>> we'll set up an independent fund to build projects like this one and make sure company share in the risks and returns. instead of picking projects based on pork barrel politics, we'll pick them based on how much good they'll do for the economy. how much the projects make sense. >> kristen welker is live where the miami heat play. another big sell from the president today. >> reporter: it was a big sell. it comes after a week in which the president has been talking about new gun legislation, immigration reform. today president really trying to show folks that he is also focused on the economy as well. he did it against the back drop of the port of miami which is where he was standing. they are currently involved in a $2 billion upgrade project. a combination of public and private funds stoefl president today calling for more investments in infrastructure prongs and calling on congress to issue a number of tax

inkrepiinkre incentives to encourage new measures in the united states and also international company to invest here in the country. so the president talking about the fact that he wants to set p up that investment program. also call for fast forward bonds which would get rid of the red tape and make it easier to move forward with infrastructure projects like this one. and he also called for an expansion of a loan program. so a number of items on the docket today when the president spoke in miami. i have to tell that you the politics of this are very difficult. of course, republicans have been that you canning back already saying they do not want to see new spending. of course this has been the clash between republicans and this president and democrats, republicans saying they don't want to add to the deficit. the white house says these initiatives won't add to the deficit. the question is what are the actual figures? the white house saying they will

release those figures when they release the president's budget. that is due out on april 10th. of course, it is coming quite late. the president taking some heat for that. no pun intended. the president calling on this new initiative. next week he will shift back to guns. he will hit the road to press for stiffer gun control laws. the president left miami a short while ago after speaking to a big crowd here. >> all right. thank you very much. >> now let's turn to friend of the show, dan gross, columnist and business editor. his daily title is entitled, did my taxes go up? i hadn't noticed. really, really? how are you? nice to see you. >> i'm good. thank you for having me. >> so infrastructure is an easy way for government to create jobs. republicans are saying no new spending. what do you think about what the president is doing in miami? >> i think he went to the right place to do it. ports are where so much of the action is. our country is an export

powerhouse. although nobody really believes it. our exports are on a record level, they're up 50% from 2009. the ports in south carolina and georgia and miami and the west coast is where so much economic activity happens. and these are democratic states and republican states. exports as a percentage of gdp are higher than they've ever been in the last 30 or 40 years. i don't think he makes the connection between having good ports and railroads and bridges and roads on the one hand, and not just the jobs you create when you build new stuff. but the way that it enables businesses to expand, to trade, just to do stuff more intelligently and more efficiently. he doesn't really grasp that intuitively and i don't think he talk about it in a kind of natural organic way. >> he talks about the $10 billion in the bank for 42 for example i think that sounds great. i want to talk to you a bit about federal state bond taxes which seems to be a bit of a sticking pointed here.

we just went through this whole debate about where to find new revenues. as you know, and the audience will remember, there was a lot of talk about should these muni bonds be tax-exempt. maybe the feds can make up some money. now we have the white house saying, and i'm reading from the statement. they would lose the 28% subsidy rate on these new fast forward bonds. that would be revenue neutral in comparison to the federal revenue cost from traditional tax-exempt bonds. are we replaying in reverse the same conversation around tax-exempt bonds from before? or is this different and do you think it's good? >> well, this is clearly trying to get some support from state governors. because it is going to allow them theoretically to issue bonds and get a subsidy. any time the federal government is willing to subsidize the activity of a state, governors tend to like that. whether they are republicans or democrats. >> do you like it? do you think that's good for the job market? >> well, look. i think the simplest way would not be to issue bonds and not to

have these convoluted finance. for the u.s. treasury which can borrow for ten years at about 1.9%, to go to the bond market. sell the bonds. borrow the money and then go and spend it, appropriate it, run the projects itself. the political arrangement doesn't allow for that. the republicans are opposed to it. and so you have the white house coming one these different ways and methods where maybe we can get these different people on board. if they can't get the house of representatives on board, maybe they can get to them through the states. >> the president has a big agenda. and he has got his fingers in a lot of different pots now. i'm wondering if you think he has diminished his influence by hopping from one urgent reform to another. from immigration to gun control. now on infrastructure. he reverts back to fiscal crisis i conversations in between all of that. i know he can walk and chew gum at the same time. but can voters? >> i think voters can multitask.

i see they will all the time using their blackberrys and walking down the street. >> but not well. >> people do manage to do it. he is running out of time. we are here in march of 2013. so you're talking two and a half years left. i think one of the ironies is that the economy is growing at about a 3% rate right now. we don't have the justification of there is an emergency. the economy is creating jobs. we've lost some of that your honor ency surrounding that. i think he is thinking i have this time left and these the thing i want to get done. i think it makes sense that he is focusing on a bunch of thing at once. >> it is all stuff that he talked about. one of the thing i like that should have bipartisan support is the infrastructure bank. we also need a smart way to choose which projects we invest in.

which right now we don't have that. it ends up being whichever member of congress who is most senior can get funds for their district which is not a smart way to do it. i wanted to pick up on something that you were saying. you were talking about how the president didn't do a great job of connecting infrastructure investment. not just to the immediate jobs that it creates but the potential for economic growth that it creates in the future. and the benefit that it provides to businesses which raises the question in my mind, where does the business community stand on this issue? they have a lot of power and sway within the republican caucus. has the president gotten the business community on board with investments and infrastructure? >> at various times we've seen the chamber of commerce, they'll come out and say we're for a big highway bill. big business does like that stuff. they're big engineering and construction companies. i think this whole infrastructure thing, and it is not just the ports. it is the electrical grid. businesses cannot function

without. this walmart would not have been built without the instate highway system. he can go to the hoover dam or the tennessee valley authority. those were new deal efforts by the much hated franklin delano roosevelt that the entire economy of those reasonings still functions on today. and again, i just think when he talks about sort of social justice, and some of these other issues, he feels that he knows that he has lived it. admittedly, it is not as exciting to talk about electricityification and dams and bridges. but that same story is there. you have to build the stuff and build it good and intelligently and then private segtor goes and does its stuff and creates jobs. the job creation is not the construction jobs that a new tunnel under the hudson would create. job creation comes from everybody's life better by cutting down transportation times. this has happened throughout history. and we need to be doing more. the panama canal is now being widened so these massive, truly

massive ships can come through. and if our ports are not equipped to handle them, we'll be missing out. he doesn't really, businesses know this. companies know this. i think business people get it. i don't think he does a good job making those connections. >> it is incredibly to make. you don't want it to seem like short term stimulus. it is a long term investment. i wanted to turn back to your article. did my taxes go up? i hadn't noticed. we had a big debate about the pay roll tax cut extension. ultimately we allowed to it expire. what has that done economically thus far, do we know? >> well, if you remember when we were back in november and december, the economists were saying it will reduce gdp by a certain percentage. obama had that hash tag, $50 a week, $2,000 a year ago that's a lot of money. and people were concerned that your taxes are going up so you'll start spending less. but the data, and admittedly, it is from january and february

that we have. we just got personal data and consumer spending data today. in february, better than expected. the first couple months, the flow of economic data relating to the consumer has been better. home sales up. auto sales up. you see the green arrows there. all going in the right direction. now, throws being fueled by the fact that more people, we have two million more people working today than there were this time last year. housing prices are up which makes people feel more wealthy. the stock market at record highs. and those people are outweighing the fact that we're all losing $50 or so every couple weeks to our paychecks. to this higher social security tax. and in addition, higher capital gains, higher income taxes on the very wealthy. and the owncare tax, we were told the rich would stop investing. if you look at what's happening on wall street, they seem to be investing plenty. >> dan gross.

thank you very much. >> up next, the first holy week as head of the church for pope france sxis he is making history. why are some upset about it? we'll find out as we spin. it's friday, march 29th. we've all had those moments. when you lost the thing 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.

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newly installed pope france i stunned many around the world by doing something no pope has done before. as part of a easter eek service, he washed and kissed the feet of

a dozen juvenile prisoners including as, muslims and for the first time, two women. an unorthodox, he is urging other vatican priests to adopt. >> he had compared it to the life of a shepherd. he said a shepherd likes the smell of his sheep. basically, he was saying you as priests, don't worry about your careers. get your hands dirty. go out and work with the poor people. >> the nontraditional ceremony is another in a growing list of changes brought by francis. he refused the papal limo, rejected the palatial pent house and opted for an open air pope mobile. all these changes have some asking, who is this pipe? let's spin. i really liked what that commenter had to say about francis being of the people. he believes shepherds should smell their sheep. it is a very visceral, very new

testament kind of papacy. i heard one person describe this day as radical. going into the juvenile detention center and meeting these people. washing their feet as a radical return to new testament fundamentals. the stories that you hear about jesus so often. and it reminded me that this is the kind of pope/priest that we grew up with, depicted in movies. you had the sound of music. you had dead man walking, for example. i'm thinking of sister act. this was the catholic church as giving, as in the gutters with the people. and then as the perception of the church changed. so too did the movie versions. then you had movies like doubt and primal fear which really

dealt with corruption of the church and the abuse scandal of the church. i see this as more of the '70s, '80s version of movie church. it is really sort of uplifted. it makes me a little nostalgic. >> i see your point. i take your point. you put sister act and dead man walking in the same sentence. entirely different worlds. >> i really connect with what you were saying about this being sort of radical. i don't care if you're religious. i don't care if you're catholic or not. i think it is beautiful to behold his humanity and the way he goes about handling himself in the world and the way he goes about treating other people. i think one of the things that's offputting about organized religion and maybe catholicism in particular is the sense that there is a judgment about you, about your life, about who you are. and he seems to have this very

inclusive, we are all fallen. we are all sinners view of catholicism and religion. which sit a beautiful uplifting thing to see. the other thing, the feminist side of me loves that he intentionally seemingly chose to wash the feet of women. maybe he will be open to a broader role for women in the church which i think would be a great thing. >> and doing this vis-a-vis prisoners, i think is so interesting. there's justice of god and justice on earth. they're very different things. when we see the tradition being enacted in a way that is so humanizing. or the these individuals. to me it is such a different reception and treatment of people who end up in prison. and i think broadly, the prison system does a lot of punishment,

it does not do a lot of humanizing. the notion that someone can have made a mistake mark the religious context, a mistake before god, or a mistake before their fellow man and woman in society. that has to be dealt with and it has to be punished but that doesn't mean that person has to be dehumanized and taken down. this to me is someone who is very much an outsider and not familiar with the theology. just to be washing it, it feels like a humanizing element. >> we have this vindictive nature in america, most of the world to people who make mistakes and commit crimes and should be in prison but should also be treated with a bit of dignity. the vast majority of prisoners will get out one day. if they're in prison and we treat them like animal, what are they going to be like when they return to the streets and become a problem for all the rest of us who are not committing crimes?

so we need to show them a little heart and respect. this gesture does that. >> i agree. it was an inspiring thing to do. on that note, i'll be on the chris matthews show this sunday morning talking about easter. so check your local listings. up next, ari leads our coverage of the week in jodi arias. what's up with her new outfits? and how about that michael? maybe it was from those head stands. we make meeting times, lunch times and conference times. but what we'd rather be making are tee times. tee times are the official start of what we love to do. the time for shots we'd rather forget, and the ones we'll talk about forever. in michigan long days, relaxing weather and more than 800 pristine courses make for the perfect tee time. because being able to play all day is pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org.

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there's no testimony today in the jodi arias trial in phoenix. in fact there were only three days of proceedings this week. on wednesday jodi had a migraine and court was canceled. with only three days of testimony, our friends at headline news saw a ratings decline. yet there have been a few developments. jodi arias seems to be dressing a lot like her defense

attorneys. if you haven't seen yet, this tape, where have you been? this was in 2010. this was the interrogation room and police were about to charge her with the bloody death of her on again, off again boyfriend, travis alexander. we bring in allison, former federal prosecutor and author of the critically acclaimed thriller, distregs. thank you for being here. >> so tell us, what are we seeing in the trial? do any of these maneuvers or this potential outfit matching device if we believe it is real, does that have any impact on a case like this? >> absolutely. the outfits that she wears are very carefully calculated. each element that you see on her has been thought about and discussed with her defense attorneys over and over again of each thing is deliberate. i know defense attorneys who keep bins of plastic glasses, nonprescription glasses in their office just for their clients to wear. there's the reality and there's the perception. in many cases, in a trial like

this, the perception is just as important as the reality. we've seen this massive make under for jodi arias, right? she was this blond bombshell vixen. she could have played the femme fatale. and now she looks like the shy librarian. there are studies behind that. the reason she's doing that, there is a study that shows women who are, who appear weak and women who appear unattractive actually stand a better chance of convincing the police and jurors that they are innocent. that they acted in self-defense. so this is a very deliberate decision. >> that makes a lot of sense. if you do yoeg, a i would ask you how the head stand would be a relack move in a tense situation. if you don't, we'll move on to something else, programs more germane. the prosecutor committed misconduct by signing autographs and pictures. they're asked not to consume media but that is impossible to suggest that they won't consume

any media. that makes me think that surely they are tainted by being at the center of this national media circus trial which make me would not, if cameras in the courtroom pervert the legal process. >> oh, i don't think so. i think it is great to have cameras in the courtroom. it opens up the courtroom. the trials are supposed to be public. most people cannot make it to the courthouse. i live in d.c. this is in arizona. >> doesn't it change for the jury? >> the jurors are being instructed. they're not supposed to be watching the media and i don't think you can shut the door to the world because the jury might take a peek. i think it is important for the justice system, for us to be able to see what's going on. and given the media and the way the world functions today, the fact that we can do it is a great thing. >> i'm sorry. would you be comfortable if you were representing jodi and you knew some of your jurors were also listening to whoever it is on hln talking about this case every night? >> i wouldn't. that's why they're instructed. they are instructed every night. and i think every morning, too

by the judge that they are not to watch the media. they're not to look at what is going on. they're only supposed to be concentrating on what's going on. the stuff in the media, that's for you and i and the rest of america to consume. the jurors are supposed to be just listening to what's coming to them from the stand and from the evidence presented. >> we talked a little about jodi's appearance. but are you seeing this same mimicking of the defense attorney, not just in what she's wearing but also in sort of her manner and the things that she is doing? do you make anything of that? >> i think she is trying to just play the little church mouse. and to the extent that she is mimicking her defense attorneys, i think probably the people she is spending most of her time with these days. we tend to mirror the look of those around us. perhaps there is a deliberate tactic there. certainly the jurors at this point are feeling more affection for the defense attorneys than for jodi arias herself.

maybe she is trying to humanize herself by aligning herself with them. but mostly at this point, what she's doing is wondering, is there a single hold-out in the jury? that's the best she can hope for right now. is there somebody who has fallen in love with her? is there someone who is contrarian, anti-government? somebody for some reason that will tip the scale in her balance? otherwise, she is facing life or even death right now. >> i hate to break to it jodi but it will take more than glasses to get sympathy. i can attest to that. i'm wondering though, we're awaiting amman a knox's fate. we all saw casey anthony enter into private citizen world and how she is handling that. we saw o.j. handle that not well. what awaits jodi arias if in the unlikely event she gets aquatd and has to enter normal life after all of this? >> i think it is impossible that

she'll be acquitted at this point. i don't think there is a chance. i think the best she can hope for is a hung jury. it will be an incredible transition. look at what happened to casey anthony when she was acquitted. the death threats. people hated her. she's been in hiding for some of that time. i think it will be very difficult. joth there i don't think that w happen. i think what awaits her is the rest of her life in prison or death row. which is not a pretty scene. if you look at arizona's death row, she would be spending 23 hours a day in her cell alone. she will get one hour a day to walk around a cell. kind of like a cage-like cell, shackled. in many ways, that is more of the imminent danger for her. she probably wouldn't be put to death even if they decided to impose the death penalty on her. >> and just real quickly, if there is a hung jury, what happens? >> if there is a hung jury, they do it all over again. do not pass go. do not collect $200. just go back to the beginning and start over with a new jury. and everybody who has testified

has to testify all over again. >> allison, thank you very much. coming up, like it or not. we have heard the term. what does it actually mean to act white? i've always kept my eye on her... but with so much health care noise, i didn't always watch out for myself. with unitedhealthcare, i get personalized information and rewards for addressing my health risks. but she's still going to give me a heart attack. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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i'm really glad that girl stayed at home. vo: expedia helps 30 million travelers a month find what they're looking for. one traveler at a time. expedia. find yours. if i was going to pass as a white man, everything has to be perfect. >> see how they walk? i have to learn to keep my butt real tight when i walk. >> and i read a whole bunch of hallmark cards. >> you always mean lots more to me than you could ever guess for you have done so much to fill my life with happiness. finally, i was ready. >> ha ha ha! i love that old eddie murphy sketch when he pretends to be a white man and all the things in the world come to him. that's hysterical. when someone in the real world

asserts that a black person is white, there is nothing funny about it. it is an extremely offensive pejorative and it has been thrown at me. it is hurtful. it is meant to shame you as if you're not doing blackness properly. it is rare for those who charge someone with white to be able to explain what it actually means. here is someone who spent a lot of time discerning what it really mean. the co-author of acting white. rethinking race in post racial america. will be to the show. >> thank you very much. i'm delighted to be here. >> let's break down what the white as, he really means. what is it when they really say that? >> i think it is helpful to have a sense of the broad argument we make in the book. so the standard way in which we think about discrimination is to imagine a scenario in which an

employer prefers some people over others, typically whites over african-americans. we want to say it is another form of discrimination about which we should be concerned. here, an employer might prefer some blacks over others. to understand why that might be discriminatory, an analogy to agendaer is helpful. we get that sex discrimination occurs when men are preferred over women. we also understand that sex discrimination arise when's an institution prefers some women over others, based on whether they act like a woman or act like a man or are perceived to act out their identities in ways that are problematic. we want to say there is a similar dynamic that is at play with regard to race. an acting race dynamic that people don't like to talk about but actually shapes the way we think about race in important ways. >> very interesting. i totally agree with most of what you're saying and race is obviously, and identity is obviously a performance. a lot of people don't understand that. they think i get out of bed. no. we're always performing our identities and it is really

valley unl that the people who are saying you're acting white don't understand. it is very valuable to be able to code switch. to say i'm going to perform my identity, my gender, my race this way over here. maybe in the workspace. a different way in the social space so you can get the most out of who you are rather than saying, i have one personality. i act this way all day long. >> that's exactly right. and quite apart from whether we might intend to act out our identities in particular ways, people perceive us to be doing exactly that. and i know you've written about that, this issue. and we're not interested at all in policing expressions of blackness or calling people who are perceived to act white sellouts, uncle toms, that kind of conversation is entirely unproductive. what we're interested in doing is broadening how people think about race in the way that we've broadened how people think about gender. i think i recall krystal suggesting when she was running for office, people were actually concerned about the way in which

she managed her agenda. was she going to talk about her kid. was she going to do her hair in a particular way. was she going to wear make-up. though dynamics we get and how they shape discrimination. we're there are similar thing going on in the racial domain. and think about president obama in this respectful you might recall that during his presidential run, he made explicit, the extent to which people were perceiving him, whether he was acting white or not white. it is a great saturday night live clip. i'm not sure if you've seen it where two carings, one playing al sharpton and the other playing jesse jackson. and they're asking themselves, is america ready for a black president. and the answer depends on the degrees of blackness. the fact that obama has barack as an african name moves him up. the fact in high school he went by the name of barry moves him down. the fact that he was raised by a single mom and a grandmother moves him up but in hawaii moves

him down. you get the idea. we can quarrel with how those factors apply but the general idea that is being judged, both on the performative idea. it is the basic point to put on the table. >> and i have another pop culture clip that i pulled about the president when he first announced his candidacy back in 2007. this is stephen colbert about whether or not barack obama is black. >> settle something for me. is barack obama black? >> no. he's not. in the american political context, black means the son of west african -- the descendant of west africans brought here to labor in the united states. it is not a putdown. it is not to say he hasn't suffered. it is not to say he doesn't have a glorious lineage of his own. it is to say that he and i who are descended from west african slaves brought to manager, we are not the same.

>> reporter: so if he's not black, why doesn't he just run as a white guy? because we know black people will vote for white people. and white people will vote for white people. we're not sure white people will vote for black people. so it seems like by self-identifying as a black man. he says as he black guy. he says nobody thought a black guy born in hawaii with a father from kenya and a mother from hawaii. that's a lock. >> he is not white either. he is an african, african-american. >> should we make up a new name for him? >> what about neauvou black. >> how do you think america or most of america views barack obama and views michelle obama for that matter? >> first i want to say in case it is not clear. i am black. >> spoilers. >> i'm not sure about you.

maybe -- >> no, i'll totally black, too. and that deborah dickerson vote, bet you find that highly offensive. of course he's black. he doesn't have to have a direct relationship to the slave experience to be qualified as black. that is highly offensive. >> indeed. and it goes to the fact that people don't necessarily think about blackness in its multiple diversity. so blackness isn't a mono lithic identity. that's the point. we have different ways of being black. if we have that as a starting point, then this notion about whether or not obama is black becomes rather sill yirg it seems to me. that doesn't mean people aren't assessing his race based on a number of what we might call racially associated traits. people do judge people based on action send. based on demeanor. based on where they live. based on friendship networks. based on politics. these are cue that's we use to assess what we might say is a person's degree of blackness.

that again is not easy to talk about. but there is some empirical evidence that suggests these dynamics are quite real. >> and i think it is really smart that you're explaining this through the lens of gender discrimination. because we all understand how women are judged on what kind of woman they are. i don't know that we've quite solved that problem. you can ask hillary clinton or sarah palin if they feel like that's been particularly solved. but i'm wondering, what would you pinpoint as the location of the pressure to either act more white or act less white? where is that coming from? does that come from within the black community from externally in the white community? is that pop culture? >> i think it comes from multiple directions, depending on the context. if we're thinking about predominant white institutions, the professional context, for example, there are pressures to tone down the blackness, for example. "the new york times" ran a series of articles in 2009, i

believe, where they interviewed lots of, at least a couple black people going on the market and they would explicitly remove references to their race from their resume. not all of them. just enough so that they were not perceived to be too black. so in a professional predominantly white setting, the pressures come from the fact that certain institutional norms might be at odds with stereo types about race. and you don't want to be perceived as the angry black guy. you don't want to be perceived as the guy who won't fit in. you don't want to be perceived as the person playing the race card. so those pressures exist in that context. in other contexts, it is quite different. it would be to the extent you're perceived as acting white, that calls into question your black authenticity. we don't want to suggest that the pulls or pushes are from one particular direction. they're all over the place. >> if we had more time we would play a clip from when keeping it real goes wrong. we are winding down. i wanted to draw you out on the

way that the notion of acting white seem to be deployed more frequently against black americans than other minority groups who have their own struggles. is that because of the particular history of the slave experience and the way that america has always been on the one has not, fascinated by the contributions of black americans but also, fearful of the notion of black americans? specifically black power in our history? >> i think that's absolutely fair. i think it is fair to say there's an expectation that black people will manifest their blackness to some extent but not too much. i mean, there is a degree to which passing as white becomes problematic. and overly foig with black becomes problematic. and again obama has been masterful in navigating this particular line. recall his fantastic speech on race. no one could say that speech reflected an overidentification with black people. no one could say it reflected an

overidentification with white people. it was a goldilocks moment. when he got the just white right so to speak, that's part of the reason for his political success. >> thank you, my brother. >> not at all. my pleasure. >> up next, the touch screen generation. are ipads changing our little ones' minds? ♪ [ instrumental ] [ girl ] when i started playing soccer, i wasn't so good. [ barks ] so me and sadie started practicing. we practiced a lot. now i've got some moves! [ crowd cheering ] spin kick! whoo-hoo! [ giggling ] [ announcer ] we know how important your dog is to your whole family. so help keep him strong and healthy... with the total care nutrition in purina dog chow.

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salon genius. affordable for all. we all know as adults we can't live without our smartphones and tab lets. increasingly kids are also getting hooked on these high-tech toys. last night while waiting to absolute our newest political website, my daughter kept herself occupied with my iphone and she is not alone. babies, toddlers and little one of all ages are using mobile devices for everything from learning abcs to holding a virtual tea party. is spending so much time on these devices good or bad for kids? joining us now, hannah rosea. in her article, the touch screen generation, she looks to help parents make sense of the thousands of apps out there and whether it is even a good idea for our kids to use them. thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> so etss will cut straight to

the chase. i am not particularly restrictive over screen time for my daughter. just how guilty should i feel? >> you shouldn't feel guilty. that's the point of the article. i'm trying to get parents to feel a little less guilty weefrl in this moment of what researchers call the pass back effect. we throw the kids the phone and feel really guilty about it. but there are so many great apps out there and so many ways kids can learn from them. we should engage. we should tell them find the cool thing that they can do on it and that's okay. >> you talk about the research out there. it shows when children are very young. they're under 2 1/2 or toddlers. they will still tend to learn more from a person than from a person on video. but some other research suggests that as long as the video or the tablet is sufficiently interactive, then they can comprehend more. explain that. >> yes. it is not as if an interactive video will substitute for your mom. it is not quite like that. but given that we live in an age

of media and technology, researchers have learn into what kinds of technology can they interact with. what can they get information out of. it turn out interactivity is the key. the fact they can touch and it something can lap, that makes m astonishing experience of watching my toddler who was then in diapers be unbelievably competent with the ipad. it's alarming as it is to many parents. it's like watching an adult in diapers. it's really weird. nonetheless, after i did some research, i realized there's a lot he can get out of this. >> yeah. hanna, i mean, on the one hand as i contemplate my future, maybe being a mother one day, i think what a great era to raise kids in with all these technological advances. it must be so easy and fun and cool and interesting to learn with all of these technologies. on the other, i already have anxieties about how to handle all of these technologies and keep my kids off facebook and twitter and, i mean, and i'm

technologically savvy with these media. how do parents navigate and compete and try to raise kids quote/unquote, slowly, when world out there is so fast? >> i think it's by being proactive. instead of treating this like poison and throwing it back and them and feeling really guilty, just think about it. people have anxieties about every era of median technology. read back to what parents thought about novels and what they would to children's brains or television, people thought of "sesame street" and panicked back in the day. the smart thing to do is think about it beforehand and not just do it, think of it as poiszen and feel guilty about it. >> hanna, i think you're underestimating the difficulty here. nicholas carr wrote a whole book about it, talks about modern technology is mental sugar. we may be giving too much sugar, overstimulation to our kids. >> if you decide, look, my kids are not going to play with only technology during the week and

only half an hour saturdays. when you have that half an hour an saturdays, don't tell them here's your technological equivalent of a sugary soda. tell them, there are really cool things on it, i'm going to help you find really cool things and let's do this together. don't treat it as poison. >> all right. thank you very much, hanna. i think i feel a little bit less guilty. i appreciate that. as we just talked about, one of the reasons so many parents have turned to technology to entertain their kids is just to get a few minutes of quiet, frankly. >> yeah. >> in fact, according to a new study published in the "daily mail" the average mom gets 288 questions each day. >> wow. >> seems a little low to me, to be frank. we asked our friends on facebook for the craziest questions they've, asked by their kids. ginny brown's son watched the wizard of oz and learned the pledge of allegiance and promptly wanted to know for which it stands, which witch they were talking about. head over to facebook.com/thecycle.

up next, toure gets the final word on this historic week for gay americans. girl: first, i saw it on cable. then i read about it online. i found out how to help. i downloaded the info. i spoke up... and told my friends... and they told their friends... and together, we made a difference. anncr: and tornado relief has been pouring in from... across the country. girl: we might be hundreds of miles apart... but because we're connected, it's like we're all neighbors. and i have a massive heart attack right in my driveway. the doctor put me on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go talk to your doctor. you're not indestructible anymore. go talk to your doctor. they're coming.

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something chief justice roberts said this week stood out to me. he said speaking of gay marriage, "i suppose the sea change is a lot to do with the political force and effectiveness of people representing supporting your side of the case?" he added "you don't doubt that the lobby supporting enactment of same-sex marriage laws in different states is politically powerful, do you?" actually, sir, i do. if gay americans were as poufld as he imagines then we would not be debating their rights at all. they would have them. in the real world gay rights

groups are massively outspent by opponents and stampede of federal elected officials declaring support for gay marriage includes one republican senator. how will that trend lead to legislation? the supreme court appears poised to overturn doma and return gay marriage to california on a technicality but the court is unlikely to address the 31 states that have constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. so gays and lesbians who live in those states will continue to wait for equal protection and equal rights. it looks as though we're headed for a stalemate where many blue states allow same-sex marriage or civil unions and all the red stateses do not and with bands enshrined in constitutions it will take change in the composition of those states to overturn the bands. i believe victory is inevitable for the gay rights movement but justice delays is justice denied. we may be about to enter the long slog phase where progress slows to a crawl. gays and lesbians lack political

power because they're underrepresented in the political process. this is an argument of an amicus brief filed by two political scientists as part of holingsworth v. perry, aka prop 8. there are only six openly gay or lesbian representatives and one openly gay legislator. underrepresentation in political office, the brief argues, constrains a group of political power. female officials are more likely to introduce and vote for bills important to women. black electeds are more likely to introduce and vote for bills important to blacks. and more than that, members of an oppressed group will shape the entire body just as having gay family members makes you more likely to support gay rights. gay america can no longer hope elected officials, straight elected officials, will do the right thing just because public pressure is rising. they can no longer rely on asking others to give them the precious rights they deserve. they must be in the arena as elected officials demanding it. the supreme court will help only

so much. the voters will most of the time vote against gay rights. especially in red states. a segment of america will remain archie bunkerish on this for years to come. gay americans do not deserve to have to wait until those people off to enjoy equal protection and full citizenship. more gay americans must make elected office a goal and more rich gays must help the cause. more of us who care about this issue must support the victory fun, a group to getting openly gay and lesbian americans into american office. when there are more in state and federal office, then the end of this romantic segregation will be near. all right. that it does it for with the the cycle." my friend and yours, jonathan capehart in the chair for martin today. how are you? >> hey, toure, romantic segregation. that's good. thanks, guys, good afternoon, it's friday march the 29th. why do subjects like immigration reform and gay rights lead to is to