Transcripts For CURRENT The War Room With Jennifer Granholm 20130117

I dont know why. Joy because there will be blood and it cant be on my show. You can catch mob wives sunday at 8 00 on vh1. Thank to all of my guests. Well see you tomorrow. [ theme music ] jennifer im jennifer granholm. Tonight in the war room, of all of the words spoken in support of gun safety over the last few weeks, these four may pro forma to be the most important now is the time. As americans we are endowed by our creator with certain inalenable rights that no man or government can take away from us, but we have also long recognized as our founders recognized that with rights come responsibilities. Jennifer a call for an assault weapons ban, call for limits on magazine rounds and dozen of other measures. The most sweeping effort at gunsafety reform, well ever. And with it comes the inevitable backlash. But to those who have worked to weaken gun laws and to those who will sink to any depth to sink to that what theirs and theirs alone, take solis in this you didnt leave us any choice. Jennifer the president came out hard on gun safety today announcing a sweeping new plan to curb our nations rampant gun violence. He took his case to the American People pledging to fight so no more mothers will lose their children to weaponwelding mad men. The rational among us will no longer be cowed by the threats of dogmatic and intransy gent gun lobbies. Because when you have tiny children dying on the floor of their kindergarten classroom, it can only be a moral issue. If americans of every background stand up and say enough, we suffered too much pain and care too much about our children to allow this to continue then change will change will come. Jennifer so the president is pushing for change through 23 executive orders. They address not only mass shootings, but also this countrys gunviolence epidemic. He called for strengthening the Metal Health Services hell also appoint two members of his cabinet to launch a dialogue on mental health. But many executive orders do need approval. To make a real and lasting difference congress too must fact. And Congress Must act soon. Jennifer first up he is going to need the senate to approve his choice of the alcohol and fire arms appoint. Gop directs have blocked every single nominee. The president is also calling for research on gun violence. The gun lobby has successfully fought money to going to safety studies for two decades. The fbi is now required to destroy all background check information within 24 hours. Its insane. And the centers for Disease Control is effectively banned from researching gun violence at all. The last time they did get funding the nra has one of the members of Congress Budget be cut by that amount. And the universal background checks for all gun sales. And that measure at least has brood public support. 85 of republicans support background checks. The vast majority. It might actually have a chance at passing. Some of the other proposals from the president will face stiffer objection like the call to reinstate the assault weapons ban. Banning the kind of weapon that can blast a body a childs body to pieces thats important. And now there are brave voices calling for change. One mother from one of the victims in newtown submitted a list of proposals to the task force. When she buried her son a month ago she had an opencasket funeral, and he is invited the governor to attend. She wanted him to see the horror of these wounds. She said we all saw how beautiful he was. He had thick shiny hair. Beautiful long eyelashes that rested on his cheeks. He looked like he was sleeping but the reality of it buzz under the cloth he had covering his mouth there was no mouth left. His jaw was blown away. I just want people to know the ugliness of it. So we dont talk about it abstract abstractly. They were brutalized. And thats what haunts me at not. That is what will move this debate forward. And americans do want to see movement. The majority of americans, 60 support a ban on assault weapons, 44 of republicans, clearly half. So it up to congress to act on their wishes. The problem, of course is the nra, and it has only intensified its rhetoric following newtown. It is out with a new ad today. Are the president s kid more important than yours . Than why is he skeptical about putting Armed Security in his schools, when his kids are protected by armed guards at his schools. Mr. Obama demands the wealthy pay their fair of tax but he is another elitist hypocrite when it comes to his fair share of children. Jennifer honestly . Who is advising these guys . It is unbelievable. Its my hope that this congress will take action at the request of the president , the majority of americans, and mothers like the one from nowtown. Joining me is california representative jackie speier. She served as the vice chair of Vice President biden task force which issued the recommendations that resulted in the executive orders and the call to action today. Jackie welcome back inside the war room. Its a pleasure to be here. Jennifer you have to be encouraged by the force with which the president spoke today. He was very powerful. But like you just spoke, my eyes just welled up with tears because there is not a mother on this planet who doesnt feel her pain. But she has really put in words something that we have got to keep in our minds. Those coffins moving through those towns their burial are sered in my memory and im one of those that is not going to stop until we do something. Jennifer im so glad to hear it. And i think there are a lot of people who feel equally determined. But what i was encouraged by is the polling number that came out this week. If closing the gun show loophole for example has 87 of democrats and 85 of republicans supporting it. Thats going to happen dont you think . I believe it will. And i think the criminal background check is critical. I think most nra members presumed there was a criminal background check of everybody, and to think that the nra has prevented that from Going Forward is criminal. Jennifer yeah if you look at banning semi automatics republicans support that by 49 , 68 of democrats. I just think there is an opportunity here. So the question is which parts will Congress Actually support. So the president has taken this on the road. He is making this part of an extended campaign. He has said he is going to unleash his army to make this happen across the country, do you that will help persuade the public, which will have an impact on congress . I think it can. I think it must. His powerful statement when he said the American People must demand it or it wont happen. His reference to Congress Members being more interested in getting an a grade from the nra than actually doing what is right, i really feel we collectively as members of congress have blood on our hands if we do not do the right thing here. And we can, and we must. 40 of all of the guns that are sold in this country today are sold without a background check. So that means fellons are getting them. I heard today people who are getting guns who are convicts and have Domestic Violence convictions are Walking Around with guns right now. Jennifer its amazing they have to destroy the background check within 24 hours. It allows a purchaser to go free. Jennifer of course. Now on the other side to be fair to the sort of moderate and conservative democrat, so have been who are part of a culture, a heritage in states where hunting is so very important. Like michigan. Jennifer like michigan right. Im wondering if you have a sense of how big of a challenge it is going to be for those conservative democrats, the joe mansions the joe donnellies who were just elected in the senate this has got to start in the senate and then come over to the house. How hard will it be to persuade them now . I dont think its going to be an easy vote for them by any means, but the assault weapon ban has passed in this country before. It was in place for ten years nationally. It has been in place in california for close to 30 years, and we are people still shoot deer and elk and [ overlapping speakers ] you dont need an assault weapon to hunt. Jennifer right. And you know we have a cabin in the Upper Peninsula of michigan, and my husband has four or five guns up there. That is part of the community in so many areas in this country. But an assault weapon is only there to inflict mass murder on a number of people. Jennifer right. And the irony is that you cannot end up you know you cant say enough that this is not about taking away your guns. This is not about taking away your ability to hunt. This is not about taking away your culture and your part of your heritage. This is about reasonable and common sense restrictions. And if you need an Assault Rifle to shoot a deer maybe you are not such a great hunter to begin with. But thats a whole other thing. Representative speier thank you so much for coming and especially for your moral leadership on this. There will be many of us. Jennifer yes, thank you. In the thirty three days since the tragedy of sandy hook elementary skool school now at least 926 people have died from guns. Today in gault, california, the flag flying above the small a farming Towns Police Department is flying at half mass to honor officer tonn. He was shot and killed yesterday while respondenting to a burglary call. He is the first member of the department to be killed on duty ever. The galt her old reports he got his start as a police officer, as a firefighter, and then as an emt. This lifelong First Responder is just one of 926 stories, and the number of gun jennifer were back inside the war room. Im jennifer granholm. So there are disturbing new numbers out today from the Census Bureau even as the Unemployment Rate drops, the ranks of the working poor are rising. In 2011, 32 of working familiar list made 46,000 or less which was not enough to cover their basic Living Expenses and thats a 4 jump from 2007. Its getting worse. Meanwhile the richest 20 of the nations wealthiest working families took home nearly half of all wages. My next guest has made it his mission to eradicate Union Theological seminary and one of the organizers behind tomorrows vision for a new america a future without poverty poverty. The event, which is being held at George Washington university is going to feature a brood crosssection of politicians and scholars including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and talk show host tavis smiley. Dr. West is coming to us from washington, d. C. Welcome to the show thank you so much my dear sister jennifer. How are you doing . Jennifer im doing great. Because we just had a wonderful segment on how the president is being strong on guns. I would like to get quickly your thoughts on president obamas gun proposals announced today. No i think its a marvellous thing. I think it could be an historic break through. I think this is something that we have all got to get behind. But the sick culture of violence that we have has a long history. How we won the west was violence. Drones dropping bombs on innocent people in pakistan is still violent. Canada has roughly the same population as california. More californians kill each other with knives than canadians kill themselves with anything. So its much deeper than just guns. Were talking about a culture and history, and thats why Martin Luther kings legacy is so important. Jennifer well, and of course guns are per vase nif a lot of communities struggling with poverty. What should we be doing to eliminate poverty in this country . Very much like what the plt did today he said were going to focus on gun. Thats wonderful. Behind it lets make poverty and lets make access to resources a priority. Think about detroit, think about the south side of chicago. Think about poor whites in appalachia, about what is going on in indian reservations. This kind of violence has been going on a long time among pour people. We have to have a much more comprehensive understanding of how we can access all of our citizens as well as human being around the world. Jennifer and the question of course is how do you lead on this issue . Getting his members of congress to fallow has been an enormous challenge, whether it is guns or taking a look at the safety net of this country. So you are launching an Initiative Starting tomorrow which will help to be another voice on that bully pulpit tell us what you are doing. Its matter of again trying to highlight an issue, bringing in a variety of different voices. You can get conservatives like brother Newt Gingrich, or Robert George deeply concerned about poverty, barack obama has a progressive caucus that is very concerned about this issue, but you have to create a mushroom like phenomenon and saying it is a National Disgrace that 20 of our children live in the richest nation in the world and still have to get up hungry living in poverty, and nearly 35 for children of color in the united states. Er that morally obscene. Jennifer your goal is to reduce poverty by half in ten years, and eliminate poverty in this country by 30 years. Those are tall orders. What do you think would have the biggest impact if in fact congress listened to you . I think the major Antipoverty Program would be jobs with a living age connected to quality education and decent housing. But it starts with poor and working poor people. Think for example a wonderful piece in rolling stone, 34 billion for the top 18 banks in the last four years. 34 billion for the top 18 banks. We can take a slice of that and have tremendous impact in terms of alleviating poverty. Not just give outs. Were talking about jobs with a living wage. Building the roads, structure and so forth. Jennifer clearly if you build infrastructure and roads you have got Jobs Associated with it in addition to making sure that people have access to those jobs. You have the opportunity to train people on how to have a longterm decentpaying job. Thats right. Jennifer you have been critical of the president for his stand on a number of issues including what you have said is his silence on poverty. Do you think hell give it more attention in his second term. Oh were going to continue to put pressure on him. Jennifer no doubt. Were going to put the strong not just on the president but on the system as a whole, sister jennifer. You know how do you ensure that 62 of those in for soft drugs are able to gang access to the kind of education and jobs necessary. Those are the kind of issues that were going to continue to put pressure on. Jennifer all right. Dr. Cornel west a guy who is sick and tired of being sick and tired. Thats right. Jennifer thanks so much. Coming up there is nothing we love more on this program than progressives who are not afraid to throw a punch. And thats why were so happy that alan grayson is back in the congressional ring. He is next on a wednesday night in [ ryon ] eating shrimp at red lobster is a fantastic experience. 30 shrimp for 11. 99. I cant imagine anything better. Youre getting a ton of shrimp and it tastes really good [ male announcer ] hurry in to red lobsters 30 shrimp for just 11. 99 choose any two of five savory shrimp selections like mango jalapeno shrimp and parmesan crunch shrimp. Two delicious shrimp selections on one plate all with salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits. 30 shrimp, just 11. 99 for a limited time. Wow, thats a lot of shrimp. Im ryon stewart im the ultimate shrimp lover, and i sea food differently. At cepacol weve heard people are going to extremes to relieve their sore throats. Oh, okay, you dont need to do that. But i dont want any more of the usual lozenges and i want new cooling relief ugh. How do you feel . Now im cold. Hmm. This is a better choice. New cepacol sensations cools instantly, and has an active ingredient that stays with you long after the lozenge is gone. Ahhh. Not just a sensation sensational relief. Jennifer the 113th congress is less than two weeks old, and republicans are already talking about impreaching president obama. Well, thats what you get for being. Well president obama. Texas congressman Steve Stockman started team gops call for imteachment and florida freshman trey radel signed on. Like you mention, hes putting out all of these executive orders and is overstepping his bounds. If that continues could that build up to make a case for impeachment. All options should be on the table. Ask yourself what are you going to do when a republican gets in that you may not agree and like very much, and he is doing the same thing . Jennifer if the president s pursuit of an issue like gun safety that the vast majority of americans support is grounds for impeachment, imagine what kind of trouble he would get in if he actually fixed the economy or brought about world peace. Alan grayson is here and welcome back inside the war room and welcome back to congress. I know im a little late saying it, but welcome back. Thanks i gave a speech about that scenario if the participate brought about world peace, and i said the republicans would accuse him of ruining the military. Jennifer do you agree that the executive branch has some degree of authority. Its interesting that they want to impeach him before he said what the executive orders were. But as long as they cant impeach him for being black, he is really not in any danger. [ laughter ] jennifer so what are what are central floridians telling you about i mean this gun issue is very hot today. Are you hearing from people in florida about assault weapons versus gun show loopholes . What are you hearing . There are a small number of people who are absolutely bent on avoiding any sort of gun control, and we do a lot of polling locally, and there is about 3 to 5 of the district that believes there shouldnt be any sort of gun control ever. And they believe what they believe. None of them vote for me and im not going to change their minds any time soon. Thats okay. It takes all kinds. I think most people certainly as reflected in our polling, most people are just look for some sort of practical solution. They done want to see dead children on their tv screens and for sure they dont want to see dead children in their neighborhoods. That represent the people who have common sense, and those are the people whom i try to represent. Jennifer and i imagine thats what a bulk of floridians feel. Former Florida Republican congressman, Joe Scarborough said. Interesting. Is he right . Do you think the republicans may be blowing their majority by appearing too extreme on this . Well no. They are blowing their majority for being callused bigoted tools. Thats how they are blowing their majority. Jennifer all right. I dont think it is over gun control. Jennifer although the polling on gun control is pretty amazing. But the National Journal is reporting that the Republican National Campaign Committee has obviously there is a whole confab that is happening with the gop right now, where they are trying to figure out what their agenda is Going Forward. They have pinpointed seven house members in 2014 and you are actually not on their list at least yet. Winning by 25 makes the point. And im talking about 25 . Jennifer it was a beautiful thing. So because you have been so clear and so strong and proudly progressive, what advice do you have for your new colleagues to keep their seats . I think you have to vote in the best interest of the common man. The greatest good for the greatest number. I dont see any other way to do the job. I will tell you this. For instance try to placate the nra doesnt do anybody any good. The nra did not endorse a single democratic member in congress in florida. They didnt endorse a single democrat. It doesnt make any difference. The same is true of the chamber of commerce karl rove and the koch brothers. They are not going to be on your side no matter what you do. When i was first elected i represented a district that had not had a democrat in 34 years. And i did the job i thought was best. And being inundated with 5. 5 million of sewer money. They have since broken the record. I lost but now im back because the people want somebody who is willing to fight for them. Jennifer yeah, exactly right. Your district is about 40 hispanic if i got that right. Where is Immigration Reform on your list of priorities . Well, you know, i think people sometimes make a mistake by referring to hispanics as some kind of homogenius group. By area is divided by porta ricans, who are americans, and latin americas. So i dont think you would see them having the same intensity of view on this issue. That being said. Im a strong supporter of Immigration Reform. I support the ninepoint program that was cut out from the congressman from illinois a couple of months ago, and i think the country desperately needs Immigration Reform. It doesnt make sense for us to have 10 millionplus People Living in the shadows, not having protection of law, that just doesnt make any sense. And the democrats have a plan and the republicans dont once again. For any problem that you can think of the republican plan is dont do anything keep your fingers crossed and maybe it will get better and thats just as true of immigration as any other problem facing the country today. Jennifer and well see if it is just window dressing that they appear to be in support of. It seems like your colleague in the house has jumped on to a plan or not. I really appreciate you coming inside the war room, glad you are an outspoken voice on behalf of the greatest good for the greatest number. And so are you. Jennifer thank you. I appreciate it. Up next predictive policing remember the movie minority report about the futuristic attempt to arrest people for thought crime before it happen . This is nothing like this but putting police in i used to think my job was all about arrests, chasing bad guys. Now it works differently. We analyze crime data spot crime patterns and figure out where to send patrols. It helped cut serious crimes but up to 30 , by stopping it before it happens. Jennifer thats so interesting. Its an advertisement for ibm, but it highlights a new trend. With cashstrapped state budgets, cops and nerds have joined forces to prevent crime before it starts. Is a new technology called predictive policing. It relies on these sophisticated computer analysis to study past crimes to prevent future crimes and it is working. In los angeles property crime dropped 13 , and when the technology was rolled out in santa cruise the number of burglaries dropped by 26 . So i was fascinated by this and joining me now to discuss how big data is making Police Departments smarter is zach friend, a former crime analyst with the Santa Cruz Police department. And he is now the citys newly elected county supervisor probably elected because of your success in reducing crime. Zach thank you so much for joining us in the war room. Thanks. Its good to be here. How does this Technology Work . It works in a similar way to how we predict earthquake after shocks. When you have crime there is after shocks associated it with. It lets officers know when and where a crime will occur. Jennifer people are looking at the screen now, and seeing a square block. Tell us about that. What the algorithm provides is 500 foot by 500 foot zones. It doesnt tell them what to do or replace those intuitions it just helps focus their efforts into a new area. Jennifer and that area was determined based upon the crimes that had hand there over the past how long . Well it depends in the case of santa cruz it was over the last 11 years. But what is interesting about it, is its very difficult for a person to see patterns that long and its very difficult for a new officer to have the history or intuition. This puts everybody on the same playing field. Jennifer so im a police officer, and i get something that tells me to go to this 500square foot block, and my physical presence there will help deter crime from happening. Thats right. Jennifer and this is all software . Yes. Jennifer im a police chief. I hear about this and i want to reduce my crimes how much should it cost me . It should be about the cost of a crime analyst or so. We had a 30 increase in calls for service in the past decade with a 20 cut in staff. So if you cant put more people on the street what are you going to do . We looked in to a way to Leverage Technology to do exacacy y atat enfer the software is called predictive policing . Thats right. Tread poll. Jennifer is there a potential to launch this across the country . Is this something bigger Police Departments can work as well. We have shown it works in santa cruz and los angeles, and there are now about a dozen agencies throughout the country that have started to implement it. We did it specifically for property crime, but we have since expanded it out to Violent Crime including gunrelated crime. Jennifer tell me about that. How can this reduce gunrelated crime, which is often a crime of passion in some ways. It isnt necessarily. The professors that developed this model ran these tests with Chicago Police and found it is twice as accurate as what they were currently doing. Similar with gang crime. A lot of these have an action Reaction Association with them. Theres an about of Gang Violence in one location and theres a retaliate action. Jennifer what is the difference is this the latest version . It is more real time . [ inaudible ] i think people would be surprised how few agencies in this countries are doing any analytics at all. But it looks at past data and assumes all crimes will occur where those crimes previously occurred. Jennifer unbelievable. I think the idea of that it could cost as much as one person even for a huge police force, right . Thats right. Jennifer and you could reduce crime by, you know 30 thats a good use of technology. Appreciate you coming inside the war room, zach to make sure that people new about it. We like to especially give those who are working in Public Service the notion that there are fixes to some things or at least something that can help especially cashcrunched areas. Thank you. Jennifer zach friend. Up next smores for the progressive campfire popcorn for the political junky, what we like to call the best of the rest. And after all of that, what we like to call Brett Ehrlich. Coming up the Natural Energy of peanuts and delicious, soft caramel. To fill you up and keep you moving, whatever your moves. Payday. Fill up and go jennifer all right. Lets head down to los angeles to see who cenk uygur is going to throw an elbow at tonight. Cenk what do you have up your sleeve tonight . Well, we have got an amazing panel of people to talk about. Both the kidnapping in algeria and kat listen biglow coming out and defending her movie. We have a former cia operative to talk about those issues. Its going to be an amazing panel. Jennifer cenk we havent talked about the kidnapping. Can you fill our viewers in on that . There are apparently at least three americans that have been kidnapped dozens over all from six different countries. Its islamic militants that have spilled over perhaps from malia. Well tell you about it in the next hour. Jennifer thank you cenk. Thanks for your reach, thanks for your pop in the eye often. [ laughter ] jennifer well be watching it all as it starts at the top of the hour. Now lets check in on a few progressive stories they thought you would want to hear about. For example, new Jersey Governor Chris Christie Just Announced that his Reelection Campaign would forgo matching public funds. That would have limited his ability to raise and spend cash for his campaign. Chris christie whos obvious handling of Superstorm Sandy increased his already incredible popularity has already had no trouble raising money. He is not expected to face much if any opposition, and were also wondering whether any major democrat is going to challenge him for reelection in the fall. Not cory booker apparently. And comedian amy poehler jokes that bill clinton was quote Hilary Clintons husband, you may recall. The former president offered his take. Whenever i am stubborn about something in our constant quest at my selfimprovement she refers to me as her first husband. [ laughter ] because i told her she is going to live to be 120 and have time for plenty more. Jennifer for those of you who are worried about secretary clintons health she is going to live to be 120 thats the official word from the official first gentlemen. Now for the most shocking news we have had in a while. Fox news channel has hired a new paid contributor, former ohio congressman and champion of the left dennis cuccinech. The joins joe trippi ron williams, all i can say is wow. Just wow. A quick break and then Brett Ehrlich i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. They can question whether im right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. Hd