30 minutes with octo copters on this, expected to be the busiest cyber monday in history. hawaii says aloha today to same-sex weddings, the 16th state to do it. it could become a mega destination site for couples looking for beach weddings. going even further left. how progressives in the democratic party are pushing the party on issues like the minimum wage and social security and what all that means for 2016. good morning, i'm chris jansing. this morning a big test for healthcare.gov has thousands are expected to sign for coverage today with an improved website. the white house says there's been a huge progress. 50,000 people can now log on simultaneously, meeting the president's self-imposed deadline over the weekend. they also say the site is now working more than 90% of the time. compare that to just 40% in october. and it now takes pages less than one second to load. eight times faster than the average just in late october.

but the obama administration admitted this morning on "the daily rundown" it's still not running ads or doing any marketing trying to drive traffic to the site. >> we wanted to see how these first few days go. if we're getting a lot of traffic, then we don't feel the need to drive it. our view is we are not doing that because we don't need to do that in terms of driving traffic. we're going to monitor. it's not about confidence in the site, it's about whether or not you actually need to drive traffic. >> and there are also still concerns about the back end of the site. that's the part that sends information to insurance companies. republicans on the sunday show still aren't satisfied. >> the first impression here was terrible. and i think it's going to be an unfolding disaster for the president. >> i still think the foundations of this plan have some of the same kinds of problems that the rollout has had, but they're fundamental, very hard to overcome and unfortunately as people enroll, i think there's going to be a lot of negative surprises as to what they're able to enroll in. >> i want to bring in our

company, bob herbert, e.j. dionne, good morning, guys. >> good to be with you. >> the white house hasn't exactly declared victory, bob, but 90%, obviously the pages are loading much faster. is this a sigh of relief or are they still on pins and needles? >> sort of a short sigh of relief. there's general agreement that there's been significant improvement in the website. the question becomes, you know, how many people can really actually sign up, actually get insurance. and that remains to be answered. >> and they have until december 23rd we should say to sign up. e.j., is that when the real test begins, when we start to see, number one, how many people actually got enrolled, how many young people, and if that back end is working well enough that people who are actually getting insurance can actually see a doctor and not have problems with that? >> right. i think the big tests are december 23rd and next march. can they sign up all the people

they need to, and particularly can they sign up young people to create a kind of balanced market. i just want to say it's great to be on with bob whose "new york times" column i still miss, but i'm glad you're still out there, bob. >> ditto. >> same here, e.j. >> you're welcome. the good thing about what happened is that if the discussion can get off the website, and it's true, somebody said on chuck todd's show you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. so they got that problem. but now we can judge obama care the way we should judge obama care, which is can it sign up a lot of people who need health insurance. the evidence from the states where it's working well, california and kentucky are notable examples, is that the structure of the thing actually can work. and so if they have indeed solved most of these problems, it will probably take another couple of weeks at least to get the website working the way they want, but they made progress and now we can judge it on its

merits and not on some tech glitch. >> well, you also have the white house not being quite as definitive as they have been in the past, making these statements about this is where we are, this is what's going to happen. listen to ed rendell, obviously former democratic governor of pennsylvania, on "morning joe" this morning. >> i think there's still a chance for this to achieve its basic goal. that doesn't excuse the mismanagement early. but there's still a chance to achieve a basic goal, which is to drive down the health care curve and also to ensure over 30 million people who don't have health insurance. >> so still a chance, not exactly a resounding endorsement or a vote of utter and complete confidence. but it is interesting, isn't it, bob, that when we're looking at these deadlines we are really moving into the 2014 campaign season. >> we're moving into the 2014 campaign season. and this issue, i think, is just going to overwhelm everything else, which is really a shame. you mentioned at the top of the

program the issue of minimum wage, the issue of jobs. you know, we still have -- >> overall economy, immigration. >> exactly right. but trust me, it's just going to be all about health care, health care, health care. and that's really a shame of the and then just one other point -- >> and those people we should say who are out there in various congressional districts, obviously particularly the tough congressional districts, there's nothing they can do about it. >> there's nothing they can do about it, but another point i wanted to make is i've been critical of president obama on a number of issues. but however anybody feels about obama care, it is the law of the land and it really bothers me that the republican party really wants this thing to fail. and i just don't think it's in anyone's interests for this whole thing to collapse in a heap. that's really a shame. >> interesting over the weekend, e.j., cardinal dolan was on "meet the press" and he said catholic bishops have been huge supporters of universal health care but obviously they didn't agree with the mandates for hospitals to cover birth control. let me play what he had to say yesterday.

>> so that's where we began to worry and drawback and say mr. president, please, you're really kind of -- you're really kind of pushing aside some of your greatest supporters here. we want to be with you. we want to be strong. and if you keep doing this, we're not going to be able to be one of your cheerleaders and that sadly is what happened. >> e.j., you've written so much about this. did the president start losing people there? >> well, he did, and then he offered a compromise. he pulled back from his earlier position where i think the church and some people in the church like sister carol key of the catholic health association have been working on this contraception compromise. i took it kind of half full as to half empty of that dolan interview. i think you began to see the pope francis effect. if you look at the totality of that interview, cardinal dolan emphasized a lot of the more progressive positions that the catholic church actually takes. he didn't say obama care is terrible. he said please, mr. president,

we want to work with you on this. he emphasized the church's strong stand in favor of immigration reform. these have always been the church's position for universal health care, for immigration reform. but i think the emphasis of that interview was in a somewhat more progressive direction than i think an interview with cardinal dolan might have been a year ago and i think that's important. >> it is so interesting because we were talking about this in the break or before we came on the air, bob. here you have a pope that seems to be getting so much acclaim here in the states and the catholic church hasn't exactly been particularly powerful. he met today with benjamin netanyahu. they talked about the iranian nuclear program, israeli-palestinian peace process. last week he was with individvl putin. is he turning out to be a power player beyond the catholic church? >> to an old catholic school kid, this is really shocking. folks in general just seem to really love this pope. but i think that one of the

things in a broad sense that's going on here, and remains to be seen whether he'll succeed or not, this is a pope who has an opportunity to keep the church from being on the wrong side of history as we go forward, and he really seems to be trying to do that. so it's very interesting to watch. >> bob herbert, e.j. dionne, always great to have you guys on. thank you so much. >> good to be with you. checking the news feed this morning, new york governor andrew cuomo says the pictures and video can't truly capture the devastation of the new york city train derailment that killed four people and sent 67 more to the hospital. the ntsb has the two black boxes which could provide critical clues to figure out what caused the crash. the conductor was rounding a sharp curve in the bronx, one taken by conductors dozens of times each day, but this time it resulted in chaos. >> i was on the right side of the train. and i started to feel it starting to tilt. and i could see the ground coming towards my face. at which point the train listed

again to the left side and then started to roll back and fort. it was tossing me like a rag doll. >> some of the things the ntsb team is looking at, speed, track conditions, maybe mechanical problems as well as taking standard drug tests on the crew. we'll have a live report from the crash scene in our next half hour. a memorial is growing for "fast & furious" star paul walker, including flowers from co-star tyrese gibson who openly went yesterday. walker was a passenger in a car that flew off the road, crashed into a tree and burst into flames. investigators believe speed may have been a factor and witnesses say the fire prevented any rescue attempts. walker was in the middle of the shooting the seventh installment of the "fast & fewer" franchise. universal pictures called the loss kef stating but didn't mention plans for the new movie. hawaii now tops the list of

destination wedding locations for same-sex couples. the state made marriage legal at midnight for same-sex couples. this is one of the hassle of states where couples can get their licenses online and so it's easier to register and get married on the same day. a university of hawaii researcher estimates hawaii could get a $217 million tourism boost over the next three years because of this new law. china trying to become the third country to land on the moon. they launched a robotic rover called jade rabbit this morning. it's scheduled to touch down in a few weeks to conduct experiments on the moon's surface. this is the first time any country has sent a rover to the moon since 1976, when the former soviet union did it. right now you're looking at a game-changer when it comes to the way people shop. how a couple of clicks from your cell phone will make this cyber monday different and bigger than ever before. and from your shopping list to congress' to do list. we'll check in with congressman steve israel on his top

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nervous democrats worried about 2014 may be breathing just a little easier now that the obama care website is working a lot better. of course democrats have been antsy after two months of negative headlines. and although the site does look better for the consumer logging on, just this morning nbc news learned that a senior representative with america's health insurance plans says there are still significant issues with the back end of operations. so on its website this is what it says. until the enrollment process is working from end to end, many consumers will not be able to enroll in coverage. in addition to fixing the technical problems with healthcare.gov, the significant back end issues must also be

resolved to ensure coverage can begin on january 1st, 2014. in particular, the ongoing problems with processing 834 enrollment files needs to be fixed. i'm going to bring in new york congressman, steve israel, chair of the democratic congressional campaign committee. always good to see you, congressman, good morning. >> happy holidays, thank you. >> give us your assessment of where we are. are you confident the worst is behind? >> well, it's made progress, and we have to continue to progress. we have to continue to make sure that this works, works well, works efficiently. that's what democrats will do. we will do what most americans do. we will work to get it right and to get it fixed. >> so you're not confident the worst is behind, congressman? >> well, this is a process, and so we're going to continue to make sure, as with social security, medicare, medicare part d, we're going to continue to focus on getting it fixed, getting it right and republicans will continue to focus on repealing it, sabotaging it and ambushing it. >> we were talking in an earlier

segment about how you only get 1 chance to make a first impression which is one of the problems, frankly, facing obama care. in today's "wall street journal" editorial is stekeptical of thi report. sunday's eight-page report was intended to meet mr. obama's deadline for fixing the site after its october 1 debut was a clam at the. but the more important goal was political, namely to prevent -- how much of this is politics? what do you think about what the "wall street journal" wrote? >> i disagree with the assessment. what is important is that we ensure that people can enroll in the affordable care act. what is important is that health care inflation went up at its lowest rate in 50 years. and what is important is that a woman with breast cancer no longer has to be told by her insurance company that she's lost her insurance because of

her breast cancer. so those are also important metrics. making sure that a woman with breast cancer isn't kicked off her insurance because the insurance company can't afford her, that's another metric. and bending the cost curve on medical care is another metric. so we should take this in its totality. and i tell you, republicans will, as i said before, they're going to continue to try and ambush this. they're going to try and sabotage it. they're going to continue to root for failure. one group will root for failure and try to bring us back to a system that didn't work, that led working people into bankruptcy over health conditions and one party will continue to fix this and move on to other critical economic issues confronting our country. >> that report, the administration progress report that the "wall street journal" mentioned, chuck todd was looking at page 3 of it on "meet the press" and he pointed out that part of it says the team is operating with private sector velocity and effectiveness. i mean does that really help the cause?

does that essentially say that the government can't get it done? or the government is not the right standard to have? we need private sector efficiency? >> well, of course you need private sector efficiency. you need public and private sector efficiency. people don't care who's going to get this this to work, they just want it to work. >> the house back in session for the next two weeks. you know and you've complained about the fact that this has been the least productive session of congress ever, so let me give you a little laundry list of some of the priorities that we hear about. it includes framework for a spending bill, farm bill obviously as well as unemployment benefits, business tax breaks. ear thing that you've been at the forefront of, the issue of the expiration of a law that bans undetectable plastic guns. what can get done, congressman? >> well, actually there's a lot we could get done if house republicans would show a willingness. look, the senate on a bipartisan

basis passed comprehensive immigration reform. house republicans said no. the senate passed the employment nondiscrimination act. house republicans said no. the senate on a bipartisan basis passed a fair farm bill. house republicans said no. you know, if we're going to say no to no in the next election, the american people want progress on these issues. when you have the united states senate on a bipartisan basis enacting these laws and you have a house republican leadership that is so obsessed with ambushing the affordable care act that they won't even bring these things up for a vote, that is a massive problem. >> so do you think, congressman, nothing is going to get done in the next two weeks? do you think that the possibility exists that something will happen? >> look, there is no reason not to. now, i am hopeful, i have been on the lead at renewing, extending the undetectable firearms act because it's not a good idea to allow the bad guys to sneak plastic guns through metal detectors at airports. i am hopeful that we'll be able to do at least that but there is

so much more the american people want done. comprehensive immigration reform, a farm bill, the employment nondiscrimination act. we can pass these things because the senate already did. house republicans need to get their act together and work to pass these things in the house as well. >> congressman steve israel, always good to see you. thank you. >> thanks, chris. happy holidays. >> happy holidays. progressive power, there you have them. bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, some of the people moving the democratic party to the left. what will it mean for 2016? our strategists will face off coming up. ♪ ♪ ♪ is what makes us different. we take the time to get to know you

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you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter. well, it's now easier than ever to bust your holiday budget, thanks to this, the smartphone. proving to be a game-changer. more than one in four online thanksgiving sales were made on a mobile device. one in five online black friday sales were made on a smartphone.

that's up 43% over last year. online retailers are expecting to rake in a record-shattering $2 billion in sales on this cyber monday, and they're slashing prices to get you to spend. take a look at some examples. ann taylor, loft, abercrombie and fitch, american eagle outfitters, all offering half off. the last three also offering free shipping with no minimum. let's bring in lindsay turrentine. good morning. >> good morning. >> so $2 billion in sales. i know you've been looking at stuff. what's caught your eye so far? >> there are a lot of good deals still to be had today. really steep deals on the amazon tablets. amazon can discount its own products. so $50 off the two big amazon hd tablets today. that's a good one. we're seeing the moto x for $350. that's a high-end smartphone and that's a great deal if you want to give a smartphone to somebody and you don't know what kind of

plan they have. we're also looking at the $300 aces transformer, which is a net book that also turns into a tablet. it's sold outonline so you have to go to the store for that one. >> it's a little overwhelming at times, so what can you say to shoppers looking to find the best deals. >> well, know what you want and make sure that you do research online. it seems like that's what everybody is doing. people have got an early start shopping online. also google search for discounts from a major store. if you know you want to shop at a store, look for coupon codes. that's a great tip. >> those numbers on the smartphone really surprised me. they're really driving more and more of these internet sales. they're really changing the game, aren't they? >> well, they're allowing people to research at any time. so before you might have felt pressured to go to the store on black friday, now you can plan

ahead, spend an hour after your morning walk and get most of your shopping done. >> i get my e-mails and it says 50% off and sucker that i am, i immediately click and open it and see what it is. >> and you can check for prices in a store to make sure you're getting the best price and sometimes you can just ask for it if you're not finding the right price in the store when you're there. >> this is the big day, cyber monday. but what do we know about what might happen after today, because people -- obviously the question they have is it looks like a great deal today but will it be better three days before christmas? >> it's possible, and it all depends on how sales go. so it's a very popular item that's going to sell out, don't count on it being discounted right before christmas. if it's a larger item and might not sell out and sales might be slow, then you could get a really steep discount right before christmas so you have to play it carefully. >> know what the popular stuff is out there. lindsay turrentine, thanks so much. if you read only one thing this morning, here's an interesting proposition for all of us who like our caffeine. a provocative article about how

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progressives this morning may be feeling like they're getting some traction. pressure from liberals pushed a committee to give up on a grand bar begin that could include cuts to social security. later this week fast food workers will hold one-day strikes demanding a $15 minimum wage, all raising the question is the center of the democratic party being outmaneuvered by the left? noelle nikpour and angela rye are with me. good morning. >> good morning. >> a couple of other examples, angela, the senate abandoning the filibuster. people like elizabeth warren making a case for tougher financial regulations. are liberal democrats on the move? >> i think the entire party is on the move, chris.

what you have is the big tent party. historically democrats have been known to embrace folks from all walks of life. you talk about the filibuster reform, i think it's really an issue of fairness. we saw that to 86 nominees historically being filibustered for all presidential appointments, you have 82 for president obama, so this is an issue of fairness and what's just right an wrong. i hardly think that filibuster reform issue can be squarely focused as a liberal issue, it's really about fairness and equality. >> elizabeth warren is getting buzzed about as a possible alternative to hillary clinton in 2016. let me play a little bit of an interview she did with rachel maddow. >> we have a retirement crisis in america. this is no time, this is the last time to be talking about cutting social security. this is the moment when we talk about expanding social security.

>> well, noelle, to the big tent idea angela was talking about, social security is a sacred cow. is that the kind of message that will resonate with a lot of americans on both sides of the aisle? >> well, i think when you start tampering with social security, i think you're going to get the attention of a lot of americans. but i think right now, you know, my personal opinion as a republican strategist is i think that the lunatic fringe from both parties need to be cut and i think the further -- tthe democratic party moves to the left, the extreme left wing, the worse it's going to get. you've got to remember that president obama campaigned originally more like reagan. and when he got to be president, we got more of the likes of jimmy carter. so i think that although it rallies the troops and it gets you a lot of media exposure for extreme left ideas, i think that the democratic party, i think that americans in general are looking for a more centrist, for

someone that governors from the middle. >> angela, do you think the president has governored from the far left and what about the prospects of elizabeth warren or bernie sanders who said he would consider a run. >> well, chris, i think the president governing from the extreme left is preposterous. he's adopted republican ideals in obama care. the idea of having exchanges is a republican base -- excuse me, a heritage based principle that he included in paobama care. as it relates to elizabeth warren and senator sanders, senator warren as well, i think we may have a little bit of a challenge with getting some folks that are, you know, very extreme left to the white house. for example, we talked about a big tent party. well, you're a big tent commander in chief. you have to help get the american people on the same page and adopt policies, implement policies that work best for all

americans. i think that may be a challenge when you start talking extreme left. >> and i think this is a part of what you were getting to earlier, noelle, is this similar to when you talk about some of the progressives in the democratic party, do you see it as similar to what republicans dealt with between the tea party and the moderate wing of the gop? >> very much so. i mean i've got to tell you that when you get two extreme right wing in the republican party, and i'm talking about the sweater vest santorum, i'm talking about the moose hunting sarah palin, when you go so extreme right on our side, on the gop side, you turn off a lot of moderates, you turn off a lot of the base republicans. and i think the same on the left. when you get so far to the left, i think that you turn off a lot of the blue dog democrats and a lot of the democrats in general that are for equal rights, gay rights, abortion or what not, but they're not so far left

extreme. so i think that you're going to find especially in the 2016 presidential, you're going to see a lot of pull for the first time within, you're going to see a lot of bickering from the democratic party when you have people that follow someone like hillary clinton, who people view will govern from the middle, versus someone that is viewed as extreme left, as elizabeth warren. >> noelle nikpour, angela rye, the start of a conversation we'll have for some time to come. thank you both. some breaking news out of ohio. a student at scott high school in toledo has locked himself in a classroom with a gun. the school is currently on lockdown with students inside. the superintendent's office tells nbc news they know who the student is. negotiators are talking with him right now. he does not have any hostages. we will keep you posted on any developments. was it speed, technical problems or something else that caused sunday's deadly train crash in new york? investigators hope black box data reveals more information about the cause. four people were killed, more than 60 injured after the train

flew off the tracks. nbc's kristen dahlgren has been following this story over the last 24 hours or so. kristen, i know there was a news conference at the hospital just a short time ago. what do we know about the survivors? >> reporter: yeah, hi there, chris. that was from st. barnabus hospital, just one of the hospitals where patients were taken yesterday. the latest from them, they still have nine patients in the hospital there. three had to undergo surgery. there are still seven in the intensive care unit but they do expect a few to be discharged today so that is the good news, that some will be getting out of the hospital, at least, as the investigation really in full swing here. take a look down here and you can see the train. they have righted some of those cars. they brought in these massive cranes. they were able to right some of the cars, put them back on the track. they're working on getting two more now. they put a sling under them, lift them up, place them back on the track to stop any possible fuel leaks but also to help them get access for their

investigation. they have now recovered the plaque b black boxes from both the front of the train and the rear of the train and they hope that will give them the definitive information. how fast was the train going, were the brakes applied and when were they applied. according to the mta, the train operator told their investigators that he did what's called dumping the brakes. that the brakes weren't working and so he tried this emergency maneuver when you lit all of the emergency brakes on all of the cars at the same time so really an extreme measure. the ntsb still hasn't spoken with the train operators, and so it hopes to speak with the conductor and the engineer within the next couple of days and hopefully they'll get more information. chris. >> nbc's kristen dahlgren, thank you so much from the update. checking the news feed this morning, kansas city police still investigating why a man died in the parking lot of arrowhead stadium after last night's kansas city chiefs/denver broncos game. a man got into a car that apparently didn't belong to him.

a struggle ensued and the man died. this is considered a possible homicide. three suspects are in custody. vice president joe biden is in tokyo today. the first stop on a six-day trip to japan, china and south korea. it will be a delicate balance for the vice president, because the relationship between u.s. allies, japan and south korea, have been deteriorating. the u.s. is hoping this tour will help build relations and provide a unified front in dealing with china. olympic skier lindsey vonn skipping knee surgery, hoping she'll make it to sochi. vonn partially tore a ligament during a crash two weeks ago so she's training leading up to the february olympic games, although is still unsure whether she'll be able to compete. a minnesota man was ticketed after making it snow money inside the mall of america, dropping 1,000 $1 bills from a third floor railing onto the crowd below. a trio was singing "let it

snow." the man said it's been a tough year so he wanted to throw out his last grand to spread holiday cheer. instead he was cited for disorderly conduct. amazon is planning to make a giant leap into the future with delivery drones. nbc's seema moody is at the nasdaq with what's moving your money. this is getting so much buzz, seema. it sounds like something out of "star wars" or "the jetsons" but they're actually working on having drones deliver packages? >> reporter: that's right, chris, the future is here. jeff bezos unveiling the strategy on "60 minutes" last night. he said amazon is testing delivering packages using droughns. the unmanned jets could deliver packages that weigh up to five pounds. that represents 86% of packages that amazon delivers. now, there's still a question on whether they will allow sending drones outside of fulfillment centers but speeding up the

delivery process is a goal, especially as consumers have more options in terms of how and when they want to shop online. if you can shorten that delivery time, this can be seen as a major perk for online shoppers. >> there's also the timing, he happens to do it right at the start of the shopping season, so maybe a little free publicity there as well. meantime, we love this every year. it's going to cost us more to buy all the gifts from the 12 days of christmas. >> that's right. the pnc wealth management puts out this festive report every year. the pnt christmas price index, which is basically the cost of items from the carol "the 12 days of christmas" used by many high schools to teach students about inflation. according to pnc, prices are up 7.7% year over year bringing you to a total of $27,393. among the higher priced items, the cost of nine ladies dancing is now $7,553 or 20% more than last year's $6,294.

four calling birds up 15.4% and loade lords a leaping up 14% but gold rings and turtledoves cost the same as last year. do you want to know the most expensive item? >> yes, i do. >> swans. swans are the most expensive, $1,000 each. how about that. >> and then there's the care and maintenance and the trouble with the local zoning laws. >> true. >> cnbc's seema mody, thanks so much. the seems like movies were on the menu for a lot of families this weekend. the box office absolutely shattered records led by fire and ice. "the hunger games catching fire" took in $110 million during the five-day holiday, including my money, crushing the previous record set by harry potter in 2001. disney's "frozen" also broke harry potter's record, $93 million. one of our producers gives that a thumbs up. "thor the dark world" third, and

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the latest numbers show homelessness is growing in big cities like l.a. and new york and now an expose shows they're raking in millions off the backs of the homeless. once called terror lords by the tabloids they have converted their rundown tenements into major for-profit homeless shelters. these have cubicle-size rooms with living conditions described as not suitable for human beings, some with garbage piled high, rats everywhere. the going rate for one single room. new york city is paying $122 a night or $3600 a month. it's the topic of a disturbing article in this week's "new york" magazine. i'm joined by the writer and contributing editor, andrew rice. it's good to have you here. >> thank you. >> this family was already nope

back in the '80s as slumlords and you write they created a homeless supply and profited from the shelter demand. how does this work? what's going on? >> basically they have historically owned quite a number of downtrodden buildings. from a business perspective they have been very good about going into neighborhoods before they gentrify and buying buildings and getting the existing tenants out of there. >> you get the tenants who are in there, who can only afford a very modest rent to say the least. they go out, maybe can't find anything else and they end up as homeless. >> yeah. i mean this is a problem. one person that i talked to who was being evicted from her apartment in one of these buildings said a small apartment is $1400 a month. you can't do that on a poverty level income. >> new york city's homeless population jumped 13% in 2013 and i think what shocked me and

i think would shock a lot of people is that the vast majority of homeless now are families, right? why have these numbers exploded? >> well, there are a lot of reasons for it. new york has a specific problem. you know, not only is it not very affordable, but the bloomberg administration actually has cut various different programs that used to provide rental subsidies, partially due to state budget cuts and partially due to ideology. >> it's kind of almost a microcosm of some of the debates going on these days. for example, it would seem that when you look at this and the amount of money that's being spent for these horrible, horrible apartments, if you want to call them that, it's a custom made argument for conservatives who say, look, we're wasting too much money on social welfare programs. >> well, one could also say from a livable perspective perhaps that you could give poor people rental subsidies and they could go out and find apartments for themselves that might be nicer.

>> almost certainly, they can't be much worse, can they? an that's what used to happen in new york, wasn't it? wasn't there a time when people got sort of vouchers? >> there used to be a time when homeless people were able to jump the line for section 8, the federal section 8 program. there's a very long waiting list. the bloomberg administration argued that basically this gave homeless people -- poor people an incentive to become homeless so they could get to the front of the line for public housing. >> when you look at it, this is so obviously horrible. people should not have to live in the kind of -- and i should say that in the article you describe even more graphically some of the conditions, and believe me you would not wish it on your worst enemy. so i was looking at the new report on homelessness and found this report, for example, from hawaii where there's actually a state legislator who has been roaming the streets with a sledgehammer looking for the shopping carts of homeless people to literally smash their possessions. i mean this is not a constituency that has a huge

voice, especially when i think nationally a quarter of all homeless are under 18. >> i think that's very true. groups like coalition for the homeless do a good job, especially here in new york, in advocating for the rights of the homeless, but clearly they're not people who oftentimes are written about in magazines or heard about on television, so it gave me pleasure to be able to write about them. >> so there is a new mayor coming in who has said this is something he wants to fix. you have sort of done the deep dive into this. is it fixable? >> i think most people who studied this issue think that you could ameliorate the problem. actually during previous administrations when they did introduce other sorts of rental subsidy programs, you did see the numbers start to go down. and so there's been a real spike. homelessness in new york is at 52,000 people per night. as of september. and that is a record. that's higher than it was in the

bad ole days of the 1980s and higher than 2009 during the depths of the recession, so obviously there are things that can be done. >> what was the number that you used, one out of every 150 new yorkers? >> the 52,000 works out to about 1 out of 150. >> it's an eye-opening article in the new "new york" magazine just out today. andrew rice, thanks for coming in. >> thank you very much. an update on that breaking news regarding the gunman in an ohio high school. 14-year-old male student at scott high school reportedly in custody. he had isolated himself inside a hallway area, not 100% clear whether he now actually had a gun. all that was seen was the hands. the school is still on lockdown with students inside but they are safe. no students we are told were ever in jeopardy. no plan ever to evacuate. we will keep you posted on any developments. and ah, so you can see like right here i can just... you know, check my policy here, add a car, ah speak to customer service, check on a claim...you know,

all with the ah, tap of my geico app. oh, that's so cool. well, i would disagree with you but, ah, that would make me a liar. no dude, you're on the jumbotron! whoa. ah...yeah, pretty much walked into that one. geico anywhere anytime. just a tap away on the geico app.

to politics now, where the burning question for the obamas

in 2016 is should we stay in d.c.? the president says first daughter sasha will have a big say. >> she'll be a sophomore in high school. >> so you may want to stay in washington because of sasha? i don't want to pin you down, but i am. >> let's put it this way, sasha will have a big vote. >> now, if the obamas stay, they would be the only first family to stay in d.c. since woodrow wilson. the president and his daughters joined the hordes of bargain hunters for a little shopping at a small bookstore. among his purchases, "the kite runner" "harold and purple cray crayon." a little scandal can't keep rob ford from going to a football game. he was spotted in a bills jersey at the bills/falcons game over the weekend. not so much the good luck charm. the bills lost 34-31. we're getting some comments on our must read about replacing your morning coffee with 30 minutes of exercise.

judy writes pass the joe, please, now. what did you say? susan writes this would probably work for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up, but nothing replaces my morning coffee. if you haven't seen the article, it's at facebook/jansingco. that's going to wrap up this hour of "jansing & co." thomas roberts is up next. i can't tell if people love their coffee so much or hate the exercise so much. >> i think it's a combination, but just match the two up and you're good to go. a little morning joe and then go -- >> i'll stick with the coffee. >> -- the trend mill. the agenda next hour, glitchy.gov or i mean healthcare.gov. so are the obama website troubles a thing of the past? we'll ask charlie rangel and ezra line will be here. and the ntsb is checking data recorders to find out about the deadly accident. commuters return to work from

this thanksgiving holiday and we'll talk more about what we know about the accident. the rnc suggesting racism is over. why the gop efforts to make overtures to minorities have a history of back firing. our agenda will weigh in on the tweet that's getting a lot of attention. that and much more ahead in three minutes. don't go anywhere. uys. guys... [ female announcer ] pillsbury cinnamon rolls, with cinnabon cinnamon, are an irresistible sunday morning idea. nothing calls them to the table faster. make breakfast pop!

a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation -- an irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto®, jim's on the move. jim's doctor recommended xarelto®. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. so jim's not tied to that monitoring routine. [ gps ] proceed to the designated route. not today.

[ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. xarelto® is just one pill a day taken with the evening meal. plus, with no known dietary restrictions, jim can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto®, rivaroxaban, without talking to the doctor who prescribes it as this may increase the risk of having a stroke. get help right away if you develop any symptoms like bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto® with aspirin products, nsaids or blood thinners. talk to your doctor before taking xarelto® if you have abnormal bleeding. xarelto® can cause bleeding, which can be serious, and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto® and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any conditions such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. xarelto® is not for patients with artificial heart valves.

jim changed his routine. ask your doctor about xarelto®. once a day xarelto® means no regular blood monitoring -- no known dietary restrictions. for more information and savings options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com. hi, everybody, good morning. i'm thomas roberts. topping our agenda today, a turning point for obama care. the white house says it met its december deadline to fix healthcare.gov saying it's now working more than 90% of the time. the administration says the site can now handle 50,000 users at one time, meaning that 800,000 can register every day. white house communications director jennifer palmeri says they're confident in this site. >> we feel confident about the site working now as it was intended oerriginally conceivedo do, granted two months later

than we or anyone would have liked to have seen, so we have confidence in that. >> on a conference call with reporters, jeff zients told reporters the difference between october 1st and december 1st is like night and day. >> response times are under one second. error rates are down well under 1%. and the system is stable with uptimes exceeding 90%. >> all right. so democrats, they're positive about these improvements. however, republicans say that the damage, it's already done. >> the website is improved vastly from where it was two months ago, and quite frankly where it is now is probably where it should have been two months before it launched. >> it's a hollywood facade. i mean it's a western and you get everybody shooting, but, you know, you just -- you push -- you push the wall over and there's not actually a saloon behind it.