seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. here is what everyone is talking about. bracing for impact. the first flakes are already falling here in new york, but the first storm of 2014 is no flake. i'm abby huntsman. i came back from the beach for this, really? eye of the storm. 1.3 million unemployed americans have been left in the cold by congress. is there any hope for them when winter break ends? a cloud of uncertainty today over the family of a california teen declared dead after routine surgery. stunning new accusations from that family against the hospital, claiming doctors are trying to starve her and the impossible question, who should get to make the final decision when the patient can't? all that, plus brighter

skies? time gives us a first look at their new cover story looking ahead to 2014. i'm krystal ball. i think we all know that i've got a little knack for predicting the future, but just for today, i'm going to leave it to somebody else. good afternoon, everybody. we begin with breaking news. more than 90 million of us, more than a quarter of the american population, is under the gun this hour from a massive winter storm, the first of 2014. and mother nature has wasted no time. it's only day two of the year. the flakes are already flying across the northeast here in new york. we are expecting the worst to start later this evening. we'll wake up to half a foot. but boston is winning the rivalry this time around. they could get upwards of two feet. >> they're losing. >> and talk about commitment. this is the boston police academy's recruiting class, training in the snow.

and speaking of commitment, let's go outside to nbc's sarah dallof back here in the big apple. she's at city san station where hundreds of plows and salt spreaders are ready to move. sarah? >> reporter: well, abby, they're taking a real proactive approach, trying to get ahead of the storm this afternoon. we've got those salt spreaders already out on the roads. as you can see mind me, we've got the plows standing by. all in all, about 1,000 plows ready to go. 4,000 workers prepared to go battle this winter storm. they're on 12-hour shifts and committed to making sure people are safe and can get where they need to go. now, right now we've been given an update, about 10 inches of snow expected in this area. already about 500 canceled flights in area airports. airport authorities say they are prepared to have some of those travelers stranded overnight. mean while, residents in new york have been hurrying to the store all day.

they're snapping up snow shovels, food, water. they want to be prepared. they want to hunker down until this storm is over. officials are saying that's exactly what people should be doing, preparing to stay inside, avoid the roads if at all possible. if you can't, they say be sure to be prepared. tuck a flashlight in your car, food, water, extra clothing, just in case you're stranded. we all remember last february when that fast-moving blizzard swept through and stranded -- shut down the long island expressway, stranding those cars and all of those drivers. the big word right now is be prepared. this is coming. it is unavoidable. be safe and stay warm. back to you. >> all right, sarah. thank you. blizzard warnings are in effect for a number of areas. this storm won't be as much about the snow totals as it will be about the wind and biting cold. weather channel meteorologist kelly cass is going to fill us in. >> thanks, ari. that's right. we're looking at a major winter storm affecting many cities here in the northeast. we've got winter storm warnings in effect for all the big cities

here, including new york and boston. also, even blizzard warnings in effect for around the cape cod area down towards long island as that snow is really filling in across the radar here from the mid-atlantic into the northeast. down towards baltimore and d.c., you're going to see more rain mixing in. so we're not expecting as much in accumulation. but the snow showers will linger into tomorrow as well. if you're doing any traveling, do expect some airport delays here. around new york city we're expecting some delays. certainly just getting around on the roadways is going to be very difficult with that wind blowing that snow around. how much are we talking? how about over a foot of snow in that darker shade of purple across upstate new york, down the hudson valley. new york city towards philly, anywhere from 5 to 8 inches of snow. it's going to be difficult to measure, bit way, with those very strong northeasterly winds. lots of snow towards boston as well. we definitely have you in the over one foot category. also as far north as month pill yar, vermont.

back to you. >> kelly, thanks for the forecast. now from breaking news to broken news. we all know the deep freeze is nothing new on capitol hill. congress failed to extend long-term unemployment benefits for more than a million americans. they're not back in session until monday. that is the earliest they could reinstate it. but republicans say the $25 billion annual cost is too high, given the growing national debt and the improving labor situation. surprise, though, most democrats disagree with that. in nevada, home to the nation's worst unemployment rate, benefits are done for 17,000 workers. assistance to another 22,000 will run out by the summer. job hunters there were receiving 73 weeks of benefits. that's now been cut to just 26 weeks. it's a similar story in michigan. 130,000 workers lose benefits by the end of june. that'll be after they get 20 weeks of assistance. evan mcmorris, white house reporter at buzz feed, is making his debut today on "the cycle." great to have you. >> great to be here on this blizzard day.

>> it is, but it's nice and warm in here. >> i'll be here tomorrow if you'll need me. >> won't be leaving the studio. >> yeah, we'll just sleep here overnight. sounds good. so evan, while the president is in beautiful hawaii, the head of the national economic council says these benefits need to stay on the books as long as unemployment is high. you also have the national rate now at 7%. so at what point do you say, look, unemployment benefits were meant to be temporary to help people get back on their feet, we need to start getting our fiscal house in order? >> we're going to see that argument play out now. we're seeing the strategy democrats had during the budget negotiations play out. they decided not to include these unemployment benefits in that budget fight, maybe thinking there was no way republicans were going to agree to it, blow up the budget deal we have going now. they punted it until now. now we're going to go ahead and have the talk about unemployment insurance that democrats really want to have, the white house really wants to have. people who -- you know, smarter

reporters than me that cover congress more than i do told me basically what we're looking at is a strategy by democrats to sort of do what they did with the violence against women act, in which their going to try to pass this thing out of the senate, senate to the house, and kind of shame house republicans into doing something they do not want to do, which is to extend these unemployment benefits. >> and just to add a little bit of context to the debate, while we are seeing unemployment level declining, long-term unemployment remains stuck at very high levels. you know, we also have seen the deficit falling at a record pace. seems like this is something we need to do since this congress can't seem to get their act together to deal with the unemployment crisis. i wanted to ask you about another part of the labor market. we're hearing a lot about pushes to increase the federal minimum wage. we're seeing across the country states taking matters into their own hands. 13 states are set to have an increase in the minimum wage this week in 2014. another 11 state and washington, d.c., will be considering such

measures. do you think that those state initiatives are going to put pressure on the federal government to act, or do you think we're going to see people making the case that while the states are taking care of it, so we don't need federal government action? >> as a reporter, i certainly hope the state referendums and state actions will pressure the federal government. the federal government itself, i mean, the leader of the federal government, president obama, is going to make a big push about minimum wage as well. this is a big topic the democrats want to take into the election cycle into 2014. they think talking about the minimum wage leads to talk about income equality issues, leads to talk about the wage gap, which they think puts them on the right path to keeping the senate and maybe spending their numbers in the house. so regardless of what happens with these state initiatives, you will see federal talk of the minimum wage, whether or not it means that it's going to happen based on the political dynamics we have in washington right now, which as you mentioned are, you know, as frozen as this blizzard we're about to have, then that remains to be seen.

the discussion will definitely happen in washington about the minimum wage this year. >> evan, you're doing great for your first time on "the cycle," but you haven't had your ari question yet. let's deal with the temporary injunction by sonia sotomayor, requiring some employers to provide health insurance for birth control, a case brought by a group of nuns who did not want to provide birth control or pay a penalty for not doing so. seems to me this is going to be a challenge we're going to deal with continually in dealing with obamacare, moving into an obamacare america where we want to have universal health care, but you also want to protect religious freedom. >> yeah, look, we're moving into phase two of the obamacare political debate. the phase one was republicans trying to stop the law before it became law. that's what led to this government shutdown. that's what led to all the fights about defunding, all that stuff that happened before. that passed. the law is now in place. people now have it. now comes the fights about how

the law works. does it provide enough access to doctors you want to go to? does it have low enough co-pays? does it protect religious freedom, as you were mentioning? all these sort of implementation fights are the next phase of the obamacare fight. that's going to be throughout 2014, throughout the election season. you know, any massive change like this requires people to pay close attention. it's going to require a lot of legislative tweaking and people paying attention to it and criticizing it. so we're just getting into that now. >> yeah, and when you look at the overall sweep of this, i think it's pretty clear what the new numbers the white house put out that you got roughly 6 million people now getting some kind of coverage. 2.1 million through those federal/state exchanges. another 4 million through public programs. that doesn't even count another 3.1 million who are now on their parents' plan under 26, according to hhs. just politically, why do you think the white house has in some sense undersold these numbers? i mean, there's a fair argument

to say that 9 million americans are coverage through this plan. yet, we don't always hear the full totals together. >> well, you know, they wanted more people. i mean, we talk about losing those couple of weeks, that key initial month when they were going to press a lot to get young people to sign up and a lot of other people to sign up. but also right now, i think that their message from the white house has been one of, look, the law has just kicked in. we expect there to be some glitches in sort of people who have insurance for the first time figuring out if they can use it or not. and trying to distance themselves from those errors and those problems and put them on the insurance companies, which are now, of course, the private insurers, the ones who actually provide insurance to people under obamacare. so the white house, i think, is more focused on not getting stuck with another bunch of glitches and snafus, i guess, that caused them all the negative attention during the early phases of obamacare signup.

>> snafus, i haven't heard that yet on "the cycle." evan, thanks so much. we should have you back. i think you passed with flying colors. >> yeah, he's good. >> depends on the weather. >> we'll see you tomorrow. thanks so much. up next, the countdown to the winter olympics is on, but a wave of terror attacks in russia has the world on edge. how worried should we be? we'll get into that as "the cycle" rolls on for january 2nd, the first thursday in 2014. today i have new campbell's chunky spicy chicken quesadilla soup. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right.

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with a series of deadly terror attacks on russia's mass transit systems, all eyes right now are on security. let's bring in mark ginsburg, a foreign affairs adviser to senator ted kennedy. right now we have a situation where we've seen recent attacks that killed 30 people that authorities suspect islamic terrorists from the north k caucasus are behind. sounds to me like we have a recipe for a security nightmare. >> well, indeed, toure. let's draw the connection here so our viewers understand. the tsarnaev brothers, remember when one of them went back to dagastan in chechnya?

he was inspired by the very person who is claiming responsibility for these attacks now that have affected the city of volgograd and are trying to disrupt the olympics. so we must understand that in this country in the caucasus, is considered by the european union to be the most dangerous country in europe and the location where al qaeda and these chechnyan rebels come together. >> that was actually my initial question when i read this. is there any connection to the tsarnaev brothers? that will clearly play out further as this goes along. the one thing the two countries have in common despite our differences is terrorism. ambassad ambassador, might this provide some sort of an opening or more of an opportunity for the two of them to work maore closely together on anti-terrorism? >> the white house and united states have already offered president putin the type of support perhaps the russians need from the fbi and

counterterrorism organizations. we all disagree. i have real problems with mr. putin, but it's our olympic athletes that need to be protected, the integrity of the olympic games have to be protected. if he is smart, he will call on all the support he can get, particularly from the united states. because, again, we have experience. we've been attacked in the homeland. we have great police and counterterrorism expertise. if he wants to avail himself of this, he shouldn't be too prideful, which he tends to be, and take advantage of the offer. >> indeed. ambassador, i wanted to turn to unrest in another part of the world. in turkey, there have been ongoing protests over a corruption scandal involving the government there. are these the types of protests that you think could escalate to the point that we could actually see that government fall? and is this turmoil within turkey going to have broader implications for the whole region? >> the genesis of this is a corruption scandal involving the children of several key

ministers who were allegedly taking describes for housing contracts that were being led by their fathers and funded by their fathers in the government. there'ses a gre s a great calli prime minister to step down. what has he done? he's been blaming the americans. he's been blaming the ambassador. he's been blaming everyone but himself and trying to prevent the calls reaching him loud enough to resign. he's not going to go anywhere any time soon. but the people of turkey should understand that this is a prime minister who's going to blame the israelis and americans for the trouble that's been created within his own cabinet. >> yeah, and ambassador, we know the ex-prime minister of israel's health has been deteriorating. we don't know what will come of him, but when you look at his legacy and you think about john kerry there in israel now trying to get netanyahu to come around to be a peace part r partner, a

many would argue he's been less inclined to diplomatic solutions. speak to us about his legacy and what's happening now. >> he went what we call the immaculate conversion to become in effect a supporter of reaching an accommodation with the palestinians. to his discredit, unfortunately, he unilaterally pulled out of the gaza strip, and as you know, ari, hamas took over and that's been a terrible mistake because there was no accommodation reached between the palestinian authority and israelis. but the fact of the matter is that he and prime minister omert, recognized so long as israel maintains control over the west bank, the future of a jewish democratic state in israel is in jeopardy. that's why john kerry is there. to his credit, the secretary is on his latest mission to try to forge bridging proposals between the palestinians and israelis to forge a two-state solution.

i think that we should all be, shall we say, wish that as a new year's resolution mr. netanyahu gets religion and recognizes the importance of negotiating in good faith as a result of the americans' initiative here and the commitment of the someone of the stature of john kerry. >> the unsigned editorial today in "the new york times" is considering the value of edward snowden's leaks. he should be offered clemency or at least a plea bargain. e that may have committed a crime, but he's done his country a great service. your thoughts? >> i don't agree. while he may have ultimately unmasked the spying of an agency, the national security agency, that is totally out of control, and i frankly agree there's been inadequate checks and balances, he's done enormous damage to american foreign policy and with our allies abroad. it's not black and white. on one hand, he may have done a service, but he could have done that service by remaining in the

united states and doing his job here instead of basically undermine u.s. foreign policy and it's cost us both in terms of counterterrorism with our allies as a result of the spying scandal. so to basically say that the price was worth paying for what he achieved, i don't agree with. >> all right. ambassador, thank you very much. >> happy new year to you guys. >> you too. up next, who makes the final call when a life is over? it's the tough medical and ethical question surrounding the death of a 13-year-old girl in california. and we continue to follow that mass i winter storm. advisories and warnings posted in 22 states. check out these live pictures of cleveland where winds are already making visibility low in the suburbs. some areas are nearing a foot of accumulation. stay with us as the storm develops.

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>> the news never stops. neither do we. let's get you the latest on the

ship frozen in the ant arctic. all passengers have been air lifted off the boat. the crew remains on board as officials try to figure out a way to crack through the ice. speaking of crack, toronto mayor rob ford not only has vowed to stay in office despite his drug admission, now he's taking another crack at the city's top job. he was first in line at the clerk's office this morning. and from crack to pot. thousands of people are lining up in colorado, the first state in the nation to allow the legal sale of marijuana with no doctor's note required. about two dozen shops are up and running, most of them in denver. a handful of people have been cited by police so far because smoking pot, people, is still not allowed in public. time for a check on wall street. stocks are down big on this first trading day of the year, dragged down by the technology sector. the biggest loser there is

apple, which plunged more than 1% after its performance forecast was downgraded. now to the spin cycle. a truly heartbreaking story out of california. i don't know if you've been following this, but time is running out for a 13-year-old girl declared legally dead after surgery to correct a sleep apnea condition. the family after jahi mcmath is not giving up its fight to keep her on a ventilator, despite a number of doctors saying there's no chance she'll ever recover. a hospital spokesperson has even referred to as a corpse. her parents want to move her to a facility across the country to new york. before that can happen, she needs two procedures to stabilize her. the hospital is refusing to perform them. remember, they are under no obligation to perform any procedure on a person who has been declared deceased. that said, a judge did rule that jahi must be kept on life support until 5:00 p.m. next tuesday. now her parents claim the hospital is starving their daughter. by the way, that new york facility we mentioned is dedicated to terry schiavo, the

florida woman declared brain dead from a car crash and whose death sparked a national conversation about who gets to choose when you can't. it's a tough question and a tough one to answer. it's honestly tough to even talk about. this is such a heartbreaking story. it's something that my family actually went through a few years ago. i have some personal experience here. ultimately, it's up to the family to decide. only they can make that decision. i say that as the same situation here. you know, you can say is it the doctors's decision, the court, the state. ultimately, it's something the family has to feel right about. there's always guilt no matter what you decide. there's no right answer. in this specific case, we've heard from every doctor that has looked at the situation. she is no longer alive. it's different than terry schiavo, where the heart was beating and she had a feeding tube. this is different than that in that she's already dead. she's already been declared deceased. i would say, you know, this is less about what is right for the family and what is right for the hospitals. this is what is right for that poor little girl.

if it's already been declared she's no longer alive, i think the writing is on the wall and they're going to have to make that decision. >> i don't agree with you that the family has to make the decision. this is a tragic, sad story. i feel horrible for everybody involved, especially for the family of this 13-year-old girl who went in for something that seemed to be fairly routine and simple and then this tragedy happens. doctors, as we said earlier, don't have a duty to treat the dead. my sister's a doctor. i asked her why. she said, because there's nothing more that you can do for the body. so asking them to treat a dead body, nobody has ever returned from whole brain death, right. that's an impossible place to come back from. so asking the doctors to work on this body that is already gone, it's just wrong. the family obviously is emotional because that's their loved one, but the doctors have to rule once the body is gone. >> well, i hear that, and i understand that argument. it's true. if she's truly brain dead, no one has ever come back from

complete brain death. but on the other hand, you know, there was a story last year where a young man was declared brain dead by four different doctors and then a fifth doctor came in that the doctors were telling his father, you know, you should start thinking about being an organ donor and the good that you can do there. they asked for one more doctor to come in. they found some activity in the brain. the young man has now recovered. the parents are not asking this hospital to treat the doctor. they're asking the hospital to allow other doctors to come in who have agreed to perform the procedures. i don't understand why the hospital has to be so brutal in this situation. there seems to be no empathy there. they have doctors who they say are willing to come in and perform the procedures. there's another facility willing to take her. i don't quite understand why they have to be so brutal even if they want to say -- even if it's their right to say, you know, we're not going to perform procedures on someone who is brain dead and legally dead. i just think about if i put

myself in the shoes of jahi's parents, i know i would be doing the exact same thing. so i understand where they're coming from, and i don't understand why they can't at least give them a little time. >> well, i think a big part of this in the larger context for what is really a set of religious pressures that cut against the empirical science and medical science in these situations is what you're talking about, which is a very understandab understandable human emotion to do everything possible and beyond for your family or for life. that's a value, right. that's a value that exists regardless of what science or technology tell you. but that value will at times be pitted against what the hospitals do according to their rules and procedures which they design to be fair and to have certainty and finality. there was a medical ethicist who spoke to our own tamron hall about this. i want to play a bit of that sound for the context of when someone is declared deceased. let's take a listen.

>> sadly, jahi has passed away. she died. she died december 12th. six independent neurological exams have confirmed that she's brain dead, which means she's passed away. >> and so in that context, i think to krystal's point, what that hospital says is when someone has been declared deceased, they don't provide further care. they're under no legal obligation to do so. what you do with what they consider -- and it is hard. it is had to say, but what they consider now a body and not a living human life, is they release the body. what they don't do is provide more care. the biggest problem here that people get very squeamish about is what they try to do to treat the living. if they keep what they consider now a deceased individual in an intensive care unit or in a brain dead assistance unit, et cetera, that's a space that the living can't take. so that process has to be born out. i understand completely how a family would want to do everything they believe possible, even if they may be

somewhat misinformed. i think the larger context, though, in the terry schiavo group and other groups are they at times are preying on those people who are in the toughest moments of that kind of trauma and giving them what we know from medical science in most cases is false hope. >> but think also though about the fact that this was a little girl who went in for what they thought would be a routine procedure. they trusted this hospital and the doctors that this would be a routine procedure. we don't know what happened, and we don't know whose fault it is or if there is fault. from their perspective, they have to feel like this hospital -- they trusted them once and it did not come out well. so you can understand from their perspective why they do not trust what they're being told by the hospital right now. >> it's heartbreaking. the toughest decision any family will have to make. thoughts are with that family. up next, we'll lighten things up a bit and look at what to expect from the year ahead, from a second earth to pot's new

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joining us now is "time's" editor at large. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> i wanted to start with the economic piece. on the one hand, we see things looking up. we see positive signs in terms of gdp growth. the stock market has been doing well. on the other hand, we've had this phenomenon where a majority of the jobs that we lost in the crash were middle-income jobs. a majority of the jobs we've gained have been low-wage jobs. so is that the economy that we're looking at going forward? >> it's a risk. two-thirds of those jobs lost were middle-income jobs. half that we're now getting back are in tourism or in retail and are in hospital work, which as you know, is lower paying jobs. the biggest problem with this is that the american economy is 70% consumer purchase driven. so if you keep wages down, you also slow the economic recovery. we still have the lowest workplace involvement in 30

years. there's never been fewer people in the workplace than there were in 30 years. this is going to hold the economy back as we continue trying to recover. >> jeff, krystal's always so serious. i want to talk about dessert. you have a whole section about the year coming up in culture. a lot of very exciting things. just the first couple of months, we have another great new show on hbo. looks great, "true detective." we have a new wes anderson movie i'm extraordinarily excited about, "grand budapest hotel." i love wes anderson. the thing that will probably have the biggest impact is the thing krystal already made mention to, jimmy fallon goes to 1 11:30. seth myers goes to 12:30. the late night gets younger, hipper, and more new york centric. >> that's right. it's very new york centric. i pity and envy poor seth myers. here he is bopping between two studios, "snl" and his new show. >> he's got a great floor

though. >> exactly. but he also, i think, is going to reinventilate night in a way that we didn't imagine. it's not going to be the mcneill report. it's going to be a funny show. jimmy fallon has been more of a showman, more of a comedian, more of a broader entertainer. seth myers may not even have music on his show. he's topical. he's a is a tierist. he's a writer. he's the man who gave us the fantastic sarah palin material in 2008. so i think what he brings to it is a whole different game plan. remember, the irony of this is his studio is literally one floor above jimmy fallon's. >> oh, we know. we know. >> but he's considered to be lower on the food chain of booking guests, which means he will be booking more politicians, more thought

leaders, more news makers. and that, i think, will give the show a different cast. >> that's the show that david letterman used to have. >> that's right. >> i'm excited for this. this will be interesting. let's talk about the next generation. you have this whole thing on innovation and what the babies born in 2014, the lives they'll live. one example is if i'm a girl, my name is likely to end in "lynn." how do you come up with this? >> purely random, but it's wonderful. the kind of information you love to be able to explain at cocktail parties, even if there's no sense to it. what we do know about the numbers is that in the course of these babies' lifetimes, 3 billion more people will be born on the earth. by the time they're in their 20s, they'll be competing against 172 other people in the 20-year-old age cohort for jobs. so the job market is not going to get any easier. it's -- >> but the average age is going to be, what, 69? >> the average life expect si is going to be 69. that's what's disturbing.

kids born today will be heavier and less healthy than their parents, and it's the first generation ever in american history who may actually have a shorter life expectancy than the generation that came before them. >> as someone who had a baby in 2013, that's very disturbing. >> god bless. that's great. >> thank you very much. happy new year to you. thank you for joining us on the show. all right. our first facebook question of 2014 is, what's the one thing you want to see happen this year? we have very optimistic fans, just like me, wishing for equality and world peace. like us on facebook. make it your new year's resolution. up next, past, present, and future collide as we talk technology in 2014. falling in love with your smart phone is still not recommended.

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world as there are people. that's according to the u.n. and facebook celebrates ten years in business. experts bet google glasses and digital credit cards will also be new and big developments. but while it all might seem new, our next guest argues that how we connect today actually echoes much older technology from ancient rome to the age of enlightenment. think twitter in pa pie rus form. the theory is laid out in a thought-provoking new book "writing on the wall." the author joins us now from london. how are you? >> very well. how are you? >> doing great. i was flipping through your book. i thought a lot of the comparisons were really striking. the core of your argument being that while we often talk about, say, how 15 years ago is different to today with new digital technology, you are argue we have to go back hundreds of years from before the mass media age to find the real antecedents to the way social media works today. you compare tablets in ancient

rome that were used as social media because letters were shared around and meant to be shared. and say that social dynamic actually is very similar to what we do today, and it's really a misnomer to make all these comparisons in the short run. >> yeah, essentially what i'm saying is that we're used to thinking of social media as something that goes hand in hand with the internet. but in fact, you can do a social media environment and you can exchange stuff with your friends and pass and copy and recommend things and move them around within your social networks without using a digital network. this has been going on, i think, for centuries. i went and looked in history for examples of this. the earliest one i could find was the first century before christ, the time of julius caesar. if you look at the way they copy letters to each other, it looks like twitter today. already lots of examples of this.

we can learn from history by looking at these historical social media environments. >> but there are some things in social media that seem very distinctive and very new. let's take a look at one example of that. ♪ ♪ >> so the harlem shake at its height, 4,000 versions of the harlem shake were going up on youtube every day. isn't there something that's inherently different about what we're doing now, just with the sheer size and scale and millions of people who can be sharing the same thing at an instant? >> well, one of the arguments i

make in the book is social media started out as an environment that really only the elite could use in roman period. the romans used slaves in effect like broadband to copy and deliver things that was somethiy the wealthy could do. and if you look over the long history of social media over the last 2,000 years, you see that gradually more and more people can participate in it. and as you've just mentioned, we're nearly at the stage now where there'll be a cell phone in the world for every person. many people have more than one, that doesn't mean that everyone's going to have one. but we're within striking distance now of anyone in the world who wants to publish something on the internet, being able to do so. that will be the case within 10 to 15 years. so, yes, definitely, this has become something more people can participate in, but if you look at the mechanisms and reactions people have had to social media over the centuries, they're strikingly similar to what we have today. although today's social media can be global, instant, searchable in a way that historical social media cannot,

i think the analogy is strong enough to be informative and therefore worth looking at history for lessons. >> that makes me think of this, when i look at social media, i feel like because we're interacting in a nonface-to-face way, people are much more comfortable to be rude, crass, honest and say those things they'd be embarrassed to say at a party to be combative, all of these things. has it always been that way? >> yes, actually. if you look at the pamphlets that emerged in the -- during the english civil war in the 1840s and the pamphlets that appeared in the run-up to the american revolution. a lot of them were anonymous, written under pseudonyms and people seemed to be prepared to attack each other when they were writing anonymously or pseudonyms ypseudony pseudonymously. so this does seems to be one of the constant factors that we see in social media across the centuries. >> yeah, so that is a great point. the founding fathers were the first bloggers in this country.

do you think there are legal requirements and limits here that are basically -- that basically come out in your research that work better for this kind of world? >> well, actually, if you look at the way that the blogosphere works, it's similar to the way pamphlets work, if you like. there was this blogosphere in the 18th century in america and something emerged in the middle of the 1600s in britain. and the idea that the doctrine of free speech and the first amendment sort of approach to things dates back to milton and milton is writing because he's protesting against the british government censoring one of his pamphlets in the 1640s. so really today, when activists argue in favor of free speech on the internet, they're using many of these arguments that sound very familiar to us today because the people who originally advance them were in an information environment

that's very similar. i think, again, it's one of these constants that seems to run across the centuries. >> no, it's a very interesting set of perspective you have. now, up next, for all you folks in washington in need of a new year's resolution, abby huntsman's got one for you. so, this board gives me rates for progressive direct and other car insurance companies? yes. but you're progressive, and they're them. yes. but they're here. yes. are you...? there? yes. no. are you them? i'm me. but those rates are for... them. so them are here. yes! you want to run through it again? no, i'm good. you got it? yes. rates for us and them -- now that's progressive. call or click today.

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welcome to 2014, folks. we are now into day two, rounding out "the cycle's" first show of the new year. a time of reflection, new beginnings, and new resolutions. for some, like torre, that might

mean a new workout regiment. this is day two of obamacare. it might feel like we're ten years in, but this is just the beginning of a very long road ahead. we're talking about a law that is more than 11 million words long. that's 11 million. to give you a little perspective. the banking act of 1933 that reformed much of our banking industry was written in about 30,000 words. let's be honest with ourselves here and say, yes, it is complicated, it's 20% of our entire economy. there will be plenty more bumps in the road. there'll be success stories, there'll be horror stories, and you can be sure sides will seize every opportunity to highlight their version of reality. we'll never be able to control the politicians, but we, the political chattering class, must hold ourselves to a higher standard of consistency. why? well, remember a few months ago when people started losing their existing insurance plans? well, let me take you back. this was how republicans reacted. >> 5 million who have lost their

plans -- >> many small business people will lose their plans, too. >> this is something that touches so many people's lives across the country. >> everyone losing their plans. we got it, 5 million is considered a big number. then you have democrats. >> when the website starts to work, people can see their insurance will be better. >> every positive story we can tell will have a ripple effect. . >> well, that's another way to look at it. apparently 5 million isn't so big if you're on the other side of the aisle. another big topic we've talked about earlier in this show is the expiration of jobless benefits. and in case we are talking about just over 1 million people -- and this is how the republicans responded. >> more than 1 million americans are going to stop getting jobless benefits this weekend. >> this has caused a disincentive. >> and the democrats said this. >> it's not only the benefits to them, but also all of that economic development for the country. it's going to have a sizable impact on our economy if congress doesn't come back and do something about it.

>> so wait. wait. when should we care? when it's 5 million or 1 million people? it isn't just numbers. and here's my truth. you see, now matter how many people it applies to, if it benefits the political agenda and the partisan prism of politics, it is a huge deal. but if it doesn't, then, who really cares? it doesn't truly matter. come on, people, this is embarrassing. isn't it our job to actually inform people and not confuse them? to advance the conversation, not muddy the water? sure, we're all going to see every issue through our own eyes but let's recognize the inconsistencies that clearly exist and be more honest with ourselves and the very people we set out to inform. we may not always get it perfect, but hopefully we can add to this to a list of resolutions. and speaking of resolution, here is one. i pledge to make my on-air relationship with ari smooth, no awkwardness and always, always loving. >> good luck with that. >> and now it's time, take it

away, my friend. >> you know what would be awkward, you know? >> what? >> if we stayed on camera for a while without talking. >> do you have time? time right now? >> take it away. please take us out of here. take us out. >> no, let's do it. >> next time, we'll do it next time. >> everyone, good afternoon and a happy new year to you, and an awkward new year to those who are interested in one. i'm ari melber, there is a storm brewing. racing for a blizzard. >> the first major storm of 2014. >> buckle your seat belts. >> happy new year, everybody. >> it's officially an election year. >> this storm is the first real test for new york's newest mayor. >> fairer, more just, more progressive place. >> very fluffy snow, almost like styrofoam. >> hillary clinton's last tweet of 2013 called on