tv MSNBC Live MSNBC February 4, 2014 8:00am-9:01am PST
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i want to say how deeply sorry we are for the impact this issue has had. we know this breach has shaken their confidence in target and we are determined to work very hard to earn it back. >> hello, everyone, i'm richard lui. that was target's cfo moments ago apologizing to the nation in front of congress about one of the largest data breaches in u.s. history. here's a live look now at the senate judiciary committee. members are expected to grill target executive john mulligan how 44 million credit card numbers, plus personal information from 70 million more were stolen. the senate held a news conference why it is so critical that something is done here. >> there has to be trust. without it, there will be perils to retailing across the country
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and across the globe. the malware is sophisticated, and is more widely available than ever before. >> now one of the big questions coming from the hearings, who is more responsible for protecting your personal information? retailers say the banks, banks say retailers have to do more to tighten security in their systems. today's hearing is the second of three investigating holiday data breaches. neiman marcus saying hackers got ahold of a million credit cards last year and lawmakers put for companies to notify customers faster when their information is being stolen. >> there are state laws that require breach notification that may apply to retailers, but there is no federal -- >> there's no breach requirements across the board. >> nbc's luke reussert joins us live from capitol hill. it doesn't appear to have the
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emotional tenure, but still some big questions, right? >> there's some big questions here, richard, and really what this pertains to from a federal standpoint, a congressional standpoint, is there will out of this massive data breach that happened back in december be some sort of uniformed federal standard for companies and banks to notify their consumers, pretty much all of us in this country, whether or not there was some sort of fraud regarding purchases they make at big retail shop and what not. what this sets up from a congressional perspective, as in washington, everything becomes political. you have lobbying groups from retailers saying no. banks have to do more, banks need a chip in their credit card. they can't just have a magnetic strip. retailers are pushing back saying, no, no, no, they want the banks to have those cards. banks are saying every single time there's a data breach, we're the ones that know about
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it and the retailers do not. you're going to see them fight this out to try and get a better uniform federal standard that pertains better to their industry, but i would be shocked after this happened because it's such a great bipartisan issue there's not a federal standard for notifying consumers of a data breach by the end of this year. >> we'll see how that comes to pass, as you're saying some time this year. luke, stay with us. i want to bring in technology writer bob sullivan, as well, as retail expert and reporter, bob, to you first. as luke was saying, we expect to hear arguments that pit banks against retailers. who is more responsible for protecting our identity of those two groups? >> well, to be blunt with you, i think the banks. they have more data and insight into what's happening to our data. i feel bad for target in this case because they were the first one, largest one, but we know now there's maybe two dozen companies wrapped up in this and they are getting all the blame when it's quite clear everybody
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involved in the payment exchange deserves blame. >> sounds like this could grow and grow, bob was eluding to the 20-plus groups that are being looked into that may have had their systems violated here, and compromised. retailers here, you know, widely exposed, perhaps concerned here. they depend on these banks to lead them, to give them solutions. can they do more? >> they can absolutely do more, and the problem, what it boils down to, is money, richard. it's going to cost target, if they implement that chip, almost $100 million in order to implement this and change their systems so they can function with this, and so customers can use it. that's a lot of money to the bottom line. from the retailers' perspective, they are going to have to invest in that and that's going to have an effect on earnings. as we saw back in december -- >> those are thin earnings, by the way. >> and analysts were cutting the estimates, their outlooks, for
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the next quarter. so when you see a retailer having to make those type of choices and have to take means, that's where everyone is sort of concerned right now. >> might see those surcharges make its way to retailers. by 2015 they are going to put in those chips into the people's cards that are being used for all these retailers, so you have to enter a pin instead of, you know, signing that receipt that you get. and you were saying on this very topic that expert insider chip and pin migration would help, but it's certainly no panacea and will be used as a distraction ploy to make consumers feel better. but when you look at all the possible solutions out there, bob, isn't it a nice first step? another layer that can be added here? >> it certainly is, and it's a good step and would stop a certain kind of fraud, card
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cloning, where someone takes stolen account numbers and shops at a store. that's a good step. we have a huge chicken and egg problem. say target spends that $100 million to put in chip readers, who wants to be the first one to drop all that coin to update these systems? banks have to do it first, retailers have to do it first. you're going to look like a sucker if everybody doesn't do it. >> luke, what does the senate judiciary committee want to hear? they have a lot of folks heading up there to give their testimony. just to name several, federal trade commission, all being called to ed up there, but they did get that apology that we talked about at the top coming from target. is that all they want, apologies? >> obviously, the apology is important, understand what senators are trying to do here is send a press release back home they are working for you on behalf of the consumers in their state. i do think in terms of what they want to see from the outside
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when this is all complete is can you have that federal standard i was talking about earlier for data breach? right now it's a hodgepodge of what different states do in terms of when data is taken from a consumer and they'd like to have a uniform federal standard so everyone is playing by the same rules. i do think you're going to see a push for these chips and cards, from spokes i've spoken to on these committees, why not in this day in age, 2014, you have to put your pin in when you do a credit card purchase. i could sign richard lui quite easily. that lobster's coming your way, my friend. i think that's where it's moving, because that's a real tangible result that congress produced that would make you feel more secure. it might be a sugar high, like bob was saying, but it shows action. >> look, this technology you're talking about, luke, two decades old, it's not necessarily new stuff. heath, finish us off, the apologies, an editorial in "the
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new york times ", what should you do when you don't think you should apologize but everybody else does? look, this apology stuff is getting too easy for ceos on the cause and on the backs of consumers. >> at this point target needs to say we're going to be the first to spend this money in order to fix the problem. this was the biggest breach in history, they are a major retailer, and customer attrition is happening. people are not feeling safe to go in and use their debit cards there and it's happening across the board. you saw that happen at neiman marcus, there was another breach with the hotels. this isn't going to end any time soon unless retailers really take the measures to protect their consumers. >> we'll be watching and listening to those debates today. luke russert, bob sullivan, heatha, thank you all. banks and retailers point fingers at each other, which do you think is more responsible for protecting your identity? weigh in on facebook or twitter.
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worries of unsafe water. it's been weeks now since authorities declared water safe to drink after a chemical spill, but officials began distributing bottled water again last week. we'll talk with one doctor who says he is not using the tap water himself coming up. plus -- >> i have a responsibility for 8.9 million people. and i'll be damned if i'm going to let anything get in the way of me doing my job. i took an oath a couple weeks ago. >> new jersey governor hitting the radio waves defending what he knew and when he knew it in the bridgegate scandal. he also admitted his office has been subpoenaed. what the controversy is doing to him in the polls next. a weather alert for you now, after one storm dumped several inches in the northeast, another one is churning. the storm has the potential to affect about 118 people in parts of 32 states. ice, snow, and freezing rain
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[yawns] the presidents day sale is ending soon. ♪ mattress discounters there are three new fronts in the bridgegate controversy that snarled new jersey governor chris christie's administration. during his monthly radio appearance, christie talked about the scandal for the first time in weeks and called scrutiny of when he first learned of the lane closures a, quote, game of gotcha. >> the most important thing is, did i know anything about the plan to close these lanes, did i authorize it, did i know about it, did i approve it, did i have any knowledge it beforehand, and the answer is still the same,
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it's unequivocally no, and, in fact, no one's ever accused me of is that. and that's the thing i think the people of new jersey care about the most. >> christie also confirmed his office has been subpoenaed by the u.s. attorney and they have already started turning over documents. meanwhile, bridget kelly, christie's fired deputy of staff who wrote the time for traffic problems in ft. lee e-mail, she took the fifth. ron allen is here with us in set. three developments overnight and we got new polling information. this is a story you've been covering since the very beginning. what's happening now? >> there's a lot, and the bottom line, last night on that radio show, we saw flashes of the old chris christie. he was very aggressive, very assertive, and he's said no one has accused him of knowing about this, but that's the question, did he know anything about the bridge closure, he says, no, no, no. there's several investigations, the u.s. attorney is looking into this, as well.
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all this is taking a toll on him and that's what the poll numbers show, pinning him against hillary clinton in 2016, you can see from all these numbers, bottom line back in december he was up against clinton, now he's slighting down. when you look at the other potential republican contenders in november 2013, christie was leading the pack, now he is in the middle of the pack. >> what a change, huh? >> it is a big change, but it is significant. later this week, christie is taking up his role as the head of the republican governor's association, so he's trying to get back out there and yesterday on this show and publicly he was talking about i'm trying to do the business of the people of new jersey, but he's got a lot coming at him from different directions. >> also shows the confidence he has, as well as the rga in him as he heads on out. part of what he said here, ron, yesterday was about the traffic study and whether or not the lane closures were, indeed or
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not part of a traffic study. this is what he said. >> let's remember something for everybody out there, we did not close lanes to the bridge. all the lanes in the bridge were open. these were three toll booths that are dedicated just to ft. lee and two of those lanes were closed, apparently. to do a traffic study to see if there's really a need for all those three lanes, that's what i was told at the time. >> so, ron, he brought it up again. why? >> it's curious, because everything i've heard suggests this was not a traffic study, there never was one, but he was talking about something that he was told some time ago. the bottom line is, there's the u.s. attorney looking at this, an investigation by the legislature, which is dominated by democrats and who are his opponents. this is going to drag on for a long time. there are a lot of people who have taken the fifth, like bridget kelly, and one thing when the legislature is demanding documents of you, it's
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another when the u.s. attorney is demanding documents on you. you can't just essentially duck it. in her letter, she said these are parallel inquiries, her lawyer said, so that's why i'm going to do this. for chris christie, he perhaps still has ambitions to run in 2016, but this is going to dog him all the way. every time we speak, we're going to be listening to see where this is. yesterday was subpoena day. there were 20 people who had to produce documents in the case. many got extensions, some produced documents that are going to be leaked, more coming, and he has to hope everything he's been saying is the truth. >> thinbc's ron allen, thank yoo much. a market alert right now, after dropping 326 points yesterday, the dow is up 53 and change. a lot of folks scratching their head. with me now is cnbc's kayla
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toushe. that's big, hurting a lot of people's retirement accounts. typical here for first quarter to see the dip or do you think it's something more structural from what you're watching? >> richard, it's not necessarily typical in any first quarter, but can be typical after a massive stock rally like we saw last year. stocks gained 30% in 2013 so a retreat would seem natural. when it comes to a correction is when a market has fallen 10% from a recent high. right now the dow is 7% below, so that is a ways out from what would normally be alarming. experts are saying the market may still be up this year, but you'll need a strong stomach to wait it out. a market is accustomed to being propped up by stimulus from the fed. >> as you're talking with your guests, those in the industry and those watching the markets, are they worried right now? >> they are not necessarily worried until they see that correction. we're also very focused on the
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jobs number that's going to come out this friday, because gdp was up 3.2% in the fourth quarter. that's the single best indicator the economy is growing, but it's retrospective and more recent data haven't shown the trend strengthen. manufacturing and construction have slowed, personal income and spending on big ticket items like cars has slow. many are saying the weak jobs number is more indicative of a broader slowdown so people are going to be focused on this friday's job figure. >> i'm looking at housing and it seems to be doing better. i'll hope that's a positive indicator for the coming weeks. kayla, thank you so much from cnbc. how did we get here? did god create the world or did we evolve? what's expected to be a spirited debate happens tonight between bill nye the science guy and a man who beliefs in creationism. plus, the fight over raising the debt ceiling. house republicans reportedly have a plan to get what they
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just a few more ways allstate is changing car insurance for good. [ female announcer ] call an allstate agent and get a quote now. a senate hearing is under way right now and the safety of drinking water supplies following last month's spill of 10,000 gallons of chemicals in west virginia, they are debating that right now. today, there are growing doubts, though, about the water safety. nearly three weeks after officials declared it safe to drink for some 300,000 people. >> what's incredibly frustrating is there is no end in sight. >> we want to know what's in our water. we want to know that it's safe. >> my biggest concern will be the health of my kids maybe in ten years. >> so, doctor raul gupta, director of the charleston health department joins us now to talk more about this. doctor, is the water still a danger today, in your opinion?
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>> well, richard, the way we're saying is the signs, limited amount of science we have available is saying, no, it's not a danger, but the common sense to the people is saying, yes, perhaps it might be. so we're at a basically a road where we have trouble, the public has trouble understanding the safety of the water as it stands today. >> well, you and your family, who live in that water district, are not drinking the water. the state had stopped giving out bottled water, as i mentioned earlier for a few days, and then they started giving out water bottles recently. so, scientifically, if it's safe, you're still saying you're not going to drink it. >> well, we have been having a lot of confusing messages come down to the community. as you know, initially there was a pregnant woman advisory provided three days after the water was declared safe. people wondered what about
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people who are having other medical conditions. similarly, the initial spill was 2500 gallons, later we found 10,000 gallons. day 12 we found another chemical in the water called pph. there are so many mixed signals going on, including the resuming of the water distribution. when we do surveys in our communities, we are finding consistently 1% to 2% people are actually drinking the water, so it's not just me, myself, but it's also the physician community, the public out there, everybody is concerned about the quality of the water. so it's become from a quantity issue to a quality issue. >> now, just a moment ago we were listening to what the west virginia secretary of state had, who asked for some funds. he just put that out, for a study that you actually proposed. and let's listen to his request. >> dr. gupta is proposing a ten-year study to monitor the
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long-term health impact of the people who have been exposed to mchm, and i'm asking this committee to work with us to provide those resources we need to begin that study right away. we owe it to our children to start this study today. >> so, what do you hope to find with this study? >> so, there's two big concerns right now. one is to have the federal boots on the ground, cdc and others, the other is to get the long-term evaluation done through a study. what we hope to find through this study is whether there are long-term effects of the exposure or they are not long-term effects. i think it's too premature for any of us in public health to make statements that it is absolutely safe and there are no long-term effects or to say it could be bad long term. we just need to study that and we need the resources here on the ground.
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listen, we are the unwilling participants of this live human experiment. it's never been tested on humans before. it would probably not be -- it would be in violation, actually, if you wanted to do such a study in a controlled experiment, but what we're saying is the community here in west virginia, as we are going through this experiment, let's learn through it. let's make sure this doesn't happen to anybody else in the country and in the world, and if it does, at least we know what are the consequences of being exposed to these chemicals. >> all right. thank you so much, dr. raul gupta from the charleston health department today. appreciate it. here's a look at some of the other stories topping the news right now, the ntsb is investigating a small plane crash near nashville, tennessee, that killed all people onboard. the pilot is being called a hero by narrowly missing a crowded ymca, a building that was near the crash that had some 300 individuals very close by.
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new details are emerging about the tragic death of philip seymour hoffman. police found 29 full and 20 empty bags of heroin and six bottles of prescription drugs for things like adhd, anxiety, and one used for treating drug addiction. authorities are waiting for results on toxicology tests before ruling on the cause of death. a convicted killer who managed to escape from prison is back behind bars today. the man, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of two people, peeled holes in two fences with his bare hands to escape from the correctional facility and then stole a woman's car and fled. the fda is targeting teens, the graphic ads depict teenagers and include a hash tag "the real cost," aiming to show teens the cost of smoking is more than financial. to support families in getting back to the table.
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developing now, president obama is due to speak at any time about the progress that's been made on his goal to connect 99% of students to high speed internet and wireless technology in schools across the country. the white house saying fewer than 30% of schools have the broadband that they need to teach using today's technology. the president will announce the companies taking him up on his challenge. we'll take his remarks live when it does happen. strategy session, the house gop weighs its options as democrats get set to rally the troops at this week's annual retreat. that's today's topic for our agenda panel. steve benen is a producer for "the rachel maddow show" and msnbc political contributor and amanda terkel, political reporter and editor at "the huffington post." great to see all three. house speaker john boehner asked about the gop debt ceiling plan
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at a news conference a few moments ago, and here's what he said. >> a lot of opinions about how to deal with the debt limit. no decisions have been made. the goal here is to increase the debt ceiling. nobody wants to default on our debt. >> he's been consistent with that, he does not want to, again, have default, but "the washington post" says the gop has narrowed its options down to two basic areas on the debt limit. first, trading a one-year extension for the debt limit for approval of the keystone xcel pipeline. the second possible option here, one-year extension for a repeal of the affordable care act's risk corridors. boehner was asked about the pipeline today. let's listen to what he had to say about that. >> complex. you think the keystone pipeline is complex? it's been under study for five years. we've built pipelines everywhere in america every day. do you realize there are 200,000 miles of pipelines in the united states? and the only reason that the
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president's involved in the keystone pipeline is because it crosses an international boundary. listen, we can build it. there's nothing complex about the keystone pipeline. it's time to build it. bye. >> that might have been, at least in that news briefing, the most energetic part of his answers there. a clean debt limit extension and balanced budget amendment not being discussed, but it sounds like he's narrowed it down to two. does that mean it's really the pipeline that he's favoring based on the way he answered that question? >> definitely. the gop has made no qualms about the fact they support the pipeline and want it built. i think environmentalists have been pushing to stop that from happening because of the damage it will do. certainly, a clean debt limit extension is something we need to be pushing the gop to do. that was the narrative all throughout history and until 2010, you know, republicans went along with the debt ceiling extensions and now all of a
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sudden it's something that they need to negotiate for and really, you know, take hostages and, you know, i think that this is a situation where they are not going to hold the hostages, they are not going to shoot the hostage. they are going to go along with it. >> compared to previous debt limit negotiations, steve, and i'll go to our nbc political director chuck todd and what he had tweeted earlier today. he was saying more evidence, there won't be much of a debt ceiling fight. the gop asks are very narrow, meaning there's only those two options. meanwhile, in response to today's cbo report, paul ryan releasing a statement reading in part, washington can't continue to ignore the problem, trillions of dollars in empty promises and obamacare is only making things worse. what do you think there, as we look at those two options, what does this mean in terms of what can actually happen, when they can get 218 votes really in the house?
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>> well, they really don't have a choice. last spring house republicans said they'd crash the economy on purpose unless demands were met, and republicans bluffed and they were called on it and passed a clean debt ceiling increase, same happened in the fall, here we are once again saying give us what we want or we'll crash the economy on purpose. it's a fairly transparent con. everyone realizes they have no choice. boehner said they are not going to default, not going to trash the full faith and credit of the united states. we're seeing this drama played out on the national stage, but everyone realizes that congress has a responsibility to pay for the spending they've already proposed and they are not going to threaten to hurt americans on purpose. >> so, amanda, there's less drama, as chuck todd was saying. what might that say about the republicans' risk appetite here? >> well, they were burned during the government shutdown. the public overwhelmingly blamed them and new polls show that if
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we default on our debt, republicans will again get the blame. here's the problem of what john boehner is facing, he has a republican party that is not united. do you want to do keystone, do you want to go after the affordable care act, or do you want to just pass a clean debt limit? democrats, however, have been completely united, both in congress and president obama has said we will not negotiate on raising the debt limit, we will not hold the country hostage. they have been united, they have not moved on that, and republicans can't even figure out what they want to negotiate on, which is the same problem they faced in the shutdown. that's where republicans are having a lot of problems, which is why a lot of this may be theatrics in the run up to 2016 so they can show constituents, look, we tried to passkeystone and it just didn't work. >> i want your reaction to this, because you're in d.c., house democrats speaking, they are about to hold an annual retreat and "the wall street journal," parting ways on trade, energy,
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and health care as the gap widens of keeping control of the senate and advancing parts of the white house agenda. we know harry reid, he met with the president last night reportedly to discuss strategy. house dems will be at the white house tonight. you there in d.c., democrats not coming together on these issues for what you hear? >> in an election year, it's not uncommon for candidates who are maybe more conservative states where the president is not as popular to distance themselves from the president and right now the president is getting criticism from the right and the left. there's some conservative democrats who would like to see him approve the keystone xcel pipeline and there are more progressive democrats who are criticizing him, for example, on the nsa spying program. that being said, democrats have remained united, again, on doing a clean debt limit hike and also on the main issues that president obama put forward in his state of the union address, extending unemployment benefits, raising the minimum wage, and
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sort of those other issues of economic inequality. >> zerlina, something else that came across our twitter account this morning was that the hill saying that money going to the tea party is starting to go down. is this because, your perspective here, perhaps the democratic strategy here is paying off? >> i think so. i think the tea party has shown the emperor has no clothes. in 2010 they ran largely on job creation and the past four years they haven't done anything about jobs, so i think the american people are fed up with their shenanigans and fed up with them bringing us to the brink of default every three months and they are not in there to responsibly govern, and i think that is why they are lacking fundraising like they have in the past. >> which may surprise some. respond to that, if you'd like, steve. also, you know, there's a reuter's article we were looking at that points out obama needs democrats here to really have any chance of legislative success this year, that might be
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an obvious point made, such as his push to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. what is one thing that they can push for and they can get done in the house, the president, democrats, and republicans? >> i still think immigration will be the key issue in the coming months. that's the kind of thing republicans realize they are struggling with latino voters and they can't go into the 2014 midterms with no accomplishments over the course of four years, so i think you're looking for legislative accomplishments, i think there's a possibility the senate has already passed its immigration bill, house could do the same, white house is eager to get a bill. looking ahead, that's an issue to keep an eye on. >> zerlina steve benen, amanda, thank you all three. and we'll be right back. actually, we have some live pictures of president obama speaking right now. let's take a listen. >> that wasn't actually my line, but i thought -- but at the core
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of america, the essence of it, what makes us exceptional is this idea no matter what you look like, where you come from, what your last name is, if you're willing to work hard, if you're willing to live up to your responsibilities, you can make it here in america. but each generation has to work hard to make sure that dream of opportunity stays alive for the next generation. and the opportunity agenda that i laid out last week will help us do that. it's focused on four areas. number one, more new jobs. number two, training folks with the skills to fill those jobs. number three, making sure our economy rewards hard work with decent wages and economic security. and number four, the piece i'm here to talk about today, guaranteeing every child access to a world class education,
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every child, not just some, but everybody. now, i'm only standing here today because my education gave me a chance. i'm not so different than a lot of these young people. i was raised by a single mom with the help of my grandma and my grandpa. we didn't have a lot of money, and for a while my mother was working and going to school at the same time as she was raising a couple of kids. there were times where times were tight. but with a family who loved me and with some hard work on my part, although it wasn't always consistent as my mother and my grandparents would point out, and then ultimately with the help of scholarships and student loans, i was able to go to college. i was able to go to law school.
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and entire worlds of opportunity opened up to me that might not otherwise have been available. so the country invested in me. my parents invested in me, my grandparents invested in me, but my country invested in me. and i want america to now invest in you. because in the faces of these students, these are future doctors and lawyers and engineers, scientists, business leaders, we don't know what kinds of products, services, good work that any of these students may do. but i'm betting on them and you all need to bet on them. our race to the top challenge has helped raise expectation and performance in states all across
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the country. our high school graduation rate is the highest that it's been in more than 30 years. [ applause ] that's an achievement. the dropout rate among latino students has been cut in half since 2000. really big deal. [ applause ] we reformed our student loan programs so that more young people are able to afford to go to college, and now we've got more young people earning a college degree than ever before. teachers and principals across the country are working hard to prepare students like you for skills you need for a new economy. not just the basics of reading and writing and arithmetic, but skills like science, technology, engineering. critical thinking, creativity, asking what do you think about that idea and how would you do things differently.
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now, we still have more work to do to reach more kids and reach them faster, and some of the ideas that i've presented will require congress to act. but while congress decides what it's going to do, i said at the state of the union, and i want to repeat here today, i will act on my own wherever i have the opportunity to expand opportunity for more young people -- >> expending opportunity for more young people and part of that we expect the president here in maryland to make a pitch here to increase internet broadband connectivity. the white house pointing out here that 99% of students need to have high speed internet and technology in schools across the country. that's what he'd like to have and right now only 30% of schools have the connectivity that they need to take advantage of today's technology. we'll continue to listen to president obama as he is making his remarks there in maryland. now we move on to a man that lives in georgia, but he's running for a seat in the house
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of representatives in three additional states. he is running in minnesota, michigan, and hawaii, and georgia. it's an unprecedented strategy that, well, it just mike work. allan levene joins us right now. so this is very interesting here, allan, you're running in four states at the same time to get to congress. why? >> well, that is correct. i am an immigrant, i came here from england something like 40 years ago. this is a wonderful country. in four or five years, i have an enormous fear that the u.s. dollar will collapse from the overspending by the insane representatives in congress, so i have to stop it. as such, because i'm 64 and won't last forever, i am obliged to run for congress in multiple
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states so i will be elected. why? the reason is, in order to enact two bills to save this country from financial ruin, i need to have a vote. when i have a vote, and i'm elected to the house of representatives, i will form a caucus of like-minded representatives, and we will make changes. >> now, allan, i believe that you believe that you could do this because you've looked at the constitution, article 1, section 2 of the constitution of the united states saying, no person shall be a representative who shall not when elected be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen. i guess you will move based on where you will make it through the primary and then go through the election. have you gotten advice from your campaign manager or managers about whether this is the right way to go about getting that vote that you just talked about? >> well, we think it is.
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the reason being is that the system has been so cobbled with redistricting that if you win the primary, and georgia happens to have a very early primary this year, then you will win the general election. the founding fathers of this country never imagined that the system would be edited, if you will, to be nice so that by winning the primary you would be elected. they expected you would have to run in the general election in order to win. that's not actually true, so if i win the georgia primary, i will drop out of the other races. >> so you want georgia specifically is what you're saying. the question is, whether you can actually get the support. voters probably looking at your candidacy and saying he's in four different states, he doesn't believe in my district specifically. >> well, i do, believe, first of all, primarily in georgia. i love living here. the georgians are very, very nice people. i've lived in georgia on and off for about 30 years. i do not want to move, but if i
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lose the election here, and there are seven candidates for this open seat, then i will move on to the other states, where i have the best chance of winning the primary. if i win the primary in another state, then i'll move there before the general election and hopefully be elected, so i can enact these bills. these bills are, one, to save the dollar, and, two, to help current congress people resign. they have to resign, because once they are in congress, they never leave, and that's all wrong. we don't need a term limits amendment. we need them to resign. and i have an idea that nobody's come up with, which will accomplish that. >> we'll have to leave it there. allan levene, republican congressional candidate in four states, thank you very much. we'll be right back. opped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner.
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time, evolution or creationism, well, bill nye is getting into this, the science guy and ken hamm are going to duke it out tonight and msnbc's adam is going to be there for the blow by blow. the genesis as we both know for this debate was sparked by a u tube video nye had done where he said the concept of creationism should not be taught to children. >> i say to the grown-ups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your -- in your world that's completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that's fine. but don't make your kids do it because we need them. we need scientific literal voters and taxpayers for the future. >> that video has gotten 6 million hits on youtube. some folks might be thinking despite the obvious conflict
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that nye is trying to create here in this debate, is there really a debate about it? >> well, that's one of the things that the creationists are excited about. any time you put evolution and creationism on the same level they feel they are winning. this debate they are putting on the museum is producing at a loss. they claim they are not making money off of it. >> even though they sold out -- >> how excited they are. they did sell out. they are going to be selling dvds of the debate after the fact. they are definitely very excited about this. >> what is expected to be the structure of this debate and are they going to declare a winner at the end of this at all? >> it's not entirely clear to me yet what the structure is going to be. when asked about whether or not he thought there was going to be a winner yesterday, hamm said that he didn't want to think of it that way, he didn't want
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there to be a winner per se but he hoped people would go online and start to question and research things on their own, which sort of means that he hopes that people are persuaded towards his perspective that the earth is 6,000 years old and evolution is not fact. >> in the scientific community, saying that by having such a popular figure like bill there, to even engage in the debate gives creationism more credence then it deserves. >> that's right. what they are saying is that science is not decided by debate. debate is about performance and about persuading an audience. science is determined through observation, experimentation, it's not subject to how much applause lines you can get in a research paper or experiment. >> they might end up with an arm wrestle. thank you. >> thank you for having me. msnbc.com will live stream the
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debate 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern tonight. you can check that out. after the debate nye will appear on "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. i'm richard liu and i'll see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern. craig melvin will pick things up after the break. stick around for that. so ally bank has a raise your rate cd that won't trap me in a rate. that's correct. cause i'm really nervous about getting trapped. why's that? uh, mark?
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but now you can use them to make pizza night awesome, too. unroll, separate, add sauce, pepperoni, cheese, and fold. behold: weeknight crescent pizza pockets party. pillsbury crescents. make dinner pop. here we go, high noon at 30 rock. president obama, live look there of him telling a roomful of maryland middle schoolers how important the internet will be to their education. you don't pow ir panel is set to talk about his remarks and second term land mines. chris christie meets his constituents, sort of, taking a spin on radio row, still defending what he knew and did not know about these bridge lane closures and flashing some of that garden state charm. >> good evening, robert, how are
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you? >> the snow shovel is a little bit -- >> i hear we're getting more tomorrow, robert, get the ben gay and limber up, buddy. >> wise words from the governor there and not just for the people of new jersey, take a look at that radar, more than 100 million americans are about to get another dose of a winter wallop. we start this day with a high tech education push from the president. he's announced billions in new spending on technology in american schools and done it all without getting a single vote or raising a single cent from congress. the president just moments ago detailing the new initiative at buck lodge middle school at prince georges county, maryland. >> they are announcing a down payment of $2 billion to connect more than 15,000 schools and 20 million students to high speed broadband over the
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