Transcripts For WPVI Inside Story 20151206

Calculation. And what is so ironic to some people is that guncontrol support is actually down. So people either want to arm themselves for safety, or they just dont know how to attack this problem. What in the world can we do here . What do you think, jan . Well, universal background checks, i dont think, are gonna have any Significant Impact on the fundamental problem, which, i think has been characterized as domestic terrorism, certainly in the most recent incidents. I mean, all the individuals who are concerned would have been legal buyers, even under universal background checks. All the weapons used in the recent terrorist incidents, as far as we know, were legally purchased. So i dont see that universal background checks are the solution. And statistically, while Mass Shootings are certainly up, the overall i think if you study over the past 10 years, the incidents of gun violence on a per capita basis in america has actually gone down. More guns, more Mass Shootings, but overall shootings per capita gone down. I think its a tough problem. Personally, i think we need to, as a result of this most recent shooting, think about immigration. And i think we need to control the number of new people coming in because i think it creates more problems for law enforcement, keeping track of people. I think this most recent shooting involved devoutly religious muslims, who are susceptible to internet proselytizing. However, the male perpetrator was americanborn, and he married a pakistaniborn wife from an internet relationship. So that maybe would not have prevented his interest in having Mass Shootings be done. I think we draw too easy conclusions about this. I dont think not letting people into the United States of america were a land of immigrants, and now were talking about not letting people in is problematic. And i think you have to separate the Mass Shootings, where we have these group activities, from what goes on. And a per capita analysis doesnt talk about whats going on in the minority communities. If you do it on a per capita basis, in the minority communities, the numbers are much higher. But i think this whole thing and we can get to gun control and all of that stuff, and i think thats a debate that will go on. But its a character flaw in america that is you know, nobodys acting with discipline. Our congress doesnt act with discipline. Our state legislators dont act with discipline. So if you have no leadership, and the country believes its all about me, then what do you expect these other folks who have bigger problems and bigger you know, mental issues i mean, they believe its okay. If those guys can do it, why cant we . So there are two possibilities that are being batted around, among many others, but two big ones. President obama says he may want to personally use the executive order to close a loophole in background checks so that people walking up to a gun show or going online, who currently do not have to have a background check they could be criminals. They could have mentalhealth issues and could just buy a gun anyway instantly. 40 of gun sales would be stopped, or at least delayed, if a background check were done on everybody. Good idea or bad idea . I think theres a lot of numbers and statistics. And one of the things were talking when we talk about one a day, youre talking about some of the typical sadbuthappened urban violence in every city that occurs. So that makes the number higher. The backgroundcheck issue to do away with that would be more political. Look, im not a gun nut, but the fact of the matter is for the president to do that wouldnt solve this problem. This guy legally had a gun. Right. So i think to solve the problem that were looking at or begin to work towards a solution, you really have to break down, okay, what are the boxes of it . Some of it is urban violence. How do we address that . Some of it is recruited terrorists online, which seems to be a part of this, at least, in terms of the wife, and the fact that we cant track people coming from certain countries. You know, theyre not coming i mean, theyre coming from pakistan. Theyre coming from certain areas. If you go to syria and you come back, they should give you heightened scrutiny than if you went over to france and just kind of were on vacation, et cetera. So i think to solve the problem, you have to kind of break it down into the pieces. And the kind of acrosstheboard thing that the president is being urged to do, or is considering, wouldnt solve the problem. But if the president were to do Something Like that just to send a signal that guns we need to take more careful attention to background checks before we move, you know, into everybody having a gun, is that a political issue thats gonna impact Hillary Clinton . Is he gonna make the nra so mad that hillarys on his back now . Like, what are you doing . Youre leaving office. Im coming, hopefully according to her, shes like a good shot at it without the nra breathing down her neck. I dont think the nra could be any more breathing down Hillary Clintons neck when she runs as she runs for president. And i think for the president this would send a signal. What kind of signal would it send . It wouldnt send a solvingaproblem signal. It would just send a politicalmessage signal, and i think theres other signals that he could send. Theres also the mentalhealth issue. Should people with mentalhealth issues have their backgrounds opened . Thats a h. I. P. P. A. Issue, where your medical records are sealed. But if youre asking for a gun and youve been in and out of facilities with issues, perhaps they should be unsealed . This strikes me george, i think, put his finger on something. This sort of feels like an unraveling. Its unraveling in the inner city. Its unraveling in suburban riverside. Its unraveling in so many places, in some of these columbine and newtown that we seem to have untethered ourselves from a certain level of sanity. And this is becoming the new normal so that we dont have such outrage. The shock of paris was overwhelming because of the coordinated attack on multi locations. But i heard Police Commissioner william bratton, recently, i think on 60 minutes, say, its coming. This is coming. So i think that this cant be a onesolutionfitsall. Universal background checks strikes me as something thats prudent. I mean, look at the things that parents do to prevent their children from falling down the steps. [ chuckles ] and we do virtually nothing to prevent people from picking up guns and walk not rifles to shoot deer, but assault weapons to take into schools. And lets not lets also not make this about muslims and all about terrorism. The person who walked into a black church in South Carolina wasnt a muslim and killed a bunch of people. In columbine there are lots of these mass events that are happening that are not terroristrelated. Theyre just crazypeoplerelated, and we all want to make it simple. Thats our way. We want to make it simple and say, this is all about terrorism, and stopping people from coming into the country. Thats not gonna get at and sam is hitting it on the head. This is an unraveling. I agree with what some of what george has said, but the reality is we have had terrorist incidents propagated in the United States by americanborn muslims, or u. S. Citizens who are naturalized, like the tsarnaevs in boston, major nidal hassan, who was a u. S. Army major when he, you know, responded to islamic proselytizing and struck out at his fellow soldiers. So weve had numerous incidents like this. And its true that you can vet people before they come in, but you cant vet their children. You cant vet the children that are gonna be born in the United States, who, you know, the parents may be grateful to be here, but the kids have no knowledge of the advantages of being in america versus other countries. They just dont have that knowledge. If they grow up here, why do they become that way . Something drives. Theyre not living over there. Theyre targets of internet proselytizing. Theyre uniquely targets. Because they dont feel they fit in, because they dont have Economic Opportunities . The New York Times did a fascinating story about a few months ago about a young 20yearold girl in a remote part of washington state. Grew up with her grandparents taking care of her, a very christian family. She was lonely. And these people and she happened to go search about something about a mass shooting somewhere overseas. All of a sudden, around the clock, dozens of people were contacting her, reaching out to her in this remote village, sending her gifts. Now, the fact that shes getting gifts from london to some remote it was finally her grandparents said, whats going on . She was being recruited for terrorism. So, you know, like most complicated problems, theres no easy solution. Part of it is doing background checks for people who are crazy shouldnt be able to get a gun. Come on. Thats an easy one, i think. Right . And things about where youve been and being able to do some kind of appropriate monitoring of people going online who are using online tactics to prey on innocent, young women who are lonely and have a mental issue. And weve already made buildings, schools, offices, hospitals more secure. If you make them that much more secure, people maybe cant even get in there that work very easily. So this would not have affected the San Bernardino shooting because he was supposed to be at that Christmas Party and then left. I mean, how do you secure buildings and make people at least feel safer, like they have a chance at not being injured . That wouldnt have done anything here, right . Were in part losing the war, if you will, to isis because were not doing any of the smart things that they seem to be doing to recruit people to their cause. The other day, i read this article reminding me of a book that was published in 2000 called bowling alone by a historian, or a sociologist in new england about how the internet and our whole society has basically isolated us. We dont do what you just describe was happening as isis, or some radical group, was recruiting this woman living in a remote area. We separate. Many of us dont even know the names of our neighbors. And i think that this is part of my view of this unraveling thats happening. Were all living in this electronic isolation. Its a heavy lift to reverse sociological trends. I mean, the reality is isis is making direct appeals to people if they can, come to syria and join the fight. If they cant, strike out at the nearest target that you can find and strike a blow for the faith. And for these people in San Bernardino, this Christmas Party was the biggest target that they had access to. But, jan, we have a pretty good story to tell. People may not always agree with americas exceptionalism, but its a very powerful story. When its not told we dont sell it. Go ahead, george. Its not just about telling it. We dont have leaders. I agree. Theres a book that was just written. I cant remember who wrote it. But its think about who are the leaders that are really respected in america today, elected or unelected . There arent none. There arent none. There arent any. But, you know, there are no kennedys. There are no lee iacoccas. There are no people who establish what the integrity of this nation is all about and its not embodied. Everybody follows leadership to some extent. So, brian, basically, you said should schools be looking out for the youngsters who seem like loners, who dont seem to have many friends and social experiences and make sure that they are somehow making that happen for them . I mean, is that one more thing schools should be doing as a safety measure . I dont think we should be looking at it as, like, schools should be doing that cause its gonna stop incidents like this. But i think the idea of community, of people kind of keeping an eye out for each other and ending the isolation and just looking at your cellphone constantly, thats part of it. I do think theres an issue of leadership in the country, too. There seems to be a hesitancy, frankly, starting with the white house, to talk about american exceptionalism. I mean, we have a great thing all men are created equal. Thats what the country freedom of speech, freedom of press. In china, theyre arresting people now lawyers who try to defend people who have been arrested. Theyre put in prison. And we dont seem to and i remember an era im gonna say i was right out of college when reagan got elected when we talked about exception, and when president clinton talked about how great this country is. And we seem to be, like, well, who are we to say . No, this is a great country. Freedom of speech, freedom of the individual, freedom of the press. Thdate praises america, says god wants america but dont you think this president isnt saying that that often . But the problem is, i think, much deeper. We dont teach American History in high schools anymore, not the way we studied it, from the beginning, chronologically. If we did, we would all know about the alien and sedition act. All right. Last comment. The greatest moment this president has had when hes talking about race in america and what American Values are. Those are probably the two times that hes gotten the greatest attention. But with this absence of leadership, its everybodys at everybodys throat. Its not about bringing things together in america. And were unraveling, sam. Were unraveling as a nation. All right, were gonna take a break. More inside story coming your way right after this. Stay with us. Inside story is presented by temple university. Temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. Plugged into the city. Powered by the world. Temple. Edu takecharge. Welcome back to inside story. Lets talk about the final price tag, which is now in, on pope francis historic visit to philadelphia. Were being told it cost about 17 million to stage that event over several days. That includes, of course, Police Overtime and fire services, among other things. The city is gonna end up paying 8 million of that, almost half. World meeting of families is gonna cover 9 million. But some people are crying foul because mayor michael nutter, in selling the event to the world, to the world meeting of families, and to the city of philadelphia, said that wmof world meeting of families would pay the whole thing, from beginning to end, soup to nuts, and the city would owe nothing. Now hes saying something different. What he meant to say he said, they would be billed for additional costs on the twoday event. So that doesnt count the leadup days of wednesday, thursday, friday. Its only that world meeting would cover saturday, sunday. Did we lose something in translation here, brian . First of all, let me disclose my company, briant communications, was involved with the world meeting of families. So saying that up front. This follows the way that this is being billed is the way the precedent, according to whats been said, that for welcome america and other events. You pay for those days that you had your event. And the world meeting of families raised almost 45 million or so to pay for all the portapotties, all those other kinds of costs. What the mayors saying is hes charging for those two days, and the leadup, et cetera which the world meeting of families had no able to kind of say, yes, i agree to that, or, no, i dont agree to that. The fact of the matter is tens of millions of dollars, as well as permanent improvements were it follows the precedent of other events similar to this. But can the city afford to do these sorts of things at that level . I mean, we have the dnc next summer. Can we afford to be worldviewish in our approach to these conferences . There probably should have been a more aggressive effort to raise those monies in the private sector to defer that expense. But at the end of the day, you know, the city of philadelphia is in the destination city business. And so at the end and so were competing against d. C. Were competing against new york, other cities around the country. So this was a reasonable investment because you couldnt pay for this marketing opportunity, even if the event, other than the weekend part of it, didnt turn out quite to be what it was sold to be. And i think we were impacted also by the fact that the popes folks added washington and new york, where he did much more substantive stuff than he was originally supposed to do, which hurt the people coming to philadelphia. And that took some of our audience potentially away. But i guess the macro issue is in a city that cant afford its schools and has crime issues, terribly, and enormous poverty thats eating us alive, programs are needed for those three things at the very least. Should we be building this reputation worldwide to attract other businesses at the cost of these other three things . I think this is more about, for me, transparency. If the mayor had said, were gonna spend money to clean up and thats gonna be off of our books and were gonna have these other costs because heres the benefit, which i think, unarguably, this was huge for philadelphia. Its too bad that so many people stayed away because they missed a spiritually and emotionally impactful experience in philadelphia those two days. Ive been producing the film, watching it. Every time i see this guy, he really is an inspiring character. So we should have told people. I mean, michael could have stood up and said, look, its gonna cost us 8 million bucks, but look at the return on investment, which i think george is making a good point. But i think the mayor clearly gets the blame for underestimating the cost that was ultimately gonna end up in the city, and hes opened the door for critics to come in and use this as an anvil to bash him personally and the cost to the city of philadelphia. All right, last comment. If butkovitz would be if he orders a tuna sandwich, he was, ah, you should have gotten ham. This is city controller alan butkovitz. Alan butkovitz. So whatever the mayor he does, and the fact of the matter is 20,000 people came for the week beforehand, staying in hotels, went to the conference. Washington post said the five most iconic moments of the entire u. S. Trip four were philadelphia. You cant buy this sort of visibility on the world stage. All right, lets talk about porngate. Kathleen kane, big headlines again. Last week she did appoint a special prosecutor, a former attorney general from maryland, who is now gonna take this case of tens of thousands of emails that allegedly were homophobic, misogynistic, and hateful, racist in every level. It could really have tentacles that continue for years to come, despite her own legal issues, whether she is removed from office or not. This special prosecutor may take this thing a long way and bring down many more careers. What did you make of what happened last week . I think that youve hit the nail on the head. I think shes opened a can of worms, regardless of what her motivations may be. Shes opened a can of worms thats gonna lead to a lot of doorsteps today. And today i think there are probably a lot of nervous people about and some of the things that ive seen and people ive talked to have seen more of the emails than i have. Its really repulsive. And it says something about the character of people were putting into public office. Its extraordinary, though, that you know, i cant project whats going on in the trial. That issue of leaking information sealed information from a grand jury to the press is a big, complicated thing. Thinking a jury will find no reasonable doubt she has a good lawyer, so that could be interesting. But the publicrelations part of Kathleen Kanes story has definitely shifted in my mind. Theres much more happening for Kathleen Kanes benefit because of this potstirring that she started to do almost immediately when she took on the sandusky case. So where people originally said, this is just bad blood. Its her not getting along with the philadelphia d. A. Seth williams and other people that he took from her staff, et cetera, that it was just a little tempest in a teapot. She has now turned it into a high boil of a kettle thats gonna bring a lot of people some aggravation and legal problems. Some of them could go to jail. I dont think anybodys going to jail. I think and i havent been but i mean, were talking about things that are perhaps racist or antiwomen or whatever. That is horrible, but its not a crime. The fact of the matter is Kathleen Kane is the only person right now whos been accused of a crime. But if the emails show some leaking of grand jury information, for her, that could be an issue, as well for them. It could, but the fact of the matter is this started out when she dismissed the prosecution of eight elected officials, and six wound up pleading guilty. And thats where this began, right . More people are gonna lose their jobs, but the people need to understand that there are two Different Cases here. One is the porn thats out there on the internet, and the other is Kathleen Kanes alleged disclosure of information and crimes that shes been charged with as a result. I do agree with the analysis that shes trying to blur the two together in some way. But i think if people understand the really two separate issues and i agree with george. Porngate could be around for a while. And can an outsider untangle the mess that has now turned the state attorney generals office, the state supreme court, the judicial conduct board, and the philadelphia d. A. s office into a circus . Can an outsider untangle that . An outsider, too, who ran for governor and was embarrassed by images of him going to a teenage Drinking Party when he thats the reason he didnt become governor of maryland. He ran for governor and lost. And now hes gonna come up here and bill us 2 million. He said it wouldnt cost more than 2 million to do something to embarrass local people here. The fact of the matter is if i was Kathleen Kane or advising her, i would say, lets focus on the criminal charges against you. Lets try to show youre a good attorney general in other ways, and to try to get out of this crazy vendetta. I actually dont agree with that. I think that this can of worms that shes opened, as i said, for whatever reason, needs to be pursued. All right, well leave it at that. And if we had a respectable court system, we wouldnt need an outside prosecutor. All right, inside stories of the week coming your way next. Inside story is presented by temple university. Temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. Plugged into the city. Powered by the world. Temple. Edu. takecharge. We have a small clarification from last weeks inside story program. One of our insiders, a panelist, said the mayor elect, jim kenney, had appointed someone who was not an engineer to head l i, when, in fact, dave perri is a licensed engineer. We apologize for the confusion. All right, inside stories of the week, and lets start with george. During the reagan years, bill gray, as Budget Committee chairman, almost singlehandedly saved funding for amtrak. Theyre naming the station has now been renamed by him by the United States congress, signed by the president , and his name doesnt appear anywhere in the station. Theyre doing Patrick Moynihan in new york. They should do bill gray in philadelphia. All right, jan. Donald trump is holding a series of monster rallies all across the United States, including in the early primary states. I see a level of enthusiasm out there thats comparable to what i saw in 2008 in the obama campaign. People are energized and enthusiastic. And i think its because trump is the only candidate out there who thinks, like a lot of americans, that immigration is a problem that needs to be addressed and talked about. Hes the only one. All right. Brian. Following up on trump, a rare error by the republican state committee, inviting trump controversy next week to speak at the pennsylvania society. A lot of people are upset by it. They think hes not the kind of candidate who could win in pennsylvania. Theyre upset that trump criticizes people like mccain senator mccain for being a war hero and being captured. Bad error. All right. Sam. To trump the trumpers, i think the republican establishment believes that trump will fade and worries that cruz will be the beneficiary and wants to keep trump around as long as possible so the oxygen fades for cruz in the hopes of electing or nominating marco rubio, who they think has the best chance in november of defeating Hillary Clinton. Hmm a little strategy and a decoy. All right. And thats it for inside story. Hope you have a great week ahead. Our thanks to our panelists. Well see you again right back here next sunday morning. Im nydia han along with evening eve. President obama will address the nation in a prime time speech days after the mass shooting in california. A pedestrian is fighting for life after being hit by an suv in camden county. Hundreds of people come together to remember a local firefighter and marine taken too soon. Those stories and the exclusive accuweather sevenday forecast all next on action news. dramatic music centrum brings us the biggest news in multivitamin history. a moment when something so familiar becomes something so new. impact on metal introducing new centrum vitamints. A multivitamin that contains a full spectrum of essential nutrients you enjoy like a mint. New centrum vitamints. Go to centrum. Com for a 4 coupon. New centrum vitamints. Sunday, december 6 im nydia han along with eva pilgrim. Heres some of the stories were following on action news, Philadelphia Police are searching for three men who led officers on a overnight chase and got away. President obama will outline steps to protect the nation in a prime time speech tonight. Temple fall