We know it will be hosted by ryan seacrest. I would love to be considered. I have ample experience lying around in robes and being irrelevant. Im sorry, that was in appropriate. Im done talking now. Someone is always in our war room. Check us out on line at current. Com thewar, rules. Link up and check out our exclusive web i canes. Thanks for joining us. Have a great night. Welcome to the the young turks. Well, it looks like were going to get a new pope. Why is the old pope leaving . A little bit of controversy. Well have both sides for you on whether hes leaving for the right reasons for the i dont think reasons. And then do you remember the guy who shot Osama Bin Laden. Binladen was confronted by the navy seals in his bedroom. His youngest wife by his side. The guy who shot him is not getting any Health Benefits from the u. S. Military. Outrageous. Then well go inside the fiscal cliff to tell what you happened. He said im giving you 100 billion in tax revenue what do i get for it . The president said nothing. All right new front line documentary on that great new information. And then dorner, the man theyre doing the manhunt for here in los angeles. Im going to look in these allegations again. Were going to reopen the investigation and take a look at whatat all the facets of that investigation. I know its a good story but im glad to see magnum p. I. Coming over from hawaii to do that investigation. I believe everyone in america believes this moment when we got binladen. Obama tonight i can report to the people of america and to the world that our operations killed owe sam bin. Sow sam binladen. No americans were killed. They killed Osama Bin Laden and took custody of his body. Cenk we know who the shooter s and we know he has left the military after 16 years of service, and we also know he will not be getting any benefits in terms of healthcare, etc. That seems to be devastating turn of events. Remember he explained what happened after the shooting. Look you saw it as zero dark 30, you read about it. Here is the description. While they were still checking the body, i brought the agency woman over. I still had all my stuff on. We looked down and i asked is that your guy . She was crying. Thats when i a gave her my gun with 27 bullets left in it. The three bullets not left in it were in Osama Bin Laden. Why is this hero not getting any benefits . Thats a gray question that esquire magazine tackled. Now from the center joins us. Hes written extensively about this as well. First, thanks for being on. We appreciate it. My pleasure. Cenk all right now i want to quote from the esquire piece and get your reaction. The shooter will discover after he leaves after 16 years in the navy, they say his body filled with dark tissue, arthritis tendinitis heres what he gets from his builder and a grateful nation ,nothing. That seems unbelievable. Is that true and why. What happened to this navy seal is the same thing that is happening to hundreds of thousands of others veterans who served in afghanistan. Even though he shot binladen he got no special treatment. He was put into this same horrible bureaucratic mess that is grieving the rest 2. 4 americans who served in iraq and afghanistan. He put his disability claim in with the department of veteran affairs that you just mentioned now hes sitting and waiting for his benefits. There are 900,000 veterans waiting for their benefits. And shortly after he filed his claim he got a letter from the v. A. That said quite literally dont call us, well call you. Cenk now again here in the quote as to what youre alluding to, aaron. Theyll have to wait eight months on the disability claim or even longer. Now, the veteran will say im not going to say ill move you to the head of the line, is that fair . I think the v. A. Probably doesnt even know that he shot binladen. Hes just one in a stack of paperwork that the veterans are filing and are literally in tax of manila envelopes. They have a Computer System that they spent 500,000 on. And this 500,000 Computer System has only processed 75 veteranveterans claims, and a million veterans are waiting. They have a special process at the va where most of their service is highly classified, they dont have documentation to speed it along so they dont go snowed. But what happened with the guy who shot bin laden we could find no evidence that he was getting this treatment that is supposed to be available to navy seals and other special ops. Is this just a bureaucratic screw up and hell eventually get these benefits or is there a chance he doesnt get them at all. Hell never get his pension. You mentioned that he had no pension. This is an important point. This guy served 16 years as a navy seal. He did hundreds of missions, and during the second to last one he killed Osama Bin Laden. After that he served one Additional Mission in afghanistan. Then as you mentioned he told phil bronstein, he told phil that he just had enough. He had done hundreds of missions. His body was falling apart. He was tired of killing and he wanted to move on to the next part of his life. The military said rules are rules. You didnt do your 20 years. You get no pension. So let me understand that right. First of all hes supposed to get healthcare benefits, but hes not getting them because of the bureaucracy. And on the pension if you dont serve 20 years you get nothing . Thats correct. That would be the same for anybody. This guyi was talking to a colonel in the special ops command this afternoon. He said, look, when you sign up, these are the rules. You got to live by the rules. Thats it. Thats the end of it. Thats the military culture for you. Our system has made no allowances to say hey this is a Great American hero. He shot and killed the terrorist mastermind of our era. Lets maybe we should cut him a break. Maybe we should do something a little bit special for him. But the systems that we have set up both military and the department of Veterans Affairs theyre not in a position to make any kind of allowances. He wanted to get out of the military early no pension. You want benefits . Go total same system that as everyone else. Anybody else who serves 16 years wouldnt be getting a pension either. Maybe they should get a slideing scale. If you dont serve 20 years, maybe a little less what is your take on it. I really dont have a take. Im a reporter, but we have never in our countrys history been at war this long. Somebody who served 20 years in the military before, you know, weve been at war in iraq and afghanistan since 9 11 2001. People who serve these 16 years theyve seen more combat, stress stress, deployment than even people who serveed in world war 2 or vietnam. Our system has not adjusted to that. One of my colleagues in washington was asking carl levin if this is time to rethink this . He said yes maybe its time to come up with a new system that appreciates the tremendous amount of Service Given the last decade, especially this gentleman who killed Osama Bin Laden. Cenk aaron glantz, thank you for your reporting. We appreciate it. My pleasure. Cenk when we come back the pope is stepping down. Thats fairly unprecedented. At least it hasnt happened in 600 years. So why are we to believe that it is because of his health or could it have something to do with the sex scandals. Well delve into that when we come back. There was a dividing wall, but there was little space so you could sign back and forth. And he would bless you. And he told me to take off my pants. Cenk if youre alive you probably saw earlier today that Pope Benedict is resigning. Hell be the first pope to resign since 1415. Wow. Abc news has a little more on this. At the end of the meeting of cardinals in rome. Pope benedict xvi said he will step down for health reasons. His strength had deteriorated to the extent that i have had to recognize my incapacity to the ministry entrusted to me. Cenk if you watched the young turks for a while youll know two things. I get very excited when there is the pope. I cant wait for that. That apparently will be in march. Number two youll know that im a bit of a cynic and hence im not sure that im buying their reason because of his health. A lot of popes have had Health Issues and stayed in there until the end. Could it have something to do with the sex scandals. In at the end of january they released a number of doves to celebrate peace. Fantastic that they were doing that. But unfortunately the seagulls attacked the doves of peace. Some wonder if he was burned by that. For christ sake we cant even release peaceful doves any more. Thats probably not it. Here to talk about the serious issues involved in the vatican and how we can make it better going into the future. We have franciscan friars with us the director of snap. Its great to have you both on. Thank you. Peter, lets start with you. Do you believe Pope Benedict that this has nothing to do with the sex scandals but it has nothing to do but his health. Its hard to say. He is elderly but the point about the pope resigning is he has resigned without having done what he needs to get done as pope. Right now across the world there are children at risk because of clergy who has assaulted children. There is a difference and exemption in the United States, but around the world if you are a member of the clergy unlike any other profession working with children, and you have sexually assaulted or harmed a child you can remain working in that occupation with children and families. Thats the problem. What this pope needed to do and what the next pope has to do the first day he comes into office is to sign a decree. This is the church. This is a monarchy, i can do it immediately that any priest who has sexually or harmed a child will be are removeed immediately from the priesthood. Right now in the United States the bishops have acknowledgeed that some 6,000 clergy over the past several decades have sexually assaulted or abused children6,000. If you extrapolate that number worldwide conservatively youre looking at some 30,000 priests who have harmed children. Many of them have remained in ministry. Most of them have not been turned over to authority. They have not been identified to the public or parish that theyre working in. This is unacceptable. Cenk father dan i know pope Pope Benedict put in knew guidelines but he didnt punish any of the bishops, isnt that unacceptable . Thats clearly Common Knowledge to say that those who are guilty of these sorts of things need to be held accountable. But the connection between the sex abuse crisis and what were recognizing and talking about today is a bit far apart. I respect mr. Isley and im 100 with him in that there is always more that can be done. Hes right to point out in the United States especially after the experience the meeting in dallas would be passing the dallas charter and subsequently there has been a lot of work on, on that front. And internationally there has been work done, but i dont want to lose sight of today, which is tremendously historical. Not to diminish or dismiss these other concerns, they are absolutely serious but i dont think the connection is quite there. Cenk what do you think father dan, its just his health . And what is your assessment of Pope Benedict . Did he do a good job overall . Thats a tough question. You hear people talking about evaluating his legacy, how hell be remembered. What is interesting about this discussion he isnt dead yet. As far as his pontificate that does conclude on february 28th february 28th, 8 00 rome time. At that point we can talk about whether he did a good job or not. Im of several minds here. There is always stuff that is needing critique, concern and challenge. Mr. Isley is raising good points hes not the first, of course nor the last. Questions about the Global Crisis of Sexual Misconduct or concerns about other issues internationally can certainly be raised. Theyll have to be taken into consideration. One of the interesting things that people are talking about these days. And there are certain actions that hes exhibited that hes helped usher in and may reflect that as history moves on. But there are other things, including the way in which he has really sought to criticize capitalism and varying dress when it comes to economic injustice and poverty globally. So its interesting to see how this plays out. Cenk yes, its a complicated picture, no question about it. Esplin statehood criticized the bankers. At the same time they had to seize several Million Dollars from the vatican because of the Money Laundering scandal, well as well. Peter there is this new documentary on hbo that is about to come out that is about a notorious friar who sexually assaulted 200 deaf children. I want to show you a piece of that and get your reaction on one important point here. In the confessional booth there was a dividing wall, but there was a little space so you could sign back and forth. And he would bless you. And he told me to take off my pants. I kept it a secret. Hes assaulted probably 200 children. We thought that the priest would be removed from the school. I thought it was to uncover the crime. But the people sending me in obviously had you will ulterior motives. Peter, you were sexually assaulted in the church, and you went on to divinity school. After this how can you still believe . That clip you played is very important to me. Im talking to you from milwaukee, wisconsin. Those victims are part of our community. Theyre part of our survivors groups. They knew that father murphy had sexually assaulted 200 children. They left him in authority. All they wanted when father murphy died was for him not to die with his vestments with the 21gun salute. They gave his funeral praised his life. And if you go to the cemetery now it says father lawrence murphy. The pope himself was involved in the cover up of these crimes. Thats why he was unable to do anything about it. And all due respect to the friar in boston, i couldnt agree more. The sexual abuse, rape and assault of children in the Catholic Church is the single most important moral issue that the church faces. If its not able to clean up its own house examine itself and have an examination of conscience. If the pope when he retires does not reach out to the community that he was involved with in covering father murphys crimes, if the church wants to preserve its moral justice, if it wants to space about peace it first has to come clean and it has to change the rules. I cannot say this enough. The rules right now permit this kind of behavior to go on and for a man to remain in the priesthood. Thats the problem. Look, you cant be a woman and a priest. Fine. You cant be a married man and a priest. Fine. But you can be a child sex molester and a priestthats the problem. Cenk peter after all this you still believe in the church . I do. The church is so much more than the pope the cardinal and conclave. What you see in this story which i urged everybody to see from the story on hbo. These survivors, incredible men and women the first individuals to come forward and publicly talk about the sexual abuse. Theyve been doing this for decades. Theyre heroes. What i hear from them is a story of resurrection. They were never supposed to be heard. Their stories were never supposed to be told. Yet out of the depths of despair and traditiony tragedy and trauma, theyre talking. Christ was a victim. We were never supposed to hear from jesus again. But through a miracle of god we heard of him and were still hearing about it 2,000 years later. Cenk im curious this. I see that the pope changes his opinion from 2009 to 2010 on condemns. Then youre supposed to believe that the pope is infallible. People who watch the young turks know that im agnostic. I find that amazing. Do you actually believe that the pope is infallible . I believe what the council promulgated is not completely understood. Not since pope pius was xii has a pope invoked infallibility. It has to do with conditions coming together, including promel gas stationpromelgation. Its not something taken lightly and it has only happened to the best of my knowledge twice since the late 19th century. What he talked about when it comes to condoms in this regard in the example that you brought up is not applicable. Cenk just real quick. Sure. Cenk yes or no, do you believe the pope is infallible . Like i said, i believe in the promelgation of infallibility and the popular notion of what infallibility means, i do not believe in. Whether its this one, john paul ii or the next pope not everything he says is infallible. There is a hierarchy of truth. When it comes to more what is more authoritative and less authoritative and not everything is weighed equally. Cenk thank you for not giving me a yes or no. Powerful stories to tell, and we appreciate hearing from both of you. Thanks. Thanks. Cenk now when we come back, well we got good news on military benefits. It turns out samesex couples will be getting some. Is it too late for some couples . And how much of those benefits will they actually be receiving. Well tell you a story that is powerful. She would not be able to coordinate because of the difference of marriage act. She would be recognized as a friend. Cheap is good. And sushi, good. But cheap sushi, not so good. Its like that superlow rate on not enough car insurance. Pretty sketchy. And then there are the good decisions. Like esurance. Their coverage counselor tool helps you choose the right coverage for you at a great price. [ stomach growls ] without feeling queasy. Thats insurance for the modern world. Esurance. Now backed by allstate. Click or call. Cenk we have yet another milestone today. Outgoing defense secretary leon panetta said he will be extended benefits to same sex partners in the military. Quote, it is a matter of fundamental equity that we provide similar benefits to all those men and women in uniform who serve their country. Here are the benefits for gay couples that will now be extend extended. Life insurance beneficiaries. Hospital visitation rights. Access to base commisaries and child care services. If youre a samesex couple, you werent even allowed to go in the commisary. Pretty demeaning. Who will apply to . 9,000 spouses of active duty and reserve members and 8,000 spouses of retirees. But there are still 800 benefits that will not apply. Medical and dental care. U. S. Assist ship. If your spouse is killed in war prime next of kin qualification. So you will not be the first one told and you wont be told all the details of the death of your loved one. Education benefits from the g. I. Bill and reassignment expenses if your spouse is reassigned. I want to bring in an expert marine captain matthew phelps, and apparently he proposed to his partner at the white house eventually. First of all, welcome to the the young turks. We appreciate you coming on. Thanks so much. Cenk no problem. Really . At the white house . How did that go down . Well actually its a story very much like any other. 2012 prior to the reception at the white house. He accepted and we happening to going back to the white house for the holiday tour on the six month anniversary of that night and it seemed like the logical time to do it. We meant for it to be a private night but folks snapped pictures and the rest was history. Cenk i did it in a garden, and i was proud of it. You oneupped me on that one. It was a pretty good story. There are still tragic stories in the military. One is charlie morgan, an officer in the New Hampshire national guard. She wanted her partner to receive benefits in case she passed away to care for their daughter. She was battling breast cancer. I want to show you a clip from charlie that was from just a little while ago. Right now ive been diagnosed with recurrence of breast cancer. The concern is if something was to happen to me, and i was to die within the next couple of years, my concern is that karen would not be provided the same survivor benefits. Cenk so the incredible sad ending to that story is that yesterday charlie passed away. Sanes these rules are not in affect matthew, do you know if her partner will be getting any benefits . I cant peek speak to that in particular. I had a chance to speak to charlie on a couple of occasions and she was so devoteed to her family. Its a tragic loss, and im sorry she didnt get to see the benefits extended today. As for how karen and their daughter are going to be taken care of, i really dont know specifically, but i do know that its not going to be to the same extent that an opposite sex surviving spouse would receive. Cenk i assume youre excited about the new benefits coming in today. Its a step in the right direction, but is the military really blocked from going any further on these hundred other benefits because of the defense of marriage act . The policies that are dealt with at higher echelons that than im familiar with. But i do know because the defense of marriage act is a federal law defining spouse and marriage in law, any of those benefits covered in law medical dental care, education benefits, housing benefits, command sponsorship for overseas assignments, those types of things that are covered by federal law are therefore defined by the defense of marriage act. From what i understand again its not at my level but from what i understand thats what prevents the department of defense from extending any of those benefits. Cenk so far in terms of what the defense secretary panetta has done and the Obama Administration over all are you pleased with how far theyve gotten in terms of making the situation in the military better for people who are serving who happen to be gay . You know, i could tell you from my own personal experience that life has gotten considerably better over the past two years year and a half since the repeal of dont ask dont tell. The president was committed to repealing that law. The secretary was obviously very vocal and active in supporting the president. You know, to put it in perspective two years ago i could have left my job for talking to you today. So the fact that im able to be here today not only talking about this, but i was able to acknowledge my relationship with ben, and talk about these issues. It shows you just how far weve come. Cenk marine captain matthew fellphelps, thank you for coming on the young turks and sharing your story. Thanks, cenk. Cenk when we come back we have another documentary from front line that is fantastic. Its about the situation on the fiscal cliff. How does the negotiations go . The stories you might not be aware of. I love this topic when we come back. I think they viewed the Party Movement as something that scared them. Today what you see is now that weve broken you up, now youre going to do it my way. [ music ] what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. By 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough College Graduates to fill them. Thats why at Devry University were teaming up with Companies Like cisco to help make sure everyones ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure americas ready. Make sure youre ready. At devry. Edu. Its time to call their bluff. Cenk well, that was about the hiscal fiscal cliff. Its going to address jobs, the economy and the sequester more budget negotiations, etc. And pbs has a new document documentary front line called cliffhanger, and they cover this. Michael kirk, who wrote produced and directed cliffhanger. Michael, when we talk about the fiscal cliff negotiations, what did we learn from those in regards to how president obama will handle negotiations in his second term . Well, the first go around back in the summer of 2011 he and john boehner went behind closed doors met in secret, cooked up what became known as the grand bargain. He had given entitlement cuts, boehner would find 800 million in revenue and that worked well until joe biden maybe accidentlily told eric cantor the number two republican and the bile rival with boehner that they were holding negotiations, and he didnt like that. They pushed everything down at the election creating at the time the fiscal cliff which was as one person in our film called a suicide event strapped on to the economy and waiting to be detonated. After the election obama sits down with boehner. They wait until the middle of december because obama has been slow walking boehners proposal were right after the election. And the president is pretty tough. He doesnt want to give anything that he was giving away back in the grand bargain talk. And he doesnt think boehner at 800 billion is giving him enough. Thats a signal right there that things are not going to go well back in december, and we know now that theyre not going well looking intoed future. Cenk in youre progressive you have to be ecstatic that joe biden purposely or accidently screwed up the grand bargain negotiations because it would have been a disaster for progressiveses. If youre a republican youre thinking that tea party knuckle heads would regarding the deal. The tea party clash is what gave the majority the Midterm Election what the president called shallacking, that group that 87, the unruly, unorthodox freshman who came in a little bit like dick the butcher in hen 6th who said the first thing well do is kill all the lawyers. They came to washington and the first thing they did as try to kill all the politicians. They slept in their office. They didnt want any revenue. They didnt want any taxes they wanted to cut everything down to size. They were unremitting in lots of ways john boehner had no idea who he had to have control over in his negotiations. In the end, of course, he couldnt control them and what has happened has happened. The same is true with what has happened with the president. He was interested in that negotiation back in 2011, but the election and the victory in the election he has read a man edit. Some say he didnt win by enough to have a mandate. And the republicans won too because there is boehner across the table from him. Cenk im not one of those people. Let me ask you about something that you said earlier, that they created a suicide vest. I dont believe that. I believe the fiscal cliff if we would have gone over, it would have been better for the country. It would have balanced the budget better. Now we have raised taxes and we have spending cuts but they promised to do even more spending cuts. As a progressive i dont know why i would have been opposed to the fiscal cliff. The only reason why people that ive talked to say it was fundamentally a suicide invest was the time release quality. Its not just an instant designation but a timereleased detonation. The problem was what happens in europe, what happens with the world market what happens when americas full faith in credit doesnt really look as strong and reliable as we have for all these years. Cenk well, that would happen with the debt ceiling but that wouldnt happen with the fiscal cliff, would it, michael . Well, you never know. Im not going to take the position other than people ive talked to, but a lot of them said hey you know, im worried about this because the economy is very fragile. When you start pulling defense spending and other things out of that economy who really knows . Now. Cenk no, no, i would take that chance in a second. Youre telling me im going to continue this bloated defense spending for the rest of time because it might hurt the economy . What about spending on the poor and middle class. Nobody is concerned about that when we pull that out. Oh thats fine. That wouldnt hurt the economy. That makes no sense. Im afraid its a lot of conservative framing and the president has bought into a lot of it, that even the tougher president obama is not that much of a progressive to begin with. Well, i think the fascinating thing when you watch the program is the extent whatever they believe and wherever that is coming from and whatever the policies are the personalities involved are people who believe in things that you dont believe in and maybe i dont believe in, but they believe it. Theyre the ones across the table from each other and theyre the ones fail failing to negotiate with each other for over two years. Its almost shakes shakespeareen those three or four people can control everything. Cenk im looking forward to it, its the cliffhanger at 8 00 p. M. Thank you. Youre welcome. Cenk theyre not going to be raising the Social Security medicare age eligibility. Thats two good pieces of news for progressives. Now when we come back, chris dron er, the man who went after lapd and his families, they are now saying they might reconsider the firing in the first place because they might have a point on the way they treated africanamericans. Well talk about that. vo connect with the young turks with cenk uygur. Its go time. Cenk christopher dorner, went out and killed three people two lapd and family members of lapd. The manhunt for him is still in its fifth day and they have not gotten him. And another amazing thing is that the the police chief of the Los Angeles Department is reopening the case of Chris Dorners firing in the first place. There are allegations in the Police Department that it doesnt treat africanamericans fairly. I want to make sure that we dont lose that precious ground weve gained because of these allegations. That is the totality of the reason that i will look at this investigation again. Cenk you know, i found that surprising. I want to bring on an expert to talk about that. Connie rice is wellknown little rights lawyer here in l. A. Shes codirector of the civil rights here in california. Did he have a point in the way that lapd used to treat africanamericans. Used to treat absolutely. This culture was openly hostile and openly racist. You had segregated squad cars. Lapd was hostile and racist not just to the community but also to its minority officers. Cenk its interesting because in 1990 when you talked to deputy chief brewer, ill quote, if you let them get to you, white officers who harangue black officers, you almost become homicidal. Yes, they had blocked his application to police academy, they blocked his promotion. They gave ambushes in the field. I represented many africanamerican officers as well as women officers, asianamerican, latino all officers of color. If you were outside of that old guard culture, they went after you. They really didnt want you in the force. And they had a culture of blacks not allowed. When im talking 25 to 30 years ago. You fast forward today. 25 years ago they wouldnt have bothered with an internal affairs investigation. Today, chief beck opening these investigations back up says that hes trying to bury the ghosts of lapd. Cenk do you think the last two chiefs chiefs in the lapd have done a good job and theyre on the right path of making sure that africanamericans officers are respected . I know they are. Working daily with lapd, that Consent Decree and chief bratton were the change moment. Cenk i think a lot of people might not know what the consent degree korea is. In 2002 the Consent Decree was signedded by the federal ghost. They had a group of gangster cops who had planted evidence on people, shot people, attempted murder people. You had this outlaw group. This is seven eight years after the rodney king beating. The feds said youre out of control. Were taking over. The federal court took over and that was the beginning of the end of the old arrogant cowboy culture. It was the beginning of the end. Because look, is every single cop a paragon of racial tolerance . Oh no. Weve got a long way to go. But the top leadership no longer openly embraces open and notorious racism. They never call them nigger inspector. When was that . Up until 1968. There used to be an embrace of racism. Cenk why in l. A. . You might expect alabama because of the history there. Why los angeles. Theyre from the south southwest. Cenk were going to a better place but were not completely there yet what percentage of the force, and i know thats a tough question but in your sense, your gut, what percentage of the force is still from the old school . Chief parks chief bratton and chief williams got rid of the worst of the worst. The cops who would hunt people down. I call them the hunterkillers. Those cops were gotten rid of mainly under chief parks. We owe him a great debt 37. The old old guard theyre ice isolated now. If someone calls someone a racial epitaph thats not tolerated any more. Thats not the point. The point is 25 years this is not your grandfathers lapd. This is not darrell gates lapd. But the community is not going to recognize what im talking about. The community has yet to experience on the street with regular cops a lot of folks have not gotten the memo. Cenk i gotcha, we have to leave it there. A long way to go. I appreciate it. Well be right back with one last point