and they're off. the doors are open. black friday shopping is in full swing. where are the best deals and should you even wait? wait maybe for monday. we have you covered. we picked day to go before president obama's self-imposed deadline. a tech team is scrambling to build a new part of the website. right now on capitol hill, a hunger strike aimed at getting house republicans to act on immigration. will republicans pay the price if there is no reform? good morning to you all. i'm it. j. holmes.

it's black friday. the frenzy is in full force coast to coast. shoppers began the race last night with opening their doors on thanksgiving day. some folks were in line for hours. >> big screen tvs, lab tops and tablets. >> shoes. >> a keurig. i'm really, really excited about it. >> sales are expected to be up 3.9%. in chicago the frenzy turned to chaos outside at a kohl's. police were responding to a shoplifting report when a suspect ran to his car. he jumped into the passenger seat and the officer was dragged as the car began to take off. another police officer fired shots, injuring the driver in the shoulder. two people in the car and the third in the store were arrested. more on black friday, we have a report across the country in

major hot spots in minnesota and california. we start with jay gray at the mall of america. it doesn't look too chaotic. you tell me what's really going on? >>. >> good morning. we are smelling the fresh scent of cinnabon. they pulled some out of the oven. we are in between the late shift. the people that came at midnight have gone home. the morning shift started for the serious shoppers. rachel and her crew fit that description perfectly. you have a bunch of bags and everything. rachel, is this a big deal for you? >> definitely. we have been planning it for like a week. >> so far are you just starting out? >> we have been here for a few hours, but we take our time. don't want to rush through. >> how are the deals? >> fantastic. everything is at least 50% off. >> really? >> yeah. >> analysts are saying some may

spend more. will you spend the same or less? >> it depends on the person, but i already spent more than last year. it's good. >> how long will you go at it today? >> we are about halfway through the circle. i will have to hit a couple stores again we have been comparing. >> anything for an older reporter-type guy? >> a leather jacket. you can do that. kind of hip. >> thank you. i won't hold you up. i know you have been waiting for a while. they missed a sale at a really high end retailer here. i will get your credit card number afterwards. >> fabulous. >> excellent. thank you so much. have fun, ladies. >> older reporters. don't sell yourself short. thank you so much. the activist groups are wal-mart plans to use this to protest in

support over big box store workers. 50 demonstrations are planned across the country. we will dig into a little more what these activists want. we will have an interview with the executive director of jobs with justice. the obama administration is less than 24 hours away from one of the biggest deadlines in the president's second term. the senior economic adviser of healthcare.gov ficker, he told the country that the vast majority of users would have a smooth experience on the enrollment by the end of november. that deadline is just about here. tomorrow is deadline day. will there be good headline or more headaches? the house budget committee joins us now. good morning to you. do you have insights and inside information as to what we can expect tomorrow? >> good morning to you. i don't have inside information,

but the president had a teamworking on this almost nonstop and made assurances that the vast majority will access the website. let's hope that's the case. we had a realmly good experience and we have a state exchange and great leadership from the governor or lieutenant governor and doing the work here in rhode island. we had a good experience here. people can't lose sight of the benefits and the benefits they provide for people with preexisting conditions and young people who stay on their parents's plans. those that see the donut hole close. ending discrimination against people with preexisting conditions. those are all good, but obviously the roll out has been problematic and hasn't worked well. it has got to be fixed. i'm hoping they are getting it done. >> what can they say tomorrow that would make people feel better. even if they say yes, it's working the way it should. is it going to take time for

maybe some of those positive stories of people being able to get coverage and it working well for people? simply what i'm asking, can day of saying it's working turn things around for you and democratic colleagues? >> no, i think there will continue to be stories of people who have access to health care for the first time who workers who go to sleep at night terrified that they might get ill because they don't have health coverage or a child born with a condition that they never can get insurance that can get it. seniors who are benefiting from the donut hole closing and their prescription drugs being more affordable. as it is fully implemented, we will hear more stories about the millions who have positively benefitted from it. the roll out was terrible. the glitches were inexcusable and that has to be fixed. in the end if 25 million americans have access that they

didn't have and they were benting the cost curve on health care, that's a good thing for the american people. the mistake was we should have acknowledged this would be a long-term roll out. this is a comprehensive overhaul of a system that will take time. we shouldn't have set the benchmarks to say by this date or that date. it doesn't work that way. >> it was a mistake to say that date being tomorrow that the problems will be fixed some. >> yeah, i mean i think people who are really technology gurus recognize that it's really hard to give fixed dates like that. instead set expectations that said it will be a long-term roll out and it's complicate and it won't be perfect. talk about the benefits of the program. the president put a great team on this. they worked a lot around the clock and we are going to see differences. we all right are. i take it we will see more success. >> you feel good about going out in a real life campaign and they

feel good about it. who knows what will happen tomorrow and months down the road. maybe things will get better and this is how they are and people are suspicious and having problems signing up. do you feel comfortable running on this? >> i think the reality is we have got to fix this broken roll out. the reality is our health care system was broken. millions are paying too much and millions were denied access. millions were discriminated against because of preexisting conditions. that was not acceptable. this was the first attempt to fix it. i think we have to be prepared to go back and make the law better and strengthen it and address the things that have been raised. i want to live in a country where people have access to quality health care and i think that's what most americans want. it's a big necessity of life and we have to fix a system that was unsustainable and not working for most americans. >> you are a member of the lgbt caucus and we have seen a lot of

these states with same-sex marriage and strides in illinois and hawaii recently and we have seen a benefit for military spouses blocked in oklahoma. do you think the gains are outweighing the setbacks? which way do you think momentum is going in this country? >> i don't think there is any question that we continue to make great progress in our march to full equality for lgbt individuals. we are seeing the progress across the country. i don't think there is any way to stop this march to full equality and we will have set back along the way, we we are making progress. americans basically believe in fairness and don't support the idea of discriminating against people because of who they are. >> it's always good to see you again. hope we can see you. >> minutes past the hour and everyone expected this to be the year for immigration reform, but

has that has yet to happen. the bath ways that may still be open. the protests at wal-mart stores across the country. this is in chicago. how activists hope to use the biz busiest shopping day of the year to their advantage. you are watching msnbc. [ male announcer ] how do you get your bounce? i'm, like, totally not down with change. but i had to change to bounce dryer bars. one bar freshens more loads than these two bottles. i am so gonna tell everyone. [ male announcer ] how do you get your bounce? [ woman ] time for change! [ male announcer ] how do you get your bounce? on the table by not choosing the right medicare d plan. no one could have left this much money here. whoo-hoo-hoo! yet many seniors who compare medicare d plans realize they can save hundreds of dollars. cvs/pharmacy wants to help you save on medicare expenses. talk to your cvs pharmacist, call, or go to cvs.com/compare

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>> you may remember the implementation of health care law as the biggest. so can his team hit the website running? can it bost confidence in the commander in chief? "washington post" political reporter aaron blake, good morning to you both.

let me start with you. is this it? you all had a headline that the president wants to avoid the mission accomplished banner, if you will. tomorrow we have this deadline and say it works the way they say it should. what does the president say some you say hey, it's working well. someone will find a problem two days later and there you go. >> i don't think you will see a mission accomplished sort of conference. the white house was not calling the quarters or plan to. you are not going to see kind of an it's fix and it's done because there still going to be glitches much the the team that is working on the website is working throughout the weekend and will work before tomorrow's deadline. they are still going to have glitches. if it works well enough and doesn't crash for everyone and 20,000 people can get on, at least not going to see a storm

of criticism from democrats anyway or the white house kind of coming out. >> let me bring you in. that's the new standard. it's working well enough. say it it knows to work for the next year heading into the mid-terms. can the president pivot to anything else? he try with immigration reform. can he really or will this be it? >> i think this is kind of it as far as major things go. if they were going to get immigration done, this was the year to get it done. if they were going to get a big budget agreement done, this was the year to get it done. this is casting over everything right now. democrats don't think that republicans even want to alou this thing to work. there is no comedy in congress right now. this is it for now. the fact that this is such an extended roll out and an extended period of time to figure out is this working or not working? the fact that this persists for

months and months into early next year, i think it makes things like immigration less likely. >> is it a matter of as some suggested that the president needs to pivot and have distractions, if you will, to get people talking about something other than healthcare.gov. what else do you see? they can turn healthcare.gov and obama care into a positive heading into the mid-terms some. >> it's a positive if it works. people can sign up by the december 23rd deadline and get insurance. if it's not work and you are seeing a botched roll out or severe issues with the website. you are not going on see him be able to pivot to a lot of other issues. if this doesn't work, it's going to take up a lot of headlines and oxygen. if it starts working and you see it going better, maybe he can pivot. the relationships on capitol

hill are afraid even among democrats. there is not a lot of good well. >> it's one thing to not be able to pivot, but republicans are not going to let this go no matter what. >> this is a gold mine for them as far as the 2014 election goes. we are seeing a number of rolls after the shut down. democrats had an eight-point lead when asked do you prefer a generic democrat. republicans have a two-point edge in the most recent poll. i think it's a situation where republicans kind of smell blood in the water and they push this as far as they can. the fact is they have a lot of things to point to and not just making up the fact that there problems with the website. as long as the roll out continues to go poorly, they will keep pointing that out and it makes working together less likely. >> at "the washington post," thank you for being here on the holiday weekend. >> thanks.

>> a florida woman at the center of a stand your ground case is released from prison in time for dinner. what comes income for marissa alexander? wal-mart activists plan demonstrations and how they hope to use this to further their fight for higher wages. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain... ♪ ready or not. [ female announcer ] ...so you can be up there. here i come! [ female announcer ] ...down there, around there... and under there for him. tylenol® provides strong pain relief and won't irritate your stomach the way aleve® or even advil® can. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®.

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[ woman ] i'd be a writer. [ man ] i'd be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] i'd be an architect. what if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you? ♪ when you think about it, isn't that what retirement should be, paying ourselves to do what we love? ♪ here are and some of the stories topping the news now. hamid karzai is threatening not to sign after a nato drone strike killed a 2-year-old child in southern afghanistan. it am cans at a time when the negotiations over a long-term security agreement are at a stand still. china has support fighter jets

over the i land in the east china sea sent military planes over the area. this is the latest in the territorial dispute between south korea and japan. sentenced to 20 years for firing a warning shot in an argument with her ex-husband and has been released on bond. alexander will be on house arrest until the trial that begins in march. a couple in seattle is turning to saw hawks fans to continue building their family. they are halving off two tickets to monday night's game in order to raise money to adopt a child. the price tag is $32,000. also brooklyn head coach jason kidd has been fined $50,000 for spilling a drink. big deal, right? he intentionally spilled it to get a time out that his team needed, but he didn't have any to call. kidd says it was an accident.

but the videotape don't lie. bills, discounts and sales. all of that with courtney reagan and julia boorstin will join me and we will get the latest on the wal-mart protests across the country. stay here. ♪ [ male announcer ] if we could see energy... what would we see? ♪ the billions of gallons of fuel that get us to work. ♪ we'd see all the electricity flowing through the devices that connect us and teach us.

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to help secure retirements and protect financial futures. to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global. on the ground, in the air, even into space. we repaid every dollar america lent us. and gave america back a profit. we're here to keep our promises. to help you realize a better tomorrow. from the families of aig, happy holidays. we get back to the friday frenzy across the country. choppers begin the mad dash -- it was a calm dash looking for holiday bargains. this got going yesterday. courtney reagan is at a mall in

dayton, ohio and couwe are in l angeles. we talk about a mad dash, but it seemed calm. you don't have to be in the mad dash. you can go thursday or friday or shop on the internet on monday. >> that's right, tj. shoppers came out, but it was fairly orderly. they understand a lot of programs the retailers are putting out. wal-mart issuing a one-hour guarantee and you don't have to worry about the products not being in stock. they are over thursday and friday and saturday and sunday. there is always the internet. you think about what we will be seeing. it seems as if the heaviest traffic is at the big box retailers like the wal-mart and the targets and the best buys. we saw the traffic move to the malls. there was a bit of a lull

overnight. i have been here and i can tell you over the last couple of hours, traffic has begun to pick up. this mall has been open for 13 hours. it seems as if macy's will be an early winner. we are seeing bags not just here, but what we are hearing from analysts. macy's is often closely associated with the holiday season. with the parade and the miracle on 34th street. they go to early and often throughout the holiday season. when we think about online, we heard that day sales are up 11.5%. people are shopping from the couch as well as on foot. >> since 3:00 a.m. we will check in with you again. we will turn to los angeles with julia boorstin. you are seeing kind of the same thing? >> so target opened. we are here in eagle rock,

california. it opened for the first time at 8:00 p.m. on thanksgiving day. there was a huge crowd and a line of about 1,000 people when the doors first opened. it was crowded until about 1:00 a.m. now it's early. it's about 6:30 a.m. pacific approximate it's quiet. we expect another wave of customers in a big crowd around 8:00 a.m. people are checking out and going for the door busters. we caught one of the shoppers right here. fred, you really went straight for the door busters. what did you buy. >> i got a nikon camera for $99, this is a door buster. concentrating on these are cheaper than amazon.com. new movies. we had blu-ray speakers. we are you tubing to see the reviews and it's a good deal. still good deals. >> great. thanks so much. this is what it comes down to. people are looking for deals and

going online to make sure they get the best deals. target as a cartwheel ap that allows people to get the deals and it's integrated with facebook. people will be coming in in big numbers throughout the day. >> julia boorstin for us. i'm sure target appreciates the plug. cheaper than amazon. i'm sure that makes them feel good. thank you so much. >> wal-mart, you can't hide. we can see your greedy side. >> this is new video from chicago. one of the many wal-mart stores where workers and supporters have protested on this busiest shopping day of the holiday season. organizers expect as many as 1500 individual protests to happen across the country. those workers and supporters are protesting because they want the company to pay every full time worker at least $25,000 a year.

increase employee hours to full time schedule and end retaliation against workers who have been speaking out for better jobs. according to the website, each make a full time hourly wage of just over $12 an hour. some say they are fighting for respect. >> a living wage is important for the community and actually it does well for everybody. if working people have more money in their pocket, they can spend that money in other stores and fuel the economy. >> the executive director of the jobs with the justice and network of coalitions that brings people to fight for the working folks out there. thank you so much for being here. tell me what you hope to accomplish. is the end goal for wal-mart to give into the workerworkers's d? >> we should all know the true story of the low prices at

wal-mart. the true cost of the low prices at wal-mart. over a million americans work hard every day to help wal-mart succeed as a company. yet they are paid such low wages that they can't even afford to put food on their own tables. what's really important is not only is wal-mart ripping off workers, but american taxpayers. on average wal-mart workers depend on about $2,000 worth of taxpayer subsidies and food stamps and medicaid in order to survive and this is the most profitable company that can afford to pay better wages. >> i want you to listen and respond. the story has been out there and i guess wal-mart has been doing pr to some degree. the ceo was on the "today" show. the company they say pays

employees well. i will get your reaction. >> we have of the largest percentages of full time workforce and pay in the top half of retail. we provide opportunities and we are proud of that and we have seen hundreds of thens of people who choose to stay with us for ten years and beyond and build a wonderful life for themselves and families. >> he said they are providing a lot of jobs and a lot of them pay decently. >> let's look at it this way. wal-mart workers on average make $8.81 an hour. do you think you can afford to support your family on $8.81 an hour? frankly most workers are not finding full time hours. they are not getting full time hours. the reason that workers are out there today and their families and community members is to say that we need wal-mart to be a better company. our economy will be stronger if the world's largest employer in

america chooses to pay better wages to help insure that families can support themselves. >> i know this has been a fight. you have been a part of this for sometime. we are running short on time and i certainly want to talk to you more. we will get you back and follow-up and see how today went. the executive director, thank you for being here on this holiday weekend. >> thanks for having me. >> we will turn to reform. they are turning attention to 2014. they are tomorrowed to keep the debate alive and there is no chance they will pass legislation this year. to draw attention to their cause, three activists are holding a hunger strike hoping to put pressure on house republicans to act. joining me now, contributor james peterson and a professor and republican strategist rick tyler. thank you both again for being here on your holiday weekend. let me start with you.

do you see republicans missing an opportunity and reform is coming up. too many stories that it's not going to come up in the republican-rolled house. >> if we need the reform, they are talking about immigration reform and he lives in california. it's definitely a top issue. i worry about that this will change the subject. this is another attempt by the obama administration to get past the failed roll out of obama care. he lot of so much credibility he can't take the lead on this issue. if he goes out and tries to and make this is a partisan issue and only has democratic support, he is going to 5i8 fail and he will use it a a political football. the evidence is both in the house and the senate and did nothing about immigration reform. particularly in the latino communities. >> i asked about the opportunity and he gave into the politics of it. a lot of people welcome the distraction.

>> obviously if it's supposed to be distractions, it's not working. the challenges with healthcare.gov and to argue that the president is moving to immigration is some form of distraction is not totally fair. he laid out the agenda and this is a part of that. at the end of the day, the president has challenges around reform because his administration depoured more than any administration in recent memory. number two, we have a republican congress right now that actually is talking about doing this in a piece meal way. we haven't heard much from the border security and things we hear about immigration reform. a long way to go politically on both sides. >> the president was open to that. at least the piece meal. we saw the president in california last week or this week after the holidays. in california giving a speech.

he was heckled and let the man speak. he made sure he was not taken out by security. he wants the security to do this by executive order. it's not a consensus, but what is the thinking about what the president is able to do without congress in terms of deportat n deportation? >> the president seems to follow the law. we sthau on the presidential appointments and obama care with the mandate. we have seen this over and over again. the president decided he will enforce laws. the idea that he gets by the law, i think he could do it. he could stop and send and instruct ice and say no, no more deportations. i don't know if that's sustainable. >> it's not. i don't think it's a long time. he could ask them to stand down, particularly for those undocumented folk who would qualify as having legal status under the comprehensive bill. it's not long-term. long-term we have to overhaul

the immigration system. it has to be legislative processes. i think the president responded to the heckler in the right way. let him speak his mind and long-term solutions require a long-term effort and immigration reform is one of those. >> that's like you can't bundle all of this together. there is a mistrust right now. >> it's an under statement. >> you can't have the huge bill and we pass it and figure out what's in it. that's not going to happen again. you have to do simple things like border security or employers can understand the status. >> this is the thing. all we hear from the house is about border security and that's the first piece of it, that's the wrong signal. that's not what's most urgent. it is the 11.5 million undocumented folks being brought out of the shadows and having a pathway to citizenship. >> that's a pathway to legality. >> the debate will continue in

washington as well. not a lot of hope for a lot of folks that it's going to get done. good to see you. fighting back. how a group across the country is launching a legal battle against efforts to roll back voter rights. also we would all like them. the security lines. here's good news. there ways to skip them? we will take a look at the programs that allow you to bypass the wait. also ai live picture of time square. people getting to work on this black friday. ready to run your lines? okay, who helps you focus on your recovery? yo, yo, yo. aflac. wow. [ under his breath ] that was horrible. pays you cash when you're sick or hurt? [ japanese accent ] aflac. love it. [ under his breath ] hate it. helps you focus on getting back to normal? [ as a southern belle ] aflac. [ as a cowboy ] aflac. [ sassily ] aflac. uh huh. [ under his breath ] i am so fired.

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♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] with five perfectly sweetened whole grains... you can't help but see the good. . groups are using the courts to tackle a two-tier voting system in kansas and arizona. they claim the voting system divides voters into separate and

unequal classes. voters are required to show proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in state and local elections, but not in federal elections. director of the aclu voting rights and the advancement project, give people an idea. help us grasp if they are not sure what is happening in kansas right now and what is the main concern if we see someone requiring citizenship proof. >> in kansas right now, they set up a two-tier voter registration system. some people are going to be permitted to vote in federal elections for president. kansas said you are qualified to vote, but kansas is not sure if you are qualified to vote in state and local elections. it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. >> what should we keep our eye on? this is what you do is keep an

eye on the voting rights issues across the country. we are talking about this when there was a lot of attention last time around. can you tell us or is it about the same this time around as it was last time. we are not hearing so much about it yet. >> this is part of the same playbook that we have been seeing sweeping the country when legislatures are enacting laws to make it more difficult to vote. those laws affect people are color and students and seniors more harshly. they are the people who find it most difficult to vote. these laws are not needed. neither are the citizenship or photo id laws and taking away the early voting days. prohibition on registering students when they are 16 and 17 years old. all of them make it more difficult to vote and there is no justification for that. >> there was a lot of focus on the last go around. the approximately yat election.

now they swept through the country. if you get a chance, check it out. you can see this. the republicans ahead of the mid-term elections now. are you surprised that these efforts will go up again. is it different and there is low turn out historically in mid-terms. >> it's surprising that people think this is a way that you can gain the advantage. in our view, it's not good for anyone for these voters to go into effect. they need more confusion and longer lines. it's harder for everyone, but more fundamentally, our legitimacy is at stake. everyone should be able to participate unfettered and free in our democracy. it under mines the legitimacy of

our elections itself. >> we are having this fight and it's necessary to mount court actions to have the laws. give us a sense of what are we seeing in the courts? cowers for the most part have been siding with you and a lot of people would say say with the people and striking down the laws are unconstitutional. >> they teamed up with the aclu in three states and pennsylvania and wisconsin have both given preliminary or permanent injunctions to their voter id laws and we are awaiting decisions in each case in terms of the final injunctions. in north carolina called the monster voter suppression bill, it lumps everything into large bill. we have also brought suit in the early stages. we are hopeful that the courts will intercede. the north carolina bill may be the most aggressive and we need

the courts to step in. this is not about legitimate goals. this is about attacking democracy. >> it's amazing to think we are still fighting for the right to vote in some places. in studio with me, i know i will be talking to you folks down the line. thanks for being with me. we have all done this. few of us like it. nobody likes it. we are talking about the long lines. there secrets to skipping the lines over at the places and it is not involving running through security. [ susan ] ...as though he had never left. the end. lovely read susan. but isn't it time to turn the page on your cup of joe? gevalia, or a cup of johan, is like losing yourself in a great book. may i read something? yes, please. of course. a rich, never bitter taste cup after cup.

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so you can take charge of your trading. mother nature taking a day off to do a little black friday shopping of her own. bill karins joins me now with that all-important shopping forecast. bill? >> well, good friday to you,

t.j. what a cold thanksgiving it was pretty much coast to coast. no one really escaped it and it's chilly once again this morning. temperatures down there near freezing all the way to dallas, new orleans and atlanta. florida, you're a little bit warmer than yesterday, just a little bit. as far as any bad weather goes, anyone traveling back from your thanksgiving destination, as you're heading home today in areas upstate new york you look okay today. we are watching one spot that actually has a little clouds and wet weather, it's southern california. that doesn't happen all that often. so as far as the forecast will go today, this cold front will continue to the east so don't look for a warmup any time soon, especially areas of new england and the mid-atlantic. you'll have to wait until sunday. here's a little light rain going through los angeles and i-5 should be okay even for the west coast. the only big weather story upcoming is a snowstorm for the northern rockies, idaho, montana, portions of wyoming and that is adds we go into your monday and tuesday. so today's forecast we look really nice for anyone

traveling. all the major airports should be just fine. as i mentioned on saturday, still a little chilly great lakes up until the northeast. it's not until sunday that we get a little warmth sneaking to the east coast. t.j., back to you. we turn now to the airports and those security lines, nobody likes them. they may be getting a little smaller because the tsa is ramping up on its precheck program. certain travelers will get the opportunity to go through security that's reminiscent of the pre 9/11 days. if you're selected you won't have remove your shoes, your belt, your light jack, or laptop from the big. all right, sign me up. how can i sign up? is it that easy? is it for everybody? >> many travelers are already being asked by their carriers to opt into the program. they're frequent travelers who are used to being through the system. if you don't opt in, you can sign up online and go through an application process, but i

highly recommend everybody get on board with the tsa precheck. we were at la guardia airport on thursday and wednesday and those tsa precheck lines were breezing through. so, you know, to skip the line, it's really the best. >> but you get your own separate line, right? >> you get your own line and, you know, another way to breeze through is sign up for frequent flier programs. a lot of the benefits of these programs allow you to have your own separate, faster line. >> 20 million people have used this thing so far? >> absolutely. and it's only going to grow as we get into the holiday season and more and more people will be out traveling. >> every airport? >> but for those people who don't have tsa precheck, there are some things to do to not be the guy in the line who slows down the line. >> we know that guy. >> exactly. first of all, when you get to the line, have your boarding pass dumbarton bridge tally on yo -- digitally on your iphone or smartphone. shoes off unless you're under 12

years old, over 75 years old, in the military or in this precheck program. and keep the line moving. 3-ounce liquids is the rule. those are kind of the steps. i also recommend shipping all of your black friday cyber monday gifts and packages that you just purchased ahead of time. it's actually cheaper, you know. the usps large box for shipping is only $16. whereas to check a bag, it's about $30 average. so it's one kind of insider trip. just ship everything ahead of time, that's less for you to carry. >> that's not bad. that's pretty good actually. let's turn now to holiday travel, the deals. it's one thing once you get to the airport but you've still got to buy that ticket. >> absolutely. >> is there time to scoop it up now or are there certain deals? >> today kicks off black friday and for travelocity, that means it kicks off up to 1,000 properties on sale. up to 50% off. so, you know, for your holiday travel or even travel into 2014,

i picked a couple of really great deals. first of all, 50% off in hawaii -- >> i never get to go to hawaii, i'm talking christmas, getting to memphis. >> new york city, right here 40% off at the millennium broadway if you stay six nights or more. >> six nights? i've got to stay six nights to get the deal? >> stay straight through the holiday. >> okay, i give you that. >> but there are deals that range from three-star properties up to the splurge is five-star properties. >> what about flights? good deals on flights? >> one of the best tips is to book a vacation package. that's a flight, hotel and car rental bundled together. that's where you see the deep savings. you can go to travelocity.com/bfcm to shop for yourself. >> you all say bye to her but i need to talk to you.

courtney scott, everybody. thank you so much. i am actually going to see you back here at 1:00 this afternoon. but coming up on msnbc next hour, holiday shopping for the little ones. of course that means toys. we'll tell you how to score some of those good deals and which movies could top the box office this holiday season. alex witt picks up our coverage in three minutes. stay here. when it's donut friday at the office, i use my citi thankyou card to get 2x the points at the coffee shop. which will help me get to a beach in miami and they'll be stuck at the cube farm. the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn 2x the points dining out, with no annual fee. go to citi.com/thankyoucards

on the table by not choosing the right medicare d plan. no one could have left this much money here. whoo-hoo-hoo! yet many seniors who compare medicare d plans realize they can save hundreds of dollars. cvs/pharmacy wants to help you save on medicare expenses. talk to your cvs pharmacist, call, or go to cvs.com/compare to get your free, personalized plan comparison today. call, go online, or visit your local store today. attention holiday shoppers. the black friday bargain hunting rush is on, so where can you find the best deals? just over 24 hours until the self-imposed deadline for the administration to get the glitches out of the healthcare.gov website. is the fix on. and some republicans pushing to

restrict a woman's access to late-term abortions but could their strategy be back firing? good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt. the holiday shopping season is officially under way this morning, the shoppers sprinting to the stores. this year several retailers opened their doors last night on thanksgiving offering their door buster deals earlier than ever before. >> i think i spent more on me than i was supposed to be spending. i still have money left, but i have been buying stuff for me. >> sweaters, bought a toy for my son and a pair of pants and a suit. >> i started at 8:00. i went home, took a shower, lay in bed and i thought i was going to sleep, but i decided to come back. >> there you have it. we have reporters across the country right in the thick of it. jay gray is at the mall of america in minnesota and leanne gregg is at a mall outside denver. jay, how big are the crowds there this morning? >> reporter: good morning, alex.

crowds here coming in waves. they really take it to another level at the nation's largest mall. very serious about their shopping. this year, though, as we've talked about, there's been kind of a merger between black friday and thanksgiving and not everybody is buying into that. the dash for deals. the push for presents. the rush for a little retail therapy. actually began just after all the turkey was gone. >> i love for this day and take this day off of work every year. dinner is cooked, my belly is full and now i'm ready to shop. >> the lines stretched around stores, shoppers all searching for the same thing, savings. >> trying to save some money. this is the holidays and we're trying to get as much as we can for the kids. >> starting early and, analysts say, stretching even past the weekend. >> i actually think black friday is gaining relevance because it's becoming more of a season than one day in particular.

>> but not everyone is sold on the idea of shopping thanksgiving day. >> they should all be closed on thanksgiving. it's thanksgiving. >> if there's a debate about what to do on thursday -- >> football and beer and pretzels and food. that's what it's about. >> friday's focus is clear. finding that perfect gift at a great price. and you know what, black friday a pretty good deal for retailers too. look, there was some concern because there's one less week between thanksgiving and christmas this year, so this is a big day and the trend right now is really looking up. you see what i did there? i'm getting on the escalator, going up. right now what analysts are saying is that shoppers on average this weekend will spend around $650. that's an 11% climb from black friday last year, so good news for the economy. the shoppers i've talked about say they are finding great

deals, 50% and 60% off some of the merchandise. my friend and colleague leanne gregg is in lone tree, colorado. how is black friday going there? >> reporter: hi, jay, we're south of denver. this is the largest enclosed mall in this region and black friday actually started last night at 8:00. the stores here have been staggering their openings ever since. all of the malls have been trying to entice customers to come into the stores. today they held a pancake breakfast between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m. local time. 1500 people showed up to get fueled up for their shopping. also carols, carolers have been roaming through the mall. a lot of people say black friday is about much more than deals, it's about tradition. >> we've been here since about 2:45 and this is just a tradition for us to come in. we're a big family so we shop for everyone. >> i came to get the thing from

j.c. penney's. >> come here with my dad, basically the same thing, just hanging out. black friday. >> reporter: the national retail federation says for many retailers this weekend can account for 20% to 40% of their annual sales, so it is hugely important to them. alex, that's the latest from the denver area. >> i appreciate that from that big ole indoor mall. thank you so much. also previously jay gray in minneapolis. nice ride up the escalator. good timing there. coming up we'll help you get a jump start on holiday shopping when we talk about the best toy deals for your little ones. meantime, president obama and his family enjoyed a hearty thanksgiving feast at the white house. the menu included turkey and honey-baked ham, oyster stuffing and sweet and mashed potatoes. for dessert they indulged on nine different kinds of pies, including huck elberry and coconut cream. but he did sneak away to call

members from the military and thank them for their sacrifice to america. the first lady will well wum the christmas tree to the white house. midnight tomorrow is the self-imposed deadline to get the health care exchange website. there were more setbacks this week. the white house announced that the exchange for small businesses will be delayed an entire year and there are reports that the website team is scrambling to create an app to divert some traffic from the site. all this has republicans capitalizing and some democrats looking to distance themselves ahead of the midterms. joining me now is ginger gibson, national reporter for politico, jackie kucinich, host of "in play." welcome to the both of you. i'm glad you're here and not shopping because i have a few questions for you. ginger, big question, are they going to be ready tomorrow night? >> that's a big question.

there's going to be a lot of people watching the website an it's a challenge for the white house to make sure tomorrow morning people aren't loading the website and getting an error message. they say they appear to be ready. there looks to be some efforts to stop any potential problems. we know this delay for a year and small business exchange saying they can buy plans on paper through an agent or insurance company, but trying to get the most important, the individuals who are going to be going online to buy their insurance starting tomorrow. >> okay, jackie, what about you? what are you hearing about the availability of the website in like 36 hours now? >> much of the same thing, only this will hopefully fix it on the front end of the consumer experience. on the back end, interiors are saying there's still problems. they're still getting duplicative reports so there could be issues on the back end and democrats are nervous and they should be nervous because going into the midterms, they need to have something to brag about. right now they have to criticize

the administration, particularly those in these purple districts in order to save themselves. >> ginger, your colleagues at politico have an article out this morning entitled "obama's goal, avoid mission accomplished moment." all about the risks of the white house making some announcement that they make the deadline and then it crashes again. do you think they'll say anything or just keep quiet and keep their fingers crossed? >> it's a real delicate line they have to walk. they don't want to be perceived as declaring mission accomplished if it doesn't work. but at the same time congressional democrats, those ones in purple states that are looking at competitive races and opponents who are going to be running against them on this health care website problems want something to declare victory. they want to be able to go to their voters and say, look, there was a problem but we fixed it and it's working now. so it's going to be probably not spiking the football, no touchdown dance, but they're going to need to have some acknowledgement, something to brag about as we move forward campaigning.

>> yeah, in part jackie because this week we had the small business exchange delay, delayed by an entire yeerks and now these reports that the technology team is building this app for people who qualify for financial aid in the hopes of diverting some of that traffic. you know how they like to put news during the holidays because they think it's just a dump and won't get noticed, although we're talking about it. but is that to temper expectations? >> there's an expectation that they'll be able to get some of this done. >> well, i do think -- and there is. but the real challenge is right now you hear a lot of older people and sick people, people who need insurance are really signing up for this. this is a second chance for them to make a first impression, particularly with the young, healthy people they need to sign up for this system to make it work. >> yeah. well, we have to keep in mind, though, ginger as much as the republicans are eating all this up, all the missteps, is there a point where the voters get turned off to that because at the end of the day we're talking about people not being able to

get health care? >> republicans are jumping on every little tiny thing, any glitch, any problem. they were asking people to send them their personal stories to try to give more exposure to those, but there is a risk that they start to look like they're pulling for failure and the democrats are reminding voters that failure means people don't have health insurance. so we're hearing a lot more republicans trying to pull out, look at the big picture, remind voters that they're opposed to the law as a whole and against these -- they're cheering these problems because they want the whole thing to go away. >> i want to switch topics with you, jackie. today is black friday, of course. many retailers work around the clock today. they're trying to earn minimum wage. this week two maryland counties as well as the city of sea-tac, washington, raised their minimum wages. do you think this is a movement that will spread to red districts as well? >> i think it's going to be hard, particularly from a national level, for anything with the minimum wage to get done at this point just because there is such republican

opposition. do it spread to red districts? it really depends on which ones we're talking about. >> you know what's so interesting, ginger, congress is in disarray and you look at the way laws are being passed. city by city, county by county, state by state, that's how things are seeming to get done. is this the new norm? >> the federal government is largely deferring to the states. new jersey voted a constitutional amendment to raise their minimum wage earlier this month. california is going to start raising theirs. we see cities upping theirs. and there's no sign that anything could actually pass through congress. the senate expected to vote on an increase that would bring the minimum wage up to $10.10, maybe before they go home for christmas but it's got no chance in the house at this point. and even those red districts who have a lot of people, the working poor, making minimum wage below the poverty line unlikely to sign on allowing a vote for such a bill. >> ginger gibson and jackie

kucinich, thanks for joining us. appreciate it. >> thank you. new report today that lawmakers are close to a budget deal. we'll talk to robert pittinger about where we stand on that. hordes of holiday shoppers are in search for the perfect gifts. we'll have the lowdown on where to find the biggest bargains. black friday protests: are retailers putting profits over people? chime in on twitter on facebook. honestly? no way did i think a tablet was gonna be a good deal. you're talking to the guy who hasn't approved a new stapler purchase in three years. but then i saw the new windows tablet, with a real keyboard, usb port, and full office. it's a tablet that works for work. plus, it's got apps and games, for after hours, of course. compared to an ipad -- way more value. these tablets are such a steal; i couldn't find a reason not to buy them. ♪ honestly, i wanna see you be brave ♪

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website fully operational. what if it is fixed? will it turn the tables for the democratic party in 2014? join meing me notice is robert pittinger. it's nice to see you again. welcome. >> good morning, alex. great to talk to you. >> well, thank you. let's talk about republicans. apparently they look at the woes with the healthcare.gov as the gift that keeps on giving. but here's an e-mail from the republican national committee this morning. still can't shop on black friday but what if the white house gets this fixed and people start signing up en masse. does that steal some of the republicans' thunder? >> well, alex, i don't think we're looking for political thunder, i think we're looking for provide quality health care to the american people at an affordable price. there are more fundamental issues than just the website, of course that has been a disaster and frustrating after spending hundreds of millions of dollars on it. the real issue is, is it

financially sustainable, will it work, will the risk pools be balanced. these are serious questions. the insurance companies certainly have their concerns about it. you have those with pre-existing conditions that are very excited about signing up and i have talked to people who have been able to sign up and they're very relieved. however, the lion's share of people out there who don't have those pre-existing conditions really aren't motivated. and you have to have those people to sign up for it to have a balanced risk pool. even the cbo, the congressional budget office, said this health care plan is financially unsustainable. so there's huge challenges out there for it to work financially. >> i'm curious, though, all that you've said, sir, when you have constituents call you up and say we're having trouble with the website, do you offer assistance? >> in every way that we can. i can't fix the website. we take calls all the time. i'm not in a position to do what

the obama administration and their team have put themselves in a position. this is a mandated program. you know, throughout the years, decades, the government, those who call themselves either democrats or liberals or progressives have believed in major government programs. this one is different. this one is mandated. and people have to assume this obligation, yet it isn't accessible. i can't go in and fix that website for them. i wish that i could. >> well, okay. let's switch some gears. i want to quickly ask you about the budget because in the wall street journal there's a report they're nearing a budget deal. this rules out both major tax increases as well as entitlement changes. what do you know about this? >> well, what i do know is it's not going to address the big elephant in the room. we have a $17 trillion debt.

we have spiraling increases in deficits. two-thirds of our budget is mandated programs. so right now they're only talking about one-third of our spending. that's really not going to fix the problem. unless we are serious about fixing the problem, whether you talk to peter orzak, who is mr. obama's budget writer or erskine bowles or paul ryan or anyone else, they'll tell you that we are on a trajectory to collapse financially. and i hope at some point that we get serious about addressing these big issues. >> serious enough to put together to offer the american people by the deadline of december 13th? how important are the optics of that, to have a plan in place and not be barreling towards january and february where there's possible government shutdown and the rest? >> it's my understanding that senator murray and congressman ryan will come up with something. it will be a modest proposal.

it will not address the mandated programs but it will get us to a point of budgeting and appropriations again, and that we need to be involved in. right now the spending cuts that are part of the automatic spending cuts are basically affecting our military and in a way that is harmful to our military preparedness and our national security. so i hope that what can be done will be appropriations where we can better allocate the funding that needs to go through our military today. >> all right, thank you, congressman, i appreciate your time. >> good to be with you, alex. best to you. >> thank you. still ahead, a 14-year-old is executed for a crime many believe he never commuted. now 70 years later why there's a new effort to clear his name. and the gop fighting to ban late-term abortions around the country. we'll talk with one woman who's on the front lines of the battle in texas. ♪ ♪

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for a 14-year-old boy convicted and executed 70 years ago of a crime he didn't commit. this is a 1944 mug shot of george dozsteny. he was the youngest person in the 20th century to be executed but now there's a chance his name may be cleared. mark potter dug up the latest for us. knowing this 14-year-old boy, 95 pourngsds had to be set up on books to allow him to be electrocuted. this was shocking. what did you find that disturbed you? >> well, aside from what you said, the fact alone that a 14-year-old who indeed weighed just 95 pounds, was 5'1", was killed in the electric chair, the trial itself was seen by many as a travesty of justice and lasted only a couple of hours. there was no defense, no physical evidence and no appeal. but now a team of lawyers, a historian and filmmaker are trying to clear stinney's name. >> the event leading to the

execution of george stinney jr. began in a small town in south carolina. in march, 1944, two white girls, ages 11 and 7, were beaten to death while picking wild flowers along the railroad tracks separating the white and black sections of town. historian george fryerson. >> their bodies were found in a creek bed in this general area, and they had been brutally murdered. >> reporter: shortly afterward authorities arrested george stinney jr. and claimed he gave an oral confession. his family was run out of town and he was tried to murder in this courthouse. ray brown who's producing a movie said the real killer got away. you know, there was no evidence, nobody could find anything. >> the trial lasted just two hours. the jury took two hours to convict and he was sentenced to

die. he was represented boy a court-appointed lawyer who never put on his own case, never attacked the state's case and never filed an appeal, which would have delayed the execution by a year. just 83 days after his arrest, stinney, weighing only 95 pounds, was strapped in the electric chair and put to death. >> george stinney did not do it. >> reporter: but now a south carolina law firm has filed a motion seeking a new trial, which if granted would clear his name. >> it would have been difficult, if not implausible, for george stinney jr. to have done what the government said he did. >> reporter: the motion claims there is no physical evidence. no written record of the confession, no witnesses and no trial transcript. stinney's brother and sister, both still alive, say he was with his family at the time of the killings. >> and you had a virtual mob you outside of the courthouse

putting the pressure on this jury. they weren't there to see him acquitted, they were there to see him convicted. >> reporter: advocates say the time has come to right a wrong. >> this is a courthouse lynching and i want an apology from the state of south carolina for putting one of its citizens to death. >> reporter: his body rests in an unmarked grave in this baptist church cemetery. advocates hope by the end of the year he'll get a new day in court. mark potter, nbc news, manning, south carolina. now, an actual hearing date has not yet been set but there is talk of it perhaps happening before christmas. meanwhile we reached out to the governor's office in south carolina for a comment, but got no response. alex. >> it is an extraordinary story. thanks for bringing it to our attention, mark. appreciate that. holiday shoppers swarming malls this black friday. tips from toys r us about the best deals on games coming up. if you need a break from all that bargain hunting, how about hitting the movies this holiday

weekend. we've got a peek at the must-see flicks coming up. >> they will kill us. >> what about the other families, huh? the ones who stay. what happens to them? people are looking to you, katniss. ♪ [ male announcer ] this december, experience the gift of true artistry and some of the best offers of the year at the lexus december to remember sales event. this is the pursuit of perfection. medicare open enrollment.er to rof year again.event. time to compare plans and costs. you don't have to make changes. but it never hurts to see if you can find better coverage, save money, or both. and check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. open enrollment ends december 7th.

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homes. the governor met with some of the evacuees yesterday. the derailment damaged a rail car that leaked a flammable liquid used to make plastic and rubber products. a last-minute glitch forced a commercial space company to abandon an expansive rocket launch. spacex called it off for unexplained technical reasons. this is the second time the rocket's launch has been aborted this week. and lindsey vonn returned to skiing on thursday. according to the team's doctor there were no issues at all. she partially tore her right acl in a november 9th training crash. that's the same knee she blew out in february but she wants to be in sochi. black friday turned to chaos for some holiday shoppers outside chicago. police are responding to some shots when a suspect ran to his car. an officer chased him and jumped

into the passenger seat. the officer was then dragged as the car took off. >> the subject was able to get into the passenger door. the officers was struggling with the subject as he got into the car, and then the car started to move as the officer was partially inside the car. the officer was dragged quite some distance. he couldn't get out. >> well, another officer then fired some shots injuring the driver in the shoulder. the officer who was dragged was treated at the hospital and released. two people in the car and a third in the store were arrested. eamon, security is something we've been talking a lot about with malls lately so what kind of measures are malls taking? >> yeah, that's right, alex, as you can see with that incident in chicago. security is really on the minds of those folks who manage malls and manage mall security. i can tell you this mall in

tysons corner is totally packed. what the mall operators tell us is they are trying to increase security but not increase the visibility of the security so you don't feel a heavy security presence even though we had a mall shooting earlier this month. they're increasing patrols, increasing coordination with local law enforcement and making sure that local law enforcement knows their way around the malls, how to respond, and also increasing training of the employees here in terms of sheltering in place, in terms of very quick response, shutting those gates down to the stores and bringing any customers who are in the stores behind the counters where they can be safe. so a lot of procedures here going on at the malls around the country, but the intention is you don't want to scare away the customers. you don't want too big of a heavy presence that says this is a dangerous, threatening place. the people that we've talked to say they're fine. they don't feel any threat at all. they're not worried with it, not thinking about it, everybody here is shopping. it looks like they're spending a lot of money here today, alex.

>> thank you very much. we appreciate that from tysons corner. some major retail stores got a head start opening on thanksgiving. it's a move that sparked some national backlash from activists who say it's insense i've to workers who are fighting to maintain a minimum wage that they can live on. thanks for taking time, we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> before we get to all these goodies that you have, i do want to ask about that. i'm sure of the 1500 demonstrations across this country in front of walmart stores. you have workers barely able to make a living on minimum wage and where people are saying they're insensitive opening on thanksgiving. you guys opened on thanksgiving of the any backlash? >> so we opened on thanksgiving, we opened at 5:00 yesterday and -- >> morning or afternoon? >> afternoon. what i can tell you is we got wonderful employees and our employees really want us to win and want to really deliver for our customers. and toys r us went really to make the day a fun day. actually what was really great

yesterday was the atmosphere in the stores. we allowed the team members to dress down. we provided them with food, we had lots of activities going on. for those people who worked yesterday, we also paid them time and a half. >> all right, well that is incentive. what about overall though, richard, do you believe minimum wage ought to be raised for retail workers? >> well, that's always an interesting topic. toys r us really has a package of benefits for its employees overall and our employees love the company, love what we do and really want us to win. >> okay. let's get to some of the winning toys you have here. i'm going to have you explain some of these hot-selling items. we all noknow elmo. >> this is lamby. it's been a real hit since it's been on air. lambie is part of really the story. there's a book called the "book of boo boos." and the characters within doc

mcstuffins -- lambie is animated and talks back with lots of phrases and this is doing really, really great. >> okay. these are so hot for the girls and thank you for giving me one. i'll give it back maybe. >> you can keep that one. i'm wearing my own with some beautiful beads. these are doing really great. this is the crazy loom rubber band bracelet maker. it's been a massive success all the way through the summer. and we had an extravaganza set of this on sale last night for our black friday sale, which had two looms and 3,000 rubber bands included in the pack so that could keep you busy from now until next year, so very excited. >> that's a few teen slumber parties right there. how about this? >> a massive success. there's a real trend really started by activision which is called toys to live. these toys that you can see work with a video game system. the way it works is you basically place this item on a

portal and this specific toy comes to life within the video game. so real magic for kids. very collectible. there's lots and lots of these different characters. what's different about disney's infinity is they have allowed different characters to match up and interact with each other. toys r us has its own crystal infinity series so these guys you can only find at toys r us. >> and then there's elmo. >> well, elmo is the perennial favorite. kids love him. so when we saw this elmo, we thought there's been a lot of elmos in the past. this elmo really cracks it in terms of being the best elmo to really drive what elmo is. he's soft, he's cuddly. he's got 50 phrases. and what's the real amazing moment, let me just come and grab elmo here.

we'll switch him up. what's beautiful is he wants a hug. >> hi, thanks. >> look, he loves you. he really loves you. >> well, he's adorable. i can see how kids love elmo. he's a sweetheart. richard, what's like the best deal of the day? >> oh, we have thousands. >> too many deals -- >> how old is your kid. what are they into. so we've got really great deals on tablets, over 20 tablets on sale today. some of those up to -- elmo is not going to shut up. >> that's the only thing. shhh. >> elmo wants a hug. >> some of those up to 50% off. we have disney infinity, lego on sale, just hundreds and hundreds. over 200 door busters still available. get down into the store. it's december 1st on subbnday.

>> richard barry, thanks so much. we'll be right back.

i started part-time, now i'm a manager.n. my employer matches my charitable giving. really. i get bonuses even working part-time. where i work, over 400 people are promoted every day. healthcare starting under $40 a month. i got education benefits. i work at walmart. i'm a pharmacist. sales associate. i manage produce. i work in logistics. there's more to walmart than you think. vo: opportunity. that's the real walmart.

as more and more states seek to adopt more restrictive anti-abortion laws, the republican-led effort is back firing. the study comes at a time when the supreme court has announced it will hear a challenge to president obama's contraception mandate. terry o'neill is president of the national association for women, mary tierce is from texas whose group provides financial assistance to low income women who want an abortion and can't afford it. you're right there on the front lines there in texas which is part of a handful of states adopting a law to ban abortion at 20 weeks. the laws actually driving women now to have late-term abortions and that defeats the purpose of what republicans are trying to do in the first place, so what's your reaction to this study. >> that's absolutely true. that is what we're seeing, alex.

the women that we help are calling us with appointments later and later into their pregnancies, primarily because with fewer clinics, the clinics are having to schedule farther out. so it's just a logistical nightmare. and we've seen historically that when you push women farther into pregnancy, all kinds of other concerns come into play. and if you add that to land scape of, you know, women having to travel farther distances, make child care arrangements, take time off from work, it's just a recipe for disaster. >> and also sometimes they have to double pay. you go to one clinic and get a sonogram. isn't that required now, you have to have a sonogram and wait 24 hours before you can have -- >> right. >> so if you go to one clinic and that one is now banned, you've got to go again, start the whole process over and pay for the process, right?

>> exactly. so on november 1st when four of the eight clinic that say we work with closed, all of the women who had appointments at these clinics had to make new appointments at different clinics and had to pay for their sonogram again and wait 24 hours again and travel. so it's an enormous burden, especially on low income women, who are primarily women of color, rural women, young women. texas has the largest rural population in the nation and the highest number of uninsured people in the nation. >> i was reading other places in texas where a woman may have been displaced as far as 560 miles. it's like a 14-hour drive to get to the clinic she may have access to now. terry, overall the impact you think these laws will have on midterm elections in 2016 in regard to the republicans. how much could they damage the party? >> you know, alex, i think this is continuing to damage the republican party, certainly in the view of women.

overwhelmingly, just recently in virginia, women rejected an extremist, anti-woman, anti-abortion candidate for governor. unmarried women voted for the democrat, terry mcauliffe, by 40. african-american women voted for terry mcauliffe for a factor over 70. i believe there was an 80-point difference. these women are voting on issues. and women voters very much look at issues and policies. and not only that, but in albuquerque, the first-ever municipal abortion ban was roundly defeated in the city of albuquerque. so i think what's happening is women are going to be going to the polls more and more. of course my job is to make sure that women know what's at stake for them in their own state in the 2014 elections. we will be driving women to the polls, making sure that they get there and vote. because women's -- policies that really affect women's lives are absolutely at stake in 2014. >> i mentioned the supreme court decision to hear this case,

merritt. it is the challenge to the contraception mandate in obama care, affordable care act. there's virtually no precedent for cases like this contraception mandate. how do you think it will play out and how worried should women be about it? >> i -- i don't know, we'll have to wait and see, but i think that the bottom line is that when you refuse to give women access to contraceptive -- to contraception and to comprehensive reproductive health care, you're just increasing the rate for unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion, so it's bad policy all around. and texas is restricting family planning funds already so much while simultaneously restricting access to abortion. it's -- you know, it looks grim. >> terry, i've just got to get you to weigh in on this. any read on the climate there in washington and how this may go with regard to the supreme court case? >> we don't know how the supreme court is going to rule, but we

know that 99% of sexually active women have used birth control at some point and it needs to be covered by health insurance. not only by publicly provided health insurance like medicaid, but also by the private insurers under the affordable care act. that was the right decision by the obama administration to include birth control as one of the list of preventive care services that insurance companies have to cover on your policy. you pay your premium, you get these preventive services including birth control. it needs to be there. and the men, and they're mostly men in these companies suing to prevent employer-based health insurance from covering birth control, really don't have the right to impose their religious views on their female employees. that's sex discrimination. that's not okay. >> okay. thank you very much for appearing on the program and for the work that you are both doing. much appreciated. switching gears, up next, what would a holiday weekend be without taking in a good movie?

what's worth seeing and what's not? we'll get the scoop. > warm hugs. >> olaf? so i a small business credit card with amazing rewards. with the spark cash card from capital one, i get 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. i break my back around here. finally someone's recognizing me with unlimited rewards! meetings start at 11, cindy. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one. choose 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? i need your timesheets, larry! that your favorite dutch apple pie starts with a golden flaky crust, wedges of fresh fuji apples, and a brown sugar streusel on top. so she made her dutch apple pie just like that. marie callender's. it's time to savor. [ camera shutter clicks ] now, that's cardworthy.

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well, we asked, you answered. here's our question of the day. black friday protests, are retailers putting profits over people? roland in new york tweeted black eye friday, ruin the holidays with this nonsense. also retail workers with children out of school do not make extra pay working thanksgiving/black friday. they pay extra for child care. but chris tweeted if you don't want to work over a turkey din e, someone else will. #lazy americans. one of the most anticipated films is in theaters for the holiday season, "mandela" tells the story of south african president nelson mandela. >> nelson mandela, do you plead guilty or not guilty?

>> my lord, it is not i but the government that should be put in the dark. i plead not guilty. >> let's bring in the film critic for "the new york times." a pleasure to have you. >> nice to be here. >> the "l.a. times" says it's a familiar story but one worth experiencing again. it's a very powerful film. what's your read on it? >> yeah, it's a very -- it's sort of a conventional bio pick. it's trying to tell the whole story of mandela's life from his start as a lawyer in south africa through the years of his imprisonment to his election to the presidency. so it's biting off quite a lot and it maybe doesn't give quite -- the characters quite enough room to breathe but the performances are very strong. naomie harris, as winnie mandela, who's a very complicated character. i think the real dramatic heart of the story in a way is their

marriage, their relationship, what happens to her all those years that he's in prison. and he kind of maintains his idealism and optimism and generosity of spirit and she turns very kind of bitter and angry. and showing that process, i think, gives it sort of a human dimension that's really -- that makes it, you know, something better than just sort of the conventional great man story, which is also is. >> powerful film for sure. biggest movie by far this season, "hunger games." it's worth a catch. let's take a little peek at that. >> we have to go before they kill us. they will kill us. >> what about the other families, huh? the ones who stay. what happens to them? people are looking to you, c katniss. >> i don't want anyone looking to me. >> it's going to be a blockbuster. >> it already is. >> fifth greatest hoping in history? >> yeah, and i think the best november opening ever. and this is -- it's a great

triumph in a lot of ways. taking a very popular young adult series and putting it on the screen with the great fortune of this young movie star, jennifer lawrence. >> acting? good acting? >> terrific actress. she's a great celebrity. i mean she handles her fame very well on talk shows and interviews. and this is a character -- i mean there haven't been too many female action heroes. this is a franchise that attracts boys and girls, kids and adults and it's -- yeah, i think that's going to continue through the weekend to be the big one. >> speaking of boys, girls, kids, adults, family flick is frozen from disney. i want to take a peek at that because it's pretty cute. here it is.

>> sourcery. it's good. people are saying it's good compared to past films. do you agree with that? >> i have to confess even though it's my job to see all these movies, there are so many of them there's some i miss. this one i haven't seen yet and my kids have aged out of the point they'd be dragging and clamoring to see it. some of the team behind it was behind "wreck it ralph" which i thought was a good movie last year. for the children that are too young for "the hunger games" movie, this is the one. >> for what it's worth, my teenage daughter wants to see "frozen." anyone that's your pick? >> i really like -- i'll warn people it's a little downbeat and bittersweet, this movie called "nebraska" by alexander payne, who directed "the descendants" with a performance

by bruce dern as this older guy who thinks he's won a million dollars. he got one of those sweepstakes letters. and he goes back to collect the money with his son and they stop off in his hometown in nebraska. it's just a wonderful movie about family, about memory, about parents and children. it's got some melancholy parts, but it's really in the end a very kind of warm and satisfying movie. the performances are terrific. it's beautiful to look at. it's black and white, which is rare. >> i tell you, i always take your advice. >> i hope i don't let you sgloun thanks very much. >> that's a wrap of things for me, everybody. i'm alex witt. catch me each weekend from noon to 2:00 p.m. eastern on saturdays and sundays. thomas roberts is up next. >> hi, alex. i want to go see a movie now. i want to see "catching fire" and go buy big bulk paper towels. that's it. >> okay. >> it's a big list, right? >> you go ahead and do that,

i'll do the movie. >> thanks. the agenda next hour, a deadline is coming from president obama. ready or not. the white house said they would have the website running smooth as silk by the end of november. that's tomorrow night, so is this site ready? also we'll take you live to a walmart in chicago where shopping and protests are going hand in hand. this shopping season is laced with a little bit of anger. and the first same-sex couple to ever say "i do" in illinois. we're going to look at that story and how some big federal court rulings could impact marriage equality everywhere. it's straight ahead. new fedex oe you can fill that box and pay one flat rate. i didn't know the coal thing was real. it's very real... david rivera. rivera, david. [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. mom swaps my snack for a piña colada yoplait. and when mom said i was going out too much, i swapped it for staying in. [ shouts ] guess who's going out tomorrow.

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no, this is not a scene from "the hunger games" this is as much a holiday tradition as turkey and stuffing. the bows and the wrapping paper that you must have. the insane frenzy now known as the black friday shopping holiday. hi, everybody, good morning. i'm thomas roberts. great to have you with me. on the heels of gobbling up

turkey, today it's all about gobbling the steals, the deals and the discounts. we here at msnbc were up before dawn to bring you the day's headlines but people across the country were up seduced by door busters. an estimated 97 million are expected to get a jump start or holiday shopping today. >> you have to be first. if you're not first, you're last. if you get in, you can get out. >> big screen tvs, laptops. >> a keurig, i'm really, really excited about it. >> but this year many stores opened earlier than ever before. is this all the focus on shop and spend and distracting us from the real reason for this season? >> i think it's unfair. i think these people actually have a chance to be at home with their families and they're being cheated. >> they should all be closed on thanksgiving. it's thanksgiving. >> somebody has got to man these shops when they open on the holiday. we start in denver with leanne gregg. she joins us to fill us in on how the shopping is going on

there. it's early in denver so we can expect people are out bright and early to get the good deals. lee ann, good morning. >> reporter: that's right. it is early here but the biggest crowd at the mall was actually last night at 8:00 local time when the mall opened and the retailers have been staggering their openings throughout the night and throughout the morning so there's been a constant flow of people. now park meadows, like malls across the country, is doing everything it can to entice the customers. there was a free pancake breakfast, 1500 people showed up for that. carolers have been strolling through the mall trying to get shoppers into the holiday spirit. this is the busiest shopping weekend of the year, and this year may matter more than usual for a lot of retailers since the amount of time between thanksgiving and christmas is six days shorter than in previous years. a couple of these shoppers are with me. this is emma and nick. thanks for stopping by.

why did you decide to come out today? >> well, we actually were texting last night. we had never been to black friday before and we decided we were going to go together and do it for fun. >> see if there are any good deals. >> there are. >>. >> reporter: have you found good deals? >> i'm buying things for myself. i know it's about buying for other people but i spoiled myself. >> i don't think there's that many good deals. i didn't find a lot, no. >> it depends where you go. there's some places there's really good places and other it's buy one, get half off. >> reporter: good luck with the rest of your shopping day. a lot of people are not so happy about black friday. let's go to chicago. phil lebeau will have the rest of that story. leanne gregg reporting for us in denver. we're going to jump real quickie to the white house because we wanted to show this to everybody.

as you can see the first family is out front to welcome the christmas tree that has just arrived there at the white house. and we see the first lady along with the two dogs there and her children as well as the big christmas tree for america's house comes into view. we'll get a better shot of this but we know the president and first family, they spent the holiday at the white house yesterday. we had the listing of pies, nine different pies. yesterday the president making phone calls to our service members to thank them for their service and wish them a happy holiday. there we see the first family greeting the christmas tree that's going to be up and for everybody's viewing pleasure at the white house shortly. we see it pulled in and just amazing, look at those horses too. so we take you back from the white house on to walmart as leeann had mentioned. activists are protesting across the country on this black friday and using this busiest shopping day of the year to bring

attention to themselves and call for higher wanl eer wages for w employees. they're planning to protest at 1500 stores. here's today's big question for you. black friday protests. are retailers putting profits over people? we ask you to weigh in on twitter or facebook. more people are doing their holiday shopping online. fake shipping and shopping e-mails in crease. a good rule of thumb if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. look for the s, which means secure. https. don't go to ones that say http. so the white house tech team is working overtime helping they finish the touches that they need to put on the revamped healthcare.gov website which will soon be a solution to all

the problems that they had before. it was a big political problem for the president and congressional democrats. elliott engel is the ranking member of the house foreign affairs committee and joins me now. happy holidays to you. i hope you had a nice turkey day yesterday. >> thank you. >> i want to talk about the website because here we are at the end of the month and this november 30th date has brought a lot of anxiety and it's a second chance to make a good first impression. it's been problematic for americans leading up to this point, politically problematic for democrats. what are your expectations for the site come tomorrow morning? >> well, i think the site is improving. obviously i've been frustrated, many of us have been frustrated with the way the site has gone so far but i think we really have to look at the bigger picture. when it's fully implemented, the affordable health care act will be good for the country. we currently have almost 50 million americans without health insurance whatsoever and that was really the thought behind the original bill.

and obviously there have been some glitches, frustrating as they are, but i think basically it will be a good bill. you know, when we had medicare part d, prescription drug programs, for senior citizens a few years ago, there were prichz there. it's frustrating but we have to look at the total picture. >> the glitches that were rolled out with medicaid part d you'd think would be used as part of the skeletal framework to make sure this liftoff went more smoothly. when we talk about a margin of error on this fix, what should it be? this has proven to be an achilles heel for democrats, one that republicans are more than willing to take advantage of. >> remember, there wasn't one republican vote to pass this law. they seem to have felt that we could just plod merrily along and everything would be fine. the problem is people were

losing their health care and the 40 million americans, 50 million americans that didn't have health care would only increase. this is an attempt to try to give everyone health care. and obviously they have made some horrendous mistakes. but i think we've got to look at the future. we have to fix what's broken. we've got to see what needs to be improved. and we've got to do it. we should be doing it in a bipartisan fashion. we shouldn't be playing gotcha politics. there's been frustration. i'm also on the energy and commerce committee. i sat through all the hearings. everybody is pointing a finger at everybody else. in my home state of new york where the affordable health care act is fully implemented, the governor is cooperating, we're doing very well in new york and we expect premiums in new york to be much lower than they are currently. so i think in states where the governor has worked, you know, with this plan, i think that it's working. it's working in states like california and kentucky and new

york and other states like that. >> well, you point out that republicans have been a roadblock to seeing the success of the aca. oddly, you guys have not been able to work out the differences on that. but i want to get you on this because it seems as if there's been a unity for democrats and republicans when it comes to the president's iran deal, and now we know that president rouhani is letting the iaea inspectors inspect a nuclear facility in just a few weeks. do you think this is a preliminary sign that iran is serious about living up to the end of their six-month agreement? because your original reaction was that the white house let iran off the deal and you don't think you bargain in good faith by going squishy. >> i have my doubts about this agreement. the president has decided to go in a certain direction. we have six months to bargain hard with the iranians. i don't trust the iranians, but i think we've got to give

diplomacy a chance. the iranians i think have a proven track record of distorting and lying, but we'll have to see. i don't think that there are moderates running iran, quite the opposite. but this is something that if it's implemented will be a good thing. i just don't want this to be a six-month excuse for the iranians to continue to cheat and to have a nuclear weapon of the the bottom line is that nobody wants iran to have a nuclear weapon. if they had a nuclear weapon, then other countries in the region would get one as well. we're talking about countries like saudi arabia, egypt, turkey. the people who are closest to iran, the israelis, the saudis, all don't like the deal and they're the ones that know iran the best. so i think there's reason to be skeptical. but there's reason to also have hope, and i hope that these negotiations will bear fruit and i hope that iran will bargain in good faith. >> at this point only time will

call. congressman, thanks for joining us today. i appreciate it. a professor and mother facing trial for the death of a man who raped her nearly two decades ago. why she said breaking her silence about her own attack led to the charges that are now against her. also ahead, the next looming deadline for the health care website. has president obama set himself up for a mission accomplished moment? the agenda panel will dig into that one coming up. first, we here at msnbc have been asking you the last couple of days to tell us why you're thankful this holiday season. one of mine is i'm thankful i get to kur the social justice trend of marriage equality domestically and internationally. so the conversation is going on on twitter and facebook. share with us why you're thankful using the #whyimthankful. we'll share your responses during the show. okay ladies, whenever you're ready. thank you. thank you. i got this. no, i'll get it! no, let me get this. seriously. hey, let me get it. ah, uh. i don't want you to pay for this. it's not happening, honey. let her get it. she got her safe driving bonus check from allstate last week. and it's her treat. what about a tip?

oh, here's one... get an allstate agent. nice! [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call an allstate agent and get a quote now. just another way allstate is changing car insurance for good.

the university professor says she's not guilty of any wrongdoing in connection to a 1995 murder in california, and she's willing to take a big risk. in a court of law to prove her innocence. andrea canning spoke to the defendant and joins me now. this is a fascinating story of how this all went down. >> it is fascinating because it's such an old case. she's living this amazing new life and then, boom, out of the blue her whole life is turned upside down. i sat with her in the orange county jail. patricia esparza said she was offered a plea deal but turned it down saying she refuses to admit to something she didn't do. it's a gamble because if convicted, she could now get a life sentence. she's adamant she had nothing to do with the murder of gonzalo ramirez, the man she said raped her. >> never, ever did i make any indication that i wanted him to be harmed. >> reporter: patricia esparza

overcame a childhood of poverty and abuse to become a psychology professor and raise a child. now she sits in this orange county jail facing a potential life sentence for the 1995 murder of a man she says raped her in her college dorm room. esparza never reported the rape to police but said she told her former boyfriend. van became so enraged he forced her to join him and some associates as they confronted ramirez. >> what was your role in it all? what happened to you la night? >> what i can tell you is that i was dragged, pressured, bullied, intimidated into that night when they actually took gonzalo ramirez. >> ramirez was found beaten to death, but esparza said she left that night not knowing he had been murdered. >> i never saw him dead. i didn't know that he had been dead. but i was terrorized by the violence that i witnessed.

>> esparza said van frightened her into keeping quiet. she said he even coerced her into marrying him so she couldn't testify against him. >> it just hurt me so much that i had been raped and here he is instead of consoling me, he destroyed the rest of my life. you know, the abuse was difficult, the rape was difficu difficult. but dragging me through that night haunts me. >> esparza remarried and had a child abroad. prosecutors say she's made a spectacle of her case, hugging her husband in court and playing the victim card to distract from her role in a brutal murder. >> miss esparza is desperate to garner sympathy for her and make herself as the victim on this case. she's not a victim on this case, she's a defendant on this case. >> reporter: she and two others

face a murder trial. van's attorney says there are definitely a lot of inaccuracies in esparza's claims. they have all pled not guilty but esparza and her family is only going forward because she told prosecutors what had happened. >> they had let me go if i had stayed quiet but i decided i'm going to resolve this. i'm a lot older now and i can't continue to be afraid by these people. >> prosecutors say they have much more evidence against patricia, which they will outline at a court hearing this month and "dateline" will continue to follow the case. look for an hour on this in the coming months. >> it's fascinating to think that the burden she has carried her entire life and tried to start over and now to face this as a much older person. it's great to see you. >> so complicated. >> you can catch this all new "dateline" tonight at 8:00 eastern on nbc. congrats on the baby. >> thank you. all right, so the new "hunger games." why are republicans continuing

to wage war on food stamps? if you don't want to head out to the stores today but still want a good deal, you're not out of look. we'll tell you how shoppers are using their smart phones. so you can sit by the television, watch us and shop. david, john and maria own stores on main street in nyack, new york. they are gearing up for small business saturday. for more on getting customers to shop small, watch "your business" sunday morning at 7:30 on msnbc. 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. tomorrow is small business saturday. get out and shop small. 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. working with our beverage industry and restaurant partners, we're helping provide choices that make sense for everyone. because when people come together, good things happen. i've got a nice long life ahead.

big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, it could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call now to request your free decision guide. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. [ male announcer ] you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. see why millions of people have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now.

i started part-time, now i'm a manager.n. my employer matches my charitable giving. really. i get bonuses even working part-time. where i work, over 400 people are promoted every day. healthcare starting under $40 a month. i got education benefits. i work at walmart. i'm a pharmacist. sales associate. i manage produce. i work in logistics. there's more to walmart than you think. vo: opportunity. that's the real walmart. here's a look at some of the stories topping the news. hamid karzai is threatening not to sign the security agreement with the u.s. if drone strikes continue to kill civilians. this after a drone strike killed a 2-year-old child in afghanistan. a jury is getting the gruesome details of how two try to behead a soldier in london last night. the soldier was run over by a car as he tried to cross the

street and was stabbed and suffered multiple blows to his neck with a meat cleaver. the trial is expected to last three weeks. arizona police say evidence discovered by investigators at a tucson home confirmed the claims by three teen sisters that they were imprisoned by their parents for up to two years. police say two of the sisters managed to escape through a bedroom window yesterday and called for help. the girls' ages, 12, 13 and 17. they were described as dirty and malnourished. experts think that the calmed ison survived its close encounter with the sun. it swept about 730,000 miles over the sun's surface thursday afternoon and observers have been watching the comet more than a year hoping it would survive its interaction with the sun and emerge to put on quite a show in the sky. all right, so, you want to get a great deal this holiday season but you don't want to get off the couch or, better yet, get out of those post-thanksgiving sweat pants. more people than ever are using

their smartphones to get their holiday shopping done and in the process they're finding new ways to get a bargain. joining me from los angeles is jeff goldstein, president of price grabber. it's no secret obviously smartphones make things a lot easier for most of us and now shopping but explain how we can find the best bargains so we can be seduced to stay on the sofa and not venture into the malls. >> there's a lot of great options out there to use your mobile devices. one great thing you can do is download apps. the leading retailers have all apps now, mobile apps. download that onto your phone or tablet. also following the leading row tailers on social media. so on twitter, for example, these guys are tweeting out all of their best deals. it's a great way to stay abreast of what's going on over this black friday weekend. >> if we talk with how easy it is to stay at home and do online shopping, stores now have to compete with that so what are

they trying to do to encourage people to get off of the sofa and to get there in person, because once you get in the store, obviously then your mind starts to run and you might invest in other areas than you would if you're shopping at home. >> yeah, that's absolutely right. owe stores have traditionally gone with door buster deals. these are terrific deals that are designed to get people into stores, particularly on black friday. they're also engaging in some specific tactics to combat something called showrooming where people are coming in and shopping on their mobile devices. they're comparing prices while they're in the stores. and what retailers are doing is they're really adopting a basket of strategies. they're being much more aggressive about price matching. so you can come in, look around when you're at the store, go home and buy things, but rather than doing that, they'll price match it while you're in the store. they're also pushing their loyalty programs and offering free shipping as well. so that gives consumers the knowledge they can get into

these stores and not have to worry about doing a lot of research and understand that while they're in the stores they can get the best deal. >> and so far price grabber is saying that electronics seem to be the big touch for everybody. televisions, ipad minis, touch screen, laptops, so everyone will be looking for electronics under the tree. sir, great to have you on. thanks for your time. >> thank you. >> mary tweeted i am thankful for our president, for people who can be eligible for aca and our military personnel. i'm thankful for our nation. here's a video submission we got from our anchor producer lindsay weiss and her family in connecticut. >> we are thankful for -- >> family! >> that was nice, right? where's lindsay? let's put that shot back up there. share your reasons for being thankful. where's lindsay? she's in the back, is that lindsay? maybe lindsay was shooting this. anyway, share your reasons for being thankful this holiday.

it's like where's waldo. if you see lindsay in that, tweet us at where's lindsay. no, i'm kidding. tweet us using #whyamthankful. where's lindsay? ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] if we could see energy... what would we see? ♪ the billions of gallons of fuel that get us to work. ♪ we'd see all the electricity flowing through the devices that connect us and teach us. ♪ we'd see that almost 100% of medical plastics are made from oil and natural gas. ♪ and an industry that supports almost 10 million american jobs. life takes energy. and no one applies more technology to produce american energy and refine it more efficiently

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that's really the big question as the obama administration's self-imposed deadline looms. and the hunger games. the republicans planning to make more cuts to the food stamp program and what it will mean for the 47 million americans who rely on them. those are the topics for our agenda panel. james peterson, irin carmon and michael tomasky. michael, i'll start with you. politico is suggesting that president obama's goal is to avoid the mission accomplished moment. that's the reference to president bush's declaration that the iraq war was over. so if the website is fixed by tomorrow, i mean this is the expectation. i mean the obama administration really isn't going to win points for trying to make a good second first impression. we expect them to have this done. >> that's right. first of all, thomas, you don't know that i'm not in elastic

pants. >> that's true, stand up. stand up. >> i'll refuse to take it that far. but anyway, no, i do think that it's -- i think it's largely going to work, i really do. i did some reporting on this before thanksgiving and the things that i heard from people i talked to were pretty good. that capacity is much, much higher, that functionality is much, much better, that the speed of the thing is much, much better. now, of course, it isn't going to be perfect and there's still going to be a percentage of people who are going to run into problems. that percentage has to hit a certain critical mass for it to become a mission accomplished moment and i honestly don't think it's going to hit that and i hope i'm not unpleasantly surprised. >> so when you're low to the floor, there's nowhere to go but up, so consequently with health care.gov and michael pointing out that the speed could be there, that people could have access and the ability now to vet what type of program that they want, if they're able to

secure this it really does repair a democratic achilles heel and republicans would have to give in to that. >> i don't know if the republicans will give into anything. i despise the bush mission accomplished analogy that doesn't work for so many reasons. the administration is being very, very cautious here. what they want to do is say, yes, it's going to work. they don't want to say everything is going to be perfect because they don't want the same surge they had on october 1st. healthcare.gov may not be able to take millions of people at one time. so they want to be cautiously optimistic about it being in place. that sounds strange but any website that is that complicated in terms -- >> come see us maybe. >> well listen, go to the site. i think they want people to go to the site. they'll concede right now that it can't take the surge that occurred on october 1st. >> okay. irin, this is all leading up to how the website, how access to

the aca -- because the website is the small hiccup. aca is the big lift to our social contracts. well, you know, this is a huge amendment that all of us are taking with each other for our social contract in this country and how it's going to play out for the midterms come 2014 is the big question for the democrats and whether they can run on this. >> absolutely. i think the problem is the administration did put a lot of focus on this october 1st date, but in fact the preventive care provisions, people being on their parents' insurance until age 26, people with pre-existing conditions being able to purchase insurance, these are all things that have been rolling out quite some time. they didn't look as bombastic as the site and people noticed that the republican talking points have not been focused on those things being a problem. so i think by next year if people are able to sign up for plans, in places people have been able to sign up for plans, they are lining up. as soon as people are able to actually access health

insurance, then i think we'll see tangible changes in people's lives and that may carry over into next fall. >> only time will tell on that one. i want to switch gears to this fight in washington on food stamps. we have your colleague at the daily beast writing about more cuts looming ahead of the holiday season. msnbc is reporting on the rise of people flocking to food pantries and we've got house and senate leaders trying to get the farm bill resolved by december the 13th, which congress goes on recess. if we just look at the optics of this, shouldn't the republicans worry that this war on the poor could back fire on them, michael, like it did in 2012? >> there are a lot of things i think the republicans should worry about that somehow they don't worry about. but yes, of course it should. you mentioned that $5 billion cut that already kicked in. that kicked in at the new fiscal year when stimulus money for new food stamps ran out. and so this negotiation on the farm bill over these next couple

of weeks, thomas, i think is really key. and -- boy, what's going to happen, i just don't have any idea. i mean there's not -- the middle ground between zero cuts -- or $4 billion in cuts, which is what the senate democrats have more or less agreed to and motor billion, the middle ground between those two, a compromised figure between those two is still a really devastating number. >> as we look at this and think about the reality of how many millions of americans are on food stamps in this country, the working poor who depend on food stamps to enhance the food that they have to feed their families, how much is falling on deaf ears when it comes to republicans who are just looking at cold, hard facts of what the entitlement numbers are? >> unfortunately the republican rhetoric is always about personal responsibility, which in real life terms means go ahead and starve. i mean this is a really stark war on the poor that is happening in slow motion. there are already cuts that have affected 300,000 families to home heating assistance that

happened through the sequestration. i mean they are just seeing the safety net being chipped away. we have long-term unemployed, a tremendous problem in this country. so i think unfortunately these people are mostly invisible to policy makers who mostly use them as rhetoric about how they should be stepping up to the plate and find some other magical way to feed their family. >> how do democrats use this to talk about real-life problems and then put up with the republican rhetoric saying you're just buying votes because you're giving away goody bags. >> you have to concede and admit half the people on food stamps are working folk. so they have jobs, they're not lazy, right? also, democrats have got to think more critically about why this is the way that it is. like how is walmart and mcdonald's able to have record profits at a time where high percentages of their employees are on food stamps and on medicaid and medicare. and i think the reason is, is because the american taxpayers

are subsidizing the profits of these mega corporations. instead, republicans make us think we're subsidizing and taking care of all these people who are lazy when in reality there are big profits on the table. if we manage that a little differently and close the income inequality we could stave off some of the challenges that we're seeing with the social safety net entitlements going forward. >> it's amazing of seeing the contrast of walmart employees protesting across the country trying to get a living wage. james peterson, great to see you, irin carmon, thanks so much, michael tomasky, stand up. >> never. >> america will never know if you wore elastic pants today or not. we're all wearing them, you just can't see it. for more on our agenda panel, go to our website, thomasroberts.msnbc.com. we're having a good time here today, i'm sorry. it's friday. >> exactly. >> tgif. today's producer pick is

pope francis, the comic book hero. an italian comic book company has started selling comics featuring the pontiff. the argentine pope has been a decree sodder against global inequality. to read more head to my facebook page. [ male announcer ] at humana, understanding what makes you different is what makes us different. we take the time to get to know you and your unique health needs. then we help create a personalized healthcare experience that works for you. and you. and you. with 50 years of know-how, and a dedicated network of doctors, health coaches, and wellness experts, we're a partner you can rely on -- today, and tomorrow. we're going beyond insurance to become your partner in health. humana.

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tylenol® provides strong pain relief and won't irritate your stomach the way aleve® or even advil® can. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®. so two big developments involving marriage equality. chicago residentber nita gray, who is dying of cancer, wed her partner, patricia, this week in the first legal same-sex marriage celebrated in illinois. a judge ruling that the women could marry six months before the state's law recognizing such marriages take effect. and new, three federal judges saying it's discriminatory for the federal government to not treat domestic partners like spouses. for more on that, i'm joined by senior political and legal reporter at buzzfeed, chris geidner. your latest article focuses on the ruling about these three federal judges.

what does it mean as how we look at how domestic partnerships are equated to legal marriage in this country? >> after the supreme court ruled that doma couldn't limit the federal government from recognizing same-sex couples, the government has been going through the process, figuring out all of its programs, and allowed same-sex couples to get the same benefits if e.r. marri -- they're married but the government has taken the strong position that only applies to legal marriages. and now what happened is the federal judges who decide what the benefits are for judicial employees have decided that it wouldn't be right, it couldn't be constitutional to treat domestic partners in states where they can't marry not as equal to married couples in states where same-sex couples can marry. >> so they extend the net to cover those -- >> well, what they have done is

get around the fact domestic partners aren't allowed to by basically offsetting the pay. so they're paying the woman for the treatment for the insurance payments that she made for her domestic partner that she would have gotten covered if it was her spouse. >> as we look at that as a foundational basis from these three federal judges what, does it mean to the landscape of the country? >> well, because it was an administrative ruling that the judges made as sort of her employer, and it wasn't the same as a court ruling that would apply to any of the government, but it was three important -- three federal judges saying that they thought it would be unconstitutional if it was treated otherwise. and so as we move forward, this is certainly -- it was a written opinion and there's going to be a lot of lawyers out there in states with clients who are domestic partners saying, wait, we can use this in our case. >> as a legal foundation. >> yeah. >> real quickly, though, as we look at illinois and they are having marriage equality come

into effect over the next six months but this one couple got an early exception monday. and on monday couples are going to be allowed to marry in hawaii. as we look at the overall picture of the country and where things have changed and now we're up to the sweet 16 number, right? >> yep. >> where do we go from here? we can see how as you look at the west coast and the east coast and the central part of the country where the filtration is happening. where do we look to next? >> we're waiting on new mexico. the judges there heard a ruling -- heard a case about the fact that they're the one state left in the country that doesn't have either a ban on same-sex couples marrying in either statute or their state constitution or have marriage equality already. and the justices of their state supreme court heard arguments and we're going to find out sometime soon. there were five justices. they have got to figure it out

and write a ruling and we'll find out about new mexico. but after then, we've got a difficult area where we're starting to hit up against this wall of the 30 states that have -- 31 states that have constitutional amendments banning same-sex couples from marrying. and so they either need to be overturned in a court or overturned by people. >> and what do you make of mary cheney coming out and going to indiana, this fund-raiser on december 11th trying to draw attention to hr-6? >> yeah, as we talk about all the progress on marriage equality, indiana is still in the process of potentially passing an amendment to potentially ban marriage equality. and mary and liz cheney have made it clear that they're both going to keep this issue front and center of this sort of family squabble over the issue, and mary willing to jump out and

she's not been a very public figure other than as the daughter of the former vice president, and her willingness to take on this public role by -- in the midst of all this coverage of this spat with her sister is notable. >> it's been fascinating to watch and see how this has created such a divergent path for the family. we'll see if wyoming voters actually reward liz for going -- >> there are certainly people who have suggested to me that they think that this is the sort of situation that is probably a lot more of a setup than something that's a true fight. >> chris geidner, great to see you. happy holidays to you. toronto's infamous ford brothers are not ready to give up on the limelight just yet. rob ford's talk show was cancelled after just one episode but his brother says the two will host an online series

instead called "ford nation." the radio show with former arkansas governor mike huckabee be is coming to an end. his final show will end on december the 12th. and the obamas spent wednesday dishing up food but spent yesterday having a traditional family meal at the white house. on the menu, turkey, corn bread and mac & cheese. and josh romney said in a tweet today that he saved four people after a car accident. he included a photo of himself standing next to what appeared to be an overturned vehicle inside a house. ♪ ♪ 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. tomorrow is small business saturday.

get out and shop small.

a living wage is important for the community. actually it does well for everybody. if working people have more money in their pocket, they can spend that money in other stores and fuel the economy. >> so that sound from one of the activists protesting walmart

this black friday. we are learning of a new arrest as walmart workers around the country demonstrated on this busiest shopping day of the year. ten people have been arrested so far including two walmart workers in chicago. workers have been demanding higher wages. today's big question to you was on this story. we asked black friday protests are retailers putting profits over people. bob weighed in saying greed fuels these type of actions. shannon weighed in saying absolutely. the worst part is that nothing will change. another bob also sent us this. most businesses are in business to make a profit. no profits, no business, no job. we asked you to keep the conversation going via twitter or facebook. now we're going to look at what's going on with the ready, set, go shop attitude of holiday shoppers in indianapolis. take a peek. >> thanksgiving is the new black friday. we're at toys "r" us that opened

at 5:00 last night and still going strong. we've got a number of people here. the lines used to wrap throughout the entire store. right now folks are getting up to the register pretty quickly. irt h it has been a big day here. right now americans say they are not fond of retailers opening on thanksgiving but that certainly hasn't stopped people from shopping thanksgiving and into the morning on friday. this woman here has a whole basket full of gifts. >> yes. >> how is it going for you and do you enjoy the thanksgiving start? >> yeah. i love it. i'm up from dallas visiting my family. we went through the ads. we've already been to target, stood in line outside around the building, went to walmart, had three carts at walmart, now we're here at toys r us. a cartful for kids. we're going to keep on going.

>> no sleep, no naps, no breaks. >> best buy 5:00 a.m. maybe. >> you've been pretty excited about this, too. >> yes, yes, yes. >> what do you like about this. this is thanksgiving or day after now. what's so fun about this. >> i like shopping. >> you like shopping. you've been doing a lot of it. >> yes. >> did you get to enjoy thanksgiving last night? >> yes. i got to eat like five dinners. >> five dinners. wow, that's pretty darn good. this is not your last stop, right? >> i'm pretty sure it's not. >> we're going to let you continue on through the line. thanks for talking to us and good luck with your shopping adventure. >> thanks. >> this toys "r" us will be open until 10:00 tonight. of course there will be extended hours throughout the holiday season. this, of course, is just the start of it. we're in greenwood, channel 14, eyewitness news, mary mills. >> five dinners for all that shopping.

good news for all of you hoping to avoid big box retailers friday. tomorrow is small bess saturday. that's the annual initiative to get people to keep it local and shop at independent businesses. joining us our expert j.j. ramberg, also the resident of coolness. nice to see you. >> that was a good intro, thomas. that was good. >> it's in your contract here. i know i'm supposed to introduce you that way. this the third year. focus attention to smaller startups, mom and pop stores to help them out. >> it happened in '01 of 2010. in the beginning a few people heard about it. ask around, everybody has heard about it. if you use facebook, likes have tripled. >> i like it. i reminds us to go out and

support neighbors in small business ventures in different communities. what is it doing for businesses and their bottom line. is it really drawing people out to remind us? it's one day a year. how is it encourage people one day a year to support these shops. >> for small businesses smart about it, it really is. big box stores have online friday, online stores cyber monday. this gets people to know, go to small businesses and small businesses can go to them. >> i've got mine in mind. j.j., thanks for getting up early for us. >> absolutely. always. >> tune in here 7:30 a.m. eastern time. that's going to wrap up for me. enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend. i'll see you this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. stay tuned, special edition of "hardball" next. honestly, i'm not looking for five-star treatment.

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