it's a shame that a little man claiming ownership of a hate group could have that effect. we must stop giving them their power. dr. king had a dream that his children would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. that should be our dream for all of our children. we must continue to work together to overcome hatred and achieve this dream. thank you. >> gentleman: everything has a starting point. i feel that him starting it, it will make a difference. >> christof: do you think that harrison will ever be able to overcome their reputation while the klan is still active? >> it is not impossible but it's not probable why they are still active and

>> vo: mayor crocket's denouncement of the klan led the news around the state that night, angering the klan in harrison. >> rachel: so, what you are going to just jump in line with the people that want to destroy your own people? >> christof: this one guy seems to hold so much power over this town. >> mayor: i think i have more power to change the town and i intend to use it. >> robb: there is no problem. jeff crocket can move. he can be in a diversified community. >> christof: but you aren't going anywhere. >> robb: oh, we're not going anywhere. i mean we are too well established. we were established before they moved here and we will be established after they are laying cold in the grave.

[♪ theme music ♪] >> bill: hello, friends and neighbors, good thursday morning, and welcome -- welcome to the "full court press." we're coming to you live on current tv all across this great hand of ours on thursday morning march 14th bringing you up to date on what is happening at our nation's capital and around the globe. a big day from rome to washington. the catholic church has a new

leader, a new leader with a lot of -- who brings a lot of firsts to the catholic church. the american the first pope from latin america, he is the first jesuit and the first to take the name francis, but he agrees on anti-gay rights anti-gay marriage anti-ordination of women and anti-contraception. meanwhile here in our nation's capitol, president obama on capitol hill yesterday in what was apparently a very lively back and forth session with house reps. he comes back up to the hill today to meet with house democrats and also senate republicans, continuing the president's charm offensive, and yesterday a big hearing on

capitol hill to investigate 19,000 sexual reports reported in 2001 in the military. billy zane stars in barabbas. coming in march to reelz. to find reelz in your area, go to reelz.com

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you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar.

>>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? [♪ theme music ♪] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: an american pope in yeah, latin america. good morning, everybody, what do you say in still an american. great to see you today. welcome, welcome, welcome, to the "full court press" here on this thursday thursday march 14th. great to see you today, good to have you on board the "full

court press" as we boom out to you all across this great hand of ours. we're coming to you on the radio, your local progressive talk radio station, on cirrus xm this hour only. president obama continues his charm offensive today. he was back on the hill yesterday meeting with house republicans, and taking a little back and forth session that went on for an hour, where they talked about the budget keystone pipeline, the house with tours immigration reform and a lot of other stuff. today we'll be back on the hill to meet with senate republicans and with house democrats and we

have got that covered as well. wherever it is happening we'll bring you the news of the day and take your calls at 866-55-press. we also look forward to hearing from you on twitter @bpshow, and hope you join us and befriend us on facebook at facebook/billpressshow. when i say us, i mean the whole team here. peter ogburn and dan henning. >> hi there. >> good morning. >> fill becker has the phones and we wouldn't be on camera without siprion bolling. we give him the big wave in the morning. >> that's a very big wave by siprion. >> bill: with all of the excitement the miami heat has been racking it up. the dow nine days in a row with a new high, and the heat 20

gains in a row. last night made it 20 against the 76ers, and mike gives the call for the final call. >> and the win streak continues. count it at 20 the fourth team in nba history to win 20 games in a row in a single season as miami escapes in philadelphia with a 98-94 victory. >> bill: so lebron james did the right thing, right? >> they won a championship already once. we talked about this last night, and it is nice to see a team do this well but it's better to seem them do this well a little bit later on in the season. >> bill: do you think they will fold? >> it has happened. look at the spurs last season.

they had a -- i think it was a 20-game win streak or 21-game win streak or something like that, and ended up folding in the playoffs. the longest winning streak is 33 games. so they have a way to go. >> bill: it is a new first for the "full court press" today. we have three, count them -- we have three hours, right? so we have three members of congress, jackie spear, peter wellment and keith elson, all three members of congress here on different topics. and tomorrow our guests will be the new pope. pope francis. no, no, just kidding. but we do have a new hope. we'll tell you all about him and get your comments but first. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> even though donald trump wants to pay the white house to

keep tours running, he can't do it. an individual cannot pay the secret service to run a program, the only way to get the tours up and running against is to deal with the sequester. >> bill: that is just a publicity stunt for donald trump. >> yeah just ignore him. >> ben and jerries ice cream is going to great length to satisfy customer complaints, they have been giving away all expense paid trips to a trip to their plant, to see where the ice cream was made to see what went wrong. it seems they are going above and beyond.

>> bill: that sounds like a scam to me. i have some chunky monkey i go this is a little off. and you get a trip to vermont, ben and jerry, probably give you all the free ice cream you can carry. >> one person complained about the pistachios in the ice cream saying they were too soft turning out it was a bad batch of pistachios. >> they are not going to figure that out on a tour. >> good news for gay married men. they are living longer than unmarried and divorced men. according to a new danish study, it shows that it is more dangerous for your health to be unmarried or divorced than gay and married because of how happy you are. of course heterosexual rates

were lower as well but the gay married numbers were even better. >> bill: what about lesbians in >> yeah gays and lesbians. homosexual. >> bill: you just talked about men -- >> oh, i'm sorry. i am incorrect. this is a study about men. >> they'll have to do a study on lesbians next. are you taking about gay men that are in marriages with women? >> no, no, no. men married with men. >> bill: all right. yes indeed on this thursday morning it was an exciting afternoon yesterday, evening in rome when after the sea gull got off of the -- that was so

funny jonathan livingston seagull showed up and it is white smoke and the bells in rome start bringing. [ bell chimes ] >> bill: and people started pouring into st. peter's square over.r the curtains to part, which they did and the cardinal comes out in latin makes the announcement. we have, he says -- i want to announce with great joy -- we have the translator here i guess. >> i announce with great joy, we have a pope. [ cheers ] >> stephanie: we have a pope. announced with great joy and the new pope francis comes out on the balcony, and he tells the people there he can the new bishop of rome, of course, as well as being the pope that he

is ready to start the new journey together. >> let's start this new voyage together. the church of rome which precedes all others a passage with brotherhood, love and mutual trust. >> bill: there he is and then she was speaking in italian, and an italian, i guess all of us can sort of understand. he says good night. >> [ speaking italian ] >> and i wish to all of rome good night and bless. >> bill: to all of rome good night, and good -- yeah, have a good rest and off he went off of the balcony. it was so funny -- i found -- is the coverage so with all of

this -- what has it been two weeks, right in two weeks of speculation, and we have seen -- it was sort of like we compared it to the presidential primary. they sent all of the top anchors to rome and how many times did he see the top ten candidates. the ten leaving candidates. cardinals of boston new york milan, on and on and the cardinal from manila right? this pope was not even on the list. >> no. >> bill: but why did it come as a total surprise because -- we now know at it was reported at the time, that he was a runner up to benedict eight years ago. he got like 44 votes, i think it was in the -- in the last -- the

last time they had a pope and so he came in there with a good block of support -- it's been reported this time that on the first ballot he crushed everybody else. he got 30 votes on the first ballot, and then people realized, say, he almost made it last time, well this time it's for real, but the other thing that was funny watching the television coverage is that all of the networks were caught flat footed. they didn't expect it. and then they didn't understand the latin -- i was watching cnn. the whole hour of build up to when he comes out, and then they show him makes the announcement, turns around and walks away and all there is is

silence. and i'm thinking who the hell was it? they don't know. and then you could hear somebody say he was talking in latin. we don't know. everybody was who the hell -- we now know who the new pope is and then we don't know who the new pope is. then cnn finals lays jorge mario bergoglio -- is how you per announce it, bergoglio, and if it is him, we're waiting for him to come out, and they didn't know until he walked out who he was. so i would love your take on this new pope what it means. there is a lot to like about him. the fact that he is not from europe, first american, first

latin america, he is the first jesuit, he is a man who's whole ministry has been for the poor. he lives a very simple lifestyle. he gave up his limousine and driver. takes the bus or tramway or trolly, whatever to work and he sometimes even cooks his own meals. known for that sort of simple lifestyle, it is great the took the name francis who certainly lives in contrast to all of that pomp and circumstance that we associate with the catholic church, but at the same time he is no doubt about it a extreme conservative, so he is anti-gay rights. he is anti-gay adoption.

he has lead the fight against it. he is anti-same-sex marriage which is just being considered now, and he has been in a battle with the legislature in argentina over allowing marriage equality, and he has come out totally against ordaining women or allowing priests to be married. so don't expect any big changes from this guy in terms of new direction for the catholic church. but he is not part of the vatican hierarchy, the way benedict the 16th was, so he may be able to shake up the vatican hierarchy or bureaucracy, on the other hand being outside of the vatican, he may not be able to. he may not know his way around those -- those halls. so i -- and he's 76 years old by the way, which means he is not going to be around that much

longer. i -- i think that it's a disappointing choice actually in the sense that i think the catholic church really needs new direction, new life and new openings, and they didn't get a guy who is going to provide that. a good man, but not a -- not one that is going to really shake things up. your take on pope francis, 866-55-press, 866-557-7377, catholic or not, you don't have to be catholic to have an opinion of what this all means for us the new pope of the catholic church. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv. this is the "bill press show." ♪

that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. ♪

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey, twenty-six minutes after the hour. thursday march 16th and the new pope. it's not francis i, it is just francis. >> so after he is gone they will refer to him as francis i. >> bill: no -- >> if there is a second francis -- >> bill: if there is a second francis, but he is the first pope in like a thousand years to take a new name.

>> i was really hoping to see another pope bonaface. >> bill: call up francis and tell him what you think. joey out in chicago, hey, joe which has an opinion on everything. hey, joey, good morning. >> caller: good morning guys. good morning gentlemen. he is a little too old fashioned for me bill. he took the name francis which is totally for the poor. that name is for the poor, st. francis, so that's one good thing, but he is just a little too old fashioned. >> bill: talking about old fashioned by the way if there was ever a glimpse into the old world it was yesterday don't you think. the mobs of people in the square and the leader up on the balcony standing there with just one hand raised it looked to me

like mussolini. >> caller: it could have been 1200 last year. >> bill: yes. elaine in washington. hi, elaine what do you say. >> caller: good morning, bill. if the reports are true it is reported that this pope does believe in the use of condoms to prevent the spread of infection and disease, and if that is true that will be phenomenal for the catholic church in africa, because so many are dying over there with previous beliefs that condoms are not to be used at all. >> bill: that is a tiny step in the right direction, i agree, elaine. but con comes to can always be used for family planning purposes, and i would suggest that in latin america that would be a welcome idea and the church

ought to get on board. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

♪ >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com//bill press. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey thirty-three minutes after the hour for this thursday morning and the "full court press," we have a new hope, his name is francis, he's from bane necessary eye race. we'll talk about that. and also talk about a very important hearing on sexual assault in the military and what

is not being done about them. first this story caught my eye out of california. a california-based health care company had to begin notifying patients and employees that they might be subject to identity theft putting them on warning because the company's billing center was burglarized and company records had been stolen. another prime case for identity theft. you have got to protect yourself against it. i have done so with signing up for lifelock ultimate. but it can't protect you or your bank account if you are not a member. call now if you mention press 60. you'll get 60 risk-free days of lifelock identity left the

protection. see lifelock.com for details and then give them a call at 1-800-356-59-67. >> bill, the pope has left the vatican early this morning. he has gone to pray in a roman church. so he has stepped outside of the vatican city for the first time -- >> bill: he said he was going to pray in a church dedicated to the blessed mother. >> basilica of santa maria -- whatever -- majori so there you go. >> bill: and then he is going up to [ inaudible ] today to have a little tea or coffee or maybe scotch or something with benedict the 16th. he said he likes the occasion

glass of wine. >> bill: he is maybe going to get some tips on how to deal with those cardinals in the vatican. an important hearing yesterday that we want to mention and make sure you are aware of it. the issue of sexual assault in the military. we're going to talk to congress woman jackie spear a little bit later from california. she has been raising a lot of hell about this issue and -- and raising -- and -- raising the issue that -- that the pentagon doesn't seem to take this very seriously and is not doing a lot about it. the senator from new york has been active on the same issue, senator barbara boxer has for years too by way, and senator

jillibrand convened a hearing yesterday looking into this very issue, and focusing on the fact that in the year 2010 alone there were 19,000 cases of sexual assault mainly, of course, men taking advantage of women in the military and she had this -- if you saw any video of it, this panel of lawyers from the pentagon all men, all in their dress uniforms sitting in front of her who insists that this -- everything was under control, under the discipline and order of the military. she finds that hard to believe. >> i don't know how you can say that having 19,000 sexual assaults and rapes a year is discipline and order. i do not understand how you can say that of those 19,000 cases to only have approximately 2400

even reported because the victims tell us they are afraid to report because of retaliation is discipline and order, and i really can't understand how 2400 cases only 240 of which go to trial can have you believe that that authority is giving you discipline. >> bill: she was on fire yesterday, and those guys just stat there like stooges. and it's true. how can you say this is discipline and order, and we refer to many cases where women are afraid to report this and their commanding officers won't side with them. david martin reported on a case that is getting a lot of attention. this took place over in italy at the air force base where a top

fighter pilot, the guy considered the best of the best of the fighter pilots over there was accused of molest a woman a nurse in the middle of the night. she said she wakes up and minding him molest her, and she raised this with -- with her superiors. there was a trial held. she gave her testimony, and the guy's -- the pilot's wife says no, that's not true. he was in bed with me at the same time. so it was she said she said. the jury said guilty. guilty. convicted this guy. sentenced -- he was sentenced to a year in prison and the general in charge of the base said i don't believe it. i don't believe that woman. i believe his wife. i don't think there's enough evidence to convict him and

overturned the verdict and this guy is still in the air force, still a fighter pilot, still flying, nothing happened to him. so now we come back to kirsten jillibrand who says how can you say you have things under control, and you train people how to deal with these situations when you have a commanding general who can over turn the whole deal? >> if the convening authority is the only decision maker of whether a case goes to trial and the only decision maker about whether to over turn a case then all of that training and all of these excellent prosecutors and lawyers you have don't mean a -- difference -- it doesn't make a difference. because the person with the authority is not the one who has the training in terms of legal

ability and the understanding of the nature of a rape; that it is a violent crime. it is not ask her when she's sober. that's not what this issue is about. >> bill: oh, man, i got to tell ya. i wouldn't want to be on the otheren of the receiving line from -- >> man. >> bill: of receiving fire from her. >> good for her. >> bill: yeah, and i think it's so great this issue is finally seeing the light of day if you will. how can this guy justify overturning -- to step up and say i wasn't in the courtroom, but i disagree with the verdict. i didn't hear the evidence, but i think the jury was wrong, and i i'm -- i'm going to let this guy off and let him continue as a fighter pilot. it's ridiculous. >> i would be curious to see how other countries handle this if

we're the best and the brightest, you would think we would hold our service members and contractors and people who deal with this to a higher standard. >> bill: it sort of has a parallel to the catholic church and the priest sexual abuse cases in the sense that it's happening, but institutionally the church was not responding, and then when they did respond they were covering it up and not taking seriously enough and it finally blew up and the church had to deal with it, even though some of those involved have not been held accountable. and the same thing happening in this big institution called the united states military. but thanks to voices like barbara boxer, and kirsten jillibrand and jackie spear we all know about it now. and i look forward to seeing chuck hagel jump in to this pretty soon and say this is not

going to happen on my watch in the pentagon. president obama meeting with house republicans yesterday. apparently it was a pretty fiery session. when we come back reporter for roll call and congressional quarterly will tell us all about it, right here on the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "full court press," the "bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. gripping, current. (vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

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here we are on the "full court press" this thursday morning, march 14th. president obama continuing what has been called his charm offensive, make an unprecedented visit to capitol hill for three days in a row this week. went to meet with senate republicans yesterday -- i'm sorry senate democrats. today is to meet with senate republicans and house democrats and yesterday -- getting it straight -- he get with the house gop caucus. niels covers capitol hill hey, niels good to talk to you. >> it's good to be here. >> bill: let me ask you, first of all what -- was this meeting with the caucus open press? >> no. no. >> bill: okay. >> of course not. >> bill: of course not. >> i hear you spend some time at

the white house -- >> bill: i know. that's a touchy subject. so it wasn't open press, but surely come people are willing to talk. how long did it last? and how was the president received? >> well, the -- the first meeting with -- he was received -- this is not going to sound surprising either. he was received very well by the senate democrats at their lunch on tuesday, but then yesterday what we saw was that following his appearance with the house republicans, the house republican leaders all gathered and went out to a -- and held a news conference and one of the more persistent criticisms from house republican leader aids and others that we were picking up over there was that

they -- there was still question coming coming out of it as to people asking why he hadn't -- he being the president -- hadn't formally rolled out his budget proposal for the year. >> bill: right. >> and so there was some -- there was some question as to the timing of -- of the visits from the house republicans, i think, in terms of, you know, it was good -- the speaker said something to the effect of it was good to have him deliver his -- his arguments to the house republican caucus although the speaker said he had been in so many meetings with the president that he had heard most of it before and i don't think there was anything

revalatory to be gained that the president was pushing the balanced approach to deficit reduction, so it's not like there was anything novel that we heard that had hand. >> bill: well, what was novel was for these 180-some republicans to have a chance to actually ask questions of the president, wasn't it? i mean it was a back and forth session, wasn't it? >> it was, and we heard some of what the questions -- some of what the questions were. one of my colleagues reported in one of our stories that republican congressman billy long who is from missouri. >> bill: uh-huh. >> actually -- that there was actually a moment first of all -- to know the timing of this meeting -- there was a moment during the meeting when net actually announced that there was white smoke coming out of the vatican.

[ laughter ] >> bill: this -- just for the sake of how this timing worked. and when that happened we were reporting that congressman billy long who is a republican from missouri used that occasion to say does that mean we'll have tours at the house with? [ laughter ] >> to which -- to which the president basically relied something in guest to the effect of no it means there will be tours of the vatican. >> it is kind of amazing that there was a brief moment in time that everybody new that we had a new pope, and net did not. you know, if he was in that room and didn't get the word right away -- >> bill: yes but he was told and then he announced it to them. everything stopped around the world including the president's -- >> i felt a little powerful that

we knew we had a new pope before the president did. >> bill: and with all of this hullabaloo about no white house tours, it is that the republicans want the sequester, but don't want in results from the sequester. >> yeah, and there is also this dispute that we had over the last couple of weeks where the republicans in both the house and senate have at least claimed to be pushing for, and many have supported an effort that they claim would give obama more discretion, and department agencies more discretion in how to implement the sequester and the democrats have basically said that there's no way to do that given the narrow window of time between now and then of the fiscal year in september, so, you know, and -- and now we -- we're seeing essentially

both sides democrats and republicans on the hill putting out budget proposals that sort of build in the assumed sequester cuts. now whether it's all by cutting as it is in the case of the house republicans, or whether there's a new push for more revenue in the senate democratic plan, both sides are even sort of building the reductions at the end of the day due to sequestration into what they are proposing. so -- so it seems like everyone is acknowledging it is here to say. >> bill: and the president said has not one but two meetings today, meeting with house democrats and senate republicans. neils covering the hill for cq and roll call. thanks niels it's good to talk

to you, and we'll back here on the "full court press," taking a look at some of your email comments on the new pope and others. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ resolve's deep clean powder is moist. absorbing and lifting three times more dirt than vacuuming alone. leaving you with a carpet that's truly fresh and clean. don't just vacuum clean. resolve clean.

this show is about being up to date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. ♪ >> announcer: taking your emails on any topic at anytime, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio, and current tv. >> bill: hey do you have any painting questions, ask sherwin williams. it's the "full court press." at the top of the next hour

we'll be talking with congress woman jackie spear on sexual assaults in the military. robert wants to know can the. change the opinions of the church without [ inaudible ]? yeah, it's not a democracy. darcy says will he run for office again? i think he is should a lot of politicians have done worse and just not been caught. richard says i app appalled that some republicans seem unwilling to get us out of the problems that they help create. sherwin williams make the most of your color with the very best paint. ask sherwin williams. it's thursday march 14th jacky

spear and more big news coming up next hour.

♪ >> bill: hey good morning, good morning. it is thursday, march 14th, good to see you today and welcome, welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. we are live nationwide from our studio here on capitol hill in washington, d.c., bringing you the news of the day and giving you a chance to comment on our toll free line at 866-55-press, on twitter @bpshow and on

facebook at facebook/billpressshow. lots of news today from washington to rome. and in rome, of course we have a new pope with a lot of firsts. he is the first from the new world, the first from latin america, the first jesuit and the first to take the name francis, but he is also the same old doctrineaire so don't expect any changes when it comes to gays or women. and president obama who met with house republicans yesterday a day after he met with senate democrats is back on the hill today for the third day in a row, continuing his charm offensive, today he will sit down with senate republicans and house democrats. and we will have three democratic members of the house as our guests today, congressman keith ellison from minnesota,

peter welch from vermont, and jackie speier from california. all of that and more right here on current tv. ♪ that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say

anything. what the hell were they thinking? ♪ >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: we have a new pope. his name is francis, he is from bane bane necessary arreese. good morning, everybody great to see you today. i appreciate you being part of the "full court press." broadcasting from our studio right here on capitol hill.

we can see them from here, and they can hear us believe me they can hear us and hear you from there, that's how close we are. we look forward to hear from you. we'll talk about the issues, but we also give you a chance to talk about them as well. and get your points of view out on the air by phone at 866-55-press. that's our toll free number 866-557-7377, or come to us on twitter @bpshow or on facebook at facebook/billpressshow. and as long as there's a current tv, there will be a current chat room, and if you go click on the chat room, you're in and you can debate the issues with all of your full court pressers aloss the land. look forward to hearing from you. we have the whole team in place

today. >> peter ogburn, and dan henning. >> haye, hey hey. >> good morning. >> along with phil becker and siprion bolling. we keep the microphones away from them just to be safe. >> yeah, exactly. >> bill: a couple of days ago it sort of popped up on youtube billy joel was up ativan der built university talking to the students up there about his career and everything when a student named michael poll lack had -- asked him a very unusual question and put a request for him. >> my favorite song of yours is "new york state of mind." i have been very fortunate [ inaudible ] in new york city and i was wondering if i could play with you. [ applause ] >> i would accompany you that is. >> so he put it out there, how about if i accompany you.

and billy joel thinks and he says. okay. come on up on stage, kid. let's see what you got. it turns out he has got a lot. he was -- he really -- he had it down. they talked for a little bit about the arrangement. billy joel said here is what i'm looking for, and then they -- it was like they rehearsed it. ♪ to miami beach or hollywood ♪ ♪ i'm taking the greyhound on the hudson river line ♪ ♪ i'm in a new york state of mind ♪ [ cheers ] >> pretty good man. >> bill: he is pretty good, and you can hear the little -- little -- pardon me -- i'm not sure what you call

it -- little run there, little roll -- >> yeah, absolutely. >> bill: yeah, he was ready -- he was ready, and maybe they will go on the road together, huh? >> that would be a dream come true for the kid i'm sure. >> bill: a new first for the "full court press" today. three democratic members of congress in one day. congress woman jackie speier kicks off this hour next hour peter welch from vermont, and congressman keith ellison fresh from his bout with sean hannity. >> i hope he is nicer to you than hannity. >> bill: we better not try anything with me. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> the miami heat made nba history last night. they beat the philadelphia 76ers

to win their 20th game in a row. it is the longest single season winning streak by a defending champion. it also ties for the third-longest single season winning streak of all time. the longest was 33 in a row. the lakers did that back in the earl '70s. >> caller: how is lebron james doing? >> he is crushing it. >> he certainly took his talents to miami. another day another celebrity on capitol hill law and order star joined vice president joe biden and eric holder here in washington today to talk about domestic violence and the passing of the violence against women act. the actressed choked up several times about victims of violence and called bider her hero for his work. >> bill: yeah that was an important announcement

yesterday, and they are giving out these grants to localities around the country to train people to look for signs and predictions of domestic violence, but an important way and will certainly waive lives. >> and former secretary of state condoleezza rice is doing more than just teaching now, she is helping recruit players for the college's football team. the cardinal's head coach often brings rice in as a, quote, cleanup hitter when trying to lock players into coming to the school. she reportedly enjoys doing it but no word if we'll see her on the sidelines as assistance coach. >> hasn't she said she wants to be commissioner of the nfl. >> yes. >> her name has been thrown out around there. >> bill: maybe this is her way of auditions for the role.

>> yeah. >> bill: yeah. ♪ >> bill: we are waiting to hear momentarily from congress woman jackie speier on the issue of sexual assault in the military which was a big, big issue on the -- in front of the senate armed services committee yesterday in a hearing held by -- chaired by senator jill jillibrand. and then we'll go to rome to talk to a reporter who was there yesterday when the pope made his first appearance on the balcony. he was also there eight years ago when pope benedict was elected. first just a word about that election, it came as a surprise to everybody, it seems. a surprise to the crowd in st. peters square, but also a

surprise to the selection of jorge mario bergoglio -- bergoglio -- bergoglio -- bergoglio -- bergoglio -- >> yeah. which if you try typing that into your iphone auto correct will automatically try to change it to beef-igloo. >> bill: there is a little tidbit i didn't know. >> there you go. >> bill: of all of the top ten cardinals and possible new popes that the media was talk about for two weeks nobody was talking about bergoglio, and when they came out and announced it in latin, they didn't have any latin translators standing by, and so none of the americans knew who they were talking about. and it was a couple of minutes

before they figured it out. but he was the runner up -- he came in second eight years ago, and walked in this time and apparently on the first ballot got 30 votes. so he was way ahead from last time. >> yeah, you would think -- we have gotten so good at reporting news as it happens with all of these different tools, tv radio, twitter, and i was listening on the radio and following on twitter -- i pulled over and was in the car and following it that way, and i saw the picture of the pope on twitter, and nobody knew who he was. and the radio is going, okay we have hear the name is francisco, and he is -- okay. we're not sure where he is from

or who he is -- it is chaos. chaos. >> bill: after all of this anticipation of who the new pope was going to be. so anyhow he is the first pope from the new world. the first pope from latin america. the first jesuit pope, and the first francis. and people are expecting great things. he already made an unscheduled visit today outside of the vatican to pray at the basilica of santa maria luxure. and later he meet with his predecessor. but as we say we wanted to start this topic with a most important topic, of sexual assaults in the military, which has been a passion and major cause for our

guest, jackie speier of california, who joins us on our news line this morning. congress woman good to have you with us. >> great to be with you, bill. >> bill: tell us again how serious this problem of sexual assaults in the military is. >> there is an estimated 19,000 sexual assaults and rapes in the military every year, and those numbers come from the department of defense itself. and of those 19,000 cases, only about 13% report. and these are not just women. they are men and women. in fact because of the numbers of men that serve in the military, about 10,000 of these rapes are on men. >> bill: woe. >> and then you -- and then the numbers get even worse, because of the 13%, then there's only 20% that are court-martialed and then the numbers drop down even more in terms of convictions.

so it is an issue where for the most part the military has turned its head looked the other way as leon panetta said recently after two santa cruz police officers were killed by man who has served in the military for up to ten years and had been charged with sexual assault and rape twice, and rather than court-martial him, he was discharged from the military with less than honorable conditions. >> bill: well, and there was a lot of focus on this case out of the air base in italy where a fighter pilot was convicted by a jury of sexually molest a woman on the base there, and the -- the commanding officer, whoever it was, overturned that verdict and let the guy go free. >> this is what is soastonishing,

and whether the military code of justice is in serious need of reform. he handpicked the jurors that were kearns and concern colonels five of them. this three star general comes back, is not a judge, not a legal scholar, does not even necessarily have to look at the transcripts. he is then in a position where he can overturn the decision made by those jurors and it is not anything that can be reversed by the commander in chief of this country, or the secretary of defense.

it is mind boggling. and there is an appeal process that exists within the military justice system so he circumvented that? taking the steps he did. >> bill: so with that kind of lack or order -- i mean yesterday the ones they saw from the pentagon the lawyers there, they were saying we have discipline and order. it sounds like they have no discipline and no order, right? >> well they use this term as if it's a term of art. good order and discipline that's what they maintain, and then they -- he was -- that defined as being, you know, a superstar in the air force and that mitigates a crime that is a felony in civilian world. you can actually lessen the crime and, and mitigate it.

>> bill: imagine if that same rule applies to everybody else right? people would get off just because they happened to be a famous star or something. so what is the answer here what are you and others involved in this issue, what are you seeking in terms of a remedy? >> well, in the house we have introduced -- i -- i have introduced along with coauthors, bruce sprailey and pat meely, so it's a strong bipartisan bill and pat understands this, i have introduced a bill with them that will take the uniform code of military justice and get rid of those two sections that create this omnipotence for

officers in the military. we're still investigating this because we sent letters to secretary of defense hagel, i think senator boxer has sent one as well. all of us are really just very chagrinned at what is going on. and if this kind of cronyism -- we can't really say that yet because we don't know if the two men know each other, but it allows for cronyism and manipulation of justice, and really makes a mockery out of the military justice system. we have got to clean it up. >> bill: absolutely. we would expect and hope that the pentagon and military would set the example, right, for the way to handle these cases and proper discipline and order and not just -- just the opposite. you have been way out in front on this issue, congress women, we appreciate your leadership on

this and other issues as well. thank you for your time today. >> thank you. >> bill: jacky speier represents the bay area and she and kirsten jillibrand leaders on this important issue. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv.

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's

what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? ♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right, twenty-seven minutes after the hour here on the "full court press." we'll go to rome and talk with a reporter from usa today about the big announcement yesterday. >> bill i know how often you

eat a taco bell but the biggest hit of 2012 of taco bell was their doritoso loco taco. it turns out it -- it spurred 8% in growth at taco bell and they hired 15,000 people to handle the growth of that one taco. >> bill: get out! >> just a couple of weeks ago they released a new one, the cool ranch taco, and they expect the sales to go even higher. and "the daily beast" has a story, can this taco save america? >> bill: oh, my god. i ate at chipotle the other day. i should have gone to taco bell.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ (vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey, here we go, thirty-three minutes after the hour now. on the "full court press" this thursday morning, march 14th. a lot going on here in our nation's capitol but the eyes of the world and the focus of the media for the last 24 hours, really has been on rome. and the announcement yesterday that we have a new pope, his

name is francis, he is from buenos aires. culture writer marco della cava joining us. >> thanks for having my bill. >> bill: so he is came as a surprise to everyone. should he have? >> he did come as a surprise. and i was in the square when that went down and you could become hear this collective pause as if people were saying who? [ laughter ] >> but one of the things that came up as far as news went was the fact that this guy runner up eight years ago, so why weren't we focused on him? but there was so much talk about everything from the sort of semi

shoe in being the cardinal of italy, and maybe italy said we had a german we had a pole it's time to take it back and then the news of the americans being in the running, i think that obscured the most logical thing which was who came close last time. >> bill: and you were there eight years ago -- >> i was. >> bill: so his first day today he has already made a little news. what is he up to. >> well, he has done everything from the sort of -- you know secular to the holy being that he went to the church and prayed simply for about a half hour. there were a few hundred people outside to wave and greet them.

and then he did the mundane thing, he had to literally pay his bill at the hotel. and it is probably the last time he has to pay a bill at a hotel. but maybe more importantly he is headed off to pay his respects to the world's first pope amertis, pope benedict. >> bill: what was that say the first thing he did was ask for a prayer for pope benedict. so they are pees in a pod. >> yeah. and clearly john paul ii was so popular that they didn't want to stray too far from that model.

so there's that. and then there's the simple fact that he -- he -- he was pope just a few weeks ago and that -- they were used to addressing him that way. it's sort of like our presidents are always called mr. president. so i think there's a lot of -- we're not going to pretend he doesn't exist, probably the opposite. >> bill: do you think maybe one of the factors helping him is that he was not part of -- never has been cart of the vatican cu ria, and part of that bureaucracy there? >> i think that does help in the sense that there is a strong feeling that the church needs some overhauling and needs some cleaning up. it maybe is analogous in a way when president obama was first elected that all right we really need to change things up.

having said that i talked to a lot of italian journalists who cover the vatican 24/7 and they tell me it is really the secretary of state that runs the show. so you could easily position the pope as a figure head if you wanted to. >> bill: yeah, either the fact that he is outside the vatican hierarchy means that he is more likely to shake things up where they need shaking up her to fact that he is outside the vatican hierarchy means he doesn't have a clue of how to deal with it right? >> that's right. i think so and obviously factoring into this is perhaps how popular he gets right? pope benedict was not crazy

popular. he just didn't want to travel and visit folks. if this guy has that more pop list appeal, they are going to have to listen to him. and when he came out on that balcony, i saw a vastly different presentation and style from 2005. this just seems like a guy you could run into at a coffee shop. >> bill: how about the name francis? what is the significance of his taking the first francis. >> i think there is a lot of significance. he is the first pope who is a jesuit, and francis, notably very rich person who put all of that aside to work with the poor, loved animals, and somebody that is revered in italy.

so there is a lot of symbolism there, and it also ties into this particular pope's work with the poor. and i have interviewed a lot of people who have hammered home that point about this guy is not shy about saying there needs to be a redistribution of health in the world at large because he works so much with the poor. >> bill: you can follow marco on usatoday.com. in looking at women being ordained gays being fully accepted, or priests being allowed to get married, could we expect any of those changes to come from pope francis? >> i think the sort is probably not. when you are in europe you often hear the same refrain which those are kind of american

issues, and that the rest of the world sort of -- that's nice if we can get to that and this guy, you know, coming out of the jp 2 mold that wasn't high on his list either. i just don't think all of a sudden he is going to position those as things he wants to tackle any time soon. for american catholics that is probably going to be a disappointment. >> bill: and in fact he has been leading the charge against marriage equality which i think is still being considered by the argentinian legislature. so he has already taken a stand on those issues. i guess in terms of a north american pope, marco, we're going to have to wait for a while, huh? >> it's really interesting. i didn't think we had a prayer. because one italian journalist joked to me, you guys run

everything else. [ laughter ] >> and cardinal dolen was just a delight. he met with reporters late last night after the dinner with the new pope and he almost is too gregarious to be pope. when you are with him in person you just think wow, i don't know if the person can handle this guy. >> bill: i guess one other thing i should ask you is about -- a lot of people were thinking -- again, the speculation that maybe the cardinal from manila might have had a chance because he was like 53 or something like that. so francis is 76, right? one would think that might have gone for a younger pope. >> that's a good question. and i think the answer is twofold. first of all i don't think they want someone in there who is going to have a 30-year run.

i don't think they are going to go for two term limits any time soon, but i think there is a sense that wow, if we need switch gears we're not going to be able to do it if the guy is in there for 30 years and unless a resignation is going to become the norm, then it's probably safer to pick an older guy. >> bill: and maybe they like coming to rome and they like these conclaves and all of this ceremony. >> seems like a pretty sweet gig. >> if you saw the dormitories that they live in -- it's not that sweet of gig. >> oh, wow. >> it's pretty humble. >> bill: when they go inside, they don't come out, right? they have their meals there, eat there, sleep there? >> yeah, they are literally under lock and key in the

sistine chapel. famously there was the conclave centuries ago, where that whole term which means under lock and key where the cardinals could just not come to a decision and the local townspeople actually took the roof off of the billing and let it rain on them to make them hurry up and then they took their food away. this is true. >> bill: oh the intrigue of the catholic church, i have to tell you. all right. marco it is great to talk to you. >> my pleasure. >> bill: all right. marco covering the conclave and the election of the new pope today. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. ♪ of hours with a hooker

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is ♪ >> announcer: heard around the country, and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right 12 minutes now before the top of the hour in the next hour congressman peter welch, and congressman peter ellison both here in studio with us here on the "full court press," and back to important stories of the day. but first how about this story, how do you know when you identity has been stolen and you have been the victim of identity theft maybe when the repo man arrives at your door. poor guy in michigan there was a

repo team came looking for a car with a $42,000 lien on it. it wasn't his car, but it turns out somebody had bout the card in his name because his social security had been stolen a couple of years prior. another case of debitty theft, another good argument for getting yourself protected against it like i have done with lifelock ultimate. even monitors your bank accounts, but of course it can't protect you or your bank account if you are not a member. call now, mention press 60 and you will get 60 free days if you are not happy call within that 60 days and get a full refund. 1-800-356-5967 for lifelock ultimate. peter what is going on?

>> bill hugo chavez died nine days ago and they announced shortly after his death that they were going to inbalm the body and put him on permen in display so the people of venezuela could see him forever. >> like lennon. >> yes it's way too creepy. >> bill: he linked at me when i walked by lennon. [ laughter ] >> it turns out they brought in experts to come in and preserve the body and it turns out for you to be able to do this with a body you have to treat it within hours of death, and you have to keep it under certain conditions, which they did not do, so the body has deteriorated just a little too much -- >> bill: oh, no. >> and they are not going to be

able to put him on display, so if you were planning your trip to venezuela to pay your respects to hugo chavez in person. he won't be there. >> bill: he is just going to basically rot, huh? >> base i will. >> bill: well, it will happen to all of us. by the way if you pay any attention to republicans, which i always caution against, the number 1 issue with the sequester is the fact that the white house tours have been canceled. they are raising holy hell and for the last two days, reporters have been asking about the white house tours? oh, how can you possibly cancel the white house tours. i mean look, this is really really silly. yesterday in fact when the president was at the meeting with the house republican caucus we heard from one of our guests earlier, an aid came up to the president, true story, while he is meeting with the house republicans and said there is a

new pope. they have seen white smoke. so the president told the republicans there is breaking news, i have just been told there is white smoke at the van can, and a republican imimmediately asked does that mean there will be white house tours allowed in again. but here is the thing about the republicans. they want it both ways right. they want the sequester, but they don't want any impact. and number 2, they are not worried about the serious cults of the sequester, the fact we're going to lose 750,000 jobs that the pentagon is going to furlough 800,000 civilian employees, that faa is laying off air traffic controllers, furloughing, that the homeland security is furloughing close to

60,000, i think, border guards and they are worried about the white house tours. and the white house tours, i have been on several of them, and i know a lot of the members of the secret service. the white house tours are not conducted by -- but they are possible because the secret service is there. they are the ones that staff the white house as the tours go through, and the secret service has to cut back too, and if they kept the white house tours they would have to move agents away from protecting the president or vice president or protecting the grounds, which they won't do so they came to the white house and said we got to cut back somewhere, and here is the easiest way to cut back, and the white house said fine we won't have any white house tours, but the bottom line is the republicans are just cry babies. they want the sequester, but they don't want to mated that the sequester is going to cause,

yes, some inconvenience, yes some frustration and some real pain for real people. so if you can't go on a white house tour you bring your kids here kids have been saving money having bake sales to raise money to come here for a white house tour blame the republicans. they are the ones responsible. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪

this show is about being up to date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. ♪ >> announcer: this is the bill show. >> bill: all right and on the

president's schedule today, two big meetings on capital -- capitol hill today, we will be meeting with republicans, and then walk over to the other side of the capitol at 2:15 -- he has a little lunch in there in between -- >> i would hope so. >> bill: i would hope so. at 2:15 the president will meet with the house democratic caucus. at 4:15 he'll meet with members of congress. meanwhile back at the white house, bill press show there at 12:30 for the press briefing by secretary -- press secretary jay carney. to democrats that the president will be meeting with today, keith ellison, and peter welch

will be right here in studio with us for the next hour.

>> bill: welcome, welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. what do you say? it is thursday march 14th. great to see you today look forward to the big rock and roll hour with peter welch from vermont and congressman keith olbermann -- keith ellison from minnesota. the president will be meeting with the senate republican

caucus continuing what they are calling his charm offensive on capitol hill. and yesterday he met with house republicans which was apparently not such a charming meeting at all. a lot of the focus, though however, is off in rome where the catholic church now has a new pope elected by the cardinals. he comes from buenos aires, he is the first pope from latin america, he is the first jesuit pope, and he is the first to take the name francis. don't expect any big changes, though. he is also part of the john pauli school of doctrine theology which means he is anti-gay, anti-ordaining women, and anti-lifts the celibacy rule

for priests. and big hearing on sexual assault in the military. we'll talk about all of that next right here on current tv. bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows... ♪

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[ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biologic medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that

current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? ♪ >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: we got a new pope. his name is francis, and he comes from buenos aires, the first pope from the new world from latin america and with that news we start off hour number three here on the "full court press." "full court press" coming to you live on your local progressive talk radio station and on current tv. all the way across this great land of ours good to have you

with us, and remember you can join the conversation any time you want to jump in this hour -- you can get a wore in this hour. you can do so by phone at 866-55-press. join us on twitter @bpshow, and follow us on facebook at facebook/billpressshow. president obama continuing what is called his charm offensive, coming up to capitol hill again today. he met with house republicans today. today he will meet with senate republicans and then the house democratic caucus, two members of which have some in studio with us this morning. peter welch representing the entire state of vermont. >> hey, bill. good to be here. >> bill: and here fresh from his bout of flattening sean hannity.

we were proud of you there, standing up for us, and sean hannity, you are the worst excuse for a journalist i ever saw. did you get a lot of flak because of that? >> i got a lot of reaction both positive and negative from that. it generated some discussion. [ laughter ] >> keith -- keith is clear and direct, but kind of mild mannered, so when he was doing cage wrestling there he just was a little out of character. [ laughter ] >> bill: it is good to see you both and to have you both in studio is a real treat this morning, and we have got a lot to cover. congressman welsh you are a catholic. what do you think of pope francis. >> i'm mildly optimistic. the church doctrines that you just mentioned are all very

conservative -- >> bill: he is not going to change. >> no. but it really seems like he lived a modest life when he gave up the cars and the limos and the mansion and he lived modestly and he seems to have a life he lived dedicated to poor people. and the church should be about that at least that's something i feel pretty good about. i love that he took the game francis. >> bill: yeah and francis a rich man who gave it all up and went out and -- and walked the streets and preached -- lived among and preached to the poor. >> yeah, and he seems like a humble man. he is very modest and that's refreshing. >> bill: the other thing, congressman -- your take too. >> one of the most beautiful thing about catholicism is

catholic social teaching. it doesn't get enough at attention as we are talking about the conservative doctrines. those things sometimes overshadow this beautiful ethic of progressive taxation of caring for the poor of a responsibility for each and all, and i just hope now that we'll be able to see that side of catholic social doctrine much more prominently. >> that is so right. because there is a whole wing of the church about social justice as opposed to doctrine and obedience. >> there's a congressation in my district called st. joan of arc, and these folks are on the front end of opposing the death penalty, making sure there is food and health care for all -- they are always at the

front of the band when it comes to these critical social issues. >> i haven't checked with my sister who is a nun, and nun on the bus, so i'll give you the final word because he is the judge for me. >> man you have gone up ten notches on my belt. your sister was a nun on the bus? >> yes. >> that's awesome. >> bill: there are catholics like myself who argue if the bishops would focus more on the poor and getting rid of the death penalty and less on gay marriage and abortion and those kind of issues, the church would be a lot stronger in this country, and we would be keeping more members in the church. >> that's right. when i was growing up the doctrine was one thing, but

conscious is another. and a lot of the early catholic teaching gave respect to people who had an active conscious and came to a conclusion and they would allow there to be different points of view when what you were doing reflected an honest reflection of your judgment and your conscious. >> can i also give a southout -- >> bill: i do have to say as a muslim -- but you have a catholic background. >> little known fact. yeah, my mother is just as catholic as the pope is and there are no -- there are no religious ranker going on in my household, but my mother is an active mother of her church in detroit, and i went to an all boys jesuit high school so i know about -- jesuit teachers these guys they don't mess around in the classroom, you

have got to show and prove in that environment. >> bill: oh yeah. >> you have a disciplined mind. i waited until college before i got to jesuit teaching. i went to holy cross. >> okay. >> bill: now let's come back home here. the president coming up to meet with the democratic caucus today. i imagine he'll get a little better reception from you and your colleagues today than yesterday. did he waste his time yesterday? >> no number 1 -- first of all i think he genuinely wants to see if there's common grown. and number 2 he has to demonstrate that he is willing to listen to the other side. and the real challenge that we have on the brood issue of trying to bring down the dead over the long term there is common grounds. there are things that keith and i would support doing, like have prescription drug price

negotiation. there are a lot of things we can do to bring down spending including the pentagon so the goal of trying to get a stabilized debt situation is one that the progresses and conservatives could agree on. the real problem is the ryan budget is essentially austerity. it's about crushing government. and the approach they are taking is literally to make the middle class the piggy bank for the continuation of tax cuts and the bleeding of governmental institutions. >> bill: congressman ellison, i think you are right. i think the president genuinely wants common ground. i hope he doesn't give too much away, but he does want -- looking for a solution here. but john boehner and mitch mcconnell have said we're not going to negotiate with him as

long as he still wants higher revenue. is this a non-starter. >> you have got to be willing to talk not just for optics but because talking and negotiation is the way you might possibly arrive at some common ground. i think he would have been doing more of this -- >> yeah. >> but the bottom line is you're not going to talk these guys or charm them out of their very firmly held idealogical positions. >> bill: but is the goal that maybe he can get enough away from boehner and mitch mcconnell and the house to get a decent balanced approach passed? >> yeah, and i think it is worth trying. and here is the reality. folks out there across america. they look at some of these positions that the republicans hold and they go how can you even talk to these guys, and i

say you have got to talk to them, because it's in the best interest of the american people that we arrive at some sort of fair agreement. i'm not for the president bending over backwards and giving away the farm but i am for him having a discussion. conversation is not copitulation oopts. but it is true that we're not your yachts and jets are fine. your carry interested is fine, you know, all of that stuff. they are not going to come off of that lightly if at all. i come mend the president for trying to talk to them but the trust is maybe some of this is going to have to be decided in an election. >> bill: can't that what we just

had? >> yeah. >> bill: if you look at the ryan budget, he was on the ticket and yet he seems to totally have fot -- forgotten we just had an election. >> that's right. they just double down -- >> didn't romney say his signature issue was to repeal obamacare. >> yeah. >> and that election had an outcome, didn't it? >> bill: he lost by 5 million votes. >> that's what i thought. >> bill: so what is the heart of paul's budget? repealing obamacare. >> that's right. except what he does is he -- is he accepts the revenues that came from the cleanup. >> bill: of course. yeah. >> the $716 billion that they ran against is now a component of its budget that's because it was efficiency that was proposed by the president. >> bill: so was the savings from getting rid of the bush tax cuts. these guys have no shame, right?

>> they have no shame, but there is also something at the core of what they are doing, and is this what i think is not as clear to the american people. this is not just a debate about spending levels, it's a debate about whether austerity is the path to prosperity. and that's the belief that paul and others have. it's not just the tactical approach. and what their view is that is so different from traditional conservatives. traditional conservatives were small government, low tax, and personal responsibility. but that includes building institutions. the tea party folks are about basically dismantling institutions because they see them as impediments to liberty. and that's what this budget is doing. it's about austerity.

it's not about efficient government, it's about that less is better. and that's the big debate. >> and this is the philosophy that really hasn't demonstrated any success either. we have always had a mixture of private sector, public sector involvement in order to have a successful economy. look back at the eisenhower years when we built the roads that weave all overthis country, you can go back to the civil war when the transcontinental railroad happened or all of these important public investments that leveraged private investment -- >> that's right. >> so the bottom line is this argument that government never created a job is ridiculously false. darpa, the grant program from the military, which is the government that helped found

this thing known as the internet. come on -- i heard the internet started a new jobs. >> al gore started that. >> bill: i want to try to get a word in here now -- [ laughter ] >> it is your show, isn't it? [ laughter ] >> bill: we have to take a little break here, but it's not just the ryan budget there is a competing budget, a budget released by the progressive caucus yesterday, who's co-chair is in studio with us. i want to hear more about that when we come back here on the "full court press." >> announcer: heard around the country, and seen on current tv. this is the "bill press show." ♪ the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high.

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you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? ♪

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey it is twenty-four minutes after the hour. honored to have in studio two members of the house of representatives. are you a member of the progressive caucus. >> i am with my leader here. >> bill: all right. and you guys came out with your progressive budget, if you will. >> oh, yeah. >> bill: i imagine it is not all just spending cuts. >> yeah. >> bill: what is the big difference between you and the ryan budget. >> just a bit. >> well, the title is the back to work budget. and what you need to know about the back to work budget is that it's about putting americans back to work. other budgets like the ryan budget are measured based on how

much austerity they do how much they cut and slice. our budget we measure it based on how many people it puts back to work. >> bill: god bless america. >> when we sat down with the experts that help us put it together, we said we want to know how many jobs we can create. so our budget is designed to put 7 million people back to work in the first year. we get $4.5 trillion in deficit reduction in ten years, because you have more people working, more people paying more deficit going down. we do go up in the early years, because you have got to get people back to work, but we are doing things that are necessary. for example, we're putting a lot of money into infrastructure development, why? because the civil engineers say

our country needs it. we got about $2.3 trillion in unmet infrastructure needs, and i can testify in minnesota we had a bridge fall five years ago, and i'll never forget that 13 people died, 100 people fell 65 feet, severe back injuries head injuries and we will never forget that but the truth is there are bridges that need serious repair all over the united states. >> ray lahood says america is one big pothole. >> he is right. so when we do this infrastructure development we improve productivity reduce congestion, get people moving get folks where they need to go. improve the depreciation depreciation -- operation of energy grids and it's wrong to shed these public employees

these every day here rose -- these are the people -- cops who run to the crime scene when all of the rest of us run from it firefighters running into the burning building when we're trying to get out and we're cutting people. >> bill: isn't that a more important goal than just saying oh, we're going to balance the budget? >> that's right. and it clearly is at it clearly is to the american people. we focused on debt and deficit as though growth is the most important element. people want to work and the more people that work the lower our deficit is. >> bill: let the debate begin and at least you are coming up with some new ideas, not the same old stale ideas that we saw from paul ryan. congressman, thank to all of our

friends from vermont. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

♪ >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: here we go thirty-three minutes after the hour here on the "full court press." this busy thursday busy day for president obama for sure. he comes up to the hill and he will sit down with the house republicans and then to cleanse his palate he will go over and meet with the house democrats back on friendly -- friendly territory. keith ellison from minnesota here in studio with us.

congressman i want to hear more about the budget, but i have to ask you about this just reading in "the nation" magazine this week. it's time for a right to vote amendment. this is something that you are -- another thing that -- where you're -- >> absolutely. >> bill: an issue you are leading on. tell us about it. amend the constitution? >> yes and i'm glad to be teamed with with an awesome new congressman from wisconsin on this, but we want to see a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to vote. if you look at the 15th amendment and other amendments addressing the right to vote they don't guarantee you the right to vote they guarantee you don't be discriminated against based on your color.

i don't think the supreme court in any of it's a cases has ever defined a right to vote, and what that means is that a lot of these -- a lot of these affronts and violations of the right to vote are often struck down on the basis of state constitutions that say that you have the right to vote. because a lot of state constitutions say you have the right to vote but the federal constitution does not. so we're trying to say you have a right to vote and you have the right for your vote to be counted, so anybody trying to do all of this crazy stuff to you, they can't do it because you have the affirmative right to vote. >> bill: that does fly in the face of all of these efforts on the part of so many states and republican governors to suppress the vote. >> absolutely. they are actively trying to

suppress the vote, because as their numbers continue to shrink, and as more americans say we want a fair economy and fair society, they know the only way for them to win is to gerrymander, which they have done pretty dramatically. and yet we are in the distinct minority. this is all due to gerrymandering, and they are not done. they are trying to mess with the electoral college and all kinds of things and i believe we should be moving and advancing democracy and a constitutional right to vote would do that. >> bill: i think you are on to something here. i think it would be very very difficult to make an argument against -- >> yeah, what is your problem with the right to vote? but thanks to john nickels for

doing that. he is an awesome writer. >> bill: so you have the president today. what is your message to the president today if you get a chance to raise your hand what do you want to tell him? >> two things on my mind. one let's reverse the trend from austerity on to jobs. let's say the point of the budget should be putting americans back to work another living wage jobs good jobs. let's rebuild america. support our public employees. let's make that the focus, and the other thing is social security, medicare medicaid are not the problem. if they need some tweaking here and there to preserve those programs, we're open to that, but to sort of mess with those programs in order to preserve somebody else's massive loopholes for their jets and yachts is wrong, and we're -- we're simply not going to support it. so i think the president -- i think a great president trying

to cobble together some sort of a deal, just needs to know from his base the people who are loyal to him, that there are some things that we cannot abide, and carving into our nation's social safety is one of those. and we got 107 people on a letter saying we won't do it. so that's my message to the president who i worked hard to support and still do support. >> the chain cpi is a non-starter. >> it's not going to work so knock it off. you know what i mean? let's stop talking about that. so we should talk about how we raise the cap perhaps. there might be other ways to lengthen and strengthen the program that don't involve cutting benefits to people who depend upon them and that is the key. >> bill: so you are talking about the cap on the payroll tax. >> right after 113,000 you are done.

but why is that? i mean a lot of people really smart well-informed people do not know that payroll tax is only on $113,000 -- >> bill: the first $113,000 you make after that you do not pay a penny. so if you only make $113,000 you pay on every dollar but if you make a million you don't pay for 10% of what you make. >> that's exactly right. there are folks that follow the news and know what is going on, but they don't know that because they personally pay it on every penny they make. but that's my message to the president, jobs first. jobs are the number one deal we should do, and, you know, let's protect social security medicare, medicaid. we always think about these programs in terms of seniors, but there are literally thousands and thousands of families depending upon survivor

benefits. that's when like one parent dies, and that family may not have anything more or much more than those survivor benefits to make sure that those kids are okay. that -- that is an important constituency. we need to talk about that much much more. and when it comes to medicare the real problem is not that seniors are taking too much, the real problem is that health care costs continue to rise, if we just shift -- if we just do means testing, all that means is we'll we'll hoist the costs on to seniors, what we need to do is hold medical costs down which we have begun to done. paul ryan doesn't give the president any credit for the fact that we have literally lowered our deficit during president obama. our deficit is going down at

faster rate -- probably too fast, and so they don't -- they about like that didn't even happen. >> bill: every time i hear him or jay carney at the white house talk about entitlement reform, i always get nervous. >> what is that? are you talking about social insurance? earned benefits? >> bill: exactly. they are not entightments. >> right. right. thank you for pointing that out, bill. we should erase that term from our vocabulary. we're talking about earned benefits, social insurance that people pay for so when they need it they are not going to be destitute. so we should stop using the word entitlement, and start correcting people when they do it. >> bill: have you seen any minnesota any adverse effects of the sequester. >> yeah, people are already

beginning to report the need to scale back, to start talking about -- you know, who is going to be laid off. we're clearly beginning to see the effects of it. and what the republicans are betting on is that all of the cuts don't happen at once and the people they happen to are folks who depend upon government and therefore are politically not as engaged as some of their donor friends. but according to the congressional budget office, we'll see 750,000 jobs lost and the ryan budget according to economic policy institute would lose 2 million jobs. >> bill: woe. >> woe yeah. >> bill: i find all of this uproar for -- from the republicans now about they canceled the white house tours. it seems that they want it both ways, right? >> oh, yeah.

>> bill: they want the sequester, but they don't want anybody to get hurt by it and they certainly don't want to be blamed for it. >> absolutely. you got it dead on. but i think it's important for us to accept the fact that they believe that the rich folks will take cares of if we just give them more of the money and they believe that, and i have heard many of my republican friends, and some of them are friends, but say they with a straight face things like a poor person never gave me a job. >> bill: the job creators -- >> the job creators. now i used to own a business. i was a lawyer -- and you know when i hired people, bill? when we had orders to fill. or when folks came to my office and said keith, i want to hire you on a big case i might have to get an investigator or legal secretary, hire another lawyer. that's when i hired people. i didn't higher people just

because i got a tax cut. i hired people because i needed to meet demand. >> bill: exactly. >> so my customers were the job creators, not me. >> bill: give people a job, give them a paycheck they'll spending more money, and we'll grow our way out of the deficit. >> exactly. and europeans have tried to cut their way out, and look where they are. >> bill: congressman it's great to have you in studio. >> awesome to be here. >> bill: give sean hannity our best next time you talk to him. >> i think it might be a while. >> bill: come back and see us again real soon. >> a friend of mine aria from oregon, told me to say hello to her on the air. >> bill: there you go. anybody else? >> i don't know. say hi -- all of those who want

me to say hi. hi. >> bill: he has got it. keith ellison, and i'll be right back here on the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern. in states rights but still support the drug war you must be high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern.

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converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. ♪ >> announcer: radio meets television, the "bill press show," now on current tv. >> bill: all right 12 minutes before the top of the hour here thursday, thursday march 14th. congressman are back to work just down the street at the capitol building. they can run down there and get ready for their meetings and get ready to meet up with the president early this afternoon,

after he meets with the senate republicans, and then he goes to pete with house democrats. peter ogburn back in studio with us. >> yes, indeed. >> bill: only members of congress were allowed in studio in hour. >> that's right. sorry so disappoint. i'm back. thousands of americans will be eating pie. pie. pie. pie. do you know why it's pie day? >> bill: march 14th? >> today is march 14th which if you look at it on paper is 314 pi is 3.14 so march 14th is pi day. it's a fine excuse to eat pie.

>> bill: i don't get it. look my last math class was a long time ago, and man when i walked out of the door of that math class -- >> but you know pi. >> bill: right. so you have march 14th -- look, basically what it is is it's an excuse for people to eat pie and get away with it. >> bill: all right. give me a piece of pie. >> pie for breakfast is not bad. >> bill: i know i should have brought one in. on a more serious note yesterday, senator kirsten gillibrand from north carolina and others working on the issue of sexual assault in the military. which is frightening. the figures they are using 19,000 cases of sexual assault

in the military a year and because of the overwhelming percentage of men in the military as opposed to women, 10,000 of those sexual assault cases are actually men being sexually assaulted, but the one case that was the focus of this hearing yesterday is just an outraging case over in italy where a fighter pilot was accused by a woman of having molested her. there -- the commanding general there appointed a jury. the jury heard the case. heard the facts, convicted him found him guilty stripped him of his rank, sentenced him to a year in prison and the commanding general said i disagree with that verdict. let the guy off. he still is a fighter pilot,

still has his full honors still getting the full salary and basically is a free man. senator gillibrand saying how can you say you have got this matter under control when the whole system of military justice can be up ended by the officer in command of that base. >> if the convening authority is the only decision maker of whether a case goes to trial or proceeds and the only decision maker about whether to over turn a case, well then all of that training and ufl those excellent lawyers and prosecutors you have don't mean a difference -- it doesn't make a difference because the person with the authority is not the one who has that years of training in terms of legal ability and prosecuteor to al discretion.

>> bill: she was on fire yesterday particularly because of the stone wall approach of these military officers these lawyers from the pentagon who sat there basically saying, no senator, we know we have a problem but everything is under control, because we have such discipline and order. and as jackie speier told us later, if a commanding officer overturns the verdict of a jury like this a jury that has found a member of the military guilty, and the commanding officer overturns that jury, there is no way to appeal that decision not even the commander in chief can override the commanding general. i mean there's something really really -- >> that's insane to me. >> bill: -- really, really wrong with that, and that means the military code of justice needs to be fundamentally rewritten. by the way, have you heard? we have a new pope.

my take on him in a parting shot next. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪

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♪ >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey on this thursday march 14th, my parting shot for today, we have a pope, indeed and his name is francis. the good news is he comes from latin america. he lives in his own apartment cooks some of his own meals, and takes the bus to work, the bad news is he is