[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey what do you say in good morning friends and neighbors. happy wednesday. it is wednesday may 22nd. so good to see you today as we come to you live all the way across this beautiful land of ours. the united states of america. we're coming here from our nation's capital on current tv with the news of the day and your invitation to join the conversation. give us your point of view at any time. you can do so on the phone at

1-866-55-press. get ready to join the conversation. you can do so on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. president obama has promised to send all possible federal aid out to the residents of moore oklahoma, to help them rebuild from the killer tornado. even though the two senators of oklahoma, of course, voted against providing any fema assistance to the victims of hurricane sandy. we're not going to hold that against the residents of oklahoma. the death toll now miraculously from that tornado actually dropped from 91 -- it was thought yesterday down to 24. still too many. but good news there. here in the nation's capital the senate judiciary committee voting 13-5 to send the big immigration bill to the floor for a vote. they only did so after taking away any stands for same-sex couples. shame on them. and apple came yesterday and was

a big lovefest in front of the senate committee hearing. we'll tell you about that as well on current tv. compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. 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, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever tired feeling, or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. ask your doctor about lyrica today. it's specific treatment for diabetic nerve pain.

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

not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: well, apple called on the carpet as a tax cheat and it ends up a big lovefest with members of the u.s. senate. what do you say? hello, everybody. wednesday. here we are, middle of the week, wednesday, may 22. good to see you today. welcome, welcome welcome. this wednesday morning to the "full court press," coming to you live on your local

progressive talk radio station. coming to you live on sirius x.m. coming to you live on current tv. good to have you with us. whether you're watching or listening, you can join the conversation because we not only tell you what's going on. we want to hear what you think about it. give you a chance to sound off about it. 1-866-55-press is our toll free number. your ticket to get your comments on the air. you can also let us know what you think on twitter. we'll be watching for you on twitter at bpshow. we'll be monitoring your comments on facebook. all of our thousands and thousands and thousands of friends on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. here we go this wednesday morning. look who the cat dragged in. peter ogborn and dan henning. >> hey hey hey. >> good morning. >> happy wednesday. >> bill: alicia cruz on the phones this morning. she gets a big wave and so does

cyprian bowlding on the video cam this morning keeping us looking good on current tv. >> this is my western shirt. >> bill: you think of the people of oklahoma? >> there you go. solidarity. >> bill: exactly. yes. you know, weather in the news, of course. weatherpeople, can't say weathermen weather -- be. >> meteorologists. >> not all weather people are meteorologists. >> very true statement. >> bill: they are some of the most popular people in local newscasts. when i start on channel 7 george fish beck, dr. george, everybody knew in southern california knew dr. george. he was a great guy. here in washington, d.c., we have dr. bob. bob ryan is probably one of the

best i've ever seen. >> certainly been around. >> bill: been around for a long time. but he is stepping aside. going off into the sunset and they put a little tribute together for him which included a video message from senator barbara mick -- mikulski. >> we have loved you to give us the right forecast at the right time. and from all of us in maryland who just say we love you and we want to say "you are our sunshine ♪ ♪ our only sunshine ♪ ♪ you make us happy even when skies are gray ♪ ♪ you never know how much we love you ♪ ♪ please don't take our sunshine away ♪ ♪ bye bob, we love you ♪ >> bill: who let the dogs out? she's so funny. >> we're going to miss you so bad. >> come on up and have some crab

cakes. get you some crab. come on up, bob. oh boy we're going to miss you something bad bob. >> bill: she's one of the authentic characters. >> i love her. >> bill: i saw her the other night at an event. she's like three feet high. she belts it out. she's really good in front of a crowd. she's great. one of a kind. barbara mick ul ski. when harry reid said when he got to the senate, she was the only one. now there are 24. she's a pioneer. eliot spitzer will be joining us as he does every wednesday morning. mark takano, member of congress from california. new member of congress from california will be here as well as the reverend barry lynn, head of americans united for the separation of church and state. he's on the warpath about something this morning. we'll take a look at oklahoma and the big question that's come

up about building codes. could that have made a difference. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this wednesday. "dancing with the stars" crowned a new champion last night. country singer kelly pickler winning the mirrored ball trophy. it happened on the soundstage next to where "american idol" was taped. pickler won sixth place on the fifth season of "american idol" about seven or eight years. teen disney star took second place and jones took third. >> bill: there it is. whatever happened to "dancing with the stars"? didn't get a lot of attention this year. >> they get a lot more attention usually. >> bill: they have people like bristol palin and tom delay and tucker carlson. >> the cleveland cavaliers won the nba draft lottery last night. they will pick the first overall in the 2013 draft next month.

picking first for the third time in 11 years. orlando magic who had the best odds of getting the top pick took second and followed by -- they were slotted to get the eighth spot. charlotte and phoenix round out the top five. >> bullets pick third. they weren't expected to be able to pick that high. i wish the draft crop was a little bit better but not bad for us. >> bill: news to me. >> restructuring at espn -- >> bill: nba. i knew it was basketball. that's all i knew. >> restructuring at espn. dead spin is reporting the sports network is laying off between 300 and 400 employees this week to "smartly manage costs and become more competitive, more innovative and more productive." that 300 plus number includes open positions that will simply not be filled. but those being let go, no one really on the air.

just behind the scenes workers and those in redundant positions. overall, espn still employs about 7,000 people. worldwide. >> that's a big chunk. they're doing well. >> bill: yeah. >> hate to see them cut people when they're doing well. doesn't make sense. >> bill: doesn't seem to. it is hard to get your attention. there is stuff happening in washington, d.c. we'll tell you about -- get our attention away from the situation out in moore oklahoma. and still hard to believe the level of destruction that you see there. and hard to believe the resilience of the people. i mean they've been through it before. many of them. they're determined to come back again. we learned more about the ferocity of this tornado yesterday. it is classified as an ef-5 which is as bad as they get. winds of up to 210 miles per

hour. it was in fact 1.3 miles wide. it had a path of destruction that covered 17 miles. was on the ground for 40 minutes. we were stunned yesterday i'm sure you were, too to learn we were reporting the death toll was at 91 and expected to climb hire. in fact, i've never seen this before with any natural disaster or any catastrophe like that. it climbed considerably lower. now listed as 24 dead. sadly, including nine children. amazing with the strength of that -- tornado. and seeing those buildings and these public places, schools and theatres and walmarts and big stores and hospitals and churches and nursing homes that only 24 were killed. >> you see in these towns like moore, oklahoma, they're just

gone. and you know that in each town, you've got -- the town structure is the biggest buildings in the city. it is rubble. >> bill: there were tens of thousands of people there at the time. 24 lost their lives. but it does show they know tornadoes. they know where they live. they are prepared. they all have a plan for what to do, where to go and the tornado warnings have gotten better and better. they had up to 30 minutes warning to really know what was coming and get ready for it. 237 listed as injured. and from everything we've seen, you know, you've got to salute, first of all the efforts of the first responders who were there who are still on the job, who put in incredible hours and done such heroic work, especially also what's, i think striking in this case are the teachers. so many stories of teachers. the teachers in these elementary schools who took these kids into

the bath rooms, took them into the stalls who hovered over them and kept telling us, you're going to be all right. you're not going to die. these teachers really, really rose to the occasion. we salute all of them out there in moore oklahoma. the friends and neighbors who pitched in and some of them lost their own homes but are helping their neighbors dig out of their rubble and look for whatever they could and help search for survivors. incredible stories of heroism on the part of the first responders and the teachers and basically the people of moore oklahoma. president obama yesterday in the state dining room, saying we will send all of the assistance we can to the people of oklahoma and we stand by them. >> obama: people of moore should know that their country will remain on the ground, there for them beside them as long as it takes. for there are homes and schools

to rebuild. businesses and hospitals to reopen. their parents to console. first responders to comfort and of course, frightened children who will need our continued love and attention. >> bill: governor mary fallin toured the area. she was on the ground the day before yesterday. she toured the area by helicopter. and talked about just this total destruction that you see from the air. >> it is very wide. it is hard to look at because there is so much debris on the ground itself. and in many places, homes were absolutely destroyed taken away. there's just sticks and bricks, basically. >> bill: the only turd in the punch bowl if you will was james inhofe who -- senator from oklahoma -- who with his partner, tom coburn, as we discussed yesterday voted against to increase funding for

fema and voted against any help for people from hurricane sandy. inhofe defended that decision yesterday. he wants all of the money he can get for oklahoma but he says we're not going to cheat like those people in new jersey do. >> well, let's look at that. that is totally different. supposed to be in new jersey. they had things in the virgin islands. they were fixing roads there. putting roofs on houses in washington, d.c. everything was throwing in and exporting the tragedy that took place. that won't happen in oklahoma. >> bill: oh, i see. so hurricane sandy did damage in more than one state so therefore, that was different or territory. we can't help them. but we want all of the help we can get for oklahoma. total, total -- >> be careful. i would like to see how the politicians from new york and new jersey addressing getting aid to oklahoma.

let's see if they stone wall and make all kinds of statements. >> bill: i hope they show they're better. >> they won't. they'll make sure they get the aid that they need because they know what a hell it's like to go through this kind of stuff. >> bill: barbara mikulski said this yesterday. stop turning fema into a political football. the big question, brian williams spent time talking about this last night on nbc news, the building code for these areas. it is striking that there were so few -- there are -- almost nobody has a basement because of the condition of the soil and there's a lot of moisture. there's a lot of clay. they just don't build there with basements which certainly safest place to go in the sense of a tornado. only maybe 10% of the homes had safe rooms.

and you can even get money from fema for safe rooms. they cost about $10,000 but wouldn't you think that in this area which is tornado alley, i mean it is prone to tornadoes, the worst tornado on record went through there 14 years ago. almost the very same path of destruction. they've rebuilt but they didn't rebuild with safe homes or with basements. don't you think that they should be required in areas like this, look i've never lived in tornado country although now we have them outside of washington. but grew up in delaware. that's hurricane country. we have a house -- had a house at the beach. was in the flood zone. if you wanted to build in that flood zone, you had to build up on pilings or you could not get insurance. if you had storm damage which we did at one time and you wanted to get money from fema to repair, you could not get the

money unless you raise up the house and put it up on pilings. what about the building codes in these areas? are they too lax? should they require basements in every new construction? they're going to rebuild there right? we're going to rebuild the same way with no basements and no safe houses? are we going to let them rebuild in ways that bound to cause problems, you know, another ten or five years from now or should fema have some requirements that say if you want the federal money, we'll give you all of the federal money you can but if you want it when you rebuild you'll only get the money if the state of oklahoma adopts a building code that says from now on, you have to have a safe room in every house or a basement under any house. makes sense to me. 1-866-55-press. don't you think we should learn from these tragedies the way we've learned in hurricane country and in earthquake country. let's apply the same standards to tornado country.

1-866-55-press. let's talk about it. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." 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.

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>> announcer: connect about the "bill press show" on facebook. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: saw some of the numbers on the news last night. fema says the cost of a safe room -- one that could double as like a master closet or bathroom

is approximately $6600 to $8700 in 2011 dollars. if you want a bigger room that could serve more purposes, they could go up to $12,000 to $14,300. fema has grants available to build those and also has specifications for what constitutes a dependable safe room when you can count on. bill is in lady lake, florida. what do you say bill? good morning. >> caller: good morning to you too. >> bill: yes sir. >> caller: it is absurd to not rebuild with a safe room or something else. my home was destroyed with my whole family was in it in central florida where we don't ge tornadoes. we get hurricanes. and i think it is about time we start looking at climate change. >> bill: so your house was destroyed by a hurricane. >> caller: no, it was destroyed by a tornado which is so weird

because we don't get tornadoes here in central florida. >> bill: i think of florida as hurricane country. >> caller: exactly. you know, inhofe needs to live through something like that. it is most devastating experience you can possibly -- >> bill: what did it cost you to build the safe room? >> caller: you know, it was wrapped into the cost of the whole building and yes, i did get help from fema to do that. >> bill: where is it in your house? >> caller: it is actually right off of the kitchen. and you know, it is a great thing. i use it. it doubles as my little office. >> bill: yeah. i bet it would be very comfortable knowing you've got that there. god forbid another tornado would strike that area. i'm sure there are other uses for the safe room in between the tornadoes but at least it is there and you know it's there and you can get your family in there when necessary. i think every house ought to be

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

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: here we go. 33 minutes after the hour now. we'll continue to take your calls and your comments about building codes and construction codes maybe in tornado zones as well as earthquake zones or flood zones here on the "full court press" this wednesday morning at 1-866-55-press.

back to your comments and your calls in just a second but here's the story out of oregon on the issue of identity theft. federal authorities prosecuting members of an identity theft ring that allegedly stole information and personal information about -- from 800 mailboxes in oregon. used that information to drain the bank accounts of many, many victims. again, another example of identity theft. this one on the west coast. something you've got to be protected against as i am with lifelock ultimate. the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection ever made. encourage you to look into it because lifelock can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. visit lifelock.com or call and mention press 10 and you'll get 10% off your lifelock ultimate membership. call 1-866-55-press. call 1-800-356-5967.

doesn't cover all transactions. peter, what other comments? >> we're on twitter at bpshow. really great conversation going on there. jay ford says in texas, we have to have winter storm insurance and building requirements. it should not be optional. leslie gretch, our friend leslie from asheville north carolina, on twitter. she says we build skyscrapers subway systems and put a man on the moon. we can and should build tornado shelters in high-risk areas. >> bill: hi, leslie. we went to 12 bones with leslie. she showed us around asheville. >> hum birdie said i lived in oklahoma for a time. my complex had an underground tunnel. safe rooms or basements are must haves in oklahoma.

knoxville kc says i understand water table and soil issues make basements rare but we should have a solution for tornado-prone areas. >> bill: as bill said, contractors, builders, developers, just put it into every house right and build it into the cost of the house. if you do at that scale with that many as part of every house, the cost is going to come way, way down. but you know, look, this is not picking on the people of oklahoma. first of all, we're paying for this. these are our tax dollars that are going to help them and they should. but in california, you can't build in california without meeting certain standards for earthquakes, right? in homes and in public structures. certainly office buildings and

theatres and hospitals and all of that. no matter what kind of construction. same thing before california, i grew up in delaware. spend a lot of time down at the beach. ocean city. rijo both. you can't build unless you jack up the house on pilings. you can't get a permit to build. howard calling from los angeles. >> caller: i'm out in california. we have earthquakes. they're being torn down. they should have -- it should be into the cost of a home and things like that. back to george, he taught us

weather here in los angeles. i think you worked with him for awhile. >> bill: i did. >> caller: we all love dr. george. so i would like to send a shout out to l.a. county fire department. that's what we do. idiot coburn, what's wrong with him? >> bill: coburn and inhofe, the two of them, howard. they're sad sad excuses for u.s. senators from oklahoma. good to hear from you. >> shout out to dr. george. >> bill: shout out to dr. george. dr. george fishbeck. back in channel 7. kavc tv. my first tv job. tim is calling from cleveland ohio. hey, tim. >> caller: hey, bill. i'm retired from the cleveland fire department and this is an enormous problem in every state whether it is a wealthier state or one of our poorer states. even within a metropolitan area,

as you roll over just from suburban city to city, there's such disparity in building standards whether you need a state minimum or it is a wealthier community that has much more stringent -- we've got to do something to standardize this across the entire country. >> bill: tim it is funny. i forgot this until you started one of the first -- this is nostalgia day -- one of the first stories i did in los angeles, my first tv job was i did an investigative report about sprinklers in high rise buildings in los angeles. and at that time, it was stunning -- it has changed a lot since, right, how many buildings were without sprinkler systems. now they're required in all construction, correct? >> caller: to recognize it was essential. and that the lives and the money

saved were overwhelmingly offset by that really small amount that it takes to receipt retrofit or to require a new build. >> bill: like with the safe rooms, there was a cost but when you build them in and when you require them, even for retrofitting it makes sense in the long run. tim, good to hear from you. thanks for all of your good years of service. larry is calling from down in arkansas. charleston, arkansas which is also tornado country. hey, larry. >> caller: you talking about inhofe and coburn. you know i live right next to oklahoma. you're getting -- getting what we want there. i don't believe in the federal government squeezing in here and making me build a storm cellar and stuff. you can just take that stuff and cram it where the sun doesn't shine. we got what we want.

inhofe and coburn. >> bill: i got it. all right larry. i hear you. right? what are you saying is they don't get the money -- he's saying they don't get the money unless they're willing to share it with other people here. i think coburn and inhofe may have gone too far on this one. their budget hawkness has caught up with them and it shows the hypocrisy. they get caught in this little trap right? can't do this. can't do that. not going to pay for this. not going to pay for that. uh-oh! my state needs some help now. gimme, gimme gimme! >> it is so transparent. people can see that from a mile away. >> bill: rose is in ligonier, indiana. hello, rose. >> caller: hi, very good. everybody gets caught in that name. >> bill: not a common name, shall we say.

>> caller: yeah. my comment is me and my husband we grew up in a little county in pennsylvania. we went through hurricane agnes in the mid '70s. we live out here now in the midwest. given the choice, at least you know the hurricane is definitely coming and to prepare. out in this -- you have a tornado, you're taking a random shot like a lottery ticket with getting hit. we have a basement out here and i would not live in an area that has a tenden is i of tornadoes tornadoes -- in the mid '90s, we had one that hit kendallville and wiped out the downtown area. i was out with my daughter at the time and she was around 2. and it was a scariest thing. i could feel the car picking up and being moved.

so i mean living in both sections of the country i can definitely see there should be standardized in any construction for the natural disasters and stuff. >> bill: absolutely. rose, i think it does -- you point out it makes sense from two points of view. i really appreciate hearing from you is one it saves lives. the other it saves money. remember this is our money that's going out to these areas. we do so -- we do so gladly. we do so willfully. we do so eagerly. we also do so smartly. the way to do it smartly is to require some tough building codes. yep. even in oklahoma. eliot spitzer former governor of new york, i'm sure he's dealt with issues like this. we'll get his take on this and a lot of other issues when we come back here on the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv.

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>> announcer: get social with bill press. like us at facebook.com/billpressshow. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. lots of news happening today. with most of the focus still on oklahoma and the efforts to dig out there. but big news here in washington d.c. and big news on wall street yesterday. we wanted to check in on all of it. with the man who's on top of all of it, former governor eliot spitzer joining us for his

wednesday visit to "full court press." eliot, good morning. >> good morning bill. is it getting earlier every wednesday or am i getting earlier? >> bill: it seems like it, doesn't it? as a former governor, i want to get your quick take. we've been talking about they're going to rebuild down in oklahoma. should there be any maybe tightening of the building codes to be sure there are safe rooms or basements in every new building down there? >> you know, it certainly seems so. the first reaction after the tragedy is obviously mourning and you do everything you can just to rescue those who are there and then the next stage is to look back and say what should have been done differently. and one of the things that's coming out and i guess we're all reading the same articles is a lot of the schools did not have the safe rooms and this is a tornado zone where they know they're going to be hit every year with tornadoes. it makes sense to build the safe rooms. like bomb shelters and find security. so one would certainly hope when they rebuild they add that

feature. it is a little surprising they didn't have it. at least going forward let's make sure they do. >> bill: a little more voices in that direction. interesting headline. just reading the news, i thought that jamie dimon at jpmorgan chase was going to lose this round where he was trying to continue to be both chairman and chief executive i guess, right of jpmorgan chase. it went to a vote of the shareholders. what happened yesterday? >> well, he won. it is too bad at several levels. this isn't a referendum on jamie dimon. it is too bad it became that. jamie dimon is viewed by people who know him -- i've met him but i don't know him. people view him as a good ceo but that's not the issue. the issue here is structurally, should the chairman of the board and the ceo be the same person. milstein, the guru of corporate governance, one of the more conservative lawyers out there saying split the positions for a very simple reason. shareholders have no real power

these days. shareholder democracy doesn't work. all of the shares are owned by pension funds mutual funds. they almost always vote with management. only the board is there to check on the ceo and if the board share is the ceo then you have no check whatsoever. people say yeah, but jamie is good. that's irrelevant. we know thomas jefferson was a great president. we didn't eliminate the supreme court and congress because of that. right? structurally you want checks and balances because there will be ceos who need it. and the fact that you have a good ceo doesn't mean you eliminate the governing structure to provide the balance you need. so this is -- you know, i hate to say it but if you can't even win this, then it shows how little we've done and how little we've learned about the importance of corporate governance. it is too bad. these banks are too big to fail and too big to manage.

chase has paid $8.5 million for violations of law. i'm not saying that is significant. it is a reality that it is so big, you need all sorts of governing checks and balances. you don't permit the ceo and the board chair to be separated. >> bill: doesn't it show how little power we haves a of as shareholders and consumers? >> oh, yeah. >> bill: the army of people that he's got working for him and all of the money and as you point out, all of the institutional shareholders -- investors -- >> here's the problem though. most of the shares are owned by big pension funds and huge funds. mutual funds in particular depend upon the big companies to get the 401(k) allocations. in other words fidelities of the world want to be among the choices given to employees to have pension fund managed. they're not going to alienate

major management teams of the big companies. always been a problem and i'm not saying -- it is a conflict and it is wrong. it is the way of the world. we've never got institutional investors to wake up and you and i, if we own ten shares in chase, we have an -- absolutely no power. it is the major reservoirs of capital and those who determine how they vote their proxies have almost always been in alignment with management. >> bill: it does show. even after the big crash of 2008 and all of those problems, how little reform there actually has been. i've got to ask you also -- >> one more thing. status quo is the most powerful force out there. it is almost impossible to change. too early in the day for that. >> bill: i do have to ask you the biggest story of course, out in new york today is that he's made it official. anthony weiner is running for mayor. he put out his first ad

yesterday. you're not surprised he's doing it. you still think he's got a shot? >> i'm not surprised. you can see it oozing out of him. he wanted to get back in. you know, the questions are has it been long enough. this is new york. we tolerate a lot of stuff. i think he has said to the public i'm sorry. let's move on. the public will embrace that. best metaphor i've heard is he has a high floor and a low ceiling which means the high floor may be 15% in the polls right now but he may not get much above 20% 22% because there are other candidates to appeal to different demographics and in a multiparty primary where you need to get 40 to avoid a runoff, i don't know if you will be able to get above 40. i don't think anybody will in the first round or if you'll be in the top ten. you have chris quinn the

speaker. you have thompson who is quite a popular -- been in politics for a long time. big ethnic base. i think you're going to have a hard battle. he's a good, tough aggressive campaigner. >> bill: yeah. it will be fun to watch. remember mark sanford. the god of second choices right? second chances, i should say. eliot spitzer great to have you with us as always. >> thank you, bill. have a good one. >> bill: talk to you soon. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." 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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>> announcer: take your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey some excellent comments on the situation in oklahoma. robert asks wonder how many realize they vote against disaster relief is actually a vote against the people. very good point. don says bill, i think the obama administration should insist that any relief for oklahoma be paid for and the money ought to come from oil companies subsidies. there you go! democrats need to start playing the same game. that would be a challenge for senator coburn. and wayne b. asks i wonder if the mortgage companies will forgive or extend grace periods for mortgage payments to the victims of the massive oklahoma tornado. they should.

don't know whether they will. damn right should.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. it is wednesday may 22. can you believe it? great to see you today. thank you for joining us here on the "full court press" on current tv this wednesday morning. where we will -- as we do every morning, bring you up to date on all of the news of the day and take your calls. 1-866-55-press is our toll free number. that's how you join the conversation. we want to hear from you as to what you think about these issues of the day.

you can follow us on twitter. we love to have you on twitter. part of our team here and it is at bpshow. and become our friend on facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. president obama promising to send all possible aid out to the residents of moore oklahoma, help them get through and rebuild after this killer tornado that struck there on monday. even though the two senior senators -- the two senators rather from oklahoma voted against hurricane aid to the victims of hurricane sandy. the del toll in oklahoma now amazingly down from what was predicted as 91 yesterday down to 24. here in washington, the senate judiciary committee yesterday approving and sending to the floor the big immigration bill by a vote of 13-5. of course, they only did so after they took out the provision that would give

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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: judiciary committee approves the immigration bill. sends it to the floor for debate and a vote. too bad they had to discriminate against gays and lesbians in order to get that bill passed. hey, good morning everybody. what do you say? it is a wednesday. wednesday, may 22nd. good to see you today. welcome. welcome to the "full court press" here on your local --

your local progressive talk radio station and on current tv. we're coming to you all across this great land of ours from our studio right here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. hello, hello hello this wednesday morning. and thank you for joining us. you know, you not only want to know what's going on. you want to talk about it. you want to give us your point of view. we know that. that's why we made it easy for you. you can join us by phone at 1-866-55-press. you can join us as one of our thousands and thousands of twitter followers at bpshow, at bpshow and on facebook. be our friend. send your comments to facebook.com/billpressshow. and send them into the whole team here. peter ogborn and dan henning. >> hey, hey, hey. >> good morning. >> bill: good morning, good morning with alichia cruz on the phones and cyprian bowlding. he's keeping us looking good on the video cam here on current

tv. and big -- everything good? >> yes. happy wednesday. >> bill: just want to check in and make sure. >> living the dream. >> bill: we're excited about the big political news of the day. he's given hints he might do so. i think he was inspired by mark sanford down in south carolina. so anthony weiner made it official yesterday he is ready for his comeback as the next mayor of new york. >> i made some big mistakes. i know i let a lot of people down. i've also learned tough lessons. i'm running for mayor because i've been fighting for the middle class. i hope i get a second chance to work with you. new york city should be the middle class capital of the world and i have ideas on how to do it. 64 of them right on my web site. take a look and tell me what you think. >> we love this city.

no one will work harder than anthony. >> i will fight for you every single day. thank you for watching. >> bill: there it is. anthony weiner, the comeback kid. he joins an already crowded field. christine quinn bill deblassio the public advocate, bill thompson businessman. but you know, he is a smart politician. he was a dynamite member of congress. and you know, i would love to see him come back. i'm not saying he's my candidate for mayor. i don't vote in new york city. but i think what the hell. if mark sanford deserves a second chance, anthony weiner deserves a second chance. >> someone we should be following on twitter is lolgop. who tweeted this morning weiner apologized for lying. his wife forgave him. he wants single payer and subway wi-fi in new york city. that's all i need to know. that's enough. >> bill: go anthony weiner.

we're going to talk fema and hurricane tornado relief, whatever with matthew cooper from the "national journal" here at the top of the hour. congressman mark takano from california joining us and the reverend barry lynn, head of americans united. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news as you head out the door this wednesday, comedienne lizz winstead is taking heat for a tweet she sent out about the tornado early this week. the cocreator of the daily show saying on twitter "this tornado in oklahoma is so clearly has been ordered to only target conservatives" then making reference to the current white house issues. how long has obama known about this tornado? winstead apologized on twitter yesterday saying she was making a political joke before the devastation was really revealed but had she known, she would have refrained and is beyond sorry. she says please, let me have it.

>> bill: just gotta be careful. >> tweeting during breaking news is -- >> it will get you. >> the hornets nba team name is heading back to charlotte. charlotte bobcats owner michael jordan announced he's changing his team's name back to what it was from '88 to 2002 until that team moved to new orleans. but now that new orleans is taking the team name, the pelicans charlotte will once again be the hornets. it will take about 18 months. >> i approve of this. >> bill: why? >> charlotte hornets is a classic -- first of all, the charlotte bobcats were just a terrible team. charlotte hornets -- >> bill: we're talking about the team. >> yeah, yeah, yeah, i know. i get it i get it. >> bill: we're getting rid of the redskins. i understand the reason. bobcats is not a racist term.

>> people have a lot of good feelings toward the charlotte hornets. >> classic name. hornets for 14, 15 years. muggsy bogues, alonzo mourning, grandmama. >> bill: does it really matter what they're called? >> absolutely. >> come on bill. >> bill: i think it's silly. >> the peace corps is catch up with the times. it announced yesterday it will begin accepting same-sex couples who want to serve together overseas. cbs reporting that currently 7% of current assignments are filled by married volunteers who serve together working on education, healthcare and economic development issues across the globe and the peace corps will only send same-sex couples to a country where hem mow sexual acts are not criminalized -- >> bill: i don't want to get off on this tangent. it is interesting.

so yesterday the peace corps announces they'll accept same-sex couples and the senate judiciary committee passes immigration reform legislation only after rejecting an amendment, in fact, patrick leahy, withdrawing the amendment that would say that same-sex couples should get the same standing as immigration. going two totally different directions. elected officials. continuing to discriminate against the lgbt community and the peace corps recognizing that it is not right. so we've still got a long way to go in this country is what it means. we've got a long way to go to rebuild from hurricane -- i'm sorry. from the tornado out in oklahoma as well which has now been definitely classified as an ef-5 these are maybe natural disasters are the times more than anything else in modern

times that define a presidency as matthew cooper has been writing in the "national journal." after the oklahoma tornado obama needs to make fema work. matthew cooper joins us on our news line this morning. hello, matt. good morning. >> good morning, bill. >> bill: so president obama did -- make a statement yesterday, wanted to play a little bit of that. get your response in the state dining room yesterday. he told reporters first of all we're there. we're there with the people of moore, oklahoma. >> obama: the people of moore should know that their country will remain on the ground, there for them beside them, as long as it takes. for there are homes and schools to rebuild. businesses and hospitals to reopen. parents to console first responders to comfort and of course frightened children who will need our continued love and attention. >> bill: matt, this has become, in effect, a test for

any president hasn't it? >> it sure has bill. you know, we've come to expect in the modern presidency, for presidents to localize federal resources and to make it available to americans after a natural disaster. sometimes it has worked well and sometimes not to much. most notably during katrina. so it is a task the presidency can help find -- their compassion. >> bill: the first time i remember being aware of fema at all was with james lee witt. president clinton. right. he really made it a powerful force, didn't he? >> he did. it was not a terribly well-run agency before him. the first person bush had problems with it.

it had kind of been geared toward helping americans recover from a nuclear war rather than natural disasters and wasn't terribly pro-active. they sort of waited. it was sort of set up to wait for governors to call them in. response was sluggish. he said it made it a much more pro-active agency. that helped a lot. so you know, i think it's going to be -- i think pretty -- work pretty well in the case of oklahoma. it is a little easier as tragic as oklahoma was incredible tragedy, especially with the loss of life and property and suddenness. it is a discreet area that's somewhat smaller than say a katrina or a superstorm sandy. it is not encompassing a huge, wide swath of area so the

disaster relief can be a little more concentrated. >> bill: is fema -- does fema have all of the funding that it needs? it seems we're getting more and more hurricanes, tornadoes, you know brushfire. forest fires and natural disasters than we've seen before. >> it looks like it may not. we've got the combination of what seems like more disasters and congressional -- over budgets so the sequestration that we've heard so much about -- right now, they've got money in a fund to take care of things like the tornadoes in oklahoma. but it could definitely run out during hurricane season this year. we just don't know how many hurricanes there are going to be. congress can replenish the fund by passing some special legislation but we know how congress is about passing anything. they have a lot of trouble with

it. so we could find ourselves in a -- >> bill: we talked about james lee witt. how about craig fugate, the current director. it seems to me he's been doing a pretty good job. >> he gets high marks. he was a jeb bush guy down in florida. emergency management guy down there. and so he's got a lot of experience with natural disasters and things like that from florida's hurricanes but also, you know, it is good for obama politically to pick one who has not only had experience but experience working with republican administration. >> bill: and finally we've seen that it happens in oklahoma, two united states senators, both of whom voted against aid to the victims of hurricane sandy. tom coburn now saying we'll give

more money to fema but only if you take the money from somewhere else. not the prevailing view among most members of congress, would you say? >> no, not even among most republicans. just said spend the money and don't worry about the cuts elsewhere. coburn's stand is kind of an outliar. it is either very principle or pinched, depending on how you look at it. but it is not the prevailing few. >> bill: all right. hey, matthew thanks for your good reporting on this and for joining us this morning. always appreciate it. matt cooper is national correspondent with the "national journal" at nationaljournal.com. thanks, matt. this is the "full court press" here on a wednesday morning. >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current

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>> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> bill: all right. 24 minutes after the hour. wednesday, may 22. congressman mark takano from california in studio with us in the next segment. well, the big story yesterday on capitol hill in terms of the immigration bill was i guess a little bit bigger. was the big hearing where apple

was called in to testify about how it got away with paying so little in u.s. taxes. we'll get to that in just a second. peter, what else is going on? >> we've talked about how tiger woods and sergio garcia do not like each other. two golfs. two of the best golfers playing right now. they've had a war of words going on back and forth. earlier this week, gar sillas was on stage at the european tours gala player awards and an interviewer from the golf channel asked him if you've ever thought about having tiger woods over for dinner one night to hash out all of your problems and sergio garcia said sure, we'll have him around every night. we'll serve him fried chicken. >> bill: oh, no. >> what! >> yes. >> bill: really? >> remember, fuzzy zoeller after the masters a tradition when you win the masters you pick

the meal for the next year. fuzzy zoeller in 1997 after tiger woods said well, we're looking forward to whatever tiger is going to serve fried chicken or collard greens or whatever it is. he got in a lot of trouble for that so now here's sergio garcia saying if he invites tiger woods over for dinner, he'll serve him fried chicken. >> bill: we played the clip of tiger being asked if he should get together with sergio and say come on, let's chill. no need to carry this on and tiger simply said "no." so it sounds like -- >> not only ugly now. it has gone to a whole new level. >> bill: don't think they'll be having dinner any time soon. >> no. >> bill: the story yesterday was that in front of the senate banking committee chaired by senator carl levin from michigan that apple was going to -- called on the carpet, tim

cook, ceo of apple. called washington to say what are you doing you you tax cheats. you're not paying your fair share of american taxes. right now tim cook came to washington. he came. he saw and he conquered. it turned out to be almost a lovefest. first of all he said we have done nothing wrong. we paid our share of taxes. >> last year our u.s. federal cash effective tax rate was 30.5% and we paid nearly $6 billion in cash to the u.s. treasury. >> bill: and he said, we are not tax cheats. >> we don't depend on tax gimmicks. we don't move intellectual property offshore and use it to sell our products back to the united states to avoid taxes. >> bill: and i guess it shows something -- something about the power of apple because one by one, senators just sort of backed down from their previous

comments. the biggest fan however was kentucky's rand paul. >> frankly i'm offended by the tone and tenor of this hearing. i'm offend by a $4 trillion government bullying, berating and badgering one of america's greatest success stories. you know, tell me one of these politicians up here who doesn't minimize their taxes. tell me a chief financial officer that you would hire if he didn't try to minimize your taxes legally. >> bill: don't you love it? so rand paul is basically saying yeah, give them a prize for cheating on their taxes. the fact is they might have paid $6 billion last year but the senate report of that committee showed that they shielded $44 billion from u.s. taxes and they have $100 billion in tash overseas in which they won't pay any taxes on. the biggest tax cheats in the

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

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. 33 minutes after the hour here. it is "full court press" on a wednesday morning. may 22. well some identity thieves -- we'll get back to the news of the day here in a second. some identity thieves meanwhile don't care whose identity they're stealing so long as they get what they want. case in mind down in georgia

authorities arrested a woman and charged her with identity theft after she allegedly used an elderly man's personal information to rack up a large credit card debt in his name. it happens all the time. and everywhere across this great land of ours which is a good reminder and a good warning to be protected against identity theft. i've done so with lifelock ultimate. the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection ever made. even monitors your bank accounts for takeover fraud but of course lifelock services can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. visit lifelock.com or call and mention press 10 and you'll get 10% off your lifelock ultimate membership. the number to call is 1-800-356-5967 for lifelock ultimate.

network does not cover all transactions. bank account takeover alerts require lifelock bank account membership. >> we're getting a lot of comments about the apple talks we were just having about how they faced congress yesterday. france is i says apple not paying their fair share of taxes is is real scandal. disgraceful how rand paul falls all over himself defending them. ms. jay ford says the money isn't even technically overseas. it is in banks in new york city. no sympathy for them at all. >> bill: that's right. i don't understand it. it is not overseas. it is in banks in new york city. but it is identified, right. or filed overseas so therefore it counts -- >> it's here. it is here. >> bill: they ought to be paying taxes on it. >> apple is the biggest tax cheat. we should remember the other companies out there like general electric.

>> bill: true. and exxon. you could go down the list. what's scandalous i think here is given a chance, really to send a message the senate yesterday instead -- sent a message saying everybody ought to pay their fair share of taxes. the senate yesterday sent a message saying good for you. if you figure out a way to cheat us good for you. you're a model company. we love you apple. now look, i know their products are great. i've got my ipad and my iphone. i don't know what i would do without it. but still still they ought to pay -- they absolutely ought to pay their fair share of taxes. going to take a quick break and look for congressman mark takano when we come back here, to join us. talk about the fact that student loans are about to double. is congress going to do anything about it?

1-866-55-press is our toll free number. this is the "full court press" on wednesday may 22. >> announcer: like politics? then like the "bill press show" on facebook. this is the "bill press show." 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 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: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go. 20 minutes now before the top of the hour here on this wednesday morning, may 22. it is the "full court press." we're coming to you live from our nation's capital yes congress is in session.

we don't know what milestones await us from the house of representatives this week. there was important news from the united states senate yesterday when the immigration bill was passed by a vote of 13-5 out of the senate judiciary committee. not, however without having to remove or not take up an amendment that senator patrick leahy had sponsored to make sure same-sex couples had the same standing as straight couples under new immigration reforms. that was a big disappointment. here to talk about everything that's going on down here at the capital, just a few blocks from our studio, congressman mark takano, good friend from california back in studio with us. good to see you. >> good to see you again bill. >> bill: let's start with this immigration bill. you know, states, now we have 12 states that have recognized marriage equality and same-sex marriage. and here we have immigration

reform in the united states senate and the only way to get it passed out of the judiciary committee is not to give equal standing to same-sex couples. >> i'm enormously disappointed that the judiciary committee did not include a binational same-sex couples. i went to the floor a couple of weeks ago to announce my general approval of the bill. but my concern same-sex couples were left out i indicated to the public i would work toward that and work toward getting it put back in. this is a serious blow to lgbt people. that it is not in the senate. my hope is that it will still come to a vote on the senate and possibly in the house. i'm not sure we can get it in. i would have preferred that it was included in the

comprehensive proposal. >> bill: you know, president obama, i understand, senator patrick leahy who was very, very strongly supportive of lgbt, the community and gay rights and always has been, he said it was with a heavy heavy heart that he withdrew the amendment but he also knew he couldn't get the votes. isn't it stunning to me and to you, as an openly gay member of congress that marco rubio right, would say i'm all for this legislation but if it this goes in, it is the poison pill and i will not support anything else that's in the bill. if this one provision is in there. >> it is remarkable. i speak with young people all the time. young people who are people of color. and i was back speaking to high school students during the last work session.

and when i told them the story about my grandfather who was a dreamer. at age 18 who came to this country from hiroshima japan and the discrimination he faced he couldn't buy land. he couldn't naturalize as a citizen. his path to naturalization did not get confirmed until 1965 and he never naturalized. he was too busy earning a living and there were restrictions on his freedom to marry. if he married a japanese woman born in america, she could lose her citizenship. so this memory and this understanding of marriage equality and freedom to marry you know, goes back to my own ethnic history. and when i tell them, i heard president obama talk about seneca falls and salma and stonewall when i was on the inaugural platform, that really meant something to me because

i'm ate first openly gay member of congress in the state of california. at that point, young people, whether they were in small groups, 30 or a whole class assembly, senior class assembly, they erupted into cheers. they get it. they understand that if you're an ethnic minority, if you're african-american latino, you know, it is a contradiction for you to be prejudice against a sexual minority, gay or lesbian. to not recognize -- to not understand prejudices one feels as a hispanic, latino or african-american and then not extend that same compassion and passion for equality to gays and lesbians is a contradiction. >> bill: is there any hope -- we know that congressman john yarmuth from kentucky, one of the gang of eight in the house was here in studio last week, saying they made a lot of progress. since then they've announced

the gang of eight in the house they've agreed on model legislation. do you know if this provision is in the house version? >> i do not know that. >> bill: i doubt it. >> i doubt it. i think in the house, i think the house is even a much harder road to hoe. i think it is going to take enormous amount of votes in the senate. significantly in the senate to really put pressure on the house to do the right thing. that's been the pattern that i've seen in this session of congress with vowa where they passed -- the violence against women act with 78 votes and speaker boehner was just hard-pressed not to bring the senate version to the floor. >> bill: yeah. >> i think immigration reform is going to work the same way. so anyway -- >> bill: things have flipped really where it used to be the house was active. pass it over to the senate where

things got bogged down. the senate is moving -- bogged down in the house. now, an issue that you spoke about yesterday very important issue. maybe a lot of people don't realize. the interest rates on federal student loans set to double at the end of june. all of this attention to -- this is commencement week and all of the commencement exercises graduation exercises. and here the student loans. this is like the freight train coming down the track. what are we going to do about it? >> well, i'm hopeful that we can pass the responsible student loan act. i think it is being sponsored by john tierney and others which would extend i think the current rate for 2015. that would be my hope. i'm not really thrilled with the republican plan which would tie loan rates to 2.5 plus the t

note for ten years. the ten-year treasury note. that would be a variable rate and over ten years that could amount to quite a bit of extra expense for students. it's slightly worse than president obama's proposal in his budget. still, the president has i think, a slightly better plan. i would prefer the plans offered by the colleagues in the house. >> bill: which would -- >> which would extend, i think the current rates for another -- until 2015. >> bill: you talk about speaking to young people, high school students or to college students, i mean this is a real -- this is a reality and this is a real burden. people carry with them for years and years. >> bill, i'm a little

disappointed that our conversation about college expenses really, at this moment, limited to interest rates. i would like to get in a broader discussion about the principle the principle of the loan because the expenses, even for public universities, have grown tremendously. it's hard to believe -- well, it's hard to believe i'm 30 years out of college. you know, i was offered a financial aid package an ivy league school at harvard i don't think i had more than $15,000, maybe less. maybe $10,000 in loans i had to pay off. and that's from an ivy league school. >> bill: peter $15,000 -- if you only have $15,000 in loans today, you're lucky. even president obama talks about the loans that he and michiganle had to pay off for years and

years and years. >> right. >> i recently in 2010, i finished a program at u.c. riverside. i didn't get the subsidized stafford loan. i was a teacher and i was look being to get my advanced degree finally. a master in fine arts and creative writing. i think i racked up about $40,000 in loans for that two to three year program. four years of undergraduate study -- >> bill: today -- >> i think it is an enormous amount of money. >> bill: you're talking at any decent school what? at least $100,000. wouldn't you say peter? >> $80,000 to $100,000. i can understand -- you double the loan from the rate from 3% to 6 point something percent and 6 point something percent is a favorly low interest rate by historic standards but you let

that rise and the variable rate republicans are talking about it goes up to -- that's a lot of money on $100,000 amortized over 10, 20 years. >> bill: i don't think -- maybe president obama once talked about this but nobody's really made a big issue of college -- what you say the principle of college tuition. but think about it. it is 25, 30, 35, $40,000 a year for your better colleges and that's going nowhere but up. >> i have to say that you know, i came to washington as an educator. i have 22 years as a college trustee. 23 years as a high schoolteacher. i just don't know that educating this present generation or next generation and putting a huge chunk of that cost in terms of

loans on the backs of our young people is the best way to go. now, there's some ideas that i have about how we can go at that principle. i've been a long admirer of dr. leon of bard college and his experiments in new york city. where he has -- he put forward something called early college high schools. there are other versions of that idea. middle colleges where students basically earn concurrent credit. they can -- they graduate with both high school and some two-year college degrees. president obama mentioned something about reinventing america's high schools and he cited an example of someone in new york city who graduated with a high school diploma and also a career in technical degrees. it can also be vocational education. that would slice two years off of the undergraduate education.

i think this is -- you know, one way to think about how we can make six years of education compress them to four or five years. more efficient. and really make college attainable. >> bill: you know what? i must admit i never heard of the concept. it makes a lot of sense. certainly for some students, right and some schools and like -- not do away with the need for college altogether but -- >> i think we can challenge a lot more of our young people. it is not for everyone. there is a good -- at least a third of our young people, i think will need actually a lot of catch up work that's expensive. but i think we can certainly look at being more efficient with our high school students. >> bill: see now the other solution is michael bloomberg's solution that we heard yesterday. michael bloomberg said you're better off becoming a plumber.

>> well, plumbers make a good deal of money. >> bill: they do. >> there's a lot of training that folks in the plumbers and pipe fitters i need to respect the trades. the thing is to graduate young people with these skills and that plumber could parlay that good-paying salary into a business degree, a plumber can start to own a small business. same with electricians. lec -- lec terrifics make a good deal of money. >> bill: a lot of challenge out there. you're in a good place congressman to make these things happen. doing a good job at it. thank you for your time this morning. good to you have here in washington. >> thank you. >> bill: mark takano, long-time friend from california. i'll be back and tell you what president obama is up to today. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. president obama fairly light schedule today. got the daily briefing this morning. meets with treasury secretary jack lew this afternoon. and then tonight, at the white house, the president and the first lady and the vice president will be hosting the gershwin prize concert giving out the 2013 library of congress gershwin prize for popular song to one of my favorite, one of the greatest entertainers ever, the one and only carole king. that tapestry album -- >> yeah, yeah, yeah. >> bill: one of the greatest albums of all-time. jay carney holding his press briefing today at 1:00.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. happy wednesday. wednesday, may 22nd here on the "full court press." it is good to see you. thank you for joining us. on current tv, we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. our studio right here on capitol hill. nothing going on in the congress. in the house at any rate. big news in the senate yesterday. we'll tell you all about it. and give you a chance to comment an 1-866-55-press. you can also join us on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. president obama yesterday promising to send all possible federal aid out to the residents

of moore oklahoma, to help them rebuild from that killer tornado. even though oklahoma's two senators tom coburn and james inhofe have voted against sending fema aid to any other part of the country the death toll in oklahoma has dropped from a predicted 92 to -- feared 91 down to 24. meanwhile, here in washington, the senate judiciary committee approving the big massive immigration reform bill yesterday, sending it to the floor for debate and a vote. by a vote in the committee of 13-5. in order to get there though, they had to drop an amendment which would give equal standing to same-sex couples. try bad for that -- too bad for that. all of that and more coming up with reverend barry lynn next here on current tv. to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are

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

we have a big big hour and the 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 not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. 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

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: senate judiciary committee approves the immigration reform legislation but only after making sure the same-sex couples aren't included. oh, no, we have to discriminate in order to reach out. one step forward two steps backwards. good morning, everybody. what do you say? it is the "full court press." here we go on current tv and on your local progressive talk radio station coming to you on both ways -- you can watch us. listen to us here on this wednesday morning. whichever. we're glad to have you with us. we invite you to join the conversation. be part of the dialogue here about the issues of the day.

by phone at 1-866-55-press. on twitter at bpshow or become our friend on facebook and give us your comments at facebook.com/billpressshow. it has been a long time before we had a chance to welcome back in the studio, the head of an organization, i am a proud member of, because they are defending one of the pillars of this american democracy and that is the americans united for separation of church and state. the reverend barry lynn, executive director and founder in studio with us this morning. hey, barry. >> nice to be back. >> bill: nice to see you. you're look good. >> thank you. you, too. >> bill: there is lot going on in your area that we want to talk about. >> indeed there is. >> bill: you join our crew this morning peter ogborn and dan henning. >> good morning. >> bill: alichia cruz is standing by to cover the phone calls and cyprian bowlding, keeping us look good on current tv. >> that's perfect.

>> bill: cyprian put your makeup on this morning? >> i'm lucky to get my head screwed on this morning. >> bill: now we saved this little clip for you because wolf blitzer was like everybody else covering the tornado in oklahoma and talking to survivors and residents of the area. and everybody -- every time you turned around, people were saying thank god i'm here. god saved me. our prayers are with the people in oklahoma. i heard monday, the day of the tornado, right the question to the governor, what do you need? she said prayers. the mayor of moore oklahoma, what do you need? prayers. i'm thinking no, they need more than prayers. anyhow so this whole religious atmosphere out there. wolf blitzer even gets into it yesterday with surprising answer perhaps. here he is. >> we're happy you're here. you guys did a great job.

i guess you gotta thank the lord right? do you thank the lord for that split-second decision? >> i'm actually an atheist. >> you made the right call. >> we're here. i don't blame anybody for thanking the lord. >> of course not. >> bill: do you thank the lord? she says no, actually, i'm an atheist. >> it is a wonderful example of how diverse this country has become. we have 25 million nonbelieves and free thinkers and 20,000 kinds of religious groups or cults or sects living in this country. i was once told when i went to law school after i went to the seminary, i went to law school and the criminal justice teacher of mine was sam dash, the watergate counsel, he said one thing you need to know, never ask a question where you don't know the answer. and apparently wolf didn't take

that class. >> bill: what a dumb question to ask. did you thank the lord you're here today? do you thank the lord you're here? >> this just in, bill. in arizona today there will be the first known humanist prayer before the arizona legislature and then, i'm told, a member of the arizona legislature will come out as a nonbeliever, a shocking development in the state of arizona. for a long time we only had one member of congress, former congressman pete stark who said i'm -- i don't believe in god. apparently one more legislative person in arizona who believes that. >> bill: arizona of all states. >> that's what i'm told. >> bill: they'll be driven out of the state. >> why would they go? oklahoma? >> walk the desert. >> exactly. >> bill: barry lynn is here

with us. the latest issues on this whole church -- in this era of church state. ashley who is with now the news -- now this news, going to be joining us a little bit later to talk about the big i.r.s. hearing yesterday. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this wednesday the nfl announced yesterday that the 50th super bowl will be held in the san francisco bay area. team owners voting to hold the game in the new 49ers stadium in february of 2016. the stadium is scheduled to open next year. the last time a super bowl was played in northern california was back in 1985. >> bill: you know, there has been a lot of controversy about where to build the 49ers new stadium. i think it is down near san jose. >> it is way south.

>> bill: that's not cool. it is like the redskins building way out. >> it is a beauty of baseball parks. the san francisco baseball park and the one here. you can walk it from town. >> the star of the oklahoma city thunder stepped up big time to help with tornado relief efforts in his adopted home state yesterday. nba player kevin durant donating $1 million to the oklahoma red cross, a fraction of his $18 million salary but still, most generous donation from an athlete or celebrity so far. >> it is nice that he did it quietly, too. >> the red cross is the one who made the announcement. he still has not spoken publicly about it. >> bill: good for him. >> "dancing with the stars" crowned a new champion last night. country singer kellie pickler winning the mirrored ball trophy formerly of "american idol" fame back in season five. she was sixth place but was number one last night. then the disney channel star

took second place and player for the ravens, jones took third. >> bill: "dancing with the stars" hasn't been the same since tucker was there. or tom delay. bristol palin. >> you hit the highlights. that's the trifecta of dancing greatness right there. >> bill: yeah. i didn't hear almost anything about them this season at all. they didn't have any big stars. so barry there's so many interesting things we can talk about. first, a big case in front of the tenth circuit tomorrow called the hobby lobby case. tell us about it and why it is important. >> hobby lobby is in 41 states, a for-profit business that sells a lot of craft goods. recently, they were advertising this kind of make it yourself -- wind chime. >> bill: scrapbooking.

>> wind chime. that's the thing that you have on your front porch. >> i think it is an icon of religion because david green the guy who founded hobby lobby has decided even though he's a for-profit business, he has nothing to do with religion, he's a devout catholic, he says, therefore, the 21,000 employees of his company in those 41 states, all of those branches, will not be able to obtain insurance coverage for contraception even though that's mandated by federal law under the affordable care act but he says as a businessman who is religious and who believes that most forms of contraception in fact, induce abortions, which is, of course, bad science. he says that ought to trumps the rights of conscience of all of my women employees. >> bill: this gets back to what some people in congress wanted which is the ceo decide decides -- the boss decides whether any employees get contraceptive coverage or not.

so we're not talking here about a catholic hospital, right or catholic clinic or a catholic church. >> no. >> bill: or school. >> the obama administration from the beginning has said if you're the catholic church on the corner, you really just serve catholics and you don't get government money in most cases therefore, you can -- in the middle of the catholic hospitals, the big catholic universities but they're not yet ripe to file these lawsuits but about 20 of them have been filed. mainly with the help of religious right groups representing almost entirely bosses who happen to be catholic. there's one mennonite boss they truck out every once in awhile. but the real question that the courts have to deal with and have not been doing very well with, the government's been losing its position on these cases, is if you can be exempt from the laws that apply to the rest of us, simply because you make a religious claim then what's left of the civil rights laws. we can just ignore those.

you can ignore every law. so this ultimately, when it gets to the supreme court probably 2014 is about do religious employers have to abide by any laws that they don't happen to like? and that's a big big deal. >> bill: this is a classic case of we could pick and choose which -- >> sure. scientologist -- psychiatry. we won't cover mental health counseling unless it is with us. why bother with the civil rights acts. if you don't like to mix the races as they used to say right winningers used to say in the '50s and '60s, we don't have to do it even ifier a for-profit company. >> bill: is this the one that's furthest along? >> looked at as the ripest eventually to get to the supreme court. it could be relatively quickly. this is a -- the whole tenth

circuit, nine justices, i think are there. they'll be listening to the case. the oral argument tomorrow. many of us have filed friend of the court briefs to support the government's position that if the law covers everybody it means everybody including whether you're a mennonite or a catholic employee -- >> bill: has the obama administration stepped up in each of these cases? aggressively defending -- >> they've aggressively defended it. i wish their briefs had been a little tougher, a little more passionate. i think anybody wants to find out what we have to say of course, can just go to www.au.org and we'll send you more information about it. >> bill: au.org. copy of your brief? >> copies of the brief in the hobby lobby case. >> bill: the hobby lobby case. you may have heard about it. can the boss decide any provision of healthcare that should be denied you as one of

his or her employees just because i don't believe in it. not much to back this up except a theological belief which isn't shared by many catholics. >> bill: is it just catholics that they're targeting here? >> there is one mennonite company but besides that, i believe all of the others are roman catholic heads of these companies. some -- one is an air conditioning company. one is an auto parts company. >> bill: are the catholic bishops -- >> catholic bishops are stirring up maybe of them and using their own representation then there are groups like the beckett fund which used to say we're not a right wing law firm but they are a right wing law firm and they're representing hobby lobby in this case tomorrow. you've got religious right advocates claiming this is a central piece of their religious freedom. see, they believe after citizens united which had a different name. it wasn't so close to americans

united. citizens united says corporate free speech. that's great. we should all have it. now they want a corporate conscience. a conscience of a company that overrides the conscience and the moral "viewpoint" of women employees. that is absolutely scandalous, shocking. and -- >> bill: one quick other case that i just read in your publication about up in greece, new york, city council still starting off with a prayer? >> they invite a minister. the minister stands behind the podium. has a big seal of the city of greece new york, up near rochester and gives a prayer. it is overwhelmingly christian. the supreme court has just taken that case to hear it next fall. >> bill: whoa. >> it is a big opportunity for them to either do the right thing which is to say no, no, no this is not good. nobody should feel like a second class citizen if they're not a christian living in greece, new york, or to do damage to the

whole meaning of what the separation of church and state is all about. >> bill: this is a case filed by americans united against city of greece. >> correct. file on behalf an atheist and a jewish woman. >> bill: now in front of the supreme court. >> with five catholics on the court. watch out! >> we're watching. >> bill: when we come back, your calls welcome at 1-866-55-press. and barry want to ask you about the republican candidate for lieutenant-governor in virginia. talk about e.w. jackson. >> announcer: download podcasts at bill press.com and listen anytime, anywhere. this is the "bill press show." >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform?

>> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv. 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. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever tired feeling, or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica.

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cenk off air alright in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks! i think the number 1 thing than viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. they know that i'm not bsing them for some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know i'm going to be the first one to call them out. cenk on air>> what's unacceptable is how washington continues to screw the middle class over. cenk off air i don't want the middle class taking the brunt of the spending cuts and all the different programs that wind up hurting the middle class. cenk on air you got to go to the local level, the state level and we have to fight hard to make sure they can't buy our politics anymore. they can question if i'm right about that. but i think the audience gets that, i actually mean it. cenk on air 3 trillion dollars in spending cuts! narrator uniquely progressive and always topical the worlds largest online news show is on current tv. cenk off air

and i think the audience gets, "this guys to best of his abilities is trying to look out for us." only on current tv! >> announcer: connect with the "bill press show" on twitter. follow us at bpshow and tweet using the hashtag watching bp. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour. now, news -- now this news

reporter, ashley in the next segment of the "full court press." reverend barry lynn, head of americans united for separation of church and state here in studio with us. peter? >> if you're listening to us or watching us in los angeles, congratulations, you have a new mayor. the mayor's race is over and the winner is eric garcetti. he won handley over wendy greuel. when we woke up this morning, it was still very, very close. >> bill: the latest poll showed them really neck and neck. both good friends of mine and both good people. >> we're also on twitter at bpshow. we're taking your comments on the hobby lobby case. these nut jobs think contraception equals abortion? what schools did they attend? and on the clip that we played of wolf blitzer eddie says i would like to thank the lord for your show but i'm an atheist too, so i give all praise to me nor not watching wolf blitzer.

find us at bpshow on twitter. >> bill: very interesting development last weekend barry lynn in the state of virginia. republican party still chooses their nominees at a convention where anything could happen. somebody can go up and give a rousing speech and end up being the nominee for lieutenant-governor. which is what happened with bishop e.w. jackson who is known for some pretty outrageous statements including this one. >> i know people say it is unfair to associate homosexuality with pedophilia or some of these other perversions. but i believe that there is a direct connection because what they really want is absolute, complete and total sexual freedom. >> bill: there he is. republican nominee for lieutenant-governor -- republicans of virginia, many are now saying oh, my god what have we done? here's what i want to ask you.

what is the bishop doing running for public office in a land where we celebrate the separation of church and state? >> a lot of states used to prohibit members of the clergy serving in public office. i think not withstanding this guy's comment and even worse ones he's made, the united states supreme court i think rightly said you can be a member of the clergy and you can serve in office. now, in every state of course, you're supposed to uphold the u.s. constitution and the state constitution so you're supposed to be able to separate in your mind, what is being driven to you by your faith and what is a good, solid public policy based on the constitutional values of the country or the state. so that doesn't bother me. what bothers me is the could be tent, of course, of his comments. he made a comment comparing planned parenthood to the ku klux klan and people thought cuccinelli was a right-winger.

i guess you can get to the right of him. >> bill: suddenly, republicans don't have a problem with black churches being involved in politics. >> they love it these days. >> bill: reverend barry lynn, au.org. join americans united for separation of church and state. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

>> announcer: like politics? then like the "bill press show" on facebook. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour. it is the "bill press show" on this wednesday morning. we are coming to you live from our nation's capital. we're brought to you today by the national education

association. good men and women of the nea under president dennis van roekel. we salute those teachers out in oklahoma who did such a good job of protecting those kids and saving lives and really stepping up to the plate. all members i'll bet you of the nea. you can check out their web site at nea.org. one of the big things that we were looking forward to yesterday in the senate was the hearing -- senate banking committee, i believe it was. wasn't it? >> the senate subcommittee on permanent investigations. they were going to go after apple for the biggest tax cheats in america. it turned out to be a lovefest. covering that hearing ashley cod yanni joining us in studio. >> thanks for having me.

>> bill: tell us about now this news, a fairly new player on the scene. >> so we are six months strong. we are -- >> bill: six months, all right. >> so we are a mobile social video application for consumers that are getting their news on their mobile devices. so their ipad, their iphones, the androids. we provide video coverage of the big events through washington and throughout the country. we're also a web site. the premise of sharing our content is to social media stream. you share videos on facebook and twitter. you watch them on your ipad and your iphone. so it is really for the new and growing generation of consumers that are accessing news in different ways. >> bill: absolutely. i mean you are right out there on the leading edge, right of this new media. >> yeah, it's great. >> bill: when you go to cover like reporters generally go and they have a cameraman or

cameraperson and a sound person and a producer and you know, like the whole crew, right. now, how many are in your crew? >> so there really is no crew. it is myself and another producer, julie eckert and we are on the hill covering, you know, stories that are specific to washington with a small db camera. so it is a teeny little camera. we capture folks on video commenting on the hearings they were just in. we get a lot of access because we're so unintrusive and it has been very successful so far. >> bill: you put it up on -- >> we put it up on our web site, in our mobile app and share it through our social platforms. >> i'll just point out because i have -- speaking of apple. >> bill: is there an app? >> it is a mobile application. >> bill: okay. >> i encourage everyone listening to download now this news. it is free. >> bill: i'll do it today. right now.

>> perfect. >> bill: in your capacity, as now this news reporter -- yes sir. >> bill: yesterday at the apple hearing so let's see first of all here's tim cook. he comes in. the day before, the staff released this report saying apple's hiding all of this money. they're now paying their taxes. carl levin says we're going to get them. john mccain says we're going to get them. we're going to roast them alive. tim cook says wait a minute, we paid our fair share. >> last year, our u.s. federal cash effective tax rate was 30.5% and we paid nearly $6 billion in cash to the u.s. treasury. >> bill: so how did he do? >> well, on twitter, he was kind of known as tim cool. he came off as very calm, cool, collected and very respectful. every time carl levin came at him with a question or senator

john mccain, he would say thank you so much for your question, sir, i respect you so much here's my answer or i'm happy to be a part of this conversation with you. so he was very levelheaded and it ended up turning out to be very much in his favor. i mean, you know, it was as if they were eating out of his hand by the end of the hearing. >> bill: and he did say that they paid $6 billion in taxes. "the new york times" reports this morning but they still -- there was $44 billion i think that they hid from paying taxes and they got like $100 billion stored away in a bank in new york or banks in new york which is classified as overseas investments and so they don't pay any taxes on it at all. so i guess in effect, guilty but still walked out free, huh? >> well, i think the take away from the hearing yesterday was

the need for comprehensive tax reform. and i think apple became the example of a multinational corporation that is avoiding paying u.s. taxes. >> bill: right. >> so the report that the subcommittee had released on monday had identified two subsidiaries in ireland and essentially, tim cook had you know explained how these are legal. and had explained that, you know, all of the profits from apple products, that are being purchased overseas, are going through those channels. and so none of the products that are being sold in the united states are being shifted so to speak. >> bill: i think you made a very important point. he did say, i don't think anybody necessarily accused him of breaking the law. but that is the problem. you can avoid -- you can observe the law and still not pay your taxes. but because of all the possible

loopholes and gains that people can play and as far as rand paul was concerned the more games they play, the more they should be admired. here's rand paul yesterday. >> frankly, i'm offended by the tone and tenor of this hearing. i'm offended by a $4 trillion government bullying, berating and badgering one of america's greatest success stories. you know, tell me one of these politicians up here who doesn't minimize their taxes. tell me a chief financial officer that you would hire if he didn't try to minimize your taxes legally. tell me what apple's done that is illegal. >> bill: isn't that a strange message that, you know, we all cheat on our taxes and we would all do what apple does if we only had the smart lawyers and accountants that they have. rand paul actually, in another clip, i heard said we should give them a prize a reward for

being such clever tax cheats. legally. >> right. so there was certainly no shortage of rand paul defending apple. and i think you know, i think that was important for a lot of reasons only because you know, it really highlights how -- what they did was legal and how the responsibility from apple's perspective is to their shareholders. so i think if for anything, that really highlights the need for comprehensive tax reform. and you know, while rand was a little radical in his delivery, i think it said a lot for how the other side does feel about the irv. tule, what a lot of people haven't seen from the hearing is right after that, there was a nice moment of bipartisan between mccain carl levin and mccaskill. mccain came to rand -- i mean mccain came to levin's defense and said i have never seen carl

levin bully or badger anybody in hundreds of hearings i've been in with him. and then mccaskill climbed in and said you know, this was a wonderful moment of bipartisanship where mccain and levin were coming together in a collective moment to recognize just, you know, how radical that delivery might have been. >> i think it's kind of symbolic, by the way of apple in general because every time something screws up with one of my apple products which happens i mean we've got basically all apple products at home. and i go storming into the genius part, i'm all angry and i swear i'm going to look at a phone. they're pretty cool. everybody was out for blood. they thought it would be a big thing and then at the end of the day, tim cook did a good job of smoothing everything over. >> bill: they're a good company. they have great products and they have great service. and they have some questionable business practices on top of all of that. >> bill: yes look at where

they make these things, under what conditions. they're not paying their taxes. so what can we expect to come out of this hearing? maybe just as you indicated more of a push for tax reform. >> so, two of the things that tim cook had talked about yesterday were you know, one of two things. he had said, you know, potentially, bringing the cash back to the u.s. and being taxed one time in exchange for there being a significant push for comprehensive tax reform. another thing and i think this was more of -- aligned with him and his other colleagues of multinational corporations, that there would be a reasonable tax on foreign assets of multinational corporations. while also potentially lowering the 35% corporate tax rate that currently reigns on most of multinational corporations which, from their perspective is a lot of money. >> bill: some kind of a tax break, if they bring the money back here. >> right. >> bill: that one time, they would pay taxes but at a lower

rate. >> they call it tax holiday. >> bill: right. >> so that was something they did discuss yesterday. however, i'm not sure. >> bill: so that was yesterday. what's on the docket for today? have you ever heard about the i.r.s.? we'll get into that next. ashley codianni is on the hill for now this news. it is now this news.com. it is the "full court press" on a wednesday morning. we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv.

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>> bill: 13 minutes before the top of the hour. there is the news on the mayor's front today on both the west coast and the east coast. on the west coast, we have a new mayor in los angeles. he is eric garcetti. beating out wendy greuel, a very tight race and a toughly-fought race for mayor of los angeles. both good people. folks ran excellent campaigns. it was very close. early voting, early tallies last night. eric garcetti came out with a clear victory and has declared victory and wendy greuel has conceded in that race. congratulations, mr. mayor. and in new york city, anthony

weiner is back. he was giving hints he might run again. yesterday, he made it official. declaring he is a candidate for mayor. and he is look for a second chance. >> it is interesting to see what anthony weiner does with this. the "new york post" headline writers will have a lot of fun with it. >> bill: what are they up to this morning? >> i haven't seen it yet. the good thing is lot of the jokes will get stale before the actual election. we're on twitter at bpshow. we were talking about apple. and tim cook being in front of congress yesterday. kg on twitter says the senate is jealous that corporate ceos have rigged the game better than they have. and the big question here from phil on twitter asks so will fan boys and girls give apple a free pass as part of their hero worship? sort of have to wait and see how that goes.

you can find us on twitter at bpshow. >> bill: we've been talking about the apple hearing yesterday with ashley codianni who covered it for now this news. and so what's up on the docket today? >> so, there are a few things. namely what most people will be paying attention to is the house oversight committee hearing with lois lerner who will be making an appearance. >> bill: that's really more important than the michele bachmann news conference at 9:30 this morning? >> and michele bachmann is having an event in front of the capitol with rolling thunder. so we'll see -- >> bill: that's right. they rolled in on memorial day weekend. >> yeah. so we'll see if she rolls in. this is an event to support veterans. and veteran causes. >> bill: this is an event to get michele bachmann's name out again. >> well, yes of course. >> bill: yesterday, we had in studio jim graves who is the democratic candidate against michele bachmann.

came within 5,000 votes of beating her the last time. >> wow. >> bill: the polls now show he is leading her at this point in the sixth congressional district up in minnesota. this might explain why she's doing everything to get -- >> that's why she's getting on the motorcycle, hopefully. >> can't wait to see that. >> bill: all right. but then the i.r.s. hearing. so lois lerner, who was responsible for nonprofits at the i.r.s. has announced ahead of time she's going to plead the fifth today. >> yep. >> bill: why? >> i think -- >> bill: i don't get it. steve miller who was the acting head forced to resign, he testified, the inspector general testified. what's she afraid of? >> you know, i think the big question is when did you know and why didn't you make this more of an issue to begin with? and obviously she's -- she had

her lawyer write this letter to plead the fifth to avoid criminalizing herself. she's going to be there. darrell issa had subpoenaed her and she will be there. and we're just going to have to see how it plays out. >> bill: so she -- it is hard for me to believe from what i know of this case and i -- we've been talking about this for the last three days, i really think that the serious scandal here is the department of justice and its abuse of first amendment freedoms with james rosen from fox news and with reporters for "the associated press." but reporters seem to be most interested in the i.r.s. scandal. and so i know because everybody hates the i.r.s., you know. it becomes a big story. i don't see where there's criminal activity. i mean i think they were wrong in targeting -- if, in fact it looks like they did in targeting

any one group whether it is left or right. but criminal activity? so obviously she said -- her lawyer must see a potential for it. >> i think you know, initially when this scandal first broke people were very quick to draw correlations between richard nixon and president obama. the reason why there's so much attention to this issue is because there's that inherent fear of you know, the beginnings of this scandal and what it means for the president's legacy. now, i can't speak for every reporter and that's why they're jumping to cover this over other issues. this matched with benghazi and matched with the a.p. and the fox news reporting. this is the first time we've had this cumulative build of scandals that are questioning the president's legacy. and it's -- you know, this is -- bill i just have to say we're almost out of time here. except when you look at them.

>> right. >> bill: when you look at benghazi terrorist attack. too bad it happened. more security at embassies now so it can't happen again hopefully. the i.r.s., i think the more you look at it, the more you realize, there's not a lot there. the real scandal is the department of justice and it is the one people are paying the least attention to. so i encourage now this news to join me in paying more attention to what the department of justice is doing, to us in the media. >> right. we are reporters. >> bill: your phones could be tapped. >> i know. it resonates with the media community for sure. >> bill: absolutely. hey, ashley, nice to have you in here. thanks for the work you're doing. congratulations on now this news. >> thank you. >> bill: we'll see you again. >> yes. thank you so much. >> bill: i'll be back with a quick parting shot.

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>> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. >> bill: watching coverage of the oklahoma tornado is hard to believe the level of destruction to so many homes businesses, schools, churches and lives also hard to believe the people of oklahoma elected two such big hypocrites for u.s. senate. jim inhofe and tom coburn, fema's biggest opponents in congress have consistently voted against anymore funding for fema. but fortunately, the people of oklahoma will still get all of the help they need from fema because most members of congress are not as cold-hearted as tom coburn and jim inhover. but you know, i think from now

on, there should be a rule. you can't vote against relief for people in other parts of the country and then stick out your hand for federal dollars once disaster hits your own state. that's only a fair rule, don't you think?

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> stephanie: hello current tv land. jacki schechner, you're my higher power in the current news center and i have a confession to make. i'm officially a spinaholic. i'm going every day now. >> every day? you were spinning every day but

now you're a soul cycle. >> we mentioned a brand name. >> oops! not like i was wanting free classes for anything. >> what? [ ♪ magic wand ♪ ] >> stephanie: we