Thought that what the point. Letter. And what the daily beast letter, a circular firing squad. And then the scathing response from an opposing group of some of which requested anonymity to protect their jobs this one is head lined a more specific letter on justice and open debate. And it reads, their letter seeks to uphold a sitting atmosphere and prioritizes signalblasting their discomfort. And the massive platforms argue that theyre afraid of being silenced that the socalled cancel culture is out of control and that they fear for their jobs and Free Exchange of ideas even as they speak from one of the most prestigious magazines in the country. If youre having trouble following the high brow brouhaha fear not. I think i can bring home the bombast with a trip to the kitchen cupboard. Beans, goya beans. The ceo of this kitchen staple was with the president he praised the president while announcing goya would donate 1 million Food Products to American Food banks. Were all truly blessed at the same time to have a leader like President Trump who has been there hasnt been this much stink about beans since the fire scene in blazing saddles. The hispanic leaders calling for a boycott of goya products. Celebrities like Chrissy Teigen tweeting things like ashamed. Dont care how good the beans taste, byebye. And so did playwright lynn man well miranda. Goyas ceo told fox news he was not apologizing for praising the president. Calling the boycott suppression of speech. Once beans were controversial until when debating chili recipes. Now theyre part of the partisan divide. I want to know what you think. Vote on this weeks survey question, has cancel culture gone too far . Joining me now one of the five people spearheading the letter, a columnist for harpers. And hes also author of the memoir, health portrait in black and white, unlearning race. Thomas, give me an example of what led to the drafting of your letter. Thank you for having me. The letter came out of the conversation that several of us have be have been having for quite some time now. It came out of a more general mood and climate that weve been noticing out of our nations charter consult and landscape. So it wasnt spurred by one incident. We thought about the timing quite a bit and we thought there was never a good timing for this so its important that we get it out now sooner than later. One of the criticisms is that largely your group consists of folks who are white, who are wealthy, and who come from large platforms. Your response is what . My response is Salman Rushdie is not white. We have people that have been locked in thomas, your signal is freezing. Im going to put up on the screen, in the hope that we get you back in time to respond one of the other criticisms that was raised in the opposing letter. It said this, in truth, black, brown and lgbtq people, particularly black and transpeople can now critique elites publicly and hold them accountable socially. This seems to be the letters greatest concern. Whats perhaps even more degrading to many of the signatories is that a critique of their longheld views is pervasiper vase persuasive, will you respond to that . Sure. I want to respond that we have those who did eight years in prison who were minors when they were time stigmstigma. I think those people have come out and have to be taken seriously. I have not seen anybody respond to their position of privilege or the supposed whiteness of their identity. And thats a problem. We have people cherry hipicking signatories to say its somehow a white production. Im one of the original people that drafted the letter. Ive never been white in my life. So, part of the problem is were putting identities over ideas and were cherrypicking identities that we want to disagree with. And as to the item that i put on the screen, the criticism that, hey, perhaps you are finding what theyre saying persuasive, you would say what . If it were persuasive, that would be fine. If its so persuasive why do we need twitter campaigns to go peoples employers. Thats the opposite of persuasion to me. Thomas, can we define the line . You know, to me, this is reminiscent of Potter Stewart and what he famously said about pornography. Very hard to articulate, but i know it when i see it. What would you say the standard is that youre trying to put forth . I think we need to put forth a standard that stipulates employers will not immediately react to twitter storms. Its very easy to cause a twitter pileon. Its very unsettling when your employer immediately cancels you. We dont use the term cancel culture because its been cooperated by a very divisive president. But when your employer does what happened to david shore, a young researcher who tweeted peerreviewed research by the academic omar wassen that simply said effective in violent protests. He was fired for this. Because of a twitter storm. This is madness. We need to take a step back and have a moratorium on twitter and firings. And the Hr Department should be completely separate from the social media department, in my personal view. A moratorium on twitter firing. I appreciate what you have to say. Thomas chatterton williams, thank you, sorry for the technical snafus. Thank you so much. What are your thoughts . Tweet me smerconish or the facebook page. I will respond to some of as best i can. This comes i think from twitter. What do we have . Cancel culture is going to get trump reelected. At least wait. Its interesting my guest just said he doesnt favor the words cancel culture. I will tell you in determining the survey question today i struggled because i wasnt sure how to verbal United States wiz trying to get across. I was worried people would read conservatism. I dont see this as a red or blue issue. But the blowback to what were describing may be to the president s benefit. I want to know what you think go to my website smerconish and answer has cancel culture for language lack of a better description gone too far . Were battling the end of summer break, and School Status as the political rebate rages over reopening schools. Well take a look at the ethical implications. And President Trumps friend and adviser roger stone was headed to the pokey this week. But the president commuted his sentence. How will this play in november . Ill ask david aboutxelrod. Is that net carbs or total . Eh, not enough fiber. Chocolate would be good. Snacking should be sweet and simple. 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So where you go, the pro goes. Go with align. The pros in digestive health. And if stress worsens your digestive issues, try new align digestive destress. It combines aligns probiotic with ashwagandha to help soothe occasional digestive upsets, plus stress that can make them worse. And try align gummies with probiotics to help support digestive health. Like almost every other issue in our highly partisan society the question over whether to reopen schools becomes a political debate. The cdc isnt changing its guidelines in response to the president , but the director now says keeping schools closed would be an even Greater Public health threat. And in florida, a state facing a dramatic uptick in covid19 cases the governor equates schools with essential businesses. If you can do home depot, if you can do walmart, if you can do these things, we absolutely can do the schools. Even Walt Disney World theme parks, a not so essential business in his state now up and running as of today. So if the most magical place on earth is opening its gates, what about the schools . My next guest says opening schools amidst the pandemic isnt about politics, its a matter of ethics. Dr. Caplan is at langone medical school. Dr. Caplan, what do you think about opening the schools . Thanks, michael, for having me. Its a gigantic experiment. Weve had this virus for four months. We dont know what the impact is in terms of children. And we dont really understand how infected they are, both to each other, to teachers, bringing the virus home. So, youre asking kids to go back, who cant give permission, cant make the choice, and i think the first order of business should be safety. Not lets go back to normal. What concern, of what consideration, if any, based on what im hearing you say should economic factors be . If their parents are unemployed, unless the kids are somewhere else, should that be factored into the mix by policymakers . Well, i dont think you ask kids to sacrifice so that their parents can go back to work by going to school. If its babysit that you want, if its day care that we need, lets set it up in safer conditions. You know, michael, schools are not set up to be a place of social distancing. A lot of them have kids crammed in, 30 to a small room. For little kids theyre not going to be able to mask or wash their hands or maintain hygiene. Its the case in a lot of our schools, baltimore, philly, are a mess. They dont have heat, they dont have proper ventilation. Some of them dont even have Running Water to watch the kids hands to maintain hygiene there. Sure, i understand you get the economy going but you dont do it by saying lets send the kids back to whatever school it is. Remember, too, some of these kids have underlying conditions, asthma, juvenile diabetes, are we going to send them back as well . I read the cdc guidelines. I dont know how many have taken the time to do it. Theyre not so expansive. I did not find them particularly onerous. I should tell you when i made that observation on radio and read some of the provisions aloud, some of the people called me and said well, that wouldnt work in my school. That wouldnt work in this school. Heres my takeaway, one size fits all cant apply here. There are different dynamics. Each one of these schools is different. Each one of these districts is run differently. Can we agree on that . We do, because, look, its one thing to say, hey, lets go back to high school and we can ask the kids to do certain things as opposed to lets go back to kindergarten and ask kids to do certain things. Some schools are overnight, indoors, do they count . My view would be the cdc guidelines are a minimum. I certainly wouldnt weaken them. But lets take advantage of opportunities to keep kids away from one another. And, rememberer michael, weve got to protect the teachers. Weve got to protect the bus driver. Weve got to protect the older janitor. These kids might not have an immediate risk, i hope they dont. But they could be doing quite a bit of damage to the people who support them. One size absolutely does not fit all. You know, going back, flu is coming. A lot of these kids havent had 134 their vaccines. Theres nothing in the guidelines that say before the kids go back to school, get measles shots, and shots do you want to send them into that with covid. It sounds that the questions you have offered have been focused on k through 12, not college. First, am i right . And secondly, if so, do you see that differently . I see college very differently. So there are situations where you have a big sprawling campus. You can get back to college. Might be able to distance. Obviously, the kids can hopefully follow instruction. And not cramming them back into dorms. Theyre not going to be doing anything hygenic there. They might be up to it, but i think its a breeding ground for the virus to spread. So, it depends on the college. Depends on the university. Thats a place where Remote Learning can and should take place. End of the day, whenever we can keep kids learning but away from school, away from infecting one another and the people that work with them and bringing the virus home, why dont we do that. Dr. Caplan, thanks as always. My pleasure. More social media reaction, this, i think, from facebook. What do we have . I believe that coming up with ways to reopen schools safely is about health and education. I also believe the threats from 9 the administration have nothing to do with health or education. I think that is strictly economic and political. Laurie, as i just said to dr. Caplan, my own view, for what its worth is i dont think theres one solution for the entire country. I recommend that people take a look at the cdc guidelines, as parents, as taxpayers, teachers and administrators and determine can this work in your school. Because every single school, in every single district, all across the country is different. I just dont want there to be one decision made for the entire country. I want to remind you to answer the survey questi question smerconish. Com. Im told were getting tremendous reaction to this. Has cancel culture gone too far . Go to smerconish. Com and cast a ballot. Up ahead, President Trump commuted the prison sentence for his long time friend roger stone. Ill ask David Axelrod about the political implications. Does the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell has many wondering if shell cop a plea against alist names but how interested are prosecutors in her little black book . Roundup. The sure shot wand extends with a protective shield to target weeds precisely and kill them right down to the root. Roundup brand. Trusted for over 40 years. 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Its why, at xfinity, were committed to helping kids keep learning through the summer. And help College Students studying at home stay connected through our university program. Were providing affordable Internet Access to low income families through our internet essentials program. And this summer, xfinity is creating a Virtual Summer camp for kids at home all on xfinity x1. Were committed to helping all families stay connected. Learn more at xfinity. Com education. Will commuting roger stones prison sentence hurt President Trumps chances of winning in november . Stone was convicted last november of seven charges including lying to congress and witness tampering as wart of the mueller investigation. Prosecutors said stone had done so to protect frepresident trum. He told reporters. He said you understand i have the option to either commute or pardon. You should understand that a pardon would be final, and that in accepting a pardon you are essentially accepting guilt. And i would rather see you fight this out which is swie iis why commuting your sentence. This morning, the president had this to say via twitter. Roger stone was targeted by an illegal witch hunt that never should have taken place. There is the other side that are criminals including biden and obama who spied on my campaign, all caps, and got caught. Presumptive dem nocratic nomine joe biden leading polls. What effect might the commutation have. Joining me, David Axelrod, Senior Advisor to president obama. David, during the commercial break i looked at twitter. Jack goldsmith at harvard had an interesting evaluation. He said President Trump with his predecessors doesnt often part or commute, when he does, he often knows the people which distinguishes him from his predecessors. Any thought to that . I was just looking at the list this morning. Many of them are political heroes to the right. And some of them, in the case of roger stone, are intimates of trump who have serviced trump in some way. And who are looking for relief. Look, i think that you and i both know, michael, that we both have been in journalism. Weve both been in politics. But if you want to dump a bad story, you do it on friday night after the evening news when its going to get the least attention. It will get attention, but not as much. And trump has been taking full advantage of that in the previous weeks firing the u. S. Attorney in manhattan. Firing inspectors general. And now this. He had to d