this was me last week running from joy's set to "the cycle" set. i arrived for the second segment this week with a little help from sally field. i flew over and made it for the start of the show. how we did it remains a tv secret. as the flying nun would say, i know my fellow cyclists like me. they really like me, i hope. for better or worse, i am krystal ball. and school is out on capitol hill. both the house and the senate are on an early getaway ahead of the fourth of july holiday. neither will be back in session until july 7th. but even when they return, don't expect a whole lot to be accomplished. let's be honest, not much has been done so far. only 121 bills have passed into law. that is far below the average. i know it sounds like a broken

record, but you can bet the gridlock in washington is going to get even worse if that's possible. the gop-led house of representatives wants to sue the president over his use of executive action, perhaps the only thing certain to happen in july is speaker boehner seeking authorization to file that suit and, quote, compel the president to follow his oath of office and faithfully execute the laws of our country. president obama calls this a stunt, but even if this suit never makes it far in the court, both sides are already fundraising off of it. and today in minneapolis, the president joked about pursuing another executive order. >> and last month, three young girls wrote to me that boys aren't fair because they don't pass the ball in gym class. to there's a wide spectrum. and going to prepare an executive order on that. >> i fully support that. all right. let's bring in perry bacon, senior political reporter here at nbc news. and perry, we got some new

information out from pew research that i think helps us to understand why john boehner is doing something as silly as seeking to sue the president. they divide the conservatives into two groups, steadfast conservatives, those are your tea party type, and your business conservatives, which are like your wall street types. and it shows that they have very, very different views on a range of issues, including immigration, including on the role of the u.s. in the world, include can go on how much they trust wall street. so really divergent views within the republican party. but there is one issue that unites them, and that's opposition to the president. >> exactly. that's what we knew. we've known this for a long time. republicans are divided on this long set of issues from immigration. i was in mississippi this week, so i saw them being divided on the role of black voters even. one part of the party thinks they should vote. one part of the party doesn't want to see them vote too much. even that was an interesting issue. you know you had this divide

except for agreeing they don't like president obama. this lawsuit, i think the way to think about it is, it's not really pant the past. boehner was vague about what the lawsuit is for in part because this is more of a warning shot. the republicans are wary of more executive actions from the president, particularly on an issue like immigration, where he's already shown he's changed deportation law for young illegal immigrants. he's talked about potentially expending executive order to other immigrants as well. that's what republicans are trying to do. they're trying to stop any further executive actions. you saw from obama today, he knows that and is determined to keep going in that direction. >> perry, understand what you mean when you say it's not really about the past with john boehner. he can't say what specific actions he's suing to stop. generally when you sue somebody, you want to say here's what the actual grievance is rather than, we're mad. but it is rooted in the past that this is part of the long-term republican thesis that this is an illegitimate president. we see it with birthism. we see it with obstruction,

which has been a year's long sit-down strike by the congress. now here yet again, we wouldn't let him do anything in congress, so he goes to executive action using the pen, using the phone. they say, oh, no, you can't do that either. it's just this whole conversation of, you, sir, are illegitimate. >> you're right toure. what i was trying to get at is they don't think he's going to change his climate change policy. they don't expect he's going to overturn things he's previously done or that a court is somehow going to do that. the republicans are not -- they're unrealistic. they're not that unrealistic. it's hard to imagine a court is going to pull back all obama's executive actions in the last year and a half. what i think they do want to have happen is they want to maybe scare him from doing some in the future. i don't think that's likely. but that's where they're going. there's a lot of talk in the base about obama's doing things he's not supposed to do. he's exceeding his authority. and that's where this is coming from. an attempt to stop him from doing anything in the future because the republicans are

comfortable with this kind of congress not doing anything. >> you're absolutely right about that. the president spoke about that earlier. >> i'm not sure which of the things i've done they find most offensive. but they've decided they're going to sue me for doing my job. i might have said in the heat of the moment during one of these debates, i want to raise the minimum wage, so sue me when i do, but i didn't. i didn't think they were going to take it literally. >> finally they're listening to his words. look, they're not going to be able to stop him, right, but this is part of a larger republican strategy. >> it is part of a larger republican strategy. i think there is a question about at some point, what would they like him to do as president? it is a good question. they said they're not going to work with him on bills. that's one approach. now he's using executive power on issues where he does have the authority. it's not clear -- it's pretty clear he has the authority to enforce things, to choose how immigration law is enforced, to choose how energy laws are enforced.

that is his power, and it's not clear to me what they would like him to do. one thing is the white house talks about all the time is their view is, you know, they're going to have more influence each day in the white house. the moment you step out of the white house, you don't have a lot of authority left. the president wants to use these last 2 1/2 years to do whatever he can to move the ball on things, even if they're not going to pass in congress to get a few things done. that's what that summit monday was about. the sort of working families summit. he wants to use that as a way. he can't pass much to change how working families operate. he can use the podium of the white house to maybe persuade companies to change their family leave policies. that's what they're trying to do. use this power each day. the republicans can see -- we thought initially this year of action obama talked about would be kind of a waste of time. it was hard to see how he would accomplish things. i would say the last six months he actually has accomplished stuff, and that's why the republicans are very weary to have him keep doing that and looking to stop him. >> politically, they have figured out one of the media's weak spots. one of our weak spots. when they start talking about a lawsuit, we start covering

whether the lawsuit is a good idea. it's not. it's a stunt. it's whack. having said that, it's also not a lawsuit, right? it's a press release that we're now discussing as if it's happening. i don't doubt their ability to do it. our friend got his lawsuit out in virginia right away against obamacare, the first day out. but this is not something where they've been in a rush. that, to me, goes to the secondary hypocrisy here, which it looks like a late, moot, frivolous lawsuit. when speaker boehner was asked about something much more important about this, about enda, and whether we should regulate whether businesses can fire people based on their sexual orientation, he said, hey, i don't want to start having a lot of frivolous lawsuits clog up the court. they don't want to run to court just because you slipped and fell. >> that was different. >> yeah, that was very different. so i look at this as obviously it's a stunt, but it's also not even a lawsuit yet. if it were one, when we see it, when they file it, it looks from what they've described as not one that has a real cause of

action or real ability to get very far on the merits. and it's very late. by the time it went through the courts and up on appeal, it would be very near the end of the president's term. >> it's a great point. the obamacare lawsuit was actually a lawsuit intended to stop parts of obamacare. that was a real lawsuit. there's no paper, there's no real lawsuit yet. you asked boehner what he's talking about, and he's not really sure. that's why i think this is a broad -- this is basically a press release from boehner to the president saying, do not use executive actions in the future. we really would not like that. please don't do it. you saw the president's reaction, which was, thanks for your opinion. >> perry, i'm going to move on to a bit of sad news. republican senator howard baker has passed away. he was 88 years old. to remind people, he served as majority leader, ran for president back in 1980, but more than anything else, he represented a rare political brand. his willingness to work with

both sides of the political aisle to make real meaningful change in this nation. he was called the great conciliator, beloved obviously by both republicans and democrats. it makes me think about our current politicians today. how will they start thinking about their own legacies, about how they want to be remembered? do you think a death like this will have any sort of impact on the way they think about themselves? >> no. i mean, the short answer is no because they're so constrained by what they're trying to do today. people are constantly talking about maybe john boehner wants his legacy to be immigration reform and he'll move through all it and decide to put it on the floor tomorrow and pass it because he wants his legacy to be that. there's not a lot of evidence he's thinking about it that way. he's the leader of the republican party, and he's looking to do what the republican party wants. right now, there's weariness about immigration reform. more broadly, the way to rise in politics today, even barack obama did this, i would say, is not really to be a bipartisan person who gets stuff done in

the senate. it's to be a leader who people recognize. whether you're talking about ted cruz or elizabeth warren, i don't mean to conflate them, but both are more known for their ideas and their books and the way they advocate things than necessarily for getting bills done. >> yeah, actually getting something done. >> i think that's what people are looking for in leadership. >> that's depressing, and that's the real problem we have today. it's incredibly frustrating. >> perry bacon, thank you as always. and up next, the ore players in the region that could truly determine the fate of iraq as "the cycle" rolls on for friday, june 27th. ups is a global company, but most of our employees live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations have an impact locally. we're using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. the trucks are reliable, that's good for business. but they also reduce emissions, and that's good for everyone. it makes me feel very good about the future of our company. ♪

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secretary of state john

kerry racking up the miles today in saudi arabia. he met with king abdullah about the crisis in both iraq and syria. he also spent time with the head of the syrian moderate opposition. his message was that they're key to the cross-border fight with isis. now president obama wants congress to approve $500 million to help train and equip the syrian rebels. today isis kidnapped 150 students along the border with turkey. isis carried out a mass execution earlier this month, murdering 190 iraqi troops. but isis brags saying, quote, exterminated nearly 90 times that number. the spread of isis terror is having major impacts on neighboring countries from violence bleeding across the border to thousands of refugees seeking safety as players jockey for more control. so are u.s. allies in the persian gulf the answer?

let's start with saudi arabia. it's a country run by sunnis who are an outspoken opposition to maliki. explain to us the saudi's position on isis and the importance of their role in all of this. >> so saudi arabia has mixed feelings towards what's happening in iraq. on the one hand, it certainly has no love lost for isis. isis can be a direct threat to the saudi kingdom. so these are not guys that the saudis want to necessarily see have a lot of success in iraq. at the same time, this is a huge opportunity for saudi arabia. they have been terrified of the idea of the u.s. and iran reaching a reproachment. and through this isis offensive, they have iran on the defensive, having to bolster the iraqi government, mobilize militias, and that is very good news for the saudis. >> and we're getting some information from gallup about the sentiments of sunnis from within iraq.

only 30% of sunni muslims have confidence in the maliki government. that's down from 52% just last year. but on the flip side, i can't imagine that most sunnis actually support the just brutal tactics of isis. >> yeah, absolutely. remember, isis they're very got a as these hit-and-run attacks. in some cases, they can engage in conventional warfare. but they're much -- i mean, they're really not good at actually holding on to support amongst the local sunnis in iraq. the local sunnis are using isis as a bargaining chip to get back at the negotiating table with baghdad. they have demands that they want to see met when it comes to integrating them into the security apparatus, when it comes to oil rights in the disputed territories in the north. that's what they're negotiating over. i think that's supposed to be the key focus in the coming days and weeks. >> as a nation, we've approached

this almost strictly as a military problem, but there's also a humanitarian crisis going on. there have been at least 1 million noncombatant iraqis who have been displaced because of this fighting. and i wonder, should we be thinking about how we can help the noncombatants who are caught up in this, especially as that could go a long way toward making america look better in the region. >> well, when the u.s. is looking at this conflict, the main strategic interest is to make sure that baghdad doesn't get overrun by this group. and there are some serious constraints to the group being able to actually lay siege on baghdad, much less the oil-rich shiite south, which of course the u.s. is going to care about. as far as u.s. involvement, you can clearly see the u.s. is keeping its distance from this. they're trying different ways to undercut isis support. so they're involved in those sunni negotiations i just referenced. they're giving money to opposition in syria to try to undercut isis from eastern syria. even there, there are some challenges. i think really, the strategic interest for the united states

is just making sure they can undercut that local support more than anything. >> what part of assad's agenda serves the iraqi interest here? we've been reporting on the limited air strikes there, some of which are reportedly into iraq. ultimately, assad is just trying to defend what's left of his regime, can he live with some part of isis in the southern area and write that off? or does he ultimately feel he needs to exterminate them to maintain authority? >> well, the answer is yes to both, right. so assad has been using isis to undercut the rebel movement from within in syria. so it was kind of useful for syria for a long time in order to fracture the rebel movement. at the same time, the timing of those air strikes was really interesting, right. syria was showing, look, we face a common threat, talking to washington, talking to iran, of course, and syria wants to be brought into that negotiation. they want to be consulted when it comes to intelligence.

they want to coordinate with the u.s. on this. and so whether the u.s. actually does that, that's another question. but the syrians are trying to also get a seat at the table. they, of course, don't want isis to get too powerful, and they're trying to control that. but when it comes to actually fracturing the rebel movement in syria, it can be a useful tool. >> and the united states is in a really difficult position. i mean, president obama early on said it's really up to the nations in this region to fig why you a your this out. yesterday, john kerry made the point to bordering nations, you've got to stay out of this thing. we're not seeing that's the case, that they're really listening to us. what should our message be to these neighboring countries? >> i wouldn't take those u.s. statements at face value. on the one hand, we have the u.s. and iran negotiating on a very serious deal. it's knot junot just about the deal. so the united states, first and foremost, needs to protect that negotiation, and it will. and there's a common interest

between baghdad, between the united states with tehran, with also even damascus. and that common interest is to make sure that the sunni jihadist threat does not become too powerful. i think there is plenty of room for coordination given that common threat. >> thank you so much for being with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. and up next, what you may not know about "the cycle's" favorite weather man, rafi miranda. he joins us for a special friday spin. that's next. [ female announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier.

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the fastest office plant. so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business internet and get the fastest wifi included. comcast business. built for business. good afternoon, everyone. time for your storm cycle. we're tracking a severe weather threat, a slight risk for severe thunderstorms across the eastern rockies into the northern plains. the main threats are large hail, wind damage, and maybe a few isolated tornadoes. that threat will continue into the evening. it is an active weather pattern across the middle of the country. scatter storms in places around minneapolis, iowa, and illinois. quiet across the northeast.

a beautiful day developing here with lower humidity. but it is very stormy across central iowa. the umbrellas will be out across the plains and midwest through the evening. look at that all-important weekend forecast. unfortunately, the storms continue from places like minneapolis, chicago, kansas city. not a great start to the weekend there. comfortable humidity, sunshine, another beach weekend. i can't believe it just keeps going on and on in the northeast. some storms across the southeast. in the southwest, continuing to bake. 107 in phoenix. sunday, more of the same. sunshine for the southwest. stormy in the middle of the country. sorry, guys. minneapolis and chicago, maybe showers and thunderstorms. another fantastic day for sunday here in the northeast. 84 degrees and sunshine. and the best part is, the humidity stays low for the gay pride parade on sunday here in new york city. krystal, over to you. >> there you go. all right. so rafi is not just the most talented weather guy we know, he's also a passionate advocate for equality in the lgbt community. so it comes as no surprise that

he will have a huge part in this weekend's new york city pride parade. widely regarded as the largest celebration of its kind in the world. you can catch him at the front of the route on the float for wnbc. that's our flagship station here in the great new york. and there is a lot to celebrate this year. to date, 19 states and the district of columbia have legalized marriage equality, and the momentum continues on the national level. president obama just last week expanded federal benefits to gay couples through an executive order. yes, there is obviously much more work to be done, but advances in marriage equality no longer seem like blockbuster news, and that's a pretty awesome thing. rafi joins us at the table for a giant spin. rafi, it has been -- it's been a great year. there's a lot to celebrate. >> it is a celebration. the pride march, of course, is political in its roots. it's a march for equality, and it has been, but every year it seems that there is more and more to celebrate. i remember when new york passed marriage equality a few years

ago. i was in the weather center. it was at night. and just the jubilation there, it was huge. but now with every passing of marriage equality, it's not as big of a deal. >> which is a good thing. >> which has is a good thing. definitely a major change. it's going to be a great weekend. >> it is. but as we watch this change that's happened over the last 30 years, i think back to the '80s and nater and folks were afraid of a.i.d.s. and gay people. it was a very scary time. what's happened over the 30 years since then, to where we are now, where the 11 million gay folks in america live, almost half of them live in states where they can get married. it's been a truly grassroots movement, a leaderless movement where folks like yourself who had the courage to come out and live your truth and let folks in your world know that i'm gay and beyond that, i'm a normal human being. let's just be friends. let's just work together, what have you. that's been the thing that has changed america. just normal folks saying, i want to live my truth.

>> normal, me? i appreciate that. no, but it's -- >> normal in the best possible way. >> i don't know that rafi is normal. >> no, no. i'll stick with it. but i came out a long time ago. being on television, i had a chayse to come out on tv, publicly or not. a lot of people kind of coasted through it and just sort of avoided it tactfully. they tried to make it a nonissue for many years. that's why when i was growing up, i didn't see people on tv. i realized i had the possibility to be that person that a young person could look to and say, oh, he happens to be gay, he's a weatherman, he's on tv, and he's normal. >> and that was, what, eight years ago? >> it was about five years ago. when i first started here at wnbc, they just -- there happened to be a story before weather about relationships. and they tossed to me. that was my in. normally during weather, you don't normally talk about your sexuality. doesn't kind of fit in with severe thunderstorms. >> depends on the kind of

weather you're covering. >> good point. but there was a toss about relationships and boyfriends and girlfriends. so i jumped at it. i said -- i talked about my husband. it was kind of a big deal. >> had you thought about that opening before? >> no, i didn't know it was coming. i just said, why am i going to pretend? who am i kidding at this point? been totally out for years. >> was a much bigger deal back then. five years ago. that's not a long time. >> yeah, even five years later, it would be like, oh, okay, he's gay. >> and it's stories like that that have paved the way. it really goes back to the personal situation and circumstances. i mean, i've been an advocate for this for a long time now as a republican, and it's frustrated me the party has not mooed on this quicker. i argue there's a real conservative argument to be made for gay rights and for marriage equality. but we're seeing the ones that are beginning to come out, many of the republican politicians, do in large part because they have a family member or friend that is gay. our senior producer, who wrote this beautiful piece that is

online thaempb should read if they can, where he tells a story of coming out. this is what he wrote. he said, as we approach the culmination of pride month, what strikes me the most is that being accepted no longer strikes me as surprising. being gay no longer defines me. it's no longer, well, that person is gay. that doesn't even have to be said anymore. this is all just very normal. and it should be. >> like a post-gay rights. we have our trans community we have to look out for. the fight is not over for everyone. like brian says, we are moving in the right direction. and we love to see that. it's harder to tell your friends or your family members that they don't have the right -- the same rights everyone else should have when you have that connection. >> what he said is you can't hate someone that you love. >> yeah. >> that is so true. if you love someone, you accept them and understand them. >> right. and the problem was people weren't coming out, so no one knew who these people were. now that more and more people are coming out, visibility is everything. >> yeah, i mean, i think some of

that on the political salience is everything. all of this is progress. we agree on that. yet, we often talk about who gets a cookie in politics. i don't really give out a full cookie to some right-wing republican who's been working against equality their whole career then finds out when it affects their family that changes their mind. i get why it changes their mind. i think the sum result of that is positive. but one -- >> do you get a part of a cookie? >> you get a crumb. you get a small part of the cookie. >> why not? they evolve. >> i'll tell you why. because we have to be bigger than just discovering equality when it suits our self-interest. >> but it's not just republicans. you could make the same argument for hillary clinton. >> i didn't say it was only republicans. >> okay. >> although, obviously i think democrats have led on this issue and republicans have followed, but everyone's been involved. my point, though, is as you say, this is not even that big a deal for, say, what i call mainstream

gay culture that we'rie ine loo at. but it's not going to work the same if you mention transgender or other things that matter. the numbers may not bear it out, that self-interest gets you over 51%. what's important here and why the things at the cultural level are important, it gets us in a mode in public to have these conversations, hopefully also a-politically, but in a way where we say this isn't just about whether it's good for my family. this is about the humanity of everyone else, whether we can relate to them or not. so i think the parade is really the ultimate political or cultural act of that because it's not over here with what should we legislate in policy. it's also how do we look at each other. people in the cities that have said, i don't want this parade going down my block, that tells you a lot about where that mentality is. >> you're kind of pushing people away when you say, you haven't been an ally for all this time, and now that your sister or daughter comes out, you're going to change. so you get half a cookie.

once people evolve and want to be allies, it's a positive thing. >> rafi, how do you view pride weekend? >> it's a great thing. >> it's crazy. i live in chelsea. it's amazing. >> first of all, the weather is going to be great. that was my responsibility going in. >> good work. nailed that. >> we're going to have a float, balloons. you know, it's t-shirts and giveaways. we're going to have a great time. of course, there's always a moment of silence to remember why we're there, that the fight continues. we're just going to have another fantastic weekend. >> i can't wait to watch. and i can't wait to watch you. thank you so much for all that you do outside of the weather center. and we have more with rafi online. our senior producer sat down with rafi to talk more about his personal journey and how it can inspire lgbt youth who are just beginning their journey. as abby referenced, brian also posted a web essay about his journey as a gay journalist and how being in the media helped him out along the way. you can find all of it, and you

definitely do want to find all of it, at thecycle.msnbc.com. up next, a first look at cnbc's new amazon rising. we go inside the e-commerce coloss sas and the man behind it all. >> i felt somewhat intellect chully intimidated by him. he was just so smart and so driven and so confident in himself that sometimes it felt like i was getting squished out of the room. it doesn't operate out of basements or back alleys.

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and now telcos using hp big data solutions are feeling the love, too. by offering things like on-the-spot data upgrades -- an idea that reduced overcharge complaints by 98%. no matter how fast your business needs to adapt, if hp big data solutions can keep wireless customers smiling, imagine what they can do for yours. make it matter. you probably love amazon because no company tries harder to show love to you. jeff bezos has his folks laser focused on maximizing customer experience, and it shows. but many noncustomers consider amazon a bully. the company has been embroiled in a rough battle with the publishing industry over book prices that could reshape the book industry. >> amazon is bombing the cities, you know.

they're attacking, and the publishers are just kind of sitting back there and being shelled and going, what can we do? hey, amazon, please. this is not the toilet paper industry. these are books. >> best-selling author james patterson in an engrossing new cn cnbc doc called "amazon rising" that looks at how the company is changing the world for better and worse. it premiers this sunday. david faber is here. let's talk about this issue. it's a proxy for the entire publishing industry. the publishing industry understands that we are holding the line for the entire publishing industry. amazon's fighting for it, lower prices from a supplier. this is normal business. but as james patterson said, books are a little different. if you squeeze the publishing industry so much that it contracts even more and that authors can't get enough money to make a living at writing,

well, in the long-term, you're going to have less quality books. also, this notion of pushing down the books on amazon from folks. that seems very underhanded. what do you make of this whole battle? >> i think it's interesting. it certainly reflective of amazon's culture to a certain extent, which is they've accrued a great deal of power in certain areas and press their advantage. they do so on behalf of consumers. the company has said when it has come up, and there's been very little publicly said on the record from either side here, but they've said, hey, what we're doing is try to deliver a quality product to people at a lower price. and that is the key to this dispute. these kinds of disputes happen all the time. all of which is true. but in amazon's case, it is certainly part of its dna to continue to try to push as much as it can. bezos looked at the book industry and said, this is an antiquated industry that needs an overhaul in a lot of ways. i think he may still view it that way. this is not a small company.

it's not as though they're pi picking on a little guy. as you say, if you're james patterson or j.k. rowling or stephen king even and you want your books sold on amazon, you're going to have a hard time getting that customer to get anything to their doorstep any time soon. >> and jeff bezos is the mastermind behind all of the success. it goes back to his drive and intimidation that is cultivated within this culture. in part of this documentary, we have a former employee who talked about working under bezos. let's take a look. >> i felt somewhat intellectually intimidated, to be honest. he was just so smart and so driven and so confidence in himself. sometimes it felt like i was getting squished out of the room. >> one of the proposal was to sell advertising on the amazon home page. but bezos wasn't buying it. >> first of all, you have an advertisement right here. >> he says the debate was bruising. >> yes, jeff's initial wording,

i believe, was that it was one of the stupidest ideas he'd ever heard. i think he was being subtle. >> i mean, ruthless. probably very difficult to work under. but very effective. >> very effective. and also very data driven. so no real emotion. he was a fan of "star trek" when he was younger, i believe. my guess is he identified more with spock than he did with captain kirk. but the idea being he's extraordinarily rational. if you give him data, as in this case he did, and said selling advertising on this site is not going to hurt the consumer experience. bezos changed his mind. he said that was one of the biggest things. so it's not quite steve jobs in terms of abusing people. you don't have to do that. but he's extraordinarily tough. he does expect a great deal of people, certainly expects them to be prepared. the executives we spoke to who no longer work there say it was both the toughest job they ever had but one they certainly gained a lot of satisfaction

from. although, none of them would ever want to go back. >> wow. >> another piece you document is how life is for the amazon warehouse workers who are, of course, key to getting all those products out to our homes in such a rapid manner. concerns have been raised there, perhaps pushed too hard and expectations are really too brut brutal. what did you find? >> we spoke to a number of warehouse workers. the boxes show up at your doorstep, and frankly, those of us who use amazon, and that's 240 million people, probably don't think a lot about how it got there. but it is still on the backs of workers. tens of thousands of them. manual labor. people walk 15 miles a day. >> wow. >> they pay fairly well. in a lot of these communities, that's a good job. there's no doubt about it. >> we're talking $12, $15? >> that's right. roughly $12.50 an hour. but there's no doubt that amazon's expectations are like it is in so many parts of its business. let's get as much as we possibly

can out of everybody. i have no doubt, if they could do it robotically, they could. but they can't. so they push these people very hard. many of them know what they're signing up for. it's warehouse work. it's not as though they're expecting it to be cushy. >> the story of amazon has been rapid growth almost from the beginning. you talk about bezos saying that a brand is like a cooling -- that it's cooling. we got to keep expanding before the folks. so where do they expand from here? you talk about the potential of delivery in an hour. we're already at the everything store stage. where do they expand from here? >> great question. we saw them last week with the announcement of the phone, which is somewhat unexpected. but also reflective of a company that's unafraid in the reflection of its founder and ceo. he's simply unafraid of anything. he's relentless. i don't know. will that work? who knows. but there are so many different areas they're willing to try and

they're willing to fail at. grocery certainly comes up as one they're going to continue to expand in. that comes with their own fleet of trucks. you start to wonder, logistically, will they start to say fedex and u.p.s., maybe we'll do a better job. so that's another area. but amazon web services, they're taking a completely different direction. a business that started internally at amazon is the cloud. it is now running a lot of businesses around this country who rely on it. so one never knows. they're willing to go a lot of different places. >> that's the key, though, they're willing to fail. >> if i had a couple billion dollars, i'd be willing to fail too. david faber, thank you very much. really interesting piece. up next, we've talked a ton on this show about tea partiers dragging the gop rightward. next, we're going to talk to a dem pulling one of america's most influential governors to the left. s interesting. it says here that a woman's sex drive increases at the age of 80. helps reduce the risk of heart disease.

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economic justice that you might not have heard yet. a new challenge to a potential 2016 presidential aspirant who has a pretty big name in the party. and it's not clinton. andrew cuomo, the centrist governor of new york and son at beloved mario cuomo is facing a potential september primary challenge from a public interest lawyer, former campaign aide to governor dean. she's here at the table. how are you? >> doing great. thankings so much for having me. i mean, you've called governor cuomo a centrist. if you look at his economic policy, it's pretty traditional republican trickle-down economic policy. i'm a pretty traditional democrat. we do want to move andrew cuomo. i'm running to win, and we're also running to make sure we're having a wide-open debate about economic policy. not just social policy. >> when you look to middle class or working poor voters all around new york state, particularly upstate where we've had employment challenges, what has cuomo done wrong in your

view that should make them consider even moving over their incumbent governor? >> well, the first thing is he's cut education. he's basically looted education funding, public education funding. and it's a traditional new york source of pride that we're one of the great states that really values public education. so he's taken the money from public education and put it towards basically, you know, bank tax cuts and tax breaks for billionaires and economic development policies which are entirely based on trickle-down theories. >> campaign finance has been a big issue for you, as for america, and of course the citizens united decision has made everything fair. now everybody can give $1 million to any candidate. so that's fairness. what do you want the campaign finance system to actually look like? >> yeah, i'm a big supporter of public funding of elections. and a system that exists in connecticut, in new york city where if i could raise, you know, $5 from each of you, i'd get $70 from the state.

and what -- why it's so important, it sounds sort of technical, but why it's so important is it means you can wake up every morning as a candidate and say, i'm going to go talk to hundreds of people who can give that can get me $5 instead of waking up and saying who do we know with an extra $30,000 lying around, governor cuomo has this exact reform since he became governor. but it's his favorite broken promise and it's quite clear he doesn't want it to happen. now, he may end up being part of pushing it to happen and i'll be delighted if he does. he ran on cleaning up albany and cleaning up corruption and he hasn't done anything about it. >> you are running to make an impact but you are running to win. you genuinely believe you can win. >> yes. >> the reality is you're running against a governor that is actually pretty popular. his numbers have only gone up, 63% approval, has the money and resources any incumbent would

have to succeed. you are running an uphill battle on all of those fronts. is it enough to have an energetic campaign to actually win? >> something happened a couple of weeks ago that gave a boost to our campaign, a little known professor upset eric cantor. >> i heard about that race. >> and i think there's some something larger happening. in 2008, the in equality at the root of our system became totally clear. we're some of the first post crash democratic politicians -- running with tim wu and we think we reflect a new kind of candidacy on the left that recognizes that things aren't the same as they were in 1996. >> ari posed the question as he was introducing you, do we need more primary challenges like this in the country at large? what's your view on the national democratic party and where they

are positioned? i would argue they are far too -- >> we need to have primaries across the country and state of new york. right now the democrats unfortunately are being pulled because of their campaign funding sources are really being pulled to trickle down approach cross the board and that is not where the country is. the country wants an economy that works for everyone. not just the wealthy and well connected. if you get in these races, you're going to see some exciting and surprising upsets. >> and it would be hard for people to imagine barack obama cutting a deal to get minority leader mcconnell more power. but just briefly, cuomo has done something like that here. >> cuomo has actually never actively run and supported democratic candidates as -- he's actually been quite happy having a coalition of democrats or breakaway democrats who governed with republicans in new york. new york is a 60% democratic

state and he hasn't governed as a democratic governor. but to your point, i think this is happening across the country. conservatives, fiscal -- not fiscal conservatives about trickle down conservatives who call themselves democrats and republicans are coming together in coalition and it's really in time for more challenges to that because it's not where democrats are and not where the country is. >> you're looking to qualify for a ballot in september. if you get there and you're anything like dave brat, we'll hear more about you. we'll see. >> thanks so much for having me. >> of course. >> up next, a controversy in the mormon church is hitting close to home for our colleague. ♪fame, lets him loose, hard to swallow♪ ♪fame, puts you there where things are hollow♪

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i often talk about the importance of ininclusion and in most cases i'm referring to the republican party arguing they should more supportive of equal rights for gays when talking about immigration reform and not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good when trying to make progress on anything meaningful. while pushing forward idea that's might cite a small portion of the base only leads to vul irrelevance. something i don't talk much about is the mormon church, a religion, a very personal thing to talk about and not very easy but i did grow up mormon and baptized by my great grandpa one of the 12 apostles, the highest level one can achieve. it is a huge part of who i am today and always be a part of my life. something happened this week to 33-year-old kate kelly that has motivated me to speak out. kelly was faithful and active

member of the mormon church and served a mission in spain, something only a minority of women in the church decide to do. she has struggled with the fact that only men can obtain what the mormon church calls the priesthood. the priesthood is the power and authority of god given to men within the church starting at the age of 12, just like the power jesus gave to apostles with the priesthood, they can perform acts of service in the name of god. she launched a group called ordained women and it quickly became the face of a new feminist uprising within the church. mormon women pushing the church to change policies. even i had questions but kelly has turned it into a worldwide movement. on monday the church decided to excommunicate her. the most extreme form of punishment cutting off all ties from the church and likely her family as well. let's be clear, i'm not arguing for mormon church to change its

doctrine on priesthood, it's a practice still observed by many other religions including the catholic church. what i will say, i am disappointed. this is embarrassing and real missed opportunity. their message was either you're with us or against us. if you try to fight us, there will be consequences. where was the effort from an open dialogue, why not use this debate to highlight the importance of women within the church. my message is the same for the republican party. if you're unwilling to address or listen to views of your own members and unwilling to be more inclusive, you will be left behind. if there's one thing i know, this next generation will not stand for intolerance. kudos to kate kelly for having the courage to speak out. "now" with alex wagner speaks out. >> president obama is speaking his mind, so sue him. >> they are not doing anything and they are mad i'm doing

something. >> it's hard to imagine how things cannot get more partisan in washington, d.c. >> the boehner lawsuit. >> the president has not faithfully executed the law. >> they are going to sue me for doing my job. >> do they have standing to sue? what we thil sue over? today is the one-year anniversary of comprehensive immigration reform. there are some that think the lawsuit helps them. >> said no to raising the minimum wage. >> the president is trying to get something done while house republicans are not. >> boehner's lawsuit will hurt the gop. >> we can't afford to wait for congress. >> we can't we all just get along. ♪ >> that's why i'm going ahead without them wherever i can. >> the president using his executive authority to do whatever he can. >> much better at selling a message he believes in