Thursday night on All In with Chris Hayes: Admitted Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro made a dramatic statement at his sentencing hearing, refuting characterizations of him as a “monster” and downplaying the severity of his crimes. Castro insisted that he is “just sick,” suffering from an addition to sex and pornography, and was never violent to his victims. Castro tried to turn some of the blame on the women. “There [were] times where they’d even ask me for sex,” he said. “Many times. And I learned that these girls were not virgins from their testimony to me, they had multiple partners before me.” Goldie Taylor, Contributor to msnbc and TheGrio.com, and Cindy Southworth, Vice President of Development & Innovation at the National Network to End Domestic Violence, will join Chris Hayes to discuss how Castro’s behavior is typical of that of a deeply disturbed abuser.
Also Thursday, former Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett stepped down from his new position in Florida in the wake of allegations that he changed school grades to appease a prominent GOP donor. According to emails obtained by the Associated Press, Bennett ordered that the grading system for Indiana schools be changed so that a charter school operated by one of his main donors would receive an A rating instead of a C. John Merrow, PBS Education Correspondent and President of the non-profit Learning Matters, will join the conversation about Bennett’s actions and the way schools are evaluated.
Later, Chris Hayes will talk with NBC News Political Analyst and Editorial Director of the Huffington Post Media Group Howard Fineman about the tough re-election battle facing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. A new poll out Thursday places McConnell and his opponent, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, in a statistical dead heat.
Plus: Edward Snowden received asylum from the Russian government Thursday morning and was finally able to leave Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. Dinah PoKempner, General Counsel for Human Rights Watch, John Schindler, former National Security Agency Officer and Professor at the Naval War College, and David Remnick, Editor of The New Yorker, will join the table to discuss the day’s developments and what they mean for the U.S.’s relationship with Russia.
Rachel Simon
Rachel Simon is a writer and editor based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is the author of “Pickleball for All: Everything but the ‘Kitchen’ Sink.” Her work has been published in The New York Times, Glamour, Vulture, Teen Vogue and more. You can find her at @rsimon113.