most of the country. the storm is expected to bring more rain, snow, and ice to areas that are already enduring brutal temperatures with forecasters predicting up to a foot of snow from indianapolis to new york. let's start, though, with what's happening on the ground in california, nbc's miguel almaguer is standing by where people have been forced to evacuate. >> reporter: tamron, good morning, it has been hammering rain nearly the entire day here in southern california. we've seen rain all across the state. we've got about a year's worth of rain in this one storm alone. i want to show you the dangerous situation here, you can see these homes behind me just above them, a mountainside that was ravaged by fire not long ago, in fact, the fire is still smoldering a month later. the concern is the storm will run off the mountains and literally run into these homes behind me. because of that threat, they've evacuated about 1,000 homes in this neighborhood.

police have issued those mandatory evacuations, though not everyone here is heeding them. it's a mess out here in southern california, not just here in local neighborhoods where they are experiencing some localized flooding, but on freeways up and down the state, there have been spinouts and rollovers all morning long. it's certainly going to be a dangerous situation. we're expecting this steady rain all the way through today. this is going to be the big heavy punch of a two-storm system moving into our area. we do expect the weather to continue all afternoon. we'll be keeping an eye on the hillside behind us, as are police and first responders. tamron, back to you. >> so this storm could effect up to 100 million people from coast to coast. let me bring in bill karins. bill, it's incredible. i was out in california just last week, everyone was talking about the drought and miguel almaguer recently filed a report showing a reservoir where the water had evaporated and now you see the horrible conditions with the flash flooding.

>> we need it. we don't want the devastation to take place, but we need 15 inches of rain in california to end the drought. we're talking three to six from this storm. we're going to take a good dent out of it, but not going to eliminate it by far. we've had two big storms in california this winter, this one and the one that came through in january. the one in january was a huge snowstorm across the country, exactly what this one is going to do. cold air in place and you can see the storm there, we still have rain to deal with, really heavy rain early this morning and now it's lining up right into the los angeles area, almost over an inch there, double sacramento and san francisco have had, then we've got warnings up in montana and areas in wyoming, blizzard warnings, all of this is going to come together for a rather oppressive late winter storm right into the beginning of march. the ice portion of this may be worse than the snow. a lot of us have dealt with many snowstorms, but it shouldn't cause too much havoc, but the

ice could cause power outages, anywhere from tulsa, to the northern arkansas, that pink shaded area, southern missouri, all the way through kentucky into the appalachians. that's where we could be dealing with power outages and freezing rain. that's much worse than snow any day. how much snow with this storm? we're looking in the midwest, somewhere around six to 12 in the purple stripe. i think someone will end up with 16 to 18, but that will be isolated, not widespread. that six to 12 from about kansas city, right along i-70. if you're along i-70, that's what we call the jackpot area, sleet, st. louis, three to six, chicago, you're in the northern fringe of this. i got you right around two to four, but you could fluctuate on that. then the area that still has a foot of snow on the ground from ohio through pennsylvania, southern new england, northern jersey, you're likely going to get at least another eight to 12 inches on top of that. what's interesting about this snow, two parts, one, probably millions of kids off school on

monday. people are already losing days from their spring break because we have had so many snow days. philadelphia and new york city, by the time this storm ends, will likely be second all time for snowiest winters. that's the kinds of records we're getting. this is highly unusual. >> certainly is. sounds like today after work, people should run out and do a grocery store run. >> you can't find salt in many areas from the last couple storms. good luck this time. >> this is crazy. all right, thank you very much, bill. we'll check back with you and bring developments what's happening in los angeles. now to a dramatic development in ukraine. viktor yanukovych surfacing for the first time since his southern departure of kiev just last week. just a few hours in a news conference across the border of ukraine, yanukovych insisted he did not flee and was forced from power by, quote, a punch of

radicals. >> translator: the time has come for me to see if i plan to continue fighting for the future of ukraine against those whose fear and terror to be in control of the country. >> now another key point from this news conference, yanukovych said he would not ask russia for military assistance. he also said he's surprised by russian president vladimir putin's silence on ukraine so far, this as armed men have taken control of two airports of the russian-controlled area of ukraine and the tense situation there certainly continuing. nbc's bill neely joins us live from ukraine's kramia region. he would not offer assistance but is surprised at putin's

silence, though. >> reporter: yes, i'm afraid it looks like victor yanukovych is a man in denial. this was his first news conference since fleeing ukraine, but he said he didn't really flee, he just left because his life was in some danger. he said he'd spoken to vladimir putin on the phone, but he wasn't asking for russian assistance, he said he wasn't toppled, and he called ukraine's new government illegitimate. very much a man in denial. meanwhile, ukraine's crisis in the country he used to rule is really at its center here. behind me, there is a pro russian demonstration and this crisis is all about russia, because the question being asked in kiev, is russia intervening in some way in crimea? there were reports and video of russian troops outside one

military airport today. there were also pro russian militia troops, at least that's what we think they are, outside the main civilian airport here earlier. when asked who they were, these men simply wouldn't reply. russia has admitted that it's moving armor around this area. now in one way, that's not surprising, because it's black sea fleet is based here and has been based here for 250 years. so as russia says, it has every right to move its troops around this area, but, obviously, for those in kiev, watching this part of ukraine, it looks very much like russian troops are moving around doing exactly what they want, and that has rung alarm bells among ukraine's new leaders. >> bill neely, thank you very much. in the crimea region in crukrai. jurors found carol kennedy not guilty of driving while

impaired. let's go to nbc's katy tur following the trial. obviously, a lot of emotion, even kennedy quoting her father that got a lot of headlines before the verdict. >> she did mention her father. she said he died when she was 8 and died while he was running for president. also a lot of emotion yesterday when the prosecution referenced her book, "truth to power," in their closing arguments, that they will be speaking truth to power by convicting her. ultimately, that did not happen. between today and yesterday, the jury deliberated for all of an hour and at 10:15 came back with a verdict, not guilty of driving while ability impaired or drug driving. outside the courthouse, she thanked the jury, her family, and her lawyers. her lawyers were more angry this case came to trial, saying the prosecution even conceded she did take the sleeping pill by

accident. no one debated kennedy was driving. no one debated she sideswiped a tractor trailer and that she was on the sleeping pill or took it by accident, what the prosecution was saying, she should have pulled over when she started to feel the drowsy effects of the sleeping pill. now, her lawyers say it only came to trial because of her name. she's the ex-wife of new york governor andrew cuomo, daughter of r.f.k. her daughter was at her side the entire time. they hugged once it was all over, thanked everybody, and when asked what they are going to do next, the lawyers said they are going to celebrate. tamron? >> thank you very much, katy tur, appreciate it. coming up on "news nation," we get a never before seen look inside the clinton white house. nearly 5,000 pages of unreleased documents will be out in hours. they include confidential communications with the first lady. mark murray will join us for the first read on that. and this -- >> i didn't have a dad in the

house. and i was angry about it, even though i didn't necessarily realize it at the time. i made bad choices. i got high without always thinking about the harm that it could do. >> new reaction to those personal words from president obama. he made them yesterday at that event. folks are still talking about it. we'll get our team back on this conversation to find out how you turn those words into action. and it's been a tradition to offer discounts to people flying because of a death in their family. now one airline says it is no longer going to offer those bereavement fares. it's our "news nation" gut check. is it a heartless move? go to our twitter page to talk to us or our team. we'll be right back.

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many are reacting today to the incredibly personal remarks made by president obama as he kicked off his new "my brothers keeper" initiative, aimed at getting young men of color on the path of success. >> i explained to them that when i was their age, i was a lot like them, i didn't have a dad in the house. and i was angry about it, even though i didn't necessarily realize it at the time. i made bad choices. i told these young men my story then and i repeat it now, because i firmly believe that every child deserves the same chances that i had. >> the president outlined the program at the white house yesterday before a star-studded crowd that included philanthropi philanthropists, athletes, and business leaders. the president announced at least ten foundations have pledged

$200 million to the initiative, which seeks to adopt the best strategies and practices from inside and outside government to help young men. >> it's an issue that goes to the very heart of why i ran for president. because if america stands for anything, it stands for the idea of opportunity for everybody, the notion that no matter who you are or where you came from or the circumstances into which you are born, if you work hard, if you take responsibility, then you can make it in this country. >> joining me again to pick up our conversation about the initiative is esther, committing writer for alternate.org and dody, a professor of humanities and author of the book "6 in the morning." apologies yesterday for ruining your name. it's haunted me all day. thank you for coming back on.

professor, let me start with you. we were discussing this before hearing the president's remarks and learned a lot of what we heard from him was impromptu, his story, his testimony as some would call it in the church before those young men. what did you think of him going so personal, especially about the mistakes? >> i think that was key, and i think that's part of what can be such a big deal about this, because for a long time in american history, we've had a long line of american presidents who have more or less tried to bring down young men of color, and now we have an opportunity where a president not only who looks like them is in office, but also is taking this initiative to try to lift them up. i don't think you can underestimate the potential power that lies in that. and also speaking to his own personal, you know, past experiences, i think that that does nothing but humanize him. i think that if you have young men who are seeing him and

hearing him kind of express himself in this way about the things that he's been through in his life and where he ended up, i think that that gives a lot of young men, not just latino, african-american, i just think young men in general, i think it gives them an opportunity to say, hey, i'm dealing with these things, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily a dead end road here. >> let me play a bit more of what the president talked about when discussing some of what he referred to as bad choices. let's play that. >> i made bad choices. i got high without always thinking about the harm that it could do. i didn't always take school as seriously as i should have. i made excuses. sometimes i sold myself short. >> esther, in an article on yahoo! writers there said what started as a second-term presidential bid to confront a vexing social crisis may be

turning into a lifelong cause, a major focus of obama's post presidency will be a lifelong effort to lift up a demographic that feels perennially written off and left behind. although they are powerful words and they are from the president, how do we make those young men feel they are not left behind after this big meeting? >> so i think there were several really important points in the quote that you made and in the president's speech. the first thing that's important to say is this idea of the feeling left behind does not reflect a reality. it is not black men feel they are left behind, discrimination leaves them behind. that is a fact. >> you're saying it's not a feeling, it's a fact. >> it is a fact and it's a fact that needs to be faced. if you don't face the fact, how do you pass a policy to replicate and deal with the problem? the other challenge is, i think there is a beauty and a power in a president who looks like you, speaking a truth that reflects your truth, but it's really

important that this is the office of the president of the united states whose job is to pass policy for all americans, not that he has ever suggested that the lgbt community, their inequality, should be met with programs, it required policy. inequality is met with policy, not philanthropy and it's crucial this point is not missed. >> not satisfied with the notion this is a program run partly through organizations and the government that this has to be a policy of what we saw yesterday, is nice, but it's not policy. >> yeah, and you know what, big banks didn't get a program. they did not issue a program to bailout the banks. we don't deal with economic inequality through programs, so the reality is, first of all, $200 million is a finite amount of money. what happens when the money runs out? and secondly, racism has deep, deep, deep roots and that's what you're talking about. this idea that excellence is the response to racism is simply not

true. you've always had excellent black folk, excellent black women and black men. that did not stop trayvon martin getting shot. it did not stop the acquittal of george zimmerman, so when you think about policy, and it is not that i disagree with the approach, but it's important we don't end up framing this as programs are the answer, and the reason it's important is on the one hand it's un-american. it is an un-american thing to do, to single out one group of people and say, you need a program when banks, latinos, lgbt, everybody else, gets a policy. this is a nation that says we do not discriminate against anybody. with that in mind, what are the policies that are long reaching, far reaching goals that would turn around that discrimination? >> professor, your reaction to that? >> yeah, i think that's exactly right, and i think this top-down approach, hopefully, it has an opportunity to meet the work that's already going on on the ground and i think that one of

the wild cards here, one of the keys, is the community college system and the fact that when you have so many students of color in particular that come underserved out of high school, then the decision in terms of, like, gpa and even the idea of academic self esteem, in many cases, the decision of whether they are going to go to college is almost made for them, and so if they have in terms of a four-year degree, if they have these desires to get to a four-year university and get that bachelor's degree, if you have a low gpa coming out of high school, then really the one of the few bridges to get to that four-year institution are the community colleges, and those are the places that, you know, i'm saying, you can have strengthened and programs, like i said, seattle central, we're already working programs with african and african-american males who are the least recruited and retained population on the campus, so that work is already happening,

so the opportunity to make that connection with the things that the president is doing has a great amount of potential. >> we're out of time, but quickly get your point out. >> quickly, when you think about the unemployment and disproportionate way african-americans -- disproportion in numbers, yesterday, reminded folks when it comes to unemployment, african-american professors are less employed than white equivalents who have high school dmoe diplomas. it is a deep issue that requires policy first and never philanthropy and that's a dangerous, dangerous model. >> thank you very much for your opinions, thanks for coming on two days in a row. right now, new charges against deron sharper, he's in police custody after another arrest warrant, this one in new orleans. he's accused of sexual assault by several women in multiple states. we'll get the very latest.

another big change from the vatican regarding divorce. what the pope is saying today. and here's a look at what's happening today, february 28th, the last day of this month. students, parents, teachers, are headed to the white house for the first ever student film festival. also today, the president will speak at the dnc winter meeting. the white house says the speech will be a major address. we'll be right back. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community,

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raping and drugging two women in l.a. he was freed on $1 million bail after ordering to surrender his passport. joining me, assistant managing editor at "sports illustrated." listen, we've heard some disturbing allegations in the past from athletes from all different sports, but this one, i was reading some of these charges, and if these allegations are true, it's absolutely stunning. >> oh, beyond absolutely stunning is right, even within the context of violent crimes being committed by nfl players, it's a special thing. as aaron hernandez was also a special case earlier last year, you know, we have to let it play out. he's, obviously, still technically innocent, but the way you see this, sure is a lot of smoke there and the methodology of it, the serial nature of it, it's disturbing to say the least. a figure who was popular guy, of course, a terrific player, well

liked. >> what is his background like? >> you know, he played for three teams in the league, packers, vikings, saints, he was a multiple-time pro bowl player, very well liked. he'd been involved in charity for a long time. lately he's been involved in groups that work with women, teaching them how to play football and he's been involved in cancer charities, kids charities, and had a job at the nfl network. this is a big, definitely stunning for anybody who came across him. >> so these new allegations, prosecutors in louisiana say the two alleged rapes happened back in september in a new orleans apartment. los angeles authorities also report those cases, as well, several. i think the thing that is intriguing, these allegations at least, again, if they are true, these women allege that they met him out at clubs, that he would say come back to my place, i got to get cash or water and he would offer them shots, allegedly, of alcohol, and in

some cases they claim to have waken up being assaulted or feeling like the next day that they had been assaulted. and if these allegations are true, there seems to be a method of operation here. >> again, you say allegedly, and we have to just keep that in perspective, because he's an innocent -- >> absolutely. many of people have been accused and turned out to be innocent. absolutely. >> so we have to keep that open. when you look at the methodology and more than one woman has come forward and talked about the very similar details, there's a lot of smoke there. >> what is he saying, though? >> well, he pled not guilty in los angeles. that was two weeks ago, and let out on $1 million bail and just turned himself in last night on the latest charges. his lawyer has agreed and admitted that there was sexual contact and said that the alcohol and drugs were ingested

voluntarily by these women. >> all right. well, he's been suspended by the nfl network. we'll see what happens with the latest allegations and his defense, as well. thank you very much. >> my pleasure. up next, explosive new allegations surrounding the boston bombings. a new report now suggests the attacks could have been prevented if police solved a triple murder beforehand, that's what one reporter uncovered and the writer of this explosive article will join me live. and in just hours, we'll get a look at president clinton's unreleased documents. thousands of formerly classified docs will be released to the public. mark murray will join us to talk about if there's any significance there.

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time now for the "news nation" friday politico postscript. a busy weeks in politics that

saw concerns during the ukraine border. from the white house and a big decision by arizona governor jan brewer on the controversial bill many refer to as the right to discriminate bill. >> i call them like i see them, despite the tears or the boos from the crowd. i sincerely believe that senate bill 1062 has the potential to create more problems than it purports to solve. >> instead of declaring this economy to be a minimum wage economy, i think our economy, i think america can do better. >> one second, until a few moments ago, we were going down a pretty cooperative word. you heard, i think, the most partisan statement we had all weekend. >> if that was the most partisan statement he heard all weekend, i want him to hear a even more partisan statement. >> we're hoping russia will not see this as sort of a

continuation of the cold war. we don't see it that way. >> this plan balances the need to protect our national security with the need to be realistic about future budget levels. >> what we're trying to do is solve our financial problems on the backs of our military, and that can't be done. >> we're going through an internal investigation, all of this stuff will come out over an appropriate period of time, and i'm not going to give into the hysteria of questions. >> joining me now live, nbc news senior political editor mark murray. it's been a fast week in our new time slot of 11:00 eastern, but a lot to talk about. in the next hour, 1:00 p.m. eastern, i should say, the clinton library will begin releasing 33,000 pages of presidential records. we're not expecting major headlines, but you don't know until the pages are released. >> this is an investigative reporter's dream to go through this stuff and historians, as well.

so much in the context of 2016 if hillary clinton decides to run for the presidency. a lot of these are going to be memos from white house aides or administration officials to then-president bill clinton, a lot of the kind of memos you often have in the white house, so people will be seeing what is actually in there. it wasn't too long ago, there was another document dive regarding papers that diane blair, a very close confidant of hillary clinton's who had passed away, people were kind of going in what that said about 2016, as well. >> also today, a key clinton leaning interest group, american bridges, they are releasing a web ad that hits back at senator rand paul for reviving the attacks against the clintons. that's an interesting move, mark. >> another example of how the clinton machine is revving up. we saw the video from a democratic group, has very close ties to the clintons. we saw former president clinton on the campaign trail in kentucky, hillary clinton giving

a speech in miami where she talked about the health care law, and then the rules and bylaws committee, something very wonky, but regarding all the delegates and super delegates come 2016. there was a close aide to the clintons who was in attendance yesterday, so you take those things together and see the clinton machine ramping up a little bit. >> all right, mark, thank you very much. and we'll update the audience on the documents as we receive them. the boston marathon is two months away. well, now an in-depth piece in "boston" magazine is revealing new details suggesting the bombings could have been prevented. it all stems from an unsolved triple murder in a boston suburb back in september of 2011. author suzanne zalkime writes, if police had figured out who hacked three men to death on september 11, 2011, there's a good chance we will not be

talking about the boston marathon bombings. tamerlan tsarnaev might be alive and in jail, dzhokhar tsarnaev might be another mop headed no-name stoner at umass dartmouth. susan joins me now with more, and she is one of the victims in that triple murder, eric weissman, and this prompted your story and you were looking for answers into what happened there. >> it all started, eric weissman was a friend of mine, so i and my friends and my whole community was totally devastated by this horrific strategy, so when the boston marathon bombing happened a year and a half later, that just added tragedy upon tragedy to us. >> in itself, before the boston bombings, in itself, the horror of this triple murder was something that would have stunned any community. >> yes. >> especially a small college area, as this happened. >> this is three men with their throats slit. we don't see that very often in new england. >> and the details, as well,

drugs around the house, cash, as well, again -- >> cash on the bodies, yeah. >> on the bodies itself. at this point, police just labeled it an unsolved case. how was it handled? >> you see in my reporting, police investigates this crime as a drug ripoff, which is understandable, but in my reporting you see that 11 days after the murder happened, there's a conversation between police and the mother of one of the victims, eric weissman, saying that they are going to wait until a plea bargain comes forth, so someone else is going to be related to another crime might have information, and step forward with a plea bargain, and, you know, that's kind of what happened. >> did they believe this was a drug crime where the individuals who come in for the drugs left the drugs and the money behind? >> you know, this was a really curious case and it seems like local law enforcement just wasn't that curious about it. tamerlan tsarnaev's name was

given to local police as a good friend of brendan mess and was never questioned. what's disturbing about this, if you think about the nature of the crime, three grown men, brendan mess was a purple built in jiujitsu, so this is a hard crime to carry off in the first place, and tamerlan tsarnaev, as you know, was a champion boxer and they never went to his gym, never asked brendan's sparring partner, tamerlan tsarnaev anything about this case, and if they had gone to the gym, they'd find not only tamerlan, but ibrahim, as well. >> it was september 2011, the case would go cold, but it would take 18 months and two homemade bombs before fbi investigators took mere hours to link tamerlan to the triple homicide. the day after tamerlan was killed in a shootout with watertown police, plain clothes

police obtained his friend at gun point and the case becomes more disturbing when you look at what happened to ibrahim. >> yes, his friend, shot to death in his apartment during an interview by a boston fbi agent, two massachusetts state troopers there, and it's been nine months and we still don't have an official report about what happened in that apartment by the fbi. >> at the time, again, this is a complex situation and i think people should certainly go on and read your article, but at the time, ibrahim was allegedly writing out a confession saying he and tamerlan tsarnaev had a role in this triple murder, when he was killed by fbi investigators. >> just at the moment when we finally are thinking we can get some answers in this case and that is enough -- the fbi's contention in that instance is

made official, it comes up in court documents related to dzhokhar tsarnaev and we're going to be airing a one-hour radio story on "this american life" on march 7th. >> bottom line, we're close to this anniversary. what is the heart of the allegation? you've uncovered in your opinion and your reporting key points where if that initial triple murder had been properly investigated, perhaps lives would have been saved in the boston bombing attack. >> this was a complicated case, i don't know if local investigators did follow up on tamerlan tsarnaev, but it's disheartening to know they hadn't. that is a possibility. >> susan, thank you so much for your time. you call it the murders before the marathon. greatly appreciate you joining me today. >> thank you for having me. up next, bold comments on divorce from the pope today.

the latest change from the vatican and it is in our stories around the "news nation" this morning. plus, the countdown to the oscars is on and we're going to talk with -- doing something different here, clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst who specializes in why we love, hate, or even identify with some of these oscar nominated movies and its characters. >> houston, do you copy? houston, this is -- mission specialist ryan stone, i am drifting. do you copy? inside every box of cheerios are those great-tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪ i'll believe it when i -- [ both ] oooooh... [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge!

low fat and five grams of sugars. i'm tto guard their manhood with train depend shields and guards. the discreet protection that's just for guys. now, it's your turn. get my training tips at guardyourmanhood.com an historic decision could come today in the case of a black teenager executed in 1944. george steny jr. was the youngest person to ever be executed in this country. he'd been convicted of murdering two white girls in south carolina. his family and advocates say the

14 year old was framed and wasn't given due process. attorneys tell nbc they expect the judge to rule today on whether steny's conviction should be overturned or thrown out. and pope francis is making another announcement that could help bring the church into the modern world. he says couples who divorce should not be condemned during a mass today at the vatican. he said, when love fails, we need to walk with those in pain. right now those who remarry are not allowed to take part of communion in mass. no word if that will change. the vatican's announcing the pope will soon have its own facebook page and is working out technical details before the page goes live. the countdown is on to hollywood's biggest night, and while there's always anticipation over who will wear what and what surprises the show will feature, this year the spotlight will be around the films, particularly the best picture category, where nine films are up for the big prize. as "the l.a. times" put it today, most years hollywood

insiders have a good idea who will go home with the award, going into sunday's 86th awards, there are frontrunners in the acting, directing, and writing categories, but one exception, best picture. many of the films in that category did very well at the box office and raked up awards and nominations in the acting categories. a lot has to do with the fact the characters featured in the films will really resinate with the audiences for good and bad. joining me now, sandra, a clinical psychologist and author of the site, characters on the couch. thank you so much for your time. >> you're welcome. thank you so much for having me. >> absolutely. i think it's absolutely intriguing how you look at some of these characters and what hits us and how that determines even what films we like. let's launch in, the first, "american hustle," what is it about those characters you note there, particularly the christian bale character. >> particularly christian bale's character is, i think, the main thing i would say as a

psychoanalyst is he is trying to override his early history and his father's shame, that he felt very ashamed of his father, and so he feels that he's trying to survive, i think, the limits of what he feels is his own identity. >> how do we identity with that or why is that character something that would resinate personally through us? when you look at the overall characters, you point out each member of this troubled cast of characters is trying to survive. is that what we feel we're all doing every day? >> well, i think some of us are. i think people that are more troubled and don't like who they are, or don't feel that who they are is enough will have to try to survive the limits of their own real identities, and recreate themselves in a whole different way. >> as in the character of amy adams, sydney's character, where she is trying to erase that she had a poor upbringing and was a

stripper at one point in time. >> yes. and so she recreates herself as someone who is very, very much different than who she is, lady edith greenzly. i think one of the things that roselyn says is that often times we all make poisonous choices and i think we can see for christian bale's character and to amy adams character, in some way they make poisonous choices. what is healthier about the two of them, you can see in sydney that she does not like being a fake. she really can't tolerate it. >> i want to move onto the next one. "american hustle", ten category they are nominated. "12 years a slave" and you have a a battle both from people in the african-american community over all audiences who saw the

brutality of slavery in roots and why does this film stand out? what are the character notes here? >> well, i think one of the things you see is the triumph of will and will to survive. and i think the spirit of his solomon northrop's ability to survive is one thing. what was interesting to me about the film, something that maybe all of us can identify with in some way, what do -- if we take edwin eps, the brutal slave owner, michael's character, what do you do when we feel inferior? how do we -- how do we deal with a sense of inferiority, insecurity, ee mask lags, feelings of not being loved.

what he did, he couldn't deal with them himself and put them into the slaves. >> and brutalized them. let's switch to "gravity." why do you believe this movie and particularly the character portrayed by sandra bullock resonates? >> i think the way in which she's trying to survive but more so survive a really grave loss. because what losing her daughter made her retreat from life really and i think what we can see in her -- and what resonates with people is the struggle actually to come out of that loss, come out of her encapsulation and she believed if she encap sue lated herself in silence, she would never be heard again. >> it's fascinating you look at these characteristics in this way. we greatly appreciate you joining us. talk to you soon. i looked it. >> the "news nation" gut check is up next. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's,

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time for the "news nation" gut check. it's a predicament situation, a sad one. no one wants to find themselves in. having to book a last minute flight because a loved one has passed away. some offer some rates when that arlss but american airlines is not offering a we reefment fare anymore. it discontinued to be consistent with u.s. airways policies. the two companies merged in december. should airlines continue to offer bereavement faerz. ? is that does it for us, "andrea mitchell reports" is up next. huh...fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. yep, everybody knows that. well, did you know the ancient pyramids were actually a mistake?

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i'm a messy person. i don't like cleaning. i love my son, but he never cleans up. always leaves a trail of crumbs behind. you're going to have a problem with getting a wife. uh, yeah, i guess. [ laughs ] this is ridiculous. christopher glenn! [ doorbell rings ] what is that? swiffer sweep & trap. i think i can use this. it picks up everything. i like this. that's a lot of dirt. it's that easy! good job chris! i think a woman will probably come your way. [ both laugh ] right now, doubling down, deposed ukrainian president

viktor yanukovych says he's still a leader. new concerns in crimea where arms forced are taking over the airport stoking fears within the divided nation. >> the united states totally supports the ukraine's territorial integrity and the sovereignty and we expect other nations to do the same. we encourage all parties to avoid any steps that could be misinterpreted or lead to miscalculation or do anything other than to work to bring peace and stability. >> contenders vice president joe biden and new jersey governor chris christie have a different set of hurdles as they both contemplate a run for the white house. and the tea party turns five, two leaders within the group have very different messages we'll talk 2016 straight ahead. and t