we are talking now with lz granderson and amy holmes. lz is a commentator.a reporter from blaze.com. good to see you both. the congressional to-do list has a lot of things still on it. confirming a fed chair. passing a farm bill. passing a defense bill. then the budget. they only have until mid january in order to avoid another shutdown. we will go to lz first. we know that the president is blamed. dem krts and republicans. are we due to this permanent paralysis in washington because taxpayers are getting fed up. >> this is what the taxpayers voted for. if you remember, congress was one of the most productive in u.s. history. they passed a lot of bills. what was the response? the tea party got in. you have 63 republicans take seats in 2010. since then we had this grinding halt. this is what the american people voted for. not sure if they knew this would be the buy product of it. but this is the chain. they had one of the most productive congresss. all democrats. voted in the tea party and this is what you have. amy, what about all the things that congress di

lz, lets start with you.l a sign that lawmakers are finally going to cooperate? >> i think it is a sign that lawmakers have been watching the polls and have heard the american people in and have realized all of this, you know, managing by crisis, sort of situation, during the past two years, have damaged their brand. the gop brand. but also, just congress in general. for two years, they've had some of the worst poll numbers in congress history. so i think both parties are listening, including gop. >> do you think congress is ready to get along? >> caller: i think what we are seeing is reality politics. and what we are seeing from senator murray and congressman ryan is that they focused on the areas where there is some agreement. this is a modest piece of legislation. it is a modest start. this is not where we have to end and it is not a gauge-changing budget deal. but it certainly goes to show some bipartisan ship. and i commend paul ryan and patty murray because both of them understood that making a deal mea

lz, let's start with you. >> what do you want to know? has the answer to immigration reform. >> use your crystal ball. >> you know what, unfortunately, i don't think we're going to see any real headway until past 2014 election. i just think that it's still too devicive. and the people who are supposed to be the face of this big push sort of fade into the background behind other kind of debates. i don't see anything happening besides more rhetoric, unfortunately. >> i think that's right. i think two big camps right now that can't reconcile their dimptss. one camp that wants a very big bill and another camp that wants to do it in pieces. both houses in congress in order to get anything done right now. if they do, it will be a very, very big challenge. >> l.z., chris christie, new jersey governor, what do you think? >> he's going to have a great year. he's coming in with a lot of sting. he's got work to do in terms of the working class republicans. and tea partiers trusting him. he's going to have as much steam, if not more so, as hillary cl

let's get information from ben furgason, and lz granderson.o, the obama care reboot was a huge topic on the sunday morning shows. so i want you to take a listen to comments from a former obama adviser and current republican congressman. >> we live in a very social world right now. people talk to their siblings, or other family members and say, i went on and i got a plan. there is interest out there. >> there will be winners out there and millions of losers too. people will find out that their rates are going up. people with insurance they like will be losing it. that's one of the proponents of the business mandate. the market is tiny compared to what is yet to come. this thing will be a mitigated political disaster for the president. >> so lz, let's start with you. let's say the reboot works. has all the damage already been done or can the improved technology make up for that disastrous roll out that we all watched? >> well, it would help americans forgive but we will never forget. republicans certainly won't allow americans to forget as we he

i think -- i do think that l lz right. we may see a shutdown.ke debt and spending with democrats. i think the budget deal changed the atmospherics but there are still big differences between republicans and democrats on capitol hill. >> lz, there's been a lot of optimism and happy deal because of the budget deal. was that all happy talk premature or do you foresee another crisis? >> well, you know, i'm trying to see who are all these happy peep about the budget deal. we might have been happy that they, you know, didn't kill each other. but let's face it. neither group was really happy. you saw a lot of sound bites from both leaders selling all the parties the things they weren't going to get from the budget deal and on the flip side you saw john boehner totally going off on organizations and the tea party about the budget deals. i don't think anybody was happy about that happening, but they were pragmatic about it. i think you'll still see the pragmatic pragmaticism. no one wants to screw this up. >> let's turn to another topic and the topic is

and lz, we talk a lot about sensitivity, concern for others. as a republican i found the president's new counsellor, the following quote unbelievable. he said, they need to focus on executive action given that they are facing a second term against a cult worthy of jonestown in charge of one of the houses of congress. now in terms of american governing with civility, doesn't he almost eliminate himself from the white house by comparing house republicans to a jonestown cult that committed mass suicide and killed a congressman? >> i am always appalled. i'm an independent. let's get that out. there. when republicans and democrats alike are doing these ridiculous comparisons between tragedies and modern day politics. stop dragging in the holocaust, stop dragging in jonestown. it is ridiculous. >> i think that's pretty good. >> he is consistent. first of all i want to thank you both for being here. you can go to facebook or twitter to weigh in on our fireback question. was it right for a & m to suspend duck dynasty star phil robson over his comments?

lz >> the epic battle of david and goliath is depicted here in the recent series, the bible. and every child knows how the story ends. the stone from the shepherd's sling strikes the phi philistine in the head. perhaps david wasn't the underdog we all thought it to be. it is the author's third book, since the tipping point and blink. i talked to him about his unconventional families and his upbringing in a biracial family. >> malcolm gladwell welcome. you turned the story of david and goliath on its head. another explanation other than it was improbably that david would have beaten goliath. you are saying that not only was it probable that he would have felled goliath but it was likely. >> yes. if you go back and read about ancient warfare, you describe that the sling with which david is armed is a devastating weapon. it's one of the most feared weapons of ancient times. he's taking a rock and rotating it six or seven revolutions, per second, and the stopping power of the rock from his sling is equivalent of the bullet fired from a .45 caliber weapon. it's an incredibly power

check check lz >> welcome to al jazeera america.i'm stephanie sy, here are the top stories we are following. >> a bill addressing sexuality assault in military has been discussed. the bill goes barack obama for his signature. to stop top military overturning decisions >> eight prisoners had their sentences reduced thanks to president obama. his administration is looking at drug crimes and seeing if the original sentencing was care. until recently the punishment for crack cocaine

check check lz >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy, here are the top stories we are following. >> a bill addressing sexuality assault in military has been discussed. the bill goes barack obama for his signature. to stop top military overturning decisions >> eight prisoners had their sentences reduced thanks to president obama. his administration is looking at drug crimes and seeing if the original sentencing was care. until recently the punishment for crack cocaine was severe. >> pardons have been given by vladimir putin, six weeks before the olympics. >> a theatre in london had the roof collapse. hundreds were inside at the apollo in the theatre district. 76 were injured, seven seriously. the cause of the collapse is not yet known. those are the headlines. "consider this" is up next. you can get the latest online at aljazeera.com. consider this, did the a & e act out of conviction or cawardes, when it put it's biggest star on the shelf. more hours at work than anyone else in the world, add into that vacation days lef

it was sort of an open secret, right, lz, would you agree? so what took her so long? you think she missed the window of it being a major announcement? >> well, when you're somebody like robin roberts, you don't miss windows, you create them. so when she decided to do that was in her own due time. i don't know what took her so long, if there was a time line for somebody who was supposed to come out. there is a religious background there, her mother passed last year, maybe she was waiting for that. she just went through hell and back with cancer, and maybe coming to grips of her own, she maybe decided to live by her own standards. >> i think it is a personal journey and there is no right time to do it. i think it is amazing, it is pretty poetic how mundane she made it. using social media to thank people who stood by her in her everyday life. she is saying it is no big deal, you know what? it is not anymore. >> when she interviewed the president, stephanie and talked about gay rights, some people criticized her for not coming out publicly then, do you think it was a fair

and we need to do something about that lz. >> rose: and also i want to talk about camp sky hook, what's that about. >> camp sky hook basically is my effort to give kids a shot that can't be blocked. science, technology, engineering and math will be the basis for most jobs in the 21st century. and if you don't have some preparation in those subjects, you're not going to be able to get a good job. the state of california wants to get this message over to the young, to the kids who are now in grade and middle school, that they need to start thinking about this. so i'm working with the state of california. we have a camp up in beautiful and less national parks that is teaching camp, so the kids get to go up there for a week, experience nature. a lot of them, they live less than an hour away and they've never been-- never seen it. >> rose: it's amazing, i know. >> it's incredible so we want to enrich these kid's lives and give them an idea of what to focus on with their educational efforts so that they can, they will have a chance as adults to get great jobs and do good thins for their commu

. >> evey sunday night, join us for exclusive, check lz >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. here are the top stories. secretary of state john kerry putting out diplomatic fires. today he expressed regret for the treatment of indian diplomat arrested in new york. recommendations released from independent commissions starring changes in the n.s.a. security agency. the panel is calling for the end of storage of massive amount of television data e. >> the first of the two big mega million winners. a woman from stone mountain georgia matched all numbers. she