new campbell's chunky spicy chicken quesadilla soup. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. we are working with authorities who have activated the search and rescue team to locate the aircraft. our team is currently calling the next of kin of passengers and crews. >> rescue crews take off from vietnam. good afternoon to you. i'm craig melvin. you're watching msnbc. they are on their way right now to search for flight mh-370 as the questions about what happened. as those questions grow, now we want to know, who was on that flight? back in washington, president obama has been on the phone with world leaders about the crisis in ukraine even as the tensions in crimea grow

thicker. millions of american teenagers are playing the s.a.t. game today. but the change s coming to the test could also change the way that kids get into college. let's start with the breaking news overseas where rescue crews from several countries are still searching for that missing malaysian jetliner. the plane vanished two hours after taking off from kuala lumpur on its way to beijing. there were 227 passengers on board. three americans were on board. the airline's issued a new statement saying it has been more than 24 hours since we last heard from mh-370 at 1:30 a.m. the search and rescue team is yet to determine the whereabouts

of the boeing 777 aircraft. also at this hour, new security fears. u.s. officials telling nbc news they are investigating terrorism concerns after two people listed as passengers turned out not to be on the plane. they had their passports stolen, reportedly. so far, there are no clear terror links, though. nbc's reporter has been following all this for us from london. duncan, let's start there. what's the latest on those passengers who were not on the plane and the stolen passports? >> reporter: hey, craig. yes, this is some sort of discrepancy with the flight's manifest. two passengers listed as being on board are in fact safe and well and at least one of them reported their passport stolen. an austrian foreign ministry spokesman told nbc news one of their citizens had been listed as being on that malaysian airlines flight to beijing but their system of checks came back as telling them it was a stolen

passport. they found the man at home and he confirms he reported it stolen in thailand two years ago. very similar situation in italy. the foreign ministry in rome saying no italian was on board despite one being listed on the manifest. a newspaper there in italy reports the passport was also stolen in thailand. it could just be distracting detail that doesn't really have any significance at the moment. but with so little information available about the cause of the crash, it is getting attention and certainly will be looked at by intelligence services around the world. craig? >> duncan, what's the latest right now on this search and rescue effort? >> reporter: well, with no distress call from the pilots, this plane just seems to have disappeared from the radar. aviation experts say that might be sudden and catastrophic. we won't know more until the

wreckage is located and brought ashore and the black boxes are analyzed. there is a big multi-country response with china, sing pore, vietnam and malaysia sending planes and of course the united states is helping as well, sending help as well. it is nighttime there. although the ships are out, the planes have had to return and won't commence researching until tomorrow morning. >> duncan following all this for us from london, thank you. as the search and rescue operation continues or as it starts back up here in a few hours, there's this u.s. destroy destroyer, this one right here, currently en route to the scene with search helicopters aboard. a vietnamese plane has spotted an oil slick in the vicinity of where the plane lost contact. i want to bring in aviation expert greg fife. greg, it's been more than 24

hours since the plane lost contact with air traffic control. what are some of the scenarios that are running through your head right now? >> well, craig, one of the first things is with the oil slick, if you have that oil slick, you would expect to see light debris that may have come from the aircraft. that would give validation to the fact that that oil slick is from the airplane. i haven't heard any information about whether there is floatsome. but when you look at the scenarios tookd have taken place, you have to look at the suddenness of the event. the air traffic controllers had been in two-way communication with the crew earlier. they made their mandatory report and then they went radio silent. not only between air traffic controllers but the crew never talked to their own folks on a discrete frequenciened thand th lost all radar contact.

so you have to assume it was something catastrophic. >> it happened fast, whatever it was. fast and whatever it was, obviously quite significant. you were the investigator in charge at the ntsb from 1993 to 2001, had to climb to 21,000 feet to investigate that crash in bolivia, i understand. what challenges are investigators facing right now, unique challenges they're facing right now in looking for this plane in the open sea? >> well, there's two parts to this, craig. one of the challenges, of course, is getting information. but you need to have the aircraft wreckage and of course the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder to really help put the pieces of the puzzle together. the challenge now is to find the airplane. and if you remember from air france 447, we did have some

data. but you always need the physical evidence. and right now, that physical evidence is sitting somewhere at the bottom of the south china sea. and now it's recovering that and the fdr and the cvr. >> flight lost contact with air traffic control reportedly about two hours after it took off. but it looks like the public was not alerteded to the disappearance of the flight until almost four hours later. why did it take so long? >> there's a process in place that typically resides with the airline as far as what they have to do as far as emergency response plan and then family assistance and notification. there are also procedures with air traffic. they lost contact with the aircraft. some parts of china, there are flight tracks that they don't have radar coverage and they do

have mandatory reporting points. a lot of times if a crew checks in, makes their mandatory report, it's some time before they can make their next report. they may have received the mandatory report and waited and did not receive that next report which is some time later. and then on top of that, they'll make calls in the blind to the crew if they can't establish two-way communication. they'll call the company and see if the company can establish two-way communication. that could take anywhere from 30 minutes, 60 minutes, almost up to two hours, depending on the cycle. >> greg, always appreciate your insight, sir. thank you. >> you're welcome. let's go to our other top story right now making news. president obama continues to search for a diplomatic solution to the standoff in ukraine. this morning, mr. obama called six foreign leaders including british prime minister david cameron to strategize about crimea, about putin and about what comes next.

meanwhile, russia is reinforcing its military presence in the crimean region. dozens of military trucks were spotted transporting armed soldiers into the area. this comes as new reports of a ukrainian border patrol plane coming under fire while flying near the border with crimea. also amid reports of warning shots being fired to prevent an unarmed international military observer group from entering crimea. nbc's jim maceda joins us live now from moscow. jim, what do all of these developments mean? what can we glean from all of this at this point? >> reporter: hi, there, craig. well, i think what we're seeing is vladimir putin creating facts on the ground, as they say in other countries. consolidating his military hold really over the strategic crimea, those amphibious ships you referred to are carrying at least 200 military vehicles filled with paratroopers.

we're monitoring tweets from a number of crimeans who say they've never seen so much movement of personnel tonight. ukrainian sources say there are between 20,000 and 30,000 russian or pro-russian forces in crimea. that's two or three divisions. now, these forces are being used to surround and neutralize those ukrainian soldiers who have refused to turn over their weapons and surrender to the russians. and it's important to note that the tactics being used by ukrainian forces do seem to be working. their orders have been to strictly avoid reacting to any russian provocation and in a very good example of that, overnight a large group of gunmen in fatigues rammed their truck into the gate of a ukrainian military post, only to see these unarmed ukrainian soldiers move forward and line up at the gate like human shields. the gunmen were taken aback.

they seemed to be uncertain as to what to do next. and eventually left the base which tells me that the whole incident was a provocation but one that went terribly wrong for the russians. back to you. >> jim, quickly, there have also been some reports of a journalist being suppress, in some cases members of the media attacked in the crimean region. what are you hearing about that? >> reporter: that's right. it seems that as we're getting closer to the crimean referendum now on whether it stays in ukraine or becomes part of russia, that self-appointed pro-russian local government is getting more and more aggressive and cracking down on both ukrainian and independent media. we've seen footage of journalists being physically attacked in the streets and carted off by armed thugs. right now, all non-russian tv channels are now off the air. and the russian and pro-russian media are broadcasting a steady stream of anti-kiev propaganda, stoking fears by saying the kiev

government, for instance, is going to ban the russian language, which the government says is completely false. so we've got military crackdown, media crackdown. it does look like putin's setting the conditions on the ground to get the result that -- analysts tell us that he wants, which is owning crimea again, just like in the old soviet days. craig? >> nbc's jim maceda, jim, thanks. i want to bring in ohio congresswoman marcy captor. the congresswoman is a co-chair of the congressional ukrainian caucus. congresswoman, you know this region very well. what's your take, first of all, just initially to what you just heard, the latest from our man on the ground there in moscow about what's happening in the crimean region and what's your take on what president putin is trying to do here in ukraine and can he succeed? >> well, it's a great tragedy. it's a great tragedy for the free world. it's a great tragedy for ukraine and sadly shows us that the russian bear is on the loose again.

that is the history of russia. never a free nation. no knowledge of democratic institution building, never were her people free. those of us who lived through the cold war years and had the great moment of the berlin wall coming down fully understand what that nation of russia is capable of. in fact, inside her borders during world war ii, she killed 14 million of her own people, including ukraine. no nation suffered more than ukraine and belarus. >> is that where you think we're headed this time? >> i'm telling you that is the psychology of the government of russia. it was not the pretty face we saw on the olympics. rather her heritage has been one of aggression and of cold-blooded murder. i've been praying for no more bloodshed in ukraine. russia has crossed a sovereign border.

she has not respected the territorial integrity of the neighboring nation of ukraine. the ukrainians have been restrained. but i think it's very clear what's going on here. it's a provocation to try to -- >> you mentioned military response. what would that look like? >> it's already begun. we've seen nato have several emergency meetings over the weekend, over last weekend. you have seen exercises that were planned in terms of partnership exercises with poland, with lithuania, with one of our carriers, continuing toward the black sea in who was

a planned exercise the turks are sitting right next door. they are a member of nato along with poland, lithuania, hungary, we look at the nations of europe. we are pursuing the diplomatic front most aggressively. on the economic front, sanctions are being applied now in increasing levels and the imf sloung with the united states of america has managed to put together a package on the economic side that is so very necessary for ukraine. >> congresswoman -- >> i think that nato -- >> really quickly here. in western and eastern ukraine, seem to be divided in their support or opposition to russia's moves. how much of that division can be attributed to a generational divide between young people and those who remember the days of the soviet union? >> i'll tell you, the young people led the protests inside ukraine, in all parts of the country, they are very brave.

they understand what they want to go. they want to move to a more democratic society, one that is more open. what happened was the student movement was then piled on by some of the political interests inside the country, different political parties who tried to use it for their own purposes. the students were joined by ukrainians who fought in afghanistan and iraq, veterans of ukraine who have fought so hard. and you saw the religious leaders of ukraine. that's the heart of the force for change, for democratic change inside ukraine. we must hasten -- i'm so proud of those around the world, including the media who are risking their lives to let the world see what russia is capable of and to hold her at bay and to move her back to her own country. >> congresswoman, we have to leave it there. thank you. appreciate your time. a lot of old faces this weekend at the conservative consortium known as cpac.

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how many moms and dads have told their little children that anybody can grow up and become president of the united states? unfortunately in 2012, we learned just how true that is in this great country. >> we must stop this president from shredding the constitution. >> all of us remember president dole and president mccain and president romney. look, those are good men, they're decent men. but when you don't stand and draw a clear distinction, when you don't stand for principle, democrats celebrate.

>> the other party talks a lot about nominating a woman in 2016. and that's fine. but she's going to have a lot of tough questions that she's going to have to answer. >> just some of the red meat offered up to the conservative base of the republican party at this weekend's annual cpac conference. the party faithful beginning to look ahead to the 2016 presidential primaries. after those speeches wrap up later today, we'll get the results of the presidential straw poll. a live look there at cpac. right now, david brodie, senior national correspondent for cbn news joins me from the event. senator rand paul won the straw poll last year. what are hearing about front-runners this year? >> i think rand paul is going to be right in the mix, wouldn't be surprising if he won it.

not that they bus people in for rand paul. but there are a lot of libertarian, young folks here that love him. they loved his father, they love him. not surprising if he wins this thing. not surprising if ted cruz does very well here today. i'm thinking those are probably going to be your top two finishers. quite frankly, i think chris christie is probably going to do better than a lot of people expect here because of the warm embrace -- >> really? >> yeah, the warm embrace he received here at cpac. >> are folks there, david, in any way, shape, form or fashion talking about the bridgegate controversy that continues to simmer? >> let me check my percentage watch. zero. i have to tell you, it really isn't much talk at all here about bridgegate. as a matter of fact, it's been interesting, craig, because a lot of the theme here -- i'm not talking about on stage. i'm talking the scuttlebutt in

some of the interviews that i've done, specifically with some of these mainstage speakers has been about how the republicans have to do a better job on communicating compassion. liberals say conservatives have no compassion. conservatives say, we have compassion but we need to invest in these communities, whether they're latino or african-american communities. you did not hear much of this talk even last year, the year before. this year, much different. it's interesting to watch. >> that's not true, though. george w. bush talked about compassion in conservatism a decade ago. it seems as if this is something that we hear every other year at least coming from gatherings like this, no? >> good point. but here's the difference. there was talk about it before and there were programs and initiatives in that vein. what i'm talking about -- what they're talking about specifically is going into these communities and doing the real legwork, the heavy lifting. as a matter of fact, chris christie told me in an interview just the other day backstage here at cpac which we'll be

releasing soon, he talked about, we need to go to places that are uncomfortable for us or at least that have been uncomfortable for us in the past. so this is about -- >> places like where? like immigration reform? places like where? >> reporter: yes, specifically inner cities. as a matter of fact, paul ryan is going to be doing poverty tours the. but they're not going to be town hall poverty tours to get the media there. paul ryan's been doing a lot of these without any media involved. he's been going around to certain places around the country. there are folks, rand paul going to howard university and to detroit, other places because the republican party realizes that they're not going to win -- forget 2016. they're not going to win presidential elections if they don't change the demographics and how they're going about this. >> we'll leave it there. david, thank you. >> thanks, craig. today is the national day of unplugging, in case you didn't know. the project was created by the reboot network and urges people to turn off their smartphones,

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u.s. officials telling nbc news they are investigating terrorism connections after two people listed as passengers turned out not to be on the plane and had reported their passports stolen. so far, there are no clear terror links. we should note that with me now, tom costello who covers aviation for nbc news, has been closely following the search efforts for several hours now. tom, malaysia airlines just put out a statement that reads in part, quote, at this stage, they have failed to find evidence of any wreckage, the sea mission will continue overnight while the air mission will recommence at daylight. tom, at this point, is there still a great deal of hope for finding the plane? >> not finding the plane intact, i'm sorry to say. that is at this point -- in the view of most experts, very unlikely. just to give you a sense, it's 1:30 in the morning there.

they are 11 hours ahead of the east coast and the u.s. so when they talk about daybreak, that's another 5, 5 1/2 hours away for them. they have multiple navies who are either on the scene or in the vicinity or are responding to the location, including the malaysian navy, the vietnamese navy and we are also led to believe that the chinese are sending assets and the united states navy is also responding. the weather at the time was reported to be good. there is no indication at all that that was a problem. no idea why this plane disappeared off radar screens suddenly. no indications yet of sabotage or any claims of a terrorist attack. you mentioned that these two europeans who were on the manifest, in fact, were not on the plane and had reported their passports were stolen. that is raising concerns with security experts. but only at this point concerns. there's no definitive reason to believe that anything nefarious happened here. so the question really is, why

did this plane suddenly go off the radar at roughly 35,000 feet, roughly an hour and a half or two hours into the flight? nobody has a good answer. there are a lot of hypotheses out there. but there's no solid information. we don't even have one single piece of wreckage, to our knowledge. there's the time line leaving kuala lumpur at 12:41. supposed to arrive at beijing at 6:30 in the morning on the red eye. and that didn't happened. what they're hoping is in the morning when daybreak comes, they get a better fix on where this oil slick is. by the way, if it's kerosene type of material, that would be more likely to be a plane. and then if they can find out whether this has been drifting or what's the central location, try to get a sense of where the wreckage might be, but at this point, it doesn't look good. >> tom, what more can you tell us about this boeing 777 in terms of safety?

>> anybody who's flown one -- if you've ever flown a long-haul flight, either cross-country or going to europe or asia or south america, chances are, you have been on a 777, maybe a 767. but a 777 is very common. this was the 777 200 series, the earliest version of the plane. it has a fantastic safety record. if you look at the fatalities, there's only been one previous fatal action. that was in july in san francisco when that asiana plane crashed on landing. and every expert i've talked to believes that was a pilot error, nothing mechanical with that plane. so when you look at one other incident, there was one other incident involving a crash landing of a 777 in london several years ago. that was determined to be because the plane -- using the same engines, by the way, rolls royce engine, had ice form in the fuel lines that suddenly robbed the plane of any fuel and

they thankfully managed to descend and land safely. well, it was a crash landing but nobody was killed at london heathrow. they were supposed to have fixed those lines. there's no indication at all that that became a problem afterwards. >> tom costello, thanks as always. back to politics now. strong words this week from a key white house ally over immigration reform and specifically the deportations of illegal immigrants. >> for us, this president has been the deporter in chief. any day now this administration will reach the 2 million mark for deportations. it's a staggering number that far outstrips any of his predecessors and leaves behind it a wake of devastation for families across america. >> the president of the national council of la raza there. aimed at getting latinos signed

up for health care. president obama defended himself. >> i am the champion in chief of comprehensive immigration reform. [ applause ] but what i've said in the past remains true, which is until congress passes a new law, then i am constrained in terms of what i'm able to do. >> jose diaz co-moderated that town hall event we just saw there. jose, good to see you let's start with the deportations. simple question, has president obama gotten a pass on deportations because he's a democrat? >> in some ways, yes, craig. but i have to tell you, if he weren't deporting 1,100 people every single day as the president of the national council said, it's going to be 2 million deportees under his administration, if he wasn't

doing that, the republicans would be all over the place demanding he respect and follow the law. and the fact of the matter is that in the house of representatives, there is absolutely no true, real movement for immigration reform. the senate, as you know, passed a bipartisan bill months ago that would deal with comprehensive immigration reform. and that's frozen in the house. so, yes, has he gotten a pass because he's a democrat? probably, absolutely, because people know that, as he says repeatedly, in his heart he is with the people who want to see immigration reform passed. but the facts are the facts. we're talking about 2 million people deported. >> how concerned is the administration and democrats in general that this is an issue, this deportation issue, that this is something that could cause latino voters to stay at home in this year's mid-term elections? >> i think it's a serious concern to anyone. and the republicans need to be concerned also because if they are seen as the party against

immigration reform, they may have mitt romney part two coming up in november. but the fact of the matter is that every single day, there are 1,100 people deported in this country. and the pew hispanic center said there are about 9 million people that live in the united states in mixed immigration status families. what that means is there are some people who are citizens and whose father may be an undocumented immigrant or a cousin is an undocumented immigrant and they live in the same household. so it affects literally millions of people. >> really quickly, i want to get your take on something that caught our eye in "the new york times" this morning. the paper reporting the border patrol has now instructed agents to show restraint, this after a series of deadly shooting by border agents that received outrage from mexico and activists as well.

what does this mean for the immigration conversation that's happening right now in america? >> it's certainly something that a lot of people are concerned about and worried about. anytime you see someone reacting with lethal force to a stone being thrown at you, there's always that fine line. if it's a little rock, you may be using excess force. if it's a boulder being thrown at people, that has a different kind of interpretation of it. but the fact is, i think it's good to have rules that you say if you're being -- when do you use lethal force? >> jose, thank you sir. >> craig, thank you. we are pleased to report that they finally, finally have a winner in kansas city, missouri, after some 66 rounds of the jackson county spelling bee. organizers had run out of words. so today, two students had a rematch.

the 13-year-old was the winner. he won by spelling definition directly. after it was over, they posted this picture with the caption, we will long bee proud of what they both did and the grace with which they did it. you're watching msnbc. if you wear a denture, touch it with your tongue. if your denture moves, it can irritate your gums. try fixodent plus gum care.

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it can actually reveal things about people that may not come up in their regular medical check-ups. >> i'm not talking about doing detailed medical diagnosis. i'm not talking about replacing the communication between you and your doctor or with your loved ones or even your own self-awareness. i'm talking about enhancing each of these things with personalized, data-driven insights. >> fascinating. that's the cornell tech professor debra estrin who came up with the idea. explain how this would work. >> certainly. as you said, every time we use our smartphones, our mobile apps, we play games, use our cable tv, we generate digital breadcrumbs in those services. these together form a trace that represents our behaviors and activities in the world. so we call these data about you your small data. and the way it plays into health is that we can make strong

health inferences about how you're functioning from these digital data. >> an example would be what? >> an example is, imagine your doctor and you are trying to figure out if some new medication or supplement is working better for you than what you were doing before. this app could take these digital traces, your daily activity, your location patterns, your language that you use in e-mails and create a comparative picture, this month versus last month and actually show you if you're starting to see an improvement. >> how could folks get access to their individual data? >> it needs to begin by companies letting people opt in to access their digital traces and then a new wave of applications that are coming about that will process those applications for the individual and let them make sense of it and engage with it in interesting ways. >> so it sounds like those companies would have to allow people to do precisely what

they've been doing to people for years now anyway? >> yes, but it doesn't stop the companies from continued benefit and improve their services. it's just about sharing that individual's data back with them. >> what would be your response to people who might see this as another potential invasion of privacy, violation of privacy? >> well, these data are already being captured. and so what better way of balancing notions of privacy than letting individuals seeing the data that are selected about them, letting individuals get access to that data and use that data for their own purposes as well? >> professor deborah estrin, fascinating concept. thank you for your time. do you have a big idea that's making a difference. we'd love to hear about it. e-mail us. you can also tweet us. there's the hashtag right there. just like today, 30 years ago, tensions with russia were

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in 40 years, lsd, yes, that one, is making a comeback, this time in a new experimental trial. the trial has been approved by the fda and it's shown a 20% drop in anxiety among terminally ill patients. researchers have been looking at the medical benefits of ecstasy and the so-called magic mushrooms on treating end-of-life anxiety as well. big changes in marijuana laws coming out of the nation's capital this week. washington, d.c.'s mayor is expected to sign a sweeping new law as early as monday that would essentially decriminalize pot in the nation's capital and posing fines rather than jail time, possession of an ounce or less will be a $25 fine. and smoking in public is now a $100 fine. also this week across the country in washington state, the first legal marijuana business issued -- the business license itself was issued. stores in the state are expected

to open to the public for recreational use later this summer. meanwhile, south carolina, florida, new york, oregon, alaska, georgia, all those states are currently debating changes to their marijuana laws right now. back in the nation's capital, though, that d.c. council vote to decriminalize pot, it was 10 to 1. and with us now, the one, the lone dissenter of the d.c. bill, yvette alexander. councilwoman, always good to see you. let's start there with the vote. the only vote of dissension. why? >> i was the lone vote. and this is the reason why, craig. we still are only dealing with the possession of marijuana. that's the only thing that's currently not illegal if this bill is passed. it's still illegal to sell marijuana or to consume it. it doesn't make sense. >> when you raise that issue --

i know that you did because i saw some of the footage there, if you can possess the pot, if you can smoke the pot and you can't buy the pot, how do you get the pot? >> how do you get it? that's the question. you can't grow it either, craig. >> so what's the answer? >> how do you get it? the answer is that you're still going to buy it illegally and you're still going to smoke it illegally. >> oh, d.c. passing laws in d.c., of course, as you know is a different process than in other states because laws are subject to congressional oversight. congress now has 60 days to review that law to decide if it's going to block if legislation. marijuana use is federally banned. so realistically or theoretically, i should say, there is a chance in d.c. that you could have pot on you and be hanging out at the national mall and still get stopped by a federal officer, correct? >> yes. all the federal jurisdictions, you are exactly right, it's still illegal. while we do have to go through congress, i'm going to tell you,

i urge the mayor to veto this bill. we don't want to get it to congress. that's a whole other issue. we shouldn't be going through congress. we're working on autonomy and statehood in the district. >> are you supposed to pot? to legalization, to decriminalization, in general or this specific -- >> in general, i'm really opposed to -- yeah, to decriminalizing marijuana. however, if the vote -- if we are going to go towards that, we need to go all the way or not at all. it doesn't address there will still be arrests that will take place. it doesn't address the reason why this was introduced in the first place. and that was because a large number of african-american males have been arrested and incarcerated. >> and in ward 7 specifically. >> and they're still going to be.

they're still going to sell and they're still going to smoke on the corners. and that is not a civil fine. that is jail time and it could be up to a $500 fine. >> we're going to have to leave it there. it is a fascinating conversation. we're going to continue to follow it and hopefully you'll come back as well. yvette alexander, thank you, councilwoman. >> thanks for having me, craig. no wreckage found just yet from the lost malaysia airlines flight, just an oil slick at this point. now there are new security concerns. we'll talk about that at the top of the hour. then later, what will the changes to the s.a.t. mean for the next crop of college freshmen? you're watching msnbc. y budget. ♪ the only downer? my bargain brand towel made a mess of things. so goodbye so-called bargain brands, hello bounty basic. the affordably priced towel that's an actual bargain. watch how one select-a-size sheet of bounty basic is 50% stronger than a full sheet of the bargain brand. it takes a strong towel to stretch a budget.

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they are on their way to search for flight mh-370 as the questions about what happened, as those questions mount. at this point, a lot of folks are trying to figure out who was on that flight. meanwhile, back in washington, president obama has been on the phone with world leaders about the crisis in ukraine as tensions in crimea grow even thicker. it's like a game, the s.a.t. what you learn is a strategy. what you do on s.a.t. is not what you're doing in high school. >> millions of american teenagers are playing that s.a.t. game today. but there are some changes coming to the test. and it could affect the ways that kids get into college. the little boy said, please help us, our mom's trying to kill us. >> that mother is now being held on more than $1 million bail. but does her case give us a larger window into a larger problem for millions of americans? also, the former secretary of state snubbed, despite all

her accomplishments, condoleezza rice gets the cold shoulder. we'll get to all those stories and more. first to that breaking news we continue to follow here at msnbc. rescue crews from several nations right now are searching for a missing malaysian jetliner. the boeing 777 had 239 people on board, including the crew. three of people were american, one of those an infant. at this hour, sources are telling nbc news that the united states is also investigating terrorism concerns after two people listed on the passenger manifest turned out not to be on that plane, they had reported their passports stolen. however, so far, there are no clear terror links. nbc's duncan golistani joins me from london with the latest. let's start with the latest on those two passengers. any additional information on the passengers who were listed on the plane's manifest who weren't on the plane?

>> reporter: this is a complete discrepancy. two passengers listed as being on board are safe and well and one of them had reported their pass orth stolen. an austrian foreign ministry spokesman confirmed to nbc news that one of their citizens had been listed as being on that malaysian airlines flight to beijing. but their system of checks came back as telling them the passport was stolen. they found the man at home in austria and he confirmed he'd reported it stolen in thailand two years ago. a very similar situation over in italy. the foreign ministry in rome saying no italian was on board, despite one being listed on the manifest. the newspaper there reports the passport was also stolen, again in thailand. it could just be distracting detail. but because so little information is coming out, it has taken on significance, whether it is important, we don't know. but you can bet that intelligence agencies are checking that two people were trying to travel illegally into china.

craig? >> we know it's still just a few hours before the sun comes up there. have the search and rescue efforts -- have they stopped until the sun rises? >> reporter: they've kind of half stopped. ships are still out, we understand. but airplanes have stopped their search until light comes up. many countries are helping, including the united states, sending ships and planes. we know from previous planes lost over water that tracking the wreckage can take days and locating the flight recorders can take months and even years. vietnamese airplane planes apparently spotted two large oil slicks in the area off the southern tip of viet ma'am. each of those slicks about six miles wide. the search is being hampered by being in the middle of the night. so far, the only thing to go on, those two slicks but it's not

confirmed they are from that malaysian airlines flight. >> duncan, thank you. i want to bring in michael lighter now, the former director of the national counterterrorism center, also an msnbc counterterrorism analyst. what was the first thing that came to your mind when you heard there were these two passengers who were not on the plane and that someone apparently stole their passports? >> it went from my perspective being, well, this is a plane that went down, who knows what happened to, here's a really clear indication that we have to investigate this from a national security perspective. the fact that you have two people using false passports or false visas doesn't tell you that they're terrorists. but it does suggest to you that there are two people who wanted to be on that plane, potentially going to china, for nefarious reasons. so it really does go from, this is a plane crash we don't know what caused it to, this is a plane crash and there is something suspicious.

now we have to dig in to see whether or not there is a real nexus to terrorism. >> how does something like this happen? you would think it would be fairly difficult to travel under someone else's passport, no? >> it's actually not that infrequent that people travel with a false passport or a false visa, which is even more common. and depending on the country, it can be easier or harder to board a plane and get into that country. into the u.s., it's quite difficult. malaysia has very strong security. so this is a bit surprising. but without some further checks, it's always possible these passports -- one of the passports wasn't reported stolen and that makes it a document that can be used more easily for travel. >> what are your former counterterrorism colleagues doing right now and how worried are counterterror officials in this country right now? >> they are worried. but because this happened in malaysia to beijing flight, they're certainly less worried than they would be if this was in western europe or coming to the united states. but as soon as they got the

indications that stolen passports were used, they immediately dug into this passenger manifest to see if there were any other linkages that were suspicious. i expect that once they do find the wreckage, all the forensic work between the accident investigators will be shared very, very closely with the intelligence and law enforcement investigators. and i think intelligence officials will always err on the side of caution now. they're going to do extra digging on all sorts of manifests for passengers globally. >> right now, they're sifting through these passenger manifests and presumingly trying to figure out whether there was anyone else on board who may have had a passport stolen? >> yeah. the key pieces here will be any forensics once they find the wreckage. figuring out who the two people were who traveled on those false passports. that might be quite difficult. any linkages to the other passengers and then looking back on all the intelligence collected to see if there was something that previously wasn't

suspicious that now after the fact really is meaningful. >> terrorism expert michael leiter, thank you for that insight. >> thanks, craig. the other big story we continue to follow here at msnbc, russia today continues to beef up its presence in ukraine. dozens of military vehicles taking troops, transporting troops today, weaving through the streets of crimea. russia's foreign minister ruled out any talks with ukraine's new government. let's bring in ambassador dennis ross, who is a mideast envoy for president clinton. currently a distinguished fellow at the washington institute for near east policies, also an msnbc contributor. at this point, ambassador, how realistic is it to expect that president obama can force vladimir putin's hand? >> well, i think it's highly unlikely that he can force his hand. right now, what you're trying to do is increasingly signal to putin that there's a price that's going to be paid, in part so at least he has to think

about what is his next step and in part also to try to ensure that we deter him from doing something outside of crimea and in the eastern part of ukraine. it's bad enough that he may be promoting what is going to be separatism within crimea. if he tries to dismember ukraine, you are creating what is a really deep crisis and potential for a conflict in europe. >> russia friday endorsed the crimea cessation plan and warned the united states that continued interference could harm relations between the two superpowers. what are the risks here for the american people? what are the risks if the ukraine crisis escalates? >> well, i don't think there's a risk that we're going to suddenly get into some kind of overt conflict. but i think we have to be worried about what the implication is if you begin to see crimea become part of

russia. is this -- does this then become a precedent for other places around the periphery of what was the former soviet union, around the periphery of russia to also declare a kind of separatist. does it have implications in other parts of the world where you have different ethnic groups in parts of country who decide they're going to declare their independence and believe that what happens in crimea provides a precedent for them. the problem is it will produce conflicts elsewhere and those are the kinds of conflicts that are disruptive from an economic standpoint and potentially escalatory and potentially can draw us into them. >> you write that american inaction has far-reaching implications. you say in part, quote, president obama having stated there will be a cost must be certain that there is one. that is especially important for those in the middle east watching the events in crimea unfold. presently they see another example of russia's readiness to

defy international norms and act in the service of its power as currency that is often the only one that matters to most middle eastern leaders. talking mostly about syrian and iranian leaders here? >> absolutely. but we're also talking about our friends who are looking at what's happening right now and wondering, is this a precedent for their region as well? is this another indication that the balance of power in a certain part of the world can be changed and the united states, they will judge its behavior in terms of, is it responding to it, is it doing something about it? what i would say is once the president said there would be consequences, for us to act in a way that doesn't impose consequences will have an impact on others watching us and drawing conclusions about, are our words reliable when we say they can count on us. >> what's been happening in syria and members of the media as well, we've taken our eye off

that conflict as we devote most of our attention and resources to covering this conflict. what do we know about what's happening on the ground in that country right now? >> well, it's getting worse it's not just that the flow of refugees continues unabated. it's a humanitarian catastrophe but the regime continues to drop barrel bombs on populated civilian, noncombatant areas. continues to use starvation as a tool of the conflict. it continues to target hospitals and doctors, anyone who might be treating anyone who's not serving the regime's interests. >> yeah. >> and what you see in assad, assad is hoping this distraction gives him more leeway to do what he wants within syria and the sense of crisis between the united states and russia and maybe between the europeans and russia as well, also will ensure that the russians will continue to give him a blank check, provide him all the material support that he needs and to give him the kind of political protection to ensure that intervention from the outside

gets blocked in the u.n. and in effect will ensure he can pursue a strategy to decimate the opposition and depopulate parts of syria. >> last question here, presumably even if there is some sort of 11th-hour deal that this government or this government in concert with other western leaders, european leaders as well, if there is a deal that somehow helps to deescalate this crisis, presumably president putin is going to want something in return. if he gets that, hasn't he then won? >> you don't want him to profit from this. you're right. if it looks like he's used force directly and indirectly to achieve something, then that again is a lesson for others that in this day and age, it turns out that hard power is still the way to achieve your interests. so the question is, is he going to be perceived as having won something? at a minimum, even if he doesn't

incorporate crimea but if crimea gets treated the way south ossetia is being treated in georgia meaning they're no longer part of georgia and they're dispute, it will still look like putin gained something. >> ambassador, i enjoyed spending time with you this afternoon. thank you. >> my pleasure. it has been touted as the key to getting into college for decades. but there are big changes coming to the old s.a.t. we'll look at what the changes could mean. then later, there's been a lot of right wing red meat for the conservatives at cpac over the past few days. but has that meat been made a little leaner this year? we'll talk about that. you're watching msnbc. e lesson a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone.

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thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of stressed-out teenagers have just completed an age-old rite of passage. they took their s.a.t.s. for about 1.6 million high school students it remains a critical step in getting into college. but now that test that so many of us detested is getting an overhaul. the idea is to make it more relevant, more compatible with high school coursework. and the changes that will take effect in 2016 include more words commonly used in college courses instead of those arcane words that no one ever uses. the essay portion is now going to be optional. the overall scoring system will return to the old 1600-point scale instate of the scale in place right now. math topics will be narrower. you can use a calculator. is this the overhaul that so many have been calling for for years? les perlman have been critical of the s.a.t. for years, he's

recently retired director of m.i.t. and jane martinez dowling is with the charter school system. les, i want to start with the college board president, david coleman, earlier this week, when he announced the changes this week, he said that the changes should help kids breathe easier. listen. >> there's no mystery as to what success in college and career training requires. it's time for a test that is open so kids can productively practice and ready themselves. >> should kids be breathing a sigh of relief now? >> well, i think the changes will have at least the potential to makes things a lot better and to allow access to more people. one of the things that the changes will do is it will make the test less susceptible to testing or to coaching --

although, i think there will still be coaches out there. >> what do you think? are these changes going to lead to some sort of dramatic effect? will there be a dramatic effect as a result of these changes for students? >> we're certainly hopeful of that. we work with low-income students primarily around the country. as everyone has talked about, the s.a.t. test can be potentially biased to students with more resources -- >> but won't that always be the case? >> so the college board with their opportunity agenda, i think that they're really making an effort to really open up the gateway for all students to be able to compete, to go to college and to be successful in college. >> one of the major criticisms, as you just alluded to there, is that families who have more money have more of an advantage

and there was this clever look he here, a blog, students from families earning more than $200,000 a year on average, there it is right there, it's probably going to take you a while to digest that. students from families earning more than $200,000 a year average a combined score of 1714 out of to 0. while students from families earning under $20,000 average a combined score of 1326. is that a disparity when you look at that graph? is it a disparity rooted merely in welt or is there more at work there? >> there is definitely a disparity and the work we do at kipp. we're focused on the fact that there's a disparity all across the college access and college completion portion of the work. is it income-based or is it based on the academics that students who have more resources

get? it's both. one of the things the college board is trying to do with this initiative, which is really helpful to us, is really give access to kids and open up the doors for students who don't have the same kind of resources for the test. being able to private free online tutoring, all those pieces are huge for our students to be able to become more familiarized with the test -- >> that's a big deal. what folks don't realize about that component, you will be able to watch online video courses, rewind, pause -- it's like having your own personalized s.a.t. tutor there in your home. les, lots has been made of the vocabulary over the years, the english portion of the test. how might changing the vocabulary test from words like depreciator to synthesis -- how

does that -- >> i think, one, it will make lower income communities more equal. it also is going to save freshman writing teachers a lot of time of deprogramming students from thinking that they have to use all those big words in essays. >> go back to the first part of what you said. why is it that you think that's going to make it easier for low-income students? >> well, i think the main reason is simply, again, test prep. that the way test prep worked is they used to teach just by rote all of those big words and so if you had $2,000, you could teach your -- you could enroll your child in a class where they'll learn all those big words which they're never going to use and probably should almost never use in writing. but it will get them higher scores on the s.a.t. >> jane, you've seen a number of

students over the years get into college, go through college and we know that the best -- typically the best way to gauge a child's success in college is not through standardized testing but through high school transcripts. why do we still do this, why do we play this standardized testing game? >> well, the test is a part of an overall assessment process and tool kit. standardized tests have historically been a metric that's used to gauge how all students are doing, right sfl but the search shows high school gpa correlates very much to college persistence and completion. but colleges use it as a metric. we have seen that it correlates how well they do in college. everyone takes it. we are supportive and encouraging of our students to be very, very familiar with the

test and also when they're doing their matching process and looking at their different schools, ensuring that their test scores and their high school scores and what they're interested in preferences aligns with where they end up going to school. that's what makes the most impact, the match. >> a big thanks to both of you. >> thank you. still to come here, 239 flight passengers and crew members missing. two of them may not have been who we thought they were. more ahead on that. this is msnbc. late night? crazy morning? try new olay fresh effects dew over gel moisturizer to wake up skin with a burst of cool hydration, with a hint of powder to help absorb oil for instant beauty sleep, no sleep required. new fresh effects from olay. i can download anything i want. [ girl ] seriously? that's a lot of music. seriously. that's insane. and it's 15 bucks a month for the family. seriously? that's a lot of gold rope. seriously, that's a signature look.

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we continue to follow this breaking news on the passenger plane that is still missing at this hour. the plane vanished about two

hours after taking off from kuala lumpur, malaysia, on its way to beijing. the airline issued a statement this afternoon saying in part, quote, it has been more than 24 hours since we last heard from mh-370. at 1:30 a.m., the search and rescue team is yet to determine the whereabouts of the boeing 777-200 aircraft. that statement from the airline itself. also at this hour, new security fears, u.s. officials are telling nbc news they are investigating terrorism concerns because two people listed as passengers turned out not to be on that plane. those two people say that their passports were stolen. we should note at this hour, there are no clear terror links at this point. but they are looking into it. duncan golestani continues to follow all this from london. duncan, what are investigators pursuing as it relates to those stolen passports specifically? >> reporter: well, it seems like

security services are now looking through all the passengers names that are on the manifest. two passengers who were listed as being on board are safe and well. and one of them reported their passport stolen. nbc news spoke to the foreign ministry in austria. they confirmed to us that one of their citizens had been listed as being on board the malaysian airlines flight to beijing. but when they ran some checks, it came back as telling them that passport had been stolen. they spoke to the man in austria. he was well and he told them he had reported it stolen in thailand two years ago. over in italy, a similar situation, the foreign ministry in rome saying no italian was on board despite one being listed on the manifest. a newspaper there reporting the passport had also been stolen in thailand. we don't know how significant this is. but it's just one of the few facts that has come out over the last 24 hours. craig? >> duncan, quickly, dawn is going to be breaking in that

region around the south china sea shortly. what's ahead for the search efforts there later today? >> so through the night, they've been able to have some vessels out searching the water but no planes. so as dawn breaks, they will be able to get more airplanes out there looking. this is a big, multi-country response. vessels and planes have been coming from china, from singapore, from malaysia, vietn vietnam, the united states is helping by sending a plane. they just need to find some clues, where is the wreckage, where did that plane go down? >> duncan golestani in london, thank you, sir. switching gears here, by now you have likely seen this video. onlookers in daytona beach tuesday horrified as a mother of three apparently deliberately drove her minivan directly into the ocean. her three children were inside that van. quick thinking bystanders kept a

terrifying scene from turning into a deadly tragedy. the mother, ebony wilkerson, was in a florida courtroom this morning. she's charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder. this week, her sister admitted there had been worries about wilkerson's mental health. it's the latest in what appears to be a disturbing trend. people of color who reportedly had contact with law enforcement or a mental health provider before a deadly -- or in this case a potentially deadly incident. dr. janet taylor is a new york-based community psychiatrist. thanks for stopping by. i want to point out, two other notable cases that have taken place over the last six months, in october, a woman attempted to ram her car through a white house security fence before driving toward the capital. that woman was shot and killed by capitol police. her daughter was in the car and was unhurt. in september, lone gunman aaron

alexis shot and killed people at the navy yard. he was killed at the scene. both of those passed with health officials. both of them african-american. simple question here, what are we missing? >> what we're missing is the fact that african-americans have the same incidence of mental health as white americans but it's access to treatment. it's unequal treatment in the case that they may not have health insurance, there's bias and racism that still happens in medicine. and the net-net is you have a potential tragic situation like what happened in florida. so the point is for everyone to know that most mental illness is treatable and to get timely treatment. >> what sort of bias? you mentioned racial bias. >> well, there's bias in medicine in the sense that if someone feels uncomfortable when they walk into your hospital or clinic, they're unlikely to come back. 70% of people who walk into outpatient departments do not come back. we need to make people feel

comfortable and we need to understand culture and language and the impact of when people do not feel comfortable so they can get adequate treatment and end up keeping their appointments and being on medication. in this case, there's no indication other than the fact that ms. wilkerson had been seen in an emergency room and signed herself out, which happened. but there's no indication that she had been undergoing treatment. but the point is, we have to break the stigma against mental illness and certainly support families like her sister who diligently fought to get her treatment so that something like this doesn't happen again. >> you mentioned her sister. she made that 911 call and talked a little bit about her concerns just hours before the incident. is the emergency response system, is it equipped to handle cases of mental distress at all? >> the emergency response system does handle cases. but it's the individual -- in this case, if you have someone who's been seen in an emergency room, she signs herself out against medical advice, the police interact with her and make a decision that she's not a

threat because she seemed lucid -- the fact is, if you want to know what the face of mental illness is, look in the mirror. you can't predict just by how someone looks. in this case, the fact that the sister was saying she needs help, not only had she taken her to an emergency room, she had the police looking for her. institutionally, we miss the signs that could have helped her and helped her children. and certainly if you are concerned about someone and they are responsible for three minors, take them to the emergency room. let a health care professional assess them and make the decision about whether they need more treatment or whether they can go. but in the interaction, a brief interaction is nearly impossible to determine who's going to be most at risk. >> you just said something there. you say you force these people to go to the hospital, you take these three people -- you undoubtedly are familiar with situations where you can't force-commit these adults. then what are you left to do?

>> at least you know they have been adequately assessed before they can go. we have to protect people's rights but let a health care professional make that determination, not a police officer necessarily and not someone who can just think they can look at someone and determine their dangerousness. >> thank you for talking about that. the "brain trust" is here, by the way. our weekly gathering of the best and brightest. lynn sweet with "the chicago sun times," esther and amy. i want to pick up where dr. taylor left off there. she said something that i've heard before. when you know in your family when you have someone who is mentally ill, has a history of mental illness and everyone in the family knows this and no one really does anything about it -- it's just sort of a wink-wink, nod-nod, oh that's just cousin

such-and-such, they'll be fine and then all of a sudden something like this happens and then everyone says, oh, there were all these signs that we missed. what are we left to do, if you can't compel -- especially if you can't compel people to get help, if you can't force them to get mental health check-ups? what are we left to do? >> it's a tough question. coercing someone or rather against their will is very difficult to do, legally. very difficult to get someone committed because they're mentally ill. i'd also point out the tragic case of andrea yates who killed her children, drowned them in her bathtub. she'd been seeing a psychiatrist for quite some time who knew she had these mental health issues. so even seeking treatment isn't always a cure in these situations. sometimes tragedies just happen. >> and there is a stigma still attached to mental illness in our community. >> absolutely. i think it's important to note that the combination of access

to treatment -- treatment as opposed to stigmatizing a black female body as opposed to criminalizing that black female body, impacts the way in which folks of african disease access the health system in the first place. it's not true that people don't want to get help but the way the help looks and presents itself doesn't always feel like help. >> lynn, i want to bring you in. after the break, i want to talk about cpac and what's happening this year versus what's happened in years past. we'll talk about that and we'll also talk about why condoleezza rice is not getting a warm reception in the garden state. . but, manufacturing in the united states means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources

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the "brain trust" is back. i sometimes wish we could turn a camera on during the commercials. lynn sweet there in d.c., esther armah and amy holmes from "the blaze." let's turn to politics here.

the conservative political action conference, cpac, wrapping up its meetings today in maryland this afternoon. former house speaker newt gingrich, i understand, took the podium a short time ago. this is one of the points he made. >> if our movement is primarily anti-obama, we will in fact reduce the number of victories we should win this fall. if we spend the next three years being primarily anti-hillary, we will virtually guarantee her election. >> like the father speaking to children there, lynn sweet. how do you think conservatives took that message? >> well, my guess is that these words will be largely ignored because running against president obama and hillary clinton is a pretty -- that's like politics 101 for a lot of the republicans. but as newt gingrich pointed out, who is a very good strategist for everyone except himself in his own failed

presidential bid, he has a reasonable point to make that if that's all you have to do is to be against something, you're not talking about what you're for, which is a theme that senator cruz talked about the other day and he got in trouble with that one because he disrespected former senator bob dole. >> and john mccain as well. you've been a number of times. i don't think you've ever been to cpac. you correct me if i'm wrong. >> you have to go, esther. you'll have a great time. >> if you haven't read "the daily beast" piece, it's humorous in terms of describing the scene this year. >> like i would trust "the daily beast". >> but in the past, you admit there's been a great deal of fiery rhetoric used. >> of course. >> this year, michelle caudle noted that things appeared to be different. "for the most part, the major speakers stayed even keeled and nonhysterical, every now and again, you got the sneaking suspicion that they got the same

moment, warning that the party needs to stop being seen as so negative and critical and scary and mean and anti-everything. based on folks you've talked to, was it different this year in that regard? >> this is where conservatives convene. and you have tea partiers, conservatives, republicans and people throw red meat particularly during a presidential season, for example. this is leading into 2014. so it surprises me that perhaps there was less of that. but you have a very open field. and contrary, actually to this idea of republicans don't have any ideas of moving forward, that's actually been something republicans have been talking a lot about. paul ryan putting out his budget, senator mike lee from utah sponsoring positive legislation talking about criminal justice reform. but one thing to note about cpac that the media rarely shows the audience is that it's a lot of young people. thousands and thousands of college students. i actually covered cpac for bill maher's hbo show. and a lot of them were fans of his. so it's not as radical right wing as you might expect.

>> there are a lot of libertarians there as well. >> lots and lots. >> this is a live picture -- i can't make out who es oo on the stage right now. but this is a live picture as they wrap up things there in maryland. >> it's a lot of young people, a lot of white people as well. >> that is undeniable. i don't know if you saw the picture from earlier in the week of the minority outreach forum that was conducted -- >> that title alone is -- >> but the room itself was empty. did you see -- i don't think we have a picture of the image. lynn, did you see that picture? >> no, i did not. >> did you get over to cpac, by the way? >> no, not this year. but i've been in the past. and it's always been youth oriented. and that's been a remarkable point. but for some activists and potential activists, this has been a point of entry. it's also a big social networking event, too, for a lot of republican young people who want to get internships or just get into the -- into different

movements or different parts of the republican parties. so that's a big reason why it has the reputation as the place to be. >> john boehner not invited this year. although senator mitch mcconnell who is facing a primary challenge from a tea partier, he was there. came out with the gun over his head. and there were some folks who surmised that was so that he would not necessarily be booed. >> incorrectly, by the way. >> it was an award. >> it was an award. certainly made a great picture and a very good one for kentucky. >> i think the thing that's really important is that as we inch closer towards 2016, we've been witnessing a conservative party in fragments for quite some time. as we move closer towards 2016, it's hardly surprising that there is a more -- there is a louder stop critiquing president obama message if you intend to ever win a presidential election again. that's not surprising. the thing that i think is more surprising is the ideas that you speak about. whilst there's validity to that, i don't think the nation feels

they're being spoken to about this so-called positive legislation. >> and probably also doesn't help that a lot of the platforms that you mention -- when you have the messengers -- when the messengers don't look like anyone in the audience that they're trying to reach, that doesn't help. you know that. >> well, when you're talking about smaller government, expanding liberty -- rand paul got a huge round of applause on nsa wiretapping. we need to look at cpac the event. and remember that chris christie was invited this year where he was not invited last year because he wasn't considered conservative enough. but it looks like at least cpac is trying to to have a broader tent, a bigger tent and bring more people in. >> i don't think it's trying to do that. >> by inviting chris christie, it's doing that. >> i want to switch gears. i want to talk about this growing opposition on the campus to a decision by administrators at rutgers university to invite former secretary of state

condoleezza rice to deliver this year's commencement address. professor rudy bell defended the faculty's opposition in an interview here yesterday with tamron >> the point is that a controversial choice of this kind done without serious faculty consultation, i know that no faculty consultation that was done, for those of us who are in the opposition, it is crucial the participation in what we consider to be human rights violations. >> is it the lack of consultation that concerns you or is it specifically dr. rice? >> it is both. >> does this strike you as odd coming from an institution of higher learning? that question on the other side of this break. [ male announcer ] prilosec otc is the number one doctor recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. it's not the "juggle a bunch of rotating categories" card.

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call... today. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? back to the question i posed before the break, does it strike you as odd coming from an institution of higher learning that they would stop condoleezza

rice to coming from the university as a commencement speaker because of her role in 2003 and run-up to the war in iraq. "dr. rice is a highly accomplished and respected diplomat, scholar and author and we are excited that she has agreed to address our graduates and guests at commencement. lynn sweet, does it strike you as odd? >> this is ridiculous. she's a former secretary of state. during her time there were some controversies. this is such a mainstream choice. there may be some times and some places where an administration goofs and asks somebody who maybe on second thought should maybe not have been invited or who does not have a -- who does not speak from truthfulness or

from accuracy, but condoleezza rice is a respected secretary of state who had been involved in controversies. so by far that does not in any way -- it seems ridiculous that this is even a controversy. by the way, it sounded just in the clip that you guys just televised that the bone to pick that the faculty member had really was that he wasn't consulted. it doesn't seem like much of a rigorous intellectual argument. >> i think both of you actually agree here. >> i disagree. >> really? you think he should be barred from speaking? >> i think the challenging of her is fair. >> but this is a university. if we cannot celebrate freedom of speech and thought here, where can we celebrate it? >> a university is also about

critical thinking, critical analysis. sometimes political chickens can come home to roost. her presence being challenged is completely acceptable. i certainly concede the point that there's an issue around consultation and if that's the issue, then that becomes petty. >> the united states senators voted to authorize the president to go to war in iraq. >> and they've been speaking all over this country ever since, writing books? >> indeed. and we had columbia university that invaded ahmadinejad to speak. that was disgraceful. i think it's all too predictable that you have left wing campus faculty that want to inhibit free speech on campus. >> but you can challenge somebody's record. >> i'm going to have to -- >> nobody negates she's accomplished. >> i'm going to limit your speech here because we're out of time.

lynn, esther, amy, thank you. that's going to do it for us today. thank you so much for watching. i'll be back tomorrow. first up, "disrupt" with karen finney. ♪ ♪

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