you would have thought they would have learned something after serving as george w. bush's useful idiots in the lead up to the invasion of iraq. it is vitally important that the press remains rooted in a fact based universe especially when we enter an era when truth and fiction are becoming indistinguishable. for decades the american middle class has been railroaded by washington politics. big body corporate for the best ground out a lot of boys that's how it is in the news culture in this country now that's where i come in. i mean it's still on our t. america i'll make sure you don't get railroad you'll get the straight talk in the

break. what people. key lawmakers say they're unaware that the united states has troops in nigeria or what's going on we'll take a look on this edition of. the politicking on larry king for american servicemen were killed in a raid in nigeria earlier this month and while much of the news is focused on the ongoing controversy of how president trump handled the condolence call to the pregnant widow of one of those soldiers others serious questions are being raised about the u.s. presence in nigeria key lawmakers including senators lindsey graham of south carolina new york schuck schumer who said they were not even aware that the united states had to station in nigeria or what the mission there is meanwhile the pentagon senators kept congress regularly informed about troop movements including

those in nigeria so what's going on the some of that with congressman steve russell republican of oklahoma decorated army combat veteran retired lieutenant colonel presently serves on the house government oversight committee and the armed services committee he joins me from capitol hill all right congressman what do you make of this did you know about this. in nigeria well i did you know the training missions were special forces go in and help host countries deal with their own internal battles and strife is as old as special forces itself since its inception in the early one nine hundred sixty s. these missions have been a core part of what special operations forces and in particular special forces do so i'm baffled by any lawmaker that would say that they had no idea that we had troops in subsaharan or west central africa. i mean it may be that they had no

idea but it certainly would not have been because they had no access to that information so. lindsey graham republican chuck schumer democrat not aware at all how could that be three major senators well sadly what you find is that in the case of africa particularly with what's going on in sub-saharan africa lawmakers are just not engaged on that part of the world and i certainly stay engaged on all defense and national security issues that's what i do so we have to take dead serious what's going on there because it's a fire wall if you have these affiliates. whether there are. al qaeda affiliates isis affiliates whatever stripe that they want to choose to try to cause strife if they break this fire wall of largely peaceful countries that

could have grave consequences for the continent of africa so these countries wanting to maintain their own fragile economies and be able to continue to feed themselves and not have these disruptions they've reached out to france great britain the united states others to ask for assistance to train their military and police and how to deal with these problems and it's been ongoing for years senator lindsey graham senator. meet the press we don't know exactly where we're at in the world militarily or know what we're doing what's your reaction to that. senator graham i would have to take his own word on his lack of knowledge on that i certainly have great respect for him. not questioning whether or not he had been briefed or knows but i will tell you that you know i've certainly been aware of our operations in africa we get a regular brief from the afrikan commander we also get a whirlwind brief and a classified setting from the secretary of defense. there are many things that

it's just a matter of what areas do we want to be engaged in and i i think that information has certainly been forthcoming from the pentagon. a degree you're a decorated army veteran what's your reaction to this feud between trump and congresswoman frederica wilson and just yesterday the widow of la david johnson said that congress woman wilson is correct one hundred percent correct. well i think that as lawmakers we should never insert ourselves into some family's grief for political purposes whether we're outraged justifiably or outraged unjustifiably that's really not our role i have the deepest sympathy for what mrs johnson is going through right now having called families myself from the battlefield to let them know about their loved ones after they had been notified it's

a horrific experience everyone reacts differently. she will be initially going through shock and then anger she's probably in the anger stage right now followed by you know complete despondency and she will feel lonely and isolated and then that's where we really need to reach out and pray for her and the other families of these that have been lost or so that people can come and rally to their aid as they try to move forward in life but we don't need as politicians to insert ourselves into that or have a competition to see who can be the most ostentatious and draw attention to themselves on this issue quite frankly i find it hateful. as a warrior that we would even use our officers to insert ourselves and in such a an incident as a warrior how do you explain his body be went through two days well i think what you have to look at there larry is. it is

a big country it is rough terrain they were on the outer post and outskirts of these villages and other areas where they were having concern working with the misery and forces. so as they were ambushed this group of soldiers they were in a fight for their lives they had to do what they had to do to recover the main remains and they did that unfortunately and it took seventy two hours before that occurred but they did do that and so now what we have to do is allow the military. in our own social media that's out there everybody expects instant you know got to have it now and then when the facts come in a little less than accurate because they want it now then they're outraged at the end accuracies of the reports where you can't have it both ways let the soldiers deal with this the commanders that were there and then also the commanders in the chain they will gather the facts and then we move forward from there means you've

always said you know one of the top fifteen percent of you colleagues in effectiveness in the house of representatives all right so you might have the answer lou we ever have bipartisanship i think we will you know we certainly combat veterans in congress and other warriors that even if they didn't serve in combat but did hard things. we formed the warrior caucus it's bipartisan we've got close to thirty members now seth moulton out of massachusetts democrat from boston and me a red meat republican from oklahoma we've been able to work just fine together because of our shared experiences but look america has to give us a little bit of difference and a little bit of patience we are a deliberative body and if if people want some solution they can start picking away at it as we're trying to discuss these issues out loud and we go

through them and then they're outraged because what we're even discussing got discussed you know and you've got to give us the time to to work through those issues where he. beings like everybody else are you going to pass the budget bill. the budget did pass you out in the senate quite frankly i was really excited that the senator sent it back to us we'll know this week i think that we will get it done and then we'll move on to the next key step of tax reform and we'll go from there i know you are the founder of a rifle manufacturing company we're almost out of time these spec we're ever going to see more gun legislation i think the real question larry to ask is will we ever see legislation that gets set of benefit eyeing mass killers and the threat that they pose and the reason i say that after nine eleven we've dealt with these acts of terror in a completely different way technical means procedural means and then we did it

through security measures and law but you have to remember these terrorists had the same access to firearms and freedom of movement in our freedoms as anyone else on our shores and yet we've been able to successfully combat it we're going about this whole mass murder issue in the wrong way we have to go about it by trying to identify who these threats or until we're going to fight the threat we're never going to get there thanks always good to have been the is steve thank you larry pursuit you have me on the reaction and for the discussion on politics i'm joined now by generally brown republican analyst and strategist for thomas partners strategies and robin borrow former regional director for barack obama's president's campaign and a former u.s. army ranger ok we've just heard from another lawmaker who says he knew about troops in nigeria generally what do you make of this whole clinton years well i think it's

a little soon to kind of drool conclusion we don't have the facts and it's a real tragedy what happened but it would be wrong to kind of jump to any real conclusion at this point right. what do you make of it. to my understanding they were briefed about this back in june i question larry if they're just not well read but i am deeply concerned that of all people senator lindsey graham and john mccain were unaware of this i would expect as veterans for them to both be very well well briefed on this as well as bob casey the three of them are saying they had no idea that we had one thousand troops in those years so i'm concerned but i agree with mr brown that i think we may be jumping to conclusions here and there will be a line of duty investigation and we will find out a lot more information the cut days and weeks ahead your company deals in crisis management to this in that it does yes what do you make of this. goings on between

the tongass woman and the president and the death of the greenbury well i think the president of the situation as well as anyone could under such a circumstance the way he has addressed the widows who have suffered such a tremendous loss that none of us quite frankly could on the sound i think it's is very commendable. and you know if charm faces a punch he fights back and that's how we know our president by commend him for how he has posted they dealt with the situation that the windows that he was he was kind of crude well if you take up all the instances where the president has had to address and speak to days he has handled it perfectly well look at john kelly and how he settled that in his conference and how he said that the president put forward that phone call to the widow and quite frankly i think he's done an

admirable job and in doing how does one deal with such a situation and i think the fact that our president stood up and made that phone call i think is admirable rob and i disagree respectfully with mr brown. i think that the words that he used he did i listen to john kelly's conference brief as well and he coached the president i give donald trump credit for reaching out to john kelly and saying i don't know how to do this i need you to coach me and tell me this is the most solemn somber thing that i've had to do and john kelly in his press conference gave such a wonderful way of how he coached the president i just think the donald trump you know look at it he's a new york businessman he's a former reality t.v. star he's brash i think that the words that he said were delivered to the words were the right way but the delivery what matters in this case is how the widow herself took it she felt that the that her the memory of her husband was

disrespected i think that's all that matters she said on good morning america that she has nothing to say to the president and that she personally felt. more grief and she cried more after the phone call with the president and that it made her feel bad i'm concerned about that i think like i said that it was just an eloquent that he stumbled that he was brusque and we expect that from donald trump but frankly i almost wish that john kelly would have make that call with he understands of more than anyone the what what's at stake with that and how do you connect with a gold star widow who's just recently lost her husband in battle let's take a break generally wrong will be right that we will politicking don't go away. about your sudden passing i found the just learnt you worry yourself in taking your last turn. your act caught up to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry.

so i write these last words in hopes to put to rest these things that i never got off my chest. i remember when we first met my life turned on each. but then my feelings started to change you talked about more like it was again still some are fond of you those that didn't like to question our ark and i secretly promised to never be like it said one does not leave a funeral the same as one enters the mind it's consumed with death this one quite different i speak to you now because there are no other takers. to claim that mainstream media has met its make. them haunt dogs may not only be tasty but also deadly for elation ship between kids sure it was suggested not proved and

a fairly strong one there were two thousand were out so involved in the study it's a very extensive study done by a well respected scientist. do chemicals that down the appetizing pink color really increase the risk of cancer nitrogen means are known to infuse damage in the last intestine is it a shared skepticism they do not believe that their risk is yours truly by independent scientists so did the needs industry period you for this i received some compensation for my time as was the others why is that the meat lobby definitely do like what we've been doing and if you want to learn more you'll get a definite on seeing the outflow you are only here do not go back to. is it big business against health. as it started to show us. all stand in safety

a large. global back to the. politicking we continue our conversation with our political panel generally brown republican analyst and strategist for thomas partners strategies and robin birol former regional director for barack obama's presidential campaign and a former u.s. army ranger. almost every week generally from makes a tweet strawman's there create some controversy he is he trying to distract from issues what he what do you make of this you're your republican strategist yes many say they would advise him not to do this he says he's directly going to the public what's your view well as someone who works with campaigns i have posted they think it's refreshing to have about level of authenticity that we have not seen and it is

certainly new to politics and we are becoming accustomed to that we are seeing something that is genuine and authentic and that doesn't have layers of communications and people who have what time phrasing i don't think he's trying to distract i think he's staying true to himself and communicating as a chief. do you think he's off then do a good start if i do yes i do believe his off to stop i'd like to see this level of communication that he has directly to people like you and i why are they raving sholden for in the ratings are there i mean if you take alabama and republican states his ratings are high and he is doing a tremendous job appealing to his base but other than that i also think he is a president who is able to reach across both sides take health care for example he

is a president who is actually going across party aisles to what towards making deals and he's showing from in my opinion bipartisan effet rather not i don't think you'll agree. you know i'm going to use jeb bush's quote that if donald trump were to be elected president we would expect the chaos presidency i will assert that that is exactly what have we're seeing and we see it every day by twitter you know every morning i wake up i get donald trump's trump's tweets and i'm like what crisis has he starting now look at the transgender ban that was done impulsively he didn't consult with the joint chiefs of staff we had to play catch up and we've been briefing us for a year and a half to been briefed to all down treys units and now we're trying to play catch up and figure out what do we do what do we do with the troops that are here it seems like he just saw that on something that was on fox news that morning and made an impulsive decision i understand that it may be refreshing to his base but he's

he's has a responsibility to get the facts before he just rushes to a conclusion and tweets it out sometimes he tweets out just completely erroneous information with spelling mistakes it's embarrassing frankly but i know that his base likes it it's just not how things are done only don't you have a good point. i as i said i think we have to stop becoming accustomed to this new age of how all politic. shin's speak to people and i think it goes with the you know my generation the fact that everybody is on social media and it is a new level of authenticity but it is kind of a double standard because you have to look at congressman and how the the lady views in the news for you know calling our polish to size in what's gone on with the deaths of the soldiers i mean if it's a double standard to call trump out for you know rushing to rushing to to say something erratic way when you've got congresswoman on the left to

a doing that and for me in a more shameful way and politicizing a tragedy when we should all be uniting together to praise it. he is the president and that's true but you have to look at the fact that all congresswoman and all representatives have equal responsibility in my opinion as politicians and representatives of the people rather than the present trend is warning congressional republicans of dire consequences in the two thousand eighteen mid terms of tax reform isn't passed. will they pass or do you think well i'm. i'm very concerned about that i spoke about this with you last time and i don't think that it's basically responsible i really think larry that we've got a big problem the biggest problem that i see with this is still that this is going to hurt the middle class by way of the loss of the mortgage interest deduction because now that only still is in effect for people who have

a mortgage of eight hundred one thousand dollars or more so that means that all middle class americans who have mortgages will no longer benefit from the mortgage interest deduction the national socialist association of realtors the national home builders association have both told us that that we're going to lose about ten percent of the value our homes just the math isn't adding up and they we are going to some republicans will suffer in the midterms when this starts affecting middle of america and they lose ten percent of their home values but get told that don't worry about it because you're going to get a one thousand dollars a year benefit on your taxes it's not going to work out for middle class americans from this thing if they don't this is they're going to lose in two thousand and eighteen. he's saying if they do this is diluting he's saying if they do pairs they're going to lose from saying if they don't pass it to get me to use danger trump the one they saw in his economic policies and here we need to start speaking to small businesses we the middle class is getting crunched and we need to

protect our small businesses protect our how hard working citizens and i think economy is we need this tax return tax return reform and the economy is on to see what what will bring us to success is republicans the fact that we will unite behind this tax reform indeed it will pass yes i do think we have a good chance if the left get behind us to. we have a chance of passing yes as a devil necessary as a democrat robin. are you happy that steve benen is the time to declaring war on the middle the middle the middle aged republicans i could say those who stand. sort of with the establishment and he's trying to knock the bottom office are you gleeful i know the area as a democrat i'm loving this i just want to sit back and pop some popcorn and sort of watch them fight with themselves and do the in-fighting it's entertaining to

a point but you know i want what's best for americans right now this tax plan is not good for for low class milton low class american low income excuse me low income americans are getting their taxes raised by two percent and then for middle class americans like i just said it's not going to benefit them this benefits corporations and people who make four hundred forty thousand dollars more a year or so less steve benen do is thing just create a ruckus and i'll sit back and enjoy it as a political analyst generally you will public can you represent republicans you can't like with steve benen to do that i think steve. bach is wes in his bite i went to the california g.o.p. convention steve benen was that and i think he spoke very successfully among the g.o.p. fundamentally you know republicans are against his topless men and that in a way unites republicans and i don't i'm not sitting back and eating my popcorn

because i'm confident that people like steve but you know steve benen is for trump and that is the trash americans elected president trump so do you want to see burn in succeed and have those congressmen who support. being opposed by those who want to go more toward trump you want to see them out of office no i'm not saying i want to see them out of office but i'm saying that the g.o.p. itself is moving towards an anti establishment philosophy amounts not anything to do with one in people out of office necessarily i don't see it as something that will you know closer it's between the pot it within the party robbing generally praise generally praised the public the president about his stance on health care what do you make of his stance on healthcare. you know harry reid just spoke about

this over the weekend and said that donald trump himself is sabotaging the they'll fordable care act aka obamacare we have seen this he's not he's got of the advertising budget and i will say now that i have a chance but open enrollment is from november fifth first to november fifteenth and not on sundays that's not being put out there so we'll get it out there now and you know he's he's done away with the subsidies for lower income people while at the same time he tweeted out and said if you see your premiums go up blame obama that's not actually happening though his his loyalists are already i'm seeing them turn on him and say i have seen my premiums go up since you've been elected i'm holding you accountable and i don't think that his tactic is going to work and i think this is going to come back and bite the republicans where hurts and twenty eight hundred larry general. the no of ways bite us in twenty eighteen

obamacare is unsustainable it's proven to be unsustainable and as a going back to my point that trump is willing to walk across the aisle to get supports to pos a health care reform that will be sustainable and beneficial for americans and that's what both parties need to get behind no more bickering this is we need to pos this bill and people on the left should be supporting us. to speeches last week by george w. bush and barack obama not mentioning trump by name references to where we stand tree like i think it's you know it is important to acknowledge the president but in in there isn't say chose not to i don't think it's you know staying out of it is is one thing but i would prefer to see people here who did rally and simple and did. you know it did kind of give all president the

respect that he needs we need to we need to kids say his name and we can't be afraid of that any longer so you think if they're going to criticize. yeah absolutely in my opinion what do you think robin. i don't think that we need to say as a name we know exactly who they were talking about when they said that this era of nationalism is dangerous trump brought us this era of dashon was and we know exactly who they were talking about i'm glad that they spoke from their conscience from their soul it was very effective and powerful and i didn't have any problem with that at all larry but i will say that to mr brown's point i do really genuinely want more barges bipartisan support but i want him to make good on his campaign promises democrats want him to make good on his campaign promises that he's going to deliver reforms that really genuinely help middle class americans and

what we're seeing just as not the case larry and democrats need to get on board with us in order to achieve its goals thank you bill like i said they've got to see what he's promised and i were not saying that that's a perfect example rob and generally it pointed out just exactly what's going on in the thank you gentlemen thank you thank you robert thank you so much thank you very much a day and thanks for joining me on this edition of politicking remember you can join the conversation on my facebook page or tweet me at kings things and don't forget use the politicking hash tag and that's all for this edition of politicking. about your sudden passing i've only just learnt you worry yourself in taking your last term. your act to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry. so i write these last words in hopes to put to rest these things that i never got much steve. remember when we first met my life turned on each.

and my feelings started to change you talked about more like it was still some more fun to feel those that didn't like to question our arc and they promised to never be like it said one does not leave the funeral in the same as one enters the mind it's consumed with this one. speech because there are no other takers. to claim that mainstream media has met its make.

welcome to on contact today we discuss the climate crisis with dr james hansen so it's more energy coming in from the sun then there is heat radiating to space and so the planet is going to continue to get warmer until we restore the planet's energy balance. with chris adams the planet as the climatologist james hansen warns is out of energy balance in other words there is more energy coming in from the sun then there is heat being radiated to space as long as this remains true the earth will steadily get warmer and the destructive effects of climate change.