Good morning, everybody. Wow, what a crowd. What a crowd. Whoa. Were in detroit. [ cheers and applause ] were live in detroit this morning. Really great to be here. 10,000 Small Business owners behind us, a few of them. Just 14 months ago the story here in detroit and across
national headlines was the fall of a once great city but today were celebrating a lot of thing here. Were happy to say thats no longer the case in many ways. After decades of rising debt, dwindling population and increasing racial tensions, the birth place of motown and the Auto Industry is mounting a come back and were here to celebrate that through good oldfashioned hard work, american ingenuity, entrepreneurs seizing opportunity detroit success remade into a 21st century metropolis and over the next three hours well bring you the stories of how thats happening, the stories of the people behind us, well also be speaking to ceos warren buff jet and Lloyd Blankfein. Marc morial and dan gilbert will be here as well as mayor michael
bloomberg. Joining us on the set is Mike Barnacle and his white socks which just got a big applause which makes me nervous. Former treasury official, Steve Rattner is here. Great to have you steve. Former mayor of detroit and willie geist. First of all, its so exciting being back here. Weve been coming here for a long time. We said to our friends, welcome to way too early. Why arent you still in bed . We love you too. [ applause ] but, you know my goodness. Mika is absolutely right. We used to hear all the negative stories about detroit. We always heard about jobs leaving, about infrastructure cracking, about racism, about
corruption. Ill tell you what. Now its great news. I was reading in the newspaper a column saying this was a tale of two cities. That means the city isnt all bad. Investment is coming in. Jobs are coming back. Manufacturing is coming back. We talked to some people last night bringing i. T. Jobs to this city. Its really exciting to be here, mika, and exciting to be here because detroit is starting to turn around. The stories were profiling are the stories of hope here. A lot of work to be done, obviously, but its really, really exciting what were seeing and well get to that very soon. By the way, i dont know if you saw yesterday washington, d. C. Dont look now but bipartisanship broke out for a single day. Did you see this . I mean washington actually showed they know how to Work Together and thats a good thing even if it is only for a day. While the Republican House was overwhelmingly supporting the
president s plan to arm Syrian Rebels the president got together for a chum meeting. The president was smiling. John boehner was smiling. Nancy pelosi was smiling. Harry reid wasnt smiling but he never smiles. It seems like a push against islamic terrorism was a stronger force than partisan prejudices. You had senators that were shocked that other senators were actually asking john kerry and the secretary of state some penetrating questions. Still, good news overall. You know what . Thats actually good news that can translate here to detroit as well because you look whats happening in detroit and you see that it doesnt matter whether the help is coming from republicans or democrats or independents. The only thing that matters here is the only thing that should matter in washington, d. C. , and that is what works. What gets people back to work. What gets the city going. What gets the country going. Thats what well talk about today. What gets the job done. So we got a lot ahead. Well be discussing the different businesses, and the personal stories behind the hope that were seeing here in detroit. We want to start, those with the headlines, because, of course, thats what we doverry morning at the top of the show. Well start with nfl because yet another player is facing charges for movies. Jonathan dwyer a back up running back for the Arizona Cardinals is suspected of committing aggravated assault against his wife and 1yearold son. Dwyer was arrested before practice at the cardinals Training Facility and deactivated from the team hours later. Nine days ago on twitter a tweet was sent to dwyer asking why players were not criticizing ray
rice and he said players were not allowed the talk like that. Minnesota vikings admit it was twrong initially let Adrian Peterson rejoin the team. The owner spoke hours after putting him on the leagues exempt list. We made a mistake. We needed to get this right. We embrace our role in the community and the responsibilities that go with it. It is important to always listen to our fans, the community, and our sponsors. Willie geist, i talked yesterday about how in washington peace was breaking out. In the nfl it looks like some old men are starting to wake up. That old rich men who own football teams are starting to wake up to the problem that they have in their midst and thats a
lot of players abusing women and in this case children. I think im starting to see a turning of the tide. What about you unfortunately, though, i think it took a video of ray rice, it took children being introduced to this and some big sponsors turning the screws on the nfl and some of the own towers bring this to light. Its disturbing, first of all, when you talk about Domestic Violence against women but when you bring children in with Adrian Peterson and also in the case of Jonathan Dwyer there was a child involved. This is a crisis thats existed in the nfl. People just didnt know about it. People werent talking about it. Now its out in the open and its a big problem for this league. Yesterday actually some of petersons teammates disagreed with the vikings defending Adrian Peterson. Listen to this. People blowing it out of proportion and, you know, and all this and all that but at the end of the day we cant winFootball Games and i think football right now for adrian the best thing for him to play football. Let out some frustration and be himself. All these allegations, this, and that, he hasnt been convicted of nothing. In crimes and stuff youre innocent until youre convicted guilty and i dont think hes guilty of nothing yet and he should be able to play football. Thats one of petersons teammates. Petersons mother standing by her son in an interview with the Houston Chronicle. She says in part, i dont care what anybody says most of us disciplined our kids a little more than we mean sometimes but we were only trying to prepare them for the real world. When you whip those you love, its not about abuse, its about love, you want to make them understand what they did wrong. A little bit of perspective. You can understand where Adrian Petersons point of view come from when you hear his mother Say Something like that. To point out an update, nike
has suspended its contract with peterson saying it does not condone child abuse or Domestic Violence of any kind. Good for nike. Ill go out and buy some nike Running Shoes today. I wont run but ill buy some nike shoes. Ill put them on and sitting while im watching tv. Thats action. It is action. Mike, its very important. You listen to some of the people what they say on tv. Heres the bottom line, if at our network or at any newspaper in america, or im sure at this institution, if you are arrested for beating up your wife and your children, right so long. So long. Ill work here and let the Justice System play it out. Youll be sent home. In a lot of cases youll be sent home with pay and sent home
until its tried. Were talking about billions of dollars involved but its taken vikings a long time to get where they are. Thank goodness for radisson stepping up and defending women and children. You can say the same thing it took the panthers a while. They finally woke up to it. Maybe, just maybe the nfl and owners are starting to wake up. These billionaires live in a very insulated, isolated life. Several elements will be interesting. Where is Roger Goodell. Is he hiding. He has not faced the press. He has not answered questions. This guy makes 44 million a year, how do you run a billion dollar enterprise and you do one interview and do as bad as Roger Goodell did. They pay him 44 million without explaining. The second element is the culture not just nfl but largely
the professional sports. Sense of entitlement so many young men who come in to these leagues having been given a gift by god, these athletic gifts. Been told they are the greatest since they were 10 years of age and they feel they have no barriers. Thats another thing that has to be looked at. The third thing this has to be played out in the draft, if you give owners and coaches the choice between talent and character, they will always go for talent at the expense of character. And this is the result. I think that might just change, mika. Theres a couple of other updates. Carolina panthers defensive end hardy is facing the movies charges. He joined peterson on the exempt list. He requested a voluntary leave as the Legal Process plays out. Hell no longer take part in team activities. You can feel it. They are now going to act every time theres something. Thats good. I really actually for the First Time Since starting to cover this story feel theres a closing in. Willie, you know whats so interesting to me, the one team, the one highprofile player that nobody is talking about at least in his town is ray mcdonald. Heres a guy who continues to play for the San Francisco 49ers, accused of beating up his fiancee who is pregnant. The owner sounds like hes out of the 1950s. Were not hearing politicians out there speaking out against it. Gosh in North Carolina they moved quickly on hardy. The vikings moved quickly, the governor even spoke you want before the vikings moved. In San Francisco nothing happening. They are letting this guy that, you know, is accused of beating up his pregnant fiancee continue to play. For the past months and years
there was no reason, no pressure on these owners and teams to do anything about it. They can let them play through as their process played out. Now the pressure of the last couple of weeks the 49ers have to do something. Nancy pelosi came out yesterday and said mcdonald should not be able to play this sunday. When you have one owner after another coming out and the league finally doing something. Ill be surprised if mcdonald, they are told out, the contrast not doing anything. They will act and use this same rule that got hardy and peterson side lined which is this commissioners exemption this rule. Willie, nancy pelosi came out. Good for nancy. Have we heard anything from Diane Feinstein or Barbara Boxer specifically on the 49ers allowing this person, not the letter that everybody signed but specifically on their Hometown Team deciding to be dragging their feet unlike other nfl teams that are facing this
problem. Joe, i dont know the answer to that question. I shouldnt talk about it until i looked it up. Nancy pelosi was asked about it yesterday and she said mcdonald should not be able to play. As for senators boxer and feinstein, i dont know. Ill check on it. Im surprised. I havent seen them saying anything about this. I havent seen jerry brown the governor of california say anything about this. The San Francisco is so progressive and fight for womens rights. Heres an example of very rich, powerful men beating up defenseless women. Im sorry, is the power of the San Francisco 49ers in the bay area so strong that Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein arent going to come out and say anything . What about jerry brown. They are very good about coming out and saying other things. They are not shocked and
stunned that the San Francisco 49ers an institution mike . Why arent they saying anything. Maybe they have. I did a Google Search yesterday. I did a Google Search this morning. I have not seen Diane Feinstein or Barbara Boxer champions of feminism, supposedly saying anything about a pregnant woman being beaten up and bruised and a player being arrested making millions and millions of dollars twice her size continuing to play for the San Francisco 49ers. Where are they . I dont know the answer to that question. They certainly are around and available for every other agenda item you can think of. Well get more on isis which was our other headline coming up and also to why were here today. Still ahead on morning joe, Michael Bloomberg, Valerie Jarrett and Warren Buffett are here plus senator chris murphy tells us why he calls isis the
first terrorist state. But First Independent state scotland votes on whether to break away from the uk. And then a very hungry hamster takes on oh, no. Look. Again . This hamster takes on. I thans hot dog eating champ. Youre watching morning joe. We cover important news. Well be right back. [ applause ] what if there was a credit card where the reward was that new car smell and the freedom of the open road . A card that gave you that
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council seat. His brother doug ford will now run for mayor in his place. Wow. The detroit news, incomes in michigan are on the rise for the First Time Since 2007. 2013 mi Household Incomes rose 2 from 2012 according to new census data. Citizens are not seeing the same gains. 17 of residents statewide still live below the Poverty Level with a. 4 drop from 2012. Division race in detroit, from the Detroit Free Press tigers lead in the al central cut to half a game after they lost to the twins 84. Former cy young award winner david price, a star in tampa has a losing record for the tigers. He gave up five runs and eight higts in five and twothirds innings. The royals took advantage of that loss gaining half a game with a 62 win over the white sox. What does it took like, mike . The tigers obviously great pitching. Should be set for pretty good run in september. Theyve had a tough time. Cabrera has been hurt for a couple of months. David price has not performed with the tigers the way he performed with tampa bay. The tigers have to win the American League central because i dont think they will get the wild card, the second wild card because of their record. Really . They have to win this division. Okay. Lets go los angeles times. This is important news. Very important. I could watch this on the loop for about six hours straight. The tiny hungry hamster is back and this time hes taking on a fierce competitor. Tiny hamster became famous when him chowing down bim a big hit.