a new video of warren winestein, the 72-year-old american kidnapped in pakistan two years ago looking sullen. pleading to the obama administration for help. unemployment benefits and saturday for more than a million americans. senate democrats said they will take up the issue when they return in the new year. what happens to the people between now and then? we were waiting and i kept talking and they still were not here. >> one called it the worst christmas ever.

thousands of deliveries did not make it under the tree. what the carriers and the retailers are saying and doing to make it up to customers. what a way to have christmas if you don't get your gifts. good morning, everybody. we want to start with a video perporting to show warren winestein in pakistan. >> my name is warren winestein. >> al qaeda support the 13-minute video to several western news agencies. nbc ewes cannot confirm when or where the video was produced. martin fletcher joins us live from london. christmastime. do we read anything into the release here? >> well, i suppose al qaeda is hoping that somehow the season of good will will extend to

their prisoner. they released the video to coincide with christmas and begins with the sad fis. his first words were my name is warren weansteinestein who is 7s old. he was captured from this house that you can see while working at the u.s. government contractor. in the video, he looks tire and pale and pleading for help. he is saying to obama when i need my government, i have been totally abandon and forgotten. there is no direct response from the american government, but the government said they would not negotiate with the kidnappers or anyone else who kidnaps americans. they would release him only if the us stopped air attacks in pakistan, afghanistan, yemen and somalia.

not much chance of that. >> part was addressed to get traction out of something like this besides being gut wrenching to watch? >> i don't think so. it is gut wrenching and looking at the family member and appears directly to his family members, asking him not to give up and to keep pushing and to keep his case and his plight on the agenda to keep down appealing to the newspapers and not to forget about him and to appeal to the secretary of state as well as to the president. they are watching with one voice and it's not encouraging to his

family i'm afraid to say. >> martin fletcher, thank you for that report. let's go on to the affordable care act. more confusion for the act. the white house announced another extension. peter alexander in hawaii. a nice assignment. >> a belated mele kalikimaka. it's stretching the deadline. tuesday was the drop dead deadline for which you can sign up for coverage if you wanted it january 1st. they will judge on a case by case basis. they were unable to enroll because the problems with the website. consider the wave and exactly what it looked like.

20,000 enrollments and close to 26,000 on monday alone. in california between friday and monday, more than 100,000 enrollments. roughly equal to the number they had in the months of october. a lot of pressure to have to process hundreds of thousands of enrollments in a short period of time. they have to make sure they have it by the start of the year. a lot of people are concerned they haven't receiveda form of confirmation and insurance cards. some described to me like this. january is going to be a very difficult month. consumers are going to need to be patient. one thing that can help you be

proactive and reach out and make sure you pay your premium. they you may be able to pay that until january 10th and to make sure you and your family are insured. >> peter alexander. hope you can hit the waves from hawaii. highlights the difficulty and some difficulties families are having finding insurance under obamacare. the analysis said more than half the counties that are using the federal health exchange according to the government's own definition of it. the analysis looks at middle class couples who are past the threshold for financial assistance. i want to bring in msnbc.com's economic policy reporter for "the washington post." thanks for joining us. since you are here next to me, i will start with you. the county is impacting in wisconsin and middle class is under siege in so many parts of the economy. what's your take away from this

kind of information. they are looking at the worst possible situation. they are over the threshold to get subsidies. they get no help, but better insurance. i knew lots of people and they get guaranteed benefits and it is an issue. it's a question of how many people won't get subsidies. it might be a relatively small part of the uninsured. they expected 84%. it doesn't hit a huge swath of people and the deadlines. which do you think is more of a negative news story that can stick? >> you will be forgiven if you thought that it promised everybody in america affordable health insurance.

that is not the case and won't be the case after january 1st. a large percentage the number of americans who receive affordable health care. they are abusing authority and changing the rules. the others, they are trying to do most of what they can. if it works out in the coming weeks. people get good reviews. >> it's funny because they wanted to rush to sign up and they won't get to it by the time they wanted. we are going to see more of that or ignore the dates? >> they don't think the changes matter all that much. it's not likely how many people

have heard about a-day extension. however they are saying they are worried about any changes because as you mentioned with the overall sense of confusion. we are not sure about the deadline and if it might switch. at the least that's what insurers are concerned about. >> do you think a year from now, i will ask you first. this won't be the issue. everything will be worked out and it will be about being given to more people. that was the case before and afterwards. they are owned by obamacare. if they do have the website running, they have a year to adjust to it and they should be in a better position. >> a lot of people talk about big programs in the past that had rocky starts and they became

great for the communities at large. >> if the current pattern holes it well like medicare and medicaid, it will improve and people start to like obamacare a lot more. politically, the response might lack the real response no matter what. it will be a bad thing for a lot of democrats in 2014. >> you don't think the news flow will stabilize and come up? >> unless there is major dramatic things that happen between now and march 30th, we will stabilize. the r50e8 deadline is coming in the next few weeks where they have to see the insurance they got and whether it worked for them and whether they can return from the doctors. the mix of young and old in the system. until we know that, we don't know how well it's working. >> do you agree? >> i do. i think there will be a major test as people see what they performed. the white house is bracing for it.

they have been so careful about making sure people whose plans were canceled get insurance back. >> zachary, have a good new year, guys. we appreciate you testimonyi co day after christmas. >> meeting with south sudan's president to help find a solution to the violence that hospitals say led to thousands of deaths in the past week. this follows the security council's unanimous decision to double the number of their peace keepers in the country. they report in addition to the death toll, tens of thousands have been displaced by the violence in the ongoing unrest. some were able to take a break from the conflict to celebrate christmas day and mass yesterday in the capital. sos for u.p.s. and fedex after thousands of christmas deliveries don't make it in time.

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for consumers and the companies involved. u.p.s. and fedex are scrambling to get back after packages failed to make it to customers in time for christmas. >> it was definitely a little disheartening not being able to share gifts when all the gifts were being opened. >> it's frustrating, but they are all human. they can only work so many hours. there is the weather and snowstorms. you can't predict everything. >> people wait until the last minute to order. amazon is the world promise.

gabe gutierrez and they promise they will get them there on time and they say they can get the job done. with all this happening, how did people not get the gifts in time? >> u.p.s. and fedex are blaming bad weather and increased demand due to the rise in online sales. amazon is saying look, we processed our orders on time and they are pointing the finger at u.p.s. and they are giving customers $20 gift cards and refunds on shipping. we have seen they are hitting the roads and trying to get the packages and calming the angry customers. >> when i was in cnbc and u.p.s.

they pride themselves on being able to handle volume and doing it fast. everything goes into memphis and louisville. how did they usually say weather is not an issue. how are they saying it's not their fault? >> they are apologizing and they have promise. we have seen over the last few weeks, spotty bad weather in different parts of the country. this is really unprecedented. fedex released a statement saying between the holiday shopping period which was shorter, they say between and christmas, this year fedex was projected to handle about 275 million packages. between the shorter season and americans waiting and this increase in online sales, they

didn't see it coming. >> more people ordered online and no doubt about it. that shorter shopping period made a lot more shoppers. reporting for us in atlanta. >> another court victory for same-sex marriage in the state of utah. could the state take its fight to the supreme court? we will have details ahead on msnbc. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas

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a federal appeals court cleared the way for same-sex couples to continue getting married in the state of utah. officials in the conservative state had been seeking an emergency order to put weddings on hold. >> just to have this opportunity in utah in our home state. we could have gone to california or to another state, but we live in utah and that is huge. that's huge. we are pioneers. it's so awesome. >> nbc news's pete williams

joins me from washington. the first question is what's the next step in utah for this? >> the next step is to ask the supreme court to put a hold on the judge's ruling. the way this works is they go to the circuit justice, the justice assigned to that part of country. we expect the state to do that today. she can rule out herself or refer it to the full court. technically speaking if the justice said no, they can ask the others. if said no, that's usually it. in the meantime, the question is whether the judge who struck down the ban on majors is right or not. that issue is on appeal and the circuit court of appeals will hear argument early next year. it's interesting when the 10th circuit declined to issue a state late on christmas eve, it was a two-judge panel that decided it. one of them, jerome holmes was a

pointed by president obama. huh a diversity among the two judges that decided on this. they said we think you should stay on this. there is a likelihood we will win on the merits. they didn't define that. it's a short order and they said there was a cloud of uncertainty. what knew whether the marriages being performed now, more than 7000 or 800 would still count if the ban on same-sex marriage is up held and said courts reached the opposite conclusions. they challenged the ban and said they struck down the defensive marriage act. >> there has to be a ban on

same-sex marriage marriage in utah. >> a federal judge meat the decision. here's two judges of that whole court. there is a lot of surprise a, at the ruling and they didn't grant utah a stay. >> at the bottom of the screen, they said 18 states allow same-sex marriage. it was 12 going into it and we look forward to 2014. how many states might add it next year and which ones might be first? >> it will be interesting to see whether the states that fell away first were the easy pickings. there is several court challenges pending. one in nevada. there a federal judge reached

the opposite conclusion saying the state could ban same-sex marriage. there is a high stakes case coming up in virginia. with ted oleson, one of the lawyers involved in the california proposition 8 case that got to the supreme court last year. so there will be other states that we will be watching. it's interesting. some of the 18 states allowed same-sex marriage based on a vote of the legislature and some based on court decisions. the legislative votes, the easy part of those may be over. >> we appreciate you working for us. pete williams. >> me too. purple tie day. >> right. we don't get time and a half. senate democrats said they will fight to pass a bill extending unemployment benefits, but what about the american who is lose benefits on saturday? we will have the latest on the fight next. ls each year?

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>> in days, 1.3 million americans are set to lose unemployment benefits. they are victims of the deal that did not extend them. the emergency benefits were created post recession to help workers who exhausted the state benefits. i want to bring in our strategists. alice, i will start with you. having it in the budget was a big deal for the republicans. we heard a lot from rand paul about what he thinks should happen and why it's good to not extend them. the question is what's the land for the people who have been unemployed for so long? >> the alternative is what republicans have always wanted. do more to help create jobs. we know the plan and over $25

billion. that's for more important areas. we don't need the democrats and harry reid and obama to give more money to people who are unemployed. we need incentives for private industries and business owners to create jobs and put people back to work. even the president's advisers, larry summers and paul krueger acknowledged that programs do nothing to put people back to work. they provide incentives for people to get payouts as opposed to getting a real job. that's what we need to do. create jobs. >> we debate the philosophy behind it, but specifically when we get back january 6th, are there any republicans who are not as strong minded as she is on this issue who may want to work on it? >> i'm not sure there. they are touting the research who said going back 30 to 40 years, if you have people on unemployment insurance for longer periods of time, they don't want to go back to work. that's moral hazard.

i never bought into that because what you get is underemployment. a lot of people taking part-time when they want full time jobs. the research said if we don't do the extension, it takes another 300,000 jobs out of the economy. that's not what we need. >> before i get back to allison, at what point should it run out and should at the same time should we get a jobs program welfare to work program where you can help at the same time besides cutting them a check? >> it doesn't need to go into perpetuity. we have been able to do this and have this emergency extension at a point in time when the recession as we come out and go into prosperity. it doesn't make sense to put the cart before the horse. if the economy will do better, don't cut unemployment benefits. wait until we come out and do that. it is putting the cart before

the horse and i don't think it helps the economy. >> is there a stimulus impact. billions into the economy and who knows where it goes. it could be a little bit of a slow down of the economy if something like this is cutoff completely. >> there different minds of thought and little research and data that shows unemployment is stimulus to the economy unlike nancy pelosi likes to say. these were never meant to be permanent. it was created in 1935 and expanded in 2008 always to be emergency, temporary program. now we are going from keeping it at 26 weeks, some states have up to 73 weeks. that is no incentive for people to take a job. they sit back and wait for something that may be out of their range. higher paying. we need to create incentives to take the jobs we have here and now. there have been many studies

that show and continuing unemployment that tapped into people's savings. that prevents them from purchase and invest in the future. this is not a stimulus program. >> giving incentives shouldn't be about pushing them into poverty. that's not an incentive. what we need to do is think about what's happening around the country and i think the confluence of events and the fact that there a lot of americans that have been kicked out of food stamps. again, we are talking about unemployment and states that are struggling just to get the minimum wage up a dollar or two. if you look at the events at the same time, this does nothing for the economy. >> fascinating debate. some people say how long can you call the economy a problem when we are growing at 4%? other people say we have structural issues where we may not have good jobs again. i want to bring in john har

wood, an old colleague of mine. let's go back to the hol ticks of it. they were confident they can get this as a separate issue and the republicans would let it go. is that going to happen. >> is that going to happen? >> he would win this for two reasons. the economic change that everybody feels and the labor market is getting stronger and the economy is growing more rapidly and the cost of doing this, they did a deal between paul ryan and patty murray that was 60 or so billion dollars of the relief of the sequester. if you extend the benefits for a year, you are talking $25 billion. that's not in context of the federal government, but for congress to come up for ways to pay for that, you are not going to get agreement.

the democrats are talking about this as a campaign issue and not something they expect to make happen. >> a couple of quick questions, john. they paid out what, $225 billion over the course of the problem since it was put into place. when it comes to the political side, is this going to be a house versus senate situation or will it quickly come and go? >> i think it will be republican versus democrat situation. harry reid can bring it up if he wants to. i don't think he expects to win and the white house expects to win. if you don't have that critical mass of democrats believing not only also that they have the mass to make it happen. if that's not the case, you are talking about rhetoric and not a push intended to get over the finish line. >> what happens if this is not extended? >> i think you will see more

folks on poverty. the concern that i have is i'm not sure that the democrats are going to step up as much as they should to push back on this. i think he was right. you have democrats and republicans and the leadership agreeing to this budget deal. if they don't believe that the president has coat tails on the issues, i don't think they are going to be pushing hard. my concern is that will push more people into poverty. >> last word. >> one thing that is important to note is free markets in the private sector has done more to lift people out of poverty than any program ever created. we need to promote the free markets and raising minimum wage does not allow employers to hire more people. it makes it more difficult. we ahead at to look at what we can do to help the private marks thrive and not continue to pay people to take a government

check and not a real job. >> having worked at cnbc and msnbc. that is the debate we have. real quickly since we got you in here the day after christmas, outside of this unemployment benefit, what's the first big issue to tackle after the break? it's going to be making this deal a reality. then raising the debt limit. that will be done without incident. the biggest question is whether or not immigration reform happens. it has been difficult, but republicans have a strong self interest in action on this issue for their own political futures. that preserves a chance that that will happen. >> happy holidays to all you guys. >> happy new year, guys. nsa leaker delivering a christmas message. what he had to say about mass

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nsa contractor warned about the dangers of "worldwide mass surveillance ". and compared technology to something out of a george orwell novel. snowden said a child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. the short video believed to be recorded in moscow where snowden was granted temporary asylum. he told "the washington post" he accomplished his mission and achieved what he set out to do. if you are putting out the wrapping paper in the trash bags, at 11:00 this morning eastern time, i want to speak with glen green wald who broke the story and the year both of them had and what to expect in 2014 and whether he agrees that he accomplished everything he

set out to do. tune in for that. i top the get to other news this morning. a wave of deadly violence setting egypt on edge and creating new problems. an explosion tore apart a bus in cairo. egypt's ministry is blaming islamic militants that comes on the heels of a suicide bombing north of cairo on tuesday. most of the victim were police officers and the government is declaring the former ruling party a terrorist organization. they govern egypt of behind and live from cairo. is this another manipulation on the military or are people turning more against muslim brotherhood? >> there is a ground swell across the country and a lot of

it driven by the media and the military doing the same. on the ground e egyptian people have grown more and more angry, if you will, against the muslim brotherhood for what they perceived to be not only the organization and the sympathizers and the members closely affiliated for being behind the wave of violence we have seen in the only in egypt, but the northern peninsula. there was a growing sense that they are behind this wave of violence and it is starting to grip the country and put a sense of fear in ordinary egyptians that the violence is spreading not in the cities, but becoming more widespread. >> the images on the left of the damage from the deadly violence. we have a peaceful scene behind you in cairo. give us the sense where we see

more protesting in tahrir square. there was places of a civil war. give us the sense and a scope of what's going o. >> by anyone's measure, it is expected a sense of escalation to happen in the coming weeks. the muslim brotherhood said they will not be deterred. they don't command the street presence, but they will continue to protest despite the fact that they speak publicly and participate in public demonstration and will be arrested and that creates the sense of fear that gets egypt at large. there is a growing sense of concern that more violence could be seen as the security forces cracked down against the luz limit brotherhood. >> be and see you next time. reporting live for us in cairo. let's turn to the money for

something. a great year for the stock market and if you are investing in 401(k), it has been solid. thanks to a phenomenon known as the santa claus rally. on average the s&p gained 1% in the seven trading sessions after christmas 71% of the time. joined by mandy drury who is awesome 100% of the time. >> good to see you again. >> good to see you. the santa claus rally, we talk about it in a mythical status. how real is it? will we see it happen again? >> it is pretty real. it is generally positive perpoermance that we see in the last five trading days of the year and the first two of the new year. they were discovered back to 1972 by yale hirsch, the creator of the stock trader's almanac. once investors finish selling off all of the losers and the dogs to avoid paying tap tal

gains on the winners, you see this where traders snatch up stocks. be careful. you know this and i know this. there can be low volume and it's not for the faint of heart. seasonality is on our side. >> not saying go out and buy stocks. >> absolutely. it's a pattern. >> the dow jones gained about 25%. it seems like people tend to think if it comes up, it has to come down. what is the consensus about what 2014 will look like? the retail investors are thinking wow, it looks good. i don't want to get burned again. >> you don't want to be chasing. with the dow up about 25% and s&p up 28%.

a lot of people say to replicate that double-digit gains, could be a stretch. when you have record high after record high like we have been seeing, some kind of breather might be healthy. going into next year. here's the question. we have rising bond yields that. is a risk factor for next year. if they continue to rise and they pull back and taper, it is possible it could weigh on stocks. a number of people i spoke to is saying it's a tale of two halves. the first time they do fine, and if the treasury came around, that could mean we don't know. who knows. definitely high yield risk factor. >> you fire away from a lot of family members.

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my name is jordan bellford. the year i turned 26 i made $49 million, which pissed me off because it was three shy -- >> we mada i name for ours. >> yet another take on the classic tale of wall street greed. this one courtesy of martin scorcese. his muse this time leonardo dicaprio, starring the wolf of wall street just hit theaters christmas day and you said it was fast-paced, sexy and pure of full joy. it's gotten mix red views. what makes it so good? >> i'm a big scorcese fan.

the drama is moving constantly. you have larger than life characters and it is so full of energy. the man is 71. this feels like the third or fourth film from like a 30-year-old. >> it's funny because dicaprio seems to go in a lot of different directions here. how believe is he? he's 40 years old now. >> and it starts with him pretending to be 24. he's very believable. in some ways this is an even darker, sleazier side of the gatsby character he played of someone reinventing himself. >> every single movie i've been to in the last two months has had a clip of lone survivor. that previewed like crazy. here is a quick clip of it. >> we let him go, 20 more will die next week. 40 more, the week after that. our job is to stop shaw. why do these men have the right to dictate how we do our job?

>> we cannot touch them. >> the title gives it away to some degree. >> i hate spoilers more than anybody, but when you have a movie called lone survivor and you have one movie star in the movie you can sort of figure out where the picture is going go. >> it's well done. the action was very strong and i never felt it come together. >> i'm a movie fan, and i probably saw the trailer six times and they started changing the trailer which meant they were tweaking the way it was perceived and it's basically four men get trapped in afghanistan and only one gets out. >> it's a true life story and it is very dramatic and at times very exciting. >> this one, when i saw the billboard for "grudge match," i said you've got to be kidding me. you have deniro and you have stallone and they're actually in a boxing ring and it just seems -- i don't know. let's take a quick look at it, and you can judge a bit for

yourself. >> i came early. i wanted to see my old friend. he's been ducking me for 30 years. >> it doesn't look like you're missing meals. >> i'm not, until you admit -- >> aging bull and rocky. you take rocky and raging bull any put it together. >> you just pay the two actors and you hope for spillover during the holidays if the other movies are full or something? >> everything is about finding this little niche that you're trying to grab a piece of during the holiday season, and i think this is -- it's the only movie out there that's probably aimed at the male audience. they're looking for goofy comedy. >> does it work? >> no, it really doesn't work. >> i wanted to transition into one other thing. big ensemble seems to happen at holidays. my wife loves to watch "love

actually," and this is totally different, but it's "august o sage county" and has everyone in it, julia roberts and meryl streep and we'll take a quick peek at that one, too. >> you don't want her here? >> well, i have an indian in my house. >> you have a problem with indians, violet? >> i don't know what to say to an indian. >> they're called native american, mom. >> who makes that decision? >> that's what they like to be called. >> they aren't more native than me. >> why can't you call people when they want to be called? >> does it work? >> i'm a big meryl streep fan. i think she's great in this and in a quieter role, chris cooper is really wonderful. >> i'm not as much of a fan of julia robert, and i think it tweaks the play a little too much to make it her story rather than meryl streep. >> it works so well on broadway. >> right. right. >> steven witty, we appreciate it. that does it for me, my

colleague, the hardest working woman in holiday news tv, kristin welker is up next. you're watching msnbc. [ sniffles, coughs ] shhhh! i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something. [ male announcer ] dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that. it doesn't? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is!

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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. al qaeda releases a video believed to be of warren weinstein. an american kidnapped in pakistan two years ago. and a delay for santa's sleigh, otherwise known as ups and fedex. angry customers vent on social media when their gifts miss christmas, but when will their packages arrive? congress proved they couldn't get along this past year, but will they be able to put their differences aside in 2014 and get things done? we'll take a look. and a very good morning to you. i'm kristen welker. hope you had a good holiday. we start with that video purporting to show 72-year-old warren weinstein pleading with the obama administration. weinstein, a u.s. government contractor was kidnapped two years ago in pakistan. take a look.

my name is warren weinstein. >> they sent the video to several western news agencies. nbc news cannot confirm where or when the video was produced. martin fletcher joins us now live from london. martin, thanks for joining me this morning. so what do you make of the timing of this video and the fact that it's being released at all? >> well, hi, kristen, good morning. obviously, the timing of christmas and presumably al qaeda that the season of good will yield them some good result. it begins with the sad face of the prisoner. his first word, we just heard. my name is warren weinstein. he said i'm addressing this video to president obama. weinstein is 72 years old and he's from rockville, maryland. he was captured more than two years ago in pakistan while working there as a u.s. government contractor. in the video he looks tired, he looks pale and pleading for help

and pleading to obama directly and says now when i need my government it seems i've been totally abandoned and my government. i appeal to instruct your appropriate officials to negotiate my release. he was capture frommed this building in pakistan that we are looking at. there's been no direct response to the american government. he will not -- in 2011, al qaeda said they'd release him only if america would stop air attacks in pakistan, afghanistan, yemen and somalia and release all al qaeda prisoners and not much chance of that, kristen. >> the other part of this video that's interesting. he directs part of his message to secretary of state john kerry. does that change that the equation in any way? >> washington speaks with one voice and the secretary of state and the president would say the same thing. not negotiating and the state department did respond to the

spokesmen saying the kidnappers should release him and return directly to his family, otherwise there is nothing new. i should say as part of the video that weinstein said he also appealed to his own family not to give up the struggle and to keep pressure the media and keep his name in the media to concentrate on his plight, and he said that it's possible that if nothing comes of this he will never see them again and sad message. >> nbc's martin fletcher, appreciate it. >> the first family is enjoying the holidays in hawaii, but president obama is also keeping a close eye on several pressing issues including a new deadline concerning the affordable care act. joining me now is nbc news domenico martinara. >> good to be here. >> hope you had a good holiday. >> same to you. >> talk about the health care law, the obama administration

saying if you tried to sign up and you couldn't because of technical problems we'll try to work with you. how significant is it practically and politically? >> we know the site would hold 00,000 users and they saw a big spike. they said 2 million people and what happens is they get in this cueing process if you put your email in and what wound up happening is they had a lot of people at the back of that line and they said we'll give you a little bit more time. don't worry. we'll get your insurance by january 1st anyway. politically, it gives opponents of this law and this president another piece, another quiver in their pack to say, look, this law is not good. they've botched this rollout. you know, we'll see what winds up happening if those people can get through and if the process gets better for them and more importantly, if their premiums are -- they don't spike and we see in practical tomorrows it

actually work for these people. >> the next big deadline is january 1st. how significant is the deadline if we start to hear people getting health care coverage and they're happy about it. this could shift the narrative for the obama administration. we saw things change fast after the wall street shutdown. they showed republicans at an all-time low and people were saying, look at this. everyone would make gains and we saw the health care rollout and the president's approval rating dropped and things can change very quickly is my point and with an improving economy and if this health care law, if people are using it well and it it seems okay for them, does it have the same impact come the midterm. think, the biggest issue for democrats there is that their base doesn't usually turn out as strongly as republicans' base and this obamacare attack is

really something that is very potent with the republican base. >> i want to shift to the nsa and president obama held his final news conference of the year and you were listening quite closely. he seemed to signal that he was serious about making changes to the nsa program. was that your takeaway? what are you expecting to hear? >> i think we've been hearing for a while is what they'll try to do is scale back some of these measures and allow companies like google and other places to keep that data themselves and then if the nsa or others need to get it then they'll use what had been tradition before 9/11 to get that data and that information as opposed to the nsa just collecting it all. some of the companies don't want that to be the case because it takes more work and time and effort for them to have to sift through and get that information. with edward snowden's new interview and him talking about the moral case for what's happening, the white house has

certainly felt pressure and why you see president obama at all-time lows because of the nsa, because of the website rollout. so these two things, the president has to move past that if he wants to get his agenda in the second term. domenico, thank you so much. >> thanks, kristen. >> appreciate it. a new report shows several counties across the country lack affordable health care plans for those who make just a little too much to qualify for a sub dee. "usa today" looked at the health insurance exchange and it said major metro counties include new jerseyy's bergen county and philadelphia's county. manager of msnbc.com daphne lindhsor and susan paige. thanks both for being here with me this morning. i a preesh great. >> good morning. >> susan, i want to start with you. tell me a little bit more about this study. what the study reveals and how significant it is politically?

i know, it shows that people who made just a little too much for those federal subsidies that is making more than 400% of the poverty line are facing sticker shock when they go online and try to look at what plans they can buy. the federal government has said -- the first word of the obamacare law is the affordable care act. the government views 8% of the income paid in premiums as being affordable. for more than half of the poem who are in their 40s and making too much to get a federal subsidy, they're not getting a plan that is affordable. even the bronze plan. the lowest-level plan is giving them coverage at less than 8% of their income and for about a third of counties, if you're a little bit older and if you're 50, over 50 years old you're not seeing an affordable plan, so

this is affecting a lot of people. a lot of them are rural counties and some are in the highly populated counties. >> no surprise, the administration is pushing back a bit. that they released a statement with the department of health and human services, quote, the new marketplace is night and day from what consumers faced before the health care law where they could see unlimited, out of pocket expenses and if they can get coverage without being denied for a pre-existing condition. >> so what do you make of the administration's pushback. >> we are essentially taking the argument. >> this was right at the beginning that people who had plan, they were not great plans. they were not giving them the real health care options they needed and other plans that may come in that are a little bit

more expensive are plans that are going to actually provide health care and while susan's right, that the first word is affordable, the second word is care and getting great care is essential to making this plan work, and i think the other thing, too, is looking at how many places again where states did not choose to do their own health insurance plans and exchanges and are relying on the federal government. so that plays into here, as well. >> susan, the associated press has a very interesting article out today. they make the sort of historical case about the president's healthcare law. they say if you look back in history at some of these big, broad programs like social security, medicare and medicaid. medicare prescription d which, of course, we've spent a lot of time talking about, these rollouts have been rocky as well, essentially arguing when history looks back at this, it could see this ultimately as

something that's the sum total of americans like at the end. is that a possibility and at what point does that start to turn in that direction if we start to see it at all. >> it's possible to see it as the transformation of the american health care system that worked out. we're seeing the system have a lot of problems and it's also possible that the system won't work and people on both sides are willing to acknowledge that we don't know yet. it's the fundamental assumptions and the underlying assumptions that were made for the affordable care act will end up working out. it it depends on people signing up, young, people signing up and not choosing to pay a fine. >> it depends on the system working and not just the website for consumers which is now working better. does the communication between consumers and the insurance

company, does that work out? this is a huge achievement and it's possible that the reverse will be the case and it's one of those things that we need time to pass for the system and does it wok or not work which will be the case? >> i want to pick up on the point that susan raises there. there are so many unknowns and in that usa today article, the article reading the prices of exchange plans have shocked many shoppers essentially those who had plans canceled because they did not meet the aca coverage. these are folks who both republicans and democrats will need to turn out in big numbers in 2014. so how big of an impact does this type of revelation have on a 2014 race? >> yeah. i think that that's going to have an impact. no question. i think it's very important for the obama administration and for democrats if they want to hold on to the senate to work very hard, to push very hard to get

people to sign up and to smooth out the plan. i think cutting off people probably will not be the way to do that. i can see why they would want to extend enrollments so more people have the opportunity to participate in the program. >> susan, i'm curious. what impact do you think will be in 2014? something that could jeopardize the senate for democrats. >> i think some democrats argue that they've turned the corner and it's become a positive. i think the evidence we have so far, though, it's a problem for those democratic senators who are up for reelection and we have six democratic seats and those are the places where affordable care could be the biggest issues and generally speaking i think it will be a negative for democrats and not a positive, although we do have a little time as domenica was saying in the previous segment.

politics, we have almost a year to go until the midterm election and a lot of things can happen in that time and when it comes to obamacare in particular. >> a lifetime in politics. a couple of lifetime in politics. >> thank you both so much. appreciate it. one ups driver called it the worst christmas ever. thousands of packages didn't make it on time despite drivers working 60-hour weeks and what the carriers and retailers are doing to make it up to customers. for those of us that got gifts that weren't quite what we wanted. ready, set return, but retailers are hoping you buy as well. that's all coming up next on msnbc. female announcer: get beautyrest, posturepedic,

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ups and fedex are playing

christmas catch up this morning after disappointing and frustrating many customers by failing to deliver packages on time. nbc's gabe gutierrez is live in atlanta. gabe, what happened here and where do things stand? >> reporter: good morning, kristen. here in atlanta and across the country, fedex and ups trucks are hitting the road. we've seen a few of them already and both companies say that the combination of bad weather and higher demand was just overwhelming. it was supposed to be over, but today the mad rush is back on. ups and fedex rushing to clear a backlog of packages to mad customers who didn't get their gifts in time for christmas. >> i want my package. >> reporter: those companies blame the delays on weeks of bad weather and soaring online sales even though earlier this month a ups manager told nbc's janet shamlian this. >> if you pick it up on the 23rd our next-day air service will

get it to you by christmas. >> promise? >> promise. >> but now many customers like sarah bolick in vij virj aren't laughing. upon she paid for rush delivery and her family's presents never made it. >> it was disheartening to share gifts with others when others were being opened. >> one road, ups stands for undelivered parcel shipment. in response, the company is saying the volume of air packages in our system exceeded the capacity of our network. we apologize. that apology echoed by fedex which is calling the high volume an extraordinary event. but in north carolina, heidi grant, mother of three is looking on the bright side. >> i guess the benefit was christmas is going last longer. they're going have more gifts to open in a couple of days. >> reporter: online retailers are taking a bit of a hit on this one. amazon.com said it processed all

of its orders on time, basically pointing the finger at ups and amazon is compensating customers with $20 gift cards as well as refunds on shipping charges and this morning fedex did release a statement saying it processed about 275 million packages during the shott shorter holida shopping season. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez, thanks for that report. retailers are rolling out deep discounts to entice shoppers as they return unwanted gifts and start redeeming gift cards today. eight in ten shoppers were expected to buy $30 billion worth of gift cards this holiday shopping season. cnbc's julia boorstin is at the grove mall in los angeles. >> reporter: nearly 80% of consumers said they plan to shop post-holiday sales according to retail me not and a lot of those sales started christmas day with target, nordstrom's and kohl's all slashing prices on the 25th

while walmart and kohl's are opening earlier than ever at 5:00 a.m. this morning. that's good for consumers and it could potentially deal a blow to retailers' margins. many packages that were promised to arrive before christmas didn't show up. walmart and amazon had been promising those customers who didn't get their gifts in time for the holidays, gift certificates. many of use the gift certificates today. consumers will spend more than the value of the card and they'll also hope that they'll spend early and often. they don't get the value of the gift cards until they're redeemed. holiday shoppers are expected to spend an average of $16 be 3 and up 4% from last year to more than $30 million in total gift card spending, but on the down side for retailers, $60 billion are expected this year. retailers hope shoppers will come in and they'll return and buy something else. kristen, back over to you.

>> cnbc's julia boorstin, thank you. 300,000 people spent christmas in the dark and the cold after last weekend's ice storm. we'll check in with the weather channel to see if mother nature will cooperate with the crews trying to get lights back on. [ 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. gravy and more, "stubborn love" by the lumineers did you i did. email? so what did you think of the house? did you see the school ratings? oh, you're right. hey babe, i got to go.

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try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. welcome back. it could be friday before some people from michigan to maine get their power back. about 200,000 americans have been without their christmas lights and heat since a major ice storm last weekend. nbc's dylan dreier has more. >> reporter: throughout the midwest and northeast, down trees and power lines and ice that shows no sign of melting and freezing temperatures. all fallout from last weekend's brutal ice storm still wreaking havoc. worst hit, michigan, where more than 150,000 remained without power christmas day. george, his wife marian and their dog shep left behind their stockings hung by the chimney to

seek warmth at a hotel. >> we spent our anniversary yesterday, 23 years, at a motel. very romantic. >> the charlie family brought their stockings with them. >> everybody is having a tough time and we still don't have any power, but we don't care. we're together. >> crews worked tirelessly giving up their own holiday to restore power to cold residents who had been without heat, some for five days. >> we've got 800 men and women working in the field to try to get as many families and homes restored with power. we know how important this time of year is to families and we're working very hard and very diligently. >> a home with heat, a welcome gift even if it comes after christmas. >> indeed. >> that was nbc's dylan dryer reporting. >> when congress gets fwook work on january 6th, there are plenty of battle ahead, unemployment, im immigration, gun control to name a few. will lawmakers be able to get loofrng and get things done?

we'll debate that next. ♪

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it's amazing. i mean, we've been together almost 18 years and my whole family is here, so it's just amazing. >> the the state's finally caught up to us. >> same-sex cup niels utah are celebrating after a federal appeals court has paved the way for them to continue getting marrieded. however, state officials say they plan to appeal the decision which could take the issue of marriage equality back to the supreme court. nbc news, justice correspondent pete williams joins me now from washington. thanks for joining me, pete. first question, what happens next here? >> it was a two-judge panel of the tenth circuit court of appeals in denver that declined to put a hold on last week's ruling that found the ban to be unconstitutional. the state will very likely today go to the justice who is responsible for that part of the

country sonia sotomayor and ask her to put a hold on that court ruling and then if she declines the matter could be referred to the whole court. it seems like a long shot that they would get that to the supreme court in light that the tenth, and that will be within the next 24 to 48 hours. >> utah, one of the most republican states that same-sex marriage is currently legal in of the 18 states. i believe, how significant is the fact that the court has ruled to uphold same-sex marriage as being legal. >> it's sort of a double whammy. it was a federal judge, of course, you can't look to the state's political constitution or the political make uup as a guide. he certainly knows the political climate in utah and struck down the ban on same-sex marriage and

that's thing one and thing two, the tenth circuit, a comparatively conservative circuit deciding not to issue a ban or a stay on the judge's ruling and saying that they thought that on the basis of the state's argument that it was likely to prevail when the full question gets before the tenth circuit and on irreparable harm. the appeals court said no, we don't have the better of the arguments. interestingly, it was a two-judge panel that made the decision. the other by george w. bush. interesting point. >> pete, i know you don't have a crystal ball, but based on what we've seen so far, do you see other conservative states to follow utah and other states who have legalized same-sex marriage this. >> i think in terms of the votes by the legislature and the easy work there has been done. there are other court cases pending and there is one that's just getting going here and not far from here in virginia.

there's a case pending in nevada where a judge has reached the opposite conclusion that the constitution does not compel same-sex marriage and it's only a matter of time before the issue does get to the u.s. supreme court. it declined to weigh into the question last year and it will come back before the supreme court at some point and the only question is when, and i would think the justices are not eager to have this case back before them. they'd like to lay it play out among the lower courts first, but i can't predict when the supreme court will take this up, but it does seem inevitable and at some point it will. >> nbc's pete williams, as always, thank you. >> my pleasure. >> appreciate it. >> today is boxing day. so it's real willy only fitting that we look ahead to some of the big fights that lie ahead in congress. will we see some of the president's major agenda items tackled? >> fred yang and senior editor

of the national review. i hope you had a great holiday. >> i want to start with you, gun control, immigration and two issues that didn't make it far. immigration made it further than gun control. house speaker john boehner has signaled he might be interested in actually seeing immigration reform move forward? >> when you have fights it means one side wants to do one thing and the other side opposes it, and i think all of the polls and our msnbc/wall street journal poll, and the other polls, this year's congress was rated one of the worst ever and you have to say they merited that rating. immigration reform, you know, these other issues you mentioned the minimum wage and let's not forget that. these are things that the broad majority of the american public want to see that get done. >> but immigration reform, to your point is clearly a divisive issue. you have republicans saying they

might take it on in a piecemeal way. democrats saying they want to see a broad bill passed through both chambers. ramesh, do you think there is a broad bill getting done like the one we saw passed for the senate? >> i think it does to a significant degree depend on what speaker boehner wants to do. he would have to know that moving such a bill would be pretty much a career ender for him, but the interesting thing about these priorities and this discussion in washington is how little it has to do with the priorities that most people have which is not immigration, which is not guns, but which is jobs and that's something that just repeatedly gets pushed to the way side by the people making the agendas in d.c. >> i want to ask you about janet yellen, and fred, i want to get your take. do you think this is going to be another big battle? obviously, everything becomes a battle. she's up to be the next fed

chair. do you think she's going to make it through? >> well, i would like to start the newier off in a hopeful move and i think paul ryan compromise at the end was great for the country, and i think that was a great way, kristen to end 2013. i totally agree with ramesh. the american people want actually the big and small priorities focused on the economy, immigration reform, gun control and other measures and i think, sports and politics sometimes have -- are pretty similar. we take it day by day, game by game and the yellen nomination would be a good signal if this bipartisan spirit would dig in 2014. >> one of the big economic battles since we're talking about the economy. obviously, the debt ceiling. a lot of us still have nightmares from 2011 when the nation came close to defaulting on its loans. you already have four sides

saber rattling. republicans saying they want to extract something. president obama saying he's not going negotiate. ramesh, what do you anticipate we'll see here? will we get to the brink again with another debt ceiling battle? >> you know, it's hard to say. i think there will abe split on the republican side and it may end up being the fiercest fight is within the republican party because there are going to be a large number of republicans who don't want to go along this read and other republican reps, have an unrealistic sense of what they can get from the debt ceiling. >> fred, i want to talk about 2014, talking about these issues together, do they get reform? immigration and gun control. is that what wines up dominating and making it tough for any legislation to get through? >> i -- i honestly don't know. i think there are so many different issues out there that

need to be dealt with. we haven't talked about health care reform yet which clearly will be of national interest throughout 2014. look, i think the one thing we haven't talked too much about, but which overhangs all of this is 2014 as election year and does this congress want to be the do-something congress or the do-nothing congress and politically speaking, does one or the other advantage either party? >> ramesh, weigh in on that. what do you think we'll see from congress? are we going see more productive? they went down this past year as the most unproductive congress in history. will 2014 make them less productive? >> i don't think that any voters actually are concerned about productivity as measured by the number of legislation that gets passed by congress nor should they because it's a crazy thing to use as your measure of how congress is doing. i think fred is abslit look

right that the democrats are defensive on this issue, and we'll have to see how this is out and the fed continues it create the problem that it's been it will be a very tough year for democrats. i want you to weigh in on the issue of health care. the obama administration saying they'll see enrollments occur. if you start to hear anecdotally that people are happy with their healthcare coverage. does this become a political liability for republicans? do they wind up being on the wrong side of this and do they then need to change the strategy on health care? >> think the whole debate over obamacare, look, 2014 will be seen in context, obamacare is not just about the enrollments and it's about young people under 26 being able to stay on their parents' health insurance. insurance companies can't deny

coverage for preexisting conditions. i think the enrollment is part of that narrative, but no, i think if this turns around as it is this could be a are very good offensive weapon for democrats because i think the whole thing where ramesh, and i were talking about is do you do something to help the american people. this could be part of the narrative for democrats that under the obama administration this has been an administration focused on the american middle class. >> i have to let you jump in because i see you there wanting to get your point in. go ahead, take the last word. ? it's also going to be about premium spikes and it could be about though, enrollment in the sense that if you have a situation where there were great promises made about universal coverage and we have the number of people with insurance actually go down, the number of people with private insurance going down, that could be a serious problem. the democrats have not turned the corner on this issue. >> a lot of questions that

remain to be answered when it comes to that indeed. i want to thank you both, fred yang, we appreciate your insights. >> thank you. >> thank you. a bus explosion in the egyptian capital of cairo just one day after the country's government declared the muslim brotherhood a terrorist organization. what's the latest in the recent surge in violence? we'll have that up next. bag each month, we can. and glad forceflex bags stretch until they're full.* so you can take them out less often. is sweatier and messier than my family on the field. so like the nfl i use tide... ...because i'm the equipment manager in this house. that's my tide. what's yours?

i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. oh what a relief it is. a wave of deadly violence is setting egypt on edge and creating new political problems there. an accident mroegz tore apart a public bus in cairo this morning. five people were wounded. egypt's interior ministry is blaming islamic militants. this comes after they declared the ruling party a terrorist organization. accusing the muslim brother hood of being behind the deadly rash of violence. eamon nis with us.

is this being viewed as a manipulation by the leadership? what's the situation? >> reporter: it is holding the muslim brotherhood in this we've of attack that has crippled the country in the northern sinai peninsula as well as in other parts of the mainland here in egypt, but there's no doubt from the perspective of ordinary egyptians that there is a groundswell of egyptians against the muslim brother hood. the organization has come out and repeatedly condemned these attacks saying that it is not calling for any types of violence, despite the fact that it wants to maintain its ability to protest and in fact, has repeatedly denounced the use of violence, particularly targeting security forces. nonetheless, the egyptian government are holding the muslim brother hood responsible and yesterday we heard the announcement by the egyptian

cabinet that the organization now is being described as a terrorist organization. that gives the egyptian authorities here much more power in going after the muslim brotherhood, its leadership and its finances and assets and it's in the eyes of many going to escalate the situation even further. >> eamon mohyeldin from cairo. stay safe. we appreciate it. >> up next, we'll check in to see if the astronauts' cooling system is back on track after the christmas eve space walk to fix the cooling system on the international space station. plus, what's next for nasa? you're watching ns nbc. ♪

♪ i know they say you can't go home again ♪ ♪ ♪ i just had to come back one last time ♪ ♪ ♪ you leave home, you move on [ squeals ] ♪ and you do the best you can ♪ i got lost in this old world ♪ ♪ and forgot who i am the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice.

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it was baby's first christmas for the royal family, but prince george was nowhere to be seen. most of the family turned out for a christmas service. nbc's kyra simmons has more. this year the royal family was out in force and in festive

mood. prince harry back from the pole, but still keeping his beard. >> here at home my own family is a little larger this christmas. >> baby george featured in the queen's christmas speech which contained some behind the scenes shots from the christening. >> as so many of you will know the arrival of a baby gives everyone the chance to contemplate the future with renewed happiness and hope. for the new parents, life will never be quite the same again. >> just a year ago, the mood was very different. >> the queen and the younger royals were in and out of hospital where prince philip was recovering from several health scares. all covered when the duke and duches came out holding prince alexander louis. >> that was one of the bigger royal stories for a generation. it had the sense of magic about it. >> then back to reality as william strapped the future king into the car like every other

dad. another break with tradition when kate's dad took the first family photo and baby george and his parents spent the first weeks at home with kate's mom, carol. the royal family was reunited for the christening with william putting dad duty and prince george taking things regally in a long, traditional gown. the royal couple moved to kensington palace, william's childhood home kick-started life with their family. >> even when prince charles becomes king, william and kate will stay here at kensington palace. a place where william can be a king in training taking on more senior, royal duties and also free to be himself. ♪ o, living on a prayer ♪ >> i'll show you. prince harry celebrated christmas last year with british troops in afghanistan, earned his apache wings and managed to squeeze in a trip to washington, charming michele obama and veterans families. a quick salute to australia and

a they refused to believe -- his biggest challenge this year, a trek to the south pole with wounded veterans which left grandma shuddering. >> would you go? >> of course, not. >> that's incredibly brave. >> a triumph for charity and a personal achievement that sets the tone for the next royal year and not just ribbon cups as these people want to roll their sleeves up and do things in a different way. >> lots more charity work is coming up and baby george's first overseas trip is on the cards, but could it be harry who plays the trump? kir simmons, nbc news, london. two nasa astronauts managed to install a cooling pump on christmas eve. engineers fired up the pump and said it's working just fine today. the astronauts spent more than

seven hours spacewalking outside of the international space station to make those repairs. by the way, this was only the second christmas eve space walk. let's bring in msnbc's space consultant, james olbert. he's a former engineer. >> thanks, kristen. >> talk to us about the difficulty of the space walk, what was at stake and how important was it that they fix that cooling system? >> reporter: kristen, there are about a dozen different kind of boxes that can break down on the cooling station that have to be fixed quickly. the astronauts have trained to fix the tools and they're familiar with all of the different kinds of repairs and it's no longer like what you mentioned with the hubble telescope where a crew could train on the ground for a whole year to do one particular day's work in space.

now you don't know which one you'll have to fix. when you are sent out to the space station, the crew has general space repair training and they have an expectation of having to do any of a dozen different kinds of repairs. so what nasa has done is to prepare a general process, a general set of tools and every box that has to be fixed has to be fixed with these general set of tools and it's worked out because it's got to be the way we're doing now for the rest r of the station program as things break and they will a couple of times of year, the crew will have to go out and fix that break. >> let's just talk a little bit about the history of the program. nasa ended its 30-year program back in 2011 and it hasn't meant the end of nasa. looking toward the future a little bit, what do you think is next for the agency? >> i have great nostalgia for the shuttle because i was at mission control for the very first launch and worked on it it for 20 years, but it was time to

ground the bird and to move on because it had done its job of building the space station, carrying the big pieces and now nasa needs a various spacecraft for human space flight including one to ferry people back and forth from the station and other stations and other spacecraft to go out toward the moon and deeper into space. both those projects are under development and not as fast as enthusiasts would like, but they are making progress, and we are paying for transport and space taxi services until we have our own coming online. that's not nearly as bad a situation and it's a downer and we're doing the taxi work while we're building new spacecraft and they're the ones that's afraid witha i few years that they'll become obsolete.

>> well, the uk said it would offer space weather forecast to alert people about solar flares and space storms and other thing, what do you think about that? >> those kinds of services are where the real importance is to the world in general and commercial value. there are billions of dollars of commercial sales of space-related services such as navigation and the returns don't even have a single piece of any of that. their and they can launch rockets pretty well and pretty cheaply. they have 3% of the international space commercial market, but when it comes to weather forecasting they have to rent are foreign satellites because their own broken down and it's a problem for them. so right now we're in this gap, but it's a changing year.

there's a lot of just not orbital vehicles and tourist vehicle, but they'll also carry scientific instruments and half of the flights and there are a lot of things about to be ng and we shouldn't think there is a long-term trend to our disadvantage. >> james, thank you so much for that perpective. we appreciate it it. >> i look forward to the new year. >> happy new year to you, as well. >> that does it for me. thanks so much for joining me. my colleague brian schachtman picks things up after the break. you're watching msnbc. [ female announcer ] from your first breath,

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relief can be yours, but your peanuts... are mine. ♪ an american contractor kidnapped in pakistan with a new plea for help. a video purportedly shows 72-year-old warren weinstein calling on the obama administration to negotiate for his release saying he feels, quote, tetley abandoned and

forgotten. plus nsa leaker edward snowden delivers a message to the world invoking 1984 and warning on the dangers of unchecked government surveillance. and -- >> she said some of my presents weren't going to make it before christmas. >> the worst christmas ever. that's how one driver dribbed a massive delivery mess in many parts of this country. it kept thousands of americans from getting what they wanted under the tree. we'll tell you what ups and fedex are doing to try to make up for it. i don't know if you can do that. i don't know how many crying kids they had at 6:00 a.m., but there probably were plenty. brian schachtman here and you're watching msnbc. we want to start with the obama administration allowing extra time for people signing on for health care. it's still not too late for coverage starting january 1st. i want to talk about this with

domenico montenegro. how important are they? >> this is something opponents are latching on to of this health care law and this president, it just offers another point of attack. the fact is that in eight months when the election comes up or so, or eight years from now, if the product is good and people are getting what they wanted, then the obama administration can look back and have some kind of an argument to make, but right now democrats are nervous because they've got their elections coming up in the midterms and the republican base traditionally because of the demographic makeup turn out in higher numbers in these midterms and when you have the senate up for grabs and the administration continues to get these kinds of knicks. >> so the republican strategy, instead of repolling it and doing that angle, they want to

chip away at it until they can't move forward anymore and say in a year if it's doing what it's supposed to do it won't matter. where does that battle fall right now? >> right now, we've seen president obama with the lowest poll numbers of his presidency. he didn't get anything done in that first term largely because of health care, somewhat to do with the nsa on foreign policy and he's been blocked in on two sides. you don't see this as an exist earn issue. >> that's not a problem if premiums go up. you had 2 million people trying to get in and now they're in a cue and the people trying to sign up for health care will be the people who need it. they need 3 to 1. if you're young and healthy and say i'll give this thing a shot, right? log in and then the computer crashes, right? and then they log in again and they say give us your email and then you'll be in a cue.

how many of those people will sign up? >> something i've said on "morning joe," there will abe point where they will spend money to get it, and after three failed tries they'll say the heck with it and they won't try it again. to get the million by the 31st another is another issue. obviously the obamas are on vacation and anything newswise or anything interesting coming out of their trip? >> we saw last night the president went and talked to some troops and went down to their mess hall and wanted to thank some of them and you see the pictures there and he called about ten troops, as well. this is something the president is hoping to recharge in hawaii, back in his home state. he's going to need that rest because when he comes back he's got things like immigration that he'll try to get through and there hasn't been any movement to get any of that done. >> we'll talk about that and unemployment benefits later in the show. domenico, we appreciate it.

>> deputy political editor domenica montanaro. edward snowden made a dec declaration and he's won a personal victory. his work is far from over. >> together, we can find a better balance, end mass surveillance and remind the government that if it really wants to know how we feel, asking is always cheaper than spying. >> nbc national investigative correspondent michael isikoff joins me now. in an interview with the washington post, snowden says it is accomplished. are we going to hear more from him in 2014 or less? >> well, look. he's been pretty selective about who he talks to and when he talks and he tries to make sure the dialogue when he does talk is on the issue, not himself and his own conduct, but, you know, look. i think at this point this was a

nice coda for him to give the washington post interview, one of the three journalists who he leaked the documents to and the channel 4 message and by any stretch, he now is up there in one of the -- in terms of whistle blowers who have made the most impact if there was a hall of fame. >> and we have the review panel last week saying and the program, let the phone company store it. well, in the last few days, the phone companies are coming on very strong saying they don't want to do that, that could raise additional privacy issues, that they're going to get bombarded with with requests for that data, civil libertarians are balking at that. so the obvious solution to the issue that to the program that

snowden exposed, let the security agencies and the fbi access them when they need them. it is not clear that that is as easy an answer as some people initially suggested. >> before i let you go, i want to ask you quickly, the thing i'm most interested with the story right now is what happens to edward snowden? he has temporary asylum in russia? will he find a permanent home? is there any chance he'll come back to the united states? >> the answer is, look, he is sought. he's there at the sufferance of vladimir putin and that could end at any time. he knows that. he's requested asylum in brazil where his disclosures have gotten enormous impact but the u.s. government is pretty steadfast here that they're not going brandt him any kind of amnesty. if he comes back to the u.s. he will face criminal prosecution.

if he can make it to brazil then that might be one out for him, but it's not clear he can. >> all right. michael isikoff, nbc news. we appreciate the time. >> thank you. >> kristen welker talks with the journalist who first reported edward snowden's disclosures that that's at noon eastern today. about an hour from now, and i want to talk more about the nsa and what's going on with healthcare with our panel. joining me now politico senior white house reporter edward isaac, and msnbc.com reporter susie kim. thanks to both of you for being here. >> good morning, brian. >> good morning. >> edward, i'll start with you. president obama supposed to give a statement earlier next month possibly implementing some of the recommendations or one from the outside review panel, in all honesty, how much change might we expect to get and how much change will happen that we actually learn about? >> i think the second question is maybe the more pertinent one here. there is a lot that has to

happen in the intelligence community under the radar without full announcement of what's going on. that being said, there's obviously a lot of clamor at this point for disclosure about what's going on and what's being done about the things that snowden brought to the public. the president has a report that has been released with over 40 recommendations. so far the white house is not really saying much about what the president will do about any of them and what the president gave his press conference right before he left for hawaii, he was putting the breaks on any speculation about what he might do. >> the political elements here are interesting, right? you have the progressive democrats left and the libertarians on the right about getting together. >> do you think they'll continue to push hard at the administration to make something happen? >> i definitely think you will see more of these cross-partisan alliances around related things

like criminal justice. i was actually just talking to a voter down in georgia where i was doing a story who is a political independent and he's out of touch about what's happening with congress, but he knows this issue with the spying and executive authority is extremely important to him and as an independently-minded person, i think he's someone that both parties would want to reach out to. >> i want to now of over to health care for a success and i'll start with you. we just talked about that 7 million -- get 7 million to enroll by the end of march. if they don't get it, does it matter? it almost seems that nobody thinks they'll get there, so coming close will actually be a victory. how do you view this deadline issue right now? >> it's been a troubled rollout for the white house. everybody knows that. every time they fall short of one of the things that they promised would happen or said would happen whether it's the number of people enrolling or a deadline or some element of it

like if you like your plan you can keep it and that's trouble for the white house who is trying to get people to believe in this law and they started out with an uphill battle to get people to believe in it and six weeks or so after the rollout it was very difficult for the law, for the president and for the administration. they need everything they can do at this point to get people to feel confident in the law and to get more people to sign up for this because if people don't sign up, it doesn't work. it needs people signing up. >> it seems they're missing the pr work and they need more positive stories to combat the negative stories. the midterm, domenico talked about it and how much of an impact is it going to have the democrats here and they're chalking it up as a negative and is it a battle on the health caroline? >> republicans are betting that the obamacare will be their

ticket to keep the house and possibly to taking back the senate. however, we have to keep in mind just how quickly the politics of this have shifted. just a couple of weeks ago, really, we thought the republicans were done for for having pushed for the shutdown. now come january 1st people will have obamacare. we have to remember that for all of this drama and all of this stuff, this thing hasn't started yet in terms of people actually receiving the coverage and in terms of actually seeing what some of the benefits are, and so i think it is going to take some time to see just how much the reality is going to sort of match up with the partisan battle. >> if the reality is positive it's good for the administration and good for the people who backed the affordable care act. we appreciate you coming on the day after the holiday. happy new year. >> same to you. thanks. talk about the holiday. this story is unbelievable. santa claus is pretty amazing. he gets it done in one night, but for some shipping companies that's not enough time, at least this year.

ups and fedex experienced christmas delays this year and some people did not get their packages in time. joining me now from atlanta, nbc news correspondent, gabe gutierrez. gabe, what caused this to happen? >> hi there, brian, both companies, fedex and ups are blaming bad weather and higher demand due to online sales and many companies are not buying that explanation and they've been sounding off on social media. many of them saying that christmas was ruined although some did express support for employees of both exfedex and ups saying they're working very hard. fedex released a statement saying they handled about 275 million packages during the shortened holiday shopping season from thanksgiving to christmas. this morning here in atlanta, we've seen fed sxeks ups trucks out make those deliveries. they brought in extra workers to sort some of these packages. so the hope is that many of these customers whose packages

were delayed and hopefully they can get them perhaps today or tomorrow, brian. >> i wonder, gabe if they'll get lawsuits out of this for their crying kids. amazon is give something people some gift cards. is there any sort of free shipping that they're giving back? are they going credit them or something? >> reporter: yes, you're right. fedex and ups are apologizing and amazon is basically pointing the finger at ups and they're giving out those $20 gift cards as well as free refunds on some of the shipping charges. we're waiting to get some updates from fedex and ups perhaps later today. >> i can't imagine being a parent in the household where they did not get what they wanted for the holidays. 2013 was the least productive year in congress in more than half a century. we talked a lot about that, but let's spin it forward a bit. what about next year? will it get better? from unemployment assistance. we'll go through the to-do list with two former congressmen coming up next on msnbc.

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♪ ♪

of course, congress, home for the holidays this week, but only after recording one of the least productive years in the history of this country. the 113th congress passed only 58 laws in 2013. you want perspective, that's the lowest on record since 1947. the lackluster 2013 left no shortage of agenda items for congress as we head into 2014. among them, expired unemployment ben efficients a new farm bill, patent reform, new intelligence laws and tax reform all still waiting for congress when they come back to work after the holiday, but there seems to be a little bit of sign of positivity, optimism, maybe, progress. at least on immigration reform senate majority leader harry reid told the hill over the weekend, quote, i think john boehner will conference with the

senate. why willn't he. he'll have a lot of support now that the election is getting closer. no foregone conclusion. texas senator ted cruz speaking with michael bauer barry had th say on friday. >> we have an incredible opportunity to retire harry reid as majority leader and the number one thing republicans could do to mess that up is to refuse to stand for principle and if the house turns around and passes a giant amnesty deal that doesn't support the border and grants amnesty, they might as well put harry reid for majority leader bumper stickers on the backs of their cars. >> former democratic congressman, martin frost of texas and former republican congressman tom davis of virginia. first of all, happy holidays, gentlemen, thanks for coming on. >> i want to start with you, representative davis. in terms of the house of

representatives, do you think they'll be able to deal with the tea party opposition and do anything beyond just piecemeal when it comes to immigration? >> i think what's going to be critical is will they get enough democrats to join them unlike a dream act or something like that that won't be everything that the democrats want, but will get go away to get the bell to congress and i think they'll need democratic votes. >> when it came to the budget deal, and what house speaker boehner, when he lashed out at the extreme parts of his party and paul ryan made a deal. is it too optimistic to think that there is a moderate republican resurgence here? >> it's too soon to reach that conclusion. you know, i was in congress in 1996, right after the republicans closed them down in 1995. we had them on the run at that point. and they got well. gingrich was the speaker and he

moved the party to the center on minimum wage and also on welfare reform and it showed that they could do something. the republicans -- this is a -- boehner has an enormous problem still with the tea party and whether he can convince them to move to the senate on anything else is an open question. >> representative davis, you are known as more of a moderate. it's an interesting question to put to you. how would you be behaving right now if you were in congress? >> i would be behaving the same way. voteses tend to be on the right and to the left. you don't get middle choices. you saw what happened when the house was offered an opportunity on the ryan murray budget and you have very few choices that were compromised and in the center that they can agree to. >> do you see that changing at all with what's happened maybe with the budget deal or is it going to stay?

>> i think, look. the budget deal just keeps the lights on. this was a minimalist approach and thank goodness they were able to get together and i don't think they measure the congress by the number of bills they passed the democrats when they took control from dodd frank and they lost the 63 seats in the house the next time, so voters right now we're in a time when we've made major changes and it's a time for consolidation and keeping the lights on and doing some of the basics and they'll have to get better to get the farm bill out. >> and i want to go back to what you started with on immigration reform. immigration reform is the meanest, toughest issue that congress deals with on a regular basis. it makes social security reform look like a walk in the park. >> spoken from a man from texas. >> well, i'm telling you, it's a very tough issue to deal with, and i think that they're going to make an effort to do this. >> there may be a silver bullet for the republicans on another

issue if they're smart enough to figure this out and tom would know whether they are. if they were to increase the minimum wage, if they would do what gingrich did in 1996 and somehow get a minimum wage increase through that might go part of the way to solving their problem. i'm not sure they can do that because a lot of people in the business community don't want to see the minimum wage go out. >> they can couple that with concessions on the other side. i think you'll need compromise to get this done and the republicans want to be talking about health care as they go through some of the midterm elections and these others are distractions and whether it comes to raising the debt ceiling or whatever, there will have to be compromises. republicans need votes and rand paul said a lot about the working middle class and it's a part of the country that they need to cater to more. both of you did work with your congressional campaign committees and representative davis brought up the midterm and

i'll put it to you, representative frost. we saw the budget deal and the affordable care act and a lot of different moving parts and how do you feel from the democratic perspective. >> one is for the senate and the other is for the house. republicans have to pick up six seats in the senate ask i'm not sure they're close to that right now. i think that will be a heavy lift for them. everyone has thought for a long time and it it would be hard for the democrats to take the house back and that's still a challenge and things are breaking in favor of the democrats and the democrats and really good recruiting and 'em democrats have some sense of having seats in the house and we'll see how this plays out. >> tom? >> republicans will pick up just a handful of seats that are in contention in the house. they'll pick up seats in the senate. six is possible, but they'll need luck to do it. >> gentlemen, happy new year to you both, martin frost and tom davis, we appreciate the insight the day after christmas on msnbc.

>> how about a holiday freeze? thousands of americans from maine, michigan still without power today. battling frigid temperatures, we'll bring you the latest forecast plus a plea for help. an american kidnapped by al qaeda and pakistan two years ago reportedly asking president obama for help in a newly released video. we'll have that story for you straight ahead. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas

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welcome back to msnbc. a lot of us were able to enjoy a holiday that was warm and bright, but tens of thousands of americans spent spent their holiday in the dark. 150,000 people are still without power. crews spent christmas day on the clock, but power companies estimate the light asks heat will not be back on until tomorrow in some of hooz hard-hitterias and with more snow and bitter temperatures on the way, the forecast doesn't appear to be getting a whole lot warmer. i want to check in with weather channel meteorologist keith carson. >> thanks, brian. unfortunately, parts of the

northeast hit hard by winter storm gemini as far as ice and snow seen today. burlington, vermont, another. another couple of inches slowing down the recovery with those down power lines. kind of the same story in michigan, not as widespread, but we have lake-effect snow coming in off lake michigan here and we'll continue to see a little bit off accumulation in spots. we'll slow it down by a day. this batch of snow will actually move out tonight and we'll get a couple of day break in there. that's the good news. the snow, though, will continue today from maine, new hampshire, vermont all of the way back here into michigan and then we're watching a storm system for sunday night, monday won't be a problem for michigan. however, there could be a dig snowstorm for parts of maine and that is the last thing that they need. brian? >> thank you very much. in vermont we went from 60 degrees to 20 and it's been ten hours. it's pretty unbelievable. >> coming up, the muslim brother

hood won the presidential election in egypt and now the military-backed government that sacked the group has dubbed the brotherhood a terrorist organization. we'll discuss why some say it could lead to an even more severe civil conflict. we'll have that next. [ male announcer ] no matter what city you're playing tomorrow.

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i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something. [ male announcer ] dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that. it doesn't? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is! a kidnapped u.s. government contractor purportedly making a plea to president obama in a new video obtained by "the washington post." warren weinstein was kidnapped by al qaeda in pakistan. they sent out this video which was 13 minutes long to news agencies. they cannot confirm when or where the video was produced. in the video the 72-year-old says he feels totally abandoned and forgotten and asks president obama to negotiate for his release. he would only be freed if america stops air strike in

pakistan, somalia and yemen and releasedal members of al qaeda and the taliban. any new updates we'll bring you on that story. >> the surge of violence that's erupted in egypt. five were injured and one critically after a bomb on a bus exploded as passengers were getting off at a busy school enter section. that came after the muss the government labeled the muslim brother hood a terrorist organization accusing the group of carrying out a suicide bombing that killed 16 people outside of cairo. a former white house middle east adviser mark ginsburg joins us. good morning. >> good morning, brian. >> ambassador over the years you spent a lot of time in the middle east and one of the main children is the violence as we run up to the constitutional referendum in january. they're moving ahead with the army-backed plan for political transition. one expert who studies the muslim brotherhood quoted in the new york times is calling the desing nation a turning point

and it could lead egypt into a civil conflict. for us and the audience, put it into what a big deal or not giving us this label. >> it is an incredible reversal of fortune for the muslim brother hood. back in 1953, '52 when nasser and the colonels overtook kim farouk and the muslim brotherhood took him and ran him under ground. when the president sadat was assassinated in 1991, again the muslim brotherhood was further run underground by then surro d surrounding vice president mub rack and here we are again and this is the most ominous designation yet. >> it seems to be getting more sophisticated. you are getting suicide bombs and they're targeting civilians and i posed this question to

eamon mohyeldin earlier. is this the poet earn forpotenta civil war or too early at this point. >> no, i think there is a potential. when so many of the brotherhood members are being run under ground or thrown in prison there's the inevitable vengeance factor that will take place and remember, brian, close to 40 to 45% of the population have voted for the muslim brotherhood in the last election and they've lost considerable, political support, but they've also basically spawned off an al qaeda offshoot that is largely responsible for the attacks against the egyptian military in the northern nile delta as well as sinai and that portends an extraordinarily dangerous situation for the stability of egypt in the months to come. >> i want to ask you about south sudan. it just makes me scratch my head. the muslim brotherhood takes

over and they go to the extreme and they get bounced from power and then the government goes the other extreme and don't they realize they have to go to middle ground and they can't bounce from one extreme to the other. >> it's proven time and again that while it's overthrown in governments and taking power, it's going to be a serious question over the next few months whether or not the egyptian people so disgusted with the failure of president morsi's government ultimately sides with the military. so far they have, but i've seen the military wear out its welcome pretty quickly after the last overthrow of the mubarak government. so it remains to be seen, brian, how the government, the military government is able to in effect keep the popular support on its side. >> i think south sudan might be the youngest sovereign nation in the world and they're having a lot of problems in kenya and ethiopia trying to get involved and stabilize the situation and the u.n. is doubling peace

keepers on the ground i think to 12,500. this is not a topic that a lot of the viewers know a lot about, so put in perspective what's going on there and what you think is going to happen. >> this is a power grab between two competing rivals and the president who got rid of the vice president who is from a separate ethnic tribe and so you have all of the overlays that happen in africa, you have political power grabs and civilian casualties which is trying to bring relief to the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding there. we've seen this play out in the last few months. the untold story is the refugee situation. we focused on the loss of life which is huge, but the refugees that results is just alarming. >> ambassador ginsburg, we appreciate the time and joins us from washington, d.c., coming up, let's lighten the load from foreign politics to deep

discounts. retailers are trying to get you back in to the store after the holiday. we'll look at where to watch the best deals and if you want to send some of your gifts back. a little bit later, this ad champion, girls in science, but it's better known for the copyright war it sparked with the beastie boys. we'll look back at the top viral videos of the last year. i get times are tight. but it's hard to get any work done like this. then came this baby -- small but with windows and office. it runs my work stuff. ...and i can use apps like flipboard for news, or xbox video to watch the shows i'm never home to see... and i can still get work done at the same time. excuse me, do you mind if i... yep. ♪ honestly, i wanna see you be brave ♪ yep. hoo-hoo...hoo-hoo. hoo-hoo hoo.

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well, santa delivered for wall street this christmas. both the dow and s&p 500 hit all-time highs on tuesday just before the holiday. some more good news this morning when the labor department announced jobless claims dropping by 42,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 338,000. joining us now from cnbc, dominic chu, the domino. what's up, buddy? >> what's going on, brian? the market keeps going higher and higher and the investors don't seem fazed at all since 1996. it's the sixth update in a row

for the undecks, but this santa claus rally is just the tip of the iceberg and that's because if we close higher again today it would be the 49th time this year that the dow has made a fresh record high. the broader s&p 500 has done it 43 times. in other words, every fifth trading day this year has yielded a new record high for the stock market. so that's not too shabby. brian, if you think about it, what traders are more excited about is that the rally has been broad based and you'd be hard pressed to find anybody or any sector or group that isn't benefiting in this rally. >> quick question, when we were at cnbc you talk about the wealth effect and how many investors left the market with us getting new highs. is there going to be a wealth effect and do they spend more and feel richer because of what's going on? >> the interesting part about what's going on, brian and you would know this, too is that an estimated 70% of the u.s. economy is driven by consumer spending, so when people start opening up their wallets and spending money it's good for everybody and good for the economy so you have a modestly

growing housing market and a modestly growing job market and people are feeling optimistic about spending some money. what we want to see in the coming weeks is whether or not this holiday shopping season was all it was cracked up to be. when you hear amazon is having a record-setting holiday season, you also hear about ups and fedex are having problems delivering packages people bought. that's the reason why it might be more optimistic in the future. >> we'll talk about that right now, as a matter of fact. dominic chu, thanks for the insight. let's talk about shopping, yes, again. already. post-christmas sales in full swing. retailers advertising massive discounts and even 75% off and we're talking legitimate retailers here. let's talk about heatha, author of "black market billions." you think the underlying story is how many people are just clicking and buying.

>> right. the takeaway number here is 53%. paypal came out with a study saying during the holiday season, 50% of people would rather go shopping online than go into the stores. >> right. >> so that, when it came to delivering those goods, i don't think ups and fedex had anticipated everyone going online and purchasing so much, so we saw a lot of these retailers get their infrastructure union line for purchases, but the whole logistical part of it was not there, and that's why you had all of these deliveries. >> it's a difficult story for them for their families and businesses. >> when we talk about 70% off at major retailers, maybe that's because the sales weren't good enough during the holidays and are we reading too much into the fact that they're trying to get people into the stores for christmas? >> in terms of reading into the numbers? yes, the retailers discounting over 75%, you know that that is a major red flag.

retailers, they don't want to discount more than 30%, because all of a sudden that starts eating into their margins. in layman's terms they start to lose money, anything above 30%, that's where they're getting into that sort of red flag area. 70% is bad. 70% of the stores start losing money. >> gift cards. it's a great gift. it's $30 billion, but do they retailers care if they get spent? >> they do. retailers don't count gift card sales until they're cashed in. >> why not? they have the cash and have the money and it's almost like a loaner and it's the best way to describe it. they give that person $100 on a card and they have to redeem that in order to count as a sale and they're pushing people to try to go in and spend on those

cards and one way they are doing that is by offering all of these side promotions in addition to the discount. so you're getting free purchase, buy one, get one free. a $10 or $20 gift certificate if you spend$100. you are getting free shipping if buying online although i would probably at this point with everything happening with fedex and ups, stay away with the online. >> i would opt to go to the mall. >> i don't like shopping under any circumstances. i want to ask you quickly, are there any deals that you have your eye on and i'll do my "today" show, matt lauer-esque are there places to go where people can go to shop? >> deals will start happening three or four days from now and six and seven days is sweet spot. if you're looking for electronics, everyone will return a lot of the merchandise. so clothing, toys, electronics and those are the three biggest items that people will be

returning. if you're in the market for a sweater, go six or seven days now, you will get a discount on whatever you're looking for. same thing with electronics. i had my eye on the beats by dre headphones. i don't know. i'm anticipating that to be marked down 30% to 40%. >> they just slash the price and then you can get it. >> as you know, retailers don't want to have that merchandise on the shelves. that means not good things for the retail at the end of the season. >> heatha, good to see you. >> it's been a while. >> coming up, what videos did you forward to your friends this year? this one is a classic. jean-claude van dam. we'll have the best viral videos of 2013 when we come back. i'm nathan and i quit smoking with chantix.

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pretty awesome volvo

commercial with jean-claude van damme doing a split. i don't believe i. they were in reverse or had his feet locked in. i want to know the truth of what he did. i don't think they messed with the video. it was one of the most trending of the year. from harlem shaking to firefighters, kittens, a lot of viral videos that got people talking. women who tech, besides van damme, it was cool. no words. >> very cool. >> really fantastic. one of your favorites was from dove. >> yes. >> they basically asked women to describe themselves for a sketch artist. i want people to take a look. >> tell me about your chin. >> it kind of protrudes a little bit, especially when i smile. >> your jaw. >> my mom told me i had a big jaw. >> what would be your most prominent feature. >> a fat, rounder face. >> today i'm going to ask you questions about a person you met

earlier, and i'm going to ask you general questions about their face? >> she was then. you could see her cheek bones. >> her chin, it was a nice, thin chin. >> this is the sketch that you helped me create, and that's the sketch that somebody described of you. >> yeah. that's -- >> people got emotional when they watched it. what about it resonated so much? >> i think what was really interesting for me to watch that video, people are so much harsher on themselves than other people perceive them. the great thing about the video is the second part of it is when women were interviewed about the women he had sketched and asked what they thought of them, you got a completely different picture. women were portrayed as being beautiful and youthful and happy and open. it's such a compelling story frf

from a marketing standpoint for women, what a great way to do it. >> dove does this all the time with real beauty commercials. they really take that double standard and do a good job. >> this one, i have a daughter. we do have scientists, different things. this video from toymaker goldieblox, used a song by beastie boys. caused an uproar over rights to the song. everyone was watching it. i think it was a great message to girls. just a quick listen and you hear the tune. when they don't do the chorus from the beastie boy. more noise from the copy right or the video. >> so originally before the beastie boys actually realized their song was used, it got a lot of viral play. people were really excited about

it. but of course it amped up the viral play once beastie boys said, how are you using our song. you don't have the right to use it. they ended up suing them to use the song, which the public thought wasn't a bad thing to do. it helped put this small, independent toy company on the map. >> the message didn't backfire because of the fight? >> i don't think it did. for some of the community it upset people in terms of an aggressive marketing tactic, how they did not get legal permission. overall the message in terms of girls not necessarily wanting all these girlie toys was very positive. >> this was interesting to me, i had several people send it to me. i watched it and it went on a little too long. generally speaking i thought it was a nice -- it's a canadian airline company. they have a box set up, asked

people at random what they wanted for christmas. some people did it. by the time they arrived at the destination they had the present gifted to them. i thought it was cooled and yet it got slammed. >> i loved this commercial. it was so heartfelt and warming. i don't understand why people were slamming. >> materialistic. >> no, this is a company. every year during the holidays they do something special for their clients. they upped it this year. total kudos. so heartwarming. the holidays are stressful. for you to be asked what do you want for christmas and all these employees to rush out and get you what you wanted and deliver it as soon as you get off the airplane. that's amazing. >> how bummed was the guy who asked for underwear and socks. >> the person with the flat screen it was a positive. >> net positive even though they had severe backlash. >> i think so. i think there was some backlash on it but i also think people

loved this video. now people actually know them outside of canada. >> it's true. thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. >> that does it for me on msnbc. kristen welker picked things up. pretty important guest about nsa leaker edward snowden at the top of the hour on msnbc.

what can brown do for you takes on a new meaning after a shipping backlog prevents thousands from getting last minute christmas gifts. what they are doing to make it up. a less than glowing report of governor chris christie. allegations of bullying and political retribution. holidays movie blitz, we'll look at the hits and misses. hello, everyone. good afternoon. i'm kristen welker, you're

watching msnbc. unemployment insurance will run out for families ending critical assistance just before the new year. congressional democrats are making an extension top priority for 2014 but republican lawmakers could put up a legislative roadblock. wisconsin democrat congressman moore joins me now. happy holidays. thanks for joining me. >> thanks for having me. let's just start with political stakes. i know democrats want to see unemployment benefits extended in the new year. my question is strategically how do you make that happen when the fix was part of the budget deal. what's your leverage in how doubts this through congress in the new year. >> thanks for asking. i think the leverage is history. historically we have without conditions extended unemployment

when our unemployment rate hovers around 7%. under republican presidents, democratic presidents, democrat republican congresses and we've had a tremendous precedent that we care about our neighbors. no longer can we look at the stereotypical bum, lazy ne'er-do-well who refuses to go to work. we have people with advanced degrees who found themselves unemployed and unable to find work. these are our neighbors, our relatives, our friends. we are looking at republicans in republican held districts who want to see us pay out this unemployment rate. if we can generate the kind of rage in the american public that we have seen when, say, for example just recently there was talk of going to syria, i think we could get people on board for doing this really american

thing. >> congresswoman, i don't disagree with you. so far we haven't seen that type of rage. so are you counting on republicans going home to their home districts and hearing from their constituents over this holiday? is that where you think the pressure point will be? >> i'm glad that you're having me here today. because, you know, when you stop and think about these retailers who talk about having lost money in the billions of dollars, it's a consequence of the inequality that we see. it's not just low wages people are being paid but it's unemployment. i mean, unemployment insurance generates money in the economy. those retailers missed out and will continue to miss out throughout this holiday season because people don't have money. these 1.3 million people who are being denied unemployment insurance right now, they include 2 million children. we're not just talking about

toys over the christmas season, we're talking about food and clothing and retailers ought to be more enraged than anybody. >> lets turn to health care, congresswoman. as you know the rollout of the affordable care website is rocky. the administration says they turned it around, touting record numbers of people logging on enrolling more than a million people they say so far have enrolled so far short of the numbers they wanted to see, though, at this point. how do democrats, how does the administration turn this narrative around turning into 2014 and how concerned are you about the narrative? >> i'm very concerned about the narrative, you know, but i think history will show that this was a watershed moment for americans. the fact people are coming to the website, signing up, is a demonstration this is a commodity that is desperately needed. people need health care

insurance. i want people to remember the number one cause of bankruptcy in this country were the cost of medical care. i don't care how good a job you think you have, anybody's economic fortunes turn on one major illness. you let your kidneys go out and need dialysis. you let a cancer cell grow in your body and you'll see how important it is to have coverage. it can happen to anybody, any race, any color, both genders, any nationality. nobody is immune from getting sick. this is an important commodity for americans. whatever happens, this president will enjoy this historical accomplishment. >> all right. congresswoman gwenn moore, that you so much for your insights and happy new year to you. >> thank you. i just hope everybody thinks

about the important things that are coming up in 2014. we need comprehensive immigration reform. we need food stamps passed. we need to care about our neighbors. >> a lot of big fights on the horizon. that's for sure. including the debt ceiling. appreciate it, congresswoman. thanks. >> and the debt ceiling. thank you. >> all right. well, there is yet another deadline extension for people who haven't been able to sign up under obama care. it's not for everyone. doesn't apply to you if you start coverage today. joining me chief washington correspondent john harwood. john, break all this down for us. what does this extension mean and to whom does it apply? >> first of all, merry christmas, kristen. >> merry christmas. people trying to get in under the wire for that december 23rd signup. that is critical for people who have those canceled policies which tend to go out of effect january 1st. if you're required to have

coverage january 1st had it, obama administration had as a top priority making sure they were not responsible for people losing their health care coverage. that's why they made that extension. it doesn't apply for people starting new. a lot of people applying later in the process, remember the signup goes through march 31st are people who haven't had insurance in the past so january 1 wasn't an important trigger point. we'll see soon enough if we have enough people. republicans will make sure we know about them. if there are a large number of people who could say, i had insurance, i liked it, it was canceled. i couldn't get new policies because of the website or other issues with obama care. >> john harwood, thank you. appreciate it. have a great new year. there could be a new twist in a bridge controversy surrounding new jersey governor chris christie. records show fort lee's mayor asked christie 20 years ago for

help easing traffic at the george washington bridge this past september. that appointee closed two lanes suddenly for four days leading to massive traffic tie-ups in the fort lee area. they said it was payback because they didn't support him for re-election. he denies it. quote, stories add up as bully image trails christie. suggests those who know christie wouldn't be surprised if the closures were an act of political revenge. joining me advocacy director for democrats of america and strategist and msnbc contributor. thanks to both of you for being here. hope you had a great holiday. >> you, too. >> merry belated christmas to you. >> richard, i want to start with you. the article profiled several people who met some downfall for publicly disagreeing with or criticizing the governor. how big a deal is this bridge story? is it something that has legs or

goes away? >> i think it has legs. i'll tell you why. this is not the first or second or third time we've seen political thuggery from governor christie. because of that it has legs. hopefully use this thuggery to push the field out of the way from the far right who he has trouble with if he runs for president in 2016. >> richard says it has legs, do you agree or disagree? >> in itself it doesn't. no one can prove it's just speculation. christie had a tremendous win in november. clearly these things don't add up. what it shows is he's now a front-runner for the republican nomination. how he handles these little things, everyone will pick every little thing because he's the front-runner. how he handles that does matter. >> i wonder if this speaks to what we might see as we get closer to 2016, in other words, democrats attacking him for this

bully image. is that how they go after him? >> they can try. i think it's going to backfire. they may say bullying, others say a way to get things down. has he worked across the aisle, came up with uft randy weingartner said on the set how they worked together. has he a reputation of getting things done. that may be misconstrued a little about bullying. >> richard, i want to shift to 2014. karl rove gave predictions in the "wall street journal" yesterday. i'm going to give you a quote. he said, "republicans will keep the house modest pickup of four to six seats, gop 50 to 51 senate seats. republicans will lose a net of one or two of their 30 governorships. they will add to numbers in statewide offices and statewide legislature see more latino, african-american-of- african-americans and women republicans elected up and down the ballot. is he right? >> no.

here is why he's not right. republicans have a huge problem. christie christie shows the problem. you have karl rove, standard bearers of gop, far right, ted cruzes, heritage action funds. they are the ones running the party. they shut down the government, blast obama care at all costs. because of that they are going to have trouble in battleground states in this upcoming election. because of that they are going to have trouble winning governor seats. they are becoming more and more reenlal party because they have shifted farther and farther to the right. we saw that in the two governors' races, one democrats had a clean sweep across statewide tickets. we'll continue to see that happen across the country. >> i want you to weigh in on that. do you agree with karl rove? has he overstated his predictions. break down what some are seeing as a civil war within the

republican party. super pacs saying they are going to put money behind tea party challenging karl rove. >> i think first of all his predictions are pretty much in line with what a lot of people see as potential. a lot of things depending how obama care goes through the next few months, the economy. there will be a lot of things playing into 2014. when it comes to super pacs seems like we want responsible government. as far as tea party money last year and again this year, i don't think it's necessarily in competition because those are individuals versus when you see the chamber of commerce looking to speak to a lot of different people. karl rove is one of those voices. i think a lot of people want to hear new voices from these super pacs as well. >> quickly, does the fact these midterm elections are on the horizon, will that overshadow any type of legislative agenda that democrats or republicans might want to get through?

>> probably. mostly as a result of what's going on in the senate. you have a lot of democrats in the senate who don't want to have to take difficult votes. that will be problematic to get anything done, with the exception of possibly immigration reform. >> that's the one to watch. all right. thank you so much. richard fowler, greatly appreciate your being here this afternoon. >> thank you. >> and coming up, we'll talk to investigative journalist glen greenwald, the man who broke open the nsa story talking to edward snowden. that's right after the break. you don't want to miss it. plus she was known for standing by her man when then husband eliot spitzer caught in a prostitution scandal. but the spitzers dropped a christmas bombshell coming up. a country in turmoil. stay with us. ♪ [ male announcer ] welcome back all the sweet things your family loves with 0-calorie monk fruit in the raw.

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released a holiday message to world leaders. the first time he's spoken out on video in months. the former contractor told government they need to ratchet back surveillance programs that dominated headlines this year. take a look. >> privacy matters. privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be. the conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place in the technology that sounds us and the government that regulates it. >> investigative journalist glenn greenwald has been entrusted releasing some of the high-profile leaksly edward snowden over the past year. he joins me now. we appreciate it, glenn, for

being here. i'm going to tell viewers there is a slight delay so i'm going to dive into questions. with the interview he said his mission was accomplished. i wonder what your reaction is to that interview and i wonder if you've spoken to him and when. >> i'm in regular contact. i've spoken with him since the interview. i think the point he was making as a whistleblower his objective is not as some people said to destroy nsa capabilities, something like that, which he easily could have done if that were his intention but inform citizens about what the government was doing in the dark so a serious debate could be provoked. he's gratified by the choice he made. >> dpleglenn, a lot of people h that interview, read it in the "washington post," felt like he was spiking the football a bit because president obama seemed to suggest there would be some changes. was that your perception?

>> no, i don't think so. remember, over the past 10 days of federal court has declared the principle program we first exposed to be unconstitutional. the president's own advisory board, along with that court, has said this program in particular is not contrary to the claims of obama officials. any important function stopping terrorist attacks. a lot of indication in particular for edward snowden. it wasn't spiking the football as much as saying my goal is not what some people in the government say it is, which is to destroy these programs. instead, it is to do what a whistleblower should do, bring these programs to light so people can debate whether or not they ought to continue. >> glenn, snowden said his mission was accomplished. president obama is coming out in january and announce it seems like some changes. if he does announce changes will snowden stop leaking information? will that be it? >> snowden hasn't leaked any information for six months.

he gave us all the documents we have back in hong kong in june. as journalists we've been going through the documents he furnished us back then and we've been going through finding out what's a news story and how to report them. as a journalist i'm not going to conceal news worthy stories from the public. i'm going to continue to report them until each and every news worthy story is published, "the washington post," "the guardian," others that have snowden documents feel the same way. >> just to be clear, glenn, are you saying whatever president obama comes out and nouns in january you have more information to leak out that was provided to you by edward snowden? >> oh, sure, there are a lot more nsa stories extremely significant about what the nsa has been doing to the american people and privacy rights of people around the world that have not yet been reported that absolutely will be reported. there's nothing president obama or the united states government

can do to force us to conceal news worthy stories. how can we call ourselves journalists if we sat on news worthy stories. of course we're going to report more of them and there are a lot more to report. >> some have looked at journalists who snowden spoke to speak with, a select group of journalists. what do you say to your critics who say you've become more of a spokesman for edward snowden? >> i think that's ludicrous is what i say to that. every journalist has an agenda. we're on msnbc, close to 24 hours a day president obama promoted, agenda, that doesn't mean the people on msnbc aren't journalists, they are. i think every journalist has a viewpoint. my viewpoint is clear. i think what he did was heroic. the ultimate test of a journalist is what you publish accurate and reliable.

i think with regard to every story we published over the last several months, there hasn't been a single correction made, very few called into question. that's the ultimate question when it comes to journalism. >> i think the point is not so much about msnbc and what happens here but more that sometimes when you talk about edward snowden you do defend him, and some people wonder if that crosses a line. >> sure. i do defend him just like people on msnbc defend president obama and his officials 24 hours a day. >> not everyone on msnbc does that 24 hours a day. >> no, not everybody, but a lot of people on msnbc do. sure, i don't make any bones about the fact that i consider what edward snowden did to be quite heroic, just like i consider what chelsea manning did, daniel ellsberg, one of my political heroes. i as a journalist am grateful when people sacrifice their own interest to come forward and brine transparency to the united states government. that to me is what journalism is

about and we need that in the united states. i absolutely do defend what edward snowden does and i don't pretend otherwise. >> in your conversations with him, glenn, has he told you what his plans are? do you expect him to be in russia within the next year as you look forward? >> his asylum is temporary asylum for one year. in it has another eight months to go. it's been in the news recently that he has spoken about the prospect of obtaining asylum from other countries or russia as well. he wants to make sure the united states government doesn't apprehend him and put him in prison for the next 40 years and we'll never hear from him again. i think his goal is political asylum, germany, brazil, russia, that remains to be seen. that's still debated. >> based on the fact he's coming out and speaking out in these videos, what can we anticipate in this coming year? will we hear more from him or is this sort of a one-time coming

out given the recent developments and he's going to go underground again? >> i hope we hear more from him. he always had a dual track, he felt it was his obligation to account to the public for what he did and answer questions, which is why he didn't hide. he identified himself early on. at the same time he didn't want the story to be about him. so he turned down every tv request for the last six months so the focus would be not on him but the nsa and the substance of the revelations and i think that's worked. i do think he wants to participate in the debate he helped to provoke but doesn't want the focus to be on him or have the attention paid to him. he wants to keep that on the nsa where it belongs. >> green greenwald, thank you so much for your time. we appreciate it. lets bring in our panel for more on spying, surveillance and snowden, political deputy white house reporter and msnbc managing editor. we want to say for full

disclosure her husband is the reporter who interviewed edward snowden and broke the story to the "washington post." thank you for being here. i want to start with you. what was your reaction to what we heard from mr. greenwald. >> i thought it was interesting. glenn has done a lot of good work on the story as well and published significant pieces. i'm sure he's right in that the disclosures that are going to appear in papers and certainly based on him and his own desire to continue reporting on the subject won't change with what the president ultimately decides to do. i do think that when the president comes back from vacation and does come ahead with whatever changes he's going to make that that will change the story a little bit. i think it will be interesting to see how the president comes out on this both on the recommendations of his panel and personally. it sounds from the comments he's made he's also done an enormous amount of thinking. he's gone early in the story,

felt really good where things were with the nsa to saying in the interview chris montana us did on hardball that it raised concerns and talking about what could be done that would at least give the country a better sense of transparency and a feel that they were not the targets of surveillance as glenn was saying. >> rebecca, i want to bring you in. you heard mr. greenwald say there will be more information forthcoming no matter what president obama comes out and says in january. so will the administration be on the defensive on this issue for some time to come? it seems like it's heading in that direction. >> that's been the continuing pattern, obviously from the very beginning with the administration. they have been reacting to stories as they come out and sort of in this defensive crouch to a certain extent. we have seen it also within the past few weeks. you saw with judge leon's ruling as you saw what he said that the program was likely to be found

unconstitutional. the telephone metadata monitoring program and then just a few days later the administration, of course, very quickly releases the recommendations, a list of 46 recommendations from the intelligence panel that was reviewing the nsa program kind of in an attempt to shift the narrative there. we've seen the pattern and i'd expect it to continue. >> we're almost out of town but do you executive president obama to come out and announce significant changes or adapt a few of those 46 recommendations from his panel. >> it's hard to predict but i think, again, it depends how much pressure there is. i see an attempt at baby steps to see how they are responded to both in congress. there's a political element here, too. there are a lot of people on the hill, republicans and otherwise, who don't want to see any changes and worked hard in committees, intelligence committees, house committees to protect the nsa and its power. that's a line he's going to be walking here. >> all right. we'll wait and see. thank you so much to both of you for being here to break it all

down for us. the latest on the kidnapped american being held in pakistan since 2011, a new video reportedly shows him pleading with president obama to intervene. plus a utah judge won't stop same-sex marriage from moving forward. will the sea change continue into 2014. heading into his second term will he cement his legacy or is he already a lame duck. that's right here on msnbc. you make a great team. it's been that way since the day you met. but your erectile dysfunction - it could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach,

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a new video reportedly shows a kidnapped u.s. government contractor making a direct plea to president obama. the man in the video identifies himself as warren weinstein who was abducted by al qaeda in pakistan in 2011. weinstein asks president obama to negotiate for his release and says he feels totally abandoned. the media arm of al qaeda sent the 13-minute video to several western news agencies, although nbc news cannot confirm when or where the video was produced. in a statement today, the state

department says it's working to authenticate the video and reiterates the call for weinstein's release. meanwhile egyptians are on edge today as another violent attack threatens already unstable region. today's bombing injured five people, one of them critically after an improvised explosive device on a bus at a busy school intersection in cairo. it comes a day after the interim government labeled muslim brokered a terror organization accusing them of carrying out a suicide bombing that killed 16 people outside cairo. ayman mohyeldin live there. i understand there was an explosive device found near the bus? >> that's right. the police after the first explosion went off outside that public transportation bus were able to secure the area, cordon it off and had explosive ordnance team arrive and began to certainly the area.

according to egyptian police they were able to identify a second device they were able to successfully detonate in a controlled fashion. it gives you a sense, really, of the kind of violence escalating in the capital and elsewhere across the country and the kind of sense of alertness that gripped egyptian security forces here. >> all right. nbc's ayman mohyeldin, thank you so much. we appreciate your reporting. coming up, it's been a tough year for president obama. will 2014 bring better things? we'll put his presidency into context, what his legacy right now says and what can he do to make a lasting mark on the nation. we'll have a presidential historian next. drove grandpa to his speed dating this week, so i should probably get the last roll... yeah but i practiced my bassoon. [ mom ] and i listened. [ brother ] i can do this. [ imitates robot ] everyone deserves ooey, gooey, pillsbury cinnamon rolls. make the weekend pop. well, did you know that just one sheet of bounce outdoor fresh gives you more freshness

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shooting is expected in court today. 23-year-old pa

23-year-old, he's accused of killing the tsa agent. hernandez was the first to be killed in the line of duty. today utah officials expected to make an emergency plea to the supreme court to stop same-sex marriages in their state. a federal appeals court already ruled they won't stop same-sex marriages from moving forward. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joins me now. thanks for being here. happy holidays, pete. >> to you. >> pete, what is the natural progression from here into next week and next year given the latest ruling in utah. >> i'm surprised utah hasn't filed its emergency application with the supreme court given how quickly they have moved so far. atmosphere longer shot to get the supreme court to put a stay or hold on the judge's ruling last week that found utah's ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional. at first the lawyer for the state asked the judge himself to stay the effect of his own ruling. he declined. then on christmas eve they asked the tenth circuit court of appeals, federal appeals court that handles utah to do the

same. it declined. so now the next step is go to the justice responsible for that part of the country, sonia sotomayer and ask her for a stay. as i say i'm a little surprised they haven't filed that already given how quickly they acted before. this is a little more difficult, though, step to achieve. now, that's just on the question of the stay. we still have the issue of whether the judge was right or not. the state has appealed that. that's to the tenth circuit. there will be a hearing on that early next year, whether the judge got it right or wrong. and, of course, whoever loses there could ask the supreme court to take the case. it's not at all certain they are eager to rule on same-sex marriage and may want to let this play out in other states before it eventually does what most people think it will have to do, which is to take this issue up and decide it. >> you think ultimately this will make its way to the supreme court, same-sex marriage, in some way, shape, or format make

point. >> seems very hard to see how it could not. remember, the supreme court only hears the cases it wants to hear. it could be too early. ultimately it's going to have to decide the case. some doing it by legislation, some by court decree, strong feelings on both sides. it seems hard to see how the supreme court doesn't eventually have to rule on this. >> all right. pete williams, nbc justice correspondent. thank you so much. >> you bet. >> 2013 was not the best year for president obama between canceled health plans, botched rollout of healthcare.gov and government shutdown over the nation's health care law. the president's approval rating sunk to 40%, near record lows. the slump has raised serious questions about president obama's legacy and led some democrats to compare him to the very man he staked his election against, george w. bush. as one democratic put it, on no one is going to follow him off

the cliff because he has no capital in the capital, none in the favor bank. joining me to discuss the legacy is presidential historian alan liquiditiman. thank y othank you for joining us and happy holidays. >> same to you. >> i want to read a quote and get your reaction on the other side. this is from jonathan chait, if you measure the power, his ability to move agenda through congress, his presidency has been dead since republicans took control of the house in january 2011. if you measure it by his ability to use his popularity to force the opposing party to cooperate, it has literally been dead from the out set. react to that, if you would, is that accurate? is the comparison to president bush overstated, do you think? >> let me start with comparisons to president bush. they are way overstate. president bush started two wars that proved to be far longer than expected, very unpopular

that americans now think are mistakes. under his watch the economy hit the worst economic times since the great depression. there's been nothing remotely like that under the watch of president obama. secondly, in terms of his inability to move the opposition, i think that's true. but you have to understand why. political scientists measure political polarization. it is at its maximum today, almost at 100%. that is, republicans and democrats don't agree on anything. so to put the blame on president obama i think is partly true, but also very much misplaced. our political system has become almost utterly dysfunctional. the affordable care ability was the only major piece of social legislation in the history of our country to be passed without a single opposition vote. that tells you a lot. >> it certainly does.

doct doctor, i want to you look at predecessors and get to you weigh in on that. approval ratings of reagan, clinton, bush, 07, 68, 30. this is november of their second term, by the way. so is it possible, and has any president been able to recover from such a low approval rating at the start of of a second term? >> it's very difficult to recover from an approval rating like george bush's. presidents have recovered during their second term from widespread problems and low approval ratings. franklin roosevelt, who was elected four times, his approval rating was going down during the disastrous first two years of his second term marked by the failure of his court packing plan, big losses in midterm

elections of 1938. a year and a half later, towards the end of his second term, he becomes the indispensable leader of the free world and gets elected to an unprecedented third term. ronald reagan had reached such a low point during had his second term his party lost the senate in 1986 despite his extensive campaigning. then with his negotiations with mikael gorbachev, soviet union, he turns it around. >> thank you so much for your insights today. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. the day after christmas and stores are packed with schollers looking not only to return but to score some deals as well. we'll go out to the stores next. plus this week is huge at the box office. with so many movies out there, what's worth seeing? we'll tell you where to find the hits and misses. that's just ahead. [ male annou] welcome back all the sweet things your family loves with 0-calorie monk fruit in the raw.

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eliot spitzer home for the holidays, just reportedly not his home. according to "new york post" the day after the former disgraced mayor announced his mayor was over he spent christmas with his girlfriend liz smith, former spokesman for mayor de blasio. worked as a spokesman on his failed bid for controller earlier this year. santa's sleigh hit major delays. stockings lighter for thousands of americans waiting for delay packages from ups. both shipping companies apologized for the problems and say bad weather and increased online shopping overloaded their steps. a fedex supervisor who declined to give his name told nbc news they were experiencing extraordinary delays. well, just when you thought holiday shopping season was over, get ready for the post christmas shopping bonanza. retailers started rolling out huge after christmas deals on christmas day this year. some stores including walmart

and kohl's opened as early as 5:00 a.m. today. according to data from shoppertraker post holiday crowds are expected to be the fifth largest of the year. joining me now to talk post holiday shopping sales and cnbc's julia boorstin. julia, thanks for joining me this afternoon. what kind of deals can consumers expect today? >> well, around a 50% off in a lot of stores. some stores say 40% off of already reduced items. in some stores in the malls we've been reporting from this week we're seeing as much as 70% off. so really very deep discounts. i think that's one reason why about 80% of consumers say they plan to take advantage of these post christmas discounts. >> those seem to be pretty high markdowns. why are we seeing that? is that because you had that shorter time between thanksgiving and christmas, that shorter shopping season so retailers trying to make up for lost time and sales?

>> that's exactly it. these really are the deepest discounts we've seen since 2008, 2009 recession. some analysts say these are the deepest discounts they have ever seen at retailers. i think it does come down to that. the fact retailers had six fewer shopping days between thanksgiving and christmas than they did last year meant from the very beginning of the season they felt under pressure. they were offering those deep discounts. the other thing to keep in mind is that consumers now have come to expect those discounts and they also know they can shop around and comparison shop online so they are holding out for the deals. >> all right. julia boorstin, i hope you find a nice sale out there. thanks for joining us. appreciate it. well, eight movies opened yesterday. almost everything has a big star. leonardo dicaprio, ben stiller, even keanu reeves. how do you choose? we'll break it down coming up next. [ male announcer ] this is george.

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2013 is wrapping up to be a record year at the box office. whether you spent your holiday at the theater or catching up on christmas releases or days ahead, you've come to the right place. here with me to break down holiday winners and losers on the big screen, senior editor at "in touch weekly." thank you for being here. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> want to start off with the movie "the wolf of wall street," getting a lot of buzz, leonardo dicaprio, big heavyweights, a martin scorsese film. is this an oscar contender? what makes it so great. >> this is the movie people have been waiting for, it finally did christmas day. leonardo dicaprio, you'll hear talking about until the season finishes, oscar. it did get ignored by sag but

got golden globes nominations. leonardo and martin make such a great pair. they work well together. it's polarizing. a lot of people love it, a lot hate it. there's drug, there's sex, there's drugs, there's more sex. they are lucky they got an r rating. it almost didn't make it to an r rating. >> it's long. >> three hours. very long. >> if you're in it, just watch. you go on the wild, wild ride. first 10 minutes of the movie, car crashes and drugs and sex and more of that throughout the film. but leonardo really gives heart to this character, which is amazing because he's such a bad guy but you like him because of leonardo. >> lets turn to "august: osage county." major star power. julia roberts, one of my favorites, meryl streep. lets watch a clip, then your reaction on the other side. >> you don't want her here. >> i have an indian in my house. >> do you have a problem with

indians. >> i don't know what to say. >> they are native americans. >> they aren't any more indian than me. >> in fact, they are. >> what a great exchange, two great female actresses. does this have broad appeal? >> it's based on the play. meryl streep and julia roberts in the same movie. it's about a dysfunctional family that come together for the family reunion. meryl streep plays this mother cancer stricken, drug addicted. they all have their demons, it's a dark, dark movie but you can't beat the acting. >> also getting a s.a.g. award. >> and golden globes. lone survivor, this starring mark wahlberg, full disclosure, part of the nbc universal family. take a look. >> you let him go, 20 more will die next week, 40 more after

that. our job is to stop. why do these men have the right to dictate how we do our job? >> so this is a heavy film. what's your take? >> this is a real war movie based, of course, on the memoir by a navy s.e.a.l. it's brutal. you see the fighting. you see war movies. this is a brutal, brutal film. pete peterberg who wrote and directed spoke out about it. mark wahlberg spoke out about it. it's brutal. about the afghanistan failed mission to capture the taliban leader. if you're looking for fighting. if you're looking for that real, true, gritty war film, go see this. be prepared, it's brutal. i think that's really the best word for it. >> this is not a feel good family movie. >> no. no. >> lets shift to "american hustle." this is getting a lot of oscar buzz as well. all my favorite actors in this film. talk a little bit. jennifer lawrence, bradley cooper, what makes it unique.

>> russell, it's his film, third film he'll be nominated for after the fighter, "silver linings playbook." he compiled actors from past award winning film, amy adams, bradley cooper, based on the ab scam scheme. they have changed characters, names. most of it is true, most of it actually happened. things are changed. it's a dark comedy but brilliant acting and brilliant directing. >> does any single movie stand out to you for possible oscar contention for best film. >> "american hustle," 12 years and "american hustle" got the most nominations. "american hustle" is my favorite for oscars. >> thanks so much for being here. appreciate it. that does it for me this here on msnbc. andrea mitchell is next. have a great new year, everyone.

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>> this isn't some damn game. the american people don't want their government shut down and neither do i. >> the public needs to decide whether programs or policies are right or lung. >> a good pair of lungs, that's for sure. >> right now, a special year end edition of "andrea mitchell reports," from boston strong to government shutdowns, rocky rollouts, leaks, and new heir to the throne. we take a look at headlines, scandals that captivated us all in 2013.