running for president, in addition to everything else, the newsletters and all the rest of it, he got donations from the clan leader who founded storm front, the nazi white nationalist web forum. that apparently wasn t embarrassing. ron paul did not return those donations and quite avowedly did not feel bad about keeping them. in terms of today s rand paul news, dave weigel reports today the confederate flag mask wearing southern avenger guy, that guy, that reporting on him as a rand paul staffer is not likely to affect his standing or his job in rand paul world. the staffer in question told the free beacon today he does not stand by some of the most inflammatory things he said but he believes he said he believed in the past but avowedly stood by them back at the time rand paul was hiring him in the first place and having him write his book. so at the micro level there s this unresolved question in republican politics about whether overt confederate white supremacist stuff is
christian pastor wrote about pat robertson today. i assure you i oppose nearly everything pat robertson says. i think he s a lunatic looking to gain attention and most importantly, donations to his foundation. robertson says his program reaches one million americans a day which is a shocking thing but he s a clan leader. there are a lot of people who listen to what he has to say is perhaps frightening and offensive to some, but it is true. why aren t more well-known christians coming out saying this is absolutely absurd? first, i think there s a track record with pat robertson saying so many ridiculous things, you get tired denouncing the guy. last year, don t forget, he did come out in favor of legalizing marijuana so maybe he s smoking a lot of marijuana, going on air and giving his opinions. we don t know. the truth is, the christian community had the same problems that i do in the muslim community where we have to stop being defined by our extremists. what i can share with
time of people demonstrating against the government. i still can t get over how many cameras are in china. jill dougherty, thank you so much, at the washington bureau for us today. thank you, jill. and now this here we go. hour two, welcome back. i m brooke baldwin. many holiday travelers are impacted at this hour by severe weather. also, police are investigating a student s sudden death. just how financially sound are the big banks? ted rowlands is riding an amtrack train to chicago. ted? reporter: brooke, we ve been talking to people all morning long. we started at st. louis at 4:30 in the morning. melvin joined us later on in the trip. you like the train? yes or no? yes. why? it s convenient, you know. it s just convenient for me. my daughter is in st. louis, i m in chicago. it s a quick trip. and cheaper, too. betty is on her way to virginia, eventually and betty, why do you like taking the train? well, it s a better ride. it s more economical. there s n