American Morning
Palestine to seek full United Nations membership
Just hours before two American envoys were set to meet with Palestinian leaders yesterday in an attempt to work out a deal for resumption of peace talks with Israel, the Palestinian Authority's foreign minister said that the Palestinians will seek full United Nations membership next week.
The announcement sets the stage for a showdown with the United States, who has vowed to veto a vote on full Palestinian statehood if the question comes to the U.N. Security Council.
Daniel Kurtzer, former ambassador to Israel and Egypt, explains the importance of this move on American Morning today, breaking down the potential repercussions for both the United States and peace talks in the Middle East.
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Thomas Friedman weighs in on what the country needs to bring jobs back
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently came out with a new book, "This Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back."
Within the book, Friedman outlines four great challenges facing the U.S., globalization, the revolution in information technology, chronic deficits, and a pattern of excessive energy consumption.
Describing himself as a "frustrated optimist," Friedman spends much of the book discussing the hyper-partisanship on Capitol Hill, describing Washington as being systemically paralyzed. He argues that the U.S. needs a "shock to the system" to change this system, specifically, a third party candidate.
Today on American Morning, Friedman joins Ali Velshi to place his book in context with the jobs crisis and to weigh in on what the country needs right now, both in leadership style and in legislative substance.
Sen. Sherrod Brown: Congress should take a pay-cut, receive pensions at 66
The Taxpayers Protection Alliance, a non-partisan group, sent a letter to lawmakers urging them to cut their "extravagant salaries" of $174 thousand a year by 10 percent, saying the move would save taxpayers $100 million dollars over ten years.
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) supports the proposal and also introduced a bill to Congress in April proposing that members of Congress wait until age 66 to receive their pension. Currently, members of Congress can receive their pensions at age 50. Sen. Brown talks to American Morning about a potential pay-cut for Congress and delaying the age they can receive pensions.
Rick Perry: Illegal immigrants should get in-state tuition costs
Presidential hopeful Rick Perry has taken a strong and controversial stance on immigration.
Will Perry be negatively effected by his stance on in-state tuition costs for illegal immigrants? CNN Contributor Ruben Navarrette weighs in on Rick Perry and his stance on immigration and border security.
Fact-checking the statements made at last night's CNN/Tea Party debate
Bill Adair and his team from PolitiFact spent a great deal of time after the CNN/Tea Party debate last night fact-checking some of the claims and statements made by the candidates. Adair joins Ali Velshi today to share their results and to rank the falsity of the assertions using PolitiFact's Truth-O-Meter.
How did Perry do at last night's GOP debate? Rep. Cannon weighs in
Governor Rick Perry received a great deal of criticism from his fellow GOP candidates last night, taking heat for his stance on Social Security, his HPV vaccination program, and his economic record.
Today on American Morning, Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon, who is a Perry surrogate, joins Ali Velshi to discuss the debate and to weigh in on how last night may have affected Perry's campaign.
"Look, when you're the front-runner, everybody picks on you," Cannon says. "I think Governor Perry did a good job of defending his record, standing his ground, and showing the kind of strengths that Americans want from their next president."
Many candidates attacked Perry last night on his history of jobs creation, saying that it is the favorable conditions in Texas that account for the low unemployment rate.
When pressed about this matter, Cannon defended the candidate, saying "Governor Perry made it clear that he didn't create the jobs, the private sector did."
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