Another extraordinary unfolding story. At this moment senator ted cruz has taken over the senate floor. Hes desperately trying to defund obama care. Even if it means shutting the government down in seven days. For over three hours, hes been rambling on about his hatred for obama care. Heres how it started. I intend to speak in opposition to obama care. I intend to speak in support of defunding obama care until i am no longer able to stand. Hes telling americans the president and even leading republicans, i dont care what you think. In his desperate crusade. Hes sounding like a guy losing control. He actually compared the effort to defund obama care to this. To the civil war. Time of enormous pain, anguish, blood shed in the United States. There were a lot of voices then who said the union cannot be saved. Cant be done. Accept defeat. What . Did he just compare his political hostage taking to fighting slavery in america . Senator, its been a rough couple of weeks, but wow. And the bizarre comparisons continued. You know, with john f. Kennedy told this country were going to send a man to the moon. A lot of people said it cant be done. Its impossible. Cannot be done. And yet john f. Kennedy had the vision to say americans can do things, whatever we set our mind to. Putting a man on the moon is the same thing as defunding obama care. Thats one small step for cruz, one giant leap off a cliff. But he still wasnt finished. He compared his doubters to appeasers of nazi germany. You go to the 1940s. Nazi germany. Look, we saw in britain Neville Chamberlain who told the people accept the nazis. Yes, theyll dominate the continent of europe, but thats not our problem. Lets appease them. Why . Because it cant be done. We cant possibly stand against them. Ted cruz comparing those who support obama care to appeasers of nazi germany. Its sick. Its a charade. This reality show would be fun to watch if it werent so dangerous. Joining me now is dana milbank and goldie taylor. Thank you both for being here. Hi, reverend. Thank you. I mean, dana, youve reported on ted cruz and followed his political rise. What is he doing right now . I mean, whats his end game . Well, its not really a matter of an end game. You have to understand this really isnt about obama care. Its not really about the budget. Its not really about anything but ted cruz right now. So hes out there, yes hes saying the things youre talking about. Hes also informed us that he likes white castle hamburgers, his dad was good at making green eggs and ham. He went on and on about the family history. Talking about the black ostrich cowboy boots he likes to wear but today hes wearing more comfort. His colleagues said please dont do this. Youre hurting republicans, youre hurting us. Youre not helping the case of obama care. He said you know what . Im going to do it anyway because its helping his most important cause and that is ted cruz. But dana, theres no point to this. I mean, theres no hope that he will stop this today. Theres really no point hes after other than himself here. The whole point of filibuster is avoid a vote. The votes already scheduled for tomorrow at noon or 1 00. All hes doing is having cspan train cameras on him. In terms of practical effect, its not doing anything. Its allowing people to lampoon the republicans. Which people like Mitch Mcconnell is saying stop it. And despite all that, goldie, ted cruz, one of his big things today is that hes listening to americans. Listen to this. Congress is not listening to the American People. We need to do a better job of listening to the people. Thats together what we have to do. Is make d. C. Listen. But heres the reality, goldie. Most americans dont want to shut down over obama care. 59 are against a shutdown and a default to stop obama care. Just 19 support the idea. Thats exactly right. But if you dig deeper into the numbers, youll find that the vast majority of americans do agree that obama cares individual tenants. They agree if you want to keep children on your health care until theyre 26 years old. They believe you should not bar people for preexisting conditions. There are a lot of things inside of obama care people want to have. When you mention the word obama care, it has been demonized so much by the Republican Party that that does not test well. If you gave it another name, then perhaps people would know Something Better about this thing. But dana really hit the nail on the head. Either ted cruz is either building his own funeral pyre or his paving his road to the gop nomination in 2016. We dont know which one it is just yet. But we know hes not talking to the Republican House or senators today. Hes not even talking to democrats. He is talking to New Hampshire and iowa caucus goers. That is his audience today and the next several hours he will take this stage. I might add, hes not alone out there. Hes on the floor with senator Jeff Sessions of alabama. But the right wing wall street journal, they even condemned cruzs efforts predicting something you alluded to. They protected he would hurt fellow republicans. Quote, the supposedly intrepid general kruss can view the battle from the comfort of hq while the enlisted troops take any casualties. Thats a pretty stinging charge from a conservative paper. And it is correct. Yes, there have been others making cameo appearances out there. Sessions is maybe the fifth one. Maybe hell get that number, a few more to support his cause. But far more are opposing what hes doing because hes hurting the brand, for example. He had the house go ahead and do the defund obama care option, then said he didnt have the votes for it. Now what then attack them in the house after they did what he had requested they do. Right. And hes not postponing the vote or changing the way the vote is going to be in the senate. But what he is able to do is drag this out a bit so when the senate sends it back to the house, poor john boehner is not going to have any time to avoid a shutdown. So hes making a shutdown far more likely. Now, let me go back to you, goldie. I hear that dana said that there was some like sessions that may join him, but let me give you some that have condemned him along with the wall street journal. Three former Republican Leaders slammed cruz and the party extremists. Dick armey said theyre trying to create chaos. Dick armey. Former House SpeakerDennis Hastert said its a lot for fractious. None of these people in major leadership positions in his party saying even anything remotely kind about this effort. You know, reverend, its ironic. Because its these very same people. It was the gop establishment that created the pea party. They created what they believed was an astral turf, Grassroots Organization that grew up and became a movement on its own. People like dick armey created ted cruz. They gave him this platform. Kruss has not painted himself into the corner. This is more like the tiger is out of the bag. For them to condemn what happened to ted cruz, they ought to take responsibility for that. Well, talking about sarah palin, she is on cruzs side. Have no fear, hes not totally left abandoned. Shes one of the few people supporting him. Listen to what she had to say today. What senator cruz is doing is hes waving this flag and saying, hey, what is the alternative here in fighting for our economic liberty in the United States of america. What his colleagues, many of them are doing, theyre waving this flag and theyre saying, oh, lets surrender until we win. Thats their tactic . This is nonsense. More power to senator ted cruz, mike lee, others who are standing up for what they campaigned upon. Now, dont miss this moment, dana. She is actually saying they waved the flag. They surrendered. She even brought the prop with her. This is a serious split between these far right wing extremists and the established Republican Party. That could have serious ramifications when we get past the theatrics of cruz. This is serious. Well, it is. The question is have we finally reached a point where responsible republicans are going to stand up to sarah palin and to ted cruz . Im not optimistic that weve yet reached that point. Im confident cruz is not going to get a whole lot of support when this comes to the floor in the coming days. Kruss is hes isolated on this position, but i think its very rare that youre going to find a Republican Leadership to go against him the way they are right now. All right. Thank you both for your time tonight. Thank you. Coming up, how did ted cruz become what gq magazine says is the most hated politician in the country . Plus more on the extraordinary moment, president obama and former president bill clinton on stage together selling obama care. And an american crisis president obama is fighting to fix. Our failed Justice System. Tonight, how police are making money on the war on drugs. Our special series criminal injustice continues. Also, friend or foe, i want to know. Email me. Reply al is ahead. I didnt think it was anything. I had pain in my abdomen. It just wouldnt go away. I was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. These symptoms may be nothing. But they could be Early Warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. Feeling bloated for no reason. Thats what i remember. Seeing my doctor probably saved my life. Warning signs are not the same for everyone. If you think somethings wrong. See your doctor. Ask about gynecologic cancer. And get the inside knowledge. Now you can give yourself a kick in the rear v8 vfusion plus energy. Natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. Need a little kick . Ooh couldve had a v8. In the juice aisle. Have you joined the politicsnation conversation on facebook yet . We hope you will. Today everyone was talking about president s obama and clinton coming together to talk about health care. And how republicans wont stop attacking it. Alexis says the gop is scared. Because obama care works and they know it, but dont want to admit it. Thats right. Dorothy says i know it is good. My prescription cost went down by more than half. Wow. Good for you. And charlie says millions are already benefitting and millions more will be benefitting very soon. Thats true. And coming up, youll hear president obama and the secretary of explaining stuff talk about those benefits. But first, we want to hear what you think too. Please head over to facebook and search politicsnation and like us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. Of House Republicans have voted against obamacare, just to prove their allegiance to their partys right wing. Okay theyve said their piece. But now theyve gone even further. Threatening to shut down the government if obamacare isnt dismantled. It could disrupt Social Security and veterans benefits, hurt job growth and undermine our economic recovery tell these House Republicans enough already were watching ted cruzs takeover of the senate floor. For over three hours hes been ranting about why obama care needs to be defunded. And as he continues ranting in his bubble of insanity, we see whats really happening back on planet reality. Here in the real world, republican governors have a job to do. Ten gop governors have now caved on the medicaid expansion. Right wingers like rick scott, tom corbett, and john kasich. Even this governor. Remember jan brewer . That finger pointing governor from arizona, shes in. Why . Because they believe in it. They know it helps people. So what is this guy doing . Where did he come from . And who will be left standing . Joining me now is ej dionne. Ej, youve covered politics for a long time. Have you ever seen anything like what senator ted cruz is doing . Weve had a lot of filibusters in the civil rights years, but i dont think weve seen a figure on the right who brought everybody else together against him including a lot of conservatives that are upset with the road hes taken them down. Im glad you focused on those republican governors. I was out in ohio and wrote about john kasich, whom i disagree with on a lot of things, but hes been gutsy in fighting his own Republican Legislature to do the medicaid expansion. All of these other republican governors have done it. Why . Well, because they see a, this is a lot of money for their states. Period. B, they know they have a lot of uninsured people in their states. C, this is good for their local hospitals. So i think weve been talking about this a little wrong. The typical way of saying it is the Party Establishment versus the grassroots tea party. In a lot of ways, the tea party are the real Republican Party says were trying to solve problems. Thats interesting. I read your column and what you were talking about. Strange bedfellows and ohio as an example. Which is why i wanted you on to discuss it. Because youre saying that the tea party, theyre the real beltway guys, and theyre the creation of the ideologues. And the rms governing on the ground are the real grassroots republicans. In writing about the gop governors you said usually follow party line in being critical of health law in principle. But they have responsibilities that radical ideologues dont have. They understand the difference between obama care as a right wing boogeyman and the Affordable Care act as a reality. Thats a different way to view this, ej. Thank you. I appreciate that. And i do think that when you have to worry about your citizens on a daytoday basis. Theyre going to hold you accountable when youre looking at the deal this medicare buyin, is actually for states. And in some cases, in kasichs case, he talks with a real compassion about poor people and say well be more judged by what we do for them than by what our budgets look like. I mean, what you see a practicality and compassion at that level of the party. Whereas the rest of the party just sets up obama care as some Big Government expansion without talking about what it is actually trying to do. And thats why ive been thinking for awhile, republicans want to stop it before its fully effective because theyre most afraid that it will actually work. And then a lot of citizens will say wait a minute, there are some real benefits to us or to our communities from this. Now, you know, its interesting. Because cruz has developed a big name out of this. And in a new profile in gq magazine, it describes the senator like this. Quote, so far cruz has proposed no major legislation and has shown little interest in changing that. He seems content accomplishing nothing because in cruzs view of the federal government, nothing is the accomplishment. Stopping bad things, cruz told me, is a significant public service. That is very, very interesting. It is why Tea Party Folks send people to the u. S. Senate in washington. But the tea party is a constituency within the Republican Party which is the party that got 47 of the vote in the last election. So its not the whole country. A lot of americans dont fully trust government. A lot of americans think government needs reform, but they also believe the government can do useful things. And its one of the great ironies that the tea Party Constituency is actually older than the country as a whole. And there are a couple of programs they really dont want the government to cut. One of them is medicare and the other is Social Security. And theres one tidbit in that article that i think is going to stick to cruz and hes going to try to get out of it. The notion he would only go to a study group in law school with people from harvard, yale, or princeton smacks the elitistelitists. Im going to have to leave it there, but thank you for your time tonight and for bringing a different view. I appreciate it, reverend. Thank you. And ted cruz, by the way, is still talking. Ahead, president s obama and clinton team up to tell america the truth about health care. An amazing scene this evening. And the Ronald Reagan drug war is big business for many Police Departments. Our series criminal injustice is coming with us. Stay with us. Hungry for the best . Its eb. Want to give your family the very best in taste, freshness, and nutrition . Its eb. Want to give them more vitamins, omega 3s, and less saturated fat . Its eb. Egglands best eggs. Ebs. The only eggs that make better taste and better nutrition. Easy. Egglands best eggs. 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This is for real right . This is for real . I always said one day id go to china, just never thought itd be today. Anncr were giving away a trip every day. Download the expedia app and your next trip could be on us. Expedia, find yours. Nascar is ab. Out excitement but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. Thats why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. Hps Technology Helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into realtime Business Insights that help nascar win with our fans. They are both democrats. They have fabulous daughters. They each married far above themselves. Join me in welcoming number 42 and number 44, bill clinton and president barack obama. That was Hillary Clinton earlier this evening introducing a rare sight. Two american president s on stage together far common fight. President s obama and clinton kicked off a six Month National campaign to urge americans to sign up for the health care law. Starting next tuesday, people will be able to enroll in health care exchanges. The final crucial phase in a law thats already helping millions of americans. There have been over the last three years an array of Consumer Protections and savings for consumers that result directly from the law that we passed. And for those that want to repeal it. When you ask the benefits, they say that ones good and thats pretty good. And wed keep that. And you go down the list. And theres not too much people object to. People object to the law until they find out what it does. And the president said the law actually makes insurance more affordable. So now what . What are you doing on october 1st . Tell them about what this is about. In many states across the country if youre a 27yearold young woman, dont have Health Insurance, you get on that exchange, youre going to be able to purchase High Quality Health Insurance for less than the cost of your cell phone bill. Insurance thats cheaper than your cell phone. Theres no way this will be unpopular. And president obama says thats exactly why some on the right are against it. The opponents of Health Care Reform know theyre going to sign up. One of the major opponents asked why is it youd potentially shut down the government at this point just to block obama care . He basically fessed up. He said, well, once consumers get hooked on having Health Insurance and subsidies, then they wont want to give it up. Its an odd logic. Essentially theyre saying people will like this thing too much and then it will be really hard to roll back. It is an odd logic, but from this Republican Party, we shouldnt be surprised. Joining me now is jennifer grahn holmes and bill press. Thank you both for being here. Thanks, rev. Reverend al, hi. Governor, republicans are in a frenzy to stop this law. Do you think thats because theyre afraid people will like the law as the president just said there . I do think that, reverend al. I think once people have something, its difficult to take it away. Theyre in such a frenzy as you pointed out, ted cruz is going to stand there until he stands no more. I hope he has good health care. And by the way, he is a guy that keeps talking on the floor about freedom and truly if you are somebody without health care, you are not free. You are not free from worry about disease or illness. I think we progressives should embrace the mantle of freedom and think about talking about this as being freed from the worry of bankruptcy, from the worry of having a child who cannot get health care. This is a good thing for the nation. The president s obama and clinton were talking also about gop governors and health care. Listen to this. More and more states with republican governors, republican legislators are doing it. What weve seen is when republican governors take a look at the deal theyre getting, youre seeing some republican governors step up and saying, you know, i may not like obama care, but im going to go ahead and make sure that my people are benefitting from this plan. Bill, on that point, a recent poll in georgia said people oppose the health care law, but they like whats actually in it. 71 supported letting Adult Children stay on their parents plan. 66 supported covering preexisting conditions. And 60 supported medicaid expansion. Now, even in a red state like georgia, people like the details once they know about them. How does the administration get the facts across even as you begin to see republican governors some that i mentioned earlier in the show have come on board now . First of all, youve got the best possible team to sell this plan starting today. You know, it was 20 years ago yesterday that president clinton gave the first speech on health care to the United States congress. 20 years later, there is bill clinton with barack obama. Bill clinton and Hillary Clinton planted the seeds, barack obama reaped the harvest. And now you take Hillary Clinton and bill clinton and barack obama on the road, reverend al, with that team against who . Ted cruz . Are you kidding me . Theyre going to sell this thing. Plus theyre going to be putting millions of dollars from hhs out there to tell people exactly whats available. As you pointed out and the poll points out, once people know whats available, that they can get basic Health Care Coverage for lower premiums, lower than your cell phone bill, and a choice of doctors. People are going to sign up. And thats what republicans are worried about. You know, governor, in the 60s, opponents of medicare used very similar language as opponents of obama care are today. Listen to this. Behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we know it in this country. We will awake to find we have socialism. We have to let the American People know we have not waved the white flag of surrender on socialized medicine. So, i mean, its the same playbook. And look at how everyone in america embraces medicare today. Thats exactly right, reverend al. When you think about the 30 Million People who are uninsured, theyre not worried about socialism. Theyre worried about getting cancer. Theyre not worried about waving the white flag or being not free because they feel like they are not free. So truly i think once as youve said people find out the details in these states, it will be great. But the problem is youve got a lot of governors whose Insurance Commissioners are preventing these navigators of explaining it properly to people. This is why its so important to get 42, 44 and maybe even president 45 out on the road to be able to explain it. You know, bill, when you really look at these numbers, i want to bring you back to medicare in 1965 that governor granholm and i were discussing. Did you know before medicare passed in 1965, just 46 of americans wanted a plan like it. But in 2012, 78 supported preserving medicare. Will we see a similar bounce once these Health Care Laws go into effect in your opinion . Absolutely. You know that. I know that. And the republicans know that, reverend al. Thats what we have to understand. Look, they tried to beat this in the congress, they failed. They tried to beat it in the supreme court, they failed. They tried to beat it in november 2012, they failed. They know if we dont stop it now, obama care is here forever and it will be like Social Security and like medicare which were reviled in their time. Once people got into the program and benefitted from the program, theyre immensely popular today. So will obama care. Its here to stay. You know, governor, the president is scheduled to speak thursday. Hes supposed to give very personal testimony to health care on thursday. And in the past, we dont know what hes going to exactly say thursday, but we do know that in the past, his Mothers Health care struggles have been something he would bring up. Listen to this. I often think about what might have happened if a doctor had caught her cancer sooner. Or if shed been able to spend less time focusing on how she was going to pay her bills and more time on getting well. Shes still with us she is still with us. Shes in a better place. I mean, youve been a governor. You certainly know political life. When you can bring issues down to your own personal connection to them, because we are talking about things Like Health Care that ends up being very personal to the voters and to those that you are speaking to in your audiences. Theres millions of stories like that across the country. When the president speaks from his own personal experience, he amplifies their voices as well. As he goes around and the cabinet members go around for the next two weeks, im certain he will bring forth the stories of real people to help underscore his own personal story. Everybody knows somebody who is uninsured. Everybody knows people who are uninsured and are going to have the opportunity in an affordable way to have coverage and have that worry lifted from them. Its so important to tell stories. Bill, isnt it at the end of the day kind of offensive to people when you really say to them that youre willing to shut down the whole government to stop your child from being able to stay on your Life Insurance past 26 years old . Or that we want to shut the government down to stop anyone with a preexisting condition, which is a huge percentage of the country, from being able to be insured. When people start thinking about it personally, wont that really change where this discussion goes . I believe it will. And the governors right. There are millions of stories out there. Every Single Person has a member of their family, if they havent themselves, been to the emergency room or had some illness that they never expected. And havent been able to pay their bills or had to give up things in order to pay their bills. Those stories multiply across the country, reverend al. Thats what i think people do realize. You know what also offends me . Heres ted cruz on the floor of the senate. There are more kids uninsured in his state than in any other state. There are more poor people. Its amazing. 1 3 of latinos in his state are uninsured. He ought to be the champion of obama care. 26 of the people he represents do not have health care. And yet hes standing there until he cant stand anymore so that they cant have health care. How outrageous. Thats true of some many members of the tea party in the house of representatives too. The people in their district need Health Insurance the most. Well, i cant stand that hes standing there. Amen. Thank you both for your time tonight. Thanks so much. Thanks. Coming up, on National Voter registration day, the right wingers are trying to suppress the vote. Well tell you how many are fighting back. But first, the stunning investigation of our criminal Justice System. Police profiting from the war on drugs. Our special series criminal injustice is next. Aw this is tragic man, investors just like you could lose tens of thousands of dollars on their 401 k to hidden fees. Thankfully etrade has low cost investments and no hidden fees. But, you know, if youre still bent on blowing this fat stack of cash, theres a couple of ways you could do it. Or just go to etrade and save it. Boom. Or just go to etrade always go the extra mile. To treat my low testosterone, i did my research. My doctor and i went with axiron, the only underarm low t treatment. 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Ther, im also a survivor of ovarian and uterine cancers. I even wrote a play about that. My symptoms were a pain in my abdomen and periods that were heavier and longer than usual for me. If you have symptoms that last two weeks or longer, be brave, go to the doctor. Ovarian and uterine cancers are gynecologic cancers. Symptoms are not the same for everyone. I got sick. And then i got better. Americas public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new allout offensive. In the decades since president nixon made that statement, america has spent more than 1 trillion on the war against drugs. And weve arrested more than 37 Million People for nonviolent drug offenses. 37 million. Thats a horrific toll. But what does this country have to show for it . High School Students report the same rates of drug use as they did 40 years ago. And according to the most recent cdc report, Drug Overdose death rates have never been higher. So why have we poured money into a drug war that has obviously failed . And why to this day do Police Departments continue to pursue this failed war . One huge factor may be money. During the Reagan Administration, the government started handing out grants to Police Departments to fight drug crimes. Creating incentives for police to arrest more suspects. In wisconsin, for example, just one drug arrest nets a given city or county about 153 in extra funding. But nondrug crimes like murder, rape, and burglary, they get no extra funding. No extra incentive for the police. But theres another financial motivation behind all this. The Reagan Administration also gave police the authority to keep the vast majority of cash and assets they seize when waging the socalled drug war. It turns out that whole departments have a monetary interest in increased drug arrests. Most people dont realize that the financial incentives built into the system virtually guarantee that the overwhelming majority of drug arrests in the United States will be for nonviolent, lowlevel drug offenses. A couple months ago we did a twoday operation. We arrested over 200 people, a majority of them for selling drugs. A lot of the money comes out of seizures from the drug profits. The bigger players are making off of this. So i guess that moneys being put to good use. So where you get all that money . The moneys ours now. Thats my money now. Joining me now is a leading voice calling for reform, former Seattle Police chief norm stamper. Hes author of breaking rank a top cops expose of the dark side of american policing. Thank you for coming on the show tonight. Thank you for having me. You were a 34year veteran Police Officer who we want on to lead seattles police department. You saw some of the incentives first hand. What is this system doing to our criminal Justice System . In a word, it is corrupting the system. What we have seen with this drug war are insane numbers of americans being arrested for nonviolent very low level drug offenses in the number in the tens of millions of numbers. And what do we have to show for it . Drugs as you pointed out earlier, are more ready available at lower prices and higher levels of potency than when nixon first declared war against them. And make no mistake, he was really declaring war against his fellow americans. He was declaring war particularly against young people, poor people, and people of color. The federal prison growth over the last decade, lets look at that, mr. Stamper. 4 has come from people whove committed homicides. Yet 61 has been drug offenders. 61 . Drug offenders, most of them nonviolent. Yet. 4 for homicides. So not only are we putting families and others through a real human toll that follows some of them the rest of their life for only having a bag of marijuana in their pocket, but were already building up these huge costs in terms of prisons, filling them up with people when a very small percentage of them are the people committing homicides and violent crime. Well, the prison industrial complex, the Law EnforcementDrug Enforcement industry. The cartels themselves are very deeply invested in the status quo. They are very much invested in making sure protecting and expanding their drug markets that they will continue to reap the enormous untaxed obscene profits associated with elicit commerce. The war on drugs gives more than financial incentives to police. It actually funds whole communities. I want you to listen to this clip from the documentary the house i live in. All sorts of people get a vested interesting with a financial interest in keeping the system going. Theres a whole range of corporations. The taser gun manufacturers, private health care providers, phone companies, whole communities that now depend on prisons as their primary employer. How deeply invested in the drug war and system of mass incarceration. So you have all of these different parts of the communities that actually depend on high incarceration rates. That, of course, depends a lot on nonviolent drug offenders going to jail. You hit the nail on the head. Money talks in this country. It always has. Im sure it always will. What do we need to do to buck the incentives . What do we need to do as the American People to help bring an end to this insanity . Former Seattle Police chief norm stamper, thank you for your time this evening. Thank you for yours. Ahead, new voter suppression. But today, a new push to stop them in their tracks. Stay with us. Today is National Voter registration day. A drive to get people signed up to vote all across the country. Voter suppression was a huge issue in last years election and is still a challenge today. In north carolina, republican governor pat mckroiry says this about the states new law. Protecting the integrity of every vote cast is among the most important duties i have as governor. And its why i signed these common sense, common place protections into law. Common sense protections . North carolinas new voter law is the harshest in the nation. It includes a strict voter i. D. Requirement. It eliminates sameday voter registration, cuts early voting by a week, increases the number of poll observers, and bans preregistration for 16 and 17yearolds. Theres nothing common sense about it unless your goal is to make it harder to vote. This kind of thing is happening all across the country, but its time to send a message. Go to National Voter registration day. Org. Itll give you step by step instructions on how you can register to vote and stop the far right from turning back the clock. 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Every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. Silence. Are you in good hands . Its time for reply al. Remember, friend or foe, i want to know. Janet writes how can the far right say they dont want the government coming between us and our doctors when thats exactly what they recommend that the government does for women and their bodies . Good point, janet. You must understand theres an old barry white song that says practice what you preach. They mean they want to stop government intrusion when it is a right wing ideological position. But when its where people make a choice for themselves, then the government mustnt intrude. Does it sound inconsistent . Maybe thats because it is. Finally tonight, an update on last weeks tragic shootings in chicago. Prosecutors have charged four suspects with attempted murder and aggravated battery in the shootings that left 13 people hurt including two teenagers and a 3yearold boy. The child Deonte Howard was the most seriously injured suffering a gun shot wound to the head. Police say the suspects used an ak47 Assault Rifle to spray bullets into that crowd. Yet another example of the need for stronger gun safety laws. Can you believe after all these shootings from chicago to the navy yard in d. C. To newtown, we still cant even get a background check passed. We must have new and strict gun laws and we must take seriously