the u.s.s. saratoga in 1982. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. weather warning. some of the worst storms may happen at the most inopportune time. >> talks with iran on its nuclear program under way right now. why are some calling it a dangerous gamble today? >> dallas 508 years later, the story of a city still scarred by the murder of a president and why tourists are drawn to a specific spot there. >> the bird's eye view, a new film that takes an unprecedented

look at penguins. hey there, everyone. it's high noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." a nas activity is on the move and could mess up holiday plans big-time for those on the east coast. the southwest in particular is being hit hard by freezing temperatures, snow and heavy rain. meteorologist dil condition drier is here with what this means for the upcoming travel week. >> it's not good news but the one thing i want to point out, even though the storm is kind of snowy in nature in the southwest, there is still a lot of question what it's going to do once it makes its way to the east coast. there's a good possibility it could be a rain and wind event. still with the airports and just traveling, that is going to be a nightmare. we'll see how that plays out. it is still early. for right now, we are looking at the coldest temperatures across the northern plains. you see all the blue in the southwest?

that is is where it is still cold enough to produce snowfall and freezing rain, as well. the pink showing up across parts of texas, that's your freezing rain. that's what falls and coats the trees and the power lines and makes everything a slippery mess. the snow is starting to fill in across parts of arizona, especially in the highest elevations. they had record rainfall in the desert southwest yesterday. go figure. now the snow is also filling in across new mexico. we do have winter storm warnings and advisories and even the threat of ice. we could see perhaps up to a half an inch of ice in parts of texas as we go into tomorrow especially. a closer look shows you the snow is inching it towards amarillo just north of lubbock where it is icing right now. albuquerque, new mexico seeing know snow. we're going to see perhaps as much as a half inch of isaac calculation in the dallas area tomorrow. west central texas could pick up a quarter inch of ice today. temperatures are very, very cold. 15 degrees for a high today in minneapolis. that's the cold air that's going to surge in as we go into

tomorrow with a high of only 31 degrees in boston, 32 in new york city is, 26 in chicago. that ice is going to move into dallas and eventually make its way into the southeast. then right up the coast. that's why the whole storm is still not totally developed yet. and what's going to happen for wednesday is still up in the air. as of right now, it looks like mainly rain and a lot of wind. perhaps higher elevations could see snow. all those details need to be worked out. >> five days to figure it out before wednesday. thank you. the debate over black friday start too long soon hasn't stop the shoppers or retailers for gearing up. americans will spend more than $602 billion on gifts this holiday season. that's up 3.9% from last year. nbc's gabe gutierrez has more on the black friday frenzy. >> the first guy in line at this best buy in north carolina set up his tent wednesday afternoon. nine days before black friday. >> i decided black friday was

the perfect vacation for me. >> this group in ohio armed with microwaves and heat lamps started camping out before that. >> i can't claim to be the king of black friday unless i'm definitely out here and in line and taking charge. >> this year, black friday is no longer just a day but a season. not only are shoppers camping out longer, some stores are opening earlier. as soon as 6:00 thanksgiving morning. >> they shout all be closed on thanksgiving. it's thanksgiving. >> no work and shopping, that's my dream day on thanksgiving, seriously. >> the deals are starting even sooner than that. large retailers like sears, amazon and walmart have already kicked off some black friday discounts. >> i think it's worth it. good deals. >> reporter: with that will much competition, how can you find the best sale? >> most retailers are timing their deals. you'll have a deal at 6:00, at 8:00, at 10:00 and depending on the product you're looking for, you know, you'll have to plan ahead. >> reporter: this year try

downloading these aps. amazon's price check, ebay's red laser or price grabber. you can use them to scan barcodes and see if you can get a better deal elsewhere. if you prefer to avoid the crowds and shop online, there are plenty of coupons at sites like retail me not.com, bf ads.net and black friday.com. >> you have the app for the retailers. you're on their e-mailing list and really have a plan for the day. >> in an ever growing shopping season, it seems timing is everything. gabe gutierrez, nbc news, atlanta. >> from there to politics. new today, president obama is kicking off a renewed economic push by highlighting the country has seen since taking office and also calling out his opponents. >> imagine how much farther along we could be if both parties were working together. think about what we could do if a reckless few didn't hold the economy hostage every few pooh months? or waste time on dozens of votes

to repeal the affordable care act rather than try to help us fix it. >> on tuesday, the president will address the economy during a visit to southern california and the white house will employ vice president biden and cabinet members to highlight economics gains. the white house is giving americans more time to sign up for health insurance. they'll have an extra eight days to sign up for coverage beginning january 1st. the deadline now being extended to december 23rd from there to geneva, critical discussions to broker an concern nuclear deal continuing into this weekend. secretary of state john kerry arrived in switzerland earlier today where he joined the negotiations with ministers from the so-called p5-plus-1 nations on a deal to scale back key parts of tehran's nuclear program. joining me now bureau chief ali arouzi in geneva for us. ali, this meeting with the foreign ministers still on going i understand. what are you hearing, if anything about breakthroughs in

they were really tight-lipped earlier. >> reporter: we're not hearing much about breakthroughs right now, but the p5-plus-1 have just finished their meeting between each other to discuss what progress or lack of progress had been made today. and we've just heard that the iranians have gone into a trilateral meeting with the chinese and russians to see if they can hash out whatever problems they're having, they're certainly not telling us. alex, essentially, there's been a media blackout here. they're not really telling us anything. maybe one of the reasons they're keeping so tight-lipped is they could be making progress and don't want to give anything up to the media. they keep saying they're not going to negotiate through the media. we're waiting to see what's going to happen. i have been told that the swiss foreign ministry has booked conference rooms here till 11:00 local time for another five hours. so either way, we are expecting some sort of statement. and i think secretary kerry has also said that he will be leaving for london tomorrow, which basically indicates these

negotiations have to wrap up in some shape or form today. alex? >> okay. so ali, last time we were going through this was about three weeks ago and it was the french foreign minister is, sergei lavrov put some things in there. iran had issues and it all au fell apart. is there one country that is creating a stir right now to the best of your knowledge or do you think something will be done by the time everybody disburses end of day tomorrow? >> well, i certainly think the french foreign min lauren fab yas is holding strong. he said we must not give the iranians a soft deal. he had a meeting with benjamin netanyahu benjamin netanyahu. so they are the ones that are sticking strong to this. whether they've given up a little bit, whether the americans have convinced them to soften their stance, we don't know. but they were certainly the ones that were holding out for a much tougher deal because they were very, very concerned about the security issues around iran's nuclear deal. >> thank you so much, ali

arouzi. well, a big scare for travelers at a major u.s. airport and mcdonald's feeling heat over the advice the company is giving employees for the holidays. became big business o? ♪ like, really big... then expanded? ♪ or their new product tanked? ♪ or not? what if they embrace new technology instead? ♪ imagine a company's future with the future of trading. company profile. a research tool on thinkorswim. from td ameritrade. a research tool on thinkorswim. especially today, as people are looking for more low, and no calorie options. that's why on vending machines, we're making it easy for people to know how many calories are in their favorite beverages, before they choose. and we're offering more low calorie options, including over 70 in our innovative coca-cola free-style dispensers.

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>> some headlines making news on the west coast. the 50th anniversary of the assassination of president kennedy is on the front page of many papers. the i'd hold state journal has this one. president's death still topical. the article features a poll that found most people in eastern idaho think lee oswald did not act alone. the seattle times has this story, feds, state neglected 27 disabled. the paper says a federal review found the state broke the law by denying therapy and other services to disabled residents at a facility. they could face a penalty up to 16 million bucks.

>> the sacramento bee has this article, fans of wolves clash with wildlife ranchers to take the gray wolf off its list of endangered species throughout the lower 48 states. mcdonald's is is taking heat for some advice it offered employees on a website. is the chain suggested workers return some holiday gift to save money and get out of debt. ashley lutz joins me now. with a good day to you, this is an advocacy group low pay is not okay. they're the ones blasting the fast food chain for that, in addition to money-saving tips mcdonald's offered up. they suggest breaking food into smaller pieces so you eat less and still feel full. eating steal bread and bruised apples, visiting thrift stores instead of the mall. selling unwanted possessions on craigslist. and quit complaining. >> okay. so what do you make of all this? >> well, it's really struck a

bad chord because you know, mcdonald's is a company that made billions last year in profit and telling it employees many below the poverty line to sell their holiday gifts, to turn off the heat, even when it's cold outside to save money. i think a lot of people feel when a company makes so much in profits is telling employees this, many of whom make $8 an hour it comes across as insensitive and it's upset a lot of people. >> i got to get in mcdonald's statement. they're firing whack saying all these money tips were taken out of context. here's the statement in which they said this is an attempt by an outside organization to undermine a well intended employee assistance resource website by taking isolated portions out of context. the microsource web source has helped countless employees by providing them with a variety of information and resources on topics ranging from health and wellness to stress and financial management." so is it wrong for mcdonald's to offer advice like this? >> i think from a marketing

standpoint, it is completely wrong for them to do this. you have mes who are not making enough money to maybe make ends meet. you have a lot of protests right now. you have a lot of employees who feel they deserve to make a better salary and so when mcdonald's is telling them to sell their holiday gifts and turn off their heat, you know, there is no way to really take that out of context. i think it makes mcdonald's look very insensitive. >> is there any way to reconcile thisle? these employees are making $7.25 an hour in some places. they're saying go to thrift shops. is there anything they're giving these employees that is practical and potentially helpful advice? >> i think some of the advice is somewhat helpful. like they have stress relief tips and things like that. i think that's pretty typical of companies to do, but i think that mcdonald's should tread carefully. if they're giving them money saving tips and this is a multibillion dollar organization, it's going to come across as very insensitive and make employees have low morale

and feel very unappreciated by their company. >> as you well know, timing can be everything here. this comes about a month or so after the company was criticized for releasing the month lit employee budget that included $20 every month for health care, nothing for food. shouldn't mcdonald's just stop offering this type of advice? are they just not getting it? >> yeah, it definitely comes across as very tone deaf. i this i that mcdonald's should look at and consider who they're speaking to, who their employees are, how much they're making before this offer this sort of advice. it's always going to come across as incense ittive. >> ashley lutz, thank you for joining us. the fear at l.a.x. what will had police drawing their guns last night. clay.

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consoles since yesterday's midnight release. that surpasses the first day sales eight years ago. understandably, most retailers have been sold out and waiting for microsoft to replenish their supply. president obama is touting his is economic accomplishments in a new push today. >> our businesses have created 7.8 million new jobs in the past 44 months. another 200,000 americans went back to work last month. the american auto industry has come roaring back with more than 350,000 new jobs. >> at the same time, a new "washington post" article says the senate's filibuster rule change this had week, the so-called nuclear option should help the president achieve key second term priorities. susan page and reporter for "the washington post" david nakamura. glad to have you here. david, you first. how does the nuclear option change the president's strategy now? what might it help him

accomplish? >> what it definitely helps him to accomplish is get some of his nominees both political and judicial appointed more quickly. this whole thing started in this most recent battle over three appointees from the president to the u.s. court of appeals in d.c. some consider the second highest court in the land. the senate blocked that. the president now wants to move quickly to move forward to get those three appointees on to that panel. there's also big cabinet nominations coming up and janet yellen as fed chief, jeh johnson as head of dhs. these things will move the white house now believes much quicker than they would have. there's a whole backlog of 2408 more positions that the white house is going to hope to move forward in conjunction with harry reid to get these done more quickly. there could be other things that this, you know, this latest move by the senate makes more difficult in terms of bipartisanship on other bigger bills, but certainly for this white house, this is an important moment for them. and they expect some good things

to come of it. >> okay. susan, i'm looking at your latest article titled "could partisanship get worse? it is just did." how much are we talking about. >> maybe it's hard to imagine it could get worse. that was part of the calculation by senator reid and other democrats. it can't get much worse but i think it's going to get worse. the president has invested in the idea of executive action and that's why he wants to get more appointees confirmed. it's at the cost of legislative action. we thought immigration reform might get done. that is not in the cards. even the farm bill which has traditionally been something not so much so strictly political, that's in trouble. that that may not get renewed. that's got real consequences for people on food stamps and for farmers, for rural communities and others. so i think there is a cost to the action that harry reid took not only in the senate. i think it sources a little bit more the whole air in washington that's made it so hard to get

things done. >> okay. david, as you know, the president is also launching his new economic push. doesn't it seem like there are two economies out there, wall street is hitting all the record highs. look at those numbers. over 16,000 on the dow. and yet, still persistent unemployment. so how difficult of a message is this going to be for the administration to deliver? >> it is difficult, alex. each time the monthly job numbers come out, the white house tries, they have difficulty striking is the right tone. you see small movement in the economy. sometimes adding jobs but not as much as economists say you need to get the economy back going strongly. so the president is going to go out to l.a. and give a speech and dreamworks and talk about investing in innovation and ideas in places where america can do well like the silicon valley and hollywood. i went with the president a couple weeks ago to new orleans. we talked about exports. these are things the president is saying as we go forward with the budget negotiations we need

to invest. he wants more room to roll back some of the sequester and spend more now. maybe you know, in tradinging for cuts later, stronger bigger cuts down the road. he's saying that's what we've got to do to keep the economy going and that's the message he's trying to bring for ordinary americans. >> susan, republicans are not letting up at all on obama care. do you think that might overshadow the president's economic push? how much traction is he going to get with that? >> it must be so frustrating for the white house because there are signs that the economy's getting better. not just with the stock market hitting new records. the deficit numbers are going down pretty quickly. even been a turn. food stamp usage, the cost of food stamps. it gets overwhelmed by the problems with obama care. next week, you're going to have this big push by the white house on the economy. but the self-imposed deadline for the website to be working is next saturday. and that's where the news coverage is going to be. >> another big issue right now,

susan, i want to get with you on, johnny kerry is in switzerland and heading to london to know. but the issue with iran. if the white house gets a deal done and that's certainly a big if, how much of a success story would that be for this administration? >> i think that would be an enormous success story. think how long it's been, decades since we had a working relationship with iran. this is one of the most serious problems facing the globe to get a deal would be a significant achievement and one that would be hailed many places, maybe not in israel. which has a lot of concerns. but it would definitely be a huge achievement for this administration. >> what's so interesting, you bring up israel. david, how much concern is there at the white house that a deal with iran could upset not just israel but saudi arabia and interestingly, these two countries our allies are on the same page in this issue. >> well, and they already know that will upset them. there's not any question about

that. benjamin netanyahu benjamin netanyahu has made that clear to the white house. he does not trust the iranian government and believe they're negotiating good faith. there's a lot of people who believe that. i think both when you look at what's going on with iran and also with syria with their chemical weapons, the white house is putting a lot of trust in these negotiations saying look, we're going to have moments where we see legitimate achievements to keep these things in place going forward, but i think you know, the white house is going to say we're going to withhold final judgment and look forward to the future on this, but there is concern that these things could fall apart. >> okay. well, susan page and david nakamura, happy thanksgiving, my friends. good to see you both. >> you too. >> thanks. time for today's number ones. first up, the rich and generous. that's not a new soap opera. it is forbes list of america's top 50 givers and the biggest benefactors, bill and melinda gates, their foundation donated

$4 billion this year. george soros has given $760 million so far this year. roughly 39 million people visit "new york times" square making it the most visited tourist attraction. new york city is the top city for walking. walk score.com gives them a walk score of 87.6, san francisco coming in second, boston third. >> i got to get out of here. i think i'm going to lose it. >> uh-oh. sounds like somebody's got a case of the mondays. >> office space may be a hilarious movie about hating your job but it's a reality for many americans. a new monster.com survey, 15% of americans said they hated or disliked their job. that's it the highest level of job dissatisfaction among the 13 countries in the survey. on the other hand, canadians like their jobs the most, 64% either love or like them a lot. those are your number ones here on "weekends with alex witt." ps, i love my job. n't always ea. first, i want a way to help

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." it's time for headlines at the half. the death toll from typhoon haiyan in the philippines passed 5,000. two weeks after the storm, search ares are still finding bodies. 4 million people displaced. another case of meningitis at princeton university. doctors are testing to see whether the latest case is related to seven others report the since march. on monday, the school said it is preparing to provide a vaccine against this particular strain pending approval from the cdc. a shark killed a surfer off the coast of western australia. the 35-year-old man was found on the beach. it's unclear how he got out of the water. the area has been the site of three deadly shark attacks in the past decade. los angeles international airport is back open now following a huge scare for passengers last night that included officers storming the building with weapons drawn and two terminals being evacuated. nearly 5,000 people were impacted by the chaos triggered

by a combination of mishaps inside and outside the airport. stephanie stanton is in los angeles for us. with a good day to you, i understand this was all triggered by a phone call about a man with a gun and a traffic accident. so let's sort this out. >> good morning to you, alex. first of all, talk about that phone call. police now saying they believe it was probably a prank call because a man with a gun was never found. police say that they got that the anonymous call from terminal 4 around the same time that a woman driving an suv crashed into a stairwell in terminal 5. that will crash prompted passengers to report shots fired. of course, we now know that that turned out not to be true. but these two incidents together caused widespread panic in both terminals. people streamed out of the terminals. they evacuated. that's when police then went in guns drawn and, of course, as we reported, there was no gun.

the driver of the suv appeared to be in good condition when she was taken by ambulance to the hospital. and you know, alex, tensions are running very high at l.a.x. because just three weeks ago, a man stormed into terminal 38, shooting and killing a tsa officer and injuring several other people. but as of now, airport operations we can tell you are -- have returned to normal this morning and you know, the good news here, there was nothing major, no major injuries, no one was hurt as a result of these two incidents but quite a scare. >> i was at l.a.x. earlier this week. the police presence was quite profound. the situation right now is what, everything up and running smoothly or still delays. >> everything up and running smoothly. at the height of these incidents, some 4600 passengers both inbound and outbound were impacted. also about 60 delayed flights but as we we can tell you now, things are running smoothly at l.a.x. >> good to know.

stephanie stanton there in los angeles. thanks. to washington now where the nuclear option has been deployed but the fallout yet to be scene. are elections less than two years away, will the democrats regret using it? despite congress's 9% rating, incumbents shouldn't be too worried about 201437 matt cart right is a member of the government oversight and reform committee. always nice to see you. thank you. >> nice to talk to you, again, alex. and it's great to be back in northeastern pennsylvania for our thanksgiving break out of washington. >> you get to get home. first off, let's talk about the senate having used this nuclear option. do you agree with it? >> you know, i do. and i'll tell you what made me agree with it. you know, the term nuclear option is not new. we've heard it for better than a decade i would say. and it was always in terms of the threat of the use of the

nuclear option that if the minority get toot obstreperous, if they do too much filibustering of nominees for the federal district courts and fairly appeals courts, certainly for the supreme court, for all the things that require confirmation on capitol hill in the senate, if the minority got too ob trep prus, they would be threatened with the nuclear option. those threats happened from time to time for a long time. the idea was in response to those threats, they would become less obstreperous and there would be less blocking going on. i this i that worked. but under the obama presidency, if you've seen the statistics, i think "the washington post" just recently came out with a chart that showed that under the current president's administration, as much as the filibuster has been used in the past to block nominees, that the rate has doubled. the highest rate that ever was

before, it's doubled now under president obama. and i think -- i mean what we're talking about is the minority in the senate not only going overboard but i mean trying to pull the boat down with them. >> uh-huh. well, this has all been put into effect in the senate. democratically controlled right now. how concerned are you perhaps with the next election, things swing the other way, that republicans will have this in their arsenal? >> well, sure. what's good for the goose is good for the gander. absolutely. but i think this is a good thing because look, you talk about congressional approval rating being what did you say, 9%? >> right. >> you have to drill down. why is it so low? it's because nothing's happening in washington. there's utter gridlock. all they want to do is shout partisan remarks at each other and nothing gets done. in particular, they're dragging down the nomination process so that the -- and the judicial branch nothing will be able to

get done. that would be horrible. that would shutter the doors to the federal courthouses if there aren't enough judges to do the work. in my view, this is a good thing and it will generate an ability to get more work done at least in the senate on these confirmation hearings. >> you bring up the 9% of approval rating for congress right now. to that end, charlie cook in the national journal has a very interesting piece in which he argues that congressional districts are so entrenched in their particular party that the chances for an overhaul are slim to none. so this 9% approval rating matters not at all. do you agree? >> no, i disagree with that. i think tlfrl quite a number of swing districts. i sit down with steve israel fairly frequently and he's the head of the dccc. he's done a nice job. if you've noticed, this year, the dccc has done a phenomenal job of raising money quarter

after quarter. they have beat the tar out of the nrcc in fund raising. they have, you know, they really just have to flip 17 seats and there are a lot of swing districts. for example, new jersey 3. our current congressman john runyon who is an intrepid line minnesota for the philadelphia eagles for so many years, i said to him myself thank you for saving donovan mcnabb's life as a quarterback of the eagles. he's been a fairly moderate republican, but he's retiring. and he told me it was to spend more time with his family, but i think there's a little disgust too with the gridlock. he voted against the shutdown, as well. well, there's a good candidate lining up in that district for the democrats. and that's the districting that president obama won last year. >> can i ask you quickly, if you can give me just a couple word answer here about your colleague, congressman trey trey

riddle who pled guilty to possession of cocaine, taken a leave of absence from congress. should he resign? >>. >> that's really not for me to pass judgment on him. i hope for the best for trey ridel. friendly fellow. and i hope he works it out for the sake of him and his family. but i'm not going to sit here and tell him what to do. i hope he gets better. if he returns and gets over his problems, he won't be the first one to do something like that. >> we've had representative ridel on the show. he was very gracious and i hit him pretty hard with some questions. i appreciated that interview. we do wish him well. representative matt cartwright, good to talk with you as always. friday in nation marked 50 years since the assassination of john f. kennedy. we could offer you another tale of conspiracies, a magic bullet and the like. but here's a story about dallas

and the stigma attached to it that no amount of time seems to help fade at least in the minds of some. >> 1963 dallas was a small town grown big. of the nearly 700,000 residents, as many as a third of them turned out to see president kennedy and jackie make the sunny drive from love field to downtown dallas. until the sound of rifle shots shattered everything including the city of dallas. >> it was branded as the city of hate that didn't apply to most people. and dallas residents resented it. >> lee harvey oswald was not from the dallas or of dallas but the perception proved hard to shake. >> it's just been decades of continuous reminders that oh, this is the city that killed presidents. no, it's not. one guy did. >> time moves on. you know, people began to not blame the city but to blame the right person. and especially after the warren

commission report to blame other things. >> but dallas bore that branding for a decade until 1972 when the dallas cowboys won their first super bowl championship and created the image as america's team. that was followed by the hit tv show "dallas" which captivated millions with its image of wealth and intriguing >> dallas is such an easy place to live. >> dallas mayor michael rawlings. >> when people think today about dallas they think about business and what we do down here. >> it's the mecca for the sewerious and sentimental. >> it's amazing to see the history. >> and continues to fascinate to the extreme with some running into the street to stand on the spot where the president was assassinated. >> most recognize the downtown dallas skyline as an image of success and glamour. but for some, it will never obscure the dark day in dealey plaza. do you think of jfk? >> yes, i think that's probably the first thing that comes to mind. >> always?

>> always. >> i'm not sure we want to ever escape history. it's good to own history. it's something that you talk to your kids about. >> and we've been asking you all day, what event was the where were you moment of your life. here are some of your tweets. goldie taylor here at msnbc says the challenger explosion, watching on tv in high school physics glass. shaun tweets 9/11, that's my moment. >> rodney writes, nooichb the event is seared into the memories of all who lived through it. ta maya tweets when the planes hit the building on 9/11 and when you heard michael jackson died. are some female soldiers too pretty to be taken seriously? the backlash after an e-mail from an army colonel is it leaked.

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channel. using some of the latest and most innovative gaths in spy film technology, the film crew traveled with the colonies virtually unnoticed which allowed them unprecedented insight into the penguins ecluesive world. penguins waddle all the way. three species in their an natural habitat. but just as important to the story is the way it was shot. with the cutting edge spy cameras so life like, even the birds were fooled. >> they sense an imposter in their midst. penguin cam acts casual. he successfully infiltrated the group. now it's time to make the long march to their breeding grounds. >> well, that's one way to do it. how is this documentary changing what we know about these birds? joining me is award winning

filmmaker, john downer, the director of the documentary. we were excited to put these pictures on. they're adorable, right? but we know very little about penguins. what is the biggest take away from this documentary? what did you learn that you didn't know before? >> well, i think we use cameras to get close to these animals and see them in a way we've never seen before. we get into their lives. we were seeing some of the greatest challenges any animal faced to bring up young. we will have three different species. but each one of them had a whole set of challenges even to get to their nest site let alone bring up a young one. i think it's a story of battling against the odds and incredible endurance. >> penguins are in their natural element in the water. they have the remarkable ability to survive on land. did that surprise you or is that something you set out to the film, as well. >> that's the problem they've

got as a species. they're so streamlined in the water. coming to land is a major thing. he has to hop up a 200 foot cliff just to get to his nest site. these are sheer cliffs. everything they're doing looks like it's against, you know, their evolutionary design. but what you actually do see, even with those limitations, these birds are incredibly resilient. it drives them through and gets them overcoming all these handicaps. >> the spy cam technology that you used, it's nothing short of extraordinary. talk about the planning that went into it. how many of these spy cams did you use and how far away did you have to be to operate them? >> we had 50 in all because we're covering three different species. some of them are really sophisticated like robotic walking penguins. some could ghl underwater. some were eggs that could conceal themselves in the colony and become part of the colony. the whole point of all of them

was to blend into the colony and get these incredible wide angle perspectives as though you're a penguin and see the world as they see it. the fact they could run and run and run often for hours and hours or even days at a time meant we hardly missed anything that ever happened in the colony. >> also the cold weather because in apartment arctic ca, it can be negative 50 a lot of the time. did you have problems because of that? >> before we went out, we tested everything in a deep freeze. so we knew they were going to stand up to the temperature. and generally, the temperature ended up because i think at the preparation it was not a huge issue. it is for the crew. a major issue. they were there for nearly a year of their life and for eight months of that time, they couldn't even get out if anything went wrong. but there was only ten days they didn't go out. on those ten days, the cameras kept rolling without them. >> okay, well award winning filmmaker, john downer. thank you so much. >> it's been a pleasure.

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for the first time since the pentagon opened it to female troops, three women have graduated from marine infantry school. privates first class christine nan fuentes montenegro, katie jules completed the training on tuesday along with 221 of male peers. but they won't be ahead heading to infantry units just yet. joining me executive director of the service women's action network. i'm glad you're here with this first question. why aren't they heading to infantry units? they graduated successfully. >> it's pure sex discrimination. nothing more. these women went through the exact same tasks to complete the course as their male counterparts, the exact same

mental and physical requirements but not getting the assignment simply because they're women. who your organization had to sue the department of defense to repeal to end the combat exclusion policy denying women access to some of these assignments and schools. what happened was, the service branches have been ordered by the secretary of defense to further integrate women. but they're stalling. the service branches are simply not further integrating women. what we're seeing is while the marine corps opened up this school and the officer counterpart to women volunteers, they're simply volunteers. they're not going to get the assignment in if they've proven they can be events thatmen. >> do whom to do they have to appeal? does it go to secretary haigle? >> we're still working our lawsuit through the system. we've got four service women who served on the battlefields of iraq and afghanistan who want to try for some of the schools that haven't been opened to women volunteers, like ranger school

which is a leadership school in the army. we have tons of barriers still left in the marines corps and the army particularly where there are ground combat positions that women want to try for. women are joining the army because they do want to be infantry but even if they are succeeding at these courses, they're not being allowed to have the job. >> i should say that the pentagon says it's still studying how exactly to integrate women into these positions. so that's what their standpoint is at this point. but the there hasn't been much interest among women for infantry positions thus far. until recently. that's true, right? so you have to give the pentagon a little bit of a break that it's going to take a little while? >> i don't think so. there are plenty i have women who do want to problem themselves. one of the three women that we've been celebrating this week does want to be a mortarman but she will not be able to fire mortars on behalf of the marine corps because she's a woman.

it's unfair to say women don't want to be in the infantry or don't want to be in special operations positions. sure there are women who want to. we won't see them till we lift this ban completely. >> here's another big military story this week. it was leaked e-mail from an army colonel, a woman who said that promotional photos should not feature pretty women and here's what she wrote. "in general, ugly women are perceived as competent while pretty women are perceived as having used their looks to get ahead." here's an example of a soldier who said she was too pretty. that colonel has been relieved of her command. what is your reaction to all of this? >> it was a really disappointing comment. the only reason we know about it is because it was leaked to the public. this is another example of how deeply entrenched sexism is in today's military. even in the year 2013 when you have senior officers -- and this many would, this senior officer who was writing these e-mails was in charge of women's

integration in empty army. so this is the person who is supposed to be leading the way for women to have further access to these off-limits assignments. so i mean, there's a real lack of understanding at the highest levels of the military in terms of the accomplishments of women in iraq and afghanistan, the fact that women can do the job. they have fought. they have proven themselves in combat in the last decade of war. and yet, they're still scrutinized for how they look and what they wear. there's a lot of remaining sex discrimination in the military. aside from the assignments that women can't join in terms of the schools that segregate women and the marine corps still basic training is segregated by gender. it's remarkable in the year 2013 that you would be separated from your male counterparts. women are forced to wear different uniforms. we have to end all of those examples where women are marginalized from their male peers. >> anu bagwati, thanks, anu.

>> thank you. >> using cellphones on planes may soon get the green light but is this good or bad news? we'll be right back. as we start off the weekend, it is a mess in the southwest. heavy rain falling through arizona and the higher elevations some snow. snow and ice all across parts of texas and parts of oklahoma. temperatures on the cold side, 15 degrees for a high. that's it today in minneapolis.

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i love logistics. >> talking on your cell phone at 30,000 feet? will it fly? new reaction to the fcc's proposal next. a blast of wintry weather threatens to make holiday travel a mess and it's a brutal street game called the knockout game and it's alarming and it's spreading. good day to all of you. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." let's get to what's happening out there as we have new reaction from a key official to one of the biggest potential air changes in travel history as the fcc considers lifting a long-time ban on cell phone calls during flights on airplanes. nbc's kristen welker is not at the white house, rather joining

me in the studio with all of the details. what is the fcc chairman saying? >> good afternoon, nice to be here in studio. this is an interesting development. tom wheeler says he personal lili opposes allowing passengers to use their cell phones to make calls during flight. his reaction a day after the fcc announced it would consider a proposal to lift the current ban with regulators calling it outdated. well, that immediately caused howls of protests from airline officials and palestinians some flight attendants say they're concerned a plane full of chattering passengers could lead to arguments and ultimately undermine safety. take a listen to what they're saying >> we've done surveys for the sell cue lar telephones use. and by far, passengers do not want that. passengers do not want the cell phones. i can promise you flight attendants don't either. >> in flight, the proposal wots also give passengers the ability to use their smartphones to sends e-mails, test mess ands

and download data. all this okay after the plane reaches 10,000 feet but not okay during takeoff and landing. this announcement comes after the faa lifted restrictions in october on the use of most personal electronic devices during takeoff and landing. here's how some passengers are reacting to all of this. >> i think that's awesome. i get bored on a plane. >> it's the vocals. you're right next to each other. there's no way you can escape it will once you walk the aisles. >> i'm a frequent flyer on one particular airline. if they made that change, i would consider changing for sure. >> there's even a petition up at the white house as we the people website calling for the ban to remain in place and get this, so far more than 1700 people have signed that petition. for his part, fcc chair tom wheeler released this statement saying "we understand that many passengers would prefer that voice calls not be made on airplanes. i feel that way myself." wheeler is a former lobbyist for the cell phone industry and recently took over the post of

chairman. but not everyone is complaining. the proposal has been greeted enthusiastically by telecommunications industry association, perhaps not surprisingly. >> okay. but that background you offered, that puts a little bit of two and two together, why this is being proposed. i'm curious about the airlines and their reaction to all this. >> that's a little bit mixed. american and united say they're waiting for an fcc decision as they study this issue. delta says passenger feedback for years has shown overwhelming support for a ban. jetblue and southwest say passengers is like silence but also say tastes and desires change. we're expecting to learn more at an fp cc meeting scheduled for december 12th. i think a lot of people sort of delving into all of the details of all of this. >> any idea when passengers could start making it those cell phone calls when the ban gets overturned? >> i think it's going to be awhile. the fcc still has toing the gaer public comment before voting on a final proposal and that

process alone could take months, so get comfortable. this debate is going to rage on. alex? >> it's a good one. thank you very much, kristen welker. well, a warning from boeing has some airlines pulling their 787 dreamliners out of service. boeing warns the megaplanes may have problems potentially with icing their engines and urging carriers to avoid flying them near high level thunderstorms. japan airlines has pulled the dreamliners from some international routes all together. boeing and general interest who make the engines are working to fix the issue. besides japan airlines some other carriers affected lust tan za, united and c app thay pacific. >> a huge system bringing rain and snow is moving east. that could spell trouble for the thanksgiving holiday. already blamed for the deaths of forepeople out west. arizona, one of the states getting hammered by the nasty weather had a lot of flooding

and mishaps to deal with there, including bitter cold. meteorologist dylan dreyer is here with what that means for the folks hitting the roads for the holiday. that poor biker. >> right into the puddle. arizona ended up with their record high rainfall for the entire month of november in one day. that was yesterday. so we've got rain in the desert southwest. the poor guy. he does not want us to have to see that again and again and again. but yeah, we did end up with a lot of rain in the southwest. that storm system is now moving into some very cold air where it is cold enough for snow in new mexico and a lot of ice possible in texas. dallas is going to be the area we're watching especially tomorrow because i expect a lot of delays with a half an inch of ice expected in dallas on sunday. the snow is starting to fill in across parts of new mexico and northern texas. because of that, we do have winter storm warnings and advisories posted. it does look like some of the higher elevations will continue

to see significant amounts of snowfall especially northern texas where we could end up with as much as a foot of snowfall. but just to the south of that where you see those ice markers in dallas and across central parts of western texas, we could end up with a quarter inch of ice today and a half inch of ice tomorrow in dallas. that is going to create a lot of delays as the cold air surges in. what's going to happen as we go into wednesday especially as a lot of people travel for thanksgiving? as of right now, some models keep it offshore. it's not an issue. maybe rain in the southeast. other models say we could end up with a rain and wind event on wednesday. it is going to be extremely cold. look at the cold air in minneapolis. 15 degree today for a high. then it makes its way into the northeast. we're looking at high temperatures only in the lower 30s with your windchills down in the teens and 20s through most of the day. winter is almost here. it seems like a month early. >> a little bit. lots of blue though on that map.

it's cold out there. thanks, dylan. be sure to keep up with all the wintry holiday weather anytime on weather.com. back to our developing story out of the geneva where a critical meeting to broker an iran nuclear deal has wrapped for now. secretary of state john kerry arriving in switzerland earlier today. he joined discusses with officials from five other world powers to put a deal together. this meeting has wrapped with these foreign ministers. what are you hearing in summary, if anything? >> an amazingly since the last time we spoke, the meeting wrapped and they've gone back into a meeting again without iran. the five foreign ministers and catherine ashton have reconvened another meeting. oddly enough, the iranian foreign minister is in a meeting with the swiss morn minister. there's a flurry of activity going on. they will keep rushing in and

out of meeting rooms with each other, which could be indicating something is on the cards, that they may it be making headway. it's all speculation because they're not telling us anything. as i told you earlier, banquet rooms and conference rooms have been booked throughout the night. we are loping there will be some sort of -- they'll let the press know something by the end of the day late tonight. very late tonight. the last time they had a press conference when secretary kerry was here was at 1:30 in the morning geneva time. so this could go on very late into the night. alex? >> what happens, ali, if these talks fail? will the u.s. impose more sanctions and if they do, what's the fallout from that? ? >> >> reporter: well, senate majority leader harry reid said on the 9th of december, if things don't go according to plan here, he's going to push ahead for very tough sanctions. if that does happen, i think that's going to really put the iranians off. they'll probably pull out of this deal all together and we're back to square one if not before

it. so that could be a disastrous consequence in terms of these talks coming together. i'm sure the iranians will take a very hostile approach to additional sanctions. they're very, very keen on sanctions relief here at some sort of level. so if the opposite was going to happen, i think the deal will go off. alex? >> nbc's ali arouzi in geneva for us. thanks. back to washington and the house on thanksgiving break at least till december 2nd with the senate slated for a two-week break now. meanwhile, a new washington post report suggests the white house is trying to formulate strategy to take advantage of the senate changing filibuster rules to confirm some 2406 judicial and executive nominees. joining me, luke russert, a congressional correspondent at the white house for us today and elise's vee back, staff writer for the hill. luke, i'll begin with you here. generally speaking what is the fallout from the senate undertaking this so-called nuclear option? >> if you talk to democrats, they say it was a long time

coming that historically, the filibuster has been abused by republicans in this last congress of president obama nominees have faced delays much longer than president bush's nominees ever had to face, 1 mun days on average. and that this ultimately had to happen in order for government to function. republicans say it's an abuse of power by harry reid and the democrats. they're trying to do it to distract from the problems with the health care law. when there's a republican president and republican senate, they will in fact use these new rules to their benefit and perhaps might go further getting rid of this exem 00 for supreme court nominee which would still be allowed to be filibustered under this democratic proposal. interestingly enough, i think moving forward, what it really means is because congress is going to be in such a standstill? 2014 in a midterm year and not take any controversial votes where i am behind me is where much of the legislation is going to be. essentially through executive order and through the agencies that president obama is in

charge of by who he appoints. epa, you're going to see perhaps the energy industry really get hit by some more stringent regulations and a lot of environmentalists have wanted to see. things like that that can be carried out through executive order through the cabinets that could not pass congress. >> okay. some perspective from you on this, elise. is this most obstructionist one party's ever been with respect to a president's nominees? 240 appointments here. >> it's a lots. it's certainly a lot. republicans feel like this filibuster was their only tactic in order to stand up for themselves when it comes to a lot of these nominees. they don't want to see president obama have a full team in his administration to implement his political objectives and policies. but and there are many democrats who said on the floor it's been 100 years since we've seen this kind of obstructionism. certainly there are arguments for that. there are a lot of questions what this change will bring over

time to the history of the senate. it is a major change. it's a major shift for the minority. and certainly democrats realize that their turn is going to come around. these things are cyclical. eventually they could be the minority party. the question is, are they willing to deal with the ramifications now that they can't filibuster the nominees. >> if i could jump in on that point. one thing that elise just pointed to is i spoke with a lot of republicans. while publicly they are saying they're outraged by this, privately, they're actually excited because they know when this he get back in the majority, they're going to be able to do this. what does history teach us as we saw with the debt limit and the shutdown of 2013? we also saw in 2011 the debt limit fight. republicans are a lot more hard-core. they play "hardball" at a much higher level than democrats do when they want something. what's to say they won't go much further and put a supreme court nominee forward that in the robert bourque form that will democrats will not be able to

filibuster. so republicans while they publicly a this is terrible, privately they say wait till we're in power. >> representative matt cartwright said what's good for the goose is good for the gander. elise with regard to the press which quoted a former aide saying genie is out of the bottl bottle. >> i think it's certainly possible. everything is on the taken at this point now that we've made this change. that could change the workings of the senate if the filibuster is out for legislation. the bottom line for me right now in this administration is, with president obama's judicial nominees going through much more easily, is that going to have a major impact on his ability to implement his agenda? and certainly supporters would say yes. they say things like climate change regulations will face a lot less stringent scrutiny in some of these judicial nominees who have been appointed who are

liberal who might not be activists but might eventually support president boep's agenda more than the alternative or certainly more than people who republicans would have appointed. i think there are major implications right now, but we're going to having to see whether the filibuster for legislation still stands in the future. >> elise viebeck and luke russert. goods to see you. >> it's a lovely day here in washington, d.c. the people's house behind me. >> what happened the day after the death of a president? reflections from msnbc's chris matthews on the day after. ♪ [ male announcer ] 1.21 gigawatts. today, that's easy. ge is revolutionizing power. supercharging turbines with advanced hardware and innovative software. using data predictively to help power entire cities. so the turbines of today... will power us all... into the future. ♪

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50 years ago today, this nation mourned in the early hours an honor guard escorted president john f. kennedy's coffin into the east room of the white house. in that room at 9:00 a.m., a

private mass was held for the kennedy family. then at 1:30 p.m., president lyndon johnson held his first cabinet meeting and like that, camelot had ended and in rushed a tumultuous new era. joining me is chris matthews author of? jack kennedy, elusive hero i-i'm glad to have you here. i'm oop curious what the collective mood of america was the day after. >> you know, i mean en50 years later, it still isn't come together for me. it's very hard to put together all the liveliness of that administration, of that man's life. and then try to put together that with the fact he's dead. and it's just very hard to do that. i mean, i look at the pictures and see him alive again. and then i realize he's dead again. and realize it all happened in that moment down in dallas. it's very hard for us to put it together. i think that explains all the conspiracy theories because even though there may not be anything

to them, there's the sense there must have been something bigger that caused this to happen. it doesn't seem to click. i think that mood hasn't changed. i still can't get over it. i mean, i find the whole thing, the word doesn't -- i guess baffling that this could happen to a president and to this guy. and you know, it doesn't go away. i know 9/11 was a big deal and it was horrible. but this was very personal. and we had a president, we picked, we debated, fought over, watched. were intrigued by. even his critics were intrigues by him. all of a sudden, he's not around anymore. it's profound. i guess that's the right word for it, profound. and i think that's why so many people write about him because they keep trying to find the answer to who he was. >> yeah. i think your book was probably in some ways almost cathartic for you to try to work through this. i'm curious about the transition from jfk to lbj in the white

house on capitol hill because everybody was mourning. but the nation just couldn't stop. so what was that like? >> i think the idea that they let us continue is a great statement by president johnson. he came in and did great work. i mean, you have to understand, civil rights, you know, civil rights was almost impossible to get through. kennedy practically to the day he was killed was working the phones, working with the boss daley working with bill green, working to get the liberal democrats in line oh so they wouldn't be pushing too far. he was pushing the moderate republicans from the midwest. i got to tell you, todd purdum has a book coming out on that. it's all about the fact that it was the good republicans in the midwest that really made it happen. kennedy worked those people. johnson worked those people. it was a time when the republican party was still very much the party of lincoln. it hasn't been taking over by the dixiecrat influx of the later '60s. the corrupt was very different

then. the republican party was the party of civil rights. the democratic party was hampered. in fact, ham strung by its southern members who were all dixiecrats and seg graggationists. there was a different time. johnson turned all that around. as a result, the democrats lost the south. i mean, that's why kennedy was in texas that day trying to hold on to the state he needed because had he lost mississippi, alabama, louisiana, and those kind of states were gone. in fact, in my book, i talk about how he was in the car with john connolly the governor and jim wright the local congressman heading to the airport in an open car. there's tape of that. he's asking them why is dallas so right wing and fort worth so yellow dog democrat? it had to do with the shape of the industry in fort worth. it was all factor floors and stock yards. but you move over to dallas, it's high-rise buildings, insurance, finance, white collar jobs, people wanting to go to the next floor and be and vote republican. so it was a shifting economics

that did it. connally eventually joined that. look at these pictures. the thought that jack kennedy in na car smiling and relaxing thinking he had everything under control and all of a sudden, jackie actually talked afterwards about the expression on his face when is he knew he had been shot. that look of almost amazing look he used to get when he was trying to answer a complicated question. what's happening here? and that's all in the word she spoke to teddy white the week after he was killed where she talked about how his mother never loved him and tried to explain his behavior with women and there's so much in the papers if you dig through them besides the camelot message you mentioned. >> thank you, chris. and be sure to catch "hardball" weeknights at 7:00 eastern right here on msnbc. plea brazen attacks just for amusement and triggering calls for help. that's next. [ cheeping ] [ male announcer ] you hear that?

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recent attacks on unsuspecting passers-by have residents of major cities on edge. it's called the knockout game and it involves young men throwing pudges at random people in the street. police are trying to figure out if it's a rising threat or you're ban myth. nbc's katie tura has the story. >> the attacks are posted online, part of a game known as knockout. teens trying to impress their friends by sucker punching unsuspecting strangers. robin williams says he was attacked in new haven, connecticut, this week. >> he came by me awfully close. i turned. and he hit me right in my mouth. >> police say young men have made sport of trying to knock people out for decades. it's just that now, there's the internet. >> i spoke with police commissioner ray kelly here in new york where four men are being investigated for similar assaults. >> what will be your message to any kids who might want to do it from seeing these videos?

>> obviously you're going to get arrested if you do it. you stand a very good chance of being arrested but it's always the phenomenonal we have to be concerned about. >> marvel weaver says he was playing knockout when he was shot twice by the man he was trying to punch. in lansing michigan. now, weaver is in jail. >> it was just a lesson learned. somebody just throws out and people go along with it and one thing leads to another and it goes downhill. >> in september in new jersey, two young teenagers were charged with killing ralph santiago after police found the 46-year-old with his neck snapped and head stuck between two fenceposts. although there are only a handful of these assaults across the country, lawmakers are looking for harsher penalties an as law enforcement agencies step up patrols for those playing a dangerous and disturbing game with potentially deadly consequences. katie turr, nbc news new york.

>> that is so twisted. a new report shows americans are driving less. we'll explore the reasons for that next. is back. which means it's never been easier to get a new 2014 jetta. it gets an impressive 34 highway mpg and comes with no charge scheduled maintenance. and right now you can drive one home for practically just your signature. sign. then drive. get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on any new 2014 volkswagen. hurry, this offer ends december 2nd. for details, visit vwdealer.com today you get your coffee here. you get your hair cut here. you find that certain thing you were looking for here, but actually you get so much more. when you shop at these small local businesses, you support all the things that make your community great. the money you spend here, stays here. in this place you call your neighborhood. small business saturday

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now get ten dollars off any two seafood bakes, crab or lobster entrees. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." approaching 32 past the hour now. the white house has exactly one week to fix the health insurance marketplace before its self-imposed deadline of november 30th. this week an official testified before congress that is 30% of the site has not yet been built but there is some good news for the state exchanges. joining me with all of this, ann fillipik, tacked with getting more americans enrolled in obama care of insurance plans and with a big welcome to you, look at a week from today, the deadline. is the site going to be ready? >> we are seeing improvement. we've been seeing is steady improvement with our campaign talking to consumers and seeing what their experience is with the website. we are seeing improvement and feel good where we're headed.

that's why we've launched a campaign called coverage is coming, which is going to be throughout the month of december. up to ted line, december 23rd when folks need to enroll to have coverage by january 1st. we're going to be going backing to folks and making sure they know the time is now to go ahead and enroll. >> that december 23rd date is the eight days later than december 15 the original. a little more time to incorporate all theicious they had. henry chow said 30% of the website has to be built. it's in the payment and accounts part of the site. how does that affect comustomer at this point? >> it's important to understand that the healthcare.gov is one way folks can enroll and one way we've been seeing people enroll. they can call the hot line and find someone in person where they can go ahead and get help to go through the process. so again, that is one step and really the final process when someone has filled out an

application, seen their options, been able to compare apples to apples, the health plans available to them. and then selected their plan. so that's really about the final step. >> okay. i want to get your reaction to the numbers here in terms of the most up to date ones we have on the enrollment here. about 106,000 people have selected plans on the federal marketplace. about 975,000 so close to a million have applied and have been deemed eligible but have yet to the select a plan. so when you look at all the problems we've had weigh in on where you think these numbers are right now. >> well, i think when you look at those numbers, really important thing is to look at some history. for any of us that coming into october we're looking at past enrollment efforts. for example, medicare part d or massachusetts. we knew that historically numbers are often low. even when things are going well. and because people are checking out their options. so for example, in massachusetts, we know that in the month, the first month of

enrollment there, only just about 100 people enrolled in coverage, which was.3% of the total people that ended up enrolling. again, i think it's important to remember. we are early on in the process. that's why our get covered america campaign has been out there educating, even when there have been these issues. but i do think we should all feel some urgency recognizing the next four months will be more important than ever and to be out there educating consumers can what's available to them. >> i want to get to good news theer relative to the 14 state market plays. "the washington post" is reporting there's been a november surge there with enrollment nearly doubling since last month. what are they doing right to get that pace? >> well, look, i think it's no surprise that in the state that are implementing their own marketplaces, things are going pretty well. that's how the affordable care act was intended. we are seeing state officials, non-profits we are seeing organizations in those states really coming together. and having an all hands on deck effort to get the word out.

so again, we shouldn't be prizes that it's going well there. that's how this was intended to be. but i think for folks that maybe don't hib in those states, that's why enroll america has our campaign and why we are working in partnership with community health centers and faith leaders to get the word out. so maybe the other states are farther behind but we still have lots of time to get the word out to consumers and get them enrolled. >> appreciate your approach and your attitude, anne filipic. thanks. another reversal of fortune at the gas prices. prices are rising about 2.5 cents today to $3.26 a gallon, 5 much 58 cents in one week. it's still six cents less than a month ago and 16 cents less than a year ago. new today, the decline of driving in america. a new report suggests this country's love affair with car travel is waning but may not all be due to the economy. joining me now, jordan wise man, senior associate editor at the atlantic. it's good to see you. you're the one who wrote this

article about the research. what were your take aways? >> it's interesting. for years and years, you know, americans drove more and more. we put more miles on our cars, usesed more gas. right before the recession, you started to see that go into reverse. flrp fewer cars being bought per household. we were putting i think the amount of miles dropped by about 1200 per driver, something along those lines. we're using less gas. and the interesting part about this, the thing that environmentalists and urban planners find so tantalizing is that it doesn't seem like it was just the financial crisis that it was just the housing bust that did it. it seems like maybe there's a cultural element here. >> there's also an issue you write about. that is that there are not all the jobs out there for people to drive their cars too, right? >> that's part of it. tell commuting play a role, as well. you know, there's been evidence that the rise of the internet in

some countries including maybe the u.s. has discouraged some amount of driving because you don't need to actually be places to connect with people and do jobs. so yeah, this plays into this whole big question of, is it just economic? is it cultural? why is it that driving is in decline to some degree. what's interesting in terms of the cultural is the teenage thing. you're talking to an l.a. girl. i spent my 16th birth day at the dmv. could wait to get my driver's license. fewer teenagers are driving. the highway loss institute announced the number of drivers fell by 3% last year. the centers for disease control found the number of it high school seniors with a license fell by 73% in 2012 from 85% in 1996, rather fell to 73%. why do you think this is happening? why are fewer teenagers hitting the road? >> it's a hard question. again, there's so many factors involved. part of it is is again, the urban sites say in countries

with better interconnections or more broadband, teen driving goes down. at the same time, this decline in teen driver's licenses has been happening for years now. actually, there have been declines since the '80s. so you know, part of it might just be that driving is no longer the symbol it once was of freedom to american teens. it's all sorts of possibilities. owning a car is expensive. and you know, there's a lot of youth unemployment these days. that's probably part of it, as well. >> in your article you use a clever gif. this is how it illustrates public transit which reduces congestion. it was first used by a tumblr user. you see the cars in toronto, you see the amount of streetcar. it puts it all into perspective how driving less and using mass transit can ease congestion. so you think animation like this can help to change habits? >> it's amazing when you look at

an image like that. i can throw as many numbers at you as i want, but i think you know, that animation is going to tell you moral about what will getting on a bus can do for a city, right? there's people forget facts and figures but they tend to remember images pretty well. >> absolutely. well, we'll remember this conversation, as well. jordan weissman of the lack, thank you so much. is the big three as annoyed as some of the folks tweeting me about one of the big stories of the day? hi there, welcome to the gallery. how do you react when you first see this? it looks kind of like a dancer?

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it's been 50 years and a day since the nation was forever changed by the assassination of president john f. kennedy. we're hearing some powerful memories of that day in a new documentary by special correspondent tom brokaw. >> where were you when you heard that john f. kennedy had been assassinated? >> just even the question still -- >> it was almost like a frozen frame in time.

everybody on the campus instead of people running and saying, did you hear there were these quiet groups of people saying, can that be true? you'd see five students in a corner. you'd see we sat in a car. you'd see people in the hallway. it wasn't -- it was almost like if you said it out loud, he was going to die. >> i remember just completely disconnecting from the game. the -- it was just a shock. i mean everybody just felt you know, what are we doing? we're playing a soccer game and the president's just been shot. >> i went outside on private porch and cried for a while. i think it was the first time i had really wept for more than ten years. that's the last time i had wept before that was when my father died. >> and that brings us to today's big three. 50 years later, plain talk and best week worst week. let's bring in my panel,

national reporter suzy khimm, former congress mann martin frost, democrat from texas and msnbc contributor susan del%io. that was really powerful. jane fonda in tears. i mean, john kerry getting to tears. jimmy carter getting to tears. representative frost, you represented texas in the house. where were you when president kennedy was killed and how did it change america in your mind? >> i wasn't in congress at that time. i was a senior journalism student at the university of missouri and i walked out of a class on the american presidency at 12:30, walked into the school of journalism where we were putting out the afternoon paper for the columbia, missourian for the city of columbia. i was on the copy desk. they tore up the front page, did a new front page. it was just -- it was extraordinary. at least i had something to do. i was shocked. but there was a job to do, and we put out a newspaper that day. >> hmm. and how do you think it changed america? i mean, if you can give that in

a very brief answer. >> well, it changed in a lot of ways. it changed the city of dallas. i represented dallass in congress. dallas was a right wing city at that time. since then, it's a completely different city. it's had a black mayor, three women jewish mayors, let's had a black member of congress. dallas is a progressive city today. and dallas yesterday celebrated the life of president kennedy in a way that it couldn't have done at an earlier time. >> susan, you've been watching all the conch i know. what's your sense of jfk's legacy? >> his greatest legacy has been his family. when you look at what ted kennedy has done in the senate and you know after he passed away, it seems like caroline kennedy picked up the mantle going to japan. the fact the legacy led to so much public sector support and they dedicated themselves to the public i think was probably the most influential thing that

happened after he died. >> how about you, suze? i know msnbc.com is doing special coverage of the day after 50 years ago, but i've also been asking if the next generation had any memory that's similar. does the next generation really have a similar standout memory? >> well, it's interesting. i mean, i think for a lot of young people, you know, seeing the extremely personal and emotional reaction of the previous generation to the jfk assassination, i think the first example that might come to mind is 9/11 and the wait that that did fundamentally change the country. i don't know whether people didn't have the similar personal figure family a sort of history to attach themselves to. i don't know whether they'll feel that on that kind of visceral level but in terms of changing the country, we may look back at 9/11 and feel a similar way. >> martin, how about politics?

how did it change politics? >> well, john kennedy inspired a generation of people, my generation, to look fafbly on -- favorably on public service. the assassination did not change that. and he inspired me. i mean that's one of the reasons i ran for congress. so many people in my generation served in the peace corps. we felt that government could do positive things for people's lives. and in terms of 9/11, to me, the assassination was more shocking than what happened on 9/11 because it was so personal. we all felt like we knew the president. even if we had never met him. on 9/11, some of us knew people who were killed that day but very few people did. >> you're echoing the sentiments of chris matthews who said the same thing. it was so very, very personal the assassination of jfk. our next topic and the tone is

certainly going to change here. plain talk because the fcc is proposing to lift the ban on cell phone calls during flight. representative frot frost, critics say chatty passengers could lead to arguments and security concerns. what do you make of this proposal? >> i'm concerned about the noise. i've got a 4 million mile card on american airlines. i fly a lot. certainly i did when i was in congress. i think it would be great to be able to text and to do e-mail. i do not think it's a good idea toe have cell phone calls going on in an airplane. some people are hard of hearing and they'll be talking loud. others won't have good connections. put them all in the back of the plane if they have to do this like on amtrak where you have a quiet car. make them all go back to the quiet -- let everybody who wants to be in a quiet part of the plane. >> exactly. >> i'm worried what they'll do is put up a curtain or something. that doesn't work. we still hear them. you have to put some sort of a door. susan, i want to share with you

how some passengers are reacting to this. take a listen. >> i can't imagine what it would be like on an already crowded airplane random people having random conversations at an all levels and it brings up the point. as someone who travels a lot for business, i'm thrilled when i get on the airplane because it means i can't take a phone call. but it would lead up to a lot of problems. i just don't see it happening. the good part of this, if there is one, is that the airlines will get to decide if they want to have that policy. so i think they'll get a lot of feedback from their customers. >> susie, your thoughts? >> the thing that i'm encouraged by this is the fact that this marked a triumph of science and

evidence over outdated regulations and things we're doing because that's the way we did them before. that was the reason the fcc is reconsidering this ban because as various journalists and other folks frequently on planes pointed out, lots of studies showed consistently that these kinds of signals from electronic devices did not interfere with the plane. it wasn't going to bring it down. to that degree, the fact that we're re-examining regulations based on scientific evidence is encouraging. >> that's not the question. we're not worried about interfering with the operation of the plane. we're worried about the tranquility of the passengers. let us pay a little bit for wi-fi as they do on some airlines where we can do e-mail and we can do texting. that's enough for anybody who wants to stay still plugged in. >> or allow you to cut off like the flight attendants can cut off alcohol to a person. >> you're too loud, click, hang up.

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president obama will speak about the economy next week at the headquarters of -- >> dreamworks. >> one of the last surviving members of john f. kennedy's cabinet who proved to be its most enduringly controversial -- >> mcnamara passed away in 2009. >> got them all right -- no, just kidding. having a lot of fun with the game. joined by my dear friends, karen finney and toray. martin, you have been on that as well. >> i was on there. and i finished second. it was a lot of fun. >> it is so much fun. let's have a little more fun with the big 3 with the best and worst of the week. susie, what's your best and worst? >> the best thing that i heard

this week is a new report from the government saying that homelessness is actually dropping 4% over this last year. it's the fourth straight year in a row that it's declined. and people say that they largely credit federal policy under bush and under obama for actually making sure that people get homes and sort of move out of shelters as quickly as possible. >> worst? >> the worst thing, obviously the tragedy following creigh deeds and his son who apparently shot himself before attacking his father. the thing that struck me about this was that it pointed to a problem nationwide of a shortage of psychiatric beds that they couldn't find a bed for his son in time and this is a really problem that we're seeing elsewhere. >> representative frost? >> the fact that the two cities i represented in congress, dallas and ft. worth, were able

to celebrate the life of president kennedy, not just his death. >> the worst? >> the worst is the crocodile tears shed by the republicans when harry reid changed the rules. the republicans didn't want a democratic president to be able to appoint democrats to vacancies on the court. this is nonsense. >> susan, we're just showing yours and you're here so often, you don't really have to talk. those are the best and the worst. thank you very much. that's a wrap of this show. up next, betty nguyen who's in for craig melvin. ya know, with new fedex one rate

you can fill that box and pay one flat rate. how naughty was he? oh boy... [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. at this hour, high hopes for a nuclear deal with iran. right now, secretary of state john kerry is meeting with top diplomats. are they any closer to a compromise? we are live in geneva. good afternoon, everybody. i'm betty nguyen in for craig melvin today. you are watching msnbc. just ahead, changing the rules. a drastic shift in how