>> do you want to come to jail at 15 years old? do you want to come to prison and have to be in the yard, sand up, let me see how tall you are. this is me. this was me when i came to prison. this was me right here. how tall are you, about 5'1" how much you weigh, 100 some. this was me when i came to prison. stand up, rhino. come on, now, man, what am i going to do? let's be real. what you going to do? what you going to do to him? you going to hurt him? >> i probably won't hurt him. >> what you going to do to him? honestly. because this is the same thing i had to ask myself. what am i going to really do up in here, as good as i can fight,

what am i really going to do. >> inmates also challenge the youths to see all of the potential consequences of their actions. when i am going to juvenile court and they're telling me i'm not going to be tried as a juvenile, they're going to sentence me to life in prison, when the man told me that, he said are you a cold-blooded murderer and we want you to rot in prison. i'm sentencing to you life in innocence prison and he slammed down his little hammer and my mom screamed. imagine how that felt. how would your mom feel? >> this is what it took to get them to us. it took me to come to prison. it took shahib to realize there's more value in society and life than committing crime. >> with the knowledge they may never leaf san quentin, the squires hope to never see these boys restrained by a security level. >> it's like i don't want to come over here. not a good place to be. overall, today was really, really good. i felt like i made a difference today.

the cutting edge. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm in for chris matthews. leading off tonight who is afraid of the big, bad sequester? no one apparently, certainly not th its all-time high. both political parties may be more okay with the big budget cuts than you think. democrats get to cut the pentagon and protect social programs and republicans get to cut spending. president obama is convinced that republicans will pay the price for protecting the wealthy. what if he's wrong? let's go to the audiotape. we can hear antonin scalia call

the voting rights act a racial entitlement. the march toward marriage equality has gotten big boost. the obama administration is urging the supreme court to overturn proposition eight, the ban on same-sex marriage and the mittness protection plan. do republicans even want to hear from mitt romney anymore? let's begin with the politics of the automatic spending cuts going into effect today. david corn with "mother jones" and michael steele former chair of the rnc. both are msnbc political analysts. the president came out swinging, blaming republicans for cuts he

referred to as dumb. >> what's important to understand is that not everyone will feel the pain of these cuts right away. the pain will be real. every time we get a piece of economic news over the next month, next two months, next six months, as long as sequester is in place, we know that economic news could have been better if congress had not failed to act. let's be clear. none of this is necessary. a choice that republicans in congress have made. i have offered negotiations around that kin of balanced approach. and so far we have gotten rebuffed because what speaker boehner and the republicans have said we cannot do any revenue. not a dime's worth of revenue. so what more do you think i should do? i am not a dictator.

i'm the president. >> on the other end of pennsylvania avenue, we didn't hear much hopefulness from speaker boehner. we sat down for an interview that will air on "meet the press." >> have yoyou have emerged from white house there, is no deal. take me inside the room. what happened? >> a nice, politely discussion. i asked the president and senator reid with a plan to replace the sequester. we've known about this for 16 months. and even today there is no plan from senate democrats to replace the sequester. over the last ten months, house republicans have acted twice to replace the sequester. >> in the end, you don't really see a pathway open as you sit here? >> if i did, the meeting at the white house this morning might

have gone better. >> what strikes me as significant, this week there didn't seem to be any effort to avoid this? >> they came in tuesday through thursday, the house gone by last night. so when did they cut it loose, saying we can't save this? >> weeks ago. drama has been unfolding like the speaker said for 16 months. a general consensus, let it happen. both sides have an opportunity here to move this thing forward. the president could have had the meeting on monday to lead into what will happen at midnight tonight that didn't happen. because everybody -- you set it up right. the democrats are going to -- they can say what they want about republicans on this. republicans got the defense cuts they want. >> is it faux outrage then? >> i don't think it's faux

outrage in terms of the exact this will have. when the president says there are real consequences, fewer food inspectors, 71,000 kid won't get into head start until september. and furloughs for federal workers will affect local economies. that's very real. speaker boehner says give me a plan, give me a plan mr. president, mr. senate majority leader. there was a plan, it got 51 votes. there is a plan. the president for 16 months has been pushing a plan. close some tax loopholes and put that money to deficit reduction and have a different set of not indiscriminate cuts. and boehner says where is the plan? there is a plan. he just doesn't like the plan. >> the house put two plans on the floor, they were voted on.

weren't voted on in the senate. the senate voted on a plan. >> david, you have to start someplace. they don't want to start where you want to start. what are you prepared to cut, david corn? what are you prepared to cut, president obama? we've given you 6$600 billion i new revenue with no cuts. show me some cuts and we'll talk about it. >> 16 months ago, the president against some of the desires of people in his own party put things on the table. chain cpi, medicare cuts. >> he didn't have the plan. what was the specific amount of chain cpi? what was the number? >> these were memos passed between gene sperling and people in boehner's office. >> who i don't like it suits each of their political

objectives. chuck todd said it beautifully, he noted this in first read this morning "yes, both sides are kicking and screaming publicly and yes, these cuts will impact people's livelihoods, but if you're a republican who wants to cut spending, are you getting spending cuts, but if you are a democrat that either wants to reduce defense spending or ensure that all the cuts aren't targeted only at social programs, you're getting your wish this is perhaps the biggest reason why these cuts are going into effect. at the end of the day, these were better than the alternative. for republicans, raising taxes and eliminating loopholes, for democrats, having spending cuts comex inclusively from spoeshl spending. >> i agree, chuck. i think he's framed this perfectly. that's why i said, they settled on this weeks ago, all this

drama and his retrionics. >> this is about the immature way of approaching real problems that we have in this country. go to some of the sn terrorist who's say time and time again, the republicans, and the conflicts within the republican's own side made them tougher partners to get involved in a deal with the president. and that's where we've been for the last two years. that's where we are now. he is asking for plans. he can't cut a compromise. >> let's put a period on this. we won't move beyond the conversation and the one we see unfold until both sides realize, each of them, their stuff stinks. >> what will it take? >> it will take the realization in 35 to 40 days when people

begin to feel it the president is playing a real gamble here, because i don't think this will fall neatly on republican's laps. >> but if you look at -- sorry, michael. if you look and what they say to solve -- >> that's what they say today. >> here is something that behalves me. what the market is doing. if the economy is going to feel the effects of spending cuts, the markets aren't scared yet, dow closed just under 14,090. that's close to the october 2007 record of 14,164. the masters haven't figured out they are three steps ahead of us. >> didn't we learn in october 2007 they are not always three steps ahead? they don't know what they are talking about?

ration alex unpresence. they are used to manufactured crises, one chief after another and they tend to be worked out on a temporary basis. at some point that might stop happening. >> coming up, we were stunned to read what supreme court justice antonin scalia had to say about the voting rights act. that it's the example of racial entitlement. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ [ woman ] too weak.

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why a justice would classify the simple protected right to vote as racial entitlements behalves me and offends me. >> texas congresswoman sheila jackson lee, on the visceral reactions to justice antonin scal scalia's comments on the voting rights act. by characterizing it as a racial entitlement, he may have energized voting rights supporters and ramped up their resolve to protect those rights. the audiotapes of wednesday's arguments were released by the court, so the words that caused

such an up roar can be paired with the voice. >> this last enactment, not a single vote in the senate against it. and the house is pretty much the same. now, i don't think that's attributable to the fact that it is so much clearer now that we need this. i think it is attributable -- very likely attributable -- to a phenomenon that's called perpetuation of racial entitlement. it's been written about, whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes. >> joining me are two people in the courtroom for the arguments. julie fernandez and dale ho. who has worked on this case from the beginning. julie, take me to the supreme court. what was the body language and

the vibe? justices scalia and sotomayor and kagan? >> a lot of people were surprised to hear justice scalia refer to the voting rights act as an entitlement. no one knows what he was actually thinking, but the word xwil entitlement suggests are you getting something that you didn't earn and we think of the voting rights act as sort of an equality mandate for all americans. equality mandate. not an entitlement. when the voters of texas and african-american latinos, federal courts found they were intentionally discriminated against. section 5's ability to stop that, that's not entitlement, that's american justice. >> i don't believe, dale, that voting is a racial entitlement. i don't know how anyone could make that statement. giving him the benefit of the

doubt, it's bone headed. he seems to say we never unwind benefits for-to-a specific demographic. is he right? >> i don't think he meant that. i think he's trying to say is articulate the argument that racial discrimination is largely a thing of the past and we don't need the civil rights act, these are luxuries that have become in their view entitlements, and fortunately nothing could be further from the truth. we have, in fact, seen tremendous progress over the last 350 years, and the right to be free from discrimination. it's not entitlement, it's an american birth right. >> we have to play the tapes. they are stunning. justices sonja sotomayor and elena kagan, gave some of the

strongest pushbacks, with the lawyer representing shelby county, sotomayor directly challenges the racial entitlement comment. >> do you think that the right to vote is a racial entitlement in section 5? >> no. the 15th amendment protects the right of all to vote. >> i asked a different question. do you think section 5 was voted for because it was a racial entitlement. >> well, congress -- >> you think there was no basis. >> congress was reacting in 1964 to a problem of race incrimination, which it thought was prevalent in certain jurisdictions, so to that extent, yes, it was intended to protect those who had been discriminated against. if i might say, i think that. >> do you think racial discrimination in voting has ended? there is none anywhere? >> i think the world is not perfect. >> julie, was she speaking to

him or speaking to justice scalia? where was she looking? >> you think often the justices and in this cases likely too, the justices are talking as much to each other as they are to the litigant. >> using him -- >> as a prop. that's not a nice word. but an opportunity to have a conversation to talk to each other about what's really going on. what's really going on is two things. one, a case to be made there is continuing voter discrimination in states all over the south and other parts of the country that's raced based. and the question, whose job is to determine when that job is done. that's both about the continuing need for section five, but also the role of congress versus the role of the court. that's the conversation that they are having and that's the conversation that's really important for us as a country to get to. >> thank you, julie per unanimo

fernandez and dale ho. ever wonder who the 12% who approve of the job congress is doing? we found them. that's next. gic? watch this -- alakazam! ♪ [ male announcer ] staples has always made getting office supplies easy. ♪ another laptop? don't ask. disappear! abracadabra! alakazam! [ male announcer ] and now we're making it easier to get everything for your business. and for my greatest trick! enough! [ male announcer ] because whatever you need, we'll have it or find it, and get it to you fast. staples. that was easy. but they haven't experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. in fact, in a recent survey, 95% of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer.

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back to "hardball" for the

"side show." how is this for an odd couple? dennis rodman and north korean dictator kim jong-un. rodman and members of the harlem globetrotters traveled to north korea for a documentary. the north korean leader was up for playing host. here they are sitting courtside for a and then went to a party. check out this tweet. maybe i'll run into the gangnam style dude while i'm here. that's a reference to the south korean rapper, spy. psy was not amused, saying i'm from south, man.

who are the 9%, 10% or 12% of people who give congress thumbs up? "the new york times" asked people why they liked congress. some people backed off their vote entirely, using words like idiots and ninnies. someone else said it was an accident, and another said she just had surgery when she answered the question. overall, the tiny group of congress lovers fell into one of two caps. they just really are optimistic that everybody is trying their best. for the folks that think congress needs to step it up, there is stephen colbert's solution to the next budget crisis. >> i think i know why the sequester is not working. because it doesn't affect congress. the salaries of senators and

representatives do not get cut. so to congress the sequester is like a loan shark saying if you don't pay up, he's going to break your neighbor's legs. to prevent the next crisis, we just need a worse scenario. i say we suspend a monkey above the floor of congress. no. an ebola monkey. if they don't reach a deadline, the doors are locked, the rope is cut and it's meal time in the monkey house. >> how do we know things aren't going well between president obama and speaker boehner? we have it with captions. obama sends his laser beam eyes in boehner's direction, followed by it's scarier in closeup. and this is the exact body language a couple uses when they break up in a car. coming up next, "your business"

with j.j. ramberg.