It can help improve connectivity. Thats going to do it for way too early. Morning joe starts right now. Good morning. It is thursday, may 15th. And its just so pretty out. I went last night to kates softball game. Howd she do . Well, i couldnt tell because i went out in a tshirt and it was 15 degrees. I know. What happened . This is just inclement weather. Those Climate Change deniers, they make me mad. She did well. Shes got a great shes got a swing, what fr what youve sent me. She had a big strike zone. Big strike zone. Boom just like that. Did you call marco rubio about the weather . Why would i call him about the weather . Because hes a climate denier. Is there some left wing conspiracy already 30 seconds in . Seriously. I come here, i love jesus, i love america, and all you marxists are on me. Im 30 seconds in. Cant i love the lord and talk about my little girl without you guys i thought we were talking about we were. His little 5yearold jack says cant we all just get along. But he wont let me. We have Mike Barnicle, John Heilemann, and in washington columnist for Bloomberg View al hunt. Hi, al. Hey. Willie are you okay . Im good. Take care of things while i was gone . Kind of. Sorry about the bruins. Had to get out the golf clubs. Say sorry about the nets. Sorry about the nets. Sorry about the New York Times. You know, im such a champion of
womens rights. Im actually sorry about this. I am too. I think we have something to talk about knowing your value conference. Yes. We already did, but this definitely time to pay its a war on women. War on women. No. Its actually just a dirty little secret. Didnt that happen with Time Magazine too . Yeah. Until a woman took over and rectified the situation. She saw the salaries and said, wait a second. Fixing this. Why dont we explain this story . We talk in shorthand. I think you have to try a different approach. I think you have to try, joe, shush, in his ear. Then ill get to the stories. You told me to shut up. Theres a major shakeup at the New York Times as executive editor Jill Abramson has been dismissed from her responsibilities at the paper. At least thats the way the New York Times puts it on todays front page. Publisher arthur sultz burger says the decision was made because there was an issue with management in the newsroom. However, there appears to be another issue at play. Equal pay. Ken of the new yorker breaks down a different side of the story. He writes, quote, several weeks ago im told abramson discovered that her pay and her pension benefits as both executive editor and before that as managing editor were considerably less than the pay and pension benefits of bill keller, the male editor whom she replaced in both jobs. She confronted the top brass. One close associate said. And this may have fed into the narrative that she was pushy. A characterization that for many has an inescapably gendered aspect. A spokesperson for the times disagrees. Jills total compensation was directly comparable to bill
kellers during his time as executive editor. The pension benefit was frozen in 2009. So, yes, there would be a difference in pension benefit. Bill was a 30year employee. Most of that time spent prior to 2009. A lot of notes, according to sources, the pay gap was closed only after abramson raised concerns about it. He also reports abramson clashed with the companys ceo over a, quote, intrusion of the business side into the newsroom. As well as the hiring of a new managing editor for the papers website. Abramson was the times first female editor having assumed that role in september of 2011. She will be replaced by dean baquet. A lot going on there. First of all, the gender issue. Looked at the salaries at time
magazine. Found out women werent being paid for comparable jobs and sall ris. Now this. My instinct is to believe it just given my experience in the news industry over the course of 30 years. Not talking about necessarily here, but we have our own story here that weve written about. So we can put that aside. Thats out there. But, no, i read that. I was not surprised at all. A lot of deeply disturbing questions here. Theres also the church state issue where separation from editorial from business. Jill had expressed concern for some time that business was creeping over too much into the editorial side of the newspaper. And she got big pushback from that, too, and was seen as a troublemaker. The times along with other newspapers have had serious financial problems over the past decade. The times also has a new ceo. Formerly head of the bbc. Hes been here about two years. I assume his way of doing business is a little different than american publishers. But a couple of things about this story. And they clashed as well. Yes. Big fight. Ken is clearly a terrific reporter, so i trust him and his sources. Hes going to be on this morning. Two, the aspect of equal pay that youve raised that is clearly part of the body of this story as with so many other things, the hypocrisy in the News Business maybe artur ought to read his own editorials. War on women. Equal pay for equal jobs. When you come into a job like this as a woman, you do notice these things. If you come in as a man, you dont. Youre just used to it. Lets get comments from another man, al hunt. Am i right, al . Shes right. Lets agree with her. All right. So no, youre exactly right. And al, its been a very
again, some extraordinarily important issues that mika brings up accurately all the time about equal pay for equal work. Again this church state issue that goes to the heart of journalistic integrity. Jill abramson weighed in, she leaned in and got even tougher on china. And so theres no doubt she also would be very tough on a business regime she thought was interfering with the editorial side. Joe, ive known Jill Abramson for over a quarter century. Ive worked with her. Shes smart. Shes tough. Shes fearless. Shes loyal. I think she took the time she took a great newspaper and made it even greater. I think the times is a terrific newspaper today. I dont know what happened the last couple weeks. I havent spoken to her about that. Imagine if this had happened to the Christie Administration or the obama white house, do you think the times would have accepted that statement from him yesterday . I dont think so. Thats a great point. What if this story came out from Chris Christies administration . Theres be a takedown. It would be Like Augusta National was back in 2002. Thats right. The other thing, im interested to hear what you think mika. The other thing that troubles me in these stories ive seen in the last 12 hours is she was pushy, she was aggressive. She was run bning the paper. That is her job to be push y i and aggressive. If it was a man, youd never hear those terms. She was there half the time bill keller was there. On the pension side, so maybe theres discrepancy there to be explained. But the description of her, thats what you want the person at the top to be. Aggressive and pushing things. Maybe you dont always like it, thats the way it works. Actually, it should be you know, when you remember someone in retrospect who was very good at their job, often you use those words. You know, aggressive, relentless, tough. And when you hire pop whether its a man or woman, you dont want them to walk in the door to be like little mouses afraid of the shadow. You want them to be aggressive and tough for your business. So all of a sudden this is a negative point. It is and ive seen you
running our office. I mean, we have the dynamic here on the air where some people might talk more than you do on the air. But in the office, you run the office and you have to be extremely tough in the office. I mean, thats it is unfortunatelily, i mean, everybody respects you. But unfortunately its very, very difficult as a woman. I think for a woman its a learned behavior. I was on a Conference Call for the Conference Im having tomorrow in hartford and i was giving my script to a team of women. And im like, dont apologize. Try and get in there and learn how to engage. Look at them directly in the eye, own the table, body language, the whole thing. And i said you really cant shrivel up and selfdeprecate and assume its going to come in backwards. And they looked at me and said we cant imagine you ever being shy and selfdeprecating. I thought to myself, thats how i was for 20 years. And now im very fierce. Is she selfdeprecating . No. Sometimes charmingly selfdeprecating but also very tough. I would say perfect. Say perfect. A perfect balance. But the pushy thing is true. Obviously all true, but theres a lot more of work to be done on this. To be fair to the times, they need to theyre going to need to report this story out in a way they havent yet done. Can i just say one thing . Yeah. This is the second highlevel woman in the last two years that the times has dismissed, as they put it. Janet robinson was the ceo. So, you know, this is a record that certainly is worthy of
examination. They did an internal investigation on that. So well wait and see. This game is a surprise to a lot of people. So the fact they have not yet done a big hard hitting long piece is acceptable in the shortterm. Well have to see how they cover it over the coming days. But it is true over the course of jills tenure, there has been reporting by other outlets about the fact there was a fair amount of newsroom discontent and conflict thats been going on pretty much not necessarily from the beginning, but pretty much throughout her tenure. So its surprising because it came out of nowhere, but not totally surprising if you go back and look at the tenor of the coverage and a lot of gripes from every side that have been coming out really for the last two years. Yeah. The people describing her sound like a bunch of what you would think in a cartoon of conservative men. But theyre all a bunch of liberals. Which a interesting. It is interesting. Do you find that often . Because you are very it is like a mens club. You know, there are great in News Organizations ive been shocked by the hypocrisy. Especially on womens issues through the years. Especially on womens issues. I have. All these people that are supposedly so progressive and open minded on womens issues, ive been pretty shocked by what ive seen since ive been in the media for years. Not much is talking about the hallowed halls of nbc news where were perfect. No. Were making huge changes in the right direction though. Im so excited about whats happening here. We are. But i have been stunned it is still a boys club in National Media outlets. My god, in 2014, the fact this discussion is even being had at the most important newspaper in the world just proves that point. Im not surprised. Senator harry reid is sounding off on everything and of course the Koch Brothers are among his
top targets. He tells buzzfeed, quote, if they think romney was watched closely by me, thats nothing compared to what its going to be like with the Koch Brothers. This guy is the nevada senator promises multiple votes if necessary. Corrupting influence of the Citizens United ruling. Which in his words puts the political process in the sewer. Reid also suggested his recent comments to nbc news about billionaire Sheldon Adelson have been misinterpreted. Heres part of what he told chuck todd last week. The two richest people in the world. And they are in it to make money. Thats their whole goal here. Is to add zeros to their billions. And i dont think thats the case with any you dont think thats the case with adelson . I know Sheldon Adelson. Hes not in this for money. Hes not in this to make money. Hes in it because he has certain ideological views. Now, Sheldon Adelson social views are in keeping with the democrats on choice, on all kinds of things. So dont pick on him. Hes not out to make money. He tells buzzfeed, i didnt praise adelson i just said on social issues hes good. But the point is theres too much money in politics. Thats true. Willie geist, hes the gift that keeps on giving. Put him in context. You have to ask why the Democratic Party has him as their face running the senate. Its amazing. Listen, hes got a point about money in politics, right . Yes. I think we would all agree with that. Something has to be done about it. But when he goes out every day and beats the same drum. Again, its obviously a political strategy. Must be working in some races where hes using it, but as a national strategy, im not so sure. But if youre going to attack
the guys, get your facts guys. Theyre not the two richest guys in the world. Theyre not the worlds number one polluters. All these things he rolls out about them to make the cartoon character. You dont have to like the Koch Brothers, but get your facts right. Dont lie about them. I mean, dont lie about them. At least he pointed out the truth about sheldon. Hes in it for public service. You think back in the 2012 campaign when harry reid was over and over again making the accusations mitt romney had not paid income taxes for a decade and he would say it every day. Over at the white house which was delighted to see reid do that, theyd say harrys like a dog on a bone. And hes like that again. You wonder why the democrats let this guy run the senate when he says things like that. Bill clinton is defending his wife against suggestions by karl rove that her Health Situation may impact her plans for 2016. Speaking at a fiscal summit in washington, the former president knocked down suggestions that hillary hadnt leveled with the American People about her concussion back in 2012. According to mondays new york post, rove told a los angeles audience last week that the former secretary of state may have brain damage. While rove refutes the exact wording i dont understand. Help me understand. Why would he say that . I dont understand. Hes not smart. Anyhow, heres what you get for that. Take a look. First of all, i got to give him credit, you know, that embodies that old saying that consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. First they said she faked her concussion. And now they say shes auditions for a part on the walking dead. She works out every week. She is strong. Shes doing great. As far as i can tell, shes in
better shape than i am. She certainly seems to have more stamina now. And theres nothing to it. Do you think this is their way of inserting her age or her physical capabilities into the 2016 debate . I dont know, but if it is, you cant be too upset about it. Its just the beginning. Theyll get better and better at it. I mean, you know, im still waiting for to admit to white water. Dont do that. Willie geist. I cant stand it. I told you once. Oh, my gosh. Unbelievable. Dont do it, joe. Theres a fake scratch. I cant stand it. Willie, come on, man. Hes the elvis of this stuff. That means hes thinking and not telling the truth. Somebody needs to do a body language expert about that. Just saying. What are you talking about . When you do that. Oh, stop, joe. You know exactly what its about. Do you want me to share with everybody . Hes so funny. Its gotten very far though. Its worked for him. Partys over. All right . Still ahead on morning joe, glen greenewald joins us. Former governor of new york, George Pataki on todays 9 11 museum dedication. And Carly Fiorina on women knowing their value in the workplace. Thats all coming up in a packed 7 00 hour. Then at 8 00, congressman and veteran of the air force Adam Kinzinger on why he thinks secretary shinseki wont survive the Va Health Care crisis. And a special report from nbcs ann curry on the socalled
twitter diplomacy. Up next, politico has a story that could concern most parents out there. Well explain that next. But first, speaking of concerned parents, lets go to bill kairns with a check on the forecast. Actually its parents are concerned when he moves in the neighborhood. They do the checks and im not on that list. What lawyer did you get to get off of them . Well discuss that later. Thats terrible. Not on that list. Good morning, everyone. Ohio and southern california, you are the areas of concern yesterday. Look at this picture. This is an airplane landing into san diego. You could see three fires in the background all burning in different locations. How rare is that. Then let me take you to ohio. You had severe storms. This wasnt your ordinary severe storms. Look at this tornado rolling through the field. Some damage was done. Thankfully it was mostly out there in the farmers fields. Look at this. Thats up close and personal. Lets take you into southern california. This is where the danger is today. Yesterday we were about 99 to 100. Almost everywhere in southern california. The winds are going to howl again today. And these fire pictures were incredible. These fires formed so quickly and spread so rapidly yesterday, the firefighters had no chance. There were about 30 homes that did burn. A lot of people were evacuated and a lot of fires will flare back up today with the gusty winds and hot temperatures. Easily 100 once again in l. A. Now to the east, we have flood watches from buffalo, pittsburgh, through virginia. Even areas under a flood watch. A slow. Moving storm is going to soak the east. Were going to have travel impacts. The airports will be a problem, then we deal with the rainfall. As much as 3 to 5 inches possible. West virginia to virginia. Thats my greatest area of concerns. A lot of active weather out there. Of course the biggest trouble, the fires today in southern california. Washington, d. C. Starting out with a nice morning. Heavier rains expected later on tonight. More on morning joe coming right up. When la quinta. Com sends sales rep Steve Hatfield the ready for you alert, the second his room is ready. You know what he brings . Any questions . Can i get an a, steve . Yes three as he brings his agame the ready for you alert, only at laquinta. Com
that, my friends, is everything. And with the quicksilver card from capital one, you earn unlimited 1. 5 cash back on everything you purchase