tv The Cycle MSNBC April 23, 2014 12:00pm-1:01pm PDT
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colbert shows up on let areman. i am crystal ball. i don't get it, looks pretty much the same. >> plus a food fight at the supreme court. palm is suing coke for frontage on juice. will justice be served? the midterm elections are right around the corner. republicans need to win six for seats to take control of the senate. history may be on the democrats' side. take a look at this, since 2000, democratic incumbents have won 13 out of 17 races in states where republican presidential candidates won by as many as 20 points. republicans success has been written largely in more open contests over the past 15 years gop candidates have taken 84% of races when they weren't facing an incumbent democrat and new polls out today from the "new york times" show the democrats
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vulnerable this time around may be in better shape than some pundits would have you believe. mitch mcconnell is one of the few republicans who does look vulnerable, not only does he face the democratic opponent but before he gets there he has to go through a primary fight next month. democrats are hoping those gop primaries will take a bite out of republican incumbents. republicans, however, argue it's all about one incumbent, president obama, who we should note has disapproval ratings of about 50% in nearly every race that matters. joining us now is democratic strategist and friend of the show erica knuty. how are you? >> i'm great. >> let's focus in on one race. tell us about the nunn race. >> michelle nunn is a really exciting candidate. the nunn name is an important name in the state of georgia. her father has a lot of i guess still fans but i think one of the things we've seen with her, i'll start with her background as a nonprofit executive and
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somebody who worked on a bipartisan nonprofit, she is portray herself as a moderate, can be the bipartisan person to reach across the aisle with a credibility we don't generally see with other candidates. her fund raise something fantastic. she's outraising hand over fist the gop primary candidates but i think there's other things in her fund-raising that's kind of telling, for example senator dick luger and john warner, both republicans have given money and supported her campaign. when you have the republicans poised to take the senate and two former republican senators endorsing the democratic candidate in georgia, i mean that says a lot. >> yes. >> pretty striking. >> the other thing is that if you look at who her donors are she's made strong inroads with the pro-business republican community in georgia. so they know her to be a fair
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bipartisan moderate person. she has a lot of credibility with them. she's taking their money. there's a lot of people donating to the rnc that are also donating to michelle nunn, that does two things. one, if she can siphon off the republican donors in georgia, there's fewer republican donors for the republicans to kind of go at that pool gets smaller and smaller, but then the other thing is that if you can see that her pitch and who she is, is working with these republicans, the donors, if it it's probably going to work with voters, too. >> erikka, the race i'm most excited about is in kentucky, mcconnell versus grimes, sort of the wildcats against i don't know the blue devils or something. it's a tight race, as you can see there. mitch's approval rating in kentucky is lower than obama's approval rating in kentucky, but the thing that makes this race really interesting to me is the aspect of obamacare. this is a red state that
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embraced o'bama care, over 400,000 folks signed up. third of the state's electorate. rand paul won his state by only 100,000 votes. basically we have a lot of people who have a very personal snake mitch mcconnell losing. >> i think the people who have the most personal stake are the people of kentucky. kentucky has, i mean it ranks the worst among the largest health problems in america, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, smoking. so it's got a lot of people that are i guess dying prematurely or have preventable illnesses and injuries that had not had access to health care. before there was 600,000 plus kentuckians that did not have insurance. the new numbers reported today, over 400,000 kentuckians have enrolled in obamacare. two-thirds of those that were uninsured. those are big, big numbers and so i think there's a reason why mitch mcconnell's also not as popular as obamacare in the
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state of kentucky. >> boom, obamacare burn, krystal. >> erikka, i think one of the most shocking numbers in the poll was in louisiana with mary landrieu, people were thinking was really endangered and here she is up on her opponents big time. the louisiana race is a little bit more complicated. all of these candidates will be on the ballot in november and if no one gets over the 50% mark, then there will be a runoff in december, which looks like where we're headed, but mary landrieu looks to be in a pretty strong position right now. >> i completely think she's in a much stronger position than people give her credit for. she has faced off in runoffs in two of her three elections. the first time she was elected in 1996, in 2002 runoff she won and luckily in 2008 she didn't have to but that was with the lift of obama and his popular vote there at that point but she's going to face another runoff and i think she's the
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best position to win because mary landrieu has never had an easy race in her entire life. >> that's true. >> every time, that woman is tough as nails. it's the least scientific reason i can give you. >> tough as nails? >> the x factor, tough as nails factor but mary landrieu in a fight you don't want to be on the other side of it. she really is the quintessential politician. she knows that she needs to go and define herself before her opponents get a chance to define her. she's doing that right now. she's not running from obamacare. she's talking about what fixes need to be made but not running from it. louisiana has thousands with preexisting conditions that don't want to go back to a place where they were where they couldn't get covered. if she defines herself as opposed to letting everyone define her for her she's going to have more success. she's always done that in her races. i think a lot of the negativity we saw kind of a dip in her poll numbers there, because the koch brothers put $3 million in ads up against her. this may be the bottoming out.
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she's not going to come in with 60s or 70s, but i think she's going to win this and it's not going to be easy. it will be hard fought. it will be tough and she'll fight tooth and nail for it. >> i think you broke that down really well. historically the president's approval ratings in these states tends to impact the races but it's interesting, because it's not looking this way in some of the southern states where obama's disapproval sits above 50% in kentucky, north carolina, louisiana, arkansas, but they're not having impact it looks like on democrats like pryor who is up ten, hagan up 2, landrieu up four. history does not seem to be repeating itself. what's going on? >> i think what's happening is people are voting more locally or at least being polled more locally. republicans have been trying to nationalize the race, make it about obama, make it about ob a obamacare. the disappointment people have in obama, conservative voters this is going to drive them to the polls in their belief but i
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think that presidential approval rating is actually overrated in terms of its impact on these races. you look at louisiana. mary landrieu chairs the energy committee. there is nobody that has more power to impact the largest industry in her state other than her, and even if republicans take the senate, she'll be number two on that committee which is much better than a republican freshman floating around the senate who doesn't have the position and the power she does. that's another example of how you can localize her strengths and i think it will trump some of the national factors. >> and i think in a senate race when you're talking about statewide, when you're talking about a lot of money and attention paid, candidates have more of an opportunity to run on their own personal characteristics, their own policies and sort of dissociate with the national mood but erikka, we have a little bit of 2016 news that i want to talk to you about, jeb bush at a union league club luncheon today with cardinal dolan here in new york made the most sort of direct
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comments yet about whether or not he will run for president in response to a question from the audience he said, "i am considering a run for preside president," so being relatively forward he is at least weighing that possibility. >> breaking news. >> what do you think of the comments? he seems to be in very good stead with the sort of establishment and the donor class. is he in as good of a position with the base of the republican party right now? >> well i think the problem is the base of the republican party. they're the ones that are chasing after rand paul and after hauckabee and after the extreme people that can't win in a general. if he has the adults in the room and can get them to rally, the fact his name is even being thrown out there speaks to how weak the field is for the gop at this point. if there was anybody that looked like a reasonable candidate that looked like they could compete on a national level, i don't think that he would be tempted at the all. i think the words from his
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mother "no one wants another bush" would dissuade him but to be honest, in a field like this, someone's got to step up. someone's got to stand in and say, you know, i understand that we can't play games with the economy and the debt limit anymore. we need to reach out to latino voters, we cannot just be the party of the white old male. jeb bush can do that and do that with a bit of authority and credibility. >> someone that could win a national election, that would be nice. >> and jeb bush also has something going for him, that is name i.d. people forget that. >> that's a double -- >> thank you very much. up next, good morning japan. we'll give chuck todd a wake-up dmaul tokyo where the president is finally turning the corner on the asia pivot. "the cycle" rolls on for wednesday april 23rd. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for, because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them,
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good morning, tokyo. president obama will soon be waking up to the sunny skies on their first full day of his four-nation swing but asia. the meetings with the prime minister, the emperor, the empress and the first formal state din we are the u.s. president since bill clinton but there's already some big news. the president told a tokyo newspaper that the eight tiny islands at the center of a territorial dispute with china are included in the u.s. alliance with japan. that means if china were to take the islands by force our military would respond. already there are 38,000 troops on u.s. bases in japan but why the dispute? it all boils down to energy. the islands sit on a wealth of natural gas and oil reseshz. it's a balancing act of supporting our pacific allies without angering china.
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nbc's newest chief white house correspondent, political director and host of "the daily rundown" chuck todd is up extremely early. only after 4:00 a.m. there and chuck, the day is just starting. how is this first stop in japan setting the tone for the rest of the trip especially in terms of balancing u.s. support for these four allies while being careful not to anger or alienate china? >> right. well already as far as the japanese are concerned it's a success, simply because of how direct the president was about this disputed, these disputed islands in the south china sea that's been going on between china and japan. this has been among the issues hanging over the head of the japanese especially when they've watched how the united states has handled the issue with the ukraine and russia. so this is something that they wanted to see how steadfast would the united states be in ukraine, because they felt as if, how that went, so could go
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how this dispute with china could go. i think already the president has set a positive tone as far as the japanese are concerned. but this entire trip really is about the president trying to make in particular japan and south korea realize that they are first among equals as far as the united states is concerned, when they think about asia. there has been some concern by the japanese and by the south koreans that the more the president and its administration reaches out to china, the closer ties, think about michelle obama, goodwill tour that just happened in china last month, the direct talks that the president has had, the number of visits he's made to china. japan and south korea are going wait a minute, we're your closest allies. they're a rival. what's going on here? in many way this is trip, no china is on this asian itinerary and this he's on purpose. this trip is about reassuring japan and south korea, the next stop that we make that yes, the united states will play favorites in asia, and you two
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are first among equals. now don't ask the united states to pick between japan and south korea. tensions between those two countries are actually not very good. by the way, one final note about the trip, the president's going to have three different state dinners, one here in japan, one in malaysia, the first sitting u.s. president to visit malaysia since lbj and one in the philippines. >> busy trip. nbc's chuck todd, thanks for getting up so early for us. we appreciate it. joining us now at the table is our favorite tattooed politics wonk, john stanton, washington bureau chief at buzz feed. great to have you with us at the table. under any other circumstance, it seems like this trip would have a lot more attention but because of the crisis in ukraine and because there's just this general fatigue we all have with foreign policy this trip was not getting the attention and the excitement that it probably deseshz. you have folks in asia keep saying we get screwed, trips are cancel canceled.
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something seems to overshadow us. >> i think you're right although this trip i think is really aimed at the asian nations. i think for this administration they have not focused that much on asia and japan has been feeling very isolated but that's partially because their economy has been in decline and they've lost their position globally. our allies don't like we've paid attention to china. here domestically this is not aimed at us. this is vep for the governments and the populations in these countries where we have very longstanding ties and a lot of bruised feelings over the last couple years. >> in terms of what will be accomplished in this trip, i have to think that the ukraine/are ushia situation weighs heavily on what the discussions will be in some of the countries, nervous about what the u.s. would do if they had a territory, if china was aggressive in their territorial disputes with them. what is the president hoping to accomplish on reassuring them on that front? >> it is definitely looking to reassure the allies we will
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stand by, with this announcement the on the disputed islands in japan, he's making that clear. i think he's also sending a signal to the chinese because there is some concern they are going to become more closely tied to russia supporting them and ukraine or with syria, the ongoing problem there. by going and meeting with their rivals in the area, it's sending a clear signal to them that we are not abandoning these people and we will put pressure on you if we need to. there are tensions with china over these things. >> you look at the countries, particularly japan, the ambassador makes a great statement. caroline kennedy only been there six months already considered a pretty big figure. peter alexander was looking into this. take a look at this package. >> reporter: a large crowd, including his ambassador, greeted the president today in tokyo but that doesn't compare to the thousands who lined the streets last fall to welcome caroline kennedy. she was more dignitary than diplomatic, completing the journey her father could not. >> he had hoped to be the first
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united states president to visit japan. so it is a special honor for me to be able to work to strengthen the close ties between our two great countries. >> reporter: the once shy eyed kennedy lacked diplomatic experience but brought the japanese people value more, america's enduring connection to camelot. >> you look at something like that and part of the way of what happens we as a country look at the issues isiness lar. caroline was a big story when she made a run for the senate. we don't talk about that in politics or media yet she's playing a cultural and diplomatic role in japan and by all accounts is seen as a positive part of our relationship with that nation. >> yes, although again, other countries pay attention much more closely to what we say here. i was in china a few years ago and louie gomert did a huge thing about china.
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there they pay attention. >> so true, makes me sad. >> it's terrifying sometimes when you watch them. louie gomert is crazy. >> he doesn't speak for us, please. >> just one member of the house, but it has a big impact on them. i think caroline kennedy is having a positive impact. i would say that she is not a heavyweight on diplomatic fronts, not herselfyweight on economic issues and that does signal about our changing relationship with japan. in 1980s -- >> more symbolic than anything else. >> and cultural. they are no longer the number two economy in the world. >> sure. >> that is very much an indication of that and sort of the change in how we view them and how we're going to work with them in the future. >> one of the central thrusts of this trip is the transpacific partnership. can we get this thing finally done, and there's no guarantee that it will get done. there's a lot of hurdles especially around beef to get this done. if we can get it done what do you think will be the value to americans, "the washington post" is writing about this saying if
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you're a business owner, this is going to be great. if your job is building cars and planes, you should be worried. what do you think, john? >> i don't know. these kind of trade deals, both sides oftentimes will make these huge sweeping statements about them. nafta we saw it with that. we saw it with the big trade agreements and oftentimes at the front end you see workers' wages go down, people lose jobs. that has had the impact of increasing wages in some countries and helping create that measure that has brought some jobs back in the united states, created other opportunities. i think for your average american consumer, maybe not much of an impact if you are a business owner, this could be a huge deal, though. >> very true. it's always great having you. thank you for being with us at always. up next, introducing the real stephen colbert and thankfully that guy is funny, too. [ male announcer ] this is kevin.
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potentially big news in the search for malaysian airlines flight 370, increasingly appears to be just another false lead. we woke up this morning with news of an object of interest washing up on the western australian coast and investigators now think it's a piece of sheet metal that did not come from the plane. one of the reasons for optimism is experts believe that area is a possible spot for wreckage based on ocean currents and recent weather. flight. 370 with 239 people on board has been missing for nearly seven weeks. the grim task of recovering bodies from the capsized south korean ferry continues. divers are using their hands to feel for bodies. lack of air pockets likely means anyone who has not been rescued by now is no long ear life. more than 150 people are dead and about that same number
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remain missing. georgia's governor signed into law the bill that expands the type of places where licensed owners can carry guns. it allows guns in churches, schools, bars and government buildings. critics are calling it the guns everywhere bill while the nra shares it as a victory for the second amendment. new york police department's effort to bring the city today with new york's finest may not have been the finest idea. >> no. >> on the twitter page the community outreach team asked followers to post photos of themselves with police. the response was overwhelming but not maybe what the department had in mind. many posted photos of police brutality or at best unflattering behavior. we should note there are some friendlier photos posted on the page. the nypd hoped the campaign would be an "unsewn sored exchange" and. atiers that's what they got. >> let's turn to some serious late night laughs. stephen colbert was on last night "the late show" the first
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time since he was announced that he would be taking david letterman's seat and the two didn't disappoint. take a look. >> that you actually got a job or were an intern or tried to get a job here? >> no, i did not actually try to be an intern here. i was accepted as an intern here. and then i did the foolish thing, i did not take the internship. >> why is that? >> because you did not pay people. dave, i got to ask the next job i'm taking here, that pays, right? >> i have nothing to do with that. >> in 1997 you guys were looking for writers. >> right. >> and i was gainfully unemployed. i was unemployed at a professional level, and my writing partner and i, paul dinello submitted a packet to you guys. i found the top ten list that was submitted. these are the top ten cocktails for santa. >> okay, go ahead, paul. >> okay. wait a minute, wait a minute. hey. he didn't get that yet.
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>> i'll never get it. what are you talking about? never get it yet. >> he doesn't have the job yet. >> can we do a selfie? >> is this still what people do? >> this is retronow. there it is. thank you, dave. >> thank you. >> and the selfie for the proof. they go great together. it was fun. chris and i were watching this in the office today. this is great to see them together, see them happy. >> you were pointing out this is the week when selfies became uncool. >> just jumped the shark, buzz feed was all over the story. they'll have a counter story in six hours. >> with cats i'm sure. >> buzz feed cat show, boom, count it. >> buzz feed cats. >> i actually liked both comics a lot. you see some of their style together, they're off-beat in their own way. letterman started from stupid human tricks and late night
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original history when he was offbeat, had all folks you wouldn't see anywhere else on tv and colbert in creating a show that now we accept as part of the culture but was one long metariff on bill o'reilly is weird. colbert was talking about his style and approach to comedy. let's see that. >> i don't know why you do comedy, but it's not because everything is all right up here for me, and i don't, it's not a normal thing to do with your life. >> and you see that style of both of them. they riff off what is uncomfortable and politics can be hard to build a show around if you just want to do jokes. colbert did that and appeals to people who aren't just left wingers. he's going to do this as a main stream type of show with an offbeat sensibility. >> you mentioned earlier, there's something so likeable about him. i think fallon has that quality as well and the question we've been asking, how long will it take the audience to forget the
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character that he plays now, to the point where we see him as someone different and by the performance last night i think it's going to be very quick transition. and something that i love about colbert, he's one of my favorite comedians is that he has this unique ability to talk about current events in politics and a way that's entertaining for young people who would normally say this stuff is boring, i don't care about it. i think he'll bring that to the late night, so if you look at how he does with young people it's considerably better if you compare it to how letterman and leno have done in the past. he'll be competing with jimmy fallon who also does well with young people so i think that's their hope, he will euthanize late night a little bit, too. >> i love seeing the natural colbert less manic, less caustic, witty but not doing that smartest guy in the room sort of thing, more self-deppry indica de cating. i could spend some time at 11:30 with this guy. the thing that jumped out at me
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is dave's attitude in this moment where he's like i'm happy to be done. it's your problem now. >> yes. >> like leno and other folks in the past, there was a big fight over 11:30. that's not going to happen. dave is happy to go to connecticut with the porsches and i'm not doing this anymore. it's like the grandfather, like he takes the kids for the weekend and then he's like, and you can have 'em back. >> he made it clear that like he was happy with this choice. there was a very sort of warm vibe between the two of them and picking up on something that both of you guys were saying, colbert as colbert really wears his insecurity. he puts that forward and to me that's the most sort of dramatic departure from the colbert character which is overconfident, full of bluster, and a big bragger. so to me it was striking to see the level of insecurity that he's willing to wear and put out there, but one of the things that's always impressed me about
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him and that impressed me in this appearance is he's so quick. it's not just his time on the set piece that he's delivering, in an interview, he's quick, whether he's interviewing someone and reacting off of what they said or whether he's reacting from dave letterman. i think that will make him ultimately a real success because i always during "the colbert report" i stick around to see the interview because he's great. >> he's so fast and a listener, which is different than only having your prepared jokes. >> exactly. sort of like you. >> thank you for that, abbey. >> you should talk about yourself. >> right out of my mouth, good one. >> you want me to listen to you right now? >> no. >> yes, actually. >> are we going to have an awkward silence? he lives for awkward. >> you think i can't listen, i just did some listening. >> no, you didn't. >> congratulations. >> can we get a shot of krystal, she wants to be listened to as well. there we go, okay. this was unplanned. that's why it was so weird. up next, entertainment politics in life, we often think of the internet as the great equalizer,
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don't, but according to one big thinker it's because -- see, that's over the line. i know it's a comedy segment. what's coming up next is something about the internet. stay tuned. take a closer look at your fidelity green line and you'll see just how much it has to offer, especially if you're thinking of moving an old 401(k) to a fidelity ira. it gives you a wide range of investment options... and the free help you need to make sure your investments fit your goals -- and what you're really investing for.
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download the expedia app text expedia to 75309 expedia, find yours shocking data just released by the "new york times" reveals the american middle class is no longer the world's richest middle class. for the first time in dpe kads canada's middle class is doing better. america's rich are still the world's richest are good for that. many thought the internet would level the playing field giving every person a voice and instant connectivity to the worldwide audience. new book titled requests the people's platform" concludes the internet has made inequality worse. why? >> because you cannot separate
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the technology from the social conditions that it is developed in. we have this backdrop of increasing inequality and the internet reflects that. we put so many hopes and dreams thinking it would revolutionize media and politics and of course it can't do it on its own and so we have to be realistic. we have to acknowledge the context we're operating in, and think about changing the economy and technology together if we want that democratic promise to be realized. >> you get quite specific about some of the problems that we see in the internet today that are sort of preserving these structures of power, that we have now, and you talk specifically about some of the challenges that women face online and you sigh the peculiar brand of libertarianism in vogue within technology circles means a minority members can disproportionately affect the behavior of the group.
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>> i've seen some commentators say men made the internet so women have to deal with it. >> whoa. >> wow. >> and what we actually see is in the technology firms that are creating the infrastructure and the platforms we use that there is more inequality than other industries. so 40% of businesses are owned and operated by women but only 6% or 8% of startups are led by women and 1% are led by people of color, by black people, so we've got this massive inequality that then is reflected in these platforms, in these social media services that we use, and we see that the old inequalities transferred into online spaces and we have to recognize that. >> one reason why that is distinct the internet is a series of platforms. it matters if the control of the platforms is highly unequal on gender, racial and economic grounds above and beyond being
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siloed. so many other things happen, business, speech, democracy increasingly. so when you think about that, part of what your book pingz up on is an older debate between whether we as a society and a government should think of the internet as more of a free market like a mall where people can set up their businesses and try to make it, or more of a commons like a utility or a park. >> exactly. right now there is a tendency for it to be the mall. we are in these commercial spaces and what that means is that as much as we use the me metafores as a town square, they don't have that public responsibility there. there are companies that are serving advertisers, advertisers are the true customers, the people who are paying money for the services and we are the users, the audience and our attention is sold. what would a public option look like? what would an internet by the people, for the people look like? how do we build those civic values into these platforms, and
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i think that's something that is possible but we haven't really had a debate because we've just assumed that the free market and technology will do it for us. >> right, and we've talked about all these issues. the bat tom line the internet is essential. it's remarkable how much the internet has jumped when you look from 1997 to 2012 we can pull this up for everyone. almost three out of four u.s. households have internet access at home. the penetration is high but how do we make it so it is friendly for all of its users? what would that look like? >> access is high but it's still really unequal. we see internet access is shaped by your socioeconomic status. poorer users have mobile, they don't have broadband in the home. that means you're paying more. you may not have, there's less likelihood that there will be net neutrality regulation so you might have preferential data where one service can load faster than for example an independent media channel or
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something else. access, technically everyone can get online because they have their cell phones. we're not anywhere near an equal situation, and that's because we're not investing in the infrastructure that we need. telecom companies tend to focus on dense urban environments, where there are wealthy customers to serve and other people get the shaft. we need to look at this as a utility, a commons and invest in it appropriately. >> thank you very much for that. up next, creating mideast harmony through dance, one renowned ballroom dancer's innovative approach to the peace process, straight ahead. when it comes to good nutrition...i'm no expert.
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i have to remember i'm asking them to dance with the enemy. nobody uses that word outright, but underneath i know such words exist in their brains. >> that is pierre dulane, world renowned ballroom dancer, native of jaffa, israel and mideast peace broker in "dancing in jaffa" he returns home to teach young israelis and palestinians
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in the midst of a centuries old conflict and in the midst of that universal preteen awkward phase to dance together. joining us now welcome to "the cycle." thank you for joining us. >> pleasure to be here, thank you. >> i'd love for to you talk about it. these are grade schoolchildren so relatively young that we're talking about here, do they already have these engrained biases and notions about each other that they brought to the table? >> but of course. i mean, they're hearing what their parents say at home, and they're living it every day. they live in front of each other as far as on the same street or next door to each other yet they'll pass each other and not even greet each other, not say anything. so but that's, this is their daily life. >> and when they came together, how did they react to one another? >> children of 10, 11 years ago don't want to touch each other, to do ballroom dance so long we have this problem here in the states. >> of course. >> but it was the hardest project i've ever undertaken and
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yet at the end it was the most rewarding. >> why is dance so good at bringing people together? >> when you touch someone, something happens, and in ballroom dancing, the dance holder, the dance frame is known as the embrace hold so if you are in an embrace hold with someone, how can you hate each other after a while? and so at the very, very beginning it was very awkward. they were all having their sleeves like this, but we have this here in the states as well but eventually i have my ways and means, i hit people with my tie, which is a dance blessing i call it, and we have a lot of fun, and eventually it came through. >> let me ask you something that's not a criticism of your work, but it is a criticism of a lot of cross cultural exchanges in this area. >> yes. >> that is, however valuable these exchanges are, don't with he need to deal with the
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underlying physical conflicts first or to ever transcend them, and we're not going to do an entire mideast peace process here at the table, but many people in the region would argue that if you look at right wing settlers from israel going into the west bank trying to undo what the peace process has done, and say we don't want a place for any palestinians to live and by the same token with hamas not recognizing israel's right to exist, having a violent response that until those issues are worked out, these projects however valuable won't actually move the needle. >> of course this is a debate that's been going on for six, eight years now as far as that's concerned. the situation of palestine/israel, israel/palestine. i worked with the children in israel itself and i don't want to bring politics to the table, but i do know, if you change the children, we already changed the children, 150 of them, and we
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are already rearranging the parents' thinking, and you have to start somewhere. and if we can multiply this over and over again, things do have a chance to succeed. it's only a seed. the program is continuing in and the program is continuing in its reels. it's gone from jaffa to tell aleve, to galilee and to other towns. society lady who is doing it there, an israeli jewish lady. loves the idea of bringing them together. so she's continuing. so although "dancing in jaffa" the doubt tear, i can't believe i did it. i'm even more thrilled that the program is continuing. that for me is very real. that will happen ten years down the road. >> well, i want to show a clip of the film that i think highlights the fear that at least one girl had in particular about doing this. let's take a look. >>.
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[ speaking in a foreign language ] >> if my dad sees me with an arab, he will kill me. i mean, that's so real right there. at such a young age. how important was it to pair on each other where they actually had to rely on each other to succeed? >> werll, the wonderful thing, taught them in their own schools. and the third week, i brought themming to. that was very hard, in the beginning, but eventually, it was okay. but they kept on changing partners so they never had to dance with the same partner. you do that eventually, and it came through. >> and did the students keep in touch with each other after the program, or did they sort of go their separate ways? >> honestly, honestly, i can't say 100%, but many of them did.
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many of the parents got friendly with each other. we had muslim-covered ladies, sitting next in the competition, sitting next to a jewish mother, exchanging e-mails or telephone numbers to keep in touch with each other. but i think it was just this is where my heart feels very warm about it. >> yes, it's really remarkable. congratulations on both the program and the fact that you said it's growing and putting together this film so people can see the incredible work you're doing, pierre, dulaine, thank you. >> thank you very much. what is in your juice? that question has made it all the way to the supreme court, just think, you could have had a -- you will. that's next. if you've got copd like me... ...hey breathing's hard. know the feeling? copd includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. spiriva is a once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment
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now, it's time for -- >> this week in food. >> oh, yes what we eat is often a political issue these days that's not just because vegetarians want everyone do feel guilty. even as we realize the health and societyial problems with food many are racing to counter with their own spin. "parks & rec" with healthy labels -- >> we're going to sell these in a park. >> they're healthy. >> no, they're not. they're terrible for. you. >> look at the ingredients high fructose corn syrup. >> only eight grams of fat. >> per serving, a bar is four
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servings. >> well, people seem to enjoy them. >> perhaps -- >> that very issue made it all the way to the supreme court on monday in coca-cola versus palm wonderful, and a case that could change everything you know about the natural juice you drink. coke, because it sells a product called pomegranate fruit juice. but they're lying. it's actually apple and grape juice. so the juice that is made out of pomegranate juice sued coke for basically infringing on its pomegranate turf with counterfeit juice. this led to wonderfully interesting spats in the courtroom. coke insisting already, no, when something is a favored blend of five juices. pom's lawyer struck back
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pointing the study showed that, quote, only a third of consumers look at this label believe that pomegranate and blueberry juice in fact are the majority juices. now why make a federal case out of these majority juices? isn't pom kind of gross anyway? we don't have time for these answers, anyway. pom and coke are spending millions in court right now because they make so many more millions off our foot choices and our food confusion. at least they get to battle it out. other food companies are trying to keep consumers out of the whole debate. we may have heard general mills with the terms of service, if you use a coupon or like it on facebook, you lose the right to sue or even if it makes us sick or leads to a death of a family member of yours. that's messed up. we reviersed the policy after a backlash but the mood signals
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exactly what they think of their consumers. a similar attitude led a group of people on generaletically modified foods. we covered that on the food just last week. they won't get sued if they don't have to label anything at all. i don't want to end by simpling offering you food for thought by repeating all of this is hard to swallow. i'm not going to do that. i'm not going to go town that pun road but i do think we should challenge general mills or coke about the food they're honoring for our congestion. if they refuse, well, they may end up -- eating their words. >> oh. >> that does it for "the cycle." "now with alex wagner" starts right now. it may be springtime, but for chris christie the thaw has not yet begun. it is wednesday, april 23rd. and this is "now." when you accept a position of leadership, it doesn't come with a guarantee of sunshine and
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rainb rainbows. ♪ big developments in the bridgegate investigation. >> a friend owed a friend. that's the honest truth. >> the new jersey legislative panel looking into the scandal has issued four new subpoenas in the case. >> none of these four are for governor christie. >> are we going forward or backward? >> you may remember michael drewniak who said, i could claw him, wildstein, and light him up in a socket. >> still to be here at 90, great things are made. >> hard to say this is politically deadly for governor christie but it's not the end. when you accept leadership, it's not a guarantee of sunshine and rainbows. stand up to the bully. those are the words of
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