morning and thanks for getting us with today. a lot going on this weekend and a lot of stories everyone will be talking about all weekend long. we want to get through as many as we can. let's start with this. president obama calling out his political opponents in far more

blunt and direct language than anyone is used to hearing from him. many papers this morning including "the new york times," picking up on how the president ripped into republicans in a speech in minneapolis for opposing his economic agenda that aims to help the middle class. the remarks were billed by the white house as an economic address, being talked about this morning not for its policy content, but as obama's bu bullworth movement. >> they don't do anything but block me and call me names. and it can't be that much fun. it would be so much more fun if they said let's do something together. if they were more interested in growing the economic for you and the issues that you're talking about instead of trying to mess with me -- >> and obama isn't letting up in

the weekly radio address, he discusses one of the women he met in minnesota yesterday and rips into the republicans in congress for all he says they are not doing for middle class families. >> republicans in congress keep blocking or voting down almost every serious idea to spren then the middle class. this year alone no to raising minimum wage. no to fair pay. no to student loan reform. no to extending unemployment insurance. and rather than invest in education that helps working families get ahead, they actually voted to give another massive tax cut to the wealthiest americans. this obstruction keeps the system rigged for those at the top. >> and here to discuss the president's remarks and rest of the stories everyone will be talking about this weekend, we're joined by nbc news capitol hill correspondent luke russert in the joe scarbore roe gear.

this obama's bull worth moment, i heard that said, doesn't have the jacket on and sleeves rolled up. the language he used yesterday, it's not the first time he called the other side out. one was particularly that line we played. all they do is block me and call me names. there's a lot of truth to that but that's something the white house has not wanted him saying. >> definitely this is a different -- not different in terms of what he's been saying over the past -- for both terms, it's not different what he's been saying but certainly the agitated president has sort of emerged a little bit more. so this is a combination of things, one he's not running for re-election given time, there's the comfort level there and reaching the senior status we talk about the older you get, the mortgage ye you don't care.

want to get things done. while the white house and his staff may want to say, calm that down a little bit, we still have other elections to go down, i think he's agitated. but the question is, how can you -- can you connect that at all to any movement? and so, you know, it would be great if he was agitated and it was during last election or even the mid-terms and that helped move people to the polls and helped move policy issues. >> i guess that's the question. is this a president who sort of reached a point six years in, i can't get anything through congress, my approval rating is not where i want it to be -- >> look what happened this week, he realizes any possibility of having a significant legislative achievement has gone out the window. he's being in effect sued by the speaker of the house of representatives. the trust factor that house republicans always refer to is reasons they can't move on immigration reform or other large scale issues is completely eroded. he's cognizant of that and also

says in those remarks, i don't really care about what i say anymore. >> but he says that -- see, that's where he also, if you took a poll and said what do you want the politician to say -- >> is that what this is? does this represent a president who really is just saying what he wants to say or is there a -- >> i honestly think i'm not sure what the political game is. i think he's honestly frustrated and you can tell by -- he's literally shrill. his voice raises an octave. they have seen every legislative goal they wanted to have as a legacy slipped away from them and -- i was going to say. >> things they wanted to do have not -- >> breaking the fever after the 2012 election. >> fever increased and

immigration reform is the most important priority. that's dead until he's out of office. we're having trouble now with the export/import. the highway trust fund bill being held up. highway trust fund? do you know how many years the highway trust fund was voted on, blank check? things that used to be the normal of normal are a big fight. >> those on left are saying -- i remember this in 2009 and 2010, basically what you heard yesterday and what you heard this morning, the other thing that jumped out at me, he's not saying congress won't do this. he's saying republicans won't do. they wish he would talk about -- wish he had been talking that with a in 2009 and 2012. >> i think so. just i take a little exception in terms of him not specifically saying republicans because i do believe he has said over the years specifically republicans, the people on the other side, he has used that language.

the question in terms of the you remember the conversation everybody wanted him to get angry. to show some anger. this doesn't show anger but it certainly shows a different level of passion. and the question is can we take that passion and move it into action? there's no -- in terms of the environment, moving immigration and those things and voting rights act which is a huge issue, i'm not sure they'll -- he'll be able to move at this point. >> it leads to what i think was an interesting argument. when every house republican voted against stimulus back in 2009, there was a part of the liberal wing of the house democratic caucus and senators who said that was the warning sign that you should just move with us while you have us. they decided to worship people like olympia snow and susan colli collins, he's going to break through this with negotiation and never happen that could be the long-term. >> the moderation i hope has

passed now. that might be the one good thing that's happened here. people stop thinking being in the middle is somehow in and of itself a good thing. >> it leaves you then if you've come to that realization, then you need control basically of all of congress to get anything done and that's the whole other -- there are other things we want to get to. moving on to iraq, that's one of the biggest and there's big news this morning. the most influential shiite cleric in america is calling on country's leaders to choose a prime minister by this tuesday, three days from now. the clock appears to be ticking on iraqi prime minister's nuri al maliki's eight-year rule. an editorial this morning is highly critical of maliki saying the u.s. military support won't accomplish much. mr. maliki and others refuse together to save their state. it appears to be what the united states wants, the idea of

getting a new prime minister in place and soon but is it going to happen and matter if it does happen. i guess that's the question i have, we say well, maliki failed to do the reconciliation here shiites and bringing them together and someone needs to step in and do that. my question is always, is that even possible? you're talking about these -- talking about iraq as a country that created basically 100 years ago. today is the 100th anniversary of world war i and the west creates iraq and -- what iraq really is is three completely separate groups. of course maliki -- could anybody bring them together? >> can it happen? there's the difficult of it happening and difficulty of what are we supposed to do? besides calling for things, which by the way, i'm fine with calling for things as oppose the to alternative, sending in more people. but it is an artificially constructed state, i'm not sure if asking people to come together under a construction that the westin vented is even a

reasonable thing to do. the only problem letting them separate is even worse. >> look how they came together before, under the hand of a ruthless dictator -- >> strong man moderate. >> the biggest difference between what happened in 2007 with the violence when the sunni tribe leaders eventually side with us, they were against -- the new guy who leads isis is much more cognizant of what the coverage is of his movements, has not killed as many civilians indiscriminately as his predecessor and very much aware of saying we're going to bring you services here. you've been o pressed by maliki. we're going to help build schools and latrines and what note. the sunni tribal leaders are much more comfortable going with him than anyone propped up by the central government and kirkuk, why are they going to pull back? i don't shee how you can get

a -- >> what happens, if the u.s. has been pushing for clearly the administration wants maliki out. i don't know the intri catcies of iraqi politics -- >> how does somebody -- >> does that then commit the u.s. in some way because we got what we wanted? >> your question and your point is we're going to be involved in some aspect in any way, whether they stay together and sort of be able to come to some agreement going forward or if they split up, i imagine we'll have more influence, greater action if they split up. as you mentioned, you can't do anything there without violence. that's going to be the difficulty. more of what we're talking about is getting americans to understand sort of join in on the conversations, new york times calling for something. all americans care about, we don't send any other people there. >> if feels if there's a lesson

from what happened in the last few months, one of them seems to be, inevitably whenever the u.s. leaves something bad is going to happen because instability is the rule given this history and given the nature of the country. >> and particularly if we had a hand in falsely creating the -- >> we could go in and create a brand-new government all over again and step back -- >> do you really want to get in the mid of the sunni/shiite divide which has been happening longer than the u.s. has been around. look at the regional powers in play. you don't think iranians are involved? you don't think jordanians and syrians? it is becoming a proxy war of these various nations surrounding it and the united states is tasked with fixing it. that's quite tough. >> among other reasons why people don't have the appetite for. we've got to get to a break though. right back after this. okay, listen up! i'm re-workin' the menu.

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we started to mention this a minute ago and now we'll turn to immigration. los angeles times reporting that he is encouraging parents in central america who might be still be considering sending their children to the united states to escape violence and poverty at home not to do it. it is too risky for them if they do. it's a message some republicans, including jeff flake from a border state in encouraging the president to voice. the white house believes more than 50,000 unaccompanied minors and counting have been detained since october. but with reform all but dead in congress now, maybe that qualifier of all -- isn't really needed anyway. it's dead in congress. how much -- that is really the story of the week and what i wanted to talk about this morning. this is the week that everybody

declared immigration reform is dead. we've heard that declaration made a number of times now for the past year or so. but actually one of the reports that was out there this week was in politico said the republican, mario ballart from florida, pushing from this in the house, saying up until last month, he had 120 republicans ready to vote for some kind of legalization and base he canally eric cantor's defeat ended that. was that right? >> there's a strong element of truth to that. i don't know if i would peg it at 120. you have to remember that there's only about 40 gop districts that have more than 20% latino population. so it's not a pressing issue for a lot of these guys. there's a lot that look forward that realize the realities, the largest voting population being lat no, may not want to offend them to the degree they've been offended before. >> what you're asking for them there, the difference between making the self-interested

calculation. >> when are you going to do it. the popular reasoning was do it ahead of 2016 so we give ourselves a fighting chance. george bush got 40% in '04. even though it wasn't about immigration, it was more about eric cantor not going home and people losing touch with him scared a lot of people. they said if cantor, outspending 16 to 1, lost with this issue we don't want to -- >> it's not completely clear that's what he lost over. >> why you actually lose and why the political establishment thinks you lose. it's always the second one even if it's invalid. >> how polarization is working in congress as well, the loud nose wi nos will overwhelm the yeses. if you are still against immigration reform when you see this catastrophe at the border, i'm not sure --

>> the catastrophe adds to the opposition to reform. >> it does. >> case is being made that obama did this deferred action program and sent the wrong message. now we're being flooded with more -- >> we have no system to take care of any of this. that's what i mean. then it's just like a human tragedy that's happening there. >> the question on whether or not republicans or folks that would be against something are sort of see the human tragedy of it all and will act, i think we're way past that. >> if they are not going to act already, this is -- we're done. >> and i think from your point in terms of reviewing one race to look long-term and see how that affects -- the issue is they are looking at their immediate future rather than the focus of the paerlt in the future. we've seen that from every issue over past couple of years, they do not care about the long-term

strategy, those loud nos do not care about the long-term strategy of the party. >> you have people who are not willing to do -- willing to do nothing. >> that's what they got elected for, what they campaigned on. they campaigned on, i will go and say no. >> he was asking about the polarization in american politics, where is the self-interest in the polarization? you don't understand, self-interest isn't doing nothing. >> it is better than the alternative doing any compromise with anybody that will -- go ahead. >> then the future is i think for the immigration reform is sort of how you make this the central issue for 2016. and -- >> for democrats and honestly if you're a guy like jeb bush, what do you do now? how do you go about this in a pragmatic way? if you're a guy like chris christie thinking about running -- >> more on that later in the show. >> it's a very difficult line to

walk for them. and quite honestly, i don't think -- >> or does a guy like jeb bush say at a certain point, i don't want to put up with this. >> what about states like florida, colorado, virginia, new mexico? you're seating -- >> what i'm wondering if the republican party not the republican party everybody in it but a lot of republicans in congress are looking at this differently than we thought they were. we used to look at this as we can survive. >> but 2016 is a problem and they'll do something. they are looking at 2016 and they are telling themselves, hey, that obama coalition not showing up in 2016. that's a problem for 2020, 2024. >> i think when the gop came up with its review of 2012 that said we need to be more moderate on this issues, i think they are going to go right. i think they can get to 2014 without having -- without further entrenching ourselves on those issues, but now they

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♪ my mom works at ge. ♪ the george washington bridge scandal didn't become a scandal from the e-mail. time for traffic problems at fort lee. when eight u.s. attorneys were fired during the bush administration, e-mails showed karl rove and other senior aides were more involved than previously thought. the modern age, e-mail is forever, which is why so many people including but not limited to conservative lawmakers are finding it hard to believe, lois lerner, center of the controversy simply lost two

years worth of e-mails to a hard drive grave yard in which they can never be recovered. those lost e-mails coupled with new e-mails which lerner seemed to suggest then back off of a suggestion to refer grassley for a potential audit, have stirred cries from the right that the media is failing to adequately cover a explosive scandal. is the media really missing anything here? yes, the lost e-mails are awfully suspicious and that hardly seems like the kind of excuse the irs would accept from an ordinary taxpayer. but is there anything more to the story besides the hypocrisy that just about everyone already associated with the irs? is there any kind of political scandal here that the media is missing? to try to answer that we have luke russert who lives and breathes capitol hill. if you live and breathe capitol

hill, luke -- live and breenl breathe the irs scandal. >> i don't like the irs, i think they intimidate people and they are heavy handed. but i think that's true whether there's a democrat in the white house or whether there's a republican in the white house. what i'm hearing from republicans, certainly there were members of congress saying that this week and certainly republicans who flood by inbox and me in twitter telling me to cover this. they think there's a connection between the irs and the white house. the irs and the democrats and obama administration. you have been following this. do you see that connection at all? >> from where we stand -- or sit this morning, i do not see the direct link between anything that lois lerner did or the cincinnati field office did and the direction from the white house. there is no concrete length that brings them together. that's not saying some way there's a smoking gun in the future and they link them. from all hearings we've gone through and e-mails that have come out, that link does not exist. >> what is it that republicans

suspect here? they want the e-mails and like i said, if i -- were a member of congress and asked for e-mails, and they lost me, can't find them, that's crazy. no taxpayer will tell the irs that. i understand that. what is it they think they are going to uncover? they seem intent on figuring that out. >> their belief is that somebody in the obama white house or somebody higher up directed the irs specifically to target the right leaning tea party groups trying to file for tax exept status before and they drew more scrutiny than liberal groups and this was done to limit the fund raising apparatus and keep them down. when you look at the evidence, liberal groups were subjected to a lot of this scrutiny and you also find this issue is a lot of this stems from post citizens united of this how do you interpret exactly what these groups are doing and the way

they are operating to file for tax exempt status, they sort of special organization, it gets into murky waters and legal waters and that's what you're seeing. >> the irs suddenly gets these applications from groups that want -- non-profit want the tax exempt status. >> they are not trained necessarily -- >> the biggest problem with them, they have not been exposed to the media scrutiny they are getting now or types of hearings they are getting now. often what you see on capitol hill, when you get these government officials who come in and usually are in these offices that have no windows and don't interact with the outside world, they say really stupid things. what great example of that is this guy costen, what we knew about the e-mails in april and told the administration and didn't tell congress until may, what do you think he's going to do? he's reasoning, i want to get to the bottom of it before i told congress.

you don't think congress will be upset that you held it from him from another six weeks? >> they called before daryl issa's committee this week and was prepared another way. it was not common for government officials to be as ready to kind of go back and forth to jab the way he did. let's play a clip and talk about it. >> didn't tell your ig that some documents would not be provided? or did you cause someone to find out at the white house at treasury or your ig. >> i did not and if you have evidence i would be happy to see. >> i asked a question. >> and i answered it. >> it's an interesting exchange for a couple of reasons. i think people who feel that republicans are overreaching on this and trying to create a white house scandal where there isn't one are watching that of the defiance in his voice and start cheering. and they say, wait a minute, we can't cheer for the irs, this is the irs, that's what republicans are kind of at the root of this,

everybody hates the irs. >> he himself is an interesting figure because he sees himself as somebody who has done things the right way and been this career civil servient unfairly prosecuted for something he did in the past. he wasn't there when this went forward. what you're seeing at the hearings, more so than anything, red meat for the republicans and there's not a lot of stuff they can push legislatively. you have this irs scandal and benghazi and this lawsuit moving forward saying the president overreached on executive actions. this is what they have to do for the rest of the 2014. >> where do you think this goes? you know, let's say there is no smoking gun here where obama is on the phone saying, grassley, lerner, when do republicans drop this at some point? >> they won't drop it. they'll continue it. >> where do they want to get

with it? >> i think they would like to have lerner's head on a platter to be honest with you. i think the other thing they would like to look for is put so much fear in the heart of the irs or any of these groups that upon review, these conservative leaning groups would never be audited to the degree which they were prior and this idea that the jury is out on the irs. they want to put it in folks' mind, ahead of election season, president obama and his chicago style politics were trying to control how your taxes were collected. >> they want obama irs in the headline and think maybe on that they win. i can understand the politics of that. >> democrats depend on unions for funding and things like getting out the vote. why are so many willing to break ranks on the issue of teacher tenure. we'll organize our thoughts during the break. and now telcos using hp big data solutions are feeling the love, too.

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back to fdr's new deal. democrats and unions relied on each to fight for their shared political goals. the unions you remember hated bill clinton when he pushed for nafta in the '90s, overall this has been a profoundly enduring political alliance. now though two former top aides to president obama are adding to what's becoming a major rift. robert gibbs and ben la bolt are joining a national campaign to support a series of lawsuits that will challenge teacher tenure and powerful teacher's u. unions. gibbs and labolt will offer expertise to former cnn anchor and white house correspondent campbell brown. the non-profit she's formed called the partnership for educational justice is planning

to file a lawsuit in new york next month that takes its cue from a landmark california ruling a few weeks ago that struck down that state's teacher tenure laws. nine public school students successfully sued california saying they were did he brifed to equal education and denied effective teachers by the stay law that awarded lifetime employment teachers after 18 months on the job. it has been stayed pending an appeal. teachers unions have plied political pressure for years to make sure teacher rights come first, the involvement shows there's a robust debate happening on the left right now about whether or not teacher tenure is in the best interest of students. same fault lines can be seen in the charter school debate. among those who support charter schools over the objections of the teachers unions are democratic heavy hitters like jerry brown, howard dean, chicago mayor rahm emanuel and president obama's race to the top education initiative asks

that states money demonstrate a willingness to promote charter schools. democratic candidates have long counted on the support of teacher unions, how will this affect campaigns moving forward? barrett covered politics for nearly 40 years. ugsed to do the village voice and wrote a provocative column this week claiming they have it wrong. all are to the same on some major issues and joins us now as does the president of the national education association, dennis van roekle. i'll start with you, wayne, this is a provocative piece and kicked up a lot of debate. it's a very interesting one for me to watch. the default position for a lot of people who think they are liberals, i'm a liberal and therefore i'm pro-union and pro teacher's union. let's take the issue of tenure.

you're saying teacher's union position on tenure is not correct and it actually misses what's in the best interest of students. they don't collide there. can you explain that? >> there are so many issues in which teacher's unions and parents and liberals are in the same agenda. certainly school funding, decent salaries for children and teachers and class size. these are issues in which i think indisputably does both the teacher interest and public interest and parent interest and student interest. but then there are these other issues in which the protecti protectionism of the teacher's union across the country -- >> on tenure, what is it specifically, what is the expense to students in terms of, there's a tenure student in place, what are they missing or losing because of that? >> the judge's decision in california was not just about tenure but seniority too and

attacks both, california and new york are among the ten states in the united states that say that seniority is the sole determinant, only factor in determining which teachers are laid off and which teachers aren't. how they are assigned and how teachers are accessed. so that's a very unusual thing. only 17% of the population in california supports seniority as the source. it's not just tenure that the case involves. obviously i think if you look at both, tenure and seniority and you look at them objectively, they are protections almost insurmountable walls on case of tenure that are used to protect bad teachers. i think it's in the interest of the union and public education and building a national constituency for public education which needs to be built for the unions to be a little more flexible on both of these points. >> dennis, national education association, you heard wayne's

argument there and tenure and seniority and these are insurmountable barriers that can protect bad teachers. what's your response? >> as a high school math teacher for 23 years, one of the things we can agree on, no one wants an ineffective teacher in the classroom. from a student's point of view there are two things that are very important, number one, there needs to be a process that is fair and efficient, fair to both employer and employee, to remove teachers who shouldn't be there. number two, for the student, it's absolutely essential that good teachers are not fired for bad reasons. no teacher should lose their job because they speak out too loudly for student needs or because of their race or because of their religion. good teachers need that protection to ensure that the students they serve have that benefit. you know, if you really want to make a difference for kids, if you really care about kids, you've got to look at all of the factors that impact the students.

they say that one percent of the impact of learning is the teacher themselves but the other 86% it has to do with the conditions of learning, if we really care about kids and need to deal with issues like school readiness and conditions of learning that are equitiable in every circumstance. >> let's stay on the point of tenure, we have a little team here. you're making the argument there you gave a couple examples, types of teachers and actions by teachers that would be protected because of a tenure system. that's your case for tenure. can you look at it from the other side and see the tenure system that has been in place in california and new york and seniority system and other states across the country and say, there are examples and times when this system does insulate bad teachers who don't belong in the classroom and get that protection and it hurt students? isn't that a flip side to it? >> the first thing -- the definition of due processor tenure is really critical here.

due process or tenure means you get a hearing. they must state a reason why they are going to dismiss you and you have a hearing. i think good teachers need that protection. students need that protection for their teachers they are doing a good job. the idea that after depending on the state anywhere from 2 to 5 years you don't have the right to due process, the idea that you get a due process that they must give a reason, i think that's fair and equitiable both to the employer and employee and most of all students. >> wayne, if you can respond to what you heard from dennis, he's saying a teacher wants to speak out and say my students are getting screwed here and stand up for resources, with tenure, they have the freedom to do that. without tenure, they are in trouble. >> we have states without tenure, i'll bet you he can't point to a single example in the united states of teachers removed because of their race or religion or because they spoke out. you know, academic freedom was the rationale for tenure at a

university level. you know, where clearly you have university professors taking controversial positions in their classrooms, a political science professor and so forth. now it takes seven years or so to get tenure in a university enyou have to publish and do all kinds of things. all you need to do is survive. and not get rated unsatisfactory a couple of years and brought up on charged. all you got to do is sit there and wait for the clock to tick. it doesn't have to tick very long. >> okay, so dennis, one thing wayne asked there, can you point to an example in one of those types of cases, where that's happening? >> absolutely. it happens all the time. when -- if the law is removed, the right to have due process and by the way, tenure at the university level -- >> give us an example then. >> i'll give you an example. >> somebody removed for race or

religion. >> let's hear the example. >> just recently a teacher who is highly regarded early child diagno childhood he had indicator has been very vocal in blogs and public meetings about the needs for early childhood program. she was called in at the end of the year in a five-minute meeting and informed she would be teaching fifth grade social studies next year. it is simply retaliation for speaking out. if you are not -- >> she didn't lose her job she didn't lose her job. >> not required to give any reason for firing someone, they can be fired because of race or religion or speaking out or any other reason because they don't have to say why. we've got to protect good teachers, students deserve to have good teachers and we can't let an arbitrary system simply remove them from the classrooms. >> i know wayne is anxious to respond. there's a lot more i want to get into. we'll pick it up right after this. core each month for free! awesomesauce! wow! the only person i know that says that is...lisa?

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i want to broaden out to the issue of charter school. we talked about tenure and talked about the sort of this democrats who maybe have a problem with teachers union on that issue and you look at the divide between democratic player and unions. you said this in your piece, the ten biggest mayors, nine of them are pro -- besides bill de blasio. >> this is an issue with teachers unions have a lot ever concerns and problems with the charter school unit. as a liberal you're pro charter. >> i'm fro non-profit charter, no pro any form of education that is for profit. we have some for profit schools but it's against the law to have new for profit schools. but i certainly think the record in new york and i can't address the national figures as clearly, but certainly in new york city

in particular, although somewhat true upstate, they've been a remarkable success. the way in which progressives should look at the question of charter schools or of tenure and senior, do they benefit children, the two pillars as you've been discussing of the democratic party are teachers unions, not just teacher unions but teacher union specifically and the black community. it appears other than when we have a black president, whenever white liberals have to choose between the two, they go with the unions. and these are two pillars of the party. and you know, there's certainly an interest in black children. i've been in harlem armories with 10,000 parents lined up to get into a charter. we're going to say they are probably all democrats. you can't choose, we're going to limit your choice in every way we can get legislators to do it,

we're going to limit your choice on charters. charters in new york city and p harlem in particular had a remarkable success. >> that's a question for you, dennis, what do you say to parents lined up whether it's in harlem -- we say big city democratic mayors and wayne has explained why it is a lot of their constituents want the children in charter schools. what do you say to them? >> wayne and i totally agree we support charters that are public charters not privatized. the esh yu of charters, what we have to focus on, are we providing great education for every student regardless of their zip code or economic status. the answer is no. i don't believe they are the silver bullet approach. we support charters and believe they are set up with the proper financial and transparency and safeguards. they can be successful. if you look at nationwide in the study of all charter schools, about 17% do better than the

traditional public schools. about 37% do worse. and the rest do better. that's not a good enough record. i think we have to really focus on every single school to make sure kids get what they need for school readiness to make sure they have the conditions of learning that are there. so charters in and of themselves are not the real answer. the real answer is to focus on the needs of students, especially those in high prove ert areas and remove the obstacles. i think the unions are an important part of that. >> dennis, we're running low on time. one more question i want to ask, this basic dilemma we outline at the beginning where there's teachers unions and interest of unions and students. the basic point that wayne made in his column, they don't always int intersect, do you agree with that? >> i think teachers unions have their interest as a student centered approach. i went into teaching not to

become a unionist but i believed in education and advocating for kids. i came into the union because i wanted a voice. i wanted to be able to advocate and tell policy makers how their rules and regulations and laws impacted the students in my classroom. i owe wayne and answer when he asked about people who have been fired without reason, in denver there's a lawsuit right now of all. teachers who have lost their jobs. they have no negative evaluations and there's nothing negative that they were ineffective at all. but the majority were over 50 and of color. i believe that demonstrates if you don't have due process, that something bad happens to good teachers. >> that will have to be the final word. i want to thank both of you for being on. we'll have an update on the fighting of sunni militants against iraq when we come back. this is interesting.

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in the run-up to and during and in the wake of those lane closures last september. the logs don't show what the calls were about but do show as the scandal built traction, they spoke several times a week and phone logs show during the week of the ft. lee traffic jam, sampson had conversations with david wildstein and bill baroni and in fact the contacts with mildsteen increased in weeks to the closures. we don't know what was discussed in these phone calls and some or all of them might have been related to bridge gate. sampson refused to speak about what happened last fall. but the level of contact between the appointees and top aides is more significant than previously believed. it was followed up on the news by noungsing they plan to call 13 new people before the special

committee investigating all of this, including mayor of fort lee, mark sokolich. on top of this, the new york times also reported this week that the christie administration is being investigated for possible violations of securities law. violations stemming from money they allegedly rerouted from the port authority to a highway project in new jersey. the issue is that the port authority lawyers had told the administration it was legally prohibited from using port authority funds for the project. according to the times, they went ahead and did it anyway. in the last week governor christie campaigned in new hampshire and played charity softball at yankee stadium and took questions where he promised to veto a so-called millionaires tax in his state. he's been unable to put the scandal behind him. joining me now to discuss all of this, we have paul butler who teaches at georgetown law school and kate zurich, co-author of

tuesday's story we just mentioned. kate, i want to get these details in a minute and there's so much here to talk about. the first thing i want to put up, show this on the screen. we talk about these call logs, david sampson, top christie authority, resign a couple of months ago. all of these calls came out. there's one thing in particular that jumps out, september 9th, the first night of the lane closures, these are david sampson's calls that night. bill baroni, one of the top appoint ees and david wild stein and the head of the authorities unit, overseeing authorities like the port authority for the governor's office. there's extensive contact with these principle players in the closures and david samson on day this happens and detail on that same night, mark sokolich had

been reaching out to bill baroni and he gets a text message from david wildstein, 911, please call me. we don't know what's said in these phone conversations, kate, the timing on this certainly raises eyebrows. >> this is what everyone has said. we're at a point in the scandal, six months in, there's not going to be blue dress. there's not going to be another bridget kelly e-mail time for traffic problems, nothing that revealing. the way the case is going to be pieced together is by phone calls and not just these phone calls but there's a crucial period in december where there are a phone calls with christie staff members and 111 minutes talking before the governor gives the press conference. i think what people know what happened in this case are saying that this is always how it's going to be pieced together. look at who's talking to whom and what prompts the phone calls. >> you're right, there vice

president been since time for traffic problems if ft. lee. there haven't been block buster revelations. this seemed the biggest, watching in terms of the lane closures, these phone logs seem the most significant to me. paul, you've been in these prosecutor's office and love having you on to talk about these things. if you're seeing this, what are you doing? >> there's rarely a blue dress, smoking gun, you're exactly right. you put it together by looking at who's talking to who and what they are saying. here one of the interesting things is there's no records of any calls between samson and governor christie. samson is governor christie's man, his god father,s had weird there are no official calls between them. >> you think they would have called to say hi at some point, right? >> prosecutors are looking at two things, obstruction of justice because it really is always about the cover-up. it's never been clear exactly what the federal crime is with bridge gate. there's something called

intentional interference with interstate commerce, that sounds promising for prosecutors but there's a lot more if there was an effort to cover-up afterwards. it's really the telephone calls and records after bridge-gate happened and the bridge was closed. >> again, i preface this by saying there's so much speculation. inside the u.s. attorney's office it's so opaque trying to figure out what's going on there. the speculation right now is about what is the u.s. attorney's office, is it flipping david samson. tell us how in general how when you try to flip somebody and if you get them to cooperate, that something -- does the public know about it right away? could he or somebody else have already flipped and we don't know? >> it's unlikely anyone has flipped and we don't know. what the prosecutors are doing are investigating everything that david sampson has ever done in his life. they are telling him, we have the goods on you for the last 20 years and if you don't give us the goods on governor christie,

you're going to go to prison for the rest of your life. he's 74 years old an in ill health and has a story to tell. they believe he has a story to tell about christie. make no mistake, christie is the big ka hun na. these three different investigations, if governor christie is not ultimately prosecuted, will be considered a failure. >> in terms of what christie could be vulnerable on, one of the possibilities that's out there is because what we've seen in the master report, internal report that came out from the administration and a lot of this testimony before to legislatures, we keep saying no smoking gun. but there's a lot more -- there were a lot more hints around chris christie in is september, october, november that he knew this happened or could have figured out easily this ha happened. a lot of warnings provided to him. one of these people who the democrats want to subpoena now is -- had a phone conversation

with him apparently the morning of the press conference. he said well, wild stein is saying stepien saying that bridget kelly knew. is that potentially one of the big vulnerability, he knew in september and october and november and playing dumb and maybe covering it up some some way? >> it's potentially a legal vulnerability but absolutely a political vulnerability. initially he said in december, even in january, i knew nothing about this, my senior staff knew nothing about this and his chief of staff handed him an e-mail in december saying showing that the administration did know about this, had information about this while it was going on and we have a suggestion he knew when the lane closures were happening. what did the governor know, when did he know it? that's absolutely a vulnerability. >> let's pivot here not all directly related you made waves with the story this week. and i've tried to explain this

to people, gets into these dense granular transportation issues but the main thing here is big pool of money that the port authority had for this arc tunnel, rail tunnel and christie cancels the tunnel and it's basically how he got that money to pay for the thing called the pulaski skyway. legally speaking, it looks like serious potentially serious hot water here. what is the legal issue here? >> they call -- to justify the port authority to take the money, lawyers warned and warned don't do this. at some point they were under so much pressure because the governor was calling press conferences, i'm going to do this and people were pressuring the port authority, we have to get this done. at some point the port authority switches and says remember now we have to legally justify this. what they did was say this is a lincoln tunnel project. the statute is very clear on what you can spend lincoln tunnel money on, it's the helix and roads under it. you cannot call the skyway six

miles away can't call it a lincoln tunnel project. this is misrepresentation to bond holders, to potential bond buyers. >> and one thing i've heard this week, what you just mentioned there, christie was out there publicly saying, hey this is what we're doing. christie defenders are saying, you know if it was so illegal, if it was such an illegal problem, he wouldn't be doing it. >> if he didn't know about it he wasn't talking to his senior staff. was he trying not to know about it is the question. that's the legal issue. there's also the politicalish yuxt chris christie if he wants to run for president has to go out and convince conservatives that he is a physical conservative and managed the state well. so what he did here was take money from the port authority and spend it on a state project, which you're not supposed to do, potentially securities fraud, right? he takes money from a project supposed to generate revenue for the port authority, this tunnel and spends it on a road project

which is not going to generate money from the state. it's taking capital costs and putting them in an operating budget. >> don't have to raise the gas tax. >> that's the problem politically. >> at the heart of this particular issue, there's something called the martin act. >> yes. >> new york state statute. can you explain in terms -- this is my understanding of this is that people on wall street, new york side here fear this thing, it's a new york state law and because this is the manhattan district attorney looking into it, this is a law with real teeth in it. >> important point. you remember paul fishman is investigating sandy-gate. this is a whole different prosecutor with a whole different team of agents and investigators looking into this pulaski bridge scandal, they have the martin act, class e felony and says if you misrepresent any material fact

to a bond holder, you're going to jail. misrepresent -- it doesn't have been to intent to defraud. you have to say something that's not true like the purpose of this pulaski infrastructure project is to increase access to the lincoln tunnel. that's just not true. governor christie is going on tv and saying in press conferences that they are going to use the money because it's port authority legitimate money, again, that's exposure. that's not good for governor christie. >> quick question from your reporting, do you have any sense -- we're always asking when is the next shoe to drop. we think the u.s. attorney one is longer term. i've heard from people, you can tell me, they expect the manhattan district attorney to move in the relatively near future on this. >> as paul hinted, the manhattan district attorney is really limited to but their thing is the martin act legislation. new jersey u.s. attorney is looking at sandy money and looking at this idea of hoboken

which you have reported so much on and bridge gate. they have a lot on their plate to investigate. i do think the manhattan da could turn this around faster. >> we'll look at that one first and all of the other ones at the same time. my thanks to paul butler and new york times kate, how the gop is destroying itself from within. the infighting has only gotten worse after the shocking death of a key figure in the race's biggest scandal. all of the new details are next.

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the mississippi senate race took a sad turn yesterday with news of an apparent suicide. markmayfield was vice chairman of the tea party.

cochran's wife suffers from dementia and the scandal slowed the mcdaniel election. he lost on tuesday by less than two points. yesterday morning police received a phone call from mayfield's wife saying her husband had shot himself at their home. according to a report in the jackson leather. chris mcdaniel said regardless of recent allegations made against his character, mark mayfield was a fine christian man always respectful and kind and onest most polite and humble men i've met in politics. joining me now is sam hall, reporting from the newspaper in jackson, mississippi. obviously a truly tragic turn here in what's been a bizarre story all around. politically speaking, i've heard people around chris mcdaniel now lashing out and saying that politics from thad cochran supporters brought this on. in terms of that reaction, who are you hearing it from and who exactly are they blaming for

this? >> we're hearing it from mostly supporters, a lot of the volunteers who have been involved with the race, people who are on social media and who have been reactive in kind of pushing their message and agenda. there was a staffer yesterday who is close to mcdaniel who lashed out on twitter. he eventually deleted that tweet and sent out a press release where he explained his rilgsship with mayfield. didn't apologize for what he said. the gist of it and it's gotten uglier and uglier, the police mishandled the way they arrested him and the district attorney you know came up with bogus charges or the bond was set too high. and you know, that the cochran campaign and supporters made political hay out of something they shouldn't have. the blame is being put out

there. there's people from out of state especially who are putting all sorts of violent unbelievable things out there, you accusing mayor madison and other people of being involved in -- going so far to say they killed this man so -- >> this is as we said, it's -- all around ugly and sad and bizarre story. the context for this obviously, what's happened since tuesday in the election where you had the nonconcession speech from chris mcdaniel. here's the latest from yesterday. this is chris mcdaniel's latest in talking about what he's going to do next. let's play this and talk about it. >> this was not a fair election. activity was illegal at worst unethical at best. we can't have elections like that and have people maintain their confidence in the system. >> so sam, do you have any indication -- what mcdaniel is going to do next. is there some kind of legal challenge? i've heard people say a write-in

campaign, what's the next move? >> well, a write-in campaign would not be legal. they could write it in but the votes wouldn't count. the way the laws are set up, the only time a write-in campaign is allowed if the candidate either dies or is removed from the ballot between the ballot being prepared and the actual election day. it's a very narrow window. past that, they are still trying to go through all of the ballot books and i don't know if it's all of the counties but definitely specific counties trying to determine if there are enough irregularities to bring legal challenge. >> i just -- >> 1200 in the largest county and that number has been disputed by, by the people who are running the election there. >> where do you think this is all going? our understanding was if thad cochran survives the primary, republicans win and that's it. i'm looking especially in the

wake of this tragic human event with the suicide and how that divides two factions down there. are you confident republicans can come together and for november and win this thing? >> not anymore, no. there's a sense that this is over as far as any kind of challenge and all, they are going to go through there. the odds of them actually finding enough irregularities to make a difference in the race is probably slim their clearly are some but i don't think it's as widespread as they are trying to make people believe. i don't see any real stomach for saying look, we're supporting thad cochran. it's something not there among the rank in file of the tea party movement and his core supporters. and i don't think it's there for mcdaniel right now at all. >> all right, my thanks to sam hall. you've been great covering the story. appreciate all of the work

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this is not the party of reagan. >> no! >> but we're not done fighting. when we're done, it will be. >> that was chris mcdaniel in what was not his concession speech on tuesday night after losing to thad cochran by less than two points. we talked about the way he won the race this week, reaching out to african-americans who generally vote democratic enraged his defeated tea party opponents and toe party leaders across the country. >> insider republicans in the senate bought 9 or 10 percentage points from the black uncle tom voters in mississippi. >> so with these tensions building, what will be the national fallout from the cochran/mcdaniel race. we have phillip dennis, and the

former chairman of the south carolina republican party and joins us from colombia in south carolina. i appreciate you both being here. i want the two of you here because i see phillip as quintessential tea party guy and dawson quintessential republican party guy. this has crystallized the mistrust that exists and open warfare that exists between the tea party base and republican establishment and racises questions to co-exist. you said that in response to what happened in and thousand cochran won the race, you want mississippis to vote not for thad cochran but the democratic candidate. can you explain? >> well, right, when the republicans are so desperate to keep a big spending lifetime

politician, one of the most prolific pork spendsers in office that they have to reach out liberal democrats to win, the republicans in the state of mississippi soundly rejected thad cochran and preferred chris mcdaniel. and the way they did that in utilizing the most vile lies in disparaging tea partyers as racest clan members and so forth. it was despicable, that's why al sharpton and -- >> you're making the argument, you're saying not only are we upset we lost, you would rather have a democrat vote for harry reid as majority lead are than thad cochran who won't? >> we've lost primary battles against the establishment republicans and they have all of the money and have a lot of laws and have the best talent in the world to get them key -- if they

are going to use this basically nuclear bomb against the conservative base in the republican party, what they did ba basically say they echoed the words of pelosi and reid. we supported tim scott and mia love and herman cain and other black conservatives but for republicans to utilize those tactics is despicable and should be below even the republican establishment. >> so this is a voice, a prominent voice from the republican party base. how do you respond to what you've been hearing? >> you know, one of the things we noticed in the tea party movement is the five principles they have, which is physical responsibility, limited government, personal responsibility to rule the law and national sovereignty is in the middle of all of the republican party's rules, laws and every state. so my point here is that there's

a big difference in disconnect between a republican party and a tea party. certainly i've been involved in south carolina with the elections of tim scott and nikki haley and lindsey graham and diverse republicans. there's a difference in a political party and the organic movement of the tea party, which has held a lot of the republican party accountable. that's been a good thing. when you come to the elections in mississippi, it was mississippi's voters, there's no litmus test of who can vote in a primary there. there's not registration by party. it isn't in south carolina -- >> can you understand the basic rage i would say not an understatement given in reaction, it is clear that it was traditionally democratic -- totally legal, traditional democratic leaders who put cochran over the top in mississippi. can you understand why they would say, it's legal but boy, that's not fair, that's -- we want a conservative republican?

>> well, steve, certainly i'm a conservative republican and do think it's unique that i'm now a member of establishment. but what i would say is when are you going to have a litmus test on who can come vote at the ballot box and say, okay, we're only going to let certain factions of our party come vote. thad cochran won, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how thad cochran beat chris mcdaniels. >> as a leader in the tea party movement, listening and heard people say thing like he's saying all week. can you continue to exist in this party? >> i think that it's certainly brings us to a new level. we finds it incredulous that the republican party in mississippi would want nazi klan racist in their big tent. they've kind of -- if you live by that kind of sword in the primary to keep your man alive, you're probably going to die by

it. this one is easier. this is not harry reid we're talking about that's running as a democrat in mississippi. he's a very conservative -- >> he'll make harry reid majority leader again. >> but again, this is the whole point with the republicans, we're seeing -- virtually no difference between them in washington, d.c., we have an almost $18 trillion national debt and republicans haven't done anything about that. they signed on every spending bill and gone along about harry reid and barack obama. and so what we're seeing is mitch mcconnell if he took over the senate would only be a harry reid like. we have no confidence. as a fiscal conservative, when have the republicans ever failed to disappoint us? never, they always do the wrong thing. in this case they used the most vile tactics to keep their man in office. i'll spend more money than the other guy. >> this is a conversation -- i

want to keep this going but we're up against the clock here. it's a conversation to keep paying attention to going forward. these two groups, republican establishment and tea party, this is a story to pay attention to through 2016. can the republican party tib to keep the two groups intact. my thanks to you both. sometimes it feels like you can't turn on our sister network and not see a report by nbc's lester holt, i vote for the hardest working person in tv news, we'll put lester to work alongside two trusted colleagues in a battle of the network stars, a special edition of "up against the clock." you do not want to miss it. it's coming up next. tzer relie. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. (vo)cars for crash survival,ning subaru has developed our most revolutionary feature yet.

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pepperdine university, kayak races and of course the always entertaining baseball dunk and all of the play-by-play analysis handled by the one and only mr. howard cosell. it was such a huge deal could only happen twice a year. we did our own battle of the network stars in our own weekly current events last season and now have we recovered enough to do it again. battle of the network stars two is moments away. three of the biggest names duking it on on this stage. i'm told lester holt is refusing to wear the short shorts but is standing by in the isolation booth until right after this.

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twitter, say hello to luke russert! she is among the most prestigious boston university alumni along with up against the clock steve kornacki, this is erika hill! did you know he appeared in the 1993 thriller the fugitive? he's everywhere, including right here. please welcome lester holt! and now it's the host of up against the clock, steve kornacki! >> thank you contestants and thank you to everyone out there at home for tuning in. another special edition and battle of the network stars edition of "up against the clock." thank you for joining us. >> rough weekend for you. >> these are the biggest names in nbc. this is the first time playing for all of you. this is a fast paced political

news and current events quiz, we're going to play three rounds, each of them 100 seconds long and questions are worth 100 points in the first round, 200 in the second and 300 in the third and con tetants, you can ring in any time but we'll be penalized for wrong answers. contestants will be playing not injure for victory today but a chance to play in our tournament of champions at the end of the season. to qualify, you will first have to win today. as always, i will implore our audience, no outbursts. if you're ready? they look ready. we'll ask you to put your hands on your buzzers and put 100 seconds on the clock. i have the 100 point question here. this pop star said this week if hillary clinton runs for president, she wants to write her campaign song. >> luke? >> katy perry. >> 100 points for luke.

on wednesday, dallas texas was named as one of the finalist cities for 2016 republican convention -- >> cleveland. >> i'll complete the question. dallas last hosted the gop when ronald reagan sought re-election in one year? luke, you're disqualified from this round. >> lester? >> 1984. >> 1984 is correct. 100 points for lester. the number of senators supporting gay marriage rose to four this week when this new englander -- >> lester? >> susan collins. >> joined the ranks. stop the clock. not only are you correct there, but that is also our quote of note bonus question. >> wow. >> quickly explain how this works for 100 additional points, we have a special celebrity guest going to read a famous political quote. there will be no penalty for guessing on this one, only 100 extra points. you have to identify who said the quote. let's go to our special celebrity guest. the reigning miss usa.

>> hi, i'm miss usa and this governor once famously said you campaign in poetry and govern in prose. >> only for lester? >> dang it. >> that was mario cuomo. >> pa mario cuomo. -- >> i missed that rule. i was going to say mario cuomo. >> we put the clock back in motion. italy was eliminated in a game marred by a biting incident involving luis suarez for what country. >> uruguay. >> he claimed egs not famous anymore but made big headlines when he was arrested -- >> shia la buf. i'm going to give you the points. >> josh earnest said his

favorite celebrity encounter at the white house was with this nba star and newly minted free agent. >> lebron james. >> gets it just before erika. if the u.s. defeats belgium in the world cup's round of 16 on tuesday it will put americans in quarterfinals for the first time in 2002 when he was president. >> george w. bush. >> ends the round, 100 points for luke, brings you within 100 with lester. erika just missing out there a couple of times. erika, good news for you, this is the 200 point round you can make that gap up in a hurry here. >> great because i don't look like an idiot at this point at all. i'm just testing here. it works, it does. okay. >> 200 point round. now 100 seconds on the clock. gets more suspenseful and we start with this. in an interview with buzz feed, hillary clinton's publisher revealed this week her new book has been effectively banned in what foreign country? >> going to call time, china,

effectively banned in china. 200 point question, players in this week's tennis tournament are required to bow to the royal box if one of the two members is in attendance. >> queen eye list beth. >> we'll give you queen, yes. 200 point question, proposed solutions to washington's gridlock was put out by this bipartisan duo of former -- >> luke? >> trent lock and daschle. >> that's correct. luke not only did you correctly answer that question, but that was our use it or lose it bonus question, that means you have a chance to double what you won to scoop up extra points but this is not risk free. i have a follow-up question to the one you just answered, it is related in semiway and worth 200 extra points if you can answer correctly. if you're wrong, you'll lose 200 points you just won. right off the board or you can pass on pt question, won't get any deductions, won't get any

credit. it's your choice, use it or lose it. >> lester is a very smart guy, i'm not going to gamble, i'm going to hold. >> stay at 700 points. we'll never reveal what this question was but you would have got it right. put the clock back on board. 200 point question will continue with this, anthony brown who won the democratic primary for governor of mayor would would b elected black -- >> due val patrick. >> yes. u.s. officials said this country is secretly sending drones to iraq -- >> iran. >> iran is correct he said with confidence on that one. 200 points. bill clinton went from dead broke to earning $100 million primarily by doing this -- >> luke? >> speaking. >> giving speeches, we'll accept that. 200 point question, this week the city of chicago was chosen

as the site for museum featuring art work and hollywood mem memorabilia from from legendary director. >> lucas -- >> yes, we'll accept that, george lucas. >> at the wire, lester pulls you to 800, luke at 100. erika still to get on the board. >> i keep trying and then i hear it and think it's mine and look and you hit it before me. >> but you have a chance here still because this is the 300 point round, we call this the ph.d. round, a lot of funny things can happen. we'll crown a champion with this round. we'll dim the lights. 300 point questions and we start with this, 100-year-old letters between warren g harding and his mistress are being released by the press. who succeeded harding. >> calvin coolidge. >> currently trying to name the

street after a chinese dissident, a move that calls to mind the previous effort to name the street the soviet embassy is on after this famous dissident? >> time. i'm sorry, time andre -- >> 300 points, paula page said it doesn't matter what they call the payments, it is welfare pure and simple and referring to one program signed by roosevelt in 1935. going to call time. it was social security. >> 300 point question -- >> didn't want to guess that. >> there's been a major drop in air pollution on the east coast. most notably along this roadway that runs from maine to florida. >> luke? >> i-95. 300 points for luke. former republican senate minority leader howard baker passed up a chance to run for president in 19 88 and instead

to serve in what position? >> chief of staff. >> chief of staff, correct, new york congressman charlie rangel, first won his seat back in 1970 when he stunned this iconic civil rights leader in a democratic primary. >> his son is now in congress -- >> time -- and time adam clayton powell. luke, with 2,000 points, congratulations, you have won the game and -- >> thank you. >> nice work. >> you win fantastic prizes and we'll tell you all about them. >> as our champion, your name will be engrached using the finest sharpie ink on the up against the clock gold cup and dvd copy of cocoon 2, the return. and you'll get to play in our jackpot round for today's grand prize, a $50 gift certificate to

quick meal foot cart, the only street meat vendor in the greater 45th area operated by a former chef of the russian tea room. i had it for lunch today. delicious. >> all right. that is quite a prize you have. you've already won there, luke. here is your chance to get that quick, whatever we call it, the quick cart. here is your chance for that gift certificate. one question, make or break. here it is, howard bake he's first wife was the daughter of long time senate republican leader everett dirksen. after her death he remarried nancy kassenbaum, the daughter of this presidential nominee. >> 1936 republican presidential nominee so they ran against fdr. >> going to need an answer. no answer? >> it's not dewy. >> it is landon. i'm sorry, luke.

the food cart gift certificate but you do win a copy of a chance to play in the tournament of champions. erica and lester, appreciate you playing, being good sports. you get the home edition. >> sure. steve, i'm glad i could help. go terriers. >> boston college. >> oh, no! i forgot about that. >> sucks to be you. >> so you did rig my buzzer. wel to tell you why. chex makes seven gluten free flavors. like cinnamon, honey nut, and chocolate. when you find something this good, you want to spread the word. [ all ] we love chex! yo(the 2014 chevy equinox)d. comes with great features... ...like usb connectivity, so you can enjoy your favorite music. mom! mom! mom! mom! mom! mom! hi mom. and a multi-flex sliding rear seat, for your passenger's comfort and your own. start your summer off right and get this 2014 chevy equinox ls

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time to find out what our guests or contestants didn't know before the week began. luke russert, congratulations, new channmp ion. >> thank you very much. i read a wonderful story in "the washington post" quite fascinating about this nonprofit barbecue called inspired barbecue and it's unfortunately closing down. a victim of a gentrification condo deal in washington, d.c. and it helped out ex cons and returning veterans and i hope someone can feigned a place for it. they take no government

assistance. help out a the lot of people. >> a good barbecue. >> it's good barbecue. give them a place to set up. good stuff. >> lesser? >> i learned about the death of this controversy over the export/import bank when it comes to our biggest exporter boeing. they sell a lot of airplanes because the u.s. helps countries finance, foreign countries opinion. the delta airlines is saying you're empowering our xet are tore. so it's an interesting comparison between the airlines and boeing. some people call corporate welfare. >> this is what we'll be hearing about. erica? >> i hernd a lot more about soccer. quite honestly. i'm totally falling into jumping on the bandwagon. one of the things i never knew about was the way time could be added and i didn't realize that until u.s./portugal on sunday. that was fascinating to me. >> where is the clock? >> added or take away, totally up to the referee to decide. it blows my mind. >> there's stoppage time, i understand. yet 90 minutes, they put on an

extra few minutes. what if there's stoppage time in stoppage time? >> excellent question. >> you need more time after that. >> you absolutely do. blows my mind. >> the biggest sport in this country, we need ten, nine, eight -- >> a countdown. >> there was a great point made about that. the one of the articles i was reading, this is one of the issues coming in now you don't watch soccer. it's so frustratinging because it doesn't play by the rules we're used to and there isn't this sort of concrete clock that we can look at and there aren't these concrete reasons why the decision is made. >> and i also want my other soccer proposal, while on the subject, widen the goals. we need a little more scoring. we don't need 14-12 but we need 6 had-4, 6-5, something like that. >> they're down by one goal. one goal. >> yeah, one goal is like 42-0 in football. erica hill, lester holt, luke russert, appreciate it. thank you for joining us today for "up. of" join us us tomorrow morning.

up next melissa harris-perry. bond, julian bond live from jackson, mississippi. the 50-year commemoration of freedom summer is under way. that's melissa harris-perry up next. thanks for gettinging up. talk to your doctor about viagra. ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor.

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this morning my question, what do these supreme court decisions mean for the rest of us? plus, an important deadline looms in north carolina. julian bond comes to nerd land. first, if you don't know, now you know. this is the republican party. good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry, and, you know, we've been hearing about the tea party for years. ever since a group of americans got worried about president obama and his health care reform plan. they convened at congressional town halls and they went to the