traffic control lost contact with the airplane about two hours after it left. skies were mostly clear from cool la lukuala elementumpur, mo come. >> confrontation in crimea as a growing number of russian forces flex their power. what can and should western nations do. the death toll rises in venezuela. torture and repression. a video hammers home the suffering of millions of children in syria. and e cigarettes are they a gateway to the real thing? i'm toivment. antonio mora.

here is more. >> votes to join its federation. >> there are 30,000 troops in crimea tblp with whether it's -- whether it's about talks or sanctions, the russians are holding strong. >> the united states is asking venezuela to send in human rights workers. >> breaking up demonstrations. >> the 2014 paralympics are underway in sochi. >> against boycotting the games, any escalation of military conflict would result in ukrainian teams leaving. >> because of russia's incursion into ukraine. >> e-cigarettes. >> studies found that e-cigarette use by middle and high school students more than doubled. >> it's increasing so rapidly we're concerned what we're going to see in the future.

>> we begin with a defiant russia refusing to negotiate and russian forces showing no signs of ever leaving crimea. ukrainian border guards say the number of troops in crimea has risen to 30,000. massed armed men in camouflage uniforms stopped european military observers from entering the country for the second straight day and russian ships called on ukraineenians to surrender. >> we need to secede. i don't want to live with fascists. >> the crimean prime minister told al jazeera there is no invasion. >> we accept the help people coming from trowz join our defense units. terms of occupation or invasion, there is no russian army. >> vote by crimeans to break

away for crimea to be absorbed into russia in a matter of weeks. we are now joined by al jazeera america correspondent jennifer glasse. from sevastopol. glad to have you back on the show, european observers turned away, that vote that may lead to crimea breaking away from ukraine. we have heard by a lot of crimeans, that they support breaking away to russia. is that the majority opinion? >> antonio, interestingly, until a couple of days ago they weren't really talking about secession. now they've got an awful lot of support. they whomed the troops when they came in here on sunday and now that they are emboldened and

have that power we see a lot of political moves. here in sevastopol, the town council seems to predetermine the outcome of the vote. the crimean parliament has done the same, moving towards russia. we see crimean politicians moving towards moscow where they got a warm welcome. there are people who are not happy antonio that crimea could become part of russia and that least of all the crimean tatars i spoke to them today, they are going to boycott that referendum. it shows that somehow they endorse the referendum and of course you have about 15% of ethnic ukrainians very concerned about that referendum, they may

feel they don't have anyplace here. >> you have reported that flights from sevastopol to kiev are now leaving from the international terminal not the domestic terminal. does this look more and more like a done deal that crimea is going to end up part of russia? >> it is a smart move to try to create a fact on the ground. but the simferopol airport is a very, very small airport. we're not talking about anything like the kennedy airport. they are maybe 100 feet apart. it's such a small airport they don't even have luggage trolleys yet. it does make a point that the flights to kiev do leave from the international terminal. they are trying to make the point on the ground. but there is a lot to go with this. if the referendum goes the way

that the pro-russians would like it to and the people here vote to become part of russia, then of course, there are a lot of things that have to be changed. customs, taxes, borders, how is that going to work? what happens to the ukrainian military here? right now those sailors are blockaded on barracks, ships, in the harbors. the officers say if their commanding officers tell them to change they'll do what they say. but you know, kiev is saying they are not going to recognize this referendum that is totally illegal, and it is unlikely that the minister of defense is going to tell the soldiers here to stand down. there are so many questions, antonio. >> al jazeera america correspondent jennifer glasse in sevastopol, thank you very much. for more we're joined by

katherine stoner, deputy director and senior research scholar at the center of democracy at stanford university. we're also joined by yorg forbrig, german marshall fund of the united states. he joins us from berlin. and david road, a contributor, he it is good to have you all with us. david, ukraine says 30,000 troops are now in crimea. 43 international observers were turned away not allowed to get into crimea. we saw the truck at a went into the air base that controls the air space in that area and we saw earlier this week how a un envoy was sent away. is putin escalating rather than deescalating? >> i think the issue here is

putin is escalating but in his mind he is not escalating. the two minds seem to be talking past each other. putin believes the uprising in kiev was a western backed situation and not the will of the people and it is his opinion it's to block the warm water are port. so far, the steps of the white house are not resolving the crisis and it's unclear what comes next. >> i know you quote katherine stoner as saying much of what putin says is happening in ukraine as propaganda. katherine, former u.s. ambassador michael fall says chances are slim that diplomacy will work. supporting crimea's vote to join the russian federation on twitter, if russian government endorses crimea, will they

endorse more republics in the russian federation? he is basically saying that speunt a hypocrite -- putin is a hypocrite, that all is fine in crimea for crimea to determine what it wants but it won't allow chemchemp yah chechnya or anyono do it. wants to rebuild the ussr. does very a policy of soft annexation where he wants to grow russia into a bigger stronger country maybe not as big as the soviet union but significant? >> a couple of things here. i think using the term soviet union is kind of confusing. when you think of the soviet union you should think of communism at the same time. and that was a very specific

political and economic system and that's definitely not the system that putin would like to impose within russia proper or within former soviet republics like ukraine or georgia or moldova, et cetera. that said, he does and has openly said he has this policy the eurasian union, perhaps a lose political union of some former soviet states. but before they were soviet states of course they were really territories of the russian empire. so i think speaking of brzinski, elements of what putin thinks of natural allies or the national russian empire. so to russians in the foreign ministry to mr. putin and average russians it is a perfectly natural and reasonable thing to do and it's simply

making more formal what they think exists de facto anyway. >> yerg i want to go to you and talk about sanctions. u.s. and canada are talking a big game on sacks sanctions -- sanctions. there are 28 sovereign countries that have to agree in europe on what they want to do. is there any chance that the west will have one voice on russia? >> well, i think it is emerging. what we saw coming out of the eu summit yesterday was basically a three-staged approach. the first stage implement now, is basic to -- basically diplomacy yet another chance. and today within the very limited time frame this is now for the time for russian side also to move in the direction of a political solution. should that fail, the second stage would be measured targeted

sacks against some of those in the russian heerp, especially who are -- leadership who are responsible for the implementation, and the third step, should these two first steps not succeed in deescalating the situation, would then be economic sanctions. now, economic sanctions are something that is always very difficult to agree on here in europe. that said, there seems to be a majority of countries at the moment already that are supporting a tougher line and the imposition of sanctions against russia with the exception of two or three harnlger countries. there's -- larger countries. there's obviously the united kingdom, we heard what the impact might have on the city of london and the financial sector there and there's obviously germany which is traditionally very, very cautious when it comes to sanctions. >> david, as you wrote, you saw

the ukraine as the biggest geopolitical challenge since the cold war. do you think any of this is going to work? >> it is not clear at this point. actually there was a former deputy national security advisor jim jeffrey, who dealt with the crisis in 2008, he saw this as a major geopolitical crisis, he thinks china is watching this. in the fall china declared an air defense zone across thousands of miles of the pacific and demanded that any aircraft across the zone register with the chinese. economic and political zones controlled by china and russia and the u.s., it does undermine the post-cold war system. the u.s. undermined it, they say, without the security council's blessing. this is a different situation,

you have russian troops without insignias, very questionable, occupying this territory. >> what happened in georgia when the soviet union, i keep making that mistake, when russia went into georgia. >> freudian slip, antonio. >> he writes that the georgia response was par for the course for brussels, talking about the european union, it was a particularly tepid response, it reminded him of the soviets czechoslovakia. do you think that's what's happening now? >> there are some pretty thick ties now between russia and

europe. and in particular economic ties. and so earlier, was mentioned the potential impact on the london financial sector in particular. so the british financial sector if sanctions were imposed on russia. that's because there are so many rich russians would own property, who own assets in england there. that wasn't the case in 1968 of course so slightly different situation in that respect. with respect to germany, they get a lot of natural gas, actually the bulk of natural gas, probably the majority from russia. so again they're a little hamstrung in terms of how far they can go. >> and yorg, what about european businesses and even american businesses, russia is threatening to retaliate if we impose sanctions. how much would it hurt the european union? >> not nearly as hard as the russians are trying to portray to us.

let me add to professor stoner's extent remarks, germany is the country i'm most familiar with. in german trade, german foreign trade, russia stands for 4% of our volume. we are exporting less to russia than we are ex porting to poland. 4% is a fairly meeker figure, doesn't represent a major partner. russia not the el -- is not the elephant in trading as it is paid out to be. sparse energy sources, europe imports 40% of its pharmaceutical gas from russia. 40% natural gas from russia represents 7% of the energy production in germany. 7% is again not an overwhelming

figure. in turn for the russian federation, oil and gas exports to europe represents about 70% of state revenue. if there were sanctions then very clearly there would be a bigger fallout on the russian side than in the european side. >> in that context katherine, do you think putin would be able to be reasoned with? >> i'm not sure he fully understands -- he understands a lot about how the russian economy works. he has been quite sophisticated about it, and he understands oil and gas the best. so it would be hard to believe that he would not be cognizant of that fact that this would negatively affect the russian economy. the way this is all being presented in russia, colleagues that i know well and i think of as relatively progressive, the way this is all presented is that it's really bandits and far

right nationals in ukraine that are taking over ukraine and we are supporting them and we don't understand the situation so they must do this to protect their own national interests, and even ukrainian people from themselves basically. so i do think yorg is right about all those bad things that will happen to the ukrainian economy, could potentially put in front of mr. putin. the question is: who does it. >> you agree? >> i do. and actually, told me before that the polls in russia show 60% popular support for what putin is doing. he has iron control of the media there and he's going to keep using that. he's really kind of i think over the last decade out-maneuvered the west in terms of using the sales to europe of gas to strengthen the economy there and he has really taken firm control of the media. so we are sort of flat-fooded here.

but the question is does he understand this, nationalism is a powerful force and he is under pressure to follow through in ukraine and not back down. >> appreciate you all joining us tonight. turning now to the turmoil in venezuela where the death toll has riz ton at least 20 since protest against the government of nicholas mad ro, a protestor killed on thursday. meanwhile, human rights commission is and inning right. for more i'm joined by paul beban. paul, good to see you. what is the situation like there tonight? >> well once again toint as you and i have -- antonio, as you and i have been talking all week, it is another tense night after very serious deadly violence last night. we were hearing reports of three

dead. alta mira, deadly clashes took part in another part of town, near the patadi barrio. we were at that building today where residents told us national guardsmen stormed building, came in followed by members of the collectivos, paramilitary groups is the best description, often armed and supported 50 the government to intimidate the opposition, intimidate protesters, stormed into the building, torched a car. not sure what else happened but that's the part of town where at least two people were killed. very intense clashes continuing here in caracas. >> while this is going on in the capitol you have done reporting in san cristobal in the andes, where the protests began. what are you reporting there?

>> we are reporting this out, it is hard to confirm. mountain western part of the country, sources are telling us one of the main power plants to san cristobal has been cut, many people are living in the dark, they are seeing tanks and an increase in the number of national guard troops. they are saying that people are beginning to flee the city, fleeing and going to an impromptu camp, where people from other parts of the western section of the country, from valencia, a city where government jets have been buzzing the city in the wake of these more intense protests. if we can confirm these reports it would certainly indicate that in the west of the country things are getting increasingly dire. when you are talking about people fleeing a city, it starts to conjure up the specter of something like civil war and

that, obviously, very scary. >> three former latin america presidents, actually four former latin american presidents, including oscar arias, have issued a statement accusing maduro of oppression, mean while foreign ministe ministers from d the country are planning to meet. is there any indication that the maduro government will take part? from given their tone over the past weekend, it seems very unlikely on the anniversary of hugo chavez' chavez's death, mao announced the expelling of the ambassador. the oas offering a mission that was flatly recorrected by the maduro government. hard to understand how any other

foreign government would be welcomed, they said it is our business, not anyone else's business, we can take care of it. >> are you expecting the same large demonstrations as were last weekend? >> we are expecting, and given the sense things are ratcheting up rather than cooling down, it is safe to say we will probably see large protests over the weekend and potentially more clashes. there is really no sense here antonio that there is any kind of dialogue beginning to open up. the two sides are not talking to each other. the maduro government accuses the protesters of being saboteurs, violent, activities illegal. we have seen some things in crak acaracas, as nothing more than mob violence. there are divisions within the

protest movement. we have spoken to students who are calling for a more peaceful nonviolent approach but so far that isn't trick ethnic some of those out there who simply want to do damage. >> a real tragedy going on in many different ways. paul beban from caracas, thank you. coming up, an emotionally new video from save the children brings the syrian crisis home. and hermella aregawi is tracking social media. what's happening. >> join the conversation on at which time @ajconsiderthis. and our on google and facebook.

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what is this place? where are we? this is where we bring together the fastest internet and the best in entertainment. we call it the x1 entertainment operating system. it looks like the future! we must have encountered a temporal vortex. further analytics are necessary. beam us up. ♪ that's my phone. hey. [ female announcer ] the x1 entertainment operating system, only from xfinity. tv and internet together like never before. >> the carnage continues in syria's civil war in adults and

children. this video emerged,. e-after three years of fighting, many people in the world have turned away from this horrible story. which is why, save the children, has marked this conflict, as a way it's happening in britain instead of syria. >> happy birthday to you. >> make a wish. >> have you done your homework? >> datay!

happy birthday to you ♪ make a wish, darling! >> for more i'm joined from washington, d.c. by michael klausen. the video is very powerful. what has the response been so far? >> it's been a very, very strong response. over 13.5 million viewers have seen that video. it was our attempt to connect what was going on there, with what is here, and you are left to confront the horror that children and families face day in and day out. >> and the number whose lives have been destroyed, 7,000 killed, 1.2 million are refugees, 2 and a quarter million have been denied an

education. 5 million need help. this is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today. >> it is really horrific circumstances. we're nurnlgd so many people have -- encouraged that so many people have seen this film. third anniversary of the conflict in syria, we really hope that the world can turn a corner and start getting both humanitarian aid but serlt the e the process of getting a humanitarian settlement. >> if that same conflict were happening here in the united states, poarn 1 in 40 may i respectfully children of that age would have -- more than 1 in 40 american children would have been driven from their homes. is the numbers are so overwhelming and been going on for so long that it almost drives people away from giving rather than helping.

>> i think the numbers are staggering, people feel numb and feel there's nothing they can do about it. but in point of fact there's several things. one, there's certainly a lot of assistance that save the children and others are providing. and support for that assistance will be able to put bread on people's tables, medical care, livelihoods, we neat resources to do that. but -- need resources to do that. but secondarily, we need to accelerate work to open up the channels for getting that assistance in and accelerate toaforts bring about a -- efforts to bring about a political settlement. >> that's been part of the problem. they have not been terribly willing to negotiate, including about allowing humanitarian aid in. and we are showing some of the horrible pictures from refugee camps, how it snowed and freezing cold, places where people are living in tents in many cases, more than 2.5

million syrian yrs syrians are o survive. >> i have not been inside syria but save the children is reaching more than a million people, where large number of syrians have sought refuge. as i also mentioned they can encourage their governments to step it up and ensures that more humanitarian aid is getting to people inside syria. because that's where the gap is now. there's pretty good nins being e being prepared to lebanon and

jordan and, the security council passed aid, it was a break through but it needs to be a humanitarian break through. >> that many people not getting educations, what that will mean. davidavid david claussen. thank you. the topic was supposed to be about obamacare, but it turned to immigration reform. >> the national council of la raza -- >> i have been pushing for comprehensive immigration reform. continue to push for

comprehensive comprehensive comprehensive immigration reform. i am champion in chief of immigration reform. >> we are joined in washington, d.c. by christina jimenez. good to see you christina. glad to have you on "consider this." la raza has always supported the president but last week the group called the president the deporter in chief. the white house was not happy. they called the organization to complain. is there a growing split between the president and immigration efforts? >> thanks for having me here. absolutely. what we're seeing here is that the white house is on the defensive. we have over a thousand deportations happening every day.

the latino and the immigrant community can't stand for this any longer. thousands of families have been ripped apart. not only the council of la raza came out, but the deportations need to stop and he needs to use his administrative power to grant administrative relief for people. the hypocrisy here you see the administration deporting almost 2 million people now. meanwhile he says he supports immigration reform. the president is deporting the same people that can benefit from legislation and that is the hypocrisy here that is leading to latinos losing respect and the president losing credibility. >> let's listen to luis gutierrez and what he had to say this week. >> here we have the last three presidents of the united states, bill clinton, george bush and barack obama, with almost 2

million deported so far, obama has deported more people than live in the state of nebraska. a star goes to obama. >> there are more illegal immigrants in the united states than there were in the past, how fair a criticism is it? >> we're seeing that the obama administration is the one that has deported more people in the history of the united states. unfortunately the administration is driving the deportation and enforcement system that is out of control and it's totally true. so that's why you a seeing now the pressure mounting. the white house is feeling the pressure of organizations and democrats that are saying this need to stop because these are the people that can benefit from the legislation in the future. >> what do you think he can realistically do through executive orders? isn't he following the law and if congress canned figure out what do, do you want him to move

an act unilaterally? he has gotten in trouble with that in the past. >> there is no doubt he has the right to stop deportations and grant administrative relief to the community right now. experts have said it. it's been proven. there's no legal argument here. this seems to be a play that we have had in the past, when dreamers, united we dream and many dreamer organizations across the country from cla california to florida and others, led a graduates campaign, demanding the president stops deporting dreamers. the white house says no we can't, the president does not have the legal authority. but we proved to the president he had the legal authority. a memo submitted to the white house demonstrating his legal authority. and we ended up winning on june of 2012, the president announced the deferred action program that stopped deporting dreamers and gave them administrative relief. so we have played this game before.

and the white house right now has nowhere to hide. there is no questions, the pressure is mounding. he has the authority. and they need to act. and the community is ready to make sure that we continue the pressure up. so that he takes action. >> and certainly the battle will continue. christina jiminez. thank you for your time. it's time to see what's trending on the website, check in with hermella. >> 175,000 jobs were added and the unemployment ticked up from 6.7 to 6.6 in january. the unemployed american has been out of work for longer periods than any of the last six decades. the last was 260 days. take a look at these peaks of unemployment since 1968. when the average unemployed worker was out of work for 285

days, other periods don't even get close. al jazeera asks you to share your stories. sean says, i was literally filling out taco bell applications, it's so demoralsing to say, i'm going to fight to get this $7 an hour job, how can i prove i was better than the 17-year-old? and marlena said, i recommend doing something you love as a volunteer. you can go to america.al jazeera com or aj consider this. s the author of a study who says e-cigarettes may be driving more young people to smoke. and a reason to smile, not that they needed one.

>> every sunday night, al jazeera america brings you conversations you won't find anywhere else... >> your'e listening because you wanna see what happen... >> get your damn education... >> talk to al jazeera only on al jazeera america >> oh my... >> could e-cigarettes be driving

teens to smokes conventional cigarettes? a study shows that the use of e-cigarettes does not discourage and could encourage use of conventional cigarettes. are they gateway to the real thing or sit more smokers are trying to electronic version in an effort to quit or use out of curiosity? we are joined by lauren dutra, one of the two co-authors of the study, electronic cigarette use, published in jama pediatrics. some of the reporting goes, claiming the study shows that effectively e-cigarettes are a gateway to real cigarettes. is that being misreported or are you confident that e-cigarettes are heeding young people to smoking real greth?

>> it's a point in time. i can't tell you that e-cigarettes are causing adolescent to smoke real cigarettes. i think it's possibly a gateway. but that needs to be determined. we saw that the kids using e-cigarettes were more likely to be tobacco cigarette smokers. >> i was surprised by the numbers. we saw the use of e-cigarettes doubled between 2011 and 2012. but the total number of teens smoking in general is declining. so if e-cigarettes are growing in leaps and bounds and there are gay ways, shouldn't we be seeing an increase in smoking? >> yes, i think that's something we might see in the future. but you have to keep in mind that e cigarettes have only been popular in the u.s. for the last couple of years. the data we have on e-cigarette use is from 2011 and 2012. generally the data on smoking prevalence from the cdc is a little older than that when we

are talking about conventional cigarettes. >> about the time when e-cigarette use was going up. >> exactly. >> here are some other findings of the study, having smoked cigarettes in the past, smockers who he were using e-cigarettes were more intending to try to quit smoking. that e-cigarette use is coming after people were already smokers? >> so the teenagers who were using e-cigarettes and also smoking conventional cigarettes were more likely to be planning to quit in the next year but they were actually less likely to have stopped smoking. >> so did -- you mentioned it briefly but how significant was the number of teenagers who -- were you able to find kids whose first use of nicotine was an e-cigarette and then poofd on to regular cigarettes -- moved on to regular cigarettes?

>> sure. we found that among middle school students who had used e-cigarettes, not even a puff, 7% of those who used e-cigarettes had never tried even a puff of a conventional cigarette. in some smokers use other nicotine delivery devices to quit smoking, how much received there that e-cigarettes are used to stop smoking? >> tricky thing, online surveys, people who are already buying e-cigarettes, there is anecdotal evidence that people are quitting. it is something we heard. based on our study we can't talk about what's going on with adults. all we know is among

adolescents, it looks like those who used e-cigarettes hadn't done so even though they were planning to do so. segal from the boston department of public health, what this study shows is people who are heavy smokers are attracted to e-cigarettes because they are looking to quit. which is what i just brought up. what do you any about that? >> away i found is they were less likely to stop smoking so that counters the second argument right there. i think the most important thing is to focus on the findings of the study. we could certainly talk about my personal opinions about e-cigarettes but the most important thing is what the data shows. if you read the story you know we're talking about high quality data from the cdc, high quality analysis and to very educated researchers really trying to express these findings not only

to the paper but also to the public. so the comments about our personal opinions, you know that's not going to be reflected in our findings in the paper. good a lot of study will continue to have to be done on this because it changes the whole world of smoking. >> i agree. >> lauren, thanks very much. the greatest state when it comes to its residents well-being. and elite basketball players.

>> al jazeera america

presents extrodanary documentaries. colin comes from a long line of ferrymen. >> you're a riverman from start to finish... >> now he leaves home to see what life is like on the waters of bangladesh. >> it's absolutely filthy... >> he learns how difficult working ther can be. >> how do you say..."get out the way"? >> shoro >> can this brittish man find common ground with his local host? >> "must really take it out of mr. loteef"... >> toughest place to be a ferryman on al jazeera america >> today's data dive looks for its happy place. it turns out that people in north dakota are in the best emotional and physical state of

any state. the gal up recent released its health ways for 2013. that last one is not north dakota's strong suit but it still came out on top overall. surprising because they were 19th after three straight years in the top 10. maybe its oil boom, has something to do with it. has the lowest unemployment rate in the entire country. colorado and iowa were also in the top 10. for states who feel they are stuck they should look at south dakota and nebraska. both have improved dramatically, after being in the 20s and 30s in the last few years. south dakota, was in the mid to top 30s, some seem to be close to the top.

colorado among them, placed seventh, low obesity rates. but there seems to be not much upward mobility in the last few years. west virginia was 49th. same goes through states ranked 46th through 49th this year. they have lived at or near the bottom six for the past decade. you got to tbond cold is cool. the only warmer states to do well were hawaii and california. coming up, the u.s. delegation snubs the opening ceremonies of russia's paralympics. is it a useless gesture or will it carry some weight?

>> the paralympic games kicked off friday in sochi without an official u.s. delegation, because of russia's actions in ukraine. will it mean anything or sit

just a political stunt? al jazeera political contributor, sports editor of the facing and host of sports nation. dave, always glad to see pickup the u.s. is taking a stronger stance now by not sending any officials. the u.s. did send a delegation to the olympics but made a statement, openly gay athletes about sending a message for russia's anti-gay law. is it the right move? >> it is not the right move. what it is is another half measure not only by united states but other european union delegates following suit, they are really really tough on putin and really angry about it but they want to make sure there's room open for negotiations. so it mirrors a lot of the political and diplomatic moves we are seeing. the athletes are still going to

be there, still going to compete but there's not going to be a u.s. delegation look with them. to-- along with them. to me it's far more impressive in sochi that the united states did not send a delegation that included the president or the vice president for the first time since 2000 to those particular games but instead sent openly lgbt delegates. they could have sent a delegation like donald rumsfeld and dick cheney. they didn't go that far i guess. >> the black power salute in the 1960 olympic games, no one would see it otherwise. where do we draw the line though? i know you in general have supported olympic protests but olympic protests do back fire.

>> i believe very strongly and i know i speak for dr. john carlos when i say this, is athletes have to be given the right to speak their mind. if sochi didn't prove that to us then nothing will, if beijing didn't prove at a to us nothing will, if 1996 atlanta didn't prove that, nothing will. it is a political spectacle anyway. athletes are expected to wear the brands of the corporations that are underwriting their training, and praise those companies. they get praise of their operation whether it's verizon, whether it's dow chemical or british petroleum, they are not allowed to say something about the spectacle of which they are a part is rank hypocrisy. they should not feel compelled to not speak out if that's not

on their mind. >> let's move on to someone who loves controversy, dallas mavericks owner mark ceub ann. cuban. the rules are so hypocritical, the kid is not going to class and not able to take advantage of all the fun because the first semester he starts playing basketball. the goal to be an nba player go to the d heeg. does he have a point? >> he absolutely does have a point. the first thing he doesn't say explicitly, you do get to the d league and you are being paid to play basketball, you are not underwriting your college coach's career. which is what you're doing at

ncaa. if you are a very good rebounder and you need to learn how to shoot, if you are in the d league, they're not caring about wins or losses. they are going to teach you how to hit that eight foot shot. he is going to have you under there rebounding even if it hurts your eventually draft prospects. what mark cuban is pointing to, look if we're really trying to develop people who can play in the nba who can't go broke ten years later, let's get them in a program that teaches the life skills of an nba player not the charade of the student athlete formula. >> a big lie that players are treated like student athletes and the d league can put the individual first while the ncaa can't. that raises the question, isn't it time for a conversation about

the education that some of these players are getting in college? >> absolutely. and -- >> or the lack of education they're getting? >> yeah. no. we need to have this discussion and not because of some of the recent scandals that have surfaced at the university of north carolina, where players were breezing through classes even those that had trouble with literacy. larry brown at southern methodist university, he is kind of an itinerant coach he's been everywhere. the best possible training the best minor league for nba. i paraphrased a bit. what is ridiculous about larry brown's statement is it leaves out less than 1% will get drafted by nba let alone an nba

team. what are you preparing them for, if not that educational component? some some thing that mark cuban puts forth, basketball which is a revenue producing sport should have the same model as baseball which is largely a nonrevenue producing college sport which is if you want to play after high school, go right ahead, but if you go to chej it is a three-year commitment, and if you talk to an agent, there are no restrictions you can enter the draft withdraw your name, there is so much tree dom for -- freedom for the player, the idea that ncaa doesn't have that for basketball isn't because they didn't think about it. i'm not saying anything revolutionary, but because basketball particularly march madness brings in 90% of the

ncaa's operating budget. >> an awful lot of revenue. the show may be over but the conversation continues. you can find us on facebook and twitter @ajconsiderthis. have a great weekend. >> good evening everyone, i'm john siegenthaler and welcome to al jazeera america. we begin with breaking news on a missing jumbo jet. a malasian airlines flight vanished when it left kuala