to buy one a model year newer. learn about it at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? right now in "the cycle," jersey boys, president obama and chris christie together again for much more than a day at the beach. >> someone is ready to be qb. here we go. some republicans think they can win politically by holding up disaster relief. >> i'm krystal ball here in new york city where most anything is possible. it should be no surprise that anthony wiener is slowly climbing to the top of the mayor's race. >> two big issues collide.

marriage equality, immigration laws and how two words can change everything. or can they? >> all that plus why the irs just needs a few good men or women. we're equal tunnel here in "the cycle." the president is on his way back for a day along the jersey shore with governor chris christie. the political odd couple toured areas that have made a remarkable comeback since assumer storm sandy seven months ago. here's the president. >> the jersey shore is back in business. the work is not over though. seven months ago i promised you that your country would have your back. i told you we would not quit until the job was done. and i meant it. i meant it. >> this is not the first time president obama has appeared with governor christie. the two toured the damage on

halloween spooking some worried supporters who worried that playing nice with the president would haunt him for 2016. for the president this latest trip gives him a chance to change a political conversation that has dominated, that has been dominated by scandal in recent weeks. today he was not only able to showcase the widely praised response by fema but also to embrace a bipartisanship that is hard to come by these days back in washington. >> that's why i joined governor christie and trying to get the relief package through congress. we'll keep doing what it takes to rebuild all the way and make it better than before. >> peter alexander traveled with the president today. he joins us from asbury park. what was the biggest message president obama delivered to residents there today? >> reporter: i think the mention wasn't just to the residents but actually to anybody who was watching this heavily covered, well choreographed event together with president obama and chris christie. sometime he almost sounded like a one-man jersey shore board of

tourism. saying we've got the arcades going. we've got the boardwalk going. come on down and join us. this is the stuff that chambers of commerce dream of situations. like today. in many ways, if you allow me to mix sports, we saw them throw in the football alongside chris christie. please note he was one for one. a pretty good quarterback rating. if we can mention basketball for a moment. it was sort of like a three-point play for the president and frankly, for christie. he got to focus on the things they want to be focusing on. the best use of government. effective government. bipartisanship. the two side by side and at the same time, focusing on their shared efforts to improve the economy for the reasoning. good stuff. we always love your metaphors. howard fineman from the "huffington post" is back with us. here in new york, so close, yet still so far away. hi. for audience at home, they don't

realize you are like five feet to our left. >> i have to look this way though. i'm looking. i don't dare look over there. >> a little tv magic. >> let me talk to you about this. chris christie republican thing. i think democrats like to push the talking point that conservatives are mad at chris christie for palling around with president obama. and i'm sure there are some very childish members of the gop for whom that is an offensive thing. i think most conservatives, for most of us the consternation came in chris christie scolding members of his own party for refusing to allow sandy disaster aid to be mucked up for thing that go to caribbean rum producers and fisheries. when chris christie waved his finger at them, i think that run them the wrong way in some cases. projecting out to 2016, if chris

christie run for president, do you think he wants sandy to come up in a gop primary debate or not? >> i think he won't mind at all. i think he will say he did this for new jersey. and i don't hate government. i think this is an example of good government. the idea is to get businesses back on their feet in new jersey. when the president said the shore is open for business, that's what targeted good federal help can do. the president and chris christie have a communicate of interests there. i think ahead to not even 2016. look at obama care. chris christie is a republican governor. admittedly in a blue state but a republican governor who agreed to try to implement obama care. who accepted the medicaid money. who is not spending as much

money to educate the people in new jersey as the president would like but i would speck to see them working programs even on that. maybe that's a bridge too far for chris christie. we'll see. i think the other calculation is with people like rand paul and marco rubio, competing over the tea party vote. chris christie has got clear sailing in the other lane and to mix my metaphors and i think he will try it that way. >> and back to what s.e. was saying, i don't know that it is just a democratic talking point. you had republicans blaming chris christie for mitt romney's loss in november and he wasn't invited to cpac so there is something there. they're upset with him for some reason. but howard, obviously part of the game that's being played here is that christie is up for re-election this year in a blue state. so for him getting reelected, being seen with president obama, that warm embrace is great. would you say he is trying too

hard? he is up on his democratic opponent 60-28. his re-election. you never want to take thing for granted. it looks relatively well assured. not only is he embracing the president closely. he is running some pretty nasty attack ads against his democratic opponent that seem relatively unnecessary. does he need to go this far and sort of endanger his 2016 chances in this way? >> well, chris christie has a tyrannosaurus rex in his system. once he gets ahold of somebody, he shakes and shakes and shakes. he has to watch out for that. i think he is trying to say something else here. yes, the president didn't even acknowledge the democratic opponent. i think the president, i don't think mentioned the democratic candidate. obviously did not see her. she may as well not exist. i think what chris christie is saying, i can provide some calm here.

i know how to work with people. don't pay any attention to those crazy idealogues over there. if you want a republican who knows how to get things done, who can bring some semblance of order and peace to our political scene. i'm your man. and i do say, i do think that ideology aside, just the sight of the democratic president and a republican governor working together and seeming to enjoy working together on something is something that i think most americans are delighted to see. now, sadly it took a storm that caused $38 billion worth of damage for that to happen. but i think it is something everybody can agree on. and there are so few things on the public political scene that everybody can agree on. i think that is a good memory that crisisie is going to want to call forth in his own way if and when he runs. >> indeed. and i'm glad you brought up the tyrannosaurus rex.

always a good day for that. >> that was probably a metaphor too far. >> i liked it. >> i'm going to push it a little further down that road. i want to talk about optics. and perhaps not the most polite conversation but this is "the cycle." anything goes. >> does it? >> recently the governor had lap band surgery. surely looking forward to 2016. to say this in a nation where 33% of americans are overweight. a significant portion are obese. do you think that optics demand, even in 2013, 2016, that you need to still be a thin person to be seriously in the presidential conversation? or might being a zoftic man be a man of the people vibe? >> well, now zoftic, there's one you don't usually hear. i don't know where that ends and dunkin' donuts begins. i think my accept of it is, he

has set this goal for himself. and in a very public way. so i think he needs to succeed at it. i think he doesn't want to fail at that. he wants to show that he has the character and the discipline to focus and succeed. so i would bet that he does master it. having the desire to be president is even stronger than the desire to eat doughnuts. i think it will help make him a good story. at least initially. his big problem will be that notton does he not suffer fools gladly. he doesn't suffer them at all and he can really get out of hand in personal confrontations with people. that will be the thing he will have to watch out for when he shows up in iowa. when the tea party people try to bait him for having hung out with barack obama back in the day. >> yeah. that may be another achilles'

heel for him. i wanted to ask you about something you wrote in the days just after sandy. you made a political observation. the monster storms such as sandy, most climate experts say are a sign of things to come as the planet becomes more meteorologically bipolar. these severe weather patterns meet global warming. we know that it was up by about 5 degrees on the surface in the ocean in conjunction with that hurricane. not an open and shut case, of course, for tying global warming to any individual weather event. but overwhelming trends of oceans getting warmer which has a lot of bad consequences. to your point, what you were writing about then in the heat of the election. how do democrats in particular, barack obama and future democrats here deal with global warping in these inclement

weather situations. >> i think they deal with them by pointing to things like sandy. along the coastlines of america, and we do have extensive coastlines, the areas where people can live are coming you said question. i think one reason why there are complaints that fema hasn't drawn all the flood maps yet. the storm maps showing where it is safe to build and so on. there is considerable uncertainty about that. because of the science. the growing and deepening science of this. and i think that's where the democrats might want to concentrate. if they try to concentrate on shutting down local coal fired power plant, that is still going to hurt them in states they need to win. they're never going to win west virginia again. in pennsylvania, illinois, in missouri, even a few other states like that where they're competitive, if they focus all their attention on coal fire power plants, to be blupt about it. that is the least politically useful way to go. ? say goodbye to ohio. howard fineman.

thank you for joining us. up next, the politics of storm relief, disasters made the argument for less government spengs tough for republicans. don't worry. i've got some ideas. we'll spin as "the cycle" rolls on. [ female announcer ] can a body wash go beyond basic cleansing? olay ultra moisture body wash can with more moisturizers than seven bottles of the leading body wash. with ultra moisture your body wash is anything but basic soft, smooth skin with olay.

soft, smooth skin 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.

news on that freight train that derailed about an hour ago in the baltimore suburb of white marsh, maryland. there are reports an explosion sparked a fire and that several

buildings have collapsed. so far no reports of injuries. at least three cars appear to be off the tracks. hazmat teams and the fire department are on the scene. the cause of the accident, still unknown. we'll keep an eye on this story and bring you any developments. right now as we saw this afternoon, the jersey shore has come a long way in this seven or so months since hurricane sandy destroyed miles and miles of coastline. but residents of moore, oklahoma, still have a long way to go. they're just days out from one of the most devastating tornadoes in american history. and like sandy victims last fall, they find themselves in a familiar place in need of federal aid and fast. instead, they're running into a familiar fight. this time from a politician whose own constituents are suffering. oklahoma senator tom coburn. >> so we've transferred the responsibility for storms and damage to the federal government and sent it to the state government. we've created the read that cat that you don't have to be

responsible for what goes on in your state. >> for the record, his people point out the senator has gone on record with that position in the past but at a time when so many americans are suffering, are these comments anything other than callous? i have to say no. and a bit surprising, coming from an oklahoma senator. we're in an era when natural disasters are happening fast and all the time and devastating lots of people. katrina, sandy, moore, oklahoma. we are fearing weather events as much as people, as much as people who might harm us. we need to be there for each other when these things happen. we talk about the individualist sort of vibe in america and american history. the community impulse is just as big a part. we need to be there for each other when we face weather disasters, as well as we face medical disasters, as well as economic disasters. that's what it means to be a society. a great society that we are there for each other in time of

need. >> yeah. and there is this gap in the clip you played for senator coburn. he said we need to be responsible within our states. we have to deal with it in the state. have you been following some of these cataclysmic events? sometimes it is so big you need help from out of the state. this is a basic principle. that gap from tea party logic to the facts on the ground exist at a macro scale as well. we were talking about this segment, i went and took a look. what are the states that get the most aid? if you look at the list, the vast majority are red states like mississippi, louisiana, west virginia, alabama, kentucky. why do these states get so much aid? for very good reasons, disaster relief, miss bases, funding for program for poor people and middle class people who need some help. all good reasons. this fiction, this red tea party fiction that somehow it is welfare queens in manhattan or brooklyn and not the rest of the

country is really problematic. so i think that all that comes into relief here. you see republicans getting back up there. and some of them noise about how we don't want this money. and it is like, this is nothing. you're the main beneficiaries. you are making more in federal benefits than you pay into the tax fund. that's okay as a progressive person, i'm fine with that. that is the whole concept of america of social insurance, being in it together. it goes into a real ill logic. i would submit if you went to a lot of tea party meetings and gave them these facts, they would find them surprising. >> republicans are in a tough spot on this. when you know, you have folks like tom coburn who is a common sense argument in the midst of a natural disaster as fema is rolling in and they're cleaning up a devastated area. then you know, news outlets play that clip and say what a jerk he was and why was he so callous. that's what happens.

when you're the party of fiscal responsible and limited government in the midst of a natural disaster, it is really difficult to get up and say, we need less government spending and we need to make the government smaller. not bigger. it is a tough sell but i think part of the problem is, that congress has allowed these federal aid bills to be gutted up with christmas ornaments that have nothing to do with the disaster. then republicans have to get up and say, i don't want to spend many money on rum production in the caribbean, et cetera, et cetera. and they look like jerks. if republicans would spend more time lobbying against that practice, then they wouldn't have to vote no and they wouldn't be in this position. that might be a better use of their time politically. >> and to senator coburn's credit and unfairness, this has been long been his position of so at least he is consistent. >> he's been wrong for a long time. >> he's been wrong for a long time. he has stuck to that. you have to give him credit.

>> but overall, this is a new argument. it didn't used to be controversy. if we needed more aid, they would pass a supplemental appropriatation to deal with that. you're about other more productive directions that the republican party could potentially go in here. one is, there is a very strong fiscal conservative argument to be made for investing in predisaster mitigation in these communities. when the natural disaster does strike, communities are more prepared. there is less damage and it is ultimately less costly. as you're pointing out, these natural disasters are coming at a much more rapid pace. the center for american progress did a great report that looked at the number of billion dollar plus weather events. this is adjusted for inflation. it was two per year on average. now it is ten per year. and part of why we keep having to go back and appropriate more money is because we don't have a clear picture even of how much we are spending on disaster

relief in a year. which is another thing that this report did. they compiled how much we are spending to give a number. like this is what we are spending on disaster relief. we need to be smarter about investing up front. i compare it to our health care system. this is what we have in health care. where people are waiting to the last minute. going to the emergency room when it is critical, rather than those smart investments along the way. it is a short term focus rather than investing in the long term which i think is emblematic of so much of the way we approach governments right now. >> indeed. up next, over the memorial day week, secretary hagel called it the scourge of the military. the result of a seven-month investigation into sexual assault in the military with stories from the victims in their own words. [ tires screech ] whoa! hey, we got a weather alert for this location... golf-ball sized hail and damaging winds are on the way... kids... eh, don't worry. it's tornado-proof. anyway, i'd put the car in the garage and secure these things. they could become flying debris.

kids! watch this. [ beep ] [ children screaming ] [ car alarm chirps ] awesome. [ male announcer ] mobile weather alerts from your home insurance? that's allstate home insurance. great protection plus helpful tools to make life better. talk to an allstate agent... [ doorbell rings ] and let the good life in. talk to an allstate agent... [ doorbell rings ] are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. the blisters were oozing, and painful to touch. i woke up to a blistering on my shoulder. i spent 23 years as a deputy united states marshal. we'd get up early and, and stay up late. there was a lot of running, a lot of fighting. i've been pretty well banged up

but the worst pain i've experienced was when i had shingles. i was going through some extremely difficult training, and i couldn't do it. when we were going through pursuit driving, i couldn't put a seat belt on because the pain that would have been caused by the seat belt rubbing against the shingles would have been excruciating. when i went to the clinic, the nurse told me that it was the result of having had chickenpox. i had never heard of shingles prior to that point and i had always been relatively healthy. the rash, the itching, the burning that i experienced on the side of my neck and my shoulder, i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

this weekend in what is supposed to be one of the most

impressive graduation ceremonies, chuck hagel used his speech to address one of the most embarrassing issues for the military, sexual assault. >> you will need to not just deal with these debilitating, insidious and destructive forces. but rather you must be the generation of leaders that stop it. sexual harassment and sexual assault in the military are a profound betrayal. a profound betrayal of sacred oath and sacred trust. this scourge must be stamped out. >> our next guest has been part of a seven-month long investigation into that scourge. one that has uncovered the hidden battlefield facing service members that report sexual assault from a culture of intimidation to fraudulent wrongful psychiatric diagnose he's. >> many time i was told i let

the command down and the marine corps down. it gets so beaten into you. the hardest part was the organization i held in so much esteem and revered so much and i was so proud to be a united states marine, soon it became something i hated. >> offenders meanwhile are rarely punished and often allowed to remain in the armed forces. joining us now, investigative journalist for the san antonio express news whose work resulted in the express news' coverage, twice betrayed. thanks for being with us. we were just about how we've been covering this for quite a while now. and still, it is so starting and disturbing when we hear about new cases of this of and just the breadth of how far this sxgs how pervasive a problem this is. in your seven-month investigation, what surprised you most? >> i would say one of the things that jumped out at us first from

doing the reporting was the striking pattern of psychiatric diagnoses that we were hearing victims talk about within the first couple of weeks of reaching out to victims. we hear from a woman who was being booted out for bipolar disorder which was something that she and her family were disputing. and shortly after that, heard from a woman who was getting kicked out. or had been kicked out for personality disorder. we found that to be a very common pattern with those we were talking to. >> wave little clip from the video that you all put together. talking about that exact issue. let's take a look. >> it wasn't so much the assault that did this damage. it was that when i went to the people i should have been able to trust, they betrayed it. and then they proceeded to

basically perform emotional torture on me with no explanation as to why. >> so dig a little deeper into. this it appears women who report sexual assault are being given these bogus psychiatric diagnoses to get them discharged from the military. is this just anecdotal? or do you see a broader pattern here? what ultimately would prevent that particular aspect of this problem that i hadn't heard about or focused on before? >> well, no one tracks the prevalence of this. but we did find indications that women are being diagnosed with these personality disorders and adjustment disorder at significantly higher rates than men in the military. and in terms of prevention, i think you know, what we hear the experts saying is that a lot of

tim times, the women are suffering the trauma of sexual violence and those symptoms can be easily mistaken. but essentially, what they're experiencing is post-traumatic stress. and having difficulties with the system that they encounter once they step forward as victims and the response and retaliation that they often received from their chain of command aggravates their difficulties. >> how did you get all these people talking? we know when it come to around solutions, stories matter a lot more often time than statistics. and your series tells us stories of anna moore who was attacked while cleaning her barracks or the person attacked and sexually assaulted in the office of a superior and then when she requested that people call an ambulance for her, that was rebuffed. how did you get these people who as you've reported were

victimized once at an individual level and then the second time by the institution. how did you get them to open up and in a sense, trust you? >> well, certainly more and more victims are coming forward. and there has been a series of lawsuits against the defense department and the top military brass. so some of them have been participating in lawsuits. or are willing to come forward through advocacy organizations or in some cases, some reached out to us as we were kind of net behind the scenes. so they've all kind of came to us through a different means. >> earlier in the segment, we said offenders are rarely punished which is kind of shocking and dismaying. what tends to happen to men in the military who are charged and/or convicted of rape? >> so the defense department

puts out a report every year that takes a look at how these cases break out. and they estimate last year that there were some 26,000 sexual assaults in the armed services last year. of those, a very small fraction are even reported. so it is around, i think, 11% that are actually reported. that comes out to about 2,900 subjects that they were able to identify last year. perpetrators. or accused perpetrators. of those, it is about only 300 that faced a court-martial. and then you start to see those numbers dwindling for convictions. and then ultimately, the number of offenders who are actually serving some kind of confinement is very small and it is true that only about half of the convicted offenders are automatically expelled or dismissed from the military.

>> thanks so much for your report. it is really important stuff. there is much more "the cycle" straight ahead. ♪ new beneful medley's... ...in tuscan, romana, and mediterranean style varieties. just mix it in... ...and take play to new places. three cans in every pack. new beneful medley's. a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me.

a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. ♪ after all, what's the point of talking if you don't have something important to say? ♪ if you have high cholesterol, here's some information that may be worth looking into. in a clinical trial versus lipitor, crestor got more high-risk patients' bad cholesterol to a goal of under 100. getting to goal is important, especially if you have high cholesterol plus any of these risk factors because you could be at increased risk for plaque buildup in your arteries over time. and that's why when diet and exercise alone aren't enough to lower cholesterol i prescribe crestor. [ female announcer ] crestor is not right for everyone. like people with liver disease or women who are nursing, pregnant

or may become pregnant. tell your doctor about other medicines you're taking. call your doctor right away if you have muscle pain or weakness, feel unusually tired, have loss of appetite, upper belly pain, dark urine or yellowing of skin or eyes. these could be signs of rare but serious side effects. is your cholesterol at goal? ask your doctor about crestor. [ female announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. next minute i'm in the back of an ambulance having a heart attack. i was in shape, fit. i did not see it coming. i take bayer aspirin. [ male announcer ] so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. see your doctor and get checked out.

if mark sanford can do it, why not anthony weiner? days after announcing his run for mayor of new york city, a new poll of registered democrats shows he only trails christine quinn by 5 points putting him in a close second place. he was immediately discounted by pundit but they're not new yorkers. actually, many of them probabliful are could it be, is anthony weiner set up to make it a photo finish? sorry. i don't think the biggest challenge for anthony weiner is the photos on twitter per se.

i think the bigger problem and the more legitimate place for his opponents to go regarding that issue is the issue of trust. he lied to new yorkers. he lied to his wife. do you trust him now to be anything about something, to be about anything other than his own ambition? and christine quinn in contrast to that was brutally honest about her own struggles with bulimia and alcoholism. so that kind of candor contrasted with weiner's previous lies, could be very hard for him. for quinn, i think the challenge is that she is starting to get a little whiff of entitlement. it seem like she's the front runner. just today there's an education debate that she decided not to participate in. anthony weiner is of course, there. so she has to be careful with that. and one just quick technical note. in new york city, if no candidate in the primary reaches 40%, then there will be a

run-off. i think if it was quinn and weener in a run-off, kind of all bets are off. the race restarts from there. >> let's not forget, anthony weiner is kind of a jerk. he doesn't have a lot of friends. before the scandal even. he didn't have the greatest reputation. imagine that next to christine quinn. that probably serves him well against a republican but he first has to get through her. imagine his smug dismissive, priggishness next to her. a woman who has put in a lot of time and money and effort into this race. she might seem entitled but at the same time she's earned this position. here he come just johnny come lately into this race. swatting her away. i don't know. i don't think it looks as good as new yorkers think. >> we don't do that earned the position thing in democratic party. we don't do that. >> s.e. cupp coming out with a lot offage he canties there. >> jerk is a noun but yeah.

>> i would substantiate and associate with at least the premise of the adjectives and nouns in that anthony weiner did not get a lot done in his six terms in the house. >> also true. >> he has been a huge camera hog. >> except at the gym. >> that's an issue for him. one thing you have to understand for new york for people tracking the comeback. 2.7 million registered democrats in new york city. who is going to vote? only about 330,000. a tiny, tiny sliver you see on the right will vote in this thing. >> people like us. >> people like us. people like you at home if you're watching and interested in politics. a slice of the electorate. what does that mean? anything can happen in this race. because it will be people really engaged to get out there. some of them may like anthony weiner. i think if anything he should lose based on his thin record. not anything to do with his personal issues. >> why are we giving him a

second chance? what did he do in the house that was so great that makes new yorkers say we have to keep having this guy represent us? i think he will be a side show. bloomberg. what do you think of him? do you like bloomberg? do you like the direction the city is going in? if that is association chris will win. if you don't, chris will lose. the other thing to keep in mind. new york in a democratic primary in a minority majority city. there are more black, brown and asian people. 55% voted in the 2009 election. a larger stake in the 2013 election. don't be surprised if bill thompson, the major black candidate in the race for the democratic primary surges ahead of all the people we've talked about. >> interesting. it will be fun to watch and talk about. as we've been talking about, the new polling numbers say anthony weiner has a shot so we took it to the people and asked femme this they expect him to win the mayoral nomination. marjorie timmons is less than

enthused saying hell no. unfortunately, liberals aren't as forgiving as right wingers. agree? disagree? join in the conversation. and be sure to check out ari's latest law of politics piece on the new research showing immigration lowers crime. love the typewriter. how far have we really come on gay marriage? we'll talk to the filmmaker.

♪ i' 'm a hard, hard ♪ worker every day. ♪ i' ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm working every day. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm saving all my pay. ♪ ♪ if i ever get some money put away, ♪ ♪ i'm going to take it all out and celebrate. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker... ♪ membership rallied millions of us on small business saturday to make shopping small, huge. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. what makes a sleep number store different? what makes a sleep number you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you wanted a firm bed you can lie on one of those. if you want a soft bed you can lie on one of those." we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. the sleep number memorial day sale. not just ordinary beds on sale, but the bed that can change your life on sale. the sleep number bed. this is your body there. you can see a little more pressure in the hips. take it up one notch. you get that moment where you go, "oh yeah" ...

oh, yeah! ... and it's perfect. they had no idea that when they came to a sleep number store, we were going to diagnose their problems and help them sleep better. and right now save on the closeout of our classic special edition bed set. just $1299-a savings of $600-and discover the only memory foam bed with dual air adjustability. once you experience it, there's no going back. wow. don't invest in a mattress until you find your sleep number setting. final days, sale ends sunday. only at the sleep number store. sleep number. comfort individualized

what that's great. it won't take long, will it? nah. okay. this, won't take long will it? no, not at all. how many of these can we do on our budget? more than you think. didn't take very long, did it? summer is here, so are the savings. that's nice. post it. already did. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get 1 cubic foot bags of miracle-gro garden soil,

4 for just $10. it's moving a lot faster than we probably ever expected. gay marriage. in two months since the supreme court heard arguments over gay marriage, three states have approved same sex unions. the total is 15 plus d.c. the supreme court will of course rule on two big gay marriage cases next month. does gay marriage ensures rights everywhere in america? >> i know your situation. if they find you living without papers, they'll deport you right away. you would be banned from entering the states for ten years. you wouldn't want to put your family through that. >> i'm not leaving, gloria. >> immigration is a federal level right. as the law stands, with gay

marriage only being on the state level, your marriage would be nothing. >> so our relationship means nothing? your relationship is not the problem. the problem is you don't have the same rights as a straight couple. >> with us now is writer and producer david w. ross of do i which can be seen in select theaters and in video on demand this friday. let's start with the basics. why did you make this movie? >> i was shooting a lot of the prop 8 rallies as a photographer. and what really could have change my mind about wanting to make this film was seeing how many children were out there. how many couples living together and they had kids. just law-abiding american citizens wanting to live a life, wanting to have what everybody else has and not being able to because of doma. this weird strange four letter law. it has i think very damaging inhumane effects on americans. >> i agree with that. and a quote that jumped out at me from that clip we played, you're saying my relationship means nothing? your film focuses on the legal

and economic ramifications of banning gay marriage. i want to talk for a second about the social implications of not being able to get married and not being able to say to the world. my relationship means something at the highest level. >> i think that's a really good point. i think that gets really lost in today's chitchat on these political shows. where these are families. american families. these are not people with millions of dollars that can start a company. these are people that find someone they love. they happen to be from another country. and all they want to do is start a family and have the same protections. it is very sim. mr. as soon as you start saying, this group of people can have one sort of marriage and this group can have another sort. i mean, this country is an amazing country and we've seen this before. and i just hope that this next month coming, thing will change for us. >> and the power of those stories i think we've already seen that in changing minds on lgbt rights. the power of gay couple who are

in loving and committed relationships with families. changes a lot of minds. your film is also directly pert anybody to the debate going on right now about immigration. last week as you know, immigration reform passed the judiciary committee which is great. there was a decision not to include an amendment that would have allowed foreign same sex couples to get a green card for their partner. was that a trade-off that was worth making? >> you're talking about human beings. you're talking about families. we number 40,000 plus living in america. many americans have to move out of the country to be with the person they love. i'm not that bright but did i the math. 40,000. that's a loft children being affected. being in a relationship in a marriage, they have modern stresses. you add on this whole extra level at any point my mommy or daddy can be rimmed out of this country. that is just number one, it is terrifying. it goes back to, we just need people to realize that we're not a talking point.

we're human beings and these are american families being affected. >> for a second, putting the federal government's aversion to gay marriage aside, that is a big issue. we've talk about it a lot here. there are of course, why we don't make it that simple for illegal immigrants to get married just to stay in the country. national security being one of them. how did you confront those policy realities in making this film? >> i think for me, again, it goes back to family. i've worked with many binational couples. they're being very brave by saying, going, i have a bona fide marriage. they go in to whatever's called now and saying, you know, i should have the same rights. i have a bona fide marriage. they're doing everything by the book. they're law-abiding citizens. for me it was doma was really what these families are living under. it's not just affecting gay families. i mean, with the film, it's affecting not only the couple but the people around them.

doma isn't just a gay issue. it's all our issue. we have to make sure that this is going to be talked about in the next few weeks. we have a very exciting month coming, and i just hope like i said before things change very quickly. >> amen. i see you have jamie lynn siegler from "the sopranos." how was it acting with her? >> it was amazing acting with her. she's amazing. i turned up on set every day super excited. i actually slept, which everyone said i would never sleep the whole filming process. i had a great time. both phenomenally strong actors. i had to really up my game. >> did you have any concern that when the movie came out, it might actually be superseded by events? we've seen now former president clinton try to retract the law he signed saying it's now unconstitutional, relatively unheard of. a lot of movement in the courts. what about all that? >> i think that's an interesting point as well because this film is relevant now, but it's been relevant to the hundreds of thousands of people that doma's

affecting. i think that hopefully we can look back and see this film and realize why doma has to go. the devastating effects it has on families and human beings and, you know, as a filmmaker i just feel extremely lucky it's going to be in theaters and on itunes and vod the month the supreme court is ruling. >> i'm interested in what it's like being the director and producer and star of the thing so you're running back and forth. looking at how it looks through the camera, going out there and acting it and telling other actors. how is it wearing all those hats at once? >> i was a producer, not the director. i definitely was very involved and lucky enough to be involved. it was fun. i can't say anything more than it was fun. i know it should be some kind of drama, but my team wases really strong. we worked with some incredible people. we had a blast. i think everyone realized that what we were trying to do with this film, not only tell an american story, slice of life, but also kind of point out just how inhuman doma is and how it

affects people. >> absolutely. you're sort of a british woody allen. >> there you go. >> david ross, thanks so much. >> thank you. up ahead, there may be a new gang of eight in the works. this time to take on the doj, "ap" scandal. senator chuck schumer says a group of senators will discuss how leaks are investigated. yep. that thing is far from over. so are we. there's more "cycle" ahead. (announcer) at scottrade, our clients trade and invest

exactly how they want. with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade. awarded five-stars from smartmoney magazine.

i don't know whether i asked him. i did not know the list on the 26th. i don't know whether i purposely did that or the not.

>> that's a largely irrelevant fact. >> i've been advised by my counsel to assert my constitutional right not to testify or answer questions related to the subject matter of this hearing. >> oh, yes. the irs scandal instead of being solved just gets worse. apparently no one saw anything at the irs that would help us figure out how and why it ended up targeting conservative 501 c 4s in inappropriate and potentially criminal ways. the white house is blaming low-level staffers in cincinnati. meanwhile, the president has accepted the resignation of the only person he's empowered to ask for it from, conveniently a month or so before steven miller was already scheduled to retire. that didn't leave many conservatives with a very satisfied feeling, so they've turned to lois lerner, the head of the very department charged with overseeing these applications hoping she would have answers and take some responsibility. she has refused to cooperate insisting only she's done nothing wrong and now is on administrative leave with full pay. sounds like a paid vacation to me. even if some low-level staffers

end up getting terminated over this, they'll be responsible, but not guilty. if we never want this to happen again, the higher ups who gave the orders must pay the price. all this reminds me of one of my favorite movies "a few good men." two low-level marines are charged with murder after a controversial disciplinary measure called a code red results in the death of another marine. >> you want to ask me about code reds on the record, i tell you, i discourage the practice in accordance with the commander's directive. off the record, i tell you it is an invaluable part of close infantry training, and if it happens to go on without my knowledge, so be it. >> dawson and downey didn't invent code reds nor come up with the idea to discipline willie santiago themselves. turns out as their attorneys would learn they were simply following orders. >> did lance corporal dawson tell you to give santiago a code red? >> don't look at him. >> how? >> answer the captain's

question. >> yes, captain. i was given an order by my squad leader lance corporal harold w. dawson, united states marine corps and i followed it. >> the court would find the orders came from dawson and downey's higher up, lieutenant john kendrick and his higher up who are eventually taken into custody and charged with murder. they didn't kill santiago, themselves, but the order made them guilty. dawson and downey are acquitted but dishonorably discharged. why? >> what did we do wrong? we did nothing wrong. >> yeah, we did. we were supposed to fight for people who couldn't fight for themselveses. we were supposed to fight for willie. >> responsible, but not guilty. the low-level staffers in cincinnati who were told to target conservative groups should have questioned their orders, but ultimately their superiors bear the brunt of the responsibility. until we learn who gave the order and how high up it went,

american taxpayers will not be vindicated. here's hoping there are a few good men and women at the irs who are willing to come forward and tell the truth. okay. that does it for "the cycle." mart martin, it's all yours. good afternoon, thank you, s.e. it's tuesday may the 28th. from command eer in chief, to comforter of the nation. there is no surrender for this president. ♪ >> what's brightest in america. looking out for one another. that's why we always bounce back from these kinds of disasters. you're not alone in your grief.. as these difficult days have unfolded, you've also inspired us. they sought to intimidate us, shake us from those values who make us who we are as americans. well, they picked the wrong city to do it. we may not all live here in texas, but we're neighbors, too, and we stand with you. the oklahoma standard. this is a strong community with strong character. when you look out on