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The ladies were joined by guest co-host Ashanti! 

Time Names Person of the Year: Time Magazine has just revealed their person of the year.  This year they chose the men and women who have been fighting Ebola.  Rosie O thought it was a wonderful choice.  She said it is very brave to walk into a room and care lovingly for a person who is dying from a deadly, contagious disease.  She said that’s really what life is all about and “bravo to them.”  Nicolle agreed and added that people are still dying in West Africa of this disease and we cannot forget simply because it no longer exists in the U.S.  Rosie P said because of these healthcare workers the number of infections and deaths due to Ebola are down considerably.  And she also added, “Bravo to them.”

CIA Report: The Senate Intelligence Committee released a report on the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” in the war on terror concluding that it did nothing to keep America safer.  But the CIA disputes the findings saying these techniques saved thousands of lives.  Rosie P doesn’t think we’ll ever actually know the true answer to this question.  It truly hurt her to hear the report of the torture.  She was shocked and embarrassed to hear that we bent a human being over to force feed him with a tube up his rectum.  She thinks we, as Americans, are supposed to be better than that and act with a higher moral code.  She said she was also scared after 9/11 but she remembered wanting to slow down and do it right.  Rosie O said 15 Saudi’s attacked America during 9/11 and this report of horrific, inhumane, illegal torture was done to Iraqis.  She said Saudi’s attacked the World Trade Center but we invaded and tortured people in Iraq.  And she thinks it’s unbelievably demoralizing for us as Americans.  She too thinks we are better than this [report].  Ashanti asked, “What did it solve?”  Rosie O said, “Nothing.”  Whoopi wondered who this happened to.  She isn’t sure how she feels about torture because on one hand other countries have done it and it’s reaped benefits for them.  She’s not surprised other countries, countries that we have accused of torturing people in the past, are now pointing the finger back at us asking what we’ve been doing.  Rosie O said Ronald Reagan, a very respected Republican, banned torture and sentenced Japanese soldiers who were ordered to waterboard people during WWII to hard-labor camps.  She doesn’t see it as a partisan issue but an issue of national security and national identity.  She said we have to own what we’ve done.  Nicolle reiterated that this is not a partisan issue.  But, she continued, for the first time in history, since the Senate Intelligence Committee was founded, a partisan report came out and only the Democrats published and signed the report.  She said the report only contains allegations and no one asked the CIA if they were true.  She googled The View and said there were 537 stories about them this morning when she looked, implying people say a lot of things whether they’re true or not.  She said the CIA says they too were caught up in emotions after 9/11 and a program was created that allowed for enhanced interrogations of the worst of the worst.  Nicolle is for the CIA doing anything they had to do so that more planes didn’t fly into more buildings.  And she thinks people in Congress have a responsibility to speak with one voice and since only the Senate Democrats would put their names on the report that makes her doubt its veracity.  Rosie P pointed out that the CIA is even admitting mistakes were made, regardless of who gave the report.  Nicolle said the Department of Justice investigated this program two times and Eric Holder has said no evidence exists that crimes were created and no one will be prosecuted because of the findings.  Rosie O wanted to know if international crimes were committed and if they could be tried at the Hague for war crimes because torture is illegal across the world.

Nicolle wanted to make it clear that this program ended before Bush left office.  But Rosie O maintained that the program was created while he WAS in office and started by him.  Nicolle said the report doesn’t say that.  The report says it was started by the CIA.  And she said the biggest bombshell in the whole report was that Bush didn’t know about it for 3 years but the Democrats and the Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee knew all along.  Rosie O said Bush was told on August 5^th, 2006 (three years after it began) and the following year he went on television and said the United States does not torture.  Nicolle said it was “enhanced interrogation” not torture.  Rosie O said, “You can name it anything you want.  You can also name the war in Iraq ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ but that still makes it a war.  You can name this ‘enhanced interrogation’ but it still makes it torture.”  Rosie P looked right at Nicolle  and said, “So the waterboarding did not happen?”  Nicolle said it happened, to three people.  Rosie P replied, “Okay, so that’s torture in my book.”  Nicolle also said force feeding is done to detainees at Gitmo who are on a hunger strike so they don’t die.  And Rosie O said, “They don’t want you to die so they can continue to torture you.”  Nicolle said President Obama is not torturing anyone at Gitmo. Rosie O said shoving a feeding tube up someone’s rectum is rape,  inhumane and it IS torture.  And that is NOT an American value. Nicolle said if people need a silver lining, know that this is over and it doesn’t happen anymore.  Rosie P said just because it doesn’t happen anymore doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be held accountable.  Whoopi said that’s why we will never do it [torture] again, until “they” do it [terrorist acts] again.

Want to know what happens during the commercial breaks during The View?!  Watch this video.

Rosie O’s Chillin: Rosie O said she’s been over 200 pounds since 1996.  Then she had a heart attack and had vertical gastric sleeve surgery and now she’s thinner than she was perhaps since before she had children.  She’s thinner, healthier and for the first time ever she’s actually cold!  Normally, she was menopausal and overweight which always made her feel hot.  She basically thinks her fat kept her warm!  Nicolle said she was also very hot when she was pregnant.  She weighed 165 pounds when she gave birth and Rosie O said that’s her goal weight!  Rosie O said carrying that much weight is tiring for your body and your body has to work hard to support it.  Whoopi joked that she put on Sherri Shepherd’s weight when she was losing it during her time at The View! When Whoopi stopped smoking she got as high as 217 pounds and she said it scared her.  She did the One Pound a Day diet which really worked for her.  Rosie P said there was a time she was severely depressed and she gained weight.  She got up to 185 pounds and her fat kept her warm too!  Rosie O said she never wore a coat in the winter she would wear a hoodie or a down vest.  Rosie O said they’re going to have the doctor that did her surgery on the show to inform people how morbid obesity affects so many other aspects of your health.  It took her almost dying to get here but she wants to share the journey so that other people can get there too.

To Be Or Not To Be Interested: One of the world’s top Shakespearean actresses claims that black people have no interest in seeing Shakespeare.  She claims theater is a white invention that only interests white people and that’s why black people don’t go to the theater.  Rosie P said Kabuki and the Greeks predate Shakespeare.  She called her friend George C. Wolfe, a Tony Award winning director and playwright, and he commented about this topic by saying, “Theater is fundamentally storytelling.  Humanity invented storytelling so therefore the theater belongs to everyone.”   Rosie O personally wanted to tell the woman that Shakespeare bores the crap out of her and she doesn’t understand it!  She never wants to go again and she’s “Casper white.”    She said, “Even white people don’t like Shakespeare, girl.” (and then she snapped 3 times to access her inner black goddess)  The ladies roared with laughter.  Whoopi has done Shakespeare before and she likes it!  So there!

The Flu Vaccine: Many people are refusing to get a flu shot this winter because almost half of Americans are convinced the flu shot can make them sick.  Doctors insist that it is biologically impossible to get sick from the flu shot.  Ashanti doesn’t get the flu shot because she doesn’t want to inject something into her skin that’s going to make her sick.  Whoopi has gotten a flu shot and she’s a big proponent of it.  Nicolle said her little boy had to have a flu shot in order to go to preschool.  But it does psychologically feel to her like they’re pushing germs into her body.  Whoopi said, “People put Botox in their face and they’re nervous about the flu [vaccine]!”  Rosie O had a serious case of pneumonia last year and she was scared to death.  Whoopi said people love hugging her but she’s scared to catch all the germs they’re carrying around.  Rosie O said at the Home for the Holidays event that she and Laverne Cox hosted this weekend, everyone tried to give them hugs.  Rosie would hug them but Laverne stuck with a fist bump and then sanitized her hands with Purell.  Laverne explained that she can’t risk getting sick because she has to work.  Whoopi loves Purell but said you have to be careful about how much antibacterial hand sanitizer you use because it decreases your immunity to germs.

Princess For A Day: Five-year-old Isabella Harvey is fighting leukemia and was feeling self-conscious about losing her hair until she received a visit from Cinderella who looked as beautiful as she did without any hair.  Check out the pictures HERE.

Guests:

Martha Stewart: Martha Stewart joined the ladies onstage for a craft segment!  First Rosie O and Martha designed an artificial Blue Spruce wreath together.  Then she worked with Whoopi on crafting a snow scene village in a hurricane decoration filled with twinkle lights.  And last she joined Nicolle and Rosie P, and they decorated Linzer torte cookies together.

Ashanti: Ashanti performed the song Santa Baby from her new album A Wonderful Christmas with Ashanti.

Audience Giveaway:  Thanks to Home Depot and Martha Stewart, members of the studio audience went home with a $100 gift card to Home Depot!  Members of the audience also went home with a copy of Ashanti’s new Christmas album!

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Quoteables:

Nicolle: [regarding the CIA torture report]  “This report came from the Senate Intelligence Committee and for the first time since Congress has had that committee, a partisan report came out.” 
Rosie P: [regarding the CIA torture report] “I was shocked and embarrassed as an American. We are supposed to be better than that.  We are supposed to have a higher moral code.”
Rosie O:  [regarding the CIA torture report] “John McCain said it resolved nothing and he would know what it means to the human being receiving it [torture] and the human being forced to do it.”
Rosie O: [regarding the CIA torture report] “You can name it anything you want.  You can also name the war in Iraq ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ but that still makes it a war.  You can name this ‘enhanced interrogation’ but it still makes it torture.”
Ashanti: [regarding the CIA torture report] “What’s it solve?  We didn’t get any further.”
Rosie O:  [about her recent weight loss journey] “It took me almost dying to get here but I want to share the journey so that other people can try to get there too.”
Whoopi: “People put Botox in their face and they’re nervous about the flu [vaccine]?!”
George C. Wolfe: “Theater is fundamentally storytelling.  Humanity invented storytelling so therefore the theater belongs to everyone.”

Take a little time and enjoy The View!

writtten by Kelly Weist
KidRo Productions