thanks for your time. >> you too. >> that is all for "now." good evening americans, and welcome to "the ed show" live from detroit lakes, minnesota. let's get to work. tonight -- >> someone can come to work tomorrow and hear you're gay. you're fired. >> discrimination in the heartland. >> that is 100% legal in north dakota. >> plus foreign policy legacy. >> this deal is not base on trust. >> latemeeting the governor's goals will be no simple task. >> we're in an historic drought. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. the culture of the upper midwest

in this country has always been you run into hard working, honest compassionate people, although tonight north dakota stands with bigotry. while arkansas and indiana's religious freedom laws grabbed national attention, north dakota has slipped under the radar screen. the unfair treatment for the lgbt community is perfectly legal. that's right. legal in north dakota. this issue has come up in front of the legislative three times in the last six years. the state senate recently approved a measure adding sexual orientation to the list of classes who are protecting against unfair treatment. now after debating for almost an hour and a half the house rejected the bill by a two to one margin. >> in general, we don't believe in discrimination. but our legislature said that discrimination is okay. >> the state senate tried

similar measures and maneuvers back in 2009 and 2013 but of course the legislation failed. opponents to the bill didn't want to create what they call a protected class. this appears to be the buzz phrase for those who endorse discrimination in north dakota. >> sometimes i think that the pushback is not so much a matter of defense as it is trying to create a protected class, and i guess i would be concerned about that as much as i would be about anything and that is why is it we feel the need to create protected classes when our constitution and federal laws already protect religious liberty and protect against discrimination? >> that was cramer's interpretation of the indiana law. there are many groups and classes that have been historically treated unequally.

>> there are people who do discriminate. it's been pointed out by the bill carrier. we know it's happened. people have testified it is their religious right to do so, so what more evidence do we need to say we need a path for people to visit with their government and say this happened will you help me out. >> despite numerous testimony in front of the legislative session, one opponent said the bill had no value. >> nothing in what our state does says that we discriminate or discourage people regardless of who they are, what they do or what their lifestyle is. >> you can hear people laughing in the legislative session at

that absurdity. the governor said discrimination based on an individual's sexual orientation is not acceptable. we should have at least established protections in areas of housing and employment. you think? north dakota lawmakers were not forced to move on this issue because there really is no economic pressure here. i standby my statement earlier this week. republicans worship the almighty dollar. indiana and arkansas only balked on their legislation after they saw money leaving the state and major corporations saying they won't do business there anymore. companies don't want protesters. they want customers. north dakota is not going to get the same economic squeeze. here's the landscape. the state has an enormous surplus in the general fund do

the oil extraction tax. the number is over $4 billion in the bank in a state of just 750,000 residents. the business pressure is off. it's just not there. maybe we can come to the conclusion that north dakota will let discrimination stand until there is a direct economic impact. get your cell phones out. tonight's question -- should north dakota lose federal funding because of its discriminatory law? text "a" for yes. text "b" for no. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. we go live to norfargo, north dakota. gentlemen, great to have you with us tonight. i'm curious. what economic impact, if any, does north dakota face by allowing this law of discrimination to stand? >> it's called microsoft.

that's what it's called. microsoft has a base in fargo. we're awful proud of that. there's a lot of jobs affected by microsoft in fargo. what are these legislators going to say when microsoft comes back and says why couldn't you add sexual orientation to the list? they were protected. all that was being attempted here was to make sure there was no discrimination against people of sexual orientation. it also protects mental or physical disability so there's a recognition in north dakota's law that certain individuals need protection. they gave example after example of discrimination. i'll tell you what. my guess this isn't going to sit well with microsoft and other companies like that. >> all right. is this what the residents want? is this what you hear on your

statewide radio show? if this were put through, what would happen? >> ed, i really don't know. i don't. i suspect it would pass. i think we can get this law fixed. we can include sexual orientation amongst the people to not allow discrimination but you know what? i don't know. if you look at the callers into my show, i have callers statewide, region wide, multistaidmulti multistatemulti statewide. the people that called in and were deadly against this. they used religion. they made gay people to be out something they are not and that's the way they're arguing the this this. i had a legislator said the reason he didn't vote for this was it exempted churches. he felt that was

unconstitutional. i said you're trying to have it both ways here. they're searching for any reason to make sure the governor doesn't look like mike pence. >> what is your interpretation when those who are opposed to this law use the term protected class? >> you know, gay people are not looking to be a protected class. we're looking to be treated just like everybody else. i think probably the most recent last week when i testified before the human services committee in bismarck. the committee chair requested that we keep testimony to 45 minutes. there were over 30 people that had come from all over the state to share their story of discrimination. he tried to cut it down to 30 minutes. representative moody tried to stop that. he allowed the testimony to go

on. however, he specifically requested that there be no duplication. a week later, i watched a live stream where he stood before the state house and said i'm voting no against this legislation and here's why. i am the chairman of the committee. i sat in committee testimony and there were very few examples of discrimination. the reason there were few examples is he did not let people testify. we are the only state in the union that has not had a ruling on our marriage equality lawsuit. it's unbelievable. it's unacceptable and this does not reflect the ideals of north dakotan citizens. >> what about the governor? jack dal ripple is in favor of doing something, yet his party, his house party fraternal brothers are saying no we're

going to keep it the way it is. how do we know there's not some political scheming going on here? what about that? >> the governor tried to buy hail insurance on his car after it was already outside. he didn't gain support from the people who wanted this law fixed and he certainly didn't gain support from his base which is that hard right in the republican party. what happened here ed was his party, the republican party of north dakota killed this legislation. then the governor makes sure a statement gets out. he said you know what, i encourage them. i'm very disappointed. use the bully pulpit of the office. this is the state of teddy roosevelt. get out there. tell people the truth. he would have provided political cover for those legislators to do the right thing.

he didn't do that ed. he came to this dance late. >> well i agree with you and i find it hard to believe that he wouldn't have a little bit more influence over his house colleagues. he's been around the state for a long time. he has some political influence. i don't know why he didn't use it here for the morally correct thing to do here. i want to bring in a radio talk show host and a liberal commentator and comedian. it is the almighty dollar because the only states that are moving on this is when people and businesses speak up where there's going to be some injurious economic activity taking place. do you think that's the case from what you hear in north dakota? >> i think maybe so. certainly with arkansas and indiana they were concerned about that. it seems to me if you believe something, you don't cave when there's pressure. does microsoft sell bruktproducts in places that throw gays of the

buildings and hang them? that's hypocrisy. what about saudi arabia? where are you selling products pal? we're a little bored with the hypocrisy. it gets a little tiresome. >> the hypocrisy is claiming you're a follower of christ and discriminating -- >> christ talked about husbands and wives. >> it's my turn to talk. it's great to see you, though. >> you, too, sweetie. >> gay people are not asking for special rights. what's curious about these legislators is they're not outraged that one class of americans needs more protection under the law. they're outraged that this class of americans would ask for it and that's the hypocrisy. >> heidi, what's your response to the term protected class? >> why are we protecting a certain group of people because

they're of behavior? how could you prove someone didn't get hired because they were gay? >> being gay is behavior? >> of course it is. we're talking about gay behavior. that's what sets a person apart. >> being gay is what sets a person apart from straight people. >> did i say i didn't like gay people? i did not say that. >> stick up for them. you're a nice person. >> what makes a person different from somebody else at work other than behavior? i have a don't ask, don't tell policy. >> heidi, if their behavior at work is professional and they create no problems and if they live in a certain place and create no problems they can be kicked out of the housing and possibly lose their job if

they're found out to be gay that has nothing to do with their behavior behavior. >> and no one supports that. i don't support firing someone because of that. it's ridiculous. >> they do it in north dakota. >> they could have done it north dakota two weeks ago. is anybody suing about that? >> it's legalized discrimination. you're too nice for this. >> there's been no case when this law has been used to discriminate against gay people. >> straight people are mean to gay people and that's why gay people have needed more protection. >> there's a sweeping statement. all straight people are mean and all gay people are perfect. >> joel why hasn't this gotten more national attention? is it because north dakota is such a rural state? there's less than 800,000

residents? why has this been under the radar screen? >> because there's two major industries in north dakota. there's agriculture and there is oil. oil isn't going to jump up and down and say rectify this law, although i never thought nascar would and they finally got on board. you take a look at agriculture. that's all individual based. that's why i mentioned microsoft. i served in the north dakota senate for 14 years. many of the people who voted yesterday are gay. there are members of north dakota that are gay and it's their right to not tell people they're gay. what's happened is astounding. >> have you seen discrimination in your lifetime in north dakota? >> you know i've seen it a number of places.

it was certainly outlined in the testimony this last week. me personally, i haven't. i'm a 50-year-old white guy in north dakota. life is pretty good to guys like us. it's time we stand up and say enough is enough. this needs to stop. north dakota legislators saying there's no discrimination in north dakota and if there is we don't care is a really bad message to be spendending. >> i appreciate the conversation tonight here on "the ed show". remember to answer tonight's question there at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts with us on twitter and like us on facebook. coming up president obama's foreign policy legacy, is it going to hold? plus the drought crisis. we'll look at the steps california is taking and is it really enough. stay with us. we're right back on "the ed show." not only can you use less, but you can actually see

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that old -- that old beach boys song bomb bomb bomb iran -- >> welcome back to "the ed show." republicans are still singing the same old tune to stop iran's bomb, bomb iran. the thought of getting a deal made history. we are at least one step closer to a nuclear agreement. closer than we've ever been before. president obama got us there by sticking with the same game plan that senator obama had almost eight years ago.

>> and what we should be doing is reaching out aggressively to our allies but also talking to our enemies and focusing on those areas where we do not accept their actions, whether it be terrorism or developing nuclear weapons, but also talking to iran directly about the potential carrots we can provide being involved in the world trade organization. >> since day one, president obama has put diplomacy first. republicans have tried to sabotage those efforts almost every step of the way. the cat joining me now are my guests. good to have you with us tonight.

colonel, you've never been short on honesty. what is the upside of what has unfolded in the last 24 hours as you see it as opposed to the consequences? >> i don't normally codify or describe anything as historic but this is in the category with camp david under carter with the peace treaty between israel and egypt and so forth and george bush's reunification of german and nato. we have a deal if it is consummated in the complexity that will need to be dealt with by the end of june this is a deal that has win-win written all over it. 97% of the highly enriched uranium will be gone. we'll put a new fuel cell in. that'll prevent them from doing what the north koreans did.

only 5,000 centrifuges will be operational at any one time. this is a historic deal. >> what are the roadblocks here and why would any congressional democrats oppose this as you see it? >> well, i can't tell you why congressional democrats would oppose it but i'm a little less sanguine about this. i do think it is an historical achievement. i think we kicked the can down to june 30th. iran has hung over 1,000 people publicly since rouhani has come into power. they're supporting terrorism. this is a bad group of people that are running this country. >> given that -- >> if we can get them to disarm

i think we should. >> given the fact that they're bad people given that this is about the potential deal here to make sure these bad people you're clearly describing never have the capability of nuking anybody. >> right. i think it is worth pursuing. i'm more than happy to give the president more time until the 30th of june or whatever amount of time he thinks he can get as long as they're not making further progress towards the bomb. i do not agree with the far right that we ought to bomb iran. i think the president has the right in either party to make foreign policy as described in the constitution, but i'm not jumping up and down thinking that the day is won. iranians are saying different things than the state department is about what's in that agreement. we need to find out what is in that agreement, even if it takes

until the 30th of june to find out. >> colonel, this is really going to bring the hawks out. probably at an unprecedented level. what do you expect from republicans? >> i'm encouraged by the fact that i have already heard republicans republicans that i respect. dip diplomacy is an art. this is exactly what nixon and kissenger did. that doesn't mean it's a bad deal. they've crafted a public announcement on both sides that's palatable to their

people. the terms of the agreement are exceptional. >> we don't know exactly what's been codified. that's my problem. we have to see the fine print and we're not going to see that until the 30th of june. >> it will be difficult to codify. >> i agree with that. >> i give it a 50/50 chance. >> i agree. >> taking a look at what the president had to say yesterday, i felt the president was very convincing and he was dogmatic in this is the way it is going to be. iran is put on notice. it was a position of strength. it sounded like a position of strength, but if you listen to his opponents, you think we're just a bunch of appeasers. is this a time for -- >> go ahead. in general, i'm very supportive of president obama's foreign

policy. he's taken the right view. we don't want to send 150,000 troops to iraq. what we see going on in the middle east is a direct result of the former president. bombing iran is not the right approach unless it is the last gasp stop at stopping them from doing something really awful. that's not the right approach. in general i'm very support of diplomacy. i'm saying no to the republican far right, no to extreme measures, give the president some more time but i'm not embracing this agreement until i find out what's in the fine print. >> colonel wilkerson, if this deal unravels can we fathom what the world will be like? >> i think it will be a much

more dangerous regime. i don't think we immediately go to war. i know what my political party wants. my political party, at least some of them the 47 who signed the letter they want war. >> that's a mistake. that's a big mistake. >> no question about it. finally, did the sanctions do this to the iranians? >> i think it had a lot to do with it. i'm encouraged by the fact the iranians, if they do sign up it means they're more concerned with economic success and becoming a member of the world again, if you will than they are with building a bomb. that's incredibly encouraging. >> and finally governor dean -- >> i would agree with that --

>> go ahead. >> i think there's a tremendous battle going on in iran between the hard liners who seem to be in line with our republicans and the more moderate. the people in teheran really embrace this. they were pleased because they do want to join the world community. i don't think you can take extreme views of this in either direction. i think you have to be cautious but i think we're on track that cloud lead us to a breakthrough. i'm willing to give the president more time. i think the colonel is right. >> governor howard dean and colonel lawrence wilkerson, thanks for the conversation. ahead, the real story behind california's drought crisis and then we'll break down today's job numbers. stay with us. with cialis for daily use, you don't have to plan around either. it's the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be ready anytime the moment is right.

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welcome back to "the ed show." the u.s. economy just recorded its 61st straight month of private sector job growth but this month's outlook isn't as

rosy. the economy added 126,000 jobs in march well below economic estimates for the month. it's less than half the number of jobs added in february. it's a steep drop in jobs compared to the numbers over the past year. the unemployment rate remains though at 5.5%. the big question is whether these job numbers are a sign of a slow summer ahead for the economy. let's bring in david johnson. great to have you with us david. what do you make of these numbers? i look at construction jobs down in march. this is when construction is traditionally supposed to pick up in this country. not to give it an alibi, but could this be weather related of some sorts? >> i think there's a pretty good chance that the construction

jobs are very weather related. the jobs numbers are volatile. they get revised. we had the lowest number of weekly jobs claims in years. i think this suggests this is a bump on the road to the economy getting better. >> to getting better? you don't anticipate this as a start of a slow down? >> we may have slower growth going forward than we've jobs created in the 12 months up through february, which is a better record than any time since the middle of the clinton administration, but i think that -- you may see some slowdown. the republicans won't invest money into infrastructure. that makes the economy less efficient. we have a very high dollar which discourages american imports and hurts americans involved in exports and the fall in the price of oil has had a great benefit for us who put gas in the tank, but it has also

cost us 11,000 jobs. >> okay. so it's a high dollar it's the cost of oil that has dropped, you think that these play into these job numbers in a big way? >> absolutely yes. the single best thing we can do to improve manufacturing in america is to push the dollar down instead of having it so high. if you send money to canada -- i have a child who lives in canada. i can give her a dollar and she gets 1.25. >> okay. david johnson, always good to have you with us. stick around. rapid response panel coming up next. the markets are closed for good friday.

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and we are back. residents of california are facing extreme drought conditions. the impact of all of this could effect your wallet. consumers this year are expected to pay about 3% more for fruits and vegetables. not everything in the supermashlgtsuper supermarket is likely to get more expensive.

crops like almonds and avocados and artichokes will be especially effected. governor jerry brown took historic steps. for the first time ever, the governor implemented statewide water restrictions. we have more. >> reporter: in the snow depleted sierra mountains where california gets 30% of its water, the governor did what no other california has ever done. >> we're an historic drought and that demands unprecedented action. it is for that reason i'm issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reduction across our state. >> reporter: the order for all californians to cut water use by 25% could lead to bigger fines for water wasters like this long beach mcdonald's billed $800 for

using excess water. the city is installing new water meters to monitor consumption. >> if people don't step up and do their part california is in a lot of trouble. >> reporter: nasa's scientists are saying we're moving to the driest period in 20 years. i should be 30 feet under water and the rainy season here is all but over. reservoirs in the state are running on empty and the hottest, driest months are still ahead. >> joining us tonight a conservation biologist and the director of our water program at the nature conservancy. your thoughts on 25% reduction when it comes to usage, is this going to work? is this enough? >> first of all, we should look at governor jerry brown's leadership throughout this crisis. he's really helped us step up in

a lot of ways. we now have a california water action plan as of last year. we have a $7.5 billion water bond and we have ground water reform legislation that passed for the first time in our history, so this won't solve all of our problems this executive order, but it is definitely a start to getting a handle on the crisis. we're going to reduce water use in a mandatory way and the water that we don't use can go to farms, fields cities and to nature. >> experts are saying that the drought is on track to cause an economic loss for california that they've never seen before in the neighborhood of $3 billion just in 2015 alone. what's going to reverse this? i mean this isn't just going to be fixed by a hell of a rain fall. what's the future here? >> the future is we better prepare for a lot more dryness.

the models from nasa and cornell are showing 10 20 30 40 year cycles of drought. people have to be aware of tens of millions of dead trees. the last three winters have been so warm ed that instead of the cold temperatures in the mown mountains happening, they haven't. the outbreaks have turned into infestations and now they're at an epidemic level. in 2013, we lost 350,000 acres of beautiful forest. last year 820,000 acres. if i have my mark right, it will double again this year. when the trees go not only do all other life forms, but that's kindling for mega fires. >> yeah. what's going to happen to the

agricultural community? you're talking about a major industry in california no doubt about it. when you're looking at 80% of the global supply of almonds and they need an awful lot of water to grow what are these farmers going to do? >> we produce 50% of the fruits and vegetables for the united states. we are a really important producer for the world, so this crisis is partly about feeding the world while also doing better with our water. yeah farms will suffer. we're going to fallow fields. people will lose jobs but on the other hand we are also going to see some really negative impacts beyond the trees for nature. we have river flows in many parts of our state that are at the lowest flows on record. we're very likely to see some localized populations of salmon going extinct and some creatures that exist nowhere else in the

world but here in california will likely disappear. >> officials conducted the final snowpack survey. i believe in fact it was yesterday in the sierra nevada area. what's the long-term concern here? if this drought continues on and the snowpack is nonexistent, this is -- i mean it's a disaster waiting to happen. >> yeah, it is. welcome to a climate crisis. without water -- also i got to say the trees are the most perfect carbon dioxide warehouses for every one ton of wood they have sucked out of the air a ton and a half of carbon dioxide and they've given us a ton of oxygen. instead of performing what they do they're adding to the pool of rising greenhouse gases. ed, this comes down to one thing

and one thing only. we got to stop subsidizing big oil, big coal and big gas. at one point, 9 trillion worldwide in our nation a couple hundred bill per atom we're paying them to kill our planet. what up? >> good to have you with us tonight here on "the ed show." coming up, paul ryan fights against at least one half of the old death in tax adage. the punch out next. stay with us.

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weights. take care of your heart with centrum silver men. multivitamins for the most important parts of you. and tonight's two-minute drill, the name game. north dakota men's hockey team is heading to the frozen four. it's college hockey's championship tournament. while the team preps for the big games, the university is looking for a new nickname. that's right. the school is asking for the public's help looking to replace their fighting sioux nickname. they voted to retire the name and logo back in 2012. fans can submit their ideas until the end of april. my pick is the discriminators. ideas come into this world ugly and messy. they are the natural born enemy of the way things are. yes, ideas are scary

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and finally tonight, earlier this week the house ways and means committee led by paul ryan symbolically voted to end the estate tax. republicans have always called this the death tax. well, here are the numbers. 2.6 million people died in this country in 2013. only 4700 of them had to pay the federal estate tax. the government only taxes the estates of individuals worth over $5.4 million. for married couples that threshold goes up to $10.8 million. even when they have to pay, they usually don't end up paying the

top rate of 40%. the tax policy center estimates the average effective rate ends up being closer to 17% thanks to tax exemptions. eliminating the estate tax would cost the united states government treasury about $268 billion over ten years. joining me tonight congressman chris van holland of maryland. good to have you with us. >> good to be with you, ed. >> this is not far-fetched. i mean this could pass the house. brought up in the senate and passed there because it might be attached to something. and this could end up on president obama's desk. how real do you think this is? >> well it shows you exactly what they want to do ed. i'm so glad you're covering this story because it really was outrageous. at the same time they were taking a vote on this in the ways and means committee, we had the republican budget on the floor. what did that budget do? it dramatically cut early education and headstart. it raises the costs of student

loans for college kids. it will dramatically increase prescription drug costs foss millions of seniors. that's what their budget on the floor would do. at the same time in committee, they were voting to give 5,500 people a year this huge exemption from the estate tax, which, as you pointed out for couples doesn't even begin to kick in until over $10 million. 5,500 people. that's fewer people than you can get on a large cruise ship in the united states today. and they were giving them this tax cut. >> it certainly favors -- yeah it certainly favors a protected class. there's no -- that seems to be the buzz term right now for the republicans -- protected class. that's exactly what they're doing here. they make no way on how they're going to make up this money that the treasury's going to lose do they? >> no not at all. in fact in that same budget i'm talking about where they're cutting education, they don't

cut a single special interest tax break to help reduce the deficit, right? they don't get rid of the corporate jet loophole. they don't deal with the loop hole that hedge fund managers benefit from. they didn't close one of those special interest tax loopholes. it's there because of some powerful lobby interest. instead they're cutting education for kids and increasing costs to seniors squeezing families. when speaker boehner and senator mcconnell say they found the truth and they care about working families the reality is they're hitting working families really hard in this budget including increasing their tax, by the way, while providing this windfall tax break to 5,500 people per year. >> well it just underscores that they endorse inherited wealth. i mean that's exactly what they're endorsing here inherited wealth and people getting something for nothing. but it seems like they are consistently misleading the american public on how terrible

the estate tax is as if everybody's getting hit on it. it's almost like a play, a fool on the american people. your thoughts? >> that's right. in fact it only hits two out of 1,000 people because, look i mean, just you know talk to your friends and neighbors. how many couples have estates over $10 million? it's just a small number of americans. and what this tells you, ed is what the priorities right, of republicans are. while they're providing this windfall break to 5,500 families, they're whacking everybody else in the country in the budget. they're actually starting to charge students interest on their student loans while they're still going to college. they're reopening the doughnut hole for seniors in the prescription drug area which will increase their costs. so while they're squeezing seniors and students and working families they're giving this

windfall break to a very few families. and the problem is we've got to increase the income gap and the wealth gap is compounded even further through the inherited wealth. >> all right. >> that's not america. that's not where everyone gets a chance to make it on their own merits. >> you bet. congressman, good to have you with us tonight. have a great easter weekend. i appreciate your time on "the ed show." "politics nation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. good evening, rev. >> good evening, ed. thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead -- hillary clinton, welcome to brooklyn. 2.5 million people home of the brooklyn bridge coney island and junior's cheesecake. a place of history and new energy. today the whole world knows