>> there's no scandal there. it's a tragedy. >> so far with respect to the benghazi hearings, the republicans have shown no bipartisanship so far. the credibility of the hearing is suspect, i think. >> will democrats boycott the new probe of the u.s. consulate in benghazi? we'll talk to one democrat who says his party needs to be involved. plugs, the fbi is investigating whether armed supporters of cliven bundy pointed guns at federal agents in that april 12th confrontation with the bureau of land management. by the way, those militias, still hanging around the ranch. new street protests in nigeria pushing the government to do more to find 276 kidnapped girls. we'll talk to the man credited with starting the social media campaign, bring back our girls. first, the big question facing house democrats today, to boycott or not to boycott?

house democrats met this morning. less than 24 hours after the republican majority with a handful of democrats passed a resolution to establish a select committee to conduct away would be the fifth investigation of the september 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the american diplomatic compound in benghazi, libya. the resolution calls for a 12-member committee consisting of seven republicans and five democrats. an uneven split that house minority leader nancy pelosi asked speaker john boehner to reconsider, along with equail ability for democrats to issue subpoenas and request documents. with that ask for equal representation on the committee make it worth democrats' while to participate in a committee the "new york times" editorial board described in a scathing editorial as a benghazi kangaroo court also known as the select house committee to inflate a tragedy into a scandal. with a key republican campaign committee fundraising off the committee before it even starts, inviting potential donors to

become benghazi watchdogs, democrats are still struggling with the decision over whether toion the benghazi select committee as a partisan exercise designed to keep the republican base exercise for the midterm elections or to participate and risk legitimizing the proceedings. here's what house minority leader pelosi said about that just a few hours ago. >> where we are on that is speaker called me the other day and said i'm very serious about this. i want this to be no circus, all that. he said so we should sit down and come to terms on it. >> we'll just see. >> so democrats are dpg to wait and see what republicans say. here's a bold prediction on what john boehner's response is going to sunday like. >> are you kidding me? >> that's what he sounds like. in fact, speaker boehner spokesman michael steel just told one of our nbc producers "the democrats have received our response to their concerns, the ball is in their court."

senator rand paul weighed in on fox this morning, and he wonder what he thinks about whether democrats should participate in the select committee. >> i think it will be a big mistake on the part of democrats not to participate because i think if they don't, it will be a dishonor to the people who died in benghazi, and i think it will show a lack of seriousness. >> yes, a lack of seriousness. not surprising response coming from a potential 2016 presidential candidate. whether or not benghazi will have staying power as a political issue all the way through the 2016 election cycle is an open question, but what's probably the worst kept secret in washington today is that in the near term for the 2014 elections benghazi is the issue that they've turned to to excite their base. benghazi in the new obama care. 98% of those mentions were from republicans. with obama care settling in as the law of the land that's not

ending the republic, it's becoming less effective as a battering ram against president obama and the democrats. so benghazi is the solution. it's the new rallying cry for the gop base. the question remains, why would democrats participate? joining me now to discuss the democrats' options new york congressman elliott engel, the ranking democrat in the house foreign affairs committee who says democrats should sit on the benghazi committee. thank you for being here, sir. i want to start by sort of quoting nancy pelosi who called it a stunt. if it's a stunt, this select committee, why on earth would democrats be a part of it? >> well, let me say, first of all, it is a stunt. it's absolutely being done by the republicans to play to their base, to try to fundraise off it. you know, it's really interesting. we had an iraq war which was fed to us on a lie by the bush administration 4,000 americans were killed. the republicans not once asked for any kind of an investigation on that. on benghazi, i guess they want

to beat the record of the affordable health care act where we have voted to repeal at 40 or 50 times. i think they want to just keep doing it again. many of us are concerned if we -- there's a good feeling that maybe we should, but my personal feeling is that if we boycott, we leave the stage just to the republicans. i think that that is not a good thing to do. i think we need to be there. we need to -- i think right is on our side, and i think we need to let the american public know every single day that this is a kangaroo court. it's absolutely ridiculous that using this to try to tear hillary clinton down and solely for political purposes, it's a cheap, cheap ruse and shot. we need to call them out on it every single day. >> that begs the question of whether or not democrats couldn't -- without sitting on it and allowing republicans to say this is a bipartisan court. this is a bipartisan inquiry. this isn't just us.

here are the democrats. i want to say what debbie wasserman schultz -- this is what she said on cnn about whether to participate. take a listen. >> not participating in a sham select committee after 13 investigations, 50 briefings, 25,000 pages of documents for what is essentially a political ploy is something that should be considered. it is also perfectly legitimate for us to participate and make sure that we can get our questions answered and help make sure that we can at least try to balance the outcome. >> get our questions answered and balance the outcome. on a 7-5 committee hearing, you know what the outcome is going to be. you can sort of write it now. and the idea that she mentioned 13 hearings, 25,000 pages of briefings, 50 pages of documents, 50 briefings, you have also had four separate completed reports. one that was done by the house armed services committee that found that there was no stand-down order that they said the military really did all that it could do.

after all that, what questions do democrats have benghazi? >> well, we have no questions, and i agree with you and it could go either way, quite frankly, but i always think it's better to be in the fray. you know, the joe mccarthy hearings that were held many, many years ago, the one sentence that everybody remembers from it is, sir, have you no shame? if the democrats hadn't participated in that, that phrase, that summed up the mccarthy hearings wouldn't have been there for the public. my feeling is that you stay, it's a kangaroo court. you say it's a kangaroo court, but you make your case. i don't want to leave the airwaves to the republicans each and every night where they would pound and pound and pound and be no rebuttal whatsoever. i think we should participate. i'm good if we don't. i'm good either way, and i think right now nancy pelosi is really just trying to weigh everything. she's waiting for some clarification from the speaker, and she'll make a decision. i'm good with either way, but i

think we should focus on the outrage that the republicans are committing with this right now. it's just absolutely a sham, and it's just ridiculous. you know what, they overreached during the clinton years. they overreach with impeachment. they have a tendency to overreach. they can't help themselves. here they go again. let memorandum overream, and the think the american public with us being there will make the decision. we'll make our case to the public, and i think we'll win. >> sir, i mean, you know, we just brought sort of this glossy picture that was put out almost like a marketing piece about the republicans who won the lottery to get on this committee, the "new york times" reporting that half the house was clambering to get on this committee, which shows how politically valuable they think it is. i wonder as the mechanics question, you quoted you have no shame, the mccarthy hearings quote. i would submit to you that the person who said that was the council for the army. it was not the -- a democrat sitting on the panel. that came from the witness

chair. would it not be better for the democrats to let the witnesses take a part this sham, as you call it, rather than having democrats try to do it? >> the thing that i think that we all agree is that we should not let them have the whole playing field for themselves when they could try to spin this off as some kind of a legitimate investigation. you know, this was a terrible tragedy. four americans died, including the ambassador, and they want to play political hay out of it. i think it speaks for themselves. there was a panel convened by mr. pickering and admiral mullen. hillary clinton implemented every single recommendation that this panel asked for and then some. again, this is make aing mountain out of a mole hill, and it's shameful. i really think it's shameful to use the ambassador's death and the deaths of four americans for political posturing. wills no reason for it, and even

the speaker, as you pointed out, not long ago said that he wouldn't go down that direction. whatever the leader decides, i think we'll go along with it, and i think you'll see that democrats whether we're in or we're out, i think democrats will have our voices heard. i personally feel that if we're in, our voices are heard better, but, you know, you can make the other commitment. i think that's okay. >> thank you so much, congressman elliott engel of new york, and thank you for reminding folks that there are four people whose deaths are city center of this, and it's a shame. thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> all right. coming up, they're back. and they're back in trouble. now the fbi is investigating the militia that had an armed standoff at the bundy ranch. plus, remember this? >> president obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans. >> oh, yes. mitt romney. climate change was a real good republican punch line during the

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>> the fbi is now investigating the armed standoff at the bundy ranch. our local affiliate in nevada has confirmed the fbi is looking into the april 12th confrontation between the rancher and his armed supporters who gathered at the ranch to protect bundy from the consequences of not paying 20 years worth of land raising fees, and law enforcement authorities. bundy's refusal to pay the federal government what he owes them made him a hero, to many on the right until he was caught on tape making racist comments pertaining to slavery and rosa park, without the s. his friends in the right wing media and politics abandoned old cliven, but the militias did not. hundreds continue to mill around the bundy ranch and the

surrounding federal lanldz, allegedly even setting up checkpoints on the roads near the ranch stopping passers-by and demanding they provide the militia members with proof of residency. the congressman has been calling for a probe of the militia's ongoing presence, but so far the local sheriff says the fbi's probe is in its early stages and it's main interest appears to be who was pointing weapons at federal agents during the april confrontation. one that ultimately ended with the bureau of land management backing down for reasons of public safety. meanwhile, cliven bundy has yet to pay his more than $1.1 million in fees and penalties for allowing his cattle to trespass on federal land. also an nbc lives. i want to start with you first, and just ask fundamentally, is it legal for armed citizens to

patrol and occupy federal land? >> no, it's not. >> some have joked about having federal agents in their gun sites. the the place to deal with situations like this is in the court. not at the tip of a gun. when citizens take to guns against law enforcement officers, our country starts to break down. i want to refer you to what happened on rachel maddow's show. take a look. >> it's not just the checkpoints. it's also the fact that the separatist groups themselves said "we're not to pull people over unless we have probable cause." you don't have the authority to pull anybody over. you are not law enforcement, and it's why we need you to leave our community. >> i mean, i hi people around

the country, to be honest with you, john, are looking at nevada and thinking that the entire state has gone crazy. people saying that, well, we only pull people over with probable cause. you don't have authority to give -- to say we have probable cause. it sounds crazy. inside of nevada are people saying this is crazy? >> well, you have to understand, joy, i have been in nevada for more than 30 years, so there's variation gradations of crazy. as far as the casesy things that happen out here, yeah, this is pretty crazy. let me tell you what i have been able to find out about the checkpoints and what's going on inside from talking to law enforcement, from talking to some people. there are no checkpoints on public roads, the sheriff tells me, but this place called gold butte, which is a place people love to go hike and where bundy's ranch is, they have set up what i guess ublgd you could call checkpoints. they're not stopping every car. we can't find anybody they're stopping. i talked people who have driven by who say there are checkpoints, who say they're worried they might come out. they've seen folks with guns.

those folks in town, in mesquite and bunkerville say they've used words like unsettling and creepy to describe what's going on there. with these folks walking around with they're sidearms. it's legal, though. there's not much that law enforcement can do, which that is now. the question is what is the fbi really looking into? the sheriff and others who have been up there said that these folks in the militia were pointing guns at federal officers. you cannot do that. that is a crime. whether they're going to be able to get definitive evidence or be able to arrest people who are no longer there, probably i fear, joy, i don't know. i don't think there are checkpoints now inside town, but people there are living in fear, i think, because these folks come from the ranch, come into town to get supplies. they're carrying weaponry. they go into restaurants. it's got to be unsettling for them, right? >> is this like civilian marshall law? it's -- creepy is the word for it. speaking of, you know, could anyone be arrested, one of the groups that seem to be there

operating near the bundy ranch is the old keepers, and i want to show you what mother jones wrote about them in 2010. "there are scores of patriot groups, but what makes oath keepers unique is its core membership consist of men and women in uniform, including soldiers, police, and veterans. at regular ceremonies in every state members reaffirm their official oaths of service pledging to protect the constitution, but then they go a step further vowing to disobey unconstitutional orders from what they view as an increasingly tyrrannical government." even if they say that one of these groups broke the law, pointing firearms at federal agents, how on earth would they arrest any of these guys without some kind of violence occurring? >> well, again, they're not going to have 300 people armed at one location at one time. they're going to go through the media tapes, interviews. these guys who bragged about having their gun sites on federal agents. instead of looking at 300 people as a group, they're going to look at them one at a time, and if they can build a case, one at

a time against somebody who is violating the laws of this country, they're going to go ahead and move forward and take some type of action against them. thief got to do it. look, 29 years ago i was in a similar situation. i had citizens that we were up against in an armed compound and one of them bragged to me any time he wanted to pull the trigger. i can tell you that doesn't make you feel good, and when you are there as a federal agent trying to help keep the peace and you've got people saying i could kill you any time i want to, we don't pay our federal agents and local police enough to have to put up with that. >> indeed. not to mention the citizens of bunkerville who have to live in fear in their own community because armed people are moving around pretending to be law enforcement. it's really stunning. i really thank both of you for being here, john ross and clint van zandt. thank you. >> thank you. >> still ahead, the man credited with starting the _#that galvanized a campaign that made it all the way to the first lady of the united states. i am totally blind.

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>> here's our segment called we the tweeple. the real member don't buy girls campaign started by ashton kutcher and demi moore back in 2011 is back on your minds today. lots of celebrities have promoted the effort over years, but now the real men don't buy girls hash tag is trending worldwide in support of the missing nigerian school girls. after it became the international rallying cry to find the kidnapped young women, many of you revived real men don't buy girls as a hash tag too. from nigeria to spain, you're raising your social media voice against the injustices faced by the these nigerian girls and

other trafficking victims. you're senting tweets like this saying, "i can't directly save these girls, but i can add my voice to the cause. until this international problem is solved, it's always a worthy effort to keep alive. when you think of dr. dre, you tend to remember his iconic hit "ain't nothing but a g thing," but today instead of gangster, the g stands for green. republicans say apple may be set to buy the headphone and music company beets electronics for $3.2 billion with a b. theest with coast rap mogul would score big from a deal, giving his 25% ownership in the company whose signature product is beats by dre. you have made the hash tag trend on twitter today calling dre the billion dollar rapper. well, almost $1 billion. by the way, if it happens, it this would be apple's biggest acquisition ever. meanwhile, many of you are buzzing about baby names. today the social security administration announced the most popular baby names of 2013

in a report every year before mother's day. something duty think about this mother's day on sunday. if you love your name, give mom an extra hug. if you don't, hug her anyway. she's your mom. enjoy the conversation on the readers _#on twiter and go on facebook and msnbc.com and keep telling us what's important to you. now this news. if you haven't thought about what you are doing for your mom on sunday, you better plan fast. until then, check out mother's day by the numbers.

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this afternoon president obama said combatting climate change would be a top priority for the remainder of his time in office. even if congress doesn't do anything about it. the president announced a new set of executive ajz actions to help fight global warning at a silicon valley wal-mart taking aim at those that refuse to face the facts and the science. >> unfortunately, inside of washington we've still got some climate deniers who shout loud, but they're wasting everybody's time on the debate. climate change is a fact. >> the announcement follows the white house's release of a massive climate report spelling out the dangers of a warming planet. stronger hurricanes, more floods, and even more heavy pollen days to bedevil allergy sufferers. it combines the work of more than 300 experts.

my old stomping ground of miami, florida. birthplace of junior senator marco rubio who yet again could not bring himself to accept the facts in the climate change report. instead, rubio attacked the president. >> he has to admit it would do nothing. if, in fact, the scientists are right and it's greenhouse gas emission that is are changing our climate -- well, you think he would leaf climate science to the actual scientists. rubio isn't the only prominent florida republican to play dodgeball when it comes to global warming. gop prospect jeb bush and current governor rick scott all took time to be interviewed on the subject. probably because they don't

believe in climate change. the climate change bill stalled in sknk, and republicans continuing to avoid the facts, where does that leave the politics of our still warming planet? joining me now, politics reporter for the huffington post. sabrina, i want to start on the republican side. the sort of absolute blanket denial of climate change. at least on the side of their media and their thinkers. take a listen to charles krauthammer discussing global warming. >> it's the oldest superstition around. it was in the old testament. if you assume the skies will not cooperate. this is quite superstitious, and i'm waiting for science, which doesn't declare itself definitive, but is otherwise convincing. >> comparing the science of global warming with rain dancing and superstition. is this a broad view among elected republicans, and is this why we can't get anything done?

>> i don't think it's necessarily a broad view. privately i think they know that they have to address climate change sooner or later. the biggest problem facing republicans is that if they publicly accept that climate change is a reality, that they're going to have to put forward proposals to deal with it or they're going to have to endorse some of what the obama administration is already doing, and a lot of the proposals to combat climate change in tax and regulating the coal, oil, and gas industries, these -- they're not only their biggest allies, but also some of the biggest donors. they don't want to be at odds with groups like the koch brothers. at the same time there's a conservative base that you mentioned who believes that climate change is a myth and they liken any energy efficiency standards to government overreach. >> you know, what's interesting is you said it isn't universal. john huntsman who republicans by and large don't listen to, and he is smart and wise on some of these issues. this is what he had to say in a "new york times" op ed on wednesday. he said our approach as a party, republicans, should be one of neither denial noor extremism.

science must guide -- we aren't inspiring much confidence, especially among millenials who want at least an intelligent conversation on the subject." where are those republicans on capitol hill who are arguing at least to not look silly by, you know, comparing science to sort of mythology in the most demean, but not really convincing way? >> well, i think that the reason they don't speak out is that the tea party and that conservative base that simply doesn't believe in climate change. i think the tea party is really driving the opposition to climate change among elected republicans, and, you know, it's interesting because they are currently debating an energy efficiency bill in the senate. it's shahid portman's bill that would create not mandatory standards but voluntary standards. such as commercial buildings. mitch mcconnell and harry reid actually agree on this bill.

a lot of republicans support it. what's happening is that there is a conservative faction of republicans who want to see a vote on unrelated amendments that would actually do the opposite of deal with climate change. they would the coal industry by blocking new e. p.a. regulations and force the approval of the keystone pipelines that has some climate concerns that, of course, have been talked about. >> you mentioned sort of the nexus between the fossil fuel industry and the tea party because there's a funding and idealogical relationship. what that's resulted in is -- i'll let you take a look at the q poll from october that says 08% of global warming. only 46% of republicans, but when you break that ladder figure down into tea party versus non tea party, only 25% of tea party -- almost as many dems believe it don't believe in it and among non-tea party it's 61% who say, yes, we believe in climate change. with the tea party growing more

unpopular even within the republican party, becoming a smaller vocal group, is there any chance as you see it this year for sort of the regular order republicans to prevail on doing anything at all when it comes to climate change? >> i certainly don't think anything is going to happen this year. it's a midterm election year. we've learned today that the koch brothers are poised to spend $125 million this year helping elect republicans to congress. their primary source of wealth as a big oil corporation. this is not the year for republicans even though sensible ones to stand up and try to work with democrats on combatting climate change. i will say that as with many issues that the tea party is very vocal and passionate about, it appears that climate change has become less about what some of these elected republicans actually think with respect to the science and more just taking an idealogical stand against climate change. it's sort of like abortion almost. we've seen this slew of

anti-abortion legislation that completely ignores the science about feet ath pain, and republicans have been forced to back such measures, and i think climate change is kind of similar. they privately know that the science is real, but publicly they still deny it. they are concerned with appeasing to the conservative base. >> that leaves the white house to do executive action. the white house has put back on solar panel that is were there during the carter era, and you have executive action now emerging out of the obama administration because should these natural disasters continue to happen and efshg late because of global warming, they are the ones who have to deal with it. thief had very red states that don't even believe in the science behind what's happening to them? >> absolutely. i think the obama administration for that reason has designated this as a year of action because they're just going to have to bypass congress in terms of taking a few incremental steps on energy efficiency. the energy efficiency bill is the most noncontroversial piece of legislation that we've seen in a while in the senate, and, yet, it's about to be subject to

republican filibuster on monday. there were going to be enough votes initially for it to clear a procedural hurdle, but because mitch mcconnell wants to force a vote to protect the coal industry as well as to force approval of keystone, he is apparently privately peeled off some of the republican support for that bill. it really seems like with the -- the administration has no choice but to take matters into their own hands. >> they can't even get -- it's ridiculous. anyway, sabrina, thank you very much for being here. >> thanks for having me, joy. >> coming up, an update on the situation in nigeria, where our nearly 300 girls remain missing.

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military officials are making it clear actually locating girls is not their mission. those officials are telling nbc news, quote, "we've been training nigerian military and security forces in counterterrorism for the past two years. they have to step up." officials also said, "we have no clear idea where they are." referring to reports that some of the girls have been separated into smaller groups, possibly taken over the border to chad or cameroon. the arrival of international help comes as muslims in nigeria are praying for the safe rescue of the stolen girls, condemn whatting they call boka haram in nigeria. as the bring back our girls rallying cry is being heard around the world today. supporters in nigeria and london are carrying signs with the names of the escaped girls letting the ones who are still missing know they've not been forgotten. joining me now from atlanta is news correspondent with the greo.com, and we have with us on the phone from the nigerian capital of abuja.

he first tweeted out the hash tag bring back our girls. >> we were having trouble with your connection, so i want to make sure we get to speak with you. tell us about the story of how this hash tag came about and how you began really what ended up flowering into an international movement. >> thank you. i think hash tag -- it was first tweeted from the 23rd of -- >> i thought it was.

>> and asking to those of the -- and it would demand for the -- ask how in the cab of bring back our girls. >> and just in case the connection was difficult to understand, you know, what he was discussing was a speech that was taking place in nigeria at that time in the town of port harkor, and he was listening to a speech by dr. oli, who is a vp of the world bank for africa, and her statement bring back our daughters really morphed into the tweet that he began that's really become a galvanizing move. i want to go to you. please tell us, you know, what members of the nigerian community around the world,

including in the united states are saying today about the nigerian government. they have now started to act. they have now accepted u.s. assistance. has the assessment of them and their role in this changed at all among the ex-pat community? >> well, you know, people are very disappointed with the nigerian government. very, very disappointed. i spoke to nigerians here in atlanta and also nigerians overseas. people are -- i think to be honest, very embarrassed that nigeria has had this lackluster response, particularly, you know, nigeria is a huge economy. it's one of the most populous countries in africa. people are saying why can't nigeria step up, and, you know, if you know anything about nigeria, nigerians are very proud people, so this is -- this is a real embarrassment. i really think up until now people are not happy with president goodluck jonathan's response so far. >> this is to say nothing of his wife's initial response. i want to ask how people are reacting to the arrival of u.s. military assistance?

i want to let our audience know that -- the connection was really difficult with mr mr. abdulahi. we're going to stuck we, kumdi. the reaction of people around the world and anyone you are speaking with to the arrival of u.s. military assessment teams, not to find the girls, but to have to assist the nigerian security forces in doing this search. >> i mean, i think initially people are happy that, you know, into the international support to back up goodluck john than because, obviously, it's -- i mean, it's blatantly clear that he can't actually do the job. people are happy, but you've got to really take into consideration. now, this has been about four weeks that these girls are missing. you know, they've tl have been reports that the girls may have been split up. people are hopeful and happy that the international community have come on board, but i think there's also an air of caution for these girls to be found. are they still in nigeria? are they in neighboring countries? you know, people are happy, but i think they're very worried

about the fate of the girls. >> indeed. amnesty international confirming what we had heard before that nigerian security forces had been more than four hours of advanced warning about the attack, but didn't do enough to stop it. that only, i'm assuming, makes things worse if that becomes confirmed. >> absolutely. i mean, i don't feel this is not completely confirmed, but there is talk that, you know, the nigerian military beforehand knew that boka haram were going intook the school. i think on so many levels here it just shows the level of incompetent. not just of the military, but also of the nigerian government. >> yeah. you also do see that there was some novel response from just citizens because the gentleman we had on the phone, abraham abdulahi, an ordinary citizen that decided to act, an attorney. does that give some nigerian ex-pat some hope that at least there was some action taken, if not the bit government? >> yeah, absolutely. i think, you know, many are very important. it's now been confirmed that

nigerian started the bring back our girls campaign because, you know, it's an embarrassing story, so i think it gives nigerians a sense of at least some sense of pride. the nigerian man actually started this campaign which really has a huge momentum across the international community. >> yeah. indeed, a nigerian man based on a powerful speech by a nigerian woman, vp, of the world bank of africa rsh there is definitely pride in that, and obviously everyone praying for those young women. thank you so much. thank you to abraham who was with usrantly on the phone. now, a quick programming note. we did a story on this show earlier this week about political campaign ads, and we just want to be clear that roger, while he was a consultant for george herbert walker bush in the 198 0z didn't produce the controversial billy horton ad that aired during the 1988 campaign. we'll be right back.

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>> back in february robert costa reported in the washington post that rather than focussing on big legislative agenda items, republicans were focused on calming their divided ranks in the months ahead, mostly by touting proposals that have wide backing within the gop and shelving any big ticket legislations for the rest of the year. comprehensive immigration reform, tax reform, tweaks to the federal health care law, bipartisan deals on each are probably dead in the water for the rest of this congress. or at the "new york times" editorial board, explained that today that republicans won't pass a serious jobs bill or raise the minimum wage or reform immigration, but house republicans think they can earn their pay for the rest of the year by exposing nonexistent malfeasance on the part of the obama administration. that explains how we got here. to the contempt citation against

irs official lois lerner and the latest house show trial over benghazi. the fact in is in some fundamental ways the republican party has ceased to function in a normal political party, in the sense of making and negotiating policy. instead john boehner and the republicans have been focused on continually messaging to their base that they're doing what the most passionate, fever portion of the right want done. get obama. get hillary. find the scandal. they just know we're out there. covered up by the lame stream media. going into the midterm even with progress nost indications showing us that republicans are all but certain to grab control of the senate and sweep up even more power at the state level, having nothing to show the folks at home what they actually have done is really not an option. so one of our major two political parties has dissolved into a giant demonstration project designed to show that they are listening to what the base and the right wing media that feeds it wants done. whether that means shutting down

the government to stop obama care or holding an irs official in contempt of congress to keep alive a conspiracy theory about the agency targeting conservatives or the latest hearing on benghazi. the times notes that for a while obama care served the demonstration project almost single handedly. fighting it was how republicans proved to the base that their fighting obummer and his hoards. that's apparently not working anymore, and so we're back to benghazi and irs. fast and furious will eventually come back too. before we go, in case you're wondering why we're in chicago yesterday, i gave the commencement address at the university of illinois school of public health. take a listen. >> that's very important. that is the thing that gives you options. what you've gotten for yourselves in terms of getting your education gives you the option to change your mind. it gives you the option to change your career. it gives you the option to

change your and other people's lives. >> you can watch more of that address later today on the reid report.msnbc.com. we call that our reid extra. congratulations to the uic class of 2014. and the whole class of 2014. that wraps things up. have a great weekend. i'll see you back here. be sure to catch us on-line at the reid report.msnbc.com. now the cycle live from atlanta. hey, guys. >> as you said, we're in the atl because the cycle is a show for the people. we're going to talk to mlk iii and talk about food. let me tell you something i've been in and around the community. i've been here because i went to school here. i went to emery. i love atlanta. a lot of the folks are digging me because they love msnbc. a lot of the folks are loving you because they love joy reid. ari, though, can't get arrested here. it's weird. >> love it. you are one of a kind. ari is going to get you for that. the cycle comes up next.

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>> teed we're live from the city of atlanta. >> now is the time to let justice roll down like water and rightus -- now is the time. >> it was here the roots of martin luther king jr.'s dream of civil rights took hold, and new dreams flourished under one dynamic educator. an urban oasis nourishes a community and a garden of your hopes for the future is taking shape right now. >> we're going to have more on that later.

we are in the city that is too busy to eat. we're going to talk about food desert and m. l.k. iii. we're going to talk with midterm politics, and, of course, georgia is going to play a large role. could this red state turn blue? the answer is yes. for more on that we have ari, abby huntsman, and krystal ball. >> thank you so much. we will check back in with you shortly. this state has become political ground zero. it's a microcosm of the current political fight as well as our changing demographic. from minimum wage, georgia is one of only four states lower than the nerl rate. then there's the guns everywhere law. that was enacted just last month. make sure you pack your gun too. like the nation as a whole, conservative laws like these butting up against a rapidly changing america. the state of georgia boasts the fastest population growth in the southeast. georgia's percentage of eligible