back in 2009 greg abbott, the

>> rachel, greg abbott has made a mess out of texas voting. there was nothing wrong with our voting system in texas previous to this voting i.d. law that was passed in the legislature. texas had great voting laws. we have a very nice early vote period. you can vote for almost two weeks during early vote. senior citizens have the right to vote by mail. we made it easy to vote by texas. but because of the numbers that you talked about earlier, republicans are seeing the growing numbers of latinos in the state, the growing numbers of african-americans, and they are beginning to be concerned because they haven't made any sort of outreach to the black community or the latino community, and so, they're trying to skew the elections their way. i think this is a tragedy. and rachel, i'll tell you that it's so bad that you -- i'm sure that you saw earlier that wendy davis actually had to file an affidavit to vote. greg abbott, her presumptive opponent in the general election in 2014, he actually had to file an affidavit to vote. but the former speaker o

>> rachel, greg abbott has made a mess out of texas voting. there was nothing wrong with our voting system in texas previous to this voting i.d. law that was passed in the legislature. texas had great voting laws. we have a very nice early vote period. you can vote for almost two weeks during early vote. senior citizens have the right to vote by mail. we made it easy to vote by texas. but because of the numbers that you talked about earlier, republicans are seeing the growing numbers of latinos in the state, the growing numbers of african-americans, and they are beginning to be concerned because they haven't made any sort of outreach to the black community or the latino community, and so, they're trying to skew the elections their way. i think this is a tragedy. and rachel, i'll tell you that it's so bad that you -- i'm sure that you saw earlier that wendy davis actually had to file an affidavit to vote. greg abbott, her presumptive opponent in the general election in 2014, he actually had to file an affidavit to vote. but the former speaker o

back in 2009 greg abbott, the owner of whiffy's fried pies was hanging out with tech enthusiasts by his food cart. he was discussing bitcoin. one of the folks hanging out, early investor offered $1,000 bit coins for one of his hand pies. he says i didn't say no. i got distracted and the individual walked off. that was a $250,000 mistake. silly me. based on yesterday's value that's a $700,000 mistake. that certainly would have been the most expensive pie in the history of human kind. this is absolutely fascinating. by the way, he did proceed to start accepting bit coins as a number of portland facilities have done using mobile app that converts from bitcoin to dollar and back and forth based on the most recent exchange rate. this is a functional, viable technology at this very moment. so with that, senator kirk. >> thank you. thank you for bringing us together on this bitcoin effort. i would say i've been worried about bitcoin some, because it's so complicated it could facilitate illegal activities or terrorist activities. >> thank you, senator kirk. i think that's obviously one of the f

back in 2009 greg abbott, the owner of withee's fried pies, e was hanging out with a bunch of tech enthusiasts along his food cart and he was discussing the s potential of the then new online currency known as bitcoin. and one of the folks hanging out, an early investor, offered abbott 1,000 bitcoins for one of his hand pies.pies. he says, "i didn't say no.he s i just got distracted and the n. individual wandered off."in and he says, "that was a stake. $250,000 mistake.. silly me."based on well, based on yesterday's value that was a $700,000 mistake.n that certainly would have been the most expensive pie in the history of humankind. this is absolutely fascinating. by the way, he did proceed to start accepting bitcoins as a number of portland facilities have done, using a mobile app that converts from dollar co bitcoin to dollar and back and forth based on the most recent exchange rate.rate so. this is actually a functional, viable technology at this very moment. so with that senator kirk. senar >> senator kirk. >> thank you, mr. chairman. not just thank you for gathering us together on this bi

>> and the greg abbott piece has the sense of poetic justice, like at least he's getting caught up inbut he has resources available to him that others don't. when you talk about abbott in texas, it's also a reminder that in virginia, the other seat that is open here, where there's a big fight. in fact, maybe the last one that is competitive in that state at this point is the attorney general's seat. and that mark obenshain is somebody who particularly, reproductive rights advocates are pushing to make sure he does not win that attorney general seat in virginia. >> folks are really organizing against him, which is exciting. but you proubrought up this quen of turnout. we have two things going on. one is, we all know that voter fraud is not an issue. we don't have a voter fraud problem, we have a voter turnout problem. we have a problem in our democracy that you began, that not enough people are active members of our democracy, they're spectators rather than participants. but the other side of this that i've been thinking more and more about is how does the right think about voters in t

was the wrong thing to do look the next governor of texas is probably going to be state attorney greg abbott you know he is a good and avid supporter of gun rights these people should be out there trying to get him elected and not going in doing this p.r. disaster tom this is you and i can agree that this was the wrong thing to do but it does show the emotions he was going to marry and we had as i say we have want to sit at a minimum if we've got to hit the break i'm i'm curious what both chris and it sure is it shows how childish the gun industry has really become i mean there's no industry that's more protected in washington then the gun industry when there's a higher chance to have this while this was going to yahoo that any gun control is getting passed there are no gun controls going to dip house and every time whether it's some rally or whether it's a group of mothers meeting at a mexican restaurant in texas to talk about it they freak out in a bunch of gun not show up our own armed to the teeth when president thought zero quickly i don't know what their meaning was but i have an inter

was the wrong thing to do look the next governor of texas is probably going to be state attorney greg abbott you know he is a good and avid supporter of gun rights these people should be out there trying to get him elected and not going in doing this p.r. disaster tom this is you and i can agree that this was the wrong thing to do but it does show the emotions he was going to marry and we had a we have want to sit at a minimum if we've got to hit the break i'm i'm curious what both chris and it sure is it shows how childish the gun industry has really become i mean there's no industry that's more protected in washington then the gun industry when there's a higher chance to have this obama's was a bunch of yahoos that any gun control is getting passed there are no gun controls going to dip house and every time whether it's some rally or whether it's a group of mothers meeting at a mexican restaurant in texas to talk about it they freaked out in a bunch of gun not show up our own armed to the teeth three years ago i thought zero quickly i don't know what their meaning was but i have an interes

just today you have greg abbott, the attorney general in texas.'s running for governor of texas on the republican side asking the courts to go forward with shutting down a third of abortion clinics in texas. in texas, a state where a lot of women are already having to go to flee markets and across the border to mexico in order to have the legal procedure of abortion. >> yeah. and when you look at the data, polls are saying that when they were asked if it was a good thing for women to be elected more women to congress, 60% of democrats said yes. just 23% of republicans agreed. not saying much for empowering women. >> right. but that also speaks to having an older, more male base. right? and this is how parties become increasingly marginalized. i do think there is a bigger issue for republicans in general which is if you're going to say you're the party of individual freedom, of american freedom, then -- and small government, you've got to ask yourself why are you trying to intrude on women's lives so much? people aren't stupid. they understand this

you have greg abbott on the republican side, the likely republican nominee, who is just egregious on these issues and many others versus wendy davis who would be a champion of women and women's health. >> you know, jess, a lot of these republican politicians are taking their cues from the talkers, the right wing talkers. especially the boss of the party rush limbaugh. listen to what he had to say. >> unmarried women are looking at government for everything. obama care is a giant goody bag for unmarried women. look at what they're doing to women with their policies. i mean, they're demeaning them. they're turning them into nothing but abortion machines. buy your own birth control pill. buy your own breast pump. it's not health insurance, it's welfare. >> it's not only ugly words, jess, but you can feel the venom and hate dripping from him as he says this. it's unbelievable the intense dislike he seems to have as he says these things. >> comparing that with the clip that you just played of the republican women comptroller in texas, it's got to be so tough to be a republican woman right

the chairman of the branch lorenzo garcia was a paid field representative for greg abbott, texas attorneyeral who is now running for governor. abbott's press secretary said the campaign had no affiliation with this repugnant effort. for the young conservatives on the austin campus, games like these may not appear to have a consequence. for the one in five ut students who are hispanic and hispanics who make up 38% of the state of texas, bigotry are deeply meaningful. chasing down people who look illegal, selling cookies at cut rates to humiliate people of color, this is not an education, a lesson in tolerance and a primer on hate. oises ] oops. ow. sorry. [ baby crying ] ♪ [ female announcer ] new pampers. unlike ordinary diapers with 2 layers, pampers have 3 absorbent layers, to stay up to 3 times drier, so babies can sleep soundly all night. ♪ wishing you love, sleep and play. pampers. okay, who helps you focus on your recovery? yo, yo, yo. aflac. wow. [ under his breath ] that was horrible. pays you cash when you're sick or hurt? [ japanese accent ] aflac. love it. [ under his breath ]

back in 2009 greg abbott, the owner of whiffy's fried pies was hanging out with tech enthusiasts by his food cart. he was discussing bitcoin. one of the folks hanging out, early investor offered $1,000 bit coins for one of his hand pies. he says i didn't say no. i got distracted and the individual walked off. that was a $250,000 mistake. silly me. based on yesterday's value that's a $700,000 mistake. that certainly would have been the most expensive pie in the history of human kind. this is absolutely fascinating. by the way, he did proceed to start accepting bit coins as a number of portland facilities have done using mobile app that converts from bitcoin to dollar and back and forth based on the most recent exchange rate. this is a functional, viable technology at this very moment. so with that, senator kirk. >> thank you. thank you for bringing us together on this bitcoin effort. i would say i've been worried about bitcoin some, because it's so complicated it could facilitate illegal activities or terrorist activities. >> thank you, senator kirk. i think that's obviously one of the f

. >> so, you know it was interesting, i was looking back at greg abbott's involvement with voter fraudma, you know, in 2006, a big push to prosecute people who help the elderly vote by mail. it was almost entirely latino and african-american kind of volunteers who are helping members of their communities to cast ballots by mail, but they didn't check the right box or took it the wrong way. and they were prosecuted for that. it goes back before -- 2008, though, really did change the game and i think, you know, if you're familiar -- you covered true the vote, groups like that, that were actively going into polls with polling sites and saying, you know, we think there is fraud happening here that we're going to be able to see, that really got fully started post obama -- >> congressman, this is a big -- the theme of voter fraud and of passing these sort of state wide voter i.d. provisions is a major theme in the republican party, proliferating all over the country. i wonder what you think of that as a republican and you look at your own party, where is it coming from, where is this idea th