upset parents leading the charge, pushing to ban books they deem sexually explicit, or that discuss the truth about racism in america. of course, banning book, nothing new, except for the fact that most e-reads these days, so unclear what the gop actually wants to burn but we do know some of the ire of their fire, dismant ling and demeaning the process we made in making this country more inclusive for the lbgtq community. this week, texas governor greg abbott called on state leaders to investigate criminal activity related to quote the availability of pornography in schools. specifically citing the novel gender queer, its author defends the book, writing, quote, one of the charges thrown against the book was that it promoted pedophilia based on a single panel depicting an erottic ancient greek vase and others simply called it pornography, a common accusation of works with queer sexual ty. governor abbott is just the beginning. fellow gop lawmakers across america have jumped on the trend of banning coming of age stories of those in the lbgtq plus community and although the furor is being seen at local school board meetings. >> i will stand here until my time is restored and my time is finished. these books are in stock and available in the library of robinson. langley. and annandale high schools. pornography is offensive to all people. it is offensive to common decency. >> i am here to protest the use of fairfax taxpayers money in a campaign to normalize homo-erottic material with minors. >> msnbc opinion columnist hayes brown argues these bans do more harm than good, the truth is the books under examination are rarely too difficult for students to handle, and so parents who struggle, the most fear is directed at challenging complicated books that deal with the exact sort of struggles and themes that many parents would prefer their children never face in real life. but the students who most need to read many of these books are the ones who are struggling with these issues in real life. kicking us off this hour, justice correspondent for the nation, and judith brown dianes, executive director of the national office. i think hayes gets it so right there, and imagine -- manages to really zoom in on mistakes here and i will talk about all of the politics of all of this but if your kid who doesn't feel seen in your classroom, who doesn't feel seen in your community, who is looking for proof that you matter, and that your life is valid, what is going to be the impact on that kid? >> well, unfortunately, it's come to mean that those students will feel like they are erased. and that their school is not safe for them and they're not accepted and that's what these folks want to happen. on the other side, it really does not want to have conversation about race, about sexual ty, and they don't want to be inclusive and so this is connected to politics, and we will talk about that, but for the young people who are experiencing it, this is very frightening. we have been here before. whether it was the studies or the discussions about race and discipline, and the schools the pipeline, the erasure, the sweeping under the rug of racism, and this is really about extending the conversation of disinformation. and being able to gin up a base that lives off of disinformation and racism and sexism and all of those isms. >> and i want to give you a chance, where judith left off there, both about the misinformation, and then also, about this effort to fuel outrage, as though they sort of run through everything else they possibly could be outraged about and so now they have landed on book, and then the other piece of this, which is distracting from things like what happened on january 6th, right? like don't look over there, look over here at the books that are in your kid's library. what do you think is motivating all of this? >> look, greg abbott is going to be played by john lithgow and his new movie, right? we go through this every, every generation, has its own foot loose moment, where the kids are dancing and now we got to be very concerned about how it happens, and this clowning themselves again, why are they doing this, why do they always do this in this particular way, because quite frankly they can't handle the truth about the world, and that we live in a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-gender society, they can't handle that. they don't want to live in the society here, so they think they can protect themselves by keeping their children dumb. that's the goal. to keep their children as dumb as possible. and history tells us that for the most part, it doesn't work. for the most part, people will go find knowledge wherever they have to go to find. it that has been a consistent theme throughout human history. which they probably also don't know about. and the other thing is they're just making, they're hobbling their own kids, who will then be out-competed by kids who were not hobbled in this particular way, right? like the people who have the opportunity to learn about this society, and all of its truth, and difficulty, and complication, and pain, will learn how to critically think, will out-compete the kids whose parents purposefully kept them dumb. >> to that point, judith, we're seeing several gop led states restrict how racism is taught in schools and california is moving forward with the plan for an ethnic studies plan by 2030 and says it helps them learn more about their own identity and the backgrounds of their friends. we're hearing so much, judith, about why we shouldn't have an emphasis on equity, on inclusion, on diversity, sort of like a palate cleanse, can we talk about why this education is actually so important, so critical? >> it's about the truth. you know, last summer, america held a mirror to itself. after the murder of george floyd, and breonna taylor and ahmaud arbery, americans said wait a second, racism still does exist, and we started to see a movement that was people of color being supported by white allies, and now, the right wing has said, wait a second, we have to use race as a wedge again to get white suburban moms back on our side. instead of telling the truth. because if we tell the truth, they know that what will happen is that they will lose their power and their privilege on the right side. and so that's what's at stake for the right wing in this country. that's why they're ready to burn books. that's why they want to use critical race theory even though they don't know what it is about, although they know is it had the word race in it and that was good enough for them. so this is a mobilizer. this isn't just about the education, and what they know, that white parents will turn out at these meetings, when they wouldn't turn out around making sure that black kids are not criminalized in schools, that latino kids are not falsely put into gang databases, but they will turn out around these issues, because race is the wedge that they are looking for, and that they always know that they can come back to, to get white folks back on their side. >> judith, i thank you for tying those two threads together, because for elie, for all of the hand wringing of diversity and inclusion, it is still alive and well and look at kyle rittenhouse's trial unfolding, and the judge getting a lot of attention in this case. take a listen. >> by the way, mr. richards absolutely correctly points out that just hours ago, i said i have heard nothing in this trial to change any of my rulings. so why -- >> the testimony, your honor. >> that was from the testimony your honor. >> don't get brazen with me. is there something that i am saying that caused the face you are making? go ahead. >> i have to say yesterday i was the target of your ire for disregarding your orders. today, the defense is disregarding your order. >> i was talking yesterday about the constitution of the united states. that's not what we're talking about here today. let's hope for 1:00. i don't know, i hope the asian food isn't coming, on one of those boats in long beach harbor. >> you take all of that, you take rittenhouse's performance on the stand, however you want to characterize that, you take the jury selection in the ahmaud arbery case and we are supposed to be bent about kids reading books. >> and the white woman that judith was just talking about, that is what will get them out of bed, and that is to me, that's a problem amongst yourself, and white women need to think about that amongst themselves and figure out why that is. why is that that they will go to the mattresses because a toni morrison book is in the library, somewhere in their school system, but won't go to the mattresses to make sure that a white gunman is held accountable for murdering two people in the middle of the street. why won't they go to the mattresses to make sure three white men who lynched a 25-year-old man for the crime of jogging through a neighborhood, why won't they go to the mattresses to make sure that those men are held accountable? what's the difference? and it's obvious what it is. and so that's why these issues are alled ginned up. that's why these issues always work for them. i think that in response, democrats just have to keep on keeping on, right? you have to at some point be able to defend, like you can't be embarrassed by toni morrison. you can't be embarrassed by nicole hannah jones, because these people are going to yell at those people anyway, i would rather have democrats defend toni morrison and defend nicole hannah jones and stand for something as opposed to constantly falling back and falling back and trying to placate these people who aren't arguing in good faith in the first place. >> and who cannot be placated. judith, thank you. and now that steve bannon is indicted for contempt of congress, who is next? >> and getting more dads to speak up about the need for paid family leave. and a look at the other big stories we're watching at this hour on msnbc. >> the goal to reduce coal and fossil fuel emissions and to transition to renewable energy, some scientists say the agreement falls short of limiting the earth warping before quote the point of no return. a federal appeals court protected a challenge by the biden administration, upheld the decision to block the president's vaccine mandate on companies that have 100 workers or more. the panel judges called the vaccine mandate quote staggeringly overboard. and hundreds of wisconsin national guard troops are now activated. this is ahead of a possible verdict in the kyle rittenhouse murder trial. the governor says the move helps to maintain safety. closing arguments in the trial are expected monday. more american voices, right after this break. more american voices, right after this break rty mutual. they customize my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. how about a throwback? you got it. ♪ liberty, liberty - liberty, liberty ♪ uh, i'll settle for something i can dance to. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ ♪ ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ it's our veteran's day sale on the sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to relieve pressure points. and its temperature balancing so you both sleep just right. save $1,000 on the sleep number 360 special edition smart bed. plus, free premium delivery when you add a base. ends monday. when you hear the word healthy it always feels a little out of reach. but it's all about the baby steps. maybe it's a jump or eating something green. or taking mom to get that vaccine. ♪ healthier means bringing stuff to the folks ♪ ♪ that really need it. ♪ ♪ like help at 2 am or care that's right at home. ♪ ♪ believe it. ♪ ♪ and caring for them all means ♪ ♪ we're doing healthier right. ♪ ♪ so, let's do it all together people, ♪ ♪ 'cause this is what healthier looks like. ♪ ♪ so, let's do it all together people, ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ in business, setbacks change everything. so get comcast business internet and add securityedge. it helps keep your network safe by scanning for threats every 10 minutes. and unlike some cybersecurity options, this helps protect every connected device. yours, your employees' and even your customers'. so you can stay ahead. get started with a great offer and ask how you can add comcast business securityedge. plus for a limited time, ask how to get a $500 prepaid card when you upgrade. call today. now that steve bannon is indicted on two counts of contempt of congress, and faces possible jail time, should other trump loyalists, especially those who defy subpoenas, be worried? as bannon's indictment was announced friday, the former trump adviser was on his own podcast, discussing support for trump, when as noted by an npr reporter, a banner from this network watched the news of his indictment on a banner behind bannon. and mark meadows was a no show on capitol hill. failing to comply with his own congressional subpoena for depositions. coincidence? here is michigan congressman dan kilde earlier on mismbs. >> i think it must be their strategy, to try to run out the clock and see if they can gain control of congress again, and i think that out to send a message about what it would mean if republicans took control of congress, because it's not just mr. bannon or mr. meadows who seems to be willing to defy the rule of law. but republican members of congress that are saying things like stand with bannon. >> joining me now, elie mystal is back with us and pbs news hour and msnbc contributor. on monday morning, steve bannon expected to turn himself in and later that day, he will appear in court. how long do we expect this whole process to take, especially given that bannon is still claiming executive privilege? >> it's not going to go quickly. i think the one thing that we have found is that steve bannon, like the rest of the close advisers, the loyalists as we referred to them around former president trump, their strategy is to continue to fight and you heard it from representative kilde there to drag it out as long as possible and to continue to fight and steve bannon has an incredibly puj liftic reputation anyway, and time is on their side, when it comes to this. we know that the further we get from that day, january 6th, ten months ago now, we know that interest from the public in particular has started to wane. in terms of accountability for that day. particularly among republicans and among whom it was already weak to begin with and that works to the former president and his surrounding supporters' advantage for sure. and they know that. so the time line element to all of this, but there's also very real power dynamic, and with that document, on friday evening, there was a shift in that. we now see just how far they are willing to go, and they can go, that there is an enforcement and accountability mechanism for that house select committee, and that the department of justice would be willing to step in with criminal charges potentially in the future as well. so now that they've done that with steve bannon, we know someone like mark meadows is paying attention to that and to be frank, the calculation for a number of those folks who have been subpoenaed, and from whom that select committee wants to hear, including mark meadows, jason miller, bill stepien among them, general mike flynn as well, the calculation is going to be different from now on, because they know there is that potential for the department of justice to follow up with an indictment if they continue to step on the select committee. >> and that second dynamic is more interesting to me. you wrote an article last month for "the nation" and argued that democrats aren't going far enough for the contempt count. the way to get bannon in jail now for the flagrant refusal to comply with a dually authorized congressional subpoena. the democrats do not seem to want to use this power. i took the lsat, i did not go to law school. can you explain the difference for those of us who might not be aware between criminal and inherent contempt and tell us why you think dems were rulkt to go there. >> so if i'm subpoenaed to go in front of a judge and i say no, i'm not going in front of a judge, what happens to me is i go to jail, i do not pass go and collect $200 and i sit in the jail cell and that's what happens to a regular person. that is inherent contempt. the court has inherent context power to throw me in jail if i don't follow the rules. congress has that same power. it has that same power that a court has to throw people in jail for not following duly authorized congressional subpoenas. now, it has not been used in quite some time. i think 1927 was the last time congress used the inherent contempt power because for the most part people play ball with congress, right? so they haven't had to try to do this. but as i read the law, they have the power to, they have the power to have held bannon or mark meadows as of today in inherent contempt, send the sergeant at arms, like that's where you get into some difficulty, you have to send something with penal force to get them and put them, nancy pelosi's powder room, until they figure out that they want to comply with congress. they have the legal power. that legal power has been used before. it's been a while. and so we don't know exactly how it all played out. and i think that's why congress has been reluctant to use it. because it is, i don't want, to again, i don't want to say it is not untested, it's not untested, we have done it before, but it has not been used laterally. the problem is that this other route, criminal contempt, that's not done to make somebody testify. that's done to punish somebody who doesn't testify. so if you're into steve bannon getting punished for noncompliance, like a year from now, after his appeal goes all the way up to the supreme court, sometime right before the next november's midterms, great. i mean that is nice, if that's what you want. but if you wanted the documents, if you wanted him to talk, criminal contempt is not the way to go. >> and do you think it was just the complications you laid out, was the reason that dems didn't want to go for that or do you think they're afraid of turning bannon into a martyr? >> i think much more the former. i think much more they're afraid of bannon and afraid of republicans and afraid of turning them into martzers and quite frankly, like i said, there is some force required here. right? think about this this way, as you showed, bannon got indicted on tv. and he is going to show up monday, to be arraigned, right? imagine if that happened to me. just your average black man in this world, right? if i got indicted at the beginning of this segment, by the end of this segment, there would be a flash bang coming through my window. they aren't giving me to monday. somebody with guns would come to take me away. now to do that to bannon, to do that to somebody some of these republicans, democrats have to find somebody with guns willing to go take them away for failing to respond to the congressional subpoena. and that is something that i don't want say -- you can understand why democrats are like whoa, well, like is that a bridge we are willing to cross? so far, the answer has been no. but since the answer is no, that means bannon and meadows and michael flynn, and the rest of these people, can drag it out. do their same trump strategy, deny, deny, and delay. and that's what we're going to see. >> there are 16 new subpoenas this past week alone, i'm wondering what you're hearing from trump world about the way that the bannon indictment is landing. >> so far, the strategy seems to be the same. i've heard even from steve bannon's attorney afterwards that they believe that the encouragement, the support, the guidance they're getting from former president trump, that executive privilege will cover all of this, they are all protected under that, but they will continue to fight and eventually they want to see all of the court rulings that are currently in play, seen through to completion before they decide if they're going to cooperate or decide next steps or whatever it is that comes next, and it is not just whether or not these witnesses and these folks would come forward to comply with the congressional subpoenas. whether they would offer their testimony. whether they would provide the documents that we know the house select committee wants to see. it's also, don't forget, this whole other separate lawsuit with about 700 plus records that the national archives has, that former president trump is blocking from being released, and saying that they also fall under executive privilege. and doesn't want those to go to the select committee. so there's a number of different fronts on which former president trump and his supporters are continuing to stiff on the select committee, that power dynamic has shifted now, and we heard from a joint statement from the select committee chairman bennie thompson and the vice chairman liz cheney, they think that criminal indictment sends a message no one is above the law but to the democrats point, they need this to speed up, time is not on their side and if things do not start to move quickly and they end up engaging in a further fight without real information and real documents to bring some kind of conclusion to the committee, well before the midterms, it's not really clear what the impact of their findings and the investigation would be. >> thank you as always. elie, you are sticking with me because next we are talking about dads and the push for paid family leave. and later, meet the woman who is running to become the first transstate official. "american voices" after this. tr. "american voices" after this ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ wayfair's black friday sale is on now! score unbelievable savings with to our biggest sale ever!ld. like ge appliances up to 40% off rugs up to 80% off and lighting up to 65% off. plus get bonus savings with a wayfair credit card and free shipping on thousands of products. don't miss our black friday happening now through november 27th. only at wayfair.com. (tiger) this is the dimension of imagination. ♪ ♪ if you're working from home, you're probably driving less. maybe a lot less. at metromile, we think you should be paying less for your car insurance; a lot less. and paying less doesn't mean getting less. with metromile's per-mile pricing... what you pay is based on how many miles you actually drive. so, you can enjoy reliable, high-quality car insurance... at a delightfully different price. get your free quote at metromile.com. i didn't think this was going to be easy. >> it is a huge mistake. >> yes. >> like anything in like, i don't know how much longer i can take this. >> i'll be right back. >> where are you going? >> a scene from the 2003 movie "daddy day care" where two dads realized just how challenging child care can be. and while dads in the movies get it, do lawmakers on capitol hill? paid leave remains inside the president's build back better social spending package, but already, the bill's proposed 12 weeks of leave has been scaled back to four weeks. and in all reality, paid leave could be cut all together which has moms across the country feeling fed up. among them "new york times" opinion writer jessica gross, writing i am enraged we are still having to tell these story, still having to splay our vulnerability and torn up bodies out to the universe to get some legislators to prioritize mothers as humans in need of the barest social supports. if we're going to move large numbers of american voters toward more full throated support of government-funded paid leave, we need more fathers and men in general to be more vocal about it. elie is with us yet again and joining the investigation. and the author of crawling behind america's child care crisis and how to fix it. you wrote about this for the nation. and we see that perception from republicans, when they ridicule transportation secretary pete buttigieg for taking time off to welcome his new babies. and we also see it from democrats when they scramble to put paid leave back into their spending bill, which should have never been taken out in the first place. only after advocates go ballistic and their party gets curb-stomped by white women in virginia. lay out the harm in believing that paid leave is just a moms issue and the power there would be in having more men advocate for it. >> 70% of fathers believe that paid leave should be a thing. for them. so they can be the dads they want to be. like in the media, i get, especially in republican media, being a dad is some kind of a gird, like rah, i give food to kid and then run and impress nate others. i get that. i get that's what they think. but most men are not that. most fathers are not that. most fathers want to be involved, want to be around, they want to have it all, they want to have a career and be a good domestic partner and be a good father to their children. paid leave is a great way, to help dads especially do this, right? like having a couple of weeks off after the birth of your child so you can learn. and i love you started with the movie, because every movie about fathering, right, it's like, it starts when the kid is like search or eight, and the father suddenly realizes they have a child all this time, and like, oh, my god, it needs food, how do i do that? but my, i have two kids, my father started day one, yo, right, day one, i needed to learn how to heat up a bottle, day one, i needed to know how to change a diaper, and day two, i needed to learn how to change the diaper genie, right? these are things that dads are just supposed to know, and paid leave is the period when you are supposed to be learning that. learning how to take care of another human being who needs you. >> and i think one of the things that is sort of implicit in elie's analysis there is the fact that in this economy, in our generation's economy, you're talking about the necessity of both parents working, right? you don't generally have the luxury of one parent choosing not to work, which means that both parents are also parenting. we know from the pandemic, which forced more women than men out of the work force, most doing so to meet the demands of child care, how then do we as a society make child care, care-giving overall, a universal issue? >> yeah, thank you, i think that this really gets to how we devalue care in our country. despite the fact that we talk, the platitudes about how important the family is, and how important parenthood is, you know, is on everybody bumper sticker and every stump speech, and we don't back that up with actual pro family policy so paid leave and child care, they go hand in glove, right? that is the first leg of the race. and the fact that we have a country where we're sending, you know, 25% of new moms are going back to work, within the first two weeks after giving birth, and my wife was in labor for 48 hours with our first daughter and then pushed another four hours, and to ask her then to go back to work and somehow i think this is how we're setting our families up for success, that this is how the american extensionalism is going to play out, when we can't even give our mothers and our young families a strong start, to bond with their children, to bonds with each other, and elie pointed this out in his article, paid leave is all sorts of benefits. it reduces the risk of divorce. it improves child development. it improving mother and father bonding with the child. and every single one of those benefits of society, basic human issues, human dignity of self determination, this idea that we're not letting parents be home with their new child and to start that family off together, it is really so askew, and i think as a matter of our, sort of national values, i think this is really a question of how do we continue to be one of the only developed nation, to be the only developed nation in the world, to not mandate some amount of paid leave for new parents. >> and elie, the reason that my hair is on fire about this, is that if you do not realize after the last two years how critical care is, how critical that time is, i don't know then when there will be the political will on capitol hill to get it done. right? like it feels as though this is the moment when it is possible. you've seen all of the polling. you referenced all of polling. this is wildly popular. why has it proven so hard to get it done? >> and remember, think about our last segment, right? there are parents who are saying that they're worried about beloved in their schools, that are, as we were talking about, are willing to burn some books, but won't raise a finger to help paid family leave and to help with child care responsibilities. like it is maddening to me that the way that a certain segment of our party weaponizes caring for our children has nothing to do with caring for children. right? so why is it so hard to pass? well, because of men, frankly. like the hart article that you started with, "the new york times" one, exactly right, each though fathers support this by 70%, men in general are reluctant, people who, and you kind of get it from a particular quirk in american exceptionalism, right, it was good enough for me, it is good enough for them, right? so if you, if you're a dad who didn't have time off and your father doesn't have time off and now i come at you with all of these stats and statistics and how having time off helps you and helps your kid, and helps them grow up strong and you didn't get that and you might be defensive, actually, no, i didn't need that at all, right? strong men don't cry. there is a defensiveness that i think prevents a lot of people from getting on board to this otherwise obvious political winner. >> i have run out of time but i do want to add to your excellent analysis, both of you, and i also think we make a mistake by not talking about this as an economic issue. elliot, you have opened my thinking up to the fact that we're talking about a market that is failing, right? it is failing parents. it is failing care-givers. the market itself didn't work. and i think we talked about this a little bit more as an commission issue, and that would also help but i am out of time. elie, thank you for spending half of your saturday with me. elliot, thank you. next, meet the woman making an historic run for office in nevada. kimi cole joins us with her bid for lieutenant governor and how her candidacy pushes her state forward. and latinos in the military say they struggle to advance. a look at why, ahead on "american voices." see blood when you brush or floss can be a sign of early gum damage. parodontax active gum repair kills plaque bacteria at the gum line to help keep the gum sealed tight. parodontax active gum repair toothpaste (vo) wildfires have reached historic levels. as fires keep raging, the need to replant trees keeps growing. so subaru is growing our commitment to protect the environment. in partnership with the national forest foundation, subaru and our retailers are proud to help replant 1 million trees to help restore our forests. subaru. more than a car company. do you take aspirin? plain aspirin could be hurting your stomach. new vazalore is the first liquid-filled aspirin capsule clinically shown to cause fewer ulcers than plain aspirin. vazalore is designed to help protect... releasing aspirin after it leaves your stomach... where it is absorbed to give you the benefits of life saving aspirin... to help prevent another heart attack or stroke. heart protection with your stomach in mind. try new liquid-filled vazalore. aspirin made amazing! with voltaren arthritis pain gel. my husband's got his moves back. vazalore. an alternative to pills, voltaren is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gel for powerful arthritis pain relief. voltaren, the joy of movement. i've got moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months, after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪nothing is everything♪ talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. when it comes to firing up the gop base, republican lawmakers have spent the past year ramping up the attacks on the transcommunity. in 2021, states level republicans introduced the most antitranslegislation than any other year on record and while the number of anti-translaws are up this year, the number of trans-women elected to office are 71%, more than 40 trans-americans serving the american people, from judges to city council members, and a democrat from nevada could make history becomes the first trans-person to win a statewide race in nevada as the next lieutenant governor. she currently serving as the democratic rural caucus. thanks for joining us. i want to begin with what your historic candidacy means to you. what felt right about this moment? why run now? >> one of the things that we see too often is people feel like their voices aren't being heard, that their issues rng being addressed. this is something that i hear so commonly and i know that i have struggled somewhat over a period of time, you know, when i went through my transition, all of a sudden i was welcomed to the same clubs and invited to the conversations the way i was, and i decided, you know, you know, we got too much life left to live, and you know, wherever i, whatever i can do, if i can do it, and be a voice, and a face for people who don't have all of the advantages, i figured, you know, this is what we've got to do, and this is really the time. >> when you see what is clearly an organized and concerted effort, all of these anti-transpieces of legislation, in states across the country, your sense of what is motivating them? >> well, i'll tell you, right, it absolutely infuriates me, when i see that going on, so often it ends up being a fundraising tactic for somebody to campaign and we have to have a bogeyman or a bogey person, however you want to phrase it, and you know, if we could just keep it to politics, and run campaign cycles, somebody gets elected, that would be great, but when i see it destroying lives, when it takes away people's freedom, and ability to exist, and even puts them in harm or takes their life, i say it is just absolutely unconscionable that we make other human beings the targets for campaign fundraising, and issues based, and a lot it is based on fear. i know i talked to a lot of people had, a really good conversation, we talk about, you know, the weather, the food we like, the music we like, and things that are common in our life, and then afterwards i will hear a comment i'm surprised how normal you are and i don't know what that is other than being a setting on my drier. >> as the chair of the rural caucus, i imagine you have strong insights and thinking into this current conversation about democrats and rural voters, what it is that democrats need to be doing to reach rural voters who might not be hearing from them now, might not feel that the policies that they're pushing this early impact their lives. what's the disconnect? >> one of the key things to keep in mind that we can put people in different categories, and no individual group is monolithic. so one of the things that we've seen over the years, a lot of times, especially when we get into major elections, whether we're talking presidency, the governor, the u.s. senators, a lot of the messaging and framing comes out of either southern nevada, las vegas, or even out of washington, d.c. and it really doesn't connect with the people out in the rural counties. we have 15 rural counties in nevada, and they have unique resources, and they have unique backgrounds, they have unique challenges, and too often, the messaging just doesn't resonate with them, if it comes from, you know, what i call a think tank, or a top line campaign, and i've been in nevada all my life, we moved here, you know, before i could remember, in 1956, you know, i grew up here, and i do get out to the rural counties, i do talk to people all the time, to find out, and it's just really obvious, they say these are our challenges, and they're not even being talked about in the media. >> chair woman kimi cole, thank you for your time. next, latinos make up a large part of america's military. why is that not the case among top brass? >> and later, pandemic restrictions are lifting. making moments to remember am and reminders of how immigration laws keep others apart. how immn laws keep others apart tired. i've never slept like this before. i've never woken up like this before. crafted with clinically studied plant-based ingredients that work naturally with your body. for restorative sleep like never before. ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ got a couple of bogeys on your six, limu. they need customized car insurance from liberty mutual so they only pay for what they need. what do you say we see what this bird can do? woooooooooooooo... we are not getting you a helicopter. looks like we're walking, kid. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ♪ ♪ just two pills for all day pain relief. aleve it, and see what's possible. and also try alevex topical pain relief. ♪ ♪ 'tis the season to break tradition in a cadillac. don't just put on a light show—be the light show. make your nights anything but silent. and ride in a sleigh that really slays. because in a cadillac, tradition is yours to define. so visit a cadillac showroom, and start celebrating today. ♪ ♪ i order my groceries online now. shingles doesn't care. i keep my social distance. shingles doesn't care. i stay within my family bubble. shingles doesn't care. because if you've had chicken pox, you're already carrying the virus that causes shingles. in fact, about 1 in 3 people will develop shingles, and the risk only increases as you age. so what can protect you against shingles? shingrix protects. now you can protect yourself from shingles with a vaccine proven to be over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after vaccination with shingrix. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. talk to your pharmacist or doctor about protecting yourself with shingrix. shingles doesn't care. but we do. you're driving innovation. you're racing to the cloud. shingles doesn't care. you need to do it securely. that's why palo alto networks developed prisma cloud - an integrated platform that secures your cloud environment end to end. used by the world's largest organizations, prisma cloud provides the cyber security you need from code to cloud. so you can get cloud security right, the first time around. we've got next. ♪♪ things you start when you're 45. coaching. new workouts. and screening for colon cancer. yep. the american cancer society recommends screening starting at age 45, instead of 50, since colon cancer is increasing in younger adults. i'm cologuard®. i'm convenient and find 92% of colon cancers... ...even in early stages. i'm for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. latinos have a long history of serving in the u.s. military. despite the thousands who enlist across all branches, promotions are still out of reach. why? we look for answers. >> reporter: ricardo remembers the highs of being a an airman, but can't forget the lows. the setback of his career. >> it was a dream of a lifetime. i el in love with flying back when i was seven-years-old. >> reporter: after serving the countries for 15 years that scream came to a screeching halt. >> i saw no more future in the active duty for me? he was no longer rising in the ranks. he says he wasn't sure why until he looked in the mirror. >> do you think the opportunities to hit the right stepping stones of the military didn't come to you because you were hispanic? >> yes. the short answer is yes. >> why did you think it had to do with your ethnicity in. >> i had no reason to think it had to do with anything else. >> reporter: he went on to serve in theeserve, where he says he received the right mentoring to move up and become a brigadier general before retiring. latinos make up 78% of active duty members, 8% of the officer's core and 1% of general and flack officers, right now there is one three star general and no four store general and there has never been a hispanic secretary of defense. >> we're being ignored. the reason is, senior leadership that looks and is hispanic does not exist. >> reporter: one of the newer under secretaries at the dod he says he experienced first hand the dead end many hispanics feel in the military in the navy. >> i can look at my own self, right. i was passed up at a do 3 level for promotion. >> so you've experienced this? >> i have. you know, here and this is one of the reasons that i wanted -- >> what did you blame it on? >> you know, hmm, you know going back and reflecting on why i was passed over, you can kind of think like okay was there bias or race. towards that? i can kind of assume that might have been part of it. >> reporter: now he's in a position to change that. so how do you do that? what is the biden administration doing to fix this problem? >> there is a lot of things we're going to do mentorship, a number of things coming down from recruiting talent to retaping talent in order to grow those individuals so we can have latinos become you know flag and general officers. >> reporter: non-profit organizations military family advisory network, anso or the association of naval services officers and others are tackling challenges when it comes to latinos in the military. >> anso has a lot of retired flight officers who offer their time up freely to mentor young junior officers. we need allies, people that can look down and say, we need to help these young men and group. >> a new group serving a new mission long overdue. la tom llamas, nbc news. a reminder of what so many immigrant families face in america and abroad. first a preview of what is ahead later tonight on nbc. >> coming up on ayman, kal penn, actor and activist. we will talk about what his life has been after revealing he has engaged his partner. tune in tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc for [ sigh ] not gonna happen. that's it. i'm calling kohler about their walk-in bath. my name is ken. how may i help you? hi, i'm calling about kohler's walk-in bath. excellent! happy to help. huh? hold one moment please... [ finger snaps ] hmm. ♪ ♪ the kohler walk-in bath features an extra-wide opening and a low step-in at three inches, which is 25 to 60% lower than some leading competitors. the bath fills and drains quickly, while the heated seat soothes your back, neck and shoulders. kohler is an expert in bathing, so you can count on a deep soaking experience. are you seeing this? the kohler walk-in bath comes with fully adjustable hydrotherapy jets and our exclusive bubblemassage. everything is installed in as little as a day by a kohler-certified installer. and it's made by kohler- america's leading plumbing brand. we need this bath. yes. yes you do. a kohler walk-in bath provides independence with peace of mind. call... to receive fifty percent off installation. and take advantage of our special offer no payments for eighteen months. ayman. . >> it has been a long two years for americans abroad, disrupted every aspect of life. so you can understand the relief across the country this week starting monday when the u.s. reopened up borders to vaccinated travelers. if you are like me, you could not fet enough of these stories, like he's hugging his 3-year-old son from the donald trump anna hagar greeted by her husband in boston, meeting grandchildren for the first time. susie o'dell introduced her mom to her new baby at dulles international. greeting nephews for no doubt since the last time they were together and a dog excited to see its owner after a long wait and roberta's husband is also happy to see her. the scene played out across the country, sisters, boyfriend, husbands and wives. >> i just crying because i knew i was going to see my sister and it's been absolutely overwhelming week. >> they are together again as they should be. and in these moments of joy, i can't help but think of the families still waiting for their moment, for their reunion. a reminder, there are people who have not seen their loved ones, not because of covid restrictions, but because of america's immigration laws. jose antonia vargas tweeted this, now imagine how 11 million undocumented immigrants unable to see and touch family members for years, not decades, feel about family separation. pre/during/post-make, family separation and social distancing are our reality. his comments were filled with stories of people who like jose haven't seen their moms or kids in decades. separated by things as big as land and sea and as small as papers that allow them to move between borders. if you watched all of the post-covid war embraces and thought, yes, we gave more of that in this world. remember that feeling as congress continues to rebate as reforms to immigration are a part of building back better. that is all the time i have tore today. i am alicia menendez. i will see you back here tomorrow for more american voices. for now i hand it over to my colleague. ayman. >> taylor swift is in the building. you have to get out of the building before the fans line up to get pictures of her after saturday night live. >> will i try to get out of the building or find taylor? >> maybe you'll waik make your way town the 8th floor. cooperate or obstruct. 20 years ago, the bush administration chose to cooperate. steve bannon will surrender on monday. how will this impact the january 6th investigation. plus. village laept justice, how