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tv   The News With Shepard Smith  CNBC  August 13, 2021 4:00am-5:00am EDT

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keith morrison : their laci. unidentified woman: oh, how pretty. time, the news with shepard smith starts now news" on cnbc. >> these forces are being deployed to enforce the safe reduction of american withdrawal. >> american withdrawal in crisis thousands of u.s. troops deploying back to afghanistan. kabul in jeopardy. americans urged to leave as the taliban takes over. covid's origin the wuhan lab leak gets a second look the new information and the
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respected skeptic now speaking out. one state's covid nightmare comes to life. a hospital system on the verge of collapse. >> it's really kind of terrifying. >> mississippi in distress and asking for help from the military congressional shakeup. steve kornacki breaks down the new census data and how it could change the balance of power in congress a big day for britney spears as her father agrees to step aside. >> crypto lobbyists make their mark on d.c. and was lollapalooza a super spreader the results are in live from cnbc, the facts, the truth, "the news with shepard smith. good evening, everyone welcome. the u.s. military sending thousands of troops back into afghanistan to help evacuate americans from the embassy in kabul as the taliban closes in
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>> we believe this is the prudent thing to do given the rapidly deteriorating security situation in and around kabul. this is a very narrowly defined, very temporary mission. >> the taliban sweeping and lightning fast conquest continues across afghanistan as they capture city after city an inch closer to the ultimate prize, kabul, the capitol. all of that red territory you see there now is under the taliban's control. this is video today of taliban fighters capturing gozny city which is about only 80 miles away from kabul. deployment of additional marines and soldiers, some from fort brag in north carolina comes less than three weeks before u.s. troops are set to complete their withdrawal from afghanistan. just last month president biden promised the war in afghanistan would not end like the vietnam war with enemy forces overrunning the capitol and americans fleeing in helicopters. there's going to be no
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circumstance you're going to see people lifted off the roof of an embassy of the united states from afghanistan >> we did not hear from president biden himself today about the situation in afghanistan. we're covering all the angles this evening nbc's courtney kube will break down the pentagon's announcement we'll get reaction from matt zellar, but first to nbc's kelly cobiella on the ground in kabul. >> reporter: another day of rapid gains and key strategic gains. they captured the city of gozny, 80 miles south of the capitol of kabul. it's important because it's on a main highway that links kabul with kandahar in the south the taliban claimed to have taken kandahar although the government disputes that if that city does fall, some have said it's very likely to in
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the coming hours, it will be a key strategic and moral victory for the taliban. this is the spiritual home of the taliban. it's a place where they have quite a bit of support and also quite a bit of resources the afghan government has been putting a lot of focus on kandahar and on holding and defending that city. they're also claiming that they have conquered the city of harat. the government disputes it they say they're still fighting there. the effect on the population has been massive thousands of people have been on the move over the past several days they've come to the capitol and in some cases set up tents now it's clear that they have no intention, don't think there will be a possibility to return home any time soon there's also a sense of dread settling in on the population here fears that it's almost inevitable that kabul will fall at some point. in fact, one young woman, a student at the american
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university told me that her mother has already bought her a bir b birka because we need to be prepared we've heard next to nothing. no address to the nation by the president. no laying out of plans of a strategy to retake all of this territory that that is been seized by the taliban, remember, in just a week's time. tyler? >> thank you very much well, despite the emergency deployment of more troops, the pentagon insists united states will still complete its withdrawal from afghanistan by the end of this month. nbc's courtney kube covers the pentagon courtney, the defense department is adamant that this is only a temporary mission, but it seems like the more we try and get out, the more we get pulled back in rr yeah, that's right. temporary and tailored those are the two words we've been hearing the department of defense is adamant about making sure the
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american people see this as they are sending these troops in to help with the evacuation of u.s. civilians, primarily the people working at the embassy there, and to help with any of these afghans who are eligible for the special immigrant visa program, to help them get safely to the airport and out of the country what we're looking at is an initial deployment of 3,000 troops soldiers and marines, mainly infantry they will go to the airport in kabul where they will help with security, both security at the airport and securing these individuals getting for the airport to get safely out. that's not the only deployment here we will also see between 3500 and 4,000 members of the 82nd airborne, a brigade combat team based out of fort brag, they are moving to kuwait that's in case it gets bad and they need to send in immediate reaction force or quick reaction force. some soldiers who can go in and quickly help secure the
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situation. in addition to that, there's going to be another 1,000 who will be sent forward to qatar. we're talking about thousands of troops here, tyler, who are being resent in to the region for afghanistan. >> quick question. do we know how many americans are currently in kabul or in afghanistan? >> reporter: we don't. we can tell you that the embassy has about 4,000 total personnel. about 1400 or so are americans, but we don't have a good sense of how many of them will be brought out in this initial tranche of people before the end of the month we're told according to defense officials and the state department it will be a significant number we don't know how many it will be there will be a small core number left behind the question is will this mission be extended or expanded out so that other americans who are there in afghanistan, primarily in kabul f there is an ordered departure and they have to leave and need help getting out, will the military be there
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to help with that? we're told they have the assets for that and they are fully preparing to have u.s. military aircraft to actually take people out, it's just a matter of how many and when. >> courtney kube, nbc, thanks. matt zellar now, former combat adviser. co-found man of the truman project. as a veteran who served in afghanistan, what is your reaction to what's happening right now as the u.s. prepares to send in troops basically to evacuate the embassy in kabul. >> thank you i served in gozny. this is such a shameful day for our country because we could have saved our afghan war time allies before all of this transpired you know, the biden administration seems to have been so concerned with the optics of a chaotic evacuation
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that in choose to go do nothing up until now they have ensured the very thing that they were most afraid of, a chaotic evacuation i can't think of anything more disastrous we've told now the entire country, if you want to attempt to get out of afghanistan, you have to get to the one airport in kabul what is going to happen when the afghan population stam peds that airport because it's the only way to get to freedom? i am -- i am -- honestly, i am just aghast that we've done this this is something we've been warning about for months and it seems thus far the administration has taken none of this seriously and now it's too late. >> so you see the ultimate fall of kabul as inevitable and number two a disorderly evacuation of the country as inevitable >> unless we massively increase the number of military forces and turn the tide, i don't see how the taliban does not win within the next couple of weeks if not days. >> and the message to the rest
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of the world is? >> unfortunately at this point it seems to be american friendship is in fact a death sentence unless we save our afghan war time allies, they're going to be murdered by the taliban. thus far i have not heard a single thing from the administration how we're going to protect some 44,000 of those people who live currently outside of kabul. >> and we have lots of people who helped us there over the years who are in jeopardy tonight. matt zeller, thank you >> thanks. covid crisis in mississippi. a distress call from state officials asking the military to step in. hospitals said to be just days away from failing. tonight, a doctor on the front lines joins us live with what he's seeing in his state's battle with the virus. plus, chicago's lol la pa loo lose zsa, one of the first big events hundreds of thousands crowded
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together, now a few weeks later, the new data answers the question, was it a super spreader. the united states supreme court answers the first legal test over vaccine mandates amy coney barrett taking this one on alone what she did with the case next. ♪ ♪ welcome to allstate. where everything just seems to go your way. ♪ ♪ you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today.
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i'm dad's greatest sandcastle - and greatest memory! you're in good hands with allstate. but even i'm not as memorable as eating turkey hill chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream with real cocoa. well, that's the way the sandcastle crumbles. you can't beat turkey hill memories. the 13rsupreme court denyin request to block the vaccine mandates justice amy coney barrett who handles matters in indiana wrote the decisive ruling. she acted alone and denied the request earlier this month eight iu students asked the court for an emergency order arguing the school's policy violates their constitutional rights. america's top health experts sending their clearest signal yet that americans will need
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booster shots. >> we believe sooner or later you will need a booster for durability of protection we are preparing for the eventuality of doing that. if the data shows us that, in fact, we do need to do that, we will be very ready to do it and do it expeditiously. >> a cdc panel set to meet tomorrow to discuss authorizing a third vaccine dose for people with compromised immune systems. this as hhs reports the agency will mandate vaccines for roughly 25,000 health care workers. it applies to federal contractors, volunteers, and people trained. earlier today the largest teacher's union supports policies that require al teachers to get vaccinated or get tested regularly in mississippi several schools have been forced to switch to remote learning as covid cases of hospitalizations spike across the state. officials there just asked the biden administration to send a
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military hospital ship, the usns comfort to take pressure off the state's overwhelmed health system a doctor warning it's on the brink of collapse. >> the rate of the testing positives and the rate of hospitalizations based on what we are seeing, if we continue that trajectory, within the next five to seven to ten days i think we're going to see failure of the hospital system in mississippi. >> let's bring in dr. babar, critical care director at singing river health in ocean springs, mississippi doctor, thanks that is a grim warning your state's health care system could fail in a matter of days what are you seeing in your hospital what are you hearing from doctors and nurses in your neighborhood, your area, your state? how bad is it? >> it's pretty bad, tyler. we're stretched to capacity right now. our icu beds are full. we're having to board a
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significant number of patients in the er. our morale is lagging, especially the nurses who are at the bedside all the time and the respiratory therapists it's a worse situation than it was last year. >> are the patients sicker with this new virus than with the earlier strains of covid >> i am -- so one difference is these are younger patients you know, the average age is below 50 their lungs are as sick or sicker than they were in the previous surges. what we are not seeing as much of is multi-organ failure. so last year we were seeing people's kidneys and livers collapsing and we're not seeing that this time, but the lungs are terrible. >> very interesting. pardon me. you said that you're seeing younger patients in general.
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what about children? we're hearing that children are coming down with this disease in greater numbers. have you seen that >> so we don't directly take care of children, but there are a significant number of children at umc who are on ventilators. we don't have that facility in this hospital so i can't give you our own data. >> data shows that the majority of patients coming into hospitals are unvaccinated what kinds of conversations do you have with them >> so when these people are in the icu, that is not the time we can have this conversation the time we have this conversation i personally have this conversation is when i see them in the clinic in the setting where i can influence them and there are times where i hit complete roadblocks. i was told by one patient, one very young patient that she would rather die than get the vaccine. so that's what we see.
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>> are you seeing vaccinated patients in the hospital >> very few. if we do see them, they are either going to be there for a different reason that they have -- they might have mild covid but are in the icu for a different problem or else if, you know, they do end up in the icu, they do fine. no one has needed to be on a ventilator and almost everybody gets discharged. >> quickly, what do you want the country to know right now, tonight? >> i think what i'd like the country to know is we are stretched to breaking point. that we need help. we need help more than anything else with getting nursing staff. there's a national nursing shortage, but it is especially problem down here. >> dr. babar, thank you very much for your insights tonight we appreciate it. nearly two weeks after lol la pa lose zsa, chicago's top
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doctor delivered this top message today. >> we've had no unexpected findings at this point there's no evidence of super spreader event and there's no evidence of substantial impact to chicago's covid epidemiology. >> eventually then a success story. organizers gave people two options, show proof of vaccination or a negative covid test the massive crowds tested chicago's covid safety measures and the data shows they worked in total, about 385,000 people attended the four-day outdoor event. city health officials say around 90% were vaccinated. they predicted there would be around 200 covid cases linked to lollapalooza, turns out there were 203 76 among unvaccinated cons cert goers, 127 among the vaccinated. keep in mind a majority of the attendees were vaccinated. most importantly, there have been zero, no hospitalizations and no deaths connected to the
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event so far well, from free britney to britney almost free. the pop star one step closer to having her father removed as conservator. and scorching temperatures hitting the pacific northwest, the midwest and right here on the midwest and right here on the eastoa
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a big day for britney spears her father jamie agreeing to eventually step aside as his daughter's conservator jamie spears says he, quote, ip tends to work with the court as his daughter's new attorney to prepare for an orderly transition this comes weeks after britney's attorney filed a petition to replace her father with jason reuben, certified public accountant cnbc's scott cohn now. team britney is responding to the news >> reporter: yes team britney is pleased, tyler, to a point it seems like the devil is going to be in the details here is what we know britney's new attorney wasted no time in petitioning for jamie spears to be removed filing papers less than two weeks after signing on following britney's testimony. a hearing on that petition is set for the end of next month,
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but today this response from jamie spears' side in the 15-page filing jamie spears denies allegation he abused his authority, that every step along the way he says mr. spears has offered his daughter love and support and encouragement both as her conservator and as her father. he says if the public knew all the details of britney's personal life, the highs and the lows, they'd be praising him, not vilifying him. nonetheless, even though jamie says he has been the unremitting target of unjustified attack, a continued public battle doesn't help anyone. even though he says the petition is unjustified, mr. spears says he will prepare for the orderly transition the transition period is where the details come in. the finances still need to be worked out, among other things, with a $60 million estate. that takes some time as far as rosengarden is concerned, he wants jamie to step down now.
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jamie's decision is vindication for britney but he says rather than making false accusations and taking cheap shots at his own daughter, mr. spears should remain silent and step aside immediately. in his filing jamie spears says regardless of his formal title, he will always be her father and love her unconditionally. >> a complicated trail some 120 million americans dealing with dangerously high temperatures right now most of washington state, western oregon still under an excessive heat warning according to the national weather service. portland expected to reach a high of 103 today after tying a daily heat record yesterday. nbc meteorologist bill karins is here how's the weather? >> unfortunately hot some people like it hot. some people are waiting for the fall cooldown. this map today is a little unusual. this is the feels like
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temperature on your screen it is 102 in boston. it is pretty rare that 102 in boston is the hottest temperature out of anywhere in the lower 48 they're tied with wichita. 102 still feels like in washington, d.c. by the numbers, we still have a lot of people that are heat advisories and heat warnings that's the 120 million people. the good thing is is that the rain and cooler air is moving in tomorrow we drop that number down to 65 million it's really concentrated the i-95 corridor, one more day from boston, new york, philly, baltimore, d.c the other story that we're watching, of course, is what happens with the tropics we do have our tropical depression fred. we have tropical storm watches up for south florida this will eventually be drifting up towards the gulf of mexico. as for now it looks to be unorganized. it does not look to be a beast of a hurricane and do a lot of significant damage i don't think there will be any
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evacuations or anything like that that's the good news in all of this how does that affect your weekend? friday we're watching fred still hot and humid in the northeast. saturday we cool it off in the great lakes. that's when the rain from the tropical storm moves in saturday from florida sunday we could deal with the landfall of fred in areas along the panhandle. for everyone in the northeast and great lakes, you get your reward starting for saturday and sunday for a pretty good weekend. >> when the map tells you to head for orlando for cooler weather, you know it's hot. severe weather hitting other countries around the globe in algeria wildfires are there fires have killed 65 people according to state officials this is a town in northern algeria where villagers desperately tried to battle a fire on their own using a hose and tree branches in an attempt to smother the flames. they say those are the only tools they have.
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officials say 28 of the people killed were soldiers algeria's president has declared three days of national mourning. and in turkey flash floods swept through the country's northern black sea region. you can see the water dragging an avalanche of cars, debris through this street. more than a dozen people died in the flooding according to officials. in the distance an entire house buckling and crumbling under the force of the water watch that major streets turned into rivers as water engulfed towns tearing down portions of buildings, collapsing five bridges. this after the wildfires that ravaged the southern part of turkey were just brought under control. antivax backlash keeping some americans from rolling up their sleeves. meet the health care providers setting up secret vaccination sites to help. results are in after months of delay, the 2020 census has been released steve kornacki joins us with the
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numbers and the lead researcher into the origins of covid speaks out in a new documentary what he's saying now that's fuelin
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home prices smashing records. home prices skyrocketing at the fastest rate on record the median price of an existing
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single family home soaring to an all-time high of nearly $358,000 a 23% jump from a year earlier this according to the national association of realtors. part of the reason for the increase is a shortage of inventory. that is pushing prices even higher adidas unable to turn rebook around it is selling the sneaker maker to authentic brands for roughly $2.5 billion the retail conglomerate has picked up brooks brothers, aeropostale and ihope is offering a hair of the dog it's letting them add booze to menus. they'll offer beer, wine and bubbly but they will hold off on the hard stuff i wonder what pairs best with a short stack covered with
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chocolate. the dow up 17, the nasdaq up 51 green numbers across the board i'm tyler mathisen in for shepard smith on cnbc. it is half past the hour and here's what's making the news. the fight to get more americans vaccinated just went covert why doctors are now offering secret covid shots a crypto gold rush in the west how wyoming is leading the charge and the covid lab leak theory gaining momentum from one of the world's top experts. the lead w.h.o. investigator speaking out tonight in a danish documentary suggesting that patient zero may have been a lab worker in wuhan. dr. peter embarrack led an international team of scientists in january looking into the origins of covid in wuhan. he now says it's possible a lab
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employee could have been infected by a bat during field work no definitive conclusion made here, he's simply saying it's a possibility. he is also opening up about th pressure his team received from chinese officials who he said wanted no mention of the lab leak theory in the final report. they did mention the lab, quote, on the condition we didn't remeny specific studies to further that hypothesis. the final report considered the lab leak theory, quote, highly unlikely the scenario considered most likely was spread from animal to human in a natural setting the w.h.o.'s research position was stymied by a lack of access and data from the chinese, particularly on the issue of the lab. in may president biden ordered the u.s. intelligence agency to conduct a 90-day review of the evidence that report expected by the end of this month. as for the w.h.o., it has called
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for a second investigation but china's rejected that offer and did so just last month the organization says all t the theories, all theories remain on the table. we welcome back jamie metzel, adviser to the w.h.o., a senior fellow at the atlantic council jamie, from day one you have been outspoken on the need to consider this lab leak theory. what was your reaction to what dr. embarrick said did he fill in any holes for you or is it still equivocal >> he didn't fill any holes in but it's obvious to certainly me and most other serious observers from day one that there's a very real possibility this pandemic stems from an accidental lab incident in wuhan. and it's great that dr. ben embarrick, this international
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study was a sham from day one because the chinese government had negotiated essentially control over the entire process, veto power over who got to be part of the international team and now we're seeing from the report they essentially controlled what could and couldn't be in their report. so myself and many of us thought it was absolutely outrageous when this international team said that they believed that a lab incident origin was extremely unlikely and they didn't recommend further investigation of it. now it looks like they didn't even believe that and they were being pressured by the chinese government and all of this comes together to make us -- everyone to know that everybody on -- on earth should be demanding a full investigation into pandemic origins, including the very real possibility this all of this stems from an accidental lab incident. >> do you think we'll ever know? >> yes i mean, we will know if we have
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an investigation no international investigation has yet been mandated and there was no u.s. national systematic investigation in spite of all of the huffing an puffing under the trump administration since -- until the 90-day review that president biden authorized if we want to get to the bottom of this, we need a full investigation. we need access to the resources in china we need to secure a whistle-blower provision so that scientists in china can speak up and not fear imprisonment. >> but what or who do you think will be able to prevail on china to give the access and the openness that's required to get to the bottom of it? why would you have any hope that that would happen? >> i certainly hope that china will make the resources, the samples, the records, the personnel available, but we shouldn't have any illusions china has basically told the rest of the world, the world
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health organization, the relatives of the perhaps 10 million people who have died from covid essentially to go to hell and they aren't going to allow any investigation. but we have outlined, we meaning our group of experts around the world who have been coordinating on four open letters that appear in every open newspaper essentially in the world, we have listed a full set of resources available outside of china, including genetic materials and other resources. again, we need a full investigation with access to all of the resources that are available to have the best possible chance of getting to the bottom of this there's much more that we can do even without chinese participation. >> jamie metzl, thank you very much fears of getting covid delta motivating more americans to get vaccinated over the past month the white house says the average number of new vaccinations quadrupled in louisiana, alabama, mississippi. the three states with the lowest
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vaccination rates in the country. now some health care systems are setting up secret vaccination sites hoping they will bring in more people who say they don't want their friends to know they got a shot and in some places the move appears to be working. here's cnbc's bertha combs. >> reporter: amy clark is a grandmother who admits she was scared of getting the covid vaccine. >> i was never really against vaccines or anything like that i always got my flu shot this was just a little bit different. >> reporter: when covid rates spiked 30% in her hometown, west plains missouri, swamping the local hospital, that scared her more so she got her shot. >> all of the people who are on ventilators, none of them -- they're all unvaccinated. >> reporter: but at ozark health in west plains, pharmacists heard from patients who had another fear beyond the vaccine. backlash from loved ones who adamantly oppose it. >> they might have a spouse away at work so they want to get in while they're away at work so their spouse doesn't know. we have people who don't want
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their friends to know. they've told us they're going to continue to tell their friends they're not vaccinated. >> they let people know they could get shots in private, like in their cars in the parking lot. >> they've had several people come in to get vaccinated who have had to sort of disguise their appearance and even went so far as to say, please, please, please don't let anybody know that i got this vaccine >> reporter: they think it helped vaccination rates rose 400% last month. no secret vaccines outside of new york city, but vaccinations there are up 25% driven in large part by patients facing workplace mandates >> you have jobs that are decreasing salaries if they don't get vaccinated jobs who are threatening to terminate the patients if they don't get vaccinated. >> ryan clark's job is not forcing him to get the jab but things he wants to do like concerts are requiring it. >> it's going to be more required in more and more places
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so i figure why not do it now. >> reporter: nationally the seven-day average of vaccinations is up about 20% over the last few weeks, but in under vaccinated areas, even as they're coming up, they're still at low rates in west plains, missouri, for example, tyler, they've got 22% of people fully vaccinated, 30% if you count people with one dose it's still not moving fast enough to move the needle. >> bertha, great to see you. the united states is more diverse than ever before and the white population is shrinking. that's according to the 2020 census data released today the white population fell for the first time on record dropping by 8.6% over the past decade findings also show big cities and their suburbs are growing as people move out of more rural
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areas. this data will be used for once in a decade redistricting battles that could play a big role in the next election. nbc's steve kornacki now the big picture now, how have demographics changed in america? and what does it mean for redistricting? >> you mentioned it, tyler the headline, not a lot of overall growth here. this was actually the slowest -- second slowest, i should say, ten-year period of population growth in the country's history. within the population some very significant changes. already as you say the long-term trend here had been a country getting more and more diverse. the hispanic population rising check this out, the new numbers, the white population of the united states didn't just go under 60%. we were wondering if it would, it went significantly under 60%. 57.8%. the white population according to the new census. the hispanic population continuing to rise getting close to 20%
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18.7%. the asian-american population is up now to nearly 6%. the country continues to get much more diverse. where is the population changing here are the states where it's growing and you mentioned congressional redistricting so important next year. these are the states that are going to gain seats in the house of representatives texas, the only one gaining more than one seat. a two seat growth for texas. florida, north carolina, colorado, oregon, montana. a lot of red states here the politics of this, the changing populations of the country could favor congressional redistricting. the states losing seats, not gaining population you see a lot of blue states here.headline, first tim they'll ever lose a seat in the house of representatives. >> you almost just answered my next question, which is how will this new data affect democrats and republicans' chances next year it looks like the big blue
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states are losing seats and the bigger redder states are gaining them generally >> yeah. so that's the second piece of this then is all the states are going to take this data and they're going to redraw their maps, their congressional district maps. what you're seeing here is how that process is done in different states if you see red on this map, red means that republican politicians control the drawing of the maps. state legislators. if you see blue, it means that democratic politicians, state legislators control it if you see purple, it means they have some kind of an independent commission or there's sort of a balance between the two parties. right away, what you see here is right now the magic number for republicans in next year's elections, they have to gain just five seats. look at that, texas, florida, georgia, north carolina, there's a lot of big states where they control the drawing of the lines. democrats, they've got two states where they control the process, two big states, illinois and new york.
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when you look at the redistricting, the political advantage, clearly with the republicans here. >> steve kornacki, thank you very much. >> you've got it. >> americans once pushed westward to find gold. now they're finding a different crowd. off to wyoming. and in washington a looming crackdown on cryptocurrency. go west, young prospectors, but go west, young prospectors, but their lobbsts
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♪ ♪ welcome to allstate. where everything just seems to go your way. ♪ ♪ you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today.
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on the crypto watch. digital currencies tumbling today. bitcoin down 4% right now. despite today's troubles, the most popular cryptocurrency has nearly quadrupled in value the total value of the crypto market has grown to more than $2 trillion over the past year. that spike causing a sort of digital gold rush. people, businesses, states looking to cash in
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one of those states is wyoming new favor anable laws could help them become the next crypto capital. it faces major hurdles in washington in a moment cnbc's ylan mui but first cnbc's kate rooney live in s cheyenne, wyoming where we are here in cheyenne, wyoming. the capitol of the state and competing to be the crypto capital of the country. they're returning to their home towns trying to get in on what they are calling a tech renaissance driven by the cryptocurrency industry. 36-year-old eric trobridge grew up in cheyenne, wyoming. he left the town to take a job at apple and then to new york city he's running a co-working space and coding school in cheyenne
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and he's seen demand for young people looking for an alternative to silicon valley. >> it's not changing wyoming, it's going back to our dna being the digital pioneer. we're pioneers of open country in the west. what i'm excited about is now we're becoming thedigital pioneers and really pushing the boundaries. >> reporter: the state has looked to court the cryptocurrency industry with friendly regulation. wyoming has passed more than 2 dozen bills related to blockchain no personal income tax it has a lot of cheap energy sources and that is key for the energy intensive crypto mining industry senator cynthia lummus has been one of the biggest advocates in washington they're bringing in more revenue, jobs, creative people to the united states. >> these are good jobs they pay well. they provide people new experiences, the ability to code
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and use computers in ways that are not typical of an extraction economy. >> other states are taking notice texas, for example, is looking to court the industry with its own friendly regulation and taughting similar access to cheap energy to compete for the bitcoin miners the competition is heating up especially as chinese look to reopen for the u.s. in the wake of crackdowns. >> tyler, as they say in the rodeos here in cheyenne, hold on to your hats back to you. >> great to see you. >> embracing the wyoming vibe
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out there. thachg thanks a lot. crypto grows in popularity and influence. to fight that, the crypto industry is bulking up the lobbying arm in washington how is the crypto world trying to gain more influence on capitol hill >> reporter: well, tyler, you need two things to win in washington, money and manpower the crypto industry is building up both. first, the money spending on lobbying hit $2.4 million during the first half of this year according to the center for responsive politics that puts it on track to nearly double what it spent in 2020 as for manpower, crypto enthusiasts are pretty hard core give them a fight over something wonky like the irs reporting requirements and they're flooding senator's offices with phone calls. even gene simmons, the lead singer of kiss got involved tweeting at lawmakers that
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crypto is good for america and apparently good for his bank account. >> i went in big i put a few million into bitcoin when it was around 10,000. i loved the ride up to 64,000 or to >> the industry's also enlisting more traditional washington players. he worked for hillary clinton, john kerry and president biden he joined one of the biggest cryptocurrency investment firms just this week. >> these are technologies with a steep learning curve the tech itself doesn't fit on a bumper sticker but it's created an opportunity for industry to engage and educate policy makers and stakeholders in a way that probably would not have happened otherwise. >> the big crypto players have also learned some lessons, tyler. they've seen the backlash against big tech in washington they're trying to forge relationships in d.c. now before it's too late. >> my guess, ylan, even though the money is pouring in and
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they're trying to build their personnel infrastructure in washington, that these efforts are dwarfed by the lobbying firms that represent facebook and google and those companies >> reporter: yeah. absolutely google alone spent $2 million in one quarter. amazon and facebook spent $5 million in one quarter on lobbying there's certainly a lot of big money flowing around d.c crypto is making itself known. >> they're trying to avoid the fate that some of the other firms have faced on capitol hill where there's a lot of suspicion, let's say >> reporter: yeah. absolutely in some ways crypto here was on the offensive. they're the ones who picked this fight over those irs reporting requirements even though they didn't get the changes that they wanted in the bill in the senate, they say they're not going to give up and they're going to push for more changes
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in the house as well. >> ylan, thanks. ylan mui, thank you very much. one of the most popular athletes in the world has cashed in lionel messi's contract includes a payment in crypto fan tokens it's a digital currency that was issued by the french club last year the value of those crypto tokens more than doubled since messi joined psg he signed a 2 year, $82 million deal with the club this week after leaving his long-time home fc barcelona as a free agent. diersville, iowa a little more crowded tonight. a little more crowded tonight. field of dreams finall ♪ born to be wild ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ born to be wild ♪ see disney's jungle cruise. applebee's and a movie,
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from shark teeth osearch scientists are studying the expedition as it moves up the coast from cape cod. they're collecting samples tagging sharks along the way so they can track them. here is a live look at their shark tracker. researchers say this year they're expanding their expedition to new hampshire for the first time not too far away, tuck, a young white shark, tagged just last week off cape cod, he's made his way past boston and he's hanging out off the coast now of the granite state. chris fischer is the chairman of osearch. chris, your working off the coast of new hampshire why has this been a relatively un-searched area >> well, you know, this is just the first time we've tracked sharks into this area for a number of years now and, you know, we're coming up here to see if these sharks have sight fidelity do they return to new hampshire every summer to the isles of scholes for their summer and
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fall feeding aggregations? we want to understand that so people of new hampshire know they can manage around it and manage their fisheries for that data. >> as part of the full health assessment you're looking at their teeth and gums what are you hoping to learn besides do they floss regularly? >> broke up a little bit on me as part of the research project we're looking at all of the bacteriants in their mouth so we can advise local hospitals over a shark incident. we're turning it back into one of the great wild oceans it's something to celebrate. as it gets wilder and more full of fish, the great balance keeper helps to balance that system and that's our white shark. it's been an exciting time off the eastern seaboard. >> chris fischer, you have a great last time in for what you do we appreciate your time. good luck. right now, in the middle of a cornfield in iowa, a baseball
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game is being played in its purest form. like the ghosts in the movie, the first place white sox emerged ready to make a field of dreams into a reality. they're playing the yankees with an intro from kevin costner who starred in the film. >> 30 years ago, 30, on the other side of that corn we filmed a movie that stood the test of time tonight, thanks to that enduring impact that that little movie had, it's allowed us to come here again. >> well, the field just about a line drive away from where the movie was filmed 8,000 seats packed with fans across iowa going into the bottom of the second the sox are up by 1. i wonder what happens if the ball goes out there and gets under the corn wow.
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what a beautiful spectacle that is all right. we've got 45 seconds on a race to the finish. the u.s. military sending 3,000 troops back into afghanistan to help evacuate the embassy in kabul as the taliban closes in. the supreme court has rejected a challenge to indiana university's covid mandate to students. britney spears dad says he will step down as conservator to give up control of her estate after months of public pressure from the singers' fans and supporters. and now you know the news of this thursday, august 12th, 2021 i'm tyler mathisen in for shepard smith. follow us on instagram and twitter at @thenews. and listen to the news podcast on apple or spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
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click or call for a lower auto rate today. it is 5:00 a.m. at cnbc. here is your top five at 5:00. breaking news. the fda updating emergency use authorization for two key vaccines in the fight against the pandemic. this coming as another major company delays its return to office plans until early next year on wall street, stocks with more all-time highs, but the real action is in commodities. we'll show you where shares of disney surging after only wha

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