it is sunday, february the 5th. i am ali velshi. we begin today with a big balloon! a major metaphor and a geopolitical turning point in the wrong direction. yesterday, at 2:39 pm eastern standard time the united states military f 32 aircraft flying at 15,000 feet used a single air to air missile to shoot down what the united states says was a chinese around balloon. roughly six nautical miles off the coast of south carolina, while within u.s. territorial airspace. the blue crafted to the atlantic ocean creating a debris field at least seven mile spread out in monthly shallow water. the recovery is ongoing. that includes navy divers, the coast guard, another manned and unmanned savage vehicles. fbi counter intelligence agency are also on board the vehicles. officials say there is plenty to learn from the debris. they add they have also been studying the balloon since it first entered u.s. airspace in the lucian islands of alaska on january the 28. the balloons, which had mane
civil war before coming in the fashion in world war i. look at the names of the planes that were used in the mission that down the balloon. frank 01 and frank co2. named after frank luka junior who was a war were to hero known for destroying more than a dozen german observation looped balloons. it is poetic. china has admitted that the balloon is there but says it was, quote, a civilian airship used for meteorology purposes. a weather balloon. which had, quote, deviated far from its plane course from strong winds. which was a little hard to believe where montana where the balloon was covering for a day is more than 6000 miles from mainland china. also home to one of america s three nuclear missile silo feels. which operates maintained intercontinental ballistic michelin. indeed, a senior official says the blood was monitoring multiple sensitive military sites. carrying surveillance equipments including a collection pardon had special thermal panels. more damning, the u.s. has concerned
or commuting the sentences of tens of thousands of prisoners. that includes many people who were arrested in connection with the recent anti government protests in the country, after the death of 22-year-old, mahsa amini, which the announcement cited was, quote, of the result of the incitement propaganda of the enemy. amini died in a hospital under suspicious circumstances last september after she was arrested for allegedly violating the country s strictly enforced islamic dress code for women. while law enforcement said she suffered a heart attack, witnesses said that amini had been beaten by the police. her death triggered large-scale protests across iran and caught the attention of the international community, as iranian officials tried to downplay amini s death and violently crackdown on protesters. four men were publicly hanged for taking part in the protests, and last november, iran acknowledge knowledge that around 300 people have been in connection with the protests. human righ
anthem, we still need the song to actually function as a kind of signifier of what has not yet been achieved in this country. when dr. king quote, holman lift every moment and sing, it was often the most difficult moments in the civil rights struggle. after the most harrowing defeats or even deaths. and i think that that is instructive. it is a song that reminds us that we have not yet achieved the kind of justice that we also rightly deserve. what is the relevance of the fact that the song is gaining greater mainstream prominence, including the fact that it will be performed at the super bowl? i think it s a sign that we have had this sort of in the last ten years are, so what is called a racial recognition, and part of that journey has been to actually tell the story about black americans who have been wounded deeply so that people can understand why it has been so critical to