>> i'm monica malpass. accusations of rigged voting machines, fake news -- tricky issues that are still left over from election day. let's get the inside story. ♪ good morning, and welcome to "inside story." i'm monica malpass. let's meet this week's insiders, and they are larry platt, journalist. good morning. welcome to you, sir. ed turzanski, foreign policy analyst. glad to have you back, ed. nelson diaz, former judge and attorney. good morning, sir. thanks for being here. and jan ting, law professor. always a pleasure. thank you so much. gentlemen, let's talk about a few leftover issues, not the least of which just got a ruling this past week. a pennsylvania judge decided to block the audit of philadelphia voting machines. this was a request by one of the candidates, the green party candidate jill stein. she's requested it in a few other states. but her request was denied at this level after the county commissioners had found no irregularities in about 1,700

machines. was this the right ruling? can we be done with this issue? although she points out that in illinois and arizona, there were a few irregularities. so that was the premise of the idea behind it. what do you think, jan? >> jill stein's lawsuit should all be thrown out of court. she doesn't have any more standing to bring a case than any one of us does. you know, she has no stake. you don't waste judicial resources on cases where no one's actually been harmed and no one has the prospect of being harmed going forward. you have to show harm to get your day in court. otherwise, the courts will be tied up forever. >> right, and you know what, nelson? otherwise, she also said that there possibly had been some -- you know, dnc got hacked by outside forces, that there could have been some other foreign body doing this. but they had no evidence that it had happened here, so that was the other reason it got thrown out. >> what i like about jill stein's lawsuit, whether standing or not, is the fact that there are a number of machines in the state that have no paper.

it's totally electronic. and they could be hacked, and easily hacked. and i think that to put some emphasis on having trust and relationship with regard to the voters, i think their knowledge of what happened, what occurred. she only lost the state by 65,000 votes. so, an election that close, you know, will continue. and she's ahead by 2.7 million votes, in terms of the popular vote. >> you mean hillary, not jill stein. >> no, hillary. >> right, hillary, right. >> in jill stein's dreams. >> philadelphia uses cartridges. they're not even connected to the internet. so hacking could not have happened. >> well, in philadelphia, not only the cartridges, but philadelphia would have a paper trail. but there's no paper trail in many of the state machines throughout, and i think that just helps to understand whether or not they will hack it and we could learn how to really do a voting process correctly. that's all i think it's about. >> i think that would be the per view of some congressional committees perhaps, if we want to look at that. it's not the place, as jan says, for the courts. the other thing is for -- i

didn't support donald trump. but to those like me who didn't support donald trump, news break -- the election is over. we need to move on to governing, and this is all sort of, i think, an emotional response by those on the left. >> it's very interesting that in michigan, where they very quickly threw out her appeal because she had no standing, the legislature wound up passing a voter i.d. law. >> mm-hmm. >> because they said there are concerns about people who may be voting who should not, and they also appropriated a large fund so that everyone could be registered. if you require i.d. to get into the federal building to conduct commerce, to do all sorts of things, why not do it when it comes to voting? so, here jill stein, i think -- and, by the way, i think it's very cynical on her part. she's raising money to build a

donor list that she will use for other purposes. >> got it. >> but it's interesting that she wound up prompting a response in michigan that -- >> could be helpful? >> well, and she wouldn't like. >> she raised more money for this than her entire campaign. >> right, there you go. >> very quickly, and the question is from whom? >> here's the other question that came out of the election, at least one other one. a lot of fake news happened. in fact, if you want to look at it, fake news outperformed real news that had been verified on facebook during the election. and what's concerning about that is a lot of people of all ages, but certainly millennials, rely on the internet as their sole news source. so if it's not being backed up by some legitimate, normal journalists as we'd call them, then how do they know what's real and what's not? it really blurs the line. where do we go? do we hire human editors, which is very expensive? do we do what they call crowdsourcing, where you try to get a verified news checker, but they're easy to game, if you will. or is there a technology solution which some outfits are looking at? >> well, this is largely why a bunch of us started the philadelphia citizen.

'cause we were concerned about the state of journalism and the level of public discourse. but i keep coming back to the fact, the underlying principle that drove us, which is that citizenship is not a spectator sport, and it's up to the individual citizen to take it seriously and to actually do the investigation that's required of us in civil society to find out what's real and what's not. that information is out there. it just requires work. >> so, you have to consider the source. you have to look at more than one source, is what you're saying. they have to sort of become mini-journalists. >> that's right. it's a marketplace of ideas. and there's a lot of crap in the marketplace of ideas. >> well, i'm a little disturbed at the news that's coming out in that fashion. there's got to be some legislation to hold liable many of these false news. i mean, the recent one where they talked about fires and people were totally upset in terms of what was going on. i just think there's got to be

some liability on the part not only of those individuals, but how the news is allowed to come out. and that's the only way you're gonna stop, but -- >> they certainly do it in marketing, where they say it's false advertising if you just tout a product and make things up that it can do when they really don't do it. >> the first amendment's gonna get in the way of all of that. and there are two things that i think -- >> but not lies. >> no, but, well -- all right, so hear me out on this. there are two things that drive all this. one, technology has made everyone their own editor and broadcaster. that's one thing. the other thing is conventional media have done things in the past that, quite frankly, fit the description of fake news. nbc dateline, exploding trucks, brian williams. dan rather with the bush national guard story. and it's amazing how people just don't appreciate when they are being ironic. hillary clinton comes out for an

event this week where she says, pretty much says, "i lost because of fake news." and she's there to honor harry reid who, four years ago, got up in the well of the senate and said, "mitt romney hasn't paid any taxes." now, they knew the story to be false. it was reported time and time again. didn't help romney in the election. and then nearly four years later, they say to harry reid, "hey, you knew that wasn't the truth." and his response is, "well, we won, didn't we?" >> right, right. >> now, what are we gonna do? prosecute harry reid for telling a lie? >> yes. >> you can't prosecute, but i think part of the problem is technological, as ed suggests. when people get their news on the internet, especially on their phones, they're just reading the headlines. there's no long-form story that they're gonna click into, and you're not gonna read a long story on your phone. >> but that's part of the problem. they don't have time, or don't choose to have time. >> the demise of traditional

print media, like newspapers, is, i think, tragic. and i commend larry's efforts to create alternatives that people can actually access through technology. but it's not the same as being able to explore a story in detail, to get to the details, and make your own judgments based on the details in the story, whether this is a credible story or not. >> historically, the role of the journalist is to arbitrate between competing sets of facts. and i think as an industry, journalism ought to rethink it's philosophical underpinnings. 'cause the notion of objectivity has morphed into this deadening voice of neutrality. you have to be able to call out when someone's lying and engage in the marketplace of ideas instead of false equivalencies. and you're right, ed. the media fell down in this election. how can you have three national debates and not a single question about climate change? those great journalists that

moderated those, and we didn't even debate that issue. >> but also, research and investigative research has really gone down the drain in terms of journalism. i mean, we've taken the easy way out. whatever's available we publish, but we don't look at a person's background. we don't look at the opportunities. >> well, you know, nelson, i think jan makes the point. the way people are consuming news has pushed everybody into safe harbors where they're only listening to what they want to hear. >> right. >> and there's a great site, realclearpolitics, where they aggregate news stories, which, first of all, requires some time to read, but it's always point/ counterpoint. >> sure. >> and they have a number of stories that force you to get out of your safe zone and maybe see what the other side is saying. >> all right, let's move on. we're gonna talk about an interesting, from the horse's mouth, rumor, if you will, at least. vice president joe biden says he has not ruled out a possible run in 2020. he didn't say yes, he didn't say no, but he did tell a commentator that you never know

in life. he made a funny point and said, "look, by that time donald trump will be 74." but p.s. -- joe biden will be 78. >> and he's in better shape. >> there you go. it's not an ageism question, is the point. what do you think? is he just trying to, you know... >> i think it's joe being joe. it's obviously too early to start talking about 2020. but, you know, it does bear to keep in mind that had joe biden been the nominee, i think that midwest firewall of the white working class might have stayed home for the democrats. >> because joe would have been able to assuage their anger, or because he had some humble roots, or... >> he's got some empathy. he's not -- he doesn't come off as the kind of elitist that many in the democratic party -- >> he also has a good record on women because of the assault issue on women. he's got a great record on service. he's got a great family of service. he's very well liked, and he speaks a little bit like trump.

he doesn't have that whole verse-iology that these other candidates have. so, i think joe would have appealed to the common person. joe would have been a great candidate. and i think he sees that he could have won and sort of, you know, having that scope of, "i could of won, so i better not give this up just in case trump screws up really bad." >> it's certainly wise to keep all his options open. nobody knows what it's gonna look like as we get further into the first trump term. but as biden points out, he's only three and a half years older than trump, so if trump is not too old, either now or in four years, is there like a dividing line between the two of them where one is too old and one's not? i don't think so. >> bernie was, what, 78? >> yeah. >> so, listen, everybody who aspires to the presidency, at some point they start whispering in your ear, telling you how great you are and how well you'll do. >> that's right. >> and then, in the abstract, joe says, "yeah, i could've done this."

and he forgets. joe, you've got a pretty long record, and there's a lot of things that would have come out in opposition research against you. and i think he had a sobering moment when they came to him, showed him the gun that clinton was gonna use against him, and said, "maybe i'm better off with my reputation the way it is." >> right. >> "so, every once in a while, i just tease a little bit and say i might run." >> well, look at the senate. >> and everybody says, "oh, i wish you would." >> but look at the senate. i mean, they gave him, including the republicans on both sides, the fact that he's a person that can be trusted despite the fact that there may be disagreements. so there's a strong relationship both on the republican and democratic side of him being one of them. and i think to some extent -- >> so is mitch mcconnell, and i don't think he's running. >> all right. >> can i also say that, for all our sanity, we just got done this election. let's not talk about 2020. >> right. all right, let's talk about philadelphia, locally, politics. someone who wants to run for

district attorney, is running, one of our insiders who's now going to be running for d.a. former managing director rich negrin did throw his name in the hat this past week. he has a remarkable story that he released in an emotional video, actually, about his family history. his parents fled cuba. his father was assassinated in a mistaken case of identity, and rich saw that as a child. went on to become a lawyer, a prosecutor, and now running for attorney general. so, do you think he can -- >> no, for district attorney. >> i'm sorry, district attorney. do you think he can unseat seth williams? >> i think that one of the good things about him running is we had a 5% increase in the state on latino votes during this election, even under the trump election. we had a 30% vote for trump on the latino vote, so it wasn't sort of a taken, a given. and i think having more latinos get into the action helps the fact that they can identify with a candidate and can begin the voter registration activity. seth is probably the most vulnerable at this time, but as

you know, it's an off-year election. there's a low turnout in terms of off-year elections, and when you have an off-year election, a very small faction, like the northwest or south philly, can decide the election. >> and seth is vulnerable because of the fbi and irs investigations into some of his gifts that were given and not reported. >> sure, and the big thing in this race, i think, is how many candidates are there gonna be? >> right, we already have three others. >> seth williams is vulnerable, yes, that's true. but how many candidates are there gonna be? they're already three challengers, and there's probably gonna be more, at least one more. >> joe khan, teresa deni, right. >> so, in a five-way race, somebody could win with a plurality of as little as 20% plus one, with the vote all divided up. and that makes it kind of unpredictable. now, i personally think rich is a great candidate and i think an impressive candidate. he's got a great video out now. >> yes, so we'll see. >> but i think the challenges are significant in a

multi-candidate race. if it was just rich and seth, you know, go rich. >> we're gonna take a break. "inside story" continues right after this. >> "inside story" is presented by temple university. remarkable change isn't easy, but for those who take charge, it comes naturally. explore temple's impact. visit temple.edu/impact.

♪ >> a dubious distinction for philadelphia, unfortunately. a new poll just ranked philadelphia the 42nd worst-run state out of 50.

it has dropped like a rock in just the last six years from being 15th worst in 2011. and now 42nd. it's based on a few factors -- the bond rating, which is not great, a high unemployment, ongoing pension crisis, and approaching a $2 billion deficit now. how do we get off this bad track? >> well, you know, one of the things is we have a real-estate boom. having a real-estate boom also helps us because we are probably one of the most affordable markets between washington, d.c., and new york, including new jersey. and that helps us in terms of all of the development that is occurring. we have a lot of people who were transporting themselves from here to new york, also, to go to work. so we are getting a larger base of individuals. i think the issue has always been the tough bureaucracy that businesspeople have to go through in terms of establishing themselves and going through a process which is very different for them and very frustrating. >> and so, r's are gonna blame d's, d's are gonna blame r's. is it corbett's fault? is it governor wolf's fault, currently? who's to blame?

>> no one wants to touch the pension crisis, which is the real anchor pulling down the entire commonwealth. and to nelson's point -- this is not a hospitable climate for business. and i think finally they're going to have to get together. consider this -- philadelphia has the worst severe poverty rate of any major american city. this should be a statewide concern. >> and we only have three-days reserve money, by the way. >> and this pension crisis, some day -- i mean, i was just at a conference that was talking about this -- they're gonna -- some day, it's gonna become more transparent and people are gonna recognize the threat that the pension crisis is. and that's gonna pull down home values. you're gonna have to discount the value of property in pennsylvania because of the attached liability from the pension shortfall. >> and that's really what this report is about. what this report is about is the bipartisan effort to just kick the can down the road of this hidden crisis, because what's gonna happen is, eventually, the

pension crisis is going to drain dollars from infrastructure and education. it already is, but it's going to hit home and, you're right, then we'll be in a real crisis. >> and the party that decides to take on pension reform is gonna be beaten by the other side... >> they'll pay dearly. >> ...who's gonna say that, "you are stealing money from pensioners and you're cold and heartless" and all of that. >> in a state that has the second-highest age population after florida. we have the oldest populace. >> and, you know, the market after trump is hitting rocket numbers, so to some extent, some of those investments should be helpful. but, again, the poor process of doing investments, the poor process of having people not understanding how to professionally bring business to bear has really affected us. >> cut taxes, cut regulation, bring in business, hire people. >> 17% of the philadelphia budget goes to paying the pension shortfall. imagine what we could do with that cash.

>> chunk of cash. all right, let's talk about one of the sad repercussions is overdoses. people who are unemployed, depressed, have all kinds of medical and emotional issues are turning to heroin. more and more opioid addiction, and the overdoses just in the past couple of weeks are stunning. we had nine people who died in one neighborhood of kensington last weekend. 50 people died in one day three weeks ago. it is shocking. it's expensive because narcan, the price of naloxone, is going up double and triple. we cannot afford to medicate people out of their addictions, and then try to save them. we've got to do something on the front end. how do we stem the root issues here, the depression -- >> first of all, we recognize that this is nationwide. and we've just heard that for the first time since 1993, life expectancy in the united states has declined. now, they mention heart disease, obesity, diabetes, but this opioid problem is nationwide, and it's manifesting itself in

places that you wouldn't expect. it's rampant throughout new england. these are problems. this is a national health crisis, and if anything ever called for having a bipartisan commission to look at an issue, it's this one. >> i've worked with drug addicts and ex-drug addicts. and those drug addicts tell me that the high that they get from this is something that can't be replaced almost by anything. so, the psychological effect is difficult. secondly, not trying it the first time has got to be an educational program starting early, and scare the kids to death in terms of what's gonna occur. and thirdly, you've got to give some alternatives. once a person kicks, there's a problem in terms of what he's gonna do next. many of them have these criminal records. many of them have other issues. and as a result, they have nothing else to do and they go

right back because it sort of softens their fall. >> i've felt for a long time that in order to stop people from taking that first step and trying drugs, i mean, to me the key has always been good jobs. people that have a good job are much less tempted to do something stupid like try illegal drugs. that's the real challenge. that's hard, too. where are we gonna get good jobs for people, not just minimum-wage jobs were you have to string a bunch together to make a living? >> there is a bipartisan solution here. there's a bill, the 21st century cures bill, that has $1 billion worth of funding for the opioid crisis. problem is that a lot of these victims are not the people we're describing. they're people who go in for a knee surgery and then get prescribed painkillers and they're addicted and then the cheap high after that runs out is heroin. it is an epidemic. >> there are more people that die in philadelphia from this than from homicides. >> double the homicide rate,

actually. >> so it is an epidemic. and an epidemic should be treated with some emergency relief, and so we as citizens have to do something to figure out how we save this next generation. >> i agree. all right, "inside story" is coming your way right after we take a break.

>> "inside story" is presented by temple university. remarkable change isn't easy, but for those who take charge, it comes naturally. explore temple's impact. visit temple.edu/impact. >> time for inside stories of the week, and let's start with jan. >> president obama's department of justice, with a little encouragement from the republican congress, has served notice on sanctuary cities like philadelphia that they are not in compliance with 8 usc 1373, and, therefore, justice department funding, which they have been receiving, will be cut off in fy 2017, the current fiscal year. we all know that the incoming

administration has promised to cut off even more funding. but the justice department funding, their on notice is ending. >> all right, larry. >> monica, this weekend was pennsylvania society in new york, and hopefully it'll be the last one in new york. waldorf astoria is closing for three years for renovations, and governor rendell has said this is the perfect opportunity for his long-stated idea of moving it back to pennsylvania, pennsylvania and philly in alternate years. governor wolf agrees, and didn't go to pennsylvania society, went to an alternative thrown by millennials last night. >> they say it's six weeks of networking in three days, so people understand what it is. all right, go ahead, ed. >> for the third consecutive time, the union league of philadelphia was named the number-one city club in the united states. this week, they thanked their outgoing president, gregory montanaro, who's also the honorary consul of austria here in philadelphia. mr. president, union league, love of country leads, well done. >> all right, nelson. >> taller puertorriqueño just built a new facility -- about

$15 million investment of a museum where you'll be able to see latino painters and artists all year-round, and you'll be able to see cultural and educational program. it's in the heart of north philadelphia, it's been 10 years in the making, and i would encourage you to go visit that new museum. >> it just opened last week. terrific. thank you so much to all our insiders. thanks to you for watching. hope you have a great week ahead. we'll see you right back here next sunday morning. ♪ i'm nydia han along with gray hall. coming up next, blanket scarves and hats, moms and dads waited in line for a toy. >> a wilmington firefighter is honored as she is laid to rest. the eagles want to put on the

brakes to their losing streak. those stories and more next on "action news."

>> good afternoon it is sunday, december 11. i'm nydia han along with gray hall. >> here's some of the stories we're following on "action news." cold settles across the area and someplaces will see wintery precipitation. a driver escapes just in time after a car crashes and burst into flames. >> a career