Virus is again casting a cloud of uncertainty over the upcoming tokyo olympics. A growing number of american athletes have now tested positive for the virus, including Austenis Star Coco gauff who has withdrawn from the games as a result. And Cara Iker, an alternate on the high profile gymnastics team, according to our affiliate in kansas city. Back in the u. S. , cases are increasing in all 50 states, the virus once again taking hold with the more contagious Delta Strain spreading like wildfire across unvaccinated communities. And with that news, today the American Academy Of Pediatrics came down with new guidance for schools this fall, recommending everyone older than 2 wear a mask. And thats regardless of whether or not youre vaccinated. Earlier today, the president delivered remarks on the economy, even as the Stock Market stumbled over concerns of a resurgent pandemic. And he clarified his criticism of facebook, saying the social Media Giant has a responsibility to stop the spread of Covid Misinformation on its platform. My hope is that facebook, instead of taking it personally that somehow im saying facebook is killing people, that they would do something about the misinformation, the outrageous misinformation about the vaccine. And leading us off this hour, Nbc News Correspondent Cal Perry in Los Angeles, Nbc News Correspondent Gabe Gutierrez in jacksonville, florida, and Ucla Professor in Epidemiology And Director for the center of global and immigrant health, dr. Ann ramojn. Welcome to the three of you. Cal, youre in Los Angeles county, the most populous county in the nation, some 10 Million people now reinstating its Mask Mandate after just a month. What, hearing from people there . Yeah, midnight on sunday. That went back into effect. The two markers to sort of look at besides sunday at midnight, June 15 is when they lifted the Mask Mandate. Since then weve had fivefold the number of cases in l. A. County. Weve had twice the number of hospitalizations. Thats what has Health Officials worried. The Positivity Rate has gone up, all due to that Delta Variant. I had a chance to speak to a pulmonologist a short time ago about why a Mask Mandate is important here in l. A. County. Take a listen. The Delta Variant is very contagious, millions of people in l. A. County are unvaccinated. If people are indoors and a lot of people are unvaccinated, thats the way to spread covid. Its a good idea at this point in time to be masking indoors. 69 of people in l. A. County have had one dose of the vaccine. Thats why Health Officials made the decision they did. You mentioned Masks In School. It will be a localized decision, here for example they were used to Masks In School all of last year. So the High School behind me will likely still have masks in the coming year, geoff. Cal, is l. A. County a blueprint . Based on your reporting could we see other cities in california follow their lead . Look, this is a political question, its probably a question for the governor of california. There are five counties in the Bay Area that are urging a return to indoor mask use, two in Sacramento County that are urging for people to use those indoor masks. But theres no mandates yet. It will certainly be sort of a localized City To city thing, no word from the governor on whether or not well have it statewide. The concern is the Delta Variant and the large number of unvaccinated people. 98 , 98 of the new cases in hospitalizations are coming from folks who run vaccinated here in l. A. County, its important to remind our viewers of that. Gabe, down to you in florida, jacksonville is driving the new surge in florida, seeing the highest rates of infection since june 2020. What are you seeing there on the ground . Yeah, geoff, its incredible. Florida now accounts for one in five of all new covid cases across the country. A short time ago, this morning, we went to the covid unit, one of several Covid Units, one of four at this hospital in jacksonville, its uf health. They say theyve seen an explosion of cases, cases in the Jacksonville Area are doubling every week. Take a listen to what one nurse told me about the recent surge and how it compares to what she saw in january of this year. We were told on thursday of last week that we would be going back to double beds and by saturday we were full of double beds. It was insane to go from having one Covid Patient to having all Covid Patients again. And its just insanity. It really is. Geoff, this hospital has seen a dramatic increase in just the last couple of days. I cant tell you, speaking with officials here a short time ago, they now have about 123 Covid Patients inside this hospital. At the beginning of sunday, they started with 86. Thats a huge increase in 24 hours, more than 40 increase. They expect this to continue and to break their record they had in january at this hospital of 125 patients. They think they could break it today. Again, four Covid Units here, theyre planning to expand. The statewide Positivity Rate is 10 . Back to you. We also have to talk about misinformation on Social Media. The Surgeon General addressed concerns about medical misinformation over the weekend. We are still, despite some of the actions theyve taken, seeing significant spread of misinformation. When we talk to people who believe some of these myths about the covid19 vaccine, about covid itself, and ask them where did you get that information, many of them point to their Social Media platforms. So that is where i believe it is an allofsociety approach. We need our Technology Companies to step up and do more. Gabe, what are we hearing from facebook at this hour . Well, a couple of things, geoff. As you know, the President Today cleaned up some of his comments this he gave to our very own Peter Alexander on friday, saying that facebook he appeared to say facebook was killing people. Today he cleaned that up and said he wasnt talking about facebook per se, he was talking about people sharing this misinformation. Facebook pushed back strongly on friday, saying it would not be distracted on allegations that had no basis in fact. The Social Media pointed out it has removed more than 18 Million pieces of Covid Misinformation from its platform. But certainly, geoff, as you know, this is turning into a political question, as cal referenced. Also, one thing i should point out, geoff, we spoke with an actual patient here a short time ago. We spoke with her through glass. She was being treated here. 65 years old, had been here since saturday. She told me she did not get vaccinated because she was scared. And she was begging people to not go through what she went through, she was asking people to go ahead and try and take this vaccine, because she deeply regrets not getting vaccinated. But still, geoff, i spoke with others last week, in tennessee and in arkansas, who were you know, believed what some Call Conspiracy theories, basically misinformation about this vaccine. They just didnt trust it, they thought the vaccine was not safe because it had been rushed too quickly in their view. So certainly the federal government, the Surgeon General, the president , the White House, having a very difficult time reaching some of these people that still remain deeply skeptical of this vaccine, as cal mentioned, 97, 98 of those in the hospital like these are people who are unvaccinated, geoff. And dr. Ann ramojn, i want to bring you into the conversation. I understand how the Delta Variant is more transmissible and could be more severe. In the uk, their chief Health Expert says 60 of those hospitalized right now have been double vaccinated. You know, the thing is about this Delta Variant is that it is so much more transmissible. Why is it more transmissible . Because theres so much more virus being shed. Its approximately 1,000 times more viral particles being shed in a case infected with delta than previous strains or variants. When you have so much virus shedding, its so much easier for people to catch this virus and to spread it on to others. And thats true of vaccinated and unvaccinated. Now, if you are vaccinated, you are very likely protected against these most severe outcomes, severe disease, hospitalization, and death. And thats particularly true with the vaccines that we have approved here in the united states. But the uk has been largely using astrazeneca vaccine, so were probably seeing a higher rate of breakthrough there and maybe thats what were seeing. Now, we dont have enough information yet to make any definitive statement. But thats what were guessing is the case. As i said, if you are vaccinated, you are wellprotected against severe disease, hospitalization, and death. But that is not what we call sterilizing immunity where you may not get infected at all. So everyone needs to be cautious. So given all of that, dr. Ramojn, should other cities follow the lead of l. A. County and reinstate their Mask Mandates . I absolutely think we should be reconsidering Mask Mandates for indoor settings for everybody. We know that this virus is spreading and spreading rapidly with this new variant. We know that everybody is potentially at risk, although vaccinated people have the benefit of not worrying so much about these severe convinces. But you could potentially have a Breakthrough Infection and be part of a transmission chain. Ive seen this anecdotally now in several cases around me. So i do think it makes sense. I know its complicated, its frustrating for people to have to go back to masking. But masking plus vaccination is our best bet to be in front of this virus and not constantly chasing behind it. Dr. Anne rimoim, Gabe Gutierrez, and Cal Perry, my thanks. The Summer Olympics in tokyo already delayed by an entire year, now struggling with what it means to hold an international competition during a global pandemic. Kansas city gymnast Cara Iker is the u. S. Team alternate who tested positive for the virus according to our affiliate kshb. Nbc News Correspondent Tom Llamas is in tokyo for us. Reporter hey, geoff, were following the Breaking News out of tokyo. The alternate on the u. S. Gymnastics Team Testing positive. Another alternate is being monitored, also in isolation, until they test negative. The core six, which includes simone biles, it is our understanding right now they are all okay and still moving forward with competing in the tokyo games. Now, we have learned that more than 60 people involved with the olympics have tested positive here in japan including two players from south africa, they are soccer players. The entire south african Soccer Team was deemed close contact, theyre quarantining. Once they test negative, they can then enter competition. This is a new rule now, they have to make sure the other countries theyre playing against with okay with playing them. This is clearly a Fluid Situation in these olympics, an olympics like weve never seen before. The other major headline were tracking, coco gauff, Tennis Superstar for team usa, Testing Positive back in america, she will not be able to travel to japan, a big letdown for tennis fans. On friday will be the opening ceremony, geoff. Thanks to nbcs Tom Llamas for that update on the ground. Ahead, the Death Toll continues to rise after the devastating flooding in germany. And new Questions Today about whether critical warnings that could have saved lives were missed. Senate democrats take their fight for Voting Rights to georgia, holding their first Field Hearing in two decades. The countdown is on for Jeff Bezos Launch into space Tomorrow Morning. Well look at the Historymaking Crew that will be by his side. Youll find better cheers with your favorite fans. Youll find a better life is in store at miracleear, when you experience the exclusive miracleear advantage. Our team is devoted to your care, with free service adjustments and cleaning of your Miracleear Hearing aids for life. Were so confident we can improve your life, were offering a 30day riskfree trial. Call 1800miracle Today and experience the miracleear advantage. [announcer] at southern new hampshire university, Call 1we never stoptoday celebrating our students. From Day One to graduation to your dream job, thats why were keeping your tuition low for the 10th year in a row. 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Democrats on the senate Rules Committee are taking their case for Voting Rights all the way down to georgia which is perhaps where president trumps Election Misinformation got its start. I won this election by Hundreds Of Thousands of votes. Theres no way i lost georgia. Theres no way. We won by Hundreds Of Thousands of votes. So look. All i want to do is this. I just want to find, uh, 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. That was part of thenpresident trumps infamous call with Georgias Secretary of state, pushing him to find conveniently the exact number of votes he needed to overturn Joe Bidens win. That has since spread far beyond georgia and has spurred hundreds of new voting restrictions, laws and proposals in some 47 states. I want to go now to nbcs Garrett Haake in Atlanta And Priscilla thompson in austin for us. Garrett, bring us up to speed on this rare Field Hearing that senate democrats held there down in georgia. Reporter senate democrats wanted to find a way and a place to spotlight these restrictive voting measures. Georgia has really been Ground Zero for those bills. Texas is getting a lot of the attention right now, but the Georgia Bill was the first statewide bill that we saw that really raised significant alarms among Voting Rights advocates. Its also, by the way, in a state thats going to have two of perhaps the marquee races this year, including the governors race, where we expect to see Stacey Abrams on the ballot once again. Significant races of significant national import here and a chance to draw the Nations Eye to this issue in a way that a normal hearing in a normal Hearing Room on a normal monday in washington simply wouldnt. And i should point out that there were no republicans participating today, four democratic senators from this panel came, no republicans. Although you heard praise from democrats for republican secretary of State Brad Raffensperger who other republicans who held the line against president trumps lies about the election at that time. This was another way to raise the stakes for why democrats believe these laws are so important to push back against and why georgias in particular could be a key focus. And priscilla, over to you in austin, the standoff between texas republicans and democrats is now entering its second week. You have those texas democrats here in washington making headlines, you could argue for the wrong reasons. There are now five of them who have contracted covid, all of them say they have been vaccinated. Meantime, youve got republicans there in austin still moving forward with their work. So bring us up to speed on the latest. Reporter yeah, geoff, thats right, five of those democratic lawmakers from texas in d. C. Testing positive. Some of the folks on the Plane Tweeting that they let their guard down by being on that plane without masks on, something average americans arent yet able to do on commercial flights. As you mentioned, back in texas, republican lawmakers are still at the capitol in texas, doing their work, although things remain largely at a standstill. One of the messages weve been hearing this past week from republicans is that democrats will pay for this when reelection rolls around and that voters are not happy about their decision to flee the state. So we actually took a trip out today to georgetown, texas, about a half hour outside of austin, a place represented by both republicans and democrats, to find out what exactly voters were thinking. I want to play a little bit of our conversations with folks here. I think its kind of silly and sad and i hope everybody can get along sooner than later. I think im not in favor of the voting Rights Legislation at all. Im not sure that im in favor of decamping and the game of chicken thats going on in the statehouse. The word i come up with is unfortunate. I feel bad that it comes to the point that you kind of have to put your foot down in such a way that they did. But, you know, if it starts to open dialogue, then maybe it was worth it. I guess history will show whether or not it was a good thing to do or not. Reporter and we did speak to some republican voters here who didnt want to speak on camera but said democrats ought to be here and that if it were republicans who had fled the state they would feel the same way. Some folks even sharing some language that we Cant Repeat on television regarding their feelings about all of this. But by and large, the majority of people weve spoken to have said that they want to see folks work together, theyre not sure how this ends at this point, and that its becoming a bit of a political game and they just want to see folks work together on this issue and get things moving again on this issue, geoff. Priscilla thompson and georgetown, texas, and Garrett Haake, our thanks to both of you. Coming up, extreme weather. Well go live to california where a wildfire near Lake Tahoe is threatening a small town. First, a search for survivors continues in germany after deadly flooding. There are new questions about what could have been done to save more lives. Theres no other snack like a planters cashew. What else can go from your Cars Cup Holder to a Crystal Bowl and seem equally at home . I guess the most wellrounded Snack Isnt Round at all. Its more cashewshaped. Planters. A nut above. Millions of vulnerable americans struggle to get reliable transportation its more cashewshaped. 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Deadly floodwaters in western Germany And Belgium are beginning to recede, revealing the full extent of the damage there. Nearly 200 people are dead and hundreds injured after rising rivers tore through small villages. Search and rescue efforts are still under way at this hour. Now, this was the scene in one Western Germany town. A sinkhole opened up under the weight of the rushing water, taking houses and roads along with it. German chancellor Angela Merkel toured the damage yesterday afternoon, calling the situation terrifying. She said more must be done to speed up the fight against Climate Change. Nbc news foreign Correspondent Raf Sanchez is in germany. Also with us is new York Magazine Deputy Editor David wallace wells. Raf, what are you seeing on the ground there . Reporter geoff, were about 50 yards from the banks of the river here. This is Ground Zero of the Flood Zone in west germany. If you take a look up here, this is or at least it was a car wash. But you can see now Tree Branches and roots all snarled up in the mechanism here. If you follow me around, this is all that remains of the forecourt of this gas station. You can see this tree here just ripped up by the roots, by the force of the water. I want you to take a look across the street at that stucco house. You can see clearly there the Muddy Brown water line. That was the High Point of the floodwater at the peak of the flood. And you can see it completely covered the first floor of that house. So kitchen, living room, dining room, everything would have been full of water. If you follow me into the forecourt here, you can see these Gas Pumps are just ripped apart. Those two full of Tree Branches. And back here, this is something pretty unusual. This is a salvage point. This is where people have been bringing things that they have been able to rescue from nearby houses. This is a familys china set, theyre good china. And you look at that and you wonder about the special occasions when meals were eaten off of those. And geoff, this is the most striking thing ive seen in my four days in germany. These are Family Photo albums. We dont know who they belong to. They are muddy, they are wet, but they are somebodys memories and they are hopefully salvageable. And you look at that and you just think to yourself, if my home was filling up with floodwater, what would i save . Is the answer is the Family Photo albums, geoff. Raf, the devastation there is just unbelievable. Stand by for us, because david, those deadly floods that raf just showed us, and the hardesthit parts of germany. Youve got two Months Worth of rain falling in 24 hours. Connect that link for us, what were seeing happen here and a warming climate. Reporter the fact that there will be more precipitation in a warmer world is one of the clearest and long standing projections in a Climate Science. So to some degree its not surprising. On the other hand these floods and to a greater degree even the pacific Heat Dome we saw a few weeks ago in northwest u. S. And british columbia, canada, are surprisingly dramatic, even given the predictions of Climate Science. This is the thing that most of the scientists i speak to are most focused on and concerned about, anxious about over the last couple of weeks, which is to say we have a relatively good idea of what some of the median projections of Climate Impacts are likely to be but were already seeing impacts that are much higher. Thats not to say that everyone going forward is going to be, you know, at the 95th Percentile of a particular projection. But were starting to see our median projections are not the best guide even to our near future, let alone our distant future. A lot of Climate Science that used to be called alarmist seems to be arriving now in the present tense. There are also apparently communication issues. Officials at the german Weather Service issued warnings but local officials failed to communicate the severity to residents. What if anything can the u. S. Warning system learn from what transpired in germany . Reporter just to be better and to do more. But i think its a less on more of humility than practical guidance, in the sense that we have an understanding based on recent history that countries like germany and the u. S. Have adapted relatively well to natural disasters. If you look at charts of Damage And Mortality from these events over the past century, they actually have been trending down, not up. But Climate Change represents a much larger challenge to all those systems which means we have to start doing a lot more investing in Emergency Management and communication to ensure that both in advance of events like these and as theyre unfolding, were doing a much better job communicating and giving the local residents the information they need to protect themselves, whether that means evacuating or taking particular precautionary measures. We cant assume that just because were living in the global north, were protected from Climate Change. Were seeing now no one is safe, as both the New York Times and The Guardian have published in the last few days. Raf sanchez and David Wallace wells, thank you both for the reporting and for the context. Extreme heat and dry conditions are fueling more than 80 wildfires burning in the western united states. The Oregon Bootleg fire just north of the California Border is burning an area about the size of Los Angeles right now. Firefighters only have the blaze 25 contained, they say. And just south of Lake Tahoe, the socalled Tamarack Fire is burning. 25,000 firefighters are working to keep those fires contained. Joining me from markleeville, california, is nbc correspondent jake ward. Jake, whats the latest with the Tamarack Fire . Reporter geoff, federal officials who saw lightning touch down on July 4th said were just going to watch this fire, were not going to intervene. Then on friday it went from just a few hundred acres to about 6,000 acres. As of this morning, more than 20,000 acres are on fire. The good news here is this fire is behaving that fire behaves here in california. Its actually part of the ecosystem. Most of the vegetation we see around here, as devastated as it looks, has actually survived. You can see leaves at the top. These needles mean this plant can still respirate and come back. Thats true of all the trees we see around us. Of course there are a few exceptions. The Bad News is that letting a Fire Run its course, as federal officials seem to have chosen to do in this case, also means its going to run into humanity. We spoke, for instance, to hikers who had been stranded on the pacific Crest Trail that goes from mexico all the way into canada. Several hundred of them at this point out of the thousands who make the attempt every year are actually right here in northern california. I spoke to one woman who actually was stuck, she was on foot, stranded, hundreds of miles from her car. In fact the pacific Crest Trail association says now theyre recommending that hikers no longer plan to do the entire trail because of the danger of wildfires like this. Were seeing the natural course of fire amplified by Climate Change, as you were speaking about just there. And now it is running into the habits of Human Beings and their homes as were seeing here in nearby markleeville. From germany to oregon to california, were seeing for sure the severe impacts of Climate Change. Jake ward, our thanks for that reporting. Coming up, confronting china. The new Joint Effort by the u. S. And fellow members of nato to call out chinas statesponsored cyber attacks. But first, the next space race. Billionaire Jeff Bezos prepares to rocket off to the stars in less than 24 hours. Their only friend . The open road. I have friends. [ chuckles ] well, he may have friends, but he rides alone. Thats jeremy, right there were literally riding together. He gets touchy when you talk about his lack of friends. Can you help me out here . No matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at 79 a year. Well, were new friends. To be fair. Eh, still. When technology is easier to use. Barriers dont stand a chance. Thats why well stop at nothing to deliver our technology asaservice. All by yourself. You look a little lost. I cant find my hotel. Oh. 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In the kind of work that i do, you are surrounded by people who are all younger than you. I had to get help somewhere along the line to stay competitive. I discovered prevagen. I started taking it and after a period of time, my memory improved. It was a gamechanger for me. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Tomorrow we go to space. Were incredibly excited. Im so excited, i cant wait to see what its going to be like. People who say they go into space, that they come back changed, astronauts always talk about that, whether its the thin limb of the earths atmosphere, seeing how fragile the atmosphere is, its just one planet. I cant wait to see what its going to do to me. By this time tomorrow Jeff Bezos will have felt the enormity that only a rare number of people have experienced firsthand, The View of earth from space itself. Hell be on board blue Origins Rocket as it blasts off from the West Texas desert for its first manned flight into space. Unlike richard bransons spaceplane, the rocket will be entirely controlled from the ground. There will be no active professional pilots or trained astronauts on board. Jeff bezos will be joined on the blue Origin Rocket by his younger Brother Mark bezos, and 82yearold Veteran Pilot Wally Funk. Funk has dreamed of flying to space, she says, since she joined Nasas Mercury 13 program in the 1960s. She was ultimately grounded because of her gender. Rounding out the team will be 18yearold Oliver Daemen who will be the first paying passenger with his dad footing the bill. Wally and oliver will be the oldest and youngest people ever to travel to space. And together, the four hope to make an 11minute Round Trip to space, traveling over the carmen live where space begins, then landing back on earth in the texas stand. Our own Tom Costello got a look at what bezos could experience Tomorrow Morning. Reporter number 6, Jeff Bezos. That is where Jeff Bezos will sit, in Seat Number 6. Reporter Blue Origin took us inside the simulator that all four have been training in. There you go, you are all buckled in and ready to go to space. Reporter this is a big window. As youre ascending, essentially it feels like the earth is falling away from you. Joining us from van horn, texas, Nbc News Correspondent morgan chesky. Morgan, the Countdown Clock is on and the Launch Pad is ready, im told. Whats the level of anticipation in texas right now . Reporter its a lot of excitement here, geoff. 18 hours, 19 minutes, and 40 seconds until liftoff for Blue Origins new shepherd rocket. All systems were go at last check. Theyre monitoring the Weather Conditions using Weather Balloons theyve put up in the air today. Right now that Desert Weather playing right to their favor. We know that the crew of four has been on site now for several days. Theyve been going through exercises, trying to finetune that routine thats going to be taking Place Tomorrow when they get inside that capsule that tom got a firsthand look at. Theyll be trading the West Texas frontier for the final frontier. Bezos says this isnt necessarily just about space tourism, he has a plan in place that could lead to something much greater. In order for Space Travel to really build the infrastructure so maybe oliver, the young people today, the next generation, how are they going to use space . Today, getting into space is so expensive that you cant do very many interesting things in space. Its just a small number of things you can do. They will invent new things to do. Its the job of this generation to build that infrastructure and of course people said, look, we have so many problems on earth, and theyre right, we need to do both, weve always done both. We need to focus on the Here And Now and we need to look to the future. Reporter now, if everything goes according to plan tomorrow, theyll have two more flights later this year, one launch in september, another in october. And they do plan to reuse this rocket for those flights as well. Theyve also gone on to say they have a, quote, robust pipeline of customers willing to pay up for that one of a kind ride, geoff. Morgan chesky with a front Row Seat to Tomorrow Mornings launch. Morgan, thank you. Our next guest made history of his own as the first canadian to walk in space. He also went viral for his rendition of Space Oddity while serving as commander of the international Space Station. Ground control to major Tom Lock your Soyuz Hatch and put your helmet on commencing countdown, engines on with us is retired astronaut and former international Space Station Commander Colonel chris hadfield, thanks for joining us. Lets talk first about what Jeff Bezos and his crew will experience tomorrow. Put into words for us that moment when youre first in Space And Feeling that sense of weightlessness. What gets you there is the first thing youll experience, that is getting crushed in their seat as they accelerate faster than three times of speed of sound. Then their capsule will pop off the top of the rocket like mine did on my third Space Flight and theyll be instantly weightless. Out those huge Windows Theyll be able to see thousands of miles and the curvature of the Earth And Theyll be in the blackness of space. That combination of weightlessness and The View of the world are two of the things that i treasure and love the most about flying in space. And theres a lot of talk right now about crossing over whats called the carmen line, bezos could cross it where branson didnt. Everybody is an expert on Something Nobody ever heard of until a week ago. Space doesnt magically start anywhere. The international Space Station still feels the earths atmosphere, way, way up there. One said, if its mechanic rick units, well choose 50, if its not metric units, well choose 100. Its kind of arbitrary. Theyre way above breathable air. If you opened the hatch, you would be dead in a second. So yeah, theyre in space, and its Tempest In A Teapot to worry about it otherwise. Its the risk theyre going to take and the fact that its Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen, oldest and youngest, ia nice dor to open. Wally funk had to wait 50 years to go into space. I know Shes Someone you know and have honored. Talk to us about her. Shes been a pilot her own life, she soloed at the same Age Oliver is going into space. Shes been an instructor and a pilot. A Nasa Doctor ran a program to see if women were suitable for Space Flight. Of course they are. Back in the early 60s our soil didnt allow them to be military test pilots. But the most experienced astronaut in american history, peggy whitson, is a woman. So that question was answered years ago. Im delighted that wally now, at this stage of life, has the chance to have this experience. And you were talking about Climate Change and such. What people are going to see directly with their eyes, to actually see the world for what it truly is, that is a revelation for folks who float in space like i have. Its going to be one of the great good reasons for more people to be able to see the planet. Get your thinking away from local and really start to see our whole planet as one place. Thats a great point. Chris hadfield, thank you so much for your time. In addition to being an astronaut, youre also an author. Chriss new Fiction Book The Apollo Murders comes out in october. Were going to take you now to the White House where President Biden is meeting with Royal Family of jordan. Thank you, is your majesty, for your enduring and strategic relationship with the united states. Youve always been there, and we will always be there. In addition to that, we had an opportunity to speak for just a moment in the diplomatic room and we talked about how our children and my children had to finish off their senior year in college on zoom, and we talked about the covid crisis. We were able to be a little bit of help to jordan and we hope to be able to help some more in this pandemic. I also want to thank you for your leadership in the Middle East. You live in a tough neighborhood, and the fact is i look forward to hearing from his majesty about the pressing challenges that jordan faces. Is that a call for me . [ laughter ] and were going to continue to strengthen our bilateral cooperation. The world is changing. There is a famous poem called change, a lot has changed and a lot of opportunity, a lot of difficulty. Well have to work our way through. So welcome, welcome, welcome. Thank you. Mr. President , thank you as always for the kindness that you showed me and as you alluded to, i had the honor and the privilege of knowing you with my father, decades ago. This is very warming, to be able to see new this position and to thank you for the generosity you always have shown me and my country. You alluded to supporting us with vaccines. So on behalf of jordan and the people of jordan, thank you so much for the Leadership Youve shown, not only as it supports our Country But Fighting covid internationally, youve set the standard for the rest of the world. We come together as always as strong partners. We have, as you said, many challenges in our part of the world. I think many of us, leaders from Around The World, will do the heavy lifting, which is what we need to do on behalf of the united states. You can always count on me, my country, and many of our colleagues in the region. As my grandfather used to say, the grace of god, the goodwill of neighbors. Thank you, thank you. President biden not taking any questions there from the press, despite their best efforts. The President Meeting with Jordans King King abdullah ii. And now formally blaming china for a massive hack of Microsoft Software that compromised Tens Of Thousands of computers Around The World. The announcements though not accompanied by sanctions against the chinese government. To the best of my knowledge and im going to get a detailed report Tomorrow Morning on this, my understanding is that the chinese government, not unlike the russian government, is not doing this themselves but are protecting those who are doing it. Maybe even accommodating them being able to do it. That may be the difference. And join us now is former head of Cybersecurity Operations during the obama administration, suzanne spaulding. Help us understand how China And Russia are different when it comes to the issue of deterrence. It is an important point to keep in mind that when we seek to alter the Cost Benefit Analysis of bad actors in cyberspace, we have to understand what is going to motivate each of these individual leaders when we are talking about nation states. And Xi Jinping is out there going Around The World competing with us, with western style democracy, for influence. And one of his selling points is that their form of governance can offer control, right . Can offer leaders the ability to control their countries, control their populations. And glow their economic. Economic growth is looking increasingly shaky and now with Todays Announcement about Unsanctioned Cyber Activity certain from criminal actors that are hired by the chinese government but doing things on their own for personal gain and perhaps even members of his own government, we are sending a message that undermines that message that they are trying to sell Around The World of control. So that is an important and i think nuanced sophisticated approach. China has a lot of economic entanglements that make sanctions hard, but there are ways to have economic leverage. And then finally, we are sending a strong signal about the strength of our partnerships. Lets talk about that economic leverage because i think that that is one of the questions a lot of people had when the biden administration made that announcement this morning assigning blame that the blame didnt come with any sort of repercussions, at least not publicly anyway. I think that there are repercussions. First of all, we had at the same time an announcement of indictments from the department of justice. But really what again i think the consequences when we look to impose consequences, we have to look at what is it that these leaders hold dear, what do they value. And so in this case were going directly at chinas image. And for Xi Jinping, unlike putin, Xi Jinping does care about his image on the world stage. He wants to be thought of as a responsible leader on the world stage. And so these kinds of statements, you know, particularly as strong as this is with nato for the first time condemning chinas activities, with the eu, with our is 5i allies, that is a strong partnership and that is an advantage that we have over china and that is a very clear message. Since youve been involved in cyber negotiations with china and since you know how china works, is there any chance that this sort of hacking could happen without the goahead without the chinese government . Well, you know, i think Xi Jinping would like to think not. But in fact it is hard to control a country of that size. So i think what were trying to say here is, look, china, Xi Jinping, you are in a bad place either way. Right . Either you are responsible and we are going to hold you responsible directly for stopping this activity that you are directly sanctioning, or you do not have control, which you claim to have all Around The World. And things are happening beyond your control. And i think so he loses either way. And what difference does it make that President Biden and Xi Jinping are known quantities to each other . What difference does that personal relationship make . So i think it does give President Biden the ability to understand kind of how to get under Xi Jinpings skin. What is important to him. And that is really how to craft effective deterrence who impose effective consequences. You have to understand what is important to this individual. And we saw it in 2015 when i was at Homeland Security Negotiating with the chinese. How important the public image is to Xi Jinping. I think President Biden understands that and i think Todays Announcement plays on that very well. Suzanne spaulding, thanks again for your time. Thank you. And before we go, a milestone in the investigation connected to the January 6th insurrection at the u. S. Capitol. The first person charged with a felony was sentenced today. Paul hodgkins from florida breached the u. S. Senate chamber carrying a trump campaign flag. Not one of the more violent acts but still quite serious. The judge gave him eight months behind bars. Prosecutors have asked for 18 months. Hodgkins told the court, quote, if i had any idea that the protests would have escalated the way it did, i would never have ventured further than the sidewalk. This was a foolish decision on my part. All right. That is it for me. Chris jansing is picking up the next hour of msnbc reports. Bc rs e a long, long norwegian winter. But eventually, with spring comes rebirth. Everything begins anew. And many of us realize a fundamental human need to connect with other likeminded people. Welcome back to the world. Viking. 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