we begin with the horrible story, at least in the court that came to an end today when ariel castro was sentenced on 937 charges. he will spend the rest of his life in jail. we heard chilling, frankly horrific testimony in the sentencing hearing today for ariel castro, the man who kidnapped and then held those three women captive in his home for a decade. he lured one of them with a premise of a puppy for her child. he gagged them with socks. even after all of that he stood up and said this. >> accused me of being a monster and i'm not a monster. my sexual problems are so bad on my mind. i'm impulsive.

i am truly sorry for what happened. >> but the victims also had their say. impact statements were read by family members of gina dejesus and amanda berry. then michelle knight faced castro and said this. >> he said at least i didn't kill you. you took 11 years of my life away and i have got it back. i spent 11 years in hell. now your hell is just beginning. i will overcome all of this that happened but you will face hell for eternity. i will not let you define me or affect who i am. i will live on. you will die a little every day. >> we now go to nbc's jay gray

who is live outside the courthouse. that was some day in court, jay. >> reporter: yeah, you're absolutely right. an emotional, sometimes disturbing day at the courtroom. michelle knight really grabbing the attention of everyone as she wiped away tears facing for the first time since her escape the man who held her captive. he dies a little bit every day while she continues to live and she cried every night while in captivity and worried about her safety as well as the two other women that were there. and then ariel castro getting one final chance to speak publicly in a rambling, at times delusional dialogue where he talked about a normal family life inside the home, where he told the judge that he loved his daughter, that he had a normal life with her, took her to church. he also insisted that he wasn't violent, insisted that he couldn't control his desires, couldn't control his impulses because of an addiction to

pornography. the judge finally saying that he's a dangerous man, not only dangerous to the city, to this country, but to the world and that he should remain behind bars for the duration of his life. even during the formal sentencing castro interrupted the judge several times. finally the judge telling him that he's highly narcissistic before giving that formal sentence of life in prison plus 1,000 years. that's the latest outside the courtroom here in cleveland. now back to you. >> jay, thank you so much. crystal, it's clearly such an emotional day. i mean, i've watched a lot of these hearings and i can only think about how important it is for these women to see this man up there literally with his hands tied. you know, he has controlled their every move. he has controlled every little thing they have done for the last decade and to now see him powerless. i mean, how important is it for them to see that? how liberating it must be. >> i can't imagine. the thing that struck me is for

michelle knight to get up there in court, to face her tormentor and the entire world watching her. i just -- i can't even imagine the courage and the strength that took. what a powerful, powerful person that is. it is an incredible thought. jay was talking about how delusional castro is here and how he kept interrupting. he says that he's sick, he's not a monster, that this wasn't rape it was consensual. let's actually take a listen to a little of that. >> you may not have liked the wording or the terminology. that's it. okay? maybe i can tell them to you. >> the violent part, you made it sound like i forced myself on to them. >> by virtue of your plea, that's what you did. you pled guilty to that and by virtue of your plea you raped

someone. that's what it means. >> just unbelievable that given what he has done and what he has acknowledged doing, that he would be trying to seek some sort of sympathy and explain his actions at this point. it's just unreal. >> no, it's sick. it's sick is what it is, and he's by all means a monster. one thing that has struck me about this case, guys, from the beginning is obviously these are heinous crimes that mr. castro is admitting to, but what an indictment on society that these young women could live in a house like this for 11 years and mr. castro had barbecues at his house, he had people doing sing alongs in his living room and all along this was hidden. are we that disjointed where three women can be tied up in someone's basement and nobody knows about it, no one heard a

single scream? it's just very odd. there's folks in that cleveland neighborhood who said they hope that house is demolished. i agree with them. that should be burned down. >> he did expand on that. he said he's a very happy guy. he's not angry. he does have an addiction, he has an addiction to porn. we're still left with a lot of questions, ari, in terms of why he did this, why he treated these women like this. i feel like i still have a lot of questions. >> yeah, i think that's right. the trial process or in this case the plea process gives you this window. we're watching it here in the news. people around the country are watching a case that as you were saying was obviously extremely troubling, extremely inhumane, extremely immoral and what we see is the perspective of a defendant. the defendant has the right to address the court and to address his accusers. you see that sort of delusional view of this as some sort of quasi consensual family life,

that kind of language obviously not accurate, not fair, and then as crystal was eluding to, it's a piece of this, there has been a movement in the courts to have more of a space for victim's perspectives and rights. it ranges in different states. in many places you see a process for the stroim address the court, address the accuser. obviously here you have the judge making the ultimate binding decision about sentencing. this man is going away for life, but the victim's views come out. as many people have commented and now in the social media world you saw immediate reaction to herr. this woman having been through so much having a chance to stand up for herself. we're just observers here, you don't know everything that's going on, but we hope it's part of a healing process for her. >> yeah. i want to go back to luke's point about what it says about our societies that these women could be living there in

captivity without anyone knowing about it and there was a lot of discussion about the working poor neighborhood. i think this could happen anywhere. i think we have become separated from our neighbors and with these sort of isolated lives. at this point let's bring in former fbi profiler clint zant. off the top i wanted you to weigh in on ariel castro's delusional rambles of this formal family life he had created in this house of torture. >> yeah, you know he says he's not a violent person and i'm sure none of us talking about him today are, but what he says notwithstanding whether they're the rambles of a sick man or not, i mean, it makes you want to reach out and grab him through the television screen and pull him right back in your living room and do something to him. i mean, this guy put these women through torture that has just literally unseen in this country

to be repeated over and over again. this is something similar to -- it's like a concentration camp guard in world war ii who said, wait a minute, it wasn't my fault. somebody made me do it. but nobody made him do it. he choose to do it himself and he chose to rio fend against them 13,000 some plus days over and over again. he had a choice every day to turn them loose. he knew what he was doing. now i just don't want to engage in any psychological executions. i think supreme to take responsibility for themselves and when societal louse somebody to blame others, i think that's where we start to break down. >> clint, luke russert here in burbank. i have a question regarding the psyche of the victims. >> yeah. >> there was last week where amanda berry stood up at a nelli

rap concert. the whole crowd stood up to them. is it good for them to become quasi celebrities in the public eye? what's the pattern for them? high profile case. how do they find that normal balance in life and is it just best to get away or is it best to go out in front of the public view? >> i think that is a good question, luke, and i think that's something that they're going to have to deal with. realize, it's only been three months since these women were released and there may be something on the surface that allows them to go out and wave and say hi to people or something like this, but, luke, there are emotional chains that are stronger than any steel chains this man could have put around their ankles as he's chained them into a bedroom and these chains take a long time to -- the physical scars are going to disappear but the emotional scars, the ability for

these women to trust anybody much less a significant man in their life is going to be long coming. and even though we may see them wave and look happy, luke, it's post traumatic stress over and over. they're going to re-live these things. they're going to hear sounds. they're going to smell smells that are going to scare them to death in the middle of the night. we think we have nightmares. they have nightmares most of us have never even thought about. >> clint, it's been incredible to watch just how strong their bond is. none of us can really imagine what they went through. michelle knight, i watched her testimony today. it was so incredibly emotional. she said i can forgive him. i can never forget. we talked a little bit before about finding closure for these women to forgive. how important is it for them to have seen him in this moment today where he was power lsz, where he was not in control?

clint, are you able to hear us? >> i think we've lost -- >> yeah, i can. >> go ahead, clint. >> yeah. well, i think it was a very important moment for them, but even that moment that we all wanted so much for these young women, especially for the young woman in court would somewhat cancel out what this monster -- he says he's not a monster. he should be the living definition of monster in a dictionary. for him to say that i didn't really kidnap them, they kind of went on their own. any physical contact i had with them, most of it was consensual. i never beat them or heard that as we try to put some type of civilization around the acts of a monster, that was still a challenge for them. he still took away from them the truth which is to stand up and say i did horrific things and am responsible for it. i'm sorry.

i deserve to go to jail for life. that's what they should have heard and he took that away from them. >> clint, you make an important point there, that hopefully people can learn from it. crystal was talking about how the nation responds to looking at these criminal acts. the notion of coercion. it's a big topic. those are the things the law cares about a lot. as soon as an individual talks about the threat of violence. big difference between what the defendant castro is delusionally asking or how it works, last question, walk us through how this actual plea works because a lot of people think of these kind of crimes and they imagine a trial scene and we cover trials. we know about 97% of crimes are dealt with through the plea bargain process, not an actual trial. walk us through that piece of

what happened today. >> yeah. if we had to take every criminal case to trial in this country, it would take 10, 15, 20 years to get a case to trial. as you suggest and rightfully so. the vast majority of cases in this country are plea bargains. what is a plea bargain? the defense and prosecution put it together. you give me something, i'll give you something. in this particular case the prosecution says we'll take the death penalty for the alleged murder of the fetus of one of the women, we'll take that off the table but you have to plea out and understand you're going to jail for the rest of your life. and part of it, i sat there maybe like you today, and i watched the judge laboriously go through count after count after count. you want to say, just stop it. tell the guy he's going to prison for life and let's get him off this stage but, again, every t has to be crossed.

every i has to be dotted. when he gets in jail he may look for a reason to appeal his sentence, to appeal his case so everything had to be done, everything had to be done appropriately. what i marvelled at was how everyone involved who gave the testimony, even the vimt, the judge, we all retained our composure and brought some type of civilization to a very uncivilized individual. >> indeed. we should also remember that there is a little girl involved here, the daughter of amanda berry. and in part of his delusional ramblings ariel castro was talking about what a good dad he is. what is life in recovery going to be like for this little girl going forward? >> well, in this particular case even though castro got life, these three women and this little girl, they also have a

life sentence. they have a life sentence where a decade in the case of the young women, a decade of their life was taken away and now they have to become reinstitutionalized to society itself. that's a process that's likely never going to fully take place. this little girl, even though she was home schooled. all of us try to imagine, what is it like for ten years to see the outside of a house twice in ten years. >> wow. >> to be locked, to be chained, to be fed once a day, to be bathed once a week or every two weeks. your meals consist of fast food sandwiches thrown at you. these women were treated like animals, worse than any animal would be treated. so coming back again to reintroduce themselves to society, to friends, to dating, to parties, to everything,

fortunately i know the fbi would be working with them and the cleveland police and others, they're going to be working with psychologists to help reintroduce them, to provide them advice and this is counsel. once again, mr. castro got life. these women and this little girl all have their own life sentences that they have to beel with. we just hope and pray they do far better than he does. >> such a horrific story. clint, thank you for joining us. we'll be right back with much more of the cycle.

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lets a make a teal. >> and we have doors number 2 and 3. >> baseball commissioner bud selig and alex rodriguez could use a little help from monty hall. let's make a deal. a throw back to a show. that's exactly what a rod might be stuck doing. here's his choice, strike a deal for a suspension that could last until he's nearly 40 or mlb will move to ban him for life. in this week's "sports illustrated" cover, in the last days of a rod, the yankee slugger said, quote, i'm not giving up. i have tremendous faith. hopefully there's a couple more chapters in this book. i have faith. perhaps faith in arbitration. b.j.schecter is executive editor for "sports illustrated." thanks for coming on the program. >> thanks for having me.

>> i want to say something before i ask you a question. i'll not very shocked by a rod. a rod was not very loved to the fans. he was number two to griffey. more people remember him for the 2004, the worst moment in world series history where he tried to slap bronson arroyo's arm. we put this onus on a rod, a rod, a rod. he was supposed to be the best ever. i don't think anyone ever grew up loving a rod. what about the other all stars that are involved in this? johnny peralta, nelson cruz? this on the back of ryan braun's suspension for the rest of the year, cabrera from the padres. are we not paying enough attention with all of these all-stars getting in trouble with this biogenesis clinic that baseball is not nearly as clean

as we expected it to be after the home run years of the late '90s. >> luke, it's like anything else. you look at the olympics and the olympics have been dirty for the last 50 years. the same can be said for baseball. cheating has gone on. it's been rampant cheating for years and years and years. after we had the sosa maguire era, clemens trial, athletes are looking to get an edge. the thing that strikes me about alex rodriguez, he got caught before, he was publicly humiliated. he didn't need to cheat. he was one of the most talented players of our generation. certainly the best hitter in the game. he didn't need to do this. he didn't learn his lesson and here we are again. >> b.j., you talk about lifetime bans. steve howe had one in '92. it was reduced to four months by an arbitrator. why does the lifetime ban seem more credible and what are the shifting dynamics here? >> well, i think the main thing

here is major league baseball seems to have evidence that alex rodriguez tried to tamper with the evidence, tried to get to witnesses and tried to, you know, tamper with the investigation. that is the big thing here. and that gives bud selig, the commissioner, powers in the best interests of the game, to take harsh action. this is his second offense but normally under the collective bargaining agreement we'd be talking 100 game suspension. he has the power to suspend him for life. i don't think that ever will happen but it's a huge bargaining chip and i think that's why alex rodriguez's representatives are at the bargaining table right now. >> for those of us who have not followed this story very closely, ari mel ber, walk us through his options and what do you think based on what we know about him being very humble and all of that. what do you ultimately think he'll decide? >> he's kind of backed up

against a wall. he had vowed up until a few days ago to fight this thing and say i'm accepting no deal. you know, i'm going to take my cards and i'm going to play them in front of an arbitrator which could go on for years and years and years. in the interim he'd be able to play. baseball doesn't want that. they want him off the field. so now that i think he's seeing the overwhelming amount of evidence that major league baseball has, he knows he either has to make a deal or he's gone for life. >> does he care what they want him to do? >> sure. he wants to play. even if that means missing this season and all of next season, he'll be 40 when he returns, he believes he can really play. there's also $100 million on the line. so if he's suspended for life, that's gone. if he's only suspended to are a year and a half, he's entitled to much of that money. >> you don't predict he'll quite for life? >> no. i think what's going to happen is he'll be suspended for all of this year, all of next year. he'll come back in two years' time and he'll try to play with

the yankees. >> so bigger picture, how do you think that commissioner bud selig's tenure is going to be judged? on the one hand he's presided over huge financial gains for major league baseball. on the other hand, he's sort of looked the other way over the major steroids scandal. they've looked the other way. how do you think history is going to judge his time here? >> well, i think he's looking at this period now where in addition to alex rodriguez, we're talking about eight other players who are going to be suspended when the sanctions are announced. this is a huge opportunity for selig. before this he would be looked upon as looking the other way and allowing cheating. now he has a chance to put his foot down. they have real testing in place and now real teeth in these sanctions here. now what we have is a deterrent and major league baseball is now finally after all of these years saying we're not going to allow this into our game. we're not going to allow dirty

players to continue to garner headlines, get all of this money and set bad examples for kids. so i think if he follows through, which it looks like he will, i think, you know, he'll be looked on with great praise 10 or 15 years from now. >> b.j. shecter, thanks for being on the show, my friend. >> thank you. up next, no more cinnabuns for edward snowden. he's out of the moscow airport. what it means for the u.s. you don't want to miss that right after break only on "the cycle." [announcer] there's no hiding the goodness of the latest from beneful baked delights. new heartfuls are made with real bacon... ...and oven-baked to crisp perfection. new heartfuls from beneful baked delights. "first day of my life" by bright eyes

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your thursday news cycle begins with some breaking news. the state department is closing select u.s. embassies this sunday because of expected security concerns. the state department won't give specifics about the threat but says they are, quote, working

out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees. we will get you a list of the embassies as soon as that information is released. also today, same-sex couples are exchanging vows in rhode island and minnesota. it brought the number of states allowing gay marriage to 13. in minnesota min be knee app poe lis mayor owe fix yated the first ceremony at midnight. 5,000 gay couples are expected to marry this year. right now president obama is meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to discuss concerns about the nsa's top secret surveillance programs. the group of about a half dozen top intelligence lawmakers include outspoken opponents. according to a white house offici official, it's important for congress to hear from the president directly including some of the program's most prominent critics. and from the news cycle to the spin cycle, the controversy that was sparked by the secret

surveillance program has now left a moscow airport. after 39 days in limbo he was finally granted asylum in russia. not everyone is happy about this. >> we are extremely disappointed that the russian government would take this step despite our very clear and lawful requests. >> mr. snowden's actions have hurt the ability of our country to protect our citizens and i would hope that president obama would engage president putin on this issue and resolve it in a way that's satisfactory to the american people. >> the move now raises questions about the fate of the president's 34r57bd bilateral meeting with russian president putin set for next month. that is the topic of our spin cycle today. edward snowden, the nsa. what's going on with all of this? you know, there's some new polling to take this kind of bigger picture. well, i guess i'll start with snowden because he has been a

fascinating character and a lot of people have said that he himself and his actions have really distracted from the debate that he wanted to have over the nsa and over the leaks that he put out there. in some respects i think that's true, but when you look at the fact that public opinion is actually moving in the direction of questioning government surveillance and we are having bigger conversations, i think he was successful in starting that conversation. now one thing i'll point out with that polling moving in that direction is i think that polling can change very quickly if you have another sort of security threat, if you have another incident. and that's why you see politicians, even politicians like president obama who came into office pledging transparency and pledging to be very different than president bush. i think that's why you see him going in this direction, because the worst thing for a politician is for something bad to happen, for an attack to happen and for people to say, you did not do

everything you possibly could to prevent this. so i think that's why you see politicians like barack obama moving towards a bigger national security state. they just don't want to take any risk at all. >> yeah, you know, krystal, i think that's true. you have a shift in public opinion from some of these leaks. you have big news here that will put the spotlight back on mr. snowden. we know what a controversial citizen he can be for many viewers and citizens out there. i think the big piece on the diplomatic front is those that want to punish leaks aggressively including those in the military and administration, have to look at a diplomatic backlash. it is easier to get asylum and state out of the united states when we are seen as a country that is literally willing to execute people for leaking information. we haven't been a country that historically has taken that approach. that's usually more associated with dictatorships than democracies. as we saw this week in the

manning verdict, you had the judge reject that over arching government approach. we had a witness on the show this week to talk about that. i think that's important because this isn't a connection that only i'm drawing. you had the attorney general of the united states having to make assurances to foreign countries that mr. snowden wouldn't be tortured or killed. why killed? because when you go at espionage and aiding the enemy you have capital crimes. the charge against manning was capital although they said they didn't want to kill him, they could have legally had they prevailed. there's a backlash to diplomacy here when we use certain tools aggressively to people who are information problems not terrorists. >> it's unbelievable, too, that we had to promise them that we wouldn't torture him. >> as much as i want to talk about snowden and cinnabuns all day long, the most interesting part of this conversation is our shift in our attitudes and understanding of this. what you don't know won't hurt you. now we do know. i think we have seen a lot of

these attitudes shift. you brought up an interesting point. once you get on the job, everything changes. you'll hear that from president bush and president obama. what is the most important thing that you do as a president? they will both probably say protecting the people of america, protecting the american citizens. i think this all goes back to this 9/11 hangover that we are still feeling. we live in a different world. many people our age, getting a little older, for us many people don't even remember an america -- >> you're on a role today. >> they don't remember an america without the department of homeland security. so we need to find the right balance here. that's going to take leadership and that will take some more government oversight. luke, i'll hand it to you. >> snowden tried to start a conversation leaking all of these documents, sfliet his conversation actually did lead to some type of legislative approach in congress. justin amash put in the snowden amendment.

it went down 217 to 205. >> close vote. >> take that away for how he's received now. snowden now being in russia shows the ability to putin to say i don't give two cents about what you say to me, i'm going to do what i want. i'm going to support assad in syria. i'm going to put snowden an apartment and i'm going to wag my finger and say nah, nah, nah. as you were mentioning earlier, it's a lot harder when you were there and putin has been playing the u.s. like a fiddle in the last three months. >> it's a giant middle finger to the u.s. up next, brokering middle east peace. it's a big job but somebody's got to do it. what's the president's role in this? times michael crowley joins us next. [ male announcer ] don't miss red lobster's four course seafood feast.

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it has been a busy week for secretary of state john kerry. today he made an unannounced trip to pakistan meeting with the new prime minister and looking to ease the strained relationships between the two countries. earlier in the week his focus was mid east peace. after a five year stalemate on tuesday, israeli and pakistani leaders came together and agreed to reach in two weeks in the hopes of reaching a settlement in nine months. even though kerry was able to bring them to the table, it will be the president who will seal the deal. kerry kicks the peace process, where's obama? with us is michael crowley. michael, it's great to have you. >> thanks for having me. >> i'm going to get right to it. where's the president? >> well, he was keeping a safe distance. for several months john kerry was trying to pull these talks together. he traveled to the region six times. obama was hanging back not

saying much about it. he put a little bit of his stamp on things when the talks commenced this week and obama showed up and he met with negotiators, did photo ops and i think it was a sign that was probably necessary because people were saying, where is the president? is john kerry freelancing? did he say, kerry, you go off and give it a try and let me know if it's going somewhere? i think people in the region were wondering how invested the president is. obama's said i'm paying attention. this is important to me. but it still remains to be seen whether he's going to really stick his neck out, take any political risk, try to put anything specific on the table that could come back and bite him. that wouldn't come for a little while still so he's still keeping a little bit of a distance, i think. >> michael, in your article you write it's not kerry who can broker a peace break through, it's barack obama. i want to get your thoughts though on what former president jimmy carter said which is that while the u.s., you know, can help support the peace process, he basically said, look, i don't

see anyone else in the region and in israel who can do this other than netanyahu and looking at the recent release of prisoners, the idea that perhaps benjamin netanyahu, like other hawks before him, will turn dovish as the cap stone to his career, what do you make of that? >> right. so, you know, everyone is now kind of psycho analyzing netanyahu who was written off by people who wanted to see a two-state deal not too long ago. someone who wasn't going to do it and now you hear some theories that he's come around, he wants to do it for his legacy, he wants to do it for practical reasons but i think it is true that never one involved is going to have to take a leap. netanyahu perhaps more than anyone is going to have to defy conservatives in israel who don't really want to see a deal and he's going to have to go out on a limb. likewise, i think president obama will also have to help create the scenario where he can do that and where the

palestinians are going to do that. one of the reasons people are skeptical this will go anywhere is you will have three political leaders to take a risk and crawl out on a limb. unless all three of them do, maybe netanyahu more than anyone, it's probably not going to happen. >> michael, let's say that there is some progress despite what you're saying. is this a negative reflection on hillary clinton's tenure as secretary of state, that john kerry comes in there and is able to get things done? >> i would say a couple of things. one, credit to kerry for what he's gotten done so far although getting people to the table is a pretty limited step. it is more than clinton was able to accomplish and clinton never personally engaged herself in the process. she tasked former senator george mitchell as her envoy to the middle east and outsourced that. one criticism you do hear of clinton is she outsourced some of the hardest work. think of afghanistan and

pakistan. richard holbrook was the echb voi and george mitchell to the east. hillary wasn't getting her hands dirty in those particular issues. so i can understand why some people would make that criticism. it may be that these talks fall apart and everyone is mad at kerry and hillary is vindicated. >> michael crowley, great to have you here. appreciate it. >> thanks, guys. appreciate it. what if you could pay all of your bills by food, by phone without using any cash. the national review, she tried to live on bitcoin alone for a week. how did it go? she'll tell us coming up next. having a heart attack. the emts gave me bayer aspirin. it helped save my life. i was in shape, fit. i did not see it coming. my doctor recommends i take bayer aspirin to help prevent another heart attack. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone so be sure to talk to your doctor

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(man vo) i may not know where the road will lead, but... i'm sure my subaru will get me there. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. a bitcoin. right now the term is foreign to many of us, but before long we could all be using it to pay for everyday needs like food, clothes, rent or your bar tab. a bitcoin is a digital currency. it's traded for purchases on the internet. that means the value is independent of any central bank. think of it like monopoly money for the modern day but you can actually buy real stuff with it. our next guest was assigned to live off bitcoin's for a week. her experience, my so-called bit cohn life. betsy woodruff wrote the piece. i want to ask you, betsy, right off the top here. what did you learn living off the bitcoin? if this thing does take hold, how disruptive is it for the international financial system?

>> i'd say the main thing i learned that as of right now bitcoin life is not the most glamorous way to be. at the same point, the fact that the transactions are easy to have means that it's very especially for -- >> some person just invested this, and it's used a lot to buy drugs, as you pointed out, but you pointed out it's nod used to buy things like child prostitutes, credit card numbers, identities, even though there's essential nothing from keeping people from doing those things? >> theoretically you could use them, but the main blackmarket website is called silk road, and it's banned child pornography and doesn't sell weapons, and more problematic items you could

sell. >> i was talking to a guy from silicon valley about this. he said the most amazing thing about the bitcoin is that the internet, through guys sitting in long rows of computers, has actually created something tangible that goods and services can be exchanged on. talk about that in the context of how we live in society. this is real, tangible money, correct? >> primarily i don't think line. people actually don't use them like coins, though i think there are ways it basically is backed by faith in other bitcoin users, so the entire community decided they didn't want to use it or it didn't have real, maybe the value could plummet, maybe something like what happened with beanie babies, but the odds of that is slim. the popularity is growing. >> you also wrote in your piece,

even the government accountability office has taken note, issuing reports that income may be taxable. is this just the beginning? are we going to ultimately see a tax put on this? ultimately what are the other concerns? are we talking about regulations ultimately as well? >> regulatory concerns are very serious. in thailand the central bank just reviewed to license a bitcoin exchange, so it's de facto illegal there. which is problematic. however, the israeli bar association recently said you can use bitcoin in israel to pay attorneys. so the regulatory climate is kind of a wild west right now. i think regulators will have to sort of stumble their way through. >> wow. well, definitely an interesting area to watch. i know you're down the hall in the d.c. studio. i'll give you some of my homemade cash if you want to buy coffee in -- >> very nice of you, ari. up next, a trip you won't want to miss, a trip down abby's

road. it's a first and we'll be right back for it. replacing 1 fast-food dinner a week, saves your family of 4 over $760 a year. save money. live better. walmart.

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yes, i am the new kid on the block. what i hope you get from me here is a reasonable approach to politics. after four days, my main role will be, of course, to keep them in line as crystal has so beautifully done. all of us have egos, but when it comes to politicians, we take a bag seat. it goes hand in hand for building their lives for improving their own self-image. a bit of swagger is often essentially to holding a powerful position. after all, bill clinton, he did not achieve his current status

without a healthy dose without self-confidence, and chris christie has found a unique voice, also confidence inspiring. have we provided a platful for some to grow unchecked and out of control, only to make a mockery out of our own democracy? the last week of headlines, anthony weiner or as some might know him, carlos danger, he spent more than 12 years in congress and what does he have to show for it? he'll tell you about the lone bill in 12 years for which he was the lead sponsor. yet here he is engulf in another scandal. still unwilling to suspend his campaign. meanwhile, his staff is quitting, and major publication have urged him to call it quits. it couldn't be more clear his motives are all about himself, not about the people of new york city. at this point he's only making a fool of himself, the election and the democratic party. next up, donald trump, a guy

that seems to consider running for president anytime there's an election. just last week he confirmed to "the national review" he is again considering a run in 2016. how many times will we let they man stroke his eego talking about a run we know will never materialize. they're abusing and frankly embarrassing our democracy. unfortunately many of those outsized egos have spilled into the hallways of congress. for many, growing their own ego implies putting themselves above another. does that sound familiar? that's great and all. where do these egos leave us? yeah, with the least productive and least popular congress in history. take the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. so is it these growing egos that have led to no passage of meaningful legislation.

the last thing we need are more egos running for public. we need public servants, public servants able to see the bigger picture, whether that's listening to and -- or whether that's recognizing when it's time to step out of a race. until then egos will continue to prevail. our democracy will only suffer. that's it for "the cycle." martin, at least no one here is running on ego, right? >> absolutely. the ever humble abby huntsman. it's august 1st, and speaker boehner and the gop are running for the exits. congratulations, congress, you may be about to come the english language's most offensive "c" word. >> there's nothing phony about these scandals, mr. president. we're going to continue to fight for the truth. i don't know how he can look

americans in the eye. >> 40 meaningless votes that repeal obama care. >> president obama is in denial. >> we've had lots of votes about obama care, none of which had any chance of passing. >> we're not going to give him -- >> we don't have the votes in the senate or in the house. >> we need people with vote -- with tattoos, people without tattoos. >> why is president obama threatening to shut down the government in order to force obama care down the american people's throats. >> i'm not the least bit concerned about what some might describe as perception. >> the house is clearly where things go to die. >> i'm sure the august resist will have our members in in a better mood when they come back. ♪ we're on a mission ♪ come on and ride on the fantastic ride ♪ may i