Ali Velshi delivered an emotional goodbye to his eponymous show on Sunday as the MS NOW chief data reporter prepares to move to weeknights on June 15, when he will take the reins of “The 11th Hour.”

Velshi began his nearly 20-minute monologue by thanking his team for their contributions to the show since its launch in 2020. “For more than six years, our newsroom has been filled with journalists who chose this work at the exact moment in American history when it was most needed,” he said. “Producers and bookers, writers and researchers, people who spend their week fact-checking what the powerful said, so that you and I could hold those words up to the light on weekend mornings.”

The host reflected on the major news events that he and his team covered on “Velshi” over the years, including the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the killing of George Floyd.

“Journalism starts with bearing witness,” he said. “Journalism is the decision made every single day by people who could be doing something safer and more lucrative, to go to the place where something is happening, to look at it directly, to describe it as honestly as language allows, and to make sure the people who were not there, who cannot be there or who have deliberately kept away from there, know what happened.”

According to Velshi, that kind of journalism is perhaps more important now than ever before. He pointed to President Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on the media and the recent scandal at CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” where several veteran reporters and producers have accused the network’s leadership of intervening to produce more favorable coverage of the president.

 “Some of the institutions that taught this country what bearing witness looks like are right now under pressure from, or perhaps in bed with, this administration,” he warned. “That is not a coincidence.”

“That’s why bearing witness has never mattered more than it does right now, and you don’t have to be a journalist to bear witness,” Velshi continued, stressing that real power in America comes from the people themselves: 

I’ve interviewed princes and presidents and potentates and prime ministers, some of the most powerful people on the face of the earth, but it was never from them that I learned what democracy is made of or where it draws its strength. It was on the road meeting the people whose names will never appear in a headline: the ones who run for the school board, who show up to the meeting that no one else attends, who refuse stubbornly and beautifully and at real cost to be exhausted into indifference. That is where I learned the thing I now believe most deeply, that in a democracy power does not flow down from the powerful, it rises from you, the authors of this democracy.

You can watch Velshi’s full remarks in the clip at the top of the page.

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New Yorkers are not being shy about sharing their opinions on Donald Trump’s planned appearance at Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden, with one Knicks fan predicting the president may not receive a warm reception in his hometown.

MS NOW caught up with fans outside the Garden ahead of the Knicks’ first NBA Finals home game against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, as the franchise seeks its first championship since 1973 while holding a 2-0 series lead.

“New York’s been suffering long enough without a championship,” one fan told MS NOW. “[Trump] could stay out and we can maybe get through this one without any bad luck.”

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Last week, the president told reporters he was a “big fan” of the team and had been invited to attend by owner James Dolan. 

Trump’s visit means enhanced security measures will be in place at the Garden and the surrounding area. Officials announced that plans for a watch party outside the venue were not allowed to move forward, a decision the NYPD says it made in coordination with the Secret Service.

The New York City police commissioner said the traditional watch parties at the team’s home court will resume Wednesday for Game 4.

One Knicks supporter told MS NOW that he thought Trump’s visit would cause a “distraction” from the game. “We want the win. We’re focused on basketball and nothing more,” he said.

Another questioned why the president, who has frequently criticized New York City and its leadership, would want to return to his hometown, telling MS NOW, “New York is filled with such diversity, and a lot of the stuff that he doesn’t stand for is here. So, why is he coming here?”

“The energy is just really happy, lively. New York is alive,” she said. “And I just feel like if he comes, it’s going to be really strange, like it’s going to be a big downer.”

One fan said the president should be prepared for those unhappy with his visit to make their feelings heard during the game. “Hey, let him come. We’re gonna boo the f— up out of you, bro,” he said.  

However, the reaction was not all negative. At least one fan who spoke to MS NOW said he was looking forward to the president’s visit. “Honestly, that gets me very excited,” the fan said. “I think that President Trump attending one of the games is huge for New York and United States as a whole.”

Another fan said he did not view Trump’s visit as “positive or negative” but thought it would definitely cause a reaction. “I think it’d be pretty funny — think we get a lot of laughs out of people,” he said. 

You can watch the fans share their opinion on Trump’s planned visit in the video below.

The post New York Knicks fans sound off on Trump appearance ahead of NBA finals game: ‘Bad luck’ appeared first on MS NOW.

A fourth-generation Louisiana farmer blamed President Donald Trump for his failure to deliver on his repeated promises to help the U.S. agricultural community. Willis Nelson joined MS NOW’s “The Weekend: Primetime” on Saturday to discuss the impact the president’s tariffs and war with Iran have had on his family’s farm and his concerns about its future.

“The last year has been really very tough for my farm and my brother’s,” Nelson said. “Input prices keep going up.”

The row crop farmer said rising fuel and fertilizer prices have already done irreversible damage, telling MS NOW it was “too late” for the administration to help with this season.

“We didn’t do our planting season … so we already took a hit on that,” he said. “Fuel prices are still high — very high. I think it’s pretty much doubled from the last time we bought a tank load.”

“Our expenses are way higher and bringing our profit margin even lower,” he explained. 

Nelson said Trump promised to give farmers a “fair trade for our crops” and get them a “fair price on what we grow and sell,” but he has not made good on those pledges as president. 

“We’ve been told a lot of promises, but the promises haven’t been delivered on,” the farmer told MS NOW. Instead, Trump’s policies have caused the farming community more pain. Nelson said Trump’s tariffs likely have caused his farm to lose 30% of its profits on some crops. He also called the president’s Iran war a “manmade problem that could have been avoided.”

Nelson said he and his fellow farmers are not looking for a bailout from the government but simply want the president to reaffirm his commitment to rural America and stop pursuing policies that harm an already vulnerable community.

“People in the public opinion, they look at farmers as taking handouts from the government. We never want that,” he said. “If we could just get a fair price on what we’re growing and what we sell it for, we as farmers could be able to stand on our own. That’s the main thing.”

You can watch Nelson’s full interview in the clip at the top of the page.

The post Farmer slams Trump over empty promises on fair trade as costs keep rising appeared first on MS NOW.