this morning, my question, what do we mean when we say inner city men. plus, pope francis celebrates a year with many challenges still ahead. and the new efforts to suppress the vote that aren't even city subtle. first, russian troops positioned on the border of ukraine as crimea's referendum vote approaches and the world is watching for what comes next. good morning. i'm jonathan capehart in for melissa harris-perry. 16 hours. that's the amount of time the world will have to wait in the geopolitical chess match between russia and ukraine. crimea is caught in the middle. escalation of events right before the people of crimea vote in sunday's referendum on

whether or not to realign with the russian federation has many on edge. from russia massive troops along the eastern border in at least three regions on thursday to german chancellor angela merkel warning russia that it risks, quote, massive economic and political consequences if it continues on to secretary of state john kerry meeting with russian foreign ministers sergei lavrov on friday where their talks broke down after five hours to president obama addressing the conflict in the region as he was meeting with irish prime minister edna kenny. >> we continue to hope that there's a diplomatic solution to the problem, but the united states and europe stand united, not only in its message about ukrainian sovereignty but there will be consequences if that sovereignty continues to be violated. >> u.s. officials have made

clear they see no signs that the referendum vote could be postponed. it is now less than 16 hours to a vote that could have far reaching reap percussions and consequences including serious concerns about military action. the clock is ticking and more importantly as they await vladimir putin's next moch. let's go to richard engel who has the latest news out of crimea. >> reporter: jonathan, preparations are underway for this weekend's referendum in crimea where the people will determine if they want to stay as part of ukraine because technically this is still part of ukraine or break away and join up with russia. the results, however, may be a forlorn conclusion because russian troops, thousands of them here in crimea, and pro russia militias already control crimea. they control the airport, the parliament, the train stations, the roads, the question is what

will happen in eastern ukraine. there was also a large russian-speaking pro russia population in eastern ukraine and for the last two days there have been violent slashes there and quite ominously moscow has said that russia will do whatever is necessary to protect russian speakers in eastern ukraine, and that is the same rationale that moscow gave before it intervened here in crimea. jonathan. >> nbc's richard engel in crimea. thank you. as we said, in less than 16 hours, starting at 8:00 a.m. local time sunday the people of crimea will vote between two options, whether they are in favor of their autonomous republic reuniting and being subject to russia or whether they want to stay part of ukraine and restore the constitution of the republic of crimea from 1992. that is where things get tricky. the first voting option is clear. good-bye ukraine, hello russia. but the second one is not exactly a ringing endorsement to stay with ukraine.

what the 1992 constitution would do is make crimea an independent entity within ukraine. that still means ukraine could chart its own course and choose its own international partners including russia. as of right now the consensus is that it belongs to vladimir putin. after meeting with the russian foreign minister yesterday, secretary of state john kerry indicated putin is in no rush to make that move. >> after much discussion the foreign minister made it clear that president putin is not prepared to make any decision regarding ukraine until after the referendum on sunday. >> and to be quite frank, putin doesn't have to make a move. for one thing, the vote is expected to go in putin's favor given the ethnic makeup of crimea. according to the latest census in the region of crimea, nearly 60% of the population is made up of ethnic russians, and with thousands of russian troops gathered at the ukrainian border

for exercises, the question isn't when will putin make his next move but, rather, just how worried should we be that his move will involve troop movement over the ukrainian border. ats the table nina kuscheva at the new school and the grand daughter of former leader nikita khrushchev. jilani cobb who spent a year in russia teaching at moscow state university. lisa cook, my old neighbor and associate professor of economics and international relations at michigan state university whose dissertation and current research are on russia and the former soviet union including ukraine and adrian karitnitsky. thank you all for being here. adrian, you were the last one to be introduced but you're going to be the first one to get a question. from an historical perspective, how significant is the vote on sunday to the future of ukraine and russia?

>> i think it's significant not only for ukraine and russia, it's significant for the configuration of the international order in the post cold war world. this is the most serious threat to an orderly world and an orderly respect for borders and sovereignty since the collapse of the soviet union. much more dramatic in terms of its lethality or potential mayhem than the breakup of ug gee slou yugoslavia. people are worried throughout the country. people are packing in their homes supplies, preparing for potentially terrible things. i think it's a terrible thing for ukrainians. i think it's a terrible thing for the russian economy and it's a terrible thing for the international order. >> can you talk about what part does the region of crimea play? we're talking about ukraine but all the action is on crimea. >> the action is in crimea but there's action in the eastern

territories. if we were contained to crimea people would be nervous and upset but a little less edgy. you know, there are thousands of russian thugs who have been imported to conduct often under the direction of the russian security services protests and violent operations, stabbing of people, et cetera, and creating mayhem in the eastern territories to sort of create a sense that ukraine is chaotic and needs some kind of a peacekeeping operation by russia. that's why the crimean episode, which will be terrible, the reconfiguring of borders without mutual concept of the sovereign nation is itself a problem, but this is magnified by the possibility of mayhem, by the possibility of it spreading much further and wider. >> nina, why is ukraine so important to vladimir putin? it seems as though he's almost obsessed with ukraine. >> he's obsessed with ukraine as many russian leaders and soviet leaders before him, he's not that original. there are two countries in fact that soviet and russian leaders are obsessed with, one is

georgia and there was a russian war with georgia in 2008 which annexed to parts of georgia and now it is ukraine, but ukraine even more so. it's a dear neighbor. it has been a dear neighbor until a couple of months ago which is in itself inconceivable. also originally, i know it's a very trite observation, but originally we were one country. it was keeping russia in the beginning of the existence of russians. we as russians are almost nothing without ukraine. so that's why this story is so big and so big for the russians today. i mean, there are huge moscow protests today in support of the referendum but also against vladimir putin and referendum with hands off and there are over 20,000 -- 20,000 people, which is rather large in moscow. >> lisa, you -- >> can i say one thing really quickly? during the time in moscow at

moscow state university i attended the may 9th celebration which is the end of world war ii. tremendous, tremendous celebration there and while i was there a young man comes up to me, he hears me speaking english and he says, are you american? i said, you know, yes, i am. he says, i don't like americans. and the so i respond and ask him why he doesn't like americans. he said, because you all are trying to turn ukraine against us. and so in a bigger sense what we're looking at is kind of the psychological implications of this. you know, with ukraine the idea of ukraine being part of russia and its fate somehow being a barometer of where the population is in the post cold war -- cold war world. >> why do they think the united states is trying to turn ukraine against russia? >> well -- >> i mean, i know there's a whole -- >> we all have answers. >> so certainly with respect to economics there have been

agreements that have been tried, an imf program has been in place and then suspended for ukraine. in that sense they see the e.u. on the borders of ukraine and if democracy and if capitalism come to ukraine and to every part of that region, this accountability -- this kind of accountability will be at russia's doorstep and that's why russia is really fearful. and i would agree with nina, that's why putin would be very fearful. i think this is the classic confusion between the state and a personality and i think that putin certainly sees himself as the state and if you read his biography closely first person, you see that he talks about the reason that there are so many rusophobes in eastern europe are because of mistakes.

and hungary and check slowe slovakia. >> and then crimea. >> whatever happens in ukraine this weekend, we've already seen promises of reaction from around the world. that part of the story is next. try alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heart burn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. alka-seltzer fruit chews. enjoy the relief! ♪ ♪ no two people have the same financial goals. pnc works with you to understand yours and help plan for your retirement. visit a branch or call now for your personal retirement review. ♪

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we believe the referendum is contrary to the constitution of ukraine, is contrary to international law, is in violation of that law and we believe it is i will legitimate. and as the president put it, illegal under the ukrainian constitution. neither we nor the international community will recognize the results of this referendum. that was the strongly worded statement from u.s. secretary of state john kerry on friday after meeting with russian foreign minister sergei lavrov about the

crimean referendum vote and russia's future plans for the referendum. nina, i want to start with you and bring up something that was said by -- more strongly worded, strong words from another american politician yesterday. senator mccain who's in ukraine with other members -- other senators. wrote an op ed called obama has made america look weak writing, but in a broader sense, crimea has exposed the disturbing lack of realism that has characterized our foreign policy under president obama. it is this world view or lack of one that must change. so, could president obama have done anything differently to get a different reaction or result out of president putin? >> i think they could -- they should have paid more attention to ukraine before the crisis broke because it did seem that the crisis came as a great surprise to the administration when it first began in november when ukraine -- president viktor

yanokovych signed that. this is one issue. i have to agree with mccain on this. he was involved in the ukraine. i think it is about -- it is about barack obama's weakness. the problem with his leadership is maybe if we want to call it this way is not really a way to tell -- is not a way for putin to say, oh, i have an opportunity, i'm going to go and invade another country. so it should not be zero sum game. >> lisa. >> so, i would just like to say that i think john mccain has misplaced his -- his ire or his displeasure. i think congress made the united states look weak. certainly the senate came up with a plan to help ukraine. it needed economic aid quickly. this is where there can't be equivocation. they sent him to crimea to --

without anything. without anything in hand because of the imf reforms that needed to be done that we said that we would do in 2010. no one in -- it could be an inflatable doll sitting in the white house who i think wouldn't have been able to do a better job. did george w bush do a better job? he looked in putin's eyes and he saw something. >> he saw his soul. >> he saw his soul and his soul just ran under the wheels of tanks that rolled into georgia. so i -- i am -- i would say that certainly we should have paid more attention to ukraine. we should pay more attention to that area of the world in general, but i would argue that john mccain needed something when he showed up because he has been engaged in central and eastern europe. >> we're going to talk more about the economics in the bills that congress didn't move on. adrian. >> i want it say in defense of the president, the president did make a calculated strategic decision that the -- you know,

that asia and the problems of the middle east were the strategic focus of his foreign policy. he thought this was all quiet on the western front, and unfortunately history has bitten him, but he has really stepped up. i believe the united states is leading. i think the united states is way ahead of the europeans, they have, i think, a set of very substantial and muscular measures they are going to take if putin continues with this aggression. i think russia's going to pay a very big economic price. this is going to be a big bite in mr. putin's pocketbook and i think the u.s. has quickly moved in and realized that we've got to recalibrate. they are recalibrating. >> go ahead. i'm sorry. >> there's another set of concerns here, and this is why i think vladimir putin is embolden. he knows the united states is really hedging thinking about its influence in iran and the nuclear program. that's what's beneath this. and also its influence in syria. >> right. >> i think he's saying you're

really balancing this out. do you want crimea or do you want iran? which is a bigger strategic priority? >> i disagree. if russia is behaving in such a dishonorable and unpredictable way, it will not be a predictable partner to solve either iran or syria. i think it throws into question the whole strategy. russia cannot be used as an anchor. >> i want to say they're actually both right. it is true that putin is calculating that you need me so i can do whatever i want and at the same time if he's so unpredictable, why on earth do we need him? my point is not my beef with barack obama at all. my beef is with vladimir putin, we're a european nation and suddenly really act and lectures barack obama in that famous "new york times" piece and yet goes into ukraine saying, i'm going to save you, i'm going o it save you, i'm the messianic leader. that is a problem. >> i'm glad you brought that up. if you go back to that time piece, the one thing that putin says at the outset is that, you

know, we cannot afford to have unsanctioned aggression against, you know, sovereign nations and, you know, this will only undermine the u.n. and we'll wind up back where we were with the league of nations. then he turns around and brings in all of these forces on the border of crimea so -- >> up next, the real cost of secession. how good old-fashioned money factors in to all of this next. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] with five perfectly sweetened whole grains... you can't help but see the good. ♪

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with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. when it comes down to it, one of the biggest issues in the ukraine versus russia's saga is money. ukraine has been caught in the middle between staying loyal with russia and seeking to be part of the european union since the 1990s, but the region in the middle is crimea. while ukraine has said crimea will be financed as normal and russia is ready to provide $1 billion in the region, crimea

stands to lose a lot if it declares independence and ukraine decides to cut it off. crimea gets more than 85% of water and electricity and 60% of the water from the main land. kiev funds 800 million of the $1.2 billion annual regional public budget. ukraine also faces financial uncertainty as it needs $20 billion this year and is seeking international loans and aid but ukraine may be out of luck since the u.s. congress couldn't come to an agreement on an aid package and is now in recess. so, lisa, what is the difference between the two aid deals that the senate and house were proposing? >> so, the big thing -- the big difference between the two was the senate one included imf reforms and the house -- a number of house republicans object to those reforms. >> including the speaker who said that this -- imf has

nothing to do with ukraine, but the administration says the imf reforms absolutely have to do -- >> that's right. >> -- with ukraine. >> that's right. >> are you able to explain that? >> yes. yes. so, what is being proposed is that we switch some money from one account that we have at the imf to another account to be able to help quickly a more general fund that we're giving money to to make sure that the quota for ukraine is increased. increasing the quota means we can help it more and we can help it more rapidly. if we don't, that means that our standing within the imf is compromised. of course, we still have a large voting share, but we become less and less credible. we made the commitment in 2010 to this reform so this was put in place, this fund, that we have money in, that we would like to shift money to, was for emergencies. it was for the 2009 crisis. so, don't you think it's about time that we shift it back? and this would have given us the

teeth to be credible in imf negotiations. the reason i say this is because i helped to negotiate the first post genocide imf program in rwanda. you've got to have everything on the table up front. they have to know what they're dealing with, and they have to know that it is credible because it will not work. we saw this in the asian financial crisis. if we know that the imf program or whatever program is coming is not credible, then it will not be taken seriously by the parties involved. >> if i'm not mistaken, the united states is the only nation -- remaining nation to ratify this. everyone else has -- >> that's right. that's right. that's right. we've already agreed to it. we've already agreed to it in principle and everybody else has agreed to it. >> now, adrian, you help investors in corporations who are looking to extend their reach into russia and eastern europe, so how could ukraine suffer if russia cuts them off from their gas supply? >> well, not only would ukraine suffer, but central europe and

southern europe would be denied the energy. >> you see the map showing the pipe lines that run through ukraine that move into europe. >> absolutely. you know, so it's a mutually dependent. gas prong shares have been plummeting precisely because people are worried that europe will be diverting its purchases and seeking lng and other sources. russian oil, 50% of russian oil is bought by the european union. that is an easily substitutable process. business men in russia today are talking about russia heading into a deep recession. the market is down. the currency is down 15%. the market is down 15%. some stocks are trading way down. of course, people make money on shorting as well, but -- you know, but the point is in the real world mr. putin is stirring up a hornet's nest that will bite ukraine and the stability of russia. >> i think one of the most interesting things that happened, i think this is the

real canary in the coal mine, the chairman of gas prong sold all of his shares in gas prong. gas prong used to be -- >> right before the crimean invasion. >> right before the crimean invasion. it used to be if it were valued properly the largest by value company in the world. he has zero shares in gas prong. >> that is -- that's incredible. >> so we can talk about investors being skiddish. that's worse than skiddish. >> the technical term for that is freaked out. stay with us, we know russia and ukraine have a lot riding on the referendum in crimea, but for one country in particular the stakes are especially high with millions of lives hanging in the balance. that story is next. salesperson #1: the real deal's the passat tdi clean diesel gets up to 795 highway miles per tank. salesperson #2: actually, we're throwing in a $1,000 fuel reward card. we've never done that. that's why there's never been a better time to buy a passat tdi clean diesel. husband: so it's like two deals in one?

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do next, the one country that could be most affected is syria. four reports illustrate that dire circumstances that the syrians face. a report by unicef estimates 9.3 syrians are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. since march of 2013, the number of children affected by the conflict more than doubled from 2.3 million to 5.5 million. often wednesday u.n. general secretary ban ki-moon appealed to both the u.s. and russia to revive stalled peace talks to end the civil war in syria, but while russia and the u.s. focus on the escalating tensions within ukraine, syrian leader bashar al assad is said to be taking advantage of the situation. he's going forward with plans to crush the opposition and securing re-election for another seven years. for more on that, let's go to nbc's chief global correspondent bill neeley in damascus, syria. >> reporter: good morning, jonathan.

when people here want to show their support for president assad, they'll wave the syrian flag but they'll also wave the russian flag. russia is president assad's main backer supplying him with arms, equipment and money and giving him diplomatic cover at the u.n. security council. russia has blocked a number of western resolutions against president assad in recent years. for russia, it's a matter of national interest, both here and in ukraine and it centers on russia's navy. here the russians have ships at the syrian port of tartuse. that they want to defend just as in ukraine. their black sea fleet is based in savatsvol. people here feel somewhat resentful. they feel that the world is for getting syria, for getting its problems after three years and, remember, today is the third anniversary of the day protests began against president assad.

so the crisis in ukraine, no question it's the biggest crisis europe has faced since the end of the cold war, but this is the worst war in the world at the moment. 140,000 dead. the world's worst humanitarian crisis. this appears to be a war without end. from damascus, jonathan, back to you. >> that was nbc's bill neely from da mass ka. nina, how important is the russia/ukraine conflict to what ultimately happens in syria? >> i think it is very important, first of all, as the correspondent said. it is the largest war we're now facing or the most famous before ukraine. u crane's story came in, but also it really shows how dangerous vladimir putin is. first he was keeping syria away from repercussions for what he's doing to his people and now he's

creating a very, very serious crisis in ukraine. i think the condensation should be about putin even more because he increasingly acts like a rogue state president. so in many decisions, on sanctions and visas, visa bans and whatnot, this should be taken into consideration more than ever before because he's now responsible for partially responsible for two crisis, one in the middle of europe and another one in the middle east. >> is it safe to say that assad is emboldened by putin's action by ukraine. >> absolutely. >> is that a stretch? >> no. >> this is something that it depends on, that russia depends on, that as soon as we were distracted by something like an olympics, there would be another plan that is in the works so that they can operate in terms of foreign policy to achieve their goals, to achieve their foreign policy. >> i want to do a little bit of a reality check. i think there is such a thing as over stretch.

keep in mind that the economy of russia is about the size of the economy of italy. apart from nukes, the veto at the united nations and an overly robust military -- >> those are three big things. >> those are three big things but mr. putin doesn't have a lot of extras to be dominating and playing that kind of a role in the world. partly, you know, yes, it's the u.n. -- the u.n. gives him disproportionate power but i think the problem is his behavior in ukraine puts into question whether he will be a team player on all of these other issues. >> if russia stays distracted and that's probably a flip word to use considering what's happening in ukraine, but if putin is dealing with ukraine, is there anybody who bashar al assad will actually listen to to rachet down what bill neely accurately called the worst war in the world? i stumped the panel. >> no. the iranians. i mean, look, russia's game is not friendship to the syrian

people or even to the orthodox christian authority. it's really all about oil. it's really about the game with iran. if iran becomes more -- iran is not subject to sanctions, the russian strangle hold on oil and gas becomes far less important. there are alternative routes. age zer bay januaryian oil can move more slowly towards europe. that's the game. the game that he's playing in being a disrupter and encouraging this instability is all about gas routes, all about trade routes and keeping europe much more dependent on russian gas. >> were you going to say something? >> i agree with you. >> and there are many ways to diversify. so this is -- this could be fleeting. shell is one company that has showed up in the ukraine and is thinking about mining and making sure that the gas reserves there are exploited so putin is living in this world of thinking not it

has a monopoly on a number of different economic relationships and one could argue that this is the ultimate strategy, but there are many other things that can be done. oil can be gotten from norway and could be done so easily. so -- and it's less dependent, european union is less dependent on russian oil, russian gas as it was in 2009. >> just quickly. because he's relying on military industrial conflicts and we know once you invest in military industrial complex, it eventually will fall. that's what i think will eventually happen with vladimir putin. >> there's one map we didn't get to show that i want them to put on the board and that is the map of the ukraine and where the russian troops are been amassing on the border to show how serious this is. when we talk about putin being distracted, just how serious this situation is in ukraine and the repercussions that will have around the world from syria to, as you mentioned i think in an earlier answer, iran.

as you can see there, there's the map. the location of russian troops basically circling the eastern part of ukraine. thank you dr. nina khrushchev. up next, my letter of the week goes to the member of congress who was all too articulate. we know what you said and we definitely know what you meant. [ bubbles, baby giggling ] [ mom ] when we're having this much fun, why quit? and new bounty has no quit in it either. watch how one sheet of new bounty keeps working, while their two sheets just quit. new bounty. the no-quit picker-upper. a seven day cruise to alaska or the caribbean from just $549. that's seven days to either marvel at mayan ruins... savor the very best local flavors... or sail in glistening glacier bay. with a cruise line voted best in alaska.

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even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work and so there's a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with. >> 24 hours worth of backlash later congressman ryan's office said after reading the transcript of yesterday morning's interview it is clear i was inarticulate about the point i was trying to make. i was not implicating the culture of one community but as society as a whole. get that? he didn't mean inner cities in particular, he meant society as a whole. the congressman went on to say that, quote, i have witnessed amazing people fighting against great odds with impressive success in poor communities. we can learn so much from them and that is where this conversation should given. if one thing is clear about all of congressman ryan's comments this week, it's that he does, indeed, have much to learn. so i thought i'd help begin that conversation today with a letter. dear congressman ryan, it's me,

jonathan. by now you know we know exactly who you were referring to when you were talking about those men in the inner city. your congressional colleague barbara lee of california made it plain when she said, congressman ryan's comments about inner city poverty are a thinly veiled racial attack and cannot be tolerated. let's be clear, when mr. ryan says inner city, when he says culture, these are simply code words for what he really means, black. presumably, con man, this insight into the minds of inner city black men came from speaking to them directly since according to the washington post you spent much of last year quietly visiting inner city neighborhoods. i sincerely applaud your effort, but if you came to the conclusion that their culture was to blame for black male unemployment being near double the national average, i can't help but wonder if you learned anything during your visit, because if you had, you would have known that the existence of the inner city and the problems

of those who are confined within it is no accident. rather, it was the end result of discriminatory housing policies enacted decades ago by federal, state and local governments that created a cycle of residential segregation for black people that persists to this day. you might have learned that policies like red lining and restrictive covenants and the departure of manufacturing and commerce from cities created pockets of generational poverty that were all but inescapable for people who were left behind. so you wouldn't have been surprised to see a graph like this showing unemployment has consistently been more than double that the rate of white americans for nearly four decades. and that the recession exacerbated those problems for black men in particular because they were over represented in the manufacturing and construction jobs that were hit hardest by the recession. congressman, if you had looked around when you visited those communities, you would have

understood that what you were seeing was the consequence of that concentration of poverty. you would have noticed the failing schools without the resources to provide their students with a quality education and perhaps you would have reached the same conclusion as the bureau of labor statistics, that education, not the tail spin of culture, is one of the most reliable indicators of future employment and income. congressman, did you listen, i mean really listen to the stories of those men in those communities? did you hear them tell of being targeted by racial profiling, discriminatory drug enforcement laws and "the cycle" of incarceration that keeps them shut out of not only job opportunities but also housing and the right to vote? so, no. the problems plaguing the inner city aren't created by that, they are the indirect result of government policies and it's going to take progressive government policies to solve them which means you were right about one thing, congressman, to end the intergenerational cycle of joblessness and poverty,

there is a group of taxpayers supported inner city people who definitely have to learn something about the culture of work, namely you and the rest of your colleagues in the do-nothing congress in washington, d.c. sincerely, jonathan. tartar means less scraping. so i'm going pro. [ male announcer ] new crest tartar protection rinse. the only rinse that helps prevent tartar build-up and cavities. a little swishing. less scraping. yes! [ male announcer ] new crest pro-health tartar protection rinse. it helps you escape the scrape. ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] with five perfectly sweetened whole grains... you can't help but see the good.

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tomorrow is the annual st. patrick's day parade in boston. saint patrick's day is a big deal in boston to say the least, especially in southy, a neighborhood that takes a great deal of pride in its irish american and working class roots. the parade celebrates the patron state of ireland and evacuation day when bostonians drove them out in 1776. the parade has been going on for 113 years and every year it draws between 500,000 and 1 million people to south boston. it is a celebration of city

pride, cultural pride and patriotism, but for at least 20 years lgbt bostonians have been banned. the last time they marched was in 1992 and 1993 even though in '92 some spectators they threw beer cans. in 1993 they canceled the parade rather than allowing an irish american lgbt american to march. in 1995 they ruled in a unanimous decision that it was a private affair and they were well within their right to ban anyone. no amount of talking has changed that. in the meantime, massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage the very first state to do so, even the military allows openly gay people to serve now. the parade's private organizers, the south boston allied war

veterans council say that allowing openly gay groups to march would harm the parade's image as a family friendly institution. this is the same family friendly institution where 336 citations were issued for public drinking last year. there were also 26 arrests at last year's parade, mostly for disorderly conduct. this year there was hope for change -- there was hope for change, boston's new mayor martin walsh tried to broker a deal and briefly organizers said gay veterans could march under the van nerve mass equality but now the deal has fallen apart with accusations of lying and double dealing on both sides. joining me, michael pepper, theology professor at fordham university. jelani cobb. reverend samuel cruz, lutheran minister of church and society and reverend paul rauschenbush.

i'm sorry, paul. joining us live from boston is jim o'sullivan. jim, i want to come to you first. what was different this year that the organizers and lgbt groups almost had a deal after 20 years? why did it fall apart? >> well, i think it was different this year because you had a new mayor coming in. he had a decade history of supporting lgbt rights. he wanted to put a win on the board. he took a different style to the parade organizers. monino had been different. i'm not going to march either if you don't let them march. walsh tried to broker a deal and use his goodwill in south boston and with the gay rights activists to try to put it together. what happened is what often happens in these situations, the pesky media folks got involved and started to spill out in the newspaper. when the details got out the gay

right groups, it split them up and the internal politicking took it apart. >> jim, how big a deal is the parade? how important is it symbolically for these groups to march and for the organizers to keep them out? >> well, the parade is one of the signature events of boston's sort of storied political culture. it's preceded by a breakfast that's really a roast. that's the marquis annual event. so the idea that the symbolism that folks would be excluded is bothersome to a lot of people here. massachusetts, a lot of people in massachusetts take pride that it's been in the forefront of a lot of progressive causes, particularly gay rights. it bothers some people. it's -- it bothers folks in south boston that they're sort of tarred as, you know, in many cases bigots. >> i want to bring the conversation to you. how big -- how important is a parade in terms of a cultural symbol to civil rights movements? >> well, it's very important.

it's crucial. what happened here is when we think about the notable civil rights issues in the 20th century, one of the things that we found again and again around social institutions are people saying, well, you know, it's not that we're bigots, we have these particular values or we have businesses that say, well, we don't really have a problem hiring black people but our customers would and so on. i think that becomes -- that's the issue that makes it a little bit trickier in terms of navigating this. at the fundamental level it ends up being bigotry ensconced in tradition. >> yeah. i did some looking into the new york parade, and this is one of the oldest parades. it predates the declaration of independence. some have described it in the 1850s as a festival of memory, meaning this is an institution, a parade that looks back and thinks about what we have, what we've gained and what i think is a challenge for these parades because new york is going through the exact same thing on

monday is what can be done to make it a festival of now and of the future and looking at the future generations of gay irish americans who want to be included in this festival of memory that is also a festival of what it will mean in the 21st century to be an irish american. >> jim, there's talk about sam adams boycotting the parade in boston. how big a deal is that? or is it just -- >> i think it was a pretty good p.r.coup for sam adams to stand with the mayor. very, very few politicians are choosing to march this year. you're seeing the institutional political support for the parade organizers' thoughts erode a little bit. their position is becoming i think increasingly untenable as the political leadership backs away from it. >> thank you. coming up next, the pope

francis effect. one year later we'll take a closer look at his rising star and lingering challenges. what will his second year bring? and pulitzer prize winning doris kern goodwin joins us live. more nerdland at the top of the hour. okay, listen up! i'm re-workin' the menu. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™.

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of heart or blood-vessel problems or if you develop new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping, and unusual dreams. my quit date was my son's birthday, and that was my gift for him and me. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. welcome back. i'm jonathan capehart in for melissa harris-perry. we have a lot to get to this hour including pope francis. we begin the dramatic overnight developments regarding missing malaysia airlines flight 370. earlier today malaysia's prime minister held a press conference and said it left apparently as a result of deliberate action by someone aboard.

>> this movement consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane. in view of this latest development malaysian authorities have refocused the investigation into the crew and passengers on board. >> the prime minister also said that despite media speculation that the plane may have been hijacked, authorities are continuing to investigate all possibilities and as part of that investigation in malaysia this morning there are reports that police search the homes of the flight's pilot and co-pilot. for more on that we go now to nbc's kier simmons in kuala lumpur. what can you tell us about the developments today? >> reporter: good morning. that news conference that you showed there was held here, it was sobering. it was dramatic.

another one of the dramatic things that was announced is that they have this whole area where they think the plane may finally have been detected before it really did disappear and a whole large part of that is over land. so effectively they were saying that it isn't necessarily the case that the plane went -- missing. >> thank you. obviously we have some technical difficulties with his signal but we will continue to update on this story as developments come in today. for now we turn to rome. one year ago thursday cardinal jorge ber go jor jorge bergolio stepped out and became pope francis iii. his acts of humility and of piety and his nonjudgmental inclusive tone.

according to the latest pew pole, most american catholics have a favorable view of francis. 26% are even more excited about their very faith. he's "time magazine's" person of the year. the people's pope. he draws enormous crowds to st. peter's square, inspires super pope graffiti and skoelds a global culture of hyper capitalism and apathy towards the poor, but for all of these images we love, there's another side to the papacy. pope francis inherited major challenges in the church. among them are the vatican's finances, especially its 5 billion euro bank which are a mess of secrecy complete with allegations of corruption and money laundering, investigations have revealed a financial structure with few rules and little oversight. and the church's sex abuse scandal continues to loom large over the vatican. in the united states alone

nearly 7,000 priests have been accused of sexual abuse of minors since 1950 and diocese have spent $2.5 billion settlements and other costs. efforts to reform how the church prevents and punishing sex abuse by its clergy have been ongoing for years and pope francis has announced a commission of experts to study best practices in protecting children but victim's advocates have been disappointed that he has not said or done more. he disappointed those advocates even more by striking a defensive tone in a recent interview with italian newspaper, the pope said, quote, the catholic church is perhaps the only public institution that has moved with transparency. no one has done more and yet the church is the only one who has been attacked. here to help us evaluate pope francis's first year on some of these tough issues are michael pepper, theology professor at fordham university. the reverend julie johnson

staples, the reverend sam mu elcruz, professor of church and society and lutheran minister and the reverend paul rau raushenberg. michael, let me start with you. >> a year ago we were sitting here and we had this first jesuit pope. he activated the imagination, to see god in all things and all people. set hearts on fire. but on this very issue you're bringing up it's true that faithful catholics have been disappointed and especially with that most recent interview. we go back to the establishment of the commission on the protection of minors and we think, look, he's centralizing power in a good way, right? he's centralizing power to look at every issue involving laypeople, every issue that under girded the sexual crews

sis. it seems that new policy isn't needed it's enforcement of existing policies. there's already zero tolerance. there are examples in kansas city u.s. bishop robert finn is still a standing bishop even though convicted of protecting a child important nothing gra 49er. to a standing bishop, we look at the jesuit inspired spirituality, we say, yes, yes, yes, right. then we look at action and we're saying, we're waiting. >> i have to say, i'm not catholic. i'm one of those non-catholic's who's excited by pope francis. i did graduate from a jesuit prep school, saint benedict's prep school. when i read the quotes, it took me aback that here's this guy who is seemingly great on so many things and yet on this there's this huge blind spot. >> i think what's interesting is it's so out of character that he's not pastoral in this sense. this was an opportunity to be

pastoral as he has been with so many other issues. he's gone to the places where the poor are. he's known as the slum pope. he's gone to the immigrants. he has not met with the abuse victims. i think this is an opportunity not to just talk about the programs and the policies but actually offer pastoral care for those who feel so hurt. >> and you know before i want to get to -- in a second, julie, but cardinal dolan was on "meet the press" and david gregory asked him this question about the pope meeting with sex abuse victims. let's roll that. >> the power of symbol here is to meet with victims. the pope has not done that. should he do that? >> he probably will. i will not be surprised if he would not. hope he does. lord knows i have and lord knows i think most bishops and pastors have. benedict did so i would anticipate he would as well. >> reverend julie? >> i went to a jesuit law school, okay, so i just want to

speak on behalf of the la jolla lawyers out there. >> first of all, i want to take issue with what you had said, paul. he has been pastoral and he has stated that the victims are present in his daily prayers. moreover, i think it's important to say that he has labeled the abuse as criminal. so i think that we need to not push beyond the likely envelope knowing that whenever there's a criminal case pending, typically no matter who it is they're not going to step to the forefront and get in front of af bank of microphones. i'm reminded especially about barack obama when he spoke out on tray van martin which was a criminal case, he was crucified, if we'll excuse the expression in this lentin season. >> the first time in the rose garden? >> absolutely. many sides, both progressives and conservatives looking at pope francis are likely to be disappointed at times and likely to be elated at times but that does not take away from the fact that he has been a transformational figure bringing a voice to unheard voices and

really re-engaging the church in the public square of ideas on income inequality and the church has been silent on that issue, quite frankly sings the united states civil rights movement. >> reverend sam? >> without a doubt it seems like pope francis is horrified over the sex scandal of the church, but i could imagine that he's treading difficult waters because i don't know of any other institution that would survive this type of scandal. there's no other organization. so i know he knows it's a very complicated issue for him to address and not destroy the whole institution, although that doesn't negate the fact that children have to be protected. >> but it has destroyed the institution in some ways. you know, this is like decimated, hemorrhaging catholics from the church. it was the number one important issue for american catholics leading up to the conclave and the fact that it has not been a primary thing, and i think, you

know, past oral, yes, he has spoken about it. pastoral means face to face often, and that's where i -- >> i think that will come. >> i think it will come. the surprise here is that when so many catholics viewed this as the number one issue, it has not been his number one issue so that's where i think it's interesting. >> when i think back to the big interview with "american magazine" which launched pope francis into people's conscious, as i was reading it, shaking how many amazing things were in there, there was a metaphor of the church as a field hospital which grips so many people's imaginations. there's a line that he repeated, first heal the wounds, first heal the wounds. repeated that in his interview. when we look at paul, what's the biggest wound, peter steinfelled's book, people adrift, that's the biggest wound. >> what is also true is that people have not returned to church. catholics have not returned to

church. there's no evidence that there's a bump, a pope francis bump. this is -- i don't know this, but there may still be a suspicion of what goes on inside that church and that's, i think, the reason this is so pressing because i think that there are wonderful -- i mean, i'm a huge fan of pope francis, but i think this is the one area where i would really love to see some really transformative, beautiful language that really does heal. >> well, i just want to throw out there as a non-catholic, he is redirecting the attention of the church to the focus of the gospel of jesus christ. the people are not going to return back to church just because he addresses a child sex abuse scandal. they've got to comfort fundamentals. that's what's going to keep them in church. i think by focusing in on love and justice in the way that he has been, that ultimately is what's going to be the things that draws someone back to say, i think i want to turn back to my church. >> you know, we have less than a minute left and we haven't even gotten to the finances of the

vatican and nuns on a bus and being censured by the vatican and the pope under pope benedict they were reprimanded. there's a pope quote that i wanted to read you but i don't have time to read it, but pope francis reaffirmed the findings branding the nuns on a bus as radical feminists. what does it tell you -- tell any of you about the church's focus on social justice issues that the nuns have really championed? >> i just want to say that the problem for pope francis on the question of equality of women in church, particularly as he negotiates this question of poverty where globally most of the people who are poor are women is going to be a problem that he's going to have to come back to over and over again. so i think it's going to be this dichotomy where on the one hand he's asking for full involvement in ministry and on the other hand, of course, there's now any opening to even see that women might be able to be ordained in the catholic church. it's a big problem that will be

with him, no doubt, for his entire tenure. >> we're going to come back to the income inequality issue in our next block. stay right there. the pope, the president, the meeting everyone is waiting for. are they the new dynamic duo? [ male announcer ] they say mr. clean was born to help people clean better, and that he travels the world inventing amazing new cleaners, like his newest invention, liquid muscle, that lifts and cleans tough grease with less scrubbing. it's a liquid gel, so it's less watery and cleans more. and its cap stops by itself so almost nothing's wasted. ♪ no matter where he went or who he helped, people couldn't thank him enough. new mr. clean liquid muscle. when it comes to clean, there's only one mr.

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american catholics aren't the only ones who have been excited by pope francis's message for a more equal society. in a speech in december on income inequality, president obama specifically asked his speech writers to include words from the pope. >> across the developed world inequality has increased. some of you may have seen last week the pope himself spoke

about this at eloquent length. how can it be, he wrote, that it's not a news item when an elderly home person dies of exposure but it is when the stock market loses two points. >> the heads of state will meet later this month. the president hopes to discuss fighting poverty and growing inequality with pope francis. sam, what should we take from this meeting between the president and the pope? >> i hope that the pope is able to really encourage obama to put his words where his policies are at. president obama i've supported, but he's very connected to wall street in a lot of ways and what's exciting for me about pope francis speaking on these -- the horrors of neoliberal global capitalism is that he is coming at it from a pastoral perspective. you know, in the past pontiffs have written about income inequality but it's been more in

an academic way. they write about it in academic terminology. this pope is addressing real lived situations. that's exciting about what this pope brings to the mix. >> it's not just addressing them as the cardinal in argentina, he was there on the streets. he knows when he talks about these things it's not from up here, it's from here. >> yeah. and, jonathan, you know, he recently invited one of the pioneers of liberation theology to come to the vatican. it's interesting because pope benedict spent most of his career condemning latin american theology. in some ways pope francis is saying, listen, we have to really think of the poor. >> let's bring it back to president obama. to what extent can the president and the pope work together, and in particular i'm thinking to what extent can the pope influence members of congress, and in this case i'm thinking specifically about congressman paul ryan, chairman paul ryan, who is -- was roman catholic. >> i think it's important to know, though, that presidents

meet with pontiffs and they have been doing these kinds of meetings since woodrow wilson was in the white house. george bush -- george w. bush had six meetings. he gave a presidential medal of freedom to pope john paul so it's going a bit too far to expect these kinds of meetings to then have direct draw down influence on members of congress although they are likely to, again, ramp up the rhetoric and the debate around the issues that actually president obama has declared is going to be a focal point of the remainder of his term, which is income inequality, the widening gap between the rich and poor in the united states, low income workers, fast food workers, minimum wage. there's a lot on the table for president obama. >> i think that the real opportunity here especially is immigration because that is a place of real confluence with the american bishops and with i think president obama does have good intension although he's gotten a label of deporter in

chief, and that's clear that pope francis, this is a hard issue for him. this is an opportunity to rally people around this and say it's unacceptable not to pass immigration reform. this is a justice issue but it's also a gospel issue. i don't think you can be a catholic in the congress and go against that. >> i also think that the religious right has a lot of influence so it's positive to have a religious leader of the status of the pope having a more progressive view on the issues of the economy. >> will the american religious right, and i'm thick of the evangelicals, are they going to listen to someone like pope francis? >> i'll jump in on that one. when you look at the catholic teachings back 125 years you always find a correlation, a juxtaposition of charity and justice. you know, individual acts of mercy, individual acts of charity always have to be corresponded to just social structures. in the united states our

tuiasosopo lit call parties actual -- our two political parties juxtapose that. oh, it's also about structural sin and structural reform. they don't watt the turm structural sin at all. they wouldn't agree that term exists. folks on the left would say charity is not enough. as a catholic i would say it's sad because the catholic teachings are really actually holistic but sort of like the bible gets treated, different sides are going into those catholic teachings and plucking out individual lines, proof texting the political views. >> we only have, again, less than a minute left. i want to bring it back to the nuns on the bus. you can't have this conversation about income inequality and the pope and not talk about this sort of disconnect it seems between the vatican's actions against nuns on the bus and the current pope's talk of income

inequality which from what i remember is exactly all the things that the nuns on the bus are talking about. >> the funny thing about the nuns on the bus is they were critiqued for not focusing enough on abortion and homosexuality. this is a pope who has exactly said let's not focus so much on abortion and sexual in homosexuality. they're working with the poor and we should let them inform us on what kinds of transformati transformational politics are needed. >> thank you very much for being here. michael pepper and our three rev rends, julie johnson staples, samuel cruz and paul raushe fl bush. next, we have doris joining us who has every 16-year-old taking notes. so i get invited to quite a few family gatherings.

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last week the college board announced major changes to the s.a.t. college admissions test as a new opportunity for students. this returns to the 1600 point scoring scale, vocabulary questions that are no longer obscure and more pertinent to college and career paths and a now optional essay, all changes that will take effect starting in 2016. additionally, costly test preparation classes that were available to those students with means will now be available to all students as the educational website con academy will offer free online coaching. david coleman had this to say when announcing the changes. >> and if the con board is serious about going beyond assessment to deliver opportunity, we must be in front of the inequalities that now

surround the session's costly test preparation. >> but will these changes actually help close the education inequality gap in this country? i want to welcome dennis vonn rocquele and presidential historian, doris kearns goodwin who join us from washington, d.c., where they're attending a conference, teaching and learning 2014. welcome. >> hello. hello. >> hello. good to be here. >> thanks for being here. dennis, i want to touch on those students who, like myself, my s.a.t. scores prove it, are just not good test takers. will these changes in s.a.t. help them? will it make a difference? >> well, i haven't seen the actual new test so i can't comment on the specific questions. i think the idea that we provide free assistance to people is a really important one for bridging that inequality that exists in the system. i think as the movement is towards not having a single

major determined eligibility for college it's important to have other measures and i hope the conversation includes the greatest inequity that exists, and that is the affordability of college. it has increased so dramatically that it's getting more and more difficult for the average american to be able to send their son or daughter to college. >> doris, your book "the bully pulpit" that focuses on presidents roosevelt and taft talks about the widening gap and the affect it has. we mention the new s.a.t. is supposed to level the playing field. what are the real issues that need to be addressed in public education to close this gap? >> mobility was the promise that every immigrant had when they first came here so many years ago, that if you worked hard and used discipline and exercised your talents, you could move up. given now the gap between the rich and the poor, the squeezing of the middle class and the problem that some educational

schools in the inner cities are not of the same qualities as the other educational schools, it's absolutely imperative that education be the ladder of opportunity. we've got to figure out ways that these kids can be motivated from the time they're little to stay in school, to let their talents -- we're losing so many people before the system is finished that don't have a chance to go to college, even forget the affordability, they've lost their impetus before they get there. education is the key to america really. >> no, you're absolutely right. dennis, let me get your view on another disparate we have in this country, dealing with suspensions. the federal government found that 3 million children suspended or expelled during the 2010-2011 school year, seven out of ten were black or latino or kids with disabilities. how would you explain trend? is there work that needs to be done with teachers and their perceptions to rectify the issue? >> there absolutely is work to be done. we have to take a look very hard at the statistics and take the next step to say, what is it we can do, all of us, the adults

within the system to change the statistic. it's just unacceptable. what we worry about most are the kids who dropped out, it's the school to prison road. they end up leaving school and go to prison. we can't waste that human potential. we care about it at the national education association and we are working heavily with all of our members to say what is the kind of training and awareness we need to build and what actions can we take to change that statistic. >> also the president's my brother's keeper initiative wants to address that school to prison pipeline. i want to say you both are going to be introduced by vicky kennedy, the widow of the late senator ed kennedy today. you're talking about inspiring students through civic education. we constantly hear about how american students compare against other nation's children in math and science. are we losing sight of the importance of history? >> well, i hope not. i mean, i think history is so important because it allows us

to understand the people who went before us, who lived their lives and walked the earth so many decades ago, had struggles and triumphs. they create the contours of the present. otherwise, we're living by ourselves as if we have to learn everything all over again. in the old days when i was in school, civics was huge. we sang songs, we had a sense of america. history was a huge part of our curriculum. sometimes it's sliced out. we'll be losing that story telling ability which is such a part of all of us as human beings if we lose history. >> history was huge for me when i was in school, too. i loved history but then again, i was american. >> hooray. >> was and continue to be a big old nerd. >> i love nerds. >> dennis and doris, thanks so much for being here. >> thank you. up next, this weekend voter suppression, honey badger edition. and antibacterial wipes to steam cleaners, keyboard vacuums and microfiber cloths.

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this week in voter suppression. this week in voter suppression, first we go to wisconsin, the badger state where governor scott walker fighting for re-election this november is in a close race with his democratic challenger, madison school board many, mary burke, but it seems he's not all that concerned about that. what does he find pressing? here's what he told reporters tuesday. >> the only real thing i thought that was pressing, may still be, continue to be pressing depending on what the court reacts on, is voter i.d. >> what governor walker is talking about is a voter i.d. requirement which two county judges blocked shortly after he signed it into law in 2011. it remained blocked through the attempt to recall him in 2012 and that year's presidential election. if the courts don't uphold the law this spring, walker promised tuesday that he would call a

special legislative session to modify the voter i.d. requirements so that the courts approve. but that was only tuesday. so much more time in the week for voter suppression. on wednesday the gop controlled wisconsin senate voted 17-16 for a bill that would bar counties from offering early voting on weekends or weekdays after 7:00 p.m. every democrat opposed the measure. another bill passed by the state senate allows lobbyists to start making personal campaign contributions the day candidates can circulate petitions for office. not even candidates officially yet, they're just circling petitions for office. joining us is msnbc national reporter, zachary roth who has been reporting on voting rights for msnbc.com. jelani cobb, associate professor of history at university of connecticut and dale hoague. let me first go to madison,

wisconsin, where we are joint by this week in voter suppression frequent guest, scott ross, executive director of one wisconsin now. due to some technical difficulties scott joins us by phone this morning. scott, i know out there you guys like to call it the badger state, but it's starting to seem more like the honey badger state because with these new rules, absolutely no subtlety here, it's like the republican leadership doesn't give a you know what. >> absolutely, jonathan. thanks for having me today. jim crow is alive and well in the state of wisconsin, and scott walker is seeking to make -- you know, put him on steroids here. they have attacked the right to vote -- the sacred right to vote here in wisconsin over and over again with voter suppression and voter intimidation, and now that they have seized control of the state government they are using their power as elected officials to enact laws that will make it harder for minorities, students,

seniors, working people and people with disabilities to access the franchise. >> i mean, i'm just surprised. i'm just stunned by how they're not even subtle about what they're trying to do. zach, what kind of voter i.d. compromise is governor walker seeking to make that -- to actually pass muster with the courts? >> well, we don't really know until we see what the court rulings look like, right, but i was one of the lawyers litigating the voter i.d. case in november. i think two things struck out from that case. one was that the state could produce absolutely no evidence of in person voter impersonation in wisconsin in the entire history of the state. so there's not one instance of fraud that this voter i.d. law could have prevented. there's no justification for any kind of voter i.d. law in wisconsin whatsoever, but the second thing that really came out from that trial was there

was evidence of 150,000 voters in wisconsin who didn't have i.d. and that the rate of nonownership amongst minority owners was twice as high as that of white voters in wisconsin. people are going to be prevented from voting, but no fraud is going to be prevented by this law. >> i wanted to point out i asked the question of zach and looked at dale. you were very good to answer the question. zach, you take a stab at that. >> sure. well, i mean, on the -- on the definition of early voting, the thing that i found pretty revealing is the rationale that they've come up with for why they need to cut early voting on the weekends where they say there needs to be uniformity among all the counties and for rural counties it doesn't make sense, it's not cost effective to have early voting on the weekends and therefore in these urban counties that are more populated and need early voting on the weekends, they can't have it either. basically nobody can do it. the republican leader of the senate put it like people -- rural residents feel bad if they turn on the tv and they see urban voters voting at a time when they can't vote and to me

that -- the weakness of that argument is really pretty revealing about the real motivation there. >> hey, scott, let me ask -- bring you back into the conversation because i'm wondering how much will a current gubernatorial race put the focus on walker and republican lawmakers, what they're attempting? >> absolutely. scott walker is in the fight of his life against former trak bicycle executive mary burke. he's fallen to 37th in the nation in jobs. we have number one -- we were number one for having the most new unemployment filings in the united states and governor walker's administration has been personified by cronyism, corruption and failure and so he is seeking to rig the elections so that the voters don't have a voice in soousting him from office. the fact is one of the other members of the panel brought

this up, we have seen in wisconsin this extraordinary effort to pass voter i.d. and voter suppression laws. the current incarnation of a new voter i.d. law would require you, this is what the bill -- this is what the bill they have is, would require you to go before your friends and neighbors at the polling place and declare that you are too poor to afford an i.d. and that -- and then those ballots would be squirrelled away in a separate pile so i guess, you know, governor walker's vote suppressors could go through them and do legal challenges to make sure you were poor enough -- you were too poor to afford an i.d. it's just unconscionable. we were lucky enough to have reverend barber out here for the moral mondays in north carolina and he said, we all stand up together to lift and defend the most sacred principles of our faith and our constitution, and that is i am my brother's keeper, and that is what's going on in the state of wisconsin right now. people are rising up against this. they're going to fight for their brothers and sisters, because

when you take away somebody's right to vote, you are taking away the very essence of their humanity and the very essence of being a citizen of the united states. >> i want to thank scot ross for joining us by phone this morning. thanks so much, scot. >> thank you. up next from the badger state to the buckeye state, the struggle continues. [ female announcer ] we'll cook all day today, but we're not staying in the kitchen. just start the slow cooker, add meat and pour in campbell's slow cooker sauce. by the time you get home, dinner is practically done. and absolutely delicious. everyone is cooking with new campbell's slow cooker sauces. oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] 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. ♪ dominique wilkins, are taking charge of their type 2 diabetes

with non-insulin victoza. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar, but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza. he said victoza works differently than pills, and comes in a pen. and the needle is thin. victoza is an injectable prescription medicine that may improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. it is not recommended as the first medication to treat diabetes and should not be used in people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. victoza has not been studied with mealtime insulin. victoza is not insulin. do not take victoza if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to victoza or any of its ingredients. symptoms of a serious allergic reaction may include swelling

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they work fast on heart burn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. alka-seltzer fruit chews. enjoy the relief! it has become even harder to vote in ohio with a pair of restrictive voting bills and republican secretary of state john hustead cutting voting hours on sundays and evenings. it's like a repeat of wisconsin. as we were told this week, ohioans are just plain tired of their ballot access being made into a political tool so they're

fighting back. from testimony tuesday rallies in the state capital to a resolution in akron denouncing the republican's new law to a cuyahoga county bill that undermines absentee ballots and a legal challenge to the cut backs on early voting and the elimination of same-day registration and this week an ohio voting bill of rights cleared a key hurdle on the way to the november ballot. zach, tell us -- i'm sorry, zach. tell us, what's in that and why -- and -- and -- and why this is such a big deal? >> sure. well, that possible constitutional amendment, which is what it is, which would add voter protections to the state constitution, right now there's no right to vote in the ohio constitution just as there's no right to vote in the u.s. constitution, by the way. that would put very specific requirements in there where you couldn't cut early voting by a certain number of days. it would, i think, bar voter i.d. laws. it would protect voting i.d.

laws in ohio. they need to gather 300,000 something signatures on the ballot and then pass it. it's a long way from a done deal. that's what this is. >> it's not like they wouldn't be able to get the signatures. we have this graphic poll results. 85% support expanding ability to vote before election day. 85% support same-day registration and then this is what i find the most remarkable one, the amount of support for eliminating early voting, 0%. >> see, this is -- this is the interesting thing here and, you know, i find myself agreeing with chief justice john roberts in the most iran anything way, but if we remember back to last summer when the voting rights act was struck down, a key section of it was struck down, they said that it was wrong to unfairly stig maine advertise southern states based upon their history and their tradition of restricting black voting and so, therefore, they wanted to do away with this section. i actually agree with that.

let's look at what's happening in ohio and looking at what's happening in wisconsin and let's expand this. this was not an argument to say that the voting rights act needed to be made weaker. it was an expression of the reality of voter suppression being a national problem, a national concern. this is why we're talking about these things in northern states. >> so this is the question i was going to ask you in the last block before we ran out of time. how does the supreme court voting rights act decision from last year help or hurt what we're -- the efforts that we're seeing in wisconsin and ohio? >> this is the yield of this, and so what we're seeing is a kind of political retrenchment and the concerns and these things have always been concerns, but if you go back to 2008 when we were on the verge, on the cusp of seeing barack obama being elected as president, we were thinking in the back of our minds, this is going to have repercussions and one will be that people will be emboldened in their attempts to minimize black political powers.

we had two elections where african-american voters outstripped white voting. we can't think that something like that can happen and there won't be repercussions from it. >> now i want to get to what's happening in cincinnati. zach, you've been reporting. what's happening in cincinnati exactly? >> well, what they've done is the hamilton county board has voted to move early voting from its location downtown to a suburban location, which of course is much harder to access for urban voters. >> right. >> there's not good public transportation. it's going to be very difficult to get there. go ahead. >> no, keep going. >> well, there was about 24,000 voters in 2012 who took advantage of that early voting site, so you're talking about thousands of voters going to be inconvenienced, disenfranchised from moving it to that suburban location. >> if we put that map up real fast, i want to point out, this

new site is 8.8 miles away. to get there it's 14 minutes by car, 53 minutes by bus. so, this is a hardship. this is an inconvenience for those voters ohio. i have to leave it there. thank you. up next, the 12-year-old using his favorite toy to help make life better for millions. our amazing foot soldier is coming up. ey you said in a focus group you'd "like to have a product that eliminates odors and doesn't just mask them." could you give us access to maybe the smelliest room in your house? -sure come on in. the trash is bad... oh yeah. ...and we just took it out. febreze doesn't mask odors, it actually eliminates them. it smells really nice. like fresher. another success story. (laughs) don't just mask odors; eliminate them with febreze air effects. and to continuously eliminate odors in small spaces, try febreze set and refresh. breathe happy. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain, you turned up the fun. tylenol® provides strong pain relief

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more than 6 million people in the united states are living with severe visual disabilities. many people with visual impairments rely on braille to read everything from magazines to "the hunger games" trilogy. but depending on the size of the font being turned down that can make for pricey literature. this week's "foot soldier" built a way around the expense by constructing a new braille printer prototype. his self-selected after-school

project. all he e needed was intellectual curiosity and his favorite toy -- lego's, naturally. the 12-year-olds invention began with a flyer found on his home's doorstep requesting donations for the visually impaired and that one piece of paper inspired this imto scour the internet to find out how people with visual impairments read. all of his research on braille led to one additional question -- could he make a low-cost braille printer on his own? >> i mean, i didn't know if it was possible. but i really wanted to do it. >> he sat to work at his kitchen table with his $350 lego set complete with the hardware and software necessary to build a customized robot. at first seven failed prototypes seemed to answer his question. but one night after four weeks of tweaking his designs after school, his creation printed its first letter making the successful invention of regulgo.

the three motors work together to move a pin across the inserted paper to make braille imprints. despite the ingenuity behind his design, he does not plan to profit from it. instead he will simply make the design available online for anyone who wants to summon their inner child and try their handle at lego construction. >> i think i'm actually doing something that can actually help people. >> for using his lego set to lay the foundation for low-cost braille printing the evident grader is our foot soldier of the week. now, before we go, i have a pop quiz for you. what percentage of unmarried women with children under 18 who work full-time live in poverty? it's higher than you might think. 13.2%. that's nearly 587,000 women based on data from 2012. intrigued? well, now there's a chance to find out so much more through the first-ever "nerdland"

scholar challenge. in two days, melissa harris-perry will launch an interactive online experience that walks through the intersection of motherhood and politics. sign up now by going to the website mpshow.com. that is our show for today. thanks to you for watching. see you tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern when we will dive deep into why president obama finds himself between a fern and a hard place. now it's time for a preview of "weekends with alex witt." alex? >> thanks, jonathan. it gets more puzzling as the days wear on. what happened to malaysian airlines flight 370. the new information today just adds to the intrigue. i will talk with a security analyst. might that plane have landed safely somewhere? and might be pot luck for folks in prison. a new move gives people convicted of marijuana crimes a get-out-of-jail-free card. who did the president reach with his between two ferns interview? if you haven't seen some of the best highlights we'll show you

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for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. stunning news on that missing plane. officials now say it was a deliberate action that took it off course, but no one know where is that plane is yet. officials are now searching the pilots' e hohome. what are they hoping to find and why did they wait so long? the meaning of florida. what did we learn from the special election other than it's sending a republican to congress? the city of lights and smog. an unusual step in one of the world's most prominent cities after it is blanketed in smog. hey, there, everyone. high noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex wi."