the report getting a lot of reaction today. >> nsa, you've gone too far. the bulk collection of americans' data by the u.s. government has to end. >> does the death of another 2,000 americans have to happen before we step in and say, hey, that probably is a good -- >> i do think what our government is doing is unconstitutional, and i really think that in order to restore confidence in our intelligence community, i think james clapper should resign. >> i think this will slow things down and that's probably not good. >> but the big question is, will the president actually implement any of the changes the panel recommends? he's already shot down one involving who leads the nsa and if the president is looking for an ally in his defense of the nsa program, he's got one in russia. that man, right there, vladimir putin calling the surveillance program necessary to fight terrorism. >> joining me right now is florida democratic senator bill

nelson. good morning, it's good to have you here. as we look at this, the panel itself has recommended 46 different changes in the way that the nsa operates. among them, they say phone companies should store data and court order for every record check. companies reveal what information they collect. senate confirmed civilian nsa director. that's a big one there. we have the one-two punch there for the nsa and first the federal judge finding the program leakly unconstitutional and now the panel revealing the entire program has made only a modest contribution to the nation's security and then we see politico reacting saying just how much political capital is obama willing to spend to keep the program going. sir, what's your first reaction and how do you think it pivots here moving forward? >> good morning, thomas. i disagree with the report. i think that the collection of the records which by the way,

has been held constitutional by another federal judge, so it will be an issue that will go all of the way to the supreme court. i think those are business recor records. i think a lot of the american opinion that you have against that is because people think that that's taking the content of those records and it isn't. it says number such and such on call such and such on this duration on such and such a day. that's it, but the fact that all of those numbers are stored so that when the terror suspect out of the country calls one of those numbers, then they can see the transactions that might have occurred that number and if they go to get the name or the content of that conversation, they have to, under the law, go

into a court and get a court order. >> as we look at this further, though, sir, and again, the report is the one revealing that this isn't doing much to help fight terrorism and then we see rand paul and he was on cnn claiming that the national intelligence director lied to congress and doing so damaging the credibility of the entire intelligence apparatus. he thinks it should cause clapper his job. do you agree with that? do you think that's what americans want and do you think that an nsa director, someone should be senate confirmed? >> you've asked several questions. no, i don't agree with rand paul, and on this network earlier this morning on morning joe, the leading republican on the intel committee, saxby chambliss, was asked that very same question about general clapper and said -- and he laid it out in detail more than you want to hear here. the detail of why clapper was

caught in a situation. he shouldn't have said what he said, but it is explainable as to why he did and in reference to a senate-approved nsa director, your thoughts? >> well, we already confirmed the four-star general. that is a conversation by the senate what this proposal is that it be a civilian director. no. i agree with the president on this. i think it ought to stay a four-star general and he has as his deputy a civilian. >> we want to switch gears and talk to you about your efforts and helping the family of former fbi agent levinson who went missing in iran seven years ago on what was supposed to be a business trip on the island of kish. just last week it was the a.p. and later "the washington post"

both ran stories that he was on an unauthorized cia spy mission gathering intelligence in iran and just last month the white house revealed this statement sticking with the cover story, but in an interview secretary of state john kerry says that he was or has continued to work for levinson's release. now, sir, you asked the a.p. not to run this story. you volunteered to go to iran yourself, and this is important to you because of your district, but what do you hope to accomplish there if you were to go? >> well, i've offered to the foreign minister and to the ambassador at the united nation s that if in any way it would facilitate the release of bob to return home as a humanitarian gesture to a wife and seven children of which he has been absent for seven years and iranians took him from that

island, kish island, then i'm willing to go and of course, that offer has been there for some period of time. i've been visiting with the iranian ambassador over the course of the last number of years, and by the way, the new york times is the one that has the most complete story on this. you ask why did i call the a.p. editor and asked them not to publi publish, because i don't think in any way this advances the release of bob back to his family and that's what i'm trying to achieve here. >> senator bill nelson of florida. thanks for your time and we appreciate you taking part of your day for us. >> developing in london. we wanted to turn to this story because for the first time since the start of the news of the world phone hacking problem, we are hearing proof that the royal family was also a target of the now defunct paper. during a trial, the court heard

transcripts of intimate voicemail messages that he left for his then, girlfriend. in which he says hi, baby. it's me. i just got back in from my navigation exercise. i i might send a cheeky text message, because i might have a phone with me, do try and ring me in the next 25 minutes or so. jim a seda is with us. what else can you tell us about the transcripts. they include emails that were hacked into for the royals? >> hi, thomas. let's keep in mind that these hacked voicemails became cover stories for the news of the world and for instance, one message read out today was to kate middleton, as well, in 2006 again from william while he was in training, officer training at sandhurst and he said, quote, i've been running around the woods of aldershot chasing

shadows and getting horribly lost and i walked into some other regiment's ambush which was slightly embarrassing because i nearly got shot. not by live round, but by blank round which is would be very embarrassing and a big scoop appeared in the news of the world around that time entitled, quote, william got shot in night exercise in aldershot ask it went to to give details of the mock ambush. both the royal editor and the private detective who did the hacking back then did spend several months in jail in 2007, but they were charged with having hewlett-packard the phones of royal aides. what's new today and it's worth repeating, tom saas that it would seem again for the first time that royal members themselves were hacked and not just kate and william. harry as well. >> nbc's jim aceda reporting

from london. hillary clinton was named one of the most interesting people by barbara walters. she was asked the question on everybody's mind. >> i haven't made up my find. i really have not. i will look carefully at what i think i can do and make that decision, you know, some time next year. >> does your husband want you to run? >> he is very respectful. he knows that this is -- >> he does want you to run. >> well, he wants me to do what i think is right. >> if you ran and if you became president what would they call your husband? first spouse? >> i have no idea. first mate, i don't know. >> who would be better at that time? i would to bring in karen finney of msnbc's disrupt and former hillary clinton press secretary. let's talk about your evaluation of when you see hillary clinton getting the questions from barbara walters that she'll make a decision next year. do you think that there really is that much time and space in her head about whether or not she wants to do it and she'll

just put off procrastinating that reveal? >> i do, and i don't think it's about procrastinating, thomas. there are a number of things that need to be decided if she decides to run. don't forget, she's got a lot of work that she's trying to launch out of the foundation. so part of it is, getting all of that in place. remember, she's been doing a lot of fund-raising for the foundation. i know a lot of people think about her and it's a potential run and she's needed to do fund-raising for the foundation. point being, there are a number of things that have to happen before she can make the final decision. that being said, i think she puts it at next year because she knows at some point, she's got to get out of the way if someone else will come in and run and a lot of donors are waiting to see what she does. >> so when we look at the interview and again, barbara walters with the whisper question about the president, and president clinton not influencing her and what do you think of that, him taking a hands-off approach and her political future, but it would put him right back in the white

house. >> yeah, you know, but i think he's been having quite a bit of fun outside of the white house. i'm not so sure it's about getting back to the white house. for myself and a lot of other people who have known hillary for a long time. i think the president is in this camp, we want her to do what will make her happy and that's what she's got to figure out. are you going to be happy being on the road for two years, campaigning, and is that how you want to spend your time or are you going to enjoy doing the work that you can do through the foundation? look, i think president clinton has always been one of her greatest champions, so i think he would probably like her to run, and i think it's more likely he wants her to be happy and she'll be onboard full throttle. >> potentially the first mate and former president. >> you're the first mate, thomas. >> oh, i feel more like gilligan, yes. >> okay. >> i'll take the gilligan status. karen finney, great to see you, and of course, be sure to catch karen this weekend on "disrupt,"

4:00 p.m. saturday and sunday. thanks, my friend. target hacked. the store target, how they stole credit card and debit card information from 40 million customers. we'll have a live report from cnbc. income inequality, how the growing gap between the rich and poor is hurting the economy. we'll talk live with one woman who is about to lose her employment benefits after a year without work. and suspended, a "duck dynasty" cast member is suspended for -- phil robertson said being gay is and black people were happy before the civil rights era. did they go far enough? weigh in on facebook and twitter and we'll get some of your thoughts on the air. w. it's made with the natural, vine-ripened sweetness of fruit, so you can serve up deliciously sweet treats without all the sugar.

raw natural sweetness, raw natural success. where does the united states get most of its energy? is it africa? the middle east? canada? or the u.s.? the answer is... the u.s. ♪ most of america's energy comes from right here at home. take the energy quiz.

energy lives here. ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

all right. all over the country, 1.3 million americans who rely on long-term unemployment benefits are trying to figure out how they'll make ends meet when the program expires at the end of this month. the budget deal congress passed yesterday did not include an extension of the $26 billion program and while president obama has backed bipartisan proposal to extend these benefits by three month, the bill won't be taken up by congress until they return to washington in january. joining me now is aliciaes in bit. she's a college financial aid administrator who has been out of work since being laid off last new year's eve. >> thanks for joining me. explain to all of us over this last year in 2013, what have you been doing to try to get back into the workforce and describe the kind of challenges that you've had to face head-on? >> well, i would probably say i do -- i think what most people are doing. i respond to ads in numerous

places, although the game has changed. i am with two different state agencies that have career, counseling, resume updating, networking. you know, different ways of improving your chances and odds of finding employment. i'm on a lot of feeds, you know, through my email system specific to my profession. >> right. >> and that's pretty much what i've been doing. >> all right. so you're remaining in the field, trying to network as you're pointing out to look for the opportunities that are out there. >> as we look at the benefit, though, and explain to everyone watching, the average monthly benefit is about $1,166. as we come across stories like your, we are also learning that the people who are about to lose their benefits are now having to deal with potentially facing homelessness. so explain what this means three days after christmas on december

28th, what losing the benefits directly means to you. >> well, it certainly means that 2014 is not looking as rosy as i would like it to look and leaves this year on a pretty sour note for myself and my family. i would like to have secured employment by now and it's not for lack of trying and it's not even for lack of sometimes the jobs that are available and i have been looking outside of my field in anything they think is relevant that i would be qualified to do. however, i particularly think that what i'm finding is in my case, as well as a lot of my friends that age certainly plays a role in be on take employment and i think the middle-age group, blue collar, white collar, it doesn't seem to matter what type of work you do, it is a little bit more challenging than if you're 25 or

30 years old. >> from the perspective of the more the time slips from when you last were employed, do you feel the traction of your relevance in the workforce slips? and that has to really hurt your professional ego as well as your personal ego. >> yes. i would definitely say that that's right up there. the longer you're unemployed, the longer you are doing anything of meaning as far as your career, your work. it takes its toll and you do feel irrelevant. you feel displaced and you feel not connected to society as a whole. >> aliciaes in bit, thanks for coming on and talking to us. i hope a lot of colleges were tuned in to see you right now. they've got your name and they know you're out there on the network, and i hope someone reaches out for you and i hope 2014 is a much better year than 2013. >> thank you very much. >> absolutely. coming up, a georgia congressman thinks low-income

students should work for their free school lunches. is this another republican move in the so-called war on the poor in we'll put the agenda panel out on that one. first, bonnie blair, the olympic speedskating champ is now on the delegation to russia. the message she hopes to send to the russian government. we welcome bonn tote show coming up next. [ female announcer ] arms were made for hugging. hands for holding. feet, kicking. better things than the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis.

if you're trying to manage your ra, now may be the time to ask about xeljanz. xeljanz (tofacitinib) is a small pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers have happened in patients taking xeljanz. don't start taking xeljanz if you have any kind of infection, unless ok with your doctor. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests, including certain liver tests, before you start and while you are taking xeljanz. tell your doctor if you have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you are pregnant, or plan to be. taken twice daily, xeljanz can reduce the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe ra, even without methotrexate.

ask if xeljanz is right for you. [ ding ] i sense you've overpacked, your stomach. try pepto to-go. it's pepto-bismol that fits in your pocket. relief can be yours, but your peanuts... are mine. ♪ ♪ hark how the bells, sweet silver bells ♪ ♪ all seem to say throw care away ♪ ♪ from everywhere, filling the air ♪ [ female announcer ] chex party mix. easy 15-minute homemade recipes you just pop in a microwave. like caramel chocolate drizzles.

happier holidays. chex party mix. happier holidays. but then it goes that to the closet...to die. so try new glow unstopables. they fill your closet with scents so fresh they last for 12 weeks! downy unstopables. try with downy infusions. we want to take you to breaking news. the courthouse. there was a man outside of the building with a gun, a local reporter there for wbal mel melser had tweeted that the man in question had what looked like a gun up to his head and the man was sitting on a park bench and this man has been taken into custody and that bag in reference there was left on the scene. the police haven't confirm ded tails of the bag.

these evacuations taking place at the federal courthouse in downtown baltimore on lombard street. we'll keep an eye on that for you. the future of the a & e hit show "duck dynasty" after one of the stars was suspended after making remarks about gays and african-americans in an interview with gq magazine. >> start with home sexual behavior and morph out from there, beastiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and these men. he goes on to say they won't hinnerity the kingdom of goode. it's not right. in speaking about race and growing up in the south, african-americans were happier under jim crowe. pre-yeen titlement, were they happy? they were happy. no one was singing the blues. a & e said it's disappointed and since his suspension some have

come out in robertson's defense including louisiana governor, bobby jindal and sarah palin. palin posted this picture with the dynasty cast on the facebook page with the caption, those intolerant, hatinging and taking on the duck dynasty patriarch for voicing his personal opinion are taking on all of us. okay? so this brings us to today's big question. do you think a & e went too far or did it go far enough for what robertson said. robertson has the right to free speech, but free speech comes with consequences. his employers have the right to do what they want. david said i'm against bigotry and ignorance, god made home sexuals and if people have a problem with that it is their lack of faith. it has the right to suspend phil just like phil has a right to say what he said. case closed. the conversation continues. so include your comments for us on facebook or tweet me at

thomasaroberts. in what many are calling a blatant opposition about russiay's anti-gay laws to the upcoming winter olympics in russia won't include president obama, a member of his family nor will it include a member of his cabinet, but the delegation will include two openly gay athletes, tennis champion, billie jean king and caitlin cahow, and here is what caitlin said this morning about the perceived snub on the "today" show. >> i think the president has been very open about his feelings about russian policies and he's been very open about his feeling about lgbt policies here at home. i'm going to sochi representing country that has made the most dramatic shifts on these issues in the last few years and i'm very proud to be representing that kind of diversity. >> joining me is another member of the u.s. delegation to sochi and six-time olympic speedskating medalist bonnie blair. it is great to have you with me

and you're the most decorated woman in olympic history and it's a huge honor and now you are named one of the delegates that will be headed to sochi. how did you fine out about it? >> actually, i got a call just only this last sunday, and it happened all very quickly. i actually had the opportunity to represent the united states in the same capacity in the vancouver games in 2010 which to me it was a great honor. it was, you know, just another way to be able to represent my country and then also be there at the same time and be able to cheer on our team which was definitely very thrilling and exciting for me. >> we're certainly very excited about the games coming up. in reference to this delegation, the white house said it wanted the delegation to represent the best of american diversity and it show cases world class american athletes like yourself and it's also including athletes

who are openly gay. so obviously that flies in the face of russia's anti-gay laws. do you support the choices of this delegation and the political reason why the president is going to avoid going? >> um, you know, i really don't know all of the specifics about -- i wasn't told anything in regards to why the president wasn't going or -- i just kind of, probably like you, got a list of people that were going and one of the people that's going is a fellow speedskater, eric hyden, and i think it's always good to have a group of well-rounded people there, and so to me, i just look at that time as it's definitely another way to represent my country which i'm very proud of. so, you know, yes, i was there as an athlete for four timesoly another role, and i hope that i'm able to, you know, stand up and -- and bring that great

americanism to russia, and be able to cheer on our team which i think is really the main focus of the delegation going to the olympics anyway. >> well, as one of the finest examples of what america has to offer in sport, we are excited that you're a part of the delegation and you will be an inspiration for all of those on the american team. bonnie, thanks so much for joining me. i appreciate it. >> okay. thank you. >> absolutely. you can watch all of the olympics on our nbc station. we have breaking news we need to pass along to you right now. a judge has ruled that a detroit-area man who admits shooting a young woman on his porch will stand trial for second-degree murder. the man has claimed that the killing of rennisha mcbride was in self-defense. we will get reaction to this major development coming up after a quick break so stay with us. hoo-hoo...hoo-hoo.

hoo-hoo hoo. 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.

before using her new bank of america credit card, which rewards her for responsibly managing her card balance. before receiving $25 toward her balance each quarter for making more than her minimum payment on time each month. tracey got the bankamericard better balance rewards credit card, which fits nicely with everything else in life she has to balance. that's the benefit of responsibility. apply online or visit a bank of america near you. all right. more now on the breaking news

where a judge has ruled a detroit-area man who admits shooting a young woman on his front porch will stand trial for second-degree murder. the man has claimed the killing of renisha mcbride was in self-defense. jamil is a writer for the daily beast and jordy taylor is a columnist and msnbc contributor. goldie, let me start with you on this because i know this is something, a case that you've been following since the very start of it. bring us up to speed because i know the family had been patiently waiting and waiting for the district attorney's office to come forward with charges and now we have this development. >> you know, i think the family in this case has been -- they really have to be commended because all they asked for is a thorough investigation and if that will would warrant charges that that would go forward. what they wanted was the truth about what happened to their daughter. it looks like they're going get it. probable cause here and it is a very low bar in which you have to show that there is just a

decent amount of evidence that shows that wrongdoing may have occurred and prosecutors clearly did their homework and clearly met that bar and that this case is going to trial. >> okay. jamel, let's just remind everybody, this was an incident where this young woman had been involved in an accident after a night of drinking so she was allegedly drunk, had stumbled on to this man's porch. the man being theodore wafer who approached her with a shotgun. >> she had knocked on the door repeatedly asking for help. as far as what we know, wafer shot through his screen door at her, killing her, and i believe the blast hit her in the face. it's actually quite similar to a case earlier this year in september, north carolina with jonathan farrell, a young man who also got into a car accident and gone to a nearby house. in that case, the woman at the house called the police and

reported a robbery in progress and called the police. those are the basic details of this and as with the farrell case, i think this galvanized a lot of people, and raised questions or forced questions about the the relationship, young african-american people have to strangers and the ambiguous circumstances. >> this happened on november 2 rnd. renisha was only 19 years old. the man in question here, theodore wafer will be tried on murder 2 and manslaughter charges. do you think the the district attorney's office is setting the bar too high? >> i actually don't think so. this particular district attorney has a reputation for taking her time, for getting cases right and locking up the facts. so i think the charges, i think in this case, they really have met this right at its point of need. this young woman's face, the

wound to her face was the length of the side of her face. literally he blew off this child's face and clearly she wasn't trying to break into his house and clearly she wasn't adverse aerial and she was just discombobulated and she was in no way being aggressive toward anyone that night. he will have a difficult time showing this was a case of self-defense. yes, michigan is a doctrine state. yes, it is a stand your ground state, but there are legal bars that you have to leap over to get there, and i just don't know that this young man has it, that this gentleman has it. >> certainly, there might be a zimmerman effect and michigan being a stand your ground state, but the defense attorneys say that wafer claimed he feared for his own life. however, with the judge moving forward on this, at least in this capacity, the argument was made from the prosecution that there were other reasonable alternatives. >> right.

and i think that wafer will have a very hard time showing that he felt threatened or that this was -- the shooting was a reasonable response to the situation. i know, the standard rate is that we have to -- he has to show that a reasonable person with it similar to him and given that he was behind this door and it was a lock and that witnesses say that the victim was not belligerent, not dangerous. when you add all of those things together it seems really difficult or unlikely that he'll be able to prove that, yeah, a reasonable person would have shot someone at their door. >> this will move on as the judge is saying the prosecution has met its burden of proof to see this go to trial. more to come from this on the renisha mcbride case. great to see you both. thank you. >> thank you. >> absolutely. coming up next, it's a dead heat in kentucky, republican mitch mcconnell on the left could face a very tough reelection bid against the woman

on the right. we'll dig into the campaign and today's senate showdown and selfie earned the title word of the year. later we'll look at "time" magazine's famous selfies and other memorable pictures of 2013. first, we have today's producer's pick and it comes from myself. i'm very proud. profoundly proud to have recently moderated a u.n. panel called sport comes out against homophobia. jason collins, tennis starmart ina navratilova, joined us on human rights week, and they shared their messages of hope. >> i'm really thankful for all of the people who have reached out to me. >> when jason collins came out this year he got a phone call will from president obama congratulating him 1991 president reagan was in power, so i did not get that phone call. we've come a long way. you can watch the entire video

by heading to my facebook page. but a fresh sheet of bounty duratowel leaves this surface cleaner than a germy dishcloth. it's durable. and it's 3 times cleaner. so ditch your dishcloth and switch to bounty duratowel. it's durable. and it's 3 times cleaner. i dbefore i dosearch any projects on my home. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. [ 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 than exxonmobil. because using energy responsibly has never been more important. energy lives here. ♪

i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is.

all right. so we continue our series on the top senate races to watch in 2014. today we're looking at the senate showdown in kentucky. minority leader mitch mcconnell is embroiled in one of the closest races in the country as he fights for his sixth term. mcconnell who is the bluegrass state's longest serving senator faces a primary senator by matt bev in, but the latest poll shows that mcconnell and kentucky secretary of state democrat alison lundergan grimes is in a dead heat. her campaign has gotten a fund-raising boost from democratic backers nationwide while mcconnell faces higher disapproval numbers following the government should thedown. joining me now is james carroll from the courier journal. >> good to see you again. >> i was looking at the poll numbers on all of this and it does demonstrate mcconnell is leading the tea party challenger and mcconnell is only leading grimes by a single point and the

same poll finds his approval rating is very low with voters. what are the major factors in his disapproval and do you think that he can rebound through 2014 in november? >> that latest poll didn't go too much into why people felt that way other than, you know, they asked about preferences. i think the number to take away is 31. that was mcconnell's positive job approval rating and that is also barack obama's positive job approval rating in kentucky where of course, obama lost in 2012 by 23 points. when obama and mcconnell have the same job approval rating, there's obviously a warning sign for the mcconnell camp. mcconnell's been around a long time and he's already been subject to a barrage of ads both from -- he's had matt bev ingo after him and he's had other groups who are against mcconnell going after him and the race has

been almost in full flower during 2013 and it's about to intensify in 2014. >> i want to show people this, because mcconnell stayed out of the shutdown fight until harry reid and he came together on a deal and that's something matt b bevin has criticized him for. take a look. >> he calls himself a proud guardian of gridlock. he's blocked the senate over 400 times, and then voted to shut down the government, hurting kentucky's economy mitch mcconnell can't light the house on fire, then claim credit for putting it out. >> so mcconnell's campaign, they responded to the grimes ad with this one. take a peek. >> ultimately gridlock is not good for the market. >> panic, gridlock. >> gridlock is about inaction. >> gridlock and games.

>> minority leader mitch mcconnell helped pave the way on this. >> perception is reality and these two ads paint a completely different picture and we're seeing a little over ten months away and do you think the shutdown will still be a major factor in november or do you think it will be more of bevin being able to paint the corner for mitch mcconnell coming from the other direction about the affordable care act and the success that it's had in kentucky. >> those two ads are sort of a microcosm over what will happen over the next five months. mcconnell will have plenty of money for his own ads and he's got the most money of the three and he'll spend it, no doubt. he's being knocked around from the right and from the left for whatever role he did or didn't play and it was the crisis of the moment. so he's got that problem that he'll have to obviously address and he is addressing. you know, he's basically

depicting himself as somebody who is a leader and has influence and he's shifting a lot of the conversation to talk about obamacare which he says is a national disaster. of course, democrats are countering in kentucky by saying that implementation of that health care reform law is going very well in mcconnell's own home state. >> yeah. that will be a big debate, of course, and that will be one of the early, central issues in this campaign during the primary. >> it's a hot one to watch. james carroll with the courier journal in louisville. great to see you. merry christmas. >> you, too. thank you. >> thank you. the president has picked his choice as ambassador to china. it's time for the "poli side bar." if confirmed by the senate, baucus will replace gary lott who will step down next year. former massachusetts senator scott brown, tonight brown will headline a gop holiday party in new hampshire. brown recently said he plans to

move to the granite state fueling talk he is considering a senate bid against democratic incumbent jean shaheen. and a new netflix documentary called "mitt" follows the romney family through election night. it gives an exclusive glimpse into a personal side of losing the campaign. >> how in the world do we find these things out. >> he hates to disappoint. >> are you going to iron that? seriously? >> ouch! >> this may not end well. >> i have looked at what happens to anybody in the country who loses as a nominee of their party. they become a loser for life. >> that's from the documentary "mitt." and california congresswoman loretta sanchez is out with her annual and entertaining holiday card. she is seen posing with her husband jack in front of disneyland. the back of the picture of her husband calling him naughty and includes a picture of her late catch sanchez. they went to the happiest place

on earth because she wanted this year's card to be uplifting. ♪ ♪ zy? yep. got all the cozies. [ grandma ] with new fedex one rate, i could fill a box and ship it for one flat rate. so i knit until it was full. you'd be crazy not to. is that nana? [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex.

so attention target shoppers, your credit or debit card information may have been stolen. target confirming about 40 million credit and debit cards may have been compromised at its stores nationwide. now, the retailer says the data breach took place between november 27th, the day before thanksgiving, and then december 15th. so that's a wide swath there. target also says online customers, they were protected, not affected by this. well, 2013, it's going to leave us with some very memorable images. a collection of photos capture the highs and lows this year. many featured in the special issue of "time" magazine out today. labeled appropriately enough, the year in pictures. joining us to talk about pictures and how they were

selected, "times" edit editor-at-lar editor-at-large. great to have you here. what a year it was. hard to believe it's gone by so quickly. >> absolutely. >> one of the big stories of 2013 was the continuation of arab spring and images of people burgeoning and desire for democracy. >> we saw some of those in issue. this is a picture of a protester in turkey. he was being overcome by tear gas. as you can see, he had no protection. he was waving the flag and protesting islamic forces in the country. he would collapse from tear gas and get back up and wave the flag again. it's a beautiful photo, the color, the way the flag waves out. that's why we chose it this year. not just the importance of the event but the inner beat of the photo. >> what do you think it is, the

photojournalist that has more than a video. >> it is i think he it captures that one moment. there's a couple in the bangladesh factory that collapsed. they are embracing. that i think of all the images that came out this year, that image because they are embracing and we couldn't trace where they were from, that image drew more emotion than many of the videos you can see. >> certainly one that captured all of our attention and certainly our taste for justice was tsarnaev. >> right. >> that image. you can see the sniper's red laser do the. >> on his head. >> emerges from the boat where he had been hiding. >> this is a particularly interesting image if i can cut in, this was shot by the police photographer shawn murphy. he would not normally be allowed to release this photo but he was

so incensed by the cover of the rolling stone magazine, he wanted to show what a terrorist this guy looked like so he gave these photos away and had to resign afterwards. >> no glamor. >> zero. >> that was a big theme of the images we've seen over the years. >> this was a bush fire in california. we love this photo it's so beautiful but it's so destructive and deadly. this is a very old oak tree that had caught on fire. as you can see all the great kind of lines of fire that are coming out of it, it just burned and burned. it's almost biblical in that burning bush way. very destructive wildfire. >> the ember streamers around it. >> it's amazing. >> last but not least, the selfie, 2013, year of it. >> huge years for selfies. it seems like we're less interested now in taking a photo than being in a photo we took.

this, of course, was probably the selfie of the year, featuring a pope. this guy was in st. peter's and the guy wandered by, asked him to pose and there you go. they are sort of crowding him out of the photo a little. >> we know it's francis. obviously a lot of smiling faces there that were excited to run into the pope. how very modern of him. >> it's a example of the kind of pope he's going to be. >> fromtime magazine, happy holidays to you. thank you. >> see you back tomorrow 11:00 a.m. eastern time. we'll talk live with congressman charlie rangel. this afternoon he's making an announcement about his political future. we'll ask him about that. don't go anywhere. "now" with alex wagner up next. >> hello, thomas. happy holidays to you. >> you, too. we're live in washington with a look at new task force findings on nsa and president obama's holiday homework. we will discuss the future of

privacy and surveillance state with deedee myers, eugene robinson, katy kay and josh green. plus there's a new sheriff in the white house. is john podesta the man for the job of reviving president obama's second term agenda. "the new york times" mark leibovich joins us for a look at john mccain's ongoing metamorphosis and what it important tends for the grand old party. all that when "now" starts right after this. helps defend against these digestive issues... with three strains of good bacteria. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'.

[ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. stick with innovation. stick with power. stick with technology. get the new flexcare platinum from philips sonicare and save now. philips sonicare. homework to take care of. it's thursday december 19th and this is "now" live from washington, d.c. two days after a federal judge ruled nsa's bulk collection of america's phone data almost certainly violated the constitution, a white house review board released over 300 pages of recommendations urging

46 specific changes to the way the u.s. collects data on its citizens. press secretary jay carney said president obama will review the recommendations and address them in a major speech come january. >> we need to make sure we're not gathering intelligence solely because we can but because we must, because we need it in order to achieve the objective of protecting the united states, allies. >> the report, giving it to phone companies, third party with government access to the phone data should only be granted with a specific court order. the court also called for reforms to the fisa court, an advocate to argue against the u.s. government. it recommended creating an approval process including signoff for spying on foreign leaders. and it suggested a