recession in the second half of the year. >> certainly. and i think the indicators are somewhat mixed. i'm curious next week if we'll see the same good market we saw this week, and if ron desantis can change the direction on his campaign, because it seems to be grounder -- floundering. maria: he certainly is doing a lot of media, so maybe that's telling you he's trying to insure that people understand his messaging. >> he needs to turn up the charm. he needs to smile and do some real kissing babies type stuff. [laughter] maria: yeah. i asked president trump about it, he said, well, it's probably because he doesn't have any personality -- [laughter] >> oh, now, now. maria: yeah it's going to be a fight. joe, rebecca, great to have you this morning, thanks very much. >> thank you. maria: all right. i'll see you tonight on "wall street," 7 p.m. eastern right here on fox business. "varney & company" picks it up. stu, take it away. stuart: good morning, everyone. this is a pretty good way to close out the week.

solid bank earnings, that's what i call them, and a market rally. tested modest, but it's a rally. lauren's going to have details of the three big banks, but look at them go. jpmorgan, citi, wells fargo, strong cults from all of them, and -- results from all of them, and they are up. that's helping the overall stock market, especially the dow industrials. the dow up 177. that's premarket. tiny gain for the s&p, and the nasdaq has now just slipped to the south side. bitcoin holding around $31,000 per coin, 31,100 as we speak. as for interest rates, start with the 2-year, backing well away from the 5% level, you're gown to 4.68 this morning. and the 10-year treasury, that's staying well below the 4% mark, 3.78 to be precise. all right, or let's get to politics. look at this. cnn confirming what we've been saying for some time, top democrats want to replace the president for the 2024 ticket. it's a quiet movement but it's

there. democrats want a backup plan. time is running out. climate czar john kerry, ooh, he's not happy with all this talk about his private jet use. he's exasperated. he says he doesn't own a jet. but his wealthy wife does. she is an heir to the heinz fortune. video from panama as the caravans are organizing a new surge of migrants. the mass migration of central america to north america continues. it's organized and run by the cartels. it is friday, july 14th, 2023. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ ♪ ain't no place that i'd rather be ♪ stuart: what's the title of this song? here's to being here. well, i can kind of drink to that at 9:00 in the morning.

[laughter] lauren: congratulations, you're alive. stuart: i had the day off yesterday -- >> what are the producers trying to tell you? [laughter] trying to send you a message. stuart: i don't know what the message would be, to be honest with you. i've got to tell you this, folks, this is a pretty good start to the earnings season. the bottom line for stocks, of course, is property and the outlook for profit in the future. this is my opinion, things are looking okay. would you agree, lauren? lauren: i would. look at the performance on shares here for the big banks in the premarket. let's start with jpmorgan, this is the big one. they got a lift because they acquired first republic when it failed. their profit jumped about 70% in the quarter. then ceo jamie dimon is talking about an upbeat consumer. there is a note of caution, he says they're burning through their cash buffers because of inflation and rates, and the bank did set aside $2.9 billion to cover potential future loan losses, that's more than double a year ago. so we're worried about that.

the conference call was happening and the cfo said it seems like the banking industry is through the worst of the recent crisis. that is all encouraging. stuart: it is. same with wells fargo? lauren: real quickly, revenue in the quarter of $23020-- 205 billion, and that's more than citigroup -- 20.5. profits fell better than expected and the banks noted -- stuart: and they're still up 1.5%. case closed. thank you very much, lauren. kenny polcari with us this morning. banks, to me, look good. the market is rallying. okay, it's modest. are we off to the races, kenny? >> listen, we've been off to the races and, yeah, look what it's done over the last month? it's just gone absolutely bonkers, right in so it feels good. i think we are kind of in this new phase. i love what happened today with the banks. jamie dimon, you can't -- you've to got to love jamie dimon, unbelievable. and if you look at their

earnings, he beat by 24% over what the street was looking for. so he continues to perform strong, and i think, certainly, you know, it's a name that i own along with bank of america, and it's one of the greatest names in that banking sector. yeah, i think the market feels like the path of least resistance is higher, and until we get a catalyst that's going to change the tone, any pullback in the market, i think, is going to be met with buying interest from these people who have been sitting on the side thinking this wasn't going to continue. they're going to be ready, waiting the minute this starts to back off. stuart: okay. two days ago i bought back into this rally. not exactly bigtime, but i bought back in. my theory is that inflation is coming down, the interest rate cycle is coming to an end, is and when you see that kind of thing happening, put your money into stocks. that's what i did. am i betting on the right rally here? >> yeah, no, i think you are. now, listen, i'm assuming the names you got into it, either you added to what you already own, or you picked some new names that will benefit --

stuart: okay. i'll tell you what i did. i'll tell you what i did. i bought uber, and i bought some more microsoft, and i bought some more blackrock. blackstone, i'm sorry, blackstone. that's what i did. >> yep. okay. yeah, i think you're good, right? i think those are -- in addition to everything else you own, i think those are the right moves. to your point, if inflation, in fact, is coming down -- and it is trending in that direction -- then the place is going to want to be in the stocks. people are going to want to move out of maybe some of the short-term treasuries or cash and start to put some money to work. feather it in. don't put it all in on day one, take your time. look, there will be a pullback in the market, there will be because it's gone straight up, but i wouldn't get -- i don't think there's going to be this disaster in the market by any stretch at all. so i'm with you, and you know i've stayed invested all along. i'm a little bit more defensive because of where i am in the life cycle, but i'm till in, and i love every minute of this action. [laughter] stuart: where you are in the

life cycle? that's another way of saying you're about 10-15 years younger than me. that's what you're saying. [laughter] >> just a little bit. stuart: well, you have a great weekend, kenny, and keep up with the weight loss because i can tell you're on a diet. all right. the biden administration will cancel $39 billion worth of student debt for more than 800,000 borrowers. how's that going to work? lauren: it's going to be automatic, and startinged the some of those 8804,000 borrowers will be notified that they get relief. these are the people who have paid for 20 plus years. they're part of income repayment plans. the big picture is the white house is under pressure to do something because the supreme court the turn down and blocked their big debt forgiveness plan, so they're coming to these people who have been paying and saying it's forgiven -- stuart: this goes through, there's no legal problem -- lauren: i think so, yep. stuart: buying votes. okay, thanks. [laughter] that's just my opinion.

[laughter] some top democrats and donors want to replace joe biden as the democrat nominee. this is something we've been talking about for some time. here's the headline, and it's from cnn of all people. the conversations keep happening, quiet whispers on the sidelines, e-mails, furtive phone calls as top democrats and donors reach out to those seen as potential replacements, end quote. todd piro with me. is there any question in your mind that the party is extremely nervous about running with joe biden? >> and for a series of reasons. the answer is they are very nervous. if joe biden is not campaigning, he is not actively making money. and whoever the republican candidate is, is going to have a war chest behind them. secondarily, this is the time when the incumbent, here the democrat, should be taking advantage of the fact that the republicans are beating themselves up, crushing each other on policy, on everything. they're not doing can that. joe biden is missing a golden opportunity. but why are we even here,

stuart? the reason is because joe biden himself, putting aside the fact that he's in his basement all the time and he won't campaign, is not an exciting nominee. the democrats, by and large if you look at the numbers, don't want him as their nominee. recipe for disasters for the dems, they're realizing it now. stuart: what i want to know is the mechanism for getting the president and the vice president out. what ises the member snitch is it something like lbj back in 1968 which, of course, you don't remember, but quietly the top democrats were saying, you know, get out of the race here. same with richard nixon in 1973, top republicans saying, you've got to get out here. >> are you looking for a procedural mechanism? because with i can't answer that. how it's going to happen, the dnc which ultimately picks who the democrat nominee is going to be is going to get behind in a smoke-filled room and decide this. if you think that's not how it works, i've got a bridge to sell you. [laughter] stuart: i think you're right. climate czar john kerry erupted

after house republicans mocked his private jet use. roll tape. >> i just don't agree with your facts which began with the presentation of one of the most outrageously persistent lies that i hear, which is this private jet. we don't own a private jet, i don't own a private jet. i personally have never owned a private jet and, obviously, it's pretty stupid to talk about coming in a private jet from the state department up here. it just, honestly, that's where you want to go, go there. stuart: okay, todd, he doesn't own one, but he does use them, doesn't he? >> listen to the arrogance in that statement. one of the individuals was cory millses, we had him on my show earlier today, and he basically said i couldn't believe the answers, these are lies. the arrogance to say no private jet for me when his wife owned one. he said i probably flew maybe once with, possibly -- you flew a bunch, we have the numbers to prove it. you basically tried to manipulate congress. it's not going to work.

we all know the deal. this isn't a democrat-republican issue, stu, this is elites thinking they can get up in front of congress and treat us like this. they better be careful, because the democrats are not -- the people who vote, they're not elites. they see this behavior, and it's sickening. stuart: all right, todd, stay with me for the hour, please. an attorney for hunter biden sent donald trump a cease and desist letter over what trump is doing. what is trump doing that hunter's attorney doesn't like? lauren: constantly writing social media messages that are negative about hunter biden. so abc news obtained this letter. it said we're just one message away, mr. trump, from another incident, and they cited january 6th and they cited the hammer attack on paul pelosi. and the attorney is actually blaming trump for those incidents. stuart: okay. lauren: it wasn't in the letter, but hunter is mad that trump is linking the can cocaine found in

the white house that the secret service has not found the owner of to hunter. that's what he's really mad about. that's not in the letter. stuart: the underlying tone. i got it. thanks, lauren. you've got to check futures. this is friday morning, and i see some green as we close out the week. dow industrials up about 170. a tiny gain for the s&p and a fractional loss for the nasdaq, but look at that dow go. coming up, president biden denounced senator tommy tuberville's hold on hundreds of military pro promotions. watch this. >> it's just totally irresponsible, in my view. i'm confident that the mainstream of the republican party no longer, does not support what he's doing. but they've got to stand up is and be counted. that's how it ends. stuart: more on that coming up from the republicans. the secret service closed the white house cocaine case. they couldn't identify a suspect. i'll ask south carolina congressman russell fry if he's

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♪ can't you see, can't you see ♪ stuart: all right. can't you she from the marshall tucker band. that is washington, d.c., the white house right there. looks like a beautiful day. donald trump lashed out after the secret service closed the white house cocaine investigation. what did trump say? >> not surprisingly, stu, the former president not holding back on truth social. quote, it has just been

announced that the investigation of cocaine in the white house has ended. despite all of the cameras pointed directly at the scene of the crime and the greatest forensics anywhere in the world, they just can't figure it out? they know the answer, and so does everyone else, exclamation point. in the meantime, they continue to target and investigate me for years in what has been called the greatest hoping d hoax of all time. meantime, south carolina senator lindsey graham not buying what the vet service is selling. listen. >> i appreciate the secret service, they're brave men and women. but can you imagine if this happened on trump's watch? somebody needs to look at the procedures protecting the white house from top to bottom. somebody needs to be fired because minute allowed cocaine -- somebody allowed cocaine to get into the white house. and once it was there, we can't prove who did it is unnerving. but somebody needs to be fired

for letting it happen. today -- >> stu? stuart: he's right, what would it be like if it was the trump white house? >> 24-hour coverage. stuart: absolutely. nonstop. congressman russell fry joins me now. are you satisfied with the closing of the cocaine investigation? do you believe there was a coffer-up here, sir? >> i don't know if there was a cover-up, but this investigation just began and then we're closing it so quickly. i mean, this is not an open and shut type of case. i really think that the american people deserve more. we need to figure out more what is going on. and i think, you know, to the senator's point, it's deeply concerning that any substance like this can come into the white house unfettered and remain there. but to close it so quickly when there are logs, when there are people who come in and out -- stuart: i mean, is it all -- is it done? i mean, the investigation is closed so we all move on. is that it? >> i think according to the secret service.

look, there are visitor logs, there are people that come in there that are identifiable. you can't go illegally search them, but having a little bit more rigor and questions of who was what and where and what tours were being led, i think the american people deserve to know that. this doesn't seem like an open and shut investigation. and i'm just not convinced that all the things were done to really, to really find out the truth here. and that's what's deeply concerning because, you know, this isn't a partisan issue, this is about the security of the white house and the complex and the president, whoever that may be, that illegal substances of any flavor are even allowed to come into the white house and and sit in a cubby somewhere. stuart: yeah, or really. the editorial board at "the wall street journal," quote: christopher wray, the unartful dodger. you were at the hearing, wray's hearings wednesday. did you, do you think that the christopher wray dodged anything? >> oh, my gosh.

i mean, it was four or five hours of just endless dodging of questions. i mean, there were a few great exchanges, i think, between members that got to the heart, one in particular, christopher wray, you know, acknowledged that the fbi screwed up with the crossfire hurricane and that it was a big mistake. but to my line of questioning, we have identified these issues within the fbi. they have been -- inspector generals or special counsels or congress has highlighted these routinely tot fbi. but -- to the fbi. but what really has changed? it's still the same problems year with after year after year. so christopher wray dodging, i'm not, i'm not at all shocked by that. i mean, and that's sad to say. we expect answers, the american people expect answers, and that is why it is so important to fix fisa, to make sure that we get it so that they're not spying on the american people without a warrant and that we reform the agency and get it back to its

core because these political decisions that are made at the top routinely, they're alarming to every single american and who we are as a country. stuart: gotta get it out there before we all get investigation fatigue. congressman russell fry, thanks very much for joining us. see you again real soon. take a look at stock futures on this friday morning. i see green for the dow bigtime. there's a couple of down stocks, jpmorgan -- can dow stocks which are doing very, very well, and the dow's up close to 200 points this friday morning. we'll take you to wall street for the opening bell next. ♪ ♪ i ain't got nowhere to be. ♪ so, baby, i'll take whatever it is you got to give, yeah. ♪ i'm calling this on your lips, on your kiss ♪

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stuart: on the left-hand side of your screen, the markets just is a few minutes away from the opening bell. dow's up nearly 200 points. one of my favorite analysts is with us now, his name is mark a mahaney. i want to thank you very much. two days ago i bought uber, and now it's your number one stock pick, and you think it's going to $75 a share. mark, we love you here. [laughter] >> stu, i didn't know that you

had bought it, so, yes, we did make it our number one pick. look, i look across tech as a whole, we've had a major rally in the shares year to date, so we need to ask some questions. you know, are we at peak multiples and fundamentals? if i don't think we are. we clearly have multiples across the group kind of rise, but we're still a little bit below average, and i still think a lot of these sectors are depressed, retail, cloud computing, the revenue is still soft. what that tells me is i think you still ride these stocks for this year. i know we've hat a grade -- had a great rally, but you continue to be long and tactical. i like uber because it's not one of the magnificent seven stocks, and i think it's got some great value catalysts coming up. i think they'll start buying back shares, and i think they'll get add added to the s&p 500 in the next 12-18 months, so uber's our top pick. stuart: mark, your second pick is amazon, and you see amazon going to $150 # a share.

it's $133 now. make your case. >> i think it actually can go a lot higher than that. this is one where if you get back to the historic average multiple on this name, it's more like $200. the question is, can it. i think you're going to start seeing margins recover really nicely in the retail business, and i think aws, amazon web services, thats a really d that's really what's tanked the stock. if a that can reaccelerate next year, i think the stock can rerate, the multiple can go higher. and we just had data points yesterday from amazon prime day, units at amazon grew 25% year-over-year, fastest growth in three years. you want to be long amazon. stuart: okay, see that one. your number three pick is meta, and it's now at 311. you see it going to 350. again, make your case, mark. >> yeah. and i'm, you know, hopefully i'm coming across. i'm kind of peeling back a little bit, taking my foot off

that accelerate arer. i mean, this was a great long at 200 and 250, all these backwards-looking calls are wonderful. but it was. but now the valuation, we're getting up now to 17 times earnings. look, i think it should carry a 20 pe multiple, and i think it will. you get them up 300, that there's less upside. that's why we took it from number one down to number three, but the improvement is still there, and i'm fascinated by threads. this was my number one pick, and i didn't even mow about thread. nobody -- know about threads. nobody did except for the people inside meta. and they've developed something that, with time could essentially supplant twitter, it's possible, and you never would have said that up until about that a month ago. stuart: i just hope you can give me some more financial advice. i do own microsoft, and it's at around 348 this morning. where do you see microsoft going? because i think you cover it. >> no. you know, stu, i don't cover it -- stuart: oh, sorry. >> just is step back and think

about tech. what we're seeing now is you see this dampening inflation, as inflation continues to come down and you still have the economy kind of in soft patch, i just think about can things get better. it's always the next play, it's the next turn when it comes to the stocks. forget about the past. and so if you think that inflation is going to continue to moderate is and that the economy actually may go through a soft takeoff next year, forget about the soft landing, a soft takeoff next year, then that means that fundamentals can -- and stock prices, i'm sorry, stock prices can still rise. but i want to be tactical about it. i'm looking for names that are still in a catch-up mode rather than the big leaders. i don't have a formal opinion on it. stuart: yeah. i was hoping that uber would play into catch-up mode as well. mark mahaney, you're all right. see you again real soon. three seconds to go, the gentleman will press forward and is hit the button, he's about ty we go. the market is open on a friday morning.

we've had a pretty good week so far, and it looks like we might chose out this week in reasonable form. in the very early going, the dow's up 155 points. that is a half percentage point almost. 34,500 is your level. and roughly half the dow 30 are up, half down. it's kind of an even split. the s&p 500 is up about a quarter of 1% this morning. the nasdaq composite on the upside to the tune of almost a quarter of 1%, but look at that level, 14,171. topping the big board, the big tech list is microsoft which is up $5 this morning. all kinds of news surrounding that which lauren will get to in a moment. alphabet's up, amazon's up, ap 8's at 190 -- apple's at 190. meta down just 65 cents. take a look at the banks that reported this morning. we've got them all up, most of them. blackrock, citi, jpmorgan, wells fargo, the banking sector doing well. microsoft, up again. lots of news. lauren is going to sort it out for us.

lauren: so ubs says shares are going to $400. they raised microsoft to a buy. two main reasons -- stuart: i love ubs. lauren: -- a.i. and the stabilization of their spending on the cloud. also, look, microsoft trying to buy activision, the u.k. regulators saying, no. moth seems to be -- microsoft seems to be ready to make some concessions to get this deal to go through across the pond, and the u.k. regulator extended the deal's deadline. for six weeks. stuart: investors clearly believe the deal will go through, otherwise activision blizzard would not be at $91 a share. there you go. all good stuff. meta's threads, i know they had a huge debut, 100 # million -- lauren: yeah. in four or five days. stuart: has the momentum continued? lauren: no. they say since the launch on thursday time spent on threads has cut in half to 10 minutes. okay? daily active users fell by 20%.

so does that mean that the hype, that early hype wore off and wore off pretty fast? i'm not on threads, although i do have an instagram account and they're linked. it's described to me as being a big group chat. and that seems boring, right? [laughter] there are so many different social media platforms out there. why do we need another one? microsoft -- meta sayses we want it to be safer, more pleasant, nothing like, you know, the mean stuff and the hard politics and everything you hear on twitter, but i think that might be more exciting. [laughter] stuart: what you got now is maybe a snooze fest? lauren: i'd say that. stuart: that was on your word, and i read it. lauren: maybe that's what people are thinking. >> i have a hunch that the left is going to be allowed to use threads any way it wants, i think the right is not the ones allowed to get angry. mark my words. look at the tape, 9:33. stuart: we've got a biotech company that's very much in the

news. it was started by the presidential candidate vivek ramaswamy, so what's the news? lauren: so what it does is it buys promising drugs in late stage trials, develops them, commercializes them. and the news is, is that it's exactly what they're doing for a stomach drug that treats crohn's disease. looking to sell it, according to "the wall street journal," to roche for more than $7 billion. roche is up 1.25% on that news because, if true, they would get this great can drug. stuart: vivek is no longer on the board with. lauren: correct. he's running for president. stuart: but he's got a chunk of the stock, i presume. i don't know that for a fact, but i presume it. united health, must be doing well -- lauren: number one on the dow and the biggest member of the dow. sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth, up 15.6% and 92.9 billion in the quarter. thank you, hip is and knee replacements. after covid, people -- those

elective surgeries, especially older people, put them off. now they're having those surgeries again. that makes united health nervous that their costs are going up, but they didn't go up as much as they feared, so you have a big winner of unh. stuart: i live in fear of a broken hip. lauren: it doesn't even need to break, it could just be bone on bone, and it can happen in your 40s. stuart: thanks for filling that one in for me. look at nvidia, please. somebody raised the price targe- lauren: i think this is a new record, $545. it's at a record $467 now. it's truist, and they say recent feedback from their contacts who buy and selleck tronic components are not slowing down. there's huge demand for with what nvidia makes. stuart: they design the chips, it's taiwan semiconductor that makes them. if you design them well, look at the stock. amazing. we're, what, five minutes into the trading session. the dow industrials up 150

points in the very early going. 34,500 level. look at dow winners, please, headed by probably microsoft -- no, or united health, up nearly 4%. morgan, good bank earnings this morning. microsoft, merck, home depot all in there. s&p 500 winners, a here's a chance to check some of your stocks, cigna, united health, wells fargo, another bank that did well. nasdaq composite winners, topping that list we have ulta -- atlas january group. sorry, don't know them. the one i know is nvidia with. lauren: and as rah that zen ca. stuart: yeah, i do know that one. nvidia keeps dominating the news. lauren: do you buy it now? at this price? stuart: no, i bought uber instead. [laughter] check that 10-year treasury yield on this friday morning, please. moving up just a little, 3.77%. where's the price of gold? i ask this every single day,

it's always below $2,000 an ounce these days, 1962 right now. bitcoin moved above 31,000 yesterday, staying there at 311,100 # -- 31,100 this morning. the price of oil has been moving up, today it's down a bit, $76 a barrel. and we have natural gas, that hasn't moved much, it's not moving much today, up 5 cents, 2.59. the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline nationwide, $3.56, up one cent. california it's now $4.90. coming up, floridaman carlos jimenez went to to panama. he videos a stream of migrants on their way to america. the congressman will join us later with an inside look at the cartels organizing this new surge. the most magical place on earth is facing a summer attendance problem, but disney's ceo bob iger denies it. we'll sort it out. look at this headline, the most dangerous recession might not be economic. michigan congressman jack

bourbon wrote that. he explains what is the biggest threat next. ♪ ♪ ♪

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stuart: on the markets this friday morning, i'm seeing some green. just in the last few minutes we've perked up a little bit. dow's up 160, nasdaq now with a gain of 60 points. there's green on the left-hand side. by the way, unitedis health, way up this morning, a near 5 percent gain. it's a dow stock, and it is adding 130 points to the dow jones industrial average. president biden was asked about senator tuberville's hold on military promotions. todd, i'm sure he was very critical of the hold he's

placing. >> safe to say the president not very happy at all with the alabama senator, calling him totally irresponsible for blocking hundred of military nominations over his objection to defense department policy that provides paid time off and reimburses travel costs for service members and dependents seeking abortions. let's listen to the president. >> the idea that we don't have a chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the idea that we have all these promotions that are in a abeyance right now and we don't know what's going to happen, the idea that we're injecting into fundamental foreign policy decisions what, in fact, as a domestic social debate on social issues is bizarre. i don't ever recall that happening. ever. and it's just totally irresponsible, in my view. >> military promotionsings as you know, normally easily approved by congress, bipartisan basis. tuberville's standing strong, we'll see.

stuart: congress congressman, you're a retired marine general. do you support senator tuberville holding up these nominations? >> at this point the answer's, yes, because we have a couple unanswered questions, and that's what the senate does. will we we get to where we knead to be with confirmations? i believe we will. but only, only if the white house and president biden, whoever's running the leadership team over there, come to grips with what the realities are of the future of the military and the defense of our country. tooth constituter you say that the most dangerous recession might not be economic. that's what you wrote. congressman, i know there's a shortfall in military recruitment, but does it amount to a huge threat to our society? >> well, the short answer is it only depends on you think about the law of supply and demand when you talk about recessions and economics, the fact of the matter is if all of a sudden we have a great demand and we have a short supply of trained men is

and women in uniform, we could have a problem. but the point is the military recruiting is down because of a couple of things. number one, the american people have lost some faith in the leadership here in d.c. and that involves part of the department of defense. id had breakfast this morning with a family of four teenagers who will be age-eligible within the next years, and they're concerned that the military, that their son and daughters would go into, is not the kind that they would want them to be, or to be good public servants in uniform. stuart: when you it's not the kind of military that they would want to go into, are you talking about the effort to bring woke to the military? or some kind of, or abortion rules within the military? is that what you're talking about? >> on both of them but especially the woke, the woke nature. young boys and girls look for

something greater than themselves, and they're a aspiring to be something greater. the military -- and i'm a marine. let's face it, we are not known for our flexibility when it comes to -- we joined to fight. we're the only service that still looks young men and women and their influencers in the eye and saying we're recruiting you for one reason, to fight for and defend our nation. and these young men and women who are, would sign up for that, they want to make sure that somebody's got their back here in d.c. especially in the pentagon. if we're not to a social experiment in the military, never have been. but there are people who would like to make us one, and that's morally wrong, and it's security wrong. stuart: sir, i get the impression that aggression -- which, in my opinion, is very necessary in a soldier -- is frowned upon these days. am i right? >> yeah. there's several good clips out there that show, show basic training behavior that involves

things like pew gill sticks, for those who know what they are. it's just two people going after one another, and that's the way life is especially in the military. it's the worst of mankind's behavior to have to go to war, but it brings out the best in people when they are trained and ready to fight and win. stuart: 30 seconds left, sir. can you tell me how you will improve and boost military recruitment? >> well, number one, each service must have that culture that shows that they are a war fighter whether it's in the navy, the marine corps, the army, the air force, the space force. they need to show and stand up for the fact that they're not going to kowtow to any particular special interest. they're recruiting and training warriors to fight. that builds confidence in the future of our young men and women and if their -- and their parents. stuart: congressman jack bourbon with, republican from the state of michigan, thanks very much

for joining us, sir. you're a marine, and we thank you very much for your service. i'm trying to say it eloquently and it's not coming out right, but you're a great guy. >> thank you, sir. stuart: yes, sir. thank you. new bipartisan legislation focuses on remote work for militaries spouses. i guess that would help with recruitment -- lauren: yeah, absolutely. so right now it's hard for military spouses to find work when they're always moving, because how do you convince an employer that you'll stay with them if your husband or wife which has moved elsewhere in the country or world? this legislation just passed the senate, it's on its way to the house. it would help spouses get remote jobs so they don't have to work near the base, for instance. stuart: that's a popular measure, isn't it? lauren: i can't imagine anybody being opposed -- stuart: who's going to say no? thanks, lauren. coming up, we're going to take on the new language code circulating on campuses. there's all kinds of words you cannot use, but apparently obscenities are just fine a. more than 100,000 hollywood

actors join the writers on strike, the first time since 19690 that actors and and writers walked out together. kelly o'grady reports next. ♪ ♪ you can't buy great conversations or moments that matter, but you can invest in them. at t. rowe price our strategic investing approach can help you build the future you imagine. t. rowe price, invest with confidence. with a majority of my patience with sensitivity, i see irritated gums and weak enamel. sensodyne sensitivity gum & enamel relieves sensitivity, helps restore gum health, and rehardens enamel. i'm a big advocate of recommending things that i know work.

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to receive 50% off installation of your kohler® walk-in bath. and take advantage of our on interest for 12 months financing. stuart: for the first time in 43 years, hollywood is halted. tv of and movie actors have joined the writers in striking. kelly o'grady is joining us. all right, kelly, what's the main issue? >> reporter: it's pay and artificial intelligence, stuart. you know, you've got inflation being so high the past few years, and the studio chiefs still making millions, so the writers and the actors' guild want their fair share of the streaming pie, and they don't want to be replaced by a.i., right in who doesn't? i will highlight with the actors guild joining in on this, the negotiating power goes way up all of a sudden, and the feeling is that the rise of netflix and other streamers has changed how resinge w58s are paid, and -- residuals, and workers feel like the current hollywood model is broken.

listen. >> we had no choice. we are the victims here. we are being victimized by a very greedy entity. i am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with with are treating us. >> reporter: now, this doesn't just impact or delay future productions. major blockbusters are expected out this summer, right? mission impossible opening this weekend, barbie and oppenheim or out next week. the strike means actors can't promote their move i haves, and actually the oppenheimer cast walk out of their london premiere yesterday. 9 a lot of momentum could suffer from the months-long shutdown, and in 2007 when just the writer withs guild went on strike, it cost $2.1 billion in economic damage. so this really puts the streamers between a rock and a hard place, right? they want to rein in spending, focus on profitability, but they also can't afford to lose

subscribers when there isn't new content. and i'll leave you with this, stuart, i think a lot of folks are saying why do celebrities need to be paid more money? it's really about the writer or the actor that really books one or two roles per year and they're living paycheck to paycheck. stuart: kelly o'grady, thanks very much, indeed. it occurs to me it's not just -- the whole of southern california will take a hit out of this. filming in various locations, they're all down. >> let's broaden this out beyond the actor who works once or twice a year, and it's not just l.a., stu. here in new york city i know we get a lot of production in connecticut, new jersey. a lot of people who are the support staff are going to hurt. you know what it reminds me of? when they took everybody out of the buildings in new york for covid and nobody was going to the restaurants anymore. it's an ecosystem that's big especially in l.a., and those people that are the rank and file, caterers, we hope they get their money soon. stuart: 30 seconds, whose side are you on? lauren: i think artificial

intelligence could be scary to this issue when the people who are in the background of the scene, for instance, can be replaced by artificially-created replicas. stuart: we have a question later about are we using artificial intelligence for this show, and the truth is i don't know. lauren: i was just going to say, i don't think we are -- >> am i coming off that much as a robot? i apologize. lauren: some of the systems that we use use artificial intelligence. stuart: that would be accurate. you can answer the question when we get to friday feedback. check those markets real fast, please. we're with up 185 on the dow and 60 points on the nasdaq. just ahead, west virginia attorney general patrick morrisey, he's trying to kill affirmative action. florida congressman carlos jimenez, he's got the tape from panama, a new migrant surge coming. and guy benson on democrats looking to replace biden on the presidential ticket. the 10:00 hour is next. ♪ ♪ oh, won't you stay just a little bit longer ♪

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