[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning friends and neighbors. it is tuesday may 21. good to see you today. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. where there is news on a lot of fronts and news that you're going to want to talk about. we want to hear from you on the phone at 1-866-55-press. on twitter at bpshow. on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. become our friend on facebook. yes, news on many different

fronts but the weather takes first priority this morning. it overshadows everything else, a massive mile-wide killer tornado strikings oklahoma yesterday killing dozens of people including 20 children. this morning rescue crews still digging through the rubble. residents digging through what's left of their homes. it is just a horrific scene. we'll bring you word from the scene in oklahoma and a word from the weather service. back here in the capital, it turns out the department of justice spying on yet another reporter seizing his e-mails and branding him a criminal co-conspirator for a story he was writing. and that man is james rosen of fox news. we wouldn't tolerate that kind of spying on the media on the part of george w. bush or dick cheney, why should we tolerate it from barack obama? and the white house now admits they found out about the i.r.s.

on april 24 but didn't tell the president until may 10 what's going on. you'll find out on current tv. 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out >> 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. when i first felt the diabetic nerve pain, of course i had no idea what it was. i felt like my feet were going to sleep. it progressed from there to burning... to like 1,000 bees that were just stinging my feet. [ female announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone.

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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'm given to doing anyway, by 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. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war room. >> these republicans in congress that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. 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? >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: well, forget the tea party groups. it turns out the biggest tax cheat of all is apple. i still got my iphone. big hearing on that today on the hill. good morning everybody. what do you say? here we are on a tuesday. tuesday, may 21. it is the "full court press." coming to you live on your local

progressive talk radio station. coming to you live on sirius x.m. this hour only and coming to you live all three of the next hours right here on current tv. good to have you with us. whether you're listening or watching, what a morning. what a lot to talk about. and what a horrific, horrible scene out in moore oklahoma. just outside of oklahoma city with that killer tornado that whipped through there yesterday afternoon. we'll have lots of reports on that this morning. good to see you today. hope you're doing well wherever you happen to be and thank you for joining us here for our little kaleidoscope of the news of the day. and your chance to comment on all of the above at 1-866-55-press. our toll free number. you can also follow us. we invite you to follow us on twitter at bpshow. don't forget, i tweet every day from the white house briefings. my own thoughts on what's going

on there and my candid comments on what jay carney is saying or what different reporters are asking. and you can follow us and please please, be our friend on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. entire team here this morning peter ogborn and dan henning both. good morning. >> good morning. >> happy tuesday. >> bill: with alichia cruz on the phones and cyprian bowlding keeping us look good on current tv on the video cams. cyprian gets a big wave this morning. thank you, all. so this weekend, memorial day weekend, of course. everybody is getting ready for it, including tiger. tiger's got his big -- what's it? the at&t -- >> at&t national out at congressional country club. in town. getting things ready. the big question was whether or not he might want to kiss and make up with sergio garcia. by the way so what's that spat

all about? >> it goes back. they just don't like each other. they don't like each o'er style. >> bill: have to do with elean nordegren? >> never a woman. >> bill: that's never certain when you're talking about tiger woods but they really don't like each other. question is are they going to kiss and make up this weekend? >> has there ever been any thought of contacting him and saying let's chill. we don't need to be going back and forth like this anymore? >> no. [ laughter ] >> all righty. >> bill: i guess that answers that. sometimes you wish like barack obama would give answers like that at news conferences instead of talking for 15 minutes. you know. yeah, all right, move on. if he ever did if the president, any president just answered a question -- yes next

question. >> in the debate with joe biden. they asked him about aren't you aware of your reputation of giving long-winded answers, do you think that's going to be a problem? and he just said no. shortest answer joe biden ever gave. >> bill: we have so many guests this morning i can't tell you. we've got to covered. igor volsky will be here as he is every tuesday. we'll beat the man who will beat michele bachmann. you definitely want to meet him jim graves. we'll hear from the weather service to bring us up to date on what's happening out in moore, oklahoma. reporters from "huffington post" and politico and let's -- legislative counsel from the aclu about the obama's fascination with leaks. one, two three four, six guest tuesday here on the "full court press." but first...

>> this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this tuesday seth mcfar lane officially announced he will not host the oscars again next year. the producers of this year's controversial broadcast have signed on for another and they were rumored to have asked the family guy creator to come back but he said yesterday his schedule will not allow it. he won't do it. they need to look for someone else. >> bill: was he invited? >> rumors were that he wanted him back. >> not so sure about that. >> bill: exactly. big question there. he was sort of saying i won't do it before he got the nod. >> andrew cuomo is threatening to sue one of the kardashian sisters. cuomo's administration is going after a clothing company backed by cloweee kardashian for selling a t-shirt with a logo that resembles the one used by the new york department of agriculture. it is a cease and desist letter

saying the state spent substantial time, effort and resources creating the respect and goodwill associated with their trademark logo and that kardashian needs to stop using anything close to its likens. >> bill: i know. kardashians. they're like pigpen where that dark cloud over them with everything they try. >> los angeles dodgers outfielder matt kemp made a pledge on twitter last night to help tornado victims in oklahoma. his hometown of midwest city, oklahoma, was hit hard by the storm. he says he will donate $1,000 to the victims for every home run he hits from now through the all-star break includes the one he hit last night against the brewers. >> bill: good for him. i think it ought to be more than $1,000 but still. yes, indeed. let's start. more oklahoma. it raises a lot of interesting questions. first, i don't know about you. watching that scene last night it was just -- it was hard to watch. just horrific.

the level of destruction unbelievable. hard to fathom being in the middle of that. hard to fathom being there when it hit and have it hit through your hometown the way it did. particularly the scenes of the school. the one gymnasium where the tornado went right through the middle of it. the businesses ripped apart. cars just picked up like beanbags and thrown all over the place. homes leveled businesses leveled. movie theatre leveled. two schools hit. it was just unbelievable. and you know sifting through that and watching them that the death toll was going to be high as of now. and you're sure it's going to go higher. there are 51 known dead including 20 little school children. but rick smith from the weather service tells us it could have been a lot worse if it were not for the tornado warnings.

>> the tornado warning itself came out nearly 20 minutes before the tornado ever formed west of moore. so that gave people -- most heavily damaged parts of moore most likely had more than 30 minutes of warning. >> bill: 30 minutes of warning, people will -- for the most part, didn't know it was coming. could take precautions. could get to the safest place that they could. but again the video of this. this thing was -- they're saying a mile wide. maybe a little over a mile wide. winds up to 200 miles per hour. i heard from one report last night, by the way, that moore oklahoma is where the -- what do you call? the heaviest or the fastest tornado ever recorded which were 300 miles per hour a dozen years ago or so. so this is tornado alley man. this is the tornado belt. rick smith also points out that this one though is almost as bad

as they ever get. >> the devastation is just incredible. we know already that on a scale from zero to five, this is a four. an ef-4 on the scale. >> bill: governor of oklahoma, mary fallon who toured the scene of one of the elementary schools yesterday, she said right away, they were getting -- they were on top of it. they were getting the help that they needed. >> the president has called me. he has offered to do anything he can to help with red tape, help with the federal entities. we actually have someone from fema that had arrived yesterday. >> bill: fema is already on the scene. president obama has signed the emergency declaration providing federal help. has already signed it last night providing help to the residents of oklahoma. and the governor says we know how to do this. we are strong. we've been through these before.

and we will recover. >> volunteering our time, getting our resources out. we know how to handle massive disasters like this. >> bill: so our hearts certainly go out to those poor people struck by the tornado. just watching the interviews with the families who had lost everything. this one woman she had her two kids with her, that was the most important and she -- her husband on the phone told her get in the bathtub. she climbs in the bathtub on top of the two kids with a mattress over them and saved their lives. story after story after story about that. just can't imagine. >> it is brutal. you see some of the pictures that are coming out of, you know, where it hit the school. you see the teachers coming out and carrying school children and teachers are clearly injured. there's one picture out there of

a woman who is a teacher carrying a couple of kids. she's bloodied. her eye is swollen shut. it is a powerful reminder that teachers are the first responders in a lot of situations. >> bill: absolutely. there wasn't time for the parents -- wasn't time -- last thing was wanted was to get them on school buses and have them out there. they had to get them in the safest place of the school. there isn't time for the parents to take the kids and take them home to a shelter they might have had. so you know, everybody is just outpouring of help to the people of oklahoma as there should be. any part of the country that suffers a loss like this. we all believe that, don't we. we all believe that. here's the rub okay. we gotta put it out there. here's the rub. everybody believes that except the two republican senators from the state of oklahoma. tom coburn and jim inhofe. these guys, both of them, both of them, voted against providing

aid to the victims of hurricane sandy. now, of course, they do want aid for the victims of moore oklahoma. and those people should get the help. but here's -- how long are we going to put up with these tea party types who rail against the federal government and then the first time they get in trouble put their hand out for the federal government? and we let them have it both ways and it businesses me off. why don't the people of new jersey and new york deserve the help as well as the people of oklahoma? of course they do! but tom coburn and jim inhofe, you know, all of these tea party types, federal government can't do anything. gotta shut down the federal government. we gotta cut the money out of fema. we can't just give out money to people who have been hit by a hurricane on the east coast. no, no no, no, no. we've gotta stop doing that, right? and they vote against everything

until they get hit and then they want fema there and they want the federal check and all of the help they can get right from the beginning. coburn even said last night okay i'll allow help to oklahoma as long as it's cut from somewhere else. cut medicare, cut social security. cut medicaid. cut headstart. cut food stamps, right? in order to provide some help for my state of oklahoma. these hypocrites who want it both ways. it is about time that we stop tolerating them. i'm not saying don't send money to oklahoma but i'm tempted to say that but i will say this, the people of oklahoma deserve it so did the people of new york and new jersey, damn it. chris christie saw that, good for him. and i think mary fallin sees that too. i'm sick and tired of the tea partiers who want it both ways. coburn and inhofe are among the

worst. i think the people who vote for these tea parties have got to start to realize that they're hypocrites. they're double talkers and they can't be trusted. what do we do about this? should we not send any money to oklahoma, punish the people of oklahoma because of tom coburn and jim inhofe? i don't think so. but it's tempting, isn't it? 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv. this is the "bill press show." (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers >>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.

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey you go go go -- got it! we're talking about oklahoma and the hypocrisy on the part of coburn and inhover. sending more money to fema. tom coburn said last year would have been -- would be unconscionable. that's what he called it. both of them voted against sandy relief saying it contained the bill to provide relief for the victims of hurricane sandy. contained wasteful spending. coburn objected to what he called billions of dollars for future disaster mitigation activities. and both of them opposed increased funding for fema when it looked like fema was going to run out of money. now they've got both hands out saying gimme gimme gimme! peter? >> we're on twitter at bpshow where nra hater says let inhofe

and coburn get on their knees and beg for federal help. kpt says tea party hypocrites in congress are the biggest thorn in america's side. and butch says give them hell, bill but no, we cannot all oklahomans for their stupid, elected officials. >> bill: i agree with that. i just wish -- i'm afraid the people of oklahoma would come to their senses and send some people here who have a little more common sense and decency when it comes for caring for all americans. mary is up in long island. hard hit by hurricane sandy. tom coburn doesn't care. hi mary. >> caller: good morning, bill. my hearts and prayers go out to the poor people in oklahoma. the republican party has been doing this for decades. a little at a time but the basis of their corporate donors, they're trying to privatize everything so what do they do? they belittle government.

they cut this and cut that and people aren't paying attention they'll vote for this because for some reason, it sounds good to compare your own household budget to federal budget. they're clueless! you cannot do that. first of all this is just the result that you get when you have so-called small government. the president says he's not interested in big government or small government. he's interested in smart government. >> bill: right. >> caller: if he left to do what he needs to do, he would have really smart people in charge of the e.p.a., fema. he would have adequate funding but no. they're hand stringing him in every which way you can imagine and then they turn around blame the government for being incompetent, you name it. >> bill: right. and, and they want all of the money they can get out of the government. i couldn't have said it better myself. you're on fire this morning. so am i. just to see the hypocrisy of these people. again, i don't want to punish

the people of oklahoma, damn it but they elected these goofballs. larry is calling from new briton connecticut. hi larry. >> caller: good morning, bill. i would like to add that jim inhofe is probably most widely known for his comments on climate change that climate change is a hoax. they ought to erect a statue with those words inscribed. >> bill: erected in moore oklahoma right? right in the path, right in the path of the hurricane. lots more calls here and sorry i couldn't get to you right away. maybe we'll get to you in the next half hour when we'll be joined by igor volsky from think progress for our tuesday visit. meanwhile, i'm sure president obama, despite the vote against him off everything else will give coburn and inhofe's

residents money. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern.

>> good morning. ♪ >> announcer: get social with bill press. like us at facebook.com/billpressshow. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: you don't know what day it is? just look up at your screen or listen in on your radio station and you'll see or hear igor volsky from think progress. you'll know it is tuesday. 33 minutes after the hour on a tuesday morning. may 21. good to see you and good to see you, igor. >> good morning. >> bill: everything okay at think progress? >> everything good at think progress. we, for the last couple of days,

we'll get to the tornado in a second. have been covering the amazing developments out of virginia. as you know, tom perriello the former congressman from virginia. a story that's near and dear to our hearts at think progress is the republican ticket in virginia for the governorship there. the attorney general position and the nominees they have are quite remarkable. >> bill: yes i think the republican party in virginia said let's get the two biggest wackos we can find and make them number one and number two. on the ticket. do not get farther -- you cannot get farther right than cush they cuccinelli. >> now that he's running for governor, it is shock being to me these guys that he put on the ticket make him look so moderate. it is really remarkable. >> bill: maybe that's why -- go et to virginia in a minute.

focus so far this morning rightfully so has been on oklahoma where we have utter devastation, horrific damage there, great shocking loss of life. president obama and fema is on the scene. president obama signed the declaration of federal assistance for oklahoma. but we've had a case where the two republican senators from oklahoma of course have voted against any effort to provide more funding for fema saying it is a waste of money. fema, a waste of money and they voted against any aid to the victims of hurricane sandy in new york and new jersey. but of course, now they have both hands out for help for the people of oklahoma responding to yesterday's killer tornado. peter, comments online? >> we're on twitter at bpshow. about inhofe and coburn. rob says sorry voters need to be held accountable for who they

elect. oklahoma is responsible for inhofe and coburn. and don says hate to say it but if you vote against something then that something happens to you and now want what you voted against, i'm sorry! so basically saying they made their bed. they need to lie in it. >> bill: i know. i'm a bleeding heart liberal all right so i could never agree with that but i certainly understand where people are coming from and again i'm tired of igor, skiing the tea party hypocrites and these are two of the biggest ones against everything -- the government can't do anything right. they cut funding from everything. every program supporting the middle class. when they need help -- >> i think someone should call peter king from new york to see what he has to say about this. he, of course, went on that crusade when you have the conservatives holding up the sandy aid saying how dare you go fundraise in new york city but you're not going to approve the

aid we desperately need. maybe i'll call peter later. but i think a lot of conservatives run up against this wall. you saw ted cruz when there was a fire, i believe in west texas now three four weeks -- the fertilizer plant fire in west texas, put put putting out more statements, asking for the federal government to help in that disaster. he, of course, voted against sandy and against any kind of government spending and if there's anything that these folks -- should all be on the same page that the federal government should play a role in, it is in coordinating this kind of disaster, it is in helping victims in this kind of disaster. >> bill: you would think that -- look, i might understand the wrong. they're dead wrong. but i might understand their coming and going after social security or going after medicare or going after medicaid or even food stamps or whatever, right. but fema, you would think everybody would agree for

natural disasters which can strike in many different forms hurricanes floods, earthquakes tornadoes, what am i forgetting? i don't know. tsunamis right? and strike anywhere. i mean almost every part -- an ice storm. you know. or brushfires. almost every part of the country has some vulnerability. some natural -- you would think everybody would agree this is one agency of the federal government we should keep well funded well equipped and we should all support. no! these idiot tea partiers won't support fema. >> this debate, it is not just the debate on the details of how we should structure the program should we have a voucher or not a voucher. these folks incidents like this highlight the fact that they don't want any federal government. they don't want the federal government to do anything. not that they want some -- >> bill: well, let them see

where they would be without the federal government. i do want to say, it is the governor's -- even the republican governors who don't go along with this. they're on the front lines. you look at chris christie and you look at mary fallin now in oklahoma. first thing she said last night i was watching the news. she said thank god fema's here. chris christie, the same thing. i'll bet you president obama will be on the ground with oklahoma governor. >> we should note under the fema leadership, it is a obviously a very different fema than what we saw under katrina but number two, it is entire -- its entire mission is geared around this collaboration between the federal government, local communities and private businesses. and it is within that kind of partnership that fema operates and works and helps in these disaster areas so it is not as if you have big government just pumping money. it is in coordination with local players, local businesses and doing everything they can.

>> bill: you know, i was just thinking, i don't even know the name of the head of fema today. we certainly -- >> it escapes me now too. >> bill: whoever it is, did a good job. on the job. let's talk about virginia because over the weekend the democrats have yet officially to choose their nominees. they'll do so next month in a state primary but the republican party does this in a way that invites disaster. they choose their nominees in florida through a convention and of course, you packed the convention with the crazies and you're going to get somebody like this crazy as your candidate for lieutenant-governor, bishop e. w. jackson. >> planned parenthood has been far more lethal to black lives than the kkk ever was. the democratic party and their black civil rights allies are partners in this genocide. the democrat party has equated homosexuality with being black

which is another outrageous lie. they could keep their homosexuality private. you and i cannot hide being black. >> bill: yes indeed. he went on to say equating homosexuality would be beastiality. but then he also said this doesn't mean i hate -- to be clear -- i love -- so it is the old thing of hate the sin, love the sinner. >> this is part of the rebranding, actually, that the republican party is doing with these guys. reaching out for the gay vote. for the women's vote. and really trying to broaden their coalition. >> bill: it shows the outreach of the republican party. the other thing that i wonder about is whatever happened to all of the republicans complaining about democrats and black churches, right? preachers, black preachers helping democrats and everything. i've heard -- how many times have i heard them say that the black churches should have

nothing to do with politics. and now they put in black preacher up on the ballot as their nominee for lieutenant-governor. >> this guy, you know, over the weekend, we try to put together this list of kind of the crazy iest e.w. jackson things and we really had to kind of cut it down and thought you know, if it is too long, i don't know if people are going to read it. he has been in virginia politics for some time. he ran for senate. previously. he had a pac that was designed specifically to help elect black conservative candidates. which is a mission within itself. but the pac spent very little on electing those black conservatives, maybe because it couldn't find enough. it gave money to eric cantor who is a conservative but is not black. and really took in a lot of money for consulting. consulting fees that went to

e.w. jackson. we looked briefly yesterday kind of the finances of this pac and the amount of money paid to that line his pockets versus the amount that went out to the candidates. the ratios is really staggering. be that as it may i mean you heard the clip there about gays and lesbians being very sick. being path logically and emotionally sick. the planned parenthood is worse than the kkk. apparently. that obama is -- has muslim sensibilities. that was kind of the first story that came out right after he was nominated, that obama has muslim sense icts. and the list really goes on and on. he had all of this legislation about -- that would protect the state from anti-christian

bigotry and hatred that's plaguing virginia. >> bill: what's going to be interesting is watching ken cuccinelli try to distance himself from e.wmplet jackson. now, in virginia, you can -- it is not -- you don't vote for the whole ticket, right? you vote for each office individually. so i'm sure at some point cuccinelli is going to have to say -- >> it's me, guys. forget him. >> quick updates. fema. the director is craig fugate and the white house has announced a couple of moments ago not surprisingly, they are sending craig fugate to oklahoma this morning. he's on his way. fema is on their way to help. >> bill: craig fugate is on his way and igor volsky is here. we're in good shape this morning. 1-866-55-press to join the conversation. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

(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.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 12 minutes before the top of the hour this morning. "full court press" here this tuesday, may 21. hard to get our attention on anything other than the horrible situation, tragic situation out in moore oklahoma. the latest, just during the break, we learned the death count is now up to 91 victims from 51 to 91 just in that news update. 91 confirmed dead from that killer tornado yesterday including still 20 children, 240

is the latest count of people injured. we'll keep you updated on that through the morning. back to our conversation here with igor volsky about the news of the day and to your calls. i'm on my way to bend, oregon, this weekend and this story out of bend, oregon caught my attention. federal authorities are prosecuting members of an identity theft ring that stole the mail from about 800 oregon mailboxes and used that information to open up bank accounts in those people's names. another horrific case of identity theft. which you ought to be protected against. i am with having been a victim of identity theft myself once. protected with lifelock ult mate the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection ever made. of course, lifelock services can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. visit lifelock.com to find out more or call and mention% press 10 and you'll get 10% off your lifelock ultimate

membership. call 1-800-396-5967 for lifelock ultimate. mention press 10 for 10%. peter? just the latest update you gave us right? >> yeah, yeah, yeah. about craig fugate is heading out to oklahoma as the sun is still not up in oklahoma. they're still surveying the damage there. >> bill: fema was on the ground already because the first tornadoes which were bad enough struck on sunday. and then more -- worse one of course yesterday. moving to another issue igor. you know, i love the think progress, check it all the time. usually agree with everything you say. you did one story that i was a

little unhappy with. you're knocking the powerball and the lottery. >> well after years of losing, i thought it's time to hit it hard. >> bill: i've had years of losing. keep hope alive here. >> that's the problem. that's too many people -- >> bill: what's wrong with the lottery? the powerball? >> the lottery is in many, many ways, a regressive tax. it is one thing for folks to buy it when it is a big jackpot and to cross all of our fingers and really really hoping, dream what we would do with all of the money. >> bill: that's what i do. i only get it when it is above -- has to be over $200 million. >> you have standards. you're not going to get your hopes up for nothing. i understand. a lot of folks particularly folks in low income areas buy a lot of these tickets. they lose an average of 47 cents

on the dollar and it becomes every week a big part of their income. income that could be going obviously elsewhere. >> bill: maybe to food or gas. >> shelter. states use a lot of that money to fund basic necessities like education and so in that way it's a regressive tax where you have lower income people funding a lot of the basic functions of government. and many states find for them it is a short-term fix because it fluctuates. it is not a very good revenue stream. even if you do win bill, it is estimated that 70% of people who win lose it all in a couple of years. >> bill: that is true from what i've seen. >> it really ruins lives. >> bill: for some reason, they just -- they don't get

professional help they need, right? so my answer would be instead of like -- i don't know what you're recommending just getting rid of the lottery or whatever, for every winner, build in, take part of their money and build in -- >> financial adviser. >> bill: yes. send them to chucky schwab. >> personally, i like seeing how people go nuts with all of the money. >> bill: but they end up broke. >> yeah. >> bill: families fall apart. >> drugs. >> bill: divorce. >> depression. >> it is not the money's fault. you know what i mean? >> bill: it is that they didn't know what to do with it. >> it is like a schom to the system, all of that money. >> something tells me they were going to make bad decisions with or without that money, you know what i'm talking about? >> it gets it going. >> bill: you need a grownup. so let me help you! >> now i see where you're going.

>> bill: i will do it for only 15%. >> that's very reasonable. >> get them while they're low. >> bill: think progress, you started it. igor volsky. think progress.org. make it your home page. don't forget the "bill press show," too. thanks igor. >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> 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

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>> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: are we ever going to get michele bachmann out of the congress? yes! and at the top of the next hour, you're going to meet the man who is going to do it right here on the "full court press." meanwhile, ann wants us to know there is one oklahoma elected official that at least on this issue, has some sense of compassion. congressman tom cole. he did vote for sandy relief saying they've knew his state would eventually need help. tom cole who represents moore oklahoma. keith crouseky says bill, i enjoy watching you on cnn spin room. i think your coming out and calling for holder to get the ax is disgraceful. i thought you were smarter than to play right into the republican's hands. i'm not trying to help the republicans. i'm trying to help president obama and the american people.

eric holder's gotta go.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey good morning friends and neighbors. great to see you today. it is tuesday may 21. a very busy day here in our nation's capital. that's where you'll find us in our studio on capitol hill. bringing you the news on current tv all across this great land of ours and there's a lot to talk about this morning of course, the main focus is on the weather. and the weather out in this massive mile wide killer tornado ripping through moore, oklahoma

yesterday. killing 91 people so far. sure to go up. that includes 20 children. 240 people injured. rescue crews are still digging through the rubble this morning. fema is on the scene. and governor mary fallin was there yesterday. president obama has signed a declaration of emergency relief for oklahoma. back here in the capital news that the department of justice has been spying on yet another reporter and yet another leak investigation. this one james rosen of fox news. the department of justice also seizing his personal e-mails and labeling him as a criminal co-conspirator just for trying to do his job. we wouldn't tolerate that kind of activity on the part of george w. bush and dick cheney. we should not tolerate it on the part of barack obama either. finally, the white house admitted yesterday that they

found out about the i.r.s. probe on april 24. didn't tell the president until may 10. why not? all of that on current tv. 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.

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>> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. on current tv. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey forget about the tea party. it turns out that the biggest tax cheat of them all is apple. yep, big hearing today on capitol hill. all about it. senator carl levin blowing the whistle on apple yesterday. good morning, everybody. it is the "full court press" this tuesday morning may 21. good to see you today. thank you for joining us here. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital with the news of the day.

a special focus on the devastation out in moore oklahoma and the efforts to get those people of oklahoma all the help that they need to recover from that massive killer tornado yesterday. we'll talk about that and of course, what's going on here in our nation's capital with the i.r.s. news of another d.o.j. investigation of a reporter. this one, james rosen from fox news. all kinds of stuff to talk about that you're going to want to talk about. give us a call at 1-866-55-press. join us on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow and especially here at the top of the hour very pleased to welcome one of the most important men in the country right today because he is our democratic candidate to run against michele bachmann next year. almost made it the last time around. very, very close. this time, he's already up ahead

of michele bachmann in the polls. jim graves joins us in studio this morning. good to meet you. >> good to be here with you. >> bill: thanks for doing what you're doing. >> thank you for supporting the effort. >> bill: we want to find out more about you how people can help, what the plans are for the campaign and all of that with our team. peter ogborn and dan henning. i think you've met. alichia cruz has the phones covered and we're on camera, thanks to cyprian bowlding here who -- we have to -- >> got it covered here bill. >> bill: always nice to cyprian because he gets upset, he turns the lights off puts the covers over the camera. >> he puts the bad lighting on me. you i have to have the good lighting. >> you have a good voice pete. >> bill: he's got it. we had -- a little help here. the loss of -- great american musician and character, ray

manzarek with the doors. ♪ come on baby, light my fire ♪ ♪ try to set the night on fire ♪ >> the keyboard plays such a prominent role in a rock band but the thing with the doors is they didn't have a bass player and they had the keyboard fill in on the bass part. you hear it there. that's a classic keyboard line. >> bill: what i loved about him, he was asked once to describe in 30 seconds who the doors were. what they represented. how about this. >> the doors are a psychedelic rock band from the '60s. they took lsd. they opened the doors of perception. they saw the universe as an infittity place. they saw each individual human being as god. now, from that place and from studying their instruments and

art forms they came together to make music on the beach in venice california. >> bill: venice, california. you don't hear many rock bands described that way. >> still do not hear many of those people. not anymore. isn't he -- the head of that guy, buried over in paris, isn't he? >> he is buried in paris. >> bill: i have been to his grave. it is a wonderful -- one of my favorite parts of paris actually. all kinds of famous people buried there. oscar wilde and jim morrison of the doors. >> decent company. >> bill: you see all of these young people there and flowers all over his grave. you know. every day. the pilgrimages of people there. i think he's still on lsd when he gave the interview. >> i think so. >> i heard an old rocker -- i won't mention who it is, last

week he said can you remember when we used to take drugs because we wanted to? [ laughter ] is that okay? >> bill: anything goes. on the "full court press." yeah. so jim tell us about this race. michele bachmann if there's anybody that -- i think represents the worst of the republican party and the craziest, you know, who will say anything, it is michele bachmann. but what -- tell us about the district about yourself and how you're going to win. >> i come from the district, bill. i was born there, raised there. raised my family there. i know the people really well. good people, hard working people and they're really looking for something that's more true, honest real integrity a voice. someone that's a little more rigorous with the facts than michele bachmann is and someone who is representing the people rather than themselves. they're ready for a change. we're definitely going to win this time. we're ahead right now. we ran out of time last go

around. we got into it real late. we have unlimited resources. jimgraves.com. we get the message out. the people of sixth district want to get her out. and we're ready to do that and we're ready to come to washington and make hopefully a change for the better. she comes to washington for her own purpose. best job she ever had. but what we want to do is help this country move in the right direction. >> bill: what's your background? >> i was a teacher for two years. a long time ago. and then for the last 35 years i've had my own company. build hotels, manage hotels, housing projects, developer management company. i've had a good run at it. been very blessed. i want to give back. i'm in the 1% club but i also know the reason i'm there is because it is a great country. i want to give back and i've always felt good about paying my dues. for the good infrastructure and the people that support us. >> bill: is the district kind of a basic working class blue

collar -- suburban minneapolis? >> it wraps around minneapolis. the largest demographic area of st. cloud where i grew up. i would say it kind of is a rural, suburban kind of demographic. you know, middle class. hard working people. froms so joy economic perspective, it is probably little below middle class actually. these are people who put on their shoes and go to work and work real hard to support their families. they want to have access to healthcare and good education. they want everything everybody else wants. they've been sold a bill of goods with michele bachmann's message that what we have to do is lower taxes for the rich folks and that's how we get the economy moving. what makes the country work is the middle class. >> you mention healthcare. michele bachmann is one of the loudest voice at repealing

obamacare. 37 times now it's happened. >> einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. that's basically what's going on there. that's all money raising activity on her part. there's no chance of really repealing that act. what we have to do is work together and bend the cost curve in a bipartisan way and really put the facts on the table. >> bill: the last time around in 2012, jim gaves came within just 5,000 votes. 1.2 percentage points. of winning that election. the latest poll by ppp public policy polling one of the best firms in the business, shows that already, at this point, you are leading michele bachmann 37% to 45%. she's got this little problem.

she's being investigated by the office of congressional ethics and we learned this week, the fbi has now joined this investigation. over what? over improprieties down in iowa with the presidential campaign. we're kind of letting the bipartisan process take hold there and let them investigate it. it is her distraction, not ours. we're focusing on the big issues up in the district. she does have a distraction going on right now. >> bill: why should you have to get involved? >> let her lose sleep. >> bill: pretty serious investigation when all three of those agencies or offices are looking at some of the allegations as you say improprieties in her presidential campaign. when you move around, i often wonder we wonder here sometimes, we play a lot of clips of michele bachmann on our show. when she ran away from dana at

cnn news because she didn't want to answer any questions i think the repeal of obama -- >> i forget what it was. >> bill: but at any rate, we often wonder what do people back -- weren't the people back home embarrassed by her? >> that's the number one thing i hear bill. people are telling me. i'm not saying that necessarily. people are telling me they're just embarrassed of her antics and it is really a disservice to the district. you know, at the end of the day this is hypothetically, say that michele bachmann and i agreed on something. who's going to carry the message effectively in washington? and i asked the people that. the people say well obviously she can't. you know, if you can't get along with your own party, you're not going to get along with anybody. she doesn't. so at the end of the day, the people are embarrassed and they're sick and tired of her. >> bill: if you're not respected by your own party either. you certainly get the sense here in washington that john boehner and eric cantor and paul ryan,

they don't count michele bachmann as one of their leading lights or heavyweights or person that they want out front. >> i don't think so, no. >> bill: they're embarrassed by her too. minnesota, just became the 12th state to recognize marriage equality and same-sex marriage. that was a big coup for minnesota. one issue in which one of many in which you and michele bachmann find yourself on opposite sides. >> i don't think we agree on that one. in our book, everybody in america should be equally and fairly. they should have access to their happiness any way they want to. the government has no role to play in personal lives. of course, michele bachmann doesn't agree with me on that one either. that's fine with us because we think that the people of minnesota spoke and it was a great day for minnesota. >> bill: her answer still is to have everybody -- all gays and lesbians go to her husband's clinic and pray away the gay.

>> try to get it changed over. >> man. >> that's almost bizarre but that's what they do apparently there. >> bill: what is the job situation in terms of unemployment in the district and do you think the federal government has any role to play there? >> first of all there is a lot of underemployment. there is a lot of people not getting paid. a lot of decent wages. and yeah, we do have a lot to do here in washington to help the situation. first and foremost, we're going to talk about that -- maybe it will come up today when the apple people are in front of the -- we have a broken tax code. and we have dysfunction and gridlock in the capital. as long as there's uncertainty in the marketplace this economy's not really going to get going. we have to bring some semblance of predictability back to washington and especially with our tax code. so and then, as far as healthcare, everybody wants to have access. it isn't that complicated. who don't want their kids or

their wives or their partners or whatever else to have access to good healthcare? people want that. people also want to know that when they get older that the contract is upheld and people don't have to worry whether or not social security will be there for them and privatizing that is, you know, cantor and ryan and bachmann want to do is ridiculous. it is a terrible idea. and so the people are concerned about the future, they're concerned about what the federal government is going to do or not do. those things cause a lot of problems with the economy. and what i see in the district is a lot of people being employed but very much underemployed. they're working at walmart making $7.25 an hour with no benefits. tough to support a family or anybody on $7.25 an hour. >> bill: it is unusual to see someone come out of the business community and run as a democrat because there's this -- always been this sort of idea, right

that democratic party bad for business. so if you're a businessman you gotta be a republican. what do you say about that? >> that's a fallacy. at the end of the day the goose that lace the golden egg is the middle class. what we do with the middle class is we uplift on demand which is what every business needs. bill marriott was the "wall street journal" and he said you know what we need to do is lower the corporate tax rate so that the corporate america has the resources to expand and only when corporate america expands do we get this economy going. i couldn't disagree with bill marriott more than that. what we need to do -- everybody knows, it is common sense. businesses only grow when the demand increases. where does the demand come from? it comes from the middle class and the working people of this country. there's more liquidity in the hands of corporate america right now and you'll see that in apple what we need to do is get money in the hands of the working class people that can go out and

spend on main street and really create activity and velocity with the currency and get this economy going. so the federal government has a whole lot to do with our economy. because it is where it all happens. it is where consumer confidence is built when the country is coming together and we're moving forward. >> bill: jim, you can see meeting you for a few short minutes here why you did so well the last time and why you're going to do so well this time around. we encourage you to go to the web site, jimgraves.com and not only learn more about jim but send whoever help you can anywhere your he -- you're in the country. jim graves, nice to see you. we're here so when you come back to washington, come by any time. we want to be part of your campaign. >> thanks, bill. thanks peter. >> thanks for coming in. >> bill: jimgraves.com. the next member of congress from

minnesota. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. 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. hi, i'm terry and i have diabetic nerve pain. it's hard to describe, because you have a numbness, but yet you have the pain like thousands of needles sticking in your foot. it was progressively getting worse, and at that point i knew i had to do something. once i started taking the lyrica the pain started subsiding. [ male announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression,

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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'm given to doing anyway, by 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. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war room. >> these republicans in congress that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. 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?

>> announcer: connect with the "bill press show" on twitter. tweet using the hashtag watch bp. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 26 minutes after the hour. jim greys taking on michele bachmann. i like that guy. i think he's got a lot going for him. very impressive. but most of our attention continues this week -- this morning rather, focused on the

devastation out in moore, oklahoma. imagine that. a mile wide killer tornado. winds up to 200 miles per hour hitting moore oklahoma, the death count as of this moment is now 91 including 20 little kids in those elementary schools. one elementary school and 240 wounded. rick smith from the weather channel says that were it not -- national weather service i'm sorry, if it were not for the hurricane warnings, could have been a lot worse. >> the tornado warning itself came out nearly 20 minutes before the tornado ever formed west of moore. so that gave people -- and the most heavily damaged parts of moore had more than 30 minutes of warning. >> bill: 30 minutes. that's a lot of time.

to get ready and people in that area, that's tornado country. they know. they are prepared. they've been through it before. many of them have shelters. >> everybody has a plan. everybody that lives in those areas, they have a plan. >> bill: they have a plan. even with that plan, again rick smith saying that this is one of the worst we'll ever see. >> the devastation is just incredible. we know already on a scale from zero to five, this is a four, an ef-4 on the scale. ef-4. >> bill: governor mary fallin was on the scene herself. president obama called her. the fema people were already there because some tornadoes a couple had struck the day before. so all of the federal help possible going out to the people of moore oklahoma and oklahoma city area. we'll come back and talk to michael calderon with about the

latest with the department of justice. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern.

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." belle you got it. it is 33 minutes after the hour now. good morning everybody. here on the "full court press." coming to you live from our nation's capital brought to you by afscme. you know the good men and women of afscme, the largest public employee and healthcare worker's union in the entire country. for more information, check out their web site at afscme.org under president lee saunders. people of afscme making america happen. that's afscme.org.

well yesterday, at the white house briefing, lots of questions as expected. on the i.r.s. and on the fact that continuing questions about the department of justice. investigators -- what they think was a criminal leak regarding a terrorist effort to blow up a plane heading from yemen to the united states. the department of justice seizing the phone records for 20 different phone lines of over 100 reporters and editors at "the associated press." before the briefing yesterday comes word, reporter -- first by "the washington post" that the department of justice as part of another leak investigation had been snooping into the activities of fox reporter james

rosen. michael calderon is the senior reporter from "huffington post" joining us on our news line this morning. hello, michael we're under attack it seems here. >> these aren't good days, bill. >> bill: so what was the department of justice doing with james rosen and why? >> well, the department of justice has been cracking down on leaks and was going after a government official, state department official who they believe had leaked information about really just -- basically analysis in 2009 that north korea may use another nuclear test in the face of more sanctions from the u.n. so in this case, it doesn't seem to be information that would rise to the level of such a leak investigation. it seems like pretty standard sort of analysis that might come

from a government official. so in searching out the leak, they focused on roads -- a piece that ran in 2009. what was unprecedented in this case was not just what they did in the a.p. case which was go after phone records but actually suggesting in a complaint to get a search warrant for his e-mail he could be a co-conspirator. that the whole process of asking for information could amount to criminal conspiracy and this country is not illegal for journalist to obtain classified information or publish classified information. that the government it seems they're now moving in a direction of actually suggesting that a journalist is part of a crime in getting classified information out of a government agency. >> bill: yeah, in other words it sounds like that this fbi -- agent was saying in this case was that -- and the department

of justice is that james rosen was a criminal co-conspirator for doing his job. right? his job. there's journalists every day in washington who are calling up and trying to get information in the public interest. and you know, what he did was really not this similar from what most journalists are doing every day. >> bill: exactly. so the question is why won't the white house just come out and condemn this and say no! this is wrong. >> basically we're getting the same answers from jay carney that we got, i believe it was last tuesday after the a.p. story broke, it is the boilerplate about how the president respects the first amendment and then he goes into saying because there's an on-going investigation, he can't even talk really broadly about the issue at hand.

that's what i think is frustrating a lot of reporters. you saw that yesterday. people trying half-dozen ways including peter baker of "the new york times" asking jay carney about his old job at "time" magazine. bureau chief at "time" magazine, you know, this happened with a reporter matt cooper and the government wanted his sources and kind of asking hypotheticals, trying to draw out a response because the white house really just isn't saying anything. >> bill: peter had an excellent line of questioning yesterday. as you point out he also says -- insists i'm not going to respond to an on-going investigation. the investigation about the james rosen and this guy from the state department is done. it's over. that was 2009, right? right? that's completed, number one. number two, i want to come back to where you started. the idea that rosen reported that the story was how will north korea respond to the

latest sanctions placed on north korea by the united nations, okay. now, in reporting that they might shoot off another missile right or do another nuclear attack, how was that jeopardizing the security of the people of the united states? to report that? >> i can't remember who it was. somebody on twitter was saying if this passes for secret intelligence north korea is going to do something like fire off a missile in the face of world pressure. that's not very good intelligence. it seems like that's sort of standard practice for north korea. and that's the thing. this gets to the bigger issue of -- overclassification of documents and information and the government because i think understandably, a lot of people, if you told them reporters are publishing classified material, the assumption would be well, that must not be a good thing. but the government stamps

everything classified to a point where just about any information now that gets to a reporter's hand very often could be classified even if there's no -- there's no way that it could be seen as jeopardizing national security. i think the a.p. story is a little -- rises to a higher level. >> bill: it does. >> that was a very important operation. in this case, it seems like pretty standard state department intelligence about you know, what one country might do after u.n. sanctions. >> bill: the other thing is not only do they classify so much stuff or too much stuff and stuff that should never be classified but they use this rule break of national security loosely. most people if the government says national security, most people run and hide and drop it and a lot of stuff is done under the rubric of national security that the government should never be up to in the first place. but i guess what i find most

troubling is this seems to be an obsession about leaks with this -- administration. and that translates into a very greaser overzealous, i believe effort on the part of the department of justice to determine at all costs right where the leak came from. even if it means violating report every's first amendment rights. that, to me, michael is very, very troubling a lot more, i believe, a lot more significant and serious than whatever bureaucratic mess happened in the i.r.s. do you agree? >> right. the d.o.j. is doing things that may be technically legal you know, in the way they're going about getting information but at the same time, it really goes against the long-time dialogue that has gone on really since the pentagon papers case between

the government and reporters as to when there were serious threats, national security that results from publication and you see journalists all the time. i reported on four cases over the past year where major news organizations like the a.p. and the times and "washington post" have held back stories because the government asked them to. if you publish this piece of information, this could cause harm to people overseas, this could out a c.i.a. agent. every day, there are these sort of back and forth but it seems increasingly like the justice department is ignoring that -- you know, that push and pull that you have between the press and government. they went straight, you know exercised subpoena power and got records before going to the news organizations beforehand. that had always been the practice when the government was interested in something that a news organization may have. >> bill: i think it's

important that we keep raising hell about this and keep the pressure on and focus on this story. this gets right to the heart of the constitution and our first amendment freedoms. i think it is very, very serious and the a.p. was bad enough. when i heard this james rosen story yesterday here we go again. >> right. eric holder has said he's not sure -- when he was asked last week, how many times he's actually authorized the records. the james rosen situation was a couple of years ago. it was just revealed yesterday. it is unclear how many other journalists this has been done to. >> bill: like you and me, michael, right? >> i don't know if i have any real secrets. a lot of journalists i know. >> bill: michael thanks so much for joining us. always good to have you back. michael calderone senior media

reporter for "huffington post." you can follow him at huffingtonpost.com. have we posted my column? >> we have. >> bill: i have a column in "the hill" newspaper this morning about eric holder repeating something i said last week. but fleshing out why eric holder should be fired. or at least allowed to resign. >> announcer: like politics? then like the "bill press show." on facebook. this is the "bill press show." 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.

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however, our own severe weather

expert at the weather channel dr. greg forbes is out there. he's thinking that maybe as high as ef-5 which is the strongest on the enhanced fujita scale. 200 to 300-mile-per-hour winds. preliminary guesses somewhere around ef-4 if not maybe even a weak ef-5. >> bill: can it be a mile wide? >> half-mile to a mile wide. damage path, damage assessment, becoming official all after the weather service does their assessment. from what i've seen from the air, pretty wide swath of damage and pretty significant damage. >> bill: how long was it on the ground? >> i believe there was about 40 minutes on the ground from when the warning was first issued to when it moved through. i think it was 40 minutes. >> bill: why is it -- we were talking about this earlier why is it the tornadoes hit the same -- seem to hit the same areas over and over and they don't hit big cities unless i'm

wrong, right? >> let's put it in perspective. the first piece of it is -- let's take the globe. i've been asked this question a couple of times today. globally, you know, it is almost like a little bit of bad luck. we just happen to have tornado alley in the lower 48, right in the south central central plains states in the areas that got hit yesterday where atmospheric conditions are probably the best and i use that word lightly, for tornadoes to form. that's why it is one of the highest areas of tornado risk across the entire globe. so you just happen to have everything coming together, the landmass is in the right spot. you've got the gulf. in the spring, you get the cool air masses from the north. we happen to have an upper level support, upper level energy come over the top. you need that in place. that helps provide rising air. you had twisting with that air with height. you call that sheer and it just happens to be one of the places where -- >> bill: bad luck. >> it is.

to the thing that they don't hit big cities. it is like the needle in the haystack. yeah, we have seen tornadoes hit big cities recently. dallas nashville atlanta. atlanta during the basketball game. it is all a matter of some of it is just luck. i don't think they steer away from cities, obviously. and some of it is just -- happens to be where they are located, some of the bigger cities because you know, moore oklahoma is just south of oklahoma. it is a small meso scale event. you put that up against the size of any given city. it takes a pretty good stroke of luck to actually hit one of the major cities. >> bill: we experienced a lot of tornadoes now particularly in the last couple of years it seems. is our warning system now as good as it could be? >> i think we're getting there. there are always improvements. i don't think you can do anything to prevent all fatalities or to prevent obviously -- you just -- look at this situation.

unless everybody had an underground shelter, which they don't have, believe it or in the in a lot of this part of oklahoma that was hit unless you invested in a storm shelter just because of the topography. a lot of people have chosen to take it into their interior room of their home. they don't have basements unless they put a storm shelter in and with the strength of this tornado, you know, that wasn't even a safe place or certainly doesn't look like it. i think we've gotten better in terms of the lead time meaning we were talking about this on the weather channel since saturday morning. severe weather coming sunday monday, in this part of the country. could be the biggest severe weather outbreak of the season. it was -- but lead time in terms of from development and issuing of warning i think it was about 16 or 17 minutes. i guess you could ask the jury or the people that were involved was that enough time? i think there's always going to be people as with anything else on one side who will say it was enough. others will say there are areas

for improvement and there probably is. >> i found it remarkable that they had 30 minutes was sort of the warning time that they got. >> bill: that's a lot of time. >> i don't think of people having that much time in a situation like that. >> bill: we're talking again with ray stagich onlineweather.com is where you can follow the information they're putting out and developing information on this massive tornado yesterday. so ray i'll let you go. let me ask you this, are we out of the woods yet so to speak? anything more coming today? >> a little bit further south-southeast, dallas, speaking of major metropolitan areas might be on the western fringe of texas east-southeast of moore. southwestern arkansas, northwestern parts of louisiana. greatest threat, even isolated severe weather further north. it does lessen the severe weather threat. it does roll east, maybe damaging straight line winds in places like pittsburgh and

cleveland. >> bill: ray, more to come. i know you guys are busy. appreciate you taking time for us this morning. >> take care. >> bill: ray stagich from the weather network. we learned earlier today, craig fugate, the administrator from fema is personally on his way out to oklahoma. fema crews have been on the scene as early as yesterday before the storm struck. responding to the earlier tornado on sunday. and president obama has signed the disaster declaration relief for oklahoma. he will be making a statement about efforts to help the people of oklahoma at 10:00 this morning from the white house. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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