[ music ] >> bill: hey, good morning, everybody. what do you say? it is wednesday, wednesday, march 27th. great to see you today, and welcome. welcome to the "full-court press" here on current tv, coming to you out to every corner of this great land of ours from our studio on capital hill in washington, d.c. where we've got our eyes on all of the gig big stories of the day, whether it's happening in our nation's capitol, down the street at the supreme court, happening anywhere around the country or anywhere around the globe, we

will bring it to you, let you know what's going on and give you a chance to sound off about it. you can give us a call at 866-55-press. our toll-free number. follow us on twitter @bpshow. be our front-end facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow.com. we love to hear from you. yesterday, the supreme court, it's first of two days, hearing arguments for and against same-sex marriage. yesterday's questions centered around california's proposition 8 which bans same-sex marriage. the opponents of same-sex marriage, gay marriage say it's wrong because biologically, gay couples can't proceed create and having children is what marriage is all about. yeah? tell that to the couples who get married and decide never to have kids. tell that to all of those couples who are too old to have kids and yet still get married. i mean that is such an out-dated

proposition. we will talk about that and a whole lot more coming up today on today's "full-court press" right here on current tv. billy zane stars in barabbas. coming in march to reelz. to find reelz in your area, go to reelz.com

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing 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's coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys who do like verse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. >> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me. >> absolutely! >> and so would mitt romeny.

>> she's joy behar. >> and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? >> only on current tv. a a [ music ] >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> bill: day two of the supreme court's arguments on marriage equality today. and yesterday, the justices indicated maybe they're a little chicken on this issue. hey, hello everybody. what do you say? great to see you today. folks, can you believe it, already the middle of the week wednesday, march 27th. good to see you today. thank you for joining us here on

the full court press, coming to you live on radio and on television, on the radio on your local progressive talk radio station, on the radio, on sirius xm. on this hour only on television, on current tv. we are still around. we are going to be here a good chunk of time. so don't worry about that. good to have you with us again. we have lots to talk about today. we are coming to you live from our nation's capitol. we are right here in washington, d.c. the senate is out. the house is out. we are still here and so is the supreme court. so there is a lot going on our nation's capitol. we will tell you all about that bring some guests in to help us through the supreme court hearing yesterday. we will take a look around the country. north dakota governor signing -- just about making abortion illegal in the state of north dakota. we can see the abortion

opponents who have given after the supreme court are going after state legislators one by one. we will bring you up to the rebels in syria, asking for a patriot missile system to help them fight the assad recommendgime. wherever it's happening, we will take your calls at 866-55-press comments on twitter bpshow.com and facebook.com/billpressshow. there we go. how about that. what do you say, team? peter ogburn and dan henning? >> hey hey. >> with stevie lee web on the phones this morning and cyprian boulding. do we have -- the lids are off all of the cameras? >> he has us on the air. >> bill: want to make sure. we put the cover over them after the show. >> that's right. we don't want to see. >> you have to take the lens cover off when you go to take a picture. right? how about it? before we get to the serious

stuff of the day david pet traypet pet giving the first stephenraeus pet giving the first stephen. former head of our forces in iraq or afghanistan or iraq? afghanistan. >> yeah. >> david petraeus. and i guess this is the beginning of david petraeus's apology tour. >> please allow me to begin my remarks this evening by reiterating how deeply i regret and apologize for the circumstances that led to my resignation from the cia and caused such pain for my family friends and supporters. >> bill: you know what? i have sinned against you, 0 lord. >> jimmie swag art he is not. who caresgart, he is not. who cares. just shut up. shut up and stop talking about

it. it's hardly the first man in public life who has had an affair t affair. you know, i think the difference between him and a lot of politicians in washington is this may be the one and only for him. but he promises i'll never, never, never, never do it again. and you can learn from my mistakes. >> perhaps my experience can be instructive to others who stumble or, indeed fall as far as i did. one learns after all that life doesn't stop with such a mistake. it can and must go on. >> bill: >> bill: god, i can just see it now. you know, come on, david petraeus. you've got something to say about your military experience, about the cia that we can -- we can, you know, we can learn something from, fine. but get off of the soap box. >> peter: yeah. >> bill: today, eliot spitzer

will join us a little later as he does every wednesday morning, carl frichte from bullfight strategies and melanie sloan for citizens of responsibility and ethics and allen saint pierre who is our pot king about maryland easing the restrictions on pot. but first. >> this is the full court press. >> on this wednesday, other headlines making news another sports day at the whitehouse yesterday. president obama welcoming the la kings hockey team and the la galaxy soccer team to congratulate them on winning their respects i have league championships last season. he headed a soccer ball during the ceremony. >> i didn't know that. >> it was interesting, side note, he headed a soccer ball while john kerry was hanging out with the afghanistan hockey team and hit a ball. >> i saw the picture of kerry hitting the ball. >> happening on the same day,

halfway across the world being from chicago, he was jealous ofla winning championships and gave the kings props for beating the chicago blackhawks on the ice this past monday night. but he was happy to have them there at the whitehouse and be a good sport. >> bill: he loves nothing better than welcoming sports teams to the white house. >> it's not like the soccer and hockey are actually sports teams to care about but he had to welcome them to the white house. >> careful. >> the queen of england can rest assured her partying grandsson, prince harry will be in good hands when he visits the u.s. chris christie told new jersey station 101, no one will be getting naked on his watch. >> god almighty. >> he will be with the prince the entire day which he is visiting the jersey shore. >> that's one day. yeah. prince harry and jersey shore?

i am not doing the two of them. oh, man. >> talk about worlds colliding. >> and jews are celebrating passover across the world this week, and it can sometimes be tough to keep kosher for the holiday. one member of congress has a trick to help him stay away from the bread basket at all of the lunch meetings he goes to. the hill reports congress steve israel, the democrat from new york takes a botts of matza wherever he goes to every meeting being that he cannot eat levend bread. he is indulgeing on as much matzo ball soup as he can. >> a friends from san diego, the white house put out something about the passover dinar, the sadar they had at the whitehouse monday evening. >> right. >> on the e-mail from the white house were recipes for things that were served at the dinner. this is like a first.

she pointed out to me in one of the recipes, it called for flour. >> uh-oh. and she said: uh-uh. no flour for the sadar meal and somebody -- so i sent it off to the white house and said maybe you had better -- i am sure they got this from some jewish organization. >> i would hope that they did their homework on that. >> yeah. >> i thought you could use flour but not yeast. i am no expert. >> i am no expert. all i know is she was offended by it. she loved the e-mail but she was offend by there was flour on one of the recipes. you have to be careful. >> i made matzo ball soup for the first time ever. it's delicious. i had no idea. i had never been introduced to it. >> bill: are you thinking of converting? >> may be. may be. >> bill: there has to be more of a reason than liking matzo ball soup. >> great soup.

>> bill: yeah. that's why i am a catholic. i like eating fish on fridays. it all has to do with diet. yes, indeed, a big day yesterday, huge crowd. a lot of our friends. by the way dan went down to the supreme court yesterday and among the crowd there, you tweeted this out, dan. >> i did >> bill: there were two of our guests here, i am proud to say on the full court press, who were there in front of the court. both there on the same side of the issue. bishop gene robinson from new hampshire, who was our guest here monday. and then from the ravens brendan iambodazo, who was in studio and we had on by phone, too. >> the champ. >> the champ, part of the world champion baltimore ravens who has been here. and one of the things that he's been very strong on is the fact

that the n.f.l. should certainly be open to an openly gay player on the team. so the two of them were hanging out together yesterday. >> it was awesome. >> from the supreme court. >> i saw them. said hi. >> a good photo you sent out. happened to get here from -- hear from another friend of mine later on in the morning who said he went to lunch at a famous restaurant near the capitol, near the supreme court called the manacle, and there having lunch at the monacle, they were together. at any rate, it was a big day in front. supreme court. yesterday the arguments were about proposition 8. today, they will be about the defense of marriage act. you know, this is a huge issue. and the issue facing the people of this country is: should the law apply -- it's really a basic constitutional issue: should the law apply to all americans equally as the constitution says, including the right to get married and enjoy all the

privileges of the state that come with the institution of marriage? but if you listen to the justices yesterday -- and here is what i found upsetting about yesterday's hearing. if you listen to the justices the issue in front of them was not whether the denying marriage equality, denying the opportunity to get married is denying people equal rights under the law. the issue in front of the justices was: is this the right time to do this? why do we have to do it now? can't we just put this off a little bit? the issue for them was timing. oh, no. why all of the rush? why do we have to do it now? here for example is the man considered to be the swing justice, anthony kennedy. >> there is -- it's a substantial question on standing. i just wonder if the case is properly granted.

>> oh, my, was it properly in front of us? john roberts, the chief justice asked the same question. he said -- made a statement, a state can't authorize just anybody to proceed in federal court. justice samuel alito, who says, you know, that the first same-sex marriage made legal was in the netherlands, just seven or eight years ago, so i mean, do we know enough about this? >> you want us to step in and render a decision based upon an assessment of the effects of this institution which is newer than cell phones or the internet? i mean we are not -- we do not have the ability to see the future. >> bill: who is he kidding? does think homo sexuality, gay couples -- there haven't been any gay couples since the invention -- first gay couple came after the internet or the cell phone? come on. you know, like the roman times,

if you will or greek times. so it's the institution of maybe the institution whether they should legally be allowed to get married is more recent but not gay couples living together in a deep and lasting partnership. but even probably the most liberal justice on the court, ruth bader ginsburg questions whether they should be considering -- she said have we ever granted standing to proponents of ballot initiatives? this whole question, i think is crazy for the justices. tell me what you think, 866-55-press, because, number 1, they have the case in front of them. it's not a matter. they voted to hear this. they voted, remember, to take this case. so, now, it's in front of them. now, it is definitely, then, the time to act. and why delay? what's the value of putting it off? the american people are ready to act. they have shown that.

how many united states senators have come out in just the last few days? this is the issue you have to be on the right side of. john testor of montana came out yesterday joining what? four or five or six other senators, in support of same-sex marriage. so, for the justices to do what politicians love to do, which is duck and to run from this issue, now, if they've -- and that's one option, they could just reject it. and if they do then it goes back to california and same-sex marriage will be allowed in california, and that's good. california will become what? the 9th or 10th state i think. right? to recognize same-sex marriage. this is the time for justices to make it will legal for all 50 states. maureen dowd points out in her column, one other time on an important issue, the justices on the supreme court decided to wait and that is the question of

interracial marriage. in 1967, the argument was made that we cannot rule on interracial marriage because quote the social science is still uncertain about how biracial children will fair in this world. as maureen dowd points out, you could go about a mile down to 1600 pennsylvania average and find out one child of a bi-racial marriage is doing pretty well. pretty well. thank you. do you think the justices will rule? 866-55-press? don't delay. don't duck. stand up. do it now. >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show."

a. >> heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is "the bill press show" >> bill: all right. 26 minutes now after the hour. taking a look at those -- from the questions they asked yesterday, it looks like at least six of the justices -- the headline, justices say time may be wrong for ruling on gay marriage. the headline on the hill this morning is "court may duck same-sex same-sex decision." i hope they don't duck it. now is the time to be men and women of the court. what do we put them there for? >> bill, we talked in the last

segment about my new found love of matza ball soup. perry reunion says try kvilta fish and you will change your mind. i have seen it. i have never actually eaten it. >> throw a little bit of horseradish. >> it looks horrible. >> with horseradish, a winner >> bill: anything you have to dump horseradish on, that means you don't want to taste it. on the issue of the court saying this isn't the right time. let's just delay, delay, delay. it looks like that's what they want to do. stewart down in saint petersburg, florida. >> caller: you know i leave a little to the right. i am more conservative than anything. i think we should not look at how they question because the court, the supreme court has been noted to ask questions that

may make you think they are going to lean one way or the other >> bill: that's a good point. but whether so many of them took that tact yesterday stewart, it's troubling. >> caller: even listening to it on one of the other programs that even justice keegan someone you would think would be more for it, she had kind of like a weird question, also about the marriage. so i think they pose questions and i believe that they look at how they are going to respond to the question. >> bill: you make -- no. you make an excellent point. and jay carney made this point at the briefing yesterday, too which is: we all tend to read too much into their questions. but just that they would consider ducking this issue, i think, is a reason for concern.

>> that's all. >> bill: >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ] 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?

>> chatting with you live at current.com/billpress, this is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> what's going on? 33 minutes after the hour. how about it here on a wednesday morning, march 27th. it is the full court press and we are coming to you live from our nation's capitol brought to you today by afsme, under president lee saunders the largest public and healthcare workers union in the entire

country. afscme.org. the house and the senate may be out of the session but it is busy times down at the whitehouse. president obama speaking about immigration yesterday and welcoming the two champion sports teams, hockey and soccer to the white house. the supreme court holding its first day, first of two days of hearings on the issue of marriage equality, helping us keep on top of everything that's going on, on the planet our good friend eliot spitzer, former of new york on our news line this morning. eliot, good morning, good morning. >> great to chat with you. >> bill: we have seen you popping up in the headlines everywhere we turn. you are just back from jordan. >> it was a spectacular visit. just by happenstance i was there simultaneously. >> i was going to ask you if you influence in on air force one? >> i didn't have quite the

motorcade he did. >> what did you find? >> when you spend time in a country, you don't always sense the upset of what was going on in the street. i would not have predicted in cairo before the revolution there was an incipient revolution, but there was a sense of calm because of the deep affection for king hussein, a sense they were one step ahead of the air appear spring in terms of a government recognizing what needed to be done was reforming. people are looking at syria and egypt and are saying, you know, we don't want to go down the path of that revolution that completely destroys civil society all at once. there is a sense of being a bit more modlated in response. and while for many perspectives it is a poor country, gdp, $5,000 per capita. i have spoken to usa aid officer over there. there is no hunger as such he said. no starvation.

so, you know, it's fascinating but it was interesting to try to get a sense of what was going on the street. >> it looks like the king in terms of making the kind of adjustments. >> he has not been as flat-footed as somebody like murbarak and assaad. there is a transeditiondition that the kings are more thoughtful. they are benevolent in that they have done a different job. it's interesting to watch. >> you came back yesterday. one other thing before we get the news of the day is that we saw -- you feel ed markey will be the next senator? i have known ed markey for 39 years or so, my sister when she

was in college worked for him when he was in the state assembly up in dawson. so, it goes pretty far back. he is a great congressman and will be a stupendous senator. >> i am excited with a chance of seeing him down here as a senator. we have known him for so long as a member of congress. yesterday, we talked about this last week, i think, but now, the dow has yet again set a new record closing at 14,559, up 112 points. good news. right? >> it's certainly good news that the market is saying the values of equities are going up. it's better than having them go down obviously. the issue we have to figure out is: how do we turn that good news into good news in jobs and as we have said, one. big story lines economically has been this divergentions between how capital returns have been

going up but returns to labor have been going down. it's been what has contributed enormously to the increasingly, you know stratified income picture that we see in our country, which is something we all know we have to deal with. >> bill: to what extent do you think this -- i mean look. we escaped -- dodged another bullet with the continuing resolution. now we have enough money to keep running in washington until september, maybe, or whatever. but to what extent do you think this continuing uncertainty and refusal to deal with our fiscal issues in washington ants the economy? >> you know i think it certainly has an effect the effect that all of the numbers to it. it doesn't yet seem to be having the dramatic drag effect that had been talked over with frankly what was a little bit of hyper boley before sequestration went into effect. people are saying: how bad will it be?

let's hope we don't see tepid growth numbers in the next months and next couple of quarters quarters. and if we see job growth, the republicans are going to say, see we can do those cuts and it doesn't hurt growth. it will have hurt growth and it's hard to measure it >> bill: we have seen barely, barely, the beginnings of the impact of the sequestration. >> correct. as we all know when we talk about this is not going to hit like a sledgehammer. it's going to be death by a thousand cuts where sequentially, the furloughs will kick in and the projects will be terminated and such. so, it will happen over time in a slightly harder to see manner but it's going to be a real impact >> bill: eliot spitzer spitzer @eliotspitzer. eliot, yesterday the supreme

court, it's first day hearings on marriage equality. they have seemed to be dealing not so much with the issue, itself and the merits of allowing or banning marriage equality but whether the timing is right, whether the issue should be before them to deal with it now. do you think they might duck this thing? >> i am hopeful they won't. any lawyer will tell you don't read too much into the questions posed at argument did because times -- not being intentionally misleading but is the case properly before the court? i think they will struggle to find a way to get to it. justice kennedy who is by all accounts the swing vote how about 40,000 kids of same-sex couples. that humanized this in a very real way. if he is thinking about those 40,000 kids, he may want to just do what is right. we certainly hope so.

once they overcome the hurdle of standing, i think it's kind of clear they are going to do what is right in this case. so the drama awaits. but it's incredible how much progress there has been. >> bill: the justices, if, in fact, they are feeling we have to go slowly here, the american people don't seem to feel that way. neither do members of the united states senate, john tester yesterday became the latest ♪ to flip flipflop on this issue. >> it's a tipping point. i think it will be a point last june when the president came out and gave joe biden credit. remember how that tumbled out? that moment crystallized what has been an incredible shift in public opinion. most of us realized that it was waiting to happen. this was generational. when you hit a certain point, it

catalyzes. in 2006, when i was running for governor in new york i think i was the only statewide capdate for same-sex marriage, in new york, a couple of years ago. i kind of walked around saying really? where is everybody on this? but here we are, things have moved so dramatically, it's all good news. >> you must have gotten a lot in new york -- >> there are groups that have their theological and fill philosophical objections and i would say, i overhear you. i understand your view. we disagree. there will be flack on every issue. >> that's one of the things you realize. >> as we learn the hard way. >> all right. thanks. you can follow him on twitter twitter @bpshow.

among other topics. >> follow us on twitter. him at eliotspitzer >> bill: thank you. one of the other issues that we want to cover this morning and we will talk a little bit when we come back is this -- still can't get over it: italy's highest tribunal saying yeah, we one time, we thought amanda knox might have been not guilty but now we changed our mind. so we want her to come back to italy so we can try her all over again. what kind of a current tree is that? we will be right back on the "full-court press." >> this is "the bill press show." vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the

minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern

current tv is the place for true stories. with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. real, gripping, current. documentaries... on current tv. [ music ] [ music ]

>> heard aren't the country and seen on current tv, this is "the bill press show." >> 14 minutes before the top of the hour karl rove will be here. >> wait a minute. wait a minute >> bill: good lord. what's wrong with you? >> what are you doing? we are not having karl rove on this program today. i'm sorry. i can't let that one slip by. >> white until karl fritsche. >> i have the wrong bottle. i thought it was the iced tea. >> that's rye whiskey. >> that's not tee. karl rove. if karl rove does come in the studio, he is not coming in here as a friend of bill. >> that's right. there you go >> bill: let's make it carl

fristche will be here in the next hour, as a friend of bill. what is a little blurry i can't see the tele prompter. >> i understand. >> all right. yeah indeed,? newark new jersey a woman tricking several elder women to reveal personal information and open fraudulent credit card accounts randomly calling people named ruth from the phone director saying she was conducting a survey and these poor suckers gave her all of their information. see what she did with it. identity theft. you have to be protected against it. i am, with lifelock ultimate

the most comprehensive protection. call now mention press 60. get 60 risk-free days of lifelock ultimate identity theft protection. if not happy, call and cancel within 60 days and get a full refund. see lifelock.com for details and make that call to 1-800-3565967 to lifelock ultimate. 1-800-356-5967. >> social media? >> a couple of comments left over from where we were talking about the court and what we are going to do with gay marriage. phil says court watchers are worse than weather forecasters. at least weather casters, court watchers pull it out of their asses kathleen says -- >> speaking of weather watchers i walked out of my front door to come over here to the studio. what did i see driving by?

a snow plow. >> stop it. >> i saw one. >> bill: it snowed two days ago and there wasn't a snow plow in sight. >> there is no snow left >> bill: honest to god, going down 8th street >> peter: back to the comment kathleen asked why is it not acceptable for two loving people to marry but it's acceptable for any moron to have a gun? what hurts society more? maybe my favorite comment is from ted on twitter who says after awhile aren't all marriages same-sex marriages? >> find out @bpshow. what story on social media people are talking about. >> i don't want to touch that last one. >> peter: no. i let that go by. nike nike has a new ad out because as we reported yesterday, as dan reported -- >> bill: i'm sorry. i can't let it go.

no, in his book which i just -- i told you how much i loved bishop gene robinson's book "god beliefs in love" is the name of the book. he talks about this point. his phrase for this is after so long in a marriage bed death. a chilling phrase. >> that's great. >> that's a great phrase. >> bed death. >> one story a lot of people are passing around i have seen a couple of times this morning nike has a new ad out, tiger woods, the number one golfer in the world again, nike has a new ad out that shows tiger woods and has a quote from tiger that says winning takes care of everything. some people are a little annoyed, a little upset. they think it sends the wrong message that, you know tiger

has a checkered past. he cheated on his wife multiple times. he had flings with porn stars. >> what contrast with david petraeus and david petraeus i have sinned. i have sinned. i am so sorry. tiger woods, big smile on his face, "winning takes care of everything." "that's what nike has put out? >> that's nike's official new ad now. congratulate tiger. >> speaking of winning, how about pedro casada. casada. pedro casada from new jersey he is the man. i contributed to his winnings by the way with my six bucks. my three quick picks on the powerball. he is a man up in new jersey an immigrant who won the whole enchilada. he has been here how many years?

>> awhile. >> and opens a bodega up there and he still doesn't speak english well enough to speak to reporters. through a translator yesterday, he said how happy he is. [translation transpires.) >> he said i felt pure joy and happiness. >> bill: what was it? 323? >> $338 million. >> 338 million. yeah. i would feel a lot of joy and a lot of happiness. >> damn right. [ music ] >> this is the full court press, "the bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. clearasil's faster! this fast?? faster!! woh! that is fast! fix breakouts fast with clearasil ultra. it starts working instantly, sending the max amount of medicine allowed deep into your pores

for visibly clearer skin in as little as 12 hours. yeah, it's fast. clearasil, the science of clear skin.

(vo) current tv gets the 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.

[ music ] >> taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: another big hour coming up, two big hours coming up. the next hour, carl frische will be here as a friend of bill. we will talk to the chief council for the constitutional accountability center, elizabeth widra. we will talk about the supreme court justices thinking that maybe this case is prematurely in front of them. one caller wants to know if the

supreme court doesn't think is the right time to hear this case, why is it scheduled for a hearing? good question. it's scheduled for a hearing because the justices wanted to hear thisit. now, they are whining about this is here too soon. no, deal with it. it's in front of you. we talked yesterday about genetically modified salmon. kitty says i won't buy it. i would not considering eating gno salmon and like corn or soybeans how can they keep these franken fish away from wild salmon? in the end, they can't. good point. >> kitty says please leave our supply alone. bill folks says, politico is reporting rand paul and ted cruz are planning to filibuster any gun legislation. please do not encourage him any more. point taken. a big mistake to try to figure

filibuster that gun legislation. >> this is "the bill press show." now, buy one lobsterfest entree and get one 1/2 off with a coupon at redlobster.com.

>> bill: good morning, everybody. what do you say? it is wednesday, march 27th. this is the full court press. good to see you today, and thank you for joining us here on current tv all across this great land of ours where at the tackle the big stories of the day. and what is happening here in our nations's capitol, around the globe, around the rest of the country. we will tell you what's going on and most importantly, give you a chance to talk about it yourself, sound off on the

issues of the day. you can do so by phone at 866-55-press. do so on twitter @bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/bill press show. yesterday, the supreme court, spending the morning hearing argument did for and against prop something else 8 and the initiative which bans same-sex marriage. interesting. opponents of gay marriage say it's wrong because the number 1 goal of marriage after all is to have children. oh, really? tell that to all of those married couples, people who get married straight, people who get married and decide not to have children or all of the straight people who don't want to have children and get married. home the supreme court will reject that and overturn california's proposition 8. today's second day of margaret. these on the defense of marriage act. meanwhile, in other news the

dow, another record high yesterday. this economy is booming. we will tell you that and more right here coming up next on current tv. [ music ]

>> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> bill: the supreme court, day 2 of arguments for and against gay marriage. great to see you today. happy wednesday, wednesday, march 27th. this is the full court press coming to you live from our nation's capitol and our studio on capitol hill right in the

heart of the action hear about six blocks from the capitol bill. right across the street, the supreme court of the united states where i am telling you, that's the heart of the action for sure these days. yesterday, and today big crowds outside and big arguments inside on the issue of marriage equality. join the conversation at 866-55-press. our toll-free number. we invite your called and want to hear your comments on this and other important issues we will be talking about and, also you can follow us on twitter. we encourage you to do so. we are trying to get ahead of carl fritsche. >> i will have to look at the count, the offich count. >> be our friend on facebook t karl rove in studio with us. >> if you say that one more time. >> i did it. >> okay.

all right. >> bill, if you have a couple of billion dollars to give me to play with i think i can do better. >> how about turned blosturd blossom. >> our host is, of course, bill krystal. >> update because every time carl comes in, it's a horse race. >> well ahead of me. >> we have -- we currently have 13,806. carl has 13,704. >> we are not that far ahead. >> i mean come on, we have to get ahead of this turd blossom. >> keep spreading rumors like that. it will be an easy win. >> if we can unfollow carl right now. >> that's going to hurt him. carl, it's good to see you.

>> didgood to see you. your new offices are across the street from the supreme court. >> who would have thank you we would have had for to youitive planning. big crowds, i passed scombroneor high school students who say kids deserve a mom and dad and don't they deserve to be in school? their school is probably their living room. i told them i rode my dinosaur to work. it was really heartening to see, whichever side of the debate you are on. i think it's great when people take the time to come to washington and express their views to the court and to congress. >> can it can hold a lot of people. >> why go with what the supreme court actually looked like. basically what i am saying is, it's under construction so they

have this giant sheet in front of it to cover up the scaffolding. why not make it like the taj taj mahal. if that's okay then my apartment building just became like the ritz carlton. i will drop a sheet down from the ceiling. the plaza is enormous. it's right between the capitol building and the court, giant plaza, big crowd, lots of people turned out. it was powerful to be there. i got there minutes after the national organizations of marriage marched through. i heard that was quite a spectacle. >> they had interesting signs. >> bill: we have a lot to cover. one twitch here on the media. we have talked a lot lately about msnbc and fox is and which one is more opinioniated. but lost in the middle is cnn.

john king of cnn had a thought about why that might be so. he gave a speech at the kennedy library in boston. maybe he doesn't realize but here is john king who still worked at cnn, we think. >> if you watch cnn -- i am not picking on anybody. but if you watch cnn, 9:00 o'clock in the morning, 10:00 o'clock, 11:00 o'clock, 12:00 o'clock t it's a single anchor sit nag chair reading headlines that none of you have to turn on the t.v. to get because you can get them here. you can get them on your cell phone or laptop. >> et cetera right. >> it's true. i don't know i give them that much credit. see what drucker can do with it. if anybody can make things interesting, he can. >> did you see the rumor? john king and cathy griffin on anderson -- i'm sorry anderson

cooper and cathy griffin as a pilot. >> when you look at the new year's eve eve programming, they do remarkable which is why they bring her back every year going on like five years now for a non-network broadcast. watching dick clark's show and ryan secrest, millions watch. it is like a morning program. his i will-fated network program should be over at this point. maybe the last two people i want to see together are anderson cooper and it cathy griffin. >> you are not their

demographic. >> i guess i am not. >> we will see if john has a job, john king after a little bit later today. twelve minutes after the hour now, carl hear this hour as a friend of bill melanie sloan will join us at the top of the next hour for citizens for responsibility and we thinkics in washington. we will ask her about michelle bachman's latest ethics investigation and alan saint pierre from normal on the new relaxed pot laws in the state of maryland but first. >> this is the -- >> i am moving. >> i thought you were going to say melanie was here to talk about gay marriage as it relates to michelle bachman. >> other news making news hugh heffner has had the sex life t he was asked how many women he slept with. how could i possibly no. over a thousand. over a thousand, i am sure. he said there were chunks of his life where he -- >> way less than i thought it

would be. >> that basketball guy? >> tens of thousands. >> says he never cheated when he was married, but when he was single. >> when he was single -- wasn't he married in his 80s? >> right. he was married actually early on. >> his first -- >> could be his daughter. >> between his first and second marriages there was a 40-year time span. so he made up for lost time there. >>ism not impressed. >> i am not either. >> not even a little bit. >> that's only three women a day. >> bill: he has the playboy mansion? >> and the magazine and the channel. >> i wouldn't be surprised. i wouldn't be that surprised. >> they do a lot of political events at the mansion. >> yeah. not the grotto. >> myself in the grotto. >> david petraeus gave his first

public speech since resigning as the head of the cia and used it to apologize for the affair that led to his speaking down speaking at the university of southern california, the retired 4-star general says he was keenly aware he is regarded in a different light and the reason for that is because of his own doing. according to u.s.a. today. >> give me a break. >> he deeply regrets and apologizes for the circumstances that led to his resignation and the pain it caused his family, friends and supporters. he has had sex with a thousand women. >> i love that. i slept with a thousand women. >> slept with one. >> support for marriage equality went viral on facebook when the prop 8 case went in front of the supreme court. it's a yellow equal sign on a blue black ground changed it to a pink on red to symbolize love.

red being that. millions took that logo and replaced their own profile picture with it in support of same-sex marriage >> bill: that's a great statement? >> it's a great statement but damn it, it was confusing yesterday. it's like everybody, because i create everybody's picture and now everybody looks the same. totally crazy. >> like looking at a republican party convention. white instead of white, old and cranky, it was all little red squares. >> there are so many places we can start with this hearing. we talked in the last hour about the fact that the justices seem to be focusing less on the issue, itself and more on the timing just a quick comment on that. you have the damn case. it's in front of you. don't now complain that, you know, is this properly brought before us?

it is before them? >> they look at that, though because what they are basically tilting their hand. i don't think that the justices should be playing politics. what they are doing here -- they are not -- they are looking for a way out, which is telling because that means that the only way forward that they see is granting marriage equality. >> which is awesome. >> to think when i was 18 years old in 1996 that i would live into my mid 30s to see a day when the supreme court saw no choice but to dismiss a case or grant marriage equality to the entire country i never thought i would see that. i can only think what the teenagers coming out today would think or the kids when there is marriage equality in our country. what i will say, though, when the court looks at an issue and it it's it's saying i don't think the country is ready for it. we might as well punch it down

the road a little bit, that's not the job of the court. >> bill: exactly. >> that's the job of congress. the job of the court is to say whether something is constitutional or not. it's not whether we are ready for it. i get the political argument but i don't think this is like roe versus wade. not everybody -- virtually everybody knows that they love or respect. that number changes day after day after day. the numbers are going through the roof. it's a different kind of emotion than the choice argument. so i don't think that we are likely to see any reversal in public support on marriage equality. i don't think the court should be looking at that as an issue for deciding. what we saw kennedy's remarks were remarkable and that happened in the nation's highest court. the people defending proposition 8 couldn't muster an answer to a very profound question. i think it was justice keegan or

soto mayor, can you name any other incidence in which lgbt people should be able to be legally discriminated against? and cooper, the attorney for the people defending proposition 8 could not think of any others >> bill: soto myspace mayor. >> i would remind my brothers and sisters while marriage equality is marching forward quickly, in 30 states, lgbt people can be fired from their job. they can be denied housing, leasing office space, renting an apartment or a home. they can be -- their children can be discriminated against. they can be denied hospital strafed visitation in hospitals that don't accept federal funds. there are umpteen other things other than marriage that lgbt people are second class citizens. so we need to remember this is one giant step that says our government treats lgbt people

just like everybody else but there is an argument to be won. >> the other aspect that really i found stunning was that the opposition to same-sex marriage or the proponents of prop 8, their main argument is we can't allow these gay couples to be married because they can't have kids. biologically, they can't have kids. that's the only reason people get married. >> right. >> what i liked about that is -- >> what freakin' planet do they live on? >> most base their opinions on some kind of religiousty. whether you believe or not that's not my business but you believe in a god that is powerful enough to give an infert infertile couple a job, certainly he could give a same-sex couple a child. >> i am not sure of that.

they couldn't other than saying accidents occur. >> there are people who are too old. >> get married for whatever reason. the government doesn't make you check a box when you are getting married saying i am going to have children. here is how many i am thinking of having although the proponents so that we want to choose the number of children. >> i was amazed. i know they didn't have a strong case. i was amazed at how weak their

case was. karl frisch talking about the first of two days in front of the supreme court. your comments and questions on important issues of this country. people are ahead of the politicians on this one, 866-55-press. >> this is "the bill press

show." >> this is "the bill press show." >> bill: all right. 26 minutes after the hour. here we are, the full court press. trying to read the tea leaves

from yesterday's first day of argument on marriage equality in front of the supreme court with karl frisch with bullfight strategies. what's up >> peter: tweeting at bp show and sam has changed his twitter picture to the equality sign that dan was talking about, the full court press. he says as a so-called straight person, i will always support my gay brothers and sisters, civil rights for all citizens. we are seeing a lot of those red flags and red signs on twitter of people who are out there. >> bill: yeah. looking through my twitter here to see if i see one. i can't see. i will keep looking. meanwhile, let's talk to cynthia from league city texas. >> >> caller: good morning. i wanted to tell you, i agree with karl. >> that's the job of the supreme court is to determine whether

it's constitutional or not constitutional. >> that's their job. it's pretty clear that he is right. they seem no other way around it. it's a no-brainer. gay and les beian people just as much right to be just as accusable as the rest of us. >> yeah. what's crazy is this comes closer to a decision, you will see countless gay men across the country saying nope: 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.

alright, in 15 minutes we're

going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing 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. >> 33 minutes after the hour on this wednesday morning march 27th. this is the strangest thing that has ever happened to me in my entire broadcasting career. i have to tell you i have made a good living to television on local t.v., in los angeles for years, on cnn, on msnbc, now on

current tv. i have done talk radio at kbfc kbli and now on the ktalk in los angeles, here on wmal in washington, d.c. on sirius xm. never, never, never have i been in studio when all of the power went out. i am sitting here. we are sitting here in the dark in the studio in washington, d.c. you can hear us on your local progressive talk radio station. you can hear us on current tv. you cannot see on current tv because we don't have power. i am sitting here in the dark with karl fritsch from bullfight strategy. if you could see this, i have this flashlight on my iphone. >> that's the only way i can see the papers or the desk in front of me. karl? what the hell? this has never happened. >> i think karl rove heard you were mentioning his name. it's like beetle juice.

say his name three things and bad stuff starts to happen. >> bill: we were talking about some of the bad stuff happening in the supreme court of the united states yesterday. by the way, there is construction going on the building next door. we think what happened is somehow the construction company's worker's pulled the plug or cut the line or whatever. we don't know but we are totally in the dark. peter is the entire building in the dark? >> peter: no. right now, it's just sort of our side of the building. >> of course. >> peter: we have to figure out what is going on. >> bill: we are trying to find out. we will continue to bring you the audio feed portion with the flashlight on my cell phone, i can see, sitting across from me, elizabeth widra joining us, the chief counsel for the constitutional accountability

center. he liz beth, welcome. >> thank you. it's great to be here in the dark. i think like i broke "the bill press show". >> karl frisch broke it. >> how long will this flashlight on the iphone hold out? >> i think they eventually die and then it's kind of one of those situations where they start burning books to stay warm eating newspapers for nourishment. >> elizabeth, yesterday we were talking about the hearing on proposition 8. justice scalia most of the justices we are focusing on, the timing karl and i have been talking about, they took the case. you took the case dummy. now is the time to decide it. >> as justice scalia pointed out at one point.

>> he did. you were in the court. >> i was. >> you were in the court? great. so, then justice scalia went -- what i want to know is: since when is it unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the right to marry? there is an easy answer to that? >> there is an easy simple answer and the answer is 1868 when the american people added equal protection through the 14th amendment. >> bill: that says it all. doesn't it? wouldn't you expect the justice of the supreme court to know that? >> you know, it'st i think the interesting thing is that that wasn't the answer that -- >> cooper? >> he had also met. >> yeah. >> and scalia, i think, doesn't want to acknowledge the force of the constitution. the equal protection clause is

clear to any person, man or woman, black or white, gay or straight. it applies to every single person. and whether or not you recognize it at the time it was enacted was irrelevant. >> scalia's response might be well, they never intended this for gay people. >> sure. i have no doubt that that would be his response. >> yeah. right. first of all, how does he know? >> right. >> i have seen pictures. >> bill: they may not have thought about it at the time. but how can you deny? i thought that justice sotamayor got to the same point with her question about can you think of any other -- name one other instance in which it would be okay to discriminate against same-sex couples. >> exactly. yes. >> gays or lesbian s in general. >> yeah and the lawyer defending

proposition 8 had no answer. he said, i can't think of any. that's right. it's right that you can't discriminate against same-sex couples in the institution of marriage, either. in fact, especially when it comes to marriage because it's such a fundamental part of who we are. it's spart of human dignity to be able to marry the person you love. that didn't come up too much yesterday. which i think is kind of a shame. >> did the issue of -- first, i have to ask you this. i am sure a lot of our listeners, even the people who are watching on television can only listen to us now because we have no lights, no cameras. we have, though. >> yeah. totally lost my train of thought there. when the lights go out -- >> you know. >> maybe my lights go onut too. i think people are curious about this.

i am. how do you get in the court? >> oh, yes. >> how do you get a ticket? >> so i am a member of the supreme court bar. so there is a separate line for bar members. >> i see. wait for this. this is the true scandal here how do the people in the little rooms of the supreme court bar, how do you hear what's happening in the courtroom? >> oh, yes. well, so if you get into the courtroom as a bar member then you are in the courtroom like everyone else. but if you don't get a seat in the courtroom, you get to go into the really excitingly named lawyers' lounge which is not that exciting, but what it does have is live streamed audio from the court. >> live audio, where the rest of us have to wait a couple of hours for the audio. >> bill: i must tell you i don't remember. tell me, is this new? i don't remember ever seeing coverage, hearing the live -- hearing even the delayed audio from the bench. but yesterday, on the t.v. news

they were actually playing real clips where before it was just i remember, you know reading it out. >> right. >> is this something new that they have just startedd. >> you know, last year they did it. they have done it for some of the most important cases, for healthcare last year. >> yeah. >> they did it again, the delayed audio. >> right. >> i think the point is kind of a good one. they have the technology obviously. >> right. >> they are putting it into the lawyers' lounge. even if you don't want t.v.s in the courtroom or whatever, what's wrong with live audio. >> we will let the lawyers, they can be like, yeah, we heard it before all of you but i think we want the record at this point. >> bill: did anything surprise you yesterday being in the court? >> it surprised me that as you said, after granting the case, the justices spent almost the whole time trying to figure out how not to decide it. >> whining. >> yeah. it was, you know,ty kind of felt like, look guys.

you took the case. >> yeah. >> you have these couples before you who want to have their constitutional rights vindicated, who want to marry the people that they love. and, you know, in some way, it was frustrating that they weren't addressing really the equal protection constitutional issues more than just trying to figure out oh, how can we keep it in the public debate. at a time constitution doesn't put our rights up to a public vote. >> how about the religiousty side of this? was there a lot of talk about may faith or my church? i am against it because i believe it the bible says it's wrong? was religion a factor? >> you know, surprisingly not at all. >> good. >> no. yeah. i have to say really relatively well-behaved. >> you mean he didn't come up with beastiality or the crap he

comes up with? >> the stuff he said in the past, some of the cases of gay rights he has before. >> his son is a catholic priest. he is extremely involved in the politico aspects of the catholic church. >> bill: yes. on the religion we had our guest in studio monday bishop gene robinson from new hampshire. i know he was at the court yesterday? >> yeah. >> great guy. he has written a wonderful new book called "god believes in love" making the case for marriage equality. and the reason i want to ask about the religion thing is that he points out in this book, too many people get hung up on my church believes this or my faith tells me this. he said, you know, marriage is really, it's a civil institution. it's a state institution, and even the role the priest has to

sign a marriage certificate saying, i am here representing the state. and i approve this. right? >> right. >> otherwise, there would be no marriage. so the church really has nothing to do with the institution, itself, with the right to marry. so if you are talking about what the government and what the state can do there is no ways, it seems to me, you can justify discrimination for the sake to did i have -- the state to discriminate for any reason whatsoever. whatever your faith says is totally beside the point. we are still struggling here to get the lights back on for you. but meanwhile, we've got, you know two great guests in studio. karl fisht frisch. and elizabeth widra. we can be back on the "full-court press" this wednesday morning. >> the troops love me.

(vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

(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. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

[ music ] intimates back at 12 minutes before the top of the hour on a wednesday morning. we are here in the "full-court press" coming to you life from our nation's capitol and our studio on capitol hill where we are sitting in the dark. like the republicans on the budget or scalia on marriage equality. >> here as a friend of bill, elizabeth widra, chief constitutionconstit counsel, we are not kidding.

a lot of people think we are in the dark every day on most issues. but we are literally in what we have found out during the break is that, somewhere in a manhole near here on capitol hill somebody cut a feeder line. so the entire is without power. losing pour in our t.v. studio a radio studio, never happened to me in my broadcasting career. this is a first, i want you to know. >> i could have come in my pajamas. no one would know. >> bill: next time. >> i know that you've probably tweeted out some photos of us sitting here in the dark already. peter has. >> peter has >> bill: if you don't believe it, check our twitter account at bp show or karl rove -- i keep saying that. i think that's why this happened. >> that's why it happened. you say karl rove's name three times. >> i have tweeted it as well. follow me at karlfrisch.

>> and elizabeth at elizabeth ww elizabethwira. >> you are going back to the court today? >> absolutely. >> today, same issue, marriage equality but from the angle of the defense of marriage act. so, what do you anticipate today, and how are the arguments different. >> today will be interesting because we have added gloss in the doma case of federalism. the second defense of marriage act defines for federal programs and benefits that marriage will be defined between a man and a woman. so even in states where same-sex couples can legally get married? >> the federal government doesn't recognize their status, which is kind of crazy. i mean first of all, obviously it violates equal protection clause of the constitution. but there is also an argument

made by actually some conservative scholars that this violates state's rights because marriage is something that has traditionally been dealt with. >> somebody from the left and the right? >> exactly. >> that's why we have seen not only former president bill clinton but many prominent republicans petition the court to overturn doma or the defense of marriage. >> there was a joint amicus brief with cato. >> really? >> actually, we find on the foundation with cato as well because there is a synergy between libertarians and the progressives's promise of the constitution. it's about liberty. it's about pursuing happiness. part of that, a big part of that, is being able to marry the person whom you love. >> what i find striking the last

few days is the politicians are falling -- karl, you mentioned when you were 18, you would never have believed you would see this day but politicians are falling over to get on the right side of this issue. claire mccaskill, rob portman, obviously, jay rockefeller. and four years ago, neither hillary clinton nor barack obama supported marriage equality. today, they both do. so does bill clinton. >> and jimmie carter. >> when they were running away from it as recently as a year ago, now, it's like this is the issue. you have to be on board. >> do you think that has an impact on the court? >> if you would asked me that two days ago, i would have said i didn't but it was kind of surreal going into the court yesterday from this, you know, news of, you know, now almost

60% of americans support legalizing marriage equality across the country. and then you get into court and these justices are, you know, talking about it like it's a new-fangled thing. and you kind of lost that momentum when you walked in the courtroom when they are talking about, oh, well, gosh. we don't know. social science. get on board with the rest. >> that's interesting, that point, because anthony kennedy, karl, raised, i thought, a very very important issue when he said: let's talk about the children of these same-sex couples. their wellbeing, and they want their mom and dad or mom and mom or mom and dad and dad to be able to get married and they are a factor in this. >> absolutely. i had on sunday afternoon, i had lunch with spencer and slopt perry, the twinsons of the

lesbian couple. they just want their family to be recognized like everybody else's family. and i have to tell you that the perry family they have been together for decades now. and for all intents and purposes, their marriage looks better than my parents' marriage. theirs isn't recognized. >> we will be back here on the "full-court press" coming to you live from our nation's capitol with karl frisch and elizabeth widra. we will be right back. [ music ]

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.

>> bill: here we are on the "full-court press" this wednesday morning, for what it's worth. karl frisch we will never forget who turned the lights out. he liz beth, great to see you on this historic day default. we want to get you back on any issues you are working on we are going to sign off live now. there will be a tape for all of our local progressive talk radio stations for the next hour and on current tv they will be running vanguard documentaries for the next hour. we hope to have the power back. i don't want to sit here in the dark again tomorrow. we are counting on pepco to figure out where the problem is and to get us fixed back up again. thank you for bearing with us.

never happened to me before. but a historic day. we will remember. have a great day folks. we will see you back here with full power tomorrow.

>> shot in the head. >> where did the guns come from that you use? [ music ]

>> this looks and feels like a war zone. military tactics and heavy weaponry being used in places like iraq and afghanistan. we are, in fact only five minutes away from el paso texas and juarez mexico battling drug cartels in what is widely considered the most dangerous city in the world. >> special forces have come in as you can see. the cartel is still heavily armed. the military needs everything they've got to go up against

these guys. >> even with the army deployed to many of the major cities in mexico, the violence has only intensified. at issue are drug might have smuggling corridors into the united states being viciously fought over by the car tells. in the past four years, more than 47,000 people have been killed in mexico. in what you arejuarez, alone, it's not uncommon to have a dozen execution style killings in a day ending it the infamous name murder city. ier . >> to report this story, we in

enlisted a security firm that protects doctors supervisors and journalists. with miguel in the chase car, we rode along for the night with the juarez team. >> it looks like it's a male and a female. and the bodies are lininge lying in the street. it looks like execution style. >> the victims were shot at close range with ar-15 assault rivals while attempting to flee their cars during a targeted killing. >> looks like the entire back seat was literally flooded with blood. >> the csi team gathers evidence, most of them wear masks to hide their identity.

investigating crime in juarez is dangerous business. >> do you ever fear for your life? >> yes. every day,t. >> at the morgue, the gunshot victims come in one after another. the latest victim is a 35-year-old male shot over a dozen times with an assault rival. >> just riddled with bullets, all over both arms chest and his legs. looks like he got sprayed. >> in our first day in mexico, we witnessed the unrelenting brutal killing that has become a normal part of life here it wasn't until we saw the bodies

stacked to the ceiling in the freezer and the morgue with the vie rents terrorizing this will country. >> drip being blood. >> they are overwhelmed. coming up, we meet a man who makes his living killing for the cartel. >> 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.

[ male announcer ] it's red lobster's lobsterfest our largest selection of lobster entrees like lobster lover's dream or new grilled lobster and lobster tacos. come in now and sea food differently. now, buy one lobsterfest entree and get one 1/2 off with a coupon at redlobster.com. [clucking]. everyone wants to be the cadbury bunny. cause only he brings delicious cadbury crème eggs, while others may keep trying. nobunny knows easter better than cadbury! (vo)the violent drug war has turned the streets in many of mexico's cities into virtual police the violent drug war has turned the streets of many of mexico cities into virtual police states.

young people and even the elderly, as drug smugglers and arms traffickers. in the eyes of the authorities everyone is a suspect. >>man, we are going really fast. (vo)traveling at speeds of seventy to eighty miles an hour, through narrow streets and along dirt roads, the police move from one crime scene to the next chasing what seems like a never-ending body count. >>we weren't here for fifteen seconds when the police got another call that another shooting has occurred. (vo)we spent the entire night driving from one murder scene to another. the next morning we arrived at this one. a young woman shot with both an ak 47 and a 9mm pistol, while attending the funeral service of

her brother, who himself was shot just a few days before. >>this one looks particularly gruesome. you can see the ballistic teams right now counting the number of shell casings that were found at the scene. from here i can count up to 27. (vo)at most crime scenes in juarez, it's impossible to get anyone to talk about what they saw. the hit men are known to remain in the area, watching everything that goes on, making sure the victims are dead, and that no one is talking with the authorities. today, though, two elderly women wanted to talk to us. they're fed up, they said, with the violence that is terrorizing their neighborhood.

(vo)we followed the csi team back to the lab where investigators looked at the evidence from the murder of the woman shot 27 times outside her brother's funeral.

(vo)wanting to learn more about who was actually carrying out these brutal murders, we arranged to meet with a contract killer from la linea, a brutal gang used by the juarez cartel to carry out targeted hits on their rivals. >>how are we going to go about meeting this guy? (vo)miguel hid his people around the parking structure where the meeting was to take place, just in case, something went wrong. >>is it cool being right here? (vo)the hit man agreed to talk to us for just fifteen minutes, and covered his face to protect his identity. we met out the open, careful to stay within sight of miguel's bodyguards and in range of their weapons. >>are you armed right now? >>how many people do you think that you've killed? >>fifteen persons >>how old were you the first time you killed somebody?

(vo)there is an unlimited supply of poor young men in mexico like this one, willing to work and kill for the cartels. >>that's about two hundred dollars. wow. that's not a whole lot of money. >>do you have any regrets about what you do? >>why have you agreed to talk to us? (vo)the hit man misunderstood my question and thought that i was implying he might have some reason not to trust us. (vo)the mood turned quickly

>>so you think we should leave? >>uhh, yeah. (vo)and miguel insisted it was time to end the interview. >>the question on our mind is, is that guy fine with the way this whole thing went? >>miguel, how do you think that whole thing went? were you nervous at all during the interview? (vo)as we drove away from the interview, eerily, almost immediately, we came upon another murder on the streets of juarez. >>looks like a typical hit. the guy was shot while driving. >>what do you think happened? >>oh this is normal for juarez. this is the same scene, only

change the bodies. (vo)had miguel looked through the lens of our camera, he would have recognized that this was not just another one of the killings he sees everyday. the victim was, in fact, his cousin mario, an american supervisor in a factory in juarez. he was killed in either a kidnapping attempt, or carjacking, gone tragically wrong. (vo)miguel learned of mario's death the following morning when he saw the photos in the newspaper >>i just can't believe that we were there last night filming this and we had no idea.

>>is this the first time you've cried about a death in this city? >>yeah. yeah. (vo)coming up, we see for ourselves where the seemingly endless supply of drug cartel foot soldiers is coming from. (vo)and we find out how they're getting their weapons. i think the number one thing 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.

[ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit. i honestly loved smoking and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. it put me at ease that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood hostility, agitation depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. tell your doctor if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems or if you develop new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. with chantix and with the support system it worked for me. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you.

the chill of peppermint. the rich dark chocolate. york peppermint pattie get the sensation. your vacuum doesn't always pick up what's left behind. only the resolve easy clean system has foam power to remove three times more dirt than vacuuming alone. don't just vacuum clean. resolve clean.

(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 (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. (vo)until a few years ago, juarez, mexico was a thriving border town. when the north american free trade agreement took effect in the early 1990s, huge multi national corporations built factories all over town. workers flooded in by the thousands. >>as a gateway to the world of possibilities.

(vo)juarez was a city on the rise. >>ciudad juarez opens its arms to men and woman who come in search of opportunities. (vo)but after the economic downturn in the u.s. in 2001, more than 100,000 people in juarez lost their jobs. even more jobs were lost in 2006, when more than ten thousand companies shuttered their doors after the drug war violence erupted. once a bustling tourist destination for americans, today downtown juarez is a virtual ghost town. we went to see the man charged with pulling juarez back from the brink of collapse, mayor hector murguia. i wanted to ask him what he thought about the violence drugs, and guns that have turned his city into the murder capital of the world.

(vo)to see where the drug cartels are finding so many young men willing to fight and die for them, we headed deep into the teeming colonias around juarez, where young men find themselves with virtually no opportunities for work at all and a temptation to join the criminal gangs rising up all around them. >>what is it about growing up here that makes joining the cartels so attractive to young kids here? >>no work. no park. things for the kids to get interested in something.

(vo)ruth rodriguez is a former gang member who lives in colonia panfilo natera, one of the poorest and roughest neighborhoods in juarez, home to the azteca street gang, foot soldiers for the juarez drug cartel. >>wow, and that's somebody's home right there? >>yes. >>a lot of the kids live and they grow up in houses like this? >>yes sir. i can say about 75%. >>so how long have you lived here? >>like, nine months. he's been living here nine months. >>the place is about 100 square feet. it sleeps a family of four. all the walls have been made out of scraps of wood, and as you can see there's not really a floor. this would be a very difficult place to live. do you ever worry about your baby? >>you're scared that an animal is going to get to the baby. jesus. >>and as it's raining, you can see it's already starting to

leak a little bit. a makeshift bathroom that's just, literally, a toilet in the ground surrounded by rugs. these shacks have no running water? >>no, no. >>and this is how most of the kids grow up? >>oh, almost all of them. yeah almost all of them. >>como estas? bien. good to see you. (vo)we met ruth's son juan hanging out with his friends on the streets of the colonia. none of them go to school or have a job. >>when the cartel offer money to do jobs for them is that tempting? >>you're that desperate for money? (vo)away from his mother, juan and his friends showed off the guns they have to protect themselves from rival gangs. >>is it difficult to get a gun? >>no, no. >>where do you guys see yourself in five years from now?

>>is that what you aspire to? you want to be in the big leagues of the cartel? (vo)as juan moves even closer to a life of crime, ruth worries that her influence on him is waning. she says that her rules at home are no match for the rewards offered by the drug cartels on the streets. (vo)as we walked together through the neighborhood, ruth noticed a van filled with kids from a rival gang driving slowly in reverse with the sliding door open. the van was headed straight for juan and his friends standing across the street. (vo)the kids in the backseat of

the van were armed. were ruth not there to talk them down, somebody would likely have gotten shot. >>it's my kid, oh, that's hard. >>what's your biggest fear? >>seeing him on tv. getting shot or something. that will be hardest thing. yeah. (vo)coming up... poverty and lack of opportunity may help explain why so many young men are willing to join and die for the drug cartels but in a country with some of the strictest gun laws in the world, where exactly are these criminal organizations getting their guns?

dude, i need your help fast. well, clearasil's fast. yeah, but is it this fast? faster! how about this fast? clearasil's faster! this fast?? faster!! woh! that is fast! fix breakouts fast with clearasil ultra. it starts working instantly, sending the max amount of medicine allowed deep into your pores for visibly clearer skin in as little as 12 hours. yeah, it's fast. clearasil, the science of clear skin.

(vo)as the drug war has intensified over the last few years in juarez, mexico, the daily executions have become more gruesome. the juarez and sinaloa cartels use horrific violence to demonstrate their ruthlessness and power to each other and to the population at large. the photos from the crime scenes

run uncensored in the daily papers. >>every page it's more and more bodies of people that have been killed. that's what consumes this entire paper. bodies, bodies, bodies, bodies. (vo)in this morning paper, depicted in gory detail were 27 murders, committed the night before. (vo)many of them were killed in a brazen attack on the juarez prison where thousands of criminal gang members are housed. in the surveillance footage from the attack, the prison guards can be seen vacating their posts allowing a group of men, all armed with high powered assault rifles, to enter the facility and open fire on a room full of members from a rival gang. (vo)we arrived at the prison to find relatives of inmates gathered outside the gates desperate to find out if their loved ones were on the list of those who had perished in the

attack the night before. (vo)the families were demanding answers from the authorities about how armed gang members were able to infiltrate the prison so easily and massacre so many. (vo)later that day, the mayor's spokesperson addressed the media. the prison attack had renewed criticism about the easy accessibility of assault rifles among criminal gangs in mexico.

>>and do you believe they came from the united states? (vo)in the state capital of chihuahua city, officers with the mexican army showed us the weapons that their men have seized. from crime scenes like the one at the prison. >>if you look in here these are all ak47 clips. this is another popular variant of the ak47, that's coming through into mexico because it's small and compact. you get a lot of bang for your buck. you can hide it in your coat really easily or on your side. (vo)the vault contains more than 10,000 guns and over 150,000 rounds of ammunition, all seized in the last few years in just one small area along the border with the united states.

>>guns are illegal in mexico right? >>so most of these were american? (vo)some estimates put the number of guns flowing into mexico from the u.s. at 2000 a day. it's a staggering figure given that there are only six thousand legally registered firearms in all of mexico. (vo)coming up, we go undercover at a gun show and discover how easy it is to legally buy high-powered assault weapons in the united states with no questions asked.

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.

(vo)mexico is being torn apart by a brutal drug war as rival cartels are locked in a battle for dominance over the lucrative united states drug market. and to keep the drugs flowing north, the guns must flow south. (vo)to find out more about american guns in mexico we traveled to washington to meet agent charles houser of the united states bureau of alcohol, tasked, with policing gun trafficking. >>it's commonly thrown around that 90% of the guns that seized in mexico were originally from the united states. >>i can move that number around a little bit. i can get it maybe down to 85% or up to 93%.

does it really matter when last year, 30,000 guns were recovered in mexico that we know came from the united states? >>so we're just now leaving el paso, and just a short walk over the border here, over this bridge is juarez, mexico, one of the most dangerous cities in the world. from the united states come not in large shipments that are at risk of being intercepted, but with individuals who, like us, are rarely searched crossing over into mexico. >>we're all carrying bags, and as you can see we are walking across now and nobody checks. border successfully with all of this ammunition hidden in a shopping cart. she was only stopped when a police officer noticed her

unable to lift the heavy cart onto a city bus. she had covered the bullets with can goods in a crude effort to hide the contents inside. >>right here we've got ammunition for an ak47. this is definitely illegal in mexico but legal in the united states. >>from what we understand you're an american citizen? >>have you done this before? >>no >>did you buy all of this in the u.s.? >>pretty typical. she's poor. she has two kids and was looking to make a little extra cash acting as a mule getting this stuff across. >>okay, this is your typical ak 47 long gun. (vo)in the el paso office of the u.s. firearms, agent robert champion showed us some of the weapons and ammunition that his team has seized on its way to the border with mexico. >>this the american version of ar 15 type firearm. >>this is what the cartel is

really liking right now? >>yes. >>this is a 50 cal, belt fed 50 cal. it was attempted to be smuggled into mexico before we intercepted it. >>you can buy this legally in the u.s.? >>yes. >>what is this used for? >>i mean, i think this is what they're using to a certain extent in iraq or afghanistan. >>and how difficult is it for to purchase these guns in the united states? >>go to a gun show without any paperwork and purchase these guns, as many as you want. gun show loophole. at gun shows along the border, unlicensed individuals are allowed to sell guns, including assault weapons without performing a background check or filling out any paperwork. to understand how the gun show loophole works we went to meet rick bolanos, a gun collector who lives on the us side of the border near el paso, texas. rick served in vietnam with his four mexican american brothers and earned a purple heart when

he was shot in the stomach with an ak 47. >>we live right across the border from ciudad juarez. all you have to do is look at the news every day. twenty people dead. fifty people dead. those weapons are coming from here. (vo)rick took us to a gun show a few minutes from juarez mexico, on the u.s. side of the border. >>the ironic thing about it is these same drug smugglers will use those weapons that they purchased in the united states against our border agents, against our ice agents, so we're being killed by our own weapons. and i'm going to show you how easy it is to purchase weapons there. >>okay. so we're gonna time ourselves, give ourselves one hour and see how many weapons we can walk out with. >>absolutely, without going through a criminal background check, without having to show identification, without answering any questions other than 'here's the cash.' re outfitted with hidden cameras.

the licensed dealers at the gun show are required by law to conduct background checks before selling guns and most of them do. but the law allows unlicensed individuals to sell assault weapons from private collections right along side the licensed dealers. these unlicensed individuals are not required to run a background check or fill out any paperwork. (vo)after we told him that we would probably not pass a background check, the private seller sold rick two ar-15 assault rifles. over the course of the next 30 minutes, rick purchased one high-powered assault rifle after

another without ever being asked for id or filling out any paperwork that would allow the guns to be traced back to him. as we were preparing to leave the gun show, we were approached by two men speaking spanish and driving a car with mexican license plates. (vo)back at his house, rick unloaded the weapons he bought at the gun show, enough firepower to arm a small gang. >>7.62 all of the nato soldiers use them. another bushmaster, with a scope. looks like it's pretty much unused.

real popular with drug runners in mexico. these are the types of weapons that they see down south. and 40 minutes would be stretching it. you know? really the time it took us to get in there and purchase these weapons probably totaled about 30 minutes. >>and it was all perfectly legal? >>it was all perfectly legal. >>why did you want to show me all this? >>truthfully, what i want to do is i want to wake america up. i want to wake america up to the fact that people are dying over there in mexico needlessly, ya know. i want them to show them some compassion. we can't stand by and let 45, 50,000 people get killed. 17. 20. 25. 30 people just because we don't want to close up our gun laws. (vo)back in juarez, no one knows better what the effect has been of guns flooding onto the streets of mexico, than our guide, and bodyguard miguel macias.

we went with miguel to the funeral of his cousin mario, whose crime scene we filmed the night he was murdered. endment freedom could ever curtail mexico's drug cartels. (vo)the nra and gun control advocates square off on gun trafficking.

you up and keep you moving, whatever your moves. payday. fill up and go! i can't stand these spots. those spots are actually leftover food and detergent residue that can redeposit on your dishware during the rinse cycle. gross. jet-dry rinse agent helps wash them away so the only thing left behind is the shine. jet-dry rinses away residues for a sparkling shine.

(vo) current tv gets the 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.

>>about 10 feet in front of me is a guy laying in the street. he's been shot in the head. whoever shot him was riding a bicycle then ditched his bike right here. no one know exactly where he is, who he is. the only thing that's clear is that this guy is in the street dead. >>members of congress, his excellency, the president of mexico. (vo)as the death toll in the drug war rises, president felipe calderon has put pressure on the united states to help. >>there is one issue where mexico needs your cooperation and that is stopping the flow of assault weapons and other deadly arms across the border. controversial new regulation

for gun dealers operating in u.s. border states. >>mexico can count on the united states as a full partner in this effort. (vo)the new regulation strongly opposed by the gun lobby, requires that the over 7,000 gun shops along the border report multiple sales of assault rifles and shotguns to the atf. that does not make me a bad person. it's just basic business. t rifles in el paso, texas. >>it's what keeps america free today, is that right there. n. >>since 1776 they said, 'hey you have the right to keep and bear arms.' you know, that's no government intervention. they didn't say anything about filling out any paperwork or anything like that. >>does it concern you at all that so many people are being killed in mexico by american guns? >>you feel bad, you know, as a person because somebody got killed and stuff like that

but... >>but that wouldn't stop you from selling these guns? >>no. >>no. why? >>it's america, why not? wisconsin, a state with some of the least restrictive gun laws in the country, where it is not uncommon to see people packing a pistol on their hip at dinner in a restaurant or as they shop for supplies at the local hardware store. we went to an open carry gun picnic, where families enjoy a cookout by the lake, while packing heat. the picnic's host, john layman, was eager to show us his expanding arsenal. >>79 rounds in a clip. >>what do you have that for? >>because i can. >>are you concerned that obama's gonna take your guns away? >>absolutely, absolutely. and constitutionally we have the

right to carry all of this any time we want and where we want. >>you know they're finding a lot of ak variants in mexico and this is one of the ones they're concerned about being trafficked around. >>well that's a problem in mexico not in the u.s. >>yeah, but they're using guns that are coming from the u.s. >>but then they're-- well then why aren't we securing the borders to stop it. uld condemn this unprecedented attempt to exploit another country's crisis to advance a gun ban here in the united states of america. (vo)with a revenue of over 250 million dollars a year, the nra is the strongest force for shaping u.s. gun laws. >>i mean like most americans, i reject the premise that diminishing our second amendment rights could ever curtail mexico's drug cartels. e talking about

interdicting these guns before they get into the hands of these vicious cartel criminals in mexico, and they're talking about the inconvenience of a form. (vo)dennis henigan is the acting president of the brady campaign to prevent gun violence. he says the nra has worked tirelessly to weaken the u.s. bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms, the agency tasked with enforcing gun laws. >>this is an agency that has lived in mortal fear of its own destruction for literally decades, because the dark cloud of the nra is always hovering close by. an agency that under tremendous pressure to do something about this gun trafficking, but doesn't have the legal tools to really do it effectively. (vo)over the last four decades, the nra has wielded remarkable influence over congress, persuading lawmakers to curb the atf's budget. >>my problem also is resources. my agency has been at the same amount of manpower since 1972.

>>same number of men since 1972? same, like... >>we haven't had a director in over six years. >>why hasn't the atf had an active director in over six years? >>uh, it hasn't been confirmed by congress. >>why do you think that is? >>that's some political areas that i'm not allowed to go into. ficking investigation, code named fast and furious, made national news and emboldened the agency's critics. >>an agent with the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms claims the agency has a policy that is actually putting guns in the cartel's hands. (vo)as part of the fast and furious investigation, atf agents in phoenix allowed suspected smugglers to purchase weapons in hopes of tracking them to the cartel buyers, only they lost track of the guns allowing thousands of assault rifles to make their way across the border into the hands of the drug cartels.

(vo)at the open carry picnic in wisconsin, the atf's fast and furious operation was the major topic of conversation. >>the atf is arming those people down in mexico, according to what i've been seeing on the news. so, maybe the atf should put stricter gun control on themselves and leave us, the united states citizens, alone. f different people. some of them believe that, you know, the atf is basically now arming the cartel, you know, because of fast and furious. how would you respond to that? >>that's just a small percentage of all the firearms that were being recovered right now in mexico. >>like if you had to put a guess on the percentage what do you think it would be? >>oh. can i? can i? >>no. no. >>i can't speak on this? >>we're not speaking on the percentage. >>any misstep we take, it's always pounced on. we've got a target on our backs. we always have.

g war rages on in mexico, firearms continue to flow across the border, and the body count continues to rise. >>so we're currently back at the csi headquarters where they're unloading the latest victim of gun violence in a seemingly endless drug war that has claimed the lives of more than 47,000 people in the past four years.

[ male announcer ] it's red lobster's lobsterfest our largest selection of lobster entrees like lobster lover's dream or new grilled lobster and lobster tacos. come in now and sea food differently. now, buy one lobsterfest entree and get one 1/2 off with a coupon at redlobster.com. your vacuum doesn't always pick up what's left behind. only the resolve easy clean system has foam power to remove three times more dirt than vacuuming alone. don't just vacuum clean. resolve clean.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> stephanie: all right. good morning. welcome current tv land. jacki schechner is having a morning. what's going on? >> everybody is having a morning. >> stephanie: jim's excuse for being late is gastrointestinal distress. yours involves a smoke alarm. >> i'm not sure how it knows how to go off at quarter to 5:00 as i'm leaving the house. >> stephanie: she still has no makeup on. >> you are beautiful holy cow. >> you're very sweet. >> you should go