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after revealing millions of customers' credit card flubs were stolen. the president reacts to tough questions in his year end news conference. how did he respond and what's he saying about 2014? hello, everyone. it's just past high noon in the east 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." we start with a giant storm system threatening holiday plans for millions of americans all expected to take to the roads or the air this weekend. parts of the midwest are already feeling the brunt of it. well, the storm is expected to dump of heavy snow from oklahoma to wisconsin. there's even the threat of tornadoes from texas to tennessee. so the question how will it affect you? the weather channel's dr. greg postell is here with the latest forecast. hey, greg. >> thanks, alex. a big winter storm is moving across the middle part of the country with ice storm warnings and winter storm warnings all across that section of the

nation. including kansas city where we expect significant snow and that will likely move northeastward from there. we can track it. that area shaded in blue that's where it's going to be snowing overnight tonight. there's the time, 8:00 9:00 snowing hard in kansas city and places in southeastern iowa and southern wisconsin. chicago, you're right on the edge. looks like the heaviest snow swathe will be to your north where we think a 5 to 8 inch ban will set up between milwaukee to kansas city. chicago all in all, about an inch associated with this winter storm. tonight and tomorrow turns into a big ice storm. in new england, these areas in darkest shades of pink will likely see perhaps as much as one inch of accumulated ice that will down power lines and lead to power outages and significant travel troubles. now, let's time it out beginning later on this afternoon and overnight tonight. this area shaded in pink that is the freezing rain.

so rain coming down and freezing on contact with places like watertown, burlington and bangor, maine, all below 32 degrees all the way through the night and tomorrow morning. things gradually ease up later in the day tomorrow with temperatures by sunday night getting finally above freezing. maybe some melting coming back be into play after all the isaac calculates tonight and tomorrow. back to you. >> thanks so much. new action this weekend by targeting to ease fears over that huge credit and debit card security breech. the retailer is extending 10% employee discount to shoppers starting today. but many questions remain unanswered and customers remain angry. >> scares me to death because i shop at target almost are daily. >> sunday i was just looking at my account information and saw that there was some large purchases on there. so i canceled the card and actually, i didn't hear about this till my mom told me this

morning. so i went and got cash before i came. >> joining me now reporter jane o'donnell who has been covering the target story. first off, jane with a welcome to you any new insight into who did this and how? >> i think it's going to take probably a couple of weeks for the company to even get to the bottom of it. but i will say that what all the experts i've talked to say is that it likely is kind of an inside job but when you sapt inside job involving a retailer like such a large retailer it could be a third party contractor. there are so many people that have access that are maybe writing and maintaining the software or involved in the hardware. it could be an inside job anywhere. one funny line one of the experts i was talking to, i said what kind of people do this because it's become big business. he said it's kind of like picture a 209 something genius with too much time on his hands drinking diet coke and playing xbox. that's not too far off the mark are. >> look at target which says

there's no evidence so far of widespread use of the stolen cards by thieves, but is it too early for that? can anyone calculate how much money has been stolen so far? >> i don't think not right now they can't. but you know i think almost everybody i know it's happened to. my debit card number was stolen recently. it's scary. it's annoying because particularly if they immediately want to replace your card. that's the real dilemma with target when you get to the idea of, oh my god, what would happen if all these people had to have their cards canceled. they wouldn't even get new cards by christmas. that's where the scariness is. people would be reimbursed and won't have to pay for reasonious charges, any fraudulent charges but it's still such a pain in the neck with just a few days before christmas. >> absolutely. the question is my director had a full screen up there and it showed the dates this happened. apparently it all took place between november 27th and december 15th. >> i know. >> why didn't target pick up on

this sooner? >> well, do you have to wonder exactly when did they pick it up. i didn't see -- they say they notified customers as soon as they found out, but you know as any reporter who has covered companies for years, just as soon as often can be days. you go geez people should have been warned a few days earlier. a lot of times companies don't even announce this. it doesn't come out. we've heard of the big ones aldi and michael's and stop and shop but can you imagine how many others there are. i've been hit three times in two years. goodness knows, i've had two credit cards and one debit card it's probably gas stations i'm told. i'm being real careful at gas stations. >> when i was asking about where had money's gone and who has stolen it here's what noted security journalist brian krebs is writing. credit and debit accounts stolen in a recent data breach at target have been flooding underground black markets in recent weeks selling in batches

of 1 million cards going from anywhere from 20 bucks to $100 per card. so if that's true does this help this kind of information help officials do anything to put a halt to it. >> you would hope so. that kind of information is very valuable and it's something that should remind people check your statement constantly because they could immediately two days after black friday people were charging on my card at a wal-mart in georgia and albertson's in california. my credit card company got on it really quick. but i should have been checking too because i tried to check almost every day because you really do never know these days. >> it's important. i called it to balance accounts or whatever and the credit card companies are saying let us know. they've specifically cited what happened at target. let them know if you think you have problems. >> let them know and target. >> absolutely. what can you do to protect yourself? i mean if you went to target during these critical days. >> really there's not much you can do other than watch your statement. you could -- and also if you

used a debit card watch your checking account. you know it can be hard because sometimes you might not know exactly what's showing up. you can ask a question. you can call the bank and make sureful something isn't clear what you bought because we're shopping so much we might forget what we bought. that's the best safeguard, just being very careful. going forward, i personal liam thinking twice about using my -- certainly i'm not using my debit card at a gas station anymore. those are wide open so they can put devices on them and read all the numbers. atm machines too. >> maybe cash is the best way to go. jayne o'donnell, thanks so much. president obama is in hawaii right now for the holidays. before leaving washington he held his final news conference of the year. he addressed several key issues including the difficult roll out of the obamacare website. >> despite all the problems despite the website problems despite the messaging problems, despite all that, it's working.

and again, you don't have to take my word for it. we got a couple million people who are going to have health insurance just in the first three months despite the fact that probably the first month and a half was lost because of problems with the website and about as bad a bunch of publicity as you could imagine. and yet, you still got 2 million people who signed up. >> the president tackled criticism of the nsa surveillance program and said no domestic data has been abused. he would soon announce reforms to the program following an outside review board's report. >> i have confidence in the fact that the nsa is not engaging in domestic surveillance or snooping around but i also recognize that as technologies change and people it can start running algorithms and programs that map out all the information that we're downloading on a daily basis into our telephones

and our computers, be that we may have to refine this further to give people more confidence. >> the president defended diplomatic engagement over iran's nuclear program and said there's no need for more sanctions right now while there is an interim deal in place freezing the program. >> i've been very clear from the start. i mean what i say. it is my goal to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon but i sure would rather do it diplomatically. i'm keeping all options on the table. if i can do it diplomatically that's how we should do it. i would think that would be the preference of everybody up on capitol hill because that sure is the preference of the american people. >> well, the president also hailed news that the economy grew at a solid 4.1% annual rate from july through september while highlighting recent gains in the job market. >> this morning, we learned that over the summer our economy grew at its strongest pace in nearly two years. the unemployment rate has steadily fallen to its lowest point in five years.

our businesses are positioned for new growth and new jobs. and i firmly believe that 2014 can be a break-through year for america. >> new reaction to those tough questions faced by the president in a moment. also, a critical space walk under way right now. why the astronauts are using snorkels. and later on he fought the law and the law one. you'll hear the author of i got myself arrested so i could look inside the justice system.

how are things with the new guy? all

we do is go out to dinner. that's it? i mean, he picks up the tab every time, which is great...what? he's using you. he probably has a citi thankyou card and gets 2x the points at restaurants. so he's just racking up points with me. some people... ugh! no, i've got it. the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn 2x the points on dining out and entertainment, with no annual fee.to apply, go to citi.com/thankyoucards the fact is it didn't happen in the first month. first six weeks in a way that was at all acceptable. and since i'm in charge, obviously, we crew screwed it up. >> and that was a bit more from president obama talking about

the difficulties with the obamacare website roll out in a year end news conference. joining me white house reporter for "the washington post" david nakamura. i'm glad you're here. david, to you first. the president covered a lot. what struck you the most? >> this is a tough year for the president, obviously. that was one of the big themes of this conference. the president in the clip you played on health care took a lot of his lumps. the but the question is looking forward after such a tough year. he didn't enact much of his agenda at all. what kind of signals is he going to accepted to the press conference how he might do that in 2014. he didn't reveal a lot of new strategies and if anything gave lip service to trying to work with congress on immigration. even yesterday, the president says if we can't work with congress, we've got to find ways to move our agenda as best we can, executive actions and orders. he he's brought in new white house counsel to work on that strategy. even as they try to work with

congress i think you'll see this white house push forward. these are smaller actions, not going to give him the sweep he wants. they're going to try to put congress on its heels on immigration and some of the jobs bills to make them say no and put the pressure on them as we get to the election cycle at the end of next year. >> how about you, how would you assess the news conference and what was your biggest take away? >> it was clear the president wanted to tee up to a new year to as he said could be a break-through year for him both on the economy. even though it's going to be a big test on health care. a lot of people will start getting health insurance january 1st. we'll have to see what they get in return. does that work well, does that work poorly. that's going to be a big hurdle for him. he took a lot of questions on the nsa. i think that was interesting. he talked about coming back early in the new year after the break, possibly putting together reforms. he talked a lot about that. he's under pressure to make a move based on the

recommendations of this panel he appointed. they want more than 40 changes they recommended. that will be an important thing for him that is going to clearly go into the new year. >> he in terms of specifics, david, the president also called on congress to extend unemployment insurance when it returns from the holiday break. take a listen to what he said. >> i think we're a better country than that. we don't abandon each other when times are tough. keep in mind unemployment insurance only goes to folks hog are actively looking for work. when congress comes back to work, their first order of business should be making this right. >> runs out a week from today expires three days after christmas. david, how likely is it congress is going to act? >> the congress has just struck the budget deal and, of course, this piece is not in there. the question is how do you pay for this. this costs up to $25 billion to extend it for a year. they did it last year. they're talking now about doing a three-month extension and there are some signals from republicans, some republicans they'd like to do something.

i think again the question is how do you offset that with other savings. this new budget agreement doesn't do a lot to bring down the debt like people hoped for a bigger deal. i think republicans will have to push back on any kind of thing that adds new spending. so i think there is some likelihood it could happen because there's a lot of places in the country where people are still hurting and there's going to be pressure on congress to do this. there are signals some might join with democrats to push something forward. the white house is going to make this along winning harry reid in the senate their number one priority when the they get back. >> daf, listen to one of the questions the president was asked. >> when you look back at this year, very little of the domestic agenda you outlined in your state of the union. health care rollout obviously had huge problems and your ratings from the public are near historic lows for you. when you take this all together has this been the worst year of your presidency? >> ouch. that's kind of a tough question. how did he handle that question

and everything in general? >> i thought he handled it pretty well. his poll numbers are low, it has not been a good year for him and congress. we're heading into the midterms now. there's a lot ofnings that congress needs to do, whether or not they're actually going to work and pass legislation that members of congress can run on in 2014. that's going to make a difference. one of the issues about the question that he got was, how little he was able to accomplish, and i think one of the main reasons was we had a government shutdown this year. we had a congress that was completely blocking any kind of legislative attempts at putting forward a workable agenda. so i think, you know that is what happened. great measure this year and the president has to do a better job working harder with congress to figure out a way to get things moving next year. >> what about the economy, david? because the president, did he get a boost from those revised figures showing that it grew more than usual? >> usual. he's trying to keep whatever little momentum the economy is showing as part of his message and saying we heard yesterday before he took questions, he

read a litany of the jobs they've created this year some of of some of the growth in the economy, some of the small downticks in the unemployment rate. he said we have to do a lot more and they recognize that strongly at the white house. next year a big piece of the president's agenda you'll hear him talk about this in the state of the union is the growing divide in the standard of living and people's wealth. in the country. and so i think the white house is going to focus on the economy. they don't want things like a budget, you know debate to shut down the government. it's not going to happen now. we have the looming debt ceiling they still have to deal with and things like that. they don't want any disruptions in whatever momentum they have weather they can get big new investment spending in infrastructure and education and things they want to do is maybe unlikely with this congress. but at least no disruptions is what they want. >> dafna, what needs to happen so 2014's version of this news conference starts with the question, was this your best year in office?

>> i think probably the democrats need to keep the senate for that question to come up. >> and take the house, which you know that's going to happen but still. >> i'm not sure that's entirely in the president's control. although when he had his interview earlier last month with chris matthews i mean he urged students to vote precisely for this reason talking about how the midterms can be more important than a presidential re-election. this is precisely why because i think in order to get his legislative agenda through, he has to have a more effective relationship and more effective congress i think. >> dafna linzer and david nakamura, thanks guys. the cities that charge the most taxes to tourists in today's number ones and later on my colleagues here and n their sapt ta hats will reveal their holiday favorite tv shows as will i in office politics. be a name and not a number? scottrade. ron: i'm never alone with scottrade. i can always call or stop by my local office. they're nearby and ready to help. so when i have questions i can talk to someone who knows exactly how i trade.

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what if we could keep enough plastic waste to cover mt. rainier out of landfills each year? by using one less trash bag each month, we can. and glad forceflex bags stretch until they're full.* so you can take them out less often. i don't just make things for a living i take pride in them. so when my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis was also on display, i'd had it. i finally had a serious talk with my dermatologist. this time, he prescribed humira-adalimumab. humira helps to clear the surface of my skin by actually working inside my body. in clinical trials, most adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis saw 75% skin clearance. and the majority of people were clear or almost clear in just 4 months. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma or other types of cancer have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions

and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. make the most of every moment. ask your dermatologist about humira, today. clearer skin is possible. [ woman 1 ] why do i cook? to share with family. [ woman 2 ] to carry on traditions. [ woman 3 ] to come together even when we're apart. [ male announcer ] in stuffing mashed potatoes, gravy and more, swanson makes holiday dishes delicious. this commercial break, and the urgent space walk at the international space station we've been telling you about ended after about five hours of doing their thing in space.

nasa says it's going smoothly and the astronauts have been way ahead of schedule. so they've wrapped things up just now for the day. nbc's tom costello has been speaking with the nasa officials. so are they pleased with how it went? >> the i don't think they could be more pleased. what happened is they went into this day hoping this would be day one of three space walks. but in fact they made so much progress today there's a zing possibilities they will not have to have a christmas day space walk. which would delight the astronauts and also mission control. what they need to do and they've made great progress today they need to remove this massive 780-pound failed ammonia cooling pump off the exterior of the space station, stow that on an exterior storage platform and put a new one in. today they were thinking maybe they would be able to unplug the storage pump get everything ready and then on monday they would actually pull it out. guess what they were able to

pull it out today. so now on monday they're hoping all they have to do is put the new one in another huge -- it's about the size of a an double door massive refrigerator. so it's bulky. it's weightless up there but it's still bulky. so the big difficulty has been maneuvering this thing. and then in addition all the connecting hoses that go into this pump have ammonia in them. that's a very toxic substance. and one thing you do not want to get on a space suit. they've seen tiny flakes of ammonia coming out of their tubes. that's been a little concerning but they believe that it's been a minute amount and they've been able to move very rapidly through the chain of events they had staked out and planned out in advance. they're just now entering back into the space station and will get into the airlock, close it off. then eventually of course be able to take off their space suits and rest. i was talking to steve robinson the former nasa astronaut who is

now an nbc news analyst. did he three space walks. he says doing a space walk is roughly the equivalent of working out full-time in the gym for seven hours while playing a game of chess because it is incredibly an athletic experience to be in this bulky space suit and working so hard but then the mental calculations that are on going are quite elaborate he said. so you come out of thighs things and you are wiped. so these guys need a day down. they're going to take a down day tomorrow. they will be back in on monday to try to finish the job. and hopefully, that's it. thankfully, they did not have the problem with the water in the suit the helmet and therefore, never needed to use those snorkels that nasa engineers built and created for them. >> can i just ask, so the broken piece of equipment na sits on the outside platform does that stay there until you have a ship come up and take it down as junk or what happens to that? >> they're hoping it's not junk. they put it on a storage

platform. the station is the size of a football field. so they've got all these exterior platforms they can sit something down on it and strap it down and keep it there. in fact, the spare one, the spare pump comes from a storage platform. so now they've put the bad one on there and hoping they can refurnish it and use it again in the future. there's no space shuttle right now. you can't bring stuff down easily. so you know if they had to they could probably find a wap. it was a very big and costly mission to try to bring a massive push like that down. at the moment they're going to store it and hope at some point they can use it again. these things are very complicated and expensive. >> great story. thank you so much, tom costello. traveling tops today's number ones and the taxes tourists pay in this country. the city that charges the most in taxes chicago, where the tax on a hotel room is 6% and car rental 20%. that's half the toll for

travelers who pay just over $41 a day in taxes, $2.5 more than what you pay in new york city and roughly $4.50 than the average bill in minneapolis. warren buffett has made more than any other had this country. $37 million a day this year. as of december 11th that adds up top $12.7 billion. he's now worth just over $59 billion. bill gates has raked in about $11.5 billion at least on paper, still the wealthiest with a net worth of 72 of $6 billion. sheldon adelson just ahead of jeff base zo mark zuckerberg rounding out the top five. >> security's early. >> and thanks in part to his role this year in g.i. joe, dwayne the rock johnson tops the forbes list of top grossing actors. the films he's appeared in this

year including fast and furious 6. robert downey appeared in iron man and steve carell ranks third. those are your number ones. [ male announcer ] alka seltzer plus presents the cold truth. [ coughs, sneezes ] [ sniffles ] i have a big meeting when we land but i am so stuffed up i can't rest. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? [ male announcer ] nope. they don't have a decongestant. really? [ male announcer ] really. alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting decongestant to relieve your stuffy nose. [ inhales deeply ] alka

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." time for headlines at the half. a legal battle under way over a 13-year-old girl who braim became brain dead days after having her tonsils removed. a judge ordered the hospital to keep her on life support. doctors wanted to remove them after a declaration. both sides will be back in court monday. student organizations in southern india held protests today demanding an apology from the u.s. over an the arrest of an indian diplomat arrested last

week and released on bail after pleading not guilty to charges of visa fraud. she was strip searched and handcuffed while in custody. that case has chilled relations. one person's dead after a ten-vehicle pile-up in washington state friday just east of seattle. investigators say drivers were going too fast on those snowy roads. one week from today over a million americans will stop receiving unemployment checks when emergency benefits expire. president obama addressed it yesterday in his final news conference of the year. >> because congress didn't act more than 1 million of their constituents will lose a vital economic life line at christmastime. leaving a lot of job seekers without any source of income at all. i think we're a better country than that. we don't abandon each other when times are tough. >> joining me now is democratic congressman elijah cummings ranking member of the government reform committee. great to see you. thanks for joining me. >> good to be with you. >> here's a question. did you and your colleagues exhaust every opportunity to

extend these benefits? >> no, we should have done it alex. we should have extended benefits. you're talking about 1.3 million people as of the 2th who will not have the benefits and won't be able to do for their families and provide for them. then come the beginning of the year, another 2 million people who would have qualified for benefits had we done what we were supposed to do. so the president's absolutely right. that's got to be our first priority when we get back and because this divide that's happening in our country is unsustainable. we can't keep going like this. the rich are getting richer. middle class is disappearing and the poor are getting poorer. we can do better. >> and your constituents, how concerned are you about the impact on them? >> i'm extremely concerned because a lot of areas in my community you mate have unemployment rates up to 25 30%. in certain areas. and so people are becoming desperate. and then what makes it even more

difficult, alex is all of this is coming at christmastime. >> right. >> people want to give their children a nice christmas. they're not trying to get to disney world. they're just trying to get a few presents to so their children can experience childhood the way we did. so you know people are beginning to feel a sense of hopelessness. and that's why, alex i am so glad the president made the speech he made the other day about income inequality. but let me tell you something, they -- people now want us to act on what the president talked about. you know they've listened to the words and listened to politicians and i do believe that we can get this done. and i'm glad that the president is out there and leading. >> but is the argument for or against getting it done all about the cost? because as i understand it it costs $25 billion last year. so the question has to be asked, can the country afford that? >> the country -- the country must afford it. and the fact is as you well know alex when we give

unemployment benefits and by the way, these are earned benefits be then those people go right out and spend the money. >> it comes back. >> it comes back and employees people and it would be a jolt to our economy. right now, as you know in the third quarter, we had a 4.1 growth rate. so the stock market is doing great. but the people in the middle class on the bottom are not doing great. so we've got to bridge that gap and we need to do it fast. and by the way, this is a moral issue. and i'm hoping that what the president will do now is do what he did when he first ran. a lot of people said it was impossible for this senator from illinois to win and said that no way. but yet, still he had a tenacious campaign audacious campaign. he's got to campaign along with all of us and many others and the pope to try to get others in the congress to understand that

we're better than this. >> you combine all this with a budget most critics say doesn't do anything to address the underlying problems. so might the country need to see some sort of spending or entitlement reforms before this new budget expires in two years? >> we're going to having to take a look. you know there's been conversation about changing the tax positions. we may be able to do something there. the problem is when you do the tax policies change them and you do have savings, there's a dispute where the money, how the money will be spent. we've got to look at our policies because right now, the policies that we have overall are making the poor poorer and doing great damage to the middle class. and we can do this. and i think you know speaker boehner said something the other day that we need to take and look at carefully. when he said that there were folks that told him going against account affordable care

act they didn't know whether it would work and it didn't work. well, there are a lot of people saying unemployment won't work. they're saying minimum wage increase the minimum wage won't work. he think boehner has to begin to understand that the nation wants these things. they want people to have the unemployment benefits. they want the middle class to do better. and sometimes he may have to tell those people who have been whispering in his ear all of this austerity with regard to everything, he needs to say to them, maybe there's a better way. and our country has -- as great as it is our greatness is based on the way we treat each other. and right now it's not working too well. >> i'm curious how much you agree with the president's statement where he says look 2014 may be a better break through of a year in terms of action and the economy. but you're looking at a congressional election year. what realistically can be accomplished? >> i think a lot can be

accomplished. again, the president i think he's got to put his agenda out there and push and push hard. i believe alex with all my heart that the american people are people who are people of fairness. and there's so many people who are now beginning to feel that will hopelessness and that feeling that their children don't won't do as well as they did. i believe we do, in fact have a critical mass. i think if the president leads and all of us join with him, those of like mind we'll be able to pull people over to our side. i did not come to the congress to throw my constituents under the bus. and i haven't come to throw anybody else's constituents under the bus. we've got to lift all of our constituents up. >> what is the number one thing that you would like to see the white house focus on? >> jobs. jobs. jobs are soles very, very important. as far as affordable care act, i

think we'll fine there, that that would be number one. i think we're going to be fine there. now it's jobs. people need jobs to take care of families alex and need to have jobs to send their children to school, buy clothes and by the way, you said it a little bit earlier. if we have jobs that means those jobs earnings are being taxed. it means that people are working. it means the economy is doing better. but it does something else. it gives dignity to the people who are working. people who don't want -- people want to work. and they desperately want to work. i wish the republicans would join in and truly help us create jobs. i mean the unemployment rate right now is about 7%. i guarantee you if they just helped a little bit, it would probably be around 4. >> well, let's hope that someone's listening to you as i always do and enjoy it elijah cummings, thank you. >> happy holidays. >> some major retail chains are extending holiday hours to get people spending money in their

stores. about four days to go till christmas. julia back with our affiliate nest miami wtvj joins us from the aventura mall. are they trying to get all the deep discounts? >> they sure are trying to do the last minute deals. here's how you can tell how busy things are here. check out the santa line. lots of little ones waiting to see the man in the big red suit. things are moving along, but just a short while ago, it was wrapped around this giant christmas tree, parents taking a break from shopping. here's what's hot right now with a few days left before christmas. there's quite a famous store here called unknown but it's actually quite known. co-owned by miami heat's very own lebron james and the footwear there flying off the shelves. jordan 11s to it be specific. those disappeared in just half an hour. the line was actually going

outside of the store. and what else is really busy here this afternoon? well, the apple store looks like more like an ant farm with ipads going to be christmas presents but lots of people we've talked to moms dads and even kids tell us that last minute shopping is not so stressful. >> it's getting really packed. if you're going to do it come out early. >> if you have coupons, you go to those stores first. >> i have to do it. i have to get it out of the way. >> i already bought everything for everybody. >> so now? >> now it's just for me. >> and i have to at the you, some of those shoppers confessed they will probably end up doing the same kind of procrastinating next year. one thing to help them out hope to is that this mall will be open till 11:00 tonight. and macy's staying open even later till 2:00 in the morning, alex. >> but julia, what about the ones on christmas eve, tas are us, target kmart, based on who

you're talking to do you think these folks will be out christmas eve doing last minute shopping? >> you know, a few of the people i spoke with they told me that they are just actually starting right now. so they are expecting to maybe finish it up christmas eve. but you know what? one thing they point out, there's always gift cards. their last minute go to present. >> julia bagg thanks so much. had the long strange trip may not be over for an iconic car of the '60s. plus our super duper extra special holiday edition of office politics. hi honey, did you get the toaster cozy? 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. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth. [ sniffles, coughs ] shhhh! shhhh. [ coughs

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to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global. on the ground, in the air, even into space. we repaid every dollar america lent us. and gave america back a profit. we're here to keep our promises. to help you realize a better tomorrow. from the families of aig happy holidays. [ female announcer ] we give you relief from your cold symptoms. you give them the giggles. tylenol cold® helps relieve your worst cold and flu symptoms. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol cold®. it is the end of arrear ra for an iconic vehicle. production of the volkswagen camper van came to an end yesterday in brazil. the company is implementing stricter auto safety rules but the trip might not be over amid

reports the finance minister is looking to make an exception for the van produced there since 1957. in today's office politics some of my colleagues get into the spirit of the season and share their answers to this question what is your favorite holiday tv show. show. >> charlie brown christmas tree every time still as a little kid, pick one, pick that one. he always picked that one. so i think those things from your childhood where the anticipation of once a year you got to see it was exciting. >> the old rudolph the red nosed reindeer i watched every year as a kid. my sisters and i would watch it and pretend like we were the misfit toys on the island. >> we're a couple of misfits ♪ we're a couple of misfits, what's the matter with misfits ♪ >> so i used to have very warm associations with it and still love to watch it every year.

i've tried to get my daughter ella into it but she's like this is weird. i find it creepy. she doesn't like the an abottomable snowman. >> a charlie brown christmas special. it's like i love the show itself. it's the music though. >> the music. >> i have the tracks for that. and i play them, the ice skateing song the down beat. >> yeah, it's like -- it's a portal. i listen to that music and it takes me back to like really good -- yeah. i love that music. >> i love charlie brown. the charlie brown christmas is the best. my dad plays the charlie brown christmas on the piano. >> these songs? >> he plays it so well. so every year we always would gather around the piano. my dad would play the charlie brown christmas. it always reminds me of christmas. >> i don't like charlie brown anything. >> that's my favorite. >> i'm sorry.

i really messed up. charlie brown is my favorite. no. >> good job. >> rudolph the red nosed reindeer because claymation is a beautiful thing. >> rudolph the red nosed reindeer. >> you and craig melvin. >> the whole island of misfit toys and all the characters. that's a favorite. >> is wizard of oz holiday. >> not christmas. >> okay. >> that's good. holiday tv show. >> hmm. when i was a kid, i loved the frosty because i love heat mizer which is why i still aspire to have his hair. i'm mr. heat mizer. i loved -- wasn't it frosty or rudolph with the nose? rudolph. whatever. the heat mizer and his brother was mr. freeze meister. >> they melt frosty. >> but rudolph makes an appearance in that. is that one film? >> i kind of wonder what kind of

eggnog you were getting into as a kid. >> as a 6-year-old, i was putting them back. what will mr. freeze meister was on, that was my favorite. >> i am partial to the grinch. there's something about that. >> you're grinch. do it. >> no. it's just no, i mean there's something about that suess story that slays me. >> all good. of course, my favorite holiday tv show has always been a charlie brown christmas. i have to see it at least once every december. coming up tomorrow in office politics, the gang shares the best and worst gifts they've received and their holiday wishes for families and for you, our viewers. inside the justice system you're going to hear from a lawyer who got himself arrested and convicted on purpose. he's going to tell us what he learned next. [ female announcer ] trying for a baby? only clearblue advanced digital ovulation tests can identify your four best days to get pregnant -- two more than any other test. maximize your chances of getting pregnant.

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in a new article a former prosecutor conducted an experiment to try to prove inequities in the criminal justice system. in order to problem his point, bobby constantine note ultimately got himself arrested for possession of graffiti instruments. he wrote about his experiences and joins me now. we had an interesting conversation during the commercial. i want to talk about what technically you've already been on the inside of the criminal justice system. so first up why did you do this? >> i mean, there's a few reasons. thanks for having me. it's great to be here. i initially wanted to see what was going on inside the system. in a way that i never had before. so that was a big part of it.

the other reason is that i had worked in the system for a long time and you know where i grew up we you know viewed the police and the criminal justice system as our friends as people that protected us. they never paid attention to us unless we were doing something wrong. so when i arrived as a prosecutor in the roxbury of boston, it was a differenten neighborhood than the sort i had broken up in. and you know, i never would have believed if you had told me people were being stopped, harassed and arrested for all the things we used to do in the suburbs with impunity. so i got to the point of working in the system for a number of years and sort of banging my head against the wall in trying to sort of you know to change those things and to change what i had seen. and so eventually i got to the point where i said i need to switch things up a little bit. i need to find a better wa i. >> once you got arrested what was the most surprising thing to you? >> there were a lot of surprising things. the first being that i had expected to get arrested that night. you know -- >> it can to be you awhile. you had to go back for a few

days and take a reporter with you. >> right. i had a suit on that day because i was expecting to go right in front of the guard to paint the gate and see the system. so after that didn't happen i'm sort of sitting there at the subway station like what do i do. in this is crazy. trying day after day after day and not being successful that was probably the most surprising thing to me. i never expected to happen this way. >> this is interesting though because and as you know not everyone is singing your praises. i'm going to read from justin peter who's doesn't think it says too much about inequities in the criminal justice system. he says he interprets his inability to the get arrested at city hall as the cop's reluctance to arrest a white man. isn't it just as likely the guards were just confused by the whole situation? >> what's your take? >> well, first of all, they're nypd officers and we following this whole incident i went with friends once to walk around with signs about stop and frisk. and as soon as we arrived on scene, they had seven or eight

police officers at each gate manning the whole thing and one officer following us the entire time we were out there. soapy don't -- i think it would be a misstatement to say these are not sophisticated folks that know how to do their jobs well. if someone is vandalizing the gates of city hall they know what to do. to push back on the article, he wasn't the intended audience. justin peters is a guy that already gets it. one of the things i wanted to do and one of the things that has been amazing, i haved people that will have never been through the system people i grew up with say i went believe you went through all of this. this is crazy. >> as we were saying you were arrested. you are still paying the price for this. you are still on probation. you have to get permission to visit your family for the holidays that's out of town? >> that's right. >> was it worth it? >> because of the things that i've seen and the responses that i've received be you know going back to my friends that have e-mailed me saying i can't believe this.

i've had friends that have e-mailed that live in places like roxbury say you haven't seen anything else. to me it seems this whole thing was intended to bring the two world views closer together. i feel that's what's been happening in all the articles that have covered it. i feel that has made it all worth it. it's been something that has sort of made people aware of what's going on in neighborhoods they might not voiz have contact with. >> it's a great article. people should check it out in the atlantic. i got myself arrested so i could look inside the justice system. thanks bobby for joining me. up next to hawaii and peter alexander is with the president. is that peter live? you want to give us a wave there? nice backdrop there. >> temperatures down to 72 degrees last night. >> be quiet. we're going to break. you can tell us that later. bye-bye.

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emergency repair work. and why are more than a million americans running out of time while lawmakers are out of town in the key questions on minimum wage but will the answers ease the fiscal fears of millions of workers? good day to all of you. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." 10:00 a.m. out west. here's what's happening right now. the first family beginning winter vacation in hawaii on the heels of the president's news conference. and as promised from before the break, nbc white house correspondent peter alexander is in honolulu traveling with the president with a picture perfect backdrop. what did you say, 72 degrees? >> no, that was the low last night. it was cool. >> okay. well cool. all right, anyway just like the presidents before him, this president's trip to hawaii certainly is a working vacation. so what do you think is occupying his mind most about the work that awaits him when he

returns to washington? >> first of all, he needs time to rejuvenate given the fact that the first question in yesterday's news conference was has this been the worst year of your presidency. but as you know the, there's going to be a lot on his plate. first of all, he has the obamacare deadline on monday. that is the day they'll be keeping a close eye on the first date by which americans have to enrolled if they want health coverage by january 1st. perhaps the most significant, the president made it clear when he comes back from the vacation in january, he'll make a more definitive statement what he plans to do in terms of intelligence gathering going forward. he signaled he may halt the nsa's data collection program and move it over to the phone companies in terms of the gathering of phone records right now going forward. this would be a pretty you dramatic shift from how it was in the past. it was a pretty definitive statement he promised to have coming up going forward. it's clear as the president indicated that the environment has changed as a result of those leaksing from nsa leaker edward

snowden. he said just because we can doesn't mean that we should. and one of the other significant points the president made is the need to help sort of bring more confidence to our international allies. take a listen to the president. >> we've got to provide more confidence to the international community. in some ways what has been more challenging is the fact that we do have a lot of laws and checks and balances and safeguards and audits when it comes to making sure that the nsa and other intelligence agencies are not spying on americans. >> still in an effort to justify the surveillance programs as they presently exist, just today alex the director of national intelligence declassified some more documents specifically showing how the nsa first authorized these haas surveillance programs under president bush following 9/11. at that time the collection of data was in an effort to hunt

down al qaeda terrorists. of course, nsa is not the only thing on his plate. as soon as he gets back he faces significant challenges. one of them is to try to come to some terms over the debt ceiling once again, deja vu all over again. the president said he won't negotiate over raising the country's debt ceiling. the republicans say that's a no go for them. so it could be deja vu all over again as soon as he comes back. >> so peter just so people don't think this is some great boone doingal for you, it's a little after 8:00 a.m. and you've been up working for many hours already. thank you for your efforts. >> the buffet is terrific. >> all right. thanks peter. we'll see you again. in a last ditch effort to get people spending money in their stores, major retail chains are extending holiday hours. with four shopping days to go till christmas, what's it like in the stores and shops? we're going back to julia bagg from wtvj in miami joining us from the aventura mall.

a little bit of a different setup location. are people taking advantage of the deep discounts? >> they are, alex. i can tell you there's a little bit of elbow room. you know people shopping with their kids and looking for things like electronics, xbox has been really big we've seen taking home this afternoon. and i was just actually in bath and body works and that place is packed so is the apple store. but you know what? what i'm also seeing here is even though there's only four days left till christmas, people are not feeling so frantic. >> it's not that bad actually. i thought it was going to be worse. >> actually no. >> it's not that bad. >> leaving it to the last possible minute and then all in one day. >> how does that work? >> it's terrible. >> i thought it would have been worse. maybe later on it will get worse. right now, it's fine. >> reporter: you know one woman i talked to told me shopping this late actually gets her into

the holiday spirit. and it's something they like to do with families. as you heard some people say, they thought the mall would actually be busier. there's been some ebb and flow action here, but really if but still haven't shopped or crossed people off your christmas list you can still do it and there's still time. and this mall is open until 11:00 tonight. some stores even later, macy's till 2:00 in the morning. >> hey, julia, do you think people are shopping differently in the wake of the target credit and debit card fiasco? do you get a sense people are concerned about it. >> we asked some shoppers about that. and they told us that they are continuing with business as usual. using those credit cards, using debit cards. credit cards are popular with a lot of people because they like to get the points that can be earn them miles or other free benefits. so it's actually still

happening. and they're kind of unfazed about it here in aventura. >> julia thank you very much tore that live report. and a lot of people are preparing to hit the road for the who holiday. aaa says 94 million of us will be traveling for christmas, a half percent increase over last year. to front page politics new today, several same-sex couples in utah are rushing to get marriage. a judge struck down the state's same-sex marriage ban on friday saying the state failed to show an you loing such unions would affect opposite sex marriages in any way. senate majority leader harry reid is back home today after a visit to the hospital. it the senator's office says the 74-year-old checked himself in on friday as a precaution. doctors diagnosed him as exhausted but nothing more serious fortunately. and the democratic congressional campaign committee raised $5 million in november, the best showing in an off year november ever. and $1 million more than the

group's republican counterpart. developing now, two nasa astronauts have completed the first phase of an urgent repair mission up on the international space station, the first of three possible space walks to fix a faulty pump outside of the iss. tom costello continues to follow the latest. he's been speaking with the nasa officials. so everyone pleased what happened today? >> yeah very pleased. it was scheduled to be a 6.5 hour space walk. they got it all wrapped up in 5 1/2 hours and the good news is they wrapped everything up for much of what they had planned to accomplish for day two, as well. so they've now completely taken then bad an money yap cooling pump the 780-pound pump off the station, stowed it on a platform they can come back and fix it later, taken a replacement and now that one is ready to go. they hope on monday to stick that one in where the old one was and they'll connect everything. and they're hoping their cooling

system is back up and running. this is one of two cooling systems on board the space station that went down about ten days ago or so. as a result they've had to power down noncritical systems, some.science experiments that kind of thing. now they're hoping they're going to be able to soon plug everything back up and running again. had they lost two loops, had the second one gone down they would have had to abandon the space station. thankfully, at the moment things are going well indeed. the they're back inside the space station. it was a 5 hour 2 minute walk. the 175th space walk on board the international space station. all of these have generally gone pretty well but then there was that one case back in july in which the astronaut suddenly started having his helmet fill with water to the level he almost drowned. so that caused an immediate halt to all space walks as nasa did forensic evaluations of their space thanks of their suits rather and of their helmets trying to determine what was the problem. they think that there was

residue build up in some of the lines and it clogged the lines and therefore, water started building up in that tank and as you heard, they had to actually give astronauts a snorkel just in case the same thing happened again today. but it didn't. everything went well. the helmets remained just oxygen, no water inside. they are going to figure out where they start on monday. alex? >> yeah. >> was it just me or did you hear peter earlier say, it may be deja vu all over again, it may be deja vu all over again. he said it twice. which makes it day request ja view to the fourth power. >> i don't know exponential deja vu. >> we're going to have to call him out on that. peter? anyway, tom costello thank you very much. we're glad everything is going well so far. it's the number one campaign to watch in the 2014 election year that is what chuck todd says.

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well, the president and his family have just started their holiday vacation in hawaii. in today's weekly address, the president is calling on congress to act as soon as they return from the holiday break and extend unemployment insurance. >> instead of punishing these families who can least afford it especially now, congress should first restore that life

line immediately. then put our entire focus on creating more good jobs that pay good wages. >> joining me now, politics editor for roll call and politics reporter for "the washington post" jacquie kucinich. hi to you both. i'll begin with you sheer ra. 1.3 million people are going to lose insurance one week from today. is this shaping up to be the first big battle of 2014? is this. >> it could very well be especially when congress comes back in january. this is probably the first issue that be harry reid would like to see come up on the senate floor. but the question is even if the senate can get that still necessary 60-vote hurdle what will the house do. i think it's unlikely there's going to be a big appetite for compromise from the house. skirtives in the house are not very happy about that. >> the senate democrats say we'll try to renew all the unemployment benefits in january but what shira is saying how much opposition do you think they'll get from republicans?

>> this is a narrative we've been hearing and it's going to continue into 2014. the senate perhaps being able to get something done and house republicans not or blocking what the senate just did. we saw on immigration, we are probably going to see it on the minimum wage. so again, we're going to be talking about this just going into 2014 because republicans don't have any incentive, particularly with the midterm elections to compromise with this president. >> yeah. the president certainly had a loaded up news conference in this final one of the year yesterday. obamacare, iran nsa, spying the economy, shira, what was your biggest take away? >> that's a great question. i think the biggest take away was his response especially to the questions about obamacare. talk about bad timing the website went down again on friday morning hours before the press conference. it was interesting to see how contrite the president was in some cases and in other cases saying well, i was overseeing this it was my fault but it wasn't a full-on apology and

taking full responsibility for it. >> jackie of those things i listed, what was your biggest take away? >> what i took away was the president is tired. he's ready to go on vacation. you know he didn't really -- >> who could blame him. >> he didn't answer a lot of questions people were asking directly. he was asked if this was his worst year ever. he didn't answer that or anything about the nsa. so there wasn't much in terms of substance that he really, really said there. so yeah i think this president, the jet fuel was very much present. the smell of the jet fuel. and i think he was just ready to go on vacation. this felt a little obligatory. >> we have to also say despite it being a vacation he's not like he left his homework behind. he's going to be doing a lot of working during this vacation. shira, talking about 2014. our own chuck todd audlists the kentucky senate race as the number one race to watch. here's a poll that shows mitch mcconnell in a virtual tie with his democratic opponent there,

allison lander gan grimes. is this really a tossup? do you think mcconnell's political machine is running out of yet fuel to pick up on what jackie was saying? >> i don't think this is a toss up. stu rothenberg roll call's columnist kist recently moved the race from republican favor to lean republican. we still think he's favored to win re-election, but it is the most important race in many ways of 2014 given the challenges he faces from the right and from the left. from the right, he's facing a conservative and deep pocketed businessman who can stand to make his life you know what for the next year at least through the primary. even though he might not have a very good chance of winning, it will affect the way mcconnell acts in the senate. after the primary, assuming mcconnell wins he faces alison grimes who's shown herself to be a prolific fund raiser. >> 61% of the voters disapproving of the job he's doing in the senate. having said that jackie with a prediction here how likely is

it that the senate could tip to the republicans? >> man, it is way too -- it is way too soon to make that call because we've got a whole year of legislation that or not legislation that could affect these races. mcconnell always has a race. this is going to be so expensive. that's another thing is that you know they're going to pour money into this race. i mean i'm going to say 50/50, but you know who knows, alex. >> what about bevins? do you think there's a chance he would the get out of the primaries, mcconnell? >> i think at this point, i'm shira would probably know more than i would at this point, but it looks like bevin is going to be not be much of a challenge to mcconnell. mcconnell has rand paul behind him. he really has that tea party part of kentucky. behind him in a way that he won't have if he didn't have rand paw's support. >> shirrra, you want to weigh in on that? what do you think? >> i think jackie makes a great point. rand paul is pivotal to

mcconnell's success here. mcconnell has taken a tact to the right and we'll continue to see it through the primary in may. i still may mcconnell's going to be the republican nominee for senate in kentucky. >> shira center and jackie kucinich, good to see you both as always. out of ideas for christmas shopping? how about a ferrari for 99 bucks? some ideas for the hard to buy for person coming up next. stick with innovation. stick with power. stick with technology. get the new flexcare platinum from philips sonicare and save now. philips sonicare.

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still have holiday shopping left or if you haven't started yet, my next guests have creative last minute ideas, both emmy award winning producers of the "today" show and co-authors of today's moms and we're going to call it shoddy mom. uh-huh. the parenting guide for the rest of us. here with me lisa yar vo and mary and zellner. hi girls.

>> hi. >> it got so loud during the commercial. wow. can i just ask you, mary ann, why do people wait till the last minute? >> think about your week. last week everything you're working, you're like it will get done. i have one more weekend left and then you're like oh my gosh we have four days left. >> all the school holiday parties nonstop. it goes goes goes. so now we have time. >> okay. so let's get it to it. you have great ideas for men and women. >> men, women, stressed out worked out, overworked. just need a break into this looks good. >> you're going to love it. >> we look younger than we actually are. but i've been obsessed lately with hydrosolves. they're fun sprays. yummy smelling smell like rose and geranium. these are called evanhealy. i stray them on my face every night but my girlfriend susan, she led me into these oils, as well. so you spray a little bit of the

hydrosol on your face. then you get a little bit of oil, put it in your hand and put that on your face 24 bucks for each of them. whole foods, they're natural. >> whole foods. >> no chemicals, no crazy stuff. so look and feel as good as you can. >> okay. what is that mary ann? >> this is a wine purse, ladies and gentlemen. >> a wine purse. >> alicia will show you hows it is. >> it's grape juice, it's not anything. >> you take the wine out of the box and you have this fancy container you put it in. you'll be the hit of every single picnic when you show up with this baby. >> you bring your wine in the bag. >> absolutely. uncommon goods. it's nearlily $70. it's a must have. like kathie lee and hoda this is what i'm giving them for christmas. >> they'll load it up with the real stuff. for the kids this is for grown-ups, how about for kids? what do you have? >> i don't know about you but i love my kids to make art projects and everything else. it's like i get the crayons all

over the house and i feel like pulling my hair out. that's when my real shoddy mom comes out. this help you keep it all in line. it's basically an all-in-one art kit. you have paints crayons, have you markers, pence is. you have sharpeners everything. >> less than 60 bucks? >> 5 bucks and from gilt.com. it closes up very nicely and you put it away under your bed. it's all organized and helps your kids keep organized too. >> it's perfect for the shoddy mom because listen you want to catch up on netflix. this is a way to like go go play. you have as much artist as you can. it's great to go. >> what's with the ferraris for the guy who has everything? >> this is for the guy. they don't need a sweater or another tacky tie. for $99 on travelzoo.com, you can give them an experience of a lifetime. a ferrari ride. a lamborghini ride where they get to drive it themselves. three courses. 99 bucks. so it's ten cities across the

country. it's dallas houston, seattle, chicago, d.c. wherever. between february and august you can pick a date. $99. >> for someone like me too. >> absolutely. if you have a kid ten years and older who can't drive yet, they can be the passenger and ride with a pro. how cool is that? >> i've always probably single-handedly supported you guys. >> thank you. >> this is shoddy mom. it is the perfect book if you want to put that up. have you all different languages now. >> yeah. >> shoddy mum. okay? i don't know what that is? >> that's our czech book. >> robin. >> german. >> nice. >> this is great. >> you'll want to read it in all the languages. >> amazon.com. like 12 bucks. >> thank you. >> i'm so proud of you, my girlfriends. >> merry christmas to you. >> merry christmas. >> happy holidays. >> thank you very much. >> i appreciate you guys. happy happy. could raising the minimum wage help create jobs? the author of a new article is

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dishcloth as this black light reveals. it's durable, cloth-like and it's 3 times cleaner. so ditch your dishcloth and switch to bounty duratowel. the durable, cloth-like picker-upper. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." almost 32 past the hour. right now, 68 million people are in the path of a massive winter storm system threatening one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. some are already feeling its effects. >> it did take a little while to get here because of the rain. >> you've got to get food water and stuff sent off early. >> well, from heavy snow in the nation's midsection to ice in the northeast, even the chance of a rare tornado down south, the weather channel's chris warren joins me with all the details. hi chris. >> hello to you. this is a massive storm with multiple impacts possible. a lot of threats. just looking at the radar, you

can get an idea of both the size and what the threats are. to the north here this purple color, this is where there's the ice threat. this could lead to power outages and dangerous travel conditions. heavy rain coming through here. these green outlined areas are flash flooding. you see some of the blue that is the snow. there's also the severe threat. a closer look in northern new england where the major ice threat is going to be. a lot of flooding possible here. these green outlined areas, those are the flash flood warnings. there's also a severe weather threat for the possibility of some significant tornadoes throughout parts of the south. this is where the greatest cannes for severe weather will be throughout the day today. even if you don't get a tornado, some of these storms will produce some damaging winds with them themselves. looking at that ice threat going through the day today wintry mix and then snow. there's going to be snow ice, heavy rain and in the red, that is the severe weather threat. as far as the snow goes from milwaukee to kansas city some areas could pick up five to eight inches of snow.

and then that severe weather threat pushes farther to the east from the mobile all the way up to washington, d.c. this is on sunday. and we're still looking at that wintry weather lingering around throughout parts of the midwest and throughout parts of the northeast. but again, alex we are looking at ice, severe weather possibility for tornadoes and even some flooding. so this is a huge massive storm with possibilities for some huge impacts. >> oh my gosh and travel delays for folks at the airports and on the roads. check that out. >> big-time. >> check out the weather channel. thanks so much. appreciate that. let's go to the fight over minimum wage and a new article in the atlantic" which suggests the minimum wage may not cost jobs which some use to argue against a raise. joining me is jordan wise man. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me on. >> talk about what the president repeatedly called for. he said i want to raise the minimum wage and congress is working this through a bill in the senate. industry officials are claiming

that's going to cost jobs. what are you finding in your research? >> economists have been fighting whether or not the minimum wage ends up costing jobs for literally 100 years. first time the government studied it was 1915 that's one of the first studies we know about, and they've never -- it's still a live controversy today. it's just it depends on the way you set up your research model essentially and you've got a different answer. the reality is there's a little bit of uncertainty on this. what we do know and no matter how you do the math is even if you assume super some people are going to lose jobs because you raise the minimum wage because it makes them more expensive to hire it still in the end probably puts money in the pockets of working families. >> look we're showing video right now on the side of the screen of people out there protesting these fast food workers for the most part yet, the leaders of the chains have not had any organized meetings with representatives of these workers. have the protests been effective? >> i think they've been extremely effective in changing

the national dialogue. you know can we expect that the head of mcdonald's is going to meet with the workers and talk about union representation at franchises? doubt it. but what has it done? is it's kept the pressure on politicians and the president and you know kept attention in newspapers and from journalists like myself about these issues. and they've done a kind of masterful job on that front i this i. >> that's great. the national discourse is all here. what about legal efforts to push the ball forward? anything underway right now. >> i mean i think it's been extremely productive year for supporters of a higher minimum wage. look at california new jersey new york. you know on the national level, there may not be a lot of action. republicans control the house. but in the end states matter, too. there are 20 states that have a different minimum wage than the federal level. so there's a lot of progress being made on that front i think. >> well, you're making and citing examples of states doing their thing and making

improvements. is that what it's going to come down to, state by state decisions? >> to some degree till you have all three branches of government controlled by parties amenable to image waing it. it's going to be state level actions. states are important. you know if you can get increased wages in california that's millions of workers. >> jordan i mean how long would that take? let's face it if you have one blanket ruling coming from the federal government that's one thing. but if you've got to piecemeal it state by state. >> the holy grail for a lot of minimum wage supporters is to get an increase on the federal level to $10.10 an hour or what not but also require that it rise with the cost of living. that's their long-term goal. the president has supported that. it's something that's never been done before and partly because you know democrats like to be able to vote to raise minimum wage. it's very politically effective for them to do that. they like not having it raised on its own so they can do it themselves.

i think at this point, a lot of people are getting tired of kind of rehashing this process every so many years. >> from the atlantic," jordan wise man. thanks. president obama plans to make a definitive statement on nsa reforms next month. he addressed the controversial stale lance programs yesterday. >> we do have a lot of laws and checks and balances and safeguards and audits when it comes to making sure the nsa and another intelligence agencies are not spying on americans. we've had less legal constraint in terms of what we're doing internationally, but i think part of what's been interesting about this whole exercise exercise is recognizing that in a virtual world, some of these boundaries don't matter anymore. and just because we can do something doesn't mean we necessarily should. >> joining me now is p.c. crowley, former assistant secretary of state and fellow at

george washington university. and a really good friend to "weekends with alex witt." so the review board recommends 46 changes for the surveillance program. how far do you think the administration is going to go? >> they'll make some changes to be sure. that said you know washington has a long history of having outside reports, cherry picking a few details and the superstructure remains in place. so i mean it's long pastime, you know, to but very difficult to try to achieve a balance among privacy, security and transpatterncy. i do think that what's essential in the report is if we continue to do certain things and there are reasons to do that we've got to make sure they're much greater transparency going forward so people have confidence of what government is doing on their behalf. >> okay. yesterday, as you know iranian lawmakers threatened to increase uranium enrichment if the u.s. goes ahead with the senate's increased sanctions bill.

how tenuous is this temporary issism-month agreement in effect for like three weeks? >> it's very tenuous. what we're seeing there's a new opportunity, but by the same token, there are elements on both sides of the equation both in the united states also in iran who probably do not want to see a permanent solution to this challenge. >> should ending iran's patronage to syria and hezbollah and all the militias in iraq be part of a final nuclear agreement or is that taking it a bridge too far? >> i think the administration's right to focus right now on the nuclear issue and then on both sides see if the nuclear issue can create some confidence some momentum that may help us solve other issues. so i agree that the nuclear issue may open a door that might help us in regard to syria, but we've got to be realistic here. you're talking about 30 plus years of builtup mistrust.

it's going to take awhile to break that down. >> as we talk about tensions certainly, we have to look at what's happening with the rise of tensions in asia. china now accusing japan of military expansion. everybody else is accusing china of the same. what kind of powder keg is this? >> i mean it's a long-standing challenge over conflicting claims over a bunch of rocks. however, behind that, there's an awful lot of money, mineral deposits, energy resources. it's a pretty big deal. i think china has been surprised by the reaction to this air defense zone but in terms of at the heart of this yeah, this is a -- this is a major challenge about international water rights and a variety of other issues. it could increase in tension as we go forward. >> sure. but if this comes to blows, p. j. whom do you see the u.s. siding with? do we go with our long-time ally japan, do we go with china which

holds a number of purse strings for us? i mean financially we're so indentedin inindebted with them. >> these are complex legal issues. i don't think we're going to get to any kind of a shooting position between china and some of our closest allies. i do think cooler heads will prevail. underneath, it really prevents and broader cooperation you know by the united states by china, other countries on how to manage you know international navigation rights and other issues. so this is just a fact of life inside you know the region. that said it actually has helped to enhance the u.s. position in the asia-pacific region. you know china is being a bit of a bully in the region. that means that for japan, south korea, others they welcome the united states' role in being a honest broker in this area. >> you know but adding to the

regional mix p.j. you've got the presence of dennis rodman in north korea. does he do a disservice by going there and having this relationship? >> i don't think we should take this foo far. i mean i think we've seen the genuine face of north korea again in the. >> execution. >> conviction and execution of kim jong-un's uncle. i mean the real challenge is kim jong-un's uncle was in charge of the kim family incorporated, the guy that produced the goods that allows the kim family to continue to function and prevail in north korea. with his removal, who's going to generate the funds that allow this family dictatorship to continue? i mean but i think it just -- once again it show how tenuous and the kim family's hold is on this country. we know eventually it will implode. can't predict when but obviously, he's trying to

consolidate his power and he saw his uncle as a rival. >> okay. i always appreciate your insights p.j. crowley. thanks so much. >> thanks alex. >> the big three is not ducking the issue that's enraged conservatives and put a reality tv star out of work. my customers can shop around. but it doesn't usually work that way with health care. with unitedhealthcare, i get information on quality rated doctors, treatment options and cost estimates so we can make better health decisions. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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it's time for the big three and "today's topic"s, what about 2014? duck stops here and best week worst week. msnbc contributor goldie taylor whose column is featured every monday on the grio. msnbc contributor susan del%io and maurice reed. you guys are all regulars. anyway let's go first to what about 2014? as the preds fielded several questions at the news conference yesterday. take a listen. >> i have confidence in the fact the nsa is not engaging in domestic surveillance. we've got a couple million

people who will have health insurance just in the first three months. it is my goal to revent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. i'll be going to a lot of olympic games post presidency. i firmly believe 2014 can be a break-through year for america. >> lots of topics goldie. what struck you most? >> i think what struck me most is a lot of critical questions have been asked of this administration over the last year. including where the president stands on lgbt rights, including what would happen in terms of the rollout of the affordable care act and the critical questions around nsa and fisa. the president said we have been upon sought americanman people in every way imaginable and we'll continue to do that and that hopefully that we'll come together in 2014 with this congress and this administration and continue to deliver answers for this american publicing >> you know susan, from the a.p., first question out of the gate was whether the president was going through his worst year

here in 2013. is that fair? look at what happened here. the economy grew strongly at a 4.1% in the latest quarterly reports. millions of americans with jobs being created. there are created jobs here. wall street's at an all-time high. he broke a long-time stalemate with iran. we don't know how that one's going to end. there are a lot of accomplishments with an obstructionist congress. you can't lose sight of that. >> the biggest thing he tried to achieve or they're trying to achieve in 2013 was the rollout of the affordable care act. it has been a huge fumble. it's been known as the big lie. if you like your health insurance, you can keep it. this is going to really be a big turn for him in what he can achieve. he started off the year off right. he couldn't get gun legislation through. he should have. but he had -- yes there were some things that went right, but it was a rough year for what he wanted his agenda to be. >> but you're the republican

here. can't you meet him halfway and say okay, we'll give you that you did accomplish a lot of things this year? >> there were certain things achieved. one of the biggest take aways from the press conference is immigration reform. he signaled he was willing to break it up that he would look at legislation in pieces to try and get something through there. >> how about this maurice. the tenor of everything. reporters asked this president a bunch of tough questions yesterday. how do you think he handled them? >> it's a tough job. it's the toughest ceo job in the world. you have to understand that going through the ceo job in the world. it has been a challenging here for the president. i think going to hawaii and taking a breather i think he's looking forward to 2014. he's got momentum in certain areas, but challenges in others. and i think this is a president you know, one thing that bill clinton said it's a humbling thing to be president of the united states. so this is an opportunity, every day is an opportunity when you're president, to fix things and get it back on track.

so he has the opportunity in 2014, with some momentum because the economy is moving in the right direction, to use this to hopefully push thing in the right direction. he has to get it right. there are other things he can do to break through. it is a humbling job to be president of the united states. >> yeah. let's move on to our next topic. the duck stops here. i'll start with you, susan. phil robertson. this is the guy whose suspension from "duck dynasty" came about from his comments and gay people and african-americans. members of your party are defending this guy, should they? >> politically, i don't think there is any defending this guy. yes, he has a constitutional right to say what he wants, but he does not have a constitutional right to a reality show and that being said i think they did the right thing by moving forward quickly

and taking action. that's what almost erupted into a bigger story, is how quickly they've done it and that their sponsors haven't had a chance to react yet. >> why do these things keep happening? >> this guy doesn't merit a response from me so i'm not going to even comment on it. this country is bigger and better than one fool. this is the problem with reality shows. they're loose cannons. i'm not going to give him the time of day to address it. >> goldy? any thoughts to share? >> i have to disagree. i think it is interesting. while we have some common values, there are some places where we diverge and i think the more we have these kinds of honest and open conversations about our feelings, the more we can get to some resolution. in terms of a and e, they had a brand issue and decided to be proactive. to get ahead of audiences and

protect their identity. i support the idea that phil robertson had the constitutional protective right to say these things, but he doesn't have the constitutional right to a reality show or paycheck or anything else that comes with that. you're not free from consequences so this really is free market you know really at work. really at its best. >> do not bring the country forward. >> this is not the right thing to move our country in the right direction. >> we've got to move forward, the strip search diplomat main area getting the nod.

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the big 3 for the best and worst of the week. goldie? >> tom chris. from calgary, canada who won its biggest ever lottery and donated every cent to charity and my music for the week is

justine justine, who pete twooeted last night she was on her way to africa, but she wanted, that's what she was glad she was white and wouldn't get aids and so her twitter account has been shut down and she's off the grid and who knows if she is still director of public relations. >> that is just deplorable, that one. susan? >> senator cornyn out of texas. looked like he was going to have a competitive primary. worst week goes to pajama boy. that sums it up. he certainly got people talking. >> he did. >> morris? >> putin had the best week. he's the winner. took ukraine from the europeans and the worst week is u.s. india relationship strip search and diplomat. she's a diplomat, not a drug dealer. >> thank you so much. that's a wrap everyone. i'll see you back here tomorrow at noon eastern. up next t.j. holmes in for

craig melvin.

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nasa astronauts saysfully complete an emergency space walk. the dangerous mission going so well that the astronauts might actually get to take time off for christmas. good afternoon, everybody. i'm