tv The Rachel Maddow Show MSNBC January 15, 2015 9:00pm-10:01pm PST
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was nominated, about edward snowden. janet mock david allstein christopher, i could have done that for an hour but i didn't. that is all for this evening. "the rachel maddow show" show starts now. >> if you need my hour you only have to ask. you know how this goes. >> i'm sure the staff would love that. >> you know? mine would. they've always liked you better. >> untrue. >> thanks, chris. thanks to you at home for joining us. a lot coming up this hour. we'll be talking with richard engel live from tur key. we've got a report out of cleveland tonight sort of mind bending. two decisions have just been made by the national republican party. both of which were a surprise. both of which are going to have a big impact in politics over the next several months. so we've got a lot going on in the news tonight. but we're going to start with isis. when the american journalist james foley was killed by the isis terrorist group in august
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amid the shock and the disgust at his killing and the way they killed him the fact that they turned his killing into a propaganda video, amid that horror about james foley's murder some of the people who knew james foley in the last months of his life were able to provide at that time a sort of different picture of james foley and what his time in captivity had been like. they were able to basically, for a lot of us i think, replace the terrible images we were fed by isis of the way he was killed. we were able to replace those images with their descriptions instead of how he had behaved among his fellow hostages for those long months that they had all been in captivity. one french journalist who had been held alongside james foley in syria he specifically spoke very movingly in public after james foley died. he talked in some detail about how generous james foley had been with his fellow captors
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while they were in captivity, even in the terrible circumstances in which they were held. >> we spent seven months in a very extreme situation together including for one week we were handcuffed one to the other day and night. in circumstances where your held captive, you develop some kind of survival instincts. meaning that for instance you try to grab everything you can find. and james was the total opposite. basically everything he could share he would share it. if we were cold and we were missing blankets he would share his blanket. if we were starving and missing food, he would share his ration. >> that's nicholas henine journalist, french. was held hostage in syria for ten months seven of the ten months he was held hostage he was held alongside james foley.
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he was also held alongside steven sotloff. both sotloff and foley ultimately were killed by isis. but nicholas henine and three other french journalists actually were released from captivity. they got out last spring. and so when steven sotloff and james foley were killed thereafter by isis these french journalists were able to describe something about their circumstances in captivity and what they had been through and their sacrifice and what kind of men they'd been in those difficult circumstances. >> but nicholas henine was also able to describe to law enforcement and ultimately to the public something else very specific about how they had been held hostage and by whom. as i mentioned, nicholas henine and the other french journalists got released from captivity in april. in may of last year this happened. a man took an assault rifle and a handgun into the jewish museum of belgium in central brussels
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opened fire with those weapons, killed four people. he then got away. he evaded a manhunt for nearly a week before he was ultimately caught in marseilles and arrested. when police published the name of the man who carried out or allegedly carried out the brussels jewish museum attack when they published his name and his photograph nicholas henine the french journalist recognized the guy from syria. the guy who had shot up the jewish museum in brussels he said was one of the men who had held him and the other journalists captive in syria and who had taken, he said particularly sadistic delight in torturing and beating prisoners who were being held by isis. once he said the man punched him in the face and then showed off his gloves. quote he was very proud telling me you saw these motorcycle gloves? i bought them for you, to punch you in the face. i bought them just for you. did you like them? that sums up the violent and
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provocative personality of medi namoush which i frequently saw. that was according to that french reporter. other reports indicate that all four of the french journalists who were released from captivity, all four of them single out this guy as one of the people who held them captive and who tortured them before he apparently left syria where he'd been holding and torturing them. so he left there so he could travel back to europe and use his european passport to travel freely so he could attack that jewish museum and very nearly get away thereafter. this guy who was named by the french hostages and who was picked up by police six days after the assault on the museum he is now in french custody. and he is standing trial for that attack in belgium. belgium is a small country. its population is about the same as the state of ohio. in europe it's smaller than countries like the netherlands
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or poeland poland. more people have gone to syria to fight with isis from belgium than from any other european country. again, it's not a large, absolute number of people. but belgium is not a country with a large absolute population. proportionately when you look at it on a per capita basis it is a big deal. this week in belgium, they were due to get a verdict in belgium's largest ever trial of islamic militants. belgium has put 46 people on trial for essentially running a jihadist ring that was funneling belgian extremists into syria to go fight with isis and ultimately bringing some of them back home. the verdict in that big case was due to be handed down in that trial for those 46 defendants this week. the verdict was delayed because of the terrorist attacks in france. they now say they're going to release that verdict in that huge belgium terrorism case next month. today belgium announced a special terrorism court had approved ten search warrants for counterterrorism raids across that country today.
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when police were serving one of the search warrants today in a city near brussels, more than one people inside the place police were raiding reportedly opened fire on the police with automatic weapons. in the ensuing gun battle two suspects were killed one person was taken into custody. the raid today, the announcement by police about what happened it comes right on the heels of other reports from belgium last night that a man had turned himself in to belgian police reportedly in conjunction with the terror attacks in france. press reports indicate that a man in southern belgium has turned himself in told police he was the one who provided the weapons, the guns, that were used in both the "charlie hebdo" massacre in paris and subsequent attacks on a french policewoman and the kosher market. those reports that this belgian guy provided those guns are press reports. they're not being directly confirmed by belgian police. but separately the french press today did publish this image of the array of weapons that was
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reportedly found at the apartment of amadi khoulabali. belgian police are not confirming these weapons came from the belgian arms dealer who turned himself in today or confirming any link between that guy turning himself in yesterday -- that there's any link between that guy turning himself in yesterday and these raids today which resulted in the shoot out and the arrest. but belgian police are saying what they believe they just disrupted in brussels today was an imminent terrorist attack in belgium. they said they believed it was an attack in keeping with the type of attack just mounted in france. they said specifically they believe the attack was targeted against police in belgium. they say they broke up that plot. specifically belgian police today went out of their way to say the suspects whose plot they believe they just disrupted including belgian citizens who had been to syria to train with
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isis before coming back to belgium. so this is the news now, right? this us kind of how it goes. this is what it's like in the fight against isis and international islamic terrorism. today one arrest and two dead in shoot out with police in belgium. presumably the other nine or so search warrants still being carried out in that country. in germany today, police there also announced an arrest of a 26-year-old german citizen who they say fought and trained with isis in syria last year but has since come back to germany. in spain today, authorities announced they tracked khoulabali into spain before the terrorist attacks when his wife or partner left france and then went to spain and then flew from spain to turkey and crossed into syria where tonight she remains at large. spain says now that khoulabali was with her for part of that journey, he drove her into spain to start her journey to syria before he turned around went back to france and carried out his acts.
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spanish police say they're working intensely to find out who else he talked to when he was in madrid what else he did, any kind of contacts he might have had for his time in spain immediately before the "charlie hebdo" massacre and the kosher market attack in paris. so this is it now. this is the world we're in these individual manhunts search warrants, one or two arrests here and there. but this manhunt for khoulabali's partner, for the outstanding suspect in france that manhunt for her leads right back to syria. the arrest in germany is a german who just returned from syria. the arrest today and the shoot out today in belgium, the belgian authorities say those suspects had just come back from syria. the last worst attack in belgium before this? the released hostages say the alleged perpetrator of that attack had been one of their captors with isis in syria.
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syria syria syria. syria is an open wound at this point spewing out into the world these trained motivated terrorists and in multiple countries tonight, terrorism suspects. but that observation, recognizing that fact about syria, does not necessarily prescribe a specific thing that should be done to stop that about syria. knowing it's true doesn't tell you how to end it right? if there was an easy thick to do to sew syria up and fix it as a problem it would have been done by now. but the predictions about the civil war in syria becoming some sort of viral engine that would turn out trained, motivated terrorists for the world, trained, motivated terrorists who would then wreak havoc back in their home countries or wherever they could get to with their home passports, that is not what we are worried about happening anymore. that is now what is happening. that is now what we've got. it's where we are. and as this very very quiet
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backdrop to this loud international terrorism news today about these gun fights and these arrests and these search warrants, these big trials this very quiet backdrop to that, right? there's the subtle little headlines buried deep in the international section of your local unread newspaper about how over the last several months isis in syria has actually expanded the amount of territory that it controls in that country. expanded. there have been nearly 800 american and coalition air strikes in syria alone against isis targets over the last several months. but 800 air strikes apparently has not slowed them down in terms of controlling territory there or continuing to gain more. and them controlling territory in syria obviously has significant implications for syria. what happens to that government what happens to that country, what happens in that civil war. but them controlling territory in syria also has significant implications for belgium and for germany and for france and for
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us presumably. there's basically no debate in american politics about the type of military action that the united states is taking against isis right now. and whether or not that military action is a good way to fight isis or a bad way to fight isis whether it's productive, whether it's counter productive, whether it is effective, an effective use of resources, or whether there's something else that could be done with the resources that are being devoted to that that might be more effective toward the aim of degrade inging -- republicans and democrats don't talk about that. they don't even talk about that amongst themselves let alone when they're fighting with each other. apparently our political system doesn't produce discourse about national security except for when it comes to name calling and whether or not you're using the right words when you're describing something immediately after it happens. did you say terrorist act instead of terrorist attack? right? that's the level of our
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discourse about our national security needs on this subject. but as the politicians fail in that regard if we as citizens are not content to just keep our head in the sand pretend it isn't happening, pretend it's not relevant because there isn't any partisan fighting about it and therefore it's not going to get american press attention, if we do not face the policy decisions we ought to be debating even if our politicians won't, then it's worth asking. how much of isis's ability to inspire and direct terrorism around the world is tied to their strength at home in syria? how long is syria going to stay the key connection between the threat of western terrorist attacks and isis? and what's the menu of options that are available to try to sever that connection between syria and attacks in the rest of the world? joining us now from istanbul is nbc's chief correspondent richard engel.
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richard, thanks very much for being with us. nice to see you. >> reporter: absolutely. >> richard, i want to ask you first about some late-breaking reports tonight. there are reports from french police tonight that are actively looking for another potential khoulabali accomplice in addition to the wife or partner thought to be in syria. french police saying tonight that someone dropped ahmadi khoulabali off at that kosher grocery store he attacked off in a car and drove away. they're now searching for that person tonight. do you know anything about that new reporting? >> i know the french authorities have long believed that he had at least another accomplice who was with him at the time of the attack and after the attack someone who filmed the video, filmed his last testimonial, perhaps even posted it online. they were clearly look for his wife. and we've been struggling with this term "wife" "come on law wife." it appears they were married in an islamic ceremony but never
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got official french ceremony which is the only one that is recognized in paris. so i leave it up to you. do you want to call her wife, common law wife. but that was the relationship between the two. but yes, french authorities believe that there maybe another suspect. they also are instigating this link to the arms dealer in belgium. and they don't think it was a coincidence that this arms dealer turned himself in. apparently he knew that he sold these weapons to jihadists, but apparently he says he didn't think they were that bad. he didn't think they were going to carry out this kind of spectacular activity attack in paris and do something so disgusting. and when he saw that his weapons had been used and that counterterrorism raids were coming and the counterterrorism raids had been lethal thus far, it seems he turned himself in and decided to cooperate.
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>> richard, i don't know if that counts as a remorseful arms dealer or an arms dealer afraid of being raided. >> reporter: or being shot as the police come through his house. >> exactly. and we can't parse that from here. that's not our job. but do we know if there is a connection between him coming forward and this new round of raids inside belgium? obviously there's this one that's very dramatic. but it seems like they had search warrants at least to do a lot across that country today. >> reporter: they had these ten search warrants, three different locations. i don't think we know at this stage if the arms dealer coming forward and the raids in belgium are related. but perhaps it's more than a coincidence. what we do know french authorities are certainly looking into it that if he sold weapons to cool coulibaly, assault rifles rocket launcher and turns himself in in belgium
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perhaps there is a connection to the raid that happened just about 24 hours later also in belgium. >> richard, one last question for you on the syrian connection. belgian police say there's a syrian connection between the people they killed today and arrested. german police say there's a connection with syria with the person they arrested today. a syrian connection with koulibaly and the kouachi brothers. is this going to change anything in the way that syria functions as an international problem and the way that the west deals with them and the traffic in and out of that country? >> reporter: well, it might make a small impact. it might make an impact for the actors who are already in europe. but syria is an enormous as you described it black hole. that isn't changing anytime soon. the war on isis, which the u.s. is leading but having some success with the kurds is not
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making a big difference. isis is still finding a home there because the civil war in syria is still going on. because the civil war in iraq is still going on. because there are fundamental grievances between soonunnis and shiites and isis has planted itself on the fault line which goes back to the iraq war. isis started as al qaeda in iraq and found a home in syria when syria imploded about three, three and a half years ago. it has just been getting stronger and stronger. so yes the european security officials are taking a wake up call after paris certainly will help their ability to deal with the militants who are already in their towns and villages. this is not just an issue as you saw in these raids today of militants being in paris or berlin. they are being in what you would think of as small little quaint
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little belgian towns where you would drive around and get nice chocolate and beer. these are not the kind of places you would think of a safe haven for terrorists. and as long as syria is unaddressed, i think that you're still going to see extremists attracted to it or inspired by it. and that's going to be a problem that these european law enforcement officials and u.s. officials are going to have to deal with. because they're not just going to have to fight the ones that are already back. there is a flow of people barkck and forth physically and flow of ideas. >> richard engel in turkey tonight, thank you, appreciate it, my friend. it was a packed news day today. much of it oddly, revolved around the city of cleveland, ohio, for good and for ill. stay with us.
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happened which i think might have been one of the weirdest things to ever happen in modern american politics. >> so mr. president, how do you handle promises that you've made when you're running for election and how do you handle it? i mean what do you say to people? do you just -- you know i know people -- people are wondering -- you don't have one, okay. i just wondered all these promises. and then i wondered about when the -- what? what do you want me to tell romney? i can't tell him to do that. he can't do that to himself. >> that happened. i think that long moment sort of
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dropped into the memory hole but clint eastwood spending ten minutes inexplicably berating an empty chair that was apparently supposed to be a foul-mouthed but invisible president obama? that actually happened during the republican national convention in august 2012. the clintestwood empty chair thing was the culmination of the big night. mitt romney had to actually give his official accepting the nomination speech just a few moments after the chair thing happened. so the republican party didn't really do mitt romney any favors, right? they made his warm up act on the biggest night of the convention one of the weirdest longest live political things that has ever happened on primetime television in front of millions of people. and in fact the entire republican primary season that year with the 20 debates and the herman cains and michele bachmanns and all the rest of it was not seen as all that helpful for the republicans chance of
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winning the white house in 2012. after what they went through in 2012, the republican party has now decided the way to fix it for 2016 is to change everything for 2016. republican party has already announced there is going to be far fewer debates, maybe fewer than half number of last time. they're going to try to choose moderators they say for those debates that are friendly to the conservative cause. republicans have moved up their entire primary calendar so republican voters will be forced to choose a nominee faster. so the other guys will have to clear the stage sooner and the process won't be able to drag out like it did the last time around. they've already announced all that stuff. now today republicans have announced one more big change. it has to do with that disastrous clint eastwood convention that they held the last time around. clint eastwood's moment in the sun with that chair, that took place at the republican national convention in tampa on august 30th. the republican convention that year was the very end of august august 27th to august 30th. august and september are typically when the parties hold
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their conventions now. the democratic convention that year was in charlotte a week later. democratic convention was september 3rd through september 6th. in modern times conventions are almost always held in august and september. but republicans have just announced that for 2016 their convention will not be held in september or august it will be held july 18th to the 21st in beautiful cleveland, ohio. july, more than a month earlier, than they held it in 2012. the democrats haven't set a date yet for their convention, but we're told that the democratic convention will likely be sometime in late august. that's because the other big thing that's happening that summer is the olympic games in rio. so you put all the timing together, we could end up with a situation where the republicans hold their convention in july the olympics then take up practically the entire month of august and then right after the olympics the democrats hold their convention after that. like weeks later. political light-years later than
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the republicans hold their convention. the republican party says the reason they're holding their convention so early is to give the party more time to united behind their candidate. it should also be noted that holding it so early might also serve as a nice insurance policy, a guarantee of some clean up time in the event that there is a repeat of the avante-garde disaster that really did take place the last time around. >> i'm not going to shut up. it's my turn. so anyway we're going to have um -- we're going to have to have a little chat about that. but when you show people their progressive direct rate and our competitors' rates you can't win them all. the important part is, you helped them save. thanks, flo. okay, let's go get you an ice cream cone, champ. with sprinkles? sprinkles are for winners. i understand.
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the a the risk of upsetting somebody in the corporate hierarchy around here? the hierarchy i don't understand on purpose? at the risk of making someone mad who i should not make mad. i have to tell you i do not watch home shopping television. i have nothing against it. i've just never watched it. before today when it suddenly became very important. >> can you do that thing in grade school you had to name the planets? the moon is never in there, dude. >> it has no politics, it comes from a world i didn't even know existed before today. but it is so good i cannot freaking believe it. honestly this is the best one we've done in forever. trust me.
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pamela eaton got to her home in this cleveland neighborhood and found a car blocking her driveway. she called police to vet towed. she got ready for bed. she didn't know cleveland police were already in her neighborhood looking for a suspect in awn related case. after pamela eaton called in that car blocking her driveway the officers responding to that totally unrelated other case came upon a man and woman walking down the street in that neighborhood. they decided they were going to arrest the man. the woman he was with objected to that loudly. this all happened right outside pamela eaton's house. she'd gone to bed after calling police to get a tow truck to haul the car away. she apparently thought that arrest in progress had something to do with her call about the driveway. she just want add tow truck. she didn't want somebody arrested for her complaint. so she went outside and argued with the officers about what was going on. one of the officers responded by rushing her, putting her in a choke hold, tackling her to the ground twisting her wrists
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around. then he started punching her and beating her up pummelling her in the body. that is the woman who called for the tow truck. city of cleveland ultimately paid $100,000 to that woman to settle that case. for that officer beating her up. but they didn't fire the officer. they kept him on the force. ultimately they paired that officer with a younger officer. they got the younger guy from the cleveland suburbs, from the police department and the town of independent, ohio about 20 minutes south of cleveland. his time in independence went poorly. this is in his personnel file at the independence police department. quote due to his dangerous loss of composure during live range training and his inability to manage his personal stress i do not believe the patrolman shows the security needed to work in our employment. the pattern developing within our short time frame when the officer is told to do something those instructions are optional. there are times instructions are necessary and the patrolman will
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not act correctly under these circumstances. i recommend he be released from the city of independence. i do not believe time or training will be able to change or correct these deficiencies. that was in his personnel file at his old job. cleveland never looked at his personnel file from his old job when they hired him, anyway. that young officer his pushed out of the department in the suburbs for immaturity and for losing his composure around firearms. lots of other law enforcement agencies he applied to in the region did look at that personnel file and wouldn't hire him because of his history. but cleveland never checked. and they thought he was fine. so they hired him and they partnered him with a cop whose treatment or that woman with the car blocking her driveway had cost the city $100,000 because of the older cop's behavior. and on november 22nd last year, those were the two officers who rolled up to 12-year-old tamir rice.
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not three seconds later he was dead. the officer with the big settlement was driving the car. the guy who had been pushed out of his previous job for immaturity around firearms is the one who fired the shots. two seconds after encountering that kid. the police killing of tamir rice. last week they got a new video showing police handcuffed tamir rice's 14-year-old sister when she ran to help him after these officers had shot him. they handcuffed her, put her in the backseat of the patrol car right there as her brother lay dying in the snow while no one gave him first aid for several minutes. one of the central questions in this case from the very beginning has been why those police officers were never told that the gun that tamir rice had been seen with in that park was probably a fake. it was a 911 call that started
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this whole incident. the 911 call included that information. why didn't the 911 dispatcher pass that crucial information onto the police who responded to the incident? this was the call. >> i'm sitting in the park at west boulevard, by the westerly boulevard's rapid transit station. and there's a guy here with a pistol. you know it's probably fake but he's like pointing it at everybody. it's probably fake but you know what, it's scaring the [ mute ] out of me. >> he says it twice. probably fake. it's probably fake. and that guy was right. turned out to be a realistic-looking bb gun. not a real gun. somewhere in the chain of communication between the person who took that emergency call and the dispatcher who relayed that information to police to go check out, somewhere that crucial impression that was repeated twice by the 911 caller, that was lost. that was never passed on. this is what the dispatcher told those police. >> in the park by the youth center, there's supposed to be a
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male sitting on the swings pointing a gun at people. wearing a camoflauge hat a gray jacket with black sleeves. he keeps pulling a gun out of his pants and pointing it at people. >> the caller saying the gun was probably fake twice. that never made it to the officers who were dispatched to the scene. we do not know yet whether the dispatcher got that information and then failed to relay it to the cops or whether she never got it from the information who answered the emergency call. we don't know. but we learned today from the cleveland plain dealer that the dispatcher, who you just heard talking to the cops there she had been fired from her previous dispatch job with another police department. she had also been arrested in 2008 and charged with bringing a gun into a bar. "plain dealer" says it's not clear whether the city of cleveland knew about her arrest. they say she has been given high marks for her performance in cleveland. now we've got three people very closely involved in this case each with a back story that is at least cause for worry about
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cleveland and its police department. right? and how they do their hiring. the killing ofdown tamir rice is one of the most if not the most disturbing case in a long line of recent cases where police officers have killed awn armed african-american male. the tamir rice case fundamentally is a case about justice. but the way this case has played out in cleveland is also very worrying just about cleveland, right? cleveland is a major city. cleveland is one of the largest cities in the midwest. the republican party just picked cleveland for their convention which will be extra early this year. what is going on in cleveland that you scratch the surface of a single tragedy, a single case like this and you find all of this just beneath the surface? joining us now is cleveland city councilman zach reed. mr. reed, thanks very much for being with us. i appreciate your time tonight. >> thank you for allowing me, rachel. >> i have to ask you first, if this looks worse than it is. i mean are the problems in
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cleveland as bad as they look from the vantage point of this case? or is this case just the point at which a lot of things went wrong that otherwise aren't a systemic problem? >> i think this is the case where we finally are going to get help from the federal government. because the problem that is have existed within our police force have continued and continued and continued. and finally thanks to eric holder and president barack obama, help is on its way. >> the central justice department has investigated the cleveland police department twice in the past years. as you mentioned, attorney general eric holder who last month called for big reforms in the police department. the city has been somewhat welcoming toward that intervention. but this is the second time that the federal government has come into cleveland in the past decade. do you have more hope this second time this new intervention really could make a big enough difference? >> the first time was voluntary. this time thanks to our congresswoman marcia fudge, she
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asked for consent decree to be put in place. that means we're now going to have a federal moderator, a monitor, a federal judge. so therefore, it's almost like in the civil rights days when you had the bull conners and george wallaces, until the federal government came in and they monitored the situation the situation just kept going on and on. so thanks to congresswoman marcia fudge we're going to have a consent decree in place. and therefore, the federal government is going to do what i wish they would have done years ago. and that's to continue to look at this police force until we get a police force that the people can trust and that is working with the citizens so that we can have the best police force in the entire nation. >> do you feel like people in cleveland are hopeful that the resolution of the tamir rice case in particular but also that federal takeover that you're talk about, do you feel like there is optimism in cleveland that things could get better? i mean looking at the long-standing problems in cleveland and how many
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high-profile bad incidents there have been the systemic problems and things like hiring and background checks that we've uncovered just with the tamir rice case i feel like it's hard to look at that and be able to envision a better time. what's the mood in the city? >> well when you know that a 12-year-old boy tragically lost his life the optimism comes from the federal government. like i said if you look at the analogy of the civil rights movement, until the federal government went to the south and the federal government started looking at and evaluating each and every one of those incidents that occurred, there was no hope for the african-american community. well, now since the federal government is going to come in and there's going to be a consent decree in place, there's more hope there's more optimism that things are going to get better and we're going to get the police force that we rightfully deserve here in a mainly city like cleveland, ohio. >> cleveland city councilman zach reed, thanks for talking with us tonight. >> thank you. >> all right. we've got lots more ahead
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geico. proudly serving the military for over 75 years. now here's the thing. in 2012 the united states military paid a half million dollars for a new police training center in afghanistan. it was supposed to look something like in during construction in 2012 u.s. inspectors signed off on the work seven different times. in october 2012 the u.s. military paid the contractors who built it in full. no complaints. job well done. here's your money. ten months later that police training center that we the u.s. taxpayers just bought? it started to melt. it's melting! the damage you see here was caused by water, as in when it
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rains the building disintegrates. apparently it was constructed mostly with sand and also some plastic sheeting. and so when it rains, it melts. literally. that's the word the inspector general uses in his report that came out today. it's melting. the afghan police actually need this facility. so now they are paying to rebuild some version of it themselves. but meanwhile, this my fellow americans, this is what we bought with american taxpayer dollars in wardok province which is both true and also an awesome ready made metaphor for the state of our national debate on how to best direct the american resources we spend overseas.
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i'm not going to lie. you can see anytime my bad hair anyway. i had a tough day today as i know you can tell. i know also that you also had a tough day today. statistically speaking after least some of you did. we do a thing on this show called the best new thing in the world. we do it not every day but frequently. sometimes, though we save one up for when we really really really need a good one because the world really really needs a good one. tonight this is one of the all-time greats. seriously. next. stay right there. i have the worst cold with this runny nose. i better take something. dayquill cold and flu doesn't treat your runny nose. seriously?
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okay. best thing in the world today. there is a thing in the world called qvc, been around for a very long time. in case you have escaped its clutches, it's basically a live infomercial slash talk show that's on all the time. 24/7. if you call right now in the next minute and a half you can get this tennis bracelet this marie osmond doll or combination throw/blanket/poncho or cooker thing. get it all for three easy payments and free shipping and handling. qvc. the host spends hours inspecting and discussing and demonstrating each and every aspect of the item they're selling for as long as qvc is selling it at the newest low price. this is a formula qvc has spent decades perfecting. but all that talking with pretty much no script sometimes leads to unexpected things. monday night started off like any other night at qvc.
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the host shawn killinger at the helm, fashion designer isaac mizrahi in the house for his weekly gig. here's how things started. check it out. >> we wanted to bring you a cardigan a floral cardigan. >> not the citron. let's look at the new quilon because it's so a-mahzing. >> not rorschach? the ink blot test? >> rorschach. >> do you know when you drop dye into water and it creates that washington wash ling /* /* warbling and rorschach and kind of funk? am i going out on a limb too far? >> you are not going out on a limb too far. no, no no. everything's fine. it is paint splatter. it is rorschach. it's funk. models are modelling.
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sweaters are selling. you can feel the momentum getting a little kooky there. that's the buildup and then this happened. my latest nominee for the best television moment in history. watch. >> gorgeous. >> look at this one. this what is we call emerald. really it's more like a sea foam. >> i love that color. happy, rich beautiful. >> little what the planet earth looks like when you're away from the planet moon. >> the planet moon. >> from the planet moon. >> the moon is a star. >> the moon is a planet darling. >> the sun is a star. is the moon really a planet? >> the moon is a planet. it's a planet. >> is the sun not a star? >> i don't know what the sun is. >> the sun is a star. the moon is not a planet. i knew it. >> it's a planet! >> you were trying to take me down that road. the moon is not a planet. chunky, if you're listening to me google the moon. >> i guarantee you someone is googling right now. i knew the moon is not a planet!
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>> what else is it if it's not a planet? >> i believe it's a star or something. >> it's the moon. it's the moon. >> did you do that thing in grade school you had to name the planets, uranus and mars and -- the moon is never in there. it's a planet. >> can we get back to the key lime cardigan? look. they've broken the model. she cannot take it anymore. [ overlapping speakers ] >> come on. it's a planet. >> this blond of mine could be real. okay the moon what is? >> a natural satellite. things live on it. i think it's a planet. i don't know. >> is that what google said? i don't even know what that means. i use google all the time. feel bad for yahoo! because they're really good, too. i just don't use them. okay listen, 1500 of these hot picks ordered.
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>> things live on it? for the record the google was right. the moon is a natural satellite. chunky googled it. true. not a planet. doesn't have its own orbit around the sun. the moon is of that matters, because in the end, they were right, that sweater does look like earth from a million miles away. best new thing in the word. now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." two-time presidential campaign loser mitt romney has started his third campaign by calling all the other republican potential candidates, what else? losers. >> there is talk of mitt romney running for president again. did you know that? that's the big news. >> despite saying the opposite for months.
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