>> and maybe she'll finally get her wish. >> yeah. >> yes. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline," i'm natalie am ralis. thank you for watching. ie am ralis. thank you for watching welcome to the show. a very simple question this week. do vaccines work against kaifbd? it's a question that scientists, federal agencies and scientists have been trying to answer, and a definitive answer now and according to the cdc, compared to fully vaccinated adults with a booster, unvaccinated people are five times higher to be in

felted, 17 times higher hospitalizations and simply put, covid-19 vaccines work. and which makes this truly stunning to watch. take a look. >> do you believe vaccines work? >> you are recognized. >> thank you, thank you, senator. i consider vaccines in the same way that i consider other medical therapies. >> do you believe that vaccines in fighting against a pandemic like covid-19 are effective? >> you're recognized. >> thank you for your question, senator. so again, i would say that the question is a scientific one, and it's one that is answered with data. >> just a yes or no, do vaccines work in fighting against

covid-19. yes or no? >> you're recognized. >> senator, i just, as a scientist, you know, i'm compelled to answer the scientific question. >> scientifically, do vaccines, do the vaccines work against preventing covid-19? yes or no? >> you're recognized. >> thank you again, senator. yes or no questions are not that easy to find in science. >> we get two buttons to push here, yes or no. do vaccines work in preventing covid-19? yes or no? >> thank you, senator. again, you know, i'm married to data and again the data indicate that the most commonly used vaccines for covid-19 in the

united states are, have reasonable effectiveness for prevention of hospitalization and death, although even, although that is something that the estimate of that changes over time. there's a reduction in that effectiveness over time. and they have over time relatively low effectiveness for prevention. >> i told you, it's stunning. stunning to watch. but equally frightening are the two very different responses to the muddled answers to this and other fairly straightforward questions about the state's approach to the pandemic. democrats you can see them here, they walked out of the hearing. republicans who hold the majority remain and went on to favorably recommend ladapo's confirmation. and today floridians are one step closer with a track record to push anti-vaccine conspiracy theories appointed to be a leading advocate for wellness and disease prevention. remember, this is happening in a state that is averaging 30,000 new covid cases daily.

joining me now is msnbc medical contributor dr. blackstock, a founder and ceo of advancing health equity. thank you so much for being with us tonight, doctor. >> thank you. >> so you know, doctor, this is someone you know, you went to harvard with him, you were both students on the campus at the same time, and he's serving in a state as i mentioned that has over 64,000 deaths related to covid, so if you take a step back, what's the danger of having someone like him that simply can't answer a yes or no question, does the vaccine help? >> that is my main concern. my main concern is that he is undermining public trust, people will listen to him, and that will lead to more people dying. it essentially, he's undermining the effectiveness of vaccines, that we already have the data for. we know that vaccines are incredibly effective against the worst outcomes of covid-19. there's no debate about that.

but he's also anti-mask, he's also anti-testing even, and testing is done to break the chain of transmission, and it's critical, and he believes that people who don't have symptoms should not be tested. and so here we have this person who is leading the state health department, so this is a premiere federal, state agency, rather, that will be dictating health policy in florida, so i am incredibly concerned about the health and safety of floridians. >> so he couldn't, he was completely incapable of answering questions, a very simple question about covid but i also want to play you another clip about another question that he also was seemingly incapable of answering. take a listen. >> as recently as march of 2020, a public health emergency was declared in florida regarding the state of hepatitis a, can you give me an update on the

current status of hepatitis a in florida, since you've been serving as the surgeon general since september? >> to the best of my knowledge, we are not currently in an outbreak situation. but i would lick to actually talk with my team and provide you with more details about the current status. >> okay, so my answer, what i'm hearing is you don't know. >> he doesn't know. >> no. >> what's your reaction to that? >> you know, he was appointed this position for a reason, appointed this position because he is someone who is clearly anti-science, anti-vax, and supports the rhetoric of governor desantis, and that's the only reason, and so here we have him being asked about other public health issues going on in florida, and he doesn't know. probably the main focus has been

in addressing covid-19 issues, and this idea, it is incredibly concerning because how is he going to manage the rest of the public health problems affecting florida? >> when you see someone like this, when you see dr. ladapo today, is he the man he was when you met him on campus at harvard? >> what i will say he is a very nice affable person, and you know, given that, i last interactioned with him shortly after medical school and seeing what i'm seeing now, i'm surprised, i'm disappointed, i'm shocked. and to think that someone i go to medical school with, and at the time we were all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and we just wanted to help people, and my concern is that under his leadership, floridians will be harmed, and i know that, you know, there are probably political motivations that are influencing his words and his

rhetoric, but this is just too harmful, it's too much, and he's going to cost lives. >> i wondered as you described that, you know, how much of what we're seeing today is the impact of this misinformation on him because you take a look at what is happening in florida, you have someone like him who is completely skeptical of vaccines, you have the governor who is pushing covid treatments that don't work, you have the state's health department who is going against the fda, what can the medical community do to push back against something that is so deeply entrenched in florida in this moment? >> right. you know, i think florida is heading for an uphill battle and it will be up to individual medical professionals who really want to do the right thing. you know, to encourage even monoclonal antibody, and companies that make them, saying they are ineffective against omicron but still pushing these ineffective treatments is

actually unconscionable. and we are going to need floridians who have a voice really to speak up against this anti-science messaging that is going to really harm floridians. i said that is what i'm most concerned about. i'm concerned that people are most likely going to listen to the messaging, decide not to get vaccinated, they're only going to, monoclonal antibodies that are ineffective, and not wearing masks and not get tested and we're going to see the tests surge even more in florida. >> thank you so much for being with us tonight. coming up, the house january 6th committee begins looking into trump's state elector scheme. i'll speak with our favorite legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, all about that. we'll be right back. prosecutor, all about that we'll be right back.

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falsely for one other person, that's one vote, what those fraudulent electors were trying to do was to misrepresent themselves as speaking for the will of an entire state's millions of people. >> that was maryland democratic congressman jamie raskin, and the slate of alternative electors submitted to congress, that was criminal and as the justice department weighs prosecution, the house january 6th panel made a move. today, committee chairman bennie

thompson announced new subpoenas against 14 people from 17 states who participated as alternate electors in a scheme aimed at overturning the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election. according to thompson, this fake group of electors submitted electoral college votes for trump to the national archives and added those slates were used to justify delaying or blocking the certification of the election on january 6th. now this is important to understand because those fake electors were the foundation of trump's plan to pressure former vice president mike pence to throw out the election results that day. and it could be why trump supporters believe that they could stop the steal, despite there being absolutely no steal to begin with. that's the foundation. joining me now is nbc news glen kirschner, thanks for being with us tonight. >> thank you. >> first of all, explain to us exactly what these alternate electors were doing. what was the campaign about?

>> they were trying to nullify or override or take the will of the voters in their jury diction, because the actual electors had already sent in their certificates and they were duly authorized by law to send in those certificates, and cast the electoral votes for joe biden, thereafter there were these fake election certificates that were mailed, which becomes an important fact, we can put a pin in that, were mailed to both congress and to the national archives. this seems to violate state laws, it seems to violate federal laws, and i think state attorney general from michigan, dana nessel put it best when she said, and i quote, this is a crime. of course, she and the attorney general from new mexico have referred this for criminal investigation to the feds, to the department of justice, where i think it is most appropriately investigated because it violates

a number of federal laws as well. and although it's a state crime, because these are state election systems and electors, it also is a federal crime, because it's interfering in the federal election. >> i mean that's exactly what jamie raskin said, right? this is a crime. what they're doing is criminal. so hounk they -- how do you think they're going to respond? how do you think the government is going to respond? >> with a criminal investigation because we know the deputy attorney general acknowledged receipt of the criminal referrals from michigan and new mexico, and she said we are assessing it, our federal prosecutors are looking at it, inferentially there, investigating it, and here's the thing, because this is a state crime, and a federal crime, both jurisdictions can actually proceed with prosecutions. people often think of the double jeopardy clause in the constitution prohibiting two prosecutions for one crime, but

that only applies to somebody who commits a crime and then one jurisdiction, like a federal court tries them, or a state court tries them twice, after they've been acquitted or convicted, but guess what, if state attorney general dana nessel is not satisfied with the prosecution of the criminal investigation in the federal government, she can similarly and simultaneously investigate and prosecute these fraudulent electors in state court. no double jeopardy prohibition. you can do it in state court and in federal court. >> okay but we've had these 14 people, these 14 names, and i think the question a lot of people have is who is being the scheme? who is the architect of the scheme? >> well, the house select committee, i'm confident, will get to the bottom of who was behind this false elector scheme. it's interesting to see that 14 of the 59 false electors have

been subpoenaed by the house select committee. i'm really interested to see if these 14 fake electors, who appear to have committed crimes, will go the way of john eastman and for that matter roger stone, and invoke their fifth amendment right against self-incrimination, once they're hauled before the house select committee and asked to testify truthfully. i will bet their attorneys will advise them to invoke their fifth amendment right against self-incrimination, but this is developing, as what i would call a hub and spoke conspiracy. the more ordinary, the more routine criminal conspiracies are what we call a pyramid conspiracy, it is what we use to for example go after the mafia, but a hub and spoke conspiracy has one central figure in the middle, and then a whole bunch of spokes radiating out. and that's what we seem to have here, donald trump in the middle and then we have the sidney powell and rudy giuliani spoke and the oathkeepers spoke, the fake electors spoke, the john

eastman spoke, we have the jeffrey clark and the department of justice spoke, trying to impact the state elections by corruptly weaponizing the department of justice. we have the steve bannon spoke, with the war council over in the will ard hotel. this is shaping up to be a real hub and spoke model of a criminal experience. >>le did conspiracy. >> you did these actions because you believe you can get away with it and even if they're indicted, even if they're prosecuted, the fact that there is even a slight chance that they believe that this country would, could get to that point is completely astonishing. glen, in all of this, where does mark meadows fit in all of this? well, we are on day 45 of the mark meadows indictment watch. and you know, there would have been kind of a sweet karma if he were indicted on day 45, but it looks like that's not going to happen now. what i think is really important in the mark meadows indictment

calculation is that the supreme court recently cleared away the last remaining brush that might have been causing the department of justice to hesitate before indicting mark meadows when they rejected donald trump's claim of executive privilege. so i have a feeling the next thing we might see, and we should see, is an indictment of mark meadows, because he, in arguably, committed the crime of contempt of congress, exactly as steve bannon did. bannon's indicted, meadows is not indicted yet, and really the only reason that he wouldn't be indicted is if there is a political calculation going on at the department of justice, let's hope that is not what's driving their decision, and we see meadows indicted soon. >> all of the different pieces of the puzzle slowly coming together. we'll have a full clear picture very soon. glen, thank you so much for being with us tonight. coming up, president biden visited pennsylvania today,

hours after a major bridge collapse. i'll speak to new york congressman ritchie tore es about how biden's infrastructure law might help prevent future accidents like this one and how republicans who voted against that law are now taking credit for it. we'll be right back. that law are now taking credit for it for it we'll be right back. works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. for it we'll be right back. 12 hours?! who studies that long? mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs. i brought in ensure max protein, with thirty grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! (sighs wearily) here i'll take that! (excited yell) woo-hoo! ensure max protein. with thirty grams of protein, one gram of sugar, and nutrients to support immune health. when i break a long run, i'm talking long, long.

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a remarkable coincidence took place in pittsburgh this morning. when a bridge collapsed just hours before president biden was scheduled to visit the city to deliver a speech on

infrastructure. a bus and several cars were on the bridge at the time of the collapse. fortunately there were no deaths but at least ten people suffered nonlife-threatening injuries, and four people were taken to the hospital. the president visited the collapse site this afternoon. the fact that this calamity happened on the same day he came to pittsburgh in part to promote infrastructure spending sadly proved a point. it shows how the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that passed last year will be the critical need to repair bridges and highways and water systems across the country. it is worth remembering that the vast majority of republicans in congress opposed that bill, including senator pat toomey of pennsylvania. infrastructure spending used to bring broad support from both parties and used to be an issue that everyone agreed on but in this congress only 15 republicans in the house and 19 in the senate supported it. and as a sign of just how extreme the republican base has become, some gop members who voted for the bill received death threats and among the

republicans who voted against the bill, a growing number are now taking credit for it back home. joining us now is democratic congressman ritchie torres of new york. thank you for being with us tonight. >> happy to be here. >> congressman, i want to start with those republicans who once opposed it, once completely wanted nothing to do with it, and now taking credit for it back home. what's your take on that? >> the hypocrisy of the republican party never ceases to amaze me. the hypocrisy is exceeded only by their shamelessness for taking credit for infrastructure investments, donald trump instructed the republican party to oppose infrastructure for politically reasons and i find it shameless. with the infrastructure investment without acknowledging the opposition to the bipartisan infrastructure framework. so the hypocrisy of the

republican party is staggering. >> let's talk about something that we can do about, which is one goal of the infrastructure bill is to undo a change in highway projects that are harmed, like the cross bronx expressway that's running in your district, you said, the highway is literally structurally, sorry, literally and structurally a structure of racism. lay out for us exactly what you mean by that. >> well, the cross bronx expressway is a legacy of robert moses, whose racism is well documented. from the hunts point terminal market to the cross bronx, about 15,000 trucks that travel back and forth, and the massive concentrations of diesel truck traffic causes massive amounts of greenhouse gas emissions into our young kids of color who live near the cross bronx, who are breathing pollutants who are by

all to fault of their own to have breathing issues like asthma, it is no accident that it is the highest rate in the country, and that is a consequence of the cross bronx expressway. >> what are the types of changes that you want to see? >> look, the community has been advocating for capping the cross bronx expressway, in order to prevent the greenhouse gas emission, the diesel truck traffic, from poisoning the air we breathe. and we believe that capping the cross bronx would be as important as anything we could do to improve the life expectancy of the south bronx. the different in life expectancy of the south bronx and the upper east side, which is one of the wealthiest is ten years. >> i want to turn to another issue that i know you have advocated on student loan debt, right? you were one of 80 members of congress who signed a letter this week urging the president to take this, to cancel $50,000

in student loan debt. why is this issue particularly important to black and brown people? >> look, black and brown americans are facing a perfect storm of rising costs and declining wages, and ever-rising levels of debt. nearly $2 trillion debt burden weighing heavily on 45 million americans. and president biden, if i -- if he were to $50,000 of debt canceled, for me student debt cancellation is the only form of economic stimulus that cannot be changed at the hands of the republican party, it can be done administratively with the stroke of a presidential plan. we cannot blame the obstructionism of the republican party for the failure of student

debt cancellation. if we do too little, too late, we have no one to blame but ourselves. >> on that note, do the democrats need to fully lean in and look at this issue, and looking at the 2022 midterms, do you need to lean into this issue in order to -- >> good government is good politics, and we have to deliver for the american people. and in the average student loan payment is about $400 a month, and canceling student debt is the equivalent of sending a stimulus check of $400 a month to tens of millions of americans. there's no better way to strengthen the american economy than to put money in the pockets of every day working people. >> the economy is booming. wages are up. unemployment is down. the country is headed toward the better direction. but the president's poll numbers are declining. what do you think the president and the administration have to do to get that economic message to resonate with the people right now?

>> look, the president delivers, if he passes the build back better act which would be a generational investment, not only from a physical, but human and social infrastructure, if he broadly canceled student debt, if he caps the price of insulin at $35, i'm convinced we will win on the strength of bread and butter issues that are effective governance because we're the only political party in america that is serious about this, and i'm hopeful that the worst of inflation and covid is behind us which gives us a fighting chance in 2022. >> congressman ritchie torres thanks for joining us tonight. we will look at how close russia could be to invading ukraine and what president biden can do about it, if anything at all. we'll be right back. sident biden can do about it, if anything at all. all. we'll be right back. ♪takingk from all your worries ♪ ♪sure would help a lot ♪

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some kind of encouragement is possible, it could be imminent, we don't know exactly what mr. putin is thinking, we don't believe he made a final decision but what is clear is as he is continuing to accumulate military military capabilities, along the border of ukraine and belarus and the mediterranean and atlantic, he is increasing his combat capability and increasing the number of options available to him. we have been nothing but clear with mr. putin, that should there be another incursion of any size or scale, i mean this is not major or small, just another incursion at all, that there is going to be severe economic consequences and this is not a country that can really afford yet another round of very severe economic consequences to it. >> that was press secretary john kirby, reiterating this message to russia. if there's another military event, the country will face consequences. it comes as tensions escalate in

ukraine with russia expanding the military capabilities placing medical units on the ground there. meanwhile western leaders are working the phones to try to de-escalate the situation. president biden was on the phone for over an year with the ukrainian president yesterday. the second call this month. and the french president macron spoke with president putin. saying that russia's fundamental concerns are being ignored when it comes to nato's role. joining me now is a former spokesperson for united nations to the u.s./u.n. and a host of the series "oh, my world," thank you very much for being with us tonight. >> thank you for having me. happy to be here. >> first question to you, if you walk into the oval office right now, what would you be telling the president at this moment? >> oh, well, so president putin has us a little bit where he wants, he's playing his cards very well and he doesn't have a lot of cards, right? this is a russia that is very, hit economically very hard at the moment, this is people that

are focused mostly on their economic consequences, his election is two years away so he has no reason really to distract with a war or anything like that, but the fact is he has caught himself in this pickle on one hand and on the other, he played his cards very well, which is a little embarrassing for us from a negotiating standpoint so the thing that i would tell president biden, we have to flip our position on its head where we're in the ones in a position of power and we're portraying military and financial strength and unity by the way, with our international partners, in order to get him to back down. and it is the unty question that i really think is there, unity with europeans, i mean. >> so one of the things that the defense secretary general austin said today is there is still time for diplomacy. no? he was calm and said we can still get there. is there? >> there is type for diplomacy in that diplomacy will buy us time, but that doesn't mean that things on the ground are going

to change at all, right? it just kicks the can down the road a little bit. and when our leaders like general austin, like senator blinken, when they say things like, we're going to pursue relentless democracy, i can tell you that president putin is really not impressed by that, right? his view, and we have to appreciate that his view is generally very different. and his view is that he's made these requests of nato, right, that nato agree to never expand furth -- further into eastern europe and never accept ukraine as a member, that goes against nato's resolution, and it is not up to president putin to make that request and not for us to give, never appease the aggressor, rule number one we learned in world war ii, and it is a way to buy some time and ultimately we have to be very creative and figure out an exit ramp, for president putin on get out of this thing. >> what does that look like to

you? when you are thinking of, when you're thinking of two things, a perfect strategy for that, but also a strategy that resonates with american people, right? because it's putting the u.s. government in a very, very tricky situation. >> it does put us in a tricky situation. you know, one of the things that people are talking about, and shy note that i am very in favor of sanctions, i worked at the treasury department for a very long time, but when you're talking about the sanctions that we would impose on russia, which would hit it, exports of technological parts to russia, which would hit them a lot, and certainly target their gas sector, that's going to come back to bite us eventually by the way, that's going to increase gas prices and we are going to feel that here. that doesn't mean i'm not in favor. i am. i just don't think it is a very compelling argument to president putin at the moment. and what we have to do, and the thing is, we have been doing it, right? wendy sherman did go into the negotiations a couple of weeks ago offering different things to the russians and they wouldn't have it.

they only wanted to discuss the point about nato. the request about nato. the tricky thing here is, the thing we have to do each if we buy time with diplomacy which is effectively what they're trying to do and for the russians what they have on their side, the problem is when you have that much military on the border and beavering up the defenses on the other side, on the ukrainian side, any one gunshot could light the whole thing on fire and even if by accident and that's what we have to try to avoid and we have to offer compelling carrots, and tougher sticks to change president putin's calculation. >> i think you said you're generally pro sanction and congresswoman pramila jayapal says she would not look at sanction, and i think people are still haunted by afghanistan, haunted by that past, what do you think of that approach?

>> we can't promise to put anything like boots on the ground, right? that is certainly something that is not going to go well with the american public. and by the way, i don't think that that is something that the u.s. government is currently debating at the moment. we have many military options we have to support our partners without ourselves getting to vested. and one of the things they're doing right now, for example they have sent $200 million in aid, in weaponry and ammunition to ukraine, right? another thing to do is to convince our other partners to do the same, and other partners have done that, right? they have been sending ships and fighter jets to ukraine. that helps enormously, right? just to try to make a balance of power, if you will. it's risky but it makes a balance of power. if things were to really get heated, and for some reason, the military contingency planning that the u.s. government is doing, and they are doing that, i've been on the other side of that, and when they identify those red lines, which is, you know, a heated word in the government at the moment, but when they identify those red lines, if any of them are crossed and they decide to

engage militarily, there is a lot they can do before ground troops, there is air cover, there's providing technical logistics, intelligence, things like that, there's a lot they would do before even considering something like ground troops which i just don't think is even in the cards. >> thank you so much for breaking this down. extremely important. coming up, the fight to get latinx and canceled by the right wing. whether or not we should be using it. i like it. we'll be right back. whether or not we should be using it i like it. we'll be right back. a quote tod. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ inner voice (furniture maker): i'm constantly nodding... ...because i know everything about furniture ...but with the business side... ...i'm feeling a little lost. quickbooks can help. an easy way to get paid, pay your staff, and know where your business stands. new business? no problem. success starts with intuit quickbooks.

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i'm latinx, and how i describe myself and it is hard to see latinx be a victim of culture war. a bunch of bad faith actors used the statistic to paint the term as divisive. perhaps the word wouldn't generate heat if the debate wasn't focused on pitting people in the same community against each other. latino versus latinx ask not a fight we should be battling in but it is one that the far right forces would like to see. joining me is a columnist, good to be here with us tonight. >> good to be here.

>> and what is the origin of the word latinx. you spell it out clearly. there is a tendency to paint it as a white woke word but what did you find? >> right, and i mean the term is not perfect, there are reasons, you know, some legitimate reasons not to love it, some say it is hart to pronounce and -- hard to pronounce and some say it doesn't do enough, and at the end of the day the idea that it is created by woke liberal elites is totally wrong and it is against the original idea of it. and it began to be used on message boards and online blogs, it took off after the 2016 orlando shooting, and the massacre in which mostly latinos were targeted and a meant of a form of empowerment and a form of representation and it has, it has a latin american history and

replacing the gender in words down there and it wasn't invented by white legal elet, that's just crazy. >> from what you found from the reporting, what exactly is so controversial about the word, right? where is all of the pushback coming from? >> the pushback is coming predominantly from the right wing. and as you pointed out, the anger that this term generates is what we should be interrogating, the vehement that this is looking at and what it is embodying, and the right wing propagandas love to paint this term as being forced on latinos and that's gas lighting, it is tole projection, you and i both know, it is no secret that the only people who are trying to dictate how latinos can identify and exist in this country are the republicans, and these

republicans love to cap this debate as either or, as latino or latinx to distract from the issues that this word is meant to address. lack of representation. systemic violence. and at the end of the day, it is not either about inclusivity. we don't need to be put against each other, that's what these propagandaists want to do. >> is the goal of creating this infighting, did you find it has a political goal attached to it? >> absolutely. they want this debate about a single word to take up all the oxygen when it comes to latino issues, why they put out the propaganda, distracts from the core meaning. when i was reporting on threats, i used a term in the tweets and all the trump shows retweeting

me accusing me of forcing the word on other people and triggered an avalanche of hate and harassment which you're familiar with, paula and others who used this word on social media mostly from republican men and it was telling about anger. >> what were they telling you? >> cuss words, nothing articulate. "f" you, "go back to mexico." a lot of it is racist harassment and very telling of the toxic notions of masculiity and the fear of fluid identity, any type of all-encompassing or welcoming or inclusive identity. >> you and i have talked about this and it's important to spell it out. there is something about that word latinx, that it tries to foster this creative and diverse

image of who we are. i think a lot of people see that image and completely want to reject it. they can't see themselves as part of that community but i'm curious to hear your thoughts on we always say this thing, which is the fact that only 2% identity latinx. why do you think it's only 2% of people? >> i think part of it is the fact that we have so much right wing propaganda permeating the community and causing us to think things that aren't true and something that has been created by younger generations. it takes time for this type of terminology to catch on. what i find problematic, you have organizations who decide to ban the term in all official communications, like the league of united latin american citizens put out a ban, the

latino congressman gallego decided to ban it in official communications. the bans are alienating and erasing to the most marginalized members of the latino community. it's important we continue to have conversations, why are we so angry about this term and a lot of it i think is this false right wing propaganda that claims it's a term imposed on people. this isn't imposed on anybody. everyone should be able to identify however they feel is right to them. >> thank you so much as usual for your reporting and for defending a word that again the only purpose of this word is to be inclusive. if people hate t it's important to ask why so thank you. come up, there is a new first lady of sorts in the white house. a new first lady of sorts in the white first lady of sorts in the white house. it's sweet, it's tangy, it's tender, it never misses. you could say it's the steph curry of footlongs.

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your shipping manager left to “find themself.” leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire the battle between spotify and rock legend neil young over covid misinformation is growing and listeners are also starting to pick sides. neil young this week gave spotify an ultimatum, keep his music ka the logged on the platform or joe roggan's popular podcast but not both. young complained by airing the podcast was allowing life-threatening information to listeners.

they removed young's music. hashtags are trending on twitters amusic streamers side with the rock star. we don't know how many people canceled their accounts some musicians are openly backing the call. a member of the e street band pulling his music from spotify. let's turn to a lighter story one that i've been looking forward to for a long time. cat people, this is for you. the white house has its first feline. the president and first lady welcomed a cat named willow named after dr. jill biden's hometown in pennsylvania. dr. biden met the cat at a pennsylvania farm in 2020. according to a press release the farm's owner knew from that very moment the cat was meant to be with the first lady. it was love at first sight.

in a time where cat lady beings have gone viral, all i did was scroll during the pandemic, it's great to see the first family bucking the stereotype and getting their own cat plus based on the photos, looks like willow will fit in perfectly fine at the white house, looks so royal, so beautiful. that's it for me. i'm paula ramos. zerlina will be back on peacock monday. follow us on facebook, twitter, tiktok and youtube. more news is coming up right here on msnbc.

♪♪ first up on msnbc, breaking news, a powerful nor'easter slamming the east coast, and threatening to bury several major cities under deep snow. thousands of flights are canceled. we are tracking it all. plus -- >> this was a coordinated effort, a multistate effort. who did communicate to these individuals and what was the intent and i think a clear picture is starting to emerge about what the intent was. >> the january 6th committee issuing a new round of subpoenas seeking answers about the fake