Friday's Morning Joe Recap Show!

Joining us for today's show, we have: Donny Deutsch, Mark Halperin, Sara Eisen, David Ignatius, Adm. James Stravridis, Robert Costa, Eugene Robinson, Joe Klein, Dylan Dryer, Mike Barnicle, Chuck Todd, Anne Thompson, Dan Bartlett, Jake Silverstein, Ed Schultz, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Andrea Mitchell, Kerry Sanders and more


Final Day of the week today. Whew. What a week.

Wal-Mart is raising salary's. Or, its minimum wage and  the reports say its because the market is tightening up. That’s god for the consumer issues and businesses around America. It looks like Mika may be off this AM or she may take the morning hour off today. There is a story about Rudy (Giuliani) and then the one story we spoke about yesterday about Libya needing weaponry and of course that the US and Turkey signed that deal to help train the Syrian army. In the Libyan needing arms story, both the US and the Brit’s are against it saying that  the country needs a unified government ion place. There is also a military plan to retake the town or city of Mosul back from the control the Islamic State has on it. Also, a man in Minneapolis was indicted (by the FBI) on terror conspiracy charges.

On Thursday, Walmart announced that it will raise all of its full-time and part-time employees’ pay to at least $9 an hour starting in April. The lowest wage will rise to $10 an hour by February of next year.


In a press release, it said it is also raising pay for the compensation range for each position, and all told says that about 500,000 employees will see a raise from the changes. It also says the raises will mean its average hourly wage for full-time workers will increase from $12.85 to $13 an hour and the average for part-time workers will increase from $9.48 to $10 an hour.

It also promised that workers “will have more control over their schedules.” The wage increases will cost more than $1 billion this fiscal year.

In announcing the changes, CEO Doug McMillon acknowledged some of the criticism that the company has sacrificed customer loyalty because of its pay practices. “We have work to do to grow the business. We know what customers want from a shopping experience, and we’re investing strategically to exceed their expectations and better position Walmart for the future,” he said. “We’re strengthening investments in our people to engage and inspire them to deliver superior customer experiences.”

The company, which is the nation’s largest employer, has long come under fire for its low pay. While the company has said that it pays most workers above the minimum wage, it has also admitted in the past that the majority of its employees make under $25,000 a year. One study from 2013 of a single store in Wisconsin found that its pay was so low that workers consumed about $1 million in public benefits to get by.
Workers have repeatedly gone on strike over the past three years to demand higher pay, better scheduling, and the right to unionize. They have called for the store’s wage floor to rise to at least $15 an hour. Thursday’s announcement also comes after so many states raised their minimum wages above the federal $7.25 level that a third of Walmart stores had to raise their base wages anyway.


Adm. James Stavridis and Richard Engel are on along with David Ignatius while Donny (Deutsch) (and Sara Deutsch) are all on the panel at the outset of the show. (Richard) Engel is painting an eh picture  about us arming the Rebels and critics say its too little and that it will not make a huge difference in this fight vs. ISIS.


BTW, I was given some footage by a partner of mine at S2e.TV of some air strikes vs. ISIS last night and so I am posting them here now for everyone.


Coalition Airstrike on ISIL Staging Area in Anbar Province, Iraq - Feb. 17, 2015
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Operation Inherent Resolve Airstrike - Feb. 17, 2015
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Coalition Airstrike on ISIL Fighting Position near Al Hamdaniya, Iraq - Feb. 15, 2015
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The story coming out of NY with regard to Rudy Giuliani is how he states that Obama does not love America. Joe is correct in that if and when anyone has to preface any opinion in a sentence with 'I know this is a horrible thing to say,' is to stop. Do Not Say It. But he (Rudy) goes on to say that  "he (Obama) was not brought up the way you and I were brought up (I assume that is code for 'he is black') through love of this country."

He then walked that back a bit by referring to him as a patriot but he also says that Obama criticizes America which I do not think I have ever heard him (POTUS) do about the USA. But in typical Rudy Giuliani does and did especially in that primary he was in, he falls back on something about 9/11. Because yeah. The buildings almost fell on him like he says. Where was Rudy that day on 9/11? He needs to shut up. He then says on another show that he is not a shrink and that he does not know if anyone loves or does not love anything but also, the GOP did not exactly strike back against those comments.


Joe is correct in that a GOPer needs to step up like (John) McCain did in that primary with that women who called the POTUS a Muslim or terrorist or something along those lines. (John) McCain said that he loves the country, etc. and so on. Instead, Bobby Jindel borderline agreed with Rudy's comments. Scott walker did not exactly rebutt it. The GOP is in my eyes, psyched that someone whom is not running for the GOP spot next year, said it. We will see if Jeb (Bush) and Chris Christy repudiate it. Someone needs to repudiate  that rhetoric and again, the more Rudy speaks\, the worse it gets. Regardless, (Bobby) Jindel cam out right away saying he did not rebutt what Rudy had to say.



Like I said above here and like Eugene Robinson just said, someone needs to repudiate what Rudy is spewing out there. I also do NOT get it. I think he (Rudy) said it and he does not want to come off as wrong and yes, its very counter productive political strategy. Its kind of stupid. Its odd to say it and then to double down on it but again, I assume that he does not want to come off as being wrong or off base so he keeps doubling down and what its doing is that he is making it worse. And yeah, Jeb Bush is not going to say squat. He is too safe. Speaking of Jeb (Bush), Jeb Bush’s Attack On Obama Over Iran Goes Horribly Wrong.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb. Bush answers questions after speaking to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb. Bush answers questions after speaking to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
CREDIT: AP
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) called on Congress to pass legislation that would trigger sanctions against Iran just as the United States and its European partners are consumed in negotiations over the country’s nuclear PROGRAM.

During a wide-ranging speech on foreign policy matters at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on Wednesday, Bush criticized the Obama administration for staking out a negotiating position that, he claimed, would endanger Israel and the world by merely managing the Iranian nuclear PROGRAM rather than eliminating it altogether.


“The administration no longer seeks to prevent nuclear enrichment, now it seeks merely to regulate it,” Jeb Bush said. “Prevention of nuclear weapons in Iran was once a unifying issue in American foreign policy. Leaders of both parties agreed to it.”


Congress, he said, “should pass bills to reinstate sanctions in advance if negotiations fail and require approval if an agreement is reached.”


Media reports indicate that the Obama administration and its negotiating partners — Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany — would in fact permit Iran to retain its nuclear infrastructure but significantly delay its ability to build a nuclear weapon by more than a year. The world powers are also pushing for a rigorous inspection regime to ensure Iran is not developing covert nuclear facilities and would in turn provide Iran with sanction relief and greater integration into the world community.


But “managing” Iran’s nuclear capabilities, as Bush puts it, isn’t a position that originated in the Obama administration.


As the New York Times points out, George W. Bush officials eventually conceded during his presidency that “there was no way to reach a deal without Iran retaining at least a face-saving amount of enrichment capability.”


The paper reported in July of 2008 that the administration’s final diplomatic effort before leaving office urged Iran to accept a formula known as “freeze-for-freeze” under which “Iran would not add to its nuclear program.” Only then would the United States not seek “new international sanctions for six weeks to pave the way for formal negotiations.”


The wider strategy, as Stephen Hadley — President George W. Bush’s national SECURITY adviser and foreign policy adviser to Jeb Bush’s informal campaign — explained was to “try to push back the time when the Iranian regime would have a clear path to a nuclear weapon” and “bring forward the time when public pressure would either cause the regime to change its nuclear policy (and suspend enrichment), or transform it into a government more likely to make the strategic choice to deal with the international community.”


INDEED, the Obama administration kicked off this latest round of negotiations only after reaching an interim agreement with Iran that has frozen Iran’s nuclear PROGRAMand rolled back its stockpiles of enriched uranium — a condition similar to George W. Bush’s “freeze-for-freeze” requirement.

In Nov. 2014, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran was complying with the terms of the interim November 2013 agreement, meaning that “All of the enrichment related activities at Iran’s declared facilities are under Agency safeguards, and all of the nuclear material, INSTALLED cascades, and feed and withdrawal stations at those facilities are subject to Agency containment and surveillance.”

Iran can CONTINUE to enrich uranium, but only to the level of 5 percent of U-235, far below the 90 percent level needed for a weapon. The IAEA also found that Iran has not made “any further advances” at two enrichment facilities and an unfinished heavy water reactor.

Iran and its negotiating partners must agree to broad principles on limiting Iran’s nuclear capabilities no later than March 24 and reach an agreement on the technical aspects of the deal by June 30th. The administration and the nations involved in the talks caution that the threat of additional restrictions, as Jeb Bush suggests, would provide Iran’s hardliners with an excuse to end the negotiations and unravel international cooperation on the issue.

Though many Republicans agree with Jeb Bush’s call to pass a new sanctions bill, Democrats who had broken with Obama on the issue in the past recently backed off, promising to wait “until after March 24, and only if there is no political framework agreement” on supporting additional sanctions.

Anyway, there is a story about the (San Diego) Chargers and the (Oakland) Raiders want to build a stadium in Carson, CA (where i saw the Grateful dead on derby Day in 1990 (The band played 'The Race is on" that day) and the stadium looks weird:




Regardless, let the Rams move back and call it a day. They can do that stadium near the Staples Area in the downtown area if there is room for it otherwise, Stan Kroenke bought up the adjacent land near his Hollywood Park where they could easily build a new Stadium there.


Mad Man looks like its ending its show this year. I have never seen the show.


I do know that Season 3 of the House Of Cards is being released next Friday! I just watched the first two seasons last week.



Joe Klein and Joe (Scarborough) are doing an entire segment dissecting the Middle east situation. I had no clue Joe knew so much about that region until this week. They touch into everyone in that region in great and honest ways. From the Libya situation to our relationships with the Saudi’s (Saudi Arabia) to our relationship with Iran today compared to when Saddam was in place. The fact that Egypt and Israel are working together now and yeah, great little recap of what he wrote about in Time magazine and what they talked about this week about the ISIS/ISIL crises. They discuss what is happening in Turkey. Joe Klein says there is not much we can do about anything in Turkey. And, that we have to hope that because its a member of NATO, that the public savors western culture and therefore they do not want to lose that stranglehold. As far as the Nettenyahu speaking to the Congress next month, he (Joe Klein) reiterates that Nettenyahu is more American than he is Israeli. He grew up in Philly (Philadelphia) and he maintains that Iran will launch a Nuke at Israel the minute it gets the ability to do it. We all disagree because Tehran would be decimated the next day and therefore 7 million people would be wiped out. They actually speak quite highly about Iran. Go figure. They say the people are wonderful. They are the best educated in the region. The women are the best educated in the region and they love us. Again, great discussion. I learned a lot from Joe (Klein) this week.

They are now going over our headlines at Sunset daily which is about the POTUS speech and it looks like Mika is in and Joe is off now. Back to the (Rudy) Giuliani story is that I cannot believe he sates that the POTUS did a speech or spoke up about the Ferguson issue and did not about the Egypt one. That’s got more racial over tones and Mike says it great. Rudy is part of that divisive group in that GOP and/or in all of politics quite frankly. And also yes, its very easy to build a campaign around bashing the POTUS. And again, (Scott) Walker did not speak up about it and finally, Donny () gets angry about the Rudy ‘coopting’ the 9/11 story. First, second and third, it happened under his watch. And, besides, what the hell did he do that any Mayor would not do? This is again, a chance for (Jeb) Bush or (Chris) Christy to step up to do the right thing. The bottom line is that GOP party has not gotten to that place where they can be real. And, they act stupid and come off stupid. They shoot themselves in the feet all of the time and whatever part of that base they want to adhere to, is not a majority. That’s what I don’t get. They cater to like 1% of the US population and they have not figured that out yet. 

But again, thank Donny (Deutsch) for saying what I said above here about him making 9/11 all about him (Rudy). Enough about it already unless you want to mention that it occurred while he was the mayor. Maybe he should have done more to stop it. Like (George) Bush Jr. and (Dick) Cheney. The GOP spews out rhetoric right up until 9/12. They claim we have been safe since 9/11 and never mentioning that fact that they screwed up big time by allowing it to happen in the first place. The Security and Intelligence behind it was so much that admin were given reports that it was going to happen and they still did not stop people from hijacking 4 or 5 planes at one time mind you, and then allowing three of them to crash into buildings. For the love of god. Come on. That happened d\uring all of their watches and they are so linear in saying we did a great job while whispering 'after 9/11' and without mentioning what went down on 9/11. Jeez. Its so insane that people act and talk that way. The world is not that stupid and its a t6otal Seinfeld episode. "If you believe it, than its not a lie." 
As for the Chris Christy story and how donors are potentially bailing to back Jeb (Bush), is that whatever can be said about him today, but i agree with what Chucky T (Todd) just said which is that if (Chris) Christy makes it to the debates, he could revamp his candidacy there or at them. That's the key for Christy. The debates. But right now, its looking for very bad for him. 

They are back to discussing the Walmart salary hike with the actual CEO. I wrote about that already here above this sentence so I will let it go.


And, as (Mike) Barncile just reported is that baseball players are reporting at Spring Training today.


The big non story of this day is about this guy that watched Russian TV for a week straight. Who cares. Jake Silverstein says about the experiment is the guy was driven insane. Mika's great point is that wouldn't people that watch even Western type of programming in TV would be driven to insanity, but again, who cares. The guy sounds like he was doing blow in some hotel room.


Ed Schultz is being interviewed by Joe about the largest oil spill (BP) ever which was in the gulf off Louisiana, Florida, and Alabama and again, in the Gulf of Mexico. Its been five years and I assume Ed went back to the region but also, Ed did a show or documentary or a huge piece about that disaster. That was and is a nightmare. Businesses are crushed to this day. The eco system is crushed to this day. The waters are crushed to the day. Fish and crustaceans are crushed to this day. The land off those costs are crushed to this day. Its a nightmare. But then again, we all saw how much oil was spilt out in those waters, it was not normal and also, BP lied, they used a horrible way to clean it up 50 times over, and it bought time to skate around the issue and as ways to not pay people that were damaged from it. It was such a bad man made disaster. That area will never rebound from it in its entirety. It can't. think about that damage. that oil killed everything that was remotely alive. I just heard that BP paid out $5 Billion of the $20 Billion due for causing it. The series about it being 5 years after the disaster can be seen on the Ed Show at 5PM.


Oh and just when we thought the news was over for the day, i just learned from Mika that the defense has rested in the American Sniper trial. That went fast. This was some defense. Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday.


They are now discussing Greec and so i'll post this here instead of later on the Sunset Daily News updates:



Euro Zone May Need Extra Summit to Clinch Greek Deal


WochitBusiness

Apple could feasibly become the first ever Trillion Dollar Company. 

And, hey Mika, we have a 65 Mustang. Its not a converatble but its cool. I have footage of itin one of home videos I made when the cat (Bowie) was staying at my house. Check it out here (done to the song David Bowie by Phish and from the Florida New years Run This year/last year:



The last story is a kind hearted one about Emily whom was born blind and can somehow watch TV. That is way cool. Actually, its a talking guide and its a vision of what she believes it looks like or something like that. Anything to help anyone is great. 

Thanks everyone and please stay in touch!