tv Full Court Press Current July 9, 2013 3:00am-6:01am PDT
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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning everybody. what do you say? good to see you this morning on a tuesday. tuesday, july 9 and this is the "full court press." coming to you live on current tv. all across this great land of ours from our studio on capitol hill right here in washington, d.c. where we've got our eyes on the big events of the day so we can tell you what's going on and give you a chance to comment on it as well. you can do so by giving us a call, of course, at
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1-866-55-press. you can join us on twitter invite your comments on twitter at bpshow and we want you to be our friend. we're look for friends on facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. how join us on facebook. let's see first of all we start again in egypt today where the military yesterday opened fire, killing 51 supporters of president morsi and injuring another 400 and some. and yet the white house still refuses to say this is a military coup. on the homefront congress is back in town, gearing up for several fights including a big one over presidential nominees. so many of them have been sitting in the senate, blocked by the filibuster. harry reid has told republicans you either act by the end of the week or we're going to change the filibuster rules. and up in new york city, eliot spitzer off and running for city
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controller. republicans are saying we don't need this sinner back in public office. that's not what they said about mark sanford. that and more on current tv. they should self-deport? >> no, they said "make us a turkey and make it fast". >> (laughter). >> she gets the comedians laughing. >> that's the best! >> that's hilarious. >> ... and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there is wiggle room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> she's joy behar. >> ya, i consider you jew-talian. >> okay, whatever you want. >> who plays kafka? >> who saw kafka? >> who ever saw kafka? >> (laughter). >> asking the tough questions. >> chris brown, i mean you wouldn't let one of your daughters go out with him. >> absolutely not. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me? >> absolutely! >> (singing) >> i take lipitor, thats it. >> are you improving your lips? >> (laughter). >> when she's talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. >> it looks like anthony wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. >> his what in the ring? >> his hat. >> always outspoken, joy behar. >> and the best part is that
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we have a big, big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. 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. (vo) sharp tongue. >>excuse me? (vo) quick wit. >> and yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. (vo) and above all, opinion and attitude. >> really?! this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. >> you know what those people are like. >> what could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush? >> my producer just coughed up a hairball. >>sorry. >>just be grateful current tv doesn't come in "smell-o-vision" >> oh come on!
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the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo)only on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: the white house refuses to call what's going on in egypt a military coup. i don't know. sure looks like a coup to me. good morning everybody. what do you say? hello, hello hello happy tuesday. tuesday, july 9. here we go. congress is back in town. watch out.
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whatever it is, we'll let you know. we're right here on top of it all in our studio on capitol hill, just down the street from the united states capitol building. where we've got our eye on what's happening in the house and the senate and around the country, around the globe. we'll tell you all about it. not only that, most importantly we'll give you a chance to sound off about it. what it means to you and to your family. you tell us at 1-866-55-press. you tell us on twitter at bpshow. you tell us on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. good to have you with us today. thanks for joining us. thanks for being part of the program. say hello with me to our team here, peter ogborn and dan henning. good morning guys. >> good morning, bill. >> bill: everything good? >> yes sir. >> bill: damn right. >> i'm so excited to be back for a full week. none of this three-day crap like
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we had last week. let's do a full work week. >> bill: we have to do five days? it felt like a friday when i got up. alichia cruz is here on the phones. cyprian bowlding, he is still -- unaccounted for. we've been trying to track him down. monty is here keeping us looking good on current tv. good to see you all. i was on "the war room" last night with michael shure. michael does a good job. everybody is asking where is jennifer granholm. i don't know. i'm pretty sure she's still in the san francisco bay area. she's teaching at berkeley. i do miss her as well. well pat robertson, he can't help stepping in it, you know what i mean? certainly public attitudes regarding lgbt, our good friends in the lgbt community. public attitudes regarding
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particularly we know marriage equality and same-sex marriage have changed with the latest supreme court decision. reflecting where the american people are on this issue. but pat robertson he sure hasn't changed. he got a question yesterday on "the 700 club". you go on facebook and is there a gay couple there, if ump to click on like, you like what that gay couple is doing does that mean you would be condoning sin? pat robertson has a pretty strong reaction to that. >> when we like things on facebook it is something that goes against what is written in the bible such as pictures of same-sex couples. is that considered condoning the behavior? how do you explain this to new christians or youth? >> well, i'm not one who switches on likes in facebook. it is hard to say but what you're saying is yes, i like
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this kind of thing. got a couple of same sex guys kissing, you like that. that makes me want to throw up. but to me, i would vomit -- push vomit, not like. they don't give you that option on facebook. >> bill: he sees somebody gay he punches vomit. >> i get sick to my stomach. >> bill: i'm surprised he even knows what facebook is. >> yeah, right. >> bill: oh, my gosh. >> by the way, you can like our facebook page at facebook.com/billpressshow. you cannot vomit on our facebook page. >> i want a vomit button on facebook. i'm with pat robertson. it would be great to have a vomit button that you could hit on things that made you sick on facebook. people who post -- >> i would agree with that. >> i'm all for a vomit button. >> bill: depends on what you
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use it for. not for what pat robertson said. coming up, igor, it is tuesday. tuesdays with igor volsky from center for american progress. think progress as he is every tuesday. joe cirincione is back in town to give us his take on egypt later and then we'll jump down to dallas and talk to the one and only wayne slater about what the hell did rick perry say yesterday and what did he mean but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> well, other headlines making news on this tuesday a new poll finds most americans are getting their news from tv. over any other media source. gallup yesterday saying 55% of americans say they turn to the television for news about current events. 21% turn to the internet. 9% to print. and 6% turn to radio. of those tv watchers, 26% not specific about what they watch. 8% say they watch fox.
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7% watching cnn and 4% watching local news ahead of other cable networks. >> bill: i guess what's so surprising about that is i would have thought that the internet would be higher. >> this isn't a specific age range, right? there are still a lot of people who don't get their news from anywhere. >> bill: tv is way way ahead but i would thought it would have moved up faster. a die-hard cleveland browns fan passed away this week and had one final request of the nfl team that he stuck with for the 55 years of his life. according to cbs store scott singer of ohio first wanted people to wear browns jerseys to his funeral and on top of that, he requested the actual team show up to be his pallbearers so they could let him down one last time. [ laughter ] that's great! >> bill: i like that.
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>> that's really good. >> may he rest in peace. the new lone ranger movie was a huge flop at the box office over the weekend. so bad that disney is looking at taking a $150 million loss on the project. the film based in the 1930s radio show and the 1950s tv series stars johnny depp and proud by jerry bruckheimer so it is surprising it took in just $48 million in its first five days in theatres. >> bill: if you can jay leno had something to say about that last night. this is how bad -- this is how bad the lone ranger movie was. here's jay leno. >> major turmoil in egypt. the military has taken over. the muslim brotherhood is out of power and president morsi is under house arrest and listen to this, he's being forced to watch "the lone ranger." >> it took terrible. >> bill: punishment worse than death. >> it looks so bad.
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>> bill: let's start there actually on egypt. i gotta tell you it is chaos in egypt. it's got a lot of us scratching our heads saying what should the united states be doing about it. by the way as if there's anything we could do about it. so yesterday, the latest, the supporters of president morsi members of the muslim brotherhood and whatever you think about that organization, they did adapt to the new circumstances. they got their political stuff together, let's say. they moved into the first pre-elections held in egypt. they organized. they registered people to vote. they ran morsi as their candidate and they won the election. so now they find that the results of all of that organizing, all of that political activity, the democratic process was taken away from them. the rug pulled out from under
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them. i understand their legitimate complaint. that's not the way democracy is supposed to work. we won this fair and square and they did. so what you do in a democracy right, is you wait four years or two years until you have a chance to -- if you don't like that person, don't like what happened, to get that person out of office at the ballot box instead of going out in the streets and getting the military to take over again. at any rate, supporters of president morsi who refused to roll over, walked out in the streets yesterday. the military opened up fire on the muslim brotherhood killing 51 murdering 51 of. they putting another 435 in the hospital, all of whom -- most of whom at any rate, with gunshot wounds which just proves who's in charge in egypt. look, they picked the new
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president. they refuse to let the president pick his own prime minister. he's now been named interim vice president which is a less powerful position. and they opened fire on protestors yesterday. so it's total chaos there. what is the united states supposed to do about it? what can we do about it? of course, hot head, john mccain, for some reason, the media still goes to him when he comments on the foreign policy at all. even though he is not the head of the republican party anymore even though he failed so miserably in 2008 as a presidential candidate. john mccain says oh, right away it's clear what we have to do. we have to cut off aid to egypt. >> i believe that we have to suspend aid until such time as there is a new constitution and a free and fair election. morsi was a terrible president. their economy is in terrible shape thanks to their policies
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but the fact is, the united states should not be supporting this coup and it is a tough call. >> bill: here's mccain again. hot head john mccain. nobody ought to be listening to in my opinion. if we were listening to john mccain, if john mccain were in the white house, we would still be at war in iraq. we would not be winding down the war in afghanistan. we would also be at war in iran. we would have war in syria. we would have troops in syria. and now, we would have another war. we have a fifth war in egypt. thank you for nothing, john mccain. on the other hand, what is the white house going to do or what should it do about this? i have to tell you, i went to the briefing yesterday and i say this with all due respect and support and love for president obama. i don't think the white house has a freaking clue what to do. and i don't say that too critically because i don't know if i do either. i would love to know if you do.
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1-866-55-press. but it is confusing as hell. the situation on the ground now. the first thing jay carney did tell us yesterday is we're not going to cut off aid to egypt. it is $1.5 billion a year we give them. jay carney says we don't think it would be wise to pull the plug. >> it is our view it would not be wise to abruptly change our assistance program. >> bill: but jay carney did call on -- at the same time called on the military to stop the violence. >> we call on the military to use maximum restraint responding to protestors, just as we urge all those demonstrating to do so peacefully. we also condemn the explicit calls to violence made by the muslim brotherhood. >> bill: so i wrote down yesterday, while i was there at the briefing, here are the things that jay carney said all
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at the same time. okay? all at the same time. about the situation in egypt. see if you can follow this. one, we support the democratic process in egypt. two, the president is deeply concerned about the way morsi was removed from power. at the same time, we're not calling for morsi to be returned to power. and we recognize there were serious problems with his presidency and serious reasons for people to be -- not to be happy with it. it is up to the people of egypt to decide what happens next and we are calling for a return to the democratic governance. return to democratic governance in egypt but again not calling for morsi's return to power. on the question of whether this
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is a coup or not, the white house says we don't know. it is too early to say. we're going to take the time to assess what's going on and try to figure out whether it's a military coup or not. so, in other words what is that? six or seven things, some of them totally contradictory that the white house is all saying, all same. what does that mean? where does that go? nobody knows. the last thing we could do, the last thing we should do is say here's who we think should be the next leader of egypt or here's what we think the egyptian people should do. if we do that, that's deadly. the last thing they need is for mother america telling them what to do. i'll tell you one thing. a coup is a coup is a coup. the military stepped in. the military forced morsi out --
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they have a deadline, remember? they forced him out of office. they fired on protestors yesterday. this is a military coup. now, the president can say i'm not going to take the money away but still don't deny it's a coup. so is it a coup? what do you think? should we remove and cut off our aid -- the american aid to egypt? if not what else should we do? 1-866-55-press. maybe we can give the white house some direction here on the "full court press" this tuesday morning. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv.
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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
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anymore. cenk off air and 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!
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>> announcer: like us at facebook.com/billpressshow. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey 25 minutes after the hour. a lot of people scratching their head. what should we do about egypt. i don't know but i think one thing, let's just admit this is a military coup. morsi would still be in power but the generals decided they were going to side with the protestors. remember, they flew the helicopters over the crowd in tahrir square with the egyptian flag. they gave morsi 48 hours. to agree to protestor's demands or you're out of office, dude. guess what. he is. they moved through and put in their own guy as the new interim president and then they opened up fire on protestors yesterday. if that's not a military coup, what is? >> that's the question we put out on twitter at bpshow at bpshow. kev grueing says is it really a coup when 22 million people wanted morsi out and the military intervention was the
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only way? >> bill: yes. yes! >> i agree. >> bill: if it that happened in this country can you imagine? oh, geez we're sorry we elected barack obama. we don't like obamacare let's have the generals come in, throw him out put somebody else in and then say is it really a coup? you're damn right it is. >> jim irwin says regarding john mccain one quote fits all with him. get off my lawn. get off my lawn. >> bill: totally. let's go out to aurora, illinois. donald, what's up? good morning. >> i support what the egyptians did. i think they did the right thing. the guy was no good, bringing the country down. but to let you take it from there, who is the muslim brotherhood? you take it from there. >> bill: the muslim brotherhood is an islamic political organization, at one time classified as a terrorist organization. no longer. sort of like the plo they
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decided the way to get things done finally came around was to get involved in the political process. and they did. but you know, you say right away the guy was no good. he was bringing the country down. a lot of people said that about george bush. i did. a lot of people say that about barack obama. what do you do? you turn it over to the military? you have an election and a year later, you have the military thrown out? that's not democracy. come on. joanne in san francisco hi, joanne. >> hi. we started out with the articles of confederation and when they weren't working the state sent men to philadelphia and said fix it. but instead they overthrew the government and they wrote this constitution. that is exactly what's going on in egypt. >> bill: there is one difference joanne. democracy doesn't happen all overnight. i do hear that point but we didn't turn it over to the military and put them in charge.
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that's the big difference. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." compelling true stories. (kaj) jack, how old are you? >> nine. (adam) this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. way inside. (christoff) we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs bodies ... (adam) we're going to places where few others are going. [lady] you have to get out now. >> lots of terrible things happen to people growing marijuana. >> this crop to me is my livelihood. >> i'm being violated by the health care system. (christoff) we go and spend a considerable amount of time getting to know the people and the characters that are actually living these stories. (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,
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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." here we go. 33 minutes now after the hour on a tuesday morning. july 9. can you believe it? we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. brought to you today by the american federation of teachers. you bet the good men and women of the aft under president randi weingarten taking a big difference in the classrooms of america every day and you can find out more about their good work at their web site, aft.org.
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and if you want to know what's going on in washington, d.c., whether it is in the house in the senate, down at the white house, or in the agencies, there is only one source. it is think progress. thinkprogress.org. managing editor, igor volsky in studio as he is every tuesday morning. can't get through the week. can't get through tuesday. >> don't even want to imagine. >> bill: everything good? having a good summer? >> having a wonderful summer. i feel like it is rushing by especially now after 4th of july. it will be september. >> bill: don't tell us it is all over. >> i'm just saying be prepared. >> bill: you guys reported yesterday on rick perry making the big announcement yesterday. there was so much suspense about what rick perry was going to tell the people of texas.
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>> bill: his message was? >> he's stepping down. he was saying he had this big announcement on monday. he comes out to this theme song from like superman. this triumphant theme song introduced by his wife. has a video about himself. then comes out. gives this long introduction about his accomplishments and how proud he is to make sure during his tenure that texas remained a state with traditional values and what a great place it is for jobs and equality except if you're gay or a woman or african-american or latino. with great dramatic pauses, which took us back to that infamous debate when he couldn't get -- very dramatic pause announced he's not going to seek another term.
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>> bill: shall we let him tell us that? rick perry. >> i remain excited about the future and the challenges ahead. but the time has come. to pass on. the leadership. today, i'm announcing i will not seek re-election as governor of texas. >> bill: do you think he practiced that? [ laughter ] >> also, pray and reflect and work to determine my own future path. i make this announcement with a deep sense of humility. [ laughter ] and appreciation. for the time and the trust the people of this state... has given me. >> that's it.
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>> bill: they're handing him cards with one word at a time. >> we wrote a post, nine things we will miss about rick perry. we only did nine because we had to get it up in a timely manner. we are a news site. so there's just so much to get through. you remember during his presidential campaign when he couldn't -- when he couldn't name the agencies. he had a whole weird ad he was mocked for around repealing don't ask don't tell and how awful that would be for our military. he talked about repealing the 16th amendment 717th amendment in his book "fired up," getting rid of social security and medicare and medicaid. all of which he believed to be unconstitutional. vetoing equal pay laws in texas. it's a long list.
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it is a legacy of 13 years of governance and you know, democrats are talking about turning the state blue. they recognize it will take years and years and years and years to do that. but certainly, i think with him stepping down, there are now kind of maybe new opportunities to build broader coalitions in the state to one day. have more progressive governance because this guy set the state back in many respects and all issues, i think. and certainly i think the conservative movement for which now he's going to try to be a leader moving into 2016. >> bill: that's the question i had. is he really serious that anybody will take him seriously for 2016? we're going to talk to wayne slater by the way from the "dallas morning news" about this at the top of the next hour. but apparently, part of his thinking is i make it clear to the extent that you could ever
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figure out what rick perry thinks about anything that i make it clear early on that i'm not going to run for re-election and i make it clear early on that i'm thinking at least open to 2016 because the last time i got into -- i got in too late. i didn't start early enough. do you think that's really going to make a difference? do you think rick perry can really come back and be taken seriously given the fact that he -- he clearly doesn't have a lot of depth to his thinking. >> wayne would know better than me but i would say if what really marked his campaign was his back pain and the medication he was on, everything else they told us. if he's passed all that now, i think this guy could be a real threat. remember, when he came in to the 2008 race -- >> bill: was he in -- >> i'm sorry.
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2012. 2012 campaign, we all thought romney is done. i thought my goodness. this is a big shake-up on the field. >> bill: we hadn't seen rick perry. >> if he can get past all of that and learned from those mistakes, i think this guy is a formidable opponent. he has a strong base, maybe not in texas where his numbers aren't very good but he has a strong conservative base across the country. he's a charismatic guy. he has a conservative record to run on and given what the field looks like now i think there could be space for him in 2016. >> bill: i totally disagree. quick anecdote. a friend of mine here in washington told me, who shall go unnamed, that he was a supporter of rick perry the last time around. he actually supported him before he really got -- knew him well. and he went to the first time that rick perry came to washington now as a candidate
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to present himself to the washington establishment powerbrokers lobbyist, movers and shakers in washington and this friend of mine was there with him. and he said he heard him -- so he heard him speak like for the first time in front of this crowd. and he just wanted to disappear. he just wanted to -- can i get out of this now? he had this reputation but when we actually saw -- >> vindication in 2012 is that he didn't want to run. he was forced into running by the people around him. he had medical problems. he really wasn't ready. he came in too late. he didn't want to run. if he commits his mind to it, i don't know. i think given the field he might have some support. >> bill: well, again we'll talk more with wayne slater about that later. you also had a post yesterday that the koch brothers are back. the "the obama hate machine" has not gone away. what is their latest -- what are they up to now?
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>> while administration officials and people on the state level are working overtime, rolling out the affordable care act getting ready for the exchanges for people to sign up for coverage beginning in october, you're going to start seeing all of these ads from americans for prosperity which is the koch brothers kind of fake grassroots group that they use to promote some of their policy ideas or oppose a lot of policies. this is an ad campaign designed to appeal to women. it is nonideological supposedly. it features women talking about some of the worries they have about the affordable care act. the first ad is called questions. it is this mother of two talking about so-called questions that she has about the law. >> bill: here's what it sounds like. >> two years ago, my son caleb began having seizures. the medical care he received meant the world to me. now, i'm paying more attention.
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i have some questions about obamacare. if we can't pick our own doctor, how do i know my family's going to get the care they need? and what am i getting in exchange for higher premiums and a smaller paycheck? can i really trust the folks in washington with my family's healthcare? i think we all deserve some answers. >> bill: so here's the hinge when i hear that ad. these are the same arguments we heard about obamacare before it was adopted by the congress and signed into law by the president, right? you won't be able to pick your own doctor. you're going to get -- your paycheck is going to go down which has nothing to do with obamacare. you'll have to pay more for premiums, all of the lies they told then, they're still telling today. >> there seems to be two very contradictory arguments about obamacare right now. one is it is so big, it will collapse by its own weight. clearly if you can't do the mandate, it is an admission you can't do anything else. they're saying it is already
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headed on the road to doom. on the other they're spending millions of dollars advertising against it and making sure people don't sign up. so both things can't be true. it can't both just be falling apart if it's already falling apart, why are you spending millions trying to make sure people don't sign up? are you afraid it is going to work? >> bill: and do they really think -- do they really, really think they're going to be able to repeal obamacare? the answer to that has to be no. they may have voted 37 times. almost 38 in the house of representatives. but it is the law of the land. more and more people have signed up. the more people that signed up, the better it is. i don't get this ad campaign but if i were the koch brothers -- >> a million here, a million there. >> bill: they won't even miss it. igor volsky is here with us from think progress as he is every tuesday. obamacare. rick perry. you really think? you really agree with igor that he could be a serious candidate for 2016?
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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. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv.
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>> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: okay. 12 minutes now before the top of the hour. wayne slater from the "dallas morning news". at the top of the next hour here on the "full court press." we'll be back with igor volsky in a second here on more of the important stories at think
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progress -- that think progress has been reporting on. first, just a little reminder about something that could become -- be very, very important to you. imagine you were in an accident. you were unconscious, emergency teams arrive and they can't find anything about you because you can't tell them the name of your doctor what medications you're taking, all of that kind of important stuff. here's the answer. emergency link. emergency link i.d. is a small tag that you attach to your key ring, put in your wallet or purse that tells emergency responders everything they might need to know. medical history, meds, doctor's contact information and most importantly, whom to notify. could make the difference between life and death. so sign up for emergency response now for only $10 a year and you'll receive your i.d. kit free. just $10 a year for this life saving service and your i.d. kit free. but you have to hurry to
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emergencylink.com now and enter press. when you check out for this limited time offer. again, emergencylink.com. enter press. that's emergencylink.com. emergencylink.com. igor peter? >> a quick story i thought you would find interesting. we now are looking at what went wrong with the hunt for osama bin laden. we finally got him. but pakistan has opened their own official investigation and one of the people that they talked to -- >> bill: report released yesterday. >> it is the abbottabad commission. one of the things they found out after talking to the wife of ibrahim alkuwaiti who was one of his trusted bodyguards, the wife of that body guard said that in 2002 and 2003, somewhere between that time, they would go out into the local bazaars the body guards with bin laden and on one of those trips, a car that osama
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bin laden was in was pulled over for speeding by a pakistani police officer. and then her husband the body guard, "quickly settled the matter which means the police officer was probably paid off and so osama bin laden got away. >> you gotta cut him some slack. they couldn't recognize him because he had that cowboy hat on. >> he was wearing a cowboy hat. to try to blend him. yeah, yeah yeah. yes. that's part of what the commission said. he would wear giant cowboy hats. >> presumably from the sky so they couldn't see him. >> i want to see a photo of osama bin laden wearing a cowboy hat. >> how many people in pakistan wear cowboy hats? >> he was tall. he was a tall guy with a giant beard and a big cowboy hat. i can't imagine there would be a lot -- >> bill: remember, he was drag
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the dialysis machine. >> you know, the irony of the american cowboy hat walking around pakistan, it is amazing to me. >> pilgrim. >> the report claims there is no wrongdoing. people rarely messed up. but there was no cover-up of any sort. i don't know. i don't know about that. >> bill: i've got osama bin laden in the backseat. >> i don't think you want to mess with this. >> bill: before we let you go, important story about the voting rights act. we saw the supreme court decision a couple of weeks ago. >> this is really surprising. judge michael mcconna a bush appointee, on the short list for the supreme court during the bush administration, came out and told npr the decision to gut section five, that formulation was wrongheaded and that the justification, this idea that the justices put forward that all states have to be treated equally is "made up."
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this is from a real conservative scholar. this guy is a serious conservative -- an ideologue in saying there's nothing in the constitution that says all states have to be treated equally. all people yes but not all states. there is a backlash against this decision. not only i guess on the left and for progressives and folks just across the country really being outraged. but also from conservatives and i suspect that now that you see at least six states are moving forward with really harsh voting suppression tactics. they're redrawing their districts. texas right away said we're going to gerrymander. bring back all of the laws stopped because of the law. the backlash that that's going to create i think is going to be intense, combine it with the conservatives saying this isn't right. you know. i think there will be some movement on this issue. >> bill: the big question is whether or not there will be enough movement to convince
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congress to do something. this congress which is -- >> ball's in their court. >> bill: that's where the supreme court put it. which wouldn't be that bad if we could count on congress to actually take it seriously and do something. we'll be watching that and certainly you will be, too. at think progress. thinkprogress.org is the site. make it your home page. igor volsky and his team pumping out that good stuff all day long, every day. check it out. thinkprogress.org. thank you, sir. >> bill: have a good one. we'll be back and take a look at the e-mails when we come back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." 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. cenk off air and 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
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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. this show is about being up to date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding.
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>> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time. this is the "bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: all right. coming up in the next hour. two great guests, wayne slater from "dallas morning news" and rick perry's big announcement yesterday and then kate from "buzzfeed" about what congress is up to this week. on the e-mail front bert stevens wants to know where is jennifer granholm? i wish she would run for something. house of representatives or senate maybe. yeah jennifer, i agree. she's teaching out in berkeley, living in the bay area. i would love to see her run again for statewide office, for anything. and robert says -- oh well, we don't have time to read robert. about we love eliot spitzer.
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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] belle good morning -- >> bill: good morning, good morning. it is tuesday july 9. thank you for joining us here on current tv and the "full court press." wherever you happen to be in this great land of ours, we're there with you bringing you up to date on all of the events of the day. the news of the day and giving. >> chance to comment about it all. whatever we're talking about. you can talk about by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. by joining us on twitter and
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sending us your comments on twitter at bpshow and joining us on facebook. become our friend on facebook and send us your comments on the news of the day at facebook.com/billpressshow. in egypt, we start there this morning. the military opened fire yesterday on supporters of president morsi killing 51 of them sending 435 to the hospital with bullet wounds. gunshot wounds, yes. don't tell me this is not a military coup. sure looks like it. on the homefront, congress is back in town. gearing up for a big fight this week. over leftover presidential nominations lingering in the senate for months and months and months because republicans have used the filibuster, democratically or harry reid telling republicans yesterday you either act on these nominations by the end of the week or we're going to change the filibuster rules and up in
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new york, eliot spitzer's first day of campaigning yesterday for city controller. find out about all of that and more right here on current tv. >> did anyone tell the pilgrims they should self-deport? >> no, they said "make us a turkey and make it fast". >> (laughter). >> she gets the comedians laughing. >> that's the best! >> that's hilarious. >> ... and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there is wiggle room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> she's joy behar. >> ya, i consider you jew-talian. >> okay, whatever you want. >> who plays kafka? >> who saw kafka? >> who ever saw kafka? >> (laughter). >> asking the tough questions. >> chris brown, i mean you wouldn't let one of your daughters go out with him. >> absolutely not. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me? >> absolutely! >> (singing) >> i take lipitor, thats it. >> are you improving your lips? >> (laughter). >> when she's talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. >> it looks like anthony wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. >> his what in the ring? >> his hat. >> always outspoken, joy behar.
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we have a big, big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. 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. (vo) sharp tongue. >>excuse me? (vo) quick wit. >> and yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. (vo) and above all, opinion and attitude. >> really?! this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. >> you know what those people are like. >> what could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush? >> my producer just coughed up a hairball. >>sorry. >>just be grateful current tv doesn't come in "smell-o-vision" >> oh come on!
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the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo)only on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: the white house refusing to call what's happened in egypt a military coup. the military started firing on protestors. put their own guy in charge. it is a military coup. good morning everybody. hello, hello hello. welcome on this tuesday morning tuesday july 9. good to have you with us today on the "full court press" as we
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come to you live from our nation's capital. we're right here in washington, d.c., damn it. right on capitol hill. where the congress came back yesterday, i ran into a couple of members of congress when i was out for dinner last night. a couple of friends from california and i said so, you came back today. got right to work? no. they came back and they went in and they voted present so they can get their per diem for the day and that was all the work that they did yesterday. your tax dollars and my tax dollars wasted yet again. we're here though keeping our eye on what's going on. letting you know the big events of the day here in washington, d.c., around the country and around the globe. and look forward to hearing from you about what it all means at 1-866-55-press. our toll free number. or on twitter at bpshow. your comments welcome and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. what do you know. look who showed up. peter ogborn and dan henning.
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>> good morning. >> bill: good to see you. assisted by alichia cruz on the phones. and monty is filling in for cyprian bowlding on the video cam on current tv. we're coming to you live on your local progressive talk radio station, of course. most importantly and also on current tv. where we're holding down the fort until al jazeera takes over sometime around the 1st of september. al jazeera thrown out of egypt yesterday. banned from covering a lot of the events of the day because they've been doing such a good job reporting on the news, the military doesn't like it. by the way, we found out more about the crash of that asian na airlines flight, number 214 in san francisco a few days ago. the head of the national transportation safety board debra hearstman holding a news conference yesterday saying the
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guy came in way way way too slowly. >> at impact, airspeed was approximately 106 knots. we talked yesterday how this aircraft was significantly slower than their target approach speed of 137 knots. 137 knots is the speed that they want to have when they cross the threshold of the runway. >> bill: you know, here's the question i have. how could they possibly -- they know right? they've got to know, peter when they're coming in how fast they've got to be going. >> you would think yeah. you would think they would have that under control. >> bill: you would also think that would be like locked in. that you couldn't go slower than that. and there was the copilot but the pilot -- the copilot without much experience. there was the copilot and a
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training pilot in the cockpit. you would think one of them would have said hey you're not going fast enough. what are you doing? you can't go that slow. i mean, hello. >> it's interesting to see that as well regulated as the industry is, that it wasn't a mechanical glitch or a machine error. it was human error. >> bill: you know who is a hero of that flight to me are the flight attendants. that they had the procedures down. they knew what to do. with the help of passengers, they've got everybody off that plane within 90 seconds or less. we've got a lot to talk about this morning. wayne slater joins us at the top of the hour here from dallas. senior political writer for the "dallas morning news." kates no nocera from "buzzfeed" on what congress is up to this week and joe cirincione at the top of the next hour here on what's happening in egypt. but first... >> announcer: this is the "full
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court press." >> other headlines making news on this tuesday. the countdown to the birth of the royal baby is on. yahoo! news reports police conducted a final security sweep of the london hospital where duchess kate is expected to deliver any day now. she's been secretly attending doctor appointments and prince william is in wales but he's got a helicopter on stand-by to get him to london when she goes into labor. the first phone call according to the royal watchers will likely be to the queen to let her know if she has a new great-grandson or new great-granddaughter. >> bill: haven't they taken lamaze classes? carol and i took lamaze classes. >> i'm so not interested in this. i get it and everything but my god. >> jay leno may be getting pushed out by nbc in six months but right now his ratings couldn't be any hotter. in the late night tv battle, leno leads the race by a large margin and most of the
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demographics over jimmy kimmel on abc and david letterman has fallen into a distant third place. he had one of the worst second quarter performances in years. according to variety. leno's ratings are up 8% over last year. he averages just over three and a half million viewers a night. >> bill: every time nbc fires jay leno, he goes red hot in the ratings. >> you can no longer play aaron hernandez as a player in two popular video games. ae sports is yanking the ex-new englands patriots player from the madden and football 14 video game because ncaa14, the game was finalized before they made the decision, there are still a few remaining images of hernandez throughout the game. once you start playing it, they'll remove the images through online updates. >> bill: oh, my gosh. well, on the political front probably not since they had the
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plane waiting on the tarmac for mario cuomo to step on it and fly and announce he was going to run for president of the united states has there been so much expectation about what a big name politician might do as there was yesterday. over rick perry down in texas. wayne slater from the "dallas morning news," standing by. senior political writer to find out what rick perry's big announcement was going to be all about. hey, wayne, good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill. the announcement was amazing. rick perry did what he said he was going to do. he seceded. [ laughter ] >> bill: seceded from politics right? >> i'm not sure it is from politics in his mind. i talked to his folks and they think -- there's one more chapter there. >> bill: we know people don't get into politics unless they
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have a big ego. that was an ego driven announcement yesterday. getting as much attention as possible to an announcement that he wasn't going to run for re-election. >> you know, it was a curious thing. this was not an -- it was in san antonio, not in austin. it was very secret, very hush-hush as to what he was going to do. he invited hundreds of people. everybody he's ever appointed to office. former staffers campaign finance folks. we're in this giant warehouse which he barely alluded to. it was supposed to be a backdrop talking about job creation. i heard he wasn't going to run again. i don't know what more that would be, a more definitive sense of a foundation something
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that would be a platform to get out there and talk to the american people. that means folks in western iowa. and but there was something underwhelming about the whole thing. >> bill: let's play just for our viewers one more time. the way -- the dramatic way in which he made this announcement with these pregnant pauses, i think we call them still. here's rick perry. >> i remain excited about the future and the challenges ahead. but the time has come to pass on the mantle of leadership. today, i'm announcing i will not seek re-election as governor of texas. >> bill: how many times did they rehearse that? he was really dragging it out for dramatic effect, right wayne? >> he was. look, there were supporters in this place and so there was some sense of emotion.
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clearly by some of these folks. part of the problem is that recent texas polls show if texans didn't want him to run for governor again anyway. he probably would have won because republicans and the primaries like incumbents don't want change. and the other poll that was crazy is -- i think is dead-on accurate is that texans, texas republicans, if they had a chance for the next republican nominee for president from texas, it wouldn't rick perry it would be ted cruz. >> bill: yeah. in alluding to the future as you alluded to it earlier. he certainly left the door, as you left the door open for 2016, is it true there's some feeling among his people the only thing that went wrong the last time, his medical problem -- the problem with his back and they got in too late? >> yeah. exactly. and i even -- one of his top
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aides said yesterday after this announcement, people forget. people forget. they're hedging their bet. they're basing their expectation that he could do better a second time around because a he wouldn't have had back surgery where he was out of it. barq's, he would have had more time to -- b, he would have had more time to prepare. he didn't know countries in south america. most importantly the third thing is they believe that the expectations for rick perry now are below sea level and so if he shows up in new hampshire or south carolina and people say my gosh, he can remember three things, let me give him a second look. honestly bill, that is the thinking. i know it seems odd. you look at eliot spitzer. you look at other folks and you
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say -- and they think -- he thinks there's another chance. but there's something else here. this is not his brand. he embarrassed himself so badly and frankly the people of texas after that, didn't want him to run again in part because he embarrassed the state. even people in his own party. he embarrassed himself that if he runs again and does okay and doesn't land a nomination but doesn't fall down, then they believe he -- he believes he has repaired some of the national damage to his image that, you know, he's a person. >> bill: and basically restore some of the glory to texas that way i guess huh? >> absolutely. that's what it is all about bill. restoring the glory. >> bill: that's what you do every day. wayne slater is the senior political writer for the "dallas morning news." i don't know how to ask this question gently. i guess i'll barge ahead.
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the question i have is whether there is any there? is there a serious rick perry really understands the issues and has something to offer that we haven't seen yet? >> bill, you know, i know you were at the -- of the informed critics of george w. bush saying he was dopey and stupid. i know i traveled with him and sometimes he sounded that way. but the truth is george w. bush is a pretty smart guy. he's no genius but he really is a smart guy. >> bill: go ahead. >> one of the things about bush was at the state level and national level, he was interested in issues. rick perry from the moment he became governor went to washington. honestly has not been particularly interested in understanding issues in any
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depth. this has all been about politics. you watch the operation and -- what happens is over time, when you don't study up, when you're not fundamentally interested in much of anything except your own advancement, this is what you get. someone who is politically canny. but who is not fundamentally ready to do more than be the governor of texas. >> bill: i think that sums them both up. i agree with you about george w. bush. we all underrated him i think. and i think we see rick perry for who he is. wayne slater, i don't know. sometimes i'm jealous of you. you've got the best show in town down there. >> remember, we've got ted cruz, wendy davis the filibuster% champion. and the castro brothers. so texas has more in the future. >> bill: texas lives. thanks wade. thanks so much. have a great day and thanks for joining us this morning. he's the best senior political writer wayne slater from the
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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. cenk off air and they can question if i'm right about that. but i think the audience gets that, i actually 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!
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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour here on the "full court press." "buzzfeed" will be joining us in the next hour to tell us what's the late west congress, particularly about immigration reform in the house of representatives. meanwhile, he may still be locked in the airport in moscow.
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he's still working and spending his time trying to figure out where he's going to land. will it be venezuela or bolivia or cuba. julian assange suggesting that cuba might be the most likely spot. the big question, of course, is how he is going to get there. we're talking about edward snowden. jay carney telling us at the briefing yesterday that the white house has talked to every one of the countries that julian assange might seek assistance from. venezuela, bolivia russia, cuba, i'm not sure he talked to cuba and ask him not to help him. provide him assistance in any way. seems like they're spending a lot of time and energy going after someone the president once derided as the 29-year-old hacker. now, of course, he's 30. but still hacker.
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why should we worry about the hacker? we're spending a lot of time worrying about this hacker. he is still talking. yesterday, more came out about what he learned when he was working as a contractor for the nsa. and he said that not only was nsa tracking our e-mail communications but that they -- the companies let them get right into the -- their internal drives or internal communications so they had direct access to what we were doing when we were sending e-mails. here is mr. snowden. >> they all get together with the nsa and provide the nsa direct access to the back ends of all of the systems you use to communicate, to store data. to put things in the cloud. >> bill: all that we're doing
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online, nsa has direct access to it. i wonder what companies do you think are cooperating with nsa and opening their doors to nsa? >> companies like google, facebook apple microsoft. >> bill: google, facebook. >> yep. >> i think i've heard of those little start-ups. >> bill: microsoft. is there anybody not on the list? listen, i don't know about you but when i go online and i go on whatever google or bing or microsoft or whatever, i don't want the nsa knowing everything that i'm doing there. and i don't think those companies should be giving them that kind of access and whatever you think about edward snowden what i'm waiting for is somebody to stand up and say that anything he's told us is wrong. have you heard that yet? uh-huh. they attack him. they want to lock him up forever but nobody's denied that he's
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telling the truth. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." (vo) current tv is the place for compelling true stories. (kaj) jack, how old are you? >> nine. (adam) this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. way inside. (christoff) we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs bodies ... (adam) we're going to places where few others are going. [lady] you have to get out now. >> lots of terrible things happen to people growing marijuana. >> this crop to me is my livelihood. >> i'm being violated by the health care system. (christoff) we go and spend a considerable amount of time getting to know the people and the characters that are actually living these stories. (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,
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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
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somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right? >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour here on the "full court press." this tuesday morning. tuesday, july 9. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. brought to you today by the united steelworkers and their colorful outspoken international president, leo gerard. based down in pittsburgh.
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united steelworkers, north america's largest industrial union representing over 1.2 million active and retired members. you can find out more about all of the good things they're up to in many different fields of endeavor not just steel but they're bringing back america's steel industry. their web site is usw.org. and congress back in town. don't know what they're up to. that's what we're going to find out. i ran into a friend of mine, a member of congress, lois capps from santa barbara. and on the street last night here on capitol hill. and i asked her if they had a big full day of work yesterday. all they did was reported for duty they vote basically present and then they leave for the day. i don't know if we can expect much more this week than that. but kate nocera from "buzzfeed" covering congress for "buzzfeed" is all over it. good morning kate.
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>> good morning. >> bill: nice to see you. >> good to see you too. >> bill: what is on the agenda as they come back into session? in the house, it's immigration reform. >> the biggest thing this week is the house republicans are having a giant con fab tomorrow where they're going to talk about immigration reform. it is basically an open forum for members to talk about the best way forward chairman, the judiciary committee will lay out what he's been doing majority leader -- >> bill: gang of seven? >> no. he's not part of the gang of seven. he's the chairman of the judiciary committee. they've been passing the piecemeal border security bills. tiny things that they feel that maybe could some day go to conference with the senate. they're resistant to that idea as well. they're going to strategize tomorrow and we're going to see kind of what comes out of that.
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>> bill: is that just republicans? >> it is the republican conference that's happening tomorrow. >> bill: anything more on the farm bill. >> my understanding is they want to get it done this month. they don't know exactly how they're going to proceed. there is a lot of chatter that they're going to split the bill into two parts right. so they would vote on the food stamp portion of the bill separately from the farm portion of the bill. just as long as there's a way for them to get to conference with the senate. i think everyone in the house really understands that they need a farm bill. house leadership is still pretty embarrass and not happy about what happens before we went to break when the farm bill collapsed. so they're going to -- they're going to try again. >> is there anything to the theory that these members go home and they hear from their constituents and they come back.
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change their minds? >> absolutely. >> bill: really? >> absolutely true. yeah. >> bill: do you think they're really listening to any constituents over 4th of july? >> they say they do. i know that they're going to town halls and they're doing things and all you hear when you get back, people back home tell me blah, blah, blah. >> bill: you believe it. >> yeah. you take them for their word for the most part. i do think that there is a wide understanding that you know, what happened with the farm bill wasn't great for anyone. and that they -- they really want to prove that they can -- that they can do this. >> bill: so those are the two big items in the house that are unresolved, let's say right? >> immigration reform, who knows if that's going to get done this month. we're still waiting on a bill from the gang of seven. i don't think the house
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republicans are in any particular rush to get it done. >> bill: they haven't shown that they are. how about in the senate. the senate passed its immigration. >> they did. and now they seem to be -- harry reid, as we were talking a little bit earlier about the filibuster reform. he's feeling a little frustrated now that he has immigration behind him. >> bill: they're frustrated over the president's nominees. some people -- like, for example, gina mccarthy, the head e.p.a. has been lingering around. cordray. the consumer protection bureau has been held up for two years. i think. >> right. >> bill: tom perez to head the department of labor. has been held up for at least six months. and republicans are using the filibuster to block any vote on these nominees. so harry reid, in effect, is saying to the republicans okay,
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you can't say we were too busy this week, right? we have too much other stuff like immigration reform to take care of. we cleared the dock. so there's no reason not to take up these nominations this week and if you're not willing to let us vote on them this week, we're probably going to change the filibuster which would be a big deal. >> it would be a really big deal. >> bill: so-called nuclear option. >> he threatens this once a month. you know. same thing. we're going to work friday. we're going to work through the weekend. they never seem to end up doing it. you know i think last time, it was senator schumer and some republicans that worked out a deal to avoid this and so we'll see if there are members that can -- because democrats don't really want this either, right? because they envision a scenario where they're in the minority potentially and suddenly, you know republicans have full
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control. >> bill: some democrats don't. some democrats do. >> bill: we talked to senator tom udall for example. senator jeff merkley from oregon who has been in studio here. senator woodhouse from rhode island. is that right? whitehouse. sheldon whitehouse. some of the young turks here are pushing for a filibuster reform. if they did it, it would blow things up. >> it would be a big deal. absolutely. we'll see if reid tries again to tell people to come up with a deal. to get this done. mcconnell would argue that they have not been obstructionists. that they've let certain -- the large percentage of the president's nominees get through
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and that this is unnecessary. >> bill: the thing about these appointments if i jump in, there's really nothing controversial about any one of these people. richard cordray you know, he was attorney general or something. >> republicans just don't like the -- >> bill: they don't like the agency. >> yeah. >> bill: they don't want a consumer protection -- the protection bureau. they voted against it. we still got it. what they're doing is they'rer were preventing anybody from being the head of it. they don't like e.p.a. because they're afraid e.p.a. is going to crack down on coal plants. so they just refuse to confirm a new director of e.p.a. even though everybody agrees she's qualified. this is pure political use of the filibuster. same thing about tom perez. so he once championed raising the minimum wage. they don't want to raise the minimum wage so they don't want him as labor secretary.
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it is going to be interesting to see how that plays out. i want to come back to immigration reform. because i've gone back and forth on this as to whether or not there's going to be a bill. we know the senate passed a bill which i don't think is the best bill. at least it is a bill. and i figured that with whatever the senate did, if the senate really knew that the house would have to move, i'm not sure. if i had to bet right now, i would bet that the house of representatives does nothing and there will be no immigration reform bill. >> you would not be alone in that theory. i don't think you're out to lunch. i think that there are a lot of republicans and a lot of democrats who want to get immigration reform done. want to get something done on immigration reform. >> bill: also a good number -- >> so far apart on how to do it. on what it will look like and there's also -- like i think you're just about to say there
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is a huge number that doesn't -- they don't want to see anything get done. they want -- they'll argue that you know we need to enforce current law that our current laws aren't being enforced and why do we have to do anything to begin with. you know the guys like steve king who say if you come here illegally, you know, you've broken the law, why should we reward you? essentially. in the end. >> bill: there is a whole group of people who don't want anything -- don't want anything to happen at all. so no matter any compromise between the house and the senate version. then john boehner said, i believe, that he's going to invoke that majority rule. >> the majority of the majority. >> bill: the majority of the majority even for a conference committee report. >> he does say that. it is like what would that bill look like? if you talk to members if you went up to five different republican members and you said
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you know, what is the best thing to do for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country. you would get five different answers. so i think the goal of the conference tomorrow is to try to get everyone on the same page. i'm not clear how you do that really. you have guys like paul ryan who are actually very supportive of what the senate did. he cosponsored the bill in 2006. for immigration reform. and he's a conservative thought leader in the house and then you have other folks like raoul labrador who was a member of that group of eight before he dropped out. says we don't necessarily need citizenship. democrats are trying to -- there are others that argue that democrats are just trying to blow the whole thing up to make it an election issue. >> bill: you have written the democratic campaign committee
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the dccc committee has identified 23 republicans to support immigration reform. we'll talk more about that when we come back here after the break. kate nocera covers congress for "buzzfeed." it is buzzfeed.com. your questions about immigration reform. your comments or questions welcome at 1-866-55-press. we'll be right back. >> announcer: the "bill press show," now on current tv.
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>> bill: joe cirincione in studio with us at the top of the next hour to talk about the situation in egypt. and then cory dade from the root here to bring us up to date on the latest in the trayvon martin case. we're now talking with kate nocera from "buzzfeed" about congress back in town. and what is on their agenda. we'll be right back to that conversation and to your comments in just a second. i've been telling you about examples of identity theft around the country. this one caught my attention. this story out of tulsa. where deputies have broken open an operation scanning multiple states with identities used to open credit cards. they stopped a man and a woman on a traffic violation and found several stolen i.d.s from
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several states in their car. identity theft, it is everywhere. you have to be protected against it. and my suggestion is that you get the protection i've got which is lifelock ultimate. the most comprehensive i.d. theft available but of course, lifelock services can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. what to do about that is visit lifelock.com or give them a call and mention press 10 and you'll get 10% off your lifelock ultimate membership. the number to call is 1-800-356-5967. again, for lifelock ultimate. >> breaking business news. you know the grocery store kroger which is a regional grocery store and harris teeter. they're merging.
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kroger has agreed to buy teeter. but it is an all cash deal. they're valuing this at $2.4 billion. so they're going to join forces. >> bill: that's a lot of produce. >> it is a big deal. >> bill: it is. >> kroger, there are a lot of kroghers in the south -- krogers in the south. some rural areas like in ohio. harris dieter is an upscale groceriry store. i'm not sure where we're going to find the common ground. >> bill: the only krogers i remember seeing is in portland, oregon. >> we had them all over the south when i was growing up. >> i've never seen one in my life. >> bill: we've been talking congress here a lot kate. we all know the secret of the morning news that before you came to cover congress, you used
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to cover new york city politics. >> new york city. >> bill: yes. so now with anthony weiner running for mayor and eliot spitzer running for controller, you probably want to go back, don't you? >> i'm feeling a little envious. >> bill: the good ole days. >> right. i was just saying i spent a good chunk of my life speak outside eliot spitzer's apartment after the scandal broke. i just think it's so interesting that he is jumping back in and seems to be very impulsive decision. he said he didn't do any polling. he's either lying or crazy because did seems not likely that you would do that. but i guess we'll see what happens. >> bill: i guess the question is do you think new yorkers are ready for -- >> kind of ready for both of them it seems like.
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it seems like a lot to handle at once. i think weiner is going to do very well. his constituents, ruby cramer, one of my constituents in new york had a great piece over the july 4th weekend about weiner going back to the rockaways which was the area he represented when he was in congress. these people are devoted to him. they love him. because even though he didn't get legislation passed here, he was a master -- he will have more of a groundswell of support in new york and i imagine he's going to do very well. i think spitter -- spitzer people still have this memory of the steamroller guy with an attitude. they don't have -- >> bill: but you know, he took on the guys on wall street like nobody else has done. >> right. there was a story i forget where
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i saw it, that wall street actually started freaking out yesterday. >> bill: which i love. if wall street is against him i'm for him right? and i think a lot of new yorkers will feel that way, too. it is up to you to make sure that crack the whip and make sure they get something done this week. >> i'll try. >> bill: we want our tax dollars to be well spent. >> they don't listen to me that often. >> bill: follow kate at buzzfeed.com. >> thanks for having me. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." 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
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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. cenk off air and 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!
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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go. at the top of the next hour, joe cirincione from the ploughshares fund here to talk about egypt whether it is a military coup or not. and what the hell the united states might do about it. we'll be joined by cory dade from the root about the trayvon martin case. president obama big meeting today with the congressional black caucus. he will be receiving the daily briefing at 9:30, meeting with the congressional black caucus at 10:30. a big meeting over in the eisenhower executive office building. then meeting this afternoon. his regular weekly meetings with treasury secretary jack lew and defense secretary chuck hagel. jay carney holding his daily briefing down at the white house at 12:45 today. i will be there representing all of you and tweeting from there.
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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning, good morning, everybody. what do you say? welcome to the "full court press" here on this tuesday morning. july 9. great to see you today. thank you for joining us on the "full court press." coming to you live from our nation's capital and our studio on capitol hill. where we will bring you up to date on what's going on as you start your day today. we'll tell you what's happening here in our nation's capital. not a hell of a lot. around the country and around the globe. and give you a chance to sound off about it all at
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1-866-55-press. that's our toll free number. one way to make your comments known. or you can -- if you don't have time for a telephone call, send us your comments on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. we'll start off talking about egypt this hour where the members of the military yesterday opened fire on supporters of president morsi. killing 51 of them, sending 435 to the hospitals with gunshot wounds. but the white house still refuses to call this a military coup. here on the homefront congress is back in town and it looks like we could be gearing up for a big fight in the senate over the filibuster. harry reid has told republicans to stop blocking president obama's nominees by the end of the week or he will force reform
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of the filibuster and eliot spitzer off and running up in new york. all of that and more here on current tv. >> did anyone tell the pilgrims they should self-deport? >> no, they said "make us a turkey and make it fast". >> (laughter). >> she gets the comedians laughing. >> that's the best! >> that's hilarious. >> ... and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there is wiggle room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> she's joy behar. >> ya, i consider you jew-talian. >> okay, whatever you want. >> who plays kafka? >> who saw kafka? >> who ever saw kafka? >> (laughter). >> asking the tough questions. >> chris brown, i mean you wouldn't let one of your daughters go out with him. >> absolutely not. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me? >> absolutely! >> (singing) >> i take lipitor, thats it. >> are you improving your lips? >> (laughter). >> when she's talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. >> it looks like anthony wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. >> his what in the ring? >> his hat. >> always outspoken, joy behar.
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we have a big, big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. 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. (vo) sharp tongue. >>excuse me? >> and yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. (vo) and above all, opinion and attitude. >> really?! this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. >> you know what those people are like. >> what could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush? >> my producer just coughed up a hairball. >>sorry. >>just be grateful current tv doesn't come in "smell-o-vision" >> oh come on!
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the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo)only on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: the white house refuses to call what's happened in egypt a military coup. i don't know. military shooting protestors, looks like a military coup to me. good morning everybody. what do you say? it is tuesday july 9. here we go with the "full court press" this tuesday morning. good to have you with us. we're booming out to you live coast-to-coast. all the way across this great land of ours. right here from our studio on
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capitol hill in washington, d.c. coming to you live on your local progressive radio station and on current tv. lots to talk about this morning. congress is back in town. and the situation in egypt getting more and more critical and more and more confusing it seems every day. and fun politics in new york with eliot spitzer out there now working hard to get enough signatures to get on the ballot for city controller. we've got it all covered here on the "full court press." with the help of a good friend this morning, he's tan rested and ready after two weeks' vacation joe cirincione from the producing -- ploughshares fund. >> i want to go back. it was nice up in the lakes. >> bill: i was in rhode island for the long 4th of july weekend. not that far away actually with family from vermont. >> come back here.
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man, things are just popping. never a quiet week in washington. >> bill: we missed you. thank you for coming back here for us. with our team, peter ogborn and dan henning. alichia cruz has the phones covered. cyprian bowlding has this week off and monty is filling in for him and doing a good job as he always does. i mentioned eliot spitzer. you were on his show. >> smart. committed. a lot of politics. perfectly in line with what this country needs it at this point. >> bill: good, strong, progressive. good friend. member of our team here. appears with us every wednesday morning on the show. he was on our show yesterday morning. and you know, of course, catapulted right into the late night fodder last night. with jay leno talking about someone who said she might run against spitzer. here is jay leno. >> former new york governor
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eliot spitzer remember him? he announced he's running for new york city controller and one of his opponents is the madam who supplied him with hookers. he's running against him. there's a tough choice for the voters. one is involved in the most degrading profession of all time and the other ran a whore house. >> that was such a set-up. >> you knew the curve was coming in. you didn't know which way it was going to cross the plate. >> bill: like lobbyists. world's second oldest profession and like the oldest profession, it usually takes place behind closed doors for a fee. so anyhow, got it. joe's here with us to talk about egypt. cory dade from the root about the trayvon martin case at the half. but first -- big stories of the day. >> other headlines making news on this tuesday. michelle obama was out on the town last night watching tennis,
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attending the washington castles home opener against the new york where the castles won their 33rd match in a row. that ties the record for the longest winning streak in professional team sports which the 1972 l.a. lakers hold. the castles will try to beat that record tonight against the boston lobsters. >> i did not know that. >> bill: this is tennis, right? >> world team tennis. martina hingis played last night. venus whrms was there but she's injured. she was sitting with the first lady watching the match because she couldn't play. >> bill: i know where they play. down by the waterfront. >> i've never been -- i've passed the stadium. >> bill: i haven't either. i know the guy who owns it and started. good for him. >> another day of chris christie hanging out with someone on the opposite side of the political spectrum.
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yesterday, the new jersey governor hanging out with bon jovi. the garden state native rock star reports the living on a prayer singer donated $1 million to hurricane sandy relief efforts in the state yesterday and christie thanked him for it. >> bill: anybody to bring help to new jersey, chris christie is there. >> when we were at the white house correspondents' dinner they were at the table together right near us, bill. bon jovi and chris christie were sitting at the "huffington post" take. maybe they started a little conversation there. >> bill: might have started right there. >> happy belated birthday to john dingell congress's longest serving member turned 87 yesterday. he went out to dinner with his wife of 30 years. he told "the hill" he wanted no gifts saying i have everything i need. what i really want is the friendship of my friends and i have. that the michigan democrat has been in the house since 1955. >> bill: longest serving member of the house of representatives. indeed. so joe before we get to egypt which is the big story of the
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day, huge story. very important story on the front page of "the new york times" today about a major -- possible major shift in policy on afghanistan. >> yes. looking more and more likely that the u.s. might accelerate its withdrawal from afghanistan. we were set to come out by december 2014 but we're negotiating for a residual force. 30,000 20,000. but the talks with the president -- prime minister of afghanistan deteriorated. karzai. we've been propping this guy up for years. he just pulled the plug on us last month. we were trying to set up talks between the taliban and the karzai government and at the very last minute, he pulled out of them -- denouncing them and then in a face-to-face discussion with president obama, just over the last couple of days directly criticized the president, accused him of undermining the afghan government. this apparently is getting to be too much in for the obama administration and they're now
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talking seriously about something that was just a negotiating threat a few weeks ago. >> bill: that serious threat would be that we pull out at the end of 2014 and we pull everybody out. we don't leave anybody be there. they're totally on their own. >> just like iraq. no training forces, no combat forces. everybody out. that's the way to go. we've been talking about this for years on this show. what are we still doing there? what's the point? what's our national security stake in this fight now? let's get the troops home and end that war once and for all. >> bill: you know the old saying about with friends like this who needs enemies is true of karzai, isn't it? he would not exist, he would not be alive today if it weren't for the protection that we have given. >> and making millions in what everybody agrees is one of the most corrupt governments in the world. >> bill: yeah and this is the thanks we get right? get the hell out of there.
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>> how much is he going to continue to get? so, you know, he thinks he's holding the winning hand. very few cards left. >> bill: any speculation about what happens to afghanistan after we're gone? >> almost certainly the taliban will rise in power. no question about that. remember when we went in, our objective was not to overthrow the taliban. it was to get osama bin laden. if they had handed him over, they would still be in power. it is not like them being in power is the national security threat to us. it is the instability which in fact you might say karzai is feeding by his inability to deliver a democratic fair, just, government to the people. >> bill: it is going to go back to no-man's-land basically. >> up to the afghans to sort it out. it is not our job to sort -- been there 12 years. >> bill: all the time, all the money, all the lives lost, all of that for what? nothing. >> will karzai continue to get
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giant bags of cash if we leave? >> well, no. >> he'll find somewhere else. >> when did we go in? 2001. it almost has been 12 years. >> bill: egypt. have we seen a military coup in egypt? >> well, clearly the military has seized power. i understand where you're going with this. the administration does not want to call it a military coup because that would mean we would stop payment. the $1.8 billion. >> bill: if we follow the law. >> i do not believe you want to cut off payments to the military. the military, given this, this was a crisis situation. if they had not intervened, it is quite possible that the millions of people that had rallied in the streets in cairo would have stormed the presidential palace and you could have seen quite a violent situation there and there's a strong argument for the military intervention to avert that strong argument. remember, there was almost 20 million people in egypt who
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signed a petition calling for the ouster of the muslim brotherhood leader who's leading the country. that's about a quarter of the population. so there was a mass protest to get this guy out of office. you could say that the military was just executing the role of the people. that being said, what has now happened the apparent massacre of at least 50 civilians just yesterday has plunged this into a deeper and much more dangerous level. >> bill: right. but back to the military intervention you know, you could have 25% of people in the united states sign a mess to say that they don't like president obama. does that mean the pentagon comes in and says hey, dude, you're out of here. we'll put somebody else in. this is not the way democracy works. >> no. it's not the way democracy works. but you had a president here, morsi, who is refusing to find any compromise. any attempt of common ground with the people. and apparently, you know, was intent on consolidating his
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rule, not in establishing necessarily a democratic system inside egypt and at least that's what the protestors suspected. that's what they thought was happening. they thought morsi was having a creeping coup in the name of the muslim brotherhood. >> bill: so what do you do in that case, right? democratic system of government right. at the next election, at the ballot box you throw him out and you put somebody else in. you don't say hey military, can you come back in again a year later and give us somebody else? >> so -- so we may disagree about -- like the president says he's deeply concerned about the removal of morsi but he's not calling on the return of morsi. it seems like -- it seems like that we -- the united states, the white house doesn't really know what to do right now. would you agree? >> i don't think they do know
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what to do. it's not because they're not considering all of the options. this is a very fluid situation. you have multiple crisis. you have a deep economic crisis. i was in cairo a year ago. it was grim then. hundreds of men standing around in neighborhoods doing nothing. nowhere to go. no jobs. economy's collapsed. gotten worse. you now have a political crisis. a deep divide between the parties about who is legitimate. morsi has not given up. he's under house arrest someplace. we don't know where. the president -- he leads a very strong political movement. he says he's a legitimate government. there is a new interim president in place calling, just laid out this morning, a process to develop a new constitution -- >> bill: new elections within six months or so. they say they're the legitimate government. there is no agreement about who is legitimate and now you have a deep social crisis which cuts to really the core of the issue. what is the nature of the state? what is this about? from the brotherhood and the
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other ultra conservative islamist party. this is about establishing an islamic government for egypt and for a very big part of the population, about keeping egypt secular, that crisis is now a boiling point. >> bill: i agree with you. i sat there listening to jay carney yesterday basically saying again, we support the democratic process. we're concerned about the fact that morsi got kicked out. but we're not calling for his return. we think there were some real problems with his regime. but this was not the way to handle it. we want to return. they were on like every side possible every possible side of the issue all at the same time. you could understand it because there is no clear path. isn't it the worst thing we could do right now is to say here's the new guy. here's the guy we want in there. here's what we think should happen. that would kill it. >> that would kill it entirely. both sides are claiming that the u.s. is backing their opponents.
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so you know, it is not the u.s. job here to sort this out. it is to try to use the levers it has -- which is fairly limited. very large population. we have very few -- to keep it peaceful. one of the levers is the military aid and at this point the obama administration should be talking about conditioning it if there is a massacre like we saw yesterday repeated, they've got to get serious about cutting off military aid or at least we do see suspending the flow of that aid. not cutting it off entirely but using it as a lever to try to -- insist that the military reign in the troops that were the ones that opened fire on these protestors. >> bill: joe cirincione from the ploughshares fund.
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some people criticize president obama for not speaking out himself about the situation in egypt. but then again what could he say? 1-866-55-press. your comments. john mccain says we ought to just cut off aid to egypt. that's the answer. hot head mccain. he's always got an answer to everything, doesn't he? your comments next. >> 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." but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv.
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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. cenk off air and 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.
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you can join in the can conversation. game fish saying why should the administration do anything other than wait it out to see how the wind is blowing in egypt? >> bill: i have to tell you, i think this is a time to give it some time. don't you joe? >> yes i do. particularly because we have so little influence over it. so you can condition it. you can try to shape. it you can use your aid, the power of the president. but it is not under our control. we're not running egypt. we don't want to. >> bill: from what we saw yesterday, the military firing on these protestors, 51 killed. 435 sent to the hospital, this is far from over, isn't it? >> it could get a lot worse. this is a revolutionary situation. this is where -- major forces, political forces in the country. this is the country -- muslim brotherhood -- they've been out of power before. they've had a militant armed period in their almost 80-year
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history and they could go back to that again. this is why you hear the military starting to call the terrorists. if the military does not find a way to bring the muslim brotherhood back into the political process then you could see an armed revolution in egypt. >> bill: let's say hello to thomas calling from redding california. hey, thomas. >> caller: hey, bill. how you doing? >> bill: i'm good. good to hear from you up in superior, california, as we say. what's up? >> caller: this is a tough place up here for liberals. [ laughter ] >> caller: you had a good run here when you were chairman of the party. >> bill: absolutely. i remember it well. go ahead thomas. >> caller: i think we need a real conversation about the middle east. and that is you know, i was for the afghan war because i thought we were going to be protecting the women and the children. but in the middle east, i don't think we can protect the women and the children, given our ability to interfere.
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so why don't we just protect turkey saudi arabia, jordan and israel. >> bill: hold it right there thomas because we're just about out of time. point is, it is really complex over there. >> it is really complex. we're in for at least a decade of uncertainty of instability in the whole region. something that's not just about egypt. it is about the whole middle east and north africa. you can also see the declining u.s. role. you see it somewhere here. we're not jumping in with both feet. we're taking a step back. and i think that's the future. i don't think we're going to jump back in to try to control it. >> bill: it is all at play in egypt. thanks joe. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."
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compelling true stories. (kaj) jack, how old are you? >> nine. (adam) this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. way inside. (christoff) we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs bodies ... (adam) we're going to places where few others are going. [lady] you have to get out now. >> lots of terrible things happen to people growing marijuana. >> this crop to me is my livelihood. >> i'm being violated by the health care system. (christoff) we go and spend a considerable amount of time getting to know the people and the characters that are actually living these stories. (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. >> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. on current tv.
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>> bill: 33 minutes after the hour on a tuesday morning july 9. great to see you today. it is "full court press" here on current tv and your local progressive talk radio station. we're brought to you today by afscme. the good men and women of afscme. the largest public employee and healthcare worker's union in the entire country. under the leadership of president lee saunders. for more information check out their web site at afscme.org. that's afscme.org. afscme making america happen. well, good thing for cable tv
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that there is a trial going on down in florida because otherwise they wouldn't have anything to talk about this summer. everywhere you look on cable tv these days, you see live coverage or at least a lot of attention paid to the trayvon martin or the george zimmerman trial. george zimmerman on trial for second-degree murder. cory dade has been following that case. he's contributing editor of the root. great new online web site. part of "the washington post" group. and slate group. cory dade joining us in studio this morning. >> hi, bill. it is a pleasure. >> bill: thanks for coming in. everything good with the summer so far? >> so far, so good except for this heat. >> bill: you live in washington, man. gotta get used to it. >> i know. >> bill: i'm looking at the front page of the drudge report this morning. here it is. pot before shot is the headline. a photo of young trayvon martin
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allegedly puffing some pot smoke here. don't see the joint but the smoke. and a picture of the gun on the other side. >> doesn't get much more sensationalized than that. >> bill: what is this all about? >> well, yesterday at the end of the trial, at the end of testimony, as the jurors were led out the attorneys argued over whether to admit whether to allow the toxicology report performed on trayvon martin. the judge ruled that the toxicology report would be in. the defense wanted it in. the state of course, did not. the toxicology report shows a small amount of thc of course, that's the active ingredient in marijuana was in trayvon's system when he died. now, what's interesting about that is that the medical examiner initially said the amount of thc in his system was
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so small that it had no bearing or influence on his behavior or any kind of impatient whatsoever. but when he came to testify last week he changed his tune. he changed his opinion. he did more research, he said. he decided that even though it is still a small amount, he could not rule out the possibility that the marijuana in his system may have impaired his judgment and as a result, may have influenced his behavior. so the defense will come today. we expect it today and present an expert who will say that the presence of that level of marijuana could have impaired his judgment and possibly have made him -- trayvon that is, more aggressive. >> bill: so first of all surprise surprise, 17-year-old had smoked pot. >> that's right. big shocker.
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>> bill: big shocker. i mean, you never know what is a jury is going to decide but the argument that because he had once smoked pot therefore he is -- he's no longer the innocent kid we thought right? quite capable of overtaking maybe so you know, under the inunited states into of this drug. he could overtake a guy that had a gun and overpower him. >> because history is replete with all of the examples of people going ape on individuals and physically attacking them when they're high on marijuana. >> yeah, right. >> rampant all over the place right? but it has a dual purpose here. the defense gets to introduce evidence that certainly gets at you know, trayvon martin's character. at least in the eyes of some members of the jury. that's the concern that the state had. that this was kind of a way of back doering some bad -- back
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doering some bad character attacks on trayvon as the investigator. the other part is it further suggests -- it further gives the defense another argument, another window to create that doubt that maybe maybe possibly trayvon martin wasn't as innocent as we believe. there's also the defense's claim that in the video of trayvon at 7-eleven, of course he went to the store to get skittles beforehand, that he was swaying. that he was -- you could see him swaying. now, i've seen the video. i don't necessarily agree with that but that's certainly kind of an argument that the defense is phrasing. >> bill: before this pot thing, we'll see what comes out in the testimony today. people were writing that -- so much speculation about this case. that it was all going to hinge
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on who called for help. >> right. >> bill: that the mother of george zimmerman says that's george and the parents of tracy martin now -- or trayvon martin say that could have been trayvon here is tracy martin. trayvon's father yesterday testifying on that question whereas earlier he said, it was reportedly said it wasn't trayvon. now he says it might have been he wasn't sure. little confusing. here is his testimony. >> i didn't tell him. kind of pushed away from the table. and just kind of shook my head and said i can't tell. >> bill: i can't tell. how critical is that, that voice? it seems to me pretty critical. if they could tell definitely it was trayvon screaming for help. >> if the fbi could have been
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able to determine whose voice it was, starting with the fbi and then after that, end of case, if anyone listens to that tape and listens to those screams it is bloodcurdling. it is so dramatic and then as soon as -- you know, as soon as you start hearing the screams i mean just sort of contorting the voices just up and down, writhing in tone. and then the gunshot. and the screams stop. now, the reason why they -- the fbi was unable to identify that voice, they say is because it wasn't a long enough sample. it was too short. and their audio experts who were testifying for the defense to say it is incomprehensible, you can't decide. impossible to tell. experts on the stateside who -- won of whom said i do believe that it was trayvon martin but
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i'm not completely certain. so because the science and the technology around this is not uniform between all of these different methods of evaluating it the judge banned that testimony. so it makes it totally hinging on individuals who have experience or relationships with both people in this. trying to identify the voice. >> bill: didn't the one woman from a condo say she thought it was the younger voice, the younger kid? >> there are a few people. there are witnesses who have said -- the most prominent witness in this is basically a state witness. john goode. he's a neighbor. he's the first one out there who -- excuse me one of the first out there, as he saw the fight and then after he said that he saw somebody on top who was later identified as trayvon punching downward on zimmerman.
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he says the person on the bottom was the one screaming for help. that has been the most sort of clear testimony the most definitive testimony for many of the witnesses there on the screen -- scene. the defense has done a really fairly good job. we'll see how the jurors take this. at trying to neutralize some of that emotional testimony from tracy martin yesterday, of course. but also from sabrina martin. sabrina fulton, trayvon's mother and trayvon's brother who all say that it wasn't him. they equivocated certainly tracy martin has equivocated and jabbar fulton, trayvon's older brother has equivocated in the case of gentleman var he admitted to a reporter very early on that you know, i'm not sure if it's him. i don't think it was. he has come back since and said
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it is. >> bill: so there's no doubt -- well, let me ask you this question. again, following it on drudge which i look at every day. the headline last week was he's going to walk. this is dan abrams, former colleague of mine at msnbc very respected. legal analyst now for nbc. he's saying the state has not made its case. you've been following it. what do you think? >> i've raised the same point. i'm not an attorney. and i'm not a jury consultant. i can't tell you what the jury is thinking. i think that from the beginning and still now the best asset that the state has in this case is the emotional power of this whole incident. and the fact that you have grieving parents.
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of course, the jury, six of them, they're all -- all six of them are women. five out of the six are mothers. and so you know, there is conventional wisdom that mothers are sort of indistinctively going to sympathize with the mother's loss of child. it doesn't mean they're going to rule in their favor though. i think that the state -- it is fair to say the state has not proved its burden beyond a reasonable doubt. the second-degree murder charge is what they call an intent crime. the prosecution has to get in the mind of the defendant. and establish in this case, under florida law that the defendant acted with ill will, spite, depravity, all of those evil and sinister things. doesn't have to be murder one. in other words, you don't have to have planned it. there is a thought out there that in these high profile cases, prosecutions fend to overcharge. and there is -- there is plenty
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of evidence out there that they could have just charged at manslaughter which is what the lead investigator chris serrino actually recommended. it is a lower bar and it doesn't have to address an intent at all. >> bill: so did they meet the bar of second-degree murder? you can't help but follow this trial. there's so much coverage of it these days. do you think the state has met -- or do you think zimmerman is likely to walk? we know he shot him. do you think he shot him in self-defense? 1-866-55-press. the toll free number. join us with corey dade from the root when we come back on the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."
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>> bill: we're talking about the george zimmerman trial down in sanford florida with corey dade contributing editor of the root. you can follow their coverage of not just the george zimmerman trial but all of the news of the day at the root.com. before we go to your calls here, peter? >> your comments coming in on the social media. >> you can join our conversation at bpshow on twitter at bpshow. mark from chicago says how could it possibly be self-defense when you're following somebody and you get out of your car to confront them. so a lot of people are sort of saying even if trayvon did fight with george zimmerman george
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zimmerman instigated it. you can find us there at bpshow. >> bill: when police advised him not to get out. corey, is the defense going to call george zimmerman to testify? >> why would they? you know. i think they have done well at countering the state -- i don't expect him to take the stand at all at this point. >> bill: i think -- why take that risk, right? >> i don't think that guy would be able to hold up under cross-examination by this group of prosecutors. this group of prosecutors is -- they're very good. they're very good on their toes. i don't see that happening. >> bill: let's talk to blan from chicago. what's your comment? >> caller: hi, bill, you know, the fact that the screaming stopped immediately after the gunshot, if it were zimmerman screaming, pure adrenaline would
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have kept the noise going would have kept the screams going. oh, my god, i don't believe what happened, oh, my god call 911. when the noise stopped the gunshot went off it wasn't zimmerman who was screaming. >> bill: i read it that way too, blan. i guess it really depends on what the jury reads it. but there is a certain logic to that one would think. >> there is. you can also kind of push it the other way. you know. if i'm screaming for help, zimmerman is screaming for help rather and you know, he shoots. he's not going to keep screaming for help because he actually neutralized his attacker. the other thing is to keep in mind, right after -- this came out in testimony. right after the -- right after the shooting, police come and the first officer on the scene deals with zimmerman as he is coughing zimmerman because it is standard practice even if he's not under arrest, the guy just
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shot someone. you're going to cuff him. he is coughing him and zimmerman is still reacting and zimmerman according to the police officer says you know, he's in disbelief. i was screaming for help and nobody came. now, zimmerman is saying this before any evidence has been gathered. before any evidence has ever been collected. at the same time also on the same separately, this witness john goode said, you know, i saw this guy on top of this guy. this guy being zimmerman on top of this guy. throwing blows down. and you know, the guy on the bottom was yelling for help. >> bill: the guy on the bottom being zimmerman. >> so while the logic of listening to the call is certainly relevant, as your caller pointed out there is other testimony out there. other evidence out there that would suggest that zimmerman may
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be calling out. it doesn't necessarily mean that it happened, of course. that zimmerman is accurate and it certainly doesn't mean that zimmerman's calling shouts for help allegedly are the same shouts you heard on 911 the call. i will say this, zimmerman heard the 911 tape. police played it for him. he said that doesn't even sound like me. zimmerman said that. zimmerman said that the screams for help on the call were not him. >> bill: can't they get him in a studio right now and just have him scream and scream and compare that to the voice on the tape? >> well, that is one of the ways they do it, yes. but at this point, it is water under the bridge. >> bill: wow. when are we -- when is it all over? >> it depends. the defense could rest tomorrow. >> bill: all right. corey, thanks so much for coming in. great to meet you. great to see you.
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theroot.com. corey dade. i will be back with today's parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." 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. cenk off air and 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
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(vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. this show is about being up to date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding.
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>> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: well, one thing's for sure about american politics. we condemn easily. just ask bill clinton, david vidder, mark sanford, anthony weiner, but we also forgive easily. just ask bill clinton david vidder anthony weiner and mark sanford. yes, america is the land of second chances and we're about to give somebody else a second chance as eliot spitzer saddles up to run for city controller of new york. good for him. if anybody deserves a comeback, it's eliot spitzer. yes, he made a stupid mistake but he stood up, accepted responsibility and resigned as governor. five years ago. before that, he built an
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impressive record as new york's toughest cop going after wall street. going after the mafia. and in the five years since he's done a great job carrying the progressive torch on cnn and right here on current tv. with that kind of record, new yorkers should not only accept the fact that eliot spitzer wants to get back into public office. they should beg him to. that's my parting shot for today, folks. have a great one. we'll see you right back here again tomorrow morning.
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