Joining today's show are Eugene Robinson, Mike Barnicle, Michael Oren, Dorian Warren, Stephanie Gosk, Rep. Elise Stefanik, Mike Lupica, Bill Press, Jamie Weinstein, Rami Malek, Haley Barbour, Montel Williams, Rep. Dan Kildee, Jesse Metcalfe and more.
We all know S.C. governor Nikki Haley rebuffed efforts to remove the Confederate flag from the S.C. State House grounds during her 2014 reelection campaign. And that prior to that, she went on record supporting the flag’s presence on the north lawn of the building.
Haley is now calling for the flag to come down in the aftermath of last week’s “Holy City Massacre” – the murder of nine black churchgoers by a racist white gunman.
Some believe her conversion is self-serving. In fact in outlining their own plan for removing the controversial banner, several members of the S.C. House of Representatives had some choice words for the governor.
“Governor Haley could have done this at any time during the past six years, but no she waited to jump on the media bandwagon after a tragedy – and just as the presidential campaigns come into focus,” one lawmaker told us.
Another lawmaker was even more scathing in rebuking the governor …
“Name something Nikki Haley has tried to lead on other than the evening news,” the lawmaker told us.
Unlike these lawmakers, we don’t begrudge Haley for changing her mind on the flag. While we never supported it like she did – we didn’t come out and call for its removal, either. At least not until after the bloodbath in Charleston.
But while we were calling for the flag to come down last week, Haley was still dodging the question …
“At a time like this, you have to look back at what we’ve done,” Haley told CBS last Friday. “Fifteen years ago the General Assembly at the time they had a conversation. The Republicans and Democrats and everybody came together on a consensus to bring the Confederate flag down off of the dome. And they put it on a monument out in front. I think that conversation will probably come back up again. And you what we hope that we do things the way South Carolinians do. Which is have the conversation, allow some thoughtful words to be exchanged, be kind about it. Come together on what we’re trying to achieve and how we’re trying to do it. I think the state will start talking about that again. We’ll see where it goes. What I will tell you right now, is while a lot of issues will come up, my job as governor is to bring everybody back together again.”
Asked specifically about her view on the banner, Haley had this to say …
“I understand that’s what ya’ll want, (but) my job is to heal the people of this state,” she said. “This is very real to us. There will be policy discussions and you will hear me come out and talk about it. But right now, I’m not doing that to the people of my state.”
Again … we’re not inside Haley’s heart. We can’t tell whether she was legitimately waiting for the appropriate time to address the issue … or whether she was waiting to see how the issue was going to unfold.
Bottom line: The banner needs to be removed. And whoever is on board with getting that done as quickly as possible, well, we’re not going to quibble over their motivations. Honestly, we think Haley has – on the whole – done a pretty good job representing South Carolina in the aftermath of this tragedy.
Hillary Clinton to make campaign stop near Ferguson Tuesday. FOX2 confirmed Monday one of the first stops on the 2016 presidential campaign trail will be St. Louis.
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is visiting a church Tuesday not far from the Michael Brown shooting scene in Ferguson.
Issues raised in Ferguson last summer are expected to come into play.
Clinton had planned a private, fundraising event at Grant’s Farm Tuesday night.
She’s now added a panel discussion at Christ the King church in unincorporated Florissant.
Church pastor, Rev. Traci deVon Blackmon, is a member of the Ferguson Commission, which met in Kirkwood Monday night.
“It’s an absolutely big deal,” Blackmon said before the meeting.
Commission members repeatedly spoke of last week’s racially motivated massacre and a Charleston, South Carolina church.
They pointed for a greater to need to address the issues Missouri Governor Jay Nixon appointed them to tackle: the structural and systemic impediments behind racial inequity.
The issues that first boiled over in Ferguson last summer after the deadly Ferguson Police shooting of Michael Brown have dominated the national discussion ever since.
The former First Lady and Secretary of State staged an all out presidential campaign blitz in Missouri and St. Louis with her daughter and husband, in 2008.
She suffered a narrow defeat to then-Illinois Senator, Barack Obama, in the Missouri primary. I
Clinton has insisted no candidate who runs for president can run away from the issue of America’s racial divide.
“You can’t watch massacre after massacre and not come to the conclusion that as President Obama said, we must tackle this challenge with urgency and conviction,” Clinton said after the South Carolina tragedy.
“I think that it’s a wise move,” Blackmon said of Clinton’s visit to the Ferguson area. “I’m grateful she thinks what the community has to say is worth her listening to. I’m hopeful that anyone who’s running for the President of the United States will feel the same way.”
The panel discussion is open to invited dignitaries and church members but is closed to the public.
Morning Papers:
More Than Two-Thirds of Adults Overweight or Obese. Fewer than one-third of Americans are currently at a healthy weight, with the rest of the population either overweight or obese, a new report finds.
About 35 percent of men and 37 percent of women are obese. Another 40 percent of men and 30 percent of women are overweight, researchers said in the June 22 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.
"Obesity is not getting better. It's getting worse, and it's really scary. It's not looking pretty," said Lin Yang, a postdoctoral research associate at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Obesity has been linked to a number of chronic health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers and arthritis, Yang said.
"This generation of Americans is the first that will have a shorter life expectancy than the previous generation, and obesity is one of the biggest contributors to this shortened life expectancy because it is driving a lot of chronic health conditions," she said.
The new report used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey gathered between 2007 and 2012, involving more than 15,000 men and women age 25 and older.
Based on the data, researchers estimate that more than 36 million men and nearly 29 million women in the United States are currently overweight. About 32 million men and 36 million women are obese, the researchers found.
Overweight is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 29.9, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. BMI is calculated by comparing a person's weight to their height.
For example, a 5-foot-9 man who weighs 169 pounds or a 5-foot-4 woman who weighs 146 pounds both have a BMI of 25, and would be considered overweight, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Obesity is defined by the CDC as any body mass index 30 or higher. A 5-foot-9 man who weighs 203 pounds or more is considered obese, as is a 5-foot-4 woman who weighs 175 pounds or more.
More Americans are overweight and obese these days, compared with federal survey data gathered between 1988 and 1994, Yang said.
Back then, 63 percent of men and 55 percent of women were either overweight or obese, with a BMI of 25 or greater. Today, around 75 percent of men and about 67 percent of women are either overweight or obese, according to the study.
The new obesity figures did not come as a surprise to Dr. Elliott Antman, president of the American Heart Association.
"It's in line with what we already knew, and it provides some numbers on the magnitude of the problem," Antman said of the new study. "It puts a face on the issue, and it's a significant problem."
Obesity is related to increases in diabetes, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol, "all of which converge on an increased risk of heart disease and stroke," he said.
America's weight problem is an issue that will not be resolved through a purely medical solution, Yang and Antman said. Politicians and officials at the federal, state and local levels will need to weigh in with policies that increase the number of calories people burn and decrease the amount of unhealthy foods they ingest.
For example, communities need to adopt plans that will make it easier for people to get around on foot or riding a bike, rather than sitting in a car, Yang said.
"America is a very much car-dependent country. We know car driving is a chunk of sedentary behavior," she said. "More walking or bicycling would increase the physical activity of the whole nation."
Policymakers also need to find ways to improve the availability of inexpensive, healthy food, Antman said. Right now, processed food and fast food that is high in unhealthy sugar, salt and fat tends to be more affordable and available in America's communities than healthier options.
"Fast foods are less expensive, so that individuals trying to feed a large family might tend to purchase them rather than fresh foods, which are harder to find and more expensive, and therefore less economically appealing," he said.
Next, Police: Ex-MLB player Hamilton killed in murder-suicide. Darryl Hamilton, a standout center fielder and member of the New York Mets team that reached the 2000 World Series, was killed in a murder-suicide in a suburban Houston home, authorities said Monday. He was 50. Darryl Hamilton wasn't always happy with the Mets, or with Andrew Marchand's coverage. But he always seemed to have a smile on his face anyway. Hamilton was found Sunday after he was fatally shot in a house in Pearland. He had worked for the MLB Network since 2013.
An initial investigation determined that Hamilton was shot several times and that a woman in the home died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She was identified as 44-year-old Monica Jordan, Pearland Police Lt. Patrick Savage said. Hamilton and Jordan's 14-month-old child was found unharmed at the home and turned over to Child Protective Services.
Hamilton, who was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, played for five teams over 13 seasons in the majors before retiring in 2001. He reached the postseason in four of his final five seasons.
He had a career batting average of .291 in 1,328 games with Milwaukee (1988, 1990-95), Texas (1996), San Francisco (1997-98), Colorado (1998-99) and the Mets (1999-2001). Hamilton batted left-handed but threw with his right arm and had a career fielding percentage of .995 with only 14 errors in 2,770 defensive chances.
In Hamilton's only season with the Rangers, they made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history after winning the American League West title. He also went to the postseason with the Giants and two consecutive years in New York.
Hamilton later worked in operations for the commissioner's office and for baseball's digital arm, MLB Advanced Media.
"All of us at Major League Baseball are shocked and saddened by this tragedy," commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "He was a talented and personable individual, and we were proud to call him a member of the baseball family. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest sympathies to Darryl's family and his many friends throughout our game."
The Mets mourned the loss and said they planned to hold a moment of silence before their next home game, which is Friday night, to honor both Hamilton and Nelson Doubleday Jr., their former owner who died last week at the age of 81. Darryl Hamilton wasn't always happy with the Mets, or with Andrew Marchand's coverage. But he always seemed to have a smile on his face anyway.The Rangers praised Hamilton and singled out his "memorable" year in Texas.
"He was not only an offensive catalyst and defensive standout on the field but also was a club leader and an outstanding teammate," said the team, which planned a moment of silence before Tuesday night's home game against Oakland.
Hamilton never played for the Houston Astros, but the team said he was a strong supporter of their youth baseball efforts. Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said the team was stunned by the tragedy, "something that is impossible for us to even begin to comprehend."
"Darryl was a wonderful player for our organization, but more importantly, he was a true gentleman and a great friend to many here," said Melvin, who was with Texas during Hamilton's season with the Rangers.
Police responded to the home Sunday afternoon after receiving a 911 call. Hamilton's body was found near the home's main entry, while Jordan's body was located in another area of the house, Savage said. Autopsies on both were pending, and Savage said the investigation was ongoing.
The news hit hard at Nicholls State, the Louisiana school where Hamilton still holds the record for stolen bases with 140.
"It's an awful situation that happened to a great person," coach Seth Thibodeaux said. "He was a great ambassador of this program, and any time he could be a part of anything we did, he was there. I am proud to have known him and proud to have known what type of person he was."
And, Martha Stewart Living acquired for $353 million. Martha Stewart single-handedly changed the game for home decorating and cooking in the late 1990s, becoming the "it" designer for all things domestic. But the announcement on Monday of an acquisition of her media and merchandising empire in a deal that values the company at far less than in it was worth in its glory days shows how much her brand has eroded over the years.
Martha Stewart's is being sold to Sequential Brands Group, which owns and licenses such brands as Ellen Tracy and Jessica Simpson, in a deal valued at $353 million. That's a fraction of the $1.8 billion valuation when the company went public in 1999.
"The days when people looked to one person to tell them how to entertain, live tastefully are gone," said Allen Adamson, chairman of Landor Associates, a brand research firm. "Today, there are many voices. She can't go back to retaking that mantle because that mantle is gone."
It's a shift from when Stewart built her business, from books to TV shows, based on her penchant for decorating and cooking. Stewart cultivated legions of loyal fans, all eager to know the best way to decorate a cake, set the Thanksgiving table or plan a cocktail party. Business was booming, and Stewart consolidated her businesses into one company in 1997 and then took that company public in 1999.
But in recent years, the company has been hit with heavy competition. No longer were people looking to get their information from a single source, but rather they were getting decorating and cooking advice from other domestic divas like Rachael Ray and everyday bloggers who write about home decorating, cake baking and the like. That was compounded by the fact that Stewart's recipes and decorating rules didn't quite resonate with younger customers searching for quick solutions on their iPhone.
Adding to these challenges were legal woes of both the personality and the company bearing her name. Stewart was convicted in 2004 on federal criminal charges of lying to prosecutors about selling ImClone shares a day before the Food and Drug Administration announced it declined to review the company's application for a cancer drug. Stewart rejoined the board of Martha Stewart Living in September 2011 after a five-year ban that was part of a settlement with federal regulators related to her conviction
Then, Stewart brokered a merchandising deal with J.C. Penney in late 2011 that competed with a prior exclusive deal with Macy's Inc. As a result, Martha Stewart got into a three-year court battle with J.C. Penney and Macy's, ending with Penney terminating its deal that covered certain products like cookware and towels with the company.
The company has been working to right the ship, though. In recognition of the shift online, Martha Stewart Living last October struck a 10-year licensing deal with Meredith Corp. to take over ad sales, circulation and production of Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart Wedding magazines.
According to the deal, the company would continue to create the editorial content. That deal enabled the company to focus on merchandise like pots and pans, which analysts say has been stale in the last few years.
Stewart also focused on remaking her brand online, signing partnerships and launching Martha Stewart Network on video streaming services like Hulu and Hulu Plus.
Despite those efforts, Martha Stewart Living has reported annual losses every year since 2003 with the exception of 2007. For the past seven years, the company's annual sales have been on a downward slope, reaching $141.9 million last year, down from $327.9 million in 2007. Company shares have been on decline since 2006 when it traded at around $21.
Analysts believe Sequential Brands will bring energy back to the brand.
"I believe this is a good deal. It can be a powerful brand again," said Dan Hess, president of Merchant Forecast, an independent research firm that covers the retail industry for the financial community.
But Hess cautioned: "It's still tenuous. It relies on her keeping her nose clean and making her style relevant to a generation that looks for a lot of resources."
In a statement Monday, Stewart called the deal with Sequential a "transformational merger." Stewart will remain as chief creative officer and will be nominated for the board, where she is now non-executive chair. She'll also be a "significant" stockholder.
"The Sequential team is smart, hardworking, and understands the power and limitless opportunity of the Martha Stewart brand and its formidable design, editorial and marketing teams," she said
Yehuda Shmidman, CEO of Sequential, said the breadth of the brand is still strong. He pointed to research that shows the Martha Stewart name has 96 percent awareness among women in the U.S.
He also said 7 out of 10 women say that Stewart has and does influence the way they think about, organize and manage their homes. Additionally, he said the company reaches about 100 million consumers.
But the price Sequential is paying for the company illustrates how much the appeal of the brand has diminished.
Sequential Brands will pay $6.15 per share for Martha Stewart, below Friday's closing price of $6.98 and far beneath the $36 the company had when it when public in 1999. Shares dropped 86 cents, or 12.3 percent, to close at $6.12 on Monday after surging late last week on reports of an impending acquisition. AP Business Writer Michelle Chapman in New York contributed to this report.
Again regarding the female being placed on the ten dollar bill and how they should place it on the twenty dollar bill, here is what I have posted two times since last week about it.
Move over, Hamilton! Treasury to put woman on $10 bill. Usa Today reports that A woman will appear on the $10 bill beginning in 2020, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
Just which woman is up to you.
Legally, the decision belongs to Jack Lew, but the Treasury secretary said he's seeking public input on which female historical figure should appear on U.S. paper currency for the first time in 119 years.
"We're going to spend a lot of time this summer listening to people," Lew said. A decision could come this fall.
But even then, it will take nearly five years for the new bill to see circulation. That's because of the intricate planning for a redesign that will incorporate new anti-counterfeit measures and tactile features for the blind.
Even then, Alexander Hamilton isn't going away. The first Treasury secretary played a leading role in developing the nation's financial system, and has been on the $10 since 1928. And there he'll remain, either on the reverse side or in a separate series of bills. Also, the 1.9 billion $10 bills now in circulation will likely last another 10 years.
The move spares Andrew Jackson, the 19th century Democrat who occupies the $20 bill. An online petition earlier this year urged the administration to replace Jackson with abolitionist Harriet Tubman by 2020, the 100th anniversary of the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote. But Lew said the primary consideration was the security of the currency — and the $10 bill was next in line for an upgrade. Lew said the planning began even before he arrived at Treasury in 2013. President Obama endorsed the idea for a woman on paper currency last year, calling it "a pretty good idea,"
No woman has appeared on new paper currency since Martha Washington on a $1 silver note until 1896. Pocahontas was first, gracing a $20 note beginning in 1865.
By law, no living person may appear on a bill, and George Washington must always remain on the $1.
Eugene Robinson wrote an article in the WAPO about how
America will only end racism when it stops being racist. That article is here. Read it.
Iran, EU Hold Talks as Nuclear Deal Deadline Approaches.
Iran's foreign minister and his European Union counterparts are meeting in Luxembourg for a final round of nuclear talks aimed at completing a deal before a June 30 deadline.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamad Javad Zarif met privately with ministers from Germany and France before a larger meeting with EU leaders.
Zarif said "reaching a good nuclear deal, is more important that missing the deadline by a few days." He added that the two sides still have differences on both technical and political issues.
On Sunday, Iran's parliament voted to ban access to military sites, documents and scientists as part of any future deal. The terms stipulated in the bill allow for international inspections of Iranian nuclear sites, but forbid any inspections of military facilities.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France would like a "robust agreement" with Iran.
"What does a robust agreement mean? It means an agreement which includes a limitation in the duration of Iranian nuclear capacities in terms of research and production. It means an advanced system of verification, including, if necessary, on military sites," Fabius said in a statement following Monday's meeting with Zarif.
Iran's nuclear negotiators say they already have agreed to grant U.N. inspectors "managed access'' to military sites under strict control and specific circumstances. That right includes allowing inspectors to take environmental samples around military sites.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said a nuclear deal with Iran still remains possible as long as Iran does" not try to carry out any evasive maneuvers on the final stretch."
Iran reached a framework nuclear deal with the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany on April 2. The parties are aiming for a final agreement in which Iran would restrict its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
Michael Oren's claims that Obama abandoned Israel are baseless. Any suggestion that President Barack Obama has abandoned Israel overlooks actions by previous U.S. presidents and Obama's actions in the international arena.
Former ambassador and current MK Michael Oren (Kulanu) is publishing a book about his time representing Israel in Washington, full of details about crises in the relationship between the two countries. Oren wrote in the Wall Street Journal that President Barack Obama abandoned Israel, and violated two principles that have been the cornerstone of the special relationship between Israel and the United States. The first principle is that the two countries can disagree – just not out in the open. The second is that there must be no surprises. Oren claims that Obama violated the second principle during his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2009, when he surprisingly demanded that Israel freeze settlement construction and endorse the two-state solution.
The two principles are indeed very important. But there have been many cases in which the U.S. government did not follow them, and this does not necessarily imply the abandonment of Israel. President Richard Nixon didn’t coordinate with Israel in 1969 before publishing the Rogers Plan, which called on Israel to give up the territories with minor border alterations. This greatly angered then-Prime Minister Golda Meir – but did Nixon abandon Israel? It wasn’t long after that Nixon, despite recommendations to the contrary from the Pentagon, authorized the airlift of equipment to Israel during the Yom Kippur War, making the Israeli victory possible.
When President Ronald Regan publicly criticized Israel for attacking the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 and delayed a deal for fighter jets, was he abandoning Israel? President George H.W. Bush wasn’t satisfied with public criticism of settlement construction, choosing to withhold guarantees for Israel absorbing Russian immigrants in the early 1990s. Does that mean he abandoned Israel? When, later that decade, President Bill Clinton publicly declared a framework for the permanent agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that contradicted the Israeli stance, he wasn’t abandoning Israel, either.
As for Obama – former President Shimon Peres, former Defense Minister Ehud Barak, as well as Netanyahu, said time and again that Obama fulfilled all of Israel’s security needs. Oren himself was forced to admit in his article that Obama had significantly bolstered cooperation with the Jewish state.
So, Obama must have abandoned Israel in the international arena? Actually, the Obama administration vetoed, often against its own positions, every resolution that sought to condemn Israel in the UN Security Council, and used its influence with other nations – even at the cost of isolating the United States. He did this on every international stage, whenever Israel asked.
Oren’s claim that Obama abandoned Israel, and even did so willingly, is baseless. The writer of this segment is on the show now. He is a former director general of the Prime Minister’s Office and served as diplomatic adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin during his first term.
Obama uses N-word, says we are 'not cured' of racism. President Barack Obama used the n-word during an interview released Monday to make a point that there's still plenty of room for America to combat racism.
"Racism, we are not cured of it. And it's not just a matter of it not being polite to say nigger in public," Obama said in an interview for the podcast "WTF with Marc Maron."
"That's not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It's not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don't, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior."
The jarring comment comes as the nation is engaged in a debate over the role of race after a white supremacist killed nine African-Americans last week in a historically black church in Charleston. They also reflect a growing willingness for Obama to discuss race during the final years of his presidency. Obama said there has been progress on race relations over the decades, citing his own experience as a young man who was born to a white mother and an African father.
"I always tell young people, in particular, do not say that nothing has changed when it comes to race in America, unless you've lived through being a black man in the 1950s or '60s or '70s. It is incontrovertible that race relations have improved significantly during my lifetime and yours," Obama said.
But he added that "the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination" exists in institutions and casts "a long shadow and that's still part of our DNA that's passed on."
The White House released a statement saying that this is not the first time the President has used the N-word. "Truth is he uses the term about a dozen times in Dreams from my Father," White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said.
READ: Republicans take a pass on Confederate flag
Obama echoed comments in the immediate aftermath of last week's shooting, saying he's had to make speeches about a "devastating loss" too often.
"It's not enough just to feel bad. There are actions that could be taken to make events like this less likely. One of those actions we could take would be to enhance some basic common sense gun safety laws," Obama said.
Obama lamented Congress's lack of action on gun control and said "Unfortunately, the grip of the NRA on Congress is extremely strong. I don't foresee any legislative action being taken in this Congress."
Obama also weighed in on a critical case that is currently before the Supreme Court, where opponents of the Affordable Care Act are asking whether the law authorizes tax subsidies for 6.4 million Americans who have already received help to afford health coverage.
READ: How the Supreme Court could send Obamacare into a "death spiral"
"First of all I'm confident we'll win, because the law is clearly on our side," Obama said.
He added that if the nation's highest court were to rule in favor of the ACA's opponents, "five to six million people could lose their healthcare." CNN's Athena Jones and Kristen Holmes contributed to this report.
Marc welcomes the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, to the garage for conversation about college, fitting in, race relations, gun violence, changing the status quo, disappointing your fans, comedians, fatherhood and overcoming fear. And yes, this really happened. This episode is presented without commercial interruption courtesy of Squarespace. Go to MarcMeetsObama.com to see behind-the-scenes photos and captions. Watch that full interview here!
Source: Escaped Killers' DNA Found In Upstate New York Cabin. DNA from New York prison escapees Richard Matt and David Sweat has been found inside a burglarized cabin in upstate New York, CNN reports. A witness on Saturday spotted someone running into the woods near a cabin in the Mountain View community, only 20 miles from the prison, according to acting Franklin County District Attorney Glenn MacNeill. The prisoners have been on the run since June 6.
DNA from New York prison escapees Richard Matt and David Sweat has been found inside a burglarized cabin in upstate New York, a law enforcement source told CNN.
The discovery has re-energized the two-week-old search for the convicted killers, who staged a movie scriptworthy escape from Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6 and haven't been seen since -- at least not by authorities.
However, a witness on Saturday spotted someone running into the woods near a cabin in the Mountain View community, only 25 to 30 miles from the prison, according to acting Franklin County District Attorney Glenn MacNeill.
Investigators think the figure spotted Saturday could have been one of the fugitive prisoners, MacNeill said.
Since then, law enforcement authorities have flooded the rural community, swooping in on helicopters, cruisers and all-terrain vehicles to scour the region for the men. More state and federal teams are to be redeployed on Monday, the law enforcement source told CNN.
Since then, law enforcement authorities have flooded the rural community, swooping in on helicopters, cruisers and all-terrain vehicles to scour the region for the men. More state and federal teams are to be redeployed on Monday, the law enforcement source told CNN.
Briefing reporters Monday, New York State Police Maj. Charles Guess declined to get into specifics about what was found at the cabin for fear of jeopardizing the search.
"It's a confirmed lead for us," he said. "It has generated a massive law enforcement response, as you can see, and we're going to run this to ground."
The break-in suggests the men "need provisions and are desperate," a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation told CNN's Deborah Feyerick.
There's no evidence the fugitives have the kind of support network they would need to get away from the prison after their plan to get a ride from prison tailor Joyce Mitchell fell apart, the source said.
Are they listening to police radio traffic?
As part of the investigation into whether Matt and Sweat had help, police are reviewing months worth of hotel registries in the area, the source said.
Meanwhile, searchers are now working to contain the two men in the area, knowing they are running and on foot, the source said.
Authorities also are concerned that Matt and Sweat may be monitoring radio communications, the source said, without being specific on whether the men have radios or similar devices giving them the ability to monitor police communications.
Regardless, the sighting and DNA discovery explain the sudden shift in the search from an area near New York's border with Pennsylvania, some 260 miles to the southwest of the prison, where much of the weekend search had focused after somebody reported a possible sighting of the two fugitives.
That search wrapped up late Sunday, New York State Police said.
MacNeill urged residents in Franklin County to be alert for potential danger during the search for the escaped killers, whom authorities described last week as posing a "significant threat to anyone who may come into contact with them."
"Be inside with the doors locked and very diligent," MacNeill warned residents.
Matt and Sweat cut holes through steel cell walls, then shimmied along catwalks and through pipes before emerging from a manhole outside the prison gates and disappearing. The tools they used may have been smuggled inside a frozen chunk of hamburger meat, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN on Monday.
Investigators are looking into whether Mitchell convinced a prison guard to pass the meat to the inmates in a way that bypassed a metal detector, the source said. The two escapees were housed in an honor block where they were allowed to cook their own food.
Their escape set off a massive search for them and a probing investigation of employees and practices at the prison.
Mitchell has been charged with aiding the escapees, and a corrections officer has been placed on paid leave, authorities have said.
'When it's in your backyard, it's kind of crazy'
In Franklin County, Amy Pulsifer -- manager of the Trailside Bar and Restaurant -- said she was working when things got "crazy insane" Sunday evening as helicopters swooped overhead and state troopers drove into town.
The troopers set up roadblocks just across the street, off county Highway 27, she said.
They set up a command post using ATVs. One trooper asked Pulsifer for a map of snowmobile trails in the area, which is near a winter ski resort and in an area criss-crossed with recreational trails.
"I'm kind of excited but nervous at the same time," Pulsifer told CNN, adding that her boss had told her to close the bar early because of safety concerns. She said she'd followed the news of the manhunt as it unfolded previously in Cadyville, another town in the region.
"Now, when it's in your backyard, it's kind of crazy," she told CNN, saying she planned to go home and lock up with her gun.
Fear in Friendship, New York
Pulsifer's concerns are familiar to people in Friendship, the rural town near the Pennsylvania border where somebody reported seeing two men along a railroad line on Saturday.
Many residents spent the rest of the weekend holed up in their homes while around 300 law enforcement officers combed the area.
Gary Baker, 80, said he was terrified of the possibility that the killers could be nearby.
Baker is a caretaker at the town's Maple Grove Cemetery, right next to his home. But authorities blocked off the cemetery as search helicopters hovered overhead.
Baker was left to sit alone in his home, with all his doors locked and a rifle in his lap.
On most wanted list
Franklin County and Friendship aren't the only communities where police have swarmed in the hunt for Matt and Sweat. The manhunt, now in its 17th day, has primarily been focused in the area around Dannemora, where the prison is situated.
Described by authorities as "very dangerous," the two killers have been added to the U.S. Marshals Service's list of its 15 most wanted fugitives. Reward money of $75,000 has been offered for information leading to the capture of either man.
Described by authorities as "very dangerous," the two killers have been added to the U.S. Marshals Service's list of its 15 most wanted fugitives. Reward money of $75,000 has been offered for information leading to the capture of either man.
As many as 800 law enforcement officers have participated in the manhunt, which has cleared nearly 200 abandoned buildings, hundreds of occupied homes and more than 600 miles of rural trails, officials said.
State police have asked hunters and homeowners with surveillance cameras to check their footage all the way back to the day of the prison break for any unusual activity.
The search has stretched to Canada and Mexico, with wanted posters of the escaped killers given out at both borders.
Prison tailor in jail, corrections officer on leave
Authorities are still investigating how exactly Matt and Sweat managed to orchestrate their escape, which involved cutting through a steel wall and navigating a series of tunnels until the men emerged from a manhole outside the prison walls.
Mitchell, a prison tailor shop instructor, is accused of helping them by supplying tools like chisels and drill bits. She is in jail and has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.
A source familiar with the investigation has told CNN that Mitchell, 51, had a sexual relationship with Matt.
Investigators are looking into whether other prison staff members or inmates played a role in the breakout.
Authorities said Friday that a male corrections officer was placed on paid administrative leave as part of the investigation into the escape.
While no charges have been filed, the officer could face accusations of facilitating the escape and promoting prison contraband, Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie told CNN affiliate WPTZ on Saturday.
State authorities haven't named the officer, but his attorney identified him Sunday as Gene Palmer, a 28-year veteran of Clinton Correctional Facility.
"Right now Mr. Palmer is fully cooperating with any or all questions that are being asked of him," attorney Andrew Brockway told CNN on Sunday. "He spent 14 hours yesterday and he was completely forthcoming."
Palmer knew Matt and Sweat and had received a painting done by Matt, but Brockway said he is sure his client did not know the inmates were planning an escape.
"He wants these two individuals to be caught, and anything that he can do to help law enforcement do their job, he's willing to cooperate," Brockway said Monday.
A retired sergeant at the prison, Jeff Dumas, said he is sure Palmer was not involved in any escape plot.
"I don't believe that he actually intentionally helped these guys," Dumas told CNN's "New Day."
He said Palmer was one of two corrections officers responsible for escorting inmates to and from work at the prison's industrial building and was always conscientious in his work.
"My gut feeling is that somehow they may have conned him or taken a shortcut somewhere along the way in procedures during an escort and that would be about it," Dumas said.
Brockway had a similar sentiment.
"These two people are psychopaths, they are master manipulators," Brockway said of Matt and Sweat. "They're obviously in prison for life so they have nothing but time to develop schemes to take advantage of innocent people." CNN's Sara Ganim, Linh Tran, Alexandra Field, Carolyn Sung, Holly Yan, Steve Almasy, Shimon Prokupecz, Deborah Feyerick and Poppy Harlow contributed to this report.
Entries in long-hidden notebook show Pete Rose bet on baseball as player. For 26 years, Pete Rose has kept to one story: He never bet on baseball while he was a player.
Yes, he admitted in 2004, after almost 15 years of denials, he had placed bets on baseball, but he insisted it was only as a manager. But new documents obtained by Outside the Lines indicate Rose bet extensively on baseball -- and on the Cincinnati Reds -- as he racked up the last hits of a record-smashing career in 1986. The documents go beyond the evidence presented in the 1989 Dowd report that led to Rose's banishment and provide the first written record that Rose bet while he was still on the field.
"This does it. This closes the door," said John Dowd, the former federal prosecutor who led MLB's investigation.
The documents are copies of pages from a notebook seized from the home of former Rose associate Michael Bertolini during a raid by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in October 1989, nearly two months after Rose was declared permanently ineligible by Major League Baseball. Their authenticity has been verified by two people who took part in the raid, which was part of a mail fraud investigation and unrelated to gambling. For 26 years, the notebook has remained under court-ordered seal and is currently stored in the National Archives' New York office, where officials have declined requests to release it publicly.
Rose, through his lawyer, Raymond Genco, issued a statement: "Since we submitted the application earlier this year, we committed to MLB that we would not comment on specific matters relating to reinstatement. I need to maintain that. To be sure, I'm eager to sit down with [MLB commissioner Rob] Manfred to address my entire history -- the good and the bad -- and my long personal journey since baseball. That meeting likely will come sometime after the All-Star break. Therefore at this point, it's not appropriate to comment on any specifics." Bertolini's lawyer, Nicholas De Feis, said his client is "not interested in speaking to anyone about these issues." Dowd, who reviewed the documents at Outside the Lines' request, said his investigators had tried but failed to obtain Bertolini's records, believing they would be the final piece in their case that Rose was betting with mob-connected bookmakers in New York. Dowd and his team had sworn testimony from bookie Ron Peters that Rose bet on the Reds from 1984 through 1986, but not written documentation. Dowd also had testimony and a recorded phone conversation between Bertolini and another Rose associate, Paul Janszen, that established that Bertolini had placed bets for Rose. But Dowd never had the kind of documents that could cement that part of his case, especially in the eyes of fans who wanted to see Rose returned to Major League Baseball.
"We knew that [Bertolini] recorded the bets, and that he bet himself, but we never had his records. We tried to get them. He refused to give them to us," Dowd said. "This is the final piece of the puzzle on a New York betting operation with organized crime. And, of course, [Rose] betting while he was a player."
The documents obtained by Outside the Lines, which reflect betting records from March through July 1986, show no evidence that Rose, who was a player-manager in 1986, bet against his team. They provide a vivid snapshot of how extensive Rose's betting life was in 1986:
• In the time covered in the notebook, from March through July, Rose bet on at least one MLB team on 30 different days. It's impossible to count the exact number of times he bet on baseball games because not every day's entries are legible.
• But on 21 of the days it's clear he bet on baseball, he gambled on the Reds, including on games in which he played.
• Most bets, regardless of sport, were about $2,000. The largest single bet was $5,500 on the Boston Celtics, a bet he lost.
• Rose bet heavily on college and professional basketball, losing $15,400 on one day in March. That came during his worst week of the four-month span, when he lost $25,500.
Dowd said he wished he'd had the Bertolini notebook in 1989, but he didn't need it to justify Rose's banishment. Under MLB Rule 21, "Any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible."
But Rose's supporters have based part of their case for his reinstatement on his claim that he never bet while he was a player or against his team, saying that sins he committed as a manager shouldn't diminish what he did as a player.
"The rule says, if you bet, it doesn't say for or against. It's another device by Pete to try to excuse what he did," Dowd said. "But when he bet, he was gone. He placed his financial interest ahead of the Reds, period."
The timing for Rose, who played in 72 games in 1986, isn't great. In March of this year, he applied to Manfred for reinstatement. Dowd recently met with MLB CIO and executive vice president of administration John McHale Jr., who is leading Manfred's review of Rose's reinstatement request, to walk McHale through his investigation. On Monday morning, MLB officials declined to comment about the notebook.
In April, Rose repeated his denial, this time on Michael Kay's ESPN New York 98.7 FM radio show, that he bet on baseball while he was a player. "Never bet as a player: That's a fact," he said.
Outside the Lines tracked down two of the postal inspectors who conducted the raid on Bertolini's home in 1989 and asked them to review the documents. Both agents, former supervisor Craig Barney and former inspector Mary Flynn, said the records were indeed copies of the notebook they seized.
When the case began, it didn't look particularly enticing, Barney said. The postal inspector's office in Brooklyn, New York, had received a complaint that a man in Staten Island had failed to return goods to paying customers that he was supposed to have autographed. The man's name was Michael Bertolini, and the business he ran out of his home was called Hit King Marketing Inc. "It was a mere 'failure to render [services]' complaint," said Barney, who is now retired. "We didn't know anything about Bertolini or his connection [to Rose]."
If the accusation was true, it would constitute mail fraud, but the agents had no probable cause to search Bertolini's house.
Barney sent an agent to drive by the address. There was a for sale sign out front, the agent told him. So Barney and Flynn, posing as a couple looking for a home, called a real estate agent and were given a guided tour of Bertolini's house. "It was such a mess. There was stuff everywhere," Barney said.
Bats, balls, books and papers were scattered all over. It looked to them as if Bertolini had been signing memorabilia with the forged names of some of the most famous baseball players in history: Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Duke Snider, Mike Schmidt and Pete Rose. "It reeked of fraud," Barney said.
The two inspectors spotted an item that a complainant said had not been returned. That gave them probable cause to seek a search warrant.
On Oct. 13, a few days after the undercover house tour and after obtaining a search warrant, they searched Bertolini's home and found evidence that would lead to numerous convictions. But one item stood out: In a box of papers in the basement, Barney said, was a spiral notebook filled with handwritten entries.
It was immediately clear that the many notations of "PETE" in the pages represented Pete Rose.
"There were numbers and dates and -- it was a book for sports betting," Barney said. "I was taken aback."
Flynn, who said her first reaction was "Holy mackerel," said they asked Bertolini about the notebook.
"He wasn't forthcoming with much information," she said, "but he did acknowledge to me it was records of bets he made for Pete Rose."
Bertolini offered his take on the raid during his sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn six years later (he served 14 months for tax fraud and a concurrent assault sentence):
"I got a call at the place where I was working at the time from my brother, and he says, 'You should come home.' He said, 'There's a bunch of government people here, and they're here for you.' At the time, I think it was Mary Flynn of the postal inspector's office who got on the phone and said, 'We're here,' and she told me why and so forth. They took any records I had whatsoever, and they took different personal belongings and memorabilia from my home."
Although the 1989 raid on Bertolini's house received immediate news coverage, nothing about a betting book became public for five years. After Bertolini pleaded guilty and received a federal prison sentence, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, ESPN and other news organizations filed freedom of information requests with the U.S. Attorney's Office seeking access to the book. All were denied on the grounds that the notebook had been introduced as a grand jury exhibit and contained information "concerning third parties who were not of investigative interest."
Last year, Outside the Lines again applied unsuccessfully for access to the notebook but learned it had been transferred to the National Archives under a civil action titled "United States v. One Executive Tools Spiral Notebook." Two small boxes of other items confiscated in the postal raid on Bertolini's house went too, including autographed baseballs and baseball cards.
In April, Outside the Lines examined the Bertolini memorabilia kept in the National Archives' New York office, but the betting book -- held apart from everything else -- was off-limits. The U.S. Attorney's Office internal memorandum from 2000 that requested the spiral notebook's transfer said Bertolini's closed file has "sufficient historical or other value to warrant its continued preservation by the United States Government." The memorandum listed among its attachments a copy of the notebook, but a copy of the memorandum provided by the National Archives had no attachments and had a section redacted.
"I wish I had been able to use it [the book] all those years he was denying he bet on baseball," said Flynn, the former postal inspector. "He's a liar."
To Dowd, one of the most compelling elements of the newly uncovered evidence is that it supports the charge that Rose was betting with mob-connected bookies through Bertolini. Dowd's investigation had established that Rose was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt at the time he was banished from the game.
"Bertolini nails down the connection to organized crime on Long Island and New York. And that is a very powerful problem," Dowd said. "[Ohio bookie] Ron Peters is a golf pro, so he's got other occupations. But the boys in New York are about breaking arms and knees.
"The implications for baseball are terrible. [The mob] had a mortgage on Pete while he was a player and manager." Freelance researcher Liam Quinn contributed to this report.
The Human Drama Of Hacking Fuels TV Thriller 'Mr. Robot'.
Cyborgs and androids are nowhere to be seen in the new USA show Mr. Robot. Instead, the drama is centered on a very human interior — the mind of Elliot, the unlikely hacker hero. From his first words — "Hello, friend" — his voice-over keeps audiences squarely inside his world.
"Elliot is sort of an internal, isolated guy who can't really interact with people socially, in real life, but online he can hack them and knows all the intimate, private details of them," Sam Esmail, the show's creator and executive producer, tells NPR's Arun Rath.
Elliot, played by actor Rami Malek, is a cybersecurity engineer by day and vigilante hacker by night. He uses his hacking skills to influence the lives of those around him without leaving a trace.
One day, he stumbles upon a secret society run by a man called Mr. Robot, played by Christian Slater. The group wants to destroy the modern economic system by wiping out all debt. Elliot is pulled into a web of anarchy and danger where all the moral lines are blurred.
"Who's good and who's bad in this show? I don't know," Esmail tells Rath. "I mean, you really can't pinpoint the clear-cut morality here, who is the person I should be rooting for or not. I think it's more interesting when it's messier 'cause I think it's just more true to life."
Interview Highlights
On putting the audience inside Elliot's head with voice-over
Taxi Driver was a huge inspiration. One of the things about Taxi Driver that's so great is that it's just a pure character piece. Obviously there's a plot and there's a story, but just — you are purely inside this guy's brain.
And when I went to write Mr. Robot, I just knew in order to really pull off this really tricky thing, to see the world through this guy's point of view, I needed just to immerse the audience.
Voice-over gets a bad rep a lot of times in screenwriting because people think it's lazy, whatever it is, but when it is done really well, it just adds this other dimension. It creates this sort of intimate relationship with the audience that you really can't do just with dialogue and scene.
On whether the "alienated young techie" character was inspired by people like Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning
No. ... Look, teen angst I think has been around since Holden Caulfield. ... I think it's kind of interesting that now it's associated with techies, I think it's a lot older than that, but it's cool the association has become more popularized with technology. ...
You know, it's weird, it's like the nerds are having their moment right about now.
On portraying the hacking world and making people typing at keyboards exciting
So I was a nerd growing up, and I was a big techie and I watched all of those terrible movies and all those terrible television shows. And it was actually, I think, more work to portray it as poorly as they did because they forced all these CGI graphics and all this ridiculous stuff to force the drama there. One of the rules I have on my show is that we don't green screen ... anything. So everything you see that we filmed is real. And so the actors, I really wanted them to react to what is actually going on on-screen.
But I gotta be honest, I'm not some genius over here, I'm just actually going through what a programmer or coder or cybersecurity engineer would do in a certain hack. And the funny thing is, even though people don't completely understand it, they get it. And it's almost like when you watch a medical drama, or a legal drama or whatever, I don't necessarily understand all of the terminology, but I get what's going on emotionally, I get what the stakes are.
On the positive feedback about the show from hacker groups
You know how much of a risk that is to not only do a show about technology and about hackers, but then to kind of ... reference hacker groups. There's a popular Twitter feed for Anonymous and it's all, you know, unofficial, but when they gave us kudos, I was in heaven.
I mean, that's a real huge endorsement. And look, if it went the other way it would have been totally bad.
Regardless of it all today, please stay in touch!
