democrats the necessary votes to avoid a filibuster. now, this deal replaces $85 billion in sequester cuts and deficit reduction and raises airline fees and the amount federal workers must contribute to their pensions. the general consensus, it's better than nothing. >> although neither side got everything it wanted from this agreement, it should help break a terrible cycle of governing by crisis. >> this bill isn't exactly what i would have written on my own. i'm pretty sure it's not what chairman ryan would have written on his own. >> still, some grand ole partiers plan to protest this deal. three plan to bring military families to the senate to protest military pension cuts. can a bipartisan budget deal dig a do-nothing congress with a meager 16% approval rating out of a political hole? joining me from montana, jon tester. he is an excited guy. look at that smile on his face. sir, let's talk about this,

because can this congress really dig itself out of its hole? this 113th congress, if we look at the record, has passed just 1% of all introduced legislation into law. that's the lowest percentage of laws passed in the last 30 years. so in your opinion do you think this budget deal is a turning point? >> well, i hope so. i mean bottom line is, is this kind of meets the criteria. it was a compromise. democrats and republicans both worked together on it. patty murray and paul ryan worked for months on this and came up with something that as previous speakers have said, it's not perfect by my estimation either, but i think that's what compromise is about. it's about everybody giving a little bit, coming up something that will work for the country, something that will put the country on a more predictable basis and reduce the deficit. and so i think it's -- i think it's a reasonable proposal to put forward and that's why i voted for it. now, does that mean that everything is going to be cherry as we move forward and we're all going to agree on everything?

i doubt that's the case but the truth is i think this is a great step forward as far as a bipartisan compromise goes. >> if we take baby steps in a bipartisan way and look at the calendar of what happens next year, that's when the debt ceiling rears its ugly head. an article says the gop spurred on by its win on paul ryan and patty murray's budget deal has a newfound confidence in pursuing at least some degree of brinksmanship when it comes time to raise the nation's borrowing limit. sir, are you afraid the democrats gave up too much in this deal and there by giving up any perceived leverage going into the next fight? >> well, first of all, i think the debt ceiling fight is totally separate from the budget as far as the time frame goes. i think that you're playing with big fire if you do not increase the debt ceiling if it has to be raised. and that fire is driving this country into a depression by not paying our bills and defaulting on our credit. that said, look, there's plenty of things in this budget

agreement i can point out and say i don't like and there's plenty of things in this budget agreement lying doing away with sequestration that i can point out and say i do like. as far as the fight on the debt ceiling when it comes around in january, hopefully common sense will prevail and do the right thing for the country as we look for ways to control spending but yet spend money on the things that are important, like education, infrastructure, research and development. >> so as we look at who has the upper hand in washington, d.c., right now when it comes to governing and casting the leadership on the economy, i want to show everyone this washington post/abc news poll. it asks the question of americans who they trust more to handle the economy. 45% choosing republicans, over 41% who say they back the president. so this is more than a complete flip from a month ago, senator. can you explain how american confidence got rattled that much in such a short period of time on the president's economic leadership? >> i think part of it has to do with the rocky rollout of the health care bill.

i think that's a big part of it. and i think the government shutdown along with the debt ceiling fight. all those things fold into it. the bottom line is this, though. we need to work together to move the economy forward, to give certainty, to make sure that businesses have the ability to grow jobs, to make sure that people who need help get the help that they need and i think this budget is a step in that direction. >> senator jon tester, thanks for making time for me. i appreciate it. >> thank you. our other big story today unfolding in washington, d.c., the white house in damage control mode one day after a federal judge's ruling over the constitutionality of the nsa call tracking program. i want to show you live pictures of the white house where right now president obama is meeting with tech giants over the nsa's surveillance program. among them apple's ceo tim cook, yahoo!'s ceo marissa mayer and facebook's coo. they have been calling on congress to restrict the nsa's powers. edward snowden says his decision

to expose the nsa surveillance has been vindicated by this ruling and says it will be the first of many which will be found to violate americans' rights. he has now written an open letter to the people of brazil offering to help them investigate allegations of u.s. spying in exchange for permanent asylum. this morning former nsa director, general michael hayden, and others, weighed in on this debate. take a listen. >> the metric that this thing only counts if it stops imminent attack. i mean that's an important metric, but it's not the only one when it comes to the efficacy of an intelligence program. >> having served a couple of years in the white house, i did see instances in which the ability to collect data really did thwart potentially catastrophic events. and so, you know, i really wonder what this debate would be like if, god forbid, one of those events had happened. >> we need to, again, work as hard as we can to ensure that we

can continue these programs because they're very important. but to do so in a way that can be reassuring to the american people that their rights are being protected. >> as a judge said, james madison would be deeply offended by what the federal government has done to pry into other people's lives. does edward snowden then become a whistleblower? >> joining me right now, senator bernie sanders, an independent from vermont. sir, it's good to have you here. i want to get your first reaction to this ruling yesterday. we have edward snowden coming out saying that he has been vindicated by this ruling. do you think it's a vindication for him? >> well, all i can say is that i very much welcome the judge's ruling. no question to my mind that what the nsa has done is unconstitutional. i voted against the usa patriot act. we've introduced legislation to curb what the nsa is doing. but the bottom line is if you are keeping records, phone

records on virtually every call made in the united states of america, you know, who somebody is calling, what time they're calling, where they're calling from, it is very hard for me to imagine that this is not a clear violation of the fourth amendment of the u.s. constitution. so what i believe is we have got to be vigorous at protecting the american people from a terrorist attack. that's very real. but we have to and we can do it in a way that is constitutional and which does not violate the basic democratic rights and privacy rights of the american people. >> sir, i want to dig down deeper on the vindication aspect for edward snowden, because people in this country who would see him as a hero for the conversation that he has started and what he has revealed to most americans, do you think that -- how would you answer people, for people that would believe that edward snowden should be granted amnesty by the american government? >> well, first of all, i think his revelations are enormously

important. but i think the american people are stunned about what they have learned, the overreach of the intelligence agencies, mostly the nsa into the privacy of our own lives. people can judge snowden however they want. on one hand, the information that he has revealed is enormously important. on the other hand he violated an oath, he lied, and people feel strongly about that as well. i suspect the day may come when snowden will find himself on trial and the jurors will make that decision as to whether what he did served the american people and find him innocent. >> sir, in knowing all that we know and what the nsa is capable of, at least what we think that it's capable of, how do we balance what the federal government is capable of doing and what we should accept it to do, but not at the same time jeopardize our national security? >> well, i think that what we do is what we have historically

done in this area and what we do every day in law enforcement, and that is if the nsa or other intelligence agencies or law enforcement agencies has reason to believe that somebody is involved in terrorist activity, they're going to go to this fisa court and say, look, here is our evidence. if the fisa court says, wow, you make sense, let's go and get that guy. let's go get all of the intelligence and information they need, that is what they should be doing. thomas, that is a very different approach than saying we are going to file information on every single american. we are going to be getting into your e-mails. we're going to be getting into the websites that you visit because it kind of makes us a safer country. yeah, it does, but it doesn't make us a free country. and as a nation, we're going to have to have a real conversation about what freedom is about. and to my mind, freedom is not about the united states government or, by the way, corporate america getting into everything that you do, every

website you go to, every e-mail that you send. that's not freedom, that is not what the constitution of the united states is about. so bottom line, yes. i believe we have got to be strong and vigorous in protecting the american people from the very serious threats of terrorism. but i think we can do that without undermining the constitution of the united states. >> senator bernie sanders of vermont. sir, thanks so much, i appreciate you making time for me. our big question to you today, is edward snowden vindicated by a judge's ruling that the nsa's data collection program is likely unconstitutional. the conversation is happening over on facebook and twitter, so send us your thoughts. we've got this breaking news out of southern afghanistan where six american service members have died. it appears that mechanical problems forced a hard landing for their blackhawk helicopter. once they landed, they were attacked. in a text message, the taliban is claiming responsibility. a nasty commute this morning

for millions of americans across the country. a band of snow has already brought a few inches into the region and will continue falling into the later afternoon timeline. let's look at the storm now. places like boston and new york already feeling it. here's a look at lehigh, pennsylvania, this morning. meteorologists say that the farther north you go, the worse it's going to get. mixed with the brutally cold temperatures, the ride home later this afternoon could be treacherous. so far the weather has caused almost 4,000 flight delays and cancellati cancellations. dylan dreyer is in parsippany with how it's looking the rest of the morning. >> reporter: good morning, thomas. we are watching the snow come down in parsippany, new jersey. we have an inch or so on the ground right now. it's not like this is some huge blockbuster snowstorm, but it's the timing. right during rush hour here in the tri-state area as it moved off into new york city as well. we will see off and on snow showers throughout the rest of the morning into the afternoon, but we're looking at 1 to 3

inches possible, especially in and around new york city, maybe some higher amounts just to the north of new york city. these systems are called alberta clippers. they race through an area. they're very quick but they pack a punch. we could even see as much as 6 inches up across parts of massachusetts. now, the heaviest of it in new england is going to fall by mid-afternoon, so while the morning commute here in the tri-state area was an issue, it's the evening commute up through boston that's going to be a huge issue. so we've just had these back-to-back snowstorms and these blasts of cold, so drivers just need to take caution once again today, thomas. >> nbc's dylan dreyer in new jersey for us. dylan, thank you. is president obama's second term shaping up to be a lot like george w. bush's? one reporter says the parallels are uncanny and there are lessons that president obama can learn so as not to follow in his predecessors's footsteps. up next, judd gregg and ezra klein weigh in on that one. and another first for pope

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all right, so it's almost a new year, time to reflect, promise to renew ourselves and improve all of your efforts for the next year. according to a new washington post/abc news poll, president obama has plenty of room for improvement, ending his fifth year in office with lower approval ratings than former president george w. bush which opens up the conversation for comparisons of a parallel universe. joining me now, former republican senate budget committee chairman from new hampshire, judd gregg, and ezra klein. gentlemen, it's good to have you here.

ezra, let me start with you. in this "national journal" article out by ron fornier says if obama needs to shatter the cycle of dysfunction, or risk leaving office like bush unpopular and relatively unaccomplished. he goes on to add both presidents deceived the public about their signature policies and their credibility crumbled. vice president dick cheney famously said the iraq insurgency was in its last throes. obama and his advisers characterized the website as glitches. as we look at this, ezra, and compare apples to apples if we can do so on this and just on the term "credibility," presidential credibility, the president has taken a hit. can he rebound? >> i find ron's analysis tends to put politics and what politicians say at an over essential role in the way american people evaluate them. what has hurt president obama is that they did a very bad job

doing something real, right, rolling out the affordable care act, putting up healthcare.gov. what hurt president bush was first katrina gave him a little hit but the iraq war was just an absolute grinding disaster. the american people do not sit around waiting to hear what folks in washington say. they actually look at the world around them and they look at the central initiatives and major projects that the federal government is involved in and see if they're going well. president obama will rebound if his actual central legislative achievement and the program he's setting up becomes a success for the american people. he will not if it doesn't. there's no amount of spin that will make a bad bill a good one and no amount of spin that will make a good bill a bad one in the eyes of voters. >> it is all linchpin on the success of the aca. we're watching this budget vote unfold on capitol hill and we have a new poll out who is seen as better able to handle the country's problems, obama and

republicans are tied at 41%. obviously this is a far cry from a few months ago after republicans shut down our government. so obamacare took over the discussion. but if the law begins to work, as ezra points out, and this thing starts to change the lives of americans, doesn't that change things around and change the political hand for the president and his team? >> well, that's a pretty big if. i think if the president really wants to change things, he needs to go bipartisan. there are still some big issues to resolve on the deficit and the debt, primarily the fact that if we continue on our present course we will go bankrupt as a country as a result of running up a deficit which we can't afford. he has actually -- the president has actually put some decent ideas on the table how you get this under control, especially in the area of changing the way we calculate the cost of living adjustment and some proposals in the area of reimbursement in medicare. if he really wants a legacy, solving the deficit and debt issue is the place to do it. you now have a tem plate for

doing it. you have senator murray and representative ryan showing that you can in a small scale, mini grand budget agreement, reach agreement in a bipartisan way. if the president wants to step into the room, and he doesn't seem inclined to step into rooms and deal with policy with a hands-on way, but if he wants to step in the room, i think he could reach a very big agreement which really would put him on a trajectory to a positive closure in his presidency. >> it would be nice to think the grand bargain could live again but this budget deal is baby steps in the right direction. ezra, let me talk about this. politico is pointing out that the fallout from the affordable care act has endangered the presidential priorities, one being imgreat lakmigration refo. has the aca exhausted the president's political capital to try to move the needle on where that conversation needs to go to pick up steam? >> political capital is a

efemoral term. gun control went nowhere long before october when the aca launched and will continue going nowhere. this is something where i would say it's not just the president that needs to go bipartisan. he's made some big concessions and would like to do that. he would like to have the house pass a bipartisan senate immigration bill. there are lots of republicans in the house that do not want to go bipartisan at all. they have to actually want to play ball too. >> senator, let's talk about that. as we look at the makeup of where we are in washington, d.c., right now, we are learning that scott brown is packing up, moving over the border to new hampshire. the latest sign that he may be prepping to challenge the incumbent, democratic senator jeanne shaheen come 2014. he's getting support from a conservative super pac with the help of this obamacare attack ad. take a look. >> on health care, jeanne shaheen didn't tell the truth. >> you can keep your insurance if you like it. it will increase choices for

families. it will promote competition. >> the facts. more than 20,000 new hampshire patients have had their coverage cancelled. next november, if you like your senator, you can keep her. if you don't, you know what to do. >> so do you support scott brown, senator, running in new hampshire? do you think he should run? >> well, i think anybody who wants to run in new hampshire is welcome to run. we're an open primary state and we're filled with a lot of enthusiastic people who want to get involved with government, which is one of our big pluses. we've always been a political hotbed, starting with our primary system and the national primary system. but it will be an open and hotly contested primary on the republican side as to who runs against jeanne shaheen. for all i know jeanne may end up with a contest on her own side. so i expect another good new hampshire year of good politics. it's part of our culture. >> i've got to ask you, sir, you exited the head of wall street's biggest lobbying firm. is that an indication that you want to run? >> no. been there, done that, to quote

george h.w. bush. >> got the t-shirt? >> i truly enjoyed my time and kathy and i appreciate the people of new hampshire allowed us to represent them for over 30 years in government but we've been there and done that. >> we're watching the tea leaves for scott brown now. judd gregg, ezra klein, gentlemen, thanks for your time. >> thank you. on a completely different note, beyonce and her bragging rights. first she breaks the rules with this stealth release of her new album. now that surprise album is breaking records around the globe. and later, the controversy over santa's race. >> i look forward to the day where you have hispanic, asian, all signs of santas. >> so while people debate whether saennta is white or bla, are we overlooking the reason for the season? we'll explore that in the agenda panel just ahead. a can of del monte green beans?

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innovations that work for you. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. a huge wildfire in big sur, california, couldn't have come at a worse time of the year as families are prepping for the holidays. now the fire chief in charge of trying to paddbattle the flames coping with the reality that her home is among 15 that have been destroyed. >> trying to hook up the hoses to save your own home while trying to help everybody else at the same time. we tried but i was there by myself for most of the time. i finally got some other people there and it was just too much fire too fast and we couldn't save the house. we tried. everybody tried really hard. >> more than 100 residents have had to evacuate since that fire broke out on sunday. as many as 625 firefighters from around the state have been called in to help put out that fire. here's a look at some of the other stories topping the news

now. at least 15 people have been killed today in the syrian city of aleppo as the syrian air force continues to target areas of the city under rebel control. meanwhile, the u.n. says a syria peace conference remains on track for next month. back here at home, miami dolphins guard richie incognito will remain on suspension while an investigation continues whether he bullied jonathan martin. he will still get paid, even though he won't be playing. the bidding has reportedly reached nearly $100,000 for a painting by george zimmerman. nbc affiliate wesh reporting that zimmerman is selling the painting on ebay to help pay his legal fees after being acquitted in the shooting of teen trayvon martin. the painting depicts an american flag in blue with a quote from the pledge of allegiance, liberty and justice for all. it was a dramatic rescue off of a cruise ship. this is a coast guard helicopter evacuating a woman from a

carnival cruise ship off the coast of florida. doctors thought she might be having a heart attack. last we heard, she was listed in stable condition. the u.s. olympic committee has done it again. it's selling go usa mittens to raise money for american athletes but the mittens are made in china. the usa took some heat two years ago for wearing uniforms made in china. the 2014 uniforms are being made in the u.s. but wanted to offer the public a cheaper option. that's a cut from beyonce's album that just debuted on itunes. in fact this album titled "simply beyonce" sold almost 800,000 copies in its first three days. you won't find it at target. the retail chain says it's not going to sell this because she released it online and not in stores. ♪ by the end of december, we'll be delivering ♪

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i'm just wondering if we brought advanced copies of "house of cards." >> you want a little cameo? >> well, i wish things were that way. man, this guy is getting a lot of stuff done. >> the president a "house of cards" fan. thaf that was the president with some of the country's top tech executives. he was talking about the show "house of cards." the president is meeting with leaders from apple, yahoo! facebook and google and they're supposed to be talking about the performance of healthcare.gov but it's expected that the nsa surveillance program will be a hot topic as well.

bridge over troubled water. did new jersey governor chris christie order a bridge closing over one of the the busiest bridges? and in this new conversation over santa's race, are we really missing something? these are the topics for our agenda today. we have zerlina maxwell, contributor to thegrio.com, shira center and steve benen, an msnbc political contributor. gang, it is great to have you all here. zerlina, i want to start off with you and chris christie and what's taking place over in new jersey. on september the 9th, two of the three entrance lanes to the george washington lanes were closed and they were closed for four days. this caused massive traffic delays. the mayor of a new by town saying it was payback because he refused to endorse christie for governor. the port authority said it was a traffic study. two people have resigned over this. do you think this is a local story or has national legs to

rise up to talk about the type of politician or administration that christie runs. >> i think right now it's a local story but it has the potential to be a national story and have national implications for his presidential hopes, because you never want to be associated with cronyism or playing petty politics. that's really what this story smells like. and i think, you know, the label that has been associated with christie is bully. and you don't want that to infect sort of his presidential hopes because you need a certain temperament to be president. you're getting the responsibility of the nuclear launch codes. you don't want somebody taking revenge that has that kind of power. >> steve, as zerlina brings up the phrase of petty politics, certainly christie tries to portray himself as somebody who rises above what that means in modern times, but something like this really undercuts that narrative and certainly at least the judgment of the people that he would surround himself, if they were to pull the trigger on a decision like that. >> yeah, he's worked really hard, the governor has, over the course of many years to

cultivate this personality that he's above politics, that he doesn't have any use for politics as usual. in this instance we have a situation in which the administration is accused of crippling a community on purpose for the most petty and partisan of reasons. the local mayor didn't endorse his re-election campaign. if the allegations prove to be true and at this point there's a lot of evidence pointing in that direction, it makes it seem as if all that branding that christie has done over the years has been for naught, that he is in fact worse than politics as usual. so it has the potential to be quite a scandal. >> shira, is this exactly what somebody who on a potential hillary clinton team or a potential joe biden team would be looking at to see how they respond to these types of situations that really get under their skin? >> exactly. i view this controversy in many ways as a test balloon to see how chris christie would react to such opposition. let's face it, he won re-election by a large margin. he didn't have a big challenge there. he hasn't been challenged very

much by democrats while he's been in office, at least to the point of political peril. if he runs for president in 2016, he's going to be on a totally different stage. it's going to be very interesting to see how he reacts. i think it's certainly a determinant whether a candidate is successful is whether they can let these controversies roll off their back or they're thin-skinned and take them personally. >> i want to switch gears as we ramp up to christmas, just a little over a week away. we've had this issue popped up of racializing santa claus. we all know where it started. but the late shows are having a field day with the conversation. take a listen. >> hello, everyone! merry christmas! hello! >> wow, you're santa? >> that's right. i guess the truth is out. you heard of secret santa. here's a secret for you. i'm black as hell. >> the races of all of our favorite mystical holiday figures have long been determined. santa, white.

easter bunny, white. tooth fairy, latina. >> from late night to the classroom, there's one new mexico high school teacher on leave after questioning a student's decision to dress up like santa claus saying don't you know santa claus is white. and lisa robinson spoke with a black santa in baltimore and we want to show you part of that report. take a look. >> leave me some chocolate chip cookies and milk on the table. >> santa luke has faithfully come to the mall for 28 years. before that, he was at lafayette market. he knows about the black versus white santa talk going on. after 30 years in the business, he says he's heard it all. >> i get you're not dark enough or you're too light. you need good people to do this job because it takes a lot. it's a big responsibility. and i take it very serious and i feel very blessed and honored that people would bring their families and their children to see me.

cheese! >> santa luke has a huge following in the mall that is centered in a predominantly black neighborhood. he says the kids don't care what color he is, but some parents sure do. the mall general manager says the calls are nonstop with people asking if the black santa will be there this year. >> most kids or parents want to see something that is they're familiar with, that they recognize, that is a relation to them. so it plays a real important here in the mall. >> it didn't really matter whether we had a black santa or white santa. i just wanted to get him into the spirit of christmas. >> but this teacher brought her students to see santa luke, one, because he was close to the school. more so, she wanted them to see someone familiar. >> african-american children, i think they need to know that african-americans cover all spectrums in every area of this country, including santa claus. >> do you think it's time for santa to be multi-cultural? >> absolutely. >> reporter: santa luke says he said that years ago, when he

jumped on his first sleigh. >> santa has no color. you know, santa is about love. he's about embracing people, you know what i mean. whoever comes to santa, he makes you feel better after you left him than you received him. >> what do you make of this discussion? and how it takes away from what really the true meaning of christmas is all about. >> right. i think, you know, this time of year is the time of year where children -- i mean they have so much innocence and hope. and i think the idea that santa can only be one thing, it really inhibits their creativity to imagine him as whatever color they want. and i think that santa belongs to all of us. it's not one thing or the other thing. i think children should be able to have that freedom. >> shira, you have a unique perspective on this. as we brought up the story about that african-american boy in new mexico and the teacher who chastised him for saying that he shouldn't be dressing up as santa claus because don't you know santa claus is white. that child comes from an interracial family. his dad is white and was

completely livid when he heard about it. take a look. >> there's no room for that in the classroom. whether this teacher felt that christopher may have been wearing this out of context, there's no room for it. if it's not for parents like me that's part of interracial families to stand up and say, you know, it's time to stop this. it's time to stop. i have to fight for my boys. >> shira, you have your own unique perspective on this. santa obviously is a symbol of hope, but why is it so taboo if we try to re-evaluate his image? >> i don't quite understand it. you're right, i have a unique perspective. my father was a jew from israel, my mother is a minister at an inner city very diverse church in pittsburgh, and so i grew up with santas of very different races coming to church during december. that was how we did it in this

church. it was never really controversial at all because the congregation was so diverse. anyway, i think it has become a controversy because it fits in so well and so tightly with this american idea of consumerism and mass production and packaging. i think we've kind of put santa in this nice little box and this is what the santa toy looks like. but realistically around the world, different countries and different cultures have had different views of what their santas have looked like for centuries and centuries. >> is this -- steve, let me ask you because we were looking at the historical context of what santa claus means to people and the phrase historically, you know, santa claus is white or jesus is white. is this all changing our evaluation because we recognize that our president, the most powerful man in the world, is black? is that -- is that the problem where people are having a hangup as we start to re-evaluate what it means, the issue of race in positions that have been historically white? >> i think that it plays a major

part in this. i think that as america becomes a more diverse country, a more multi-cultural society, we see on the right there is a resistance, there's a discomfort. i think it drives the war on christmas, the so-called war on christmas where people on the right are troubled by the fact that some people don't celebrate christmas and they want to be wished happy holidays instead. i think now that we're seeing santa in a more multi-cultural setting. this also makes them uncomfortable. so i think that as the culture changes, we're going see more and more pushback on the right because of their own reluctance to kind of come to terms with the changing nature of society. >> it is a changing nature of society. i'm just say, you know, mainly tv anchors, straight white men. good thing that's changed. so days are behind us. thanks, zer le-- zerlina maxwel shira certain and steve ben. we're back after this. tylenoe

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[ speaking foreign language ] >> those famous words, who am i to judge, were just one example of how pope francis is changing the debate not just about poverty, capitalism and women in the church but also about the issue of lbgt rights and marriage equality. now pope francis has taken another aggressive step to make sure that everyone knows the church is changing its tone, if not its policies just yet. "the new york times" is reporting today that pope francis has removed a conservative cardinal who has been an outspoken critic from a powerful vatican committee. this comes as a leading magazine for the lbgt community, "the advocate" followed in the footsteps of "time" magazine naming the pope as the person of the year. joining me is the editor in chief of "the advocate" magazine. this is obviously a very provocative cover you have chosen, not only the fact that you have the pope on the cover, but if we look at that image once again, you have the no hate

image on his cheek. >> a little creative license there. this was not a unanimous decision by the advocate staff. a lot of our readership has been vocal in letting us know what they think about it. if we think about the person, the single person who can change minds globally, this is a global decision, i think pope francis is really that person. there are 1.2 billion catholics around the world. and if the pope is telegraphing acceptance where there's a sharp divide between his predecessors and this pope and the message that is being delivered, that can really change a lot of people's minds. >> certainly it's been a refreshing wake-up call to many catholics who might have gotten separated from church teachings for a while, because of some stricter top down enforcement. but i want to talk about runners-up for the magazine. you had justice kennedy, the plaintiffs in the supreme court cases and brittney griner, who

is the wnba star who came out. why did pope francis take over, because of his world stage and the fact that he can change hearts and minds from a religious perspective? >> precisely, because of that global perspective. when you think of 1.2 billion catholics worldwide. 60% of those are in latin america and 16% of those -- excuse me, 40% are in latin america, 16% are in africa. these are places where we're not seeing the same sort of progressive snowball effect of lgbt rights and acceptance that we are in some parts of the united states, some parts of europe. there's a global reach the pope has that nobody else can compare to. >> how much impact do you think that he will have moving forward and moving the needle on the conversation of lgbt human rights on the evolution of people's thoughts on marriage equality? when he was in argentina as a cardinal, he was not for marriage equality. that country does have marriage equality now. >> he opposed the civil unions

legislation vocally, but more privately said he thought it was the lesser of two evils. so we have to be fair here, he's not a progressive but is moving in a more progressive direction than his progressive direction than his predecessors. if we think about catholics around the world, maybe young queer kids that say i can't be part of this if i'm religious, and they are thinking about suicide, if we're talking about families who feel divided from the church because of the policies, even priests and others not vocally accepting because of the policies, the pope is telegraphic there's a change in the wind. >> lets leave it for who am i to judge. look closely for the sticker on his cheek. i'm going to be back right after this. [ coughs ] i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something.

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the jackpot for mega million strong is more than half a

billion dollars. it might go higher. ticket buyers in 43 states rushing to convenience stores to load up on their portfolio. this came after friday's drawing failed to produce a grand prize winner. kerry sanders in ft. lauderdale where he's been looking at rich toys one can easily afford with half a billion dollars. what have you seen? >> first of all, i feel like i have won the lottery. it's about 80 degrees, i'm in florida. i'm relaxed today, as i starnd in front of the vessels, should you take it in one lump sum, $316 million. i think life could be pretty grand and pretty relaxed. the possibility of picking up not only the boats but the houses. i got a chance to sit in a ferrari fxs that is apparently such a valuable car it's worth $2.7 million. this seems sort of odd to me.

that car is worth more because it has zero on the odometers. if you start putting miles on it, the value goes down. a little confusing why a car with zero on the odometer is more valuable. why buy a $2.7 million. >> adopt you remember that. ferris bueller's day off. >> should i drive it off into the water here. >> they kept it on the blocks not to accrue miles on it. >> this is true. let's talk about not odometer numbers but the lottery. chances of winning the lottery, everybody has the same change $100 or $1 over the long-term, you've got the odds of one in 259 million. the most interesting thing is that the way it's being played right now they calculate all the different permutations of numbers. there will be about 75% of the

various combinations covered which means there are 25% of the numbers that will be uncovered. so if very likely nobody is going to win this one. it will roll over and could roll over just shy of a billion dollars, which is kind of fright think. >> not bad money if you can make it. nbc's kerry sanders. appreciate it. wrap it up, see you tomorrow 11:00 a.m. eastern time tomorrow. alex wagner with "now" coming your way next. sir... i'll get it together i promise... heeheehee. jimmy: ronny, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? ronny:i'd say happier than the pillsbury doughboy on his way to a baking convention. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. [ male announcer ] campbell's homestyle soup with farm grown veggies. just like yours. huh.

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the vote breakdown itself told the story. the democratic caucus held together with zero of its senators voting against it while a majority of republicans, including most of the leadership took the easier no vote. still, 12 republicans did vote yes, more support than was expected prior to the vote. hours ago one of the architects of the deal senator patty murray acknowledged that though the legislation is small in scope, it may represent a step toward fiscal sanity in the nation's capital. >> this deal is a compromise. it doesn't tackle every one of the challenges we face as a nation, but that was never our goal. this bipartisan bill takes the first steps towards rebuilding our broken budget process and hopefully towards rebuilding our broken congress. >> but one woman's inch toward reason is another man's charge to the apocalypse. after theot