To help estimate a number. Many times throughout american history the question of how many jellybeans are in a jar has been a racist tool of oppression. In 1890 mississippi lawmakers gathered in jackson to find a way around the 15th Amendment which gave africanamericans the right to vote. The white judge who presided put the matter bluntly. We came here to exclude the negro. Nothing short will answer. The mississippi lawmakers adopted two measures to make voting all but impossible for black people in mississippi. One was a poll tax. You had to bring the equivalent of 58 in Todays Money to vote. The other was a literacy test. Registrars could ask arbitrary questions to decide if prospective voters were smart enough to vote. White people always seemed to get the simple questions. Black voters, well, black voters were asked such things as how many bubbles are in a bar of soap . And they were also asked things like how many jellybeans are in this jar . These practices became common across the south and other states, copy mississippi. Not until the passage of the Civil Rights Act some 70 years later would black americans be allowed to vote across much of the south. It took a federal law. It took congress to stop these Poll Taxes and literacy tests. And right now in 2021 as dozens of republican led states are once again chipping away at Voting Rights bypassing new laws that revive many of the same practices and invent new ones, it is once again going to take action from congress to protect the Voting Rights of all americans but especially black and brown americans. A Ballot Initiative that gave exfelons the right to vote in florida was taken away by republicans in that state who have been forcing the exconvicts who are disproportionately black to pay all of their fines before being allowed to vote. They are making them pay a poll tax. In Texas One of the major provisions of the new republican Voting Law there bans 24hour drive through voting which studies show is used in 2020 disproportionately by black and brown voters in houstons harris county. And in North Carolina on friday a state Appeals Court overturned a 2018 republican Voting Law saying it was discriminatory, it was, quote, motivated at least in part by an unconstitutional intent to target africanamerican voters. That law was a Ballot Measure requiring voters to show identification at the polls. What is discriminatory about that you might ask . Well, i. D. Is expensive. And time consuming. And black voters are 1300 more likely to lack acceptable forms of voter i. D. Than white voters. Surprise. Add it up and it is another form of poll tax. Another unnecessary burden. Another obstacle. I havent even talked about georgia yet. This is Jim Crow on steroids what theyre doing in georgia. And 40 other states. What is this all about . You imagine passing a law saying you cannot provide Water Or Food for someone standing in line to vote . You dont have to imagine it. Its now a reality in 2021 america. So again, the question. You what is President Biden prepared to do about it beyond talk . Senator manchins new Compromise Voting Legislation the socalled Freedom To Vote Act is seen as the last chance for democrats to get Voting Rights of legislation of any kind through this congress. Can mr. Bipartisanship get ten republicans onboard to overcome his beloved filibuster . Not likely. My first Guest Tonight is one of the most prominent black people in america, John Legend, the award winning musician who has become a vocal advocate for Voting Rights in this country. Earlier i spoke to john just prior to the release of the democrats new Voting Rights bill. John legend, thanks so much for joining me on the show tonight. John, the last time we spoke, it was the night before the election. I remember you said to me that you thought democracy was at stake. Biden of course then won. Trump lost. But given everything thats happened since, is democracy still at stake in your view . In fact, is it maybe more in danger now than a year ago . Yes, it certainly is in danger, because after having lost the election, clearly, the folks on the right believe that instead of winning elections theyre going to simply change the rules of elections to make it much harder for people on the other side to vote. Theyll make it so that State Level Gop officials could try to overturn the results that the people chose. Theyre trying all kinds of Chicanery And Skullduggery to make sure they maintain power despite the fact they are not able to convince a majority of people to vote for them. Yes, indeed. It is skullduggery and Bad Faith tactics on their part. You are a democrat, john. You support democratic candidates at multiple levels of government. Why do you think it is that the democratic party as a whole with a handful of exceptions, stacey abrams, the Texas House democrats, why is the body as a whole not taking more direct and urgent action to secure our Voting Rights, to do what has to be done to save democracy . I feel like time is running out and democratic leaders in the White House and the senate and the house are just talking but not acting. I think the democrats sometimes can be afraid to get in the trenches and do the fighting that we need to do to actually win these battles. I can promise you the republicans dont have any scruples about getting dirty, doing anything they need to to win these power struggles. And we have justice on our side. We have right on our side. We have equality on our side. And we should be willing to fight for those rights. We should be willing to fight for every american to have a voice in our elections. We win when the elections are fair, when we have high turnout, when Democracy And Suffrage is experienced to the fullest extent. We win. We should be willing to fight for that. We dont have to be dirty but we do have to fight. We have to get in the trenches and do the fighting. John, i have to ask if you could have a Conversation Oneonone with either Joe Manchin or Krysten Sinema what would you say to them . It is funny because i actually spoke to Krysten Sinema. I did a fundraiser at our house in Los Angeles for the democratic senatorial Campaign Committee years ago. Two or three years ago. And she at the time was vociferously standing up for the filibuster, one of the attendees at the fundraiser asked a question about the filibuster. There were several senators there who were willing to get rid of it but at the time, Senator Sinema stood up for the filibuster. I just cant say more clearly how wrong i think she is on this issue. I believe that, one, the filibuster is not in the constitution. That is a fact. It never was in the constitution. It is just a rule that sprung up and evolved. The History And Tradition of the rule has been to exclude black people from our democracy. That has been the Principle Use of the filibuster over the years. Even then, when they used it historically in the jim Crow Era at least they had to stand up and speak for hours and hours. It was a dramatic, abnormal thing to happen in the senate. And now the filibuster has made it so that every single bill except for a few exceptions has to go through this process where somebody just sends an email saying theyre going to filibuster it, that means it requires 60 votes to break it. It has, clearly, departed from any semblance of the original intent for the rule and it wasnt even in the constitution. It is time to get rid of it. It is allowing one senator at any time or excuse me allowing 40 senators at any time to derail the will of the majority. And you combine that with the fact that wyoming has the same number of senators as california and you see how skewed our democracy is where we just dont have any semblance of real Representative Democracy when this can happen. Im glad you mentioned the racist history of the filibuster and our skewed democracy. I did want to ask you, you are a prominent, Black Man in america. How much of our debate over Voting Rights and denying people Voting Rights is driven by racism, by white supremacy, by Jim Crow on steroids to quote the president . How much of that is what is driving all of this . Well, its not really that relevant whats in the hearts of the people trying to get rid of peoples Voting Rights. Its not really salient to whats going on. Its a matter of what the actual effect of what their choices and rules are. They know where and so when theyre making these rules it is not because they hate black people. Its because they know that by and large black people are voting for democrats. And so they want, if it is a clearly identifiable group with a certain amount of characteristics common, they can find ways to, you know, get rid of some of those voters in one way or another whether through disenfranchisement or laws or barriers they just want to pick off a few here and a few there and they figure if they target enough of those folks likely to vote for democrats then theyll have a better chance of winning. It is not because they have particular animus toward black people probably. But it is, i mean, it doesnt matter if they do. It is a power play. It is saying, youre not voting for us. And since youre not, well try to make it harder for you to vote. Thats whats happening. Some of it may result, be a result of actual animus toward black people and the belief that black peoples opinions dont matter as much, but whats actually happening is they are targeting young people, black people, anybody who they think might not vote for them and trying to make it harder for them to vote. One area where it seems pretty brazenly racist is the denial of Voting Rights not just to prisoners who are disproportionately black in many areas but exprisoners, too. People who have served their time. You have campaigned for, quoteunquote, full suffrage, for Granting Prisoners and former prisoners the right to vote. You helped win the Florida Referendum on this issue back in 2018 with a super majority. What do you say, john, to critics who say it is fine for exprisoners to vote, for people who served their time but not people still serving time in prison. That is not fair. Thats not right. Thats not popular. Your response to that argument . Well, i dont believe that fundamental O Rights should be subject to what is popular or not. I believe fundamental rights, particularly voting, which is so basic to the idea of us being a democracy, should be rights that every citizen of this country get. They dont have to earn them. They dont have to be good people. They dont have to be smart people. They dont have to be any quality that we admire in a person. They can be people that we might not want to hang out with that we might not trust. Everybody in this country should have the fundamental right to vote. It is not a privilege that you earn. It is not something you take a test to attain a certification that you can vote though they used to try to do that. Every citizen of this country is affected by the laws. We as a collective together should pick our representatives and make sure our voices are heard. There are about 5 Million people in the country who are disenfranchised because of a Felony Conviction. 75 of them are still out in the world. You know, theyre able to possibly work and live in their communities. Theyre paying taxes, doing all sorts of things. So they are disenfranchised because of their Felony Conviction and 25 of the folks are actively still in prison. Either way i believe they are all citizens of this country and all have the right to vote. They should have the right to vote. We should fight for that for everyone. Full suffrage is better for all of us. Everyone is affected by our democracy. So they should have a voice in it. Stick around. I ask John Legend whether he might have a future in politics. Youll hear what he has to say about that when my conversation with him continues in just a moment. And still to come on the show, according to a new report you might be surprised to find out what the leading killer of Police Officers in this country is. Its not bullets. 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San Franciscos Da abolished Cash Bail and refused to seek sentencing enhancement. The Philadelphia Da reformed Parole And Probation rules leading to a decline in the number of people under supervision and a reduction of racial disparities in sentencing. Grammy award winning Musician And Activist John Legend has been a big supporter of electing progressive prosecutors. I asked him about it. Talk to me about your new Initiative Human Level which i believe is all about effecting political change from racism to segregation to Police Violence at a local level with mayors, with city governments. Human level is a local initiative. Tip oneil was right. So much of what is happening in our country is really happening in communities, cities, counties, local areas where local leaders and organizations and organizers and activists are Making Decisions and fighting for things that they believe will bring value to their communities. And so as we learned in our work in the criminal justice system, how much local officials have an impact on what is going on, we wanted to say how about we make sure that there are folks in local government who are focused on equity, focused on leveling the Playing Field for all of their citizens . Making it so that the systemic Racism Weve seen over centuries in this country is rooted out and we have people who are directly engaged in making our cities and our communities more fair and more just for all their citizens. We started Human Level as a way of raising money and then going out and finding people to work on the Executive Level within the local government to fight for Equity And Justice for all their citizens. Do you believe you can actually inspire more people to run for office doing it this way as well . I think some will run for office but there are so many jobs within the government that are very impactful that are not elective office. And some of these folks will work in powerful positions that will determine a lot of important decisions in their communities but may never run for office. Running for Office Isnt for everybody. Ive made a decision not to do it myself. And, you know, it is not for everybody, knowing, you know, the all of the things that go into Running And Opposition you face. Not everybody wants to engage in that. But there are still ways to help your community. And what weve done with Human Level is given folks who have experience working in business, in the nonprofit sector, folks who are smart and know how to get things done, have really good relationships within their communities, use that experience and that knowledge to build better systems in their communities that can be more just and equitable for all their citizens. John, i am not convinced youll never run for office. I can see you as a senator from california at some point. What is the point of being a senator if Krysten Sinema is going to require we need 60 votes to get anything done . Youll win her over and be an extra vote against the filibuster. You mentioned the criminal justice system. You backed a bunch of progressive prosecutors. All of whom won all of whom faced backlash from the right over rising crime especially the two california prosecutors. Do you accept any of the criticisms leveled against them, against their Progressive Criminal Justice policies, or not . No. Those criticisms were being leveled before those folks came to office most of the time by Police Unions and other folks with a vested interest in maintaining the system as the status quo. And Crime Rose all over the place. We had a global pandemic. We had high unemployment. We had folks feeling disconnected from their communities, losing jobs, dealing with turmoil and strife. Crime rose in cities with progressive prosecutors and with more conservative prosecutors. There is no correlation between the progressive prosecutors policies and crime going up. In fact, prior to the pandemic, we were seeing actually results where progressive prosecutors were keeping their communities more safe and contributing to really smart decisions to divert people from prison and jails to other programs and diverting resources from incarceration to other things. And the bottom line is with Human Level and with all these local decisions every time we make a Budgeting Decision whether it is choosing to put more police on the streets, choosing to put more people in jail or prison, were doing that at the expense of other priorities. And so part of what Human Level is trying to do is put people in place that will be looking at our budgets. Budgets are moral documents. We say that all the time. Budgets are moral documents because they say, here are the things that our priorities are and here are the things well spend the money on. And so the more we spend on more policing, more incarceration, that means the less were spending on other things that communities are crying for. Yes. Resources this they need to build stronger communities. Why dont we try those things . And Human Level is going to be fighting in the trenches in those local conversations, in those Community Budgeting conversations. Fantastic. To say, lets focus on what these organizers and activists and Community Members are asking for and lets budget and manage the city accordingly. Fantastic. Looking forward to seeing those debates. One last question. Were out of time. Indulge me on this one. John, you could have stuck to your music and had a hugely successful career but youve spoken up for pretty unconventional causes. Prison reform as we mentioned. Mental health. Not the sexiest of topics. Youre also one of the few alist celebrities ive noticed in this country to speak out on behalf of the palestinians. How did that happen . Well, i think it all flows from the same place. I grew up reading the work of people like Martin Luther King and, you know, james baldwin, and all these great thinkers and activists and organizers who taught me what justice meant, what love meant in public, what equality meant. And when i see whats happening in palestine to the palestinian people where theyre clearly not being able to experience the full rights that they deserve, and its an extremely unfair and difficult life theyre forced to live, i had to say something. It is not fair, not just. And given that israel is the recipient of so much american Aid And Support and is named as one of our strongest allies, we should hold them to a higher standard. And what theyre doing with the palestinian people is not fair and it shouldnt be done in our name and with our resources contributing to it. Well said. Well have to leave it there. John legend, thanks so much for your time tonight. I look forward to you announcing your Senate Campaign for dianne Feinsteins Seat in california on this show with me at some point in the near future. Dont hold your breath, mehdi. I had to try. Coming up, if blue Lives Matter so much to republican lawmakers and Police Unions, why are they so opposed to the Covid Vaccine . But first, Richard Lui is here with the headlines. Officials confirmed a body believed to be Gabby Petito was found in wyoming. Cause of death is not yet determined. A related search for her fiance continues. He is a Person Of Interest in the case. Boxer and Senator Manny Pacquiao says he will run for President Of The Philippines and accepted the nomination of faction of the ruling party. The current filipino president is prohibited from running for another term. However, a Rival Faction nominated him for vice president. Comedian Chris Rock announced he has covid. He previously said he was vaccinated. Rock tweeted, quote, trust me. You dont want to get this. 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In fact the number of Police Officers who lost their life to covid in the first six months of this year was higher than the number of officers who lost their lives due to firearms or Traffic Related Incidents combined. Why would you only want to prevent Police Officers from being killed with firearms or traffic incidents and not covid19 . How come so many leading republicans and Police Unions were so silent when Police Officers were being attacked and injured by insurrectionists on january 6th, more than 140 beaten with baseball bats, flag poles, pipes, and Hockey Sticks . Four officers who responded to the riot died by suicide. You know what . Maybe just maybe blue lives actually never mattered to them. Maybe what just bothered them and annoyed them so much was black Lives Matter. Next, the pentagon back tracks and now says a deadly Drone Strike in kabul was an error after killing civilians including children. It is not the first time a u. S. Drone strike has killed innocent people. 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One early report said the vehicle struck had substantial explosives in it. Those might have been what caused the other casualties. But well just have to get to the bottom of it and be transparent about that. Well, they did get to the bottom of it and those claims about explosives were entirely false. That was the white House Chief of Staff Ron Klain speaking to me weeks ago about the u. S. Drone strike which killed ten civilians including seven children in afghanistan. The Pentagon Yesterday calling the deaths a tragic mistake while confirming no terrorists were killed in the strike. The attack targeted an Aid Worker employed by a u. S. Based charity. In a statement from the Defense Secretary Lloyd austin he said mr. Ahmady was quote just an innocent a victim as the others tragically killed in the attack. Innocent victims like this 2yearold girl one of three toddlers killed in the attack along with her relatives. The other innocent young victims including three other children. It is a truly devastating story which deserves our attention and our outrage. The problem is, it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our Drone War. Joining me now to discuss this is the most of minnesotas new show which kicks off in less than 30 minutes. Welcome to the show. They called it a righteous strike, an act of selfdefense, an antiterror operation. And yet they killed kids not terrorists. Its not the first time is it . For decades under President S of both parties u. S. Drones have killed innocent people, kids in pakistan, afghanistan, somali, and weve almost ignored it. I feel like the one strike in afghanistan last month had more attention than all of the others put together. Am i wrong . No. You are absolutely correct. There are probably several reasons for that. One the context of the moment, what was happening, all eyes of the world were on afghanistan as the united states was ending the war there and withdrawing. There was that. That was one factor. Also, immediately after the Drone Strike, a lot of user generated content started to emerge from people on the ground in kabul that really started to cast doubt about the narrative of what the american military put out. So to your point this statement that came out from the american military so quickly on demonstrated a few things. One, they themselves described this as an over the Horizon Strike trying to show case their capabilities and intelligence they had. They went on to say that there were large secondary explosions. Then on top of that also said that they dont believe or assess at that moment there were any civilians. As a result of the video that emerged it was really quickly on. Could you see that what the americans had said was utterly wrong and this was a complete disaster. It is way pastime we in the media start treating statements from the u. S. Military like we are now since the killing of George Floyd and statements from police departments. Drone strikes are understandably an appealing option, a hands off approach, no risk to american lives, but as a result we seem to do more of them, take more risks despite the casualties. Biden has talked about continuing over the horizon operations in afghanistan and beyond. So america isnt going to stop Drone Strikes any time soon even though it had all this bad publicity over seven dead kids. You see the trend over the past few years the united states and other western countries are relying more and more on drones for the reasons you precisely said. For them at least, no risk to their soldiers, someone in a controlled room, Control Room on a Military Base Thousands of miles away can launch a missile with very little consequence. We heard the other day general mckenzie say he takes full responsibility for the failure of the Drone Strike but the truth is he is probably not going to be demoted for it and it is highly unlikely well hear the name of the soldier or the person who actually gathered the intelligence or made the assessment this was a legitimate target. As a result of that youre probably not even going to hear about it. But the most important part of all of this is something that the american military actually does acknowledge which is they dont keep track of people killed in their Drone Strikes. That makes it harder for organizations and media and those that track the strikes to have an accurate sense of how many drones, how many civilians, how many legitimate targets have been killed since the united states began this type of warfare. That is something the military is clear about. They do not make that information public. There is no accountability to the public or from within the military ranks itself. During the Obama Era we had Signature Strikes where we openly said were attacking and killing people we dont know their names based on behavior. They looked dodgy. Finally, i want to talk to you about this new New York times piece. Whats been dubbed the ai assisted Remote Control killing machine. This is a piece of israeli technology Smuggled Unassembled into iran to kill that countrys top nuclear scientist, quote, a high Tech Computerized sharp shooter fitted out with Artificial Intelligence and multiple camera eyes with a satellite and capable of firing 600 rounds a minute and they succeeded killing him with this robot from a distance. To quote our colleague Chris Hayes i cant imagine any possible way this technology could go horribly wrong. We are all fascinated by the cool Hollywood Star killing technology with no real discussion on the Morality Or Leelt of it. That is the precise problem. Were on the cusp of this new technology. Everything is done remotely relying on a. I. , zero accountability. Everything is simply portrayed as this Video Game of good versus bad and we kill whoever we want wherever we want because we can without any consequence. To your point this Romanticized Version of technology simply used to kill those we consider to be our enemies, you raise a good question. What happens if an adversary of the united states gets that technology and applies it to somebody who is an ally of ours or unfortunately somebody who lives here in the united states . What would we do then . What would we say about the technology . And the Power Disparity is the reason we see what we see play out in countries like afghanistan, yemen, somalia, and elsewhere because one country has this unrivaled Power And Supremacy both legally, there is no legal accountability for what the united states does in a place like afghanistan, then on top of that the disparity of the moral argument that you feel that you can carry out these actions in another country, killing a nuclear scientist, a government official, what have you, just because you declare that person your enemy without any consequences. The cia has a whole word for it. Its called blowback. I feel like a decade or more of the Drone War still hasnt taught us anything. We have to leave it there. Thank you so much. Always appreciate your insight. Welcome to Sunday Nights. Thank you. Be sure to stick around for ayman next. Ill be sticking around too joining ayman with an exceptional group for a Sunday Night panel. Stick around for that. 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The build back better plan includes funding to fight climate change, universal prek, paid leave for workers, medicare expansion, and a whole host of other democratic policy priorities. At 3. 5 Trillion over ten years it is a seriously ambitious piece of legislation. Here is how it was described in the New York times. It is almost as if president franklin d. Roosevelt stuffed his entire new deal into one piece of legislation or if President Lyndon b. Johnson had done the same with his Great Society instead of pushing through individual components over several years. Critics including democrats like Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema say it is too expensive that 3. 5 Trillion is too much. Is it really . Say its too much. But is it really . Stephanie kelton is a professor at stony Brook University and author of the New York times bestseller the deficit myth. Thanks for coming on the show. 3. 5 followed by 11 zeroes, is it too big and scary a number . Its not too big, its not too scary. Its definitely something we can afford. Remember, when covid began to ravage our shores in march of last year, congress acted boldly. They quickly put together a 2. 2 Trillion covid relief bill. Then at The End of the year we got another 900 billion. Then in march of this Year Congress came back with a third piece of legislation and we got another 1. 9 trillion. Clearly when congress feels compelled to act, when they have a sense of urgency about something, theyll write a bill and the votes are there. You really dont find the money. At The End of the day, the votes are what ultimately kicks the money out. If the votes are there, the money will be there. Stephanie, Joe Manchin says hes worried about inflation if we spend all this new money. What do you say to him . You know, youve said, mehdi, correctly, in your opening, that this is money in a sense to be dribbled out over the course of the next decade. Were looking at an economy that will generate close to 300 Trillion in spending over the next ten years. Thats spending by you, by me, by businesses in the economy, the rest of the world adding to demand, and different levels of government. Were talking about close to 300 Trillion and a government that is underinvested in a range of things, from Health Care, education, to dealing with climate. We want to put another 3. 5 Trillion into the economy over the next decade. Thats a little more than 1 of total gdp over the next decade. People worried about inflation i think are missing the larger picture here. In fact the last thing i would say is much of this spending actually has the potential to increase productivity, to build u. S. Productive capacity. In other words, to sort of dampen and deal with some of the inflationary pressures that were dealing with today. One thing, stephanie, you dont hear from people like Manchin And Kyrsten sinema who say 3. 5 Trillion is too much, is a clear answer about what exactly they think should be cut from the bill. Shouldnt they be able to articulate what they want to cut if theyre just going to reflexively say 3. 5 is too high . Sure, they should. Thats exactly what they ought to be compelled to do. If youre pushing back against the headline number. What i think is really going on is its not so much that, you know, some of these lawmakers genuinely dont believe that we can afford to spend this kind of money. I think they know that we can, they just voted for the three bills that i mentioned that kicked out about 5 Trillion to deal with covid and the economic fallout. So they know that we can afford it. What they i think dont want to be pushed to say is exactly the answer to the question you raise. What would you cut . What would you have us reduce spending on . You know, in the most recent piece of legislation, that 1. 9 trillion package that congress passed, democrats only, a single provision in that bill is going to lift almost half of the kids living in this Country Today out of poverty. So what would they have us do, let them fall back into poverty . Ask us not to go after the other half and do more . Ask us not to make the investments in Health Care and climate resilient infrastructure and all the rest of it . So yeah, i think theyre hiding behind the Price Tag as an excuse. But at some point theyre going to have to put their cards on the table and tell us exactly the answer to that question. What would you have us reduce spending on . I hope they do. But lets see. Professor stephanie kelton, appreciate your insights on this, thank you for your time tonight. Need to test your child for covid . Good luck finding an Athome Test in the u. S. But why . My personal experience, next. And who or whats to blame. Age before beauty . 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Our planet offers countless sources of energy. But its only human to find the ones that could power a better future. This may look like a regular movie night. But if youre a kid with diabetes, its more. But its only human its the simple act of enjoying time with friends, knowing you understand your glucose levels. When a Truck Hit my car, the Insurance Company Wasnt fair. I didnt know what my case was worth. So i called the Barnes Firm. I was hit by a car and needed help. I called the Barnes Firm, that was the best call i couldve made. Im rich barnes. Its hard for people to know how much their Accident Case is worth. Let our Injury Attorneys help you get the best result possible. The Barnes Firm Injury Attorneys call one eight hundred, Eight Million yesterday my daughter, who is in elementary school, Wasnt Feeling so well. Like any parent concerned about their kids in this pandemic era, i set out to get her a covid test. I had no idea it would be such a challenge. First i tried to find an over the counter rapid test at local pharmacies, none had a test in stock. I searched online retailers, no luck, none for sale. I tried to book a Pcr Test but it took half a day to find an appointment. Thankfully my daughter is okay. But 18 months into the pandemic, why is it still so hard for people to get a Damn Test . When were told testing is the first step in stopping the spread of the virus, this seems to be a uniquely american problem. The u. S. Lags well behind most western countries on it. Take a look at this chart which shows how Bad America is at testing compared to the uk. America is shown in the dark color, britain is in red, far above. Why is the u. S. So bad at this . One reason is the british and german governments are offering their people rapid testing for free. And we Cant Blame this all on trump. After all, Joe Biden has president for eight months. He has promised to ramp up testing with 2 Billion in new money for rapid tests. But that was after testing was scaled back in may. See, the conversation in america has always seemed to revolve around vaccines. We were quick out of the gate on vaccine development. And now supply of vaccines, we have an abundance of vaccines. Plenty to go around. What weve never managed to nail down is testing. It was a problem at the start of the pandemic. And the fact that it is still a problem now should be a major scandal and a major source of shame. Thats it for me tonight. Thanks for watching. Well be right back here next sunday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Catch me monday through thursday on The Choice on nbcs streaming channel peacock. Now its time to turn it over to ayman mohyeldin. Good evening, ayman. Good evening. I was going through the same thing in New York, my daughter was going back to school. Heres the thing, even when we found a place that could get her a Pcr Test, we were being told it would take three to five, even seven days for the results, which as you know, completely undermines the purpose of even getting a test in the first place. Its so ridiculous. In america, we need to sort this