would buy myself an island in the caribbean. i would buy facebook stock. you like this guy. that's $52 for everyamerica. our own eric schultz who i may have hired. i would spend it all on powerball tickets. you have to spend it to win it. >> can we get that shot again? do it again. you have epic pet stains at only orning. on that note, for erika, i wanted to give you these. these are from baltimore. >> are they better than the potato chips you had a few years ago? >> yes. >> but you're coming back tomorrow. you've earned your right. "way too early" is over and "morning joe" starts right now. ♪

good morning. it's thursday, february 20th. i'm mike barnicle, alongside the ununbelievable great donny deutsche, america's sweetheart. also with us at the table msnbc political analyst and visiting d forme democratic congressman, harold ford jr. you look spiffy as always. >> thank you. >> former communications director for president george w. bush, nicole wallace and then thomas roberts. >> i didn't want to mess up q(d nicole's shot. >> jeremy, how are you doing this morning? >> marvelous. >> spiffy group of guys up here. >> a%zj shot of the ford baby? has that been published yet? >> oh, absolutely. >> she is cute, man. >> she is a sweetheart. >> every cliche they tell you about being aed dah, it doesn't live up to it. no matter what anybody tells

you. >> exponentially. no yes about it. >> what is my app? >> i've never heard of it. >> something you get on your iphone or smartphone and down loads it cure puts together your contacts and allows you to text for free. >> totally confused! are you on my social network? i don't know what that means! >> i know what it means. it means someone else's business, not mine. >> okay. >> we will get to that. it's kind of an interesting story and i think you'll have a lot to say about it because you have a lot to say about everybody. there is huge news overseas. breaking news coming to us out of ukraine. more violence continues in kiev's independence square. police appear to have abandoned an edge of the square but they moved back in and that is when

the clashes started once again. field hospitals have now been set up in hotel lobbies in and at least 20 police officers have been injured. one of the enduring images from the violence on wednesday, a lone woman standing her ground throwing rocks against a line of riot police. the fighting continued, despite a negotiated truce between the opposition and ukraine's president. richard engel is in live in ukraine's capital to splaen. fill us in on the new violence and the diplomatic channels are opened or trying to be opened by the eu. >> reporter: first of all, we watched all of this unfold last night. we are overlooking independence square right here. what happened around 9:00 this morning, the riot police who cordoned around the area started to pull back. i don't know if they had been ordered or i don't know if there had been a scuffle but wejd saw relatively organized withdrawal

of riot police heading toward buses, so it appeared that they were given a directive to pull back. the protesters who are still in the square behind me began chasing the riot police down and attacking them. and it quickly turned into clashes with molotov cocktails and once the riot police turned back to their own position they used a lotx>z more violence and live ammunition. we saw dozenses of people injured. i personally saw three of the demonstrators killed. a few hospitals set up throughout this area and they were -- some of them were quite brutal as people were using their hands and tweezers to pull out bullet wounds and bullets from people's bodies. the situation now is the demonstrators are moving out of this square and taking up the position fortifying the position that have been abandoned by the riot police. >> so, richard, talk about the

diplomatic issues the eu was supposed to come in and meet with the president there. that did not happen. that helped initiate the resumed violence. the president sent a strong message while he was in mexico yesterday but this doesn't seem to help any of the issues or at least separate the violence from any of the desires of the protesters. >> the problem is nobody here can speak for everyone. the protesters don't have a clear unified force. they are not led by any one opposition politician. last night, there had been reports after truce and it was going to pull back and not invade the square and that there would be a resumed diplomatic process. don't forget. what these protesters initially wanted was better relations with the european union and moved beyond that and they want to topple the government and want the president to be in jail. then things took on their own

momentum this morning ago the police pulled back and the violence spread. where they are in thecit? diploc process right now? it's very hard to know. we don't know if the riot police are going to come back, if the truce negotiations will not resume if the protesters feel that they have gained some sort of minor victory even while taking casualties and they might feel in a better mood to negotiate. it's very fluid. >> richard, each time you've reported from the square, we have heard this constant stream of chatter and the loud speaker in the background. do you have any sense of what the constant chatter is about? what is the voice saying? >> reporter: sure. you can hear it right now. there is a stage in the middle of the square behind me and they are rotating speakers. today, they have been giving instructions and they have been telling the protesters as they are moving out from the square, retaking their position, enlarging their fortified camp and we have been watching them

handing bricks, hand over hand, and establishing new fighting position at walls and barricades. these masters of ceremonies have been telling them watch out for the snipers. there have been reports of snipers in the area. they have been telling protesters where they should set up their positions, where they should set up the bunks because they are also setting up some housing in these surrounding areas. effectively they are holding ceremonies here because the cell phone usage is quite limited. >> nicole, you had an op-ed you wanted to read? >> i am surprised by this op-ed from pete waner who was a former speech writer for president bush but one of the most respective ñ who write

primarily responsible for sharing their protesters peacefully and consequences if people step over the line and have more empty words ever been uttered by an american president? the president telling the syrian regime using chemical weapons across a line. it's clear that around the globe today, the person who is respected and feared in shaping world events not mr. obama who is viewed as the amateur but the vladimir putin who is reassuring russian dominance in the middle east. we know who president obama is essentially weak and powerless. he makes things worse with our bluster. he is a pushover and our adversaries and allies know it. >> jeremy peters in washington, what do you think the -- that is

a bristling attack on the president of the united states. >> i don't know if it's anything we haven't heard before when it comes to the president's foreign policy and republican critiques of it. it seems like one foreign crises after another whether it's syria, libya, you name it. this is not a republican party that is going to give this president any breaks when it comes to foreign policy. >> what struck me, john mccain and lindsey graham were at the white house in the early days in the crisis of syria and they were willing to help him garner before congress when he said there was a red line that couldn't be caught. i think this response struck me because i think it illustrates how little faith republicans that i would guess some democrats have in his ability to shape world events. i think you saw in richard engel's piece there are questions about whether the president's words will have any impact on the violence there. >> i wouldn't disagree with that. i think that next to his

criticisms over obamacare and criticisms about the way the president has handled foreign affairs and nsa and things like that have7qmyz really been the loudest on capitol hill. so, you know, going into 2014, there are not a whole lot of bright spots for president obama and this has become one that i think he is going to have to really worry about. >> jeremy, is the contrast here, the fact that the reemerging when you're playing whack on foreign policy because there are always hot spots that fire up, it's basically vladimir putin that keeps popping up, whether the attachment to ukraine, whether the attachment to syria or edward snowden and the nsa and granting him asylum. it always goes back to russia and vladimir putin. >> that's a great point, thomas, but if it's russia and putin, then i actually think the president has an advantage in the court of public opinion because the last two weeks are

any indication certainly, are a reminder rather, americans love to use russia as their political punching bag. and if it is vladimir putin versus barack obama, i think barack obama is going to come out looking like the winner, at least in the eyes of america. >> one of the challenges here, you may be right but one of the challenges here we found yours not in a rhetorical or theoretical conversation here. i think the president has surrounding the idea of using force and i tend to support any president who wants to use force s3 to, i this president think peters point, i understand the prem sis this president, this white house has made comments in the past not followed the rule and the lack of follow-through stems from the fact is there a real, again, skepticism, real doubts about how much force, if any force, can be used around the globe and no doubt our allies and

adversaries around the globe recognize it. they found themselves in the white house in a precarious position. >> the white house is dealing with reality. the reality is that the last 12 or 14 years of american history with military involvement has fractured the military component. we can no longer afford to send people overseas to fight in these wars that are erupting throughout the globe. there seems to be a lack of reality among certain elements of the republican party to this very real fact! the military is broken! >> when you think about that, mike, but the problem is if you are our allies or adversaries around the globets/z you recogn the reality you articulated as well. how does that cause them to react and to jeremy's point, this is certainly emboldoned, no doubt putin is probably the visible winner in all of this in terms of power is vladimir putin. >> there is a reality and the military is a -- we are not the kick ass power in the world any more.

we cannot impose our will any more. a big part of this country that still lives in the '50s and '60s that believes, whatever is wrong in this world. >> we can fix it. >> not only our duty but we have the ability to fix it and we don't! we don't. we are a bloated super power and we are not set up the infrastructure, the economics as you mentioned, mike, of who we are and where we stand in the world do not permit us. so the best obama is going to do xb op-eds like that are kind of destructive because wait for something to not play out before you put that out there. >> there is a segway. the economics. in terms of economics, i was stunned by the price for something i didn't know anything about. >> what is that? let's figure everybody on that. facebook making headlines. the social media buying a text messaging app with 450 million users worldwide and they paid $16 billion for it and the largest acquisition from facebook and the latest move by

the cofounder and founder mark zuckerberg to stay in the marketplace. it is more prominently used overseas. it does not sell advertising and has little revenue and charges a flat fee of $1 a year. facebook will pay $4 billion in cash and purchase 12 billion of shares and this deal could be valid as high as $19 billion. @)j app because it just has 55 employees which amounts to $344 million per+ao employee. >> when facebook went public, they had one mantra. we are going mobile because that is where the world is. >> where the money is. >> that's the future. did they overpay? most people on wall street think they paid too much to this. 450 million users they are buying. when a company goes public, like facebook, what you're investing in basically is that they are going to make the right moves as

far as0ís"÷ how they take that capital and what companies they are going to buy. to me this seems=o@8 like a ridiculously high price tag and particularly the fact that mike doesn't know what it is and i'm an american. if mike doesn't know what it is. >> that's a huge thing. >> i have nothing more to say. >> all of the phones of his kids, they probably all have what's app. >> let's find out. >> probably. >> let's find out. are they awake? >> does anybody here share -- there is a bitter and cruel irony in my mind with regard to to this. we finished talking the past couple of days about this fight, this extended fight to raise the minimum wageb@gb in this ábz/co. $7.25óí3k to $10.10 over a perif three for people who can barely afford and many can't afford to feed their families. a private company and they are all making millions but $16 billion in the average of 344 million per employee. what do they make?

what jobs do they create? how is that -- >> that is only the potential if they each have invested equal shares of 55 employees. they are still making out great. >> yeah. >> but you're talking about the grotesque amount to a small population. >> yeah. >> utilized by a continuously small population in the tech sector. >> you are our tech bureau chief. why don't you explain what exactly does it do on this thing? >> what's app will go through the context you already have. >> like the people you tweet. >> that application on your phone and i downloaded it before going to russia becauseaváthere were two applications. they would offer free texting and one would offer free phone calls. when you're overseas you can communicate much better -- where is it so i can show it to you? you can communicate much -- there it is. >> we almost had an oober.

>> if you look at the phone you can see who is available and who is not available and they will tell you i'm available, you can text me, call me. >> it allows you to do without paying the mobile fee. >> right. >> you get -- >> like skype for texting. >> basically so. but then other applications like snapchat which is popular with j and even rand paul bu this is going to eat their lunch getting combined with facebook and for facebook and mark zuckerberg. we talked about don't count mark zuckerberg out, some had about him able to future proof facebook. this is a way to future proof facebook. >>éúá8t doubt about tichlt his stock closed at $68.06 yesterday. >> what did? >> facebook. it opened at $38 and dropped people around his table, talk about how the thing was moving t the wrong direction.

you can't bet against this guy. you just cut him off and put it in perspective. >> but you did cut him off. >> start out with bless his ps he? facing criticism from the left, ofgs from the cbo are defending their analysis on the federal minimum wage hike. claiming raising the minimum wage $10.10 a job loss of 5,000 workers. the high end of that estimate was 1 million jobs on. white house official call the report inaccurate. be clear our analysis on the effects of raising the minimum wage is completely consistent with the latest thinking of economic profession. meanwhile, some of america's biggest corporations are grappling how to handle with a possible increase. gap giving a pay raise to 65,000 minimum wage workers and taking them to $10.10 an hour but walmart says it remains neutral on this issue.

there had been reports saying the company was looking at supporting a nationwide federal increase but they still haven't come out of the gate strong on that one yet. what do you think about gap getting ahead of the curve here and going to $10.10? >> what i find stunning in 2014, jeremy, why can't we not definitively understand when you put a thousand economists in a room, whether raising the minimum wage is good or bad for the economy. how have we not at least been able to get our arms around that in this world when we put men on the moon and buy companies for $16 billion, i mean, it's stunning. >> part of it is because[#b of way that economics have become more and more partisan. "the new york times" has done a lot of reporting on this. you think of the economic think tanks, many on the right, that have been pushing this notion that raising the minimum wage would be destructive and there

really is not that same sense of objectivity in a lot of the research that is out there. one of the things that i think just from looking at this from a political standpoint and i would like to pose thiski@ñ question nicole because i did not recall. is it unusual for the white house to be picking a public fight with the nonpartisan congressional budget office which is always seen as very respected, having nonpartisan analysts and what i think could complicate things for the white house is if they look they are being too defensive in pushing back against this nonpartisan empty. >> i'm not sure if it's unusual but it's dangerous for all of the reasons you just cited. but i like what you were saying before, because this, to me, mg4h of, i think, sums up where we are, where both sides look at the sky and one says it's green and the other say it's purple and everyone else is sitting around saying it's blue, you guys. we're in a situation now where we can't even agree if

employment is the ideal because recently we have had this picture where we were falling our dreams with jay carney's line was preferable to being required to sustain a job that sucks i think was the bottom line. we are not even in a universe where employment is viewed as both parties' version of the ideal. we are at a place now where raising the minimum wage, should it result in a loss of 500,000 jobs is debatable, whether that is good or bad is not surprising to me because we are debating whether having a job that may not be ideal is what everyone wants. >> on the flip side it puts 900,000 people above the poverty line who weren't there. >> if 500 thousand lose their jobs, is that better? i don't know. >> i think mike really put it in perspective when you follow that on the 16 billion dollars paid for a company with 300 employees, whatever it is, that does something -- >> 55 employees. >> it is 55. >> minimum wage should be

increased. rob portman and chuck todd and jordan roth will be in the house to you take us. top stories from the political playbook. first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill, i think it'snd a nice day today and why joe and mika aren't here. right? the sun is supposed to shine? >> they are at the beach somewhere discussing politics. good morning. a big storm in the middle of the country. east coast you get your february thaw and we need it. we did a little bit of melting yesterday and we will do more today. this storm in the middle of the nation like a spring-like and march-like storm and all of the ingredients. we have flooding and severe weather with it and maybe tornadoes later tonight and heavy snow on the back side. the worst of it is over the top of chicago. you have a snow pack and now you have thunderstorms overhead with torrential rain and a lot of water issues in illinois and chicago. later today the area of yellow a slight risk of severe weather and maybe even a few tornadoes,

especially areas of tennessee, kentucky, northern mississippi and alabama. make sure you keep an eye on that forecast and your weather conditions later on today. and then those storms make it all the way to the east coast by the time we get to friday afternoon. wind damage not so much dtqi t)á iowa and north dakota and wisconsin and minnesota. it's snowy and bitterly snow and your winter only gets worse next week. i don't even want to tell everyone how cold it's going to be. you're watching "morning joe." ♪ spokesperson: we decided to settle this. a steel cage death match of midsize sedans. the volkswagen passat against all comers. turbocharged engines against...engines. best in class rear legroom against other-class legroom.

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welcome back, everybody. let's take a look at the morning papers for you today from our parade of papers. "the "chicago tribune." the u.s. department of4n?? home

security is warning airlines of possibility of explosives concealed in shoes. airlines were supposed to pay attention to flights overseas to the u.s. they will use detection swabs on the one people are wearing and the ones inside their bags. >> thomas' favorite is the baltimore sun. a bad situation got much worse for ravens running back ray rice. tmz says this video shows rice dragging his unconscious fiancee out of an elevator. police say he knocked her out during an altercation last weekend and rice's attorney confirms the authenticity of this video but says it doesn't show the whole story. i don't even want to know what that story is about. rice was charged with domestic violence early saturdaymi?ñ mor. the "usa today" reports the couple returned toqé!ñ their ho day. >> this hadn't been released yet when the story and arrest report

leaked out. >> that is so troubling. >> yeah. "usa today" a much needed delivery of road salt will arrive in new jersey today. weeks of severe winter weather the storms have drained the resources across the northeast and officials say new jersey only had enough salt to get through one more storm. this state is expected to see another salt shipment next week. the biggest concern was there was salt to be shipped in but they didn't want to take a chance on the weather conditions and how bad they were to try to get those shipments. m the bridge. they are afraid they might get stopped. >> easy. easy. >> by the way, 6:28 we ought haven't mentioned chris christie yet? >> thanks. we will skip it. "the boston globe." receiving largest donation from a hedge fund founder ken nidge griffin will donate $150 to the ivy league school. 140 million recover for a scholarship program and the other to the harvard business

school. >> i just bought a sweatshirt there for my nephew and it's in the mail. i don't know if he'll get to go to ivy league school but i want to encourage him at a young age. i want to0%> i'm telling you. >> jim vandehei.

you thought he was a hard to get guest? we got him! i worked him all yesterday afternoon. >> they are never going to let you leave. >> there he is! >> jim vandehei! >> what is up? >> my gift to you. your test this morning is to break down the republican race for 2016 with candidates in ten different categories, so let's start with the strongest candidate. who fits that description according to politico? >> one grading on a curve here given i don't think anybody is strong at this point. i think rand paul and scott walker would be the two strongest at this point in this field. we will get to christie in a bit and why he is not on that list. rand paul wants to run. he has got a good political timing. he keeps finding ways to stay in the news. scott walker, no doubt people like him. fund-raisers love him. probably wins re-election in wisconsin. he isfi'f getting hit this morn in milwaukee journal sentinel above the top story about a scandal involving his staff when

he was county executive, head of the county executive in milwaukee. it doesn't look like there is anything there that would hurt him long term but like bridgegate, if there is more down the road and when you have that many e-mails it's always problematic but when you look at the story it looks like before he was governor. so i would put them in the top categories. >> is it even close? >> ted cruz and cruz, i think, wants it. continues to wrangle his colleagues and is going to continue to be the favorite of the tea party. the tea party just loves him.l4 this is an electricity around him that you doned find in any other candidate and hard toss that gé >> the recovering candidate. down goes rubio, but he is recovering? >> no doubt. we were talking a year ago everyone thought rubio was the strongest. i thought he had a weak 2013 because of his uneven performance on immigration but no doubt he is an attractive

candidate. he brings adversity to the party and people like his indeas and e is making a little bit of a comeback. >> the next one is wounded. >> chris christie is wounded, i think, in a big way and possibly a way he is not going to be able to recover from. it's not just bridgegate and continues to linger out there. a great piece in the new republic and politico magazine taking a new look at nis activities in his rise to politics. now everl7 new he did in jersey, the typical new jersey politics of arm twisting and back scratching you look at it differently. i think that is the new reality for him and he is not going to be able to shake it. >> you've listed two as on the rise. one of them is pretty interesting. that would be, in my estimation, that would be, in my estimation, thew#. but go ahead. >> no doubt that two governors from the midwest and indiana. john case somebody should pay attention to in ohio. he's had some success there. he has broken with the republican party at different times. his approval rating is pretty strong for a conservative

republican in a swing state. ohio is extremely important. i think that he is interested. he has not done a lot of the things he should be doing if he truly wanted to get in there. he is not out there as a scott walker. but given that state and given his popularity someone to watch. mike pence in that same category. a former congressman was in leadership for conservatives when he was in the house but indiana has been a state where his popularity is high. and indiana starting with mitch daniels through him has done interesting stuff. >> can we put that image of those five or six or seven contenders? if i'm hillary clinton and if i am hillary clinton and i'm eating my froot loops at home and i look at this group of contenders, i'm having a second bowl of froot loops. >> this group is polarized. jeb bush i think has to be put

on this list and paul ryan. there are intellectual forces in the party that will make sure this is a fair fight whoever emerges and is»]ñ nominated. >> i'd say the savior is jeb bush. the savior, according to the establishment as you heard it from: nicole is a jeb bush or paul ryan. when you look at the spectrum of the republican party you have to find somebody who is conservative enough to keep the tea party at bay but modern enough to win a national election and why there is such excitement around a jeb bush or potentially a paul ryan. if either of them want to run. i'm skeptical that ryan wants to even more skeptical about jeb bush. but that is probably where the republican party needs to be at that part of the spectrum if they want to compete with hillary clinton or if hillary doesn't run, rahm emanuel or somebody else will run. >> the excitement here about that field of candidates.

>> i would say senator portman for ohio is another one who wasn't on that list. willie is going to tell us how sochi is react to go the biggest disappointment of the games. >> where is my free coke, willie? >> they are all sold out. it's hot over there. sports is next. before larry instantly transferred money from his bank of america savings account to his merrill edge retirement account. before he opened his first hot chocolate stand calling winter an "underserved season". and before he quit his friend's leaf-raking business for "not offering a 401k." larry knew the importance of preparing for retirement. that's why when the time came he counted on merrill edge to streamline his investing and help him plan for the road ahead. that's the power of streamlined connections. that's merrill edge and bank of america. ♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪ ♪ and there's nothing good around ♪ ♪ turn around, barry ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪

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they lived. ♪ (dad) we lived... thanks to our subaru. ♪ (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. (knochello? hey, i notice your car is not in the driveway. yeah. it's in the shop. it's going to cost me an arm and a leg. that's hilarious. sorry. you shoulda taken it to midas. get some of that midas touch. they tell you what stuff needs fixing, and what stuff can wait. next time i'm going to midas. high-five! arg! i did not see that coming. trust the midas touch. for brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling)

♪ let me say one thing is that this is not a retirement press conference. i mean, i still have a season to play, so this is just letting you guys know that this is going to be my last year. but i felt as though it was the right time. this has absolutely nothing how i feel physically. physically, i feel great and i'm looking forwardxyt9 to playing full season. >> derek jeter yesterday in 4 u)s&ie geist is coming home ta completely different america when he returns from russia. a lot has happened. >> may be a different america when he returns. >> doesn't it feel different in thisxd9 country in every way? economically and spiritually without willie on this soil? he is our guiding force, our north star but he does join us now from sochi. >> as long as the america i come home to does not involve donny and mike as hosts of "morning joe," i'll be there. >> it's a bizarre world. >> it's so hurtful. >> grumpy and grumpier.

>> mike, i went to look at for the jackets yesterday. a true story. i went to the usa story because i got 15 orders just from the set alone. sold out. gone. i don't know what to tell. like a refrigerator magnet or something, how about that? is that a good skolconsolation prize. >> it was for julie. >> you didn'tc okay, i'll go find one. >> what is it like in spring-like sochi? >> the talk here is bad day yesterday for the home country. the russians losing that hockey game yesterday in the quarterfinals 3-1 to finland. so much of the hope of these games, including tha÷ president putin had his foot on his hockey team. there was talk about them winning the gold medal. they get bounced pretty easily by finland in the quarterfinals and they are finished in this tournament. here is how some are reacting in russia. russian state media calling it a soul destroying failure.

a soul destroying failure, i'll say it again. the coach was interviewed after the game and the press went crazy. the press attacked him saying what will you do now? the last coach here was eaten alive. the coach said eat me alive right now then and eat me and i won't be here any more. that was from the coach of the russians. crazy! >> is it true the goalie is missing? >> i'm not going there. i haven't seen him around the coç+9w%ñarea, but you know? >> the truth is, guys, they might have been shooting a little high. canada is great. the united states is great. finland is really good and sweden is good and this is essentially an nhl tournament. the idea russia was a gold medal favorite there wasn't no gold medal favorite here and they haven't been great. they haven't won a gold medal since 1988 when they were the soviet union. the > sensation. a lot of people thought might

unseed kim of south korea and win the gold here in women's figure skating, she fell and took a tumble in last night's short program. dropped down to fifth place. now there is another skate tonight. okay? the long program isdvuçtonight. she's in fifth place. anybody ahead of her makes a mistake, she could still sneak in but kim is in first place. three americans, we have got gracy gold sitting in fourth and ashley wagner in sixth and edmonds in seventh place. somebody on the doorstep to sneak occupy that podium if anybody makes a mistake tonight. hockey game. the women's gold medal game. united states versus canada. far and away the two best teams in the world and really the only two teams to talk about here in terms of women's hockey. they made it through to the final. canada has had the united states number and beaten in a couple of gold medal games the last decade or so and beat them earlier in this tournament. this is the game and it's live

in all time zones and comes on at noon eastern time. you can watch it going backward from there 9:00 a.m. pacific time and begins at 9:00 tonight here. watch that live. it's going to be awesome. tomorrow night canadam7) and und states in the men's hockey semifinal. if you check out the medal standings, the united states is on top 23 for the u.s. russia and the netherlands, netherlands going crazy in speed skating and both have 22.

if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about trying or adding a biologic. this is humira, adalimumab. this is humira working to help relieve my pain. this is humira helping me through the twists and turns. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for over ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. for many adults, humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira , your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b,

are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your doctor if humira can work for you. this is humira at work. ♪ joining us now with a first look at the latest issue of "time" magazine, they take a look at the airlines industry and decide which flights get cancelled. nancy, who decides which flights get cancelled? >> sometimes you want to go back stage and this has been the worst winter for air travel ever. there have been like 80,000 flights cancelled already. we know partly because the weather has been so bad but a lot of other factors that good into it and we wanted to understand what that is. so it turns out it's something called the cancelator.

we sent a reporter down to the american airlines operation center and airline has a program that puts in all of the different ingredients of which there are many beyond just the weather that determine which flights get cancelled and which don't. we wanted to see the cancelateor in action. >> if you're lucky. what are the factors? what are the main ingredients that set up a cancelled flight? >> you, obviously, have weather conditions and the delays at airports and whether even not just whether the plane can take off but whether the flight crews and the ground crews and tsa agents can get to the airport. then you have things like new faa rules about how many hours pilots can fly without a rest which went into effect this year and one reason why we have a record(ldg number of cancellati.

if they are stuck on the tarmac and gives airline an incentive to cancel. if they think everything is so botched up that flight will not take off on time. what fares the passengers are saying. it's much likely to go than if it's a bunch of discount flyers. and how many terminators they call them. if most of the passengers are flying to their final destination as opposed to they have connections to make that flight is easier to cancel. if you have a0

it's bad weather. they can't take off right away and you're there for a specific period of time and they announce we got to return to the terminal because the flight crew has to get off the plane. >> why don't they ever tell you the truth about why azo2u hand cancelled? this makes me crazy. they come up with some bogus lie like mechanical problems and then you see the crew leaving because they can't do any more overtime. >> this is what you learn by digging into this. it's partly because the truth is so often complicated. there isn't one reason.erhiñ is there an al ga rhythm has tht factored in. >> they will have bigger costs for canceling. >> if that true doesn't get there the flight they are going to be the crew on can't take

off. even that is factored into the equation. >> frequent flyer, jeremy peters, has a question for you from washington, d.c. >> i want to know what this mysterious paper work is. every time we are sitting on the plane waiting for it to take off. 40 minutes go own and still waiting on our paper work. what did you find out about that? >> the paper work has been there about making sure that the route is clear and hasn't been shifted. 0í normal. the maintenance issues. you have to make sure it's another economic factor their plane isn'tuz get stranded at the airport where they can't do the required maintenance. >> there is one other thing i'm in here. teeter borough, gone from cashews to pecans. >> nancy gibbs, thanks as always. still to come on "morning joe," brian+vpmy cranston and h jackman, big stars coming to

broadway. jordan roth joins us for the season. "morning joe" will be right back. ♪ aflac. ♪ aflac, aflac, aflac! ♪ [ both sigh ] ♪ ugh! ♪ you told me he was good, dude. yeah he stinks at golf. but he was great at getting my claim paid fast. how fast? mine got paid in 4 days. wow. that's awesome. is that legal? big fat no. [ male announcer ] find out how fast aflac can pay you at aflac.com. [ male announcer ] find out how fast aflac can pay you a steel cage: death match of midsize sedans. the volkswagen passat against all comers. turbocharged engines against...engines. best in class rear legroom against other-class legroom.

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$500,000. maybe half-million. say a million dollars. [ dan ] then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. ♪ i was trying to like pull it a little further. you know, i was trying to stretch it a little bit more. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. [ man ] i looked around at everybody else and i was like, "are you kidding me?" [ dan ] it's just human nature to focus on the here and now. so it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ ♪

♪ coming up at the top of the hour, say it ain't so.

>> tina brown! >> no way! >> also nbc news political director chuck todd. "morning joe" is back in a moment.npkh [ male announcer ] first the cookie at check-in...

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hip-hop the hippings of the hip hip-hop you do not stopñawg rockets or the bank bank upjump and to the rhythm now what you hear is not a test.

i'm rapping to the beat. send me the groove and my friends are going to try to move your feet. see i am wonder and i like to say fellow to the black to the white the red and the brown the purple and yellow but first bang bang from the boogys and up the boogys of the bang bang and let's rock. you don't stop. rock the rhythm that will make your body rock. well, so far you've heard my voice but i brought two friends along and next on the mike is my man hank, common hank sing that song. >> check it out. >> by the ko of tcode of the+ñ i'm 6'1" and digress to a teen and have so much like muhammad. everybody go, what you going to do today? say what? x'tff as a guest no jay.nd right everybody go motel holiday fin

say if you're a girl starts acting up then you take her friend. >> that is so good. that is so good! let's play that loop for the next hour, right? it's better than anything we will ever talk about. >> it gets better every night. third night. >> jimmy:+ñm fallon. >> the editing of that together and love to pull that off. >> that is so good. welcome back to "morning joe." i'm mike barnicle alongside donny deutsche and nicole wallace is here and jeremy peterss and thomas roberts. joining the table is tina brown. in washington, nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director and host of "the daily rundown." a sick los angeles dodgers fan. >> under chuck todd, they stopped playing rappers' delight. >> you don't want to lose that

in any way. >> no. >> yeah. >> groove is in the heart. >> chuck, good to have you here. another possible republican candidate for 2016 is facing some fallout this morning. added to the list wisconsin governor scott walker downplaying the release of more than 25,000 pages of e-mails, they are from a former aide when walker was milwaukee county executive. this is from 2010. the e-mails were collected from a chief of staff who was sent six months in prison doing political campaign work. here is where the e-mails display what is happening. governor walking asking for a conference call. the documents appear to suggest he was aware of a secret e-mail system using a wireless router that let aides e-mail each other about official and campaign issues. here is one of the e-mails from an aide cindy archer.

skw is scott walker's initials. thomas nardelli was walker's chief of staff. they say he was never the target of any investigation. chuck, is this going to lead to more problems for scott walker or are they going to be able to encapsulate this in something not of a grander national scale like what chris christie is facing? >> i think it depends on everything that comes out of the issue itself. did he somehow -- is there ways that you somehow prove that when he was a candidate he was mixing too much government and his campaign work? you know, it's interesting here, though, what this exposes or what people are seeing. every single major political figure that's in office that i know of has tried to institute a system like this in some form or another oflfuy trying to create

way of separating government and politics and figuring out a way that your government aides who are on the taxpayer dime, can talk politics and they create these second e-mail systems. it is amazing to meí:6ñ how so different political organizations or political folks go through such elaborate ways, in this case, it could be simply trying to do political work on government time but not have it be on the government servers. but i've seen plenty of examples that i know of where you have these folks trying and some of it is simply to makekst so that somebody can't -- freedom of information act, you can't do those things. it is amazing to me what technology, the elaborate ways and various political entities go to try to keep this stuff out of the public domain. >> tina, the brilliant nicole wallace asked earlier in a commercial break, raised the

question, what is the difference between scott walker's dilemma and chris christie's dilemma? i flippantly said scott walker is in madison, wisconsin and chris christie is right here. >> i wouldn't be flippant, mike. >> it doesn't have that lovely easy sort of linear comprehensive of the chris christie affair. chris christie affair is snarling traffic on a bridge and stopping kids to get to school and it's beautifully to understand and make everybody in a rage. anything to do with arcane sort of political imagination and fund-raising issues and doesn't have the same resonance at all. >> there is a difference. one is using your power at the expense of the voters. actually affecting their lives in a negative way and, to me, that is devastatingly difficult. that is devastatingly difficult. i guess2k little grizzled and a little jaded. isn't it almost impossible if

you are in office and running for office to completely separate church' state? even best intentions? it seems inconceivable the way humans relate on a day-to-day basis to keep it separate and i don't think it has any stickiness for that reason. >> there is legal. there is thing call when you work in the white house it's illegal to work on government time. >> i know i'll illegal. >> people don't have political systems so they can't be discovered. if there is a criminal investigation, you turn over all of the e-mails. your government e-mail, your political e-mail, your personal e-mail so everything is turned. it's not to evade theta secret e-mail sl is baloney. if anybody is investigated for a criminal abuse, that staffer turns over everything. my point was the substance7 what each governor is facing is identical. very close advisors did something unseemingly

potentially criminally wrong. neither scandal has implicated the governor themselves. we are in full frenzy foaming at the mouth and laughing and joking with chris christie and politico and chuck to do, very respected political journalists have said not much here with scott walker. it's just striking to me. >> i think is there a tremendous difference. yes, a parallel in it obviously, people in office having people close to them doing nefarious things but to conceptually think about the fact somebody is sitting in office or at least their top lieutenant saying this mayor didn't support us, we will make people sit in traffic four hours. >> a political retribution whether it was in play. >> but we are talking about republicans who are still able to run for president should they men themselves, the leaders, there's not any difference in their involvement. neither manvh was involved admittedly horrendous behavior

of their deputies. >> we don't have any evidence that they knew o ing. no evidence that they knew anything. >> i think the public isn't foolish and they know exactly the kind of cultures that this creates. everyone is working in an office and understands the culture of what that office is and know whether that boss is engaged or not engaged. >> but no politicalpo the clinton culture and democrats and republicans alike are looking forward to a hillary clinton run. >> how does this affect scott walker's ambitions for 2016? but is there a subplot here in what is going on with scott walker and with chris christie and with everyone who is mentioned running for president. by virtue of the fact that they are alreadyqvx in office, everything they do is political. is that not the case? everything they do. >> my point. >> absolutely. they are all under huge scrutiny. i think what this episode should remind us all of wep; pause button here a minute.

look at how dynamic and unsettled this 2016÷& is. >> yeah. >> it was only six months ago we were talking about marco rubio as the front-runner(et now he hardly gets a mention in any of the top names. if you look forward a little bit, i think all of these candidates, governors, senators, they all have extensive public records and they all have, as chuck pointed out, these private e-mail systems that they have created to try to, you know, evade detection of various private political work that they are doing and this is all totally normal. as a reporter trying to get governors offices to release them it's incredibly difficult because they have created these systems that are meant to shield their correspondence from the press. whatever scott walker is in and we don't know at this point. right now this looks to be pretty bland and vanilla, it

reminds you also that rand paul is somebody to o>dwatch. here is a candidate who has been very carefully courting the media and talking like somebody who wants to moderate the party and reminding everybody that, look, the republican party that i want to lead is not my father's republican party. and i think we just really have to keep our eye on him. >> guys, let's shift gears and talk about minimum wage right now. facing criticism from the left officials from the congressional dv defending their analysis of a federal minimum wage hike. the cbo's report raying the minimum wage to $10.10 and could create a jobless of 500,000 worker and the high end of that estimate was 1 million jobs. white house is calling this report inaccurate but the director of cbo saying, i want to be clear that our analysis on the effects of raising the minimum wage is completely consistent with the latest thinking on the economic provision. meanwhile, some of america's biggest corporations are grappling with how to handle a

possible increase. gap is giving a pay raise to 65,000 minimum wage workers and taking them on their own accord to $10.10 an hour but walmart says it remains neutral on this issue. there had been reports saying the company was looking at supporting a nationwide federal increase. chuck, how does the white house pivot off the cbo defending back. with the cbo you can live and die by the sword when it comes to them and going on their numbers. >> especially the white house who feels, in more times than not, the cbo has been on their side on policy or at least)ñ-ñs confirm what their arguments on various policies issues, whether it's on immigration, which is a big one about how many jobs it would create, or even on the health care law and on the debt but when it comes to the deficit.m%#bñ s so i was surprised the white house have been as aggressive as they have been trying to push back on the cbo on this. they look now as petty andhl almost as if basically you agree

with the cbo only when they agree with you and you're not respecting them as this fair arbitrator and at the end of the day, they seem to be we don't have many fair arbitrators in washington and they seem be the fairest on this. what i take away from this is you're not -- had the cbo came in with a fairly neutral, they said it was going to be fairly neutral or not confirming one of the main criticisms that republicans were having in the minimum wage that boehner would have punted on this and that this would have actually gotten through this spring that we have seen a minimum wage incr5q6&e now i'm pretty convinced republicans are going to say, cbo says this is going to be job killer, we are not going to do it for the $10 an hour. the question i have is do democrats come back and say let's do it at $9 and move it up not as high as 10 but go to nine. on that the cbo is saying that would be close to neutral having

so i'm curious to see if democrats now alter their strategy a little bit and bring down their -- >> i have a theory, tina. cbs said we are not carrying ko more and cost them $2 million. you were running a major corporation. to me i think you need to make a statement to your consumers about the kind of company you are and that even short term it costs your bottom line it may be in a company's best interest to kind of get out in front of this and be some of the leaders like the gap's of the world. >> i think you're completely right. i think it was a smart move with gap that this he decrease their brand equity. a danger cut the hours of their workers and send people back further into the economy where you only have two days instead of three days which i think is one of the curses of people earning money. i think for republicans in

states where jobs are)(ív scarc it's a pretty bad thing to come out of a guy who is killing the minimum wage as an idea in terms of raising it. because people are desperate and in dire straits. i think the different term of the atmosphere of this country who america is right now, we have to do this, because 7 bucks is just ludicrous. you cannot survive on that. >> let's switch gears and talk about who has what's app on their phone? anybody? >> mike, you do? >> chuck, you do? >> i do. >> chuck, you have what's app? >> it is. i tell you why. a cousin of mine lives in mexico and; carlos slim makes money if you burp in your phone if your phone burp thejga down there. what happens is the cheapest way for my cousin to text. so i got it literally to just it saves him a couple of bucks. >> are you in the loop. listen to this. >> i've heard of it.

>> this big acquisition, facebook acquiring whatsapp a text messaging application with 40 million users worldwide and great for international texting as chuck points out. this is the largest acquisition from facebook and latest move by zuckerberg to keep his company relevant in the ever changing social marketplace.gt.÷ whatsapp charges a flat fee of a dollar a year. book is paying $4 billion in cash and purchase 12 billion worth of its share and the deal could be valid as highu(4 as $1 million. -- billion. exhume. whatsapp has 55 employees. that ams to $43 million per employee. >> when zuckerberg -- when they did their ipo, a lot of people said this young kid can't run a big company. the very way -- >> gerald sandburg.

>> we run a company. that aside, the grumpy old men around this table going whatsapp maybe a 27-year-old is more equipped to making these strategic decisions in their blood as far as because we are sitting around snickering at this. >> i think what it shows actually is that their understanding. he is young, and dominating the silicon valley. they understand how fast you can be outdated and how fast innovation is moving and how fast creativity gets ahead of you. otherwise you're defunked immediately. >> this is about future proofing facebook because there has been ids. ook because there has been >> it's turning mobile. they had one mandate to get off the computer and on to the smartphone and so everything they do is moving in that direction. >> i'm not snickering at it. far from snickering. >> we were laughing at ourselves, i think, to be clear. i agree with your point. >> don't necessarily get it.

>> they understand their competitors. >> get the wealth sxanging hands among relatively few people and take younger people into the next generation, 10, 20, 30 years down the road. we have very little idea what it's going to be there. but i do know that nnin this de and other deals, nobody is building a factory. >> nobody is building a phone. >> we are in the middle of this unbelievable shake-up of the way life is and factories it's not where it's at. 15 years from now it's going to be robot. >> the way we are ahead of the rest of the world with these information technologies is all fine and good for the companies but at the end of the dayq is no trickle down from it. >> chuck, the white house and its feeling on tech policy moving forward. as we see these major brands like a facebook now acquiring something as simple as whatsapp.

mike points out the huge sums of money changing hands that people don't feel is a tangible product. >> well, i mean, i get out the tech front. i think that whether they look at this and say, you know, i think that the white house, obviously, is very -- likes to celebrate this aspect of it silicon valleyx;a but i look a this and i don't have a lot to say because i don't think that they -- they are not going to get involved in this deal. i think they are most likely to goat involved in the deal that affects our parent company comcast and time warner. that is a competitive issue and that is something in the purview of the s.e.c. i think what has been interesting on tech policy is how behind government is. they don't know how to regulate deals like this. >> the wild, wild west. >> deals like this happen and they have no idea whether they should be getting involved and i think what is going to happen is after the fact they will look at some of these deals and say

maybe we should have gotten involved in this and maybe the ftc should have gotten involved in and this and maybe the justice department but they are not equipped. >> the fact that the middle class is going to be eroding and unable to be recognizable the nextmfaxz few years. every time something like this is invented in silicon valley everything that is new and exciting is eliminating jobs all the time. >> it used to be somebody bought a big railroad and their ther going in different ways. >> thank you, tyina brown. rob portman will join the table next on "morning joe." you see him in there with harold warming him up. first, here is bill karins with a check on our forecast this morning. the sun returns, at least for us in new york. >> yeah. a lot of areas on the eastern seaboard. joy it because we go back into

the freezer next week. temperatures soaring to the 60s as far north as washington, d.c. that is the good part of this. the bad part is that we have a big storm in the middle of the country. a lot of warm air. thunderstorms. rain. on top ofnñ snow. that means flooding concerns. already they are saying water all over the place. we have thunder sleet. a thunderstorm producing sleet this morning in the chicago area and half an inch of ice on the ground. chicago area, all of northern illinois, now northern indiana is a mess out there. the melting snow and a lot of water on the ground. because it's so warm and we got this storm coming, we are going to get thunderstorms this afternoon. maybe even apn i don't think they will be large tornadoes. isn't like a big tornado outbreak. maybe some smaller tornadoes that can do some minor damage but the wind damage will be widespread across the tennessee and ohio valley and makes its way to the east coast tomorrow and wind damage. the snow today. blizzard conditions do moes moi to minneapolis and 9óñduluth. mid winter cold next week

throughout much of the winter country head to go the east coast. it's like mid march before it finally feels like spring. washington, d.c., that's not the case. enjoy the nextu cs twoétñ days. it is gorgeous! you're watching "morning joe." ♪ i'm beth... and i'm michelle. and we own the paper cottage. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative, we like interacting with people. so you have time to focus on the things you love. ink from chase. so you can.

i voted for a time when the economy was growing and in economists look at now increasing the minimum wage and saying this is going to cost jobs and what the cbo said recently.

if we look at raising the minimum wage let's be sure it isn't too high and give businesses and companies incentive to hire and somewhat to look at but as a part of a package. >> with when we talk about 2014 we talk about republicans in terms of the couple that you were saying primaried and that seems to be our obsession. what is the real story you were saying before we came on that6is not the real story? >> look. 2014 is for the united states senate a great opportunity for republicans to take back the majority. we are down six seats now so that would seem like a real stretch. the map and the math and the mood is working in our favor. the math is more democrats up than republicans. and frankly we have got a mood in our favor right now particularly with obamacare and then in terms of the people who are up, the democrats hadja> can you just go through a couple of races you're feeling good about? >> i think doing real well in

arkansas and south dakota and louisiana and alaska and a good opportunity in michigan. the map keeps expanding and if scott brown gets into new hampshire that is one too. you look at these states and say in six of the states that are up, president obama got less than 42% of the vote and these are democrat-held states. obviously, a great opportunity. >> iowa? i think democrats are doing a little hand-wringing about eye awas? >> we have a couple of good candidates in iowa. iowa is another one in play. i think 12 states in play. >> i know democrats are really nervous. you say we are keeping an eye on it. >> it's possible. what is important for me in all of this it will change the dynamic in washington, d.c. we get the majority i think it will require president obama to come to the table and deal with these issues. we are not dealing with any of the big questions of our time, you know? economic growth we talked about minimum wage earlier. i'm not saying it's not important. it is to a lot of folks but about 2% of the work force gets the minimum wage half of them are young people and 16 to 24 #1

years old. we really need to do is grow this economy. and that will create more demand for workers and that will create higher wages and better benefits and we are living through the weakest economic recovery since the great depression and we have this huge deficit problem that we justrt learned from the nonpartisan congressional budget office and it's going to grow another $10 trillion the next ten years and not touching it. big things if president obama comes to the table we can work on, and i think that only will happen if you get a republicans in the majority of the senate. >> you talked yesterday about wanting to work with the white house on unemployment insurance benefits and creating a package. karl rove talks about as you talk about the republicans chances the only way republicans will win in this health care debate is talk about ending it. you have to talk about real ideas and alteratives. gives us a sense of what the changes are you would make in terms of repealing it. >> senator, excuse me. could you think about your

answer for a couple of seconds? we have news from kiev. violence continues in kiev's independence square. more reports of more dead protesters. our correspondent richard engel is live in ukraine's capital. richard? >> reporter: good morning, mike. we have been watching this unfold all day, and last night, in this square, there had been reports that there would be a truce that the government had promised not to invade the camp, the protest camp where you can hear the protesters speaking on loud speakers behind me. and that the riot police would be pulled back. this morning, that truce seemed like it was being put into action. buses showed up to take the riot police away and as the riot police were getting onto their buses, the demonstrates attacked them with molotov cocktails and we could see this take place and then the riot police started to open fire. around 9:00 a.m. in kiev, riot police retreated from their positions.

in pursuit, anti-government protesters. now advancing out of their fortified camp. we watched at least one policeman dragged away. the protests had been contained. suddenly, they had broken out of the square and into the side streets. retreating under attack, police got much more violent and protesters started dropping, carried away to any shelter the demonstrators could find and many claim the forces now using snipers too. protesters have turned this hotel lobby into a field hospital. the injured are still streaming in. we have seen volunteers using bed sheets to try to treat the wounds and some of the injuries, at least appear to have come in fr live ammunition. the hotel lobby quickly turned into mayhem. no supplies have been stored hem+ú6 the injured given care on the floor. we watched at least three protesters die.

by afternoon, protesters were spreadingbúqú across downtown k and a reported truce appeared over even before it began. the riot police have now withdrawn and the demonstrators are spreading out beyond the square occupying the position that had been held by the riot police and really sxaexpanding area held in kiev by the opposition. >> richard engel, thank you very much. senator portman, what about this? nicole read the op-ed from who was it this morning? >> waner wrote an op-ed and tough on president obama saying that his failure to force his own line in syria renders him impotent in this crisis and i wondered if republicans share that sent mted and iment and ar that. >> i read about how japan is

upset with us. one of our great allies in the asian pacific area. i can't think of a place greater off today than years ago. the united states will not be there for our allies and if we are not there for our allies our enemies notice that. so, look. this is very concerning. we have a lot of ukrainians in ohio and ukrainian americans and on this issue i'm talking to folks back home who have relatives there. >> we talked about that on the flip side of that. we are coming off iraq and afghanistan. is there reality to the fact that we cannot emotionally or financially weather being@&8)q world's police officer any more? and all we can do is bark and the very thing we are criticizing obama for is not a reflection of democratic policies but a reflection of where we stand in the world community and the realities we

have in this country right now. >> donny, two things. one, when you say something as america you need to stand behind it. when we draw a red line we need to stand behind it. it's not like more military power and we have not been consistent whether it's syria or folks who are not sure we are going to be with them. second, it's a huge role to 1econd, it's a huge role to we are the largest economy in the world. i look at the commercial side as well as the military side as the former u.s. trade representative, i'm amazed seven years we haven't been able to negotiate any trade agreements. we are saying where is america? i guess they need to deal more with china on a commercial basis because i don't see the united on the military side people have work fatigue and understandably we still have a bigger military than all of our competitors combined. and we still have the ability to get the ceilings open in the south china sea and suez canal and we have to be sure our presence is known and we are involved.

if we are not involved things get chaotic quickly and you see that in the middle east right now. i think the role in the u.s. is diminished andyap what should be our course of action in ukraine in response to this commentary and what will be more commentary what the president is doing and what the administration is not doing? >> look. i think we need to stand with people who are supporting democrats and freedom and that is a red line that we have drawn historically. george bush used to talk about this not as something that comes from the united states or some other country. it's people's rights from their creator to have freedom and liberty and to be able to hold elections and much of what is happening here, i think, is reflective what is happening in other places around the world you got demonstrators say when i have an opportunity to be heard and have real democracy.

>> you were talking about freedom in ukraine and a large conversation in our country when it comes to social justice. jim vandehei was on earlier talking about politico's matchup : in 2016. i was surprised not to see your name other because of your home state in ohio and your record and, most importantly, because of your willingness to support marriage equality. i think a secret weapon on the republican side of things you represent because do you think the american people will ever relinquish the federal recognition at this point of a president who doesn't believe in marriage equality? >> look. i don't know. i think it ought to be decided in the states. you know, thomas, i've talked about that in the context of my change of mind on this issue. i think that people ought to decide and i think that leads to more enduring change and i think that is what is going to happen in my state and states around the country and you see it. so i'm hopeful that there actually won't be a federal court that makes these decisions but people have the opportunity to weigh in and

neighbor-to-neighbor, friend-to-friend, family member to family member will be more effective to change people's lives. >> is this something you think about in the potential of a 2016 campaign for yourself? >> i don't think about a 2016 campaign for myself. >> he has been on the trail and seen too much. >> i'm spending a lot of time on 2014 right now to try to get the majority in the senate which i think could change the way washington operates. if we take advantage of it. becau' i think it will change the dynamic and the way it gets the president to the table and deals with some of these issues. health care is something clearly you have to fix obamacare and repeal it and replace it with something that works. and, you know, i think the only chance of doing that is to change things up in washington and get new leadership and new ideas. >> jeremy peters in washington? >> senator, you're deeply involved with the fund-raising aspect of the 2014 senatorial campaign for republicans. last month, republicans were outraged by quite a significant

amount by democrats. and i wonder, a, what is that all about? are you encountering some are you finding it harder to ask people for money? >> well, we had our best month ever. it was a record month for fund-raising for the senatorial committee on the republican side. the previous month in december was a record month for us and we outraised the democrats because we don't have any debt, our cash on hand is very similar. so, look. i'm not concerned about the resources. i think that will come. i'm more concerned, frankly, about being sure we have quality candidates. i believe we do now and i think the most important thing in politics is to have people who folks trust and can be proud of. i think you'll see our candidates around the country in these 12 or 14 states i talked about are people that can make it through a primary but can win a general election and be good senators and people can begin to focus on the people's work here and, as i said, we have big

problems in our country and we have to address them. >> before we let you go, you indicated the republican-controlled majorityu senate would change the dynamic is what you said, change the dynamic in d.c. what would prevent the dynamic in d.c. from just flip-flopping where you have mitch mcconnell who several years ago said his primary ambition was support president obama at every turn and make him a one-term president. what is changing the dynamic that the senate minority leader a democrat doesn't say everything the republican strategy we will obstruct the same thing the republicans have done to the democrats? >> because the house is republicans. you have an opportunity to have an agenda. they passed a hundr.@>&11m:ur @% consider tax reform and so on and they died because they didn't come up in the senate and not even a debate. at a minimum you don't have an opportunity to have an agenda. also, you know, as you know, with 51 votes you can get something done in the senate. the president jammed obamacare through the senate on the basis

of what is called a reconciliation under 51 votes and things you can do if you get a budget and tax reform which has to be done to get this economy to like dealing with our unsustainable and incredibly vital and important and entitlement programs. these are the things i think a republican house and senate can do together and get to the president's desk and will he sign them all? probably not. i think he'll negotiate and talk. you know, this notion he won't even talk to negotiate with congress or talk to congress wouldn't be over because you >> senator rob portman. >> thank you, mike. >> thank you, as always, senator. >> thanks, guys. on tomorrow's show we will talk to texas governor rick perry. we will be right back with more "morning joe." ♪ ♪ little pink houses for you and me ♪ baby for you and me ♪ when you order the works

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coming up, in the words of time-out new york, watch out broadway. neil partrick harris is one of the stars starring on the great white way. jordan roth will join us with a sneak peek at the spring season's top shows and, jordan, my mother wants to take me to all of them. that's next on "morning joe."

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♪ ♪ blaming it on on the nights of broadway ♪ joining us with a look at what islvva new on broadway, th president and principal owner of joe jamson theaters. i can never say that. it throws me off when i try to say that but jordan roth is one of the smartest and best guys in new york city and fills us in on what we can look forward to the spring. can we talk about this cover? >> go big or go home. >> it's neil in his outfit. he did not shave his legs or his chest. >> well, hold pop we are only in hee rehearsal. >> i don't like neil patrick harris. i'll tell you why. >> tell me why. >> he kicked my ass in bravos

pork years ago. >> i'm just telling you the way the. >> he is can sing, act, dance. he is funny and great. >> funny on live television. >> neil is coming in because "how i met your mother" is wrapping up after nine seasons. >> mike is really death spiral over? >> it's one of my favorite shows. >> i understand you're getting a sequel out "how i met your mother." >> speaking of sequels. brian cranston. >> he is moving from the meth lab >> logical these days. >> you said it, not me, brother. he is starring as lbj in "all the way." this is a ferocious performance for his provide debut. you saw it% up in cambridge.

lbj is being sworn in and takes us through the tumultuous year to the next election. this is the team play for "morning joe" if ever there was one. >> he is incredible. >> the fact we were talking about neil patrick harris has been to the tonys for several seasons now and probably not do it this year because he probably will get nominated. >> neil has hosted the tonys the last several years. big news is hugh jackman returns for his fourth time hosting. the record, though, is five times for host held by? guesses? >> angela lansbury? >> i totally love you! >> i am concerned that i got that. >> very worthy! >> wow! why do you know that? >> just something surged into my brain! >> you're my favorite person. >> did you once date her?

>> i wasn't even aware of it. it was like a i had an out of body streak! >> angela lansbury. unbelievable! tony awards. wow! >> hugh jackman will bring us the tony awards. >> you're freaking out right now. you're bright red. why are you embarrassed you knew that? >> you've been obsessed! >> it goes downhill. >> what are you most excited about? >> i am most excited about bullets over broadway. >> spell it. >> zach brass, right? >> oh, my gosh. >> this amazing helenaf it is the roaring '20s. it is this classic film come to life and truly it is the classic new york broadway musical comedy

we have been waiting for since the producers and directed and% choreographed by susan centralman. >> what about "roc"rocky"?

>> eric estrada still looks like eric estrada. >> that's totally not eric estrada. you are going to love it. tonight, this very nice, "bridges of madison county" opens on broadway. first the novel, then the film, and now a musical with a gloriously, beautiful score. >> all right. and james franco, "mice and men"? >> debut, "mice and men." he's doing eight performances a week, after every sunday matinee he'll get on a plane to l.a. he'll teach his college classes and screenwriting and film production, going to get back on a plane, be back to the theater in time for the show on tuesday night. all the while bringing us a

steady stream of selfies, on instagram, that barnicle, i'm disappointed i haven't seen your grams. bring it. >> i'm been a little obsessed with angela lansbury. >> it was weird, please. >> so let's just agree we'll instagram our favorite picture of angela lansbury as soon as we get off. >> jordan roth. great to see you. still ahead, my conversation with sarah kate ellis, she's taking the push for equality worldwide. keep it locked in right here on "morning joe." in the new new york, we don't back down. we only know one direction: up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here.

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that's god playing him off the stage is what it is. time to wrap it up, frances. >> hollywood double stick tape. that's all i got to say. coming up next, facebook, see, nicolle knows what i'm talking about. a huge acquisition of a company that many nontech savvy customers like barnicle have never heard of. so whatsapp. especially if you're thinking of moving an old 401(k) to a fidelity ira. it gives you a wide range of investment options... and the free help you need to make sure your investments fit your goals -- and what you're really investing for. tap into the full power of your fidelity green line. call today and we'll make it easy to move that old 401(k) to a fidelity rollover ira.

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good morning. it's 8:00 a.m. on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. on the west coast, as you take a live look at new york city. back with us on set, tony deutsche, harold ford jr., nicolle wallace, and jeremy peters in washington. thomas, what is my app that went for $16 billion? >> whatsapp. >> whatsapp. i've never heard of it. not that that means anything. >> what you can get on your iphone, smartphone, and you download it, and it curates all of your contacts, and allows you to text for free. >> i'm totally confused. >> all right. >> are you on my social notework? i don't even know what that means? >> no, i sort of know what that means. it means someone else's business, not mine. >> okay. >> we'll get to that. >> it's an interesting story. i think you'll have a lot to say about it, because you have a lot to say about everything. huge news overseas. >> there is. we want to start with the

breaking news out of ukraine, as more violence has continued in kiev's independence square. there are visual reports of more slain protesters and police refusal to abandon an edge of the square. field hospitals have now been set up in hotel lobbies and at least 20 police officers have been injured. one of the enduring images from the violence on wednesday, a lone woman standing her ground, throwing rocks against a line of riot police. the fighting continued despite a negotiated truce. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel is here to explain. richard, fill us in on the renewed violence, and we also need to talk about the diplomatic channels that are open, or trying to be opened by the e.u. >> reporter: first of all, we watch all of this unfold last night. we're overlooking independence square right here. what happened around 9:00 this morning, the riot police, who

cordoned around the area, started to pull back. i don't know if they'd been ordered. i don't know if there'd been a scuffle, but we saw a relatively organized withdrawal of riot police heading toward buses, so it appears they were given a directive to pull back. the protesters, who are still in the square behind me, began chasing the riot police down and attacking them, and it quickly turned into clashes with molotov cocktails and fireworks. once the riot police pulled back to their own fortified positi s positions, then they started to use a lot more violence, including live ammunition. we saw dozens of people injured. i personally saw three of the demonstrators killed. field hospitals set up throughout this area, and they were -- some of them were quite brutal, as people were using their hands and tweezers to pull out bullet wounds -- pull out bullets from people's bodies.

the situation now is the demonstrators are moving out of the square. they're taking up the positions, fortifying the positions that have been abandoned by the riot police. >> and so, richard, talk about the diplomatic issues. the e.u. was supposed to come in and meet with the president there. that did not happen, and that helped initiate the resumed violence. and the president sent a strong message while he was in mexico yesterday, but this doesn't seem to be helping any of the issues or at least separate the violence from any of the desires of the protesters. >> reporter: the problem is nobody here can speak for everyone. the protesters don't have a clear, unified voice. they are not led by any one opposition politician. last night, there had been reports of a truce. that it was going to pull back, it would not invade the square, and there would be a resumed diplomatic process. don't forget, what these protesters initially wanted was

better relations with the european union. it has moved beyond that. now they want to topple the government. they want president yanukovych to go. many want to see him in jail. then, things took on their own momentum this morning as the police pulled back and the violence spread. where things are in the diplo t diplomatic process right now, it's very hard to know. we don't know if the riot police are going to come back, if the truce negotiations will now resume, if the protesters feel they've ghaned minor victory, even while taking casualties, and they might feel in a better mood to negotiate. it's very fluid. >> richard, each time you've reported from the square, we have heard this constant stream of chatter on the loudspeaker in the background. do you have any sense of what the constant chatter is about? what is the voice -- what is the voice saying? >> reporter: sure. you can hear it right now. there is a stage in the middle of the square behind me, and

they have is rotating speakers. today, they have been giving instructions. they've been telling the protesters, as they are moving out from the square, retaking their position, enlarging their fortified camp. and we've been watching them handing bricks, hand over hand, and establishing new fighting positions and walls and barricades. these masters of ceremonies have been telling them, watch out for the snipers. there've been reports of snipers in the area. they have been telling protesters where they should set up their positions, where they should set up the bunks, because they're also setting up some housing in these surrounding areas. effectively, they are ordering public instructions, because the cell phones and communications here are quite limited. >> nbc's richard engel there reporting from kiev. richard, keep us updated. thank you, sir. nicolle, i know you have an op-ed you wanted to read about the president's statement. >> normally, in a moment of crises in the moment, both parties sort of stand united and gather the facts. i am surprised by this op-ed

from pete wiener, a former speech writer for president bush, but one of the most respected voices on the right, who writes in commentary, president barack obama condemned the violence in ukraine, saying the u.s. holds the government responsible for ensuring handling protesters peacefully, and that there will be consequences if people step over the line, had more empty words been uttered by an american president? in the aftermath of mr. obama telling the syrian regime that using chemical weapons would cross a red line, and then doing nothing, syria's response to it, the president's latest threat is probably evoking belly laughs in kiev. it's clear that around the globe today the person who is respected and feared and shaping world events is not mr. obama, who's viewed as an impotent amateur, but the brutal vladimir putin, who is reasserting russian dominance in ukraine in the middle east, among other places. we know barack obama is weak and essentially powerless. he simply makes things worse with his blues ter. he's our pushover and the entire

world and our adversaries and allies know it. >> jeremy peters in washington. what do you think the reaction is out of the white house to that -- that's a pretty bristling attack on the president of the united states. >> i don't know that it's anything that we haven't heard before when it comes to the president's foreign policy and republican critiques of it. i mean, it seems like there's one foreign crises after another, whether it's syria, libya, you name it. this is not a republican party that is going to give this president any breaks when it comes to foreign policy. >> but, jeremy, what struck me is with syria, john mccain and lindsey graham were at the white house every day in the early hours of that crisis, and they were willing to help him garner the support in congress when he said that there was a red line that couldn't be crossed. i think that this response struck me, because i think it illustrates how little faith republicans -- and i would guess some democrats -- have in his ability to shape world events.

and i think you saw even in richard engel's piece, whether the president's word also have impact on the violence there. >> i wouldn't disagree with that. i think next to his, you know, criticisms over obamacare, criticisms about the way the president has handled foreign affairs and nsa and things like that have really been the loudest on capitol hill. so, you know, this going into 2014, there are not a whole lot of bright spots for president obama. and this has become one that i think he'll have to worry about. >> jeremy, is the contrast here, the fact that the re-emerging -- when you're playing whack a mole on foreign policy, because there are be hot spots that fire up, it's basically vladimir putin that keeps popping up, whether it's the attachment to ukraine, the attachment to syria, to snowden, nsa, granting him asylum.

it goes back to russia and vladimir putin. >> that's a good point, thomas. if it's russia and putin, then i actually think the president has an advantage in the court of public opinion, because if -- you know, the last two weeks are any indication, certainly, a reminder rather that americans love to use russia as their political punching bag. and if it is vladimir putin versus barack obama, i think barack obama is going to come out looking like the winner, at least in the eyes of americans. >> one of the challenges here, jeremy, you may be right, one of the challenges is we find ourselves not in a rhetorical, theoretical conversation, there are consequences here for our action or inaction. i think the president has considered the idea of using force, and i tend to support any president who wants to use force last. but this president, to, i think peter's point in the -- i might not have gone as far as weiner did in this piece, but i understand the premise, which is this president and this white house has made comments in the past, not followed through.

>> right. >> and the lack of follow-through seems to stem from the fact that there is a real, again, skepticism, a real doubts about how much force, if any force, can be used in and around the globe, and there's no doubt our allies and adversaries around the globe recognize it. they find themselves, the white house, in an unusual, and for that matter precarious position, increasingly precarious position. >> the white house is dealing with reality. the reality is the last 12, 14 years of american history, with military involvement, has fractured the military component of the american power. >> no doubt about it. >> we can no longer afford to send people overseas to fight in these wars that are erupting throughout the globe. there seems to be a lack of reality among certain elements of the republican party to this very real fact. the military is broken. >> but when you think about that, mike, the problem is, if you are our allies, adversaries around the globe, you recognize the reality, you articulated it, as well, how does that cause them to react? so jeremy's opponent, this has emboldened, no doubt putin

probably the most visible winner in all of this -- >> there's a big reality. and the military is really a symbol of this. we're not the kick-ass superpower in the world anymore. we cannot impose our will anymore. a big part of this country that still lives in the '50s and '60s that believes whatever is wrong in this world -- >> we can fix it. >> -- we have the ability to fix it. and we don't. we don't. we are a bloat the superpower. we have not set up the infrastructure, the economics, mike, as you mentioned, of who we are and where we stand in the world do not permit us. so the best obama's going to do is bark. you know, i actually think op-eds like that are kind of destructive, because it just -- wait for something to not play out before you put that out there. >> there's the segue, though. the economics. and in terms of economics, i was stunned by the price for something i didn't know anything about. >> the whatsapp. let's fill everybody in on this. huge acquisition yesterday,

facebook buying whatsapp, a text messaging app with 450 million users worldwide. they paid $16 billion for it. it's the largest acquisition from facebook yet. it's also the latest move by the co-founder and ceo mark zuckerberg to keep his company relevant in the ever-changing social media marketplace. it really is the wild, wild west. and whatsapp is more prominently used overseas. it does not sell advertising, has little revenue, and charges a flat fee of $1 a year. yeah, facebook will pay $4 billion in cash, purchase $12 billion worth of shares, and when it's all said and done, the deal could be valued as high as $19 billion. now, here's the real kicker on this. we should all get jobs at whatsapp, or should have a while ago, because it just has 55 employees. >> wow. >> which amounts to $344 million per employee. donny? >> yeah, look, facebook, when facebook went public, they had one mantra. we're going mobile. because that's where the world is. >> where the money is. >> i mean, that's the future. now, did they overpay?

most people on wall street think they paid an exorbitant price for this. it's 450 million users they're buying. when a company goes public, a company like facebook, what you're investing in basically is that they're going to make the right moves as far as how they take that capital and what companies they're going to buy. to me, this seems like a ridiculously high price tag. and particularly with the fact that mike doesn't know what it is, and you see i'm an american, if mike doesn't know what it is -- >> it's a huge thing. i have nothing more to say. >> if we checked all of the phones of his kids, they all probably have whatsapp. >> let's find out. are they awake. >> probably the barnicle boys. >> probably. does anybody here share -- there's a bitter and cruel irony, at least in my mind with regard to this, we finished talking the past couple of days about this fight, this extended fight to raise the minimum wage in this country, from $7.25 to $10.10 over a period of three years for people who can barely afford, and many of them can't afford to feed their families.

and $16 billion -- now, it's a private company, god bless them, god love them, they're all making millions, but $16 billion, in an average of, whatever it was, $344 million per employee, what do they make? what jobs do they create? you know, how is that going to help -- >> that's only the potential if they each have invested equal shares -- 55 employees. >> i understand somebody is -- >> i understand. >> they're still making out great, but you're talking about the grotesque amount that's going to a small population. >> yeah. >> utilized by a continuously small population in the text sector. >> well, you, of course, are our tech bureau chief, so why don't you explain whatsapp. what exactly does it do on this thing? >> so whatsapp will go through the contacts you already have. >> like the people you tweet. >> yeah, so if you have that application on your phone, and i downloaded it before going to russia, because there were two applications -- one called vibe and the other calls whatsapp -- that would offer free texting and viber would offer free phone

calls, so when you're overseas, you can communicate much better with -- where is it? so i can show it to you. you can communicate much better with -- there it is -- it's this green application. >> almost uber card. >> it will go through all of your contacts and it will let you know who's on there. so if you look at the phone, you can see who's available, and who's not available. you know, i'm a available, you can text me, you can call me. >> it allows to you do it without paying the mobile messaging fees. >> yeah, that's the advantage of it. >> skype for texting. >> basically so. but other applications like snapchat, very popular with the kids, and even rand paul that joined snapchat, but this will eat their lunch, getting biehned with facebook, and for facebook and mark zuckerberg, and i think, donny, we talked about this before, don't count mark zuckerberg out, some people had, about future-proof facebook. and this is no way to future-proof facebook. >> the stock closed at $68.06

yesterday. >> what? >> facebook. it opened at 38. it dropped -- people around this table talked about how this thing was moving in the wrong direction, because it was -- i think it dropped last night in after-hours trading but you can't bet against it. just to put it in perspective. i didn't mean to cut you off. >> but you did cut him off. >> america's sweetheart. >> start out with bless his heart, and then he can do it. yeah. facing criticism from the left, officials from the congressional budget analysis are defending the minimum wage hike. they say it could result in a job loss of 500,000 workers. the high end of the estimate was 1 million jobs. white house officials are calling the report inaccurate. but the director of the cbo is standing by the findings, and saying, quote, i want to be clear our analysis on the effects of raising the midge ni wage is consistent. meanwhile, largest corporations are grappling with how to handle

a possible increase. gap getting ahead of the curve, giving a pay raise to its 65,000 minimum wage workers, taking them to $10.10 an hour. but mega retailer walmart says it remains neutral on this issue. there had been reports saying the company was looking at supporting a nationwide federal increase, but they still haven't come out of the gates strong on that one yet. donny, what do you think about gap getting ahead of the curve here and going to 10.10? >> what i find stunning in the year 2014, and i'd like to ask jeremy this, why can we not definitively understand if you put a thousand economists in a room, where they're raising the minimum wage is good or bad for the economy, how have we not been able to at least get our arms around that in this world where we put men on the moon and do all these other -- and buy companies for $16 billion. i mean, it's stunning. >> part of it is because of the way that economists -- economics have become more and more partisan. i mean, "the new york times" has

done a lot of reporting on this, and we looked at the various economic think tanks, many of them on the right, that have been pushing this notion that raising the minimum wage would be destructive. and there really is not that same sense of objectivity in a lot of the research that is out there. >> coming up on "morning joe," from the strongest to the loudest to the most politically wounded, politico is breaking down the republican field for president. jim vandehei has the top ten categories next. first, bill karins has a check on the forecast and a prediction about where joe and mika are. >> dude, i don't know if we want to know where joe and mika are. we're hoping they're warm. the country is warming up right when we need it, and unfortunately, it comes at a price. warmer conditions bring the thunderstorms. big storm in the middle of the country over the top of kansas now. it heads east into the warmer, humid air. that will be the recipe for severe weather later today. maybe a few tornadoes. right now, we don't have severe storms, but we have a lot of

heavy rain over the snow pack, and indiana, southern michigan, northern illinois, especially around the chicago area. so we do have a lot of water out there. you can see what a dreary day in chicago. the good news is, you know, by the time this is done, a lot of the snow will be over. you're still going to have a wild weather day. warm and then getting cold tomorrow. as far as today goes, the area of red is the greatest concern. moderate risk of severe thunderstorms from damaging winds. lexington, louisville, down through central kentucky, nashville area, and just outside of memphis. it's the northern portions of mississippi. again, wind damage should be the biggest culprit as far as downed trees, power outages and any damage to any properties. hopefully, we'll get through it, and everything will be fine. st. louis, you're in the fog now. some thunderstorms will roll through your area later this afternoon. you're watching "morning joe." ♪ at any minute...

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♪ welcome back, everybody. let's look at the morning paymers for you today from our parade of papers, "the chicago tribune." the u.s. department of homeland security is warning airlines of the possibility of explosives concealed in shoes. airlines were specifically urged to pay close attention to flights from -- excuse me, to the u.s. were overseas. tsa agents will use explosive detection swabs on both the shoes passengers are wearing and the ones that they're carrying inside the bags. that's a big difference. utilizing the ones in the carry-on. >> thomas' favorite paper, "the baltimore sun." a bad situation got bad for ray rice. tmz says this video shows rice

dragging his unconscious fiancee out of an elevator. police say he knocked janae palmer out during an altercation. rice's attorney confirms the authenticity of the video, but it doesn't show the whole story. both were arrested and charged with domestic violence early saturday morning. "usa today" reports the couple returned to their home together later in the day. >> right. they're showing a united front there, but this hadn't been released when the original story and the arrest report leaked out. >> that's so troubling. >> yeah. >> so "usa today," a much-needed delivery of road salt will arrive in new jersey today. weeks of severe winter weather, the storms have drained the resources across the northeast, and officials say new jersey only had enough salt to get through one more storm. the state is expected to receive another salt shipment next week. the biggest concern with this was the fact there was salt to be shipped in, but they didn't want to take a chance on the weather conditions and how bad they were to try to get those

shipments to come -- >> or the traffic across the bridge. they're afraid -- >> saltgate. "the boston globe." received the largest donation yesterday for a billionaire alumnus, kenneth griffin, donating $150 million to the ivy league school. 140 million were cover tuition for a new scholarship program and the remaining $10 million to the harvard business school. >> i just bought a sweatshirt there for my nephew that's in the mail. i don't know if he gets to go to ivy league story, but i want to encourage that. one powerball player is $425 million richer. the winning ticket was sold at a gas station in milpitas, california. if the ringer takes the lump sum total, it would amount to $228 million. still, the janitor at whatsapp is more rich than that. >> yeah. >> because they're getting 344.

>> yeah, they clean up. no paper. >> it's all electronic. >> the chance of winning -- the chance of winning that was 1 in 175 million. >> by the way, 55 employees are already home. >> they already telecommute. >> we worked on this all last night. you know who we have? >> say it ain't so. >> jim vandehei. you thought he was hard to get. we got him. >> you guys. >> i worked him all yesterday afternoon. i sent him a fruit basket, everything. >> look, there he is! >> jim vandehei. >> whatsapp. >> my gift to you. your sad task this morning, jim, is to break down the republican race for 2016 with candidates in 10 different categories, so let's start with the strongest candidate. who fits that description, according to politico? >> well, one, we're grading on a curve here given that i don't think anybody's strong at this point. i think rand paul and scott walker would be the two strongest at this point in this

field. we'll get to christie in a bit and why he's not on that list. but rand paul wants to run. he's go the a good political timing. he keeps finding ways to stay in the news. scott walker, no doubt people like him. fund-raisers love him. probably wins re-election in wisconsin. he is getting hit this morning in "the milwaukee journal-sentinel" above the fold top story, a scandal involving his staff when he was county executive, head of the county executive -- >> the e-mail stuff? >> yeah, it doesn't look like there's anything there that would hurt him long term, but it's like bridgegate. if there's more down the road, and when you have that many e-mails, it's problematic. if you read the story, it looks like something that was pre when he was governor, so i'd put him in that top category. >> loudest of the potential candidates? loudest! >> is it even close? ted cruz, and cruz, i think, wants it. continues to vankle his colleagues, and will continue to be the favorite of the tea party. the tea party just loves him. there's an electricity around him that you don't find with any other candidate, and it's hard

to see that dissipating. >> the recovering candidate, down goes rubio, right? but he's recovering. >> no doubt. rubio, we were talking a year ago, everyone thought he was the strongest. i thought he had a weak 2013. largely because of his uneven performance on immigration. but there's no doubt that he still is an attractive candidate. he brings diversity to the party, and people like him, like his youth, like his ideas and he's starting to make a comeback. >> now, obviously, the next one is wounded. >> wounded. chris christie, i think, is wounded in a big way, and possibly in a way he won't be able to recover from. it's not just bridgegate and that continues to linger out there. there's a great peace in "the new republic" great one in "politico" magazine, looking at his activities, in his rise to polit politics. everything he did in new jersey, the typical new jersey politics of arm twisting and back scratching, you just look at it differently, and i think that will be the new reality for him. and he won't be able to shake it. >> you've listed two as on the

rise. one of them is pretty interesting, and that would be, in my estimation, the governor of ohio. go ahead. >> yeah. no doubt that two governors from the midwest, mike pence in indiana, and john kasich is someone people should pay attention to in ohio. he's had success there. he's broken with the republican party at different times. the approval rating is pretty strong for a conservative republican in a swing state. ohio is obviously extremely important. i think that he's interested. he's not done a lot of the things he should be doing if he truly wanted to get in there. he's not out there as a scott walker. but given that state, given his popularity, someone to watch. and mike pence would be in that same category. little more obscure, former congressman, was in leadership for conservatives when he was in the house. but indiana's been a state where his popularity is high, and indiana starting with mitch daniels through him, has done interesting stuff. >> can we put the image up of the five, six, seven contenders? if i'm hillary clinton and i'm

eating -- put that up. the group of people -- can we put that up, guys? if i'm hillary clinton, eating fruit loops at home, and i look at this group as the contender, i'm having a second bowl of fruit loops, because i'm feeling pretty good. >> can you not say that, because this -- this country is polarized, closely divided. i would add a few more to the list. it's a pretty good list. but jeb bush has to be put on a list at this -- >> yeah, he's on the list. >> well, let me give you the rest -- >> and paul ryan. there are intellectual forces in the party that are going to make sure this is a fair fight, whoever emerges. >> paul ryan was right next to your favorite person. >> jeb bush, the savior according to the establishment, you heard it from nicolle, is a jeb bush is a paul ryan. when you look at the spectrum, when you look at the spectrum of the republican party, you have to find somebody who's conservative enough to keep the tea party at bay but moderate enough to win a national election, and that's why there is so much excitement around a jeb bush, or potentially a paul ryan. if either of them want to run. i'm skeptical that ryan wants to

run at the end of the day, even more skeptical about jeb bush. but that is probably where the republican party needs to be, at that part of the spectrum if they want to compete with a hillary clinton or if hillary doesn't run, rahm emanuel, whoever else will run. >> politico jim vandehei. thank you very much, sir. "time" magazine really with the story of which flights really get cancelled. fascinating revelations ahead. [ male announcer ] this one goes out to all the congestion sufferers who feel like there's a brick on their face. who are so congested, it feels like the walls are closing in. ♪ who are so stuffed up, they feel like they're under water. try zyrtec-d® to powerfully clear your blocked nose and relieve your other allergy symptoms... so you can breathe easier all day. zyrtec-d®.

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you know, she has been on the job for barely two months, but already sarah kate ellis has found her place as the new ceo of glaad, and it's not easy being with marriage equality a hot-button issue at home and abroad. thanks to the olympics, ellis has her hands full. so these are your new offices? >> yes, yes. >> reporter: pretty fancy digs. >> yeah. >> reporter: you might say she was the perfect choice. >> i'm a people person. and i know -- i met with a lot of the staff before i started, too, and they're passionate about what we do. >> reporter: last november, after an exhaustive search, glaad announced sarah kate ellis as president and ceo, and formed an organization looking to shape the message on lgbt issues, she brought a unique set of call

fks. >> i launched "real simple" magazine, i was at "new york" magazine, "vogue." that was fun. "in style." and i've been a passionate media person. at all of the institutions, especially last one at time-warner, i was the head of the out organization there, and i worked very closely at bringing more straight allies into the lgbt organization there. >> reporter: so does that mean that there'll be a fashion closet here, since you worked at "vogue"? >> i'm hoping. i'm hoping. >> reporter: but while ellis brings style, more importantly, she brings substance to her leadership role. this job is more than just a career. it's uniquely personal. she's married to kristen henderson, a founding member of the rock band antigany rising. the two became pregnant on the same day, and in february 2009, two weeks apart, they gave birth to thomas and kate spencer. and when you shift to this and you have a staff that it's not just professional, it is

personal, probably for most people here, how does that change the dynamic in a business structure? >> i think it makes it a lot more fun, because you really care deep down what's happening. it makes it harder, too. you cry harder. you laugh and celebrate louder. >> reporter: and for the lgbt community, there's been plenty to applaud, celebrate, and cry about. here in the u.s., there has been progress. 17 states and the district of columbia recognize full marriage equality with many more states considering. and groups like glaad have helped give gay characters on tv and in film a modern voice. but there had been setbacks. at home. and abroad. >> the russian parliament has voted almost unanimously to pass a law to punish the promotion of homosexuality. >> -- passed a law making some homosexual acts punishable by life in prison. >> india's supreme court overturned a lower court's ruling that had decriminalized gay sex. >> reporter: when the story about a russian ninth grader

accused of breaking that country's new anti-gay propaganda law hit the news, glaad went on the offensive. >> if we get those personal stories out, the stories live forever. the olympics live for two weeks. that's what our olympics initiative is. it's making sure it's not just the policy conversation that's happening, but it's that the real people who are being harmed and affected by the laws and the rules in russia are being told. >> reporter: and while glaad has been successful in bringing attention to lgbt issues worldwide, ellis understands her work remains an uphill climb. >> every day i wake up and i think, what am i protecting today? what am i advocating for? it's very personal for me, and that's what glaad is. glaad is an organization about cultural change, so it is a very personal organization. and i don't think that you can separate the two, because i am -- i'm representing my children now. i'm representing my family, as much as i'm representing the base of our lgbt contingency.

>> sarah kate ellis, such a strong and compelling presence, i expect to see great things from her from over at glaad. up next, what's driving the markets today? kelly evans will join me with "business before the bell." that and much more right here on "morning joe." ♪

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welcome back. "business before the bell" cnbc's one and only kelly evans. weekly jobless numbers released moments ago. how are they looking, kelly? >> good morning. they're looking pretty good. the fact is they dropped a little over the week and people are watching the series pretty closely, because it's been hard to figure out what's going on in the economy because of weather. you look at the weekly claims for unemployment benefits. they're still relatively low. that suggests there hasn't been a material turn for the worse in the labor market or the economy over the last couple of quarters.

now, i wish i could say the same for walmart shares. the nation's biggest retailer just this morning, just moments ago, reporting earnings. now, they had already warned the holiday season wasn't a great period for them. it turns out the sales for the quarter still dropping. they talked about the guidance, the numbers they'll put up for 2014. they were below expectations and expectations were already low. and an analyst said this week, as walmart focuses on smaller stores in the u.s., they should buy family dollar. some pressure probably on walmart shares and perhaps retail more broadly today. >> all right, kelly, the big m&a news, facebook buying whatsapp, $16 billion. a lot of eyebrows. how is the street looking at that? >> facebook shares are down about 2%. again, i think there are a lot of people trying to figure out whether this is one of those indicative moments where, can you believe one of the biggest tech deals of all time for this messaging service, it's unclear how they monetize, or will they look back and say, you know what, here's a platform with

almost 500 million users already, with 72% of them actively daily and almost no other kind of messaging service or social media platform has that kind of engagement. so the real tricky or interesting question becomes, what do they do with whatsapp? they've paid a ton of money for it. do they try to monetize it agress everly, and if so, what does that look like, and does it drive away the users, because the guys who found this are clear about what they want. they don't want clutter, games or gym ibimmicks. >> well, the guys that created can have $16 billion, and they don't get to say -- you don't get the money and get it to be what you want anymore. kelly evans, thank you. >> thank you, guys. coming up, ever hear of a cancelator? probably not. we'll explain next on the global juggernaut known as "morning joe." spokesperson: we decided to settle this. a steel cage death match of midsize sedans. the volkswagen passat against all comers.

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you heard about a company that's selling a new action figure based on nsa leaker edward snowden. it's not that fun. i mean, the only thing it does is tattle on your g.i. joes. [ laughter ] snowden's not the only unlikely person to have a doll modelled after him. have you guys seen the new bob costas action figure? look at this. fantastic. [ laughter and applause ] it's just so great! >> joining us now with a first look at the latest issue of

"time" magazine, nancy gibbs, this week's issue looks at the airline industry and who really decides which flights get cancelled. so, nancy, i'm going to say, who decides which flights get cancelled? >> sometimes you just want to go backstage, and this has been the worst winter for air travel ever. there have been 80,000 flights cancelled already. yes, we know it's partly because the weather has been so bad. but there are a lot of other factors that go into it, and we wanted to understand what that is. so it turns out it's something called the cancelator. we sent a reporter down to american airlines operations center, and they called their program, every airline has this, it's the program that puts in all of the different ingredients of which there are many, beyond just the weather, that determine which flights get cancelled and which don't. so we wanted to see the cancelator in action, so that we could understand as flyers for, for all of us that have been stranded in an airport. getting the 3:00 a.m. call in your hotel, oh, we're sorry, your flight isn't taking off.

>> if you're lucky. >> right. so what are the factors, the main ingredients that go into the cans later? >> you obviously have weather conditions and the delays at airports, and not even whether the plane can take off but whether the flight crews, the ground crews, the tsa agent disget to the airport. but then, you have things like new faa rules about how many hours pilots can fly without a rest, which went into effect this year, which one reason why you've a record number of cancellations. you have new fines that can be levied on airlines that keep passengers stuck on the tarmac for more than three hours. that fine can go up to $27,500 per passenger if they're stuck on the tarmac. >> wow. >> which really gives the airline an incentive to cancel rather than -- if they think everything is bolloxed up, that they think the flight won't take off on time. what fares, if it has full-paying business fares, it's much more likely to go, than a bunch of discount fliers, and if

how many terminators, if they're flying to a final destination as opposed to connection, that flight will be easier to cancel. if you have a bunch of people that miss their connection, then it's more likely to take off. >> how about the barnicle factor, when he's on a flight, zero chance of it being cancelled? >> the magic touch. >> i have a person at la guardia. >> yeah, he's got a guy. >> what has happened to me several times is the new flight crew rules, is you move out onto the runway, it's bad weather, they can't take off right away. and then you're there for a specific period of time, and they announce, we've got to return to the terminal, because the flight crew has to get off the plane. >> right. >> why don't they ever tell you the truth about why a flight's been cancelled? this makes me crazy. they come up with some bogus lie about mechanical problems, and you see the crew leaving, like they obviously can't do any more overtime? >> it's partly because -- and this is what you learn by really digging into this, it's partly because the truth is so

complicated. there isn't one reason. it's an algorithm that's factored in some elements, it would take them an hour and a half -- >> it sounds like the overriding elms is mainly economics, if they're going to incur bigger costs for cancelling, so three, four will be more likely international, less likely if you put people up, a bigger cost, so money seems -- >> -- varying an international crew so the crew doesn't get there -- the flight they'll be the crew on can't take off. even that is factored into the equation. >> frequent flyer, generally from washington, d.c. >> i want to know what this mysterious paperwork is, every time we're sitting on the plane, 15, 20, 40 minutes, we're still waiting on the paperwork. what did you guys find out about that? >> but the paperwork, that has always been there, about making sure that, you know, that the route is clear and hasn't been shifted, and i think that's normal. the maintenance issues, you have to make sure it's another

economic factor that your plane isn't going to get stranded at an airport where they can't do the required maintenance on schedule, so then that plane is -- >> one other thing i'm looking for, it's not in here, teeterboro, they've gone from cashews to pecans, and -- >> teeterboro is for private jets, just ridiculous. donny deutsch, ridiculous. the new issue of "time" is "airport confidential." nancy gibbs, thanks, as always. up next, what, if anything, did we learn today? honestly? i wanted a smartphone that shoots great video. so i got the new nokia lumia icon. it's got 1080p video, three times zoom, and a twenty-megapixel sensor. it's got the brightest display, so i can see what i'm shooting -- even outdoors, and 4 mics that capture incredible sound. plus, it has apps like vine -- and free cloud storage. my new lumia icon is so great, even our wipeouts look amazing. ♪ honestly, i want to see you be brave ♪ ♪

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what future, if any, do you see for your own work, because you know your predecessor was eaten alive after the olympics. >> eat me alive! eat me, and i won't be here anymore. >> we have the world championship coming up! >> well, a different coach, because i just -- they've eaten me! >> but you're staying, aren't you? >> yeah -- thank you. thank you. >> thank you very much. thank you. i think i might have gotten a little spanish in my russian accent. >> yeah. shakespeare in the park. >> you had a mexican thing going on. >> yeah, something. i'm a little muddled with my

accent. that was a fun rendition. a dramatic reading. >> mortifying. >> you were really good. >> mortifying. what did you learn today, thomas, other than anything having to do with that? >> i learned you are now on whatsapp, and i give you 24 hours until you're on snapchat. >> i will not be on snapchat, but i am connected. >> yeah, he is connected. he's surprised all of the people on whatsapp now that he's on it. >> i saw kiev, brian williams doing the rap thing, jimmy fallon. jimmy fallon on a roll. >> fantastic stuff. >> you, don't even -- don't even go there. >> it's like broadway. >> there is a silent consensus here that you would be able to name angela lansbury as the person -- >> i bet you once dated her. >> the weirdest thing in the world that -- our producer said, who's hosted the -- nobody will get this, who's hosted it more than anybody, and for some reason, i said angela lansbury, and i have no knowledge of that.

>> like a tourette's syndrome -- >> or a past life -- >> yeah, we're going to get you on "jeopardy." >> get you some meds. >> what do you do, you and angela lansbury hook up in the past? >> i don't kiss and tell. i don't kiss and tell. >> yeah, yeah. >> let's leave it at that. >> wow. >> that was mortifying, angela lansbury. >> for you. >> what's coming up next? >> next is the best show that you're going to see on cable tv any morning, apart from what we do here on "morning joe." chuck todd has more great guests and more terrific stuff on that stuff -- politics and everything like that. but chuck todd right now. noets ♪ death and chaos in a former soviet state. president obama and other leaders call for stability in ukraine. but russia's