Case. This is what he says. I we are as a nation of laws and a jury has spoken. I now ask that we doing all we can to stem the tied of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. If you discuss guns or race, the right wing lose their mind. This is not about race this is not about guns, then what the hell is it about . Of course it had to do with guns, of course it had to do with race. And thats the justification they use not it discuss issues they dont want to talk about it. If George Zimmerman did not have a gun Trayvon Martin would be alive today. You cannot dispute that. The guns that you love, the left wing, right wing, i know it cuts across lines but if there was no gun, Trayvon Martin would be alive tray. If you dont agree, you are disengenius and youre lying to yourself. Now should the feds pick up the case now that we got a not guilty verdict. Eric holder addresses that. Were mindful of the pain felt by our nation surrounding the tragic unnecessary shooting death of Trayvon Martin in sanford, florida, last year. Were cognizant of the fact that the state trial reached its conclusion over the weekend. As parents as engaged citizens, and as leaders who stand vigilant against violence in communities across the country the deltas are deeply and rightly concerned about this case. The Justice Department shares your concern. I share your concern. [applause] and as we first acknowledge last spring we have opened an investigation into this matter. Cenk so, what are they going to do with that investigation . Were going to discuss that now. Let me bring in the panel, Ana Kasparian is here. Jayar jackson as usual. A full panel Tommy Christopher media correspondent and White House Reporter for mediate. Com Michael Shure and Vincent Sutherland joins us from the naacp Legal Defense and educational funds. The naacp is pushing in the federal government possibly trying zimmerman again. To be honest with you i didnt like the decision. I thought it should have been manslaughter, but im uncomfortable with trying zimmerman again. Tell me why we should if thats what you believe. Thank you for having me. I think clearly this case calls out and cries out for further investigation by the federal government to make sure that there are no civil rights violations. I think basically the federal governments role in this case, as it has played in the past, has protected the rights of africanamericans and other people of color in this country when the state has failed to do so. Thats part and par sol the Justice Departments role. At the very least to determine whether or not civil rights violation versus occurred. Cenk who would have done the civil rights violations, the Police Prosecutors zimmerman with the civil rights. I get confused. I dont think it makes much sense. As much as i wanted the rodney king cops put away, i didnt agree with the federal investigation either. Im sure ill have controversy on that here. If we didnt get them on the state level lets i get get him on the fed level. If we dont get him on the federal level then we get them at the state level. There is a case on point james bird hate crimes act 2009, that statute allows for the federal government and the department of justice to prosecute someone like mr. Zimmerman if theyre able to find and determine that mr. Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin because of his race. So that is going to be the centerpiece, i believe, of the department of justices investigation. And the Legal Defense fund is going to do all it can to insure that the department of justice has all the information it needs about its Legal Options in terms of the civil rights options. Cenk so look, i thought it was hard to prove this case to begin with, but i thought the prosecution proved enough that it was manslaughter, but the jury didnt agree with me, fine, thats how things work. But when it comes to proving that it was definitely about race beyond a reasonable doubt, do you think there is any prayer that they can actually do that . Well, we remain hopeful. The difference with the federal realm and the federal investigation were looking at the case through a different lens through a different prism. In the state trial no mention of race was made. The court precluded any mention of racial profiling which is exactly what happened in this case. Mr. Zimmerman approached mr. Martin because of his race he saw him immediately as a suspect because of his race and presumed him guilty because of his race. The investigation will unearth what George Zimmermans motivation and intent was on that night when he killed Trayvon Martin. Let me open it up, does anybody think they can prove that case . Well, the thing that i thought was interesting is during his closing argument, omeara argued that he did profile trayvon and thats how he justified that he was black. If thats all you need to do, this kid looked like all these kids suspected of crime. Thats why everybody was upset and thats why George Zimmerman was suspecting him. Cenk thats interesting. I dont think thatswe live in a country where people seriously sit down and cannot decide which is worse cracker or the nword. I dont think youll get a jury to make a finding on a case like that out the most exquisite type of evidence that just isnt there right now. You get a jury of 12 people like me whoi feel like it was a shame that the prosecution didnt introduce evidence from George Zimmermans my space page where every mexican he runs into pulls a knife on him. The view of the majority of people in this country on race is such that unless you have a pillowcase, a burning cross, and the nword scratched into somebodys body, people are in denial about this stuff and it wont get people to convict. Cenk there are a con of great points made by tommy but i still think they couldnt have convict beyond a reasonable doubt on the federal level. The problem is that the best witness to this case was killed. That is what made it hard for the prosecution, and thats what will make it hard at the federal level. There is a reason why killers kill witnesses. Cenk ive been in a rage all day about this situation because you know based on how this trial went anybody can claim self defense, and thats it. As long as you make sure that there are no witnesses and you didnt just wound the guy you killed him. You murdered him, then youre very very, very likely to get away with it. And then the second thing that it does is it puts all gun owners in a significant gigantic disadvantage. If you have a gun, you can pick any fight you like. If you dont have a gunthis goes to something we were discussing of air, jayar. What is a black kid or any kid supposed to do. If you dont have a gun someone picks a fight with you, and they have a gun all these zimmerman fans, theyre fans, and thats what they are. Theyre fans of this murder. Ted nugent online, fox news, theyre rejoicing that this guy got away with killing a 17yearold kid. If youre a kid what are you supposed to do, im sorry massa, im sorry. This is the question that never gets asked. It doesnt matter where hes at. You cant proven that beyond this. But when you dont want to talk about the issues, the situation were in where you get to be racist, have your thoughts, and really continue and seek out someone you edit like or maybe afraid of just to say thats the way i want to do that in this country. When you dont want to change, that means youre one of those people. Its not that there are big fans of George Zimmerman. Theyre just like him. They have the same thoughts that he has. So when they think the same thing he thinks well, i would have done the same thing. Its a black person. Cenk thats why they keep calling Trayvon Martin a thug. Khakis and skittles. Yeah, jeans that were cuffed at the bottom. He looks like a regular teenage kid. Cenk thats jayars point. To us he looks like a regular teenage kid. To all the George Zimmermans of the world, the ted nugents of the world. They just see that hes black. Listen to the stuff that comes out of your mouths about Trayvon Martin. It blows my mind. Are we looking at the same person . This is a kid, 17 years old, a pack of skittles, a can of ice tea. And as far as they could prove in court this kid, as far as the jury knew, has never ever been in a fight in his life. And theyre going to believe that he just suddenly attacked a guy who studied martial arts for a year and a half. The jury didnt use common sense. They allowed the fear that mark omeara described and tried to legitimatize in his closing argument, that they think that is common sense. Cenk we have to give michael the last word on this subject. Im not angry with the jury. I wasnt there every minute of the trial, and they have a tough job, and its beyond a reasonable doubt etc. My problem is with its cops in the first place that didnt even investigate zimmerman and didnt charge him for 44 days. Now my problem with all the zimmerman fans who are throwing a party that he got away with it. The whole idea of these fans is so absurd and offensive and they say the trayvon supporters are like a lynch mob for George Zimmerman because these people didnt watch all the testimony in the trial. Yes, the people who are celebratinghe state lynch mob. The people who celebrate are allowed to celebrate even though they presumably did not watch the trial either. Im a Glass Half Full guy so when i hear tommy list all of these things, and i know in a civil trial if the Justice Department does go for the case here, the burden of proof is different. Also this conversation that people are having all over this country would not be happening because the conversation may have gone to jail with George Zimmerman. I an his or her abhor this jury of six people continue to have this conversation, the civil rights of the Justice Department is getting involved in this. I think its a good thing that theyre doing that at at Justice Department. Cenk we have to take a break. Let me throw one more thing in. If there is a silver lining, its that all these people celebrating. Now we know who they are. Thats one thing i do like. I like knowing whos who. Keep celebrating. We want to know who you are. Cenk thats a great point. Anyonelets just clarify anyone who calls trayvon a through today is a racist, no question at all. You hear someone call trayvon a thug today, mark it in your notebook. Watch out for this guy. Hes a racist. Were not done with this case yet. George zimmerman gets his gun back. We have so much more to discuss on that front. Well be right back. You better be careful. The law allows an awful lot of people to carry guns. That doesnt mean that they all should. You must be high. Viewpoint digs deep into the issues of the day. Do you think there is any chance well ever hear the president even say the word carbon tax . With an opened mind. Has the time finally come for real Immigration Reform . And a distinctly satirical point of view. But you mentioned great leadership so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. laughter cutting throught the clutter of todays top stories. This is the savior of the Republican Party . I mean really . With a unique perspective. Teddy rosevelt was a weak asmatic kid who never played sports until he was a grown up. laughter . And lots of fancy buz words. Family values, speding, liberty, economic freedom, hardworking moms, crushing debt, cute little puppies. If Wayne Lapierre can make up stuff that sounds logical while making no sense. Hey, so can i. Once again friends, this is live tv and sometimes these things happen. Watch the show. Only on current tv. Did anyone tell the pilgrims they should selfdeport . No, they said make us a turkey and make it fast. laughter . She gets the comedians laughing. Thats the best thats hilarious. And the thinkers thinking. Okay, so there is wiggle room in the Ten Commandments is what youre telling me. Shes joy behar. Ya, i consider you jewtalian. Okay, whatever you want. Who plays kafka . Who saw kafka . Who ever saw kafka . laughter . Chris brown, i mean you wouldnt let one of your daughters go out with him. Absolutely not. You would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me . Absolutely singing i take lipitor, thats it. Are you improving your lips . laughter . When shes talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. It looks like Anthony Wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. His what in the ring . His hat. Always outspoken, joy behar. And the best part is that current will let me say anything. What the hell were they thinking . Only on current tv. Cenk all right, were back on the young turks. Were still talking about the George Zimmerman case. I have my whole panel here. Now well turn to the prosecution and their reaction. The four prosecutors went on the news to share their side of the story. They said they respected the jurors and their decision of the case. They wanted to share their side of the story and elements of the case they could not bring up because they did not have enough evidence to bring it up. Lets go to one prosecutor who talks about how George Zimmerman refused to testify. I pray that he has the courage to take the stand. But as we all know he has the right not to. He was afraid to take the stand. The proof is in the pudding, did he take the stand . Saying that zimmerman was a coward for not taking the stand. But according to Defense Attorneys he did want to take the stand, but the defense thought that would be a bad idea idea. Cenk in other words, our guy is guilty, so it wouldnt make sense to take the stand and you would find out hes guilty. Defense, shut up. You got off. You should have put him on the goddamn stand. And prosecution already called him coward. Even if youre a zimmerman guy you paint a z on your head, then youre a fan of an coward. Our guy is such a wimp, even though he took training he was the worst student because he was a pathetic sniveling little coward. Thats why he couldnt do anything to trayvon because the minute there is conflict he would wilt. Cenk is paraphrasing a little bit, but they did say he was soft. Cenk that he got the worse score on anyone that he has trained, and the defense went on actively in the case and he could never win a fight because hes the words weaks man. Wahoo, hes a coward. Im mad. I dont think we should go to a federal case. Thats a different matter. Im not mad at the jury, but these guys, theyre all online today. All over fox all these conservatives, oh, yeah, finally, we got em who the hell did you get . Robert zimmerman he went on cnn, his Brother Robert zimmerman who said, i heard trayvon was going to get a gun. You know who had a gun your brother who shot trayvon dead. If it means that when you get a gun youre an evil bad guy that means your brother is an evillist man on the planet. All loyalists, shut up. You won celebrate in private. Dont rub it in the face of the Martin Family whose 17yearold son is dead. A real difficult part of the story to swallow is that George Zimmerman will be getting his gun back and the prosecution did comment on that. Lets watch. You got to be careful. It gert be the right sixths. The law allows an awful lot of people to carry guns. That doesnt mean that they all should. So im surprised hes getting his gun back. But if hes found not guilty then thats the way things go. Again, i dont agree with it, either but i also agree he should is been convicted. If he wouldnt have gotten his gun back i would have seen that as curious. Hes innocent but doesnt get his gun back . Cenk this is what the naacp vincent tells us, hes good enough to join us. Its a sad day. Lets all grab our guns. Panels in juries, especially in florida, youre so dangerous as a black man that if you dont have a gun you should be able to claim self defense. I dont think thats the answer. Armingviolence is never the answer, and arming people is not going to be the answer. Black men already know this, but for the rest of america we owe a duty to Trayvon Martins family, to him, to the countless others who have died in vain to really examine and explore and hold up the pernicious hold of race on in country. Trayvon martin was profiled. He was presumed guilty. He was presumed to be guilty because of his race. Race is the center point of this case. The fact that people want to continue to deny that, ignore that race is an issue in this case is ludicrous. And what we owe all people, what we should be telling people and talk about how race shapes views, perceptions, beliefs of who commits crimes in this country, and who has the right to stand their own ground. Who has a right to live. Who has a right to walk through their neighborhood innocently while on their way home from the store with a bag of skisels and a can of soda. Race perception left Trayvon Martin dead i. Cenk i want to go to another element here. This is a case of the prosecution believed but did not present because they couldnt prove it in court. But this was the actual belief about what happened last night. Nobody just gets a gun out and shoots. Even Trained Police officers when theyre on the ground with a suspect on top of them, they cant get their guns out that quickly. I think there was a struggle at some point. Trayvon martin became aware of the gun and was backing up and George Zimmerman shot him. Cenk so again those are things we, of course, cant know for sure, but tommy youve been following the case. The argument that the prosecution didnt make which im always surprised by, if trayvon was really on top of zimmerman. This is something that ive been saying since fairly early on, he shot him like this, wouldnt there be blood all over zimmerman . It defies the law of gravity that there wouldnt be blood on zimmerman. This is a problem. The prosecution poked holes but they didnt present their own theory of the case. That was a problem. There would have been blood on zimmerman. The piece of evidence that blows my mind was there were no injuries on Trayvon Martin hands, no bruises. If hes hitting this guy over and over again there should be injuries. And what that told me was that, you know, if that guy saw a struggle but he didnt see any blows landing and there were no injuries to trayvons hans, that means theyre struggling over the gun. This is the case that the prosecution should have presented saying you know what George Zimmerman said didnt happen becauses liar. This is what we think did happen consistent with the evidence. Cenk lets go to the defense attorney omara well bring in Michael Shure to discuss it, too. Lets watch. Every time any life is lost, particularly a young life, its a tragedy. We hear about it in car accidents. We hear about it with cancer. I lost a 13yearold niece to cancer. We hear about it constantly. And its always a tragedy. But im not going to shy away from the fact that i think the evidence supported that George Zimmerman did nothing wrong and that he was battered and beaten by a 17yearold who for whatever reason, we wont know, thought he had to lash out and attack violently. Cenk so michael, this is part of what is driving me crazy today as the conservatives all over media online keep saying trayvon attacked zimmerman mercilessly for no reason, but how can you say for no reason if the guy is chasing you, whether you know he has a gun or not its indisputable that zimmerman was chasing him initially. He got out of a car to chase him. He left his car to chase him. They all talk about how we should presume the innocence of George Zimmerman but these people are presuming the guilt of Trayvon Martin. That is a major difference in the way that the two sides saw this case and the way we talk about it. I couldnt care less what mark omara had to say. I could have written that script for minimum. Thats exactly what he had to say. Im interested in the prosecution because i want to know what went wrong. I want to know what they held back because im interested. Im not interested in what the prosecution has to say its interesting, the thought process, but the people out on the streets there are people trying to change things. Our Society Needs to change. Our society generally has a fear of black people. Black people in our society generally have a fear of black people. When i hear, oh, you know, george disciple, hes latino, when you talk about minorities, latino have a fear of black people. It doesnt matter what race you are. We have a fear of plaque people black people in this country. If you see a kid walking down the streets, i dont care if he has a hoodie on, tight jeans people are afraid. Bringing this back to a potential federal case. We need to have a serious conversation about our society. I dont think it will do much. Our society will have something to do whether or not there is a silver rights process. Were still mad that there are civil rights for people in this country. People in certain states stand your ground florida, there is a problem in this country. We need to change it. Something higher up needs to change it. I dont think it will work. Our society is still backwards. Its still backwards. Cenk ill tell you as i go to break. One last thing for me. Ill tell you who im afraid of now, honestly, gun owners. A certain percentage of them cant wait to use their guns. They cant wait to pick a fight because like zimmerman they are cowards. And they think as long as i have a gun ill win the fight. Maybe if im chuck norris i can beat that guy with my bare hands. But if not ill pull out my gun and shoot them. Ha, ha, they win. I dont know if this gets me in trouble. Im scared of rednecks. Rednecks with gun, i dont want to go anywhere near them. They pick a fight they pull a gun. Theyre not going to stop. Aire is black, i was born muslim you think someone isnt going to pull a gun. Im scared of racists with guns. There are a ton of them, and they squarely literally to death. We live in such a perverse, sick country now that 300 million guns. Were swimming in guns. And if you dont have a gun you have a monumental disadvantage. According to the law they have more rights than us. They can shoot us dead. As long as there are no witnesses they can claim self defense. They can stand they are ground. On this show if you dont have a gun, you cant stand your ground. If you do have a gun, you can stand your ground. That doesnt make sense at all. But the whole thing has been perversely been put on its head, and no gun owners have special rights where they can pursue you. They can attack you, they can kill you. And there is nothing you can do about it. All right, i guess i got to get a goddamn rpg. If you come around, ill blast your head off oop self defense. Were going give you a number of cases where black people did claim self defense. Older black businessmen who were assaulted by white people. Guess what happened to them. Theyre sitting in jail. Of course theyre sitting in jail. But there is no race issue in america. Look away, look away, there are no race issues. I got to go to a break. When we come back, oscar grant up in oakland 2008, not armed shot in the back while lying down on the ground by a cop. Company got 11 11the cop got 11 months. Well talk about it. Cenk were back on the young turks. We have a new panel member, Ben Mankiewicz host of turner classic movies. Its all connected to what weve been discussing today racism in this country. And there has been a movie made about racism up in oakland. Yes, its documents the case of oscar grant who was shot and killed by a bart official on new years day four years ago. Abc news has more on this story. But pay close attention to the parallels of this case and the Trayvon Martin case. The 22yearold was unarmed when he was shot and killed by a bart Police Officer four years ago. It just seems the lives of young men of color felt very expendable. I felt like we had to examine that. Hey oscar how are you . Good, im good. Happy new years. Happy new years. Oscar. Oscar . Get off right now. Put that phone away are you still on the train . Were still in fruit vale. Why cant you tell me whats going on. What is the problem. What did you do . Oh my gosh its good. Im good. Were going to be good. Now, the officer was later convicted in this case, and he served only 11 months in prison as a result of that, and this led to a number of different protests. I want to show you some pictures from Huffington Post that showed what the protests were like. And many, many people were upset about this, understandably so. You know, the release of this film is definitely symbolic especially given the ruling in the Trayvon MartinGeorge Zimmerman case. I want to talk to you guys about it. What do you think about this . Do you see the parallels . Cenk look, every case is painted as a coincidence. Its just a coincidence that alexander was a black woman who claimed stand your ground against an abusive husband she had a restraining order against that was in florida. She got 20 years. Its just a coincidence that she is black and got 20 years. George zimmerman shot and killed a 17yearold and hes acquitted. It just a coincidence that the cop who shot oscar was black i dont get that lucky when i bet. Cenk yeah. You know, i felt this way when i started to take to twitter after the zimmerman verdict, and then i wisely didnt because i think thatlike its notthe zimmerman case if you look at why he was acquitted or why perhaps i would have to refresh my memory, i havent seen fruit vale station. Yet if you look at each case on their own merits, you can probably justify the outcome sometimes in a specific case, a difficult way to convict zimmerman, it was a ladderahard case, and the most compelling witness was killed. But when you start looking at the case and looking at it in as justice. Do we have justice in these cases and do we have a problem with the justice system, its impossible to not make that point. Its hard to valley dade these things. When you hear, oh, theyre playing the race card. It means, shut up, i dont want to discuss the race problems in this country. Im one of these people and i dont want to talk about the perceptions of you. Shut up. And the parallel in the zimmerman case and this, we talked for years about cops. Weve known for decades about cops and their violence towards certain members of our society. What this case has done is validate citizens who want to play cops. Now that i have a gun because im a coward, i have a gun and i perceive you doing something wrong, and i can shoot you because this is what crooked Police Officers have done, like in this case. Usually when you see a black and white Police Officer with lights on top and a man in uniform, you think, why is he following me for. Now we have to think about that for anybody in our society . They can follow us . Cenk Michael Michelle alexander says that in inner cities 80 of africanamerican men wind up in the prison system, a stunning fact. But the assumptions that weve been talking about, jayar mentioned throughout the show, Michael Bloomberg said of course i stop and frisk blacks and latinos, theyre the ones who commit crimes. I couldnt believe he said that on a show. But maybe you arrest blacks and latinos because you assume theyre going to commit crime. Blacks in this country smoke marijuana at the same exact rate as whites, but they get arrested for it at four times higher rate and in some cities eight times the higher rate. Of course its in the perception. Its having to have martyrs like Trayvon Martin unfortunately like oscar grant going back to 2008, like emmett till and you think thats going to change things. It did change things in the 50s, but i dont see it changing things as much now. When an immigrant in new york was killed in a horrible way, he was shot upsomebody else was shot up, but abused by the police, and i thought that would change the way we talk about it, it doesnt. Four times as many peoplefour times as many arrests and convictions, but the usage is the exact same. Do you think black people in america speed on the highways more than white people do . No. But the experience of a black is universally different in our community. Cenk well talk about a different topic. Weve got the filibuster. It might finally be partially taken away by the democrats. Theyre discussing that in the senate right now. Well get tommys thoughts on that as well when we return. Er. Cenk were back on the young turks. Were going to discuss politics. We have a great panel. Michael shure the host of the war room is with us from san francisco. Tommy christopher senior White House Reporter is with us. And weve got jayar jackson, Ben Mankiewicz, all the young turks, of course, and Ana Kasparian has more on the filibuster story. Senate democrats are tired of republicans filibustering president obamas nomination, so theyre doing something to change it. Theyre going to call for the simple majority to basically get rid of the filibuster in certain cases. Harry reid has more on this. He was talking to David Gregory about the socalled nuclear option. Ive been the leader, during the time he was leader, one filibuster. Me, 420. During the time that president obama has been president. He has had 16 filibusters against nominations. During the entire history of this country the country there has only been 20. The changes were making are very very minimal. What were doing is saying, look american people, shouldnt president obama have somebody working for him that he wants . Cenk now i think harry reid is the meeks meekest man in america well, outside of George Zimmerman, but hes indisputable right about that. Lyndon johnson one filibuster during his time in the senate. Harry reid, 240 . Let me show you the chart of the record breaking number of filibusters the republicans have done. You see it going on throughout history and then it takes off like a rocket in the obama administration. Gee, i wonder if the republicans abuse the filibuster. Isnt it the medias fault because they keep calling everything even. If you call everything even when its obviously by the numbers there, its not even, people are going to be confused. I dont know, its the same ol democrats and republicans fighting. I guess the democrats are trying to break senate rules. Well, it is the medias fault to an extent, but you can only blame them so much. Harry reid is the majority leader of the senate not the minority leader of the senate. He speaks small and carries a small stick. But when he decides he wants to do something, he actually can get it done and he does do it. This is one of those cases when harry reid speaks and people are listening. Hes creating gangs in the republicans. That means something on the other side is doing something to piss them off. So i think hell get the progress that he wants here because i think theyre going come to harry reed. Michael, can i ask you one thing, though . Hes been threatening for years. What is different about right now . Im a glass half youll guy. What is the difference . There is a difference between threatening and doing it. Im going to invoke this. We need up and down votes and he has the senate in closed door session talking about it right now. That is different than going on bob sheafer on a sunday morning and saying im going to do that. He has been a frustrating leader on this issue and then to say the republicans could control the senate 15 months from now. You dont want to be part of that but in fact hes going to be doing something right now. Well wait and see and i hope youre not right. Cenk let me clarify one important thing. We keep going to the live shot. Thats the senate chamber. Theyre in session right now the democrats are considering whether to move this move. The second point of clarification, it is not to get rid of the whole filibuster. Its justits not even on judicial nominees or legislation, just executive nominations. Its the president s team. Theyre saying not that the president shouldnt get advice and consent, he should. But if you do that, the republicans are going to come in and say oh, you took away the tiny bit of the filibuster. Thats it. Ill take away the whole filibuster. They dont need the democrats to come in at a say were going take away the whole thing. You threatened it, you opened the door. I wouldnt spend a second worrying about what the republicans are going to do. And nate silver with the numbers out today that says right now he expects that the republicans to have 50 or 51 seats in the new senate in 2014. Cenk thats such a democratic move. To take away a portion of the filibuster just as theyre about to lose power. Ugh tommy, part of this battle is over the executive nominees, as were talking about. So the republicans refuse to fill those seats. Now they said, well fill some of the seats on the label board as long as you agree that they should be republican. Now, thats such an insane demand. Its so insane. But the problem is cnn and the Mainstream Media wont call it insanity. Isnt that the heart of the problem. If you cant do journalism and say what something is . Precisely. You know, im likeim happy to blame harry reid, who by the way was a boxer and you would never know it. But im happy not to let the media off the hook. They do this constantly. This right down the middle b. S. And its not even. This is what is going to happen. The democrats, look, this is like the first star wars trilogy. Ive seen the movie before, and i didnt like it the first three times. If harry reid gets this done, the republicans are going to get into power and say hey look, the democrats ended the filibuster in this tiny way now were going to endtheyre going to do it either way whether we do it or not. And the media is going to say well, you remember when the democrats had the majority, they did away with this tiny rule. So onehalf a dozen. That drives me nuts. They mistakes neutrality for objectivity. Weve seen the analogies a thousand times. Some say a fire is hot and some say its not. Ive been reading the stories on this, and the sense of the stories, politico story today talked about what would be an unprecedented change in senate rules but it makes no mention of the unprecedented way the republicans have dealt with president ial appointees. Thats what is unprecedented. But there is none of the sense of proportion. And if we were from nagasaki or hiroshima, i would object to the use of nuclear option. Cenk yes. Well take a look at what is wrong with the media. Cenk all right, were back on the young turks. We have one of our favorite lovehate relationships. Ben and i have been discussing this. Its a show on hbo. What have you got on it, ben . My fear after seeing the First Episode last night. We do a little video oh blog on the young turks, the show was so horrible that i loved it. There is a lot of lovehate rip with the people on this show. My fear is that it might have gotten better enough that you just hate it. Its fun to hate. But now it might be just kind of dull. Its too early to tell. Its definitely better. The story of a newsroom. Imagine we discussed it this morning. Imagine if the leadif its keith olberman. Theyre back. There is still none nonsense romance stuff. They used a phrase of u. S. U. S. Taliban. Weve seen Corporate America to political america and they are referred to the american conservatives as the american taliban. The american taliban. I did. What happened then . A lot. Three, two, roll it. Good evening this is news night. When we call them the american taliban. He said it, i thought let the chips fall where they may. Now chips are falling. So those chips falling. Thats jane fonda. Shes so good, but the chips falling meant that the head of the network was frozen out. And it meant that you werent invited to the cool parties. There was realand the reporter for that Cable News Network is now not invited on the romney bus. He has to follow along the ultimate indignity for a political reporter. Cenk thats why the show is interesting. It shows you the real consequences right . And i would love for the tyt Network Online to get to the point where we have these kinds of issues, and we cant get on the bachmann bus. To me, if im running the network, which by the way, i am, thats fantastic. Youve done your job. You challenged the Republican Party. I hope you do it to the Democratic Party the pentagon youre a reporter. Youre supposed to do that. But hes right. There would be an sstorm. Which you could handle. But a corporation that cares about the bottom line does care because they want to influence the legislation. Then there is the personal part. You see jeff daniels the further part of the repercussions using the phrase american taliban theyre coming up on the anniversary of the the9 11, but because he used a phrase that would anger conservatives, and anger Rudy Giuliani hes kicked off. I want to talk to you about the 9 11 anniversary coverage. I like it so far. It has a good tone. Im going to pull you from the coverage. Eliot and sloan will coanchor during primetime. Its me. I made the decision. All right. Were going to be officially condemned on the house floor. Thats a good use of time. And giuliani pulled out. 9 11, the first responders. Its the critical ads the opeds, the advertisers, reese getting kicked out of the sopa meeting. I totally get it. Okay. Cenk all right tell me what your reaction is. Some of the people who dont like what newsrooms are says substantively. We like what they say substantively, but the romance drives us crazy. This is msnbc, nobody would get in trouble for that at msnbc but i think theyre trying to represent cnn and Mainstream Media. If Anderson Cooper, if he had said that, they would have those kinds of repercussions . I thinkyes. Y, this is what i think about it. Yeah, there are repercussions like that. I dont think theyre showing the flip side to this which is you call the tea party the american taliban, but that probably didnt hurt him with the white house the democrats or those in power. But i hate to bring this up because it is kind of raw, but this is exactly the kind of thing that i admireed Michael Hastings for. This is the kind of crap he would call out. The thing that theyre identifying here is exactly the kind of pressure that plays more on people like me, more likeim not comparing myself to michael but were not the big market, were not Anderson Cooper or keith olberman. If someone wants to crush us, crush our access, nobody is going to care. That stuff happens. It happens cenk well leave it right there. Thats a powerful point to end on. Well be right back. Thank you. [ theme music ] tonight our nation is witnessing a grave injustice, a dangerous american citizen is not only Walking Around free but will also be the new host of the view. There are a bunch of unarmed teenagers Walking Around with snacks, so its a good thing that George Zimmerman got his gun back. Trayvon martin was legally a child. He was not even old enough for florida to suppress his vote yet. George zimmerman is not going to to prison, now its up to carma to take up the stitch. Todays birthday include