summits this week. china is one of the least democratic nations in the world. it is not that surprising, but it does come at a moment where he's having conversations with russia about ukraine. taiwan has been invited to this summit and that is a sensitive subject for them. they don't want them on that guest list. it really irritated them when they were invited. i think the guest list is also getting a lot of attention. the question is kind of what was the criteria of who was invited to this. because if you look, pakistan was invited, philippines were invited, but other nations like hungary, a member of the european union, turkey, nato ally, not on the guest list. you talk to the white house, they say the guest list was one of the most challenging aspects of this, of who do you -- how do you narrow this down and who do you invite, who made the cut who didn't make the cut, because a lot of the nations that didn't weren't happy. singapore not making it, even though you saw the vice president travel there the defense secretary went there as well, talking about that relationship. so i think that is another factor that will be kind of looming over this. >> i think this is fascinating today, and the timing is fascinating. i'll be listening very closely to whether or not the president makes specific reference or veiled reference to three countries. he talked about two of them, ukraine, russian troops amassing on the board, china, some countries staging a diplomatic boycott of the olympics. and the third country i'm interested to see if joe biden refers to is the united states. how he deals with what has gone on in the u.s. and the insurrection and the aftermath, how he deals with that when he speaks to the rest of the world. >> i think he will because when i talked to officials behind the scenes about how they're approaching this, they're not saying here's the summit to say look how great we are, democracy is working perfectly, it is more of a self-reflection kind of period to say, things aren't always perfect, and, of course, the united states is on a list this year for the first time saying that it is -- it had this backsliding of democracy here in the united states. president biden has pointed time and time again to january 6th, what happened there. he's been under a lot of pressure to act on voting rights, something they have not been able to do. you'll see vice president harris and that's her portfolio also speak today. and so i do think that will be a part of this that is looming over it. because china has used that to try to undercut this summit saying really like the united states is the one making this argument. but i think the white house is countering that by saying, this is a period to -- a time to talk where democracies do take a hard look in the mirror and look at what's going right and what's go wrong and this is a period for that. this maybe sets the stage for another summit like this down the road, maybe in person, maybe they'll take a chance to kind of evaluate where they are. it will be a period for that kind of a conversation. >> he's making a tough pitch to a number of countries, even as you look at china, and you're making a calculation that china may be ascendant, this is actually the path that is best for you, that is best for the world. that's difficult. >> it is difficult. and i think that it is the reason why he wants to hold a summit like this. this is something he's wanted to do since he took office. they just have finally been able to get it together in a sense it is virtual. it is virtual. it does prevent this -- put up a barrier there. i think it is the conversation they feel like it is worth having. it does bring this conversation of where does the united states stand, where do other democracies stand, does democracy work and how is it viewed formally? >> you covered the white house, the last one as well. jamie gangel reports today with the january 6th house select committee investigating the insurrection, mark meadows is suing and he's not going to cooperate, but he's already turned over all this information, including texts and emails and stuff from his personal account. and jamie says it includes, you know, conversations of people he was talking to, in and out of government. contemporaneous to the insurrection itself. that could be plretty revealing >> it is not just what happened on january 6th. it is what happened leading up to that. mark meadows as those of us who covered the white house at the time know was in conversation with justice department officials, having conversations with state election officials about this, and we know that was a big effort by the former president to target people in georgia and ask them why they weren't finding votes with him, i think the timing of mark meadows and suing january -- the january 6th committee, suing house speaker pelosi comes as his book comes out, it has an unflattering portrayal of the president when he got sick with the coronavirus. he saw up close with hat was go on with the president, he was, of course, someone behind the scenes talking about that. i think the reason you're seeing in part him change course here is because the former president is really unhappy with those parts of the book. and the fact that's in there. whether or not it ultimately changes the direction of the investigation remains to be seen. i think mark meadows could have shed a lot of light on what was going on the west wing that day. >> the cat is already out of the bag with this information that they have received from mark meadows. >> text messages, talking about efforts, a power point slide 40 slides long, it is revealing in a way -- >> which could be what, that power point slide? >> it was talking about ways they could dispute the election results and he was trying to sell it to other members of congress. it is not totally clear who made the power point and how that came to fruition. it raises a lot of questions. i have other questions including the fight over executive privilege, which is what mark meadows cited time and time again, and he was the chief of staff, very close to the former president. probably more of an argument than a lot of the other people like steve bannon do. but, remember, the january 6th committee, they were trying to document from the west wing that day, there is a handwritten note from mark meadows they wanted to get that people still don't know exactly what was on that note. and i think it is questions like that they would like to know more about. >> we're talking about democracy in peril in the united states as we're waiting to hear from president joe biden speak to this democracy summit, this virtual meeting of some 100 countries around the world, where he talks about democracy, we're waiting for those remarks, we'll bring them to you live the minute they come. meanwhile, kaitlan, last night, there was a vote in the senate to basically try to block president biden's vaccine measures, vaccine mandates. it will never become law. however, it is a statement by the senate, they voted to block it and that vote included two democrats, joe manchin, you know, some people may try to discount that, and also john tester. >> i think it speaks to the level of how democrats are viewing these vaccine mandates. they're not popular with every single person in the party. that's made clear by the two senate votes last night. if you look more broadly across the nation, the new jersey governor has not embraced this. the new york governor has not embraced this. there are democrats who say we're pro vaccine, we're not pro vaccine requirement. he did not want to implement mandates, he did not think that was the most effective route for them to take. however, they felt with the delta variant sweeping the u.s. and the level of vaccinations being stagnant that they needed to put this in place. so all of these mandates are now tied up in the courts, a lot of them -- all of them have been blocked by judges, maybe temporarily. the white house says they're confident this will ultimately -- they will ultimately be victorious. it remains to be seen though. i think it speaks to the broader fight they have over these vaccine mandates, over what this is going to look like and over how to get people who don't want to get vaccinated vaccinated. >> stand by, kaitlan collins. we're waiting to hear from president biden at this democracy summit. and in the meantime, china and russia denouncing it before it even begins. we'll look at joe biden's different tone when it comes to the chinese and russian leaders. brand-new scientific proof that a covid booster shot could help save your life. outrage at fox over an attack on a treasured institution. not the storming of the capitol, though. this is your home. this is your family room slash gym. the guest bedroom slash music studio. the daybed slash dog bed. the living room slash yoga shanti slash regional office slash classroom. and 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largely pointing in the wrong direction. freedom house reports in 2020 that marked the 15th consecutive year of global freedom in retreat. another recent report from the international institute of democracy, an electoral assistant, noted more than half of all democracies have experienced a decline in at least one aspect of their democracy over the last ten years, including the united states. and these trends are being exacerbated by global challenges that are more complex than ever, and which require shared efforts to address these concerns. by outside pressure, from autocrats, they seek to advance their own power, export and expand their influence around the world and justify the repressive policies and practices as a more efficient way to address today's challenges. that's how it is sold. by voices that seek to fan the flames of social division and political polarization, and perhaps most importantly, and worrying of all, most worrying of all, by increasing the dissatisfaction of people all around the world with democratic governments that they feel are failing to deliver for their needs. in my view, this is the defining challenge of our time. democracy, government of the people, by the people, for the people, can at times be fragile but also is inherently resilient. it is capable of self-correction and it is capable of self-improvement and, yes, democracy is hard, we all know that. and it works best with consensus and cooperation. when people in parties that might have opposing views sit down, and find ways to work together, things begin to work. but it is the best way to unleash human potential and defend human dignity and solve big problems. it is up to us to prove that. democracies are not all the same. we don't agree on everything. all of us in this media today. but the choices we make together will define in my view the course of our shared future for generations to come. and as a global community for democracy, we have to stand up for the values that unite us. we have to stand for justice and the rule of law, for free speech, free assembly, a free press, freedom of religion, for all the inherent human rights of every individual. my late friend, could congressman john lewis, was a great champion of american democracy. and for civil rights around the world. learning from and gaining inspiration from other great leaders like gandhi, and mandela, but this final words, he was dying, to our nation last year, he reminded our country, quote, democracy is not a state. it is an act. democracy is not a state, it is an act. so over the next two days, we're bringing together leaders from more than 100 governments alongside activists, trade unionists and other members of civil society, leading experts and researchers and representatives from the business community, not to assert that any one of our democracies is perfect, or has all the answers. but to lock arms and reaffirm our shared commitment to make our democracies better. to share ideas and learn from each other. and make concrete commitments of how to strengthen our own democracies and push back on authoritarianism. fight corruption. promote and protect human rights of people everywhere, to act, to act. this summit is a kickoff of a year in action. for all of our countries. to follow through on our commitments, and report back next year on the progress we made. and as we do this, the united states is going to lead by example. investing in our own democratic -- our own democracies, supporting our partners around the world at the same time. from the earliest days of my administration, we pursued a broad-based agenda to prove that american democracy can still do big things and take on challenges that matter most. that's why we immediately passed what we called the american rescue plan. to get shots in people's arms as fast as possible at home and around the world. to help get this pandemic under control and to stimulate inclusive and lasting economic recovery. that's also helping to drive global growth. last month, i was proud to sign a bipartisan piece of legislation, a true act of consensus between democrats and republicans, and our can country, the infrastructure investment and jobs act. this legislation will make a generational investment to deliver what people need most in the 21st century, clean water, safe roads, high speed broadband internet, and so much more. all of which strengthens our democracy by creating good paying union jobs that will translate to lives of opportunity and dignity for working people. with better access to the tools and resources they need to thrive. and soon, and soon i hope -- i hope to sign into law a bill we call the build back better plan. which will be an extraordinary investment in our people and our workers and give american families a little more breathing room to deal with their problems and their opportunities. our domestic agenda has been focused on delivering for the needs of the american people, strengthening our democratic institutions at home. my first day in office i signed an executive order to advance racial justice and equality. my administration recently released our first national strategy on gender equality and equity. we're fostering greater worker power, because workers organize the union to give them the voice of -- >> president biden addressing the democracy summit, talking to some leaders from 100 countries around the world, suggesting that he feels that democracy can work, making the case that democracy is a workable system and really that he feels it is under attack around the world. not just in places like china and russia, but also in the united states. kaitlan collins, what jumped out to you there? >> i think one interesting thing is he said we're going to check back in, in a year from now, and see progress we have made and things we worked on. and saying including the united states. i do think that will be interesting to see if from a year from now are there any real tangible changes to this, what does this actually look like. because we don't expect any big deliverables from the summit today. but the president there talking about just the importance of the conversation, saying this is something he wanted to do for a while, talking about the inflexion point he believes the world is at when it comes to are we going to push for democracies or see more of these autocracies, and nations led by authoritarian leader. that's something he made a priority since taking office to make a global conversation and you saw there, he was there with the secretary of state, in front of this giant zoom call with the leaders of 110 nations to kick off this two-day summit at the white house. >> it is so telling about where we are as a country and about where we are in the world as well. kaitlan, thank you so much. just breaking moments ago, an incident at the capitol where a person was arrested for trying to bring a gun into a house office building. cnn's lauren fox joining us now with more information. what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, we're just getting some preliminary information this morning, but the long worth house office building on the house side of the capitol was on a brief lockdown after an individual brought a gun into the long worth office building. this person has since been arrested, brianna, and we don't have a lot more information about what unfolded. this is, of course, all coming as there is concern and has been growing concern about security threats on capitol hill. that lockdown has since been lifted. capitol police saying there is not a current threat to the capitol hill community. but, again, this is coming after a year of tumult on capitol hill, where you had the january 6th insurrection, you had another incident where a car drove into a barricade and killed a police officer. so a lot of concern on obviously this is why u.s. capitol police has security, this is why people go through metal detectors to get into this building. but we'll keep you updated as we get more information about the incident. brianna? >> all right, lauren fox, thank you so much. so new this morning, stunning data on the efficacy of covid booster shots. two studies out of israel show that booster doses of the pfizer vaccine reduced infection and death from the virus by 90%. 90%. joining us now, cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. 90%, sanjay, is a figure you don't see a lot in science. >> no. we don't. although the number that we hear oftentimes when we talk about the vaccine effectiveness overall in terms of reducing illness here, remember, even going back a year, was around 90%. and if you put up the graphs again, let me show you something, john, it is important, when you look overall at just vaccine effectiveness, the trend line is going up. it is worth pointing out the numbers were small. relatively small and reduced even further. that's a blown in graphic if you will. you're seeing it at a magnified level. two messages here, the vaccine effectiveness with the two shots was still pretty good. but clearly was waning. and then over time after they got the boosters, that was sort of the end of august, you did see the numbers come down. so you had 90% effectiveness with the two shots and went to 99% with the booster. so, yeah, clearly the boosters made a difference on top of something that was already pretty good with the overall two-shot regiment. >> israel -- for folks aged 12 and up. when are we expecting that here in the u.s.? >> this is a common question. so we doo no know there was an emergency authorization put in. what is interesting is we heard from the fda, they said typically there is an advisory committee that meets. we have seen a bunch of those. they make a recommendation to the fda. what they said, with this particular emergency use authorization application, they're not even going to convene that advisory committee. so the fda is going to basically decide on that themselves. they feel like the advisory committee met a number of times, they talked about the benefits of vaccines, they're going to leave it to the fda directly to make a decision. so it has been about a month, maybe within the next couple of weeks we should hear on that. >> so, sanjay, in an interview yesterday, dr. rochelle walensky said of the 40 confirmed omicron cases in the united states, three-quarters of them were among vaccinated people. what is the significance there? >> well, you know, i think this is one of those things we have to pay attention to. these are small numbers. so we need to see does this sort of ratio play out in larger parts of the population? but also, you know, it is this sort of question all along about are we doing enough testing. these are people who got tested. they're vaccinated. the real question is what is the true denominator here. how many people out there may be carrying this, not getting tested, and how many of them are unvaccinated? that's the real question i think. and we don't know the answer to that. the third point, if you look at the data, and, again, small numbers, here, but if you also look at south africa, regardless of infection sort of status, whether or not they were testing positive, the likelihood of being protected against disease was still significant. just like we were talking about in israel. so the real goal of the vaccines as we said, while it may help to some degree with infection and transmission, the main goal in terms of the big effectiveness is really reducing the likelihood someone is going to get severely ill. >> obviously the hope is that more people in this country get vaccinated, sanjay. you look at this new kaiser family foundation poll they found this is still such a huge uphill battle when it comes to kids here. 30% definitely not. >> i know. and these numbers do change. we have been following them since the beginning. there is a -- that wait and see population does tend to be larger than is initially sort of, you know, indicated. there may be more people who do, you know, sort of jump over and get the vaccine. it is the biggest problem here. as much as we talk about boosters, which are important, as we just showed in israel data, the biggest problem right now especially going into the cooler dryer months is people who don't have immunity really at all from vaccines or otherwise. so that is the big issue here. my guess is those numbers will continue to budge a bit as more and more people do get vaccinated. but we'll see. it has been a problem almost since the very beginning. >> it certainly is. needs to be addressed, continually, i think. sanjay, great to see you. >> you too. thank you. hitting a nerve, china says the u.s. and others will pay the price for its diplomatic boycott of the beijing winter olympics. your eyes. beautiful on the outside, but if you have diabetes, there can be some not-so-pretty stuff going on inside. it's true, with dietic retinopathy, excess 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- chesa's failure has resulted in increase in crime against asian americans. - the da's office is in complete turmoil at this point. - for chesa boudin to intervene in so many cases is both bad management and dangerous for the city of san francisco. - we are for criminal justice reform. chesa's not it. recall chesa boudin now. in the early morning hours yesterday, the christmas tree outside of fox's manhattan headquarters went up in flames. it was an act of arson at a time where crime in america is escalating. we covered this story as a crime, and fox covered it too, extensively as the centerpiece of their news day. >> sad news, our very own beautiful 50-foot fox news christmas tree was destroyed. >> who sets a christmas tree on fire? >> who sets a christmas tree on fire? >> it is part of the rampant no city is safe, no person is safe from this. >> the tree that unyunites us, t brings us together, it is about the christmas spirit, about the holiday season, it is about jesus, it is about hanukkah, it is about everything that we stand for as a country, freedom and being able to worship the way you want to worship, it makes me so mad. >> no one can burn down the spirit of christmas or destroy our resilience. a new tree is on the way. >> they look at the lights, and today there are no lights because somebody burned down our christmas tree. >> i hope we put it back. i hope we put it back. >> i hope we build it back bigger and better. >> why is burning christmas trees not a hate crime according to the doj. >> for someone to burn that down, it is so disheartening and so sad. >> it is going to mean something different. we lost our tree and we're going to have another tree. >> we're going to build the tree. the tree will be back in no time. it is going to be beautiful. and massive. and it is going to mean even more than it did before. >> if your tree is real in a crowded area, this thing -- you could burn down city blocks. but it is emblematic of a city -- cities across america, they're out of control. >> this city has gone south when it comes to safety. we don't feel safe when we come to work in the morning. >> america's crime crisis hits close to home for us here at fox after a brazen arson attack happened right outside our new york city headquarters. and giving us a front row seat to the rampant crime ravaging democrat-run cities. >> so come see us, come celebrate. you fire bug little bastard, you won't keep us down. >> this is deeply personal to all of us, not just the folks that work at fox but all of you at home. it is red, white and blue. it represents america. >> the whole lobby was full of smoke evidently. >> he apparently scaled the tree, ignited a massive fire, endangering hundreds of people in and around our fox news headquarters. >> now, no one was injured in this incident. but they could have been. this is a serious incident. it is incredibly scary to feel that your workplace is under attack unless -- your workplace is the capitol. then, according to many, many fox hosthosts, it is not such a deal. >> 100%, 99% of them were peaceful. >> you don't see people hiding bombs or using bay nets. you see people walking around and taking pictures. they don't look like terrorists, they look like tourists. >> they were there to support the president of the united states and defend our republic and stand up and say i want a fair shake. >> the insurrection at the u.s. capitol, it wasn't an insurrection. it was a political protest that got out of control. >> the winner is mycike michael. >> when the target is the seat of american democracy, it is not. the whole of congress as they certify a presidential election that was fair and secure, when the perpetrators are trump supporters in the thousands, four of whom died that day, when the victims are police officers, 140 of whom were injured, and when five police officers have died in the wake of the attack including four by suicide, when fox's own colleagues had to take cover inside the capitol complex on january 6th, fox downplays the attack and in many cases flat out doesn't cover it, ignores that it ever happened, just imagine if fox hosts could muster for an armed attack on the capitol the same outrage that they did for their christmas tree. perhaps some of the almost half of republicans who think january 6th was a legitimate protest might actually see it for what it really was. >> good point. there were many, many fox news employees at the capitol that day. >> there are. and, look, we had employees there. and i used to work there. and i was thinking about what it would be like to be in that building and that's what it was for every staffer who was in there, so many. it was members of congress. but it was a lot of journalists as well. and i understand that they're saying this feels personal. it would feel personal to me if something like that happened at my workplace, for sure. but what happened to the capitol should be personal for all of us. and they are completely abdicating, i think, their responsibility in talking about it that way. so we have some emotional testimony in the trial of the traffic stop shooting death of daunte wright. the officer heard on body camera footage, i'm going to go to prison. ♪ and why justin timberlake might be crying a river over his book sales. the new sensodyne e repair and protect with deep repair has the science to show that the toothpaste goes deep inside the exposed dentin to help repair sensitive teeth. my patients are able to have that quality of life back. i recommend sensodyne repair and protect with deep repair. my retirement plan with voya keeps me moving forward... even after paying for this. love you, sweetheart they guide me with achievable steps that give me confidence. this is my granddaughter...she's cute like her grandpa. voya doesn't just help me get to retirement... ...they're with me all the way through it. come on, grandpa! later. got grandpa things to do. aw, grandpas are the best! well planned. well invested. well protected. voya. be confident to and through retirement. ♪ ♪ ♪ find the silver lining in flight delays. vacation starts at the airport with centurion lounge access. one of the many reasons you're with amex platinum. moments ago, president biden kicked off a democracy summit with leaders from across the world. john avlon with a reality check. >> the biden administration's democracy summit is under way with 111 countries meeting virtually against the rising tide of autocracy. we'll see what concrete commitments emerge, or whether it is all a lot of dip low talk. but the need is real. after all, democracies have been in retreat for over a decade around the world according to freedom house. autocracies pitch the promise of wealth. china denounced the summit before it began. with putin calling liberalism obsolete. there are heartening signs of a pushback. the latest example is this week's decision to diplomatically boycott the beijing olympics, explained by the white house as a stand against china and ongoing genocide and crimes against human humanity. that's a long way from trump calling uyghur concentration camps exactly the right thing to do, according to his former national security adviser, john bolton. this week also included two hour virtual meeting with putin, which biden warned any russian invasion of ukraine would be met with military and unprecedented economic sanctions. but despite that stark change in tone when it comes to dictators, what is almost as significant is seeing more businesses put billions at risk to stand up to the chinese government. like women's tennis association, which last week announced a suspension of all tournaments in china in response to beijing's silencing of sexual assault allegations made by peng shuai against a former tom p communis party official. several clothing and apparel companies condemned the use of slave labor, provoking china's ire. this kind of a spine is a stark departure from retreats we have seen in the past, like the nba's apologies when the houston rockets general manager tweeted in support of act visitivists i kong. mercedes apologized to the ccp for quoting the dalai lama in an ad. sev perhaps one of most absurd examples was actor john cena's over the top hostage file video apologizing in mandarin for having made the mistake of calling taiwan a nation in an interview. for the record, taiwan is a self-governed democratic island which is attending the democracy summit. these sins apologies for the sin of offending china are relatively commonplace, if cowardly as you can see. what we don't see quite as much is a full throated defense of vladimir pewtenutin in u.s. med. just take a look at the banners, nato seems to exist to torment putin and putin wants to keep his borders secure and mocking the idea of territorial integrity entirely, the right to not have foreign tanks roll across your borders. an inkind contribution to the kremlin. tucker is not alone in this entirely. look at the cover of news max magazine this month, which hails vlad the great, post trump, he becomes master of the world. this is sick stuff. tiger beat for authoritarian teeny boppers. it is part of the fetishizing, one of trump's gifts to the gop. take note of this economist poll from august of this year. republicans have a higher approval rating for putin than the american president joe biden. it is this kind of hyperpartisan fever along with trump's big lie in the attack on the capitol that creates an opening for autocracies to point to democracies dysfunction. a russian commentator writes this u.s. led democracy summit is like a mistress of a brothel, teaching morals to school girls. their goal is to exacerbate cynicism in the west. and that's exactly why partisan citizens and moral relatives here at home play right into their hands. it is why we need to defend the integrity of our own democracy, without apology. that's your reality check. >> i like the tiger beat reference, because -- >> i thought you might. >> he's tucker carlson's shawn cassidy. >> you're dating yourself, but i dig it. >> john avlon, thank you very much. here's what else to watch today. more on our new cnn reporting, we're learning what was on mark meadows texts during the insurrection and how he communicated. plus -- ♪ >> billie eilish, her career, white hot right now. so why not her book sales? ♪ ♪ to all the kisses... ...that led... ...to this one. celebrate every kiss, with kay. this is the new world of work. each day looks different than the last. but whatever work becomes... the servicenow platform will make it just, flow. whether it's finding ways to help you serve your customers, orchestrating a safe return to the office... wait. an office? what's an office? or solving a workplace challenge that's yet to come. whatever the new world of work takes your business, the world works with servicenow. ♪ say it's all right ♪ ♪ say it's all right, it's all right ♪ ♪ have a good 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(sha bop sha bop) ♪ ♪ ♪ alexa, play our favorite song again. ok. ♪ i only have eyes for you ♪ what do justin timberlake, ilhan omar and billie eilish have in common? they all have big social media followings, but despite heavy advances, that has not meant big book sales. joining me now is books and publishing reporter for "the new york times" elizabeth harris. when i say they have big social media presences, they're like gargantuan, millions and millions of people. you would think if they write books, they could say buy my book and people will do it. what is going on here? >> well, book sales are really difficult to predict. if you think about a lot of things sold retail like a can of tomato sauce or car seat, those don't change a lot from year to year. but every book is different. it is an individual work of art or culture. every time a publisher comes out with a new book, it is, you know, kind of -- it is a whole new world and no one really knows what the market is going to be. having a social media following like billie eilish has 97 million instagram followers, it can really help, but it is not a guarantee and that just sort of speaks to how unpredictable the book business is. >> publishers now, because it is so unpredictable, they're counting on that social media presence. or looking for it, right? >> yeah, it can help. if you think about it in the last many years, the way you publicize a book has shrunk, book coverage has really shrunk, they really count on authors to be able to help get the message out themselves. and but there is, you know, it is really unpredictable. someone can have a ton -- 100 million followers on instagram and her book sold, but just not nearly as much as one would think for a following like that. and not as much for what the publishers paid for it. where as, you know, there are some people who have -- there is an instagram account called accidentally wes anderson, pictures of kind of things like bowling ailing alleys and stuff they have like a million and a half instagram followers, but their book -- they have a coffee table book out now and it sold really well, about 100,000 copies. and so it is just, you know, you have to publishers try to figure out, okay, like, they have all these followers, but how engaged are they? do they like their content, do they share it? are they commenting? even that is difficult to parse out because sometimes maybe the book doesn't really match what the social media accounts are about, like you have a social media account about training puppies, and then you have a book about gardening. maybe the people who follow you for the training of the puppies don't care about gardening. you could have 10 or 20 million followers but you say, hey, buy my book about gardening and they're like, nah. it is more complicated than just your numbers are high for instagram, so your numbers are going to be high for your book sales. >> such a great point. your article is terrific. as you know, one thing that does consistently help a little bit is when the book is really good. sometimes that's one of the things that makes a difference. elizabeth harris, thank you so much. terrific reporting. >> thanks so much. big breaking news. seconds ago, we got a new report on jobless claims in the u.s. and they just hit a half century low. think about that. the lowest in 50 years. the labor department reported 184,000 claims, that's the lowest level since september of 1969. that was before i was born. >> wait, was it? >> yes. fact checking. it was before i was born. the jobs numbers are confounding. it is hard to understand what is happening here, except there is so much leverage in workers' hands right now where they can go out and find jobs that they want to get. and that's a really, really big -- you lost your mic huh? i can say whatever i want right now and you can't respond. >> i can't respond. i was told to pick it up, that would require knowing where it is. take it away. >> the jobless claim thing is good news for workers out there. it is another sign of this economy moving in the right direction. it is not perfect, there are inflation concerns here, but there are a lot of things to be very, very grateful for as we head into the christmas season. so the uk essentially going back into lockdown in response to the omicron variant. is it the right move? and verdict watch in the jussie smollett trial, the jury back to work moments from now. before nexium 24hr, anna could only imagine a comfortable night's sleep without frequent heartburn waking her up. now, that dream... . ...is her reality. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts, for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? i didn't have health insurance, not because i didn't want it. i worried it was too expensive and i was having a hard time paying our other bills. but now, for the first time in our lives, i can do both. covered california makes health insurance easier in every way. with financial help for millions of us and free assistance to compare your options. covered california. this way to health insurance. enroll by december 31st at coveredca.com it is time now for "the good stuff". the surprise of a lifetime for dunkin' donuts employee ebony johnson. one of her loyal customers, suzanne barker, noticed johnson was not at work recently and when barker discovered her favorite drive through server had fallen on hard times and been evicted, she got to work with nonprofit organizations to find her a home and get it furnished. >> improve her life and the life fof her kids and make sure they had stable housing so she could continue to provide that excellent service she does. >> the kids are just as excited as their mom. a fully furnished home just in time for christmas. >> what i love about this is the acknowledgement of people who are part of your lives, they may not be co-workers, may not be family, but they're part of your life and they're meaningful to you. that's one person telling another, i see you. you're important to me. you're important to the world. i love that. >> and ebony takes care of suzanne in a way every day, right? >> just lovely. >> cnn's coverage continues right now. >> very good thursday morning to you. i'm jim sciutto. >> i'm erica hill. we're following a number of major stories happening this hour. president biden just kicked off a long awaited virtual summit for democracy from the white house. he's addressing a group of countries focused on fighting corruption, promoting human rights. the president also addressing issues here in the united states, ahead of his call with the president of ukraine later today. we'll have more on that in just a moment. another story we're following closely this morning, in the next hour a bipartisan tribute ceremony on capitol hill honori