Tomorrow ill be 18 seconds later. We begin with the Breaking News on the pandemic. This Omicron Variant Of Covid first hit the United States officially. We can tell you now it is spreading. It has now been formally confirmed and found in three states, california, colorado and minnesota. What do doctors make of this new variant . Well, we will ask the doctor who treated the very first omicron case in the United States. He joins us in a moment. As for those three states with the variant, experts view this as a floor. They expect more spread on the way. Indeed, the person who has it in minnesota had traveled recently to New York City to a very large Anime Convention in late november. As it happens, we have a photo. About 50,000 people were there celebrating, discussing, learning, doing all the anime things. And given that crowd and what is known about variants, the mayor of new york says they are operating as if there is already Community Spread of the variant in New York City. Now, many have been on higher alert about the variant. Thats in the United States. Separate from that, you have covid cases breaking records in europe. This is what is going on right now. A lot of concern but also a lot of what we know internationally about how we view these things, including mutating variants. With that in mind, President Biden rolled out the covid plan for winter, which includes the newest safety protocols. He spoke at the National Institute of health. Today im back to announce our action plan to battle covid19 this winter. It doesnt include shutdowns or lockdowns, but widespread vaccinations, boosters and testing a lot more. One thing that popped out that everyone heard there who is following this is the president reiterating what he said, that this will not include lockdowns or closing schools. Thats a break with some of the permanent closures in parts of europe and with some of the first wave responses to covid last year. This is one of those times that may feel like deja vu, but the problem with deja vu is feeling like were living with the same thing again. In a very real sense we are not, because there are things we dont yet know about the mutated version with this variant. Well get into that with our experts, but also because there are things we didnt know two years ago. Indeed, one of the things that was worse besides the pain and depth of how little we knew about covid was how little we knew what to do. One thing the president said is there is much more known how to take care of yourself, your family and your community as we go into what may be the third year of the covid era. I want to bring in president ial candidate howard dean. He will be joined, as mentioned, by another doctor shortly. Governor dr. Dean, when the president lays this all out, he is trying to walk the line. There are things that can be done, vaccination at the top of the list, boosters a part of it, and then there are things we dont know yet, but hes trying to give people expectations. What did you think of that line he walked today . I think hes doing a very, very good job, and i dont say that just to be a shell for the democrats. The trick in Something Like this is to amass as much evidence as you can and thats very hard to do early on. I think a lot of mistakes have been made by reasonable and reputable News Organizations is to have people on who make definitive statements. We dont know. Thats the only honest thing we can say is we dont know. Now, there are clues. There was a South African study recently, like today, that showed that the new variant may be up to three times more infectious than delta, which is also much more infectious already than the original virus. So thats worrisome. What we dont know, and there hasnt been any indication is, can you get sicker with this variation . We dont know the answer to that. I think from the information you just presented tonight, which is new for me, this business about the Javits Convention center, that shows something fauci said a couple days ago. If its in San Francisco, its already here. Were going to get a huge wave of this, and i think its fair to predict that the people who are going to be hurt the most, regardless of how infectious it is, are those that did not get vaccinated. Yeah, and thats why, as i mentioned, this is ongoing. Peoples choices and the Risk Calculation can evolve over time. There may be individuals who, for whatever reason, looked at it as a delay or didnt get it, or thought, well, it seems to be fading, but there are things they thought that maybe it wasnt a big deal. But the information is if new variants continue to spread, the risk rate of this thing continues to exist. It can even work around other safety measures, and thats why experts say vaccination remains a single best way to protect yourself and your family. Before i bring in the other doctor who has primary experience on this, i want to mix your doctor hat with the dnc, the guy who has been a politician and ran the party, because there is still a hangover about everything were learning about how the Trump Association handled this. Some of it is quite serious and affects policy. Some of it is just the usual shenanigans of that time. Given there were reports from trumps own people now knew that he tested positive and still insisted on Going Forward and insisted on doing the president ial debate with biden hid that information. According to mark meadows, in the fall of 2020, the former president tested positive for covid a few days before his first debate with joe biden. That is totally irresponsible. That is almost as reckless as when Walter Mondale debated reagan wearing his pet cobra. When he informed trump he tested positive, trump responded, oh [ bleep ], youve got to be kidding me, which is what he said when he was elected president. Go ahead. Great stuff, great stuff. Trump was the most immoral and irresponsible president in the history of the country. He was certainly the one with the fewest morals and scruples and common sense when it came to this virus. I am not shocked. We need a measured response to this. There was another survey the other day which was disturbing. 41 of republicans today said they wouldnt get the shot, but 24 of them said they would never get the shot, ever. If republicans are a little less than half of the country, that means an eighth of the country intends never to be vaccinated, which means well never get rid of this virus. There will always be a reservoir in this population until we can get up to 85 , 90 vaccination, and that is disgusting. When you put it like that, it goes to peoples collective choices. Dr. Dean, were bringing in another doctor. Dr. Travis chu is with the university of San Francisco. He sequenced the first omicron gene here in the United States. What did you learn in dealing with this . Well, what we learned is, i dont think it was unexpected that omicron is in the United States. It had already been reported in multiple countries. We know that in countries like south africa, it had been spreading into many more cases. I agree with Everyone Else that it was really only a matter of time before we would eventually detect it. I am a little surprised that we did detect it in San Francisco. I do think part of the reason is that in San Francisco and in california, we have a consortium called covid net. This is a statewide consortium of a number of different laboratories and Public Health organizations, and the goal and companies as well, diagnostic companies, that test for the virus. The goal of this is to provide an infrastructure where we could very rapidly identify potential cases. And the goal of covid that was to identify these variants, or potentially new variants as much as possible, which was the case with omicron. What did you learn about it . Well, one thing is we identified the first case, and it has the just like the original genes described in south africa, it is an unusual variant. It has an unusual amount of mutations. This particular variant has 50 mutations in total. It has more than 30 mutations in the spike protein. This is much more than the mutations that are found in other variants such as delta. Let me just slow you down were still going to take doctors orders. I just want to slow you down here. Youre saying theres more mutations and some of them are in the spikes. Explain to us what that means, for whether thats good or bad as compared to what weve already done to deal with other variants or the original covid19. Correct, yeah. So there are some mutations that are present in the spike protein, and because it has more mutations, what that means is i should also mention that the mutations that it has, it has some mutations in common with some of the earlier variants which we know such as delta which we know are more infectious. As a result of having more mutations, there is a suspicion that this virus may be more transmissible, may be more infectious. There is also the possibility that this virus may affect the effectiveness of vaccines may affect the ability of the protection you get from the vaccination. So these are critical questions that need to be answered. Right now, up until now we really havent had the opportunity to answer these questions. Part of the reason is we simply havent had a case, so we dont have the virus when you and other experts, then, do this, how do you look at those mutations to figure out whether theyre adapting in a way that is more dangerous or are just different, they have somehow mutated, but for our purposes as humans who dont want to get it or dont want it to spread, they may not be as concerning. How do you figure that out . Those are studies that need to be done in the laboratory, initially. There are two ways to answer the question. One way which features study of the virus in a laboratory. This is why, as were identifying cases, its really important that we culture, we grow the virus. We actually begin to grow the virus so we can study it. A lot of this information we can get from doing studies in the laboratory. In addition to that, we can get some information based on epidemiology, based on the number of infections and where the infections are occurring and being able to see how the virus is being passed or transmitted from person to person. So those are Public Health studies that can also be done to answer these questions. But the immediate information, the information that we can get within, say, four to six weeks would be with these laboratory studies. The first step in doing this would be to get a first sample of the virus which we now have. Dr. Dean, what do you think of all the above as you hear from dr. Chu who has been in the field walking us through it . Its been a long time since ive been in a laboratory so ill have to agree with everything he said. No, it makes sense, and this is an approach i think we need from a Public Health Point Of View which is lets talk about what we know and be clear about what we dont know. Right now there is a lot we dont know, and i agree with President Biden. We should be concerned and this is not the time to panic, because there is no indication that we do need to panic except for those 24 of republicans that are going to refuse to get their vaccinations, which i think is insanity. Dr. Dean here on a couple of topics. I appreciate it. Dr. Chu, first time on the beat, i hope you come back. Thank you for the work youre doing. Thank you. We have a lot more on the program, including what the doj is saying about steve wylie. And the shooting of a 61yearold man in a wheelchair. Police shot him nine times. And Jake Almadori is here to say that republican ublican tiger this is the dimension of imagination. Amazing. Jerry, youve got to see this. Seen it. Trust me, after 15 walks. It gets a little old. [thud] [clunk] [ding] ugh. It wasnt me by shaggy youre never responsible for unauthorized purchases on your discover card. As a dj, i know all about customization. Thats why i love liberty mutual. They customize my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. How about a throwback . Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty only pay for what you need. Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty hi susan honey . Yeah . I respect that. But that cough looks pretty bad. Try this robitussin honey. The real honey you love. Plus the powerful cough relief you need. Mind if i root through your trash . Now get powerful relief with robitussin elderberry. When you have nausea, heartburn, ingestion, upset stomach. Diarrheaaaa. Try pepto bismol with a powerful coating action. For fast and soothing relief. Pepto bismol for fast relief when you need it most. Turning to a story that might sound like its from the recent past, but its an assault on democracy. There are many reminders of this and people would rather move on, but attacks on our democracy are real. Just today, two Election Workers targeted by trump allege theyve been facing attacks and threats and possible illegal conduct. Theyve been suing for defamation. Trump allies have been trying to put people in key Election Posts so that they might secure the sloppy coup that failed last time. Then there is ongoing redistricting that both parties have used which is in the United States according to the washington post. And then even though joe biden won, which is a fact, there are talks on the right that im not going to repeat because this is the news and theyre false. Then you have numerically the most influential, most watched right wing voice on television, tucker carlson. Hes now under fire by his colleagues, not to mention fact checkers, for lying about who carried out the insurrection. Im not going into the lies in depth, because again, this is the news, but he has a whole Special Report theyre pushing that darkly insinuates it was some kind of false flag operation, which it wasnt. But think about this. Tucker carlsons lie is also a guilty kind of tell. Because even the most hardcore maga defenders are finding it is politically and logically easier to blame that criminal insurrection on someone else or insinuate it was someone else rather than defend the maga faithful who carried it out. Because it was that bad, because it looks that bad even with the partisanship around it. We are witnessing the mainlining of the 1 6, truthers. Let me repeat that. You may recall the truthers who were far more fringe. We now have the 1 6 truthers, and they are pushing themselves up into the media chain and into the mainstream of the republican party. Then consider why this matters beyond propaganda or one more posttrump apocalyptic qanon conspiracy. Its damaging because they are trying to steal elections. They can read the Writing On The Wall in the republican party. American voters usually back the democrat for the white house. Theyve done it in seven of the last eight elections across a wide range of personalities, but in 2004 did americans choose the republican candidate. In other words, republicans tend to Lose National races when people vote. Now, consider this statement about all of this. Quote, there were levels of voting that if you ever agreed to it, you would never have a republican elected in this country again. Just think about that statement. Republicans cant win when people vote. And thats not someone criticizing, thats not some antirepublican claim, that was, of course, as you see here, donald trump admitting how it works. He understood exactly why the policy, and in his case, what is now under investigation as a criminal plot, the scheme was to stay in power while losing the election without getting the votes. Now, Voter Suppression tactics are hardly new across america. Obama campaign veteran says you go back to the founding of the country, it was only white male landowners who were envisioned as voting. Then you had jim crow and more racism. You only had womens suffrage in the modern era, but what we see now is different from just franchisement and a debate over that, it was a party that elected to not just win races in the sphere. They said they need something akin to those earlier limitations to win elections. Now, there are plenty of times the republicans do win races, and again, were talking about the big enchilada, the white house, the power. At the local level, the republicans who obviously have fair and square victories, or you had a recent statewide election in the state of virginia, you just dont have the national support. In fact, virginia, to be fair, because i always want to show you everything, they had access to the polls that npr called unprecedented in that race that republicans won. But right now we are seeing the right wing truther brigade really mesh with elected and leading republicans. They are embracing the maga playbook, which is the trump playbook, which openly talked about a coup. Take ted cruz who recently got fact checked while pushing these similar election lies. Democrats and a lot of the press decided to just engage in incendiary rhetoric rather than acknowledge voter fraud is real, it is a problem. And the allegations of voter fraud needed to be examined on the merits. Senator, there is no evidence of fraud that would have really drawn the outcome of the election, and no doubt you know that. He does know that. But just as a line of political defense on january 6, these lies about voter fraud are also a shield for even uglier efforts that may ultimately prove criminal, like that Voter Suppression or installing people to potentially steal elections. The headlines on your screen are whats happening now for future elections, and its not because of voter fraud. What do you do about it . Obama campaign veteran who i just quoted is here. Were back in 60 seconds. Just quoted is here. Were back in 60 seconds enjo . Egglands best. The only eggs with more fresh and delicious taste. Plus, superior nutrition. Which matters now more than ever. Because the way we care. Is anything but ordinary. Egglands best. Cage free and organic. When i heard about the Science Behind the new Sensodyne Repair and protect with deep repair i was super excited about it. It shows that the toothpaste goes deep inside the exposed dentin to help repair sensitive teeth. Life is just too short to miss out on simple things like drinking that cold cup of water or having a sip of hot coffee. I have the science to prove it, i can see that it works and i feel confident recommending it to my patients. Im really excited to recommend new Sensodyne Repair and protect with deep repair. As republicans try to install new loyalists in the positions to oversee elections, its a special day on the beat. If youve seen this show, you know. Its called simply chai day. Chai is here. Hes presided over three president ial campaigns, including the obama campaign. Welcome back, sir. Good to be back, ari. It would be understandable and even easy for people who even slightly follow politics and news over the last two years to say, okay, chai, there is a lot of lies. Maybe theres more lies on the right. But isnt that an issue of rhetoric . Why do you argue, as i just walked through, that this is about something much more fundamental . This is really about overturning our democracy and engaging in a program of democratic backsliding that we have seen in other countries. Weve seen it in turkey, russia, hungary, poland, weve seen it in india, et cetera. The first thing we should say at the outset is republicans, contrary to what trump said, dont actually need to do any of these things to win. In virginia, Glenn Youngkin won with hitorical turnout and voter loss. In virginia we have election day as a state holiday. In virginia they have no excuse you dont need an excuse to get an absentee ballot. In virginia you have motor voter, a valid registration with a license. Their idea is to get trumpists and trump himself elected and in power. Glenn youngkin, even though he played footsie with trump, played demagoguery, but that isnt enough for the gop. They need to make sure the Marjorie Taylor greenes of the world can win, or if necessary that they can overturn a lawful election to get him elected. So i think those are some of the things that are really going on. But i also think, very importantly, there is a cultural stream here in the gop that is worth paying attention to, which is that republicans are increasingly comfortable with the idea of winning by being a minority. They are comfortable with minority rule. And that goes very deep into our countrys history, obviously with the electoral college, the way the senate is set up, the way the house is set up, you can win with a minority of the popular vote. Obviously you can win with a minority of the popular vote, why cant you just win with a minority of the popular vote and see georgia. You look at someone like jim crow, the Voter Suppression which is a big part of our history, and then you also look at the fact that republicans feel they are the real america. Even though theyre a minority, the White Christian male rural voter is the authentic american. And somebody like barack obama is really an imposter. Hes a foreigner which donald trump claimed. This goes deep into the structure. Its quite rigorous and speaks to some of the legal and structural ways that power has been justified over the course of american history, drawing in part on what is sometimes called Critical Race Theory to look at what the limits of electoral power were allowed to be, what is considered value losses and what in the reconstruction and other examples which jim crow were not. I dont know if you know this, but in the news Critical Race Theory is not banned so you may draw on it or politicize it, because its news. Thats a deep cut, and even though i cant hear the audience, chai, most people arent laughing. Thats just my sense. But when you look at that structural allowance, what does that leave the opposition to do . As you know, you worked on so many campaigns. One side says we have to put our people in. The less attuned voter might go, well, it just sounds like another one of those partisan fights where you just told us its not. If you think about the way the Critical Race Theory was used in the election, the reason he came to houston was the Democratic Party was the race of americans. That was the dog whistle he was sending with that, and the linkage is very, very powerful, because a lot of republicans, a lot of voters really feel that what that the rights that we should Pay Attention to are those white voters. White voters are considered to be the real americans, the authentic americans, and you see this kind of in every single country where there has been democratic backslide. There is this idea of the authentic polish people, the authentic hungarian people, et cetera, that is constantly used by demagogues. Those foreign influences, they dont belong. Those people who dont look like you, dont speak like you, do not pray like you, they dont belong. And thats kind of how democratic backsliding gets its start. It gets its start by preying on Those Sorts Of Cultural Hot Button issues. What democrats have done effectively in the past, what barack obama did, for example, very effectively was he appealed to american patriotism. He said he represents a new kind of america and a new kind of american in the 21st century. He very much linked himself, for example, with the legacy of abraham lincoln. You might remember in 2008 the chants of usa, usa that were constantly a part of obama rallies, that he was showing what the country is and can be. That helped to push back on this trumpist cultural narrative that the gop has always been pushing in one form or another. I think its important. Viewers know you worked with the obama campaign, but i think you make a fair point about that appeal. Not necessarily to that warmedover nostalgia of make America Great again, but still, america as a central feature in the appeal of how great it can be. Really, there is a lot in this that is racial but also looks to the arc of history. And are you looking forward and figuring out how to do it together, or are you trying to restore some earlier period and deal with earlier grievances, and the cycle of that combined with racism, religious animus, as you say, and something we see in europe is not something most citizens want to replicate. We always look for a Little Something extra. Thanks for another chai day. Thank you. Im just told we have new details about where omicron has spread. It is wider than it was when we took over the hour. Well explain after the break. Also the heat on steve bannon and matt wiley is here after this. Nd matt wiley is her after this on americas most reliable network. Better . guy better. kate thats not all. The new iphone, and up to 7 Entertainment Subscriptions for your family. Like apple music, apple arcade, and more. Better . family betttterrrrrr. kate not done. 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Call 8333174673, or live chat at calhope. Org today. Emergency planning for kids. We cant predict when an emergency will happen. So thats why its important to make a plan with your parents. Here are a few tips to stay safe. Know how to get in touch with your family. Write down Phone Numbers for your parents, siblings and neighbors. Pick a place to meet your family if you are not together and cant go home. Remind your parents to pack an emergency supply kit. Making a plan might feel like homework, but it will help you and your family stay safe during an emergency. News breaking on the omicron variant this hour. Just moments ago officials have now announced five confirmed cases in new york state. That means that this variant is in more states now than it was when we first came on the air. Four states across the u. S. , if youre counting you see them here, new york just added. This comes after officials says a person who tested positive for omicron had attended an Anime Convention in New York City. We showed that you footage at the top of our broadcast. This was a large crowd with Tens Of Thousands of people, and we now know this new variant was there and may have spread. Well keep you updated on everything we learn about this, including further updates if we get news on the variant this hour. The other story we turn to, and what i told you Maya Wylie Is Standing by for is the doj knocking back against steve bannon. He is trying to make some sort of media spectacle, and they are pushing back on documents for the investigation. They are concerned that bannon could do witness tampering. Bannon is still out there doing what got him investigated in the first place, including making false election claims. I think theres big corruption in pema. People are looking and saying, hey, youre almost going back in session, so youre beyond the special session, and it looks like the senate is not going to move to decertify this. So arent people going to lose faith that even after you do a Forensic Audit that theres no ability to actually right the wrong . Were joined now by former sdny civil prosecutor maya wylie. Bannon clearly has goals outside the courtroom. How do you think this plays inside the courtroom . Ari, it was really interested reading the governments brief to the court, because what i read in that is something that may really anger the judge, which is not the thing you want to do if youre sitting in Steve Bannons shoes, because what theyre saying is, hey, judge, if you remember, we just had a conference with you. We had already given bannons attorneys a couple of chances to tell us what they thought a fair protective order would look like. Didnt do it. We gave them a Second Chance and they kept saying we thought we would be able to work something out. Next thing we know, this is where we are. That does not suggest a good faith effort to come to a reasonable agreement. So it does sound like something that may backfire on them with the judge. I dont know the judge, and each judge is different. But its not a good look if its true, and given the brief, it sounds true because theyre pointing to actual transcripts in a record of a pretrial conference. Its very hard for me to read that document and those facts. Now, what a judge absolutely could say is, look, im not going to give you this protective order in the way that you want it, but im also not going to allow any inappropriate material to be made public. So i think we have to wait and see, because i dont know how the judge is going to respond, but i just want people to understand the governments brief has some really important strong points in it. Yeah. And before i lose you tonight, the other development is the house looks close to going after another trump official the way they went after bannon for defiance. If there is a Contempt Vote there, do you think the doj will indict the way they did with bannon, or is it trickier because that official was at doj as well . Well, its not trickier because he was at doj per se, because he was not a direct advisor to the president , there was not a direct Privilege Claim here. But if he claims the fifth, which he has heard Bennie Thompson say, we want him to come in on saturday, were going to have him assert the Fifth Amendment right, if thats what he wants to do, question by question. The question is, is he asserting it in a reasonable way to try to not incriminate himself, or is it just a Blanket Effort to create a new way to delay the proceeding . If thats the case, then theyll have a record they can take to the department of justice and ask for it. Maya wylie, thank you very much. Let me tell folks what we have coming up, because it is going to be a wutang kind of day on the beat. A Special Guest on obama hiphop. An officer kills a 60yearold man in a wheelchair nine times. We have that coming up. R nine times we have that coming up like pulsing, electric shocks, sharp, stabbing pains, or an intense burning sensation. What is this nightmare . Its how some people describe. Shingles. A painful, blistering rash that could interrupt your life for weeks. Forget social events and weekend getaways. If youve had chickenpox, the virus that causes shingles is already inside of you. If youre 50 years or older ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingles. sha bop sha bop are the stars out tonight . sha bop sha bop alexa, play our Favorite Song again. Ok. I only have eyes for you what the henry . Thanks if its out decorating the neighbors season, its walgreens season. What a pain in the alice . If its lets wrap this up season, its walgreens season. Wheres mom . 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A disturbing story out of arizona, a policeman shot a man in a wheelchair nine times, killing him. This was caught on tape. They intended to shoot the man. The victim, 63yearold william richards. They say he stole a toolbox and flashed a knife when he was confronted. The captions were added, we should note, by police, and a warning. The excerpt is disturbing. The footage is legally suspect because it seems to show such a quick escalation of force, and while we note the police said the individual was armed, its not clear where the lethal threat would be. Prosecutors now launching an investigation. The mayor saying already it is flat out, quote, indefensible. Remington did have a taser but he couldnt use it. That does not provide an additional reason that he couldnt use deadly force. Still to come is something i mentioned earlier in the hour and its something were excited about, a very Special Guest. Were talking obama, culture, Police Reform and much more. 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Seen it. Trust me, after 15 walks. It gets a little old. [thud] [clunk] [ding] ugh. Do you struggle with occasional nerve aches in your hands or feet . Try Nervivenerve Relief from the worlds 1 selling nerve care company. Nervive contains Alpha Lipoic Acid to relieve occasional nerve aches, weakness and discomfort. Try Nervivenerve Relief. Welcome back. You can gauge a society by its wealth or equality or its politics. But also by its culture. Thats why so many people care about which cultural figures get celebrated. Take the rock roll hall of fame, which just aired on hbo and had new inductees like tina turner, carole king and jayz, who was introduced by barack obama. I turn to jayzs words at different points in my life, whether i was brushing dirt off my shoulder on the Campaign Trail or sampling his lyrics on Edmund Pettus bridge. Today jayz is one of the most renowned artists in history and an embodiment of the american dream, a dream he has maked real for other young people like him. Obamas hiphop link by the way was mutual. While bill clinton went on arsenio, that was outreach. But for obama, many artists stepped up for him before he had power. Obamas running so we all can fly. Vote for barack obama. My wife and i support barack obama. Wu tang clan citing his links to the community and change. Back in the news now as wu tangs album hits an anniversary. The Staten Island rap group sold over 45 million albums worldwide, and he was integral from the start, including the platinum classic only built for cuban links which debuted at number 4 on the charts. Its also on Rolling Stones list of the greatest albums of all time. As these moments pile up, it is a reminder that a once young art form is now at a different stage with time for reflection, and thats what raekwon is doing in his new memoir, from staircase to stage, the story of raekwon and wu tang. Our Special Guest, honor to have you sir. Thanks for having me. How you doing . Going into the hall of fame with obama having his back. What does that mean to you as you reflect on how far hiphop has come . Oh, man, its a beautiful thing, man. Im so proud of jayz. You know, and everything that he has been doing. I tell people all the time, you know, this was a dream for all of us, you know, to be able to use our voice and what we learn and experiences of being in the street to just doing what we love to do and making it making a statement out of it, you know. So im proud to sue one of my brothers, my peers inside the game reach that pinnacle, because, you know, we always felt that we had it in us, but we needed to just find our lane. And i think that, you know, hiphop itself is is that lane for us to really express ourselves and look whats going on. Now we have accomplished what we always wanted to. Thats such a great word, raekwon and what it takes to get there. What wu tang documented is a society that is imperfect in so many ways and where people started with less and still as you say got to the pinnacle. I want to read briefly about from the book about how you write about the collaboration, you, rizza. You write your goals and motivations evolved as you got older, but the camaraderie you say was always present, was always based in hiphop. It was freestyling in the staircases at the project buildings or out front on the street. Now i was writing rhymes and dropping bars with purpose, which was a whole new world. Tell us about that as you document in the book going from something that was almost just natural because it was community and then evolving into saying whoa, you got a microphone here. You got a following. Yeah, i mean, you know, you know, i tell people all the time, you know, hiphop was always fun. It was always about expression, style, charisma, cadence, energy on the mic. And we started in the staircase, of course, you know, just having fun and just wanting to emulate some of the great sing eschs of our times. And as we reflected on what they were going through, we wanted a way, we wanted to figure out a way to put our music in that same category. So thats what i wanted to do with this book is just kind of take people down memory lane to be able to make them understand yeah you hear the rhymes. Now see how the resemblance of the lifestyle reflects it. And thats what we were doing, you know. Thats the type of picture we would try to paint. I want to play a Little Something we have. I aired this on the beat once, but this is the first time youve been on here with us. Thats exciting. We looked at how hiphop, wu tang and other groups were telling america about what police were doing and what the experience was personally as reality and in song and for so long people didnt want to hear it, or even didnt believe that truth. For your reaction on the other side. And you a whole book looking at this history. Here is some of that musical factual history. Next thing i know, i look back. I see like three cop cars. Theyre radioing in for backup. Theyve got shotguns and stuff pointed at us. They got us on the concrete with our faces down on this hot concrete. It made us realize with the record they only see you from the brutality for the subtext you got to go throughout in america. I gave them him a cell phone for christmas and they thought it was a gun. Whats it like as a mother . Well, im used to it. Im used to it by now, you know. I pray. That was your band mates talking about Police Treatment and ogb, of course, may he rest in peace there with his mother when he was falsely accused and arrested in charges that were cleared, as you know. Viewers may not. What do you see as important here in the stories you were able to tell, and now maybe some of america finally catches up to the fact that there is a Police Brutality problem in this country. You have to say to yourself the poor parts is always going to be dealt with a certain kind of way. So weve been dealing with it for so long that is it fair . No, its not fair. Its like judging a book by its cover. And thats just what we deal with in these urban communities. The best thing i can say is that we just have to be able to communicate with the Justice System in our communities a little bit better. I want to thank raekwon for your first debut on the beat. Im going to put it up on the screen, the new memoir from staircase to stage. Get writ ever you get your booksing. Thank you. Thank you, ari. Appreciate it. We appreciate raekwon. You can find all of this online at ari melber where we posted more about the wu tang interview. I want to say one more thing here. This period from thanksgiving to the new year can be quite a special time. Many americans share recipes or traditions on social media, or even tiktok. After some delay, tonight we with report for you the beat is joining the tiktok craze, including the new video you see on your screen. This is fresh from my familys thanksgiving where my brother and i muse on the Cappuccino Skills that we got from our dad. The key is keeping it dry or you end up with a latte. And my dad, who just turned 78, by the way, happy birthday, dad, did a very brief cameo. Despite working in the news, i dont have many tiktok followers to be honest. Im hurting out here. If you guys want to join in the craze, because people and families are doing it, you can find me on tiktok arimedical betteranchorman. Its the real ari, The Real Beat at ari melber anchorman. If you follow me, i promise i will not post dance videos. Ill share tom some fun stuff, items on news or civil rights. You can come for the family coffee tips and stay for the unpredictable tiktok experience at ari melber anchorman. That does it for me. Long live tiktok and the news. The reidout with joy reid starts right now. Please follow me and ill follow you. I was going to follow you until you said you werent going to dance. I got to think about it. So let me think about it. You know what . Let me say this. I recommend people follow you first, and if they still need more they can find me. And ill keep an open mind to the dance. Keep an open mind. Dont just say no. Well talk about this. All right. Bye. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. We begin the reidout tonight with Breaking News from new york