Weeks after pregnancy rather than 24. Governor wolf you see there, who is prochoice, called it too restrictive and cruel because there arent any exemptions for rape and incest. Supporters say new medical advances mean fetuses are viable at an even earlier stage and must be protected. So, val, was this legislative effort and given the fact that they dont really seem to have any push to override wolfs veto when it comes in, is this legislative effort more symbolic than anything else . I think its a chance to put the governor on the record as to whether you know, right now in the united states, were just one of seven countries around the world that allows abortions after 20 weeks, and conservatives in the house felt strongly that we need to put Governor Wolf on the record on this. Keep in mind this is only gonna outlaw about 400 abortions a very small portion of abortions. And as medical science has progressed, we see that viability has been moved to about 20 weeks. We want to join about a dozen other states that do this, that outlaw it after 20 weeks, and, also, outlaws a very cruel procedure where you actually tear the baby limb from limb and pull it out first. So conservatives in the house felt it was important for folks to go on the record on this and say where they stand. I agree with them on that. The governor actually lobbied against this bill. We would have gotten more democrat votes for this. We did a good number of democrat votes. We would have gotten more. It was bipartisan. And, you know, the rape and incest is an important thing to talk about, but thats really a red herring. This is a governor that would not approve any restrictions on any abortions, up until the very last day of the term of the baby, including pulling them out of the womb and doing that gruesome procedure where they put a scissor in the back of the head and suck out the skull. So this is not a governor who wants to compromise or talk about abortions and how tragic the loss of innocent life is. This is one whos gonna use those issues as red herrings. So symbolic, yes. Also sets up the gop candidates for governor next year, where they stand. Well, but its not a new issue that divides the republican and democratic perspectives on this issue, both its medical and personal and social contexts. So it has value, and particularly in a tough election year, which 2018 is going to be. But to think that tom wolf was not already welldefined in terms of his point of view i think might be underselling his point of view, and i dont see this as being overridable. Yeah. They clearly dont have the votes to override the veto. It was a symbolic measure, to vals point, to kind of put the governor on the record. But the governors been on the record on this, and this is something even his veto is something that hes kind of promoted and saithat hes already going to do and has found some stability among his base by taking that position. I think there is an underlying point, reading in between vals sentences, which is that it electrifies the base. And so it is politically relevant in a close election, especially when youre looking to sort of, you know, charge up folks who would otherwise vote against somebody, this becomes a hottopic issue that electrifies a base that is very prolife. Now, it could also have a counter effect. It could also bring out the folks who are just as strong with the prochoice sentiments that can also come out. But we dont have a lot of topics right now that are creating a sense of energy. We dont have a trump running or trumplike person running. At least right now, its not clear exactly who will emerge from the gop. Ill get to you on this, sam. I want to expand on this. Politically uncorrected, Terry Madonna column just came out. Hes one of our panelists here. He talks about, you know, wolf and the coming Reelection Campaign and all the other gop candidates who want to jump in, and madonnas column breaks it down into three categories as to whether or not wolf will have much of a chance number one, national mood, number two, voters desire for change, and, number three, wolfs record. And this is what madonna said about that, and it probably ruffled some feathers with the Wolf Administration. He said, while wolf has houdinilike escaped voter wrath for the fiscal hijinks pervading in harrisburg, he has also failed to substantially advance anything that he could call a coherent agenda. Coherent agenda. Thats what makes both him vulnerable and remarkable that hes in as strong a position as he appears to be, although his latest polls are not great. But fighting the culture war and i am hesitant to put abortion in that category, because i think abortion from both perspectives is a strongly morally held point of view. But fighting the culture war is exactly the way that a republican can win in a bad year nationally for republicans. So i understand it in that context. Its coming in december, right before the holiday, so it will be fresh in terms of 2018. But it strikes me that this is going to be a campaign that will be fought over wolfs record. And the fact of terrys commentary about wolfs record and the strategic arc of what the Wolf Administration is about is a big problem for them, because they do not have much to campaign on. So you would agree with madonnas comments . Apparently, wolf i think the most important comment could turn out to be the first one, in which the National Wolf needs to nationalize the election, and the republicans need to locailize it. Three budgets. He didnt sign one of them. Three budgets passed without his influence. And the last budget round of negotiations, he was awol. Couldnt find him in the capital some days. The first budget, he proposed the largest tax increase in pennsylvania history. Huffington post called him the most liberal governor in america. Couldnt get that through. Didnt sign that budget. Second budget, where republicans sending him resolutions to keep Vital Social Services open while the budget was closed things like Domestic Violence and Mental Health and retardation he vetoed those. Another budget gets passed. He didnt sign that one. It becomes law. Same thing this year. He was awol. Then we sent him a pensionreform bill, one that really had some teeth in it, really had some fiscal solvency for pennsylvania. Vetoed that. Vetoed a liquorreform bill that would have privatized the state stores, and then signs two watereddown versions of those. Hes got no record to run on. David, what does he run on . I mean, what he runs on, i mean, beer and wine in grocery stores. Thats a new thing for pennsylvania. Begrudgingly. Begrudgingly. Nonetheless, he got that done. I think you also look at, you know, when Governor Wolf took office, he took office being the first person to unseat a governor. And i think going into this race, you have to ask yourself, is he in a better or worse position than his predecessor . I would think that hes in a better position than his predecessor right now going into a reelection year. How about this . Maybe you want to talk about this, ajay John Fetterman. When you see him, you know who he is. Hes a very large man, but hes the mayor of braddock. He seems to garner a lot of support from people who may be, like, Bernie Sanders supporters. Very progressive. Ed rendell has endorsed him, even though mike stack is the incumbent Lieutenant Governor. Could a John Fetterman be a big advantage for Governor Wolf in the race . No, i dont think so. I think having stack as the Lieutenant Governor candidate in a general election when you vote as a ticket helps, because he brings in the southeastern votes. But what fetterman has said already i mean, look, he has essentially said that the Lieutenant Governor position is the catcher on the tball team position, meaning its useless. Hes using it as a stepping stone to become a senator. So i dont know if fetterman helps Governor Wolf. I think for political and strategic reasons, you want a southeastern base, northeast philadelphia. Notwithstanding Lieutenant Governor stacks controversies, hes still extremely popular. He can bring out some votes from southeastern pennsylvania. In the modern era of politics, only one Lieutenant Governor has ever ascended to a Higher Office other than by vacating the governorship, and that was raymond shafer, and nobody can remember him. Mark singel, Mark Schweiker they became governor because their governors were unhealthy in one case and took a new position in the other. This is the worst move, in my opinion. Jim cawley probably in recent history was probably the most engaged, impactful Lieutenant Governor. Right. But otherwise, its an empty position. But for fetterman to do this is to put himself where he has this outsider kind of mantra. Now hes in the inside baseball lane. This is i think a terrible move. Stacks the only guy in philadelphia who dresses better than ajay. [ laughs ] well, to that same point, you know, John Fettermans someone whos taken on wearing dickies suits as a uniform. And that may, you know, help the governors cool factor in a reelection race, but i dont know that it helps him, you know, build the bridges that he needs to in the southeast. The dickies suits, you know, appeal to some demographic. I know he has a tattoo of his zip code. And braddock is a majority minority city, so hes found those crosssections there. But to ajays point, its gonna be really hard for him to kind of break in in Southeast Pennsylvania the way that the Lieutenant Governor has. Not to mention the contrast, one thats extremely dynamic. And you have Governor Wolf, who is much more measured. Might overshadow him. Yeah. I think it would be a distraction. Okay. Lets talk about Philadelphia City council. We had mayor james kenney here on inside story last week. Talked about the big deal with School Reform, how they want theyre already gonna have a school board to come in. Mayor kenney plans to begin appointing members of a new school board sometime early in the new year, a board that will take over for the disbanded School Reform commission during the summer. City Council Passed a bill and a resolution that would have members confirm the mayors appointments, so they want a piece. David, how do you think School Board Members should be appointed, elected, what have you . Well, ultimately, i think School Board Members should be elected. If you really want to have local control and local accountability, thats the best way to do that. But, you know, this stage where the mayor essentially has all of the appointment power, but youre giving the city council the ability to kind of vet their appointments i think puts City Council Members in a precarious situation, where theyre tying themselves to the success or failure of this new Reform Commission or this new school board without really having the ability to pick and choose who should be on that school board. I think the whole focus on governance is silly. Right. I mean, you know, the src, the elected school board what is seven, nine people gonna whats the difference . The fact of the matter is that were looking at a billiondollar cumulative deficit over the next five years by transitioning from the statecontrolled src to the municipally controlled school board. Weve also transferred all the responsibility for funding that problem, with some help from the state, which we didnt get as much as we were looking for, but now its our problem. And what difference does it make in a nontaxing Authority School district who the members of the school board are . Yeah. Till youre gonna get serious about tenure and protecting teachers that arent doing well and ghost teachers and all the other corruption and mismanagement there. To sams point, i dont see how changing the governance is gonna change that. You still have the unions on both sides of the negotiation table in every discussion. Until you start doing something to address why 60 of the kids dont read at grade level and why half of them arent gonna graduate, until you start empowering parents by giving them different options and different choices, nothings gonna change in philadelphia. I asked mayor kenney what taxes are gonna go up. He said he doesnt want to talk about defunding it, cause he wants to work on the whole structure of how this is gonna look. But taxes have to go up, right . Yeah. And it looks like they may claw back the property tax abatement, which is gonna have dramatic effects at the realestate boom that weve seen over the last 20 years in philadelphia. So, you know, that balance is gonna be a difficult one and one that i think City Council Members are gonna be on the fault line of, picking some of the folks and then ultimately having to enact whatever taxes need to make up for the deficit that the School District is running on. More taxes. Lets talk more taxes here. Are people in the Delaware Valley and Lehigh Valley gonna get a tax cut next year . Doug jones, as you know, won the senate seat in alabama. The democrat wont be sworn in till sometime in january. So republicans need to act fast. They need to get this tax bill in. But they have people like marco rubio, mike lee, susan collins. John mccain is not well right now. Senator pat toomey, as you know, is one of the people the only senator in our region, by the way, whos for the tax bill, and hes the only republican. But hes working on this plan. Are they gonna get this done before doug jones gets into the senate . cause that seems to be like you know, thats when the button gets pushed. I think they are gonna get it done, but i dont know what its gonna look like. And to your first question, how will it affect us. [ chuckles ] the way that theyre doing this bill, with theyre marking it up, literally the word markup, i now understand what it means. You take a pen out, and you mark it up, you know, and you make a xerox copy and pass it around. They have to pass this, because if they dont, this congress did nothing. Going into an offyear election or yeah, an offyear election without having a legislative record i think would be a disaster. Val, are they gonna be able to do it . Which way are people telling you . Well, i think they can do it. I talked to pat toomey about this yesterday. He still feels very confident about it, and hes been a leader on this issue. Hes the guy just last week in the senate corralled a couple senators who were sort of getting away, and he brought them back into the fold. So, i think were gonna do it because of what sam said. We have to do it as republicans. Were not doing the messaging quite right. This is a real boon for the middle class. Thats where the lion share of the individual tax cuts are gonna happen. Its not skewed towards the rich. As a matter of fact, suburban voters might see you know, wealthier suburban voters who are professional might see a little tax increase cause of the salt. But lower rates, simplifying, and gearing it toward the middle class and corporations seems to be the way to go to get the economy going, and we have to do it. Got about 20 seconds. Ajay . You know, i think this is an extremely cruel bill. Last year, when Bernie Sanders said were gonna have Free Education and healthcare for all, i remember criticizing, saying its gonna create a trilliondollar hole in the deficit. Today, the same friends are saying lets create a new pass around money for both corporations, as well as wealthy folks who dont really need it, creating a trilliondollar hole in the deficit. The outrage of what i see as the hypocrisy of situational logic, when it suits us versus the others. It is a cruel bill. The debate continues. Well be right back. 6abcs inside story is presented by temple university. Facebook great resource to communicate with family and friends or Society Killer . Chamath palihapitiya, who was a Vice President at facebook, may have shocked students at stanford during a recent q a. The now c. E. O. Of social capital said of the very social network he helped build into the worlds most popular the following i feel tremendous guilt. We have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works. And, again, worked at facebook. That is truly where we are. The shortterm, dopaminedriven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. He delivered this with a straight face, ajay. What do you think . Well, i 100 agree. Ive actually written about this. We all are tribal in our minset and perspective, and now with technology and the ability to do social media, we are now creating our own tribes where we can either agree with the same and find the other that we can attack, those creating new ghettos of grievances where all were doing is expressing hate and bigotry and racism and find offenses even when there arent any, only because were identifying in a tribal mentality of polarized us versus them and gives people a tremendous amount of power to express hate, and which drowns out the love that you otherwise would have if you had human interaction. Well, i think the last part is the most critical, is used to pick up the phone and call somebody. [ laughs ] now you text them. You dont spell it correctly. It doesnt matter. I think that facebook and twitter and all these other things have become vehicles for extrem