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Jane Velez-Mitchell

Time for a Government Intervention?; Kanye Rants on `Jimmy Kimmel Live`

Aired October 10, 2013 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Tonight, day ten of the shutdown. And finally, finally, politicians are taking the first baby steps toward possibly figuring this mess out. Well, guess what, politicians. As you get together to try to find some common ground, why not start by admitting that you`re all hooked on spending?

Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell. Thank you for joining in.

Yes, both parties, Democrat and Republican, are addicted to spending. Each party just prefers spending on different things. Tonight it`s time for an intervention.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I told you if you did this to me I was going to be (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I want to do is talk to you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t want to talk to you. You promised. You swore to God on your life. You are no (EXPLETIVE DELETED) mother to me, talking like that. I can get help on my own.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Interventions are for addicts whose lives have spun out of control, their irresponsibility leaving terrible wreckage in its path. Sounds like the government, right?

Addicts are defiant. They refuse to admit having a problem, even when faced with the undeniable evidence of their bingeing. Sounds like the government, right?

Except instead of drugs or alcohol or hoarding the U.S. government is bingeing on our hard-earned tax dollars. And it`s not just one party. Democrats lean towards entitlement programs. And it was a Republican president who initiated the Iraq war which has cost us thousands of priceless lives and almost $2 trillion. Not to mention the trillions more that will come with all those interest payments. By the way, I looked it up: 1 trillion is 1,000 billion. That`s a lot of money.

Now just days away from an unprecedented default, here is the very best Congress can do: a proposal for a temporary deal to raise the debt cling just a smidge. That`s kind of like kicking down the can down the road for six weeks.

We`re starting to think a kid can do a better job running the country than all these politicians put together. Like, maybe this kid who calls himself Kid President.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grow up. You guys are fighting with each other all the time. I like you. I like all of you. Let`s all be friends.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: At least he`s having fun.

Do you think the government needs a spending intervention? Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.

Straight out to our fantastic Lion`s Den panel tonight from all across the political spectrum. Got to start with Pete Dominick, Sirius XM radio host and comedian. I think that`s appropriate. Isn`t this a real opportunity to think different and do something really different this time around?

PETE DOMINICK, SIRIUS XM RADIO HOST/COMEDIAN: I mean, I don`t think we`re going to really be able to do anything different. We have to remember that the United States budget really is -- you know, Jane, we should look -- we should look at it like an insurance agency with the military. All the spending is on health care and on defense. Both Republicans and Democrats don`t really want to cut anything there.

But we could also raise revenue. If I want to make more money, I get more work. We could do a lot of things, like raising taxes on the interest rule (ph) or a financial transaction tax. God forbid we legalize and tax marijuana. So there`s a lot we could do to also raise money.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. I want to go to the people right now. Sue`s in New York. Want to get you involved tonight. What do you think about the idea of thinking different?

CALLER: Well, I just wanted to remind you that the post office is not a federally funded organization. It`s run from profits made through, you know, postal stamp collection. And I think it`s -- I just wanted to remind you about that, because I know you mentioned it twice last night.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, yes, and you say profits. But actually, it`s losing something like $16 billion -- $16 billion last year alone. So, yes.

OK. Let`s talk about the postal service for a second. I would say the U.S. postal service is an example of a government program that needs to go bye-bye. The postal service lost $16 billion last year. Sixteen billion. The postmaster general wants to cut Saturday delivery to try to save money.

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PATRICK DONAHOE, POSTMASTER GENERAL: We`ve been consistently advancing this idea of making changes to the delivery schedule. It`s an important part of our strategy for returning back to financial stability.

We`re now at a point where it`s absolutely necessary to make that move.

(SFX: RECORD SCRATCH)

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. The post office is saying, "Put us out of our misery." Absolutely necessary, you say? Well, guess what: Congress is saying no.

Yes, you just heard the postmaster general from February. Two months after he said that, Congress blocked the move to cut Saturday delivery. That`s right. Congress prevented the post office from trying to right its financial ship.

So Amy Holmes, anchor of "The Hot List," if we can`t expect lawmakers to cut a program or this aspect of the government. I mean, it is the U.S. Postal Service. They`re from tax dollars. They`re begging for cuts, and the government won`t let them cut.

AMY HOLMES, ANCHOR, "THE HOT LIST": And you know, that goes to the argument that it`s really hard to wean yourself once you get hooked on government. And this is a great example where support for a very inefficient mail delivery system is being supported by both parties. Because you know what? These politicians, they hear from constituents in far parts of -- you know, far parts of their district to say, "I want that post office." It`s impossible to shut down one post office...

DOMINICK: Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question. Do you -- do you support the United States Constitution?

HOLMES: Let me finish, please. And I understand that the post office is something that`s written into law. But as Jane was just pointing out, even the post office says they`re inefficient. And by the way, I know there`s going to be viewers who are unhappy with this. But at least my experience, the only thing I get in the mail anymore are "Victoria`s Secret" catalogs.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Me, too. Me, too.

DOMINICK: Me, too. Me, too.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I get tons of stuff that I have to recycle, and that`s about it. This lady, I`m glad she gets real mail, but really, it`s outdated. One day the post office is going to have to go away. We all know that.

Now, this crisis is an opportunity for the U.S. government to think different. It`s not just about keeping it or getting rid of it all. OK. How about if we just revamp it, revamp the way government does business?

I want to examine the prison industrial complex. America keeps more people behind bars than any other country in the world. Right now, more than 2 million Americans are basically living in cages. That equals the entire population of a country like Slovenia or Macedonia. We have 5 percent of the world`s population. We have 25 percent of the world`s prison population.

And just like there`s a military industrial complex, there`s a prison industrial complex. And of course, the poorer minorities are disproportionately locked up, often for nonviolent drug offenses, even though more people are O.D.`ing from legal prescription drugs than illegal drugs. So few low-income minorities can afford the high-priced lawyers who know how to keep people out of jail.

Now listen, Ryan Clayton, executive director of Wolf-PAC, if we poured all the money we spend on prisons and put it into schools, wouldn`t we have a better educated populace, and many of the disadvantaged kids would get high-tech skills instead of ending up getting locked up?

RYAN CLAYTON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WOLF-PAC: Yes. The really disgusting thing is that they have to figure out really far in advance when they`re going to build a new prison they have to figure out how many people they`re going to put in that prison. So the way that they do that in some states is they look up the third-grade literacy rate. And so the -- you know, to determine how many people later on don`t get an education, end up committing criminal acts, and so they have to have enough prisons to put all those people in.

You know, I would solve that problem by making sure that every kid can read in third grade. But they solve that problem by building more prisons and filling up those beds. And the reason is, at some point, somebody is paying a politician to write a law that puts more people into prison so that they can make money off of it. And that`s just sick. Nobody should be making money off depriving people of their liberty in this country.

DOMINICK: Yes, the idea that we have prisons that are -- we have privatized prisons, for-profit prisons industry. It`s pretty much the most immoral thing that we have in America. We can talk about insurance and other issues. The idea that we make money off of keeping beds filled with prisoners. And of course, why do we have so many more prisoners than all those other countries, Jane? It`s our drug laws.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Eboni Williams, how do you grow -- how do you grow your business? Create more prisoners. They have a convention. They have magazines. This is an industry. Make no mistake about it. Eboni.

EBONI WILLIAMS: It is. It is an industry, Jane. And unfortunately, we`re not doing it the most efficient way. There`s a way that we can do -- you know, we can address the real criminal issues in our society that don`t include prison. There are drug courts, Jane. There are federal courts that have deferred programs that focus on rehabilitating some of these wrongdoers and these offenders instead of imprisoning them. Because like you said, that`s not the most efficient way to go about it.

When I was working as a public defender in Charlotte, North Carolina, that was something we utilized. It was very effective. And also, the reoffension [SIC] rate -- reoffending rate for those people that go through those programs is much less. It gives us a safer society, and it saves us dollars. How much common more sense could we get?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I mean, we`re all agreeing. And you`re -- we`ve got liberals. We`ve got progressives. We`ve got conservatives. We`ve got -- I`d call myself, I don`t know, from day-to-day it changes. Tonight I`m a green Libertarian. Tomorrow I might be an orange...

DOMINICK: You`re a post office hater, Jane. You`re a post office hater.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: No, I`m not. I`m not a post -- well, maybe I am a post office hater. But I mean, we`re all agreeing that something is wrong. Yet the Democrats and the Republicans on Capitol Hill, they keep having these very, very rigid arguments, like the only thing we can talk about is either accept Obama care 100 percent or nothing else.

I mean, we could accept Obama care and then, in exchange, get rid of a lot of other stuff that doesn`t need to be around. Like I said, if we revamped the agricultural policies to stop subsidizing big ag and big food, which is producing the obesity crisis, which is created by the U.S. government.

DOMINICK: Oil and gas subsidies. I mean, follow the money.

HOLMES: Hold on. It would surprise the viewers to know that the politician who championed "three strikes you`re out" was Bill Clinton. You can thank a Democratic president for that. And a politician actually opposes -- opposes all these agricultural subsidies is John McCain, a Republican. So I think if we think more clearly and smarter about these things...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well...

HOLMES: ... we can throw aside our party labels and try to do what`s right.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know what? Let me tell you something: Bill Clinton hasn`t been in office for a long time. We still have massive, massive subsidies to big ag, which many people, and there`s been many editorials in "The New York Times" say this has created the obesity crisis.

And yet then they turn around and say, well, Obama care is too expensive. Obama care wouldn`t be that expensive if we didn`t have a sick population. We could make people healthy. We could encourage health instead of sickness. By subsidizing fruit and vegetables. By putting some criteria on who can -- how you can use Food Stamps. You should buy healthy food with Food Stamps. Not food that`s going to make you sick.

On the other side we`re taking your calls. We`re going to go to Blair, Texas. Hang on.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think there`s a lot of ego, and people are unwilling to compromise on both sides.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your message to Washington.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get off your butts and do the job you were elected to do.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are here today on the boundary of Everglades National Park to ask all of our leaders in Washington to put aside their differences.

This really needs to be resolved before it gets any worse.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: And we`ve got breaking news just in. We`re learning no final decisions have been made. And we`re dealing with twin crises here. President GOP leaders agreed communication should continue through the night. Republicans offering basically a temporary deal to kick the entire crisis, the default crisis down the road a few weeks. We`ll see what happens.

Let`s go out to the phone lines. We`ve got Blair, Texas. What do you have to say? Blair, Texas.

CALLER: Oh, Jane, I -- I`ve got a lot to say. Because you know, this situation with the Democrats and the Republicans are doing for to just stop working, I think they just need to get off their butts and start working and stop arguing with each other and just start handling their business like they were hired to do, and it`s making me so mad. Because you know, all the military are out there fighting for our country and not getting paid. That is flat-out ridiculous.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely. If you`re putting your life on the line, you damn well better get paid.

But there are so many other things that could be rejiggered. It`s not just about cutting something, eliminating it entirely. There are programs that certainly we should not mess with, in my opinion. Social security, Medicare, Medicaid, the basics.

But there are so many ways that the government could partner, for example, with business, to offer companies tax incentives, tax breaks, in return, for example, improving our environment.

You know, we`ve seen so many horrific storms lately. And it`s getting worse. That`s not your imagination. Floods, raging fires due to drought that have destroyed billions of dollars in property, devastated many American lives.

Scientists, the scientific community has concluded that, yes, people are causing climate change, which is creating more extreme weather. So instead of just arguing about whether that`s true or not, since most scientists, the overwhelming majority agree, yes, human behavior is contributing to climate change, why can`t the U.S. government offer tax breaks to corporations to switch to green products and technology?

I`ll give you an example. I had a friend who developed a biodegradable chlorine-based water bottle. And he started a company. It existed. He showed me a time lapse of the bottle degrading into nothingness. His company went out of business. The technology is there. But of course, everybody is drinking out of plastic water bottles. Because nobody in government has had the imagination to offer tax breaks to corporations in return for switching out their production facilities to biodegradable bottles.

Now if we did that, and I`ll throw it at Ryan Clayton, Wolf-PAC, because you`re about being progressive and thinking different, we would more than make up the money and reduce landfills and reduction of petro chemicals, which is obviously the basis of plastic. And we would (UNINTELLIGIBLE). We`d have fewer storms. People wouldn`t be evacuated and losing everything. The insurance industry wouldn`t be dealing with all the problems. FEMA wouldn`t be criticized. It would be proactive instead of reactive.

CLAYTON: Yes, I mean, you`re 100 percent correct. Look, our government could be a lot more forward thinking. You know, we can start thinking a lot smarter and better and how can we do things faster and kind of have a government that`s almost created around the idea of the Internet.

You know, I agree with you 100 percent on that. With something like subsidies, though, I think we give these companies plenty of subsidies right now. One of the biggest problems in our government is that we used to collect corporate tax revenues. It was a third of our entire federal budget. And now that it`s only 7 percent, you know, we`re operating the federal government without a third of the pie.

And the reason for that is to just follow the money. Look, there`s a reason they bribe our politicians, right? This government shutdown didn`t just happen. It was bought and sold by outside interests that have dumped toxic amounts of private money into our private elections. And the Supreme Court opened the floodgates for all that money with its disastrous Citizens United decision. That`s...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Amy Holmes?

CLAYTON: ... how we got the Congress that we have today.

HOLMES: I would say that we need to take the money out of politics, but we also need to take the politics out of money. That`s why they lobby government because of regulation, because of taxation. If you have less of that, you`d have less of the lobby on Capitol Hill which everyone agrees, I think, works the system.

But I want to get back to what`s going on with this government shutdown. You showed that clip of those fishing charter captains. Our National Park Service actually tried and succeeding, apparently, at shutting down the ocean. If this is not big government thuggery at its very worst.

I recorded a story today that I discovered that the Presidio Golf Club that sits on national parkland has been allowed to operate while hikers, bikers, people walking through that park are not allowed. Nor is a privately-run restaurant allowed to keep the doors open. And yet, if you want to go golfing, you know, go tee up.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You are so right. And you have brought me to my rant this evening.

OK. The Republicans want to cut budget. You want a federal government program that needs to be cut right now? Here is top of my list.

The USDA`s Wildlife Services that critics say has been waging a bloody wholesale war of terror on America`s wildlife for the benefit of private business interests. A "New York Times" editorial says the carnage paid for by our tax dollars, millions of cougars, bears, beavers and other wild animals being killed by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Now, there`s a group called Predators Defense Fund. And we have it on my Facebook page. They have this heart-wrenching photo you saw there of all these cougar heads. They`re begging Americans to get involved. Tell our politicians wipe out this wasteful program that is actually decimating the wild animal population in America for no good reason.

We reached out tonight to the USDA for comment to get the other side. And we were told in the recording that, well, the USDA is on furlough and can`t comment. Listen to it for yourself. Listen for yourself.

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(PHONE RINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m not in the office at this time. I`m on furlough due to the lapse in federal government funding. Please leave a message. And I look forward to returning your call once the funding has been restored and I return to work. Thank you.

ROBOTIC VOICE: At the tone, please record your message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So Eboni Williams, OK, wild animals could be saved because of the shutdown. This is the kind of Kafka-esque nightmare nonsense the government engages in. And, you know, I don`t understand why the two sides can`t sit there in Washington and order in some food and go agency by agency, program by program, and wipe out that kind of garbage.

WILLIAMS: I couldn`t agree more, Jane. I think this is one place where Paul Ryan is actually getting this right. He`s out there talking about, let`s take this conversation away from Obama care and talk about common sense moderate cuts to spending.

And I agree with you: the wildlife program is an example. I`ll give you another one, Jane. You know, we have a presidential election campaign fund that last year`s election had $35 million. Why are we paying for these campaigns and conventions? That`s utterly ridiculous. Talk about wasteful, nonsensical spending right there. That`s $35 million that go to schools or other programming.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: What`s scary is that we have all sides of the political spectrum represented here tonight. Liberal, conservative, progressive, green libertarian. Everybody is agreeing. Why can`t that agree on Capitol Hill? And talk about the real problem?

And I don`t think it`s Obama care. I think if we cut all this other nonsense, we could easily afford Obama care.

Stay right there. We`ll be back on the other side.

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REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: What we want to do is offer the president today the ability to move a temporary increase in the debt ceiling.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Congress needs to do its job. Turn on the lights. Stop threatening default. Pay our bills.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t want to talk to you. I told you. You promised. You swore to God on your life. You lied to me. You are no (EXPLETIVE DELETED) mother. I hate you. I`m not talking to that guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get off your butts and do the job you were elected to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s no way of knowing the irrevocable damage such an approach would have on our economy and financial markets.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, CBS`S "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": The average human is smarter than the average American. And we have some tape that I think is compelling. Take a look at this tape.

ANNOUNCER: The average human.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which film studio is in Japan that later became the Toho Company did Akira Kurosawa join as an assistant director in 1936?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PCL.

ANNOUNCER: The average American.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Magic. Yand, band, cand, jand, pand, fand, band.

ANNOUNCER: This has been "Average Human, Average American."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, yes. Thank you, David Letterman and Worldwide Pants. That was a funny away of really addressing a very serious problem. Our education system needs to be revamped. I say put every kid in America in a uniform and give them an iPad. Let`s equalize education. It is supposed to give you an equal chance at life.

Straight out to the phone lines. Carol, Massachusetts, your question or thought. Carol, Massachusetts.

CALLER: Hi, Jane. How are you? My thought is this. That we are a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Where are we? We should have millions going to Washington saying we`ve had enough. You opened our government. This is our government. You do the right thing.

And when the elections come around, we remember each and every one of their names. And you don`t vote them in again. It`s the good old boys` club.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I agree. You`re talking my language, Carol.

Pete Dominick, Sirius XM host, people don`t march quite the way they used to. Yes, it happens occasionally, and you`re looking at a demonstration there. But my gosh, not the kind of massive demonstrations, for example, anti-war demonstrations we had during the Vietnam era. Should people take to the streets?

DOMINICK: Well, I mean, yes. I wouldn`t -- I wouldn`t agree with the good old boys` club comment she slipped in there. But absolutely. You`re talking about Vietnam. There was a cost then. There was a draft. I believe in, you know, some kind of a service, that everybody should have to serve in. I know it sounds radical, but people don`t have a cost in our government and they only really pay attention in times like this, unfortunately, when the government shuts down.

So I mean, people are, you know -- We have a problem right now with income inequality. You mentioned education. Our education problem is only a problem in the parts of this country where there are really poor people. It`s an economic problem, not an education problem.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And we`re losing ground because other countries are making it part of their governmental policy to put education reform en masse and churning out billions of high-tech workers.

DOMINICK: And they all have universal health care.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: In our country, either you`re rich, you`ve got an opportunity to become rich, you`re high-tech, you`re highly educated, or you`re in a low -- a low-income job.

DOMINICK: They have two things, Jane. They have two things. Universal health care and universal pre-K. All of those countries you`re talking about.

HOLMES: And in answer to our caller, people are going to Washington and voicing their frustration and their outrage over the shutdown and the abuse of citizens by the National Park Service, by the Interior Department. We know that vets are marching on Washington, D.C. Even truck drivers have pledged to roll into Washington to, you know, honk their horns and let Washington know that they`re unhappy.

I want to give you one more piece of information, Jane, to help you in your fight against the USDA. Do you know what else is being allowed to keep operating on national federal land while this shutdown goes on, including in national parks? Oil and gas drilling. That is how our government is picking and choosing who they harass, barricade, you know, keep under armed guard. If you are well-heeled, you have money, you like to golf and you drill for oil, you get to keep doing it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s a shell game. And it`s time to really send a message to both sides, to all sides. Think different or you`re all going to be out of business.

On the other side, Kanye West. I was flipping channels last night, and you will not believe what this guy was saying. I almost fell off my couch. Is his wife, Kim Kardashian, worthy of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? Why is he so angry about this issue? You won`t want to miss this. It`s up next.

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KANYE WEST, HIP-HOP STAR: Tell me what it take to be No. 1. Yo, everybody out there, thank you so very much, you know, for weathering the storm with me, through my ups and my downs. And we definitely up right now. And I will celebrate, and I will pop some champagne for everyone that went out and bought this record. Everyone that listened to it over and over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KANYE WEST, SINGER: Tell me what it takes to be number one. Everybody out there, thank you so very much for weathering the storm with me, through my ups and my downs and we`re definitely up right now. And I will celebrate and I will pop some champagne for everyone that went out and bought this record, everyone that listened to it over and over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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JIMMY KIMMEL, TALK SHOW HOST: Did anyone else get a very angry phone call from Kanye West about an hour and a half ago?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not just clothing, but water bottle designs, architecture, everything you can think about.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kanye, Kimmel go toe to toe.

WEST: I`m a creative genius and there`s no other way to word it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kanye took a bunch of really personal shots from Kimmel.

KIMMEL: A lot of people think you`re a jerk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Remember when he interrupted Taylor Swift`s award speech?

WEST: I say things the wrong way a lot of times. My intention is always positive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Kanye talked and he talked and Kanye talked and then he talked.

WEST: You`re going to love me or you`re going to hate me but I`m going to be me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST: I was flipping through the channels last night and I just stumbled upon Kanye West talking to Jimmy Kimmel. And it just stopped me in my tracks. Now, I`m going to give the rapper some props for honesty. But the sheer arrogance, it`s unbelievable.

Kanye West actually called himself a genius.

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WEST: Well for me, you know, I`m a creative genius, and there`s no other way to word it. I think you`re not supposed to say that about yourself, and I say things the wrong way a lot of times, but my intention is always positive.

KIMMEL: A lot of people think they`re geniuses and nobody says it but it`s weird to say it, but it is most certainly more honest to say I`m a genius.

WEST: I`m totally weird, and I`m totally honest, and I`m totally inappropriate sometimes. And the thing is -- you know for me to say I wasn`t a genius, I would just be lying to you and to myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow. Go on national TV and say you are a creative genius. Other people who actually are geniuses did not go around saying that -- Steve Jobs, Gandhi, Martin Luther King -- I`m pretty sure they didn`t have interviews like that.

Now don`t forget Kanye is the same guy who jumped on stage when a young Taylor Swift was accepting an award, stole her microphone and said somebody else should have won. Not a genius move.

The whole point of the interview was for Kanye and Jimmy Kimmel to settle a feud they were having, and it was ratings gold for Kimmel, and Kanye got a platform to vent. But my suggestion to Kanye is do what I do, vent in front of the bathroom mirror at home. It`s safer.

Straight out to the "Lion`s Den" -- Marvet Britto, president and CEO of the Britto Agency. Kanye says he speaks his mind and doesn`t listen to his publicist. Should he listen to his publicist? Should he listen to his publicist?

MARVET BRITTO, PRESIDENT/CEO, BRITTO AGENCY: I don`t think -- I think Kanye should continue doing what Kanye is doing, which is using his voice in the most authentic truthful way. People have to remember that Kanye isn`t one who speaks gratuitously.

When we see Kanye, when we hear from him, he typically has something to say. And yes it`s -- some people take it as arrogance, but I respect the fact that Kanye is clear and concise about who he is. Many artists aren`t brave enough to do so.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I mean look. He`s brave. He`s brave. He named his child North West -- brave move. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful girl, but that is quite a name. We can debate that, too.

Adding to the arrogance he displayed on Jimmy Kimmel last night, Kanye is also apparently hyper sensitive. He took great offense, no kidding around, to a spoof Kimmel did on one of Kanye`s interviews. Here`s the interview with BBC followed by Kimmel`s skit and then we`ll debate it.

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WEST: Giving designs to Fendi over and over and getting our designs knocked down brought the leather jogging pants six years ago to Fendi, and they said no. How many (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you done seen with a leather jogging pant?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knot just clothing, but water bottle designs, architecture, everything you can think about.

Brought the leather jogging pants six years ago to Fendi and they said no. How many (EXPLETIVE DELETED) have you done seen with leather jogging pants?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, that is so funny, but that skit sent him into a tizzy. It launched the epic Twitter war with Kimmel. Lucky for us the two agreed to talk it out on the show.

"Lion`s Den" -- and I got to toss it to Michael Yo, correspondent, OMG Insider. Is Kanye basically, you know, it feels like this is Kanye`s world and we`re all just sort of visiting it.

MICHAEL YO, CORRESPONDENT, OMG INSIDER: Yes, absolutely we are. Kanye is a genius. If you look at him, he`s already won 21 Grammys and he`s only 36 years old. He`s been nominated for 51 Grammys. Leonardo DiCaprio is going to go down as one of the greatest actors ever and doesn`t even have an Oscar. He is a genius in his field and we are living in Kanye`s world and no matter what people say about him -- Miley Cyrus with "Wrecking Ball" is getting all this attention. Kanye knows how to sell record. Kanye knows how to stay relevant. And that`s what he`s doing right now.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So basically you`re saying be inappropriate and you will remain in the headlines. Something we should all keep in mind, since we`re the media.

YO: No, but what I`m saying -- no, no, what I`m saying is he`s always been like this, from his first album "College Dropout" which was listen to yourself, don`t listen to society. He`s always been like this on his records. He hasn`t changed. He`s the same person.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Somebody very famous said be yourself because everybody else is taken. You have to give him props for being authentic.

Jacoby, Iowa -- your question or thought.

JACOBY, IOWA (via telephone): Yes, I would like to say that Kanye cries too much. I`m always seeing him on TV, TMZ, et cetera, et cetera he`s always disrespectful. He`s always crying. He`s not the same Kanye West that came into the rap game years and years ago. His music isn`t the same. He makes garbage rap much like Lil Wayne and most of the rappers that are in the industry now. It`s garbage.

You listen to early hip hop and you listen to hip hop now, and you can see the difference in the way it`s evolved and the way it`s changed. There`s no positive message. There`s no U-N-I-T-Y. That`s a Queen Latifah quote.

Kanye has got to stop being this Kanye that he`s being and be the Kanye that his mother raised him to be because this is not who he is. His mother is probably rolling over in her grave by watching his behavior.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you`ve thought about this a lot. I think you`re making some excellent points. I mean this man is rich. He`s talented. He`s successful. He has a beautiful girlfriend. He has a child. He should be on top of the world not feeling self pity.

But on Kimmel Kanye went on a rant about something else. Slamming the Hollywood Walk of Fame for not honoring his girlfriend -- not wife, girlfriend -- Kim Kardashian, despite her super famous career in reality TV. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEST: By the way, I want to shout out to stars of the Walk of Fame right quick because they said something about they`re not going to put my girl on the Walk of Fame because she`s a reality star. It`s like people are so, so dated and not modern.

It`s like there`s no way a Kim Kardashian shouldn`t have a star on the Walk of Fame. It`s like --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: He`s really upset about this. Sorry, Kim. I mean, you`ve got a gorgeous face. You are very, very sexy, but that`s -- those are not the requirements for getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Let`s see what they are. Stars must be nominated for the Walk of Fame. They have awards like an Emmy, SAG or Oscar. They need to be in the real acting industry for at least five years.

And let`s see who has gotten an star -- Mickey Mouse, three dogs have also been honored, including the lovable star of Lassie and even fictional characters like the munchkins from "Wizard of Oz". Pete Dominick, do you think it`s unfair for Kim Kardashian not to get a star on Walk of Fame, and what do you think of his reaction? He is furious.

PETE DOMINICK, COMEDIAN: No. I agree with the president of the United States. This guy is a jackass. And his wife, Kim Kardashian is talentless. She is gorgeous, but she doesn`t have any talent. Being on a reality TV show is no talent. I`m a stand-up comedian and I would like to say on national television, Jane, I am a creative genius.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, if you said it, then I`m going to say it, too. I`m a creative genius. Anybody -- Michael, you want to join in?

Dominick: I`m going to call you out. Because you said you were flipping through the channels and you caught Kanye on Kimmel. I don`t believe you. I think you were planning on watching that interview all night long. Admit it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: No, absolutely not. I swear to God. Put me on a polygraph machine. I was flipping through the channels, and I --

DOMINICK: And just contributed to Jimmy Kimmel`s rating.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: No. First I saw Letterman. First I saw Letterman and that funny joke that he did with humans being smarter than Americans which we just ran. And I mentioned that to our staff this morning, that`s where they read it.

Then I kept flipping. And you know, going through like thousands of channels. I don`t even know where anything is. It`s like 5,000 channels.

DOMINICK: You can`t turn away from Kimmel.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And I stumbled upon Kanye. I swear to God. It was not a homework assignment. He stopped me in my tracks. I guess you`re right. Maybe he is a creative genius.

More on the other side.

(MUSIC)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Here`s your "Crazy Video of the Day". A freight train slams into a trailer at a Texas crossing. This happened last night. It`s totally insane. Watch this -- boom. Gee whiz. Don`t worry. Nobody got hurt. The driver escaped the truck before the impact, and nobody in the train got hurt. That is -- got to see that one more time. Wow. Whoo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMMEL: I don`t know if you know this, a lot of people think you`re a jerk, and I often in my own personal conversations say, "No, I know this guy. He`s not a jerk. I`m telling you, he`s not a jerk." In fact, I had a picture which I happened to see on my dad`s iPad at the wedding. It`s you and my dad who you may have thought was Wolf Blitzer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know, I almost got a little nervous when Jimmy Kimmel said a lot of people think you`re a jerk. And then he looked at him with tremendous intensity. Then he said, "I`ve defended you."

The rapper is constantly upset about something particularly the paparazzi. Because he`s dating and has a baby with tabloid queen Kim Kardashian. He`s currently facing charges of battery and attempted grand theft after he allegedly attacked a paparazzo, but Kanye apparently learned nothing from the incident because he said this on Kimmel last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEST: The way paparazzi talk to me and my family is disrespectful also. You know what I`m saying. We bring something of joy to the world. When people hear my music, they have a good time. I should be respected as such when I walk down the street.

Don`t ask me a question about something you saw in the tabloids. Don`t try to antagonize me because you know what, it`s not safe for you in the zoo. Never think that I`m not from Chicago for one second.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right, straight out to the "Lion`s Den". Marvet Britto, president and CEO of the Britto Agency, does he have an anger management problem?

BRITTO: You know, I don`t think that Kanye has an anger management problem, but I do think that he really has to understand that celebrities once they are in the public eye, they will be antagonized by press.

I think that Kanye -- what I believe the issue is, Kanye, a very private brand has now merged with a very public brand. And we see the tension of that. Kanye is someone who again, he really only talked to press when he had a record to sell or when there was a reason. And now he`s with Kim Kardashian whose career was largely built by message vehicles like paparazzi.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Exactly.

BRITTO: So it`s very difficult for him, and he`s trying to navigate those waters.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I mean why would you -- I`m sorry, they`re not married -- why would you get together with somebody -- I apparently want them to get married because I said that a couple of times now tonight.

Michael Yo, correspondent, OMG Insider, here`s the thing. People aren`t brands. And if you try to make yourself into a brand, then it is kind of like a pact with the devil, and then you`ve got to expect the paparazzi and everything that comes with it.

YO: Yes, absolutely. But you got to understand, this is one side of Kanye West. And he`s like that to the paparazzi just like he`s like that on Kimmel. But I actually agree with Kimmel on one side. I know a different Kanye West. I`ve been with him at the Donda West Foundation where he did a free concert for kids that have perfect attendance at school in Chicago.

I`ve been with the human side of Kanye. I know he`s a nice guy. I`ve been there with him.

There are two sides to Kanye. I think he plays it up for the music side. But if you get him Jane, I swear if you get him on a one-on-one interview about something that he`s really passionate about besides music, you will get a different Kanye West.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, the full interview on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" was one of -- well, it was a rant. So I would like to take a minute to say something to Kanye if you`re watching.

Kanye -- what are you talking about? You`re one rant away from being tossed in a looney bin. I know you think you`re a genius. But everybody knows that geniuses do not call themselves geniuses, you know. It makes you sound arrogant, frankly. Not even the most detailed diagram can explain, you know, how you got from Point A to Point B in your eight-minute tirade on Kimmel last night.

You started talking about fashion. That led somehow to drug dealers in Chicago. You concluded talking about paparazzi. It was all over the map -- just a series of beginnings. My suggestion to you is, please, you are very, very talented, stick to music and fashion, if that makes you happy. But stop complaining. Your life is a joy. Everybody would love to have the life you have, Kanye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Time for Pet of the Day. Send your pet pics to hlntv.com/jane. Reese -- give me a sense of peace. Boone -- look at that little face and those eyes. How sweet and precious. McDuffy and McDougal -- you are a pair to be reckoned with. Princess is a princess on her throne; look at her, never alone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m ticked off and here`s why. Oh, the smart people, the intellectuals who run our government. They used to call them the best and the brightest. And they think they are so very superior and smart. And yet look at the mess they have made.

Really, not so smart after all, are they? They know how to play those cynical inside-the-beltway games. They have skillfully risen to power and influence and gotten rich in the process. But they are in it for themselves. They are not actually all that interested in using their massive brain power to make this world a better place.

Their fancy educations gave them a big vocabulary. But they`ve forgotten some very simple words -- kindness, compassion, service, sacrifice, humility. They are jaded. And at the end of the day, jaded people who manipulate to get ahead aren`t all that smart. They`re pathetic. And the price they pay -- they have to live with themselves.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Time for a little slice of happiness. This pup, his name is Boogie, he saw some people running a half marathon in Illinois and he decided he wanted to join in, so he ran away from home. And he ended up running the whole race.

When Boogie crossed the finish line he was awarded a medal, just like the human runners. Unfortunately, his family wasn`t there to cheer him on because they didn`t even know he was running. Boogie`s owner found out what he`d accomplished when he picked him up from a shelter later in the day. Way to go Boogie.

Nancy Grace is next.

END