we have jack blankenship joining us via skype to talk to us. i'm holding an article from the crimson white. the headline is blankenship named new face of the university. is this all an april fools joke? >> maybe it is my time for office. of course not. >> so you got the face to insight a crowd at a basketball game. has this attention had any other good effects for you, if you yo know what i mean? >> first off, i don't know what you mean. if you're referring to the dating game, i got a lot of facebook friends but zero dates. >> but you still got the face. give us the face. ♪ >> as president of the university of alabama, i want dreams to come true on campus. the therefore i would be installing wishing wells on every corner of campus. >> what happen now? >> i never thought i would be on late night or jimmy fallon, but for now, the future is unknown. >> take it easy. that's going to do it for this edition of "right this minute." we have one more video. this is beautiful footage from a trip to vienna, austria. stick around. another half hour of "rtm

because if any one person is responsible for what happened in upper big branch, it's don blankenship. number two, what we need to do is clarify the authority of msha. we have repeatedly said, why didn't msha close this mine down? well, let's clarify that authority. if we believed that that's what they should do when they find circumstances like they found, let's clarify that authority and say you do have it. and if you want to do something for the coal miners of the united states of america, you stand behind whoever is running msha and say to the operators who may choose to operate like don blankenship did, that you, the congress of the united states, republican and democrat alike, will stand behind the enforcement agency of the united states and see that we do not see these conditions again. number three, workers need to be empow empowered. and if you can can do one thing before you leave this session of congress, let's give the power to the coal miner himself. because as we are sitting in this room today, i guarantee you that some form and somewhere is telling a miner to go under un

that is, if you have a massey energy and you have someone like don blankenship running a number of mines, they're extremely dangerous, how do you stop that? number one, the penalties -- criminal penalties under the mine act are ridiculously low. we just saw that at crandall canyon. for $500,000 for two criminal acts is all they had to pay. that's not even a half day's work for production. so the penalties are extremely low. no one is going to pay particular attention to that. i think there needs to be more severe penalties. and i think those penalties have to go up the ladder higher than they do currently. when we put mine foremen in jail, the person who told the mine foreman what to do is still walking around free and clear. so we have to be able to go up the ladder all the way up to the chief executive of the company, if that is who is making these decisions and putting others at risk. >> but that's beyond a misdemeanor. >> absolutely. that's got to be a felony and it's got to be written into the law and it doesn't exist right now. >> thank you. >> the gentleman's time is expired. i re

blankenship could have shut this mine down. they could have decided not to provide advance notice of the inspections underground to the mining operator -- to the mining personnel. so we could have had a fair view of the conditions there. we have to understand, it's the mine operator's responsibility to run the mine safety and have programs in place to protect miners. many of them do every day of the week. some don't and some like upper big branch, really the miners pay just a hell of a price, excuse my french whenever they don't. >> you point out bhavr number of shifts that mine operator, that irresponsible mine operator can get in between the next shut down, you thought it was between $ 00,000 a shift to run. >> the gentleman's time has experienced. >> thank you. thank you mr. main for being back here. i want to focus on the internal review. it seems the tone and bretd of that document almost shielded headquarters on this. it's not until page 193 that the report speakers directly to headquarter deficiencies. do you have a comm

this state was afraid to touch blankenship, so he was let go with however he wants to run this company. my son and 28 others were just at work. they had no one protecting them. please don't let their deaths be in vain and that another family be destroyed thankful was from mr. quarles' letter. and i would ask that his entire letter be made part of the record, if not now, at the proper time. >> without objection. >> thank you. there was a boss at ubb by the name of dean jones who perished who wanted to bring his crew out, not once, but several times because they had no air. he was told if you do so, then bring your bucket and look for another job. this man and his crew stayed because he needed his job, even if his life was in danger. because of these men being threatened, they are now dead, end quote. so i know you have touched upon this already, president roberts in response to earlier questions, and i know ms. woolsey brought up the situation where there are no other jobs and how the coal miners need the good pay that is associated with working in our underground mines. but there is st

and we have a photo from debbie blankenship from sebastian, florida.u. >> survivors will be ticketed. that's good. >> finally, julie ann watts. that's worst than getting towed in my opinion. if you violate and park here, you will be forced to wash clothes. hoda, i have to mention the tweet i did about the toaster. i don't mean to offend hoda. i don't really see her in the kitchen. >> that's mean. >> nobody else does, either. >> by the way, should we point out the toaster in studio 1a takes forever to toast bread? it's like a bread warmer. >> if you're lucky enough to have any bread left. >> all righty. >> to actually eat. >> send your pictures into klgandhoda.com. >>> how much do you know about being green? we're going to play "who knew?" and find out. >> plus, the wine on your dinner table. >> and actress blythe danner. she's adorable. she tells us who the real lucky one is. >> and on her way to the olympics. >> hoda's going to take her on. yeah, hoda. >> she should be afraid. [ male announcer ] this one goes out to all the allergy muddlers. you know

on many topics jean blankenship says i enjoy the show.e a better option than morning joe. with regard to ted nugent romney wants us to believe he is going to stand up to iran and other terrible regimes around the world but doesn't have the cojones tonugent. good point. >> here is an anonymous viewer who says, i love your show and love you on current tv. long-time fan but please know that the phrase -- i didn't know this, peter "friends of bill" is code for members of alcoholics anonymous to identify each other or look for aa meetings as i don't believe you are a member of aa, i suggest you drop that phrase. >> i didn't know that. >> where the hell do you think i learned it? right. right. when we say, "friends of bill," we mean it. >> that's right. >> that's why we have the balvani scotch in here last week. keep the e-mails coming. love them. >> this is the bill press show. ♪ happy thursday, thursday april 19th. good morning, everybody. welcome to the full-court press, your new morning show right here on current tv. great to see you this m

and we have a photo from debbie blankenship from sebastian, florida.her in the kitchen. >> that's mean. >> nobody else does, either. >> by the way, should we point out the toaster in studio 1a takes forever to toast bread? it's like a bread warmer. >> if you're lucky enough to have any bread left. >> all righty. >> to actually eat. >> send your pictures into klgandhoda.com. >>> how much do you know about being green? we're going to play "who knew?" and find out. >> plus, the wine on your dinner table. >> and actress blythe danner. >> and on her way to the olympics. >> hoda's going to take her on. yeah, hoda. >> she should be afraid. i've been eating activia and i feel great! i'm used to having irregularity. i feel like that's normal. if you are not feeling like trying this on, that's not normal. activia helps with occasional irregularity when eaten 3 times a day. feeling regular to me was a new feeling... i came to find my 'new normal' and i love it! ♪ activia and try new silky, fruity activia harvest picks. another way to enjoy activia. oh, there's a