Transcripts For ALJAZAM Consider This 20140404

The fort hood tragedy raises major questions as Mental Health is once again at the center of a mass shooting. Also americas plan to trigger protests in cuba, secretly using social media. Plus sports radio cries foul. Welcome to consider this, here is more on whats ahead. The alleged shooter specialist, lopez we have very strong evidence that he had a medical history. To see violence happen in a place where theres supposed to feel safe is tragic. In an attempt to undermine the communism government, the u. S. Government created a secret social media platform. Suggests that this is a covert operation is wrong. Daniel murphy is taking patternty leave to be with his wife. To you see the birth and get back. You are amazing you can hire a nurse. We began with the after math of the latest shooting. And the treatment provided to him by the army, specialists say he used a 45 caliber pit toll to kill three people and wound 16 more in a rampage wednesday. Lopez reportedly opened fire in a medical building fires more shots from his car, then went to a second building where he opened fire again. Lopez was then confronted by a military policewoman in a parking lot where he killed himself. In washington thursday, secretary in the army told the Senate Armed Service committee he was being evaluated for post Traumatic Stress disodderrer and had sought treatment for a traumatic brain injury, allegedly suffered after a green noncombatant tour in iraq. Offense undergoing a variety of treatment and diagnosis for Mental Health conditions. Ranging from depression, to anxiety. So some sleep disturbance. He was prescribe add number of drugs to address those. Including ambien. He is a Principle Investigator and a ten year study, funded by the department of defense. He is also the director of the moods disorder clinic. Good to have you with us. According to the veterans administration, between 11 and 20 of returning iran and Afghanistan War veterans have come home with ptsd, and close to one quarter million have been treated over the past ten years. I think you would agree that people that have ptsd are rarely violent toward other people . Antonio, the real message here, is that the when someone someone suicide, and almost all instants, 85 of people whod is, they have a psychiatric illness. And its not necessarily ptsd. You know ptsd is rarely occurred by itself. In almost all instances ptsd is accompanied by other things. Like depression, or anxiety, or alcohol abuse. So this kind of complexity is usually not a part of the story here. And people to have to understand that this is much more complex situation than is being talked about. Well, in fact, it is very complex, because ptsd is not easily diagnosed. He had nonbeen formally diagnosed with it, what are the signs and symptoms of someone who has ptsk . Well, i understand thats important, but the message here its not about the symptoms of ptsd, it is about whether or not ptsd is accompanied by other illnesses. When ptsd is accompanied by other illnesses thats when somebody who is thinking about suicide attempts suicide. So is the issue isnt is so is much the symptoms, but how it presents with other illnesses. But then thats the big question in this case. It kit present with other issues. When then, does the psychologists have to take action or when can a psychologists take action and say army you should watch out this person should not be on active duty . Well the point im making if somebody has ptsd thats not so much of a problem. This becomes an issue when there are oreologinesses accompanied by it. When people have other problems on top of ptsd, thats when somebody begins to think about suicide and attempts suicide. Blue in this case, at least according to the sector of the army, there were other issues involved. So my question to you as a doctor, is when request doctors take action to say hey, we should be care nfl this case, although again we should say in this case there are many reports that there were no indications of any kind of inclination toward violence. I understand. The first answer to that question is the co occurrence of other ill offenses, should alarm a physician to be alert of the possibility of suicide. And the second answer to that question is that when somebody begins to articulate thoughts about hopelessness, or helplessness, or worthlessness thats an indication to you that that person is increased risk for a suicide attempt. And in this case he also as we said, reportedly claimed that he had traumatic brain injury. But the army says theres knobbed case that had happened to him, should that have been a red flag. This he was raising things that may not have happen. Mile traumatic brain injury is a common occurrence for people who have been deployed and experienced trauma, frequently what happened during those situation is people get disinhibited. Quickly without thinking about the consequences. So is thats also an important consideration. So many questions in this terrible tragedy, appreciate you joining us tonight that talk about it. Thank you. Switching topics now to a u. S. Program to use a twitter like social media project to undercut cubas government. The program called was a cell phone Text Messaging Service that went around cubans stuff internet controlled and operated between 2010 and 2012. It was meant to build up a subscriber base. But unlike most programs aimed at hostile regimes it was run by the u. S. Agency for international development. Which delivered foreign aid, not the cia. The press secretary insisted that it was just meant to encouraging dialog. Suggestions that this was a covert program, are wrong. It was a Development Assistance program about increasing the level of information that the cuban people have, and are able to discuss among themselves. J. Joined from washington, d. C. , who co wrote this. I want to get your reaction talking about this is a Development Assistance program that wasnt secret. What is your effort lotterring show . What we found is that the u. S. Agency, through contractors have set up these Companies Overseas so create this version of exiter. Would be ba, of course, is very restrictive access, and just like where we with have access is to the internet on our smart phone, or on a computer, theres a lot less access there, so the idea is lets take Text Messages and turning it into a service where people can can can talk to each over. One of the goals was to much people toward withs this idea of change. And it works at least when it came to creating a subscriber base. So as many as 40,000 from what with we were able totem signed on. And they were able to because they received half a million phone numbers. They blasted them out, and people signed up for them, and based on the statute messages that we saw, and some of the people that used the service, it was a hit. Text messages is is very expensive, and this was a free service for them, and they love id it. It was agree way to talk to people. So they jumped through all kinds of hoops to create it, so why did they drop it . The first one, and this is what the government told us, the money gets shut off, but in 2012, the grant that had funded this skim my expired. Talking to other people that used it. The internet phone book, sending you to 11 seat when it should be going to another, we saw this in turkey and just other ways but came with the point that it became difficult for these engineers to keep it running. So i think it was the technical problems or the cubans coming on and the money. It is 2340 secret that in hostile environments government take steps to protect the partners we are working with, the purpose was to create a platform to speak freely, period. But that seems to contradict what jake was saying he is pretty much saying that they protected the cubans and they did this secretly, and he is saying it wasnt a secret . Is. Sure, we can open a think star russ. It was not an operation. They say it was more of a program that is discreet. Even still, the senator in charge of the committee that oversees this. And he called it ugly and dumb. Were any laws broken . In countries where they want to help the people they support, russia does it erskine that does it, was this a big deal . I think thats the question people may be asking on tuesday. When the administrator will be before Senate Patrick leahy and a senate committee. And the question comes down to this, if this were a covert operation, where the president properly notified were house and senate communities properly notifies. I think this wilbe a question for people is at what point does discrete become covert and require a whole new set of laws. A lot of issues raised by this, coming up a new book on pack span relations that is so controversial parts of it were blocked out, also the most extensive account yet of the boston bombing from the people that experienced it first hand, and our social media produceser tracking the stop stories on the web. A lot of people are saying a red sox player picture with with the president 20 into foul territory. I will tell you more coming up. Is while you are watching let us know what you think, you can tweet us at a. J. Consider this, or leave a comment on our i mean, i dont know whos illegal, whos not illegal. Al Jazeera America presents a Breakthrough Television event. Borderland a first hand look at the crisis on the border. Im already afraid just being here six strangers, with different points of view take a closer look at the ongoing conflict. Gary, a farmer, who hires many migrent workers. People say immigrants are stealing our jobs, its not true. And allison, a born again christian, republican. Lets just send them back to mexico and let their goverment handle it. They relive the fatal quest of a young boy named omar. Do you think that omar was way too young to make that trip accross the dessert . You just cant keep being strong. Where will this path lead them . Just because they make it to the u. S. , doesnt mean good things are gonna happen to them. Experience illegal immigration. Up close, and personal. The only way to find out, is to see it yourselves. On. Borderland only on al Jazeera America covered the war in afghanistan for 12 years covered several bomb shells about pakistani intelligence that make ady. Alliance even more perplexing. It claims pakistan knew all along that Osama Bin Laden was living in the compound where he was killed in may of 2011. That reporting and another revelations were considered so controversial that when an excerpt ran, local versions were sensorred and is the article left blank. For more we are joined she has reported extensively, and the summeredly the north after cacorrespondent. Some of the experiences are harrowing but i want to start with ben laden. You said that pakistani intelligence, not only knew about his compound and where he was, but that may actively collaborated in letting compound. In the end, thats what i found. It took a while, and we felt there was some sort of accomplicety, it wasnt just stupidity, all those years that he was living there, six years just a few hundred yards from the military gathering. But in the end, they did find an inside source that they were handling him. You have a desk responsible for him, one man only that didnt report to anyone, he just did he made his own decisions. Did everything himself. And he was handling therefore using but protecting him. So helping him survive. You heard this from a former head of the i. S. I. , but then you also heard from other sources about that specific desk. No, that desk is a one source story. I have never been able to confirm it. But it is from an i. S. I. Source, but not the head. They would never admit, s have very incredible when you trace the whole war as i did. It just made no sense, that this could have been there so in the open without them knowing. Right. And what was fascinating because then i checked it with u. S. Official whose said that makes sense. Because what they were also piecing the pieces together, before leading up to the raid. And they saw somethings they were watching that house, and they saw things that didnt add up. For example, he didnt have an escape door or tunnel to get out. He had no fox hole, like sudan hussein was found hiding in the garden, no place to hide, and nowhere to escape. And so it made sense to me that he was always relying on being tipped off or protected or being able to get out if a raid was coming. And it turned out that the c. I. A. Was coming to the same conclusions. Because i learned later when they were looking at the house they came to the same concussion. What are you say the man that was the u. S. Ambassador, he has come out and said that he does not believe that the i. S. I. Knew, and that the u. S. Didnt end up independently figuring i have had a lot of talks to the ambassador, i dont agree with him, i think he is interesting in preserving the relationship with pakistan. So he is always been quite cautious on what he thinks they knew. But he also says we didnt trust them to tell. We didnt trust pakistan to tell them about the raid. So i think it shows to me theres a lot they knew that they didnt tell you. You write there, that in fact pakistan has been underminding our efforts also. So not just that they were hiding Osama Bin Laden in plain sight, but they have been undermining our efforts there. You say they are sup is porting the taliban, maintaining to control militants and gain leverage, and you also say that the Pakistani Military and its forces lie in wait lying in wait for the u. S. To leave as it may leave if we dont come to some agreement. Right. In the near future, if thats the case, why are we spending on average 2 billion in aid to pakistan as we have. The argument is because they have Nuclear Weapons they are much too important a country because then pakistan pulled away from america, and if you dont have any engangment, you have no leverage. I would argue you give that much money and then say you dont have leverage, of course you do. It should be muffin smarter, you dont just give people things and let them do whey they want. So i think there has to be a much closer look at how the relationship works and how pakistan can be allowed to do this, because it is not possible, and they are going to cause trouble. For you personally when they smashed into your hotel room, when you are frying to follow the trail supporting the taliban. Right. So then i was in the boarder town in the south, and we were following that, trafficking pakistans involvement. Because we found the suicide bombers were coming from pakistan, and they were being trained there and set up. And often recruited without their familys knowledge, so i was tracking that and then they raided my hotel room, they arrested the photographer working with me. They punched me in the face when i resisted turning over my handbag. They took my phones and notebooks. And the arc present was they said you are not allowed to talk to the taliban. Which is the main district of the city where the taliban tends to live . That just told me everything. That was a warning to stop me reporting on the story. Troubling reporting about a very troubled relationship. Good to have you with us. Thank you very much, and again the book is the wrong enemy. On the domestic front we are just 12 with days away from the one Year Anniversary of the bottom bombing. A report out is mostly hoping praise on the cities response to the tragedy, and this week the definitive count, the man hunt and the recovery was published. Shed new light and bring new perspectives from the tragedy, a warning to our viewers some of the images we will show are graphic. Joining us now here in new york, are those two Award Winning reporters and jenna russell, may along with the staff covered the bombing and its after math, their book is titled long mile home. Boston under attack, the cities courageous recovery and the epic hunt for justice. I cant imagine anybody suited better than the two of you to write this. It was difficult. It was a difficult story. But this is kind of what we do, and we saw a lot of value in going back to it. And bringing this stories of individual people who were effected by these events. Bringing them together. Thats what you do. You tell the story through the eyes of different people, you have the director, someone who died also a doctor who was running the marathon, and right there when it happened. Why did you choose them . Is. This is a mas. Sive story, and there are so many pieces to it and chapters if you think of the week with and everything that happened. We wanted to find a way, people could really attest themselves to it. Not having 8 million different perspectives but really try to focus on five people who have more authority on the story than anybody else. So we thought by delling the story, you could get a sense. You could have guys to help everyone understand the larger implications. Program to the bombing. It said that the city was unusually well prepared for the attacks. You also say in the book if there was a terrorist attack somewhere in the u. S. Anywhere within a mile or two was the best place to happen. Hard to look at it that way, but true. It really is true. The finish line of the marathon was within was a mile or two of that location, you have a halfdozen hospitals so wellequipped to handle the situation. Because of the marathon itself you have a massive medical operation set up right there to deal with potential problems runners could deal with. You have tons of volunteers on hand, doctors and nurses there. So people were really, i think, kind of stunned. As awful as it is to have three people die, it could have been so many more had you not had the resources in place. Its incredible when you look at these images that were showing again that the results were as good as they were, despite the deaths and these terrible injuries. The harvard report is critical about one thing in particular, which is the shootout that followed once the manhunt gun, once they knew it was the tsarnaev brothers and went after that. Also was the decision to close down boston altogether. What are your feelings about that . Because you do think if a terrorist can do that, completely shut down a major american city, does that give them too much power . I think there are definitely voices making that point at the time that are we going too far . Is this a step too much . No city had really ever done anything like this. At the same time you have to think back to what it felt like on that morning, and a lot of people woke up friday morning not knowing where that guy was and what his capacity was to hurt more people. Whether it was just one more person. We didnt know at the time the plot. Was it one more person or five or ten . Was this a larger thing . I think in retrospect when you talk to the political leaders, the Law Enforcement folks who were getting these suspicious reports about the guy running away at the courthouse or somebody trying to get a train, they just didnt know how wide this thing was until i do understand that it was a prudent decision to make, and if you ask people what you remember about that weekend, most people remember that friday, that quiet, eerie, still friday when literally the city shut down. And sitting around waiting to see what would happen. Iron in this casally the city started to open up before they found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and he was outside the area where he was looking, although this house could have been one of the ones they should have gone into and did not. A lot of people have asked a lot of questions about the search. Obviously, the house where he was found was extremely close to where he had abandoned the car, 0. 2 of a mile. So they had to make some decisions about where to focus the search. There was some searching that was done on the street, but it wasnt complete. So as a result you had a homeowner who rambled out into his yard as soon as they lifted the ban going outside who discovered it. Saw the blood on the boat and getting tsarnaev out there. We got lucky, because it koo could have been a lot worse. Had he not been unarmed or wounded, there easily could have been another victim here or one or two. I think the authorities got very lucky it worked out the way it did. Boston such a historic city and so important to american history, where do you think this will rank in bostons history . Boston strong has become, you know, a household expression. It has given the whole country even more respect for the city of boston. Where do you think it will lie in the an nuls of history . I think this is clearly one of the most significant things ever to unfold in the city. I know there is history and a lot of important things on the time line, but the marathon is such a special event and celebration of the city. Its been around for 117 years. Its so engrained in the spring tradition in boston, so i think the fact that that was the target of the attack makes it that much bigger of a deal. Not that it wouldnt have been a big deal if you attacked a red sox game or patriots game, but theres something particularly special about the marathon. I think thats whats heinous about the bombing. It always amazes me when writers manage to do this, which is what you have done. To turn something that we all know about it, we know exactly what happened and still manage to turn it into a crazy pageturner where you want to keep reading and reading. I should say that there are also very positive messages that are coming out of this book, which will bring a tear to the eye of anybody who reads it on more than one occasion. That was very important to us. For one thing, our experience of these events was very fragmented. There was so much confusion and people were trying to process it, and it wasnt possibly to understand it as a whole as we hope people do now. Also, underneath all the drama and action that makes it a suspenseful story, theres so much humanity and so many connections that people made, so many ways that people in boston and beyond reached out to each other and came together. Thats one of the things that we found most compelling that we wanted to share. Its definitely inspirational at times out of this horror, really some beautiful stories that you both tell beautifully. Really good to have you both. Great to have you with us. Thank you. Thank you. Time to see whats trending on the web. David ortiz of the Boston Red Sox is in the middle of some controversy over a selfie. Earlier this week the red sox were at the white house to be honored for their world series championship, and ortiz took what seemed like a spontaneous selfie with the president. It was an immediate sensation on twitter with over 40,000 retweets. Samsung is one at that retweeted making some wonder if ortiz was paid to take the picture. Ortiz denied it was a part of any detail, but it turns out he signed a contract with samsung just the day before. Sum sung spokes woman said they heard he was visiting the white house and they worked with david to plan it out. The white house says it didnt know the photo was taken for promotional purposes. Press secretary jay carney said as a rule the white house objects to use the president s likeness for commercial purposes. This isnt the first time samsung pulled Something Like this. At the oscars Ellen Degeneres tweeted this with her samsung. It had over 3 million retweets. It turns out that, too, was part of a deal with samsung. Let us know what you think. Does it matter to you that big papis photo was part of a deal . You can tweet us. Back to you. Straight ahead, nasa says no to russia in space. How tense relations on earth have led to limited relations above earth. Also, speculation over David Lettermans replacement heats up aired. Later, the harsh backlash over a big leaguer takes a few days of paternity league. The dispute between the u. S. And russia over the crisis in ukraine made it in outer space. The federal government ordered all contact between nasa and Russian Space program to cease. The only exception is the International Space station, but at a time when the u. S. Dependses on russia to get astronauts back and forth, how significant are the consequences of the new policy . Were joined by dr. Derrick pence, chief astronomer at the Franklin Institute science museum. How much did nasa and russia collaborate beyond the space station . Does much actually change here . There are a number of other Planetary Exploration Missions that the u. S. And russia are collaborating on either directly or through other parties. For example, there is a European Space station cosmo Mars Exploratory Mission coming up in which the u. S. Is providing telecommunication radios, and that, of course, can be critical. Theres also i think theres a spec troe meter on that as well. Theres a Russian Mission to venus in which they provide equipment as well. When you look at these kinds of different missions, antonio, it may impede the progress of these missions for a bit and one should also think that this restriction in communication probably wont be maintained forever. Its probably just a periodic thing for right now. So while we while our greatest concern, of course, is with the International Space station, the amount of difficulty it will present for other missions while serious for them is not as terrible as it could be. Lets talk about the space station. Nasa released a statement stating it is laserfocused on a plan to end our reliance on russia getting to space. Is that the biggest concern, that russia might retaliate as a result of this and refuse to take nasa astronauts to the space station . One might think of that scenario as being possible, but the truth of the matter is that both countries, both space agencies are dependent upon each other for different aspects of the mission. The thing that sticks up that most people see is that the russians are providing Transportation Services for american astronauts to get to the International Space station. For all astronauts, including american astronauts to get to the International Space station. The fact is on the american side we provide a tremendous amount of support for space station, and so neither country can really operate International Space station effectively without the other. So this is a situation in which we have a very, very expensive asset, 100 billion in the construction and placing in space of International Space station with annual operations of easily 10 billion a year. So neither country or neither space agency is interested in impeding any of what goes on with the operations, the safe operation and smooth operation of space station. The russians got an awful lot of money to take our astronauts up. Even so, it raises the question was it a mistake for the u. S. To shut down the Space Shuttle program before we had a replacement . Well, theres no question about that. Absolutely it was a mistake to shut down the program before we had a replacement for a space station, but nobody on the american side moved fast enough to make something happen. That was a big mistake. It should have been anticipated. After all, it was known very early on that the Space Shuttle program was going to come to a close after the construction of the space station was completed. So we did not followthrough with this as we typically had followed through with other kinds of Space Programs. If we look at the early history of the u. S. Space program, the idea of getting for the moon required that we had the mercury, the gemini and the early apollo test missions in order to mount a successful expedition to the moon and back and didnt carry through with that same intent of purpose once we got to the Space Shuttle program seeing what would come after it wasnt planned for that. A quick final question. What do you say to nasa critics that argued this is a ploy to get nasa more money . Nasas statement did include a plea for more funding. Well, i think its a great outcome. It can be a outcome that really points at what the needs are for the american Space Program right now. We need to have a launch system in place that can allow us to get our astronauts to the International Space station and do all those other things on a much faster schedule. The money is needed for the budget to happen, for that to happen. I think what congress can see is theres consequences to not providing the support that nasa needs in order to prosecute what its been asked to do. Nasa works very hard to do what it can with the paltry 7. 5 billion, but if Congress Wants us to be independent in space, nasa needs more money to do that. Another 10 billion would not hurt nasa at all, and really wouldnt hurt other programs either. Private companies dont get anybody in space for a new years to come, so there are a lot of missions raised by all this. Derrick pitts, thanks for joining us. Coming up, David Letterman gets set to signoff next year. Well talk about the timing and possible replacements next. Cant a guy take a couple days off for the birth of a first child . The outrage how sports radio scared as hell. As american troops prepare to leave afghanistan get a first hand look at what life is really like under the taliban. Were going to be taken to a place, where theyre going to make plans for an attack. The only thing i know is, that they say theyre not going to withdraw. Then, immediately after, an america tonight special edition for more inside and analysis. Why did you decide to go. Its extremly important for the western audience to know why these people keep on fighting. Its so seldom you get that access to the other side. Faultlines on the front lines with the taliban then an america tonight special edition only on al Jazeera America David Letterman has announced hell step down next year. Heres part of the official announcement that will air on thursday nights show as he describes his conversation with the cbs president. I phoned him just before the program and i said, leslie, its been great and youve been great and the network is great, but im retiring. Really . You actually did this . Yes i did. Wow. Do i have a minute to call my accountant . Everybody at home, thank you very much. What this means now is that paul and i can be married. [ music ] lets break down the move and what it means. Bill, letterman has hosted a late night show for a record 31 years. Longer than Johnny Carson. Hes been at cbs for 20 years. Hes almost 67 years old. Do you think this is his choice . Its time to wrap it up . I do. I absolutely do. I also think its a really convenient time for him to go. Hes got these two jimmies nipping at his heels. The world has completely changed from the world he came into 21 years ago. I think hes getting out while hes on top, and also, i think almost everything he says is sincere, and hes looking forward to spend time with his wife and kid. Where do you think he will stand in Television History when it comes to late night comedy . Really at the pinnacle with the big guys, sid cesar and Johnny Carson and the like. He took an iconic position, Johnny Carson show and made it hipper and cooler and funnier and weirder. He was cynical and wasnt always on the guests side but he was on the audiences side. So in certain ways hes really close to the top of the heap. Interestingly you bring up the cynicism. Hes more cynical than anybody else. Maybe jimmy kimmel, but the rest of them are all i admire jimmy kimmel because hell talk truth. Jimmy fallon is there to make his guests look good, and thats what leno was about as well. Hes a distinctive guy and old guy in television terms, but he stood out as a breath of fresh air and personal integrity. Letterman didnt give a specific day or month in 2015 that hed be retiring, but the announcement does come two months after jay leno left the tonight show. Who do you think the big question will take his place . Craig ferguson has this prince of wales clause that they call it that gives him the right to take it over, but they can always pay him out, right . Exactly, yeah. I think we dont know. This is a landscape in tv that is changing underneath everyones feet. We have to remember this isnt cbs anymore. Viacom is mtv. So i dont think theres going to be a whole lot of sentimentality about the chair. It could be stephen cobert, kneel patrick harris. Ellen is a weird place for late night, and she has a contract at that goes to 2017. I dont know about that. I cant think of some of the other people, but i think less moonvees will do where it should be 5 or 10 years from now. You think hell go with somebody young . One question that has to be raised and he was number one. Any chance moonvees would go after jay . It would be an absolutely sensational choice. This is a very peculiar audience. I hate to talk some grimly about this. Twothirds of people that watch shows are very old over 55, and the way fallon and kimmel thread that needle is doing viral youtube videos to keep them up. The bean counters at cbs can bring in an old School Person there and bring in money off an older demographic. Conan obriens contract is coming up. With all of lettermans success over all the years, he always wanted to do the tonight show. Despite the fact he retires a very rich man, very successful man, is there always that sadness . I honestly dont think so. How many people left alive associate anything with that now, now that jay leno has done it for 20 years . Very few are left alive with that sentimentality. Hes the last of the old lions. Basically everyone from that era is going to be gone when he gets off next year. It will be interesting to see what happens. A lot of change in late night. Thanks. Thanks, sir. Coming up, when did a threeday paternity leave become so controversial . Why sports radio hosts are trashing a baseball star calling it a scam and a half just because he wanted to spend some time off with the birth of his first child. Youd think new york mets second baseman Daniel Murphy did the right thing by being there to watch his wife give birth to their first child on monday. Instead the threeday paternity leave triggered a firestorm in new york because that meant he missed the first two games of the season. On wednesday boomer explained what he thought of murphys decision. If that was me, i wouldnt do that. Quite frankly, i would have i would have csection before the season starts. I need to be at opening day. Im sorry. Well, lets in bring al Jazeera America contributor whose head is nodding. Hes the Sports Editor for the nation and author of game over. I dont know you dont like to express outrage, but him saying that she could have a csection, major surgery so he can play on opening day okay. Boomer, obgyni believe were glad thats not part of his title. For everybody out there trying to seek out an ob gyn named booker, find smomebody else. He comes off like a pig not only about childbirth, but discussion of a csection which is a surgical procedure which actually produces increased risk for both the mother and child. For him to say, cut open the woman so he can be at opening day on time, its just disgusting. Boomer eaison is getting raked over the coals for this on social media and by every Single Person i know. I have a million texts saying, this is the most disgusting thing ive heard. What it comes down to is just these guys boomer has graduated from quarterback star to shock radio jock. He needs to fill the 24 7 news cycle until you provoke outrage over something that has no business being discussed on sports radio. Its a personal, family matter, and he really should have shut huz mouth. Im not inclined to pay devils advocate on this, but what about people that say they get paid a lot of money. Murphy gets 5. 7 million and not in jobs where they can be replaced. He makes a lot of money because of the union. This union collectively bargains these kinds of leaves of absences for the bit birth of a child. For him to exercise the rights, thats part of his work m. O. Thats something teams have to account for because its in the collective bargaining agreement. This isnt a case of somebody saying, peace out. Im out of here. My wifes having a kid. This was something that was actually happening in the real world. No one knows the personal private details what was going on with that childbirth, nor should anybody know those details and any of the concerns. Its certainly not boomers business. His cohost was on the same page, and so was a very popular news sports radio host who had this to say. I dont know why you need three days off. Im going to be honest. You see the birth and get back. What are you doing the first couple of days . Maybe take care of your other kids. You can have someone else too that. Clearly these guys forget what it means to have a first child and the craziness involved for a young couple. Isnt this really what most professional athletes do . Most of them make it they argue most make it back in time for the birth and head back to work, but some take the three days theyre entitled to. That sound you just heard are all the ladies in the audience swooning about the fact theyre not married to a man like mike. I think what mike and boomer are really railing against and you hear this a lot from the older generation of people from sports media is the fact the terrain changed. You cant call teammates sissies and no longer can the throw out homophobic slurs and you cant be open and proud with your sexism. Theres a shift in sports culture, and its something that drives these guys to fits of distraction. They really idealized this idea that men should be men. Mad men is an optimal way. They should be in the waiting room with a cigar and rush out to the stadium because thats what Mickey Mantle would have done, gosh darn it. Murphy took the high road. On thursday he said i can only speak from my experience. She was completely finished. She was done. She had had surgery, and she was white so having me there helped a lot and vice versa. His manager Terry Collins defended the second baseman saying the rules allowed him to do this. This seems outrageous that were arguing that a guy shouldnt have been there for his wife for his first child. What about the teammates, though . What do you hear about what theyre saying . From what i hear is the teammates support him, because its a very standard thing in locker rooms no matter what the sport. If youre acting in accordance with the contract, then your teammates are fine with it. They say its your business, because the code of the locker room is they dont want you judging them if they did something according to the contract. If murphy had shown up at the game and been all bummed out because he wished he was with his wife and had dogged it on the field for three days, then you would hear anger from the teammates. Acting according to the contract, thats the code in sports. You do what you have to do. Well do what we have to do and respect each other because were a family here. Im really glad were talking about this, because if were not talking about it, then the narrative is controlled by the boomers of the world and it becoming branded as if murphy did something wrong when the opposite is the case. If theres a villain in this story, and im sorry not to take the high road like mr. Murphy, the piggish oefishness of boomer. How do you really feel about it . Dave, good points, and good for mr. Murphy. Thanks for joining us tonight. Thank you, sir. The show may be over but the conversation continues on our website, aljazeera. Com considerthis or or our facebook or google plus pages. You can find us on twitte twitter ajconsiderthis. Welcome to alJazeera America. Im del walters. And these are the stories were following for you. Were learning new details about the soldier said to be behind the fort hood shootings. A journalist is gunned down in afghanistan one day before the countrys elections. And artwork by george w. Bush now on display. Inves