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don't forget to become a fan of the show on facebook. next week we go to the city of sin where one doctor is cruising the city with a miracle hangover cure in hand. >> i can actually just treat them on the bus. so as soon as they walk on the bus, we get their history, their vital signs and start moving through treatment. >> we'll take a look at how going to the customers is till then, i'm j.j. ramberg. and remember, we make your business, our business. you can't believe you lost. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect,

is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership. good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt and right now you are looking at live pictures from the vatican. this is the hall of paul vi and that man you see at the center of that stage is pope francis, of course. and today he is meeting with more than 5,000 journalists. these are journalists who have covered the conclave meetings, those that he wants to speak out to and talk about, perhaps the direction of the church. we're not clear on the extent to which he will answer questions or the content of what he will be willing to put forth.

for all the faithful around the world that are going to be listening to trying to get a sense of the direction in which he plans to go and take this church. what we do know already about this man is he is a man who is very humble, he's a jesuit priest and again the first jesuit to ever be elected pope. pope francis will be taking to that microphone shortly. but at the moment let's listen right now. we have a italian interpreter here who will be listening and helping us through all of this. so let's take a listen right now in to -- into what is being said although i can't say -- this is spanish, of course, this is a pope who's from argentina. so, though he is the son of northern italian immigrants to argentina, you all will remember he spoke beautifully in italian when he accepted the papacy and was first seen on that balcony. and so now let's listen to pope francis as he takes to the podium and we'll have quite some time to hear. we'll be covering this live for

you here on msnbc. >> translator: at the beginning of my ministry to meet you who worked in rome during this period so intense that began with the surprise iing announcet of my pred desser benedict xvi on february 1th i would like to greet cordially each and every one of you.

the role of the mass media has been growing in the past few years. at this point, it is indispensable to tell the world the events of contemporary history. therefore, i want to thank you for the great service that you did in the past few days. you worked hard. i know. you worked hard. in these past few days, in which the eyes of the catholic and not only catholic world had been paying attention to this area that has st. peter at int center, in these weeks you have had the opportunity to talk about the holy see of the church of the rites, of the traditions, and in particular, of the role

of the pope and his ministry. a special thank you goes to those of you who were able to observe and present these events in the history of the church by taking into account the most appropriate perspective in which these events have to be read, the perspective of faith. the events in history require oftentimes a very complex readings that the events of the church are definitely not more complicated than the political events, the social events, but they have a special characteristic. they answer a principle that is not that of the mundane event,

and therefore it's not easy to communicate and interpret them for such a diverse public. the church being an institution made of men doesn't have a political nature. but it is essentially spiritual. it is the people of god. it is the holy people of god. and the people that walks to meet jesus christ. and therefore, if you put yourself in this perspective you understand how the catholic church operates. christ is the pastor, the shepherd of the church in the history men.

one of them is chosen to be his vicar, the apostle peter. but christ is the center, not his successor, peter. christ is the center. christ is the fundamental reference, the heart of the church. without him, peter and the church would not exist, and they would have no reason to be. benedict xvi, as oftentimes said, christ is present, and he is the one who guides his church. in everything that happens, the protagonist is ultimately the holy ghost. the holy ghost inspired the decision by benedict xvi for the good of the church. and he has guided in the

prayer -- in their prayers, and in the election, the cardinals. it is important, my dear friends, to keep into account this interpretation to understand the events of these days. so i would like to first of all, to thank you sincerely, all of you, for the efforts of these past few days that were particularly engaging. to understand the true nature of church -- of the church. and also, what is the church's path in the world, with the virtues, and with the sins. and also, with all the spiritual values that guide the church, and that are the most important

to understand, be aware that the church pays a lot of attention to your work. you have the ability to gather and express the expectations of our time, and to the elements for reading those reality. your work requires study, sensitivity, experience, as in many other professions. however, it requires a special attention toward the true, the goodness and the beauty. and this makes us particularly close. because this is what church wants to communicate, truth, beauty, and goodness embodied.

it should clearly appear that we are all called not to communicate ourselves, but this exist tension triad that is formed by truth, beauty and good. some people did not know why the bishop of rome wanted to call himself francis. somebody was thinking of francis xavier, francis of solace, or francis of assisi. let me tell you a story. during the elections, i had next to me the archbishop emeritus of

sao paulo, and also the emeritus prefect of the congregation for the clergy, claudio, a great friend. really a great friend. and when things were getting a bit dangerous he was comforting me. and when the vote went to two-thirds, well, you know, everybody was clapping hands, applauding, because we had a vote, and he hugged me, he gave me a kiss, and he said, "don't forget the poor." and that word got into my head. the poor. the poor.

th then, right after, i thought of francis of assisi. then, i thought of wars. while the scrutiny was taking place up until all the votes were counted, and you know, francis is a man of peace. and so that child, that name came into my heart. francis of assisi. the men of poverty, of peace, the men who love and is the

custodian of all things created. you know, we don't have such a good relationship now with everything that has been created by god. the spirit of poverty. a poor man. and i would like, also, a poor church for the poor. then, some made some jokes. but, you know, you should be called adrian because you know adrian vi has been the reformer, and we need reform. and another one told me, no, your name should be clement. why? you know, because clement xv you revenge -- you take revenge against clement the xiv who suppressed the company of jesus.

i love you all so much. and i want to thank you for everything that you have done. and i think of your work, and i wish you to work with serenity in a fruitful way, and to get to know better and better the gospel of jesus christ to help the church. i ask for the intercession of the virgin mary, and i wish you all the best and to your families, as well. to each of your families, and i impart from the bottom of my heart my benediction. thank you very much.

>> and there you hear the applause. the rousing applause the cries of papa. those 5,000 or so members of the media, and clearly some families for this momentous occasion as pope francis addresses the media and basically thanks them for their work during the conclave. he talks about the media's job which is to study, share sensitivity and try to bring truth which is what he says the catholic church wants to do and talk about goodness and beauty. i'm bringing in george weidel, who joins me from vatican city. it's almost as if you can feel the love in that room. this man already seems to have gotten into the hearts of people around the world. >> the church may have papa, father, but i think the world has a grandfather here, alex.

i'm very struck at how completely at home in his own skin pope francis is. this is exactly the same man i had the privilege of spending an hour in conversation with in buenos aires last may. nothing has changed, except the color of his cassock. he's remaining himself. and that's a very good sign. because he was a reformer in argentina. he will be a reformer here in rome. but it's going to be a gentle hand on the tiller. gentle but firm. and a bit of humor here, too. he took a nice little bit of catholic inside baseball with that reference to clement xiv, the pope who suppressed the jesuits in the 18th century. that was -- that was fun. we're not used to a lot of fun at papal press conferences. but i think that may be changing, too.

>> you know what also seems to have changed, is the language that he used. the direct way with which he communicates, which personally, i find so refreshing. he speaks as a common man, george. am i wrong in that difference between he and his predecessor, who had certainly an air, an intellectual air about him at all times. i mean, and not to be faulted for that, it's just a different tone. >> it is a different tone. i mean, this is a man of keen intelligence, jorge mario bergoglio but he's not a university professor. i think benedict xvi was a luminously, lucidly clear teacher, but it did often sound as if there was a lecture. here's point one. here's point two. here's point three. pope francis' style is going to be much more conversational. it's rather striking contrast, if i may say between the

directness of his little discourse there and the somewhat baroque introduction he got from archbishop claudio chaley, who happens to be an old friend of mine but who speaks vaticanese. pope francis speaks bergoglio language. it's very direct. it's very simple. you see here a man, alex, who lives from the inside out. >> yeah. >> he's a man of a deep spiritual life and i think that's coming through in a happy way. >> it is a very happy way. i think he is, as has been said many times, a breath of fresh air. and george, i know we're going to have many opportunities to speak with you in the coming days, particularly as we talk about his investiture on tuesday. i'm alex witt everyone. we'll stay and pick up more details from this and share it with you at the top of the hour. >> from the first days after 9/11 the executive branch of the

american governor has claimed extraordinary powers in responding to the threat of terrorism, and the right to extraordinary secrecy about what he is doing. you may think of this as a bush era approach to the office. wiretap phones or demanding information from internet companies about what their customers were doing all without public scrutiny. despites hopes and objections of those on the left and some on the right, president obama continued to assert secrecy on wiretaps and targeting countries we're not technically at war with. time and again the courts have deferred to the white house. the courts have gone along. the administration would tell judges before a court the court didn't even have the power have the power to review the case because of the president's broad authority to keep things secret. and the courts would say, you're right. today in two separate rulings, two courts that have nothing to do with each other struck back at that prerogative. in one ruling a u.s. district court in california banned the

secret letters used by the fbi to demand detail ed from banks and internet companies, so-called national security letters for today the justice department argued that even challenging the government's authority to make this kind of demand was against the law. today the clinton appointed judge in the case ruled the national security letters violate the right to free speech. she banned them outright. second case comes from a three-judge panel in the circuit of the district of columbia, second only to the united states supreme court in national influence. in that one the panel of two clinton appointees and one bush appointee ruled unanimously the cia cannot keep the drone worker program so completely secret that a lawsuit asking for more information about it is dismissed out of hand. they said the cia must give the court at least a description of the records it keeps on drone strikes. while we are not likely to see the records now posted on white house.gov there are new limits on white house privilege and that's extremely big news. joining us is deputy legal

director of the american civil liberties union jameel jafer. he argued the case in front of the federal appeals court. jameel, good to have you here tonight. >> thank you. good to be here. >> walk me through this case. it started with a basic foyer request, right? you go to the government and say, through freedom of information act we are empowered by the statute to get information about what, our government are doing. and what happened next? >> we asked for information about the cia's use of drones to carry out targeted killings. the answer the cia gave us is that it couldn't confirm or deny any involvement in the targeting killing program without jeopardizing national security. they said we can't even process your freedom of information act request and that's the question we took up initially with the district court. and then to the court of appeals.

the question was, can the cia really respond or not respond to freedom of information act request in this way? and the decision we got today is a decision that thecy cia can'to that. the cia has to process freedom of information act requests. it can't claim that its interest in the targeted killing program is a secret. it is a very narrow victory in a way because if in a way all the court is saying is that you the cia have to acknowledge what everybody already knows to be true. but on the other hand, it can have significant procedural implications because it means that cia now has to explain which records it's holding. about the drones. >> it has to respond within the sort of four lines of the process. >> exactly. >> it can't just say, the process, we are cutting off the process before we are even responding. within the bounds of the process they have to say, well, look, there are these documents and you can't see them because these documents are very secret. >> right. and that's important. not that they have to explain

which document they have, they have to explain why they're not being released. >> give a reason. >> right. and that's an important step. >> one of the things that is fascinating in reading the circuit court opinion is that one of the things that undercut the cia's argument is that recently there's been so much talk in washington by members of official dom, sometimes in hearing rooms about this program that the cia meanwhile simultaneously in court is saying we cannot even admit exists. >> that's the crazy and comical thing is that the cia would talk to reporters or government officials would talk to reporters, president went on jay leno and talked about the drone program. then the cia would walk into court and say all of this is a secret. and not only is it a secret but it would jeopardize national security for anybody to even mention it. there was this profound inconsistency between what the agency was doing in the public sphere and what it was doing in court. this decision narrows the gap between those two things, at least a little bit. >> the courts have been really

quite deferential and reluctant. it seems like there was a high water mark that was hit in which the court was pushing back against a lot of ascensions both in the secrecy front and just sort of executive authority front. a lot of that had to do we detainee treatment during the bush era. seems like the courts have been much more deferential in the last three or four years, broadly making. maybe you don't think that's the case. but it seems to me that's the way the wind are blowing. and i wonder if you think that the cultural and political shift that we've seen around this issue, particularly on targeting killing affects the courts. the courts are embedded in that same national conversation. >> that's good question. it's hard for me to say. i don't know what goes on behind the closed doors. i see the judges when they're on the bench and then they go home and write their opinions. but, this is a decision that is based largely on things that happened in the public domain. it is based largely on what government officials were talking about to the press and in speeches at universities and in law schools. so the judges are aware of all

of that and we introduced that kind of thing into the record. and when we litigate these cases. >> deputy legal director of the ucla, thank you for coming in tonight. >> thank you. in this one day's worth of news cycle three major changes have occurred in three major areas of policy. same-sex marriage, capital punishment and climate change. all today and all coming up next. of olay total effects plus the perfecting color of a bb cream equal? introducing the newest beauty trend. total effects cc cream c for color. c for correction. [ female announcer ] fight 7 signs of aging flawlessly. cc for yourself.

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every gay, lawyer, teacher, doctor, dog catcher we have to leave the ghetto. we have to let all those people out there know that they know one of us. and if somebody doesn't want to step out of the closet, we open the door for them. >> the whole state is in san francisco, harvey. >> yeah. >> harvey, that could be really dangerous. there is such a thing as a right to privacy. >> privacy. in this moment at this time, i'm not saying this as a supervisor, try to seize the enemy. and if you want real political power, if that's what you want, try telling the truth for a change. sign here. if there is anyone in this room right now who hasn't told their family, friends, employers, do it now. >> my folks know already. >> my dad doesn't know yet.

>> they vote for us 2-1, if they know they know one of us. >> when a gay person comes out to their parents and perhaps the acceptance initially is tentative and conditional, and as they become more comfortable with having a gay child or they see their gay child in relationships, they see their gay child have a breakup and see that the pain and the heartache is the same and when they see thy gay child in successful relationships they see the love and commitment is the same as their straight children and that can really radically transform a family and it's our superpower. >> rob portman. is the republican senator from ohio. he's been a republican party politics for many years. first as member of the house or one of his major legislative victories in the 1990s was the

defense of marriage act. he is the co-sponsor of that bill defining marriage as between one man and one woman. he made sure only straight people had the right to marry. that was part of his legacy in congress. then in 2000 portman served in the george w. bush administration as united states trade representative and then white house budget director. rob portman has been a pretty run of the mill republican. people think of him as a budget guy, a numbers guy. the romney 2012 presidential campaign considered him for vice president but people argued he was just too boring. that's right. too boring to be vice president which is quite something. today that dependable republican senator, the one who sponsored the defense of marriage act in the 1990s came out in favor of gay marriage. today's columbus dispatch the senator writes i have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad the government shouldn't deny them the opportunity to get married. with that portman became the

only sitting republican senator to be pro-gay marriage. what's interesting is what portman credits for his transformation. two years ago my son told my wife and me that he is gay. at the time my position on marriage for same-sex couples was rooted in my faith tradition that marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman. knowing that my son is gay prompted me to consider the issue from another perspective. this little moment, little moment of personal empathy a son coming out to a father, has been a huge part of this social revolution we're all seeing and it shows why as dan savage said earlier why coming out is a fondational act upon which gay equality is built. you cannot create these moments of personal empathy until people know that their friends and brothers and daughters are gay. it is not just gay rights where we see this thing happen. senator mark kirk from illinois suffered a stroke a year ago. since then he's experiencing a life-altering debilitating medical emergency he told chicago sun times he has a whole new perspective on medicaid.

a paltry amount of rehabilitation that most illinois residents get is not sufficient. he'd like to take a fresh look at his state's program. during last year's presidential campaign republican vice presidential candidate paul ryan claimed he thought social security was a very important program. his policies didn't support that necessarily. that's what he said. because he explained when his father died tragically when he was a teenager his mom was able to keep the family afloat thanks to social security survivor benefits. new jersey republican chris christie was no federal government tax and spend liberal but when hurricane sandy devastated his and other states he became one of the most vocal advocate for the government to spend billions of dollars immediately to help out his and other states. for his republican governor rick scott, who spent years and millions of dollars of his own money fighting obama care tooth and nail now says he supports that law's expansion of medicaid in his state. the governor said his change of heart came when his own elderly mother died last year.

empathy, especially in elected officials, is a good thing. but there is also something frustratingly blinkered and limited about this form of persuasion. if it's going to take every anti-gay politician having a gay son for gay people to be treated like other human beings in this country then equal rights are going to take longer to achieve than they should. that's why this is still necessary. in order for change to happen. things that turn those moments of personal empathy into civil rights advancements. that's the work of activists. and social movements and organizing. they build on top of the moments of personal empathy and build them into votes and city counsels and state legislatures and congress. they build the sentiment of the rob portmans of the world into civil rights laws and protection and build them into a new society. they build the bridge between the personal and the political. [ jackie ] it's just so frustrating...

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an amazing and undercovered story out of maryland today, as the state's legislature has voted to ban the death penalty. house of delegates voting 82-56 to abolish executions, joining the state's senate which passed the ban earlier this month. the bill ending the death penalty now goes to governor martin o'malley who has fought for the legislation and vowed to sign it. governor o'malley has been a long time opponent of capital punishment, promising since he first came into office in 2007 to push for repeal and making an attempt in 2009. the numbers were not in his favor until now. the death penalty repeal needed 71 votes to pass the house of delegates, today it got 82. including two republicans. today's vote is just the latest in a pretty remarkable string of victories against the death penalty. before 2007 only 12 states and the districts of columbia had abolished the death penalty. six years ago legislators in the state of new jersey became the first since the '70s to abolish the death penalty. the same year new york emptied its death row after that state's

highest court had declared it in violation of the state constitution three years earlier. in 2009, new mexico repealed the death penalty followed by illinois in 2011. connecticut repealed the death penalty just last year and now maryland becomes the sixth state in six years to say no to executing prisoners. once the measure is signed. will more states follow? joining us now is the president of the naacp ben jealous. thank you for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> you worked very hard on this. >> yes. >> the naacp worked hard. >> yes. >> how does this get a done? >> this got done because it was bottom up. it was our folks going door-to-door. call centers, catholic church. it was people who frankly had come off of death row like kirk bloodsworth, because they were innocent. getting out there and telling their stories. it was the parents who had -- parents who had lost children to murder, standing up and saying my child didn't believe in this. and you're not going -- so you

know, it was bottom up. but also we had a governor who had the courage to step forward. and a lieutenant governor who intends to be the next governor, courage to step forward and say, this is the right thing to do. this is the second year in a row. i've stood next to a governor who is a former prosecutor who says look, i know this from both sides, and this is the right thing to do. we've just got to get it done. >> that governor in question, because i think this plays into politics, governor o'malley, often talked about. and this is one of the speculator parlor games but he's often talked about as a contender in 2016 in the democratic primary. >> yes. >> i wonder what it says about the politics of the issue and where they are, that he is so out front on this issue, given the fact that he does have national political aspirations or is said to have national political aspirations. >> this is a proof that the pre-presidential politics have changed in this country. 20 years ago we had a young governor, like this governor from south of the mason dixon line, who was running for

president who felt the need to stop during his campaign to execute three people. including one who was so mentally retarded. that's the term the court uses. that he saved his dessert thinking he would come back after his execution to finish it. it was seen as sort of a necessary evil. >> speaking of bill clinton. >> yes. yes, yes. that's no longer the case. and this governor, today, he supported marriage equality last year. supported the dream act. championing the end of the death penalty. standing next to him is his lieutenant governor, who you know, let's be clear, president obama hasn't been a real champion for abolishing the death penalty. >> right. >> yet this man who is thought of perhaps as one of the next generation sort of rising black politicians, out there very clear saying, look, i have black sons. and when you look at the

innocent who get swept up, they're disproportionately black. so i think this really speaks to the fact that the politics of our country is evolving. even as the issue changes. >> we have brian stevenson who is an amazing guy, on my show, from the equal justice initiative down in alabama doing work. >> tremendous lawyer. >> and advocate on this. and i think what is interesting is the argument made in the states on fiscal lines. right, that there is some sort of way of using this kind of political judo to take the contours of the austerity boundaries, right? and people say, we got to cut and we don't have money and turn around and say, you know what, this death penalty is an incredibly, incredibly, incredibly wasteful undertaking. >> it is actually i think really hard to be a conservative, and to defend the death penalty. you saw it today. people just get down and say, it is just retribution. we need retribution. because typically what conservatives say is, "a," the states shouldn't act like god.

you know, "b," if something isn't working we shouldn't do it. and if it isn't working and it is really expensive, we shouldn't do that either. that is absolutely the argument that, you know, was made. and it's very compelling. but it is also in the context of having more and more innocent people coming off of death row. it's in the context of having more and more murder victims' families stand up and say, you know what, the far right wing victim's rights movement doesn't speak for us. all of that is very important. >> the supreme court put a kind of marker down about the number of states that would have to ban the death penalty before it would fall into the unconstitutional parameters of cruel and unusual. and you, ben jealous, and naacp are helping march this country towards that. >> eight more states to go. four in play right now. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> god bless, man. did you know the obama administration has under its current legal authority the ability to make serious progress on the issues of carbon emissions? like without congress, without a

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we, the people, still believe that our obligations as americans are not just to

ourselves, but to all posterity. we will respond to the threat of climate change. knowing that failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms. >> on the occasion of being sworn in as president for the second time, when he likely commanded about as much attention of the country as he ever will. president obama put climate change front and center. one of the first issues he talked about in detail in his inaugural address after first addressing the economic issues. that are obviously at the front of everyone's minds. he went right to climate change. came before immigration before he talked about detail in war even. he did the same thing during his state of the union address less than a month later. after first tackling the economy. he went directly to climate change.

>> i urge this congress to get together, pursue a bipartisan market based solution to climate change. like the one john mccain and joe lieberman worked on to the a few years ago. but, if congress won't act soon to protect future generations, i will. i will direct -- i will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take now and in the future to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy. it provoked both bouts of hope and angst disappointment among those fighting to save the planet from burning to a crisp. there are two very important things a president can do alone without having to go through congress. without having to overcome a certain republican filibuster in the senate or go through the house. one has gotten a lot of attention. chances are you have already heard about it.

it is the pro afterle of the key stone xl pipeline designed to bring the tar sands of canada down to the gulf of mexico. tar sands are dirtier more carbon intense form of oil. and creating in pipeline would be in the words of nasa climate scientist james hansen, would be like creating the fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet. people in the know had supposed all along that keystone was a done deal, but a remarkable group of activist delaying it at every turn and continuing to mobilize to delay it which in turn has made it into a top tier issue for republicans who simply cannot understand why we are still not pumping canadian oil sand into texas already. >> you know there's one major shovel-ready project ready to go, and that's the keystone pipeline. >> called the keystone xl pipe line. it is a no brainer, it has been blocked by the obama administration now for four years. >> we are absolute committed as republican team to keep the keystone pipeline on the front burner. >> approving this pipeline seems

like a no brainer. >> keystone was an obvious choice. >> there's no reason for the keystone pipeline to be blocked for another day. >> in case you're curious, third to left there was the republican jeans caucus in favor of the keystone xl pipeline. one piece of climate change policy the president can effect on his own. the other thing the president can do on his own without going through congress, which in the grand scheme of things might even be more significant than keystone is that thanks to the supreme court's ruling in massachusetts versus the epa in 2007, a decision little noticed outside of energy circles, it was determined that the epa could under its existing authority under the clean air act regulate carbon as a pollutant. they could promulgate binding rules that would make it very difficult for dirty power plants like coal powered plants, to continue operating as they are now. this was the crucial freighted subtext when the president said in his state of the union address he would prefer a cap and trade plan like john mccain

and joe lieberman proposed, but if congress didn't act, he was. that was the subtext that hung in the air in that chamber when the president said he would act on climate change if congress did not. that was the sub text when he nominated gina mccarthy to be head of the epa, because gina mccarthy aside from being one of mitt romney's top officials during his tenure as governor of massachusetts back when he accepted the science on climate change, aside from that, she is also the person most recently running the division that oversees clean air at the epa and proposed rules, quite good, stringent ones, on new power plants. which brings us to today's news. which is really important but also completely and totally buried. as part of this on-going battle happening outside the view of the public, we got notice today those regulations, the ones that gina mccarthy oversaw of new power plants which could dramatically reduce carbon emissions, they're now going to be delayed. they're going to be reviewed further and likely revised.

this is, of course, occasion for the whaling and nashing of teeth by the perpetually preemptively disappointed environmentalists with whom i personally cast my lot. but if there is one thing we have learned from watching the keystone fight it's that public attention matters. in the absence of public attention, the white house will only hear from one side, the dirty energy companies. your government right now as you sit and watch this has the power without congress to take what would be the most significant step in our country's history to curtail carbon emissions through the epa process. there are people around the country and swarming around capitol hill and washington, d.c., texas, west virginia, and everywhere that fossil fuels are produced and extracted who will stop at nothing to make sure that does not happen. right now, the white house is more or less only hearing from those people. if you don't like how that sounds, they should probably hear from you, too.

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an important embalming update. last week on this show rachel reported venezuela's post-funeral plans for the body of their late president hugo chavez. >> the nation of venezuela held its state funeral today for it's beloved president hugo chavez who died on tuesday. that does not mean they buried hugo chavez. all week, people have been waiting in line to pay their respects to chavez's casket. they were still doing it today, even as the funeral was getting under way. but this is not a last chance see him now or the opportunity will be lost forever kind of lineup. what we have learned is that president chavez is going to be embalmed and placed in a glass box on permanent display. venezuela's vice president who tonight became the country's new president explained it this way, quote, the people can have him forever. >> they're going to preserve his body forever.

since the initial reporting, we learned that hugo chavez permanent installation might not happen after all. chavez's vice president who is now the country's acting president has announced that mr. chavez's handlers may have waited too long for the eternal embalming thing to work. russian and german scientists arrived to embalm chavez and they tell us it's very difficult because the process should have started earlier. maybe we can't do it. government sources told reuters to expect a formal announcement this week. the permanent embalming is not possible. it is not surprisingly a time sensitive proposition. hugo chavez died a week and a half ago. his body apparently has been embalmed just not with the kind of super specialized techniques needed to preserve it forever. decision to try to preserve his chavez's body for ever and ever was made two days after he died. venezuelan acting vice president now says that was too long. the decision was made too late. one embalmer said a body needs to be chemically treated within hours of death unless it's kept refrigerated. by