Also my personal conversation with a group of asianamerican Community Leaders amid a Terrifying Spike in antiasian violence in this country. You want to hear what they have to say. Velshi starts now. Good morning. It is sunday, may 16th. Im ali velshi. The worst and deadliest violence in years in the israeli Palestinian Conflict continues this morning. Overnight the Israeli Defense Forces released this footage of a new strike conducted on the residence of a Hamas Leader In Gaza in addition to tunnel systems In Gaza as well. The idf says Air Strikes hit Hamas Intelligence Headquarters which they say was located adjacent to a kindergarten. The Gaza Ministry of health reports at least 33 people were killed and multiple buildings destroyed in new air Strikes Today. Doctors without borders also reports that an israeli strike caused damage to one of its clinics In Gaza although the organization says No One inside the clinic was injured. Were learning more about that israeli Air Strike Yesterday on a gaza high rise, this one youre looking at, which housed international Media Outlets including the Associated Press and Al Jazeera as well as some apartments. The President And Ceo of the Associated Press said he was shocked and horrified by the strike, which he says is, quote, an incredibly disturbing development. Israel is defending the attack claiming the building also housed hamas military and intelligence assets and hamas was using the Media Offices as, quote, human shields. Late Last Night the Secretary Of State Antony Blinken offered americas unwavering support for independent journalists and Media Organizations across the world. The Defense Forces gave one hours notice to civilians in the building to evacuate and this video purports to show the Buildings Owner talking on the phone with the man who is said to be a member of the idf asking for additional time for people to go back into the building to collect their belongings. For nearly a week hamas has fired thousands of rockets into israel. Israel has conducted dozens of strikes In Gaza. Neither side appears to have any desire for a ceasefire. President biden spoke separately with both israeli President Netanyahu and palestinian Leader Abass calling for a ceasefire and stressing the need for hamas to stop firing rockets. More than 180 palestinians and israelis have been killed. Multiple countries including the united states are attempting to broker a ceasefire so far to no avail. Joining me live in tel aviv, nbc chief Foreign Correspondent richard engle. Last night you gave a remarkable firsthand report with bombs going off as a backdrop. Richard, before i ask you any questions, i want to play that for our viewers. Reporter this has been happening day and now night. Its just after midnight. Hamas said that it might attack now. The sirens are going off. You can see over there the iron dome. Bursts into the sky into those trying to take out a missile. And it is just beginning. It is only a few minutes into this. I just heard what sounds like an impact and you can see the Star Burst now of the dome. That is remarkable footage, richard. Im glad youre safe. Richard, i think we need to clarify something. President biden spoke to netanyahu and abbass. That is the head of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank. They are not in charge In Gaza and the Rocket Fire is coming from gaza. This has developed into an israel hamas war of sorts. So whats the benefit of talking to Mohammed Abbas . Reporter there is probably very little benefit by speaking to abbas. Theres two camps really. You have the West Bank which is a palestinian area that is separate physically and politically from the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank is run by mahmoud abbas. Hes 85 years old and under a lot of pressure for postponing elections. This is also a bit of a rivalry with hamas in the Gaza Strip showing that it is the real leader, that abbas is asleep at the wheel, hes not taking charge, hes not defending palestinians, hes not putting their Issue Front and center in front of the worlds attention. So by carrying out this campaign, hamas is showing its leadership of the Gaza Strip, but it comes with an enormous cost because now day in and day out there are bombings In Gaza and people are dying, parts of the city are being destroyed, but in the internal palestinian rivalry, certainly hamas is being talked about much more than abbas. But yes, if you want to solve this, you need to talk to hamas, not to the West Bank. Richard, again, one of the benefits of having you is you are so steeped in this story. Why do palestinians in the Gaza Strip Support Hamas when they are told by america, they are told by the west, they are told by israel that hamas is what is labeled by many in the west as a Terrorist Organization, bent on the destruction of israel . The average person In Gaza does not believe that hamas is going to get them peace or a Twostate Solution with israel. Reporter the situation In Gaza, and not everyone In Gaza supports hamas. But right now according to people ive been speaking to In Gaza, people there do Support Hamas firing rockets. It is because of the hopelessness In Gaza. Gaza is a sealedoff area. Much of the West Bank is sealed off, but at least people there have a bit more freedom. They can go to jordan, they have a better quality of life. Gaza is often compared to a prison. If you live there, theres no visitation, you cant leave, you are there for life. You cant go out from egypt. Its almost impossible to get permission from israel to leave the Gaza Strip. And every few years the place is destroyed. So weve spoken to people In Gaza and we spoke to a young woman who said why bother doing anything, why bother building anything, why bother opening a business when we know sooner or later theres going to be another round of fighting and there will be destruction. The medical care In Gaza is terrible. Theres no real opportunities for advancement. And people there feel that if theyre dying anyway of strangulation, and if they have no hope, then they may as well fight to try to change the situation. That is what hamas is doing right now so it is enjoying a degree of popularity. Maybe theres another way of doing that. Maybe it would be better to give people hope and have a diplomatic solution and there have been many attempts to do that but they have not been successful. Richard, you know that one has to take everything with a grain of salt, especially when offered up by either israel or the idf or hamas about what happens In Gaza. But there is some reporting this morning out of israel, which we have not confirmed, that says that the israelis gave the united states some substantiation that that building they bombed did have Hamas Intelligence Information on weaponry in it. So this israel is very sensitive about this particular issue, and i spoke to an israeli military official at some length about this in particular and i know the building as well. So you have a building In Gaza, a tall building that was used as a main Media Headquarters because its tall, because media tends to attract other media, and it was the headquarters. Al jazeera was there, the a. P. Was there and had been for some time. Now, there was talk about bombing it years ago during the last escalation of violence. There was talk from israel that it was also a hamas headquarters. I never saw any evidence that would suggest that. But according to an israeli military official, the Building Housed Hamas military intelligence and it housed hamas engineers who were doing Research And Development in offices, computertype work, Research And Development on rockets. They say also in or on the building was some unspecified kind of Military Equipment that was used to harm israels military capabilities. The official wouldnt go into any specifics of what that alleged weapon was. But israel is going out of its way to try and explain and make its case that this was from its perspective a legitimate target. Richard, stay safe. Thank you for your reporting. Well stay Close To You today. Richard engle for us, our chief Foreign Correspondent in the Middle East. Joining me now with more on Washingtons Reaction and role in trying to broker a ceasefire is white House Correspondent Anne gearan. Her latest piece dives into the president s Foreign Policy as were seeing it play out realtime. Biden wants to focus on asia, the Middle East has other ideas. Anne, the mideast definitely has other ideas. I think there are two truths about the mideast. Palestinians and arabs in general do not think the united states is a fair Power Broker in the Middle East. They think it is biased towards israel. But almost everybody there will tell you that we will not achieve peace in the united states unless the united states is at the forefront of this discussion. Yeah, ali, i think thats a very good encapsulation of the american Exceptionalism Argument in the Middle East which as israels traditionally strongest international ally, the united states is a Power Broker but also really the only power with great sway over israel, especially in times of crisis like this, and really the only Convening Power that could help broker a final just solution. And so i think thats the hope here is that President Biden will take that Mantle And Attempt to try to bring the parties together at some point in his presidency. Clearly right now is not the moment. Right now would be the moment for the united states to begin to try to broker a ceasefire and that is presumably what the State Department Envoy sent last week to the region is attempting to do. Thats a bit of a triangulation since we dont talk to hamas. The united states continues hamas a Terrorist Organization and has no direct contact. That usually happens through egypt. Its all very complicated, requires classic shuttle diplomacy. We hope that thats probably whats going to start to happen this week. Anne, thank you for your continued reporting and your analysis on this. Well stay Close To You as well because we need to understand how this is playing out. Joining me now is Jason Crow of colorado, a member of the armed services committee, served as an Impeachment Manager in the first trial of Donald Trump. Congressman, good to see you. Thank you for being with us this morning. I want to discuss a number of things with you including what happened on January 6th. You are certainly a voice and an image that we are so familiar with from that date but i do want to talk to you about the escalating violence in the Middle East. As someone who has served in the military, this is important and Close To You, but you also realize the importance of the role, the Leadership Role the united states needs to play. One the united states has not played as effectively as we would have hoped certainly over the last four years. Yeah, good morning, ali. Thanks for having me on. Undoubtedly this is a terrible situation. It needs to stop now. There needs to be an immediate ceasefire and the united states has an important role to play in that. We have been in years past a broker between the parties in the ceasefire and as you mentioned earlier in the show its very, very challenging with regard to hamas because gaza really theres no Party Weve been able to negotiate with, theres no authority. One of the reasons for that is because the Trump Administration Cut Off aid to the palestinians, Cut Off the palestinian mission to the united states, and tried to marginalize those parties and did nothing to help build Capacity Or Leadership to negotiate with. Now were in a position to try to reengage with those parties while Theres Hostility going on right now and thats a very difficult situation. Congressman, let me talk about the problems were having in this country. The January 6th commission that has been proposed, im going to be talking to congressman Bennie Thompson very shortly about that. Sounds like a good idea. Sounds like for those who want to move on or move forward an understanding of what happened, why it happened and how we prevent it in the future sounds good. But republican leadership, including kevin mccarthy, not sounding too enthused about this whole thing. The 9 11 commission people were behind. Whether or not you agreed with the underlying reasons for 9 11. What about this one . Yeah. The challenges between this one and the 9 11 are clear in that you have it in the House Gop right now and kevin mccarthy, people that dont want to talk about this event because it was incited by Donald Trump, the leader of their party, who continues to have a stranglehold on their party. Theres no further evidence of that than what happened to Liz Cheney this past week who stood up and spoke out against him and was removed from her leadership position. At the same time, you have people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and others who continue to do abhorrent things and nobody says anything about them. Its very clear what direction that caucus continues to go in. He just doesnt want to talk about it, he being kevin mccarthy. Im sure he doesnt want to be subpoenaed either. So he resisted this for a long time. I am glad that they reached a deal and i look forward to making sure that that commission does the right thing and doesnt allow this to be swept under the rug. Yeah, you remember that day very clearly and you played an important role in trying to keep people safe, so getting resolution on this would be good. You mentioned Marjorie Taylor Greene. Last Week Congressman Greene confronted Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasiocortez outside the house chamber. She accused her of supporting terrorists. Marjorie Taylor Greene has a history of Accosting Congres man ocasiocortez. We have newly unearthed video which shows Marjorie Taylor Greene who was a private citizen and several others, including someone who later partook in the January 6 insurrection looking for Alexandria Ocasiocortez at her office. Listen to this. You need to stop being a baby and stop locking your door and come out and face the american citizens that you serve. If you want to be a big girl, you need to get rid of your diaper and come out and be able to talk to the american citizens instead of us having to use a flap, a little flap. Sad. You brought this up. What does it say now for you and others having to work with republicans when people like Liz Cheney, who are very conservative and probably dont share some of your views politically, but thats okay. But people like Liz Cheney cast aside for telling the truth. Marjorie Taylor Greene continuing with things like this. There are plenty of republicans who i disagree with on all manner of issues but i can still work with because theyre rational people, they are not unsafe people like Marjorie Taylor Greene. Marjorie Taylor Greene doesnt belong in congress, thats the bottom line. Shes not a safe person individually. I think she poses individual Security Risks to other members of congress. Also by continuing to further Conspiracy Theories and give credence to the Big Lie, she continues to support and enable this domestic Violence Extremist Movement that we see in the united states that supported January 6th and continues to pose dangers to our democracy and individual members of congress. So she is not a safe person and we have to continue to push back on her. Im not going to let her live rentfree in my head and im too busy Helping Restore America and do things in washington. At the same time, i am going to stand up when i feel like i need to and push back on people like Marjorie Taylor Greene. Congressman, thank you for your time this morning, we appreciate it. Representative Jason Crow is a democrat from colorado. For those of you keeping track, yes, arizona is still recounting those ballots from the 2020 election. Technically theyre on a break right now. But when the audit resumes, arizona officials are considering expanding the recount. Also im going to talk to Senator Bernie sanders about the legislation the senate is trying to pass in order to protect your vote. It may be doomed before it reaches a vote. Plus its being called the Crime Of The Century. The newest documentary is pulling back the curtain on the Opioid Crisis and who us enabling it. He joins me in a bit. Ab ling it. He j oins me in a bit best deals f i , Gas Ranges and grills. And if youre looking for. The calming scent of lavender by downy infusions calm. Laundry isnt done until its done with downy. In business, its never just another day. Its the big sale, or the big presentation. The day where everything goes right. Or the one where nothing does. With Comcast Business you get the network that can deliver Gig Speeds to the most businesses and advanced cybersecurity to protect every device on it all backed by a dedicated team, 24 7. Every day in business is a big day. Well keep you ready for whats next. Comcast business powering possibilities. The controversial audit of 2. 1 million ballots is broadening. They are expanding it to include all contests from 2020, not just the president ial and u. S. Senate races. According to the Arizona Republic it would not involve a Hand Recount but an examination of digital images of the ballots. Right now the republicanbacked audit is on pause because the facility that is housing this very sophisticated operation was previously booked for high school graduations. On friday all of the computers, ballots and other equipment were loaded onto trucks and moved to another location until next week. Thats fantastic, moving these ballots all around the place. This all stems from the Big Lie being pushed by republicans, including the former president , who say the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump by voter fraud. Fraud that has yet to be discovered unsurprisingly. And now the former president turned blogger is weighing in with yet more misinformation. Lets call it disinformation. He claims, quote, the entire database of Maricopa County in arizona has been deleted. He doesnt get to tweet so he writes all caps in his statements. This is illegal and the Arizona Senate is up in arms, end quote. This is just not true. The Arizona Republican leading the Elections Department says the statement is unhinged and as readily falsifiable as Two Plus two equals five. He adds we cant indulge these insane lies any longer as a party, as a state, as a country. The plan is to resume counting in a week but this time without one of the original counters. You might remember anthony kern, this guy. Hes a former Arizona State Legislator whose name was on the 2020 ballots. He was also reportedly in washington, d. C. , during the January 6th insurrection. Well, according to the Arizona Republic kern has been stripped of his counting and inspecting duties because of, quote, optics. Imagine that. Coming up next, youre going to hear my conversation with six asianamericans and Pacific Islanders in San Francisco about their lived experiences with hate in america. For one pastor it was the civil Rights Movement galvanized around another marginalized community that forced him to take action. What really broke my heart last summer and what really sparked me to begin to try to plead and be active was when i saw the asianamerican Police Officers stand by as George Floyd was being killed. That broke my heart. Basically i saw myself in that passivity and i realized this is not the way of christ, this is not the way of humanity we ought to be. I think we should begin to take action to advocate and walk alongside people who feel fear. Who feel a sense of Lossness And Hopelessness to provide the sense that we can do this together. E sense that we can do this together do see the Tow Truck . Yes, thank you, that was fast. Sgt. Houston never expected this to happen. Or that her Grandpas Dog tags would be left behind. But that one call got her a tow and rental. Paid her claim. And we even pulled a few strings. Making it easy to make things right thats what were made for. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Get a quote today. Sometimes they say, it might work, it might not work. And so i ask myself the question, like, why even get the vaccine, if it can also harm you . For me, its like taking a 50 50 chance. Hi andrea. Some say that the vaccine is harmful or that it might not work, but thats not true. Millions of people have been vaccinated with no ill effects. And i can tell you that getting the vaccine is far safer than not getting it. Im on the West Coast this weekend to listen to asianamericans and Pacific Islanders in a community thats been settled by their ancestors in over 100 years. It was the first under the cdc mask policy. While that change reflects progress, the panel spoke openly and emotionally about the increase in verbal and physical attacks against asianamericans and Pacific Islanders and just how difficult the last year has been on the aapi community. You know, ive been really heart broken. Ive been very fearful. I felt powerless. I felt invisible, to be honest. I felt like we werent scene. From my store walking to my car im carrying Pepper Spray in my hand and scared any time i hear a sound coming at me. I look behind me every time i turn a corner to make sure theres No One behind me that i might need to run from or anything else. In one Instance Someone was biking down the sidewalk and i thought someone was trying to attack me and i almost hit them in the face because it was just a loud sound by my ear. As a business owner, my store has vandalized and i dont know if its a Hate Crime but im constantly living in this fear. Fearing my family, having my aunts or my grandma have to make this cost benefit analysis, if its worth it to go Grocery Shopping on this particular day. My aunts were going to the museum and it happened to be the same day that a couple of blocks away from here a woman was being assaulted right here on market street. To make that call if it was worth it to see some beautiful art because there was a potential that they could be assaulted or hurt in some way. During my work with collaboration, as i have been talking to different artists and creatives to hear people navigate losing jobs and trying to still share and create their art, but to also have that Fear And Anxiety hanging over them, theres just a lot to hold and try to navigate as were also just trying to live our lives. So one of the things about this Hate Crime and i think the heightened rhetoric of the Hate Crime has made people like josh has talk about his Family Member have to make the decision whether they should risk going out to get food or staying home or whatever. The fear is real. And i think and i think the Rhetoric Sort of trigger their past history too. So the fear may not be only about the current incident, the fear may trigger the fear from the history and can look even worse and feel even worse. And i think with the pandemic and especially the beginning of 2020 our then president s rhetoric about the China Flu and, you know, anybody who looks chinese was the bad guy. Walking down The Street, people will walk on the other side of The Street because we were the Big Virus who brought the thing here and we were the other, the outsider. And i think thats sort of remind us of how we have been treated all along and this multiplied. When you see someone thats your Mothers Age or grandMothers Age, theres a sense of connection to that. At the same time, its balanced with this resilience. Yesterday i was having a haircut with someone that ive known for 14 years. Her business is a small business and shes been closed many times. Even just yesterday hearing her navigate this fear of wanting to close her door. But at the same time not complaining, trying to press forward. I just theres a sense in which im proud of that and very hopeful, and yet its a tension of navigating there is a fear there. How do you protect, how do you help, how do you advocate for people. Yet theres a sense of hope and trying. I think thats where i want to be involved in advocating, pleading for justice and asking for people to care and listen to those who have been hurt by different instances. You know, i think that its been really personally disturbing to see because when i see an assault against an asian, it feels like an assault against myself. I really do feel like were a community. And so it hurts me when i see people being attacked violently and theyre defenseless. I think that its troubling for me because i see that in the history of the united states, things like this have happened before and i think part of what we need to do is we need to educate people. I think theres a misimpression of who asians are. A lot of people call us the model minorities. They dont realize theres been asians that live below the poverty line. I think that what happens now is that it sometimes scratches the surface where people think that its okay to behave like this because were in a time where its okay to attack asians. I think we need to send a message that its not okay. And i think that we need to also come together and stand together because i think what bothers me tremendously is when i see the videos of people getting attacked and nobody does anything. Bystanders are just there and theyre just watching as if its all okay. And thats not the america that i know. Its not the america that i represent. And its not the america that i want to have. The one that i want is where we stand up for each other and we help each other get through this and turn the tide on this. I want to say on a personal note i feel the same things that Everyone Else has mentioned in terms of feeling helpless and feeling somewhat feeling anger towards how people are being victimized right now and that some of that victimization is borne of feelings of hate or focuses and prejudices on us as a community. From a professional position theres also a sense of frustration because weve had this perceived increase in crime where really crime has been occurring for a long time now. For it to be based upon peoples biases or prejudices, you know, makes it even worse than just having people being victimized in general. And so i think its really important from my perspective to keep my personal feelings apart from my professional responsibilities. But that frustration permeates in All Of Us in Law Enforcement and public safety because our job is to keep people safe. And i think the challenge as has been mentioned by many is just to make sure that the word is out that people are more aware, that people develop behaviors that make themselves safer in light of how people are acting in a negative way towards them because of who they are and what they represent. Many thanks to my new group of friends in San Francisco for taking that time to talk to me. Youll see a lot more of that on Tv Today and tomorrow. Still ahead, a stunning rebuke of the cdc from the largest Group Nurses in america. They say the now guidelines are harming lives. Stay with us. Unlistee harming lives. Stay with us try boost® High Protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. Versus 16 grams in ensure High Protein. Boost® High Protein also has key nutrients for immune support. Boost® High Protein. Super emma just about sleeps in her cape. But when we realized she was battling sensitive skin, boost® High Protein also has key nutrients we switched to Tide Hygienic clean free. 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Ive got the brains youve got the looks lets make lots of Money Youve got the brawn ive got the brains lets make lots of uh uh uh oohhh theres a lot of opportunities with allstate, drivers who switched saved over 700. Saving is easy when youre in good hands. Allstate click or call to switch today. The countrys largest Nurses Union is condemning the latest guidance from the cdc which says fully vaccinated people dont have to wear masks in most settings, including indoors. The Executive Director of National Nurses United says now is not the time and were outraged the cdc has done just that while were still in the midst of the deadliest pandemic in a century. This is not based on science, does not protect public health and threatens the lives of nurses across the country. This Cdc Guidance was a dramatic acceleration to the return to Normalcy Goal that President Biden set for July 4th when he expects 70 of the u. S. Population to have received one vaccine dose. The Washington Post saying the huge Policy Turnaround caught several leaders completely off guard and prompted some to criticize the move as premature. Joining me now is Judy Chu of california. On wednesday she along with other members of the asianamerican pacific Island Caucus met to talk about bringing an end to the pandemic and rebuilding the economy. Representative, thank you for being with us this morning. Thank you for having me. Lets talk about this. Did this catch you off guard . It seems to be circulating that a lot of people were not expecting this guidance and found it a little bit confusing. I was surprised because it was such a pervasive kind of statement that was made that we didnt need masks if we were vaccinated both outdoors and indoors. So i have to say i went to several Events Yesterday and in each of the events they said hold on, everybody. Please wear your masks. L. A. County has not yet issued its verdict on the Cdc Guidance. So people in california are still holding steady because we have to study this more and it is confusing, especially for businesses that have to figure out how they even determine whether the customers are vaccinated or not vaccinated and what they do with regard to them coming in if they claim to be vaccinated. So its very confusing. Yeah. And its something we associated with the last administration, confusing. Weve not tended to be there in this administration, weve generally seen a fairly orderly unfolding of things, so i think thats why a number of people are surprised. Congresswoman, i want to get your response, i saw you tweeted about the situation in the Middle East which is alarming and growing in concern and these things dont tend to be settled or at least calmed down without some proactive move from the united states. Something that we have not been used to in the last four years because the united states has not had a Leadership Role in the israeli palestinian issue. Well, that is clear. Certainly there hasnt been a solution to the Middle East from the previous administration. We need that envoy to do his job as soon as possible. There needs to be a discussion between the two sides and the u. S. Can play a huge role in this very alarming series of violent events. You know, on one hand i was very alarmed by the ejection of palestinians from East Jerusalem. Being able to have East Jerusalem still maintain the way it is is very essential to a Twostate Solution. And i really think that the ultimate solution to peace in the Middle East will be a Twostate Solution. At the same time, when the rockets started coming over from gaza, israel does have the right to defend itself. And so here we are in this situation, but we cannot allow this destruction to continue. And i tell you, seeing that building destroyed that had the a. P. Reporters was just so horrendous, that cannot continue. So the envoy must do their job. Congresswoman, as you know, im here in california. Ive been meeting with asianamericans and Pacific Islanders. I want to play you Just A Little Bit from a conversation that i had with a group of them here in San Francisco yesterday. Im fifth generation and ive been very lucky here. I cant speak the language, but i eat the food. I behave the way im supposed to as a chinese girl and ive had to i have all those cultural attributes. But my heart is 100 bleeds red, white and blue. And so i may look differently and i may not look like the quintessential american, but this is what quintessential america is. Congresswoman, i had panelists who were first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth generation asianamerican. We have had asians in america since before 1776. Nobody there wanted anything special except to be treated fairly and the same as Everyone Else. Mmhmm. Well, listening to your group, it just really struck me hour pervasive the feeling of Fear And Anxiety is amongst all asian Pacific Islanders. It has been a year like no other. And up until now we have had 6,600 antiasian Hate Crimes and incidents. It means that so many have been affected, and thats probably an undercount, but what we see is that there have been so many and especially recently against the elderly and the vulnerable, that now every asian Pacific Islander is walking around wondering will i be next. What i want to emphasize, though, is that we do not have to be helpless. There is so much that we can do. I know we in the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus have been doing press conferences, statements, hearings and legislation all year long. But we didnt have a partner until recently, and thats when President Biden issued his president ial memorandum. That helped so much. We also did a national day of virtual Action And Healing to stop asian hate. We got 1. 1 Billion online interactions. And we introduced legislation, which did pass the senate, which is very unusual, by the way. It passed by a vote of 941. We will be voting on it in two days. We appreciate the work that youve put into it and we appreciate the time youve taken to be with us this morning. Representative Judy Chu is a democratic congresswoman from california. Thank you. Another tragedy of the pandemic is that Opioid Deaths, which have been in decline, hit alltime highs. Its a public Health Crisis that was manufactured by Drug Makers and enabled by doctors and by washington, d. C. Academy awardwinning Film Director Alex giveny joins me to talk about his stunning new documentary. To talk about his stunning new documentary. Its Grilled Cheese time. Yeah, its time for Grilled Cheese. After we make Grilled Cheese, then were eating Grilled Cheese. Because its time. Yeah. Time for Grilled Cheese. Do you struggle with occasional Nerve Aches in your hands or feet . Yeah. 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My conversation with a group of asianamericans here in San Francisco underscored the rich, varied and deep history of the asianamerican and pacific Islander Community in america. Some of the members of the group were worn overseas while the families of some had been in america for several generations. In fact the first known group of asianamerican and Pacific Islanders, the filipinos, are known to have settled in louisiana in 1763. Thats not a fact that a lot of americans know. Nor do a lot of Nonasian Americans know about vincent chin. He was a 27yearold Chinese American Living In Detroit in the 80s. Those of us around back then will remember the world was dealing with the aftermath of a global Oil Crisis that drove Gas Prices up and made big american cars passe. Ford, Gm And Chrysler collapsed as americans embraced smaller, more fuel efficient japanese cars like nissan, honda and toyota. Tens of thousands of jobs were lost in the Auto Industry and some americans blamed japan. On june 19th, 1982, Vin Shent Chin was out celebrating his Bachelor Party when two white men beat him to death because he looked japanese. His killers never spent a day in jail. They were instead fined 3,000 each. His death broke his family but also broke the silence of the asianamerican community in america. The murder of Vin Vincent Chen sparked the first Mass Movement around asianamerican rights. Vincent Chins History is asianamerican history. Asianamerican history is american history. My new friends in San Francisco all knew his story. Now its time that we do too. The new Frele Libre 2 system, a continuous glucose monitor, you can check your glucose with a painless, onesecond scan. And now with optional alarms, you can choose to be notified if you go too high or too low. And for those who qualify, the Freestyle Libre 2 system is now covered by medicare. Ask your doctor for a prescription. You can do it without fingersticks. Learn more at Freestyle Libre 2 dot u. S. 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It could be the day you break the sales record, or the day theres appointments nonstop. With Comcast Business, you get the network that can deliver Gig Speeds to the most businesses, and you can get the advanced Cybersecurity Solutions you need with Comcast Business securityedge. Every day in business is a big day. Well keep you ready for whats next. Get started with a powerful Internet And Voice solution for just 64. 90 a month. And ask how to add Comcast Business securityedge. Call today. While the u. S. Was in the thick of a once in a generation pandemic, another Health Crisis was getting worse. In may of last year the total number of Opioid Deaths in America Hit an alltime high 9 9362 lives cut shore. 54,917 people died of drug over douses. 21 to 29 of patients prescribed opioids for Chronic Pain misuse them. Between 8 to 10 of people using opioid for Chronic Pain develop an opioid Use Disorder and some transition to heroin. The Opioid Crisis did not appear out of thin here. Purdue pharma pushed their product. They werent just making money off the Opioid Epidemic but manufacturing the epidemic itself. It was representative of purdue and we have a drug called oxy cotton, we pick up the cost. Take as much as you need. I said sounds like a deal. That clip was from a new Hbo Documentary Series called Crime Of The Century directed and produced by alex gibney. Good to see you my friend. When you work on a documentary, as you do, they take time and sometimes the story that youre working on is in the past. In this case, its not. The Opioid Epidemic is back with us after it felt right before the pandemic like we actually made some progress in weaning people off these remarkably dangerous drugs. Youre right. The Opioid Epidemic is sadly still with us and the documentary seeks to understand why that is. Both a look at the origins of the epidemic and on going status. Lets talk about what happened here. There was an idea we werent as good as we could have been in the medical community dealing with chronic people. Lots of people have legitimate reasons to need Chronic Pain medication. Not everybody that gets a drug for Chronic Pain becomes addicted to it and abuses it. There was something about the way these drugs were made, marketed, encouraged and distributed that the Drug Companies should have seen and should have realized and frankly encouraged that caused the abuse of what could have been very important drugs for some people. Thats right. The best way to understand this is look at the whole thing economically. As you rightly point out, there was a concerted effort in the late 90s to try to change the perspective of the medical establishment on pain and call it a fifth vital sign. To come to a drug like oxycontin introduced in 1996, its a time released form of oxycodone. They have a benefit for after surgery or near Death Cancer patients suffering excruciating pain. What Purdue Pharma did was use the Marketing Muscle to convince people its good for a whole series of Pain Episodes and radically expand the market and ramp up supply, to, you know, account for increasing demand. So the whole idea was to increase the market for oxycontin and thats where so many people got in danger and that was the match that lit the fuse of the Opioid Crisis. And then we ended up with people getting it, some people selling it. People getting more of it than they should have and doctors prescribing too much and moved into a category where federal regulators probably needed to be involved but in addition to the Marketing Efforts by Purdue Pharma and sackler and others there was an enforcement to make sure they couldnt do the job. I want to run another clip to illustrate that. I dont think they read it. I think the vast majority of bills that get passed on capitol hill, legislators dont read it. They had no excuse because it was three pages and the key paragraph is on the first page. They were just asleep at the switch, and they gutted the dea. People are dying by Tens Of Thousands and their own representatives are basically selling them out. Scott of Washington Post. People were dying by the Tens Of Thousands and was this straight up lobbying the Pharma Industry is Big And Rich and we will make sure you dont put legislation in place to derail them . That is precisely right. This is the bill to say everybody in the House And Senate signed off on it, as did president obama. What happened was this was a bill to basically handcuff the dea and prevent them from clamping down on huge pharmaceutical distributors distributing them all over the country and sending millions of pills to places where the past demand had been minimal at best. So you knew that these were being diverted onto the Black Market and abused but so the dea had the power to immediately shut those people down but that power was curtailed by a very forceful Lobbying Effort on the part of big pharma. Good to see you. Thank you for the great work. Director and producer of hbos Crime Of The Century its out now. If you or a loved one is struggling with an opioid addiction, reach out to the national help line. It is free. The number is 1800662help. Thats 18006624352. Velshi is just getting started on this sunday morning. Next, ill talk to Congressman Benny Thompson to establish a deal to investigate the January 6th insurrection. Another hour of velshi begins right now. Good morning, it is sunday, may 17th. Im ali velshi. We begin with the violence in the Middle East witnessing some of the worst fighting in years in the israeli Palestinian Conflict. The Defense Forces say it conducted an Air Strike on the residents of the Hamas Leader In Gaza. In addition to strikes in Hamas Tunnel strikes. They report 33 people were killed and multiple buildings destroyed in new air Strikes Today and were learning more about that israeli Air Strike youre looking at yesterday on a gaza high rise, which housed international Media Outlets including the Associated Press as well as apartments. The President And Ceo of the Associated Press says he was quote shocked and horrified by the strike which he says is quote an incredibly disturbing develop the. Israel is defending the attack saying the Building Housed Hamas military assets and they were using the offices as quote human shields