afghanistan where our troops are reacting to the news about their fate in the country. and on the two-year anniversary of trayvon martin's death, we'll bring you into the community at the heart of his story. plus, we have your responses to our call to action and a potential solution. but first, it's time for our headlines. >> well, all of us, are paying today for the sins of the past. >> half of new jersey residents believe chris christie was involved in the bridge gate scandal. >> this has truly been an era of fiscal restraint. >> the other half know how to keep their fricking mouth shut. >> the u.s. military is now prepping for a full withdrawal. >> now may be the best time for the u.s. to pick up and get out. >> i don't consider it in any way a defeat. it hurts today like it did 729 days ago. >> today marks two years ago since his 17-year-old son was shot and killed in sanford,

florida. millions are waking up to absolutely freezing temperatures again. >> i've never, ever seen the roads this bad. kentucky is clinton country. >> allison's opponent has been a little short of brilliant. you said if she runs for president, you will not run. >> no, i haven't. >> oh, tell me what you say. >> whether she runs or not will not affect my decision. late this morning new jersey governor chris christie appeared at a town hall, only the second of his second term, and only the second since his office landed in a scandal that managed to overshadow christie's agenda. in today he compared his career to a golf game. >> i can't run for governor again. i could tell you something, that's really good news for you. that's really good news for you.

and here's why. i don't have to worry about politics anymore, everybody. this is it. i'm on the back nine. and when you're on the back nine and you don't have to worry about playing another front nine, your only obligation is to tell people the truth. >> not worried about politics anymore, but new numbers released today reflect the divisive place christie has come to occupy in national politics. and within his own party, a new cbs/new york times poll finds 41% of republicans do not want the governor to run for president in 2016. and on the other side of the coin, 31% aren't ready to see him give up on the oval office aspirations. i want to bring in one of the reporters on the front line of this issue, jersey guru steve cornacki who is on "up." are there any terms for governor

christie's popularity? >> when i watch the town halls, this is chris christie and what made him a popular governor to begin with. when he starts saying, i'm on the back nine and through with politics, he's still the chairman of the republican governors association. it's an extremely political job, so he's certainly not done with politics in that sense. i don't think, i don't give the sense that he's giving up and the people have given up on the idea of him running for president in 2016, not that they actively want to be talking about that right now and they want to try to get through all the turmoil he's going through in new jersey right now. so the hope, by ess, from the christie standpoint is they are able to spend the next, i don't know, six months and the rest of the year, whatever it takes, to sort of get through the sort of dual scandals in new jersey, somehow emerge from this that his basic story, that he had no prior knowledge, no knowledge during the shutdown of the lanes, that that stands up. the federal investigation

looking into this, and that he can kind of step away from that and maybe at the end of that year he can take a step back to the national stage. that's probably where their heads are right now. getting him back into settings like this is part of that, because this is stylistically chris christie reading from a teleprompter, eh, but chris christie in the ring, that's him at his best. >> that's his strength area. tomorrow he's going to boston for an event with mitt romney, is that a wise link for romney? as you mentioned in his role with the governors association, he has had success as a fund-raiser. what do you think. >> now there's a guy who doesn't have to worry about politics anymore, truly. he does not have to carry -- mitt -- you put him in the ducaucus ring. it's interesting to watch how his words are interpreted right now. because for the first three

years as his time of governor, the first four years of governor as a national political figure, he got the benefit of the doubt. there were a lot of times he said things that weren't exactly true where he would shade the truth or he would -- he would say things blatantly untrue in several cases, but the public liked his style and thought he was a blunt no-nonsense guy and took it in that spirit. so they didn't want to see the corrections and say, they didn't really care. the big picture, this guy is giving it to us straight. now he's in the situation where everything he says is getting washed so closely and carefully, wait, is that entirely consistent with what he said a week ago and his message? it's a situation where he could technically be more truthful now and get less credit for it than in the first four years. he's been scrutinized in a different way. he has substantive ways to push those things back home. >> well, you look at his agenda,

probably the most significant thing he did in his speeches is took the idea of the tax cut off the table. he has been running a 10% tax cut across the board to republicans nationally given the budget realities of new jersey, given the pension plan he putly has not produced the savings they thought it would. he took that off the table so it makes it a little more feasible to get some of these priorities through. he also had this thing where they were anticipating only in new jersey or nevada, anticipating online revenues that have not come through. so the revenue side has not -- >> that's a bread patch, that's what passes as a bread patch. thank you for your take, appreciate you joining me. watch more with steve and the "up" team starting at 8:00 here on msnbc. of course, christie has, as we just discussed, governing throughout bridge gate and his platform continues to be more about the substantive issues than the bridge if you ask him, so what are the key issues

underlying the scandal that he wants to push? first of all, education. he's calling for $13 billion more for schools. he's pushed merit pay for teachers, and he's asked for a study of longer school days and whether they are effective. second, immigration. he signed a state version of the dream act in the last year writing tuition assistance for the children of illegal immigrants. and third, he's big on pension reform. he enacted sweeping changes to new jersey's pension program during his first term, including raising the retirement age. i'm going to bring in to discuss the issues, bonnie watson coleman, a democrat serving on the state committee that's actually investigating christie. representative coleman, first, christine todd whitman was on our air this morning saying there are no, quote, smoking guns that link the governor to any wrongdoing. we just heard from steve cornacki maybe there's a prospect he can escape this, if that sticks, what do you have to say about this investigation that you can disclose?

>> the investigation is ongoing, it is comprehensive, we unturn something and something else comes up. it involves those closest to him, not just close to him because he was the governor of the state of new jersey, but close to him from a personal relationship, close to him when he was u.s. attorney. so people at very high levels that are being discussed and are being -- the information is being subpoenaed, so i don't think that we're anywhere near saying that the governor isn't involved or is involved. we know he knew something, we don't know when he knew it, but we know that his administration and his cronies at all levels to the very highest level are actively engaged in this bridgegate. and we'll get to the bottom of the issue and we will. >> christie prior to that had a reputation as a man who got things done and a reputation of crossing the aisle, to the extent. you obviously are in the thick of it in state politics, what are your experiences of him at a legislative level?

>> that's a most transactional political figure that i've encountered in a long time. he's also been push/pull in bullying. so we did pension reform, as he said it. i thought it was bad timing because i thought they were trying to right-side up the economy on the backs of working-class families and middle-class families who didn't turn this economy upside-down in the first place. so now we are at a point where we need to make this pension payment, and that's right, and we're going to do it. i believe that he has been battling his issues and reduced funding for women's issues. he may very well have this reputation for putting the most money in education, but he was forced to do it. he took money out of public education and the court forced him to put it back in. he's creating all kinds of alternatives and subdiffuges, that's not what the constitution

expects of the government. they expect a thorough, public education. that's what we owe our children, so the governor, you know, he tried to speak to some things that were very popular and would be very popular from the citizens' perspective, but the devil is in the detail. so you can talk about the immigration issue and student tuition. >> you're saying he's focusing on these things in a sort of transactional effort for bipartisan support. >> i'm saying that we need -- yeah, we need to pay attention to the detail. as with regard to the immigration issue, he supported students who lived in new jersey paying in-state tuition, but wouldn't go the next depth and say, but then they should be allowed to qualify for help. persistence. >> thank you so much. >> so there's always something else there. thank you for having me. >> i appreciate what you're working on with a lot of these issues. and you highlighted some interesting differences within the state. thank you for being on the show, bonnie watson coleman. >> just pay attention to the

detail. thank you. we did reach out to several republican who is have defended christie and asked them to be on the show today, but for various reasons they were not able to join us. in the meantime, from jersey to kabul, we are following news from afghanistan. we have new remarks today from the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff on the new diminishing role that the president has outlined for troops in afghanistan. comments from general martin dempsey remain in an exclusive interview with nbc news pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. take a listen. >> we have reached a point where we have to plan for other options, to include a complete withdrawal by the end of 2014, but it is not an indication that we are not continued to be committed to a mission beyond' 14, because we very much believe the afghans need our help. >> all right. jim joins me this hour from kabul, afghanistan. thank you for taking time to be on the show. >> reporter: you bet, ronan.

>> jim, what is the general saying here? >> reporter: well, it almost sounds like on one hand they underhanded and it really is. only one day after president obama ordered the military to come up with plans to withdraw all american forces out of afghanistan by the end of 2014, today general dempsey made a strong case that they should stay. for the first time, he revealed what a post-2014 mission for u.s. forces would look like. he insisted it would not put american men and women directly into harm's way. instead of going out on training missions into combat with afghan forces, those u.s. trainers would instead deal only with upper echelon afghan forces. two or three-star generals, so they wouldn't be facing the guns of the enemy there in afghanistan. he also warned that without u.s. counter terrorism forces in afghanistan, al qaeda is surely

going to at least attempt to create another safehaven there in afghanistan. and in one unique circumstance, he also argued that this ongoing debate and foot-dragging by hamid karzai, has created in not signing that agreement, has created such uncertainty that now many afghans, particularly in southern afghanistan, are now aligning themselves with the taliban because they are not sure how this is going to turn out. you know, dempsey does agree with a decision to come up with plans to withdraw by 2014, but, you know, he's convinced that there will be a security agreement signed by that time. so while it sounds like he's at odds with the president, he's in agreement to some large extent. >> well, you talk about the taliban rebuilding a stronghold, obviously we have seen 80-plus deaths amongst the afghan soldiers since the beginning of the year.

thank you for the update. nbc's jim miklaszewski from afghanistan. we'll keep you updated on that story. in the meantime, that leads us to today's battle of the day. do you think the u.s. should lead any troops in afghanistan after 2014? weigh in by choosing one of two hash tags, rfdstay or rfdleave. we'll update and share you responses throughout the show. and in case you missed it, nbc's andrea mitchell did a remarkable exclusive sit-down interview with secretary of state, john kerry, and made the news on everything from the crisis in the ukraine to north korea. take a listen. what we're hoping is that russia will not see this as a sort of continuation of the cold war. we don't see it that way. we do not believe this should be an east/west russia/united states, this is not "rocky iv," believe me. >> why isn't this genocide?

>> well, andrea, that gets into all kinds of definitions. what it is is wholesale killing of your own people. they have conducted executions using .122-millimeter aircraft guns to obliterate people and force people to watch these kinds of executions. this is an evil, evil place. and it requires enormous focus by the world in order to hold it accountable. >> that was nbc's andrea mitchell with secretary kerry doing what andrea does best. we'll be watching for reactions from that wide-ranging interview all day. catch andrea's show at 12:00 p.m. eastern time here on msnbc. i am at 1:00. we make a great time. next up on "ronan farrow daily," a third of our country is plunging into a dangerous arctic freeze, but don't be so fast to blame the so-called polar vortex. we have a big explainer that you won't want to miss.

plus, on the two-year anniversary of trayvon martin's death, find out how the historic african-american community that started the trayvon movement has been changed by the tragedy. and this powerful new video some say shocking new video is going viral and getting a strong reaction. find out whether it's making our heroes or our zeros a little later on. stay with us. sh e's awesome. when i go in there, i want to be awesome too. so i've totally gone pro with crest pro-health. [ male announcer ] go pro with crest pro-health. [ tisola ] the first time i tried crest pro-health, it felt different, i mean it felt clean. [ male announcer ] crest pro-health protects all these areas dentists check most. she's going to do backflips when she sees this. [ male announcer ] 4 out of 5 dentists didn't spot the difference between a professional clean and a pro-health clean. i am extremely impressed. i guess that's what happens when you go pro. [ male announcer ] go pro with crest pro-health. excuse me, did you say you want to see my teeth? oh, i'm sorry. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's,

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pollsters and weather men. >> ah, come on, that was chris christie just moments ago on weather men. welcome back to "ronan farrow daily." we have ugly conditions pummeling much of the country today. out in drought-ravaged california, the bay area is prepping for sandbags for heavy rain later today. philadelphia is having its third snowiest winter on record. and check out this nasa image where you can only see two of the five great lakes. the others are too ice covered. joining me to make sense of this is nbc news meteorologist bill karins. >> i can't believe christie is throwing me under the bus. >> bill, how does that make you feel? your career is being denigrated. >> usually as a baseball player they are right three out of four times, but that's okay. >> explain to us right now this term in headlines everywhere,

polar vortex. >> there's like 17 million references if you go to google on this. >> people in the room are not happy about this. >> the polar vortex started in january. then we had the big cold outbreak and somehow it just caught on. and a lot of meteorologists, even myself, i don't remember studying it in college and i had to go back to study this. we were telling everybody the wrong thing. nobody has ever experienced this. let's kind of explain this. >> tell us what we're doing wrong here. give us some science. >> everyone knows it is freezing, but today's location of polar vortex is near the north pole. nothing to do with what we're dealing with down here. and the big key to the polar vortex, the technical meeting is it happens between 20,000 and 40,000 feet. that's where the jets fly, that's the top of mount mckinley in alaska. no one is up here. so the polar vortex is not

affecting anyone. now, kit send cold air in different directions. think of a traffic cop. it does not affect the surface, though. just to give you an example, this shows you the colors of where all the cold is right now, typical, siberia through the north pole, canada and down here to the u.s., it is not under even the polar vortex. what happens -- this is the surface. >> in other words, this is just bad reporting that we are saying polar vortex all the time. >> it is horrible because so many people now believe it. >> if it is not a polar vortex, what is it? >> it's an extreme jet stream pattern. going into climb change, people think this is going to happen more and more with this huge ridge of what we call in the west, which is much of canada way warmer and this huge dip over the east. this is a-typical. once every 30 years we get something like this. these are tex dreams we are dealing with, not so much something called a polar vortex. >> how does this fit into the climate change discussion? >> well, these singular events

don't mean anything to climate change. if we start adding these up and have more and more every year, more of these extreme events, that's what the climateologists are saying will happen more with a warming planet. more extreme events and more extreme jet stream events. because it is extremely warm doesn't mean it is climate change. >> it is not a pattern yet, but it could be part of a larger pattern. >> just to make you happy, we have another snowstorm coming monday, tuesday and wednesday. >> nbc news meteorologist bill karins. thank you for clarifying that misnomer. and two years to the day after the death of trayvon martin, we'll take you into the neighborhood where the first protests broke out and ignited a national call to action. how has the tragedy impacted this community since? stay with us to find out. here's a word you should keep in mind "unbiased". some brokerage firms are but way too many aren't. why? because selling their funds makes them more money. which makes you wonder.

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it hurts today like it did 729 days ago. and it's sad to say that, you know, i feel as though this country actually valued guns more than they do our children's lives. and, you know, that's sad. >> welcome back. it's been two years to the day since trayvon martin was shot and killed in sanford, florida, by george zimmerman, who was later acquitted of the crime. like so many places in the united states, the story of sanford is a tale of two words, one black and one white. the first protests against the martin killing occurred in sanford's historically community of goldsboro. the people of that community were no strangers to racial tension when the martin controversy exploded. goldsboro is one of the oldest african-american communities in the u.s., and sanford was founded by henry shelton sanford who served in the congo and once argued that america would be

better off if its african-american population returned to africa. remember, this is the part of the show where we introduce you to the people affected by the news. today, the people of goldsboro bring us their stories in their own words. >> it is just like any other town in small town usa. we had colored water fountains, we had white water fountains, you had colored bathrooms, you had white bathrooms. when i went to college, i had to sit in the back of the bus. that part has changed. the jim crow part of sanford is gone, but you still got to deal with -- with this. >> ain't it ever going to change.

>> you see how ragty this neighborhood is, the prettiest thing on the street is the police station. poverty, the despair, all that is right here in goldsboro community. we don't have no interest, no jobs. if you get a job, you have to go outside of this area right here. they got nothing for nobody around here. >> i'm not saying he's an innocent bystander, but he's gone. i have a little girl, she's about to be 10, and i have my son that just turned 1, so i don't want to be -- i want to be here, you know what i'm saying? i sit here in my yard, i used to hang out at the store, but when the violence started, that was my cue to go. it was time to leave. >> definitely prison, because either you join what's going on in the neighborhood, the negativity, or you become a victim of it. you know, you can be the wolf or you can be the sheep, so to

speak. that's the mentality they got around here. they ain't got nothing to grow up to. the same thing we are going through now is going to get worse as time goes on the we don't all come together and use what we have, the resources we do have to make a difference. >> forgive and forget. sure, we have forgiven. there's nothing to say that we have not forgiven. anything that happened in sanford, but that we don't have to forget because it's part of our history. and we can pass our history on to our children. you don't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been. >> our thanks to tramon lee and wayne lawrence for their work on that story. you can watch a longer version by logging on to our website, msnbc.com. and for something very

different, tomorrow on "ronan farrow daily" we are taking a look at the people affected by the controversy raging around young miley cyrus and the consequences are far more serious than twerking. does the pop sensation exploit little people? one who performed in that notorious vma performance last year offers a harrowing answer. we have a firsthand account from her and a take from miss cyrus herself. here's a sneak peek. >> they are making us all sexual and beautiful. if you met brit knee, who is one of our amazing little people with us, she's like, we all were about lifting her up and making her feel so sexy all the time. >> we'll have the whole conversation on tomorrow's show. but up next today, the clock is ticking for arizona's governor to decide on the state's controversial anti-gay bill. so why is she waiting to announce her decision? our daily panel weighs in. stay with us.

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we are back now with our spectacular daily panel, and we're going to follow the money with them. from surprising business booms of weed to business leaders speaking out on arizona's bill allowing discrimination, joining us now, heidi moore, u.s. finance and economics editor at "the guardian," and tony decouple, author of the book "the last pirate." it comes out on april 1st. thank you for joining me. big fan of both of your works. so let's start with you, tony, your father actually was a drug dealer, that's not meant to be derogatory, that's correct, right? >> he was a drug dealer for almost 20 years. my family did nothing but sold marijuana, the old kind, nothing but those brought in by boats.

nothing like today. >> what do you see when you see this boom of the legitimate economy, wish it happened earlier, perhaps? >> do i wish it happened earlier? no, because i wouldn't have been able to go to school. >> let's go to you, heidi, given your economic background, we are getting the initial numbers from colorado's weed industry and are seeing, for instance, in one county, at least a million dollars of profits in just a month. that's huge. i believe that county just has two weed shops in it. so people are really making hay off this. how significant is this to u.s. economic prospects? >> i think it will be great, actually. as long as history has existed in the united states, we have really drawn a lot of money from these taxes, liquor, gambling, weed fits into that and is far more lucrative. in the colorado county, they were joking around that they needed more money for a courthouse. and the finance controller said we should sell more weed. >> it seems to be working so far. what do you think of the statement out of colorado from officials there that we need to

exercise caution as we roll out this in other states, heidi, do you think that comes from a particular place of fear or is there something going on in colorado specifically that's triggering that? >> well, no, i think it's fair but justified. you can't just call an end to the drug war after decades and expect everyone to fall into line. it's really awkward for a lot of people. the irs, for instance, hasn't come around. a lot of businesses still don't trust it. and so it is going to take time for people to get used to money coming in from selling drugs legally. >> sure. and there's a certain enforcement cost with everyone being high on the time. that's a reality, not just a joke. >> that's something to point out. the tax bonanza looks great but is kind of like twitter's revenue, we don't know the costs, they may exceed the benefits. we don't know what the costs are and won't until the end of the year. >> taking a turn to other state issues, arizona, we are still seeing a waiting game with governor jan brewer and whether she'll sign the bill that discriminates against gays on the basis of religious freedom, tony, do you think there's a

reason she's waiting? there's been a huge campaign about this. we've seen actually just based on reporting in this show, a lot of businesses respond, in particular. >> i think she's waiting for the same reason lebron james tells you what team he's playing for. it creates a moment for her. i think she knows what she wants to do right now. >> that's interesting. >> i think it's a preposterous law. if you're going to allow businesses to deny service to people who are committing a sin according to the bible, then deny service to all humanity. just open a shop with the door closed with a sign that says clean up your act, humanity. >> heidi, how does the business push on this? >> it's the deciding factor. a number of companies have come out against this particularly apple petsmart -- >> the ceo announced that boycott, potentially. >> exactly. those companies can bring a lot of business to arizona, which it desperately needs. apple has been talking about building a plant in arizona, you can't kick that out. and a lot of the companies on corporate america have been supportive of gay rights.

they wrote to the supreme court to support gay rights. these are not just a moral issue, so if arizona is going to come out against them or seem to, it's really going to compromise -- >> it's demographic, not always, but in many parts of the country, disposable income, it's a significant source of business. so taking a term to another kind of -- shall we say quantity that may not make a big profit, but i certainly am entertained by, george w. bush's art is getting displayed in a gallery exhibit at his presidential library in april. why do you think the focus on dogs in his art? tony? >> well, i'm not a psychologist, i'm not sure, but we underestimated the depth of this man. but we got the confidence just right, because what kind of amateur artist holds an entire exhibit for their work? >> it's very sweet. the fact that he started with dogs. also some nude shots, a shower shot, bath shot. >> those haunt me the most, the bath shots. >> they do stay with me when i try to go to sleep. i actually want to get one of these. i'm looking at the images now,

it would be a controversial piece in the living room, i think. >> i hope he auctions them off and some charity will make a lot of money. >> heidi, your kind of art? >> definitely. the former president actually said there's a rembrandt trapped in his body. so these aren't just dogs, ronan, these are rerppresentatis of his psyche. it is so strange to see a former president do this, so corky. >> meanwhile, bush is doing something rather different, but it is very beguiling. do you think this is something that be burnish his legacy and make him relatable? >> absolutely. that was what many people hated him for the first time. he seemed like the guy to go get a beer with and he would invade a lot of countries. that turned off a lot of progressives, but this humanizes him in a way that we all have a hobby that we fail a little bit at. >> painting myself nude, not all of us, but it's a start. >> he seemed so oblivious.

he call this is a leader's personal journey. >> cut him some slack. i like him for it. all right. well, i expect to visit your place some time and see a lot of george w. bush nude art. thank you, tony dekopple, heidi moore. and we'll check back on the battle of the day before we break. we asked, do you think the u.s. should lead any troops in afghanistan after 2014? here are the results so far, 12% have picked #rfdstay. 88%, #rfdleave. that's surprising because the question was phrased, should we leave any of them, not just a big force, and yet people want out. shawn chose rfd stay and tweeted, quote, if we withdraw entirely our risk is too high that the 12-year effort is wasted. withdraw but do not abandon. nickkey shared this, if we leave today, tomorrow or in 40 years, it's not going to make a permanent difference. keep them coming. all right, up next, a

provocative new video. some say it is causing viewers to gasp. why it is making our heroes and zeros, next. stay with us. it's time for the account your business" entrepreneur of the week. christina wilson had a bunch of part-time friends who needed part-time work. and she had a sense parents were in the market for creative babysitters, so she started sitter studio and those artists are taking care of kids across the city. for more, watch "your business" at 7:30 on sunday on msnbc. one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions.

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welcome back. it is time now for today's heroes and zeros. first up, an organization that's backing a hugely important cause and doing it with a fearless, powerful video that's making waves. save the children u.k. is creating a public service announcement to raise awareness of the stunning fact that over 1 million, that's 1 million, baby byes worldwide die within the first 24 hours of their lives. half of those deaths are totally preventable if a trained health professional is present.

enter the midwife. the entire video may be a bit intense for tv, but this portion tells the story. a liberian mother has just given birt to away not breathing, but then the midwife pats the baby on the back and its cries tell us its alive. without the midwife, this story would have likely had a tragic ending. that's whied aweek made this the ad of the day and we are making it our hero, save the children u.k. you can see the entire psa on their youtube channel, and i'll be tweeting out the link after the show. next, on a different front, we turn to a familiar face. just yesterday the world was introduced to these images of the astonishingly on lant 38opp

home. other highlights include the house owned brand liquor with a face on the label of the owner, get ready, a stuffed cat as well. this decorator, of course, is the recently toppled ukrainian president viktor yanukovych. and for a list of offenses that starts with the tasteful decor and we understand more serious crimes, such as mass murder, he is our zero. our zero of the day and he is hard to top right now. up next, our call to action this week. you're going to want to stay tuned. we have been following the student debt crisis. we asked you how much you owe, remember, and the feedback has been intense. here's john who says he owes $63,000 in student loans. we've got more on this and a potential solution up next. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will yo ameriprise asked people uhhh.

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every week here on the show we enlist you in reporting out one story to call to action. this week we asked you to put a face and some numbers to more than a trillion dollars of student debt that is putting people's lives on hold and slowing america's economic recovery. hundreds of you have been submitting pictures showing us your name and either how much you owe or when you'll have your loan paid off. dixon sent us this picture. she won't pay off her student loans until 2044 and that is only, quote, providing there are no unforeseen expenses between now and then. long time to go eating raman. karen is a registered nurse and a full-time student who owes over 53,000. she writes, quote, it shouldn't cost this much to help others for a living. and jason says he owes 172,000 or $704 per month for 28 more years. he adds, i can't! keep tweeting your stories to

us @ronandaily. where is the debt the worst? we're looking at a lot of potential areas. in minnesota and pennsylvania, 70% of students have debt and delaware has the actual highest average debt per student at over $33,000. remember, throughout the week we'll be bringing you not just different facets of this problem but also different potential solutions to the challenges you're telling us about. so on that note, joining us today from washington is alexis goldstein. she's a former wall street worker turned wall street occupier who is now an activist with strike debt. one of the largest groups focused on this problem. thank you for joining us. >> ronan, thank you for having me. >> alexis, a pilot program that is a national piece of legislation would allow students at state colleges to avoid state tuition by allowing a smaller percentage of future income, do

you think that will help? >> you're referencing the pay it forward program passed unanimously in the oregon state and house last year. it's saying let's design a pie lot program that says if you go to a two year or four year college in oregon you pay no tuition up front. after you graduate you pay 1.5% for 20 years or 3% for 20 years. those are the broad strokes of the program. this is organized by a pilot program but it's certainly a step in the right direction. i would like them to go forward. i would like the administration to focus on making public higher ed totally free but this is certainly a step. >> president obama talked about student debt in this year's state of the unnft uof the unio. he proposed caps. how effective do you think that cap is? >> that's in place. it goes into place this year for people that are paying -- getting loans now. they basically only pay up to 10% of their income on student

loans. it's certainly, begin, a step in the right direction. this is a by-product of the 2010 law. this does not affect the private student debt market. this is only for federal loans. it also allows you to have your loans forgiven after 20 years if you make timely payments. that's another issue with this. a lot of times like sally mae and other organizations may miss payments you've made. they're setting aside $70 million, sally mae, because they're being investigated for wrongly processing payments. step in the right direction, but we need to go further. >> all right. we'll be coming back throughout the rest of the week for other potential solutions and some expert takes on whether they'll work. thank you for joining us, alexis. appreciate your work. >> thanks for having me. please keep the responses coming. you can tweet them t to @ronandaily or send them to ronan farrow@msnbc.com.

we asked should the u.s. leave any troops in afghanistan? the winner is rfd leave. that's an extreme skew. no one wants any presence in afghanistan in this audience. all right. thank you so much for the empassioned responses. that wraps up things for this edition of ronan farrow daily. you can catch me right here on msnbc. now it's one of my favorite times of the day. the reid report. what do you have coming up? >> that is a definitive response if i ever heard one. next on "the reid report." will she or won't she? we'll take a look at the origins of the law and explain why it's already legal to discriminate in the state. and two years after the shooting death of trayvon martin, we examine the state of stand your ground laws and talk with benjamin kronk, the lawyer for martin's family.

and minimum wage. will the strategy pay off. democratic leaders are expected to speak at the top of the hour. "the reid report" starts in three minutes. wow! isn't it beautiful? your sweet peppers aren't next to your hot peppers. [ gasps ] [ sarah ] that's my tide. what's yours? dominique wilkins, are taking charge of their type 2 diabetes with non-insulin victoza. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar, but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza. he said victoza works differently than pills, and comes in a pen. and the needle is thin.

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if you have signs of pancreatitis, such as severe pain that will not go away in your abdomen or from your abdomen to your back, with or without vomiting. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you have any medical conditions. taking victoza with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. the most common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, and headache. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. if your pill isn't giving you the control you need, ask your doctor about non-insulin victoza. it's covered by most health plans. some brokerage firms are but way too many aren't. why? because selling their funds makes them more money. which makes you wonder. isn't that a conflict? search "proprietary mutual funds". yikes!! then go to e*trade. we've got over 8,000 mutual funds and not one of them has our name on it. we're in the business of finding the right investments for you. e*trade. less for us, more for you. the fund's prospectus contains its investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other important information and should be read and considered carefully before investing.

for a current prospectus visit www.etrade.com/mutualfunds. hi. i'm joy reid and welcome to "the reid report." we're keeping an eye on capitol hill where they're trying to force a vote on hiking the federal minimum wage. we'll have more on that in a minute. later, two years ago today trayvon martin was shot and killed. we'll talk about the impact his death has had on race and gun laws in america. but we start in arizona, and the growing pressure on that state's governor day by day, hashtag by hashtag over a bill critics across the country are denouncing as discriminatory and against gays. it's a test case. governor jan brewer is keeping

her cards close to the vest as she continues to hold meetings on whether or not she will sign the bill. sb 1062 as it's known would clearly and for the first time in arizona spell out that a business may discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. interestingly, the question now about that bill seems to be less about will she or won't she sign it and more about why hasn't she decided yet? because momentum seems to be on the side of the bill's critics who are actually kind of bipartisan on this one. secretary of state john kerry told my colleague andrea mitchell that he hopes it doesn't pass. republicans, including mitt romney and the state's two senators also say it's not good for business. companies like apple, delta, american airlines and marriott are also opposed. even three of the republicans who voted for the bill, including one of its co sponsors, are backtracking in the face of the backlash. did i mention the super bowl? because that's at stake, too. you know that game that attracts 110 million viewers. th