until that time, she should shut up. >> lauren ashburn? >> obesity is a big epidemic. go ahead. ask the question. sorry. >> would you like me to shut up? >> i'm telling you to shut up. >> christie goes on letterman, eats the doughnut, makes the joke about his weight, self-deprecating and he's complaining everybody is talking about it? >> a little thin skinned. i have a hard time with him eating a doughnut then lashing out at someone for actually talking act htalk ing about his weight. the larger point here -- no pun intended -- maybe he's healthy as he says he is, but obesity is a big epidemic costing billions of health care dollars. and i think that just needs to be addressed. >> i agree with that, and i think -- you know, as one commentator said, his biggest physical problem is not his big girth, it's his thin skin. he clearly showed that he -- and if he's going to run for president he's got to get used to this. a lot tougher. >> excuse me. sorry. somebody accused me of being a bully by saying that we should talk about obesity, saying that i have a prejudice against fat people

>> okay, thank you, lauren ashburn. really rich, as you pointed out. a hundred million dollar person a year can probably take the shot. thank you from both sides. >>> when we return, let me tell you my hopes for the next pope. he's going to need to be strong, young and, yes, liberal. day sin, we've worked hard to keep it.n, today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy. we've shared what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. bp's also committed to america. we support nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. how did i know? well, i didn't really. see, i figured low testosterone would decrease my sex drive... but when i started losing energy and became moody... that's when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. we discussed all the symptoms... then he gave me some blood tests. showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number -- not just me. [ male announ

i am joined again by lauren ashburn, editor in chief of "daily download" in washington, d.c.lanta. and paul barrett is here with me in new york. he is the author of "glock: the rise of america's gun" and editor of "bloomberg business week" here. welcome to all of you. let's begin here with paul. the fact that the president, here he is, in minneapolis, you know, saying congress must act, but using minneapolis as his example, talking about youth gun violence and how -- and law enforcement, he says you should have a seat at the table in terms of the discussion as well. what do you make of just what he said today? >> well, two things. one, the president is trying to turn the gun control debate into something having to do with law enforcement which drains the controversy from it, it is a smart political move. >> how does it drain it? >> no one is against law enforcement. the nra against all forms of gun control is not against law enforcement. if this were really what the debate were about, we wouldn't be having a debate. in a sense, he's kind of changing the topic away from the ve

let's bring in our panelists to talk all things postal service, jawn murray back today, lauren ashburnor in chief of daily download. amy palmer, entertainment reporter and founder of power women tv. and last but not least, chris frates for national journal. let me ask you this, no saturdays, big surprise, do you care? >> it is interesting, brooke. a lost folks here in washington are thinking, maybe this is the postal service move to take away a delivery day to try to get some sympathy and do the most extreme thing first. we'll cancel service, maybe we'll get more congressional funding, but i'm not really sure anybody cares. if you don't get mail on saturday, what, you're going to have to mail somebody's birthday card a couple of days earlier? >> amy, do you care? do you feel the sympathy for the usps? >> the deal is this, anyone who is running a business knows it comes down simple economics. the post office is losing billions of dollars a year. let's not forget this is a business, people. why are we using taxpayer money to fund a business that isn't working? you have to bring it down t

lance armstrong, we're moving on, lauren ashburn, i hear you loud and clear.f people watching are agreeing with you. let's stand by. i want to talk about this decision here. we could be learning, you know, that a former presidential candidate, what this person says could mean for the end of the boy scouts, talking about the big decision, possibly allowing, you know, gay scout leaders, gay scouts. be right back. d#: 1-800-345-2550 schwab bank was built with all the value and convenience tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 investors want. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like no atm fees, worldwide. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and no nuisance fees. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 plus deposit checks with mobile deposit. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and manage your cash and investments tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 with schwab's mobile app. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 no wonder schwab bank has grown to over 70 billion in assets. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so if you're looking for a bank that's in your corner, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 not just on the corner... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 call, click or visit to start banking with schwab bank today.

i echo what lauren ashburn said, stellar journalism, cover of "esquire." i hear you're the resident cruiser. broken toilets, fistfights over foods, that's what passengers are facing right now. but it is not the uncomfortable conditions that have the passengers so upset. here's what really is ticking them off next. all your important legal matters in just minutes. protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. >>> more than 4,000 passengers and crew spent last night stranded aboard a cruise ship in the gulf of mexico. what happened? a fire happened. a fire in the engine room of this carnival triumph left the ship dead in the water yesterday. so today the coast guard arrived to help this drifting ship tow it toward progresso, mexico, where carnival will fly the passengers back to the united states. here is how one man's wife who is on board the ship is describing this. >> there is no power, having to use the restroom in buckets and bags. whenever she called me, there was another ship cruise, pulled up beside them

lauren ashburn is the site's editor in chief. howard kurtz is host of cnn's reliable sources. lauren, howy, thank you for being here. >> thank you. is is a question we want to explore. let's start at the beginning. what does it mean when you log into facebook and are asked to like something? >> well, it basically means you give it a thumbs up. you endorse the product or the picture that someone has posted or you just simply like what the other person is saying. >> it's kind of facebook's democracy in action. now certain people are tapping into it. you have a picture, i think, of a bunch of kids who wanted a puppy. what do they do? their dad said if they could just get to one million likes, ichis phenomenal by the way, would buy them a dog. i> atewhovut l abo this is this is what sold f emthor a th. t said he hedo esn't think we it. i bet everybody says, oh, yeah, dad, you're buying a puppy. >> this isn't just any dad. it's a dad who happens to be a digital media professor at northeastern university. he studied the 19th century. in the age of facebook you can get hundreds of tho

i'm joined by lauren ashburn, found over the daily download and a contributor to the daily beast. with hillary rodham clinton. but not politically. let me talk about this, because you're on the front all the time fighting for same-sex rights and gay rights generally. isn't it odd that in a country where we have begun to shift dramatically in that action towards more than acceptance, almost warm acceptance, it's much more positive, okay, we'll go along with that. at the same time we still have a country that still seems to defend gun rights almost to the last man in so many communities. are they different communities? >> i think so. there is a whole range of issues, you know, that we could talk about from reproductive rights to climate change. but i think when it comes to same-sex marriage, we talked earlier about illinois which is poised to be the next state to vote in favor, i think the trajectory both in terms of public sentiment. when i started at hrc, it was 33% of the american people, now it's 43, 53. it will be 60% before long. you have the chairman of the republican party o

lauren ashburn is the site's editor in chief. howard kurtz is the host of cnn's reliable sources. thanks for being here. we're talking about the president hosting a google hangout on google-plus. this seems designed initially to talk to relatives and far away places. how did it become a political tool? what does the president really accomplish here? >> i think the president is accomplishing reaching around the press corps to actually talk to voters and voters who may not answer or ask questions that the regular press would. >> like any technology, it might start out with me chatting with you but companies and politicians now trying to harness this because it plugs them into a demographic that may not watch a lot of television, that may not read newspapers, for example, but relishes the chance even though do people get that chance to ask a question directly to the president of the united states. >> you have to understand that this has only been around for 18 months. the first time that the president did this, he received 135,000 questions. so that would mean that it was a popular w

lauren ashburn, editor in chief at the daily download. professor at columbia university. welcome to all of you. lauren, let me just begin with you. when you hear some of the comments, do you -- do these dorner sympathizers, let's call them dorner sympathizers, do any of them have any point? >> my mouth dropped open when i heard you say this. i have a really, really hard time with people saying that this man is a hero after the people he killed, all the manpower hours that have been wasted, not to mention the airwaves that have been wasted by this chase. i'm in shock. >> who disagrees with lauren. >> there is no waste here, though. this has been an important public conversation that we have had about police brutality, about police corruption, about state violence. there are talks about making him the first domestic drone target. this is serious business here. i don't think it has been a waste of time at all. as far as dorner himself goes, he's been a real life superhero to many people. don't get me wrong. what he did was awful, killing inno

today's panel, alone nah men cow ski, howard kurtz from reliable sources, david ser wrote that and lauren ashburnaily download. welcome everyone. is it surprising it's taken so long for police to urge people to confront an attacker? >> let me clarify i'm host of huffpostlive. as a last resort, an option is to fight back. i think the timing of this is something that can be questioned. now you suddenly have law enforcement echoing some of the lines we've seen coming from the nra and this argument to arm teachers, train teachers and how they need to respond. you wonder if it begins to open the door for that. i think in general telling students this could be an option also could carry some dangerous repercussions. you never know whether that's something that might backfire. the way we've seen the president talk about this in the wake of the newtown shooting and the way he honored those individuals that tried to step up and put their lives in danger in order to protect the students was something of a human condition, a human element rising above. i think it's a dangerous line that law enforcement take

lauren ashburn, i'll begin with you here. 75 prominent republicans signing on to this.hange. if you look at this, it mirrors exactly what the research is showing for the general population. one out of the five of us, one out of five actually are admitting to changing their views on gay marriage. that's according to a story from politico. and the numbers have reversed from four years ago. 49% people, according to pew, say they are for marriage, and 40% against it and that's a complete switch from four years ago. republicans are just acknowledging what the rest of the country is coming to believe. >> you're shaking your head. why? >> first of all, 75 republicans who are fringe now at best and have all but been driven out, you talk about huntsman, whitman, these are people who lost their elections, who were easily dumped early in the primaries because they were for these kind of things, it is not a sea change in the republicans. as far as the republic, you're right. i don't know which of the five of us have changed our minds, statistically speaking, i think, you know, i ce