Turned for legal pot . Or might Jeff Sessions opposition be a big bummer, man . First, the president drew laughter and applause yesterday when going after what he recogas as fake news. Thats not new. What made it note worthy was where he said it. He was speaking to graduates of the fbi academy. These are individuals graduating from a tenweek program which is an accredited semester of study from uva. The episode reminded me of an appearance the president made at the cia headquarters in langley. He said then that visiting the cia was his First Official stop and he thanked them for their service. That was appropriate. As he stood in front of a wall memorializing officers killed in the line of duty, the more he spoke the more political he sounded. He defended his inaugural crowd size and even bragged about the number of times hed been on the Time Magazine cover. And he went after the media. As you know, i have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth. [ laughter ] [ applause ]. Right . Many commentators noted the inappropriateness of the remarks in this context as well as the favorable way in which they were received. I always call them the dishonest media, but they treated me nicely. [ laughter ]. Followup reporting revealed that because the event happened on the weekend, the audience was comprised of agents willing to come in on a saturday and that the first few rows were filled with noncia personnel brought by the president and his staff. Cbs reported at the time that the makeup of the crowd includes 40 peoplevited by trump, pence and pompeo. Yesterday the president went to quantico. Again, wonderful that the president would offer his praise to those in Law Enforcement, even where leaving the white house hed said this its a shame whats happened with the fbi. He also used the word disgraceful, apparently referring to senior fbi official who is exchanged antitrump and prohillary clinton Text Messages and did so while working on last years probe of clintons use of a private email server and again during special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into possible collusion with russia. The president , i think, is justified in his anger about an agent apparently swapping texts with his mistress while both played important roles in federal investigations. But when the president got to the fbi, just as hed done at the cia, he treated the crowd like it was a campaign event. Like at the cia, that was a mistake. And equally reprehensible was their response. But as i look out in the audience today, i see many young, bright faces. To them and to many other Young Americans watching at home of which there are many you see theres the fake news back there. Look, everybody. [ laughter ]. When he heard how well that comment was received in the room, he doubled down. No. Actually, some of them are fine people. About lets see whos back there. About 30 . [ laughter ]. Heres my point. The president again violated the time and place rule that many of our parents instilled in us. Weve come to expect this from him. But equally troubling is the laughter and the applause. This cannot be the new normal. These were not kids. The folks in that room adults in their 40s and 50s. The intel and Law Enforcement communities need to remain above politics and to be perceived as beyond approacrapproac rapro. Tom fuentes ran the fbis international program. Tom, is my concern warranted in your view . Well, in a way, michael, i think it is warranted. However, i would like to maybe clarify the audience makeup here that was doing the laughter. You know n thin that room there probably 800, 900 people including family members of the Police Officers attending that course. Very, very few fbi agents at all in that ceremony. Its a graduation for the state, local and foreign Police Officers who attended the semester of education from the university of virginia. But their families are also in the room. And what we forget is that when the media seems to constantly criticize Law Enforcement officers or immediately take the negative view of a Law Enforcement action, including Police Officerinvolved shootings, that affects the families. Those families were in the room and they feel very strongly about the negative coverage that police in general and in some cases members of their own department specifically get. The children go to school and they get harassed. People know that their father or mother is a Police Officer. They take abuse. The parents, the cousins, everybody thats close to that officer in their family is affected because being a Police Officer is not a job. Its a way of life. Thats true for all of them. At this point, the attendees of that course are Senior Executives of state, local, Foreign Police agencies, as well as a couple of federal agencies and even the u. S. Military. And they really do resent what they think is a media bias against Law Enforcement. I hear you. I understand that. I guess youre saying im asking too much if i wish for them to disassociate the president s comments about fake news from the bias they see in some of the reporting. Theyve got to be perceived beyond the president often says put the cameras on the crowd. Youre making me wish the cameras were on the crowd yesterday so we could see who was providing the laughter and the applause. Im worried about the diminution if theyre perceived as picking sides. We dont know about the cia whether other family members were there or only employees of the cia. In the case of this graduation, there were almost no fbi employees in the room. Really the audience is predominantly family members or friends of the graduates of that course. For them to spontaneously feel that the president is agreeing with them that the coverage is often negative in an unwarranted way, they do feel that. They would be sympathetic to the president calling the news fake news. And it may not be appropriate for him to say it or for them to laugh, but i think that does express how they really feel about the reporting that often, you know, is done in connection with Law Enforcement activities. I get your point that the composition of that room was largely not fbi personnel. But now let me ask you a distinctly fbi question. When the president uses words like disgraceful and i think we know hes referring to the text interplay between those two agents, but when he uses it in a broad sense, what kind of harm, if any, does that cause to the morale of fbi personnel . It is harmful. The president needs to be more specific. What occurred on the seventh floor at fbi headquarters regarding the former director comey, Deputy Director mccabe, agents and others was absolutely disgusting and reprehensible and he has a right to be absolutely disgusted with that. But thats not majority. Even im talking almost all over fbi personnel world wide are doing an incredible job. Unfortunately theyve also been tarnished, not just by the reporting thats coming out about the comey and others in their investigations, which that reporting is true of the damage that theyve done. But i think the president should just what i would like to see is distinguish more of whos at fault here. The fbi one of his comments on the white house lawn, i believe, was were going to rebuild the fbi. They dont need rebuilding. They need somebody to exert leadership at the top of that organization. Ill go all the way to the attorney general. I think attorney general sessions has been an absentee landlord with the department of justice and with the fbi. Dont forget he was recusing himself from the russian collusion case and a couple of specific investigations. At any given time the fbi has more than 20 or 30,000 investigations world wide. Where is he in leading that situation . Where is he on leading the executive management that does need to be straightened out . Thats whats missing here from the attorney general, the Deputy Attorney general. And were yet to see what director wray is going to do now that hes in charge. I think when its a shotgun blast approach using the words at the t tatters or disgraceful thank you. I appreciate your analysis. Thank you, michael. Tweet me smerconish. Investigate who laughed and disciplined them the way the agents who sent the Text Messages were demoted and take off muellers investigation of collusion. Theyre clearly not fit to be fbi agents. To tom fuentes point, that room is comprised of far more than fbi personnel. I just had a visceral, negative reaction watching this live on tv. I thought, who are these people to be joking and laughing along with that criticism. I was offering it has an american that doesnt want to see the politicalization. Richard, why dont you say my thick head . Are you not unsettled, richard, by the prospect of the Intel Community at the cia even if there were ringers that room or Law Enforcement who are the thin bl blue line out there protecting all of us being perceived like Everything Else in this world along partisan lines. It used to be that partisanship used to end at the borders. Up ahead, are the chicken littles about Net Neutrality going overboard with their sky is falling scenarios . Later, does a recipe for a cinnamon roll make a Sexual Harassment apology any more palatable. Work keeps me busy. So ive asked chase sapphire reserve cardmembers to find my next vacation. Rome, show me something. Im having breakfast at the pantheon. What an amazing view. Of your finger. Look at this view. Your finger isnt that incredible. Your finger and check this one out oh its so amazing move your finger three times points on travel and restaurants on every continent. Sapphire reserve, from chase. Make more of whats yours. Hes a nascar champion whos shes a worldclass swimmer whos stared down the best in her sport. But for both of them, the most challenging opponent was. Pe blood clots in my lung. It was really scary. A dvt in my leg. I had to learn all i could to help protect myself. My doctor and i choose xarelto® xarelto®. To help keep me protected. Xarelto® is a latestgeneration blood thinner. Thats proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt and pe blood clots from happening again. In clinical studies, almost 98 of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. Heres how xarelto works. Xarelto® works differently. Warfarin interferes with at least six bloodclotting factors. Xarelto® is selective. Targeting just one critical factor, interacting with less of your bodys natural bloodclotting function. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor as this may increase risk of blood clots. While taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. If youve had spinal anesthesia, watch for back pain or any nerve or musclerelated signs or symptoms. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Tell your doctor before all planned medical or dental procedures and before starting xarelto® about any conditions, such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. Youve got to learn all you can. To help protect yourself from dvt and pe blood clots. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. Theres more to know. Helping Small Businesses. Ut, jamie damage your vehicle . We got you covered. [ glass shatters ] Property Damage . Thats what general liabilitys for. What . injured employee . Ow. Workers comp helps you pay for a replacement. Whats happening . This is carla. Hows it going . And if anything comes up, our experts are standing by. Boo but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. Now i have nicoderm cq. The nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. Its the best thing that ever happened to me. Every great why needs a great how. What train whistle blowing or . Hey, thomas. I want a rabbit thats not how you get a rabbit. If you want a rabbit, you ask for a pony and then let them work you back down. Mmhmm. Youre up what if aunt joy wants the new iphone . You make this your final offer ask for it on verizon. Its the most awarded network ever. Thats why more people count on it. Id like a giant singing rabbit in a rocket ship, please. Shes a shrewd businesswoman. vo give the gift of iphone 8 and get one on us with verizon unlimited. Only on the best network. Might all the worries about the death of Net Neutrality be overblown . The fcc voted to end the neutrality rules for internet providers, which had only been put in place since 2015. The fccs 32 Party Line Vote opened up internet providers to the free market, marking a major victory for the Te Telecommunications companies. Is this the dire situation most have painted it to be . Joining me is robert mcdowell. He served as commissioner of the fcc from 20062013. He was nominated by both president s bush and obama. Robert, i want to briefly talk the three cs. Content, cost and competition. I need you to dumb it down for me. Ive got this stove pipe. It comes into my house, it delivers my internet. If my Internet Service provider also controls content, wont they seek advantage over other content providers and impact my bandwidth . Excellent question. First of all, thank you for having me on. This is my first time on cnn. Thank you for this inaugural moment. Sure. Thats at the heart of the debate. The question is really what laws best apply here, whether its the 20 years of the Clinton Gore Administration policy of using three federal statutes versus a fourth statute that the Obama Administration tried in its last two years. And so when you have more competition in the broadband space and the Fastest Growing segment of the broadband market is mobile broadband, were seeing people cut the cord or shave the cord or never corders going straight to mobile broadband and going to over the top video. Downloading preloaded video or sometimes Live Streaming on their mobile devices. Thats actually shaking up this whole ecosystem in a wonderful way, in a way thats very good for consumers. Thats part of the competitive counter balance to the monopoly argument. If you only look at the market as a cable pipe into your tv thats bolted into your wall and your living room and youre sitting is down for appointment television, if thats the only way people are looking at it, thats not the complete picture. Whats in the denominator of whats competition here is wireless and unwireless. So its actually a great time to be consumer broadband and content. Im optimistic. Maybe the original sin in the view of the detractors was when the Internet Service providers were also allowed to control conte content. Right. Whats an interesting argument there is some Internet Service providers are vertically integrated. Obviously your company is trying to get bought by at t you have comcast, nbc universe, verizon owning yahoo and aol. The question is, is there an incentive for them to have their content viewed by fewer eyeballs, fewer people or more eyeballs and more people . The easy answer is your content is more valuable if more people are looking at it, right . So you want your content to be on more platforms. You want people watching your show on this wherever they are. Theres actually an economic for them to shut out other isps content. If it becomes a war of attrition, its mutual direction. Wireless and unlicensed wireless, its going to be a wonderful time to be a consumer. All right. As a consumer, am i going to pay more . So per bit per second youve been paying less. Especially the wireless space, youve been seeing broadband prices drop precipitously. Just a year ago, we didnt have all the major wireless carriers offering unlimited data plans. As of the First Quarter of this year, they all offer unlimited data plans. Per bit per second, in other words, the volume of data you get and how fast you get it, the price for that has actually been going down per bit per second. Grow youre getting more for your dollar than you did last year or five years ago or when the iphone debuted ten years ago. The third c, competition. You know the criticism is that in this new era no one whos sbentrepreneurial will be able compete with the giants. What the fcc reversed yesterday was an order that went in place in february of 2015. Before february of 2015, you had a legal construct. I dont want to get into the weeds unless you want me to on the laws. But you had a legal construct that was adopted in the clintongore administration that worked quite well. It was flexible and nimble enough for the lightning fast innovation that happens in the marketplace. That used three federal statutes. And yet the ftc is a great op ed by obamas first chairman of the ftc john lebowitz. It actually outlined why the fcc is going to continue to do a great job. It was kicked off the beat because of a legal quirk in 2015. Now its going to be back on the beat. It manages competition in all sorts of hightech and complex areas of our economy. They have a budget of 315 million. They have 640 lawyers. What they do is they rove around the economy looking for bottlenecks and anticompetitive behavior and sue companies. Theyve sued an a, the and, t t comcast and theyve had 500 violations of privacy law against isps and edge providers too. Plus doj is involved in this space as well. Theres a lawsuit involving your Parent Company and the merger with at t. So they are looking at these things as well. Thats what works so well. Thats what gave us this beautifully blossomed internet marketplace for 20 years before february of 2015. Its a difficult subject to follow. Im happy to have you here because i thought a guy who was appointed by both w. And obama hopefully can present it in a nonpartisan way. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for covering it. Lets see some of your reaction. How is Net Neutrality a partisan issue when more than 80 of people want to keep it . It was a 32 vote at the fcc. That tells you its become a partisan issue. I had a poll on my website where it was at like 919 said they did not there it is. 937. I was close. Should the fcc end Net Neutrality. Overwhelmingly the polls say this is what people want. But it was partisan at the fcc. That was my point. Up next, inspired by the hashtag me too movement, a new website sorts movies and tv shows by whether they have any rotten apples in the basket. But is that fair . Ill talk about this and more with legendary editor tina brown. I am totally blind. And non24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442142424. After a hall of fame career, its no wonder why i use blueemu arthritis cream. Blueemus nongreasy, deeppenetrating formula gets down deep into those joints for big time pain relief. Blueemu, it works fast and you wont stink. Or a little internet machine . It makes you wonder shouldnt we get our phones and internet from the same company . Thats why Xfinity Mobile comes with your internet. You get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. So all you pay for is data. See how much you can save. Choose by the gig or unlimited. Xfinity mobile. A new kind of network designed to save you money. Call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile. Com. After a string of hollywood downfalls for Sexual Harassment, now theres even a new website called rotten apples rating whether shows and movies are rotten or fresh. I want to discuss this and much more with one of the premier cultural observers and taste makers of the past quarter century, tina brown. She brought vanity fair back to life in 1986. Her new book is the vanity fair diaries which is full of juicy observations of new york in the 1980s. I did the hollywood read on your book. I went to the index. I looked up donald trump. And oh man, what afoui found. Put up on the screen what i thought was absolutely prescient from 1987. The art of the deal, which has a crassness i like. Theres something authentic about trumps bullshit. It feels when youve finished it as if youve been nose to nose for four hours with an entertaining conman and i suspect the American Public will like nothing better. I mean, i love the assessment. I wondered as i read it, what do you think hed think of that . Well, he might well think its right, actually. I mean the trump of the 80s would have probably agreed. The trump of now, oh my god, hes way more serious about himself. But at the time i met him, you know, he was just a great salesman and he was funny about it actually at the time for a while. As in the later part of the diaries, i start to have a different view about him. Would there be a President Donald Trump i dont want to put it all on your shoulders but without the celebrity culture that you chronicled, would he be where he is today . We really mirrored and kind of developed and turned into something sort of iconic, i guess, the rise of celebrity culture. I cant say we were responsible for it. We has an actor in the white house as i took over. He is the obvious offshoot of that time that the rise of celebrity culture led to reality television, led to the apprentice, led to the white house. Theres no question that the arc begins in the the 80s. You have him in 1991 taking umbrage at something published in vanity fair, i think, over a year prior and dumping a drink down the what happened was that we published a very kind of skeptical, critical, deep dive into his financial chicanery as we saw it and of course this crazy tawdry divorce. We also did a piece that took that whole thing apart. The author of the piece was sitting there at a benefit, you know, at the tavern on the green eight or nine months later and she felt something cold and wet down the back of her dress. She looks around thinking its the waiter and sees donald trump just having emptied a glass of wine down her back, scooting across the room without daring to confront her. He kept this great grievance burning automati ining all the. Second, he doesnt really like confrontation, which i think is true today as well. What if an event like that were to take place in 2017 going into 2018 . Would that individual be hoisted by their own petard . This was presocial media. This writeup appeared in liz smiths column. But it didnt have that kind of Huge National wild social impact that happens today in the internet age. Undoubtedly it would have been a huge explosion then. Also that piece did say and this is why he was so furious, actually that he kept the speeches of hitler on his desk. That was what made him crazy, because it was a very very interesting thing, which is that he had this volume right there on his desk at trump tower. Tina, lets talk about that website i made reference to a moment ago. How do you feel about being able to go to a place and having aspersions cast on an entire tv show or an entire movie project when there were a couple of bad apples . And are they worthy of professional death sentences . Thats really my question. I do not think the shows are worthy of professional death sentences. Quite honestly, if you start to take that view of all the creative artists, actors, directors, et cetera who have been involved with a project, you wouldnt see anything on the air. There would be nothing on netflix if you took that view. I dont think its really fair to the people working there. There are a lot of people who are going to go down as collateral damage, which i dont think is correct. I think thats wrong. I think the individuals can be called out, but not the shows. Thats too far. Mario batali, one of the names that recently enters the mix via social media, he posted an apology, interesting he says as many of you know there week theres been some News Coverage about some of my past behavior. Im so very sorry, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And then p. S. , in case youre searching for a holiday inspired breakfast these pizza dough Cinnamon Rolls are a fan favorite. Your reaction . I would say how about pigs in a blanket, mario. How about that delicious british suet and raisin dessert spotted dick. Sorry. Mario, this aint the right kind of apology. You were a boss in the industry at age 25 and beyond. Did that position of authority at an early age spare you from being on the receiving end of Sexual Harassment . Quite honestly, it is true that the best way to keep Sexual Harassment at bay is to wind up being the one in charge, right . So its true that i had all kinds of other frustrations and other senses of being demeaned, but Sexual Harassment wasnt one of them. I was able to define my world from 25 years old. I was a boss lady. I was an editor in chief. The more women we have in positions of authority doesnt have to be the boss itself, but in middle management the more youre going to see that atmosphere of bro culture, if you like, gets blown up. It isnt an accident that there were ten men on the Weinstein Company board. I mean, no women at all. Its like there isnt any kind of sense of how women are thinking or reacting to things in so many positions of authority in so many places. And thats when it all goes wrong, when women are just sort of an addon or a sort of borrowed interest. Thats when it really goes awry. Is there any risk of reaching a point that you desire, i think that we all desire, when there are many women in those management positions that it continues except its now the women who are the perpetrators . Well, that can happen too. Theres no doubt that power can corrupt anybody. This is about power. Theres no doubt that its about inequity and power to create situations where one kind of victim is created. Im sure that there are obviously lets put it this way. Its pretty outlandish to think of senator lisa mur cow ski putting her hands down somebodys pants. There is Something Different perhaps about the way women take their positions of authority that is not, you know, going to lead to this mass kind of abuse of it. Obviously there are going to be women who do abuse it and we have seen women who do that. Horrible stuff with teachers and so on abusing it with young men. I really feel that in terms of management, the problem weve had is its been so glacial. Theres all of this talk and all of these men ceos go to davos, the big World Economic forum in switzerland and they all make these speeches about women in the pipeline. Women are sick of being stuck in that, quote, pipeline. Theyve been in that pipeline for years and years. Weve seen changes. We have women taking up these top jobs and weve definitely had a huge improvement but its still too slow. Only 1 of women are in american newsrooms since 2001. Its staggering to me how slow things are. Tina, come back. I love the book and i love when you write about dominick dunn. I was such a fan of his work. What a wonderful writer. I discovered him when he was a film producer. He was sort on down on his luck and i had this wonderful connection with him and he became a magazine journalist and the rest is history. Thank you, tina brown. Thank you. Lets check in on your tweets and facebook comments. What do we have . Im unclear as to where exactly is due process in the metoo movement. Its something that i talk about each and every day on my Radio Program on sirius xm. Im looking for that case where i can say the Due Process Rights of this individual have been violated. The closest ive come, im not convinced that glenn thrush deserved to go to the penalty box of the new york times. But where so many of these guys quickly put their tail between their legs and admit fault, its hard to say he was denied due process. Still to come, when california legalized recreational pot next month, does it signify a game change in the movement to make it legal nationally . Or will Jeff Sessions bogart that momentum . Guess what i just got . Hello again. Hi. Get up to 400 towards a galaxy note8 or s8 with qualifying tradein. Only on samsung. Com hi dad. No. Edont try to get up. Hi, im julie, a right at home caregiver. And if id been caring for toms dad, i would have noticed some dizziness that could lead to balance issues. Thats because im trained to report any changes in behavior, no matter how small, so tom could have peace of mind. Well be right there. We have to go. Hey, tom. You should try right at home. Theyre great for us. The right care. Right at home. hard exhalation honey . Can we do this tomorrow . grunts of effort can we do this tomorrow . If you have Heart Failure symptoms, your risk of hospitalization could increase, making tomorrow uncertain. But entresto is a medicine that was proven, in the largest Heart Failure study ever, to help more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading Heart Failure medicine. Women who are pregnant must not take entresto. It can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. Dont take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. If youve had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, dont take entresto. The most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. Tomorrow, tomorrow. When can we do this again, grandpa . Well, how about tomorrow . Ask your doctor about entresto and help make tomorrow possible. Ask your doctor about entresto at tmobile when you holiday twogether, great things come in twos. Like tmobile and netflix. Right now when you get an unlimited family plan, netflix is included. Wow tmobile covers your netflix subscription, so you can catch the hottest new movies and shows all year long on us. Amazing and its your last chance to buy any of these hot new Samsung Galaxy phones and get a 2nd one free. Thats one samsung for you and one to gift. Just in time to finish off your list. Tmobile. Holiday twogether. They appear out of nowhere. My secret visitors. Appearing next to me in plain sight. Hallucinations and delusions. These are the unknown parts of living with parkinsons disease. What stories they tell. But for my ears only. What plots they unfold. But only in my mind. Over 50 of people with parkinsons will experience hallucinations or delusions during the course of their disease. And these can worsen over time, making things even more challenging. But there are advances that have led to Treatment Options that can help. If someone you love has parkinsons and is experiencing hallucinations or delusions, talk to your parkinsons specialist. Because theres more to parkinsons. My visitors should be the ones i want to see. Learn more at moretoparkinsons. Com you or joints. Something for your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Is the legalization of recreational pot finally here to stay . Its been an endless debate in america. While marijuana remains illegal on the federal level, theres leeway for state and local authorities to decide. Next month california joins the list of states where Recreational Marijuana is legal. And in new jersey the Incoming Democratic governor who promised to legalize marijuana takes office on january 16. So keep an eye on the garden state. On the other hand, u. S. Attorney jeff segssions has a longstandig opposition to pot. He says that marijuanas effect is only slightly less harmful than heroin. Is it going to go nationwide or be nipped in the bud . Joining me now somebody whos tracked all the ups and downs, emily duffton author of the book grassroots. Its hard for me to see the clock getting turned back and yet i read the book and i appreciated the up and down topsy turvy nature of pot. Thank you so much. Im glad i have the opportunity to be here to talk about this. I do believe theres not a definite clear path toward full legalization just yet. As you said, new jersey is probably going to be the first state to legalize recreational legalization via a statebased Legalization Initiative through the legislature, which is hugely important. All other states have legalized via Ballot Initiatives. That really changes things because Ballot Initiatives are only available in about half of the states. New jersey being the first to push it through the Legislature Marks a new form of territory for these to take place. Ba in maine there was a Ballot Initiative that passed in 2016 but the governor has vetoed it and has no interest in passing it. These laws are being pushed through on a state level. But theres still several roadblocks that might prevent them from being taken to full action. And is Jeff Sessions the unknown . He is. The power that Jeff Sessions has is that he doesnt have to do anything. Even in states where marijuana is recreationally legal, that doesnt change its federal standing. It remains a schedule i drug. In doing so, theres still a lot of limitations against it. As you said, california is going to be enacting its legalization laws january 1st. Its huge. California is the most populous state in america. But theres still a lot of problems its facing. Most recently the fires in Northern California burned millions of dollars worth of marijuana. Because marijuana remains a schedule i drug, theres no Crop Insurance for those farmers. So theyre losing out on a lot of money. Its still very much a gamble to grow marijuana when you cant insure your crop. Other thing is that of course marijuana being a federally illegal substance, it means that it cant be trafficked across state borders. All the marijuana grown in california should, according to state law, remain in california, which means theres potential for a flooding of the market and lowering prices overall. So legalization as a whole is not like a golden road. Theres still a lot of problems with it. I think states are trying to figure that out as they go through these piecemeal measures. A final point. I think what deaf frifferentiat current climate are the number of americans receiving relief from medicinal purposes. I recognize thats not recreational. But would we turn back the clock on them and say, no, you cant for the side effects of chemotherapy smoke pot. Your thoughts on that . Marijuana as a medical substance i do believe is here to stay its been legal in states for almost 22 years starting again in california and spreading to 29 states. I think the evidence of the relief that it can provide is so obvious. You see childrens seizures being relieved from it. You see people getting relief from kechemotherapy from it. The medical marijuana, it will be very difficult to turn the clock back on that. Thanks for being here. Thank you so much. Still to come, your best and worst tweets and facebook comments. What have we got . Smerconish, im saying it now, we have to legalize pot nationwide to pay for the gop tax bill. Yeah, maybe come tuesday this is how we bail out of the 1 trillion debt that we incur as a result of we are the driven. The dedicated. The overachievers. We know our best investment is in ourselves. We dont take no for an answer. We fight for what we want. Even for the things that were once a given. Going to college. Buying a home. And not being in debt for it for the rest of our lives. But were only as strong as our community. Who inspires and pushes us to go further than we could ever go alone. Sofi. Get there sooner. If you ever miss any of the program, you can catch us at any time on cnn go online and through your connected devices and apps. Follow me on twitter. Heres whats coming. Smerconish, last november, you said youd give trump a chance. Give us an update. Will, i believe ive been giving him a chance each and every day. For example, at the outset of this program, i had a good conversation with tom and i presented you the Text Messages from those fbi agents who were having a relationship. I told you it was totally inappropriate. Tom said it was totally inappropriate. At the same time, i dont want to get in political in front of cops and the Intel Community and i dont want them applauding. Is that biased or nuanced . Next. Whats up . Smerconish, the president is uncomfortable with a free and uncensored press. He would rather be king with a private police force. Gary, there have been mistabs made. There have been mistakes made by journalists this 24 7 cycle. Sometimes makes people move too quickly and they screw up. Thats unfortunate, but were living a golden age of journal israel. We wouldnt know what we know but for the cnn, the new york times, the noex new york post. Next. The president gets in credit when he deserves for a booming economy. William lancaster, the economy is doing very well. And i believe that a he is deserving of credit for aspects of that. By the same token, fairness demands that you say the table was set for him by president obama. Was it not . So im thrilled to give him credit. Thrilled with the dow, one more if weve got time. Smerconi smerconish, you used some big words this morning. Keep up the multisyllable words coming. Papadopoulos, papadopoulos, papadopoulos. I will see you next week. Ars ru. But some people still like cable. Just like some people like wet grocery bags. Getting a bad haircut. Overcrowded trains. Turnstiles that dont turn. And spilling coffee on themselves. But for everyone else, theres directv. For 1 rated Customer Satisfaction over cable, switch to directv. And for a limited time get a 100 reward card. Call 1800directv im an outdoorsman. So ive asked chase sapphire reserve cardmembers to find my next vacation. Chile, whats going on . Im at the el tatio geysers. Geezer. Geyser. Geezer. Geyser. Enough. Geezer. Whoaa, wooooo. Dude, be careful. I think you should come camping. Why would i camp in the atacama desert . Oh. 3x points on travel and restaurants on every continent. Sapphire reserve, from chase. Make more of whats yours. I am totally blind. And non24 can make me show up too early. Or too late. Or make me feel like im not really there. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442342424. Americas Small Business owners. And heres to the heroes behind the heroes, who use their expertise to keep those businesses covered. And heres to the heroes behind the heroes behind the heroes, who brought us delicious gyros. Actually, the gyro hero owns veros gyros, so he should have been with those first heroes. Ha ha thats better. So, to recap Small Business owners are heroes, and our heroes help heroes be heroes when theyre not eating gyros delivered by ah, you know what i mean. Ancestrydna can pinpoint where your ancestors are from. And the paths they took to a new home. Could their journey inspire yours . Order your kit at ancestrydna. Com top of the hour. You are in the cnn news room. Thank you for being here. So much of california is is in flames ch. And this is not a figure of speech. 12 days straight of roaring wildfires and despite emergency crews pounding these fires nonstop, they are still nowhere near contained. It is windy. Its dry and thats the worst thing to hear when nearly 260,000 acres of forestland is gone. Hundreds of homes and buildings with it. Right now, thousands more people are follow iing the orders to evacuate to find somewhere safe. The fires already killed at least two people. One of