today georgia's governor hit back in pager league baseball for moving the all-star game out of atlanta. >> major league baseball put the wishes of stacey abrams and joe biden ahead of the economic well-being of hardworking georgians. >>> more than 40 states are considering restrictive bills. what could this mean for them? >>>

you have atlanta mayor keisha lance bottoms signing an order. i mean, that might blunt the impact, i suppose, but how do you make sure that voters are able, equipped to combat these efforts? >> you know, i think that we do need to have education as part of it, which is why our organization and many other organizations on the ground are doing voter education work. we've been engaged. some of the mobilizization didn't just up and happen. that came after people working on the ground, working with communities, working with groups, educating them about the opportunity to vote, educating them about the significance of voting and the impact of their votes. and so they responded to that. the other way is there a we have to safeguard people's right to vote, that we cannot allow legislation that is punitive that, punishes people for participating in the process. that's essentially what is happening. so georgia voters are now under attack, particularly black voters are under attack because they came out in record numbers this last election cycle. and so wh

the league pulled its all star game out of atlanta protesting the state's new resouth africa difference voting law. and now pressure is building on major companies to stop similar efforts in texas, arizona and beyond. georgia's governor is doubling down on a law that he actually argues with a straight face is about expanding ballot access. >> secure accessible fair elections are worth the threat, they are worth the boycott and the lawsuit. i want to be clear, i will not be backing down from this fight. and neither are the people who are here with me today. >> governor kemp failed to mention the fact that georgia republicans passed this law after spreading lies about unfounded voter fraud in the 2020 election nor the fact that the state gop pushed restrictive voting bills after voters turned the state blue. as for president biden, the white house released a statement today saying that he supports the move from mlb to move the all-star game out of georgia. so where does the pressure campaign go from here? joining us now, bishop jackson who is leading the movement to hold companies respons

ever let the system off the hook, whether it's in columbus, whether it's in minnesota, whether it's in atlanta, georgia, whether it's in my hometown of st. louis, missouri. all of american policing has to be put on trial because until we get past the place of accountability and fully to the place of prevention, we still have work to do. >> clint, it's scary, as brittany said. it's also completely misreading the systems that undergird this. republican senator tim scott told nbc news there are four sticking points in the george floyd act for him. ending qualified immunity, restricting no knock warrants and the use of former defense department weapons and banning the choke hold. without those elements, can you really call it reform? >> i don't think so. and i think that part of what we have to understand is that this act is important. and it is important as a means of harm mitigation, as a means of preventing further violence from being enacted against people in this moment. but it is not in and of itself the answer. outside of the criminal legal system, it's hard to think of any other places in

tia mitch, washington correspondent for "the atlanta journal constitution." laura, here is how senator bernie sanders described biden's new information plan this morning. take a listen. >> roads and bridges and tunnels are infrastructure. but i think many of us see a crisis in human infrastructure, when a working class family can't find good quality, affordable childcare, that's human infrastructure. >> lauren, you've reported on this new plan. how is biden expanding what has traditionally been thought of as infrastructure with this plan? >> so they put it into two categories. you've got traditional infrastructure, as they've said, roads, bridges. these are aspects that do need fixing. we are ranked 13th in the world for infrastructure. so they are really making the case for physical infrastructure. but there's also human infrastructure, which gets at our health care system, our system of caring for disabled and elderly americans, our schools, aspects that are very, very important to our economy, democrats will argue, and to the people who -- you know, to the

images and these devastating murders of unarmed black americans and also what recently happened in atlanta, an instance of white supremacy and misogyny against the aapi community. this recovery needs to be one that is trauma informed and we need to make sure there are resources that people can get help that they need, eliminate those barriers and i'm calling for my children act to be a framework within that. in that this is black maternal health week, we are sitting in the disparate health outcomes and the racial injustices, this is another issue. my grandmother died in the 1950s in child birth and the fact that right now in 2021 that black women could still be four times more likely to die in child birth or in birthing complications is simply unacceptable and those concerns and those realities have only worsened under the pandemic which is why i've introduced the covid-19 safe birthing act to ensure that there are those protections because ensuring a safe pregnancy should be a fundamental human right and not a privilege. >> as i listen to you talk, part of what i am struck by is that we a

. >> congressman, you went to atlanta with the congressional delegation to pay your respects to the families of the victims of the shooting that took place there a little over two weeks ago now. what did you hear from them? what did they tell you? >> well, we met with some of the families of the victims and we, you know, while we can never comprehend what they are going through, we thank them because they told us about their moms' stories. they told us about how hard they worked. one of their biggest points of sadness was that their moms will never be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor after years and decades of working, you know, almost virtually every single day, barely taking a day off. and we are thankful for their families telling those stories because it actually tells the stories of so many asian-american women across this country and in our history, stories which have been ignored for way too long. >> when we talk about a community being under attack, there's some of the violent acts we're seeing, but there's also being a victim of the voter suppression laws sweeping the country

baseball pulled all-star game out of atlanta. and attacked woke political activists. >> major league baseball caved to fear and lies from liberal activists, coming to cancel everything from sports to how you make a living. they will stop at nothing to silence all of us. >> tim, clearly this is the free market at work but it is striking to me that on the list of republican enemies, they're taking aim at corporations lining up with pro-democracy, pro-voting advocates. >> this shows how confused the party is about policy, and one thing that ignites them, opposition to racial progress, opposition to the social justice causes. two things happened last week that stuck out to me, one, after delta spoke out against the georgia bill, the georgia republican legislature tried to revoke some of the tax breaks they received for being in-state corporation. then after the major league baseball moved the all-star game, a couple of republican congressmen were saying we should look at their antitrust protections that major league baseball has. now

jon ossoff saying, please don't take this game out of atlanta. we can do better keeping it here, drawing attention to it here. you had ralph warnock saying the same thing. does it seem inconsistent to you who this guy -- as marco rubio also said, he does business with communist china, he does business with cuba, he's -- he apparently didn't even read this bill before making this decision. doesn't it seem hypocritical of him to keep that membership at augusta but yank the all-star game out of atlanta when it's going to hurt middle class and working class georgians? >> joe, i think the key here is the separation between the financial interests and the culture war. so i think that when we're talking about the big corporations that have come into the spotlight because of the georgia voting bill, it's very easy to zero in on the mlb, the big corporations, the delta, the coca-cola. in terms of augusta, i'm going to agree with michael steele here. i do think that marco rubio can better frame it as a personal decision. this is not a corporation, this is

those are his words, wrong a if el low atlanta-based u.p.s. saying it's actively engaged with political leaders on both sides of the aisle to advocate for more equitable access for voting and it stands ready to help every georgia voter get the ability to vote. but it's perhaps the statement from atlanta-based delta ceo ed bastion that struck na nerve in that memo to employees, he was saying that bill was not only unacceptable, but it doesn't match the values of delta air lines. adding that he is glad to deal with any wave of corporate criticism that comes and is ready to engage. so a lot of eyes on that >>> speaking of delta air lines, guys, it's signaling that things may be getting a little bit more back to normal in the wake of the covid pandemic starting on may 1st, the airline will resume bookings for those middle seats on all the flights. it is one of the last airlines to keep the middle seat open to keep more social distance on its flights. and by the way, you'll see meals and snacks being served in the coming weeks and months on certain

, asked mlb to keep it in atlanta. the same thing with john ossoff and ralph warnock. they all said, please, don't take this game out of atlanta. let's have the spotlight on this voting law by having the all-star game here. it's a better opportunity and don't hurt people in this city. a lot of people in georgia wish they had listened to stacey abrams and the two democratic senators. adrienne elrod, let's talk about the provision that i think causes most concerns to most people who do see this as a power grabby republicans. and that is, where you're allowing the state legislature to take over and step in for the secretary of state. and step in for local election officials. i know you and i and so many people remember what was happening in michigan, where that young republican election official that kept getting intimidated and knocked around, because they wanted him to cheat. and he refused to cheat. and they couldn't step in. the same thing happened in georgia. the same thing happened across the country with donald tru

the people that are hurt are the working class people of atlanta, georgia. and that's why major league baseball moved too quickly. they should have listened to stacey abrams. they have have invited stacey abrams in. they should have invited raph warknock in. instead of being swept away by some social media mob. if they talked to stacey abrams, be in a lot better position than they are, willie. >> yeah. let's be clear, this is not a defense of the law in georgia. mika is absolutely right. the entire law is based on a lie that we need to tighten up our elections, elections that court after court after court after election security official and federal election official said was the most secure in the history of our country. so it's a lie that we needed to make our elections tighter and more efficient. the truth is, though, that this is hurting eugene scott. a lot of people as say see abrams said wish we could focus on the legislation and not pull the game out of a town that really needed this money, needed this injection of support for people around atlanta wh

so you don't want to be saying, yeah, i gut the all-star game out of atlanta. i deprived you, the peanut vendor, of a day's worth of work, stuff like that. that makes sense for them to have done that. and in the long haul of history, it made sense for rob manford to delay, uh-uh, we're out of here. >> but, you know, nicole, brian kemp keeps repeating in all of his public statements, it seems, in all of his written statements, that woke radicals like stacey abrams moved the game out of atlanta. time and time again, from the beginning of this, stacey abrams has made it quite clear that she fought to keep the game in atlanta. and he knows that, and yet he continues to lie in his press releases about stacey abrams. he continues to lie in his public statements about stacey abrams. >> yeah, i mean, but this is not surprising. we know that these laws are based upon lies. these laws are based upon lies that the election was stolen, that there were illegitimate voters that led to the democrats to really sweep the state of georgia. so the least surprising thing is that n

in the same week that the george floyd situation is going on, it reminds me of what happened in atlanta, where a black man got shot barely jogging through a wendy's parking lot. shot in the back and killed. and you just sit here wondering, what is wrong with these people? what do they not understand? how do we drive these bad cops out of police forces before this happens? because it's the good cops whose reputations get sullied by these bad cops. >> joe, i think things in my mind are changing so much because in that case, you mentioned, in atlanta, the local da charged an officer with murder. you didn't see that before. and you're seeing this national conversation of race and politician from the george floyd case and you see the serious charges about -- against derek chauvin. and the prosecution put on a really strong case and it's executive order national attention. i think moving forward, you need to have some legislation involving the mandatory use of body cameras. can you imagine where we would be without body camera footage today? also, i think you should have legislation about the

if i think about the hospitality industry, i was talking with three restaurant owners here in atlanta just last week who are struggling to find workers as business is coming back online. and we had a lot of conversations about how important it is to train managers. the owners of restaurants, large hospitality companies, no matter how noble the ceo, they are not in those units every day. they're not hiring, they're not coaching, they're not addressing or promoting. so putting the effort on training frontline managers who can do a phenomenal job of attracting, retaining and developing women from within, that is a secret sauce to some of these policies having an impact on the frontline level. >> alex carder, i'm going to go to you but you can take a question to deens, it might be the same one. what is your advice to women right now in terms of approaching getting back in, but they still have a home that is literally defending upon them with kids, the potential positive work remote, the issues of starting all over again when they were completely displaced, which is traumatic? >> you know,

and number three, are now starting wars with atlanta's most important businesses. but doing so well, claire. >> yeah, they really are. you know, mika, i want to go back to mitch mcconnell's statement. mitch mcconnell's statement had a remarkable phrase in it. he said the republicans were going to oppose this bill because it was going to tax the most productive sections of our economy. those were his words. so what he's saying is really remarkable because he's saying if you make less than $400,000 a year, you're not that productive. he's saying it's just the rich people in america that are productive. well, that doesn't sound like a trump message to me. that's not populism. hard working people in this country are the backbone of this country. that's what joe biden campaigned on. so when he equates productivity with wealth, i'm telling you, that's some political problems for the republican party if that's the position they maintain throughout this debate on trying to do something about roads and bridges and infrastructure and schools and all the things this bill repr

reasons why arizona has swung so far of left and why georgia has become so purple is because phoenix and atlanta make up a majority of the voting population of those states. whereas you consider, why is still quite rural. one of the reasons why north carolina hasn't quite gotten there for democrats is that charlotte and the research triangle combined only make up about 41% of north carolina's vote. it's still actually a pretty rural state, so this urban/rural divide really rules. >> dave wasserman and jim messina, thank you both very much for being on this morning. >>> still ahead on "morning joe," did jo biden's first 100 days usher in a new era or a stalled revolution. we'll bring in the authors of these polar opposite pieces for that discussion. we'll be right back. pieces for that discussion. we'll be right back. it's my 5:52 woke-up-like-this migraine medicine. it's ubrelvy. for anytime, anywhere migraine strikes, without worrying if it's too late, or where i am. one dose can quickly stop my migraine in its tracks within two hours. unlike older medicines, ubrelvy is a pill that directly blo

in the next hour, president biden heads to suburban atlanta for a rally as the administration starts the job of trying to put their very ambitious words we heard last night into action. last night the president laid out a massive jobs and family plan that he says is aimed squarely at helping the american middle class. >> the american jobs plan is a blue collar blueprint to build america. that's what it is. and it recognizes something i've

donny, this all comes up around the all-star game moving out of atlanta. pressure puppet put on companies like delta and coca-cola. so what's your sense of where corporations are right now? did they get it right in the case of georgia and how active should they be in these political debates where mitch mcconnell has said they ought to stay out of them? >> corporations have no choice at this rate. frankly, if they had their way, they would be agnostic. they have one god that they answer to at the end of the day, and that's the shareholders and that's the profit. i don't mean to sound cold and callus, but that's what they are. having said that, the right business for them now is to be on the right side of these arguments. they can no longer stay on the sidelines, particularly young consumers demand that of companies now. in all research, you see to talk about corporate conscience. now, when you think about that, most companies, if you look at their marketing plans, the audience they're going after, they're not going after old geezers like me. marketing plans

from southern california all the way to atlanta, there's 4 million -- approximately 4 million is my understanding people who drink some form of recycled waste water. and i should be clear, it's not just toilet water, it's shower water like mayor garcetti said, stuff that goes down in your front yard through the sewage system. toilet is the most fun to talk about. but this would double that in the united states of america. it's hard to state how significant it is. also, you feel proud of it, what you flush becomes what everybody else drinks. >> i'm not sure that's the best sales pitch. it's not just toilet water, it's also your shower water! but good idea. see how it plays out there. great report, jacob. thank you very much. >> that's amazing. i think he should have drunk the whole glass. >> i bet he did. i bet he chugged. >> you've got to have a lot of water. >>> that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. >>> hi, there, i'm stephanie ruhle. it's thursday, april 22nd, and this morning the nation begins to move on from the george floyd verdict and focusing on

the sense that something nefarious happened in big cities, like detroit and atlanta, and of course, read that in the context of america's pervasive racial stereotypes. and the association between what black and brown people do and something criminal or illegal and illicit. so you have those two ideas. is sort of inherent legitimacy of the white vote and the inherent criminality or illegitimacy of what black and brown people do to exercise their citizenship. and you get the fuel for this lie. the problem is that this lie is hurting all americans. and this is the idea that's so core, that so often, what is happening in -- when elites try to convince struggling americans that their greatest enemy is a brown or black family down the road that we are in fact taking our eye off the ball. we have foreign nations using our racial divisions and mistrust in order to weaken our own government, in order to fracture our country. that should show us, as the president said in his joint address, that white supremacist terrorism is the most persistent and legal threat in the homeland. and that this core