tv MSNBC Live MSNBC November 17, 2011 11:00am-12:00pm EST
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day of action, threatening to shut down wall street and occupying the subway stations. we're live with russell simmons as well as a live report from downtown. newt gingrich on the rise even as he tries to explain away his more than $1 million payday from freddie mac. will the revelations take the newt trang off the tracks? and new developments in the penn state sexual abuse case. victims say they are ready to break their silence. this as police at penn state say coach mike mcqueary never reported sandusky's alleged shower rape of a 10-year-old boy. we'll have all the updates on that story. it's nice to have you with me today. i'm thomas roberts and now, it's two months of protests. one day of action in today's game plan is causing some serious trouble. an estimated 700 antiwall street activists woke up early and staged protests that krycripple
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rush hour traffic in downtown manhattan. at this moment, we're tracking it all from the air and on the ground. now, in a few hour, protesters say they're going to take their fight underground as activists plotting to gather at seven subway stops in five boroughs, but right now, let's go downtown to mara schiavocampo with the latest. good morning. >> thomas, good morning. at this time, we have several hundred protesters gathered here at zuccotti park. they went to wall street as part of a national day of action. their goal someone told me was to bring the anger and frustration that they have towards financial institutions directly to those financial institutions. later today, they are planning a large rally and march to be joined by union members. their plan is to go akroz the brooklyn bridge. i'm joined at this time by russell simons, whose been extremely active in this movement. now that the focal point seems
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to have move frd this park, where do you think things are headed? >> the mayors across the country who have attacked the movement have only created more fuel. i think there's a lot of creative young kids who have high aspirations about america are going to continue to find ways to disrupt and find dialogue. they've been educated people so well. a couple of days ago, i went to occupy boston and introduced a constitutional amendment. until there was enough dialogue, we're here because wall street controls our future and there's nothing with wall street. there's nothing wrong with corporations or business, it's just that business and wall street should not and special interests should not control our government. and that is a fundamental flaw in our democracy. >> your constitutional amendment is to prevent private financing of elections so that elections have to be financed by the public. why do you think that's so key?
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>> there's a guy talking about the prison tril complex. they funded political campaigns and so that we could lock up people for 20 years for little bits of drugs to fill their prisons. they negotiated loopholes with politicians to take it to congress. the health care companies pay off the politicians so we have no health care. the inequalities the because r corporations work -- no republican, no democrat, wants to know they've sent someone to washington to work for them and instead, they work for a corporation or special interest. >> there's been a lot of criticism that there were not clear demands and there are others who argue there has been a very clear message. what do you think the talking points in the message of this movement has been over the last two months?
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looking back, what do you think the messages have been? >> first, i want to say every revolution takes time. it took us seven years to change the rockefeller drug laws. 60 days is hardly, we can say it's an anniversary, we just got started. wall street controls the future. we want the people to control the future. we want a democracy and there's a fundamental flaw in our democracy here in america is that the corporation, special interest are taking over our government. >> thank you for your time, sir. thomas, back to you. >> is russell still there? i wanted to ask him a question about -- >> russell, our anchor has another question for you. >> just because he's a part of the 1%, is he trying to encourage other 1 percenters to get involved? >> as a powerful business man, are you trying to encourage other people of the so-called 1% to get involved and to join this group? >> i can't even tell you the
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number of celebrities that have been calling and want to support. there's only 1% of the 1% that don't want america to be better. we believe in a democracy. we believe in america. we want it to be better and the real flaw in this democracy is being addressed and i think everybody wants to be a better country. i mean, some politicians are comfortable with the system. and some business people are comfortable, but no one really wants to pay up the politician and politicians want to actually work for the people elected, so we have to work for that. there are many, many people. i brought kanye west and russell brand here and angela davis was here and reverend sharpton -- and the police are really violent in such a peaceful movement. one thing about this, the attack on the park, this park, is that we were being compassionate and feedi ining 40% of the homeless
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people. gave them beds and food, the only problem with taking care of them, some joined the movement and were insfired and educated, but some were not healthy and we took care of them and the media would come and interview them as if they were the core of the movement, which they were not. >> there has been some criticism for getting kanye west here. some people tallied up the jewelry he was wearing. >> no one's against, maybe some are, are not against business or success. what they're against is not even corporate greed. it's corporate control of our government. to get this country to be ruled by the people as it was intended. that's why we're here. and so, if kanye west or russell brand or anybody that adds voice to our work, then god bless them for being here. >> thomas, there seems to be something happening up the street. we're going to keep an eye on that. if you look over here, you can see officers headed up that way.
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we'll keep you posted. >> mara schiavocampo, we'll let you get back to work. one new york city councilman says he was assaulted by police officers this week when he went down to check out the protests. he is in studio with he now to tell his side of the story. it's nice to have you here. as we saw in that interview, russell simons talking about the violents. explain what happened to you on tuesday. >> as you say, i was assaulted. i went to the area and was stopped, pushed back by the police and then they threw my body in the floor and suddenly, a police officer came from the middle of the street and jumped on top of my body. there was a feature last night in the times magazine that show exactly when i was arrested. that photo was replayed this morning. but the one they had last night had like three or four police officer on top of my body, you can see my face like mashing
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against the ground and that's exactly what happened tuesday morning. >> did you goi identifying yourself as a city council member or as a person who wanted to find out what the protests were doing? >> i went as server. i've been supporting this movement from the beginning in my own capacity as a legislator. hundreds of my constituents in my district have been participating in the occupy movement because my district is part of the 1%. i represent an area where most of the people, they lack affordable housing, equal the i education, so i want to be there to serve for what's going on. i identify myself as a council member, but i don't think they let me finish is sentence when i was pub push back and throwing on the floor. >> the police account is a little different because the account filed against you says you were being disorderly. resisting arrest. police say you refused to obey
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barriers and resisted being handcuffed. is any of that true? >> no, i have no doubt they fabricated the story. she addressed that in the press conference. why i was taken to the police headquarter and left inside the van when i was with nine other individuals. two of them reporters. freelance for the "new york times" and for the press. when we were taken to the police headquarter, eight individual was taken out inside the headquarter. i was left inside the van for two hours. then i didn't have a ride to see my attorney, which they've been asking from early in the morning. it was at the 16th hour that i was able to see my -- he never told me what i was charged for. it was after i came out from the court that i found out the charges that the nypd fabricate against me. this is not new.
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they did it with another council member. neither is the best way of how to deal with the occupy movement. >> sir, thanks for joining me this morning. lawyers hired to represent the alleged victims in the penn state child sex abuse scandal say their clients are fired up to testify against sandusky. attorneys say their clients were compelled to come forward after hearing his denials in an interview with bob costas this week. meanwhile, sandusky's lawyer is still trying to find out who they are. >> in a presentment, we didn't get names, so we're guessing who they are. and it's tough because jerry says the sexual stuff didn't okwu, but we're trying to guess who these individuals are. b >> as for the key witness, questions keep piling up. what exactly did mike mcqueary do and which of two stories is to be believed. michael isakoff is live for us
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in state college, pennsylvania. good morning. >> good morning, thomas. there's some new dromts on the mcqueary front today. nbc news has learned that just weeks after he says he saw jerry sandusky sexually assaulting that young boy in the penn state locker room, assistant coach mike mcqueary was participating with sandusky at a charity football game right here in center city for the easter seals. and then just a couple of months after that, mcqueary participated in sandusky's annual golf tournament fund-raiser for the second mile, the chart that he founded. and the year after that, mcqueary again played in that sandusky fund-raiser, so all that is going to raise new questions about mcqueary's account. if he saw as he alleges, sandusky essentially sexually
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assaulting a 10-year-old boy and was horrified by this, why is he playing football with sandusky at a charity football game just a few weeks later? why is he participating in his golf tournament? again, more questions that mike mcqueary is going to have to answer on the witness stand. >> do you think it could speak to the david and goliath approach that maybe mcqueary felt, that here is jerry sandusky, this person that is by all accounts, an upstanding person within the state college, pennsylvania community. one that was obviously being protected by higher ups. do you think he feared for his own future within that circle? >> well, i think that's likely to be the explanation for that. but you know, mike north korea mcqueary still has to answer the discrepancies between that e-mail he sent to a friend last week and his grand jury account. in the e-mail to the friend, he
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said that he stopped the sexual assault when he saw it, not physically, but made sure it had stopped in the grand jury account, he left immediately distraught. coming up, we're going to talk to one of the attorneys in this case who says his clients are ready to talk and they are outraged about the interview that sandusky gave to nbc news. we are keeping a close eye on occupy wall street and the protesters determined to occupy subways apparently. also march across the brooklyn bridge, but this day of action is nationwide, so we're going to show you what's going on across the country. coming up after this. i'm your gps. turn right up ahead. you never update me. so, now i just have to wing it.
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the occupy wall street movement today being the two month anniversary of the movementist and today is r considered to be a day of action where protesters have gotten together and 700 activists walking and marching on the new york stock exchange. traffic jams have been expected, there's also word that will begin occupying subway stations and interrupts service to some of the major boroughs here in manhatt manhattan. as i'm trying to peek around the camera, you can see the crowd swelling taking place in new york city. we'll watch that as well as other movement activity around the country. the spotlight is shining on newt gingrich and the money he made for freddie mac. >> my basic answer is simple. i provided strategic advice to many companies. i can't verify to you the specific amount.
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i did no lobbying of any kind. period. >> but, newt didn't deliver on his promise. instead releasing a fact sheet echoes his prooeft statements while trying to minimize his work with the mortgage giant. so, is the pressure getting to the former speaker? dana millbank joins me now. the scrutiny on gingrich has really wrach etted up and you know it's bad when disgraced lobbyist and disgraced -- is calling you out. >> i don't know if he'll survive this, to be honest with you. this is a very big thing. >> why? >> because he's engaged in the exact time of corruption thoo america distaned. any provision of favor or of anything to members of congress and their staff and cashing in on it is corruption. >> is it that big of a problem
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and especially now he is gaining traction in the polls? >> well, newt's going to have a lot of problems going forward because he's got this long history that a lot of people are familiar with and they just need to run the tape. it does get to that notion that yes, he wasn't a lobbyist. the definition is very narrow and but that's not the way things work in this town as you are paid to because of your former position of power to exert your influence. there are hundreds of former lawmakers in the lobbying business. that's really the problem with this town. the idea you pay to play. either cough up money to buy ins influence and gingrich is a part of that and a lot of people are sort of disgusted with the way washington works and for good reason. so this will continue to haunt them and it doesn't make it
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better by saying look, i was a historian for them as if people pay $1.6 million for historians. >> when we look at what newt has done, his war of words with certain people, there is this war of back and forth with him and barney frank. let's take a look at the few examples. >> clearly you're not saying they should go to jail. >> chris dodd's case, go back and look at the country wide deals. the lobbyists he was close to at freddie mac. >> you don't enhance your academic credentialing by having been speaker. what you enhance is your value as a bhobbyist. >> how bad are these statements goin to get for his campaign? >> by some measures of the polls, the front-runner or emerging as the main alternative to mitt romney. he's got a lot of opponents who want to knock him from that position and they will be
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hitting him for that. some of these guys are also vulnerable in positions of hip ok okrasy, but newt has this and a lot of other things that can be brought out now. his relationship with john carey, nancy pelosi, hillary clinton, ways in which he is stepped back from republican orthodox in recent years before returning to it. >> great to see you today. thanks. obsessed with president obama? we're learning more details about the white house shooting suspect due in court today and protests heating up in lower manhattan. in america, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college. retire how they want to.
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two month anniversary of when the movement began and here you can see the hordes of people that have gathered downtown. roughly 700 r were marching on the new york stock exchange. we got a report from our mara schiavocampo at the top of the hour. she's briefly filed this latest report letting us know the zuccotti park crowds have returned with people storming the park, removing the barricades going back into the park and the police that you can see live on the scene there right now are letting them back in. no arrests that we are hearing of on site, but we'll keep our eye on that and bring you the latest details as we get them. on to our other big story. investigators working on the penn state child sex abuse scandal say red flags popped up when they found three years, three years, worth of records missing from sandusky's second mile charity. now, we're learning more about the victims through their personal lawyers.
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jeff anderson has been retained by several who are sandusky's abused. and like jeff has a long history representing catholic church abuse victims. it's nice to have you both. jeff, i want to start with you. explain to all of us. are you representing certain victims of the eight that were list listed in the grand jury report that was returned? >> i am and we are representing survivors of abuse pertaining to the penn state outrage, if you will. we're not identifying which and who we are because we want to protect them and they want us to make sure we do. and they also want us to make sure we give voice and a volume to their fear that other kids
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are at risk. both by sandusky and by the institutional failures that have been revealed to us. and for r r that reason, we've not only be engaged, but exhorted to speak out and for them. they're furious and they're scared that other kids are at risk. >> through your work, there are lots of paem around this country that go through sexual abuse as kids and suffer in silence for a long time until well into adulthood, but specifically about the victims you're representing, how many are you actively representing? >> we're in contact with a number of survivors. i've been actively retained to speak on behalf of one in particular who said give voice and volume to what we're feeling and that is this.
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we are scared, we are furious. and we are -- that sandusky is out and in denial and a peril to others. we are fearful that other kids will continue to be ignored and or hurt unless more is done immediately and institutionally at penn state and elsewhere. and for now, we have to have you speak with and for us and that's why i'm doing that with you today. >> we have heard two different stories from mike mcqueary, first, he says he walked in, saw this, then left. then, this e-mail that he did have discussions with police and with the official at the university in charge of police. police now are coming out denying all of this. so b.j., how bad is he hurting his credibility with these
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stories going back and forth, especially when he is a key witness in seeing this case go ford ward? >> well, his credibility in the public form, but the truth is, there's so much we don't know that the investigators know. remember that the grand jury indictment is an outline of this case he's in touch with these victims and they have a lot to say and proebt mcqueary does as well. in an e-mail trying to protect himself after this outrage, we have to hope when it gets down to the time of court when the time of truth where this really has to come out, he will be completely truthful about what he saw, what he did. there are two people indict wd the university because they knew. one worked with the police dmt. so the fact they don't have a quote paper report doesn't necessarily mean that somebody at that place and that maybe telling the truth and he did and in fact, we know that the
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indictment allegations that through paterno, that information was given. again, i know there's a lot here, but we have to stay focused on the long run and these victims, bless them, they have to be patient with the process and know that it's not what's in the media. it's going to be what's in the courtroom and that will control. >> very valid point. great to see you both this morning. thank you. scenes of devastation in the south after a line of powerful storms ripped through killing five people. york county, south carolina, south of charlotte, north carolina, saw the most deadly damage. three people were killed after suspected tornados flipped over cars and ripped up tree. another person was killed in davidson, north carolina. another person died in georgia after a tree fell on his suv. in eastern alabama, a suspected
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tornado caused damage. the number of people applying for unemployment fell last week to the lowest level in seven months. the labor department siz weekly applications dropped by 5,000 cht it was the fourth decline in five weeks. as we've been showcasing this hour, it is a day of action for occupy wall street protesters. two months after the movement started, is this a turning point for the overall movement nationwide? plus, governor rick perry steps in it again, calling the president a child of privilege. why that comment is raising some eyebrows today. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car is totaled,
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seen pretty dramatic pictures. police downtown clashing with some protester and we have been hearing about more arrests taking place. earlyer, some 700 protesters all but stopped traffic and this afternoon, the plan is for protesters to hit seven different stops across new york. this is however a nationwide movement and we are tracking news out of dallas where there were more arrests overnight. police trying to reign in protesters there. in l.a., an early wake-up call and small crowd just began to gather. marches planned across california today. oakland, san francisco, but now, let's head back into new york city. we have our reporter on the scene. when we last left you, you were going to check what was going on with police activity. what did you find out? >> you can see there is a very large police presence here and here is what's happening. the group of marchers from this morning, you had about 700 people that marched to wall street. they have now
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coty park. police wanted to have specific check points where people were coming in and leaving. when the people returned to zuccotti park, they removed the barricades, took them apart and that led to a crowd surge and a lot of people responding to that. in a restrained way. we did not see heavy clashes, a lot of confrontation between police and protesters. police wants to make sure they contained the situation. police are here, they're trying to contain the situation. people are allowed to be in the park. they just want to make sure things don't get out of hand. >> thank you. newt gingrich has a big problem on his hands with freddie mac, but the bigger problem with conservative voters might be his multiple positions on just about everything under the sun. take a look cht.
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>> i believe all of us have a responsibility to help pay for health care. either health insurance or you post a bond or in some way you indicate you're going to be held accountable. >> but that is the individual mandate, isn't it? >> i am completely opposed to the obamacare mandate on individuals and against any effort to impose a federal mandate on anyone because it's fundamentally wrong. >> what will you do about libya? >> exercise a no fly zone this evening. the idea we're confused about a man who has been an anti-american dictator since 1969 tells you how inept this administration is. they were very quick to jump on mubarak and they were confused to get rid of gadhafi. do it. i would not have intervened. there are a lot of other ways to affect gadhafi. a lot of other allies in the region we could have worked
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with. >> let's bring in our panel. i want to start with you because this plays into the belief that newt is going to be the person to sink himself, so how surprised is it that conservatives are turning on him. >> they know his background better than we do and not just the flip-flopping. newt has other issues. he has some morality issues. he has some fiscal, questionable activity issues. they know that he's not a good candidate, so you know, i don't blame them for rolling over him with the bus. >> all right, michael, there is good news to point out in the campaign as well. he's right there with president obama, so he's leading in another poll, but now, the heat is really on, especially when you rise to the top like this, the vetting gets tougher and there are going to be these contrasts, comparison remarks of what he's made in the past. he's been a public figure for a really long time. >> so much for the rolling over. the reality of it is that you
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know, despite everything that karen just noted and others have noted, that's all been baked in far base. they've known newt for a long time. some disagree with him, others don't. he's now positioned himself through his arguments, through his presentation, to be viable opposition if you will to mitt romney. >> but michael -- >> that's going to start to get worked out over the next six weeks as voters line up on the 3rd in iowa. let's see how this thing plays out. >> we're keeping it really real? you know as well as i do the polls at this point, you know -- >> yeah, so why are we hyping out over this? >> because we know what's going to happen. because there's nobody left. >> so you know what's going to happen? you could have predicted everything so far? let's see what happens with the voters. they've got this stuff baked in on newt.
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a lot of folks are dancing up and down on newt cht everyone knows his history. he has made these arguments before. he's made other arguments. >> we can be done with the newt dance cht let's move on to the perry dance. take a listen to this one. >> he grew up in a privileged way. he never had to really work for anything. when he has had problems, he's pointed to somebody else and said it was their fault, not mine. >> so, he was a biracial child of the '60s with a divorced single mother. >> it was hard for me to sit here and listen to a white man of privilege talk about a black man who was raised by a single mom, talk about him never having to work hard for. what has rick perry had to work hard for? he's a fifth generation texan who has lived a life of privilege. >> how does he get himself out? >> let me agree with karen.
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i love it when white folks start telling me how my experience should have been or was when i was growing up. the fact of the matter is for rick perry at this point is finding a new ground to stand on. he's lost the mountain top and so now, he's trying to reclaim at least some earth view of the mountain and i think the reality is a harsh one as others have moved past him and are moving past him in the polls. i don't think that kind of almost resers class warfare is something we need to concern ourselves with. everyone knows the president's background, upbringing. you can't say because he spent some time in hawaii that that wasn't a tough life for his mother and himself. i don't think we should be in the position of passing judgment on how anyone in this country is raised. >> in this moment, this is my job as moderator to say thanks
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to both of you and there's more 2012 politics coming up in the next hour. alex wagner is going to interview the huntsman daughters. we are learning more about the man that police say took pot shots at the white house on friday. he was reportedly obsessed with the president and the idea that t the world was about to end. police say he drove past the white house on friday and fired an assault weapon out of the passenger's side window. that's a distance of about eight football fields away. two rounds did hit the white house, but the president is was not there. he is due in court in just a few hours from now. it is all about the environment as we celebrate green week here at nbc. today, we're looking at an issue that has environmentalists up in arms. specifically, president obama's delay of two major clean air rules, but given his previous pledges to clean up the planet, many wonder whether or not
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leaving environmentalists in a cloud of smog is a smart strategy. melissa harris perry is a columnicolumn istist for the nation. they call this delay a bold surrender to business pressure, an act of political pandering and a cold-blooded portrayal of a loyal constituency. does this come as a surprise that environmentalists would fire back in that kind of tone? >> no, it's not a surprise at all. this is the ultimate lie that business has sold to communities, to politicians on both the left and the right. this idea that business is hurt and will stop creating jobs or shed jobs as a result of regulations on things like clean air and water. and when we look at fence line communities like those here in louisiana or communities in northern california or in new york, what we see is these
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polluters do not create new jobs for these poor and often african-american and native american communities where they sit and pollute. instead, they make that claim. they hold people hostage. what they do is create higher cancer incidents, asthma incidents. this is a horrible decision and one the democratic party ought to be pushing back against. >> thank you. a reminder to our viewers and melissa's followers, be sure to visit her column at thenation.com. fran drescher is still taking care of kids. from the nanny to her new children's book, how she's encouraging kids. i heard your laugh back there. it's nice to see you. we're going to talk with fran after this, so stick around.
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reminder this week of so many kids this country when it comes to bullying. yesterday, family and friends laid to rest 10-year-old ashlyn conner who hanged herself last friday while adults tended to forget how hard it was to be a child who feels like an outsider. my next guest wrote a book about it. it's called "being wendy." we're glad to have her here. the unforgettable actress and now children's book author, fran drescher. let's talk about the book. what was the inspiration for doing something like this, especially when we have the conversation, this national conversation going on right now. why did you want to do this? >> you know, i think that i wanted to leverage the popularity of the nanny with a whole generation of children that weren't even alive when i was shooting the show and empowering them with a positive
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message. also, my organization now has a wtf program. we the future. and that also engages young people to live more healthfully and in this book, i think that it empowers children and engages parents to nurture individuality and specialness and diversity and not force a child to fit into a box or think inside of a box. but to really embellish whtheir uniqueness. >> and that's where wendy lives. in boxville. where they have to pretty much early on decide who they are. >> who they are and then they stay in the box and they think inside that box and she just wants to be so many things and has so many interests and it's hard for her because everybody thinks she's weird and why can't you be like everyone else and she doesn't quite understand it herself. and in the end, of course, her
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family decides that she is very special and that should be nurtured and everybody should be unique and not have to fit into any one box and so, they move from boxville to freedom land. >> nice. so much of the conversation that be about youth bullying, i know you have an active voice within the lgbt community. how frustrating to think that that's going on? kids are learning this from someplace and obviously it's coming from adults and being passed on to their children. >> you know, it's so damaging to turn a blind eye to a child that's being bullied in school. i think that we have to raise our consciousness significantly so that we're hyper aware of what the child's experiences in the educational institutions in
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particular, not only of the child that's being bullied, but the child that's doing the bullying. any kid that sets out to hurt ridicule or demean another child is undoubtedly having that experience unto themselves at home. and so it's a two-fisted problem that has to be dealt with simultaneously. i think there's just a global innocence ti innocenceivety about the experience of the child and they are kind of like -- don't have a voice and it's really imperative that we try and really to focus on that. as we can see in what's happening in penn state, you know, that sometimes there are precedents -- >> penn state, sorry.
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that there are you know, that the victim is not always the first one to be considered. and if you don't consider the victim first and foremost, then you're not really doing the right thing. and when you do the right thing you can't go wrong. >> i encourage everybody to get it. have your older kids read it to your younger kids at bedroom. fran drescher, great to have you here. >> i appreciate it. >> we're going to show you pictures of occupy wall street, what's taking place as people have gathered downtown. these are aerial shots. we're back with much more after this. [ ben harper's "amen omen" playing ] we believe doing the right thing never goes unnoticed. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?
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protesters marching on new york city's downtown. these are images of zuccotti park. their goal is to march across the brooklyn bridge. that will do it for me. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. you can follow me on twitter but now with alex wagner coming up next. >> hi, thomas, thanks, we will be meeting the huntsman girls, the famous daughters on the gop campaign trail will be coming on board. president obama comes under attack for his lazy comment. my panel will be chris haze and maggie haverman and lawrence o'donnell is in the bull pen. now is next. better than the la? how about making it brighter. more colorful. ♪ and putting all our helpers to work? so we can build on our favorite traditions by adding a few new ones. we've all got garlands and budgets to stretch. and this year, we can keep them both evergreen.
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