and pre-occupied with that but on the other hand he also handed out packets to the journalists on events that's happening here on the ground. and portraying to them the government's side. the government in the past 24 hours has gone on a pr offensive. there's been several statements from officials addressing the events of the last few days, all of them say they are fighting a war against terrorism and projecting this as a conflict for egypt's future and stability not a political dispute but more interesting, the ambassador to washington came out with that statement that the egyptian government was trying or at least going to review the u.s. aid and that certainly caught a lot of people here by surprise. in recent days the egyptian government has been trying to assert more of its sovereignty. it's one of the things it's criticized for, over the years it was seen that it was somewhat of a lap dog on the u.s. government's hand because the former regime of hosni mubarak was so closely allied to washington. this government is trying to distance itself from any type of foreign interference particularly those critical of its actions. when it comes to those governments that have been very close or supporting the government's crackdown they have been welcoming them and that's caught some people here by surprise. another point that caught people here off guard was the reference to the fact hat the united states and the taliban have both expressed reservations in terms of what is happening here on the ground and that was a point that the foreign minister and others here have been trying to make that when the u.s. and taliban are sharing the viewpoints on egypt there's something bizarre on what's actually happening here. >> thank you. back here at home president obama is preparing for a busy week ahead as he embarks on the next phase of the economic push for the middle class. chris w-a good sunday to you, let's talk about the president's plans this week. what does he have on the agenda? >> reporter: good afternoon. he heads home this evening. among the topics of discussion will undoubtedly will be egypt. on tuesday things get light at the white house. president obama inactivities the 1972 miami dolphins who had a perfect season by the way that year to the white house. they were never recognized back in '73 when they actually won the super bowl at that point in time. former president richard nixon was immersed in the watergate scandal. at the end of the week president obama shifts his focus back to domestic policy, the economy. we'll hit the road for a two day bus tour. he'll head to buffalo, syracuse, binghampton, scranton where he'll be joined by vice president biden. he'll talk about college affordability. this is part of his broader goal of teeing up the fall budget battles with republicans. he already made several trips prior to his vacation here in martha's vineyard talking about housing, decreasing corporate tax rates, ways to invest in infrastructure projects. this trip next week will be part of that larger series trying to bet the upper hand and undoubtedly more contentious debates and budget battles coming up. >> that dolphins meeting, four decades in the making. i want to ask you at the rnc chairman he's talking fresh off of his organize's meeting. what is he saying today? >> reporter: he's defending his party basically against sort of these allegations that there's so much infighting and that the party is divided right now. he made the argument that at this summit they had a robust debate, that they emerged from this summit energized. here's a little bit of what he had to say earlier today. >> healthy family debate is not a bad thing at all and i really believe that. i don't think at a time when we just came off of a presidential election that having a party that is just dull and boring is something that is good for not just our party but for this country. so i think that these debates are good. >> reporter: and, alex, priebus said matter of the strategy moving forward is doing a better job reaching out to minority communities and improve their ground game. they started working on this in 2012. the goal to move forward is target those communities where they saw weaknesses in 2012 and one of their challenges the hispanic community, mitt romney lost that community by wide margins so immigration will play a big role in term of not only the mid-terms but the next presidential race for the republicans. thank you. well joining me now washington editor-in-chief from washington news and jackie kucinich. as the president embacked on this economic tour in illinois, you heard what happens on thursday and friday with his two day bus tour through new york and pennsylvania what has the reaction been so far to this message? >> well, i mean we've seen his poll numbers drop recently on the economy. it seems people are skeptical. the bus tour is meant to set the scene with these battles for congress. he's trying to set a tone he's trying to work on the economy and trying to push congress through public pinto help him do it and pass some of his policies. so far it doesn't look like that's going to happen because look at this congress. we talked about it many, many times there isn't a lot of room here right now. >> so, jim, i want to pick up with you what jackie just alluded to. the president's poll numbers have slipped seven points, now stand at 35% approval rating. so do you think that's a sign that this message is not resonating and if you agree what does he have to do to turn it around? >> no small measure i agree. first big promise who is listening. something that's implicit in what the white house is doing i think is an overestimation of the power of presidential oratory and something that at that lot of the media believes into. if you look back into history, it's something that we have greatly exaggerated and think by a president going out there with the power of the bully pulpit, you know, he can get us to change views. one of the real problems is with cultural and media fragmentation. tours like this have the president preaching to the choir. a lot of premeditation who he'll speak to and the exact folks that he needs particularly important the fall battles the folks who are skeptical or those who are outright critics or independents are not the folks listening in an age when so much of these big addresses are on a national stage. with the washington media deciding there's nothing new in that speech we're not going to cover it they got a real problem and one that obama himself is smart enough to know full well of. >> let's get with you guys on a different topic, nypd commissioner ray kelly who was on today's "meet the press" reacting to a judge's designation that new york's stop-and-frisk policy is unconstitutional. let's take a listen. >> if a program like stop-and-frisk is abandoned, will people die? >> well, i think no question about it violent crime will go up. again, this is not a program. this is something that's intrical to policing. this happens throughout america. any police jurisdiction. you have to do it. officers have to have the right of inquiry. if they see some suspicious behavior. >> so, jackie, new york city michael bloomberg is blasting the judge's decision and the city is appealing. how do you see this play out >> hard to say. it's a very polar wrizing issue. one thing that is clear this will extend beyond mayor bloomberg's tenure. you heard some say things need to change. there's only one that said they want to abolish it completely. but christine came out on friday saying the city council won't do anything to fight this judge's opinion. so it seems like reform is coming, but we just don't know what it will look like. >> jim, another angle here because the president of the naacp, ben jealous reacting on "meet the press." here's that. >> we're now at a point where you have more stop-and-frisk of young black men in new york city than there are young black and men in new york city. that's why charles blow said and while the judge quoted him in saying it's like burning down the house to rid it of mice. >> so what do you make of all of this, jim, and despite what jackie was saying about the city council not being supportive do you think new york will be successful in appealing the judge's decision? >> no, i don't. not knowing what the three judge federal panel is going to be, could be three pro law enforcement conservatives, but absent that when looking at the judge's decision it was the right one on the fact but should not obscure the facts that reality one can have constitutional stop-and-frisk. she just ruled that the new york city had gone quite wayward. what's going real interesting bottom line a year, two or three from now if an appeals court affirms this will new york crime go up and will one be able to make the case that in some way it involves cessation, dramatic change in stop-and-frisk. thank you. more front page politics and new reaction today from lawmakers to that new "the washington post" report concerning the nsa. the report says the nsa broke privacy rules or overstep its legal authority thousands of time each year since 2008. it's not a problem. it worked. if you have 99.9% compliance and so few reporting errors this came from an internal report which then becomes part of an overall ig report. i'm on the intelligence committee. i'm satisfied we're told. >> the problem and there is a real problem with the system. it's a black box, the fisa court is a secret tribunal issuing secret opinions making secret law and a lot of it completely unavailable to members even of the foreign intelligence committee. >> those documents published by the "the washington post" were leaked by edward snowden. this weekend has been a wash out in parts of the south. heavy rains flooded several streets in north carolina and more rain is expected through the weekend. will it end? when is the question. we have more on that. >> we're still keeping an eye on the rain up and down the east coast. it's streaming in off the gulf of mexico and the southeast will most likely see more flooding rain again today. heaviest of it is still falling along areas like new orleans, moving into mobile alabama and the western panhandle of florida. it's stretching now into northeast. at first as of yesterday it was looking like this whole storm system would stay out over the mid-atlantic but it does look like it's bringing rain to parts of washington, d.c. off and on lighter showers in new jersey and making their way up into southern new england as we continue through the day. nothing too heavy. the clouds keeping temperatures below average in the mid-to-upper 70s up and down the east coast again well below that normal high of 88 degrees in atlanta with a high of 72 degrees today. out west it's a different story. it's hot and extremely dry with northern california and idaho under the gun for about 34 uncontained fires out that way. they have been having these dry thunderstorms and the lightning is parking those fires with humidity down to 20%, 25%. same set up for tomorrow. as we go throughout most of the upcoming week very pleasant in the plain states with lots of sunshine, lower humidity. highs tapping out in the mid-80s. tomorrow it should dry out in the northeast with temperatures getting back in the mid-80s but still looking at scattered showers and storms in atlanta, still bringing flooding conditions to the southeast and northern florida. 79 tomorrow in washington, d.c. with some of those clouds but we should get out the 84 in new york city and 83 in boston. so most of the country is actually pretty dry and quiet but up and down the east coast we'll keep an eye out for those showers and storms. >> the new theory about the death of princess diana. when i was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, my rheumatologist prescribed enbrel for my pain and stiffness, and to help stop joint damage. 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[ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biologic medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. . while the streets in egypt today are calm but tense here in the u.s. there's new reacshown from lawmakers over president obama's decision not to cut off aid. senator john mccain who just returned from egypt weighed in this morning. >> for us to sit by and watch this happen is a violation of everything we stood for and when we threaten something as we did that we would cut off aid as the administration did and then not do it then you lose your credibility and influence. >> joining me now is democratic congressman elliot engel. always good to have you here. "new york times" has an excellent article about the break down of the negotiations between the west and the egyptian government. here's a part that struck me, though about this article that apparently israel is undermining the negotiation, telling egyptians go ahead with the crackdown, because the u.s. will not cut its aid. what is your reaction to that? >> well, i don't know if that's true or not but i will say that i think there are people who are calling for a cutoff in aid and i think it certainly is premature. we've got to look at the total picture. the total picture is egypt is a very, very important country. the united states and egypt have had very close military to military ties. egypt is the lynch pin of what we do in middle east. we count on egypt allowing us to fly over their airspace on our way to afghanistan. we count on egypt to give us priority at the suez canal. and i think that people who are just saying well cut off aid are not looking at the consequences. obviously it's a very difficult situation, and the street protesters who are being killed that's something that shouldn't happen and i think that there is a lot of quiet diplomacy going on. i think a cut off of aid right now is cutting our nose to spite our face. >> i want to put back at you a statement that you made and this was just last week. here's what you said if casualties don't mount we need to seriously reassess our security relationship with egypt. however, we must take into account long standing security interests before doing so. egypt is a pillar of the region and we must be careful to not fatally undermine our relationship with its leadership. certain lie the morsi government had its issue. no doubt. a dreaemocratically elected government. where do we stand now two months later since this uprising. >> they are all bad choices. this uprising is very bad. the military response has been very bad. the question is we really only have two choice. on one hand you have the muslim brotherhood. they are no friend of the united states or democracy. they undermine democracy even though they were initially elected. you have the egyptian military. given that choice i would take the military because i would hope that our close military to military ties that we've had for 35 years ultimately we would be able to influence them. and i think that that's the situation we find ourselves in right now. we don't have a lot of leverage but i just think cutting off aid to egypt is the absolute foolish thing to do. >> something also from that article and we're quoting a military officer who says quote the million dollar question is where is the threshold for cutting off ties? so where is that tlerk hold >> the president is trying to be measured and i think he's right. he cancelled the military to military operations that we were scheduled to have with egypt next month. i think that was a measured thing to do. and we'll just have to see. i think anything down the line is just conjecture. look, we have other countries in the region that share our concerns. you mentioned israel. certainly saudi arabia. certainly the united arab emirates. they don't want to see the muslim brotherhood return and neither do we. they tried to put a squelch on democracy and vast amount of egyptians wanted him removed. it's a very delicate situation. we don't have a lot of leverage. >> it was suggested on this broadcast yesterday that the united states reach out to countries like saudi arabia and the uae which were giving $4 billion compared to our $1.3 and subsequent monies to humanitarian aid. is that what we need to do? >> no. i think we are reaching out. there's lots of negotiations going on behind-the-scenes as we're speaking. and there are common interests. again a lot of bad choices right now and the military certainly is overreacting. loss of life cannot be approved. but i think you have to look at the alternative and the muslim brotherhood alternative i think is worse for egypt. i know it's worse for the united states. >> all right, thank you so much for joining me. new this weekend a surprising announcement from a british police. scotland yard said it is examining new information regarding the deaths of princess diana and her companion dodi fayed. london police said they are assessing its relevance and credibility and did not elaborate. the claims splashed across the british papers. they allege the couple was murdered by a member of the british elite forces. scotland yard has stressed they have not re-opened the investigation. we'll bring you a live report from london in the next hour. "fifty shades of grey" and the new study that says the trilogy inactivities abuse. right now, 7 years of music is being streamed. a quarter million tweeters are tweeting. and 900 million dollars are changing hands online. that's why hp built a new kind of server. one that's 80% smaller. uses 89% less energy. and costs 77% less. it's called hp moonshot. and it's giving the internet the room it needs to grow. this&is gonna be big. hp moonshot. it's time to build a better enterprise. together. are you flo? yes. is this the thing you gave my husband? well, yeah, yes. the "name your price" tool. you tell us the price you want to pay, and we give you a range of options to choose from. careful, though -- that kind of power can go to your head. that explains a lot. yo, buddy! i got this. gimme one, gimme one, gimme one! the power of the "name your price" tool. only from progressive. "money" magazine's annual list of the best places in america takes to us the lonestar state into home to of southern methodist university. "money "named it the best place to be rich and single thanks to substantial housing, great parks and community happenings and of course right down the road is dallas. garden city new york on long island ranked second, concord, massachusetts third. they are the pride and joy of dallas for the seventh straight year. forbes names the cowboys the most valuable team in the nfl. they are worth $2.3 billion. new england patriots second valued at $1.8 billion which is about a hundred million more than the washington redskins in third. >> get the hell out of my house. >> i'm sorry mr. butler i didn't mean to make fun of your hero. >> oprah winfrey is boosting sales at the box office for "the butler." it should win the weekend. i heard that. >> good job. that's awesome. it is a 4-year-old hearing his mother's voice for the first time in his life thanks to the miracle of a cochlear implant. he can now hear. it will change his life forever. those are your number ones here on your weekends with alex witt. to master the quiet sneeze... 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[ male announcer ] it's the car you won't stop talking about. ever. hurry in to the volkswagen best. thing. ever. event. and get 0% apr for 60 months, now until september 3rd. that's the power of german engineering. welcome back to weekends with alex witt. a vanderbilt wide receiver has surrendered to police in nashville saturday for his alleged involvement in a rape cover up. chris boyd has been suspended from team pending further review. united nations inspectors are in damascus investigating syria's use of chemical weapons. syrian officials say they will cooperate. and in taiwan a baby panda has open her eyes for the first time. the zoo said it usually takes cubs 45 days to open their eyes. this one ahead of schedule at 41 days. the mother is becoming better at nursing after initially panicking when the cub cried in hunger. going right now to central idaho, hundreds of firefighters in a desperate battle against what's being called the most dangerous u.s. wildfire. this blaze has already scorched 100,000 acres. it's forced thousands of out of their homes and businesses. >> i don't know when we can re-open. whether we'll be back in three days or three weeks. it's just so hard to say. >> let's now go idaho we can get an update. any chance firefighters are close to getting this thing contained? >> reporter: they are working in that direction. the containment went from 6% to 9% and that may seem like a small number but this fire is growing in size so that containment line is shrinking but making progress. make no doubt this fire is still completely out of control. growing larger ripping across forestland overnight idaho's beaver creek fire the most threatening blaze in the country. >> this is extremely fast and dangerous fire. >> reporter: 2300 homes are in danger. a wall of flames marching towards three resort communities with plenty of dry fuel in its path. this inferno is moving in multiple directions. hundreds warned late last night. >> it's a beast. if they tell to you evacuate, go. >> reporter: with 700 firefighters on the ground crews are building containment lines and mopping up hot spots. meantime a steady air attack drops retardant where ground teams kraechbt. 100,000 acres here up in smoke. miles of rugged terrain and acres of dry brush, perfect fuel but wind worries firefighters most. >> how quickly can it spread? >> this fire can spread anywhere from 300 to 1,000 feet in an hour. >> reporter: with flames shooting into the air, this massive blaze in idaho just one of many scorching western states. >> the canyons presents very much a challenge to firefighters. >> reporter: in utah outside salt lake city at least ten homes destroyed. flames leaping a highway used as a firebreak. the fire season across the west kicking into high gear with no end in sight. in idaho alone this is just one of ten major wildfires that are burning out of control. the national guard has been called in to happen evacuees move out. winds are expected to kick up later on today. good news for firefighters it will be in the 80s as opposed to the 90s yesterday. >> just so hard. may i ask you very quickly, i know one person compared to the next everybody is suffering the same way but the resort town of sun valley, idaho, there are a lot of celebrity homes worth a lot of money there. what is the status of sun valley at this point, now? >> reporter: we're staying in sun valley. they are in pre-evacuation orders. everybody in sun valley have to evacuate at a moment's notice. an interesting note some of these private insurance companies have actually scene in their own firefighters to protect those multimillion dollar homes so they are certainly doing everything they can to keep back those flames. >> thank you so much. new reaction today from sabrina fulton the mother of trayvon martin about her efforts to change stand your ground rules. this morning she was on "meet the press" and told david gregory why she's advocating for change. >> the death of my son was so negative that we felt that we needed to do something positive to not only help us heal but to help other families of senseless gun violence and that's why we started the trayvon martin foundation, that's why we're going all over the country to the 21 states that have the stand your ground law to make some type of change. we understand it is not going to be done overnight, it's going take time to do this but we're in it for the long haul, we're in it, this is a part of my life now. >> fulton is touring the country speaking out about amending stand your ground laws and ending racial profiling. 50 years ago martin luther king, jr. stood on the steps of lincoln memorial and declared he had a dream. on the anniversary next week the nation's first african-american president will deliver a speech from that very same spot but for as long or as far as we have come the nation still faces major challenges to achieving real racial equality. joining me is clinton yates columnist for "the washington post" and james peterson. gentlemen welcome. good have you both. >> thanks. >> clinton i'll begin with you. 50 years later where do you think we are as a nation on this snish >> other in a decent place. what we need to understand the goal of race relations and the idea of making things better is not just about equality per se. the purpose of us wanting to be able to get along with each other it's better for everyone. that's something people fail to understand. it's not necessarily getting one person up to the speed of another it's that we all grow. >> make a really good point. james, your thoughts? >> i agree. mutuality or shared responsibility of any national community is a really important goal here. i think we have to be very critical of where we are at this moment. we've made some progress especially a lot of great symbolic progress but that progress sits alongside inequality and injustice. when you look at stand your ground laws, disparity in sentencing, stop-and-frisk, poverty, disproportionate of poverty within black communities there's a lot of work for us to do. what we're finding is that the tactics of the civil rights movement still thobld true. they represent the best way for us to draw attention to these problems. >> i want to pick up on what you said, james, the detail here. martin luther king 3rd came on and reminded us the full title of the job was march on washington for jobs and freedom. what do you think the state is now of economic equality? >> the unemployment rate between blacks and whites is similar today to what it was 50 years ago. so i mean not that much has changed. i think symbolically a lot of things have been done but there's a rooted system that's not designed for poor people, people of color or people who come to this country, immigrants. until we can assess the way you change that to make things better for everybody, speeches, protest rallies none of it matters unless you admit there's a fundamental issue that needs to change. >> what is the specific legislation ideas or reforms need to be done get that change under way? >> so there's so many different issues to address. if we look at just the criminal justice system obviously we need to repeal stand your ground. obviously we need to repeal things like stop-and-frisk at the municipal and state levels. obviously we have to take a real hard look at sentencing disparrist and the way in which the criminal justice system is overly aggressive. if we address those things and attorney general eric holder is work towards that. you had sabrina fulton talking about the work she's doing. people are working against these issues. some are all interrelated. if we address some of the challenges in the criminal justice system that want alleviates the challenges we have in poverty. when you have so many people in the criminal justice system that robs people from the work base. more specifically it robs them of the motivation to want to do something and to succeed. >> as a mom, i've got two kids and you have to add in education and bringing that to an equal level of opportunity. that may not happen overnight in terms of the change and the benefit from it, but boy that has got be a foundation of things as well. james, also what do you think the president should say when he takes the podium next week? >> a lot of people won't agree with me but i'm glad the president's speech is separate from the actual commemoration and continuation of the march. he's actually speaking on the day of, on the 28th where a lot of these other things are taking place. i think the president need reinscibe his administration has done. 's to say the words poverty. we talk a lot about middle class and bringing up the middle class. we have to talk about more how to get people whoa are poor into the middle class. >> listen i got to make it a wrap. good to see you both. be sure to note as we were talking about there msnbc will be next weekend in washington, d.c. we'll bring you fl coverage of the 50th anniversary march all day saturday. renovation work on the martin luther king, jr. memorial in washington has been completed ahead of next weekend's march. the inscription "i was a drum major for justice, peace and even righteousness" was removed. they said it made king sound like an arrogant twit. something got be corrected. >> i did not have a problem with it, myself. >> looking at it now i am a fan. >> dr. king is about peace and love and humanity. >> apply a sealant to the stone is the last thing to do which will happen just in time for the anniversary. >> the nfl's bag ban. is it really necessary? 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>> i would have. i commend the nfl for what they are doing. it's important to know the nfl as a league every year revises their policies and so in part of that revision this year was a look at what happened in boston and when we're talking about safety and security what we have are the events that have happened before us and lessons we can learn as well as how we can predict out. given what happened in boston i think this is a valuable and effective policy for them to under take. >> however, heretofore u not like they western doing anything. stadiums were searching bags. do you think a full bag ban is necessary >> this isn't a full bag ban. what they are doing they are allowing for clear plastic vinyl bags about the size of a one gallon ziploc bag to come in. key is clear. the preakness race in baltimore they did the same thing following boston. and what nfl is asking people to do is just restrict the size of the bag that they have and to make it clear so they can see what's in it. this is intended to expedite the security process that spectators go through when they enter a stadium. >> there are two are a bit cynical, i'll ask my director to put back up the picture of that bag. look this something that can be sold by nfl, it runs you about 12 bucks, got the nfl logo. some people are suggesting great money making venture here. is there anything to that at all? >> no. you know there's always -- there are always marketing opportunities. what the nfl is trying to do is actually expedite the process for information say here's a bag we know will go through. it's akin to tsa putting out the three ounce bags as you walk through the security line saying we approve these. ziploc one gallon storage bag does the same thing. >> there's a purse size, clutch bag no bigger than 4 1/2 x 6 inches. is that too small to be a threat considering what someone who is intent on doing harm might be able to cook up? >> you know the objective here is to create the ability for those who are checking bags to be next and effective and make sure nothing goes through. by keeping things clear, keeping things small that's helping that process. what the nfl has done is it's created a secondary perimeter so they can scan for prohibited items in that perimeter so when fans are entering that stadium it's a much faster process. >> a lot of local papers were talking to fans at pre-season games. there were a few complaints. one of them being that this rule alienates women. what do you think about that? >> the key to this policy is education and awareness. nobody likes to be surprised or likes to be restricted. we now know if i want to go through security fast you're not is going to wear a heavy belt, shoes that take a long time to untie or jewelry you have to take off. the nfl needs to focus on squaegs a education on this policy. there are stadiums right now, michigan state, university of michigan that don't allow any bags. the key to the nfl policy is to educate people so that they can come in and accommodate the policy to themselves wane that doesn't feel as intrusive as it does right now. >> thank you very much. in fact we reached out to the nfl to ask them about the new rules and here's what they said. the policy has been in place for more than 30 games so far and has been widely accepted. by the time we get to the start of the season fans will be even more familiar with the policy. in the big three the controversy over the bakery that refused to sell wading cake to a lesbian couple. some are returning out but not to protests. >> think people should have freedom of religion. and if that's the way they feel then that's their choice. discover card. i asked my husband to pay our bill, and he forgot. you have the it card and it's your first time missing a payment, so there's no late fee. really? yep! so is your husband off the hook? no. he went out for milk last week and came back with a puppy. hold it. hold it. hold it. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card with late payment forgiveness. a new study says the book that's dominated talk and world wide best certainly lists "fifty shades of grey" promotes abuse. the new study published in the latest journal of women's health says the steamy sense per per the it a emotional and sexual sex abuse of women. joining me now is a clinical psychologist and michigan state prove for. ladies, welcome. and amy i'll begin with you because you write christian uses an interlocking pattern of emotional abuse and strategy. he manipulates and controls every aspect of anastasia's behavior. how, though, does fiction translate to harming women? >> well, fiction -- this is a gross grand slammerization on violence against women. fiction or not it really is speaking to society's tolerance for violence against women. >> okay. on the flip side some women found this book empowering, liking this plain jane character able to exert a level of influence over a greek god millionaire. do you understand those sentiment? >> it's every woman's fantasy to turn a bad boy good but it's not reality. as amy said this normalizes the behavior. in many scenes this would be classified as rape. in her first scene her top is put over her face and arms restrained this is describe as rape. since this book has come out there's 79 cases of firefighters or ambulances being called because women are stuck in their handcuffs >> you're thinking the series glamourizes violence against women? >> yes. when you put this in every day language in a best seller it normalizes the behavior. many women think they are practices sexual freedom but they are adopting only the worst of male behavior. >> e.l. james who has made about 95 million off this trilogy addressed this controversy. "people who think that are sort of demonizing women who actually enjoy these kinds of relationships. what people get up to behind closed doors providing it's safe sane and legal is up to them and not i or anybody to judge." a quote coming from e.l. james. amy, what do you think >> the relationship in "fifty shades of grey" is not consensual. that's the first point. it violates every notion of what we know about consensual relationships. when alcohol is used it violates consent. when pressure is used it violates conseviolate s consensual consent. >> people who look at this if women want to do than it's legal and behind closed doors who are we to judge. >> like when we say it's okay to hit your child behind closed doors or domestic business. it's our business how women and children are treated. i do think there's a power imbalance. this dude is older, he makes a lot more money, has higher rank. she cannot consent. the important thing here is people need to educate themselves on what is a true s and m relationship, what the rules are, what the laws are. it's illegal to tie somebody up and leave them for a second. people need to learn what the reality is in an s and m relationship. >> i want to ask each of you quickly why you think this is the fastest selling paper back series? why is it so popular? >> this is the first time women have been given a venue to experience sexuality in an open way. men have had pornography and other things for many years. what e.l. james has done is woven in the romance into the novel as well. >> windy? >> i think it's the alure of forced sex. the most common fantasy is forced sex. i want has to be consensual. it's turning women on but contributing to the porn of america. >> thank you so much. thanks, ladies. ahead scotland yard's new information about the death of princess you were out sick last week. my asthma doesn't bother my family... you coughed all through our date night! i hardly use my rescue inhaler at all. what did you say? how about - every day? coping with asthma isn't controlling it. test your level of control at asthma.com, then talk to your doctor. there may be more you could do for your asthma. the beach on your tv is much closer than it appears. dive into labor day with up to 50% off hotels at travelocity. ♪ i want to be forever young [ male announcer ] we don't just wear clothes. we live life in them. keep clothes looking newer 50% longer with downy. a new clue scotland yard takes another closer look at the death of princess diana. why again? recipe for trouble? a bakery refuses to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple but does he have a right to refuse? >> the road show. what does president obama hope to gain? >> $15 an hour. where is mcdonald's paying that and why won't it pay that here? held jobs everyone welcome to weekends with alex witt. 1:00 here on the east, 10:00 out west. the crisis in egypt remains relatively calm today but there's still a large military presence in the streets of cairo. joining me now from cairo, our foreign correspondent. good evening your time. we know that yesterday the muslim brotherhood called for this coming week to be filled with protests. but we're hearing there are only small gatherings at this point today. what your seeing there on the ground? >> reporter: that's correct. there was confusion about the muslim brotherhood's protest today because at one point they did call for several marches and calling for them all week long but more importantly one today that was supposed to take place near the country's constitution corridor, equivalent of the supreme court didn't materialize. the muslim brotherhood was calling on its protesters to avoid taking to the streets, in fact almost cancelling the marches as a result of the situation on the ground. so it seems that the numbers that perhaps we've seen in recent days coming out to many of these marches did not materialize. whether or not that was from the actual orders of the muslim brotherhood or perhaps there was some kind of protest fatigue still remains to be seen. be more interesting to see what happens in the coming days. >> so, the op-ed this weekend, so many of them warning that egypt is on the brink of an insurgency and all out civil war. it looked like a war zone for sure last week. is there a sense in cairo it's going to get that bad? >> reporter: well, there's certainly the concern more so than the actual sense and there's several reasons for that. one egypt still has very strong state institutions besides the military but at least governor, municipalities, a lot of them are not in any way shape or form in danger of breaking down. what concerns people here more is the cohesion of the state, the identity of the state. that's the major concern. there are some parts of the country that are certainly becoming more lawless like the northern part of the sinai peninsula where we've seen a rise in militarism. so there's a concern that the cohesiveness of the state may be breaking down but not yet to the point you can see a full fledge confrontation between various power centers of the country. >> okay. thank you. from there let's go nbc christine walker who is in martha's vineyard, massachusetts. another good day to you. some pretty strong reaction from lawmakers about what's going on in egypt. what are they saying? >> reporter: there indeed was. there were two strains of debate today. one some lawmakers fanning out on the morning talk shows to say the obama administration hasn't been tough enough when it comes to dealing with egypt. i spoke with senior administration official about these allegations, you heard john mccain saying that america's foreign policy risks losing its credibility given the way it has handled egypt. administration officials won't directly respond to that criticism except to say that the president continues to review his policy when it comes to egypt and, of course, just this past week he did announce that they would be cancelling military exercises that were slated to take place next month. the second part of the debate, alex, is really over this issue of aid. the largest point of leverage that the obama administration has over egypt right now, $1.5 billion, the bulk of that which goes to the military. what you had today, alex and what you saw today were lawmakers on both sides of the aisle arguing that the obama administration should withhold or at least withdraw some of that aid. take a listen to what two lawmakers had to say on "meet the press." >> unfortunately, i think the military has gotten the impression, particularly with what the president not asking for aid to be suspended when he spoke this week that whatever they do we'll continue our aid. so i do support suspending aid at this time. >> one of the obvious facts of a transition from a totali the afternoon rian government to a democracy takes a long time and it's not a straight line. we need a policy that expresses our outrage at the military but gives the president the tools to, we hope engage them. >> reporter: not everyone greed. peter king argued aid shouldn't be withdrawn. he talked about the complicated relationship that the u.s. has with egypt, the importance of the suez canal, israelis don't want the united states to withhold aid. so it's a really complicated diplomatic problem that the obama administration is aiming to solve. the president is leaving his vacation today. egypt will be a big topic of conversation tomorrow. >> thank you. joining me now defense reporter from politico and msnbc contributor. hello to both of you. the president cancelled the u.s. military papgs in next month's training exercise with the egyptian military. how much pressure is the obama administration under and what do you think their next move will be? >> they are under a lot of pressure. you're hearing republicans and democrats on what's going on. the pressure point is about this $1.5 billion in aid. that's where the pressure point is going to come from. congress is going to be back in a couple of weeks and you'll hear more criticism from john mccain, lindsey graham on that issue and the obama administration is under a lot of pressure. we're not sure cutting off aid will help the situation. it's not a clear cut answer. president is taking gradual steps. the aid is a big step and seem not ready to take that. >> i'm curious, can you articulate why it's so critical for the obama administration to maintain its relationship with egypt. how much is really at stake here >> there's quite a bit at stake and important to note that the relationship between the obama administration and egypt has been tenuous for some time and a long term political headache. as lindsey graham said earlier today if there's a breakdown in that relationship it can mean a lot more instability with relationship with israel, a hike in gas prices. it can rock the egyptian economy. there's a lot of economic as well as geopolitical questions and concerns as the obama administration weighs what it will do next. the president wrapping up his vacation today. heading back to d.c. later on today. we'll be having that two "today" bus tour throughout new york and pennsylvania that's thursday and friday where he's promoting his middle class message. how are republicans reacting to what they've heard so far? >> they are large not reacting at all. they are either opposing the idea. most of the ideas he's posing is pre-school, stimulus spending to increase the economy. they are opposed to a lot of the ideas. they are ignoring a lot of ideas. this bus stotour is a broader ae move towards september on,000 fund the government and increase the debt ceiling. that's what the president will talk about in a broader way. he'll try to lay out the case for why the economy is growing and expanding but that's tenuous and we can't afford to have more government cuts. that's the broader message. he's trying to prepare the country for that debate. >> besides giving these speeches what do you think the president hopes to accomplish. what kind of tangible results is he hoping to achieve? >> a revitalization. he needs to reinstall feint people that things are getting better and show results. this president has talked a lot about economic inequality of america. these speeches will be very highly watched. thank you. more front page politics. new reaction from key lawmakers to that "the washington post" report concerning the nsa. the nsa broke privacy rules, overstepped its authority thousands of times since 2008. here's republican congressman peter king and richard blumenthal. >> it worked. if you have 99.99% compliance and you have self-reporting errors this came from an internal report which then becomes an overall i.g. report. i'm on the intelligence committee. i'm satisfied we're told what the nsa is doing. >> the problem and it's a real problem is with the system. it's a black box that fisa court the foreign intelligence surveillance court is a secret tribunal issuing secret opinions make being secret law and a lot of it completely unavailable to members even of the foreign intelligence committees. >> those documents published by "the washington post" were leaked by edward snowden. a surprise announcement from scotland yard, they are taking another look at the death of princess diana and her companion dodi fayed. joining me from london with the details is mandy clark. good day to you. what can you tell bus this? >> reporter: scotland yard said it only recently received new information about their deaths and was now quoting assessing its relevance and credibility but did not elaborate on what the new clues are that they are investigating. she died 16 years ago but diana, princess of wales stills makes headlines. the announcement from scotland yard came in a flury and it was brief. they were examining new information about the deaths of diana and home run boyfriend, dodi fayed in a paris car crash. the claims splashd across the british panners shocking allegations the two were murdered by a soldier a member of britain's elite special forces. these new allegations were brought by family members of another former sas soldier and passed on the police. skeptics were quick to respond to the latest news. >> we'll get this every year prior to the anniversary of the death of diana, princess of wales. i think the police did a thorough investigation. >> reporter: this year's claims comes just weeks before the opening of a movie about the life and love the of diana. >> just treat me like a princess. >> reporter: conspiracy theories and the death of her boyfriend have dogged the family. her father fought unsuccessfully in courts. repeated investigations determined the driver was drunk when he lost control of the car and hit a cement pillar at 80 miles per hour. trailed by the paparazzi. police sources last night dismissed the claims as being without any serious or supporting evidence but say they have to investigate every tip. scotland yard stressed it has not re-opened the investigation. so, i have to ask you, i'm curious how it's playing out there. really are people on the street taking this seriously or is this just sort of tabloid fodder? >> reporter: i'm afraid i didn't catch your whole question, but there's a lot of skepticism around the claims and certainly the timing of the claims. so it's very difficult to know how seriously they are investigating. the police have emphasized it must be investigated but there's a lot of questions certain lui here in britain about the legitimacy around these claims. >> you answered the question just fine. thank you very much, mandy clark in london. the polls and pundits indicate cory booker is about to win the new jersey senate race. but the man who is here is doing all he can to stop him. that's next. [ male announcer ] away... is as much about getting there... ♪ ...as it is being there. ♪ [ birds chirping ] away is where the days are packed with wonder... ♪ [ wind whistles ] ...and the evenings are filled with familiar comforts. find your away. for a dealer and the rv that's right for you, visit gorving.com. the battle for u.s. senate new jersey is in full swing with nominees selected for both parties ahead of the october 16th special tloex fill the seat of the late senator frank lautenberg. democratic mayor cory booker and steve lonegan won their respective primaries last week. and so now here with me is steve lonegan. welcome. i'm glad to ask you this. i have a bunch of questions. how tired are you of everybody saying this is a race that is cory booker's to lose. how does that affect way you approach things. >> liking the underdog because it's is going to be even better when cory booker lose on october 16th. >> up say that with certainty. >> a lot of certainty. >> based on what? >> based on the fact we have the energy on the ground, the issues are on my side cory booker is on the wrong side of every issue. >> let's take a look at new jersey. first of all, cory booker himself is a rising star in the department party. he made national news as you know from saving a woman from a burning house. he's some sort of a hero that way. he's a prolific use of twitter. he's got this cultural surge his way. but let's take a look at the quinnipiac poll numbers which shows he's leading you by 54-29% among registered voters. how do you feel about those numbers. how do you turn that around. >> that latest quinnipiac poll was three weeks ago. i come from new jersey. identify been married for 32 years. raised two beautiful daughters. i treatment people of new jersey. i don't that have hollywood elite supporting me. i know the values of my state and i know what it takes to turn the state around. i'm deeply concerned about what's happening to the country and state out of the obama administration and this election october 16th in new jersey will be a referendum on the obama agenda and i think i know people know where i'm going on this. >> they say the president is a fan of cory booker's and you say that's the reason why you would beat cory book center >> absolutely. cory booker is a bigger fan of the president. he said obama care is not just good but it's great and despite all of its failures and despite this is a real disaster for our economy he wants to implement it even fachter. he supports the president's common core education of our kids, bigger government, more borrowing, more debt, everything that's bad for this country. >> let's take a look at the state in which you're running from. despite electing republican governors, chris christie is a reliably blue state. the latest poll shows president obama with 58% approval poll. don't you think being linked with the president might be a bonus for cory book center >> my message is a message of individually better. at a time with the nsa we're finding out more and more about the nsa intrusion into our privacy cory booker supports the nsa. he's on the wrong side of obama care. he's on the wrong side of economic policies that's pick being away at our economy. cory booker has failed as mayor of newark and fail as senator from new jersey. i'll represent the core values of our state that i've gone up with. cory booker is too liberal for new jersey and the entire country. >> let's talk about the republican party as a whole you're looking to them to support you. but there's a big rift in the party. you have mitch mcconnell facing a huge primary bolt with matt bevin. priebus wrapping up the meetings, he said they should avoid labels, use this word republican. >> it depends what they mean by that. we need to return to a country that embraces small business not big government. country that protects us from our enemies not spy on us. that's the direction goipt. i want america to be a country ever limited government that releases the limited ability of americans to produce. i don't care if you call it conservative, libertarian, that's what i stand for. >> you talked about your background. how much do you think that is sort of point on which you need run and make that message known to vote snooirts enormously important. i built a small business. i made kitchen cabinets in paterson, new jersey. that's about as down and dirty as ku get. cory booker never created a real job in his life or phoney business called way wire. identify never been handed a free business by the hollywood elite or silicon moguls. i care about the jobs i created for the men and women i created the jobs for. that's the back bone of our economy. >> well, steve lonegan thank you very much for your time and good luck in the election coming up in five short weeks. >> luck is important too. >> absolutely luck. thank you so much. we should also say we would be welcome cory booker on the show at any point to come in and make his case. let's talk about mcdonald's. you're looking at the mighty m. mcdonald's in australia pays workers $15 an hour. why do they do it there and why doesn't it happen here. we got straighten that out. 5,000 data samples per second. which is good for business. because planes use less fuel, spend less time on the ground and more time in the air. suddenly, faraway places don't seem so...far away. ♪ humans. we are beautifully imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world. that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back, offering exclusive products like optional better car replacement, where if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. call... and ask an insurance expert about all our benefits today, like our 24/7 support and service, because at liberty mutual insurance, we believe our customers do their best out there in the world, so we do everything we can to be there for them when they need us. plus, you could save hundreds when you switch, up to $423. call... today. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? getting the right nutrition during your busy day can be a challenge. take control of your nutrition with each delicious bar provides boost bars are perfect with a meal or as a nutritious snack. plus, they are available in chocolate and peanut butter chocolate flavors. a great-tasting way to get the nutrition you need. brand power. helping you buy better. ine today's ups and downs the oracle of omaha hits a slump. first what's up dpurnl. lost of tractors. "wall street journal" says farm equipment sales are the highest in three decades thanks in part to federal tax breaks but the buying spree could hit the skids next year. warren buffer fete's berkshire hathaway, the s&p 500 out performed his top ten holdings by 4% last quarter. even so his stock on friday soared $322 to more than $173,000 a share. now you'll need a share and a half of berkshire stock to raise a child. middle income parents have to shell out roughly $241,000 until their child becomes 18 which is 3% more from last year's estimate. that doesn't include college. law and order has dome the west. >> the summer blockbuster s like "the lone ranger" has bean bummer. most of the hits were sequels and observers say that encourages studios to crank out more sequels. he's an upstanding citizen of san francisco after finding a wallet containing a check and $4,000 in cash. that store was able to put the wallet's owner in touch with the man who saved the day. >> i wouldn't want to be responsible for somebody that was trying to pay a mortgage, could have paid it and had to miss it for some reason. >> well, the wallet's owner gave this samaritan and his wife a huge hug and gave them a fwrat attitude for their honesty. that's your ups and downs for this weekends with alex witt. the average pizza dinner out is over $8.00 a meal. this digiorno dinner from walmart is less than $2.30 a serving. replacing one pizza dinner out a week saves your family of 4 over $1,200 a year. save money. live better. walmart. welcome back to weekends with alex witt. at half past the hour here's your fast five headlines. more hot shot firefighters arrived in idaho to battle a wildfire that has grown to 4400 square miles. three resort towns are in the path much those flames. a petition drive to recall embattled san diego mayor bob filner begins today. he returns to work tomorrow after his behavior therapy and sexual claims from more than a dozen women. penn state settled the first of 31 civil lawsuits stemming from jerry sandusky's years of child sex abuse. terms of the deal with victim number five was not released. oscar pistorius is slated to appear in court tomorrow where he's expected to be indicted for premeditated murder. and in southwest oregon whatever cause ad fire on this tractor-trailer car carrier is still one investigation. last night's fire cause a four mile back up for a couple of hours. and those are your fast five headlines. new reaction today on the crisis in egypt from lawmakers here in the u.s. senator lindsey graham who just returned from an unsuccessful round ever negotiations in egypt said he believes the violence will get much worse. >> where are we headed? we're headed for algeria. you'll have an armed insurgency not protesters on your hands in the next 60 days or 90 days and we'll have a failed state in egypt and have to suspend our aid because we can't support the reaction of the military. >> joining me now is professor of international relations at the london school of economics and author of recently released "obama and the middle east, end of america's moment." welcome. nice to see you. so let's talk about what senator graham was saying there. he's talking about the 1991 election in algeria where the islamist party looked like it was is going win and the military called it off and sparked a bloody civil war. do you expect a similar result in egypt? >> i don't think egypt is algeria. there are major dinchs between algeria and egypt. let's look at egypt of the early 1990s. there was a low intensity insurgency. egypt between 1990 and 1997 in which the security photoses decimated the militant islamist movement. thousands were killed and injured. i think the bigger point is not about algeria, the bigger point is if "the cycle" continues in egypt, there is a high probability that egypt could descend into all out politically driven violence and have major implications not just for the politics of egypt but also for the economy of egypt and regional civility as well. >> then is there a scenario for some sort of peaceful outcome or do both sides see this as an all or nothing fight. where is there a middle ground? >> you know, alex, i visit egypt quite often. i've lived in egypt for many years. i worked on egypt. i've never seen egypt as decently divided along ideology, social and political lines as it is today. in fact egypt today is more polarized than it was under mubarak. why? both camps view this conflict as life and death. this is not about politics. both camps basically view it as a struggle for the future identity of the egyptian state. what kind of a state? how civil? how secular? how religious? that's why it seems to me that both camps are going for broke. and there's no neutral third force to really bridge the divide. you need a third force. an outside force in order to bring about some reconciliation and political compromise. that's what egypt need today. >> i guess you could say how democratic. one of my guests yesterday on the program said in terms of egypt not everybody is ready for democracy. what do you think about that statement? >> i would say with all respect, alex, it's rubbish. why it's rubbish and nonsense. for the simple reason egypt lived under the political authoritarianism for 60 years. fragile political institutions, deficit trust. the authoritarian regime basically used divide and conquer tactics to keep society fragmented and splintered. what you're seeing in egypt for american viewers is the birth pains of a new system. it will take years, decades for institutions to be built, to trust, to basically build between the political force. this is normal. nothing unique about what egyptians going through. we americans, french, iranians, this is the difficult process. we're living in this particular moment but ultimately i believe in a decade or so egyptians will be able to reach the safe harbor, i hope. >> you're saying a decade. you're talking about how long it will take. that's a long time for the world to stand by and see the kind of atrocities being perpetrated on its citizens by its own military. >> alex, no one is suggesting and i hope i'm right this bloodbath will not continue in egypt. this is a unique moment. both camps are pitted against each other. you need reconciliation. you need a neutral third force come in and help them find a way out. the difficult question now, how do you find a way out of that? how do you stop the bloodshed? how do you stop egypt plunging into all out confrontation. then the process of reconciliation and institution building, i mean starts. let's remember that this is basically you have set backs. this is one of the major set backs in the institutionalization process. >> certainly a major setback. we'll see how long it plays out. thank you very much. a show of defiance in russia against russia's new anti-gay propaganda law. two athletes kissed afterwards. the law bans exhibition of sexuality and there's talks of olympic boycott. >> there's one day strikes to protest low pay. much different story in australia where mcdonald's workers are paid ready for this, $15 an hour. if they can do it there why can't we do it here. joining me is business editor with the atlantic who wrote an article recently on this topic. okay, jordan, why can they do this in australia and not here? >> you know, it's a really interesting question. part of the answer is very simple, in australia they pay more for their burgers. labor is about 30% of the cost or depending on the estimate about 30% of the cost of a big mac. if it's going to cost more to hire workers your burger will cost extra. the interesting thing and there's economists that looked at this, every penny extra of labor costs doesn't necessarily go straight to the cost of your fast food. why is that? because the people who run these restaurants are smart businessmen and find ways to save where they can. let's look at australia or places like europe. europe, actually, mcdonald's gets more revenue than they do in north america or the united states. what do they do? well, for one they try to sell higher end products wherever possible with a bigger profit margin. moreop using technology. why? because when workers become more expensive they become a little -- the machines, like a touch jean you can order your burger that becomes cheaper. >> does that mean that they have per big mac fewer employees having to put that together and so those employees that they are hiring and employing can get more money, is that what that is? >> partly. that's a story we often talk about in economics which is the growth of productivity. one worker can do more. they become more valuable and be paid more. and unfortunately sometimes it means fewer workers in the restaurant and that's one of the trade offs. that was the stoir heard over and over as i talked to people about how mcdonald's works in these high wage countries which is, you know, they do what they can to save. you know, part of that is giving their workers more responsibility which is great and there have been studies in the united states that shows when minimum wage goes up in the deep south part of what happens workers do more and find ways to make paying their workers more worth to it the restaurant. there are these things like in australia for instance the full time minimum wage or the minimum wage for a full time adult worker is $15. for teenagers it's a bit less. what happens in australia they tend to kind of lean a little heavier on younger and part time labor. >> okay. i understand that part time concept. what would happen the fast food workers got their wish and minimum wage here in the u.s. jumped to $10, $15 or so and got on par with australia. would fast food franchises be able to cope with that >> if it happened overnight i think, you know, people i talked to kind of said it would be traumatic. but would we actually make a change like that in the united states to snap our fingers and up the minimum wage? no. we would do it over time. from what we've seen, these restaurants find ways to adjust. does that mean a $15 minimum wage is right for the united states? maybe not. what it comes down to just because you have to pay your workers more doesn't mean every burger king, wendy, kfc will go out of business and paying $10 for our burgers. there's no evidence that's the case. >> it's a fascinating article. thanks for coming on to talk to us about it. >> a bakery refuses to sell a wedding dike a lesbian couple and ignites the battle over freedoms. the big three weighing in next. 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>> well, i think no question about it violent crime will go up. again this is not a program. this is something that's intrical to policing. this happens throughout america. any police jurisdiction. you have to do it. officers have to have the right of inquiry if they see some suspicious behavior. >> okay. your thoughts on this, robert? >> he's absolutely right it does happen all across america it's called racial profiling. back back in 20112011, 264,000 peopl were stopped and frisked. this is a major problem. this is racial profiling. the mayor may say this may save thousands of people. i don't know that. do i know when you walk down the street while black or get out of a cab or get into a cab and because you're a certain ethnicity it gives the police the right to frimbg ysk you. they need to find a middle ground. it's ridiculous. >> in terms of what new york city is doing, it is appealing the judge's decision to appoint a federal monitor to oversee this stop-and-frisk. mayor bloomberg said reforms could return the city back to danger. what's your reaction? >> that may the rubble. that may not. i'm with jean on this. i said this about a month ago. i have no problem with stop-and-frisk as long as it's applied to white people too. at the end of the day let's be honest what's happening in new york city. white kids who live on the upper west side and upper east side walk ago round with marijuana are just as guilty of committing a crime as their black brothers and sisters are but they are not being stopped. so if you're going to have stop-and-frisk you can't just say only black people, you have to say everybody. if you're going to do this and want to make new york city safe stop white kids too. >> the president of naacp also reacted to this. here's that. >> we're now at a point where you have more stop-and-frisks of young black men in new york city than there are young black men in new york city. that's why charles blow said and why the judge quoted him in saying it's like burning down the house to rid them of mice. >> any legitimate role for stop-and-frisk in helping cops stop crime? >> absolutely the mayor thinks that there is although mayor bloomberg doesn't want to talk about it, doesn't want oversight of it doesn't want a debate about this policy. that's at that problem. new yorkers are just as interested in their own security. new yorkers in good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods want their neighborhoods to be safe but they also want to talk about this and have this debate in a can't help thinking when you see that police have stopped one man eight times from going into his own building what are the police not doing. who are they not stopping. it takes an enormous amount of time and resources. >> i got to play something for our next topic. it's about religious freedom or discrimination. listen to this tape. here it is. >> huge influx of business. i think people are really coming out and showing their support. snoo >> ever since a lesbian couple filed a complaint with the state saying he refused to make them a wedding cake his business has been boosted. >> i think people should have freedom of religion, and if that's the way they feel then that's their choice. >> but the state says there are laws to follow when you own a business. laws against discrimination. the oregon equality act of 2007 protects the rights of people based on their sexual orientation. >> department of justice can fine me up to $50,000 if they feel i discriminated against somebody. they have to make that decision. designee says he won't back down and his bakery has its share of supporters. >> go buy a cake somewhere else. why come after these people. >> but portland resident april fisher say it's the gay couple that was wronged. >> i don't feel he's being respectful of rights. we've come a long ways from those days when it was okay to say no you can't come in to my restaurant because you're a different color. >> so this is all about a lesbian couple who went to this bakery and said would you make our wedding cake. nope i won't do it. i know you have a lot to say about this. stay right there we'll talk about it on the other side. protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. and launch your dreams. "stubborn love" by the lumineers did you i did. email? so what did you think of the house? did you see the school ratings? oh, you're right. hey babe, i got to go. bye daddy! have a good day at school, ok? ...but what about when my parents visit? ok. i just love this one... and it's next to a park. i love it. i love it too. here's our new house... daddy! you're not just looking for a house. you're looking for a place for your life to happen. glass on floors. daily chores. for the little mishaps you feel use neosporin to help you heal. it kills germs so you heal four days faster. neosporin. use with band-aid brand bandages. so, we're back with the big three in our topic religious freedom or discrimination. we're posing it this way. we have this owner of the oregon bakery refused to stel a lesbian couple a wedding cake. he said it's his religious freedom. you have other businesses who have signs in the window say no shirt, no shoes, no service. so where do you draw the line? >> well, unfortunately this is a very difficult issue. as a gay american, i am absolutely appalled that someone would not celebrate someone else's love for another person. however, i can also understand someone else's religious beliefs about this. so i really go right down the middle with this one, because frankly, if in fact the small business owner who has the right to believe whatever he or she believes, let me refer you to somebody else, that's their right. it's different from no shirt or flip-flops or something like that. we're talking about someone's belief or interpretation of a lifestyle. it's obviously something i feel strongly about. i really struggle with this one. >> i'll bet. jimmy, you have the american family association which supports the bakery, saying, look, it's the baker's first amendment right to not sell a cake to a lesbian couple. is that a valid argument? >> not really. i get the theory of religious freedom. your religion is a percentasona matter. if you're going to be in the business of having a business, a small business or large business, you don't have any business forcing your religious beliefs down a consumer's throat. congress will be clear on this. they've brought authority to say if you have a business for public consumption, you cannot discriminate. oregon law says exactly the same thing. so we have a problem here. these people have a conviction that they're trying to force down someone's throat. they didn't say, we have a religious belief and we want you to put that on our cake, they just want to buy a cake. it doesn't matter if they're two women or a man and a woman. >> but if it is a private business, jimmy, i mean -- >> but it's a private business, but for public consumption. if they want to only sell guns to white gun owners, they should have a business that says, white guns for sale. this is -- to me this is remarkably clear. i get the issue of religious freedom, but not when you're trying to impose your religious beliefs on someone else. the gay couple was not trying to impose their religious beliefs on the owner. >> you make that point. that's a good one. similar cases certainly have come up, patricia, in washington state, colorado. remember that controversy as well involving chie ining chick? there are those people who also oppose same-sex marriage and they showed up in droves. you had lines streaming out the door. and what ends up happening is they give these business owners more business. what's your take on that? >> well, i think the great thing about a boycott is there are no rules against a boycott. but i think that like jimmy said, the law is clear in terms of a business that operates in the public space, not being allowed to discriminate. this business owner is very clear, he did not want to sell this cake to the women because they're lesbians. that's a clear case of discrimination. they were not asking him to perform the marriage. i think if there was an atheist saying they wouldn't bake a cake for a child's baptism, i think that would be equally offensive. >> all right. i've got about 45 seconds, which means 15 seconds apiece for you guys to tell me what your must-reads on. patricia? >> there was a terrific piece in the "wall street journal" this week with farmers struggling with their work force graying. grandparents picking onions without immigration reform. they don't have the work force it needs. even the workers they have are not able to do the job. so to me the rest of the country has a big problem. >> robert? >> the philadelphia enquirer has a great story on the overall school strike. a must-read for any parent or teacher out there. >> jimmy? >> frank bernie of "the new york times" saying there's another bush out there that people keep foregetting about. his name is, governor bush of florida. jeb bush. he might run for president in 2016. >> come on. i haven't forgotten about that guy. neither have any of you. thank you all so much. that's a wrap of this sunday edition of "weekends with alex witt." up next, "meet the press." so i'm checking out the jetta. 34 hwy mpg. check. no-charge scheduled maintenance. check. and here's the kicker... 0% apr for 60 months. and who got it? this guy. and who got it? this guy. and who got it? this guy. that's right... 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