Transcripts For CURRENT Full Court Press 20130715

Country over saturdays verdict in the Trayvon Martin case of course justice was not done now it is up to the department of justice to determine if they are going to file a civil rights case against George Zimmerman. Today or tomorrow could be the day that democrats actually pull the trigger, if you will and change the rules on the filibuster and get rid of the filibuster for president ial nominations to the executive branch as they have promised to do. In that vote coming in the United States senate. And on friday the Justice Department issued new rules for dealing with the media in any future leak investigations and also, Edward Snowden told us on friday that he is now considering seeking asylum in russia until he can figure out how to get to some latin america country. All of that well be talking about with our guests and taking your calls and comments on twitter, and joining our friends on facebook at facebook billpressshow right here on current tv. Conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. Im a slutty bob hope. The troops love me. Tv and radio talk show host Stephanie Miller rounds out currents morning news block. Youre welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. vo sharp tongue. Excuse me . vo quick wit. And yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. vo and above all, opinion and attitude. Really . this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. You know what those people are like. What could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush . My producer just coughed up a hairball. Sorry. Just be grateful current tv doesnt come in smellovision oh come on the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. vo only on current tv. Did anyone tell the pilgrims they should selfdeport . No, they said make us a turkey and make it fast. laughter . She gets the comedians laughing. Thats the best thats hilarious. And the thinkers thinking. Okay, so there is wiggle room in the Ten Commandments is what youre telling me. Shes joy behar. Ya, i consider you jewtalian. Okay, whatever you want. Who plays kafka . Who saw kafka . Who ever saw kafka . laughter . Asking the tough questions. Chris brown, i mean you wouldnt let one of your daughters go out with him. Absolutely not. You would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me . Absolutely singing i take lipitor, thats it. Are you improving your lips . laughter . When shes talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. It looks like Anthony Wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. His what in the ring . His hat. Always outspoken, joy behar. And the best part is that current will let me say anything. What the hell were they thinking . Only on current tv. [ theme music ] announcer broadcasting across the nation on your radio, and on current tv this is the bill press show. Bill sometimes justice is blind, and sometimes justice is also damn wrong. Hey, good morning, everybody. Here we go. Monday july 15th. Great to see you today. Welcome, welcome welcome to the full court press on a big monday morning. Hope you had a great weekend. All rested up, relaxed and ready to go to tackle the big stories of the day, and its a big news day here in our nations capitol. A lot happening over the weekend that we want to tell you about, and you will want to comment about. You know how to do it pick up the phone, give us a call at 86655press. Go on twitter, its not too early to get on twitter this morning at i just want to make sure my phone is off. There you go. At bp show and on facebook at facebook billpressshow. Were standing by to take your calls and comments on the social media. Thats the the job here of the whole team. Peter ogburn and dan henning. Hey hey, hey. Good morning, bill. Bill yep. And alicia cruz on the lot s lot hot lines. And siprion is still on vacation . Vacation is a loose word we use around here. And monty is here. Hardworking man. If siprion isnt careful, monty may be here a little bit longer. Bill taking care of the cameras on current tv. Hope you had a great weekend. Peter you saw a big show friday night . I did i saw Paul Mccartney at the nations ballpark. Bill you were out there in center field, too. Oh, yeah, yeah yeah. I blew the Kids College Fund on seats. Sorry, kids. Bill yeah that was your big treat. Mine was seeing the book of mormon yesterday. I have wanted to site for two years its a the hottest ticket in town. Im jealous. Bill it is. It is at the kennedy center. It is still appearing on broadway, of course. It is the funniest show i think i have ever seen and also the raunchiest, and foulest language, and body gestures i have ever seen. That sounds like my kind of show. Bill yeah, and its all about the mormon church. Its nice they have a sense of humor. Oh, i dont think they like this show. [ laughter ] bill but its very funny. Cool. Bill indeed. And one of the most embarrassing moments in Television Ever had to be maybe you have heard about this. Out in oakland ktvu which is a dynamite station. It rivals the San Francisco stations for news. But they dont always get it right, and they had been really breaking news on the Airline Crash at sfo, and they were in such a rush to beat the competition on every little tidbit of competition that somebody leaked to them the names of the pilots in the cockpit. They felt they had it first, and they rushed to get it on the air. Maybe they should have thought twice about it. Here is the anchor on ktvu. We have new information also on the plane crash, ktvu has just learned the names of the four pilots, they are captain, some ting long we too low, ho defuk and [ inaudible ], we are working to determine exactly what roles each of them played during the landing. Bill maybe when the first name is something wong you might think something is wrong with this report, but the time you get to we too low you can stop right there, right . We see these every so often you see these mishaps on local news all the time. This might be the worst one i have ever seen. She delivered it in such a way that she absolutely thought those were the names. Bill and their defense was we checked with the ntsb and they confirmed it. And they did. We have been told the names of the pilots were and they got a summer intern it was later explained, who didnt know crap right, and didnt want to admit that they didnt know, so they said oh, yeah thats it. Unbelievable. I know when you are anchoring you are in the zone and just reading off of the teleprompter but you would have thought the anchor would have stopped halfway through. Bill yeah. When i was at kubc tv one morning, there was a woman, i think her name was angela davis probably not, but anyhow. Who used to read the new every morning. And she was late for work and so they grabbed fred anderson, who is a reporter and said fred you have got to do the news. So fred sits in the desk and he reads the news and he said thats the news at 7 25, and im angela davis. Sometimes you have to think, you know, you dont just read. Anyhow. Senator byron dorgan is going to be in studio with us. Bob cusack and reid wilson from the hot line to start off this monday morning and yes, justice not done in florida. But first announcer this is the full court press. In sports in tim lincecum had a great weekend. He pushed aside the lackluster season that he is having and threw a nohitter saturday thanks to a diving catch by hunter pence to grab a fly ball in the 9th inning. The threw 148 pitches. Its the most he has ever thrown in a game in his career. He struck out 13 walked 4 batters, and hit one. He got up into the hundreds by like the 7th inning. Bill oh, really. Thats a lot of pitches. And what are you going to do if you are a manager . Bill yeah. He is 59. Yeah this is his first win since june 4th. Bill the Washington Post has the numbers comparing the 2012 nats with the 2013 nats. Its painful to read. Hey, they won yesterday. I liked the national easementalty after just a few weeks ago, it was were going to the world series. And now its one day at a time. President obama invited hosts of espn to play south of dc. No word on how anyone played. But it was quite the day for cornhiezer, it was his 65th birthday. And in hollywood a couple of celebrity marriages, jimmy kimmel married his longtime girlfriend who is a writer for his abc late night broadcast. Quite the guest list howard stern, Ellen Degeneres in california, and hally berry tied the knot with french actor. That is hallys third marriage. His first. Bill thank you dan. Yes, indeed, sometimes justice is blind and sometimes justice is wrong. Justice was both blind and wrong in sanford florida on saturday. The verdict read by the head of the jury or the clerk in the court, handed to her by the head of the jury. Here we go. State of florida versus George Zimmerman, verdict, we the jury find George Zimmerman, not guilty. Bill not guilty shock in the courtroom. Afterward the defense attorney defending Trayvon Martin said were not happy but we accept the jurys verdict. I am disappointed but we accept it. We live in a great country that has a great criminal justice system. Bill i dont know about you but when i heard they was really disgusted with that verdict. No great surprise but a great disappointment for sure. We knew it was an uphill battle we knew it would be very very difficult to prove Second Degree murder, because there were no witnesses, only George Zimmerman, the prosecution has to prove malicious intent. They had to prove hatred George Zimmerman hating Trayvon Martin all of those factors, which they just had no evidence to really prove, but what i dont understand is how the jury could not find George Zimmerman guilty of manslaughter. To me there was so much evidence that this did not have to happen. George zimmerman had no business care rig a gun when Neighborhood Watch rules said you should not carry a gun. They said if you belong to our organization and you are working as a neighbor watch person, you should not be armed. He was told to stay in his car by the Police Dispatcher. He violated that. He confronted Trayvon Martin when he didnt have to. Martin had committed no crime, had done nothing wrong, was not a threat to anybody. We know this in that project. He was walking home from 7eleven for gods sake. And in terms of selfdefense. Clearly Trayvon Martin started this fight and if indeed as may have happened and i would say did happen, he found himself on the losingen of that fight that he started. You know what tough apples. When you go in a bar and invite somebody outside, to fight, and the guy beats the hell out of you, you dont shoot and kill him in selfdefense right, and then get away with it. He started the fight, and Trayvon Martin unarmed and the idea that the jury bought this that the sidewalk was Trayvon Martins weapon. Is unbelievable. I saw a lot of comments like this on twitter, especially on saturday night. Its amazing that a 17yearold black child went on trial for his own murder. I mean they they Trayvon Martin smoked marijuana, and he had bruising on his knuckles from where he was hitting George Zimmerman. Bill yeah, and he may have had sex with that girlfriend of his. Yeah. Bill race was clearly an element in this whole thing, and there is no doubt in my mind and you know it is true if this had been the reverse, if Trayvon Martin had the gun, if Trayvon Martin had accosted and confronted George Zimmerman, if Trayvon Martin had jumped on a white man and then shot and killed him and said i did it in selfdefense, people would have laughed him out of the courtroom, and he would be on death row today. And what really burned me was when the defense attorney said no, no, no you got it wrong, here is what would have happened if it had been a black man charged with the crime. I think things would have been different if George Zimmerman was black for this reason. He never would have been charged with a crime. Bill are you kidding . He never would have made it to the courtroom, because he probably would have been i wont say it. At any rate i think this is a total travesty of justice. It may not be over. The department of justice is considering now the criminal case is over. But the department of justice is considering filing a civil rights violation, George Zimmerman violating Trayvon Martins civil rights. The naacp has a petition to do that. We have a link on our website to that. Secondly, like in the oj case he may get off on the criminal charges, but there could be a civil case filed against George Zimmerman. No word on that but that was successful in the oj case and it hope it happens here. What do you think about what happened . 86655press. Im disgusted with the verdict and with people who say, we dont like it but we should accept the verdict. No, no, no. This proves our system of justice doesnt always work. It didnt work with oj simpson, and Casey Anthony and it didnt work in this case with Trayvon Martin. 86655press, lets talk about it on the full court press. Announcer this is the bill press show. For true stories. With Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. Real, gripping, current. Documentaries. On current tv. If you believe in states rights but still support the drug war you must be high. I think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. I think the audience gets that i actually mean it. Youre putting out there something that youre proud of. Journalists want the the story and they want the right story and the want the true story. You can say anything here. I spent a couple of hours with a hooker. Your mistake was writing a check. She never cashed it the war room. Compared to other countries with tighter gun safety laws our death toll is just staggering. The young turks. The top bankers who funneled all the money to the drug lords, no sentence. Theres just no justice in that. Viewpoint. Mitt romney is a lock to win next pope. Hes garunteeing it. Joy behar say anything. Is the bottom line then that no white person should ever, ever, ever use the n word . Yes only on current tv. Announcer heard around the country and seen on current tv. This is the bill press show. Bill hey, 26 minutes now after the hour, just following through on the verdict in the Trayvon Martin trey case down in florida. Not guilty on Second Degree murder, not guilty on manslaughter. Peter . Were at bb show karen says wouldnt it be nice if we lived in a world where George Zimmerman had asked if Trayvon Martin needed a ride home in the rain rather than shooting him. Bill right. Clearly he got out of that call with a chip on his shoulder. He said to the dispatchers these fing punks also get away with it. With what . With walking home with a bag of skittles. He had that attitude and it was Trayvon Martin who was trying to defend himself from a bigger guy armed. Kim is calling out in med december toe, california. Caller good morning to the most intelligent man on the planet. I think she is talking to you. Caller yeah. Yeah. I cant believe this not only do illegals only come from mexico, i guess stand your ground means if you have a gun, you can protect yourself and if you dont have a gun, you are automatically guilty did you check marco [ inaudible ] when we walked into the courtroom with like an 80pound block of cement . Bill yeah. Caller if he walked in there with that, why did George Zimmerman have to shoot him. Bill yeah there was the idea that he could pick up the sidewalk and used to it bang George Zimmerman . It is just crazy, unbelievable. Announcer this is the bill press show. Young turks i think the number 1 thing than viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. They know that im not bsing them for some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. When the democrats are wrong, they know im going to be the first one to call them out. Cenk on air whats unacceptable is how washington continues to screw the middle class over. Cenk off air i dont want the middle class taking the brunt of the spending cuts and all the different programs that wind up hurting the middle class. Cenk on air you got to go to the local level, the state level and we have to fight hard to make sure they cant buy our politics anymore. Cenk off air and they can question if im right about that. But i think the audience gets that, i actually mean it. Cenk on air 3 trillion dollars in spending cuts progressive and always topical the Worlds Largest online news show is on current tv. Cenk off air and i think the audience gets, this guys to best of his abilities is trying to look out for us. Only on current tv connect with the bill press show on twitter follow us at bp show, and tweet using the hashtag, watching bp. Announcer hey, this hour brought to you by the good men and women of ironworkers. Were talking about the very disappointing and wrong verdict, if you ask me in the George Zimmerman case not guilty of second murder, not guilty of manslaughter. What the hell kind of evidence did they need on manslaughter . I dont get it. I have warned you about identity theft. Here is another story to underscore the need to be protected against it. A surgeon is going to spend two years behind bar after taking part in a scheme that stole more than 3 million. He was stealing information from his patients to get lines of credit for himself. You have got to protect yourself. Visit lifelock. Com or call and mention press 10 and you will get 10 off your lifelock ultimate membership. Call 1803565967. Comments peter . Really quickly on Trayvon Martin if you want to sign the petition that the naacp has started they have started a petition to urge the department of justice to file civil rights is charges. We just tweeted out a link. If you go to naacp. Org, and you can get a link there, or at bp show. As of last night, it was nearing 500,000 signatures. Plus moveon. Org has it up. So go sign that. That is really important. Also, on twitter at bp show at bp show, you can join in the conversation. Black scholar fem says bill you are the only media outlet being honest about the Trayvon Martin trial. What a travesty. Yes, we can agree. And yes, George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin, because trayvon was kicking his ass, and thats sort of what we have been talking about. And a very good point from jpe says trayvon has not died in vein, he has exposed the institutional racism that allows for the miscarriages of justice like we saw on saturday. Bill meanwhile whos fault is it that they had this case and trial . Who its false was it . Well, of course, steve king says its all president obamas fault. From what i have seen of the evidence, i would say no and my sympathy goes out also to the martin and Zimmerman Family for this ordeal that they have been through. But the evidence didnt support prosecution, and the Justice Department and the president engaged in this and turned it into a political issue, so i regret that this all happened. Im sorry it was turned into a race issue by the media. Bill oh yeah George Zimmerman had nothing to do with it. An idiot. Donna is calling from atlanta, georgia. Caller hi, bill, just quick two points, number one, i think the prosecution should have really started at the store. Im in retail. And if we suspect somebody comes in our store and looks suspicious, we call the police and then alert everybody around us, so evidently when he was standing in the store with his hoodie, buying candy, he didnt look suspicious. Bill yeah, thats a very good point. I have heard nobody else make that point about the store. There was nothing that he did in that store that raised any suspicions caller exactly. Evidently him standing up there with a hoodie. He didnt look suspicious or he doesnt doing anything. Thats the whole point. Bill you are right. And George Zimmerman did see himself as a wanna be cop. And i think he tried to and wasnt able to get a job in the police department, right . So anyhow donna, thank you for the call. Up in stonybrook new york. Caller hey, bill, as soon as i heard the composition of that jury, i knew zimmerman was going to walk. Bill i think all of us did, yeah. Caller and the detective that wanted him charged with manslaughter, when he appeared on the stand, he is no longer a detective or a Sanford Police. Something theres a whole thing going on. Plus, i think the two defense lawyers are racists, i really do. What marco said afterwards was disgusting. He didnt say one thing about the martin family. Caller yeah, i mean and his comment that if George Zimmerman had been black he would not even have been charged with a crime, just flies in the face of reality. Caller and he wasnt on the concrete. He was on the grass, and thats where the prosecution really missed a lot of stuff, or did not decided not to pursue it. Bill right. And we have to go back to the Sanford Police department really blew this from the very, very beginning. They didnt investigate thoroughly, they werent even going to file charges, and as avery told us the other day, it was only when there was so much public reaction that the governor had to do something, who he appointed the state prosecutor who filed the Second Degree murder charges without himself having been involved in the investigation. So the prosecution, which i think blew it but they they started out behind way behind the curve because of the incompetence of the Sanford Police department. Thats a good point. You almost forget because we have come so far bill yeah. It was like 60 days. It was a long time. Bill they were not going to file any charges. Oh, yeah i shot him. Yeah, i killed him, in selfdefense. He attacked me. No zimmerman attacked him. Beverly in cleveland. Caller hi good morning. Bill good morning. Caller thank you very much for finally speaking with some sense. I feel the same way. Okay . You were told if you are going to do the Neighborhood Watch not to carry a gun. Caller strike one. Exactly. Caller number 2 the dispatcher said do not follow him. He felt powerful because he had a weapon. If he did not have a weapon on him, he would not have followed that young man. That young man told his friend on the phone that someone is following me. Of course you are going to get ready because someone is following you. Bill yeah caller zimmerman approached trayvon and asked him probably wa why are you following me . We do not know what trayvon said to zimmerman. Trayvon cant tell us. Zimmerman know what he said to that young man. Bill but also he got out of that car with an attitude beverly, right . Caller yeah, with that gun. He had a weapon on him. And in his mind if i have to take him down, ill take him down. Also trayvon was kicking his butt. Bill i think thats pretty clear, and as i said if you start a fight, and somebody ends up kicking your butt then you just started a fight with the wrong man. Caller trayvon was kicking his butt and the only thing he could do was take his gun and kill him. Bill absolutely. So the whole thing, it cant stop here. It just cant stop here. We have got to join the naacp, follow the link on our website, and put some pressure on god, eric holder, man, he has disappointed us so many times. He better come through here. And also, i hope somebody is working on a civil violation case Civil Penalties case against George Zimmerman. Again, that worked with ojsimpson when he got off. And George Zimmerman would have to take the stand. And the fact that he didnt take the stand in this case i think proves they knew they would lose if he got up there, because there are too many holes in his story. They could have asked him what did you say to trayvon when you approached him . We dont know that. When we come back, reid wilson from the hot line. Announcer this is the full court press, the bill press show, live on your radio, and on current tv. This show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. Are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night . Is this personal or is it political . A lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. Staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. Not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. But we do care about them, right . Vo the war room tonight at 6 eastern current tv is the place for true stories. With Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. Real, gripping, current. Documentaries. On current tv. Announcer this is the bill press show. Bill all right. Congress coming back into town today, and they have got a lot on their plate. And maybe the most fireworks are going to be around the filibuster because this is the week that harry reid said he is going to bring up some of the president s nominations that have been sitting in the senate for a long time without a vote and challenge the republicans to allow a vote, and if they dont, he says they are going to bust up the filibuster and change the rules. A and a whole lot more here we are looking forward to this week in washington, d. C. He has been talking about and reporting on a lot of it. Reid wilson good morning. Hello, bill. Bill did you have a good weekend . Yeah not too bad. It has been hot. Bill man has it ever. This is july, so it is summer, but i was thinking what is august going to bring . My executive producer says that it will be even worse this week. I think the lowest high we have all week is like 95. I think well hit a hun on thursday. Im locking my door. Bill and keep the ac up, right . There you go. Bill what is happening with this threat . Harry reid has given himself a lot of out right now. They are having a closed door session where they can air their disputes. But they came out with this notion that the relationship between harry reid and Mitch Mcconnell, which was never great, has gotten even worse. And they are both sniping at each other in private as well as in public. Bill so when is the vote . When are the nominations when is harry going to put the nominations up . They come up excuse me all week. The first ones i think are as early as today, but, you know, there are seven total nominations that are going to be voted on, and if the republicans start to block them thats when reid says hell bring up these votes bill these are people, none of whom is there really a lot of controversy about. Yeah, and one of the most interesting parts is the Richard Cordray nomination its hard to recall a moment when a party would block a nominee simply because they dont agree with the job the nominee would do in a statutory office. Bill and thats their motivation here, and they have made it clear. Yeah. And there has not been a confirmed chairman or head of the cfpb so far, simply because the republicans have blocked it. Bill yeah. It does represent a serious escalation in the partisan wrangling in the senate. Bill but Mitch Mcconnell yesterday kind of gave the impression that they were going to go ahead and confirm these people. Yeah, republicans have a way to back away from this and harry reid has left that door wide open. He has allowed them to step back from the brink if they want to and well as they hey, they have the opportunity to do so. But we have gotten to this precipus before, and everybody has backed off. So one would hope there could be some sort of comity that comes out of this today. Bill reid wilson from the National Journal hot line. Big surprise for democrats out in montana, when max baucus said im not going to run for reelection. And everybody said okay here we go. Former governor schweitzer decided not to run. Why . Well, he filled out the actual paper that would have allowed him to run for senate. He said he wouldnt though this weekend. Democrats in d. C. Are privately saying they had quite the Research Book on him. Bill the republicans . No, the democrats were getting nervous that there was too much out there that would cost them a senate seat, and so it looks like they sort of maneuvered him out of the race. This is a big deal though bill he was elected governor twice. And the most popular politician in the state. Bill yeah, and they hadnt vetted him . Well, there have been a few issues that have come up over the last year or so he has closer ties to a darkmoney group this is one of those organizations that raises money that they dont have to disclose and then spends it on politics. He has closer ties to them than he had said before. I dont think thats the full story, but thats sort of the tip of the iceberg bill so is there another strong democrat out there . Nobody in the state is as strong as Brian Schweitzer. I heard of a poll that said Brian Schweitzer is more popular than the nra. I think they will start looking at monica lundean, and the former School Superintendent and stephanie shreoc the head of emilys list. Bill she is from montana . Yeah, she is. There are a couple of other very pro chose women who have come from montana. Its strange that montana happens to be the birthplace of the pro Choice Movement at the moment, but its one of those coincidences in politics. Bill wow i didnt know that. Hey, reid thank you for bringing up up to date. Thanks a lot. Well see you on nationaljournal. Com. Announcer this is the bill press show. You know who is coming on to me now . You know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials . Those types are coming on to me all the time now. vo she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. Ok, so theres wiggle room in the Ten Commandments, thats what youre saying. You would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. Absolutely. And so would mitt romney. vo shes joy behar. And the best part is that current will let me say anything. What the hell were they thinking . Current tv is the place for true stories. With Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. Real, gripping, current. Documentaries. On current tv. Announcer taking your emails on any topic at anytime. This is the bill press show, live on your radio and current tv. Bill former senator byron durgot, next hour. Haley says florida sends the message, come to florida, kill somebody, and get away with it. Casey anthony, and George Zimmerman, both killers both judged not guilty. Donald francis says George Zimmerman the wanna be Police Officer wanted to kill someone on his own. Did he identify himself as a Neighborhood Watch guard . And Richard Maxwell says hey, listening to Eliot Spitzer on your show i sense he is a man for the people. Absolutely. [ theme music ] bill good morning, friends and neighbors, great to see you this morning on monday morning, july 15th, how about it . Welcome to the program and thank you for joining us here on current tv as we come to you live from our nations capitol with the news of the day, and your opportunity to sound off about it all. You got opinions as strong as ours, lets hear them. Lets read them here on the full court press. Do it give us a call at 86655press join us on twitter at bp show or on facebook at facebook billpressshow. Protests around the country over the weekend over saturdays verdict in the Trayvon Martin case of course. Justice was not done in the criminal case, no its up to the Justices Department to decide whether or not to file the civil rights violation George Zimmerman. Today or tomorrow could be the day that democrats put republicans to the test and follow through with their threat to end the filibuster. They have told republicans, stop abusing the filibuster for nominations to the executive branch, or are you are going to lose the filibuster. And Edward Snowden now says he wants asylum in russia. Well cover that and a whole lot more and take your comments right here on current tv. vo current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. Im a slutty bob hope. The troops love me. Tv and radio talk show host Stephanie Miller rounds out currents morning news block. Youre welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. vo sharp tongue. Excuse me . vo quick wit. And yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. vo and above all, opinion and attitude. Really . this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. You know what those people are like. What could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush . My producer just coughed up a hairball. Sorry. Just be grateful current tv doesnt come in smellovision oh come on the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. vo only on current tv. If you believe in states rights but still support the drug war you must be high. Viewpoint digs deep into the issues of the day. Do you think there is any chance well ever hear the president even say the word carbon tax . With an opened mind. Has the time finally come for real Immigration Reform . And a distinctly satirical point of view. But you mentioned great leadership so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. laughter cutting throught the clutter of todays top stories. This is the savior of the Republican Party . I mean really . With a unique perspective. Teddy rosevelt was a weak asmatic kid who never played sports until he was a grown up. laughter . And lots of fancy buzz words. Family values, speding, liberty, economic freedom, hardworking moms, crushing debt, cute little puppies. If Wayne Lapierre can make up stuff that sounds logical while making no sense. Hey, so can i. Once again friends, this is live tv and sometimes these things happen. Watch the show. Only on current tv. Announcer broadcasting across the nation on your radio, and on current tv this is the bill press show. Bill sometimes justice is blind. Sometimes its just dead wrong. It was blind and wrong in florida over the weekend. Good morning, everybody, what do you say . Welcome to the full court press this monday morning. Coming to you live coast to coast from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d. C. Booming out to you on your local progressive talk radio station. You are lucky if you have got one. Booming out to you on current tv all across this great land of ours with the news of the day and your chance to talk about what is going on and give us your comments on what it all means to you and your family. We invite your phone calls at anytime at 86655press, look forward to hearing from you by phone or by twitter, at bpshow and on facebook all of you good friends on facebook line up and tell us what you think at facebook billpressshow. One of the big issues of the day, were waiting for the other shoe to fall is whether democrats are going to with their threat to change the filibuster rules if republicans continue using the filibuster to block everything that walks in the United States senate. Tamara fusele is the Vice President for the government affairs, joins us in studio this morning. Good morning. Good morning. Bill of course you join our team here, peter ogburn in studio with us. Hey, hey, hey. Bill putting us all to shame by wearing a tie this morning. I have court later on so not really. Bill right. With dan henning running the board. Good morning. Bill yes, and we have got alicia cruz on the phones as well as siprion is not back . He is not. Bill thank god monty is here. I mean, look siprion went on vacation bill and we havent heard from him since. It was a my little ponythemed cruise and he was supposed to be back on friday, but it was delayed. Bill hey, big sports news tim lincecum had a great night last night. Blanco waiting. He puts it a way. And thats a no hitter for tim lincecum [ cheers and applause ] and now all of his teammates out on to the field, right behind the mound as they are mobbing tim lincecum as he has thrown a no hitter here in san diego. Bill the crowd there in san diego is obviously excited to see a no hitter right . Oh, any baseball stadium you go to, it doesnt matter if its the opposing team. It is impressive. Bill i dont know. The game was thats pretty cool, and the game was long gone. I mean it was 80 like in the 6th inning, i think. Bill so they knew. They knew the game was over. So then you just settle in and hope you see history. Bill yeah. I dont think if the beleaguered mayor of san diego was in the crowd last night . I think he is in hiding. Anyway were going to talk filibuster at the top of the hour. The former senator from south dakota will be along later. Bob cusack from the hill will join us as a friend of bill in the next hour, and well get right to the filibuster but first announcer this is the full court press. Overhead lines making news. Jk rouling has a new detective novel out. Everyone thought it was written by an exmilitary man. But it turns out the real author is none other than the famous harry potter author. She said she wanted to release a book without hype or expectations just to see how it did. The book has been out there since april. Bill its like she cant miss, you know . Everything she touches turns into gold. And now that people know its hers, it is jumping up on the book list. Luckily. She needs a break. Bill thats right. And in sports again, a big day for baltimore orioles, first baseman yesterday, he hit his 37th home run. Holy cow it ties ties an American League record set in 1969 for the most home runs in a season before the allstar break, which starts today. The only player to hit more was barry bonds in 2001, so that gets an asterisk he hit 39. Go os bill has davis been tested for substances . Not yet. And the tv station that named the fake Airline Pilots has apologied and the ncsb also has apologize apologized. It was a summer intern that ran those names bill you mean something wong and we too low is not the right name of the copilot. I mean Jonathan Levi did some dumb things though. Good point. Bill tamara you have been following the filibuster. You said you worked with senator merkley and others developing this whole strategy in the senate. What is going to happen this week . I think what were seeing now is something that has been boiling up for a number of years, and washington isnt working, and after years of trying to figure out a solution with Mitch Mcconnell harry reid has finally had enough and on thursday took some procedural steps to break the filibuster. And tonight all of the hundred senators are going to meet in the chamber and have one last go bill all 100 . Yes which is very rare. Closed doors, no staff. So they are going to have one last try to work out a compromise. Harry reid on the sunday shows didnt seem that optimistic so if thats the case Tuesday Morning well line up seven procedural votes and see if we can getting a agreement with republicans to have a majority up or down on these executive nones, and if that is not the case, harry reid has indicated he is going to change the rules. Bill and the majority leader made it clear for the time being, at least, he is not doing anything about use of the filibuster on bills or legislation. He is not doing anything about uses of the filibuster on judicial nominations, and your former boss pointed out to us last week he is only targeting use of the filibuster for nominations to the executive branch. Yesterday on meet the press, senator reid lee reid said were just making its just changing it just a little bit. It really is. Bill lets listen. The changes we are making are very, very minimal. Were saying look American People shouldnt president obama have somebody working for him that he wants. The constitution is pretty specific, if you have a super majority vote, look at the treaty, but if you want to look at nominations, you know what the founding fathering said, simple majority . Bill not a wholesale killing of the filibuster, just that change. It really is a small change but one that is greatly needed. If we want the agencies that are charged with giving us clean water, clean air protecting workers and consumers to function, they need their Leadership Team in place, and the president is entitled to have that. For more than 200 years we have been giving executive nominees an up or down vote and thats what we should be having today. So its good to see the leader is going to try to make that change. Bill the ones that are up are the head of the epa, the nominee for secretary of labor the head of the export import bank. Bill oh, really . Okay. And then its the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Right cordray, and then through Board Members for the National Relationships board. Bill right. And the board they are languishing. The chairmans term ends in august, and if something didnt done they will cease to function. Last week we had a baker in who really talked about the impact the nrlb has on her life. Her husband is very ill, and tried to organize her fellow workers to start a union, did that successfully. Her employee retaliated against her. So she took her case to the nlrb, and they ruled in her favor. But because there isnt a working board, there has been no final resolution. She is stuck in this spot of limbo. She doesnt have health insurance. Her husband is still sick. She has that ruling that cant be put into effect, and thats just one case of the millions of americans who rely on the nlrb to protect workers. Bill hasnt the tradition been that they get to choose their team . Absolutely. This really isnt about republicans versus democrats this is about returns to the traditions and norms of the senate that we have seen operate for 200 years. There is a long list of quotes from republican senator just a few years ago saying we might not agree on the policy positions, but, you know, there are consequences to elections, and the president is entitled to his Leadership Team. Bill what is the beef, for example, with Richard Cordray . I mean what is the beef with him . He is a former attorney general of ohio. I havent heard of any scandal or crime that he committed or anything he did wrong. I mean what is the beef . Thats an excellent point. There is no beef with him. He ran the agency for a number of months, and theres no question he can do the job. 44 senator have signed a letter saying they wont vote to nominate anybody. Bill because . Because they are opposed to the agency in the first place. They think the structure and funding should be changed, so they said were not going to vote for anybody. And thats just not the way we should be having this debate. The debate is who is qualified to lead the agency. Bill but this is though new washington. They dont want a Consumer Finance Protection Bureau in the first place they are powerless to change it, so instead they are just blocking bill right. So the thing despite the opposition, the bill passes, the president signs it, the board is created, they cant do anything about that but they will block anybody from running it. Absolutely. Bill trying to scuddel it after they lost the first round. Right and they are the only agency that is charged with taking care of consumers. Bill all right. So you said as early as tomorrow, senator reid will start bringing these up one by one by one, and republicans know if you use the filibuster to block these, were going to change the filibuster. Were going to take a quick break, before but we do do you think republicans are going to affirm or demand at least 60 votes . I think on at least some of them they will demand 60 votes. Bill they may let some of them go i have a hard time seeing cordray or the nlrb get 60 votes. Bill and then what would democrats do . Lets get into it . At 86655press on the full court press with tamara fucilo for the center from American Progress. And well take your calls when we come back on the full court press. Announcer like politics . Then like the bill press show on facebook. This is the bill press show. For true stories. With Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. Real, gripping, current. Documentaries. On current tv. This show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. Are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night . Is this personal, or is it political . a lot of my work happens by doing the things that im given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. In reality its not like they actually care. This is purely about political grandstanding. Ive worn lots of hats, but ive always kept this going. Ive been doing politics now for a dozen years. vo hes been called the epic politics man. Hes Michael Shure and his arena is the war room. These republicans in congress that think the world ends at the Atlantic Ocean border and Pacific Ocean border. The bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. I do a lot of looking at those people as well. Not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. But we do care about them right . Announcer this is the bill press show. Bill all right. Twentyfive minutes after the hour here on the full court press. Senator byron gorgan joining us next hour. Real quick story. A woman has a dog that ran away 13 months ago. The Congress Woman and her daughters put up flyers all around town in albuquerque, new mexico, and the dog has come back 13 months later. So its a feelgood story. The dog came back. Bill took him a long time to get over that hot air balloon. Yeah. Bill tamara we got a notice this morning from the center for American Progress announcing that harry reid is appearing at the center this morning, going to be introduced by the head of the center for American Progress. So if harry reid is coming over to the center for American Progress, he obviously is coming with a message. Absolutely. You know bill i would think, right . Right. I dont think majority leader reid would come to cap to give a speech on the filibuster if he really wasnt ready to take that step and change the rules. And this is significantly different than the last two times a filibuster reform has come up. I think what were seeing is senator reid is just at his wits end. Bill yeah, he agreed to one in january and the republicans reneged on the deal. Right. Coming out of that agreement, Mitch Mcconnell said he would follow the rules of the norm of the senate and then a couple of weeks later he went ahead and joined his colleagues in signing the letter about not nominating anybody. Bill is this the first step . I think this is a really important first step. How this plays out exactly, we dont know. What we do know is that in a way that we havent seen before majority leader reid is ready to change those rules. Bill right, and because of legislation and judicial nominations, it would be nice to move to that next but i think the leader has shown he doesnt want to use a nuclear option, he wants to be reasonable and take these changes slowly and a somebody at a time. Good to have you in today. Thank you so much for coming over. Thank you so much. Announcer this is the bill press show. They should selfdeport . No, they said make us a turkey and make it fast. laughter . She gets the comedians laughing. Thats the best thats hilarious. And the thinkers thinking. Okay, so there is wiggle room in the Ten Commandments is what youre telling me. Shes joy behar. Ya, i consider you jewtalian. Okay, whatever you want. Who plays kafka . Who saw kafka . Who ever saw kafka . laughter . Asking the tough questions. Chris brown, i mean you wouldnt let one of your daughters go out with him. Absolutely not. You would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me . Absolutely singing i take lipitor, thats it. Are you improving your lips . laughter . When shes talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. It looks like Anthony Wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. His what in the ring . His hat. Always outspoken, joy behar. And the best part is that current will let me say anything. What the hell were they thinking . Only on current tv. Announcer on your radio, and on current tv this is the bill press show. Bill here we go, thirtythree minutes after the hour now on the full court press, this monday morning, july 15th. Welcome to the program. Thanks for joining us. Were coming to you live from our nations capitol. Brought to you today by the labors union under terry o osullivan. He has done years and years of Service Building a better america. Byron jorgan joins us back in studio this morning. Nice to see you. Good to be with you. Bill congratulations, im reaching for your book. This is your second thriller. Energy environmental thriller called gridlock, just came out, correct . Last tuesday. Caller that you have authored with david hagberg. But first i have to get your take we have been talking about that majority leader reid has said he is going to put republicans to the test this week on the filibuster on nominations to the executive branch, that they continue to use the filibuster to block those. And senator reid says he is going to change the rules. Do you think he should . Well Mitch Mcconnell and those he represents and the Republican Caucus have decided that they are simply not going to move nominations. They are playing a game with these things and a lot of good men and women are not offering themselves for public service, because they know they are going to wait a year two years, in some cases they are not going to be confirmed. So i dont think that harry reid has any choice. Theres a lot of dynamics between the two caucuses now, but harry reid certainly has a right to be saying to Mitch Mcconnell, if you want to break the system like this then we are going to have to try to repair it somehow. Bill you were there a long time, was the tradition that whether the president was a republican or democrat, the president should be able to name the people if he wins the election, right . Name the people he wants to run his agencies. Generally seeking bill unless there was some problem. There were some oddliars, but generally speaking they would confirm the president s choice, but thats no longer the case. The senate is not working. It is broken. And its broken on virtually everything but nominations. You need people in key positions to run the government and when they decide we are not going to move these nominations, they break the system. Bill tell us about the book. This is about a virus created by the russians stolen by the iranians, who then employ a hacker in amsterdam to threaten this country and begin to shut down the electric grid in this country. The cyber threat is very real. Very real for the electric system, because we have an old system, and very real for the distribution of water and transportation. We focused on this because our country needs to wake up a bit. Its an interesting book. I think it will let you sleep at night, but we ought to be very worried about cyber terror. Bill ever now and then i see an article about the grid how old it is and you just alluded to the importance of it how much we depend on this grid. Talk about that a little bit. The transmission electric grid is a left over in many ways. Are some new parts. But most of it is where you have a power plant that generates power and then sends it out to the customers in the area. And then we didnt build an interstate superhighway as we did for the cars. Instead we just patched these spider webs together. There are some new parts. But our system of moving power in this country is archaic, and in need of protection. We just had a study about seven years ago about what would happen, and that was classified until just now. And they say cyber terrorists could in fact shut down our electric power grid system for a day, month week, many months, perhaps, if that happened of course it would cripple this countrys economy bill not only would these lights go out, but many of our Transportation Systems would not run just about everything you can think of is electric power. We wake up in the morning and the first button we touch produces this power. But we have 3500 power stations, 200,000 miles of transmission 10s of thousands of transformers to step up and step down the power, most of which were about 40 years old, and most of which were made overseas so theres great concern about viruses and worms that are created into these systems that just can shut it down. Are you familiar with the story last about ten months ago, aramco had about threefourths of their Mainframe Computers shut down, and the data on all of it was annihilated. Somebody came in and annihilated the data in about threefourths of the largest oil companies. And they left a depiction of the American Flag burning. They destroy all of the data bill thats all that was left. Yes. And experts rushed to a saudi arabia to try to determine what happened here . Leon panetta said the next pearl harbor may very well be a cyber event. Bill did they find out who did it . It was a group that called themselves the cutting sword of justice. But what they managed to accomplish was extraordinary. And everybody is trying to understand what does this mean for us and what makes life in our country. Bill very timely and scary novel by a senator who spent more time you were always in talking in about Energy Policy here in the United States. A lot of that intelligence and research and background is now in this novel. I saw this article recently in the new york times, talking about the gridlock and one of the obstacles to doing something to improve and upgrade the gridlock here in america is that there are so many owners to it. Its not just one system its like 500 different little systems. How do you work around that . Two things. No one is in charge. You have folks the power companies, local governments, State Government regulators, the federal government, and ferc and you are go on and on. No one is really in charge. Number 2, we have been through this period of deregulating things to drive down prices as these prices go lower through competition, theres no way to capture from customers the amount of money you need to make investments to strengthen and modernize the grid. So who comes up with the money and how do you come up with the money in this new deregulated system . Bill anybody working on this . Well, anybody and everybody but nobody has a solution. Bill right. So so its its i guess its not considered today a national priority, is it . I dont think it is. Some will say they are working hard. Its a big national priority. But the point in fact is you know, the last two wars we have fought in afghanistan and iraq the enemies didnt wear uniforms. Well that was different because you couldnt quite determine who the enemy is. The next war might be a war without explosions. It shuts down essential systems and that will kill people as well. Bill its the wakeup call here, the gridlock, a novel. Your calls questions, and comments welcome at 86655press, or on twitter at bpshow. Announcer like politics then like the bill press show on facebook. This is the bill press show. Current tv is the place with Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. Real, gripping, current. Documentaries. On current tv. cenk its go time its go time its go time go time. You know what time it is. Go time its go time. Its go time. What time is it rob . Here comes the young turks go time its go time. Oh is it . Oh, then its go time. Anybody . Anybody . What time is it . Oh, right. Its go time announcer this is the bill press show, live on your radio and current tv. Bill thirteen minutes before the top of the hour were talking issues of the day, and byron jorgan is here in studio with us. A quick word about something you might be thinking about, as was pointed out before imagine that you were in an accident you are unconscious, the paramedics arrive, and they cant find out anything about you because of course you cant communicate. Here is something that will solve that problem. Its called emergency link id. Its a small tag that you attach to your key ring or put in your wallet or purse that tells Emergency Responders all that they need to know. That could actually make the difference between life and death, so sign up now for emergency links Emergency Response service for only 10 a year, youll receive your id kit free. But you have got to hurry sign up now to emergencylink. Com and enter press for this limited time offer thats emergencylink. Com, enter press at emergencylink. Com. Good news bill good news for apple, according to the financial times, has gone on a hiring free to design and develop and market the iwatch. Its almost like an iphone for your wrist. You keep your music and photos on it and wear it as a watch. Bill can you do your emails on it . Absolutely. Bill are you ready for one, senator . Soon they will get to a ring. Remember the dick tracy ring you wore. Put it all on a ring not a watch. I dont honestly it seems like the screen would not be very big to read emails and things like that, so they are going to have to come up with something pretty special to make it different and bigger than what they have. Either that or wear a watch the size of a dinner plate. Thats true. Bill between the google glass i have tried those. Its unbelievable. Bill and . Thats it. Thats the only way i can describe it, its unbelievable. When you put them on and worked the magic, it was interesting but bill but could you imagine driving down the street yeah, thats what i dont understand. The thing to me is you could never get away from it. Sometimes ill put my phone in the glove box, but if you are wearing google glass you cannot get away from it. Bill yeah im very sceptical about that whole technology. Lets talk to bill from florida. Caller good morning. Senator your book sounds fascinating. Im wondering if the next book you are going to write will be about the tens of thousands of transmission lines and thousands of transformer yards that could be taken out by single guys in a pickup truck with a stick of dynamite. There is a circumstance in this book that describes something very close to that. The kind of situation you just described i have also in that book dealing with the Nuclear Power plant. Bill hey thanks jim. Good to hear from you. One of the first interviews that president obama gave, and he was asked the question about what keeps you up at night . And he said cyber warfare. It is a real threat today. Yeah it is a very serious threat. We have 200,000 miles of transmission line. We have 10s of thousands of transformers, average age about 40 years old. Most of them made overseas, so aside from someone putting a virus into the system because we have three interconnects eastern, western, and texas, and we have 20plus control centers, so we have a lot of things going on, and i think this will be a book that will be very interesting to a lot of people. Bill obviously with this book and your first novel blowout, you have been having a lot of fun. Do you miss the senate . I miss going to a vote and seeing all of my buddies. But i was there 30 years. I made a decision i wanted to do other things. This is my third and fourth book, this is coauthored by the way. Bill uhhuh. But the senate is a great place. Its a great privilege to have served there for a lot of years, and if your nourishment is coming from accomplishment, you are starving up there. And the country needs accomplishment these days. Bill hopefully well see some changes that will get things done. I hope so. I hope more of them are concerned about the future of the country rather than their political party. Bill if we start that in the senate, then maybe some of it can spill over into the house, which is really broken. The funny thing is, there are really terrific men and women, but they cant find a way to work together, which is a shame. Bill all right. We miss your voice, senator, but glad you are out there doing stuff again. The book is gridlock. I cant wait to read it. Senator always good to see you have. Thanks for coming in. Thank you. Announcer this is the bill press show. Current tv, its been all building up to this. Bill shares his views, now its your turn. I know youre going to want to weigh in on these issues. Connect with full court press with bill press at facebook. Com billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. I believe people are hungry for it. If you believe in states rights but still support the drug war you must be high. Viewpoint digs deep into the issues of the day. Do you think that there is any chance well see this president even say the words carbon tax . With an open mind. Has the time finally come for real Immigration Reform . And a distinctly satirical point of view. But you mentioned great leadership so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. laughter . Watch the show. Only on current tv. Announcer this is the bill press show. Bill hey, here we go. Bob cusack from the hill joining us as a friend of bill for the next hour, and then corey daye will be along with from the root, to talk about the Trayvon Martin case. Its points of light day. Remember that program started by former president george h. W. Bush to honor volunteers in this nation. The president and the first lady will have lunch with former president bush and barbara bush at the white house. After which they will go to the east room to honor the 5,000 daily point of light Award Winners at 1 45. It will be nice to see them back in the white house. Back with bob cusack. [ theme music ] bill hey, good morning, friends and neighbors great to see you today on this monday july 15th. I hope you had a good weekend, had a chance to relax and recharge the batteries, get rested and ready and lined up to tackle the us in of the day on this monday july 15th. Well bring you up to date on what is happening here in our nations capitol, around the country and the globe. 86655press our toll free number, look for your comments on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook billpressshow. And we want to hear what these issues mean to you and your family. Protests around the country, of course, after saturdays verdict in the Trayvon Martin case. Justice was not done in the criminal case for sure now its up to the department of justice to see whether they will fail a case against George Zimmerman for violating Trayvon Martins civil rights. There may also be a civil right launched down in florida. In other news today or tomorrow could be the day that democrats follow through with their threat to change the rules of the filibuster if republicans continue to use the filibuster to block nominations to the executive branch and the Justice Department has issued new rules for dealing with the media in any future leak investigations, and Edward Snowden says now he wants temporary asylum in russia. All of that and more coming up in our last hour here on current tv. 1 thing than viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. They know that im not bsing them for some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. When the democrats are wrong, they know im going to be the first one to call them out. Cenk on air whats unacceptable is how washington continues to screw the middle class over. Cenk off air i dont want the middle class taking the brunt of the spending cuts and all the different programs that wind up hurting the middle class. Cenk on air you got to go to the local level, the state level and we have to fight hard to make sure they cant buy our politics anymore. Cenk off air and they can question if im right about that. But i think the audience gets that, i actually mean it. Cenk on air 3 trillion dollars in spending cuts narrator uniquely progressive and always topical the Worlds Largest online news show is on current tv. Cenk off air and i think the audience gets, this guys to best of his abilities is trying to look out for us. Only on current tv we have a big, big hour and the iq will go way up. vo current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. Im a slutty bob hope. The troops love me. Tv and radio talk show host Stephanie Miller rounds out currents morning news block. Youre welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. vo sharp tongue. Excuse me . vo quick wit. And yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. vo and above all, opinion and attitude. Really . this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. You know what those people are like. What could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush . My producer just coughed up a hairball. Sorry. Just be grateful current tv doesnt come in smellovision oh come on the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. vo only on current tv. Announcer broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv, this is the bill press show. Bill justice can be blind, justice can be wrong. Justice was both blind and wrong in sanford, florida over the weekend. Good morning everybody, it is the full court press here on a monday morning. Monday july 15th. Great to see you this morning. Thank you for joining us. Good to have you with us. Lots going on at our nations capitol. Well talk about that. You can join us on twitter at bpshow, and on facebook at facebook billpressshow. So much going on. We need a little help, help from our friends this morning. One of our good friends, bob cusack is the contribute woe. The managing editor of the hill. He is my boss actually. Thats right. He is a staff writer for the hill. Bill good to see you. Good morning. Bill peter ogburn and dan henning. Alicia cruz on the phones. And siprion bolling is still on vacation, but monty has been doing a great job for the last month and a half. Not quite that long. Bill filling in on the cameras on ktvu. No, not ktvu. Speaking of ktvu i have made a living in television for a long time, and mistakes do happen. But i have never heard a mistake like this. Its in oakland, california been to their studios just south of jack london square, but they were right out in front on this accident at sfo, and they were so intent on continuing to beat the competition on that story that when they were somebody leaked to them the names of the pilots on that plane, they wanted to be the first to report them, and they were what what a disaster. Here is the anchor. We have new information now, also on the plane crash, ktvu just learned the names of the four pilots. Cap captain something wong we too low, and [ inaudible ]. These are the names of the pilots on the flight 215 when it crashed. Thats so sad. Bill i would just hope that if i were the anchor and i read something wong i would think something wong with this story. Wouldnt you think before you next to the next one, we too low. How many sources do we have on this one . Bill yeah, exactly. They did call the National Transportation safety board, ntsb, and a summer intern answers though phone and he doesnt want to admit they have information that they dont have, i guess, or he doesnt no anything. So he gives them the official yep, sounds good to me. So they ran with it. Thats amazing. Why in a crisis like this would the ntsb allow an intern to handle the telephone. Bill that too. But this station has got the responsibility. Oh, yeah. It was a perfect storm. Bill oh, was it ever. Man, im telling you. They have egg on their face. Bob cusack here for the whole hour. Were going to be joined by corey dade from the root. He was here last week talking about what happened in the George Zimmerman trial. He nailed it. And well be here to talk about that. But first, dan announcer this is the full court press. In sports in golf big day yesterday for a teenager a 19yearold won the John Deere Classic in illinois. He became the youngest player to win a pga tour event in 82 years. He had to fight through five sudden death playoff holds. With the win he gets an 828,000 paycheck and he is now a fullfledged member of the pga tour. He hit 19 under par. 828,000. What is his name . Jordan speaks. I only had half of that when i was 19. Bill i think well be hearing a lot more about him. Yeah. And he dodged a couple of holes and got a couple of breaks but won it all. He chipped in at 18, which forced the playoff. President obama taking some time off over the weekend and played golf saturday with a couple of sports broadcasters. They played at fort bellmore. I wonder how many Congressional Democrats are like, hey, how about me . I play golf . [ laughter ] and jk rouling has faked out the entire it willry world. A new detective novel came out in april. Everyone thought it was written by an exmilitary man. But the real author is none other than the famous harry potter writer. She said she wanted to release a book without hyperexpectation just to see how it did. Bill you know, again everything she touches turns to gold. Like she needs the money after harry potter . Yeah. She finally caught a break. Bill all right. Where do we start . Theres a lot going on here in washington, d. C. Lets start with harry reid has said this is the week were going to bust up the filibuster. Republicans are going to go along with nominations to the executive branch, or were going to change the rules on the filibuster. Theyll meet to see if they can work things out. What is your read . I think reid is going to do this. I think he is going to move forward on this. They had that filibuster deal in january. And he now knows that mcconnell got the better of that deal. He was on meet the press and is having a big speech today, he doesnt do that usually. But i think this will hurt the chance of Immigration Reform happening. Bill he was on meet the press yesterday, this morning, he is going to go over to the center for American Progress the liberal think tank here in washington, d. C. Giving a speech at 10 30 this morning, so you would have to he would not deliver this threat follow with meet the press, give this speech in advance, if he wasnt confident in the votes. I think they will have the votes. Maybe 51 if they dont need biden. This is a significant step just because republicans who clearly democrats were saying listen, if republicans are less obstructionist, we wouldnt have to do this. Bill but in this case there are seven nominees were talking about. There is no problem at least none divulged with any of these people in terms of their credentials, their qualifications, their ability to do the job its just that republicans dont like the agencies. They dont like the epa, the department of labor, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, and they dont like the National Labor relations board. So this is kind of a back door approach of preventing those agencies from working effectively by blocking their nominations. I mean that is by any measure an abuse of the filibuster isnt it . Especially chordri, they want it to be a fiveperson bureau. And now republicans have eased back a little bit on the epa pick and the department of labor pick, but the nlrb and cordri they have not backed off. And reid makes a lot of threats, were going to have weekend work, and i think thats part of the pressure on him, because the left is you are finally going to do this and then he doesnt. And i think this time he finally does. Bill if republicans approve the seven, there would be no change to the filibuster. Yeah, thats a choice they could make. Where they say listen i dont think they do bill i think they block some of them. I think they block some of them, not all of them and then its up to reid. So i think this meeting is almost window dressing. I think reid is at the point of no return. Bill now lets talk about the house for a second here. I am very proud of the fact that on tuesdays i write a column for the hill, your newspaper, so here is what im working on for this week, and i just have got to test you. Looking at House Republicans, i am really puzzled by what their strategy is. Uhhuh. Bill two big issues for example, immigration yeah. Bill where most not most a lot of main stream republicans are saying boy, were in deep do do with the latino community. John mccain, lindsey graham, they are saying we have to show that we have some theres some outreach to the latino community, and the way to do it is by blocking Immigration Reform. And the House Republicans say, we dont care. Were not going to do it. Then the farm bill since 1973 they have always gotten together to pass farmers and poor people in this country who need nutritional assistance. The Senate Passes the bill and then the house says were not going to pass any damn bill because it has food stamps in it. I think a couple of things going on, one of them is republicans know they need to do this. They know it. Do they have to do it before 2014 . Maybe in do they have to do it before 2016 . Absolutely. So i think theres that do we have to do it now or can we wait. I think Republican Leaders are trying to move their conference to embrace some path to citizenship, we saw they are working on their own version of the dream act, but they havent drafted it yet. I think thats a signal that maybe when the house and senate get in the conference the house is going to pass the small little bills on immigration, and then go into conference with the senate, but i think the leaders, they are just trying to convince their republican colleagues but a lot of these guys dont have a lot of hispanics in their district. Bill yeah, if you take Immigration Reform, if you take the even go to Student Loans yeah. Bill you take the farm bill, the guncontrol legislation as well and then the legislation that they passed on the strictest abortion limits in decades, if you add those five up, the republicans are sort of showing, we dont bow to any political pressure were not going to do anything . Yeah, the rank and file House Republicans, they dont feel much pressure from that senate vote. The leaders feel like listen guys, we have got to do something, the ball is in our court. Eric cantor is trying to make the republicans a little more kid friendly, thats part of their version of the dream act, but they need to have their conference with them, and they are trying to lead and its very difficult for them. Bill yeah. Right. It seems to be a case of the tail wagging the dog. Yeah absolutely. Bill your calls welcome at 86655press. When we come back, democrats got sa big jolt when Brian Schweitzer said im knot going to run for the senate after all. Announcer get social with bill press like us at facebook billpressshow. This is the bill press show. With Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. Real, gripping, current. Documentaries. On current tv. This show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. Are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night . Is this personal, or is it political . A lot of my work happens by doing the things that im given touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. In reality its not like they actually care. This is purely about political grandstanding. Ive worn lots of hats, but ive always kept this going. Ive been doing politics now for a dozen years. vo hes been called the epic politics man. Hes Michael Shure and his arena is the war room. These republicans in congress that think the world ends at the Atlantic Ocean border and Pacific Ocean border. The bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. I do a lot of looking at those people as well. Not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. But we do care about them right . Announcer this is the bill press show. Bill twentysix minutes after the hour the full court press, bob cusack is here as a friend of bill this hour from the hill. Peter what is going on . Sad story, the very first plane that was designated air force one and carried dwight eisenhower, it is now sitting in the desert of arizona. Its not covered, its just sitting out there, rotting away. You would think they would have it in a museum somewhere. It is basically just desert junk. Bill donald trump should buy it, and then he can say i flew on air force one. Thats the closest he ever get. Bill bob cusack, because of George Zimmerman mainly, and other things we have notally forgotten about the nsa, the whole thing that Edward Snowden put out there. Yeah. Bill so i asked a question friday at the briefing of jay carney, i said theres another side to the story, which is more and more senator and members of congress as i read in the hill have complained about the fact that they have been mislead about nsa officials, about the extent of this spying or this eves dropping, or intelligence gathering or whatever and jay carney said, they had briefings avenue what was going on. I followed up then. There are senator, that i know that there are some members who missed briefings they asked specific questions, and they were told this information again i think the fact is they have known about these programs. I know some members dont show up for the briefings, and some members choose appearances on Cable Television over these briefings, but the briefings exist. Bill jay carney about that. Yes. Bill ron wyden is on the intelligence committee. Yeah, and they were mislead. Thats where clapper apologized that he mislead congress. Well be right back. Announcer this is the bill press show. If you believe in states rights but still support the drug war you must be high. Viewpoint digs deep into the issues of the day. Do you think there is any chance well ever hear the president even say the word carbon tax . With an opened mind. Has the time finally come for real Immigration Reform . And a distinctly satirical point of view. But you mentioned great leadership so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. laughter cutting throught the clutter of todays top stories. This is the savior of the Republican Party . I mean really . With a unique perspective. Teddy rosevelt was a weak asmatic kid who never played sports until he was a grown up. laughter . And lots of fancy buzz words. Family values, speding, liberty, economic freedom, hardworking moms, crushing debt, cute little puppies. If Wayne Lapierre can make up stuff that sounds logical while making no sense. Hey, so can i. Once again friends, this is live tv and sometimes these things happen. Watch the show. Only on current tv. Announcer heard around the country, and seen on current tv, this is the bill press show. Bill here we go, thirtythree minutes after the hour now on this monday morning, july 15th. It is the full court press, and we are coming to you live from our nations capitol our studio on capital hill brought to you by the good men and women of asme for more information, check out all of the good work they are doing, check out their website at afscme. Org. Bob cusack here in studio was a friend of bill with our entire team this morning. Joining us on the news line is contributing editor for the root, a lot of us might have been surprised by the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case George Zimmerman found not guilty of Second Degree murder and not guilty of manslaughter. Corey dade told us that is what he thought was going to happen. By, bill by bob. Hey. Bill i found it hard to believe they didnt find George Zimmerman guilty on the manslaughter charge. What happened . Well, to get to the manslaughter charge, the jury first had to decide that George Zimmerman did or did not well in this case did not act in selfdefense lawfully. So the the bar is is the selfdefense law in the state of florida. And the selfdefense law in the state of florida really gives an enormous amount of protections to the user of deadly force, so at the end of the day, they thought and im sort of paraphrasing the language of the law here that the juries thought that George Zimmerman had reasonable fear that he was going to be dealt great bodily harm or death. The injuries dont matter. All George Zimmerman had to convince the jury of is that he reasonably believed that he was in fear of great harm. So from there, if they believe that, then that justifyied his use of deadly force. Bill well, i dont know the florida law as well as you do but i would argue at least suggest that if he were carrying a gun when he should not have been, and when he got out of his car when he should not have been, and when he confronted this young man there wouldnt have been any fight if he hadnt gotten out of his car, so if you start a fight with somebody and you get beat up by somebody you started the fight with isnt it hard to claim selfdefense at that point . It is except for the fact that there is no evidence to support anyones account about who started the fight. The state was unable to put together, and lets back up for a second. Usually in a criminal case the prosecutor is the one drawing all of the conclusions, the prosecutor is the one saying here is what happened point by point by point and the state was never able to do that. The state could not prove who started the fight, or prove the circumstances of the fight lead to zimmerman unjustifiably shooting Trayvon Martin. The state began or focused its case, not only on the inconsistencies in zimmermans account, but really focused on the pro filing of it the idea that had he not gotten out of his car we wouldnt be here but thats not the Legal Standard for this case. Bill and they couldnt prove that because there was no eyewitness and zimmerman himself never took the stand. Thats correct. And thats what made this case so difficult to prove. Now going forward, they are reviewing the case to see if Trayvon Martins civil rights were violated and specifically whether he was racially profiled, so that gets into issues about what happened in the mind of George Zimmerman as he evaluated Trayvon Martin in that neighborhood. Yeah, with so much unknown and as far as not having any eyewitnesses, and the fact that zimmerman was acquitted, i wasnt surprised to see the doj say yeah well look into it. But can they really bring a case here as far as doj involvement . Do you see them getting involved . This is a high bar if we thought the bar was high for the state in this particular trial, the bar for the doj is even higher here. To prove civil Rights Violations under these circumstances, the Justice Department has to prove it has to prove such a high it has to reach such a high standard, and the Justice Department puts this kind of case through a series of reviews that are fairly rigorous. Its very difficult to prove a racial profiling case because when people lets not pretend here racial profiling happens, we all profile everyone on a variety of different standards. We see someone who is blond, we see someone who is a redhead, we see someone who is tall we make certain assumptions based on their physicals a tributes. In this case the Justice Department has to decideing whether or not zimmerman used race. There is not a whole lot about Trayvon Martins behavior that would suggest he was a criminal threat. So if you use that standard then perhaps the Justice Department has a case. But you add it to that most of his justification for calling the Police Dispatch and following him because the the pattern of breakins that had been committed in that neighborhood, particularly by African American males, with that alone and that came out in trial, his defense attorney was very skilled in using previous breakins committed by young black males to essentially you know the implicit meaning to the jury was, see its okay because of the history here that George Zimmerman profiled this kid as a black kid who may be up to no good. Its fine. Bill there obviously will be a civil case bob said. Is that so clear to you, corey . And who would bring it . You know, its not entirely clear to me. You know, the attorneys for Trayvon Martins parents, they are very experienced personal injury attorneys. They are very successful in the state of florida, and have been successful for a long time so this is right up their ally. They know how to bring these types of cases and win them. Earlier this year before the trial began, Trayvon Martins family won a settlement from the subdivision, the actual homeowners division that operates that subdivision where he was shot. They didnt disclose the sum, but there are some reports that the sum was upwards of Million Dollars or a little bit more. And i have heard one of the attorneys say they dont sue people who are insulted. And there is a question about whether George Zimmerman has any assets, insurance or anything else, that could be the target of a wrongful death lawsuit. In a wrongful death lawsuit, George Zimmerman would be could be compelled to testify. Bill that was my question. I read that somewhere, that he would be compelled to testify, have to testify in that case which could be which could be really significant. Yeah, and i think the interesting thing here on the doj side eric holder theres a lot of pressure on him to do this. The president of the naacp said even before the verdict came in this option was available. And al sharpton was on meet the press talking about it. How much could that influence the Justice Department . Yeah a number of members of congress mainly the Congressional Black Caucus came out in support of the Justice Department taking action but i think the pressure was there before. The Justice Department took a look at this case before before zimmerman was charged. Its not exactly a knew thing, but, you know, the Civil Rights Community and eric holder have a pretty good relationship. Eric holder has done right by the Civil Rights Community many times over the last six yearsor so since he became attorney general. He has resuscitated the Civil Rights Division so i think that if doj decides not to move on this case, the Civil Rights Community will be given a pretty comprehensive reason as to why. Bill all right. Hey, corey thanks for following this case with us and joining us. Its theroot. Com. All right. Well talk about Brian Schweitzer when we come back here. Youre free to join the conversation at 86655press. Announcer connect with the bill press show on twitter, and tweet using the hashtag watchingbp. This is the this is the bill press show. cenk its go time its go time its go time go time. You know what time it is. Go time its go time. Its go time. What time is it rob . Here comes the young turks its go time. Oh is it . Oh, then its go time. Anybody . Anybody . What time is it . Oh, right. Its go time current tv is the place for true stories. With Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. Real, gripping, current. Documentaries. On current tv. Announcer this is the bill press show live on your radio and current tv. Bill twelve minutes before the top of the hour. It is the full court press, wining up here with bob cusack from the hill. Peter what is going on . Could couple of comments [ inaudible ] said if i were on that jury i would like to remain anonymous. How could they ever show their faces. You can always communicate with us at bpshow on twitter. Bill i think the stand your ground law deserves some revision. And clearly in other states there would have been a different verdict, clearly. Bill yes, indeed. Bob an interesting kind of warm experience at the white house today. Former president george h. W. Bush will be back having lunch with the president and the first lady today. And then a Program Honoring the points of light award recipients. Good to see him back. It is. And hbo did a documentary on hw and i think it was really well done. I think as time has gone be more and more people really have come to like him. But they asked him about ross perreault, and to this day he is not a big fan of ross perreault. It is a very good documentary. Its very fair and balanced. Bill yes. When max baucus said he wasnt going to run again, they thought Brian Schweitzer was going to run. But he said he is not going to run. Huge news here. This really has democrats scrambling on the republican side, steve danes, is going to get in the race. The democrats view him as a formidable candidate. Schweitzer has rubbed some democrats in the state the wrong way. Schweitzer and max baucus never have gotten along. So this is a clear sign that republicans the chances of them retaking the senate are certainly better than they were last week, because john tester said two weeks ago, i would the farm that schweitzer gets in. So if anybody needs to farm bill right. This is not the only state where democrats have run into unexpected problems. Yeah West Virginia is looking like showing captoe is a favor to win . Georgia they didnt get john barrow to run. But he opted not to run. And remember the math is very republican friendly in 2014. In 2016 its very democratic friendly. But the republicans need six pickups. You never know because everyone thought republicans were going to pick up seats the last time and democrats ended up picking up the seats. Bill finally at the governor level, do you know any other governor in the country, when a rich businessman came along and said, oh your daughter is getting married, i would be glad to pay for the wedding . Bob mcdonald from virginia what is going on . He was in the discussion for mitt romneys running mate. Bill i know. There have been rumors that he is going to resign his staff is denying it but when the fbi is investigating you, there is going to be discussion of a plea bargain. Who would have thought a year ago cuccinelli would be looking to distance himself from mcdonald. So it has been a real real close in just a short amount of time his reputation has taken a major hit. Bill major hit. That is going to be a tight race. Bill the hill, thehill. Com, best source of information here on the hill. Thank you, bob. Thank you. Bill and ill be back with todays parting shot. Announcer go mobile with bill press, download the bill press app and listen any time anywhere. This is the bill press show. Shes joy behar. Ya, i consider you jewtalian. Okay, whatever you want. Who plays kafka . Who saw kafka . Who ever saw kafka . laughter . Asking the tough questions. Chris brown, i mean you wouldnt let one of your daughters go out with him. Absolutely not. You would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me . Absolutely singing i take lipitor, thats it. Are you improving your lips . laughter . When shes talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. It looks like Anthony Wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. His what in the ring . His hat. Always outspoken, joy behar. And the best part is that current will let me say anything. What the hell were they thinking . Only on current tv. We have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. vo current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. Im a slutty bob hope. You are. The troops love me. vo tv and radio talk show host Stephanie Miller rounds out currents morning news block. Youre welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. Just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. The sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. vo only on current tv. Current tv is the place for true stories. With Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. Real, gripping, current. Documentaries. On current tv. Announcer the parting shot with bill press. This is the bill press show. Bill and on this monday, july 15th, my parting shot for today. They say justice is blind, and she sure proved it on saturday when she let George Zimmerman walk for killing Trayvon Martin. Maybe it was hard to establish malicious intent but there is no way he was not guilty of manslaughter. He has no business carrying a gun, he has no business getting out of the car, he has no business confronting Trayvon Martin when he knew Police Officers were responding to the scene, and if he found himself losing a fight with a younger man that he himself has started, then he picked the wrong man. No business shooting and killing him. Justice was not done in that case. You and i know if a black man had shot and killed a white man, the verdict would have been just the opposite. Tonight ill see you on current tv on John Fugelsang on viewpoint. And see you back here again tomorrow. Announcer this is the bill press show. Them [ theme music ] stephanie all right current tv land. Looky here, chris after a yearlong investigation upenn likes casual sex. Well good morning, jacki schechner. I did not partake participate into in that