good friday, everyone. i'm craig melvin. the war of words on mitt romney's time at bain capital. is someone not telling the truth? both the obama and romney camps are coming out hard over the bain mess. yesterday's "boston globe" article claimed that romney was head of bain longer than he admitted. all these questions over romney and his team at bain are fair game. >> i think it's entirely appropriate to look at that record and see whether in fact his focus was creating jobs. and he successfully did that when you look at the record, there are questions there. >> again, there's this new romney ad out today bashing obama for what many say are scare tactics that features a clip from candidate obama speaking at the 2008 convention. >> if you don't have a record to run on, you paint your opponent

as someone people should run from. >> joining me now from chicago, ben labolt, national press secretary for the obama campaign. are these scare tactics? >> mi >> -- the story in the "boston globe" yesterday suggested that he had been misleading the public since he was running for office in massachusetts that he left bain in 1999 is to say that we're engaged in scare tactics and the fact is that mitt romney was the ceo, chairman of the board, president, sole owner, and sole shareholder whiof bain capital. >> you mentioned the "boston globe" article from yesterday, there has since been fortune magazine has pretty much said that the meat of that article doesn't really stand up to

muster. "washington post" claiming that the obama campaign is blowing smoke here, the weight of evidence suggests that romney did in fact end active management of bain in 1999. he stated that in a federal disclosure form he signed under threat of criminal penalties, he said he was a former employee in a state disclosure form as the state commission concluded 10 years ago that he did indeed leave bain in 1999. this is the well regarded fact checker from "the washington post." what is your response to that? >> take a look admit romney's own sworn testimony that emerged last night from 2002. mitt romney said he left salt lake to attend board members in massachusetts. and the romney campaign won't release any information about whether romney attended board meetings. here's why this matters, craig,

romney has tried to claim credit for jobs that were created during this period at bain from companies like staples. but he's trying to avoid responsibility for jobs that were eliminated in the united states, like the jobs at modus media. stream international which closed call -- because the labor costs were cheaper. you take that same economic philosophy and bring it into the oval us, his incentive today is for companies to ship additional jobs overseas. >> the romney campaign says that the obama campaign should apologize. take a look at what -- >> either mitt romney, through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting

his position to the sec, or he was misleading the american people about his investments. >> is it that simple? >> i think the question is fair, did he misrepresent his -- during that period or did he misrepresent himself to the american people when he said he left bain during that period? i think that's absolutely a fair question to raise and he can clear it up by releasing the normal amount of tax returns for a nominee of a major party. >> there have been those who have suggested that politically, strategically for you guys, it would it would be mored ed a v n advantageous to not release those tax returns so it could be an issue for discussion for the next few months. >> it's the most important and powerful job in the world and

mitt romney is the most secretive candidate since richard nixon on this. he's refused to release more than one year of tax returns when his own father released 12 years worth of returns. they could clear up questions about whether he was at the helm of this country while it outsourced american jobs and it could clear up questions about whether he was avoiding taxes by parking his personal finances offshore in a swiss bank account and the cayman islands and a corporate established in bermuda. >> ben, as always, it's a pleasure, have a great weekend. barbara comstock, senior advise for the romney campaign will be here in the next half hour. we will of course be having a similar conversation. we bring in msnbc political analyst, and editor and chief of national journeys hot line.

good morning to all of you, alice, we'll start with you, you just heard from ben labolt about team obama's questions surrounding bain. what are your reactions? >> these are sat and desperate attacks from a campaign that's clearly not doing very well. >> i didn't mean to cut you off so quickly there, but you're saying what we have heard from a lot of folks, but these attacks seem to be working. >> the polls show governor romney and the president neck and neck in the polls. the truth is that we have had multiple fact checkers look at this information and find it to be untrue and unfair attacks from as i said, a desperate campaign. what he's trying to two is distract from his records. and using the president's own words from 2008, saying if you have to use steal scare tactics to have people run away from your opponent, that's a pretty sad campaign that he's running,

because he does not want people to look at his record of failed policies that have not made things better for the american people. >> you know, craig, any time a candidate is calling legitimate questions about why you signed a document that is different than what you're saying, that you actually filed with the sec, if asking that question is a scare tactic, i mean come on, nobody buys that, and the problem that mitt romney has here, all due respect, alice, there is a mountain of evidence building, building, building about this candidate. it's not just the substantive issues that are in these documents that i think are raised, but also politically speaking it play into the narrative that this is not someone you can trust. can i trust a guy that won't answer legitimate questions? most republican candidate force pick in office released more

information than this presidential campaign has released. that's making a lot of people uncomfortable and the fact that they have no good answers as to why not, other than we don't want to, he's misleading the american people. >> it has been released, that's why we're having this discussion. >> one year. >> it's important to note that he left bain in '99 and what they're accusing him of is actions that took place after he left bain. he was running the olympics. and now he's being accused of actions that took place after he left. >> i do want to bring rita into the conversation, i want to play a snippet of what former president bill clinton on the "today" show, today talked about one of the tax return stuff. >> i am a little surprised that he only released a year's worth

of tax returns, that really perplexed me that this is the first time in 30 years that anybody running for president has only done that. it's typical that you release 10, 11 years and i think senator mccain released over 20 years of tax returns. that struck me as a little odd. >> senator mccain was rich too. here's the thing, reid, haley barbour has suggested that they have all called on mitt romney to release more tax returns. between bain -- romney has spent a lot of time playing defense in these last few weeks. >> i'll leave it to alice and karen to debate the merits of the actual argument. but set that aside for a moment, and look at the politics of the argument. what will haley barbour and other republicans talking about

over the last few stays before talking about mitt romney and his taxes and his business instead of talking about the economy which is not doing terribly well and it's not exactly what president obama wants to be talking about. if this campaign becomes a referendum on president obama, that's not necessarily a great thing for an incumbent whose approval rating is less than 30%. if this becomes a choice election, that's what obama's trying to do is make this a choice between the two candidates and disqualifying the other guy, i think that's a smart political strategy. >> here's the problem that the romney campaign has. they knew going into this that they had to be able to separate themselves from the activities of bain from 1999 and beyond, because those activities are the kinds of activities that extracted resources out of this country, that he didn't meet his tax obligations while cities and

counties, their tax base was being lowered. and yet we have got documentation that shows that he was actually participating in company activities after 1999. so if there's a simple answer to that question, he just needs 20 provide it. rather than saying it's just a legal mix up. >> reid ten seconds, and . >> no voter is going to change their vote on one single document, this is part of a larger, broader issue. >> the obama campaign distracting from his failed record of 23 million americans out of work. the -- who is going to take them out of this hole and poll after poll shows they trust mitt romney to create jobs.

>> our friday power panel who never plays by the time rules. karen, alice and reid, thanks to all three of you. sundays up with chris hayes, we'll have a former partner at bain capital, ed connor who was partner there from 1993 to 2008. they will ask him about the extent of romney's involvement at bain capital after february 1999. again, that's right here on msnbc on sunday. the other political talk of the day, big buzz around condi rice, is she really at the top of the mitt romney's vp list? what's next for penn state? its football team and the world of college sports in the wake of that blistering report on the jerry sandusky child sex abuse scandal. and on the legal size, tens

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john, in the report that came out yesterday, four people acknowledged knowingly hiding an

incident involving sandusky's abuse, from the university, president graham spannier, joe paterno, tim curley, and garry schulz all accused of hiding the incident all of that came out yesterday. what to you was the most striking part of that report. >> patteerno denied knowing anything about it and completely strayed from the -- louie freeh's report establishes that those men knew about this 1999 report. that totally changes the context of -- did paterno have prior knowledge that this individual was involved in something and three or four years later was

nonchalant when the second allegation came out? >> what does this report do for people looking for justice who plan to sue the university? >> boy, the doors just got blown open on their civil suit. if you're a civil lawyer, you got to feel pretty good about your settlement chances. it's a justification, it's a validation, and remember, you and i were both there the second of november, this was still a little bit murky. >> don't forget the rioters. >> you do wonder what those rioters were think right now. i feel like those victims were -- right now the fact that that report, it's an active attempt to conceal, that is a cover-up. and basically the story that the victims told has now been validated. >> penn state's then president graham spannier has managed to avoid criminal charges. the report calls him out as quote, failing to call out a

child sex predator for over a decade. what's the chances of spannier facing charges going forward? >> you just read the grand jury report and you hate to say this, but posthumously, were he alive today, paterno would be facing criminal allegations today. >> we should know that the paterno still denies prior knowledge of any of jerry sandusky's abuse. "sports illustrated" writer, thank you so much for your insights. and you can catch the latest issue of "si" it is out on newsstands and your ipad today. trying to eliminate every nonessential expensive program i could find. that includes obama care and i'm going to work to reform and save -- >> boo!

>> imagine what the romney justice department will look like. >> a tale of two speeches at the naacp convention. romney and biden for very different reasons. i they should take all the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over again. >> that's how you really feel? plus playing for team usa but made in china. the controversy over our olympic team's uniforms. follow the wings. the medicare debate continues in washington...

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i'm going to eliminate every nonessential expensive program i can find, that includes obama care and i'm going to work to reform and safe -- >> boo! >> that was mitt romney and vice president joe biden there talking about health care at this week's naacp convention in houston. and the lively audience that often led cheers and boos. i know you are fired up to talk about his speeches, but before we get to that, do i want to play something that minority leader nancy pelosi said about mitt romney's motives. >> it was a calculated move on his part to get into the naacp convention. >> do you agree, do you think it was deliberate? >> it was not a bad strategy, whether it's deliberate or whether they're just spinning it in that way to show off at the convention to say i'm not

afraid, i'm not cowardly, i will go and talk to a group of people in a room who are highly unlikely to -- too continue to shore up your base, so it's not a bad strategy. >> he's stuck on obama care as this waparenthetical expresence. >> it just kind of depends, i have seen mitt romney speak before african-american audiences and with the small groups of african-american and very poorly, he did a sort of who let the dogs out moment at one point. and this was really mitt romney at his best, in terms of he was himself. he didn't flip-flop, he called it obama care every time he talks. he called it the affordable care act, rather than obama care, i think it could easily become a sound bite for flip-flopping. >> the president was not there, of course, the president had a video appearance as you made to

the group, do you think that president obama should have gone to houston, or do you think that joe biden did better than the president would have anyway? >> i love, just like in a post modern way, the idea that joe biden is the surrogate to black folks from the first african-american president. i'm sorry. >> we have come a long way. >> is that the best thing that ever happened? >> we have come a long way. >> the president is going to speak to the urban league, which is a human rights -- i think it's important to let joe biden stand there and make the case for the president. you have got to have strong surrogates and the president cannot be there at all points and for him to come and make the argument clearly for what this president has done is critical. >> the contrast between the two men, in terms of their speech and how it was received and i said, i don't remember who was on the show yesterday, but i

said to him, mitt romney just never seems to have that fire in his belly when he's talk to any group. and this was a situation that high leveled that in an extreme way. >> joe biden does have -- it's part of his own condition of putting his foot in your mouth. and mitt romney doesn't do that and certainly for an audience like the naacp where so much of our tradition arises out of the black church, including sort of a public speaking with that sort of fire, joe biden just stylistically had won the audience over. >> always a pleasure and of course you can watch melissa harris-perry every saturday at 10:00 a.m. eastern. coming up, the battle over bain.

also new rumors that condi rice is at the top of romney's vp list. huh? but was the timing of this news just a diversion? ♪ [ male announcer ] ok, so you're no marathon man. but thanks to the htc one x from at&t, with its built in beats audio, every note sounds amazingly clear. ...making it easy to get lost in the music... and, well... rio vista?!! [ male announcer ] ...lost. introducing the musically enhanced htc one x from at&t. rethink possible. introducing the musically enhanced htc one x from at&t. i just wish it wouldn't fade away so fast. let me show you something. [ dr. rahmany ] as soon as you leave here... plaque quickly starts to grow back. but now there's a way to keep the clean longer. introducing new crest pro-health clinical rinse. it's a clinical breakthrough that actually keeps your teeth 91% clean of plaque at 2 months after a dental visit. plus, it gives you these key benefits.

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back to the battle over bain capital, obama says there's serious questions that need to be answered about romney's time at the company. documents show that romney was the ceo of the company until 2002. but -- did not manage any of bain's investments after 1999, but he did not formally give up his title of ownership until 1992. barbara, good morning to you. >> good morning, good to be with you. >> the obama campaign has issued a pretty damming statement this

morning saying, quote, among other things that romney and bain claim that he was not involved with bain but bain and his portfolio companies under their requirements at the sec continually certified to the securities and exchange commission exactly the opposite. the campaign for the president essentially saying that mitt romney lied and it is perhaps criminal. >> well, it's outrageous, but what the president and his campaign are demonstrating once again, is they're gldemonstrati for the past 3 1/2 year that e s there's no understanding of the private sector. >> i point out that "the washington post" in a very lengthy discussion that you cited today. they said that they claim three

pinocchios, because it's clear "the washington post," fact check.org, democrat bain partners have come out and said mitt romney had no active role when he left for the olympics in 1999. he went out to the olympics in 1999 and i can tell you it was a 24/7 job. he was out there and that has been -- that is something that the washington post, and fact check.org -- if you can't unwind a company in five days, you can't change partnerships and do all these complex things in five days which they don't understand, which is demonstrated by those 3 1/2 years of a terrible economy. >> let's step past the bain thing for a few moments. there's -- >> the obama campaign wants to pivot against this because they are false accusations.

>> let's play this snippet and talk about it on the other side. >> these types of achilles heel need to get resolved by this team very quickly which is why you had some republicans in quarters saying they need to look at replacing some of the folks on this team to get a little sharper and better at handling these things. >> bain capital t offshore accounts, the tax returns, at some point began, barbara, it becomes more about the narrative than these little microissues. with regards to the tax returns, why hasn't he just simply released more years? >> he's released everything required and actually that clip you played of michael steele, i watched it this morning and i watched that whole segment, no one on there had read "the washington post" take down of this accusation. in the house of delegates in virginia, i do a lot of retail politicking and i go out. no one is worried about this,

they're worried about the tax increases that president obama is going to bring on them. his democratic partners have called this information false. so the obama campaign questides them an apology too. when i'm out knocking on door this is week, i'm going to be talking about the vision mitt romney has, not getting our national defense that booum wants to bring, not allowing us to use our resources, our national resources offshore. when you have an obama campaign, obama told us four years ago, when you can't talk about your record you have to play games like this. he can't talk about their record and we will be happy to. that's their campaign and it's sad and pathetic and delusional. >> before you go, i want to ask you about the latest rumors surrounding condoleezza rice for

romney's vp pick. house majority leader eric cantor gave what sounded like a pretty resounding endorsement last night. >> i'm a big fan of condi rice. she bring -- i think there's a lot of people that are qualified. certainly she would be qualified. >> is she a top candidate? >> here's the great thing, on the republican p side as opposed to the democrats, we have so many great, talent republicans out there. i'm not privy to the vp pick and no one is aside from mitt romney. when you look at marco rubio, paul ryan, rob portman, we have a great talent pool. and, you know, that's why, again, they don't want to talk about the future, we're happy to talk about the future. >> you're not even answering the condi rice question, are you,

barbara? >> because i'm not privy to that. but we have a great talent pool and i'm proud of all the republicans that are out there, because we have a big group that reque can go out there and they're not lying about people, they're talking about the fact s and th prosperity agenda that romney has. if he could do it for bain and the country, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all prosper. there's a lot of republicans who have benefitted and are giving money to the obama campaign, we want to falk talk -- >> barbara you make it very difficult to cut you off. but i've got to cut you off. >> i'm happy to talk about facts. >> we have got to move on to the next segment, but i did want to promise to you that i am going to make certain that every one of my colleagues here has read the washington post article.

>> they hadn't read it as of this morning and i'm embarrassed for them. >> what was that? what was that? >> i want to bring in the host of the sirkal. usually on friday, we go through our vp power ranks. you should have barbara comstock on this. >> have you read "the washington post" article? she said that none of my colleagues have read it. >> i know she says they would love to talk about their record, but they never do talk about their record, what is that? >> talking about condi rice, this of course all the rage now, everyone's talking about it, a big drudge report last night. do you think that this is -- >> this is a great opportunity for me to address a comment i made last week, where i said, essentially that romney

suggested that the camp was vetting a woman candidate was a bit of a fib. i inartfully said that, but condi, as qualified as she is. an condi is fantastic. being pro choice, having bush baggage is definitely not going to be the vice presidential nominee. >> your reasoning is absolutely right, pro choice, never run for an electoral office, the bush baggage, this is not a real story, this is let's move beyond a disastrous week for the romney campaign. >> deliberate destruction. >> this is drudge being in the camp of romney, a romney lackey, that's the real story here. >> do you guys remember, anybody here, the vice presidential administration of frank keating? do you know who frank keating even is? >> yes. >> in 2000 t big drudge

exclusive for the summer was that governor romney's vp was going to be frank keating. >> they always want it to be a surprise. >> and they want to create -- one of the things i did enjoy, i shouldn't say enjoy, but one of the things that caught our attention is eric erickson's response. here's a quote from eric erickson, i don't know what's hissing the crack rock tonight in the rumor mill. >> i said early on on the cycle, if i were mitt romney, i would think about condi rice, because she brings a lot to the table, but i don't think they're going to do it because she as a risk averse. i think she has a lot of appeal

to an independent audience. but she's not going to be the presidential nominee. >> she might shore up the base. >> i think what's interesting about her when a talking about romney's vp selection, she would not shore up a base. mitt romney has more of a problem with the republican base, but generally the nominee doesn't have the base that romney does. that restricts who he can choose. >> if we can put it on the scale here, i want you to look at your power rankings this week, your power rankings this week, crystal ball, tim pawlenty, bobby jindal, they haven't changed at all. >> i think tim pawlenty is a boring, safe choice. that's what mitt romney wants. he's not looking for a narrative

changer. >> your list hasn't changed either. >> i might put pawlenty above ayout. >> you found me out. >> yours is also unchanged. >> i think he's still going to go with portman, i still think paul ryan is the best choice. tim pawlenty is moving up on my list too, he's been a very effective sure gas. >> i think john thune, i think he makes the most sense. he's not getting a lot of buzz right now, for what that's worth. portman seems too obvious to be the guy. i think they're going to do something risky and something bold. >> do you think of risky and bold when you think of mitt romney? >> that's it, this was fun.

>> you know what we stop talking when we're supposed to. >> some of us. >> and of course the cycle every weekday 3:00 eastern time. right here, msnbc. a possible threat against first lady michelle obama involving d.c. cop. details on that in the news now. t but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company by continuing to help you do more and focus on the things that matter to you. starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news.

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you can feel good about. ♪ rethink how you re-energize. ♪ get a boost of natural energy with a new starbucks refreshers™, in three re-energizing ways. try one on us, only at starbucks. here's a look at some of the news stopping the news now. jp morgan chase is leading a surge on the dow this morning. that's because the nation's largest bank posted a net income of $5 billion for the second quarter, beating wall street expectations. the losses came from a bad trade blunder earlier this year. the justice department and the sec are both investigating. anti-government rebels say it could be the worst day of

bloodshed since the uprising in syria began. troops reportedly ran down shells before armed thugs swooped in, special envoy to kofi annan says he is, quote, shocked and appalled by the reports. a washington police officer reportedly made a threat against first lady michelle obama. he said he was going to shoot obama. the officer has been placed on administrative duties. three drug smuggling tunnels were discovered along the mexican border today. they had more than 40 tons of marijuana inside. two were found in california that were incomplete, the third was found in arizona.

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two weeks to the opening ceremonies and excitement is building as members of the u.s. olympic team get ready to don their red, white and blue and head to london for the 2012 games. but there's growing outrage, too, after revelations that the u.s. team's patriotic threads were made in china. senate majority leader harry reid sounded off yesterday. >> i am so upset that i think

the olympic committee should be ashamed of themselves. i think they should be embarrassed. i think they should take all the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over again. >> rob will anchor our olympic coverage right here on msnbc, joins me this morning. the uniforms designed by famed american designer ralph lauren. we were talking before, how does this get out of committee? how does something like this happen? is there no one making sure at least that the olympics, that the uniforms are made here in this country? >> let's start with some of the facts here. ralph lauren is a usoc sponsor and the usoc, unlike most olympic teams around the world, is funded almost entirely by sponsorships and media rights. so they don't get government funding so they've got to make money on sponsorships like this. ralph lauren stepped up and they're a sponsor. as part of that, they make these uniforms. the question is could ralph lauren have made these uniforms in the u.s. instead of in china. to do that, they would have had

to set up a separate manufacturing process just for these uniforms in the u.s., because everything else that ralph lauren makes, if you own something or i own something, that's made in china. if that could have been done, i guess this controversy could have been prevented. >> someone would have footed the bill for that. you have to believe that someone in this country would have said you know what, our guys who are going over should wear uniforms with a made in the usa label. >> i get it. >> it looks bad. >> a lot of people don't like the uniforms themselves, the berets. that's another conversation. listen, it could have been prevented, yes, but it wouldn't have been easy. >> let's talk about what's becoming just as big of a controversy. this dream team debate. this is michael jordan, member of that 1992 dream team, responding to a comment made by kobe bryant, who is of course playing on this year's dream team, air quotes delivery. >> there is only one dream team in my opinion, 1992.

this is not a dream team. this is an olympic team. >> how did this even start? >> kobe bryant said he thinks his team that he's playing on this year could beat the 1992 dream team. now, listen, i have a lot of respect for kobe bryant for saying that. he's backing up his teammates, showing confidence in the team, saying that he thinks they're as good as any team -- >> look at that group. >> let's be honest, folks. there are three guys from this team who would have a shot at making the 1992 olympic team. kobe bryant himself, lebron james would make the team, and kevin durant. other than that, the rest of that roster, there's no shot any of them of making a team that is stacked with michael jordan, larry bird, magic johnson, patrick ewing, david robinson, clyde drexler, karl malone. that team was the greatest team ever assembled. other teams used to ask them for autographs during the shoot-arounds before the game. that's not happening in 2012. now other teams think they actually have a chance to win a game against us. it was good for kobe to say it.

i respect it but come on. >> what is he going to say? >> if he's asked a direct question he has to say it but i don't think kobe, if you asked him in an honest moment, really believes that this team could beat that team. >> enjoyed you. thank you so much. come back. we'll see a whole heck of a lot of you, olympics just a few days away. don't forget, nbc olympics.com for more as well as the best live olympics game -- live coverage here on msnbc and the networks of nbc universal starting on july 27th. i got tongue-tied. i'm so worked up over the debate. can't believe they would even suggest this team is as good as '92. that wraps things up for me. have a great weekend. thomas roberts will be back on monday, his vacation is over. "now" with alex wagner is up next. we may have to tear up the rundown to talk about dream team one versus dream team two. i'm just saying. >> which one? >> i mean, '92. listen, much respect, much

respect, but dreamy-ish team, perhaps. any way, moving on, can governor romney put the bain genie back in the bottle? we discuss his very, very private equity. and president obama is in virginia hoping that lightning strikes twice in the old dominion and he can once more carry the sta come november. we'll bring you the latest when he speaks in less than an hour. plus, did this week's summer heat melt political brains? we will look back with a sizzling what just happened. all that and more when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. by what's getting done. the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through.

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you're entered for a chance to win a trip to the olympic games for life. to cheer the summer athletes to new heights, starting in 2016... as you experience every moment, every emotion, every four years... for the rest of your life. visa. supporting athletes and the olympic games for 25 years. people everywhere go with visa. s.e.c. filings, personal financial disclosure reports, blocker accounts and blind trusts. when it bains, it pours. where can team romney find cover in the deluge? quick, call condoleezza rice. it's friday, july 13th. friday the 13th. this is "now."