not just solution.e seems to beome void our society that they are men, they have access to guns and they have some kind of mental health issue and grievances and it seems like we have to think of it as a big puzzle and we have to figure out how to fix all of those pieces and not just one. host: michelle, what was it like during that lockdown for you? caller: here in maine it is one of the safest states in the

country and that is one thing -- it is not always easy to live here. there is a very lie cost of living, very cold, lewages. people think of maine and you think of the cold but most of us don't have an easy life. but one thing we always say two each other is but we are safe. so it did hit us really hard that way. and, of course, it is small so everyone knows everyone and everyone is connected to somebody that was shot. it is that small. so, it hit us very deeply here. host: thank you, michelle. horace in philadelphia, pennsylvania, on the democratic lane. caller: my opinions are about this war is so confusing over in israel. i really don't understand the

situation. what the hamas inflicted on the israelis is a terrible thing. they had no right to do that. but i don't understand all the bombing that is going on in the gaza. you understand? when you mix innocent palestinians with terrorists, i don't see how you can differentiate the two. i'm confused because how do you know who is hamas and who are innocent palestinians? that is number one. number two, this guy that they picked for the speaker of the

house is a joke, a total joke. i mean, this guy is running around with bibles, quoting scripture. we don't want no dog gone preacher for no speaker. we want a guy that is about taking care of the problems of the country, not no man running around with a bible quoting skreuplt cher. that -- scripture. host: let's go to michael in napa, california, on the independent line. caller: i'm calling largely to agree with the previous caller. i'm very disappointed in the new speakerment bible thumping is not the exclusion to our problems and he is completely off base when he says guns are not the problem.

he is out of touch, a very poor beginning. thank you. host: let's go to someone on our republican line. caller: good morning. this is in regard to the issues with palestine. i'm a september 11 survivor and rescuer and i used to live right along with people in palestinian in brooklyn. they were very nasty. i always wear because i take pride in my service to the u.s. army and this person had three sons and i will give 947 59th street, minute, new york. one of the sons named billy, he used to see me come down the stairs, i lived on the third

floor and he would see me with my uniform and he came down to me and tell me america what are you guys doing in our countries? your soldiers shouldn't be there. america the head of the snake. when he told me that i got very upset and grabbed him by the shirt. if you do not like it here why you live hear. they hate our country but they are here. if you don't love us here what are you doing here? my ear issue is why all these people they are demonstrating in manhattan and minute and -- and brooklyn and in the united states that they are the most threatened against israel. burning their flag in our country? you don't do that. we sort of have our hands tied, our authority not doing anything about t. why not take these

people and send them back to palestine. they should have respect for the united states. for them to tell us, for palestinians to tell us in our country that america the head of the snake and against us, listen, i used to go to utah state university, i used to go to the restroom and if you go to the restroom you read on the walls death to america, kill americans. you know, when i used to read this right now i'm talking to you and the hair on my arms are -- this is not the country i was brought in on. i don't know what is happening in our country. these people are taking advantage. why are we letting this happen. why is this president right now so like a close minded on everything? host: thank you, geronimo.

larry in rockville, maryland, on the end line. caller: i would like to continue on that theme. i think the mealedia has failed -- media has failed america. the anti-semitic riots that have taken place on the college campuses have been broadcast very widely. the media has been unable to interview the people who are conducting the riots. i think any cursory examination of the people who are out front in the riots will disclose that they are foreign students, most of them are here foreign students on visas and the i.n.s., ice right now has full authority to withdraw their foreign students' visas. i think their parents would be very glad to see them back home when they don't have the privileges that are extended to

them hear. i would ask the president to look into executing an order that allows for immediate expulsion of foreign students and associations that endorse anti-semitic actions. host: ed in laurel, maryland, on the document line. host: let me send a prayer to maine. what i was calling about. is thh gerrymandering. the southern states and republican controlled states. they gerrymandered their way states gerrymandered their way

into the house. they have cheated their way in. senator warnock was talking about this recently. greatest threat to democracy right now is gerrymandering because you watch silence in people's voices. that is the hard core truth. the speaker of the house is not legal and that's the way i look at it and the supreme court is bias and they decided that they are not going to try to solve this problem. have a nice day. host: james in san diego, california, on the republican line. caller: i would like to talk about this issue with maine and

how many individuals were killed over the last 10 years in vehicular accidents of one sort or another and compare that to how many times were kid in mass shootings in maine only. therefore, we should lower the speed limit in maine to 40 miles an hour to eliminate or bring down the number that are kild in vehicular accidents. thank you very much. host: here is a newly elected speaker mike johnson reacting to the shootings in maine during a fox news interview thursday. >> i just want you to know and american people to know all the members of the house are deeply concerned about the families involved and everyone. we pray for the law enforcement officers that are doing their job. i talk about the human heart. if someone wants to kill

innocent people there are a lot of ways beyond a gun. i'm sure this will be a bigger issue throughout the days moving forward. is there any specific gun law that you would look at or new legislation you would look at? >> i have been on the job 48 hours. there will be lots of discussion but the point is well taken. in europe and other places they use vehicles to mow done crowds parades. it is not the weapon but the underlaying problem. i believe we have to address the root problems and mental health is a big issue and we have to seriously address that as a society and government. there's lots of measures pending on that as well. host: back to your calls, frank in memphis, tennessee, on the independent line. caller: good morning. there's an issue that i cannot square and been this way for the

past few weeks for me. i want to put it out there to get some comments on it. but the maggots that claim to support -- host: let's not use that kinds of language. let's go to minnesota on the democratic line. caller: good morning. i was listening the last 15 minutes to everybody calling in and obviously lots of issues and turmoil. host: go ahead, phillip. caller: i will just say that jimmy nextel cup series -- jimmy phillips declared presidency in machine yesterday. i respect president biden but i think we need some newer voices.

i hope people get out and vote. there's so much anger and hate that we can do better. that is all i have to say. host: yes, and we have an article from the a.p. about that announcement. reserve dean phillips announcing his primary challenge to biden saying that democrats need to focus on the future and calling for the to have been to be passed to a younger generation. that is in the associated press. let's go to ed in ocean city, new jersey. host: on the phaefrpb -- m&a shooting, and other areas no one has a gun and they have a handful of gun murders last year and the gun turn am days which

the charities and churches have done are a step in the right direction. second, mental health courses in schools starting in kindergarten. i started with my nieces when they were 2 years old, message health prevention. host: ok. let's go to a comment from facebook from elsie lynn who says another masshting of innocent people in america. when willitstop? all people have mental health issues but they don't have mass shootings. how power capacity guns are a major part of the problem. now to ed in clarks burke -- clarksburg, wing on the -- west virginia on the independent line. caller: i'm glad the people in

maine don't have to worry because they found the man dead who committed the crimes. number two, on the guns, let me tell you, i would rather have one and not needed than to need one and not have it. number three, and it is the simplest, i know none -- i'm 88 and i don't remember but brady passed a law to outlaw alcohol in the united states. that would stop all of this terrible drunkenness. well, am so, they got rid of that law. you cannot make laws and pass them that do not give you results. i am 88. i am blind.

i went blind. i found out in 1974 i was going blind and i finally ended up blind in 2005. i had to depend on the news. i cannot see anything so i had to depend on voice. i hope all these people out there with these problems, you should be considerate. i know you are not happy, but i do not think we need this foul mouth and badmouth stuff. thank you, c-span, for taking my comment. host: thank you for calling. kathleen in new york on the democratic line. caller: good morning. first of all i would like to start with the speaker. once he said the other day he would not ban assault rifles he was done for me. that is a weapon of war, mass

destruction -- where was i going? please don't hang up on me. host: that's ok. take a moment. caller: there was a guy in maine -- let me finish with what i was saying. sorry. the only reason i think they will not ban it is because of the white militia. they use them, honey. that is why i think they will not ban it. going on to maine. how mentally ill was this guy, you know what i am saying? before they found him i thought to myself, they are never going to find this man. or they will find him dead. sure enough, they found him dead. how mentally ill was he? he took his own life. he knew his life was over. you know what i mean? as far as hamas and israel, gaza

, it hurts so much when i see the news. it hurts so much when i see innocent children. it was wrong what hamas did, very wrong. at the music festival they were throwing rockets over to israel. you think, well, what were they supposed to do? but really, bombing hamas like crazy and killing innocent children? no, no, no, no, no. two wrongs do not make a right. they say they are bombing hamas. really? bombing hamas? i see beautiful innocent children being hurt and killed. it is not good. hamas, god is great, god is great. host: we have a similar comment from andrea on x.

the story of theeewas told in the video of hamas' barbarism. it was a genocidfowhich israel is obligated to respond. in fact, all nations should respond. giving a counter perspective. let's go to david in riverside, california on the republican line. caller: good morning, kimberly, and good morning, america. israel was attacked in a way -- we may have serial killers here but the hatred toward israel has to be not logical. islam in the middle east has allowed itself to be violent that should not win many converts. to say this is unique to middle east terrorists is a fact. there is no corollary to the western world. hamas, iran, hezbollah are the nazis reborn.

colleges across america are taking their side against the good israelis who just want to live. ask yourself this. if you side with the murderers, rapists, and terrorists, what does that say about you and your soul? jesus said if the light within you is darkness, how great is the darkness? the governor of iran is the source of the darkness. they must be overthrown before they get nuclear weapons. thank you. host: let's go ahead and before we go to another call i want to remind people of the question. the top story of the week, whatever is for you. we are following several stories including israel expanding its gaza operations. here is the headline from the wall street journal where the israel army has expanded its ground rate and intensified airstrikes in gaza during a commute occasions blackout in the strip that started friday night. one of the most significant

operations yet ahead of expected invasions intended to end 16 years of hamas rule. we are looking for your top story of the week whether it be the israel-hamas war, the new speaker, the shooting in maine. republicans can call in at (202)-748-8001. democrats o(2)-748-8000. independentsn 02)-748-8002. let's go to jacksonville, north carolina on the democratic line with gail. caller: good morning. all the news is awful this week. my heart goes out to all the people in israel. the thing with this shooting in maine -- because i have family up there -- 40 miles from where the shooting occurred and history shows that bill clinton was president that banned

assault rifles in 1993. it was good for 10 years and in those 10 years mass shootings dramatically decreased. then it was not -- it was shut down and the republicans took over and they would not renew it. of course, after that the mass shootings went up. i feel there has to be, you know, a ban on these weapons that kill so many people. just like in texas. those children were unidentifiable because of that weapon and the republicans -- all they care about is the second amendment but that -- when they wrote the second amendment, you know, it was not about the ar-15. it was people protecting themselves in their homes.

until we get rid of some of these ridiculous republicans that are in the house of representatives right now, they are a joke. they don't want to do anything for the american people. all they want to do is backstab and do revenge and do nothing for the american people. even in north carolina. they are cheating right now in north carolina, gerrymandering, and they are going to make north carolina have three or four more republican seats. that was one issue. the next is when is donald trump going to jail for violating his gag order? have a blessed day. host: going back to the topic gail brought up of the main mass shooting, jared golden was a democrat who enjoyed an a+ rating from gun rights advocates. he has reversed and apologized

and said he regretted his opposition to the ban and said he would now support it. that story from the washington post. let's go to pat in florida on the republican line. caller: good morning, america. i just wanted to say that open borders, these riots in the streets with these young college students who should be in school learning about the constitution, it is a matter of time, america, when our country will be looking like gaza and israel. wake up, close the border. we do not know who is in our country at this point. thank you, democrats. as far as the assault --

consequences going back into schools need to be stricter. defund the police, that is what the democrats want a nasty issue. have a great day. host: anna scullion on the independent line. caller: i called and c-span 10 years ago and my comment was they need to tell the palestinian side. for years they have never told the palestinian side. now i think there is more anger. if they had told palestinian side maybe we wouldn't have been so gung ho about israel and been more fair to the palestinian. the jews take the palestinian

land and they continue to take it for their settlements. host: allie in virginia on our independent line. caller: i want to talk about the new republican leader. i am a christian but one thing i believe in, i don't think religion belongs in politics. the reason people don't like about religion is because it's been politicized and i don't think religion belongs in politics. for the man who said palestinian should not demonstrate in college towns. welcome to america. caller: we talk about assault rifles which is terrible. the thing that happened in maine

is terrible. school shootings are terrible. but they don't take into consideration that cities like chicago, new york and detroit. every summer there are young black children killed by handguns. one weekend there were 13 young people killed in chicago. i bet you in the city of chicago , there are 30, 35 young people killed by handguns. it goes on and it's like a normal thing. assault rifles are bad but is it any different than getting killed by a handgun? in all of these major cities, there are young people killed and a lot of these kids are bystanders and they are like so

what? it goes on and they let it go on. they don't worry about these young black people in these cities taken their lives and not doing something about it. i appreciate you listening. host: in axios they have a story about the new house speaker saying the problem is the human heart and not guns. under his leadership he will be responsible for dealing with efforts who are urging action in the wake of the shooting in maine. he believes it is inappropriate to talk about gun control during the crisis. let's go to andrew and brooklyn, new york, a democrat.

caller: what i'm calling about is israel. the way i look at it, this is my first time calling. i'm fairly nervous. if i come into your house tell you how to live, for 75 years, israel has taken advantage of the palestinians and the american government should be doing more for gaza. they are giving israel everything they want but nobody is talking about what is going on with the kids and adults and gazans that have nothing to do with the moss. host: next up is george in maryland on the independent line. caller: hello, am i on? host: go ahead george. caller: i want to talk about what is happening in the middle east.

you look at the 6:00 news last night. this is historical. if you don't have the historical background to see anything you won't see anything. we see children being bombed indiscriminately. it is terrible. you look at the definition of terrorism. i am not taking sides, i pray for peace. you don't take sides. you don't go in and create a country for people. the british i've been doing that. everywhere they have gone they've done that. they've gone into africa, they pull areas together and make countries and their still

fighting today. they did it all over the world. if israel is god's people then he will take care of them. that's what he does and let men be men. children being killed and those children you see today, when they turn 15 or become teenagers, they are going to remember how their family got killed and when they act you will say why are they doing this? you should be saying that now rather than looking at the place being bombed. i am not saying what they did to the israelis is right. i'm tired of this. we have to do something. the only fighting machines they have -- fighting chance they

have is to join hamas. host: we have dennis in massachusetts. caller: good morning, how are you doing. i'll we could been talking about hamas and the war. i want to bring up a point to the american people that was left in the weeds earlier this week about joe biden crime family that they had more stuff on the family being caught ran head in -- red-handed. in performance to the fbi and then covered it up for 12 years. it was on conservative tv. i can see why our country is so bad. you take political sides and hate everything.

donald trump can comb his hair the wrong way and go to jail. it's time to put biden in jail too. that's all i've got to say. the war is bad, the vietnam era was bad. let's hope and pray that god straightens this mess out and we need donald trump back in office. host: let's go to charles in kalamazoo, michigan. caller: i just want to say a lot of opinions and newspeople that don't really follow history or anything, they have a big mouth. uninformed opinions, go back to school. or do some research. some of these callers are

ridiculous. they are one-sided, uneducated and it's just ridiculous. do your research. host: from georgia, on our democratic line. caller: goodness gracious. i have one call every 30 days. i am a history freak and i am fluent in hebrew. i have been talking to friends of mine in israel for a while before the attack by gaza. netanyahu was attempting -- the only way we can compare him to someone else you can compare him

to donald trump. he was trying to get rid of supreme court and under investigation for all sorts of things. he was also invading the north. getting israelis to go up there, kill palestinians and take their land. that is just a small, small thing. i'm a history freak. if somebody wants to go back, again, they want to go to the founders and so on. i would remind folks that ronald reagan said that he believes in the second amendment that everyone should have the opportunity to own a gun but that no one should have an ar-15. that is a direct quote.

to all of those folks, just look , it doesn't happen and the rest of the democratic world. it is simply doesn't. i was in the army and i know what those weapons will do. you can take a car and kill a bunch of people, that is so crazy. host: there was a copndrom marine in massachusetts, can we own missiles? can we own nukes? no because they do too much weapons. no more automatic or semi automatic guns. let's go to pennsylvania on the democratic line. hi there, rick. caller: first of all, i grew up in the 60's.

i saw people protest the vietnam war and beaten into the ground when they did. i remember kent state when four people were killed. and now these people who are protesting on campus are being blackballed. the united states ought to be ashamed of what's going on. they say they cannot control israel going in and killing those people and actually slaughtering those people. those people are like myself and other americans. all we want to do is be left alone to liberalize. you can keep taking people's homes. this is ridiculous what's going on. i am afraid is going to escalate into a war. i set a long time ago, like the woman said earlier, she called

10 years ago. she said that what was going on in gaza was an outrage. i think it's going to escalate into a war over this. host: gloria in minneapolis, and independent. caller: my top news story of the week here is the war on the gaza strip. if you can call it a war. it's sad to say, israel is the elephant and they have people thinking gaza is an mouse. in world war ii, we only got into it because japan bombed us. if it were not for pearl harbor we would've never gotten into world war ii. but when we did we saved europe

but we wanted something for it. we got nato. what do we have in israel? we bought and paid off israel so we can have some control in a place to store our weapons. israel can't be stopped. we had time to stop it. 72 years and we didn't because we paid them. and now, they are too big. they are a monster we grew. joe biden can't do anything he should be doing a cease-fire. host: jackie in florida on the democratic line. caller: hi, ok. i'm a little nervous. the first president i voted for was jimmy carter. he tried in the early 70's to

have a peaceful resolution to the israeli/palestinian issue. he was not reelected because of the post by the israeli government but did not want this to happen. now, it's total control. the palestinians are living in an outdoor prism. no electricity, water or medical and they are being bombed. they have sticks and stones. i am appalled that my government is supporting this. where are our values? 1000 palestinian children have been killed. i understand that hamas started this but this goes back over 50 years of destitution, horrible

conditions for the palestinians that brought this about. this needs to stop in my government needs to step in and stop the slaughter of the palestinians. thank you. host: in dodge city, kansas. lex on the republican line. caller: yes, good morning. i would like to say to the lady and florida and pennsylvania, please get into a nondenominational church. study the bible. if you want to study history, study the bible. go back to where it all began and look at it. jesus was king of the jews. do you realize that? god gave that land to the jewish people. it is their land. leave them alone or you are going to be an egg trouble.

-- in big trouble. even the arab countries don't want that land and that's because they're like a wild donkey on the mountain. host: the un's general assembly has asked for a humanitarian truce leading to a halt in israel's fighting. notably, not in the un security council. 193 member body adapted the resolution of 120-14 after rejecting a canadian amendment back by the united states that would've condemned the terror attacks and demanded the release of hostages taken by hamas which is not mentioned in the arab

draft resolution that passed. the un security council failed for attempts to reach an agreement on a resolution. let's go to another caller, david in new york on the independent line. caller: i was calling because i am third-generation. when my grandparents came here they needed to learn the language and they assimilated and left behind the old traditions. i work in brooklyn and that is just the opposite. a lot of the things we are seeing in the news. you can call it antisemitism but is a lack of assimilating into america. when we see these folks talking about the chosen people. i feel like they bring this upon themselves.

they assimilated more into american views and values. host: gary and florida on the democratic line. caller: i would contend that the second amendment is obsolete. everyone i know who's the second amendment supporter always leaves out everything before the,. comma. for the purpose of maintaining well maintained militia the people should have the right to bear arms. militia is a 1700 word for militia. we have a military therefore king malicious obsolete. host: stop acting like we can't have a second amendment and not

ban military style weapons. this is a false narrative that is used to manipulate voters. let's hear from laida in holyoke, massachusetts. the independent line. caller: i am calling because my top news story of the week is the ohio state documentary. as we know, -- host: what was the name of the documentary? caller: it was awesome. i went with my mom. it was a true story. you had fbi whistleblowers, different people that are part of our congress, our senate.

explaining to people what was going on in regards to how our three letter agencies are compromised. it was unbelievable when i saw, i can't remember the name of the guy who was one of the mass shooters. he was an fbi agent undercover. they played the actual audio of a conversation. he was promised money. he was given weapons. these are people the fbi no. when i was amazed when i got back from the movie i didn't even know they had chosen the house speaker.

why, because the news was inundated with the mass shooting from maine. i understand this important and i pray for all the victims. at the same time, our government is so compromised. host: i want to give some information about this film. ed mother jones which is an online news organization that leads to the left. if i can happen simi aiken happe -- if it can happen to me it can happen to you and is called police state. that was what our guest was just referencing. it appears to be available online. let's go to stan and scottsboro,

alabama. caller: good morning. our senator from alabama commie tommy tuberville. -- she started out the week starting to support israel but not ukraine. he has held up military appointments. the reason he is doing that is he is a putin supporter. he is not from alabama. i have been here all my life. he went up there from florida appointed him and support host: trump. just charles in south carolina on art republican line. caller: good morning.

what i wanted to talk about, first of all the reason we have the second amendment is because americans need to have guns. we need to have guns to protect ourselves because we do not want to end up like hitler's and germany. once they got all of the guns out from all of the people, then they just moved that dictatorship. also, some of the people that are calling in, they do need to go back and read the bible. like it says in the bible if you pray for the peace of jerusalem and if you bless israel, you are going to be blessed. if you curse them, you will be cursed. we need to support israel as much as possible, because the

united states, our blessing has come from the lord. and it is all because of israel. had israel, had those jews excepted jesus at that time, then we might have that today. host: that is all the time we have for calls at the moment. coming up we are going to hear from fairplay executive director josh golin who is discussing recent challenges to social media companies over claims that their platforms negatively impact youth mental health. and then we will hear from the council on foreign relations senior vice president, james lindsay who will discuss his podcast "the president's inbox." we will be back soon. ♪ >> the honorable mike johnson

having received a majority of the votes cast is duly elected speaker of the house of representatives. >> the battle over the house speakership is over. house gop members elected mike johnson as the new speaker of the house following the move -- the removal of kevin mccarthy. we brought you every moment as this historic election unfolded. continue to stay with c-span as the house reconvenes and gets back to legislative business. you can also visit our video library where you can find more about how mike johnson -- more about mike johnson's career in congress with more than 215 appearances since 2017. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> monday, watch the series in

partnership with the library of congress, books that shaped america. we will feature the novel "my anthonia" part of the prairie trilogy that tells the story of a friendship of an orphaned boy from virginia and the elder daughter in a family of bohemian immigrants who settled in nebraska. it addresses the immigrant experience and women's issues at the time. an english pressure -- professor of the university of nebraska have taught about the book for many years and will join us on the program. watch book shaping america monday live at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now or online at c-span.org. be sure to scan the qr code to listen to the companion podcast where you can learn more about the authors of the books featured. >> a healthy democracy does not

just look like this, it looks like this where americans can see democracy at work, where a republic thrives. get informed straight from the source on c-span, unfiltered, unbiased, word from -- word for word, from the nations capital to wherever they are. because the opinion that matters most is their own. this is what democracy looks like, powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back, we are joined by josh golin, executive director of fairplay. and the website is fairplayforkids.org. welcome. guest: thank you for having me. host: we will hear your calls a little bit later. the numbers for calls will be 202-748-8000 for people in the

eastern and central time zone. 202-748-8001 for people in the mountain and pacific. and 202-748-8002 for parents and caregivers. first, why don't you explain airplay -- fairplay's mission and how you are funded. guest: it is to keep kids safe when they are online and also to ensure that they get the off-line time that they need to thrive. we advocate for policies that would protect children and keep them safe or on social media and other websites and for policies that would make social media less addictive because kids are spending the majority of their waking hours on these platforms and it is having a serious effect on their well-being. we are funded entirely by foundations and individual donors. we do not take any money from social media companies or any

corporation. host: who do you work with when you are doing your efforts? guest: so, we work with pediatricians, psychologists, teachers, and groups concerned about privacy, and children's well-being. one of the most powerful constituencies that we work with is parents. including many parents who have lost their children to social media harm. parents who have lost their kids to suicide that was partially caused by social media platforms who have attempted viral challenges that ended up in accidental death. that bought fentanyl through snapchat and ended up dying. lee's parents understand that the role that social media played in their parent -- and their children's death and they want some meaning to come out of that and they want to make sure that this does not happen to

another family. i was just in washington this week with a group of 12 parents who lost their children to social media harms advocating for the kids online safety act, a bill that would transform the internet for young people and i cannot emphasize enough the way that these parents are changing the conversation when it comes to regulating the internet for young people. host: i want to talk about that legislation and bit. but first, what are the biggest challenges and concerns and it comes to children and teens online today. guest: everything i am concerned about stems from the business model. the business model for all of these social media and online platforms is to design your platforms in ways that will keep kids on the platform as long as possible so you can collect as much data from them as possible to serve as many ads as possible. and it turns out that both the

amount of time that kids are spending and the ways they are being manipulated to stay online longer are both harmful. that leads to things like mental health challenges like anxiety and depression, self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, cyber bullying, the sexual exploitation of children by adults. these are all problems directly related to this business model of trying to keep kids online as much as possible. host: you mentioned the children and teens online privacy per -- privacy protection act, what would that do and where does it stand? guest: the children and teens online privacy and protection act is an important bill that would disrupt the business model. it would limit data protection -- limit data collection from children and teenagers. and give teenagers their own special privacy rights for the first time. one of the things that is

interesting is that the only law that we have to protect children online was passed in 1998, that was over 25 years ago before we had smartphones and before we even had social media or tablets or anything that we do online today. we are desperately in need of new laws and regulations. this act would limit data collection and would ban personalized data-driven advertising for children under the age of 17, so they would be worth less to the platforms and less reasons to manipulate them and keep them online longer. i want to mention that that bill advanced out of the senate commerce committee in july and we are hopeful that it is headed to a floor vote in the fall. there is another bill that advanced with it called the kids online safety act, and that bill would create -- would make the

platforms responsible for preventing and mitigating serious harms for things like eating disorders and suicide and exciting, depression, cyber bullying, the purchasing of illegal drugs. it would create a duty of care so that the platforms would have to look at the way they are designed and how that is affecting young people, and if it was causing serious harm, they would have to change their design. host: i am looking at a headline from "the washington post" this week, 41 states sued meta claiming instagram and facebook are addictive and harm kids. what is behind the suits and what are the legal claims that they are making? guest: the reason we are seeing these is because of a couple of things. one, the overwhelming and mounting evidence that spending too much time on social media is extremely harmful to young

people, to their mental health, to their physical health. the second piece is that meta knows that their platforms, particularly instagram is harmful and has concealed that information from the public. what it alleges is that instagram in particular is specifically designed to be addictive and they choose products and features that they know will cause compulsive use and for young people to check instagram over and over again to spend even more time and that they know young people say that they wish they did not spend so much time and then it makes them feel bad in serious ways. it makes eating disorders worse and mental health challenges worse. despite knowing this and despite people at meta bringing this to their supervisors and their own internal research that said there platform is harming young people and making them feel bad they have not done anything to

change the platform. in order to change, if they were to make the changes that would make the platform less addictive it would've flecked their revenue. meta chooses profit over young people's well-being every single time. host: earlier this year the u.s. surgeon general argued that excessive social media use as a child might lead to a higher risk of poor mental health, but the american psychological association released a report at the same time and to read something. "using med is not inherently unofficial or harmful adolescents refct and impact their off-line lives. in most cases thatmpact is dependent on the adolescent's own al and psychological characteristics and social circumstanntercting with sit -- with sc content, features and functions afforded within the many platforms.

in other words, e effect on social media likeldepends on psychological characteristics and what teenagers can do and see online. teens' pre-existing strengths and vulnerabilities and the context in which they grow up." when you hear about all of this research, where does it fit in the arc? how much overall research has been done and what has it been focused on? guest: there is a growing body of research and the research areas. some of it looks at how much time young people are spending on social media platforms and what are the rates of anxiety and depression if somebody is spending two to three hours versus six to seven hours. and what we consistently see across the research is that heavy users of social media have the worst outcomes. so it is the users spending four to five or even more, some spit

-- some kids are spending 10 hours a day on social media that have the worst outcomes in terms of mental health, eating disorders and suicidal ideation. there are studies that are longitudinal, and what i think is really interesting is that right around 2010 you start to see this enormous strike -- spike and all of the mental health outcomes we do not want to see. anxiety, suicidal ideation, eating disorders. 2010 is around the time that social media became so normalized for kids and teenagers. and so, there seems to be very clear associations between social media use and poor mental health. and i would agree with the american psychological association that social media is not inherently harmful. the idea of having teenagers connect online to their peers and giving them another way to

meet new people and to explore new ideas and topics and to be exposed to people outside of their immediate community or to connect to their and real-life friends when they are not able to see them in real life, like during a pandemic. those are things that can be beneficial. but, as i mentioned at the outset, it is the way the platforms that are designed -- the way the platforms are designed that make them harmful. the fact that even when kids try to get off they struggled to do so because they are deliberately designed to be addictive. host: we want to hear your thoughts on this. we have special line set up. for callers on the eastern and central time zones, 202-748-8000 . from the mountain or pacific time zones, 202-748-8001. and if you are a parent or a caregiver we have a special line for you, 202-748-8002.

let us start with mary in michigan -- wisconsin who is calling on the parent line. caller: i do not know why you would even consider social media given the guidelines of the government. the parents need to model good behavior. in schools you can start with the schools taking away computers and schools and only have children use flip flown -- flip phones because kids do not want to work together anymore. they do not work together because they are on the computer and they do not know how to communicate with each other and solve problems because they are on the computer. and when kids are being bullied in school, those bullies do not know the person. it is going to continue to be more bullying in schools because nobody works together and cares what happens to one another. they do not think this is a nice

person and i worked with him in a project today. and kids in second grade are given tablets instead of learning how to read. that is a problem. phonics. it is not the computer. the teachers do not even know how to teach kids how to read. a computer will not be able to help a child. they need hands-on and they need to be learning to read at home, and at school. my daughter was in first grade and they were having her teach kids how to read. we had to pull her out. host: we had a similar comment by text message from jt in new mexico who said "i know there is an increasing amount of charter schools thll online programs and no playgrounds or sports programs." and your thoughts on that? what are your thoughts on the role of computers and tablets and how that react to your

concerns on social media? guest: i think the caller and texter made excellent points. i think there is far too much use of computers and a reliance on tablets and online programming for children in schools. we know from decades of research that children learn best when they are doing hands-on learning, as your caller mentioned. when they are collaborating with peers on projects. i think that one of the things that has happened in schools in that -- is that these ed tech companies see a gold rush going on. schools are being sold the false promise that more technology is always better. if you want to have kids better for 20 job markets that you have to get them online as early as possible. what is so important is the hands-on learning and

collaboration when you work side-by-side with a partner. i certainly think that kids are getting far too much screen time in schools and not enough hands-on learning and it is part and parcel of the same problem. if the kid is online the same -- the entire time at school and then online the entire time that they are home, that is displacing so many activities and things that we know that are good for kids. things like reading books, playing with their peers, things like exercising, things like sleeping. we know that kids are sleeping less right now and one of the huge reasons is because of social media and phones. people are weight -- kids are waking up in the middle of the night to check their notifications. i completely agree and we need to think what is best for kids not how to make money off of them. and really, it is part of the same problem. social media companies see kids as a market and the ed tech

companies see schools as a market. and instead of asking what is best they are asking how to make more money? host: there been hundreds of lawsuits by school boards across the country citing the internet liability shield and the tech companies are citing the internet liability shield to block some of these lawsuits. can you talk about what these lawsuits are claiming and why the tech companies think they should be exempt? guest: share. i think this is one of the really exciting developments that along with the attorney generals suing meta, we have all of these school districts suing social media companies. what these lawsuits are claiming from the schools is that these platforms are deliberately designed in ways that are harming children's mental health, that the harms to children's mental health is creating an enormous impact on

schools and the resources. they are having to devote more resources counseling and kids are not learning in the same ways because of their distraction and mental health challenges caused by social media. what we are seeing with the social media companies is they are getting all of the profits and then pushing the problems onto other people, parents, families, and schools. what economists call externality. the schools are paying for the cost that the social media companies are causing. what the social media companies are claiming is that there is a law called section 230 that says if i post something on instagram or on tiktok, tiktok and instagram are not liable for what i post. but i think there is an important distinction that the schools are making and the

attorneys general are making, and that is maybe those platforms are not liable if i post something horrible. but, they are liable if the algorithms start pushing what i say out because they know that that terrible thing i said or the terrible picture that i posted is more likely to keep kids online longer. this is not about free speech or just a presence of pernicious content. it is about the way that the platforms deliberately use algorithms to push out pro suicide content, content that teaches kids how to have an eating disorder and hide it from the parents. they know this is what keep kids on longer and allows them to sell more ads. that is not protected speech, that is design choices. we need safety legislation for social media just like we have for every other product in existence. you know for toys, we do not

have small parts that kids will choke on. for cars we have seatbelts. for social media we have -- we need guardrails that hold against these pronation techniques. host: we have quite a few callers. linda, pennsylvania. caller: hello, thank you very much to c-span. i have some strong feelings about this. i do not agree that the main spear or focus should be suing the social media companies. i am a parent, my kids are in their 30's. i used to teach in schools, i am currently a mental health counselor. i do not believe that social media causes mental health. i do not believe that social media should be linked to eating disorders. i think that is unfair. i do believe though in a parent's role when kids are

spending too much time on social media. for myself as a parent, i know both my kids were helped to learn to read because they watched sesame street. it is a different type of screen, but these tools can be useful. think about a child who for some other reason has a phobia to leave the home. this student can do at home learning. i think during covid some of the at-home learning did not -- was not successful with kids. so, i think there needs to be a critical eye and possibly some research. but i think it is wrong to blame big business and let us look at 30 or 40 years ago instead of kids on social media, teenagers that were on the telephone at

1:00 in the morning. we have to be more aware of the social development of youth and take that into account. and really we need to ask what is best for the kids. i do agree with that, make it a conversation, but the suing idea and getting lawyers involved, i do not like that. i would ask a question. my question is what is the pernicious content? could the speaker, i am sorry i do not see your name right now, but sir, with what respect, name three pernicious content areas that cause mental health issues? guest: sure. i appreciate the question and i would just say that respectfully, if your children are in their 30's then you have not experienced what it is to parent a teenager in the social

media age. it is considerably different. and you mentioned sesame street not causing eating disorders and that is true. but what is different about sesame street is that is content created for the best interest of children. and, i was actually -- when i was in washington meeting with members of congress alongside the parents we had a young 15-year-old girl with us and this was a girl who during the pandemic got on a tiktok account because she wanted to keep in touch with her friends. she was in sixth grade at the time and that was understandable when a sixth-grader in lockdown would want to keep in touch with her friends. and this is a girl who is an athlete who plays basketball and soccer. so when she got her tiktok account she started looking for sports highlights.

and so tiktok understood that she was somebody interested in sports and probably an athlete and then it center fitness videos about how to be more fit. and then soon those videos turned into how to have an eating disorder. she was barraged with videos how to survive on 500 calories or less per day, how to starve yourself and how to hide it from your parents. and not just one or two videos, but hundreds of videos coming at her encouraging her to have an eating disorder. this poor girl got an eating disorder. she was hospitalized for 16 days and missed six months of school. she will be in recovery all of her life. and that is because she was not asking for how to starve herself , she was not asking for videos on how to hide an eating disorder. she just wanted sports videos, but the algorithm understood

that this content is something that would might appeal to her and then it bombarded her with it. this happens over and over again. the algorithms are designed for one reason only, to keep kids on the platforms longer. it is the worst content that frequently what kids -- what keep kids online longer. host: i want to pause you there because we have a lot of callers who want to ask questions. let us go to rj and oklahoma who is a caregiver. caller: i am a retired therapist and i am raising my grandson. and you know this deal, everybody is addicted to it and i think it could cause many disorders. i had many kids commit suicide over the phone and video games. i do not know where the last lady looks but she better open her eyes.

it causes real bad anxiety. my ex-wife, his grandmother bought him a phone when he was 12. ok. it went all right for a while and then i would catch and talking -- catch him talking to a girl when he was asleep and then he would have it on all the time. we almost got into a fight for me taking it out of his room. i had sen. young: men that i had -- i've had several young men that i had to take down over phones and video games. and in 1999 i was working at a methadone clinic and i predicted that this would happen. this is just a money deal and they do not care about kids. host: josh, what kind of roles do parents and caregivers had for kids in terms of when they should intervene and how? guest: first of all let me say

that it is hard. i am a parent of a 14-year-old. and as parents of adolescents we face a terrible choice. we can try and keep our kids off of social media and that means isolating them from their peers, and that is something that is incredibly hard because kids live on social media. if you are one of only a couple of kids in your entire school not on social media you will miss out on all sorts of things. or you can let your kids go on social media and you will be subject to these algorithms and this pernicious design and addictive design and risk mental health harms and addiction that comes with social media use. it is a terrible choice and should not be that way. parents should be able to know that kids are connecting with the peers in safe ways that is not undermining their mental health. as for what parents can do, first of all my advice to

parents is to avoid getting your kid a phone as long as you can possibly hold out. i have never met a parent who said gosh, i wish i had gotten my kid a phone earlier. many regret how early the kids get phones. that can be hard. one of the things is good to do is when your children are younger talk to other parents and come to community agreements because it is much easier to hold out getting a phone if you are doing it together then if your kid is the only one in sixth grade who does not have a phone. the other thing i would say is there has to be times of the day when kids do not have their phones. at dinner, everybody should have their phones away, parents and kids alike so you can have a conversation. establish the dinner table as a phone free zone and we have to take phones away from kids before they go to bed. at the last caller just mention kids are sleeping with their

phones and staying up way too late and waking up in the middle the night to take -- to take conversation -- to check notifications. they are sleeping a lot less and that is why this is so hard on their mental health because adolescents are at a time of rapid brain development where kids needed a lot of sleep. when they are waking up several times in the night to check notifications and research shows this, they are getting less sleep. host: we have a comment from michael thorton who says "you do not protect kids from drowning by keeping them out of the water, you protect kids from drowning by teaching them how to swim." what role do you think parents have in terms of teaching their kids how to navigate social media as a way to protect them from some of the harms? guest: you know, of course parents have a role to play and they should have conversations with their kids about what is appropriate to post, about how

to treat people online, because it is so easy even among adults to treat people horribly online and forget it is a real person on the other end of the screen. or that that thing you are saying in order to attract attention and get likes and go viral is having a real impact on another person. parents should have that conversation, but i have to say the culture that the social media platforms have created make it really hard for parents to successfully have those conversations. let me give you one example. i can tell my 14-year-old daughter every single day, every single day that she should not accept friend requests from strangers and she should not talk to strangers on the internet because bad things happen. in fact, 25% of nine to 12-year-olds say that they have had a sexual interaction with somebody online they believe --

with somebody they believe is an adult. that is unacceptable and horrifying. i can tell her not to talk to strangers, but the platform is telling her every single day, every single minute and second that to be successful at social media is to collect as many friends as possible. that you are a more successful and cooler person if you have 500 friends than if you have eight online. if that is what social media platforms are teaching them and if that is what the culture is teaching them then of course kids will be tempted to accept friend requests from strangers but because they want to be cool and popular. so, we need these platforms to be designed in ways that reinforce the message is that parents are giving their kids about how to use social media instead of doing everything possible to undermine them. host: shelby in tennessee. caller: yes, hello. i am a retired nurse, and i

worked in all areas of nursing, also psych and rehab. i always felt that when i was in nursing, for at least 20 years, that the mental health side of, which should be part of everybody's total health care, was neglected. they always looked more to the physical. the health system, to me was failing us. the insurance companies did not want to pay for people that needed the mental health. and some people, they do not even know that they need help. they do not realize that they have a problem. and if they are admitted to psych or rehab, they are lucky to get two days to 10 at the most.

host: are you experiencing any of the people coming in dealing with mental health issues related to social media, especially among children? caller: well, at that time i did not -- we did not have social media, ok? i am 71 years old. but, the thing is, i believe social media has done so much damage too. because these children and adults, some of them, they are looking for answers and help. they should not even be on the computer. any kind of help that is suggested for them because they do not know that person. host: so we have a question for michelle in illinois who says " there is no way to minimize the in caused by the internet. shouldn't the goal be to

mitigate the amount of time society spends online?" which is similar to what shelby was saying. guest: i think we need to do both. i think we need to hold deplatforms accountable when they are deliberately pushing harmful content, which encourages eating disorders, self harm or other mental health harms. but absolutely, we need to reduce the amount of time that kids spend on these platforms. one of the best ways to do that is to force platforms to change their design. if they know that a feature will cause a kid to spend too much time online and encourage compulsive use or addiction, they should not be allowed to use that feature. that is the goal of the lawsuits. the attorney general and the schools, they might get some monetary damages but that is not the ultimate goal. the ultimate goal is to use the

lawsuits to force the platforms how to change they are designed and i could not agree more. we need to reduce the amount of time that kids spent on social media. the more time they spent more mental health harms so getting at the addictive nature of the product and making it less addictive is really important. host: let us go to eric in hagerstown, maryland who is a parent. good morning. caller: i just have a question for your guest, i have a couple questions actually. the first one is is does your guest know what a sim card swipe is? guest: i do not. caller: ok. i say it is a lot more dangerous than social media. it is like let us say i know

about your mom, or your mother's maiden name i can call into at&t and say hey i lost my phone. i have blah blah blah phone number and i have some security question i can give to you and i can -- and i need to activate my sim card. and that has everything that you have. host: can you bring us to your question? caller: my question is he constantly keeps talking about dangerous things on social media. my kids play roblox and they get messaged by people who are not kids all the time. my kids are six years old and you know how he knows the difference between a child and adult? the speed in which they replied. a kid -- an adult will type back faster. he is six, that is media literacy.

now, can you tell me how it is that we have a whole bunch of adults that think that there are secret tunnels that lead to a pizza parlor underneath the white house that the democrats are using to take kids back and forth? host: so i wonder, you have on your website, fairplayforkids.org, several kids for parents and caregivers. i wonder if you can talk through some of the resources that are available for parents and how they can be used to help avoid things like what the caller is talking about? guest: and again, we think this is a multifaceted problem that needs multiple solutions. so in addition to changing how these platforms are designed, there are things that parents can do. we have resources that talk about when the kid gets the first phone and how to manage that.

we have resources that encourage parents to be activists because we think this is a societal problem, this is not a problem that will be solved one family at a time. for instance, some of your callers have expressed concerns about the overuse of computers in schools. we have resources for parents to go to the school district and how to talk to the school district if you are concerned about the amount of time that kids spend online in schools. what we think we need is not just for parents to think about their own kids but to really see this as a societal problem where they work together to create change whether that is in the community, school district or by advocating with us for legislation which would change the way the companies act. host: i am having a look at the resources page on fairplayforkids.org, and i see that you have, as you mentioned schools so screens in schools action kit, a guide to choosing

tech for your preschooler along with several other resources. matt in somerville, massachusetts who is also a parent. caller: i wanted to call into thank the guest. i am surprised at all these people calling in and they have an issue with controlling social media. i really do not get it. most of these people seem pretty old like 70 to 80, so just completely disconnected calling in with their feelings and talking about how this is all on the parent. i really wish the old boomers would go away. let us run the society. the cultural disconnect and the generational disconnect is so big that i do not even want to sit here and listen to these old people talk about nothing and give you crab for doing things -- crap for doing things that

are obvious and make sense and i are -- and are data-driven. i am so tired of the boomers. host: i am wondering if you see a generational difference in the response to some of the strategy is your group suggests in dealing with social media? guest: i do but with all due respect to the caller it is different than what he says. as a matter of fact we see grandparents, they are among the most concerned people. i think one of the reasons for that is because grandparents can remember a different time of raising kids. they remember a time of when kids came home from school and threw the backpack down and did not come home for dinner and in some cases well after dinner and they got into trouble. so, i think that grandparents understand that there was a time before the screen took over everything and are deeply

concerned. they might understand the technology a little bit less, but i would not disparage the boomers. many of them are some of our most passionate advocates for children because they are not addicted themselves. that is one of the things that we face that some teachers and parents are addicted to their phones as well, and that makes them a little blind to what is happening to their kids. host: the last caller is demetri in north town, pennsylvania. can you turn down your tv, please? caller: yes, can you hear me? host: yes. go ahead. caller: i guess i have to say i am a boomer, i am in my 70's. back in the 1990's i did research on pewter use in teaching -- computer use in teaching immigrants the english language. i made critical observations

that will be a breath of fresh air in this conversation, and i want to hear the person's comments on this. it is also been used by the khan academy. what it is is putting two students on a computer screen, and if two students worked together on a computer screen, they are working together and communicating and using the computer as an electronic book from which they glean information and discuss. if you get on luck -- if you get online and look at the khan academy all of their students are children on one screen. i noticed in my research back on the 90's when they were using reader rabbit that two computers -- two students on a screen

stimulated discussion and as a teacher of english having students talk and use the screen as a stimulus i found extremely useful. host: what was your question for josh based on the research that you had? caller: excuse me, i cannot hear you. host: what was your question for josh based on what you heard in your research? caller: is it possible that we could affect this horrible situation of our children being prisoners of programs by instituting some sort of way that two young people work together on the computer? or on the telephone? host: let us get you to respond. guest: i think the caller makes an excellent point, and i think one of the things that is so discouraging about the way that schools use computers it is always one person on one computer.

you go into a second grade classroom and they are on -- all on an ipad and it is quiet. maybe that makes the teacher's job a little bit easier if they are quiet, we do not want second grade classrooms to be quiet, they want to be places of exploration and noise. i certainly think that there is a place in education for computers, of course there is. and i like what your caller said, the computer should be used to connect people and work in collaboration as opposed to essentially what a lot of kids are doing in schools, playing games and have -- that have an educational component but they are doing it by themselves and there is not that collaboration. so certainly the more we use computers and technology to connect people as opposed to sending them down rabbit holes and isolating them, the better off we will be. host: we will have to leave it there.

josh golin is the executive director of fairplay. thank you for your time. guest: thank you for having me. host: later we will hear from the council of foreign relations senior vice president, james lindsay about his podcast, "the president's inbox." up next we will return to our topic with more of your comments on the topews story of the week. it is your time to lead the discussion. the phone lines are on your screen and we will get to your calls right after this break. ♪ >> american history tv exploring the people and events that tell the american story. douglas brooks discusses his book "the mysterious case of rudolph diesel" where he recounts the life of the inventor of the diesel engine and his 1913 disappearance.

on the presidency, a discussion on the 1976 campaign rivals jimmy carter and gerald ford and how they found common cause in the decades after they left the white house. watch american history tv every weekend or watch any time online at c-span.org/history. >> john hancock is one of the most famous signatures in the history of the united states. most people do not know much more than that about him. rick, the founder of ye olde taverns tour of boston wants to change your perceptive -- the perception of the famous signer of the declaration of independence. "king hancock" is a book about

him. his stature eventually became so high that he became known as -- known by friends and enemies of that name. book notes plus is available on the c-span3 -- on the c-span mobile app or wherever you got your podcast. >> a healthy democracy does not just look like this, it looks like this where americans can see democracy at work. when it citizens are truly informed a republic thrives. get your information straight from the source, unbiased and word from word from the nations capital to wherever you are. this is how democracy works. c-span, powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back, we are

looking for your top news story of the week. the republican line as usual is 202-748-8001. the democratic line, 202-748-8000. and independents at 202-748-8002 . quite a few big news items this week including the economy. new gdp figures show that the u.s. economy grew 4.9% in the third quarter and the national economic council director commented on the figures earlier this week and here is a portion from thursday. [video clip] >> a year ago the consensus view was that unemployment would need to go up to 4.5% and the economy would need to stall out in order to get inflation down to where it is today, and it turns out that is wrong and you can see that in the chart. u.s. growth has been much

stronger than the naysayers believed, unemployment has remained below 4% this entire time, but inflation has fallen in line with that forecast. in fact today we learned that gdp grew by 4.9% in the third quarter, even as core pce inflation on a quarterly basis fell two point 4%, the lowest level in nearly three years. that is a testament to the resilience of american consumers and workers supported by president biden's plan to grow the economy by growing the middle class. [end video clip] host: some of the other top news stories is the election of a new speaker of the house, mike johnson, the republican from

louisiana, and thesrael-hamas conflict that is ongoing. the mass shooting in maine as well as dean phiips launching his presidential bid and the plea and immunity deals in various trump trials. let us start with sharon, hanover pennsylvania. on the democrat line. caller: good morning, regarding the horrendous mass shootings in our country, i have followed multiple news sources for many years. i do not recall anyone being out in the streets demonstrating whether small or large groups demanding ar style weapons. meaning they were satisfied, whoever the gun owners, with what they had. apparently, it was policy plus

greed that introduced the is weapons. and now we are paying a terrible price for it. thank you. host: jamie in mississippi. republican line. caller: hello. i want to comment to the young man in the previous section who was talking about wanting to get the boomers out of the way. i have news for you young man, you look at society today compared to one of boomers were children, just take a look at that. you are one of the reasons why the world is in the shape it is in today. second, i would night -- i would like to make a comment about the economy. i am 70 years old and i am a middle-class person. i worked all my life. i have a nice life, i would say.

yesterday when i got out of the grocery store i was almost in tears because the prices are so high. i do not know how middle-class and lower-class people are going to survive. and then we hear the reports about how great the economy is. it is a joke. to all of the democrats who think that people believe the lie that they are spewing every day about how great the economy is and how we can afford to send trillions of dollars to other countries when we borrowed the money, i have a question for you. why can't these grocery prices borrow the money? i am sick of wars and i have been involved in wars all my life starting with the vietnam war. it is always stating that we

have to take care of it in another land or it will come here. i think it is hogwash. i am an old boomer and sick and tired of it. thank you for listening. host:e ve a text fromlaine in washington who says "house democrats did not need to vote ink it was a huge mistake fori them to vote witr republicans who wanted him removed. the maggotnda maga agenda would be defeated without the democrat vote without empowering their extremist agenda." one of the many stories we are following. philip and jackson -- in jackson, mississippi. independent line. caller: good morning morning young lady. there are so many things going on in this world, where to start. i would like to begin with some

logic to the gun issue that we seem to be having. we are the only industrialized nation where you have to worry about where you go considering that you do not want to be shot. in the day or night wherever, you just do not want to be shot. but a weapon like an ak 15, it does not make sense for pedestrians to have a weapon such as that. if you want to have a weapon, find. why don't we have bullets that put you to sleep? why do we have to slaughter so much to show that we are the best at shooting ourselves. one more point and look, they must not be serious about climate change because the amount of military combustion

that goes back into the atmosphere. by the way stratospheric aerosol injections are calling -- is causing the dramatic shift. look it up for yourself. at the end of the day, one more thing, please avoid the civil war. we have people still living in the confederacy thinking that black people have a problem and white people are all of that because they are white. this is the same. all of the things we are dealing with just borderlines on insanity. because it does not even say educate yourself. there are a lot of educators who are crazy people. host: i want to take the story you brought up about the mass shooting in maine. vice president kamala harris address the shooting during an event with the australian prime minister this week. here is a portion of that from thursday. [video clip] >> last night, lewiston became

another community torn apart by senseless gun violence. once again, routine gatherings, this time at a bowling alley and restaurant, has been turned into scenes of horrific carnage. doug and i ourn -- mourn for those killed, pray for those injured and grieve so many who were impacted and changed. the biden-harris administration will continue to provide full support to local authorities. as we gather details we must continue to speak truth about the moments that we are in. in our country today, the leading cause of death gun viol

terrorized and traumaticized so many of our communities in this country. let us be clear, it does not have to be this way. host: let's hear from phillip in jackson, mississippi, on the independent line. caller: thank you so much for that. she is absolutely correct, the powers that be use fear to keep us all divided, to keep us oppressed -- let me say this. i went to florida recently. i guess i don't have to say why but that is becoming the most autocratic place in america. people wake up, get away from your ideologies of hate. host: to sidney on the democratic line. caller: yes, i agree that one of

the things that is happening is people keep talking about guns and the reality is the thing that contributes to a lot of the mass shootings is fear, hate, anger, and it festers in people and is transmitted even in the homes and goes to the children. that is a mental illness itself. you don't have to go and look for schizophrenia and all of that. all you have to do is get fear people that are angry with guns or knives. even in their language. and it is also supported by what is happening in the government. you have a president with an agenda and the recent economic report says the stuff is working. but it would be working better

if it didn't have to contend with a whole other arm of the government spewing ridiculous hate and anger and frustration talking about ending the country and turning into socialism. it is ridiculous over a couple years. and a lot of the inflation and stuff is based on greed and stuff pertaining to something that has nothing to do with the present. those are things that i look at that are frustrating to constantly hardware people saying these things and evidently have some type