Editorial report im paul gigot. Minnesota senator al franken defiant thursday as he announced that he would resign in the coming weeks amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Franken one of three members of congress to step down this week. Democratic congressman conyers of michigan and Arizona Republican trent franks also announced they are leaving the house. So as resignations come as President Trump and the Republican National committee throw their support behind Senate Candidate roy moore in tuesdays special election in alabama, despite multiple claims of improper sexual contact with girls as young as 14. We cant afford to have a liberal democrat who is completely controlled by nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. We cant do it. We need somebody in that senate seat who will vote for our make America Great again agenda. Get out and vote for roy moore. Joining the panel this week, wall street journal columnist and Deputy Editor dan henninger, columnist kim strassle, and editorial writer and Columnist Bill migirn. Wasnt too long ago that Senate Democrats were silent about franken or saying look go to the ethics committee. Now they say this week hes got to go. Why have they lost support from their party . Look i think two things are happening here, one the bonfire continues to rage and there was more and more pressure, especially coming from female members of their party, for there to be a zerotolerance policy against any of this. Secondly, though, and a little bit more cynically i think they also saw a political opportunity here, and it may not be the right thing to do, but they got rid of their own, and it does put them in looking a lot rosier in this situation than does the g. O. P. And its continued support for roy moore. So i guess get rid of the baggage of the bill clinton legacy, kate, and what did you make of al frankens response, his speech, his exit speech . Well, you know, probably the least contrite resignation of shame speech of all time. I mean he essentially started at the beginning by doubling down that hes never treated any women appropriately and he respects his female colleagues. So i guess the question that leaves us with is if hes innocent, why not state and fight the charges and stand up for his reputation . And your answer is . I dont know. [laughter] i dont try to but he should try to defend those allegations because we could reach a point where someone is getting accused of things that are false. Basically he said i didnt do anything wrong. I only have respect for women and great champion for women causes but im resigning anyway. And he said he would be vindicated in the ethics thats right. One of the problems is theres no way to adjudicate it. One difference between moore and the president is the president people knew these charges and elected him president. One other thing, bill, he was running against somebody who had spent a career defending her husband against Sexual Harassment charges. The voter is left to one half a dozen to the other on that issue. I think resignation could be a very honorable thing. I think too often its the thing people dont do, just go away quietly, you know, we all make mistakes and so forth. In this case, if he really believes what he says that he is innocent, there is a process in the senate for adjudicating these things, the ethics committee. I think thats a disservice to the people of minnesota, assuming hes telling the truth, and it is a disservice to other people who may be falsely accused not to go through the process and show you can be vindicated; right . But that suggests that political momentum, he basically was forced out by his colleagues. Yeah, to some extent he was. I mean, for sure. You know, bill is trying to describe a situation here in which you take these accusations seriously, deal with them, a person is allowed to withdraw, go back into private life. Consider the spectacle thats taking place, sort of parallel universes between politics and the real world, the outside world. Harvey weinstein was accused of very serious accusations of sexual abuse he might be indicted. Yes. There have been other men who have been accused, resigned and been fired. The world is trying to come to grips with this and deal with it. Meanwhile in the world of politics, it simply becomes a political weapon. Look our guys have resigned. You have got donald trump and roy moore down in alabama, people have to vote against your side because your side wont, you know, make people pull back like that. And its just politics reduces it to the low common denominator. Where does this leave, kate, republicans who are supporting roy moore and the president this week left no doubt in anyones mind about who hes supporting . Right, i mean, democrats could be politically cynical here and also be right on the merits. I wonder if comparing roy moore to franken is even fair to franken given that moores allegations involve very young teenage women. This is a distinction that i think is important, and thats a larger point in all of this, is that weve grouped these huge groups of people together, harvey weinstein, al franken, other reporters, and there are very different circumstances. Different circumstances surrounding all these accusations that are never taken seriously. So kim, where does this leave the republicans in alabama . I guess the alabama voters have to decide whether they want to on the one hand lose a senate seat, if they vote for the democrat or stay home, on the other hand, wrapping judge moore around the neck of every republican candidate in 2018, if he wins . Look, and i think what makes it even harder is that theres a lot of other things in play down here. I think alabamans feel under attack by a lot of the liberal media and the late night talk show hosts, a lot of them have bought into the steve bannon line that this is about an insurgent republican versus an establishment, and in some regards, some of the Sexual Harassment claims have also moved to the side alabamans are making their decisions based on entirely other reasons too. Thank you all. When we come back, the house and senate vote to send their tax bills to congress as pressure builds on republicans to reach a final deal. So what still needs to be sorted out, and is the 20 corporate rate up for negotiation . We will ask one of the conference members, senator pat its in conference right now, but i call it the mixer, i think when it comes out, it is going to be a beautiful mix. There are things that i like better in the senate bill. There are things that i like better in the house bill. I think when they come out, we will have some new additions and we will have the best of each. I think were going to have a fantastic tax bill. President trump wednesday promising a fantastic final bill, as lawmakers in the house and senate sit down to iron out the differences between the tax plans each chamber passed. Pennsylvania senator pat toomey was tapped by majority leader mcconnell this week to be part of that conference committee. He joins me now. Welcome, senator. I know you played a big part in writing the senate bill. So the president said last weekend that 22 on the top corporate rate would be possible after saying for months that 20 was his real target. So is 22 possible in the end . Paul, it is my hope that we will be able to hold to the 20 that we have in both the house and the senate bills. Weve got a lot of things to work out. There are differences, and there are many demands demands coming from my quarters so i cant guarantee that it ends at 20, but theres a very strong desire on the part of most of the conferees i think to keep to 20. All right. The other criticism this is that i hear from republicans around the country. My email is filling up as maybe yours is too is because youre taking away the state and local Tax Deduction, which i think is good policy, but nonetheless, it means that in high tax states, theres some people who are going to have to pay more. But youre not compensating for that by lowering the top income tax rate, that youre raising taxes on a lot of people. Whats your response to that . Well, it is a little more complicated than that, paul, and one of the facts that mitigate against the loss in the value of the state and local Tax Deduction, which i agree with you, i think it is good policy to stop forcing low Tax Jurisdictions to subsidize high Tax Jurisdictions, but whats the net effect . Sure, you lose some value if you lose the deductibility, but keep in mind, we take the the top bracket does not kick in as low an income level under our bill as it does under current law, and specifically the point at which that highest rate, which in the senate bill is 38 1 2 38 1 2 kicks in is not until a couple filing jointly 1 Million Dollars income. Being taxed at the lower rate of 35 rather than 38 1 2 that had to be taken into consideration. If your income is over a million, then yes, i think you could make the case that youve lost some of the deduction the deduction you have lost is greater than the rate reduction you have received, but people whose income is over a million very typically will have other sources of income as well, as you know, passive income, passthrough income which does get a significant reduction, so all those factors really should be considered. So your contention would be that the vast majority of people even in hightech states will get some kind of net tax reduction . I believe thats correct. Okay. I guess the other argument is that youre making this tax reform, its a big tax reform, very ambitious, but if you dont get the top tax rate down this time, and you reduce it in the senate bill by 1. 1 percentage point which is a lot more than the house does, which is 0. Yes. You at least well the house goes actually in the opposite direction. Thats right, with so called bubble bracket for some taxpayers. Right. But if you dont cut the top rate more this time, because this doubling the standard deduction and adding to the child credit, you are taking a lot of people off the rolls, the income tax rolls, that you may never ever get down any lower than what it is now if you dont go any lower now. Yeah, look, its very hard to predict the political future. I think there is some risk of that; right . What happens whenever the democrats change the tax code, they make it more progressive and then republicans leave it with the progressivety it had before or sometimes go even further in that direction. Right. I do think thats a problem. It is a one way ratchet, it seems. Although i think that with republicans in control of the government, we can make a perfectly legitimate argument for across the board percentage reduction in rates and that would of course help everybody, and i hope that will always remain a possibility. Okay. All right. A couple of other contentious issues, one the death tax, house repealed it after five years. You dont. Senate going to prevail on that . Too early to say. You know, it is one of the moving pieces. I would love to get rid of the death tax entirely, thats the right policy in my view, but there you know, paul, we have got a limited amount of revenue we can forego in this plan, given the budget rules we have to live with. It scores as a big loss of revenue if we eliminate it completely. It is on a list of things i would like to get to but it is too soon to know. On the other hand, senate has the obama care individual mandate repealed. The house bill does not. Senate going to prevail on that one . That saves you money. Yeah, it does. And not only does it save us money, it saves us money in the first ten years which we call the budget window, but it also continues to save after that, which helps to offset the lost revenue from a lower corporate rate lower corporate rate. The net effect is it helps us to make the corporate reforms permanent. So it is really really important policy in terms of its impact on the tax side, but it is also very good policy in and of itself. It is outrageous that the Government Forces americans to buy a product that they dont want to buy. We eliminate the tax Penalty Associated with failure to do so. I think theres broad support for this in the house, and i really hope that the senate provision prevails. All right. Thank you, senator. Appreciate you being here. We will look at the details when that bill emerges. Thanks. Thanks, paul. When we come back, as republicans try to merge the house and senate bills, g. O. P. Law makers are high tax states hear voter backlash over ending the state and local tax de ive been thinking. Think of all the things that think these days. Businesses are thinking. Factories are thinking. Even your toaster is thinking. Honey, clive owens in our kitchen. Im leaving. Oh never mind, hes leaving. 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And give taxpayers relief . Were back with dan henninger, kim strassle, kate odell and bill mcgurn. Kate, you heard senator toomey say that where this is going, obviously a lot of things in play, what do you make of his argument that not reducing that top rate but getting rid of the state and local Tax Deduction is not that big political problem . Well, i think he was saying that it is in some sense a political problem because the republican consensus has been to eliminate these like the state and local deduction in exchange for lower rates and what the senate has done here is give some lower rates to people who have business income but not lower rate, not significantly lower rates for people who have wage income like you and i. Or the professionals who dont you know, doctors, lawyers, or corporate, business, executives, who you know, make a fair bit of money for a few years. Right. I mean, one thing to remember is that a lot of people who claim a Million Dollars on their tax returns only do it one time. So it is not as if were saving the same class of individuals over and over. I think it remains probably the largest deficiency in the bill because the more you earn, the more likely you are to itemize and claim that deduction. We should point out that senator toomey has been an advocate of the lower rate. He has been the point man in negotiation and he personally supports it. It is just that a lot of other members who are problematic. Right, you have everyone raising their hand at this point for something or another. I think maybe you could trade a little more rate relief for something else, but then if you do that, you invite a lot of people back to the table. Consider as well, paul, is this a republican bill or democratic bill . The republican idea is that they want to get as much growth into the economy as they can by doing tax reform. Right. And part of that was eliminating the state and local Tax Deduction. Big loss for People Living in places like california and texas, all right, you take new york. Not so much texas. Not texas. You take that hit, but then the deal was you would drop the top rate say from 39 down to 35 because trade off. Compensate, trade off. Look, the people who are being affected at that upper rate are not just tax revenue sponges, they are productive members of the economy. And so the idea the republicans should be arguing is they are getting tax reform too, rather the democratic argument that we simply tax the rich. Paul, i think, the citizen of peoples of republic new jersey, according to tax foundation, 50th in business taxes. Congratulations, bill. 49th in personal income tax. Even better. Number one in revenue collected per capita on property taxes. A lot of that anger is misplaced. What we should be doing, people in my state we should be marching on trenton. What we want is a clean bill with fewer subsidies. And if were angry, were angry because we have to pay more of the real cost for what our states are doing. So i dont really buy the argument that its that the government federal government is taking away something. If theres anger, it should be at the states that give us the high taxes and put people in this predicament. Yeah, but if the result is you still end up paying more taxes were paying for the government weve chosen in our states; right . Okay, kim, what else . I talked to senator toomey about the estate tax. I think that will stay. The senate will prevail on that. The mortgage Interest Deduction also in play, the house bill reduces that to a half Million Dollars from a million. The senate does not. Who is going to prevail there . Well, i think thats the other really big one. You heard kevin mccarthy, one of the leaders in the house come out and say that that was something that was very important. The senate bill leaves the mortgage Interest Deduction capped at a million, which is what it is in existing law. So now you have that entire constituency definitely prodded by special interests, you know, like the realtors, pushing to keep it. But thats also an expensive provision, and what were coming up against here, paul, is with everybody coming back to the table, there isnt a lot of place to drum up revenue. And the big risk here is that you do end up slipping on that corporate rate, going back to 22 , and then youre in the same situation. Handouts here and there, a messy tax code, and not the growth that you need. Yeah, kate, not going to cut the individual top rate, then giving back 22 the corporate rate takes away one of the better the best part of the bill. Right, and where theres the most consensus among all parties that it will be a 20 rate. I mean, if we remember, back when the Senate Passed its bill, marco rubio proposed an amendment to expand the Child Tax Credit in exchange for i think it ended at 20. 94 but started at 22. Its really a political question if we raise it for one priority, that would make the bill better and fix a fundamental defect with the bill, do we invite other people to stay well how about a corporate rate of 23, 24 . Then youre really eroding the main point of the reform thank you all. Still ahead, fbi director faces a grilling on capitol hill, amid republican concerns of bias in the russia probe. Kicked everybody off muellers team who is antitrump, i dont think there would be any value left. It is absolutely unacceptable for fbi employees to permit their own political preelections to contaminate any investigation. Even the appearance of impropriety will devastate the fbis reputation. Do we make mistakes . You bet we make mistakes. When that independent fact finding is complete, we will hold our folks accountable, if thats appropriate. Fbi director Christopher Wray faced a grilling on capitol hill thursday amid republican concerns of an antitrump bias at the Law Enforcement agency. Peter struck, a top fbi agent, appointed to the Mueller Probe was reassigned this summer after it was discovered he sent texts critical of the president. Were back with dan henninger, kim strassle, and bill mcgurn. So bill, why should we care about this, about this peter struck news . Well, partly we should care, this is the most important investigation in the United States, affecting the fate of an administration. When mr. Mueller started this investigation, he hired a lot of people that had donated to the Hilary Clinton campaign, and thats not disqualifying legally or anything. I think it was imprudent, didnt have a single trump contributor in there. So he created an impression, and now were seeing this with impression of partisanship, and were seeing this with not just peter struck. I mean, we dont know what those messages are. You know, they say pro hillary, antitrump, like its one message. He has 1,000 messages 10,000 messages with this woman. I would like to see what those are. We also have one of the lead prosecutors. We were told what a professional it was. It turns out he was applauding sally yates an executive appointee for defying an order from the president. An obama appointee, holdover and acting during the transition. I think apart from the i would extend this to mr. Wray and his testimony, he just sort of said in general the fbi has made up of many good men and women, of course no one doubts that, but the constitutional suppositions that he can deny Congress Information that it seeks about the running of the fbi, and that Congress Must defer to an Inspector General and a special counsel, thats as dubious i think as the contention. I think the special counsels defenders would say look he reae signed struck reassigned struck, acted with dispatch, and as bill suggested, you know, i mean, look, every prosecutor has his own personal political views and that doesnt disqualify them from behaving professionally and mueller is at the top and he can make that judgment. Whats your response to that . My response to that is that Robert Mueller has got his assignment. Hes doing it. Director fbi director Christopher Wray just appears before the Congressional Committee and is defending his bill says theres some 13,000 fbi agents. I think they are underestimating the extent to which the American People or at least a lot of the people especially the ones who voted for donald trump feel that there is an imbalance here. Look, the investigation of donald trump goes forward. It is public. Whatever Hilary Clinton did with the server and the rest of it, the clinton foundation, seems to have fallen down the memory hole. Director wrays position is the Inspector General of the fbi Michael Horowitz is investigating all that, while all that goes on, since january, in silence you have got this public attack going on against the president. And i think they are underestimating the extent to which the fbis reputation and that of the Justice Department is beginning to be damaged by that imbalance. All the more so, kim, because youve got the fbi playing a role in the investigation of the trump of Trump Officials in the 2016 campaign. So we know they had some role with the dossier, either relying on it, perhaps, as the basis for issuing wiretap requests to the court. That should be, if you care, if youre an american citizen, and you really want to get to the bottom of what happened with russia and the United States in the election, then lets investigate all of it, not just part of it. And the question is, can the mueller special counsel probe investigate the fbi credibly and fairly . Right. This is why struck really matters in that he was at the center of all of this, not just the Hilary Clinton investigation, but the counterintelligence probe into trump and russia. So there are legitimate questions, what role he played with the dossier and the court. I think that this gets to what you just said, mueller, can he legitimately look at this . And this is the real outrage too of the struck news. Yes, true, he fired him not fired him, demoted him when he found out about it, but he nonetheless did not Tell Congress, and he knows that congress is looking into this question because presumably he knew it would undermine the credibility of his special counsel probe. But i think that that does call into question, if he isnt even going to Tell Congress that hes got situations like this, can we really expect him to be investigating many of the very people who are on his team who were back at doj and fbi, when all of this was going on . What recourse, bill, does congress have if they wont cooperate and wray goes up there and says im sorry i cant do anything a lot of resource. They can hold people in contempt. They can impeach the fbi director. I think they should have done it to the irs commissioner on the way out and they are paying the price for not having done it. They can cut budget ets. There is a lot of things what would contempt mean . Contempt would be a finding. First the committee would have to hold someone in contempt and then the whole house. Paul ryan did suggest if they continue to play games as kim said, congress was not only looking into this but had subpoenaed this information, and mr. Mueller and mr. Wray didnt make it forthcoming. So theres a lot of things. Look, i would say donald trump misspoke. He shouldnt have said go easy on flynn. He should say go as easy on flynn as you do on huma abedin and Hilary Clinton. Thats a bigger subject. Still ahead, President Trump makes good on a Campaign Pledge and recognizes jerusalem as the capital of israel. Its easy to think that all Money Managers are pretty much the same. But while some push High Commission investment products, Fisher Investments avoids them. Some advisers have hidden and layered fees. Fisher investments never does. And while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, Fisher Investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. Maybe thats why most of our clients come from other Money Managers. Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. And helping people schwas my thing. Ist after my stroke, when meals on wheels started, i was on the other end of the stick, so to speak, and i appreciated it very much, the attention that was given to me. My name is julius gaines. Creative writer, poet, photographer. America, lets do lunch. Narrator drop off a hot meal and say hello. Volunteer by donating your lunch break at americaletsdolunch. Org. I have determined that it is time to officially recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. While previous president s have made this a Major Campaign promise, they failed to deliver. Today i am delivering. That was President Trump wednesday fulfilling a Campaign Pledge in announcing that the United States would move its embassy in israel to jerusalem and recognize the historic city as the capital of the jewish state. Critics say the move only serves to anger israels neighbors and further complicate the notoriously troubled middle east Peace Process. John bolton is the former u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations and a fox news contributor. Ambassador, welcome. Just as a matter of policy, do you agree with the move to the embassy . Well, i do agree with it. I think it is the right thing to do. Look, from americas perspective, this simply normalizes the condition that exists in almost 190 other countries where we have diplomatic relations, namely that our diplomats work in the capital city, the country to which they are accredited. And i think it also sends a significant signal internationally, not just domestically, about President Trump and what he says on the campaign trail. Weve been intimidated for decades by the threat of vie leps violence and he didnt let it intimidate him. Nonetheless, the arab neighbors are up in arms protesting and theres a suggestion that this might not have been the best time for it, when israel and the saudis, for example, have been getting closer together because of their shared concern about iran. What do you make of the arab opposition here . Well, look, there are a thousand reasons not to do this, given by the people who oppose it. I guess hoping that, you know, if the United States never acknowledges that israel has a capital city, maybe israel wont exist at some point either. And the argument of not now, you know, sometimes in diplomatic lingo not now means not ever. And i think thats on the minds of some. Its early to really to say exactly what the response across the middle east will be. Theres evidence already that some of the demonstrations and violence are being provoked by iran to stoke tensions in the re region, i say again when the United States succumbs to threats of violence, it encourages people to believe that might work elsewhere. Do you think among the arabs in terms of its impact about american credibility, is that the basic argument . I think that is an argument to some of the opposition. Look, the people have said that this somehow would compromise negotiations over the final status of jerusalem. It absolutely will not. The president said that. Nobody has ever seriously recommended that the physical location of the embassy be anywhere other than on territory thats undeniably israeli. Will it affect the larger peace negotiations . It is too soon to tell, but one can ask if the peace negotiations are such a delicate snow flake, that building a building somewhere is going to affect them, you have to wonder how serious they were to begin with. All right. Lets talk about that. Jared kushner, the president s soninlaw, is negotiating, trying to negotiate broker between the israelis and palestinians, get the Peace Process back in motion. You know, having served in previous administrations, every president recently has tried this. Every president has failed. What do you make trump says were going to succeed this time. What do you make of where those negotiations stand now . Well, look, its an enormous hill to climb. Theres no doubt about it. But its also the case unfortunately because of developments in the region, namely the rise of iran, the Iranian Nuclear weapons program, its support for terrorism that a lot of structures and relationships that have existed for decades are now in flux. Weve seen russia reenter the middle east in a significant way for the First Time Since the 70s. So i think a lot of the old verities here are coming into question. And a move like this, if it does nothing else, recognizes reality. The president made that point. It pops a lot of illusions. But precisely because peace is so complicated, so hard to attain, theres no chance you can build peace on soap bubbles. So i think by clearing away a lot of the illusions that may be, i dont know, we can make jerusalem a separate city under u. N. Authority, dating back to the idea of the 1947 original resolution partitioning the british palestinian mandate, its all hot air. And saying that i think is the right thing to do. All right. So what message should the palestinians take away from this, if they want u. S. Support for a deal . One, donald trump is not barack obama. Number two, we are going to act in Americas National interests, and that means putting our diplomats in capital cities, rather than someplace else. And if they want to get serious, give up some of the illusions that theyve had that they can create facts on the ground in the middle east in the halls of the United Nations, the capitals of europe and elsewhere. And this, by the way, is a signal to europeans as well that these old verities are disappearing. All right, ambassador bolton, thanks for being here. Appreciate it. Glad to do it. When we come back, the Supreme Court takes up one of the highest profile cases of its term with oral arguments this week in the case of a colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same sex couple. I serve everybody that comes in, gay, straight, catholic, atheist, i welcome everybody into my shop. I just dont create cakes for every event thats presented to me. You cant predict the market. But through good times and bad. At t. Rowe price. Weve helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. Call us or your advisor. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. [ gasps, laughs ] you ever feel like. Cliche foil characters scheming against a top insurer for no reason . Nah. So, why dont we like flo . She has the name your price tool, and we want it. But why . Why dont we actually do any work . Why do you only own one suit . Its just the way it is, underdeveloped office character. Youre right. Thanks, bill. No, youre bill. Im tom. You know what . No one cares. Its hard to believe that the government is forcing me to choose between providing for my family and employees and violating my relationship with god. That is not freedom. That is not tolerance. The Supreme Court taking up one of the most closely watched cases of the term, the justices hearing arguments this week in the case of colorado Baker Jack Phillips who was charged with discrimination for refusing to make a wedding cake for a same sex couple. Alicia finley has been following the case for us. Alicia, whats at stake . What are the contending values in this case . On one hand, you have the governments interest in promoting social equality. On the other hand, you have an individuals ability to express his own religious beliefs or exercise his religious beliefs. Two very fundamental american purposes at stake. Well, thats exactly right. Are they in conflict really, do you think . No, i think ultimately . No, ultimately i think you can have accommodations that would enable people to exercise their religion as well as allow same sex couples get married. What about the argument from the people who want who said hes guilty of discrimination, phillips . That this is like a case in the south for example during jim crow when racists denied the ability of africanamericans to sit in a diner or ride a bus . This has nothing to do with discrimination based on sexual orientation, the cake baker had offered to sell the couple any baked goods off the shelf, just not to custom make a wedding cake, to participate in the wedding ceremony of the same sex couple. Whats interesting is actually this was actually in 2012 before same sex marriage was legal in colorado. This was for a massachusetts couple. If they walked in and asked to get married in colorado, they couldnt do it. Okay, but nonetheless he said im not going to serve you a wedding cake that i make myself. And he based on part on his artistic expression. Right. I think there was some pushback among the liberal justices on the court and Justice Kennedy asking well, youre a baker, what about a Makeup Artist . You know, what about a chef . Couldnt a chef claim that same exemption based on free speech grounds . What is his stronger argument . I think it is the free exercise of religion and the fact this is not a neutral applicable law. What do you mean by that . Well, basically the state has said that, for instance, a baker three bakers were allowed to refuse their services to religious customer who wanted to bake a cake that criticized same sex marriage. They didnt accuse those people of discrimination, but they accused phillips right, they are trying to outlaw speech that they disagree with their dislikes. One of the most fundamental notions in american law is if youre applying a law, it needs to be applied neutrally. That is to everybody. Well, thats right. And one of those fundamental ideas is that there are certain basic protections inside the constitution, regarding freedom of exercise of religion and of speech. Theres an interesting thing going on here, for instance on campuses they are saying on one hand we believe in free speech but we think there are certain forms of hateful speech that ought to be outlawed. If they go down on that road, you are on kind of a slippery slope as i think you are here saying that well no matter what this baker may believe, we can compel him to believe in a certain forms of ideas. The idea behind the 1st amendment was thats what they did in 18th century england, they compelled people to behave in certain kind of set ways in terms of religious practice. Thats why we have a 1st amendment. Yeah, i believe that the debate over whats an artistic expression on a cupcake is sort of like other debates, and kennedy did bring it back to the fundamental question, does forcing someone to participate in a ceremony that goes against his conscience, does that violate the free exercise clause of the 1st amendment . I theys the fundamental i think thats the fundamental question. I do believe if people are allowed to have their conscience to objections, we could leave somewhat peacefully with same sex marriage plus people that oppose it. Could this opinion be drawn in the end narrowly, alicia, where you say if you have sincere religious beliefs, then you cannot be compelled to take part in a ceremony that you dont agree with . I think so. I think that would be the broader ruling, rather than the narrow ruling that just exempts the baker on free speech grounds. I think you want a broader ruling that will cover the florist, photographers and others. Thank you all, fascinating. We have to take one more break. When we come back, hits and copd makes it hard to breathe. So to breathe better, i go with anoro. Go your own way copd tries to say, go this way. I say, ill go my own way with anoro. Go your own way oncedaily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators, that Work Together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. Anoro is not for asthma. It contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. The risk is unknown in copd. Anoro wont replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, glaucoma, prostate, bladder, or urinary problems. These may worsen with anoro. Call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain while taking anoro. Ask your doctor about anoro. Go your own way get your first prescription free at anoro. Com. Paul time now for our hits and misses of the week. Kim, start us off. Paul, americans have been watching in horror this week at the wildfires that are raging across southern california, infernos on the sides of highways and fears for old neighborhoods in los angeles. So this is a very broad but deeplyfelt hit for the 5700 men and women firefighters that are there trying to stop this. Its bad enough when fires rage uncontrolled across empty land, its a lot more chaotic and more dangerous when its in peoples backyards. Paul all right. Alicia. This is a hit to President Trump who has named Mick Mulvaney acting director of the Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau which this week has initiated all of the ongoing investigations and suspended a fine against a small mortgage servicer that had driven it out of business under richard cord ray, his predecessor. Paul so things getting done. Kate . This is a bit of a hit and a miss for pat gone that that used its web site to broadcast the message the president stole your land. They were basically referring to a trump decision to scale back a Huge National monument out west that had been taken in an obama land grab last year. But i would say its nice to hear that corporations have speech rights from. The left weve been told for years that corporations dont have those. Paul all right. Bill. Paul, a hit to the nfl players who have been taking a knee during the national anthem. For years, reformers have been arguing against federal subsidies for stadiums usually down through taxexempt municipal bonds, now the republican and democratic congressmen who put it there say its partly because of the attention that the kneelers brought to the issue. So thank you, colin kaepernick, nixing special tax breaks for the wealthy. Paul thats it for this weeks show. Thanks to my panel and all of you for watching. Im paul gigot, we hope to see you right here next week. Captioning by closed captioning services, inc. Oliver tonight, war stories investigates, did fdr know pearl harbor would be attacked . He wanted an outrageous japanese attack at pearl harbor, that would unite this country. Oliver or was it a surprise . Roosevelt had no desire to be in a war against japan. Oliver and admiral kims grandson speaks out. H and died last night at his home, he was of 5. The next news break at the bottom of the hour. Next war stories with oliver north. Oliver