that's what i wanted to do, what i'm asking you to do, help me do it. you can order a copy notice of "jack kennedy, elusive hero." i'm asking you to order one now and discover what i've discovered, how we once had a hero for a president, with much to teach our current one. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. >> rick perry decides to win ugly. >> let's see your grades and your birth certificate. >> he reaches deep into the republican dark arts playbook to attack the president. >> it's fun. >> it's really not. who is having the real laugh this week? ♪ i am america >> you guessed it. >> love y'all. >> as the gop field goes up in smoke, president obama fights the republican phony class warfare line.

>> republicans and congress who fought us tooth and nail to protect the status quo. >> tonight bob shrum and michael steele on who is really fighting for the middle class. congresswoman karen bass on the myth of obama's shrinking base, and she dishes on the l.a. dinner date. a birthday shoutout to lady liberty, but not from them. >> i will build a double-walled fence. >> blame all the illeap -- >> that's not what she had in mind. "politics nation" starts right now. welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, do republicans think americans are dummies? just check out the latest fund-raising e-mail from the republican national committee,

sent out by congressman paul ryan. it reads, quote -- the safety net for the poor is coming apart at the seams, and no one in washington seems to care are you kidding me? suddenly paul ryan cares about our safety net? ryan cares about the poor, the same one-way ryan that pitched a budget that would essentially end medicare, the same paul ryan who leads the "cut cut cut" chant. >> of course we have to cut spending. >> significant cuts of spending and changes to the way we spend the american people's money. >> significant cuts in washington spending. >> we need real spending cuts. >> cut cut cut, now that's the paul ryan i know. a new report out today says those spending cuts probably eliminated more than 370,000 jobs. maybe that's why i find his

concern for the poor so unconvincing. this week we sought the president out, promoting plans to help america's students. >> i want us to win the future. that means we should be doing everything we can to put a college education within reach for every american. that has never been more important. >> you hear that? a college education has never been more important. but for the second day in a row, paul ryan's party has slammed the president's initiative to help students. >> i think that it was unwise for the president to make the suggestion that he did, and i believe it's abuse of power from the executive. >> the ponzi schemes, even by governor perry's standards. a plan to help our nation's students is a ponzi scheme? mr. ryan, we see right through

your party. the only scheme is the one you're trying to pull off on the american people. joining me now is bob shrum, nyu professor, and michael steele, former chairman of the republican national committee and msnbc analyst. thank you both for coming on the show tonight. what do you make of paul ryan's pitch? >> on the rev-o-meter it's a full blagojevich. you mentioned medicare. i mean it would voucherize medicare and cost 9 average senior 6,000 more a year, all to give tax cuts to the people at the top. the republican argument is that those tax cuts help, because you don't want higher taxes on job

creators. under bill clinton, we had a higher tack rate. until george bush, we lowered those tax rates. in eight years, we created not one net new job. i think what's going on here is they just want cover for the kind of supply-side economics, which is, by the way, the real ponzi scheme, these tax cuts for the wealthy never pay for themselves. they leave a huge gap. in fact, in today's deficit is much more the fault of what president bush did in terms of the tax countries and downturn. you just don't take him seriously. >> let's look at the facts, michael. under bill clinton -- we created 239.1 million jobs. we did the tax cuts to the rich under george bush, and only 3 million jobs. we can have different opinions, michael. those are the facts. >> yeah, yeah, but again, just

skewing the facts to make your point. you're not taking into consideration there were tax cuts under clinton, but the differences between the bush and clinton eras -- the spending. the spending was nowhere near what it is today, starting in the bush era and continuing through the obama era. when you cut taxes and continue to spend, that gap is the deficit. it is the current pressure we have on our economy that goes -- that goes back to the reagan days, even under reagan when he you cut the taxes, but continued to spend, that created accelerated the deficit. >> michael, people can't spend if they don't have money. >> wait a minute -- come on, al, economics 101. if i don't -- i take less from you, you have more to spend. that's how that -- that's how that works. >> you took less from the rich, and we produce less jobs.

>> but wait a minute, al. >> all of that goes to the spending that created the bubble that we're currently in, from housing and all the other impacts. you just can't isolate one aspect and say this is the sole cause of this. >> but bob, spending didn't cause -- spending didn't cause the bubble. >> yes -- yes, all of that. all of that spending. where did the money come from for fha and housing folks to put into the economy? congress kept writing the check. of course it was spending. come on, man. >> the fha didn't do this. >> of course not. of course not. >> the single biggest contributors to the deficit are number one the bush tax cuts. >> and two wars off-budget you conceded that we had saul of this job creation under the

clinton administration with higher marginal tax rates on the wealthy, which is what the president is asking for. by the way -- >> i didn't concede anything. i didn't concede anything. >> michael, that's what you want. >> all i'm saying -- >> if you don't count the jobs because of the bush economics collapse. >> i'm not conceding anything. less with the republican congress and newt gingrich with the house and clinton in the white house, they cut the spending and the government to allow that -- >> the spending caps going up, but higher marginal tax rates. >> excuse me -- >> michael, they were higher than today. >> whoa, whoa, whoa, let michael try to walk this back. >> i'm not walking anything back. look, you guys can live in your fairy tale land about the economy, but if we continue to spend the way we're spending, we'll have the continued problems we're having. that is going to affect the poor, the middle class, it will

affect job growth. that's the fact. >> let me show you why there is the problem with the class warfather argument, and when you made the statement that you made, a lot of that spending were on wars that were unnecessary that the -- >> still spending. >> of course it's still spending, but it wasn't spent on the safety net for poor people. >> it was spending appropriated by democrat congresses. >> since 1979, the cbo came out with this, since 1979, this is what has happened in this country. the household income of the top 1% has gone up -- up 275%. middle class americans have only seen their income rise 40%. the bottom 20% have only seen an 18% jump. when you see this kind of economic disparity, there's real

economic warfare, real class welfare, and the rich are overwhelmingly winning. >> i absolutely understand it. as you put up those numbers, i'd also like to look at how many of those who were part of each of those respective classes moved up in that same period of time since 1973. those who were middle class who moved into the upper middle class. the problem that we have here is that we're not talking -- >> no one is -- >> what did you say? you think that a lot of middle class people moved into the top 1%? >> al, you know people who were middle class one day, and over the next 10, 15 years moved into a higher income bracket. >> i don't know a lot of people that moved into the top 1% -- >> including yourself, al. >> i am not in the top 1%. do you know what the top 1% is?

>> please, brother, come on, stop this. >> look, look, wait a minute, michael, you can't do that. >> michael, calm down you'll have a long weekend to relax. the top 1% is not inundated with a lot of people from the middle class. >> it's not static. it's not a set number of people. you earn your way into it. >> factually, michael, it's wrong on issue after issue. >> of course i am, because i'm not a liberal. >> just a few minutes ago, he said the margin top tax rate was the same under clinton as under bush. it certainly was not. >> it's spending on two wars, we have which we are lied into and which president bush refused to pay for, and republican congresses going back -- >> you can go through statistics through 1973 -- >> there's less social mobility than used to be today. >> today. >> there's a wider gap. >> i agree with that, but the

point is that's not always been the case. >> right. then we got republican economic policies and it became the case. >> let's deal with the fact that the person who was middle class in 1973 may or matt not be middle class -- >> they may or may not be millionaires, but they're not in the top 1%. >> how do you know? in the social circles you know, nobody has moved into the top 1%? >> how do we solve it? >> ignore the facts. >> how do we solve? >> now let's talk about something. >> how do we solve it and not be fair by not taxes millionaires? there's no sacrifice. >> al, it's not just about taxing. that's been the central theme that the republicans have been trying to focus on. we've always led with taxing first. we always want to raise the tax on anybody. we're looking at a more comprehensive policy where we're talking about moving people from

poverty into wealth. we're trying to create a pathway so people can access the entrepreneurial spirit. >> how? by taking away some of the safety net that middle class and poor people -- >> no, we're trying to strengthen the nets, so you bounce off them, not get trapped by them. >> we're going to try to deal with taking away from a i specs of medicare and medicaid -- >> you act like they systems are -- >> let me finish. i'm going to make the point whether you said me to or not. we're going to take it away, because that will help them do better. >> no one is saying that. >> what are you saying? >> no one is saying -- -- >> we're not saying do away with them. let's reform them so they are there for the people who absolutely need to use them.

>> we're saying reform medicaid, reform medicare, reform social security, but don't reform rich people having to pay their fair share. let's not touch them, because they, by some magic, the middle class will just rise up and become billionaires. >> rise up! i'm in church. >> thank you both for your time this evening. enjoy your weekend. michael, you knocked it out of the park tonight. >> thanks, reverend. >> see you tomorrow. >> take care, bob. they block and block and block, but the president obama is determined to fight for the middle class, and it's working. rick perry can't pass debate 101, but he's asking for president obama's transcripts? we'll tell you what's really behind it. and do you not adjust your

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we are going to make the dream that all americans share real once again. that starts right now. it starts with you. barack obama is fighting tooth and nail to create jobs, and everywhere you look, there are signs americans are taking notice. all of a sudden his approval ratings are up, a four-point swing in the last week, and in matchups with republican candidates, president obama is beating every single one of them. at the same time, disapproval of congress has soared. since republicans took control of the house, it's gone up 22 points. hey, gop wondering what's going on? maybe americans like what they're hearing from the president. >> we've got to invest in new roads and bridges and airports, and wireless infrastructure, and a smart grid.

>> steps to help responsible homeowners refinance and take advantage of low mortgage rates. >> we should be doing everything we can to put a college education within reach for every american. >> it's time to put country ahead of party. it's -- >> joining me is congress democrat woman karen bass. she was with the president when she visited los angeles this week to talk jobs? she was also with the president when he stopped by world famous roscoe's house of chicken and waffles in l.a. i used to eat there before i got more disciplined. congresswoman, thank you for showing -- coming on the show tonight and say hello to everybody at roscoe's i don't do that anymore. i'm a salad man. they have a little hot sauce too, there. >> thank you for having me. >> congresswoman, the president around the country and in last

this week showed what you and i and others have been saying all along, that middle-class voters, voters in his base communities haven't gone anywhere. >> exactly. >> i think a lot of the chatter has been more noise than reflecting of what's going on. is that what you saw in his job swing through the west coast this weekend? >> absolutely. you know he comes to los angeles quite often. there's always the controversy over the traffic, but let me tell you, when he went through the african-american and latino community, when the motorcade went through, people were ecstatic. folks jumping up and down. i guarantee you there were no complaints about traffic on that day. but aside from that, over the last few months i've been having community meetings all over my district. people are very angry, but they're very clear what the problem is, and they know it's not the president. >> well, even, let me show you this graph.

even fox news poll show most americans like president obama's economic ideas. they blame the gop to stopping them. americans on obama's economic policies, good idea, trouble getting them implemented, 52%. this is a fox poll, congresswoman. >> well, you know, they want on the first day of session that their number one goal was to make sure he was a one-term president, so even ideas that he has put forward that originated with them, when he puts them forward, they're again them. >> now, one of the things you and i were talking about at the martin luther king dedication is that the strength he has in communities of color, where they tried to say that it wasn't there. "new york times" did a story yesterday, black voters' support for obama is steady and strong. they have a poll showing overwhelming support among black voters, if there was a matchup

between president obama and governor romney, 95% for obama, 3% for romney, which is more than what he got against mccain if these numbers hold. so i think whether it is -- what i've seen and what he came to our group, action network, or where you and i with were with them at the black caucus, i think it's wishful thinking. i think people are angry, but i also think they're clear in what is going on in terms of the oinstructionist policies. >> i think people are very clear. as i was mentioning, every weekend i come home, i attend community meetings or am holing town hall meetings or going to forums. people across the board are extremely upset, but they are upset with the republicans, because they're very clear that the president has specific ideas, and to tell you the truth, reverend, i'm happy to see him issue the executive orders. i think that's a great idea.

on any subject that he can, because it's real clear that the only way we'll get action out of do-nothing congress, is for the president to exercise his authority to the maximum. >> this week it was mortgages, opportunity locals. we need to keep this going. >> paul ryan says it's petty for him to do this. what do you say to that -- >> i think we're getting ready do call ryan the warrior for the wealthy. i heard that a couple hours ago. i think that's a good description. it might be petty for him, but people under water because of their mortgages? and folks who have been paying mortgages on times, now to actually refinance, that's what the president did this week. student loans, putting a cap on it, after so many years, the

loans are forgiven or you can't pay more than 10% of your income -- >> well, i think you are right, and i think there are a lot who want to fight and get it done. you have become a tremendous fighter not only for your district but nationwide. very glad to have you on tonight. even though you've never taken me to roscoe's you are one of my favorite members of congress. congresswoman bass, thank you very much for joining me. >> well, thanks for having me on. i'll find a healthier restaurant for you the next time you come to l.a. >> all right. that's a bet. lady liberty celebrates 125 years with a huge party. i know who's not getting an invitation. you guessed it. you're watching "politics nation" on msnbc. we're america's natural gas

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welcome back to "politics nation." we've seen how rick perry was so

desperate to revive his campaign this week that he went birther on us, but he also sent another coded message to the right wing, calling for president obama to release his college records. >> i haven't seen his grades. my grades ended up on the front page of the newspaper, so if we're going to show stuff, let's show stuff. >> it's fun to poke at him a bit to say, let's see your grades and your birth certificate. let's lay out the college transcripts? mine's been on the front page. >> he was following in the footsteps of donald trump, who did the same thing back in april. >> the word is, according to what i've read, that he was a terrible student when he went to occidental. i heard that columbia, he wasn't a good student, but he gets to harvard. how do you get into harvard if you're not a good student? maybe that's right or wrong, but why doesn't he release his records?

>> it doesn't take a genius to figure out the subtext here. the suggestion is that barack obama wasn't smart enough on his own to get into columbia or harvard. they don't come out and say it, but the implication is obama got into these schools, because he got preferential treatment. this whole phony issue is being pushed by the world net daily website, the hub of the birther movement. these are the people who promoted an a.p. story, an alleged a.p. article, claiming obama attended college as a, quote, foreign student. that article was later proven to be an april fool's day hoax. these birthers even question whether the child in this kindergarten photo is really barack obama. of course, it is, and this whole issue is ridiculous. why won't barack obama release his limit tear school report cards? we need to know if he played

well with others. did he bring gum to class? and if so, did he bring enough for everyone? i certainly hope not, because that would be socialism. >> colbert is funny, but this is no laughing matter. with this line of attack, rick perry is speaking in racially loaded language that caters to the worst impulses of the far right fringe of his party. joining mess is jim mora, author of the upcoming book, "weyrich perry will make america wish george w. bush" and joe madison action talk show host and sirius/xm radio. jim, you have covered perry for a long time. he is a man who's never lost an election. i can't believe that some of it

is not -- >> it's all calculated. this is a dog whistle to the right edge. i think it's interesting that rick perry is talking about comparing grades with people. this is a guy that got a "c" in gym class at texas a & m. it's not a comparison he should want to make, but the other part is there's a suggestion that, as you said, al, that barack obama got in because of affirmative action, preferential treatment, and the think about that -- that is so just insanely hypocritical about rick perry is everything that has happened for him has been preferential. his father and him, the federal government, which may or may not have leveled the playing field for barack obama or anybody else who comes from an ethnic background to level the playing field and get them into a university of quality, rick perry's been getting those favors all his life. $100,000 in crop supports from the federal government for him

and his father. he's been running a corporate preferential treatment using taxpayer money to write checks to help them out to come down here. he needs to let this go. >> let me show this first. not that it should be dignified, but just so people understand the president's background, his report of achievement in terms of academics, at columbia he earned a bachelor of arts. he was the editor of "the harvard law review." you don't get that on preferential treatment. and graduated harvard magn magna cum laude. but he did it every day except one. i want you to respond to what rick perry is doing here, joe

madison. >> i don't have a clue about where the president and what this birth certificate says, but it's also a great distraction. >> that is one of the biggest distractions that there is going. somebody wants to see my birth certificate, i'll be happy to. >> i wasn't expressing douts. i was having fun with donald trump. >> the president is the president. that's a fact. so the issue of whether or not -- i don't think americans see that as anything other than a distraction. >> now, he keeps bringing it up as a distraction, and while he distracts with it, but what he's playing to, joe, is if you look at the poll in iowa, 48% of the republicans in iowa still don't believe the president was born in the united states. 48%, almost half, of the republicans in iowa. joe, is rick perry really playing to a base extreme

right-wing vote that he knows is there? >> simple answer to that is, yes. let me make three quick points. he seems saying it. it's a distraction, so i'm trying to distract you from the fact that i really shouldn't be in this race to begin with. point number two, and that is, look, rick perry needs to understand this, if he's listening. president obama is not running for class president. he's running for president of the united states you do not ask a 50-year-old grown man or woman to show you his transcripts. point number three, there's an old adage. it's not how you begin the race. it's how you end. no professor, no university, donald trump, has ever handed out an affirmative exam. you get the same exam that everything else gets, and you

have to get the same grades. the point is he ended up at the top, end of topic. >> jim, i'm going to give you the last word. look at the poll in iowa. mr. perry came in, blazing saddles. he was the cowboy in texas, looking up to him. now he's way down at the bottom, fighting for the basement of the poll with newt gingrich. >> he's got to do something to motivate the people who were crazy about him getting in the race in the first place. he's asking the classic question of when did you start beating your wife? you're guilty by implication, so he's going to keep coming up with these kinds of things, things that animate those people on the far right who turn out in big numbers, because they're

angry, and those are his voters, the social values voters who are against gay rights, against abortion, and these kinds of things. if he can get people excited again and have them reconsidering herman cain and say, wait a minute, he's not my guy, he'll show some movement. he's up on tv in iowa with nobody against him. he's going to start driving some numbers in iowa with his tv advertising. it's all part of a plan. >> >> he may be up on tv, but he doesn't have a lot to say if this is all he has to offer. >> and he's getting people to vote against their own interests, because they are distracted with this foolishness. >> thank you. jim did the three points and a close. thank you both. have a great weekend. still ahead, we'll talk about the losers and bigger losers in a rough week for the

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newt gingrich was talking education reform here in new york, and he was in a mood to name drop. >> i worked with secretary

duncan on getting more charter schools around the country. i actually went around the country with reverend al sharpton and secretary duncan in what was truly a fairly unusual trio. we could automatically get press coverage anywhere we went, just with the spectacle of everyone standing there. >> he's right. he's right. it was a spectacle, but it was for a good cause. look, at times we can't agree on what day of the week it is or his latest attack on president obama's student loan program, but in 2009 we teamed up to push for changes in public schools. speaking at the white house or going to schools across the country talking about education reform. congress, listen up. we came together on an issue that really matters, and as for you, newt, if you start agreeing with me about anything else, i promise not to tell republican primary voters. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar.

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what a week it's been in the reality show known as the gop race. folks, this party is officially off the rails. joining me now for the week in review, nia malika henderson, a political reporter for "the washington post," and erica pike, a reporter for clear politics. thank you both. >> great to be here. >> herman cain's incredible ad. in three days, it has a million hits on youtube. i can't resist. just roll it one more time. >> america has never seen a candidate like herman cain. we need you see to get involved. together, we can do this. we can take this country back. ♪ i am america ♪ one voice united we stand

♪ i am america ♪ one hope -- >> nia, this guy seems like a joke, but he's gone viral. so did cain win the week? >> well, you know, i can't get that song stuck out of my head. if there have been a million hits, i probably have watched it 500 times and contributed to that. if you want to look at winners and losers, cain may have won the week by the sheer absurdity of this ad, that people are watching, laughing, parroting on all the talk shows and late-night comedy shows. he certainly has gotten a lot of attention, his campaign manager has gotten a lot of attention, unwanted attention, a.p. had a story looking at his checkered past, but in some ways, it seems the more publicity that cain has

gotten, it seems to even boost him higher. he's like a teflon candidate so far. >> the fox poll has cain at 24, romney 20, gingrich 12, and on down. across the board cain's number one in ohio, iowa, south carolina, national, i mean, what's going on, erin in is he going to run away with? >> republicans are obviously shocked. they think his 15 minutes of fame is up, and that has happened. when you talk to pollsters running focus group of republicans, they're finding that the reactions to cain are better than any of the other republicans. that is surprising to them. as far as that ad, we're talking about it, and we're talking about him more. just last week on this show we were talking about how cain was

maybe flip flopping on abortion. we're not talking about that at all today. we're talking about this ad. >> and we're not the only ones talking. late-night comics don't want herman to go anywhere. watch this. >> herman, what do you want your campaign ad to look like? >> you know, i think we should get a guy that looks like alex trebek to smoke a cigarette, and i'll stand in front of the some blinds and smile. >> herman cain will create jobs, they will feed our family and grow our economy. >> i'm sam romano. i do herman cain's taxes. ♪ i am america ♪ one voice ♪ united we tanned >> accept my challenge a slow smile context. here's a little taste.

go. >> and now, if you think, nia, that you see hit 500 times on that original ad, i have something else we'll be talking about next week. look at the ad that no one paid attention to. yellow flowers, this is for you, nia. >> what are you guys? liberals? >> card carrying. >> in 2012, let's get real, people. take a look at herman cain. i think you'll like what you see. i stand with herman cain, because herman cain stands with us. >> nice chicken, honey. >> now, erin, doesn't that make

you want to give him the keys to the free world and let him balance the budget? i mean, doesn't it say he needs to be the guy that needs to be running everything? >> again, we're talking about it. remember, about one year ago we were talking about christine o'donnell and the i am a witch ad, and she became the republican nominee in the delaware senate race. for some reason they web spread videos are working, getting chatter. >> what happened to christine o'donnell? >> she obviously lost -- >> that might be why i'm still talking about it. in the long run it would work sometimes to the fringe doesn't work in the general election. >> no question. >> let's get to some serious talk. on the economy there were more signs this week that the republican candidates have fallen off. right wing. on tuesday, rick perry rolled out his 20% flat tax plan.

the plan is a giveaway to corporations and the rich and attacks the poor and the middle class. we know herman cain has his 9-9-9 plan, which does the same. now we're learning that mitt romney is set to roll out a flatter tax for his economic plan. erin, these kinds of plans were once the extreme. now it's the standard. how did we get here? >> well, if you remember, in 1996, in 2000, steve forbes ran on a flat-tax plan. he got a lot of promise nents from that, but ultimately didn't win his primary. now in this post tea party world, when the tea party came around in 2009, 2010, and theory brining in deficits, tax cuts, that kind of thing into the forefront, the flat tax is now very powerful, and it's really resonating with the republicans base. so these contenders that have been pulled far to the right

have to come out and offer something like that if they have any hopes of winning a republican primary. >> every one is flattening the middle class and the poor, how can you win? >> i actually talk to steve forbes on tuesday. he predicted this exactly, that more and more candidates would come out and support this flat tax. the reality of the flat tax, as we all know, is that it is a tax break for the rich, and rick perry has admitted as much. it hurts the middle class. but i think one of the things they're playing on is what is a frustration and real confusion, i think. >> but i don't think they understand the frustration. nia malika henderson and erin mcpike, thanks. you both have a great week, and stay off youtube, nia. we'll be right back. [ courier ] the amazing story of whether bovine heart tissue

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i want to give a birthday

shoutout to the statue of liber liberty. today lady liberty turns 125. in honor of the big day, a naturalization ceremony was held here in new york city for immigrants from 46 countries. lady liberty has welcomed people into our country for more than a century. her famous lines say it all -- give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free, but 125 years later, republicans aren't celebrating. take a look at this. this year 16 states proposed legislation attacking immigrants' rights. six states have anti-immigration laws in effect right now. just listen to the republican candidates. >> we'll have a real fence, 20 feet high with barbed wire, electrified. with a sign on the other side

that says -- it can kill you. >> i don't think i've ever hired an illegal in my life. you put in place a magnet to draw illegals into the state. >> i will build a double-walled fence on america's southern border. >> blame all the illegal immigrants for everything. >> i don't think you have a heart. >> i grew up in brooklyn, new york. one of mice first school outings was the teachers took us as youngsters to see the statue of liberty. we climbed up inside. she told us what that lady stood for, what that torch was lit for. we believed it. i still believe it, even in alabama, i still believe it. even in arizona, i still believe it. liberty should be what this country stands for, for people around the world to see that light in the darkness of their situation, and liberty, f those of us at home, those of