from ideal. >> so especially on the coastal area, we want to make sure people don't try out the great waves right before the storm comes, even though they are good waves. we don't want you to go into the ocean. >> surfers, they live and love these type of conditions when you have great swells. we want them to show up, surf, stay within their limitations, wear a leash. those are that's are new to surfing, please stay out of the water. >> some smart words there. we go right to weather channel meteorologist julie martin, who's at the maps. >> all right, ari. you make a good point there. bad timing. of course, the holiday weekend. the good news is by the weekend itself, saturday and through sunday, we expect much of the impacts from this storm to be well out at sea. right now it is sitting offshore of cape canaveral, florida, about 110 miles east-northeast. the winds have not strengthened. they're sitting at 60. that's been the case for about the last 12 hours. it's starting to move a little to the north-northeast at 7 miles per hour. here's a look at what we can

expect over the next 24 to 48 hours. this will mirror closer to the carolinas as we hit tomorrow morning. so rights off the coast of charleston, but still well offshore. we'll be seeing some impacts onshore, some of those outer rain bands. certainly the winds will be picking up and the rip currents will be a real danger for beach vacationers. that's something to keep in mind, and that's something that won't be going away over the weekend. expect rough waters here all along this area. cape hatteras, this is where we're expecting the biggest impacts by thursday night in through friday. so starting about 8:00 on thursday, we'll see conditions start to go downhill pretty rapidly along the outer banks. the winds picking up to possibly hurricane strength. if that happens, this will be the first hurricane to hit the u.s. since 2012. then by friday, as i mentioned, it does move well off to sea. still going to be leaving behind some very rough waters. so here's a look at those watches and warnings. tropical storm warnings in effect from elizabeth city, north carolina, out through cape

hatteras, down through myrtle beach and south of that into south carolina. we have tropical storm watches. so winds 39 miles per hour or greater sustained, but certainly we could see this become a hurricane, and that is really the expectation at this point. this is where we're looking at that hurricane watch from beaufort, north carolina, up to elizabeth city, cape hatteras. as you mentioned, some evacuations under way there. the governor declaring states of emergency pre-emptively in 25 north carolina counties. so everyone taking this storm in north carolina quite seriously because you do have the tourists coming in, who have perhaps not been around this type of weather and the best news here is that this will be a fairly quick hitter and it will be out of there, at least by the weekend. back to you. >> all right, julie martin. thank you for that update. and please stay with us for a minute while we go outside. msnbc's richard lui is right on the coast near melbourne, not far from where arthur is spinning. what's it like at the moment?

>> you know, krystal, at the moment we're getting a little sun. we've had bands of rain come through. we have some sun right now. this couldn't have come at a worse time, as has been said. it's businesses like this on the beach, this beach chair rental open since 9:00 a.m. this morning. they haven't rented one chair. that's a concern, of course, because families, groups of friends have planned to come out here and enjoy this beautiful beach that's out here by indiatlantic in the melbourne area. as was said, the storm now about 110 miles east-northeast of cape canaveral, which is only about an hour or two from here. that has resulted in folks being concerned about getting to the beach. we've had one to four-foot swells as toure was saying and ari was saying. if you're a novice, do not come out to this area. as arthur has moved north, it has left behind these red flag warnings that exist from here as well as north of us.

the ocean rescue director saying, hey, although this hasn't been that bad, that doesn't mean you should let down your guard. be careful, because that's when most problems happen, when you let down your guard. families not scared now. they're starting their weekend. you can see it's pretty busy. this family here with this empty towel, they got here about two hours ago. they're enjoying themselves. they might be enjoying this too, guys, as you look at this. there's tons of this stuff. lots of seaweed. might be good for, i don't know, some seashore homemade sushi? nongmo, organic. >> you taste it first, richard. >> sounds wonderful. thank you so much. let's head now to nbc's sarah daloff, who is along the outer banks, which could take a direct hit right in time for the fourth. what's going on, sarah? >> well, talk about a perfect storm. one of the busiest travel weeks here of the year. now these nasty conditions, the heavy winds, rains, hurricane

conditions making their way here. but looking at the beach today, you would have no idea. we've got a lot of people out here determined to enjoy at least today some fun in the sun before this storm moves in. we are starting to see those red flags popping up along beaches. they're warning of the rough conditions and the rip tides. also being told, please, not to swim unless there is a lifeguard on duty, somebody to keep an eye experienced with those tides. now, hotels, many here booked to capacity trying to decide exactly how to handle this bad weather. some are offering to texts guests, their cell phones, when the conditions worsen. others offering to waive cancellation policies. although, not a lot of people taking anybody up on these offers. seems like the storm is far, far away, although we know it's going to be a very different picture in about 24 hours. for now, people determined to enjoy their fourth of july week come rain or shine, tropical storm or hurricane. back to you guys. >> sarah, thanks so much. obviously no one wants to rain

on uncle sam's birthday. i want to bring back julie martin with more on what happens after initial landfall. julie, i know some fireworks are already being canceled on cape cod up near nantucket. what should folks who are heading north who might not be down there in the carolinas, folks like me, should we be worried this is going to knock out our fourth of july plans? >> the fourth is a little questionable in the northeast. i mean, we could still be seeing some of these outer rain bands making their way into the coastal areas in the north, north of the system or the center of circulation. by saturday you're fine. unfortunately, the timing of all of this is not great. however, at this point, it will depend on whornt this storm shifts just a little bit farther east. >> all right. julie martin. >> julie, appreciate that. luke, glad you got that update. richard, i want to thank you. sarah as well. abby huntsman, let us know if you want to try that sushi

richard was telling us about. >> it looked amazing. >> seaweed salad is where you want to go. >> do you want to try the sushi? >> after abby does. >> all right. we have an order. up next, we have some great stuff. a hero and of course the heartbreak. we're going to do a full recap of team usa's grueling loss to belgium and the player you've probably heard about and that the internet is crowning america's new secretary of defense. "the cycle" rolls on, wednesday, july nd. hey. i'm ted and this is rudy. say "hi" rudy. [ barks ] [ chuckles ] i'd do anything to keep this guy happy and healthy. that's why i'm so excited about these new milk-bone brushing chews. whoa, i'm not the only one. it's a brilliant new way to take care of his teeth. clinically proven as effective as brushing. ok, here you go. have you ever seen a dog brush his own teeth? the twist and nub design cleans all the way down to the gum line, even reaching the back teeth. they taste like a treat, but they clean like a toothbrush. nothing says you care like a milk-bone brushing chew. [ barks ]

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it's officially over for team usa after a nail-biting 2-1 defeat yesterday to belgium.

but as ari often remind us about the sport, if you lose, you can still win. if you're tim howard today, you've got to feel like a winner, at least a little bit, with 16 incredible saves during the game, howard set the world record for the most saves in the world cup history. here they are in 50 seconds. >> and tim howard's legs -- tries his luck. hazard. straight at tim howard. tim howard. from left back, tim howard's legs to the rescue. vertonghen. tim howard again! now hazard. again, tim howard. kompany's there. lukaku.

oh, and tim howard. it's lukaku. and another save. >> timmy howard. >> i had to make a few saves. obviously more than i wanted to. but that's what i signed up to do. >> the humble howard was the hero of the day for millions of fans who watched at soldier field in chicago, as well as in kansas city, seattle, and living rooms and bars across the country and of course in offices. that is our team right there off the clock. even howard's wikipedia profile got an update. his new title is secretary of defense of the united states of america. joining us now, our "cycle" secretary of sports, jordan schultz. back for a postgame recap and to keep us interested in the cup, even without team usa playing. always great to have you here. you were just saying tim howard, he's just special. if team usa played at the level of howard, it would have turned

out a little differently. >> absolutely. you consider the fact that he had 16 saves. only six teams in the world cup have that many. he did that in one game. when you look at tim how'd, you got to love what he did, the way he rallied his troops. obviously frustrating. i'm heartbroken as a u.s. fan. but tim howard single handlely kept us in the game. could have been 6-0, abby. >> tim howard could have saved kim kardashian's first marriage. he was outstanding. >> tim howard or mariano rivera. >> you're going there. the one thing i would say about this is it's certainly a steppingstone, right? a lot of people came down hard on our coach, saying we're not going to win the world cup this year, it's a work in progress. he made some controversial decisions, benching landon donovan. seems that he has been validated, his approach. the young guys are moving in. it looks like this team will be together at least for the next four years. we have to give him a round of applause for what he did.

>> absolutely. and i think he really vindicated himself, especially some of the selection guys like julian green, who scores the goal yesterday, 19 years old. john brooks, 21. nobody thought these guys would even play, let alone make that 23-man roster. i think the biggest step, as you saw yesterday, the difference in quality is immense between belgium and the usa. in four years, bradley will be 35. dempsey will be about the same age. tim howard will be 39. how will the young guys start to incorporate the older guys, and how can that balance be struck? because clearly the usa is not at that same class as belgium. >> german ingenuity with the american resolve. >> and we don't know what tim howard does next, but i hope he's available for 401(k) advice, because the guy knows how to save. >> oh, wow. >> that was sensational. tremendous. >> krystal? >> anyway, so you're talking about the fact there's a lot of young guys on the team.

julian green, 19 years old. had the goal. pretty awesome. but one of the things, because it's only every four years, is this something you can really build on? should we expect that the next world cup, the team will improve and will be better than it was this time around? >> that's the question all americans want to know. it's the first time, as we know, they've been through consecutive knockout rounds in world cups. i'm going to say, yes, they can continue to get better. they have to get more quality in the midfield. you see belgium yesterday, the way they're able to possess the ball and possess the ball with a purpose. that's just not something we have. tim howard, great player. he's going to be 39 in four years, krystal. so how can the young guys develop? that's a big part of the challenge. he's signed through 2018, the world cup in russia. i would expect good things, but you never know. >> we have another question here from two of our talented producers, mary and betsy. who should we shift our allegiance towards now? it can't be germany because they beat us. >> well --

>> colombia. colombia is the feel-good story of the world cup. >> i'm costa rica. cinderella story. >> colombia, they've never been this far. they're going to play brazil. the netherlands are an incredibly exciting team to watch. i would say belgium as well. even though we lost, not exactly an unlikable team. they're very young. third youngest team in the world cup. i would say those three teams you can rally behind. i like costa rica. just don't root for the big favorites like a germany or france. >> or argentina. >> i think germany is an interesting one. you've said from the beginning they're incredibly strong. the fact we lost to them, if they win, that doesn't make us look that bad. >> it doesn't. they got mueller, who won the golden boot four years ago. one of the best young players in the world. remember, germany was a team that guys like julian green and jermaine jones could make but came to the u.s. i'm not somebody who can root for other teams. it's usa or nothing. >> i'm on the colombian

bandwagon. rodriguez, the best player. >> what is happening on this set? >> i don't know, but i like this "cycle." >> i think you keep watching for star power like van persie in the netherlands. you want that feel-good situation where you're rooting for a guy to score a lot of goals. messi in argentina. if you're a u.s. fan, you're devastated, but you have to look at the positives. >> you were saying we might be losing sop of the older players. does this set us up to do better next time? >> i think it does, but going back to you're going to have to find maybe another goalie. goalies typically don't go past 35. >> how old is howard? >> he is 35 now. you're going to have to find michael bradley. maybe a new captain. that young talent has to be developed. it's not just those three guys. it's the other guys that didn't quite make the team. can they continue to develop? >> there's some kid right now in a high school or college that's going to have to come in and play. we need these young folks to buy

in. >> everyone saying we didn't have altidore. that would have impacted us. no question we missed him. but we don't have a true world-class scorer. until we get that, like a van persie, a messi, or roal doe, we're still stuck in neutral. >> ari keeps telling me that. >> "cycle" viewers now that's been my world cup analysis. >> there's nothing better than grabbing a beer with your friends, watching incredible soccer. i'm really looking forward to the rest of the games. >> i'm going to stick with general mcchrystal germany as my pick. >> i'm costa rica. jordan schultz, you better hope baseball picks up. as far as soccer goes, we're done. we got to get you back for something. good luck, costa rica. that's who i'm rooting for. up next, turning to a serious situation overseas. grief turns to anger and erupts in jerusalem over the murder of those three israeli teens. the latest next in our news cycle. if i can impart one lesson to a

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the news cycle begins with the very latest out of jerusalem. the white house is urging israelis and palestinians to avoid an atmosphere of revenge. that call appears to have fallen on deaf ears. young israelis stormed the streets last night following the funerals for those three teens. this morning, the burned body of a palestinian boy was discovered in a wooden area. meanwhile, another wildfire fight is under way in california now. crews have been working around the clock to save 200 homes in the path of those flames. the june jobs report will be released a day early, tomorrow, because of the fourth of july holiday. that is on friday. and if a private sector report out today is any indication, it could actually be a little holiday treat. an estimated 75,000 more jobs were autded last month than economists expected. it makes for the best numbers in two years. wall street sure does like that news. the dow is once again in record

territory this afternoon, still hovering right around that 17,000 milestone mark. and speaking of history, today marks 67 years since roswell, new mexico, was put on the map and americans became obsessed with ufos. it was july 2nd, 1947 when an unidentified object crashed there, leading many to believe to this day that was a ail jens. the government has always dismissed that theory. still, more than a third of americans believe there's something more we haven't been told about. conspiracy theorists might have their own ideas at what's causing president obama's dive in some recent polls. one-third of americans say he's the worst president since world war ii. it's a higher share than those saying that about george w. bush. meanwhile, 45% of americans speculate the nation would be better off if mitt romney was in the white house. so, well, that's less than the number that voted for him. i don't know what that does for him. the poll also found 54% of people saying the obama administration is not competent in running the government, and that might be the most

concerning number here because 62% of independents think that. let's bring in brooloomberg's washington bureau chief. good day. >> how are you? >> doing well. what do you make of these numbers, and particularly the share of americans that say it's the worst president ever? some have pointed out that overlaps quite nicely with the share of americans who identify with the tea party. what do you make of it all? >> i think i'm still more popular than congress is a bad slogan, but it's about what the president has. that's why you're seeing him turn toward such a strenuous argument against the congress, talking about how he's going to move forward with his plans. and sort of a fifth grade talk yesterday saying, if you don't like it, sue me. >> yeah, it's interesting, jonathan. if i ever bring up obama's poll numbers, reaction that i usually get from democrats is, well, at least it's better than congress, which is sitting at 16%, which is true. obama is about 40%.

but here's the thing. the whole system in washington, as we talk about all the time on the show, is incredibly dysfunctional. people think, you know, about president obama as being the commander in chief, the one that can really move the needle there. so as long as congress is suffering, i feel like president obama is going to suffer as well. >> i think the big problem for the president right now is he doesn't have a good issue to turn to. you look at the economy, we saw a nearly 3% contraction in the most recent quarter. you've seen, you know, on foreign policy the entire world is a tinderbox right now. there's not some place that he can go to that's safe territory, safe terrain to try to build those numbers back up. it's very difficult as a president to lead a country that doesn't have faith in what you're doing, and in particular, you guys mentioned those numbers about the percentage of americans who don't believe he's competently running the government. i think those are really dangerous numbers for a president in terms of being able to motivate people to get out and get done what he wants done. particularly, getting to

motivate congress. if they don't feel like there's a public risk in objecting to him and obstructing him, if they think there's a gain to be had from it, which they should look at those poll numbers and see, they'll continue to do it. >> yeah, in our nbc news poll, his competency ratings were lower than bush after katrina, which to me was the five-alarm fire that should have gone off in the west wing. the last time obama actually had some decent poll numbers was during the government shutdown when he ran really hard effectively against congress and they sort of played into his hand by just totally going down a rabbit hole, which john boehner didn't want them to go down, which was obstruction and stopping the government from functioning. but can he really do that again, president obama, with issues like the highway trust fund, which is something that obviously people care about, but it's not to the degree of a government shutdown. and we all know there's probably no way they're not going to do a cr, continuing resolution, on the spending bill in september. so what can obama do to run

against congress? he doesn't really have many options. >> it's a much, much higher bar when you're talking about those very specific issues that while they affect americans may not be seen as being as immediate. i think climate change is another area where the president has tried to act, tried to set himself up against congress. the majority of americans think climate change is a problem, and maybe a problem in the next ten years, but it's not their pocketbook problem. it's not the inability to pay a bill on the kitchen table. it's not the government shutting down function. think about where those competency numbers might be had there not been a government shutdown, if the republicans hadn't tripped on themselves with that. you first of all had the obamacare website malfunction. you've had the va scandal. you've had foreign policy blowing up left and right on the president. so i mean, there are a number of sort of core issues that republicans have been able to get some traction on. they really interrupted themselves with that shutdown. >> jonathan, i don't know if you

saw the new republic, talking about hillary clinton. one of the arguments he makes is that obama has essentially ruined the democratic left in terms of sort of the idea that we could have this transformational leader, an outsider coming in who doesn't already know how to work the system. he makes the argument that that sets things up for hillary clinton, someone who definitely has the experience working within the system. i know you are a hillary clinton expert, having written your own biography of her. wondering what you make of that argument. >> well, i think it's certainly true that hillary clinton has a pretty strong grasp of the different departments of the government, how they function, where the levers of power are. not just within the american government, but now after having been secretary of state, internationally. that doesn't necessarily always bode well for policy. certainly lyndon johnson and richard nixon, two presidents who had tremendous difficulty with the american public with selling their programs, with having trust among the american public, where people who knew where the levers of power were. it's how you use that power.

i don't think you can make that judgment until somebody's in that office. it's something she ran on in 2008. did not run particularly effectively on. i think the piece was very interesting. certainly adds to the scholarship on hillary clinton. and on the democratic party as a whole. i think there are people on the left who are very disappointed in the president's inability to get accomplished what he cam paned on in their eyes to bring to them some of these big victories that they had hoped to see during his presidency. he's got two years left. right now where his poll numbers are, where the congress is, where the american public are don't seem to bode well. i think he needs to make a reassessment and figure out what is the best thing he can do to get things done with other people. because simply doing things by fiat is potentially dangerous. he can have things undone by the supreme court in a matter of -- well, maybe in the matter of the next session. we saw them restrict his power on recess appointments just recently. >> yeah, i want to get to some of your reporting. our viewers always see you in front of the white house doing

your work, but all your readers are often in front of bloomberg terminals and at their trading desks. hobby lobby, as you wrote, was a big decision for them because it expands corporate rights. you point out this is not small potatoes and business. they have 600 stores, over $3 billion in revenue. if they can do it, so can potentially others. given your contacts on the street, what are you finding in corporate america in reaction to this decision? >> well, corporate america generally speaking is happy with a court that has moved in that direction. obviously, people have different views is on contraception and this particular mandate and that may affect the way they look at it. when you look at the roberts court, if there's one defining aspect, it's been pro-business. i think in particular what you've seen with this hobby lobby ruling is moving in that direction. it's sort of expanding the idea of corporation as a person, as an individual with rights. in this case, religion freedom rights. one of the things that i think has been not talked about as much is really the percentage of

people who work for these closely held firms. you know, it was sort of tailored as a narrow argument saying if you have a closely held firm, a family owned firm, you can have this sort of religious right to deny contraception insurance to your employees. but according to the study you look at, it says a little bit more than half the american work force that works for such companies, so there are a lot of individuals affected by decisions like this. you know, what we've seen from the roberts court suggests that over time you'll see a huge expansion of corporate rights starting with that citizens united decision on campaign finance a few years ago and moving the ball forward with each new session. >> as jonathan is pointing out, a little mom and pop store called coke industries is one example of a closely held corporation that would be implicated in this decision. >> narrow decision for every broad company. >> jonathan, thanks for the numbers in your reporting today. >> thank you so much. it's good to see tim howard's

got more support than a lot of folks in washington today. >> yeah, he does. i tweeted out yesterday, he should go on running for president. >> stay cool. luke russert said stay cool. up next, we have a segment that isn't about nothing. the 25th anniversary of "seinfeld." [ brian ] in a race, it's about getting to the finish line. in life, it's how you get there that matters most.

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with millions of reviews, tripadvisor makes any destination better. ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. 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. what a great song. 25 years ago a show about nothing did something for american television. "seinfeld" made millions of us laugh for nine seasons and provided plenty of social commentary along the way. >> what are you doing? >> what? >> did you just double dip that

chip? >> excuse me? >> you double dipped the chip. >> double dipped? what are you talking about? >> you dipped the chip, you took a bite, and you dipped again. >> before the marriage equality movement took root, jerry and george showed us they were far ahead of it. >> i'm a gay man! i'm very, very gay. >> you're gay? >> extraordinarily gay. steeped in gayness. >> i don't believe it. >> you don't believe me? ask jerry. >> i will. >> jerry! oh, my god! what are you doing? >> what? >> you're with a woman! >> i know. what are you doing here? >> i leave you alone for two seconds, and this is what you

do? >> i'm out of here. >> it's not true! it's not true! not that there's anything wrong with that. >> speaking of dating, when your girlfriend is meeting your parents for the first time, you probably shouldn't do this. >> what is this? a prophylactic wrapper? >> what is this doing on my bed? >> you were having sex on our bed? >> yes. >> where am i going to sleep? >> what are you talking about? >> i can't sleep in there. >> of course you can. >> i can't. i can't! >> that's it. you're grounded. >> so many great moments.

senior correspondent for tv guide, which named "seinfeld" the greatest television program of all time in 2002. >> highlighter. >> excuse me? >> to highlight the programs you plan to watch. >> look, really, i'm just trying to read. >> fine, okay. it's just i've never seen a beautiful lady reading the guide so far away from a tv. >> plenty of people read the guide. "tv guide" this week out is with a special edition honoring a quarter century of "seinfeld." thank you so much for coming here to talk about this iconic show with us. for my money, it's the best show since "i love lucy." i put it at number two just because i think "i love lucy" was more ground breaking at the time and paved the way. talk about 25 years after its inception. the thing i laugh the most on tv is when they had a sort of

future "seinfeld" that was part of "curb your enthusenthusiasm." >> the durability is only really matched by "i love lucy." it's still run on tv stations around the country. anyone who runs a tv station who has a show that's failing knows they could put a "seinfeld" repeat on to replace it and get a better rating. it's still funny to several generations because every moment of the show is about getting a laugh. no emotion. no character development. every story is about setting up some guy with a big payoff at the end. >> it cuts across race, gender, everything. >> you say still funny. that's partly because so many of the themes are yuniversal. let's look at another clip about what it takes to be a certain level of friend, a friend that helps you move. >> that was the key. >> what's going on?

>> he wants me to help him move. >> help him move? move what? >> you know, furniture. >> what did you say? >> i said yes, but i don't feel right about it. i mean, i hardly know the guy. that's a big step in a male relationship. the biggest. that's like going all the way. >> it's a big step, and that's something everyone can relate to. on the side with comics, though, a lot of today's comics still widely influenced by "seinfeld." steve holmes has a whole bit. let's look at that. >> we're both comedians. why don't you run some material by me? we'll see what's up. >> pete, listen up. got this new bit about pasta boxes. they always got that little window so you can see the pasta. what, does rigatoni need a room with a view? i know what i'm buying. they don't do that with cereal.

you just take cereal's word for it. rigatoni's untrustworthy or something? is that funny? is that good? >> your thoughts on the impact, and is rigatoni untrustworthy? >> it's very trustworthy, actually. but what "seinfeld" did is it was a template for a lot of very successful shows that followed. this idea of a group of unrelated adults who have rules that they live by. a lot of the comedy comes when someone goes outside of those rules. you saw that in "friends," in "how i met your mother," and very much in "big bang theory." >> it's had such an incredible impact. it's changed lives. the history of the show is fascinating. it's been on for 25 years. little do people know when it was first presented, the pilot, to a number of nbc executives, some weren't buying it. we have a clip of that. let's take a look. >> just talking? what's the show about? >> it's about nothing.

>> no story? >> no, forget the story. >> you got to have a story. >> who says you got to have a story? >> so one of the nbc execs -- >> and the nbc execs, most of them liked it. there were a couple of exceptions. where the show ran into trouble is when it was tested to an audience. they would take the pilots, and still do it today, they show pilots over a cable system, contact people, and say, will you watch this so we can contact you afterwards? the test report summarizing what viewers said about "seinfeld" was very weak. every segment of the audience said they had no destier to watch the show again. they were confused by the format. they thought it was boring. they didn't like any of the characters. and they passed on it in the 1989-'90s season when it was a pilot. it was because there was a group of mainly executives from the

east coast who got -- who were a little more connected to it. they liked the feeling of it and wanted to try something different. in. >> it took three years for it to become a hit. >> one of the things i think is i watched it in virginia. now that i actually live in new york, i feel like i get it on a whole deeper level. i thought it was funny then. now i really actually connect to it. >> you also have to remember, this was before social media. this is before video on demand and streaming. if your friend toll you about a show, you could catch up on it right away. it took years for word of mouth to build "seinfeld" and turn it into a major hit. >> it's unclear wether or not it could have survived that process this day and age. it's all about instant gratification. >> actually, it probably could survive. back then, you just had the three networks. now you have so many.

netflix. there were so many alternatives. so many people out there buying tv shows. >> steven, thank you so much. up next, a bitterly divided congress with senators breaking filibuster records and vowing to fight to the death to stop a bill. believe it or not, that's not the story of today but of one of the greatest legislative achievements of the century. back after this.

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country today are commemorating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the historic civil rights act of 1964. it's one of the most important pieces of legislation in our country's history. when president lyndon johnson signed the bill, it was the culmination of generations of people who gave their lives for equal rights. with one stroke of his pen, segregation in schools and the workplace was outlawed. the work to perfect what equality meant for those who were denied it for so long began. ordinary citizens and politicianings from both sides of the aisle, many risking their careers, came together to change our country forever. little bit hard to imagine that happening today. we welcome back to the show clay risen, author of the book "the bill of the century," which chronicles the long march to the signing of that bill. thank you for being with us. >> thanks for having me back. >> one of the things you talk

about in the book is the fact that this story is frequently told through the lens of the great men involved, lbj, mlk, when actually it was a huge movement that was built up that really was responsible for the bill's eventual passage. >> i think you have to understand both sides. there is a great political story to be told. there's certainly a lot of big names that play into the story. you also have to understand where it came from and how important the movement in birmingham was and how important things like the march on washington -- and just organizing by people in the civil rights movement, in churches, unions, writing letters, going to washington. i mean, really, really pushing from the grassroots to get it through. >> and specifically, we hear a lot about the civil rights protests and everyone rightly celebrates them, but you write that at one point in time, the church groups, you say, succeeded where civil rights protests and democratic presidents could not. >> well, i think everybody contributed their own way. one of the things that white protestant groups did was they were able to broaden the appeal

to the midwest in places where unions didn't have a lot of poll, where there weren't a lot of african-americans. a lot of the representatives and senators weren't segregationists. senators weren't racists but didn't have a dog in the fight. the churches were able to go and say, here's why this has a moral urgency and why you need to push it. >> there is some segment of the population that would say things are worse off now than back then because everything has gone underground. i covered john lewis all the time on capitol hill and he says i want to speak to people and tell them to walk a mile in my shoes because it's so much better now than it used to be. where do you fall on that? >> there's no denying the civil rights act had a huge impact of getting rid of jim crow laws and discrimination bands and workplace, not only for african-americans and minorities but for women. and yeah, we're miles ahead where we were back then. no one should assume that means that things are perfect or that there aren't still problems. look at vast areas of the

country wherefore economic reasons or social relations we still have ways to go. >> politico has an interesting piece arguing the civil rights act wouldn't pass. it's we've talked about how dysfunctional and they write the climate in washington is so different than ones that psycholo scholars view. it is awkward for democrats and republicans alike because they look different and i liken it immigration, the most controversial domestic issue today, can't make any progress in washington. it's almost as if we moved backwards. >> i think that's right. it would be very hard to pass today. there's a certain paradox. part of the reason we are the way we are today and have bitterly divided parties is because of things like the civil rights act that really push -- the parties back then were very

politics -- you don't have that anymore because of social legislation that came through in the 60s. >> how do we move forward without having that -- without having that political dynamic in place? >> i think one of the things, i work at the new york times and had a great piece by law professor who said a lot of what on the left people have to do stop talking strictly in terms of race and build coalitions that were like the ones that existed in the '60s and went beyond narrow interest group politics and said let's build coalitions across races and across economic divisions and to try to rebuild some of that broad movement that we had. >> jfk's death had a huge impact. >> clay, thank you so much. you and i will continue this conversation for a krystal continued that folks can check

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today. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? if you prick us do we not bleed. if you tickle us, do we not laugh. if you poison us, do we not die. if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? >> that was al pacino with an ancient argument about what makes us human. the new yorker updated that

speech for the era, if you poison it, does it not die? no, it doesn't. many people are rightly concerns that american law goes too far in treating corporations like people. but that's not what broke ground in the health care ruling and corporate personhood is not always a bad thing. it provides a way to sue corporations and corporations to be held libel for the harms they cause. since the 1800s, all members of the current court, have upheld it in certain cases. this week's ruling is actually far more radical and goes further. five conservative justices ruled corporations can have a belief system all their own and those beliefs allow them to duck laws the rest of us have to follow. this is the first time the court has ever created such a corporate power as justice ginsburg noted in her dissent. and second, there's a lot of

confusion, but this doesn't give rights to religious americans, only exemptions to executives in charge of companies. 98% of americans don't own companies. the odds are this ruling does nothing for you. we hear about washington being rigged for the top 1%. this decision is only for the top 2%. that may sound surprising and to be fair, it was actually a huge surprise to congress. the justices didn't make this ruling by interpreting all lines from the constitution. they were interpreting a relatively recent law in 1993 effort to protect people's religious activities. signed by president clinton and passed by democratic congress it said something simple, the government should try not to substantially burden a person's exercise of religion. the legislators didn't even mention corporations. it wasn't on the radar. and for 21 years, that reference to person meant person. but not anymore. thanks to right wing judicial activism, now that word has a

different legal meaning. so much for conservatives claims to original nalism. you could say the court's interpretation rests on air but that is too charitable. air has some content. this rests on nothing. we should remember this case is more about capitalism than religion and that fits a big pattern. under john roberts, this court has ruled more for corporate interest than any other modern court. as one recent study showed, took more cases favored by the corporate lobby, and passionate about business rights because it believes corporate america is america or as justice alito put it, should have strong -- a corporation is simply a form of organization used by human beings to achieve desired ends. that may be. but lately, it's the human beings on the supreme court who seem like vessels to achieve

corporations desired ends. now that we know corporations have religious rights, let's hope they find a soul. that does it for "the cycle." "now" with alex wagner starts right now. >> in time for independence day, a raging battle over whose country this really is. >> an angry standoff in southern california. >> border boiling point. >> as this nation of immigrants gets ready to celebrate the fourth of july. >> anti-immigration protesters try to physically block arriving immigrant families. >> demonstrators turned back three bus loads of undocumented children. >> usa! usa! >> protesters met buss chanting -- >> go home. >> this is a humanitarian