that's for joining us great show. good stuff. thank you for this, my pocket constitution where i keep it close to my heart reminder of what rights are guaranteed to us. but important we need that reminder today of all day. have a -- great day everybody. here's "varney & company" and ashley webster take it away. >> thank you and i'm ash stew is out again today but make no worries about it we've with got you covered he's the story. wild swings continue in the stock market. the dow moved more than 400 points in just a couple of hours before closing down triple digits yesterday. the question of the day now, is volatility here to stay? right now, the market showing a slight improvement to futures showing we're up about 60 point but, of course, you never really know where it's going or how it's going to end the day. the the trading we'll be all over that as usual. amazon as we like to do every day that stock is clear winner

this calendar year. 27% of the s&p 500s gains many this year alone 2018 come from amazon and it touched 1500 dollars share right now 1496 we're also talking that truly remarkable emotional event at the white house where president trump listened to people directly impacted by school shootings and he's responding with his actual policy this morning. we'll get into that as well and the president will be holding another event at the 11:30 eastern discussing school safety state and local officials. we'll, of course, take you there live. as always a jam-packed three hours for you "varney & company" about to begin. ♪ >> because my daughter had no voice. she was murdered last week and she was taken from us.

shot nine times on the third floor. we as a country failed or children. this shouldn't happen. we protect airports, we protect concerts, stadiums, embassies, the department of education that i walked in today that has a security guard in the elevator. how do you think that makes me feel? in the elevator they've got a security is guard. i'm -- i'm very angry that this happened because it keeps happening we can't forget about it. these -- all of this school is shootings. it doesn't make sense. fix it. should have been one school shooting and question should have fixed it. and i'm pissed because my daughter i'm not going to see again. she's not here. she's not here. it's enough. get together.

work with the president and fix the schools. that's it. no other discussions. >> truly gut wrenching there there was father of 18-year-old meadow pollack who died in the shooting speaking of the meeting about need to strengthen school safety. come in hill with the truch for president advisor board. hollen, looks like the president is getting things done. that was remarkable meeting yesterday as i said gut-wrenching very emotional. but i do feel like the president is going to take action. >> well finally we have a president that's willing to work with both parties. and he's willing to listen to the parents of the victims and he's willing to start thinking about real solution it is that are viable that can bring an end to this sort of violence in america. and a time is now. we with don't need to hear another parent display the true pain that this father has

endured this week. there's no need for it. we should be able to come up with some common sense solutions that continue to defend our second amendment. but also defend the children had that go to school every day to just get an education. that doesn't mean we need to take guns from people. maybe we need additional security in schools. maybe we need to arm some teachers. you know, we but we need to come up -- we need to discuss this and my concern is that -- when we start thinking outside of the box talking about putting more security in schools, talking about arming teacher, democrats retire to mart disan politics they start going after the nra they start going after gun ownership. that's not going to be a viable solution to our gun problem in this country. it's got to be something more. >> yeah but you know critics have said you start arming teachers that's like fixing a gas leak by just putting on a gas mask you're not getting to the basic issue.

how do you respond to that. how's the president going to respond to that? >> any teacher armed needs to be well trained but i want to just make sure i'm clear. i don't look at this this as a one size fits all solution to the problem. we need additional security in schools perhaps and a i hate this idea. because when i went to school i never had had to go through a metal detector it is such a foreign concept to me but this same father that we heard a clip from suggested -- that you know he went through the airport and he couldn't even bring a water bottle in. and there's -- no security as you quack into a school campus in this country in the vast majority of schools around the country. perhaps we need metal detectors as you walk into the school. a sad commentary on the state of america but that's where we are and that seems like a reasonable solution to the problem. >> also hollen i want to stay on that meeting from yesterday president trump catching sol heat for the notes that he brought with him. look at this headline -- from "the washington post" you be see a picture that was taken of notes he was holding.

this photo of trump notes captures empathy better than anything. washington post is making hay of the fact that the fifth talking point is apparent remindinger for the president to tell people i hear you. honestly, this guy -- i feel in these situations president trump is incredibly, credible he's authentic and i believe he's everyone thetic i think he's real but he can't do anything right -- >> god forbid somebody bring note so they remember -- you know everything that they need to -- to address in a meeting. this is something that people do -- in their daily life. washington post criticizes president for coming prepared with notes and criticize him saying that he's not serious and that he's not well studied and that he isn't prepared for meetings so he gets hit both ways. you know, he can't win with this crowd. it's just hack journalism that's what "the washington post" has

become. >> more and more people are realizing that. as always great stuff thanks so much. >> all right let's tack a look at the stock futures for you turning off that wild ride from yesterday joaning us with kings view asset management i guess, i mean, we saw this almost every day but yesterday fsz a great example i know we have the fed minutes but you know, volatility is name of the game these day, scott. >> yeah. a part for the course actually. i was theg about it as you were talking there it is look the market is almost look my four-year-old son these days that is reacting to the same stimuli dfnghtly every time. you know it is tough it's like you put cereal in front of a kid you think he wants and it doesn't look it like yesterday and economic data points that they're digesting one day it likes it, next day it doesn't and make it is tough similar to working with children. be patient take a deep breath and work with a situation so an individual investor you put money in the 401(k) and is

iting with asset allocation and cash on tts sidelines some of our clients do we've been selectively raising cash in places you have to put it to work when you see prices fall to where you want them. >> is anyone -- >> i'm withinning with lucky charm. classic too. thank you very much. we'll be back with you as market gets jurpgd way thanks so much. stay is there. now from a look at amazon one with of three stocks already powering in the s&p 500 this year. what are the other two emac we know a.m. l dison. >> amazon and netflix half of the gains so far 48% these seem to be the go to stocking right now, and the stock market falls out of o bed and falls down the stairs. so -- [laughter] you know, here's the thing. without the oil stocks s&p could likely be and discretion and s&p 500 overall could be down.

healthy to be -- >> that's exactly right so fact they drive half of the gains year to date watch out. >> all right good stuff thank you. moving on to taxes oh, favorite subject of our. the white house is economic report is critical of gas taxes. remember, so the president floated that idea of raising the gas tax 25 cents per gallon meanwhile president signals he's open to a mileage tax with praise of the program in oregon. all right. joining us now david williams for the taxpayers protection alliance. i have a feeling david that you don't like any of it. am i right? >> boy you're very shart because we don't and listen this is great news that the president is backtracking or threetion the white house is backtracking from this tax increase. i mean we're talking about a massive tax increase. 25 cents a gallon. i mean that's a lot of money to add to the price of gas, and the economic ant affect it would have qowb devastating question of tax cuts back in december we don't need a tax increase now but it would be going wrong way

erasing tax cuts quite honestly. >> accumulation taxes in whatever form or fashion just reality we're going to get the kind of infrastructure rebuild that we need and the way to pay for it. consumption tax is what we're going to face in the future. >> tempting to look at the mileage tax but here's the problem is that, there could be privacy concerns with -- tracking people where they're driving. where they're going how many miles. so there are privacy concerns but listen, congress and the department of transportation need to get their act together because they're ones that are wasting money so it doesn't matter where the money is coming from. it is how the money is spent. we spent 8 l 00 million a year on other things that are not transportation related. we're talking about -- walking pads bicycle paths. transportation museums. we have transportation museums paying for flowers. paying for beautification of these roads and that's millions of dollars a year. so congress needs to get their act together and this is not tbowng to solve the problem there needs to be accountability

in congress and we look at the spending side of it but yes it is tempghting to say let's do it per mile but i don't think that's a nonstarter. >> we'll have to leaf it right there. we have a big show today david thank you we hear your message loud and clear. thank you. big medical headline from google a noninvasive way to diagnose heart disease by taking a picture of your eye. fascinating stuff. doc siegel will join us to tell us how that works nancy pelosi has a plan to stop illegal immigration to forget building wall. all you need to do is mow the grass i kid you not we'll explain and president trump considering let ling some features in school officials carry concealed weapons. he says it could prevent another tragedy. but would it also create a liability nightmare? judge napolitano on that, next. why are you so good at this? had a coach in high school. really helped me up my game.

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but i'm not standing still... and with godaddy, i've made my ideas real. ♪ i made my own way, now it's time to make yours. ♪ everything is working, just like it should ♪ all right back to the florida shooting. president trump is pledging to consider conceal to carry in

schools and he just tweeted this. history shows that a school shooting last on average three minute it is takes police and first responders approximately 5 to 8 minutes to get to the site of the crime. highly trained gun adepth teachers and coaches solve problem instangtly before police arrived great dethat is the argument. 110% on his page. but we're not talking about distributing guns to teachers we're talking selected conceal carry teacher who is train. you have to train every week there's something called muscle memory and your mous m memory has to be so good that your aim is superb and only good when you do this every week. it is a perishable skill president knows that take a half dozen who have that skill ability to develop that skill and arm them because the

president's concern and it has been mine for years is why do we have gun free zones? san bernardino was a government building. gun free zone orlando the gay nightclub gun free zone now this awful tragedy in parkland gun free zone killers know there's nobody to shoot back. >> night or mare some say. look at liability nightmare that a school is has now. it is going to have 17 wrongful at the time litigations because of of its inability to keep the school safe. i mean, you can't get into a hospital -- or an office building without somebody stopping you. these doors were open and kids walk right in. >> can't tack a quarter bottle on a plane what founders said. let's stay on guns. can we ban ar-15 rifle with so much spoken about and now one used in florida without stepping on second amendment rights? >> why would we ban one rifle because it was used in this? he could have done the same amount it have damage with a 22 hand gun except it is a thinner

lighter weight less accurate -- unless you know really what you're doing -- bullet. if we begin banning weapons -- just because they were used in tragedies we'll eventually end up with a disarmed citizenry and i know i'm speaking to somebody from a tradition that is different but a disarmed it citizen will here produce a nation of sheet. plus -- >> it is the booed we have 300 million guns out there are you going to confiscate them a buyback program someone wants to get a gun they'll get a gun. >> on the president's page this is not really a federal issue but state of florida decides -- has decide that that school is gun free disoab the state of florida decided that the orlando gay nightclub is a gun free zone. state of california decided that the san bernardino office building is a gun free zone. >> my problem is if you start

going in and taking away guns from people this individual -- nicholas cruz -- you take his gun away. oak. but he's got a car right? so kids coming out of the school he could tabun them down you take the car, knife away from the house it is not feasible. >> watching those kids with the president yesterday -- it's impossible to get in a back and forth debate with them. they were so beautiful, so moving -- so, so compelling. but the argument has to be based on reason not on -- emotion because we're talking about the ability of people to protect their lives. take the coach that big lovable guy who was so big. by throw his body over three students he deflected the -- the way a bullet was going and then lived he had a handgun. and ran at the killer and shot he would have saved more. which is the president's point good stuff judge thank you very much.

back here at 11 appreciate it. take a look at the futures for you. after yesterday's big swings we're up, and then finish down triple digits futures say we're going to ep up in about 12 minutes up 60 points on the dow. also up on the s&p 500 and nasdaq. tell you what big win for team us airings womens olympic hockey team beating canada national obsession ice hockey both u.s. ones gets the goal wrap it all up. after this.

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>> take a lock at roku shares down after a week forecast when you look to the future with a lot of happy faces. down almost 20%. down a buck 14. happy faces now turning to the olympics a huge win for the u.s. women hockey team joining us to tell us all a about it koment stay is up for whole game it started 11:10 o eastern time night you got through the first period. well done. olympic haven't been great for nbc but better on west coast because of the 14-hour o difference we're see a lot of live events here on the west coast that make it is difficult. >> let's tell us highlights. u.s. last night the greatest thing they came back with six and a half minutes left to go. down 2-1 against canadas and now canada had had one that last

four o olympic gold medals and then the sister act takes over mo'nique -- scores a game tieing goal and then it would her twin sister joselyn or scores game winning goal so usa win withs for first time in 20 years check this out it was 38 year to the day since the miracle on ice lake -- >> it is nice and gumbo on the year no doubt but women especially had a big day yesterday. >> women dominated so united states over span of 24 hours won nine metdzs increase medal count from 12 to 21. >> almost doubled it. 7 of the nine medals won by women 35-year-old randall five time o'lisp i can final performance at the olympics. and she wins gold it is our first ever cross country gold in she's only mother along delegation of u.s. athletes take a look at the u.s. medals. >> mikalah didn't do great but

lindsey vonn was in front and then lindsay fell apart and likely final olympics race. >> tough for her she got a bronze right. >> how's great britain doing? >> one gold medal but i like to keep track of gb with with one gold medal and three bronze. so not dominating put it that way. norway has had a great olympics. >> what do you think i love the winter olympics i don't know why. it's just i guess it is everything comes down to tenth of a second it seems. >> i've won beef with the applications more than ever athletes competing for countries you might not think that's where they're from. somebody on jamaican bob sled ding used to be part of the united states team and my grandfather can is in latvia it seem like pick a country. go one. >> suspicious.

good stuff as always thank you very much. get some sleep. all right let's take a look at the futures for you before we open up under five minutes dow up 74 points s&p 500 up half a percent same story on the nasdaq. we'll get to the opening on wall street could it be another volatile day. we'll see, next.

all right ten seconds before we get on to another trading day wild ride yesterday we shut up after fed minute and said wait a minute bonds started rising markets sold up. here we go and we are up. on this thursday. monday was a close day for some out of back but are from the outset the dow up 68 points, 70 points, and we get back to 25,000 in the early going we're at 24-t873. on the dow as you look at stock tots left most in the green some unchanged a few in the red. but overall we're on the up, up 91 points now. 24,8 0 let's take a look at the s&p 500 underway the s&p slightly down. half a percent is that right down 14 point to 2701. but the nasdaq meanwhile turning around up half a percent 36 points the nasdaq right now 7254.

now, big, of course, let's look at the tenure treasury yield 2.9, 2% briefly got to 2.95% yesterday that had had an impact on stocks selling off. now look at these three stocks which are responsible as we said earlier at the half of the gain in the s&p 500 -- so far this year. three big names you all know amazon by microsoft and netflix all of those stocks moving higher. look at amazon up 14,096 up another 13 have more on these stocks? just a minute here is with us today liz claman emac as always scott martin and john also chiming in. john, we'll go out to you in the caribbean i said to scott earlier is -- volatile tit name of the game from here on in? >> i think it is for the foreseeable l future is started because of technical fundamental of the market not economic but i think television going to happen nay. i think growth you know pretends high per interest rates. higher inflation, and i think that's what had people are

focused on right now with the volatility. inflation number itself was 2.1% you take out energy it is only 1% 8% so underneath that 2 pblght market so so many stocks out there reporting that higher commodity and food inflation has impacted their bottom line nothing is changed in overall global economy, though, you still have low rates. low unemployment and still low inflation for right now. so i think the market is beginning to be okay but i think that volatility will be here for a while. >> what about treasury bonds scott there was i think a market watch this morning reading it was interesting saying one year treasury bonged two years ago ftion .2% that was how much you got if you invested now it spans 2%. and for those who have cash and -- bit leery of stocking right now, that is an attractive proposition so some of money that would be going in equity is going into fixed income. >> yeah. cd rates too are going on the way up i saw a cd offer for 18 months over 2.5% i haven't seen in many, many years that's

interesting thing that's the struggle that will start happen hadding for stocks is as these rates start to balloon up what's the competition there. ans that these exact interest rates as you pointed out so what level are we looking at from maybe the ten or 30 year probably higher from here before it directly impacts stocks. yes as john pointed out there's added volatility but we've seen selloff like yesterday to rebound so far today but to me we need to see a pretty dramatic rise to tenure 3.5% before we see it directly pullback to market here. >> as we mention before i want to get to this three stocks responsible for half a gain in the s&p 500. this year, they are amazon, microsoft, and net thrix. yeah responsible for 48% of the gains here year to date so you know, what's interesting is, are these the go to stocks now, and when -- as we were saying earlier market falls out of bed amazon is trading at like 320 times ranges it is almost profitable nonprofit. so you know, is it papering over

weakness and other sectors we know consumer discretionary is also up year to date. but the energy sector is still in pain despite oil 3 or 4 year high. >> l up today again thank you. rough week for wal-mart share on tuesday it had biggest one day drop since 1988 let me go to you on this one. do you own wal-mart this is a buying opportunity in your miepgd? >> we started kicking at it ashley i like wal-mart gross story. i believe that the world is big enough for a wal-mart in amazon and probably a costco too which we own. we own coc too but wal-mart picking and continue to do so because i think that numbers yes were a big disappointment a couple of days ago on earnings side but they have priority quarters that probably made these numbers look worse. so the overreaction to me was to downside wal-mart so yeah i believe that it is beginning to push back towards 100 here and started adding to it. >> scott makes a good point about online growth it was 50% in the quarter this time it was up 23, 24%.

i mean okay it is a big miss from the previous quarter but heading in the right direction was it a selloff a bit harsh? >> i think it was. yes. because promoted at 40% growth from the coming year as far as online growth and i think watt mart is doing right thing with a molds of one hour delivery they partner requested jd.com and china they have 10% stake in jd.com and one hour delivery most chinese markets did the same thing with japan. the flip cart potential acquisition talking about 40% of it is largest onis line commerce e-commerce in india. i think wal-mart gross story fighting against a.m. disong i think is still there. i've owned it for some time and bullish of wal-mart. >> worst oarnghting.3% now launching that, you know, new specialty home shopping home furnishing division. so attract higher end. >> see if it works quick check the big board higher profit -- take a look at what that stock is doing the dow tits look at this. suddenly up to the races.

up 177, 179 points. very close to getting back to 25,000. we'll be keeping an eye on that up three quarters of a percent we mentioned higher profit what's that doing to the stock yes it is hepping big time up 12% nearly 4.5 at 43 cheesecake factory revenue pawn falling short doesn't bother stock up, though, up another 4% up 48 for cheesecake factory. it makes spam. stuart'ss favorite his childhood formed by spam mine too. hormel down 2%. in fact, big down, down 21% roku at 46. higher rv are knew at pandora having success we're getting more subscribers kind of a down on stock today down 3% of 464. this is interesting a brother

back group start ised ad campaign diswading local governments from lavishing with taxpayer funded benefits to win amazon's much talked about second headquarters. john, i have a feeling although in theory they might be right but you know the opportunity to get amazon 50,000 jobs easer everything that comes with it i don't think the city is going to be listening to koch brothers any time soon. what say you? >> i agree with you they have a right to do this but i don't think cities are going to listen. look cities have the tucket and remember we're getting tax breaks they're getting tax breaks on future revenue they're not getting money from most of the cities so this is of the cities wouldn't be getting away. 50,000 jobs in amazon headquarters in perpetuity one of the located in your town people bid for this like crazy. i think this has what should happen in the country. >> scott very quickly if you're mayor of scottville would you give the farm away to get amazon in your backyard? >> actually just gave me an idea

to run for mayor of chicago. exactly wasn't that popular so sorry about that rahm emanuel throwing my hat in the ring. i disagree if you look back at the deals that may need with automakers, manufacturing they don't get what their promised or revenue or production from companies so a lot of these cities and states get taken advantage of. so i would be careful if i was hague a deal with amazon here. that's all. >> thank you mayor-elect. twitter facing backlash from conserve conservatives after company made a move to curve. and now conservatives claim they're unfairly targeted by the company the question is do they have a point? this was a big issue yesterday as some of these twitter follower account were purged. emac. j one side of the story twitter saying you have to prove you're a human being following that with a follower if you have a follower. that's follower has to have a phone number or your account has to have a phone number and if you don't we're going to purge you so one -- individual can post multiple times to multiple accounts with

one phone number you have to prove you're not a robot but they're saying wait a second you're ticking us off for views and separate from twitter, the university is suing youtube and the parent for -- illegally they say censoring content on yew town so a problem across social media. there's conservatives being treated differently. chghts interesting stock down slightly todays on twitter. talk about gee wiz and video is partnering with a1 developer or ai it looks like developer any division. they're going to be working for smart city surveillance. company -- big brother, all over again. what do you say? john. of course it is. that was fighting machine since the 90s and unprnlgtly lost and lose eventually anyway. but look google has 50 of the top global scientists in ai working for them. this is the future.

it is big brother yes. nothing you can do about it. >> cities better have privacy protections because that's an amazing treasure-trove of data to hack. right? >> so i say scott even video is getting into it. you know it's the future because they've been very successful. >> you put this next to their gaming dominance this is a reason to take a look at the stock here. we've been waiting for it to hold back it didn't stay down and stock got treated terribly after a good earnings report so looking ahead of this one just lower. >> all right very good. john, thank you so much. we go back to the meet scott you go back to mayor campaign thank you for both being there -- >> 60 degrees here come on scott. >> wow. look at this u now. the dow up 218 points. up about .8 we've got it back 25,013 on the dow roup right now pretty darn good. now this, congressman todd republican from indiana introducing a bill to make many all of those tax cut bonuses

completely tax free. it is called tongue and cheek the crumbs act. safe to say that's a bit of a shock as we know and nancy pelosi congressman will join us in the 11 a.m. hour. and -- president trump making an all out push to tackle our gun violence problem the question will that put issues like immigration and infrastructure on the back burner? when congress gets back to work next week -- congressman marsha blackburn of tennessee. we'll be right back. whoooo.

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just under the 25,000 mark at 24,973 we get get above 25,000 mark on the dow just about a couple of minutes ago but still up 176 points. toys are us is planning to close more stores. doesn't sound good for mac what's happening is this >> this is another fallout. more fallout of a retile ice age. they're in bankruptcy protection, the number of stores they're going to have right now is about half had of what it was before file for bankruptcy of protection. this is another company that had a difficult holiday sales season. and it feel like -- you and i have talked about it foot traffic is down in in stores. kind of on a slow march to reorganizing to survive or, you know, i'm not sure if the plan is beginning to work here for toys"r"us. >> doesn't sound good, though. emac thank you. florida shootings survivor samuel for the white house yesterday, calling for action against guns. listen to this.

woke up to the news that my best friend was gone. and i don't understand why i could still go in a store and buy a weapon of war. >> looks like trump is president trump is taking all of this very seriously. tweeting this out this morning, quote, i will be strongly pushing comprehensive background checks with an emphasis on mental health raise age to 21 and end sale of bump stocks and doing something on this shall. i hope -- all right joining us now tennessee congressman marsha blackburn, marsha thank you so much for joining us. appreciate it. >> pleasure to with you. you get become to work next week. >> is it gun control in the fore front and does that put other issues like immigration and infrastructure on the back burn center >> i think this is an opportunity for congress to prove that it is all hands on deck. i tell you, watching that session that the president held

yesterday with those, it just wases heartbreaking to me. i think we all cried as we watched it and shared their grief. and here's the thing, the president is right to take the leadership on this. and ash actually what we have with to do is break this issue apart and look at it as a cultural issue. a mental health issue. a law enforcement issue -- and what we do right now with local, state, and federal authorities to harden these schools and make surgeon certain that children are safe when they go i think about this as, you know, i've been a mother and a room mother -- and working in the schools with the children, and you want to know this that is a safe environment. our parents deserve to know those children are going to be kept safe. >> of course critics say that the -- provisions of the president is talked about raising the age and -- yes. you know, is that enough because

the critics say that is not tackling the bigger problem. what's your response to that? >> what we have to do is look at all faces of this. and my hope is that senate will take up the bill that house has passed on bump stocks bill to fix the knicks system. we should a little review hipaa, requirements and look at what the information share and access to information for an individual that is taking a psychotropic drug with a mental illness going through treatment. look at the next of kin having access to that information even though they may -- be 19, 20, 21 years old. that needs to be summed also how in the world did the fbi miss these clues? and if you have -- your human resource agencies and mental health providers and law enforcement who has been calling to a home multiple time it is

and that is not flagged. some way in that individual's record. that is something that needs to be visible to those that are there in the public safety arena. >> next one for you congressman is gop targeting red state democrats you're running in tennessee senate race can you keep congress red? >> of course we can. and we're working hard to do it every day to earn every vote. we know that it is going to be a -- really hard hard fought battle we know we have to get our message out and we have to make certain that people are aware of the work that we're doing for them. >> finally an interesting one country singer tim mcif you a possible opponent. what do you think of that? >> i don't run against people. i run on good ideas. and leading good charges as you well know from here in tennessee ashley, and that is our focus on

delivering good conservative leadership continuing to do that for the state of tennessee. >> very good. thank you so much congressman marsha blackburn from nashville this morning. marsha thank you very much. >> you too. let's check the dow 30 stocks have been on a tear this morning we're up a little bit of a scene we're up u still 150 points, though, 24,951. as you look at the dow 30 map almost all grebe xepght for three lager american express and visa. and google by the way, with twoing a new way to check you're at risk for heart disease no invasive test needed that's good. all they need to do is take a picture of your eye. dr. marc siegel explains, next.

>> the market is up and running s&p and nays dak all up nicely dow up 118 we're up close to 200 points earlier. we've lost a bit of the wind in our sails but up nicely half a percent across the board. now this google developing a software that could predict your risk of heart disease just by scanning your eye i love it. correspondent dr. mark seeing it will okay doc how does it this work? >> a lot to it actually and they published it in the nature

biomillion journal and started with google and life sciences an they put together information looking over o 250,000 are retinas to figure out what your risk of developing heart disease heart attack or stroke over a five-yeesh period is and they found got it within 70%. now til tell you why i believe that. and why it is a great idea because you know what happens when i look at the retina of the eye i'm looking at blood vessels i can see signs that you're a smoker i can see sign of diabetes. i can tell you what your age is because retina age as a certain way. cholesterol -- no exactly right and guess what all of those things are are. cardiac risk factors so threes where blade runner for heart to walk up to a scanner to say you're at risk of hearts disease over next five years -- 60% actually -- and i believe that we're going to see that. because again, that's what the retina is. tiny blood vessels same kind of blood vessels inside the heart. dges how critical is early detection in this?

>> well hugely important because you can then prevent it. if i have five years and put you and say you're on a launch pad with heart attack in five year let's control your diet and exercise you better quit smoking now. people will react to fear. i'll say in five years it is a 70% chance you might quit smoking and improve your diet or get the blood sugar under control all of the things to do anyway but now i have more of an angle on it. >> it has been written about but could you do it today? >> we're not there but you know going is a pretty big power house i think that we're going to see this within a year or two. smg what's your thoughts of someone like google getting into part into the health world in this way? >> i've written an article about that and nervous about them getting too involved with diagnostic medicine and to physicians because they get replace the decision making factor. this i like. artificial intelligence as a tool that a physician can then use.

as predictive tool again blade runner but without the you can't come in here, sir. >> so machines taking over is not saying that technology -- >> i don't google making the decision and google invade your privacy and i don't goggle aletterring you hey sir you may have a heart attack i don't google being able to alert you but i want them in the hand of a physician a cardiologist who says i don't like the way your retina looks now. better do something about it. >> great stuff doctor. thank you very much. fascinating ai at its best. doctor thank you very much. good to see you. nancy pelosi, says forget building a wall. if qept to keep illegal imrangts from crossing our border we should cut the grass instead i assure you we're not making that up. you'll hear about it after this. when it might be time to buy or sell? with fidelity's real-time analytics, you'll get clear, actionable alerts about potential investment opportunities in real time. fidelity. open an account today.

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but i'm not standing still... and with godaddy, i've made my ideas real. ♪ ♪ i made my own way, now it's time to make yours. ♪ ♪ everything is working, working, just like it should ♪ ashley: 10 a.m. on the east coast. 7:00 a.m. on the west coast. i'm ashley webster in today for stuart varney and here is what we got for you this hour.

a week after a tragic shooting in a high school in parkland, florida, president trump hosting students, teachers, families affected. he will raise the age of to purchase a gun at 21, put an emphasis on mental health and ban bump stocks. a gentleman will talk to us this hour to talk about those proposals. applebee's closing 60 locations this year after closing 100 last year. zane tankel has dozens of them, he will be here later this hour to talk about what is going on. we'll talk to apple. gene munster will tech watcher telling us how that stacks up. republicans raising record cash in january, closing the gap with democrats in the polls. could the gop hold on to the house in 2008. we'll hold on to the numbers for you. guess what, u watching the

second hour of "varney" and company. ashley: latest read on mortgage rates, emac. liz: 4.4% the highest in four years. this is the seventh straight weakens -- week in the in. median house price at high of 240,500. this is following also the u.s. treasury 10-year yield going higher as well. freddie mac is saying likely see that mortgage rate continue to trend higher. so, you wonder, if this is going to really impact the housing market, if really people start to get up of off the couches say we have to buy now. ashley: mortgages and house prices going up. not a good combo. emac, thank you very much. liz: sure. ashley: amazon plans to open as many as six more of the

cashierless amazon go stores this year. pretty interesting stuff. just to get your stuff, then you leave. all done electronically. amazon up six bucks, coming back just a little bit, still at 1489. united tech that company leading the dow now up 367, up nearly 3%. we had higher profits at avis. that is helping the stock this morning. rental car company up 11%, my eyes are going. 43.47. cheesecake factory. i haven't been going lately. revenue falling short. stock is still doing well up a couple of bucks at 4.40. the dow is up half hour new trading -- 48.40. after a wild afternoon yesterday, my oh my. jason rotman, lido isle president joins us. volatility just a part of the game now, right? >> it is. we are stablizing at

significantly higher levels, however, i do want to emphasize that volatility explosion earlier this month this i think truly will not happen again this year. there was a lot of, that was like a perfect storm situation where many things coagulated at once. volatility will not be what it was. the main thing market is watch something interest rates. if interest rates continue to march higher, i don't see the market making new highs. ashley: interesting. this is what we've been talking about this morning, jason. three tech companies, sampson, microsoft, netflix, they make up more than half of the s&p's gains this calendar year. appears they could be a hedge against some of this volatility but as emac said earlier kind of paper over perhaps more weakness in the markets? >> you know, not really, i'm interested you actually used the word hedge, my remarks are basically in a similar category.

those are the new safe havens. it is crazy, two out of three stocks. president e ratios are quite elevated. i believe those are safe havens. they have incredible biz models. they will benefit massively from the new tax code. those are the picks people will rely on this year to stablize their portfolios. ashley: i'm sorry to interrupt. nra ceo, wayne laperriere is speaking at cpac. we'll listen in. >> their laws don't stop the scourge of gang violence and drug crime that savages baltimore, chicago and every major american community. their laws have not stopped the playing of opioids, chinese fentanyl from mexico that floods american streets and kills victims every single day in this country. no wonder law-abiding americans

all over this country revere their second amendment freedom to protect themselves more than ever. they don't care if their laws work or not. they just want to get more laws, to get more control over people. but the nra, the nra does care. [applause] we -- [applause] we at the nra are americans who continue to mourn and care and work every day at contributing real solutions to this very real problem. real practical action, to truly protect our children. think about it. it's a bizarre fact that in this country our jewelry stores, all over this country, are more

important than our children. our banks, our airports, our nba games, our nfl games, our office buildings, our movie stars, our politicians. they're all more protected than our children at school. does that make any sense to anybody? [applause] do we really love our money and our celebrities more than we love our children? can we answer that question honestly, any of us? can we answer that question honestly? knowing that we surround and protect so much with armed security, while we drop our kids off at school that are so-called gun-free zones, that are wide open targets for any crazy madman bent on evil to come

there first. in every community in america school districts, ptas, teachers unions, local law epforcement, moms, and dads, they all must come together to implement the very best strategy to harden their schools, including effective, trained, armed security that will absolutely protect every innocent child in this country. [applause] and that has to happen now. evil walks among us, and god help us if we don't harden our schools and protect our kids. the whole idea from some of our opponents that armed security makes us less safe is completely

ridiculous. if that's true, just think about this, if that is true, armed security makes us less safe, go ahead and remove it from everywhere. let's remove it from the white house. from capitol hill. and remove it from all of hollywood. [applause] any american school that needs immediate professional consultation and help with organizing and defining these solutions should call the national rifle association school shield program. [applause] and we will provide immediate assistance and we will also provide it absolutely free to any school in america. [applause]

i'll tell you this, that's more than anybody at the democratic national committee or nbc news or "the washington post" is offering. [applause] but you know what? the shameful politicization of tragedy, it is a classic strategy right out of the playbook of a poisonous movement. in my three decades of leading the nra i have had the pleasure of working with a number of democrats who believe that america to be the greatest country in the world because of our free-market capitalism, and because of our individual liberties. but during the last decade, the obama decade, many of those leaders have been forced out as a tidal wave of new

european-style socialists seized control of the democratic party. [applause] obama promised a fundamental transformation of our country and you know what? it began with his own national party, a party that is now infested with saboteurs who don't believe in capitalism, don't believe in the constitution, don't believe in our freedom, and don't believe in america as we know it. obama may be gone but their you taupe yap dream, it marchs on -- utopian dream, it marchs on. president trump's election, while crucial, can't turn away the wave of new european-style socialists bearing down upon us. i'm not just talking about bernie sanders. i mean, he is near the end of his career.

but how about can ma'am la harris, elizabeth warren, bill de blasio, andrew como, cory booker, christopher murphy and keith ellison? [booing] they are not democrats the mold of john f. kennedy or tip o'neill. they hide behind labels like democrat, left-wing and progressive to make their socialist agenda more palatable and that is terrifying. ashley: all right, we've been listening in there to wayne laperriere the head of nra. he says at the nra, we mourn and we care. we have very real solutions he said, but practical action. he made the point that jewelry stores have armed guards, banks, airports, office buildings, movie stars, politicians.

why are they more protected than schools? he called gun-free zones at schools wide open to any gun-wielding madman. strong words from wayne laperriere in the wake of calls for gun control. tim schmidt who joins us now. tim, you've been listening to wayne laperriere, is making good points? >> good morning, ashley. i really think he is. he is on point. it makes a lot of sense that we need to become serious about protecting our schools and our children because he's right. ashley: it is completely gun-free zone which of course we know that the criminals never follow that, and this is the only place, one of the few places that guaranty a whole bunch of children that are completely defenseless. ashley: we know that president trump already talked about improving the background checking system, raising the age when able to purchase some of these weapons. bump stocks, banning those. are these enough?

>> of course not. when you say are these enough, really, this is feel-good legislation. ashley: right. >> bump stocks, changing, changing the background checks, sure you can pass this legislation. is it going to have any effect on crime? practically zero. the real effect when you arm responsely-armed citizens to be in a situation where they can protect our kids. ashley: you get a little pushback from those who say, you start arming teachers, you're turning it into the o.k. corral. how can we trust the teachers, trust them to make sure kids can't get ahold of those guns, you're creating a less safe environment. how would you respond to that? >> ashley that is 100% untrue. the good news about this sort of a situation is that all you have to do is have three to 5% of the teachers be willing to become responsibly armed. now you create this powerful deterrent effect. a powerful deterrent effect, when the criminals decide, am i going to attack this school,

they're not going to, because they will be afraid of getting shot. ashley: what difference will it make if teachers are armed, they're properly trained if god forbid there is another situation like we saw in florida? what is the difference in the outcome? >> well it is very difficult to guess exactly what the outcome would be, however, i would propose that by just the fact that having these teachers armed, like i said before, it will create a powerful deterrent effect t -- it will drastically minimize amount of people willing to carry out the attacks. simply because the only thing they understand is violence. they don't want to be shot. ashley: that is interesting to that point, wayne laperriere said, armed security the argument goes keeps us less safe especially in the context of schools. he made a good point. if that is the case, let's remove it from the white house, capitol hill, hollywood and so on. i mean that is a good argument, would you not say? >> it's a very good argument. i was just listening as we were

preparing for this interview, i thought he really nailed it. good for him. ashley: are you surprised at the backlash? we had number of these unfortunately these cases but it seems like this is, is this a tipping point in some way, reaction and backlash and the call for gun control? i haven't seen something like this up to this point? >> ashley, i really hope it's a tipping point in the sense of getting people to realize that the true solution isn't passing feel-good legislation but more about getting more responsely-armed citizens in the schools, whether a security guard, whether a well--trained teacher wants to do it that is the real solution. that is the only thing, the only thing that is going to make a difference. ashley: so to the children, you know, i come back to the critics i know there is always other side of this argument, you're turning schools into like fortresses but on the other hand is that a bad thing? >> no, i don't think so at all. i want my children to go to a

school considered a fortress. there will not be, not like an old western where everyone is walking around with a firearm on their hip. ashley: right. >> there will be a handful of administrators, maybe teachers, maybe coaches that are discretely-armed, no one will know it except for the perps who won't show up. ashley: i also heard people say we should immediately ban the ar-15, the weapon used in florida. to me that seems pointless. there are some other weapons out there, right? >> ashley, there are over 300 million guns in the united states. you can say, hey, let's ban this one that looks like this, or this one that looks like this. absolutely no effect on any criminals. ashley: i think we'll leave it right there, but thank you so much, tim schmidt, thank you for joining us commenting on what we heard from wayne laperriere from the nra. thank you, tim. >> you're welcome. my pleasure. ashley: let's look at the big board. the dow is up 167 points. we're close to 200 points on the

upside. as we look at the dow 30 stocks most of those in the green as you can see. the dow up 173 at 24,970. getting back close to 25,000. individually way fair online home retailer, big loss, not putting out very good numbers, down 17 bucks, at $77 for wayfair. nancy pelosi says forget building a border wall. if you want to keep illegal immigrants out, you have to mow the grass. you will hear about it next. plus applebee's closing 60 locations this year after shutting 100 last year. zane tankel, franchise owner of applebee's in new york. he will be with us later this hour to talk about. we'll be right back. ♪

but i'm not standing still... and with godaddy, i've made my ideas real. ♪ i made my own way, now it's time to make yours. ♪ everything is working, just like it should ♪

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experience nbcuniversal's coverage of the olympic winter games like never before with xfinity. proud partner of team usa. ashley: pandora, music streamer, multiple downgrades. despite good earnings. that is not helping. now this, nancy pelosi has an alternative to building the border wall. roll tape. >> see what makes sense, not some commitment to a promise that we'll build a wall and mexico is going to pay for it, that is never going to happen, but let's talk about where, more serious structure might be necessary. we're mowing grass so that people can't be smuggled through the grass. that is -- ashley: never-ending supply of great sound bites, isn't she? david hoppy, former chief of staff to paul ryan.

someone saying mow the grass so they can't get across. your reaction? >> hi, ashley. leader pelosi has not been a serious person on border security ever. that is one of the problem getting to agreement on immigration. are there are some leaders in the democratic party not serious. mowing the grass, they're building tunnels to bring drugs and illegal people under the tunnels. they will try to find a way. that is why the focus on security that the president has brought, building the wall, also doing other things to secure the border, getting more border agents down there, people looking at these, do the work they have to do to secure the border is critically important. but, you have to get beyond sort of this silly debate to real serious debate. there are tradeoffs that will have to be made here. but leader pelosi, is not one of those who focused on a serious border security issue. that is just not her area of expertise. ashley: that is very true. you could tunnel under a wall at same time, though? >> i'm sure some of that could

be done, it makes it a more difficult thing. it is not just the wall. that is not just what the president is talking about. he obviously focusing on that but that is not the only thing he is talking about. we need to do serious job looking at array of things including the wall to secure this border so they can't bring as many drugs, can't bring illegal people, can't do some of the things that the cartels are doing to try to really undermine the united states, or make money off of american people an cause great, huge, problems with drugs and other things. ashley: you know, it is interesting, i was kind of being flippant i guess about saying that you know, nancy pelosi just provides a negative-ending source of sound bites she starts to use, but is she upsetting anybody else in the democrat party? tax crumbs and armageddon, she is so prone to hyperbole, there is sense in the democratic party, that wait a minute, this person is out of touch? >> i think you're starting to see that.

congressman from ohio, tim ryan, ran against her for leader in beginning of last congress. he didn't do very well. you start seeing a number of democratic members saying maybe this isn't the leadership we need. maybe she has served her time and we should look for somebody else. we'll have to see. one of the things right now, the democrats are following her. she is the leader of democrats in the house, no doubt about that. she is able to lock them up, get them to vote the way she wants them to vote. that is issue democrats will contest with in these upcoming elections this fall. ashley: she is good at raising money, but even so. another one for you, david, koch brothers-backed group launched an ad campaign asking local governments not to offer amazon benefits to win the company's second headquarters. they're saying don't geoff away the farm. you will not get back what you hope you will bet? what do you think on that? mr. bezos, if not amazon itself, seems to have more money than these counties and cities

looking to go into. i would hope amazon will provide money themselves. i understand the concern. having said that that is the way a lot of counties, a lot of cities have been looking to attract business. if you look at the south, a number of these business, mercedes-benz, and others come in they have gotten packages to set up a food -- good infrastructure for their product. i think amazon ask one of those groups that has as i said, mr. bezos is quite wealthy and company seems to be doing okay. maybe they could fund a part of this so the local taxpayers wouldn't have to fund at all. ashley: that is a good point. thank you for joining us this morning. really appreciate it. >> happy to be here. ashley: whole foods changing the way it does business with suppliers, charging more for prime shelf space, introducing new fees. some suppliers, they're getting out. we'll have more on that. republicans raising record cash in january and closing the gap with democrats in the polls. could the gop hold on to the

house in 2018? we're digging into that, and numbers for you. we'll be right back. ♪ whoooo.

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♪ scott can't buy me love." ashley: that is a bass click. -- classic stu if you're watching. nicely up, the dow up 200 points. can we get back above 25,000? we're close, 24,993. wiping out yesterday's loss. always like to look at the big tech names. they're all in the green today.

they of course, a lot of money goes into these stocks. all moving higher today. apple up 1 1/3% at 173 bucks. breaking news for you. reverend billy graham will lie in honor at the capitol rotunda next week on wednesday. graham died of natural causes yesterday at his home in north carolina, he was 99 years old. billy graham will lie in honor at the capitol rotunda on wednesday. now this, house republicans raised a record $10.1 million in january, ahead of this year's midterms, but the latest poll from "real clear politics" show the democrats have a seven-point lead over the gop but is that number thing a little bit? tom bevin, "real clear politics" cofounder, publish letter joins us now. tom, dare we say could the gop keep the house? >> they could.

i mean there is, there is obviously a lot of time between now and november. the best thing that the republicans have going for them right now is we've seen a pretty dramatic increase in the public's approval of the tax cut bill law that was just passed. that is one of the signature items they will hang their hat on in november. they will point out the fact that the democrats, not a single democrat voted for it. so if the economy is roaring in november and they're able to point to that law, then that's, that is probably the best thing they have going but obviously money is good, but democrats have, they have, you know history on their side. they have got a lot of republican retirements, a lot of competitive seats and enthusiasm in the base which we have seen show up in a lot of other races. a special election in pennsylvania in three weeks where democrats are going to, that will be another tell what we're looking at in november. ashley: right. but almost a double-whammy, tom, yes, the surging economy does make people feel better, the benefits of those tax cuts but when you look at the other side,

democrats have basically used their entire strategy on knocking down those policies and that was a huge gamble and if people do feel bert and they feel more optimistic that is a failed strategy, is it not? >> it is and it isn't. republican cost be a victim of their own success because the better the economy is doing, the less it is a priority in the election. the economy typically has been since the great recession of 2008 the top item on of concern to americans but that's been going down as the economy has been going up. so republicans in that sense could be a victim of their own success. but certainly democrats have, are basing their entire strategy on resistance to trump, resistance to his agenda. that includes tax cuts. ashley: i think that is a very dangerous strategy because i think, there is no solid platform that they're basing this on and also within the democrats themselves i sense there is a bit, we talked about this earlier this morning, you have the nancy pelosis and now you have bernie sanders throwing

daggers at hillary clinton. it feels it me the democrats are a party of okay, we're resisting but what else have you got? >> well, that is their big challenge. ashley: yeah. >> up till now, this is what the base demanded, resistance across the board to everything that trump has done. i think republicans are very happy to see nancy pelosi out on listening tour around the country, reprising her remarks that the tax cuts are crumbs. she continues to say that. looks like she will continue to say that all the way through the election. ashley: right. >> that is a bit of a dicey strategy on their part. ashley: on other hand republican s are notoriously bad getting message out. with regard to tax reform in particular. they need to do a better job getting out there and pointing out, hey, more money in your paycheck. businesses are hiring, they're more optimistic. consumers are more optimistic. are they getting better selling that message? >> i think polling indicates

they are. certainly in the run-up to this law, republicans were on the short end of the messaging stick. the polls showed that the public thought this was only going to benefit the wealthy, wasn't going to benefit them. now those numbers are turned around. president trump's job approval on economy is 50%. if you go look at "real clear politics" average, really dramatic shift for him on that. that is what republicans will hang their hat on. ashley: as you say, a day is a long time in politics. it will be interesting. tom bevin, thank you so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. >> you bet. ashley: we'll switch gears as we like to say now. google introduced pay, a unified payment service. joining us to talk about it, gene munster, loop ventures managing partner. gene, how does this stack up against the giant in the room, panel pay? >> well we've done a lot of around that. we're doing annual checkup on apple pay. the results google pay has a long way to go.

three quick facts. 90% of the contact list transactions, when you use your phone at point of sale, 90% of those globally are apple pay. ashley: wow. >> apple pay doubled number of users this past year. separately the growth in transactions up 300%. google pay is nowhere to be found. there is a bright spot for google pay. even though those numbers are impressive. the actual number of people that are doing that is relatively small. i want to credit loup ventures analyst mark finding this. 16% of the iphone base only uses apple pay. still a nascent market of people that recognize their phone as their wallet. that is a longer term opportunity. ashley: i have apple watch, i just started doing, this apple pay, it is gee whiz factor i can do that it is cool, no doubt about it. i have to move on, gene. roku reporting disappointing profits in the fourth quarter. i have roku at home.

i like it. what is going on? >> roku is trying to be operating system for televisions. there isn't a standard operating system. what is going on, the reason why the stock is down 18% they're spending things like 18%. they need need add things about voice, smashing speaker, smart remotes, controlling your tv with your voice that is a big investment. i need to give roku credit here, even though the stock is down big today, it is up 50% in the last four months since its ipo. ashley: who is the main competitor to roku in this field. >> just a bunch of different third party. amazon has something called fire tv. apple as apple tv. roku is the market share leader. ashley: gene munster, great stuff, gene. appreciate it. >> thank you. ashley: all right, changing gears again. we're changing a lot of gears. liz: you are. ashley: whole foods changing business the way it works with

suppliers, suppliers are having big impact on their business. how much? we have founder of one those suppliers, come in, michael kanter. michael we mentioned this story last week, suddenly whole foods is imposing all of these fees and they're doing away with minimum order numbers. as a supplier, what kind of impact is it having on you? >> thanks for having me. some of the impacts are, you know for local, smaller companies just getting more difficult to get started with whole foods. it's a great testing ground and company is definitely getting a little more difficult. ashley: how much has your costs gone up as a supplier? can you quantify for us? >> well, some is the literal challenges of before, you could work pour regionally. we're based out of portland, oregon. but so to move to other regions it's more difficult now because it is a lot more streamlined

through their as you office. before you could work regionally with offices but they're adding cost of demoing. barriers getting to other regions are definitely growing. that is a challenge for small business, how you grow getting into more stores. that is getting more difficult. ashley: what kind of pushback do you think whole foods/amazon is getting on this. >> i'm sure you're talking to other suppliers. what kind of, how have you voiced your disapproval? >> well certainly tried to work with the local, regional players that has been our challenge, at least in my region, is getting responses or face time but i think, you know, at the end of the day we want, vendors want it to be a partnership. as much as we need the stores to sell our goods but we want it to be a two-way street, i think for a lot of companies feeling less and less like a two-way

partnership with whole foods and amazon. ashley: were you worried something like this would happen once amazon took over whole foods? >> i mean realistically i think some things are in the works. we don't get to know when the deal happened. obviously they announced the deal was obviously in the works quite some time before that. ashley: yep. >> there were definitely changes afoot so it is hard to know for sure whether that's amazon's hand or not. ashley: thank you for joining us. wish you luck in the future. michael, portland, oregon, appreciate it. >> thanks. ashley: now this, venezuelans reportedly losing a lot of weight, last year as the country grapples with a devastating economic crisis. this is another example. liz: historic weight loss, average of 24-pound. 90% of the population lives in poverty, according to studies done by several universities. there has been a steady rise in poverty and hunger. the economy has been cut in half

since nicolas maduro won the election in 2013. ashley: right. liz: continued along the socialist collapse. once was the ripest country in south america -- richest country in south america as of 2001. the oil price collapse is why venezuela is in crisis. if that were true, norway, texas, north dakota, and canada would be in crisis as well. again and again we see numbers coming out of extreme now situation going on in venezuela. 2/3 of the population, 60%, say they have woken up country and eating less than two meals a day. a situation still dramatically falling. ashley: we always ask a question how long can this go on before things start to change. liz: that's correct. ashley: emac, thank you. liz: sure. ashley: check this out, spacex's falcon 9 launching three satellites into orbit this morning. one of them is a observation satellite along with two experimental broadband internet

satellites. maybe i get better reception. eventually to blanket the planet in high speed internet. what a great idea. this is the fourth spacex launch this year. always fun to watch those. applebee's closing at least 60 location this is year after shutting 100 last year. zane tankel, franchise owner of applebee's here in new york. he joins us next. ♪

liz: last hour, congresswoman marcia blackburn talked about what congress can do to fight school shootings when they get back to work. roll tape. >> this is an opportunity for congress to prove its all hands on deck. watching that session that the president held yesterday with those, it was heartbreaking to me. i think we all cried as we watched it and shared grief. here's the thing, the president is right to take leadership on this. ashley what we have to do is break this issue apart and look at it as a cultural issue, a mental health issue, a law enforcement issue and what we do

right now with local, state and federal authorities to harden these schools. ♪

ashley: well, here we go. look at this. not a bad start to the day on this thursday. the dow up 200 points. we just hit 25,000. of the right at that level, 25,002. it has been a good day for the market so far after yesterday's selloff. we finished day down triple

digits yesterday. turned that around nicely this morning. now this, applebee's is closing up to 60 additional restaurants this year, because they're not winning over millenials apparently. let's find out. zane tankel apple metro ceo. zane, you own quite a few applebee's restaurants in the region. what is going on here? >> you know it is part of the disruptive economy we're in, ashley, in a sense that people eat differently. we're overbuilt. we were overcompetitive with each other. there is new concepts coming out all the time. the way the franchise model is built, more units you build, more upstream in income. it is overbuilt, have to get back to reality. ashley: i mentioned coming to campaign to attract millenials failed. is that true? >> yes. ashley: why did it fail? >> i know why, 20/20 hindsight.

it was failed strategy again at end of '14, '15, applebee's made attempt to attract millenial. what they forgot their core constituency. applebee's was found and built on value, warm friendly environment, a warm friendly space. they brought in new management, new marketing people who were going to capture the millenial. ashley: i don't understand, what does it mean to make a restaurant more friendly to millenials? change the menu? >> no, misunderstood or i misspoke. applebee's was reknown as a warm friendly place. ashley: of course. >> they weren't going to be more warm and friendly. what they were changing was the menu, concept base, modern bar and grill. ashley: okay. >> we weren't a modern bar and grill. we started with pub diet. you don't go to applebee's to diet in all fairness. ashley: that's true. >> we had a menu under 500. we had a joint venture with weight watchers. so you could pick that if you

wanted but only have to look at data to see there wasn't a big demand for it. because we track what our product mix is every day, every week. ashley: basically a failed campaign they put a lot of effort and time and money i'm sure into. combine that with overbuilding, you're not surprised these are restaurants that are having to close. >> no, no. not at all. i'm surprised to close more earlier, we started here in new york, yelling early on this is a flawed, failed strategy. started with a pub diet and appetizers, ended with hand-cut, hand-cut, wood fire grill. we had to teach everybody to be a butcher. we had to cut, take people literally from these tough, depressed neighborhood. look back, really wonderful case study for failed strategy for harvard or wharton. i went to chart ton. i would love to sell it back to wharton. neil: how is business? we hear all time consumers are

having more money in their pocket. how does that translate into you. >> good question. the reality we're in a turnaround. the good news we brought new management aboth. i'm reasonably optimistic that this new strategy which is going back to the future. ashley: reinventing yourself. reinventing the wheel. >> yeah. we've gotten rid of the hand-cut wood fired grill and pub diet and appetizers. gone back to basics, what works. we have a long history what works. applebee's, applebee's was the brand in the casual dining space. we were largest by far. there is overbuilding. there is marginal restaurants. we've fallen on hard times. the restaurant business is cyclical. ashley: sure. >> the chain business particularly. >> right. >> taco bell which is high-flyer today, was on the verge of bankruptcy in '13. they were about to file. ashley: the person running that is at chipotle. >> chipotle run into a different

problem. chipotle's whole brand and markets was about sustainable foods and no gmos. they gave you mcdonald's 10,000 comery burger in a burrito, called it sustainable and no gmos, healthy for you, but very fattening. having said that their whole brand was about how great their food was. then they hit food-borne illness issues, one after another after another. the consumer evacuated. ashley: we wish you good luck with the turn around. good business to you. >> thank you so much. , ashley, appreciate it. ashley: okay. president trump says if teachers were trained to handle guns that would deter school shooters but one small-town school has already started that process. we've got the story next.

ashley: in the wake of the park land florida, shooting shooting gun control has become in the debate with you one school in ohio teaching teachers to fire back if there is a shooting.

interesting story. matt? >> the district program is not without controversy but today district officials are standing by the decision to arm teachers and staff. >> our staff members are trained to go to the threat and address the threat. not to run away. >> the sidney and matt river school districts have guns hidden in safes only opened by staff part of armed response team. the district interviewed and picked each member. are required to have license to carry and attend rigorous monthly training. most students seem to support the idea. >> to have people inside of the school who know what they'ring doing and who can protect us, i think that is amazing. i don't think there is any room for complaints. >> when we're inside the four walls they are are our safety. that is our safety for the day. >> but each district faces opposition. >> let the teachers teach. let the law enforcement take care of laws. >> the sidney police chief is not against the school's program but could worry it interferes

with first-responders. >> take away possibility of one or two people with guns to six or seven people with guns without us having assurance who is the good guy or bad guy from that end. >> the armed guard at sidney middle school he considers each armed teach ear well-trained back up. >> i would not do this by myself without the teachers. i've been in enough situations that i know how long it i can too get backup to me. ashley: matt finn, thank you very much. we'll have more "varney" after this.

ashley: well, i am ashley webster. stuart is out today. we hope he feels better, but we, of course, as always, have a jam packed show ahead. in 30 minutes president trump will be meeting with state and local officials on school safety just one day after holding a very emotional meeting with students and teachers affected by that shooting in florida. we're also keeping a close eye on the market, of course, stocks holding on to gains this

morning, but is the volatility just part of normal trading these days? the dow up 220 points at this hour. meantime, senator bernie sanders turning on hillary clinton. why he's blaming her for allowing russian interference in our election. we'll get into that. and house minority leader nancy pelosi never backing down from her attacks on tax cuts, but her colleague ares on capitol hill say, well, maybe that's enough. the republican lawmaker behind the crumbs act will be joining us in about 15 minutes from now. the third hour of "varney & company" begins right now. ♪ ♪ ashley: it's that time of the week, weekly oil inventories breaking right now. e. mac, what have we got? >> down 1.62 million, down 1.62 million -- ashley: more than expected. >> that's right. it was expected to be, you know, up fourth straight week of

increase, up 1.79 million, but that was the fourth straight week of increases that were expected, but now it is down 1.62 million barrels. ashley: there you go. interesting, that speaks to global growth, the growth in this country and around the world and the energy sector leading the dow today according to charlie brady, our senior editor. there you go, energy on fire today, i guess you could say. and, of course, oil also up, 61.94. let's check the big board, the dow 30, obvious, on the left-hand side of the screen, the dow up 218. most of those stocks are in the green. american express, the laggard on the dow right now, but we are, again, above 25,000 on the dow. let's bring in gary gary kaltba, gary, we saw some interesting moves in the market yesterday shooting higher and then lower as investors kind of made their interpretations of what the fed had to say. then we saw the bond interest rate on the ten-year start to

spike a little, hit a four-year high. after all that is said and done, is this just kind of what day-to-day trading is going to look like? >> i have two mottos right now. the first one is don't bill -- t bill blink. the way the action has been i have not seen many a long time. but the other part of my equation is ping-pong. the highs that we saw about three weeks ago and the lows about eight days ago, i think the market's going to be stuck in that 12% range for quite a while. as i go through 200 sectors every day, you just have a lot of damage to a lot of areas like energy and some other areas. but you still have some strong areas. retail's acting well, some of the big cap, mega-cap names like amazon, even apple starting to get up there again. i think we're going to ping-pong back and forth and drive everybody up a wall right now. ashley: having said that, you can look across at fixed income,

you know, the treasury bills, and they're paying a much more decent return now. so if you have cash and you're a little scared of what's going on in the market, they start to look more attractive, don't they, these bonds? >> yeah. but i'm not so sure 2.9% over ten years is that great. it's much better than 1.3w where we were a couple of years ago, and last year i think we were about 2 and something, but i don't think that's great. what i think you should do is find those great companies that are growing their earnings much better than the market, growing their sales much better than the market because over time those are the ones that usually wins out. and i must tell you there's a reason why amazon's so strong. great earnings, great revenue growth and dominating in their space. those are the type of things you look for longer term as long as those numbers continue to stick out like that. ashley: and talking of amazon, gary, this one for you. it's been a rough week for walmart. their latest earnings suggested their online is, perhaps, slowing down. or is that just a blip, and is

this a buying opportunity? >> i don't think it's a buying opportunity. i think at this point you can get a bounce because they hit it so hard, but they said something -- and you just said it -- online not even close to as good as it was supposed to be, and that's where retail's headed. if you're not doing well online, you're in big, big trouble. walmart's stock went from 70 to 115 over a year's time. that's too much for a company that literally has no growth in sales because they already do $500 billion in sales. so i just hi this is the comeuppance. i would call it dead money for a while, notwithstanding bug bounces after a big -- big bounces after a big trashing that it had. ashley: invidia's been on a tear recently, now they're partnering with an a.i. company to develop facial recognition surveillance technology which, to me, sounds like the future. your thoughts on invidia? >> well, it's not just going to be big brother, it's going to be big sister, big husband, big wife, big family. [laughter] it's the shape of things to

come. it's good for security. i wonder about privacy. but going forward -- and you see what just happened with the schools. there's going to be a lot of talk about this going forward. and, you know, ferreting out the, you know, bad players out this. and invidia looks like they are leading. stock's been very strong, earnings up 50%, revenue's in the 30s, and i suspect it is going to continue that way. ashley: very quickly, gary, i've got literally 20 seconds. the white house says 3% g, the p very doable. how soon do we get there? >> i think we're there right now. i know somebody predicted 5, that was a no way, but i think we're around 3% right now. the big question is whether it continues or not because debt is exploding, and debt is a headwind to the economy going forward. something to watch very carefully. ashley: great stuff as always, gary, thank you for joining us on all of that information. now this, house minority leader nancy pelosi getting criticized by her fellow democrats for blasting the tax

cuts. minnesota congressman keith ellison saying, quote: the income inequality is so bad that if you could pick up $1,000 or $900, maybe it helps. maybest not crumbs. come in -- maybe it's not crumbs. come in doug schoen, he's already down in miami trying to escape the high taxes of the northeast. [laughter] >> absolutely. ashley: doug, are we finally seeing democrats starting to criticize their own and, oh, my gosh, do we dare criticize nancy pelosi? >> well, i -- for the democrats' sake, i think the sooner nancy pelosi goes, the better the party will do. and i took her comments to be totally out of touch with ordinary people. keith ellison is no conservative. he's not even a moderate. but he understands in his middle class district, as do the other members who criticize pelosi, that to say that $1,000, $2,000 is crumbs is just completely out

of touch and, frankly, just plain wrong. ashley: yeah. she's the gift that keeps on giving. she has lots of one-liners, doesn't she? vermont senator bernie sanders blaming hillary clinton for not doing enough to stopping russian interference with our election. your thoughts on that? >> well, i guess i have a couple of thoughts. first, i would blame i'm sure hillary because there were a number of years where the russians ramped up, i think they began in 2014, and one of the questions would be where was the state department? i think we also have a question which whether bernie asks it or not is, you know, the relationship between fusion gps and christopher steele, the dossier. hillary has called it, quote, normal negative research. but i think the whole thing cost about $135 million all -- $13.5 million all in, and there are a

lot more questions, ashley, that she has to answer. ashley: so as we look ahead to 2020 which i know is way down the road, does bernie sanders still feel like he can run and win? >> i think he can run, and i think he will run, and i think joe biden will run as well. look, while donald trump's numbers have come up recently -- ashley: yeah. >> -- the democrats are still running ahead. and by all accounts, 2018, the midterms, look pretty encouraging for the democrats. so from where i sit, look, i'm a critic of the democrats, but i'm a realist. i think things are looking in the short term pretty good for my party. ashley: well, and what's interesting, doug, is that, look, a day is a long time in politics. you more than anyone else knows that. >> i do know that. ashley: and as the economy continues to grow, that is a big selling point for the republicans and a difficult one for democrats who overcome because they've hung their hats on resisting that.

>> i think that's true. i would also tell my republican friends if they implement the suggestions that the president has made about strengthening background checks, raising the age little to buy a gun to 21 and getting rid of bump stocks, they will protect themselves on an issue where they are exposed. i would say, you know, wayne wae lapierre was passionate, but by blaming the democrats and socialism, they're not going to help the republicans in the midterms or beyond. ash we shall see, as always. ashley: doug schoen, down in miami -- >> avoiding taxes. ashley: absolutely. thank you so much, appreciate it. [laughter] now this, uber announcing an even cheaper service if you're willing to get up and walk -- [laughter] uber express pool will corral multiple riders, telling them to meet at an assigned pick-up spot within two blocks from their

location. right now the service only available many major cities. no word yet on a nationwide roll outdate. pretty interesting. strong numbers of the parents of the outback steakhouse. shares near a three-year high, up more than close to 9% at $24 on bloomen brands. avis car rental also gave a good forecast, investors love that. that stock up 11.5%. and hen this, dallas mavericks owner mark cuban fined $600,000 for saying publicly he told his players it's better to lose than win. what? cuban making the comments to hall of famer julius irving on his podcast. cuban says he accepts the punishment. he can afford it. up next, the man behind the crumbs act. indiana congressman todd rokita on why he thinks nancy pelosi and other democrats are out of touch when it comes to the benefits of the tax law. and in about 20 minutes from

now, president trump holding a meeting with state and local leaders on school safety. we will bring it to you as soon as out hasn't. we'll -- as soon as it happens. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ you know what they say about the early bird...

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ashley: filing for bankruptcy and it's all thanks to amazon, the grocery chain saying it can no longer compete with the low prices and has an unsustainable debt load. all 169 stores in vermont, pennsylvania and upstate new york are expected to remain open. now this, tax cut bonuses, we all know famously that nancy pelosi called them crumbs. pathetic crumbs, i think. now one republican congressman sponsoring a bill that would make that extra cash tax-free and in a swipe at ms. pelosi with the name of the bill, it's the crumbs act.

joining us now, indiana congressman todd rokita. great to have you here. what does crumbs stand for? >> well, i'd have to go back and actually look. [laughter] it's a real bill, and we need to get it past the house of representatives and into the senate. what it does, i mean, it takes the bonuses you get in 2018 and makes them tax-free. it really is a swipe at the washington liberal political elite who thinks they know better what to do with your money than you do, and we saw that with nancy pelosi. ashley: it's amazing, isn't it, the democrats have really in their campaign of resistance have put all of their eggs in this basket of saying this is a terrible thing. there's a dark cloud hanging over the white house, and yet consumer optimism is up, small business optimism at record levels, and the economy's starting to rev. that's a dangerous strategy, is it not, for the democrat party? >> i think it is. and, again, it's just this

liberal elite mentality that they know how to run our lives better than we do. you know, the fact of the matter is they need -- they think that the fruit of our labor, our money, is actually theirs, it's the government's. and they need a lot of that to run their terrible big government policies. what donald trump is doing with his tax cuts is i sawing -- is saying, no, it's our property. confiscate as little of it as absolutely possible to run the bare necessities under our constitution. this is a step in the right direction to get us back there. we have a long way to go. ashley: our crack staff have found a middle class benefits and savings, the acronym, crumbs. i love it. congressman, i have to talk about gun control, of course, at the forefront of the debate right now. when you get back to washington, is this going to put infrastructure and immigration and all of that, is it going to put that back on the back burner? >> well, i'll tell you, it certainly has the risk to do that. and, you know, so be it. if this is the priority and we need to have discussions about it, we will.

i'd like to think that congress can walk and chew gum at the same time. i know people differ -- [laughter] but this congressman can. and, you know, like i said on your show before, if things need to be discussed to bring them into the 21st century, we should do that. where i'm going to stop is anything that hinders a good guy with a gun to go after a bad guy with a gun, because ultimately that's how this is won. that's how you keep people safe, not by taking the guns away from the good guys. ashley: well, and to that point, the president said, look, i'm all behind improving the background check system, raising the minimum age to buy some of these weapons, banning bump stocks, are those the types of things that you can support? >> i'd like to talk about them. i need to know the details. when i was indiana's secretary of state, we brought that office into the 2 isst century -- 21st century by using technology so that information could be shared and brought costs down. and in this situation, i think

the same technologies can be employed to make sure our agencies are communicating with each other at the state and federal level. again, we don't want bad guys to have guns, but we want to make sure we don't stop good guys from having the firepower they need to keep us safe. ashley: and while i still have you, the midterms are just around the corner. how confident are you that the republicans can hang on to the house? it seems like the polls are starting to narrow a little bit. >> you know, i'll tell you, the republican party is, for the first time in a long time, the party of the working men and women again. and i never want to lose that. the c.r.u.m.b.s. act should be a rallying cry. what nancy pelosi was saying was the same thing that hillary clinton was saying with deplorables. come to the polls, you know, use crumbs as the rallying cry to make sure we get trump allies in the senate, and meantime, i'm one of those, so -- ashley: very good. congressman, thanks so much for taking the time to join us

today. we appreciate it. >> thank you. ashley: thank you. now this, roku giving a disappointing revenue forecast. you don't want to do that because that's what happens, down 16% on roku, down more than $8 at $42.67. zebra makes the technology behind a lot of bar codes. interesting. revenue came in better than wall street thought, that's good news. up $13 at 134, a gain of 11%. several california cities suing energy companies over climate change. but these cities have admitted they have no idea whether the climate is actually changing. conservative commentatorhorse cooper -- horace cooper tells us why he thinks these cities are so hypocritical. >> and does the gloomy february weather have you dreaming about spring break? trip adviser has its best beaches in the world. we'll tell you where you can find the best sand. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪

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to deliver consistent network speed across multiple locations. every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. comcast business outmaneuver. we use so why do we pay touters thave a phone connected. when we're already paying for internet? shouldn't it all just be one thing? that's why xfinity mobile comes with your internet. you can get 5 lines of talk and text included at no extra cost. so all you pay for is data. choose by the gig or unlimited. and now, get a $200 prepaid card when you buy an iphone. it's a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfnitymobile.com. ashley: before the break we teased trip adviser's new list of the world's best beaches. number one, grace bay in turks

and caicos. trip adviser says the island is home to stunning turquoise waters, soft sands, year-round sunshine. sign me up. that makes for a charming, peaceful getaway. rounding out the top five, breaches in brazil, cuba, aruba and cayman islands. number one in the u.s., clearwater beach. trip adviser say it's a great place for families. florida and hawaii dominating the top five. let's take a look at some of the other headlines today. boxing gloves thought to be 2,000 years old? they wore gloves 2,000 years ago? discovered in the u.k. right on the scottish border. these leather hand wraps are still so well defined, archaeologists note the perfect knuckle imprints left behind. >> that makes sense.

ashley: the gloves may have been used for sparring practice by roman soldiers, gladiators. >> so cool. ashley: start your easter holiday off right with pancake and syrup peeps, new spring flavor. take a bite and you'll swear you're chowing down on a full pancake breakfast drizzled in syrup. >> delicious. ashley: just a commercial. beautiful, beautiful. [laughter] fantastic. let's get a quick check on the big board for you, we're in the green this morning firmly. check this out now, the dow up 286 points. but one of our favorite market bears tells us if he still believes stocks are headed for a rude awakening. any minute now, of course, as well president trump will be meeting with state and local leaders on school safety. this as the fbi under very intense scrutiny for failing to follow up on a tip about that florida shooter. dan henninger on that next.

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ashley: moments from now president trump will be meeting with state and local officials for further talks on school safety. our own blake burman is live at the white house with more on this story. blake? >> ashley this, of course, comes after the president held that incredibly powerful and emotional listening session yesterday with students of stoneman douglas high school, their parents and others affect9

by school shootings in the past. this is the second portion, the follow-up to that as president trump, within minutes here, will sit down with state and local officials, law enforcement officials as well. the president has been actively tweeting on this topic today. once genre affirming that he is -- again reaffirming that he is open to putting guns in schools potentially with some teachers, arming some teachers. the president tweeting out earlier, quote: if a potential sicko shooter knows that a school has a large number of weapons, talented and teachers and others who will be instantly shooting, the sucko will never attack that school -- sicko will never attack that school. must be offensive. defense alone won't work. the president also outlining his priorities tweeting, quote: i will be strongly pushing comprehensive background checks with an emphasis on mental health. raise age to 21 and sale of bump stocks. congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue, i hope. now raising the age from which one can purchase a gun to 21 is

something the nra does not support, but the president was supportive of the nra in a separate tweet writing, quote: what many people don't understand or don't want to understand is that wayne, chris and the folks who work so hard at the nra are great people and great american patriots. they love our country and will do the right thing, make america great again. ashley, we do expect to hear from the president on camera within minutes. ashley: all right, blake burman at the white house, thank you very much. and while we wait for president trump to meet with those state and local leaders, let's get a check at the markets, the dow 30, it's all green. look at that, st. patrick's day. the dow up 272 points, well above -- now the market's well above the 25,000 -- i say well above, 25,070, but certainly getting back that level. we're seeing this nice bounceback after that selloff yesterday. good time to bring in dan schafer, president and ceo of schafer asset management. dan, you're a bearish kind of guy. >> you think so? ashley: no secret, yes.

[laughter] are we just setting up for the next big leg lower? >> i've been saying that, yes. the market comes down in the last hours, when the market was in a bull mold, you buy the last hour. now it's the bear mode, sell the last hour. i think the numbers are showing us weakness all around the world. we have the german producer purchasing index come out, we had the eurozone come out, we had the french come out, they're down. retail sales this morning in canada way down, and these are on expectations of positive results. they're negative. they're coming down. so i think that the fluff is starting to come out, and i don't think they're going to get the push on the gdp globally or here in the united states that they're looking for because the debt levels are just so high, and everybody's talking about it. ashley: right. >> the explanation is that they've got to pay down debt. if you pay down debt, you slow down an economy because the money's not put into the economy

to raise gdp, and that's the problem. ashley: why is consumer confidence pretty high? small business optimism, record levels. gdp growth is moving -- to my sense at least in the u.s., and i can't speak to the rest of the world, but it feels like it's really starting to rev. >> well, it looks like it's getting a little higher, but you usually get that at this point in the turn of the cycle. ashley: don't be fooled by all these positive -- >> exactly. we saw the same increase in indicators in 2000 and in 2007, and i hate to say this, but in 1928 and '29. you normally get a bump up in inflation before everything starts to fall. ashley: but you don't think the economy's heading in the right direction. you don't think the tax reform, deregulation, all of the steps that are being taken are not going to unleash this economy? >> i think it was a great start, a great attempt, but i think people are going to take the money that they're going to get a little extra of from the tax savings, and they're going to pay down their debt. they're not going to go out and spend retail and just clearly

look today at the amount of consumer debt. it's at record highs. it's even worse today than it was in 2007 and '8. how are people going to pay back this money? ashley: wages are rising. >> but they're not rising at the level to the amount of debt. and on top of that, there's bump-up on interest rates because the markets are pushing the interest rates up. ashley: right. >> you have people with home equity loans where they're getting a bump up on their home equity loan, where are they going to get the money to pay that bump up that they don't have? we're giving people money, but yet the expenses of living are going up at the same time, probably even greater. how is that going to grow the economy? and like i said, debt is the major problem globally. ashley: right. >> it's not just here in the united states. ashley: so we got back to the 25,000 level, dan. where are we heading from here? how far down do we go? >> i still target once we break 22, we're looking at 18,000 on the dow. ash wow. >> i just think the way the

market came down and everybody blaming high frequency trading which is not true, it adds liquidity -- ashley: right. >> -- what we're seeing here is the final stages of the topping pattern that i've been talking about. i said look for a downdraft in february, and we could chop around sideways until april. we could go down and back up, down and back up. but in my opinion, it's a sell the rally mode now because everything has gotten ahead of itself, and that cycle by june, i think, we're going to see the reality of what i'm talking about. ashley: boy, you're a lot of fun, aren't you? [laughter] dan schafer, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> thanks, ashley. ashley: the bearish kind of guy. our next guest has a new article in "the wall street journal" right here about the fbi's mistakes in the florida school shooting, it's called the fbi's parkland fall. let's bring in deputy editorial page editor dan henninger. in fact, it's not just the fbi, you say federal agencies have a long, sad record of missing things that have led to

catastrophic events. >> yes, that's exactly right, ash. i mean, my proposition here is that the american government, the federal government is a clear and present danger to the safety of the american people. i mean, one of the big stories around the parkland shooting was the missed signals by the fbi. but missed signals are involved in a lot of these shootings. let's go down the list. the sutherland springs, texas, shooting, charleston, orlando, san bernardino, the boston marathon, the tsarnaev brothers. it isn't just these events. consider amtrak derailments, the national security agency let edward snowden walk out with national security details on a thumb drive. what is the problem here? the federal government has become too big to succeed. and large, complex organizations are error-prone. so now manager like this happens, and the cry goes up, do something. ash arc right. >> and when they do something,

they add another layer on to what is already there. take, in this case, there should be more gun registration -- ashley: yes. >> so they ask the fbi do more gun registration, but that's on top of everything else the fbi is supposed to do. i mean, one of my examples when they responded to do something was after 9/11. they created the department of homeland security. ashley: right. >> homeland security is in charge of monitoring terrorism, it's in charge of monitoring all the immigration flows into this country and unsuring the safety of 825 million airline passengers a year -- insuring. is it any surprise that something's going to fall between the cracks there? >> the irs has been hacked and the state department too, right? ashley: the list is long and, frankly, sad. but the answer is what do you do? >> the answer, well, the answer is to consider that the government is, in fact, too big. this is kind of a political proposition. republicans have always said

federalism, devolve things out to the states and locally, there's even a movement now called localism in which a lot of these responsibilities are devolved back to the local level rather than pushing it on to the federal government which is simply too big. and another thing would be to prioritize. if you think the fbi's main job is to monitor gun registration, then tell them that so the people on the job know that among the array of things, we want you to focus on this. ashley: the fbi said, look, we used to have field offices and agencies to have these tips, had about 56 of these field offices, they centralized the call center in west virginia staffed by people who are civilians. they're not law enforcement, so they don't pick up on things. it was a disaster waiting to happen. it was always going to -- people were always going to fall through the cracks. >> but this is simple organization theory. you get these large organizations, you keep trying to move the deck chairs on the titanic, and mistakes get made.

i recall talking to a police officer who was in charge of terrorism monitoring at a big city in california after 9/11. he said every day he would get so much input of intel from the federal agencies that you simply couldn't absorb it. you couldn't make sense of it, there was just too much. ashley: wow. >> and that's just a lack of prioritization. you just can't dump these responsibilities onto the fbi without telling them what's important and what is less important. ashley: all right. dan henninger, good stuff as always. you know, what can you do? i mean, bigger government just says it all finish. >> makes mistakes. ashley: all right. dan, thank you very much. and don't forget about bitcoin. we haven't talked about it yet, and we're two and a half hour into the show. there you go, down $260, $10,000 or just above on bitcoin. take a look at gold. maybe a safe haven, a hedge against inflation. down $1.40 at 1330 per troy ounce. now this, the parents of sam

adams boston beer getting hit by softening demand and increased and petition. -- competition. it's down more than 7% on the day. now check this out, three egyptian police officers save a 5-year-old boy who was dangling off a balcony. one officer grabbed a rolled-up carpet can, and two other officers waited as the boy plunged three stories. he was caught by one of the officers. you can see they fell to the ground, but everybody, by the way, is okay. safe pair of hands. conservative commentator horace cooper calling out california for what he calls hypocrisy when he comes to climate -- when it comes to climate change. he makes his case next. ♪,

♪ ♪ >> i'm gerri willis from the floor of the new york stock exchange with the fox business brief. walmart is expanding into the home goods space online. the retail giant is launching a home shopping web site to sell products in an effort to challenge ikea and wayfair. walmart will sell affordable pieces of furniture from a wide variety of categories. a few examples, sofas will start at 149, and you could get a rug

for just $17. walmart reporting disappointing online sales numbers earlier this week, but this could be just what the retail giant needs to boost its profit. taking a look at shares, stock is up 1.5%. don't go anywhere, more "varney & company" is coming up just minutes away. ♪

ashley: now this, here's a headline for you. california cities and crazy climate change lawsuits. do as i say, not as i do. it's a great headline. our guest wrote that opinion piece featured on foxnews.com. let's bring in national center for public policy research horace cooper. horace, thanks for joining us. explain your, explain the headline, i guess, the story behind the headline. what are you talking about? >> well, it's the blatant hypocrisy i'm trying to identify. i can't really tell if it looks like the leadership of so many towns in california have been maybe eating a bunch of tide pods or sething. [lauter] but what they he decided is th they're going to enge in a litigatiobased regation sche going after what they call big oil and its complicity in climate change. but these same towns actually go into the bond market, and they

say something entirely different. they're claiming exxon and chevron and shell should be telling every investor that, essentially, their stocks are going to be valueless once we all come to reason on climate change. and yet they don't do that with their own bonds which apparently, if they're right, would be also almost as worth withless. ashley: it's crazy. i moved from the u.k. to los angeles in 1982 the, and i remember when i first got to los angeles i had relatives who lived there, and i suggested one day i'll just take the bus. they looked at me like i had three horns sticking out of my forehead. no one takes the bus in l.a. i suddenly realized everybody lives in their car in los angeles, and it's always been that way. i mean, you know, when you want to talk about climate change, surely everyone gets off the a car and takes public transportation. >> you would think that the very

place, california, where so much of the emphasis is on all of the changes that need to occur, some of those would be internalizedded. but you'd be surprised -- internalized. you'd be surprised. apparently, the left hand doesn't know what the far left hand is up to. when it comes to climate change hypocrisy, california takes the cake. ashley: president trump says he's open to a mileage tax. what's your thoughts on that? >> well, we believe at the national center that we ought to work to make sure that the utilization of our transportation infrastructure actually is paid for by the individuals that do out. a mileage tax could be a good way if we're able to work around some of the privacy issues. most of the toll taxes or the toll readers give you a useful way to track activity without giving away all of your personal

information. so we'd be open to an exploring a solution like that. ashley: yeah, but a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan, the federal government kicks in $200 billion, that leaves $1.3 trillion. it feels like a lot of this is going to be paid on the back of the taxpayer. i mean, as public policy, is that a good thing? >> well, absolutely infrastructure is a responsibility of government. and the question is how do we create a hierarchy so that the kinds of activities that government legitimately should be doing, he was the resources for that and the kinds of activities that government shouldn't be doing. california is a great example where it wasn't ten years ago when they announced that they were done building any new highways. but when you want to talk about every new, crazy scheme of what government can do, california continues to set up example after example. let's reprioritize.

infrastructure, highway construction, ports, those are legitimate needs, but they've got to come in a context where we don't have unlimited resources, we have limited resources. ashley: we certainly do. i have to leave it right there. horace cooper, thank you so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. ashley: president trump, $13 million worth of funding -- cutting to the nation's earthquake has a asker program. it includes cut to the early warning program. the department of interior says the budget slash is needed in order to address high or priorities. california state officials say the program is absolutely necessary and will work to keep the budget numbers up. all right. check out the markets. we are up right now. we've gone up 331 points. pretty impressive on the dow, e. mac, up one and a third percent, firmly above 25,000 at 25,126. forget yesterday's selloff, we're on a rally now on the

markets. but we know all that could change, of course. the market action seems to be happening in that all-important last hour of trading. who knows what happens? liz claman will have it covered on countdown to the closing pell, 3 p.m. eastern. don't miss it. we'll be right back.

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ashley: breaking news, we have headlines from the president's meeting on school safety with state and local officials, he says there is no better time to discuss school safety than right now. he apparently is going around the room asking for ideas about improving physical security at schools and mental health. there are about a dozen state attorneys general and law enforcement officials in the room right now. obvious, we're expecting to hear from the president. we'll bring those remarks as soon as they happen and, e. mark de. mac, you have headlines. >> the president on the background check issue, he's talking about reopening mental institutions, he said we want to insure when we see warning signs, we act quickly. quote, this guy was a sicko. there's a tremendous feeling that we want to get something done including at the nra. we just covered wayne wayne lape at cpac earlier. he says he called many lawmakers

in recent days. they are into doing background checks that maybe they would not have been thinking about a few weeks ago. ashley: let's bring in judge andrew napolitano. movies, mine, there's a wide -- movies, i mean, there's a wide range of issues, judge, there's going to be a lot of policy discussion in many areas. >> i to -- doubt they're going to interfere with the freedom of speech. we've been through this various times throughout history. i understand the president's anxiety, but given his general attitude about cultural manies, i would have -- mores, i would have expected him to say parents should keep kids from these movies. you're not going to stop hollywood from making violent movies, it's too lucrative a business. ashley: even more so, the violent games which are incredibly violent and have been more some time. they slap a warning on the side when you buy them, but is that must have? >> no, it's not enough. but you have first amendment

issues. the supreme court has upheld the right of anybody above the age of reason, which is about 7 or 8 now, to exercise their first amendment freedoms; that is, to read what thaw want. parents can interfere with this because the first amendment only regulates the government, but the government can't interfere with it. ashley: why is this such a pivotal point? sadly, we've had many shootings, judge, but it seems for whatever reason the whole country is really debating very vigorously now many of the issues surrounding guns, the control of them and the ripples that go out from there? >> well, the debate is a good thing as long as whatever comes out of the debate is rational rather than emotional. as long as people remember -- ashley: well, it's very emotional right now, we know that, of course. >> and it tugs at your heart strings. it was difficult for me to watch those young people and their parents, and i am a

pull-throated defender -- full-throated defender of the right to keep and bear arms. we have a constitution, it is the supreme law of the land, and it applies in good times and in bad, and i don't think we're going to be tinkering with the constitution. but my argument is, and this is the president's argument as well, it is the government's fault for creating gun-free zones. it is the government's fault for failing to keep them safe. if those kids had been attacked in a supermarket or in a hospital, their parents would be suing the supermarket or the hospital. guess what? they can't sue the school. ashley: right. all right, we'll have to leave it there. judge, thank you very much. more "varney" after this.

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ashley: ad-lib the markets that is it what we'll do. we had a fed-head as we call them saying relax. liz: that was neel kashkari,

minneapolis fed president. there is tug-of-war between bulls and bears. the market overreacts to the everything, one month blip of data, i thought it was interesting he said, stop overreacting! ashley: we're on positive side. we like to turn it over to our good friend neil cavuto. take it away, neil. >> okay. ashley: too late, charles. >> no problem, thank you very much, ashley. welcome to cavuto "coast to coast." i'm charles payne in for neil cavuto charles: president trump meeting with state and local officials to talk about school safety. this after emotional day of students expressing