♪ [ 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 witt." breaking news in the disappearance of the malaysian

airlines flight 370. the prime minister says the erratic changes in course and the disable tofg jet's communication systems were most likely caused intentionally by someone on board that flight. >> this movements are consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane. >> now, the prime minister did not go as far as to label the incident a hijacking but says tishls are still looking into all possible scenarios. >> despite media reports that the plane was hijacked,officialo all possible scenarios. >> despite media reports that the plane was hijacked, i wish to be very clear we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused mh-370 to deviate from its original flight path. >> according to new data, the

jetliner's last satellite communication took place at 8:11 in the morning local time some 7 1/2 hours after the flight took off from kuala lumpur's international airport. the search area has now shifted from the south china sea to two new so-called corridors, one extend as far north as thailand and kazakhstan, the other from ind nearby sha to the southern part of the indian ocean. keir simmons has the latest. >> reporter: hey, alex. two extraordinary things i think from the malaysian prime minister's press conference here. one was that he said that it was a deliberate act by someone on board the plane, and the other was that they presented a a picture of where the plane could be which inclued a whole swath of land. so, in other words, it may not have fallen into the ocean. meanwhile, though, as you say, now, the investigation is not just into where the plane is but who was responsible amid reports that police searched the pilots' home today.

malaysian police arrived at the gated community where the pilot of flight 370 lived this morning. two hours later investigators left. they will be looking into who might be involved with the disappearance of flight 370. but the focus is on everyone on board including passengers. during the crucial first hour of the flight, there would be an opportunity to break into the cockpit despite security precautions. >> if there were to be a real takeover, that would be the time where the crew members would be moving in and out to serve the cockpit their drinks. >> the flight's captain hshgs zahar rhee shah, in his 50s, highly experienced, logged 18,000 flight hours. his co-pilot, fariq ab hamid, relatively new weather 2,800 flight hours. the key questions who else on board could fly a 777? who might have had a motive to commandeer the aircraft and for what purpose? and if the plane was hijacked where was it going?

there were prayers for flight 370 at the co-pilots local mosque. friends here call him quiet, a respectful man, living with his parents in this middle-class home. >> a very nice man. he comes, goes to work, and then when he comes back, he just greeted me hello, hi. that's all. >> reporter: less is known about the pilots seen here in home improvement videos. hae as flight simulator at home, a man dedicated to flying. but malaysian officials aren't telling us much more than that. and today they dramatically canceled a second news conference that was due here meaning we weren't able to ask any questions with more details about what exactly this all meant. but one load of caution, this amongst many other things is now a police investigation so they may be holding back information in order to benefit that inquiry. >> okay. keir simmons in kuala lumpur, thanks so much. nbc's kerry sanders has more on the new shift in the search for the missing plane.

good day to you again. how did authorities determine the so-called nucor dors and how much does this information bring us to finding out what happened? >> it starts to give investigators an idea to where to look. as you'll see in a moment, it's still a vast area. they're working with hard facts. i can take a look here, we'll auk look together at the map. as we look at this map, okay, this is a hard fact, okay. they know the area where they lost contact with the plane and they know to the malacca strait was an area where they started to search. now another hard fact that they actually have is they've been able to follow along and pinpoint using the waypoints along the way of where the plane they believe traveled. okay? now we go to the last part about this, and this is sort of a comply catted thing, going to the last point. at the last point right around here where the plane was, they could use the acars system, which is sort of a pinging system on the erick, not designed to really tell you

where the plane is, but using that they're able to suggest that the plane was in that area. the problem is they don't know whether it's heading this way up to kazakhstan, where it's heading out directly west or maybe it's heading south down towards the indian ocean, down towards off the coast of australia, down all the way towards the antarctica. so the vast area that they have to search is still just that. it's far bigger than say the continental united states. but now that they know to look in this area and on to land, they can start to deadeploying assets other than the o'ryto ro planes, the anti-submarine plane that can pick up degree on the surface of the water. they're also now able to tax some satellites to look on land areas toward kazakhstan and determine whether there's something there. all indications are with the

multination effort to try to look in this area that even with the amount of effort that's being placed it's now day eight and nobody's come up with anything. >> you're talking about that. i'm looking at what you've drawn on the telestrator for us. we have 14 countries, 43 ships, 58 aircraft. you know, that sounds like a huge search effort, but you make the point it is a ginormous area they're trying to search. isn't it about the size of the continental u.s.? >> yeah, in fact, let me add to this, because when we're thinking about searching around the house, looking on the couch, looking on the floor, looking on the tabletop, here they're searching, because of water, in a three-dimension situation because you have the surface of the water, but it also goes down, especially in the indian ocean. it's as deep as 2 1/2-plus miles. so that third dimension makes it eve than much more difficult to search. of course the hope is that they'll find something on the surface and something on the surface would give them an

indication that the plane went down, here's a piece of the plane, now we can start looking at currents, winds, and try to determine whether the plane may have gone down. but each day that goes by makes this that much more difficult. snilt sure does. okay. kerry sanders, many thanks. joining me now is the former senior air safety investigator for the ntsb. welcome aboard. i'm glad you're here. i know you're officially with us. i want to ask about your expert opinion. what were the most points in this press conference? >> i think the most important points are some clarification. they have finally basically have said this is an intentional act. this was nothing that could be classified as an accident. so the form of the investigation changes to basically a criminal-type investigation rather than a technical investigation, looking for something that could have been wrong with the airplane that caused or at least resulted in some sort of safety of flight issue. >> greg, these communications

systems, specifically the transponder of data flow systems, how complicated is it to turn them off? >> it's very easy to turn them off. you never have to leave the seat in the cockpit. a lot of people have made a big deal about the acars system. you can turn the data portion of the acar system off from the cockpit. you don't have to leave the cockpit. dwroint have to flip circuit breakers. it is evident the data portion of the acars was off yet the satellite was still trying to ping the box, the box on the airplane was responding, it just didn't have any data to provide, so it's apparent that the box itself was still operational. with the com radios, you can turn them off or don't even answer the radio call pimt's not necessary that you have to disable the radio. >> are there emergency systems that cannot be turned off? and if no, why not?

>> with the transponders, alex, you need to turn those boxes off when you're on the ground because it creates clutter for the air-traffic controllers with the data box when it's properly working. the big thing here is that to have an emergency system up and running all the time for a tracking device isn't really practical because there are a number of situations where that would create radar-type clutter. however, there is this system called adsp, automated dependence surveillance broadcast, which is now being inteyear to date grated, which is gps based, it updates every second, and lit provide air-traffic controllers instantaneous data all the way through the entire flight and we could track an airplane such as mh-370 if it had been equipped with adsb. >> greg, what do you think happened? >> i firmly believe right now that this was -- and we've talked about it all week.

i was relatively certain of this when i first saw that hook in the radar data, that that had to be human intervention, that wasn't a preprogrammed track many the autopilot because they were heading to beijing, and that the autopilot isn't smart enough to try and turn itself around if there was some sort of explosive decompression and the pilots pass out, the autopilot doesn't have that kind of functionality. it took someone actually reprogramming or actually turning off the flight management system and manually flying the airplane either through the autopilot or hands on the control to make that turn and fly it away from its destination. >> to conceivably land it someplace? is that a plausible explanation for you? >> it isn't a plausible explanation for me only because this is a very large airplane, 600 to 650,000 pounds. it's not like you can put it down in a jungle strip somewhere that's only this h 4,000 or 5,000 feet long.

we talk about 6,000, 7,000, 8,000 feet under ideal conditions to land the airplane. and you're not going to be able to hide an airplane of this size, you know, in the jungle or anywhere else. you'd have to have a facility that could accommodate and trying to hide an airplane this big just doesn't make any sense. >> okay. greg feith as always, many thanks. appreciate it. hours away from a critical vote overseas. what will the u.s. do if crimea decides to join russia? is military action an option? and who hasn't seen the "between two ferns" skit with president obama and zach galifanakis? but did it accomplish what the white house needed? i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need.

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two to front-page politics and the saturday weekly address where president obama highlighted action he is took

this past week to strengthen overtime pay protections. >> we're going to update those overtime rules to restore that basic principle if you have to work more you should be able to earn more, and we'll do it by consulting workers and businesses and simplifying the system so it's easier for everyone. >> another batch of previously secret clinton administration documents have been released. about 4,000 pages this time containing frank internal discussions including a 1994 proposal to get rid of the filibuster and from 2000, outright frustration from democrats on how al gore handled the voting mess. new hampshire's scott brown, formerly from massachusetts, has all but declared his senate seat. he gave a speech to a gop gathering attacking president obama's health care law. joining me now, lynn sweet, washington bureau chief for the "chicago sun-times" and david nakamura. lynn, the president has made all

the rounds of the major late-night talk shows but this week he made the slightly riskier booking on "between two ferns" with zach galifianakis. let's take a listen. >> what is it like to be the last black president? >> seriously? what's it like for this to be the last time you ever talk to a president. >> it must kind of stink, though, that you can't run, though, three times. >> no, actually i think it's a good idea. you know, if i ran a third time it would be sort of like doing a third "hangover" movie. didn't really work out very well, did it. >> that was all part of the pitch for the affordable care act. but the president's critics didn't find it too funny, many saying he demeaned the office. how about how this is playing in washington, lynn? >> i think part of the contributes -- it reflects a partisan divide. obama sacrificed maybe a smidgen of dignity for something far more important in his legacy, which is getting young people to sign up for the affordable care act, to sign up for this health insurance. the march 31 deadline is coming

up, alex. i don't think when history is written that this video will be seen as a turning point. far more serious for the president is getting these sign-ups up. so i think the critics -- if that's the best they have, you know, bring it on. >> so, dana, did it work? do you think that the wlort sign up? >> what we know from the white house, alex, is that they were pleased that referrals after the video was posted to healthcare.gov, you know, spiked. they saw double the number of people visiting the site. and about a 40% increase. and what we don't know, though, is is how many people took advantage and signed up and whether there's a residual bump day after day as the video continues to go around the intern internet. we also know about a million people have signed up, only about 25% of the total sign-ups. they seed they need about 40% of the sign-ups to be young people to make this a viable, affo affordable program. so they have a lot of work to co-do, as lynn said, about two

weeks. the president called in to ryan seacrest's radio show. i suspect you'll see more in two weeks p. >> lynn, is there a contest as to which party better reaches young voters? >> no. the democrats are fortunate that the president is younger, he's hipper, into cultural references. he can do shtick like -- he can do shtick that can bring millions of hits on videos. he's into justin bieber numbers here on this one, particular video. so i think if this was the only contest, you know, certainly, you know, the president is somebody who is just more youthful. he plays basketball. he's into sports. mrs. obama, you know, athletic. so all that helps i think in a youth appeal. >> okay. david, an important political story this week was the special election for florida's 13th congressional district. after holding this lead until recently and then coming out way

ahead in fund-raising, the democrat lost to the republican e by two points or so. should the gop see if this as a trial run for its midterm tactics? >> they're certainly touting it. going into the race they saw it being very close and were not saying it was going to be a harbinger of things to come. but now that their candidate emerged successful they are saying it was a referendum on obamacare. david jolly talked a lot about obamacare, a lot of anti-obamacare advertising. the republicans are saying this was a winner for us and we have to keep going. i think everyone knows that will be one of their main messages coming this fall. democrats are saying the opposite, this was not a referendum, a special election, unusual circumstances. republicans already held this seat. but you saw david pluf say it was a real turnout. >> give me a percentage on how big a factor obamacare was in this election? did it compromise up to 50% of

the conversation? do you have a sense? >> absolutely. it was a big part of it on both sides. you know, alex was having to gave message of we're going to try to fix this thing, not throw it out, not repeal it. democrats suck. that would be a successful message. i think they're going to still try to figure out what their message is. i think it will be interesting no matter what, how democrats continue to respond and how their message evolves will be important come the fall. >> lynn, any chance the gop will risk overinterpreting the results? >> no, not at all. the psychological damage done to democrats is evident. it puts them on the defensive. and i know we could argue whether or not a special election is typical or atypical of the country at large. but as david just said, quoting david plouffe, this is an alarm bell setting off because this district could have been competitive, it was seen as being held by republican only because former congressman young, who passed awayer which

is why we had the personal electi election, that it was held by republican by dint of his personal appeal. so the democrats have to figure out ways to respond to the obamacare is a mess argument. they have a little time, not a lot. >> okay. lynn, david, thank you guys. as always, appreciate pit. >> thanks, alex. >> thank you. the country where men and women are treated almost medically equally in today's number one, and the skyline of paris. the unusual step that city is taking to keep it from getting any worse. first to st. patrick's day tradition. this morning thousands of chicagoans saw their river dyed green. it kicks off a long weekend of green beer, bagels, and pizza in the windy city. the parade stars this afternoon in grant park. new york's parade is monday. knows her way can run in high heels. must be a supermodel, right? you don't know "aarp". because aarp is making finding the career you love,

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." we're looking at the gas explosion that killed eight people in new york city. check out this video taken from cameras mountz aid cross the street. the blast happens on the right side of your screen but the two buildings were destroyed in wednesday's explosion there. emergency workers still removing debris from that site in harlem. the skyline of paris is looking more like that of beijing as a blanket of smog covers the city of lights. it's so bad people are getting free rides on subways and buses in an effort to keep cars off the roads. rental bikes are also free. the health ministry says air pollution has reached an extremely high level and is expected to stay that way through the weekend. the mega millions jackpot has grown to an estimated $400

million after no one matched all six numbers in the last drawing. the next drawing is tuesday. the malaysian prime minister confirmed new evidence that points to someone likely on board malaysian airlines 370 deliberately shut down the plane's communication systems and took the jetliner far off its course. the latest on how the families and loved ones of those missing on the plane are reacting to the latest developments. hi, eunice. >> reporter: alex, families in china were shocked by the revelations announced by the malaysian prime minister. hundreds of them were in beijing and called into a conference room at the hotel where the family members had been camping out for the past week. they were told they would be watching a message from the malaysian prime minister looich on state tv. now, the feeling in the room was tense. the malaysian ambassador to china was there. malaysian caregivers were also present in the room to assist the families. at one point when the prime minister was speaking there was a collective gasp in the room,

and it was the moment when the prime minister said that the plane was still sending satellite communication until 8:11 local time. families told us to them that meant that there was still a glimmer of hope that their love ones could be alive. the prevailing mood, though, among the family members is is one of frustration. a malaysian airline official told relatives this is now a criminal investigation and that any further information would be provided by government authorities. alex? >> eunice i don't knoyoon, than that. i want to bring in a former aviation safety inspector and author of "why planes crash." david, welcome. >> hello, alex. >> what do you make of these latest developments, that the change in the plane's course was likely caused by someone on that flight? >> that's something we've been following all along. there's been contradictory information telling us to go one way or the other. but i'm pleased to see how the investigation team is working

together, sharing information which was difficult to get established up front, they've gelled as a team. and i hope the families can take dollas in the fact the team is working together and coming up with a few answers for them although we still don't know what the final answer will be. >> in your expert opinion, david, think about what makes the most sense baylesed on what we have. do you have an idea what caused this plane to disappear? >> well, as they said intentionally, i believe there was an intent. the aircraft was i believe was trying to hide and get cloaked out of the radar system as well. one of the pieces of information that i think they're still trying to get which is going to be critical on finding the aircraft is the altitude information. if the aircraft is flying at cruise altitude, yes, it has that range. it has seven extra hours it could be in any direction. however, if it's been trying to stable radar and flying at lower altitudes the fuel efficiency of that aircraft is not designed to be flown at long distances at low altitudes. >> what's interesting, david,

you have a lot of ifs in that sentence. it's been more than a week. why is it taking so long? >> i don't think it's that long to put the information together. within an active investigation it's very important to look at all leads, but to try to keep that information within the investigation team so there's a lot of information as you know we're just getting some things now. it doesn't mean they haven't had this information and been processing it and validating it. there's limited resources. they have to be allocated properly or you'll end up on wild goose chases. so i believe now -- and, yes, there was some delay up front, but i think now that team is gelling and they're really moving forward with this and the information is available to them to start locating that aircraft. >> so if this was intentionally taken off course, intentionally turned off, the ability for this plane to communicate with traffic control tower, trying to turn off its radar and the like, is there a plausible reason for doing that and then ditching the plane in the ocean, intentionally crashing it?

>> none that i can think of right now. and to speculate why before we even know how or what, is pra mature. but one of the things discussed earlier before we knew about this last information was that it wasn't [ applause ] to believe land that aircraft because it was nighttime. and to have ap advanced aircraft like that try to land in that terrain at night is virtually impossible. >> if you're hearing that last ping was 8:11 in the morning. >> right. >> i had another expert on earlier this morning saying there were dozens of airports in the area he believed could handle a 777 landing. >> anything over 7,000 or 8,000 feet, of course that's optimal conditions. but has the potential to land there. and i'm not intimately familiar with the terrain over there, but greg feith earlier had said he didn't think it was possible to cloak an aircraft like that or hide it once it's on the land and that may be. but in that disperse country,

and we don't even know where that country is at this point, the fact there might be some desert property or land it could land i'm just not able to comment on that. i don't know the terrain that well. >> with 14 countries and, you know, dozens of planes and ships working on this, does that complicate things at all? >> oh it certainly does. not only that, but these resources are coming from various countries who may have tensions between them as well and they're trying to cloak how much capability they have within their own military. you're talking about asking a military to share secrets about how much technology they have in the interest of these people. and i'm actually very impressed with how much technology has been shared within that group. so i'm seeing this as breaking down some borders. >> but, david, in terms of technology, how difficult is it to turn off the transponder, to turn off a data-sharing information from the cockpit?

can you turn both of those entities off? and if you can from the cockpit, why would a plane be set up that way? you think you'd have something that couldn't be turned off. >> well,'s reasons to have things come on and off in the cockpit, yes. you can turn all of that off from the cockpit, from the central display unit. it's the transponder is actually put in standby from there. it's not actually turned off. the power does get turned off but it puts it in stand bimeaning it's not transmitting. there's reasons for that. if you lose a generator and want to do what we call hold sharing or load minimizing you take that load off those buses so you're not stressing what you have available to you spop that capability does need to exist. what i'm more concerned about is the ability to turn off those instruments from the cabin area, from having access through the hatch in the cabin area. that's something that we work very hard for a long time within the faa to get the cabin secure,

the door secure. no way in, no way out. that was important to do and that was done. however it appears now to me that it was an oversight and not being able to block off or prevent, completely prevent the access to circuit breakers to the b&e compartment from within the cabin. that concerns me and it's worth doing something about now, a lesson we can learn now. we don't have to wait to find the airplane to make crews and passengers more vigilant about ensuring that no one's standing in that front area. they talk about you can't wait for the restroom in the front of the airplane. that's a good security measure. but rather than sitting there watching your cell phones or whatever and laptops as you're flying and have your mind in our own self i advise people at this point to be hypercritical, hyperaware. security is only as good as the passengers on that airplane. >> it's funny. you're speaking to someone who's going to be on a plane flight later today. so i am going to be

hypervigilant as you suggest. david seussy, thank you so much, former aviation safety inspector. here's wh we've been asking you. what questions would you have for investigators about the missing plane? here are some of your tweets. did passengers' families receive texts or phone calls during the flight? adam hamson tweets if the plane had five hours of fuel left how far could it have glided after the engines cut out? mary asks from facebook why are commercial planes able to turn the transponders off? why was it an option? and carlos asks if it was hijacked, could it land on one of the islands and be hidden for later use? keep talking. crimea will vote tomorrow on whether to e seed from crimea and potentially join russia. six hours of talks yesterday between john kerry and sergey lavrov did not resolve the

crisis. ian williams is joining us from ukraine. welcome to you. let's talk about what you know in terms of the likelihood that a vote will result with crimea voting to secede. senator i think, alex, that's pretty certain. there will be an overwhelming vote in favor of joining russia. that's because so many people here are ethnic russians, are russian speakers. but it's also a product of the fact that this is a vote being held vooch under the barrel of a gun, in the face of quite widespread intimidation of supporters of ukraine and the tatar minority here. human rights watch earlier this weekend accused local militias and regulars of threats, violence, and even disappearances. in one case we are very familiar with the ukrainian head of a local military hospital whom we interviewed just two days ago was picked up by three armed men

last night and hasn't been seen since. now, the polling stations will open tomorrow at 8:00. there will be 12 hours for people to vote. and i think that we may see a formal annexation of crimea as early as next week. at the same time, we're seeing a lot of intimidation outside ukraine. russian forces, a big buildup on the border with ukraine, 8,000 to 10,000 of them. violence also in some prominent east european -- east ukrainian cities which have led again to dark threats from russia, a possible intervention there. so very tense here as we come close to the beginning of that referendum. but i think the outcome is not very much in doubt, alex. >> yeah. and, you know, there's also been secretary of state kerry, who said there will be costs as a result if this referendum moves forward. how does a crimean secession from ukraine affect this crisis

overall? >> well, i think we may see sanctions from europe, from the u.s. as early as next week. there is talk of it clicking in soon there is a result of this referendum. what's significant is that germany and other european allies have been a little bit slower to come forward, a little slower to sign up the idea of sanctions. now seem to be on board. we've seen some quite tough words from angela merkel, the german chancellor, alex. >> all right. nbc's ian williams, many thanks for that live report. we appreciate it from ukraine there. juror $2 million many tax revenue for one month alone e. but first office politics. but yao eel hear from erica hill about the interviews she finds the hardest. i'm looking forward to... for some, every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members

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this is mike. his long race day starts with back pain... ...and a choice. take 4 advil in a day which is 2 aleve... ...for all day relief. "start your engines" in today's "office politics," erica hill talks about the interviews she finds the hardest to do and she'll

show us what her co-anchor lester holt brought her back from sochi. first i asked erica about the 24-hour notice she got after interviewing president obama for the first time. >> i was shooting stories in lon on the for the royal wedding and i was coming back, and i got a call saying -- i was filling in for katie couric, you're filling in for katie but the president will be available tomorrow and so you'll be interviewing the president. i thought okay. it was odd and wonderful. the first time i met brian williams and diane and they were beth both so gracious. you're sitting there and there was a moment that i thought oh my gosh, you know, i'm sitting across from the president and interviewing him right now. and then i thought, you know what, but you have a job do. so i knew how tight that ten minutes was that we were given, and so my focus was really like, you know what, this is a guy like anyone else, yes, he's the leader e of the free world, yes, he's the president of the united

states, yes, he deserves my respect, but you know what, the american people deserve some answers and it's my job to get them. so i need to focus on doing my job and doing it well now and treat him like any other interview. >> what kind of interviews do you find to be the hardest for you? >> some of the most difficult are ones that are very emotional. you know, someone who's just been through a really difficult ordeal. and i think maintaining not only a proper level of respect but empathy. the tone and yet still finding a way to help them telling their story. i think those can be really difficult. i think politicians are difficult not because i'm as worried sometimes about myself being informed or having done my research but because increasingly when you interview a politician you cannot get an answer. it's all about talking points. and the reason they're making themselves available to you is because they're pushing something. they have an agenda. so those are in some ways the

most difficult because they're the most frustrating. >> also the point from which you interview politicians, you have to maintain a level of neutrality. >> yes. absolutely. >> did you imagine you would be anchoring "weekend today"? >> no. i never did. i never set out to be on air to be honest with you. i fell into broadcast journalism. i went to boston university. i think i had four majors, which is why you should never declare one until you're ready, and a lot of my friends many the college of communication were running around boston with cameras all day and on the third floor of that building was where the edit suites were and i would hang out with them and edit. i loved the process, marrying words and puck which ares and telling story, creativity and the facts that were involved too. and i fell into it. and i'm kind of a control freak and i just wanted to be a producer. that's what i was working towards. and then, you know, one thing lead to another and they asked me to fill in one day in a 90-second news cut nv and just sort of moved forward from

there. no, i never a million years would imagine i'd be working with the "today" show, which is amazing. >> this is weird because our life stories are somewhat similar. i worked behind the scenes to be a producer for the "today" show and then jumped on camera. never had an aspiration to do it. how weird is that? that's pretty unusual. >> it is unusual. but don't you think that's a great way to get into it? >> i loved it. that way you learn all facets of the business and a lot of people don't. >> yep. they either just know the on camera or behind the scenes. ? that's what i always say. and i think it gives you such an appreciation for the people you work with and the stress they're under and what they need to do to get things done. i'm a firm believer this is a team sport. >> i see lester was very generous in his -- >> he sent back a hat and also got me this great tea set. i love our weekend team. we have such a good time together and he's just db i was so excited to learn i'd be working with him because i've always enjoyed watching him.

>> i worked with him. i love him. just a class act and such a professional. >> without question. >> tomorrow at this time erica tells me about a poignant tweet she recently posted and what it was like covering the aftermath of hurricane katrina. the new search area for the missing malaysian airlines plane, is it possible investigators find that plane landed safely somewhere? gunderman group is a go. yes! not just a start up. an upstart. gotta get going. gotta be good. good? good. growth is the goal.

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from washington to colorado, it's been a major week for drug policy. the colorado court of appeals has said some convictions can be overturned. they asked for the justice department to lower its classification of marijuana, now considered as dangerous as heroin and worse than cocaine and methamphetamine. joining me is democratic congressman steve cohen. welcome, sir. glad to have you here. i'm curious if you've heard back

from the house white house or justice department on this letter. >> we haven't, and sometimes it takes a while for them to respond. it's unfortunate it takes a while. there's such a long history of misunderstanding, ignorance, and injustice reling to marijuana laws in this country. and they need to be resolved as soon as possible. >> so i'm assuming you agree with the colorado court decision then to overturn some of those marijuana arrests? >> unquestionably. i think that a lot of the people in jail now, in prisons for marijuana possession for sure and even for small-time nonviolent sale it's an injustice. it's against the law, true, but the law was founded on racist policies against hispanics in the 30s and continued on with nixon and aspersions against african-americans and others. there's no basis for it being schedule one, there never has been, and it's an injustice and un-american, really, to take somebody's liberty, put them in jail, take them from their families because they're smoking

marijuana or involved with marijuana which in reality is accepted by 55% of the american public and the same as alcohol. >> as you know, attorney general eric holder announced a proposal this week that's going to reduce sentences for drug trafficking chargers by about 20% thp that would include people convicted of possessing up to a kilo of heroin and five kilos of cocaine. those are not insignificant amounts. do you agree with that proposal? >> i agree with the proposal totally because the fact is when you take somebody out of the chain of selling drugs, they're like sharks teeth. you remove one tooth, one dealer, and another tooth or another dealer replaces them. if a person is in jail for -- and i believe this would change the sentences for some of those from six years to five year, it doesn't make any difference five or six years, somebody else has the territory and is supplying the market. there's a demand for all of these drugs. they need to be dealt with in a different way. marijuana needs to be

decriminalized. people shouldn't lose their liberty. on the other drugs they need to be treated as a health issue. philip seymour hoffman should have had access to drugs that if they got to him in time they would have saved his life. people need to be counc counsel about the dangers of heroin and meth and crack. >> marijuana aside, do you think it's politically dangerous for the white house to reduce trafficking the hard drugs like heroin and cocaine? >> well, the sentences right now are draconian. many judges have sentenced people under these mandatory minimums for these drugs and others and said they were wrong, sometimes first offenders, sometimes nonviolent folks, and they wish they didn't have to go by the guidelines they had. general holder suggested making the guidelines reasonable. we hold 25% of the world's prison population even though we only have 5% of the population. america has more of a gulag mentality than russia ever had,

iran or any other country on the face of the earth. that's not right for the home of the land of liberty, the home of the free and the land of the brave. >> let's take a look at the money here. colorado has report lid brought in $2 million in tax revenues to marijuana in the month of january. do you think these kinds of numbers will prompt more states to legalize in this era of deficits? i think they might. colorado and washington are what justice brandeis called the laboratories of democracy. we have 50 states at that time we might have had 48 or -- probably 48. but the states can do things that other states can learn. i think you'll see referenda in oregon and alaska and presume they'll pass on recreational quote, unquote, marijuana revenue coming in, and it's not just revenue coming in that is significant. it's not costing $30,000 a year time prison people. it's not filling up your court system and your police officer's time with minor marijuana arrests when they could be out

there looking at people who are contemplating or participating or considering robberies, burglary, assaults, kidnapping, rape, or whatever. the police presence and prison population centers are limited in this country and they need to be focused on the crimes and the criminals that do hardcore crimes violence and hurt other people. >> all right. tennessee democratic representative steve cohen, thanks for your time, sir. >> you're welcome, alex. deliberately disabled. the new word today from authorities about the missing malaysian airlines jet. how does this new information change thinking on where that plane is right now? while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies,

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[ male announcer ] nothing says, "you're my #1 copilot," like a milk-bone biscuit. ♪ say it with milk-bone. deliberately diverted. someone on that missing malaysian airlines jetliner steered that plane off course. are there any clues about where the plane might be? in crimea, a russian show of force one day before the vote on independence and tens of

thousands of russians have mobilized near the border. a bold new future for the brain. a smart pill for the mind. good day. welco welcome. just a couple minutes past 1:00 many the east. here's what's happening. breaking news in the hunt for the missing malaysian jetliner. the search has expand to two so-called corridors to the west and the north of the peninsula, one extending as far as north as conta kazakhstan. authorities are refocusing their investigation on the passengers and crew of the flight and have searched the pilots' home in kuala lumpur. this after the malaysian prime minister says the plane's sudden change of course and loss of communication was most likely the result of, quote, deliberate actions by someone on the plane. in a news conference this morning he was careful in the to

label the incident a hijacking. >> despite media reports that the plane was hijacked, i wish to be very clear we are still investigating all possibles as to what caused mh-370 to deviate from its original flight path. >> the prime minister also confirms new satellite data that shows the jetliner's last communication with the ground happened 7 1/2 hours into that flight. >> this new satellite information has a significant impact on the nature and scope of the search operation. wir ending our operation in south china sea and reassessing the reemployment of our assets. >> kerry saernds joins me with more. what do you make of that?

>> they're working with hard data. the prime minister says the flight's disappearance was tlib rat act. while there have been guesses to az to where the plane went down the prime minister now says the search area is beginning the narrow. while teams are still looking at the bay of bengal, looking on the map, and that would be up here, officials have now shared the map also reveals a keen interest to the south, down here in the indian ocean, an area that's so vast it's larger than the united states -- the continental united states. but with water there is a thr - three-dimensional search because the waters in the indian ocean are in some cases 2 1/2 miles deep. earlier this morning malaysia's prime minister said the disappearance of flight 370 was no accident. >> these movements are consistent with deliberate

action by someone on the plane. >> reporter: working with limited verifiable information, malaysia's prime minister says it's too early to call this a hijacking. investigators reached the conclusion this could not simply be a catastrophic aircraft failure after reviewing the limited hard facts they do have. the last known contacts with flight 370 were timed pings from the jet's so-called acars system, but those automated pings went every hour for five hours were empty. they had no flight data as they're supposed to. 14 minutes after that first empty ping the jet's transponder mysteriously stopped emitting a pulsing signal. the jet was south of vietnam. military radar tape showed the plane making two deliberate turns, first a u-turn heading back over malaysia, the second a right turn heading up the straight of malacca. but what's desperately needed is hard evidence of where the plane went down. experts say with the vast search

area it's as likely a fisherman will uncover the next clue. ? it's just going to take time. i suspect what's going to happen first is someone's going to come across floating wreckage. i think that'll probably happen before anything else happens. >> reporter: while it may be that haphazard, there is no lack of technology in use. u.s. navy has deployed anti-submarine p-3 and p-8 aircraft that can this electronically see floating dee brie if, eight days later, anything would still be on the surface. >> they use night vision, infrared. really all they need is their radar and they will pick it up. >> reporter: so as we go back now to what the malaysian government is looking at with the hard data, we take a look back at the map here. as we look at it, you can see what they are looking at here is the route. this is what they know the plane took. they have its last known point. the problem is after that where did it go. using that acars system, as we pointed out, and so they've got

the yair where it was and then they can draw out sort of like a wide v. in fact, the malaysian government gave us a map that shows us the wide v. the plane may have gone this direction, towards kazakhstan. it may have gone down here off to the coast of australia in the indian ocean. it may have continued to head that way to the west. the problem is that they don't know because acars the not designed to actually map the route. some very clever technicians have taken the information and worked out with some of that and shared wit the malaysian government, but they're unable to draw a straight line to say "and this is where the plane went," at l alex. ? thanks, kerry. joining me michael leiter who previously served as director of the national terrorism center. welcome. i know neither of us wants wild speculation, but listening to the malaysian prime minister he said all possibilities are on the table, one being terrorism.

does this fit any of the models you have studied? >> well, not really, alex. i think obviously what we think of over the past 13 years as the most likely terrorist event is something associated with al qaeda. and frankly as we said from a week ago on this really doesn't fit the model. the region isn't right. the aircraft isn't right. it doesn't look like that. and we often think or some people think that al qaeda is this incredibly sophisticated organization and might steal this plane and i think that is really very, very unlikely. i think what it looks more like, and again, these are all possibles at this point, some action by someone who obviously knows this 777 very well, likely a pilot, e either one from the cockpit or elsewhere on the plane, who would take that aircraft far reason. is that a political reason? it could be anything at this point monopoly. >> clearly you're hitting on something that is the focus of investigations today, michael, because as you know they have searched the pilot's house in

kuala lumpur. what do they look for when they're doing that? >> at each stage of this investigation, as you get one small bit of information, you have to think of it as a new tributary in a river, and that leads you down other avenues they might look for. so at the beginning there's no reason to stem cell research pilot's house. now, given what we know, they will absolutely be looking very closely at the pilots and the co-pilot's computers, their electronic mail record, have they been talking to other people. and this is a place where frankly i think the ma leighs would be very wise to cooperate extremely closely with countries like the united states that have very, very strong and able investigators both technically and more criminally focused investigators to then them find any motivation within those piles' homes and their larger social circles. >> last weekend we were talking about the the two stolen passports, one from an austrian citizen, one from italian citizen that were used to board the plane, a couple tickets

bought for that. as you look at the passenger list, what are the red flags you would look for a week later? >> given some of the facts that are developed, someone obviously knew flue this plane who knew how to fly a 777, knew how to shut down communications and the like, you start looking at people with that sort of history. was anyone else a licensed pilot? did they work for airline? these are things that are that prior to to this new evidence over this past 24 hours this new tributary off the main river, really investigators wouldn't have looked at. it's not that we restart the investigation in each phase, but obviously i think the information over the past 24 hours gives some very interesting new angles and that's the sort of information on the passengers and pilots that, again, previously might not have been relevant and now very much is so. >> if it's terrorism, michael, would it be unusual for no one to claim credit by this point? >> that's why i think, alex, again, i don't think this is al qaeda. i don't think this is -- some

people have talked about uighur separatists in china. i don't think these organizations are involved. what it really looks more like to me is an individual actor, something like what we saw potentially in the egypt air disaster of 1999 where the co-pilot brought the plane down or potentially a small splinter cell. the fact no organization is claiming responsibility and intelligence officials have seen nothing else, before or after, which points back towards this sort of operation really suggesting to me that this is small, loekized to this plane and likely not linked to larger organization nal planning. >> okay. michael, stay with me because right now joining us in the conversation, perspective from inside the cockpit, tom casey, extensive experience flying the boeing 777. tom, the possibility of a passenger maybe on the manifest being investigated for experience flying the 777, are there a lot of you out there? you've done it. how difficult a plane is it to fly?

>> well, listening to what michael said, i would dispute one thing. if you can get access to the cockpit and commandeer the airplane, then you can bring in something like this, and i've seen this on the search planes. this is a garmin gps. i can preprogram this gps to go to any point on earth within 20 feet. >> hold that up a little higher there. so wait a minute, you can program anywhere within 20 feet on the planet? >> right. i put in 30 rock this morning and get the lat/long and i can program this to any latitude and longitude position on earth. i can get on any airplane and not know the systems but i'd be spis skated enough to tell the pilot where to go and make sure he went where i told him to because i'd have it in the this box. >> tell me how difficult a plane that is to fly. >> it's one of the most sophisticated airplanes ever designed and ever manufactured. but that said, it is extremely

user friendly. pfs designed by pilots for pilots. as i've said before the auto systems are -- they're fantastic. what they can be very simple to operate. i could, for example, take this gps, set a court, pick up a bearing, say it's 300 degrees, rotate the heading select to 300 degrees, press the button. now the plane is flying at 300 degrees. i can do that on any airplane on earth. i don't have to be familiar with the airplane. i have to know that the airplane has an auto pilot, that the airplane has a heading select and i've got this gps that can take me -- as long as the airplane has fuel i can go anywhere i want to go. >> yeah. michael, with regard to psychological testing of pilots, what does that look like with regard to terrorism? >> that is very difficult. any sort of psychological profiling, and it's done when people get security clearances and the like and a lesser extent

to people involved in the transportation industry, you can do some of that and get some red flags but it is not -- in most cases it's not repeated. it's only at the entry into duty. i think trying to this do these before the fact is quite difficult. i completely defer to tom on his knowledge of the 777. my point was not only that someone knew how to fly this plane or force the pilots to but the person was quite smart about shutting down the pilots or the plane's ability to communicate with the outside world once it left its normal route. >> how difficult is that to do, tom, to shut down that communique? >> it's not that difficult. you turn the transponder off. there are two transponders on the 777. then you go to the a&e compartment with all the circuit breake breakers. >> that's thousand data is transmitted? >> the data come through the acars system through the flight

management computer. >> someone has to go back eight feet behind the cockpit, open up something, get down into the belly of the plane to do that? >> right, if you wanted to pull the circuit breakers on acars. you can't turn the acars off from the cockpit. it's always operating. it's also in a passive state sending a signal. >> how difficult is it to land that plane? this is relative to the fact this last ping, tom, we hear came at 8:11 in the morning. that's daylight. presumably it's a difficult plane to land in the night. >> the 777? >> if you're not on a landing strip -- >> no airplane is difficult to fly if you know how to fly it. >> but landing. talking about landing. >> no, landing. that disaster in asiana over in -- >> pilot error. >> pilot error because they were seduced by hyperautomation into the loss of their skills, their basic piloting skills. any pilot can fly this airplane anyway. by the way, you can land this

plane depending on weight in 4,000 feet. remember when the 747 landed on a 5,000-foot strip? you can't take off with grace but the brakes on the 777 are phenomenal. you can land a light 777 and stop it -- i think a friend of mine told me he came in from tokyo the other night and came in at kennedy airport and landed at 3,500 feet. in the hands of a competent aviator, this plane could be taken anywhere, but we don't know that that happened. >> tom, michael, thanks for lending us your expertise. >> thanks, alex. a vote against russia at the u.n. while for the first time russian troop have taken action outside of crimea. 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. to help people clean better, and that he travels the world inventing amazing new cleaners,

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russia is flexing its muscles, vetoing the vote tomorrow. ukraine's parliament for its part voted today to dissolve the crimean parliament, both symbolic res churs for a crimea already in russia's grasp. much more symbolic are the amazing of russian troops on the border and the clashing of protesters in the east. joining me is michael mcfaul. ambassador mcfaul, thanks for joining me. i'd like to listen together to the u.s. ambassador speaking here in midtown manhattan a few moments ago. >> the whole world knows that the referendum scheduled for tomorrow in crimea was hatched in the kremlin and midwifed by the russian military. it is inconsistent with ukraine's constitution and international law. it is illegitimate and it will have no legal effect. >> so ambassador, for all the diplomatic maneuvering going on right now, is tomorrow's vote just a rubber stamp on what's already a reality?

>> unfortunately, i think so. i think the writing's on the wall. i admire secretary carry for meeting with the foreign minister lavrov yesterday, about six hours of conversation, but it was clear rov did not come with ideas about a diplomatic solution. they're going to wait for the referendum. they know the results. and i fear that president putin will say i have to respect the will of the people of crimea and they'll move toward annexation. it was right to isolate them today. you'll note that the vote at the u.n. security council was 13 against, one abstention, china. it shows russia's totally ace oois lated but that doesn't mean it will stop them. >> we keep hearing about these somewhat vague threats of punishment for russia. will anything of substance realistically happen? >> yes. i think both european countries and the united states, either monday or tuesday, will announce

economic sanctions. and that's a first, by the way. that did not happen when russia went into georgia in 2008. it will most likely be about individuals and their bank accounts in the west. but it will be something new. and then there will be a counterresponse from russia, of course. russia will respond to those sanctions as well. >> ukraine's acting president is blaming so-called kremlin agents for stirring up violence in eastern ukraine on friday night. that was the time when two people were killed. reports of protests in kiev and the protesters there putting -- strong arming if you will. is that a common russian tactic? >> i don't know if it's common, but it's not surprising at this stage in this crisis. and it's extremely dangerous. if russian troops, if the fighting there begins and then russian troops come in to eastern ukraine, that's going to be a full-on civil war -- not a civil war, a war between two countries. and let me remind you, eastern

ukraine is not neatly divided between russians and ukrainians. their ethnic russians live in the large cities, but they're surrounded by ethnic yooubens. there's no easy partition of eastern ukraine. that would be really, really an escalated step and a lot-lives i think will be lost if that happens. >> do you believe as a result of the referendum -- >> it depends on what happens in eastern ukraine. but what happened in the last 24 hours is a dangerous sign. people are now shooting at each other. people are killing each other. it would not surprise me in the least if it was provocations planned by moscow. but once that happens, things can escalate in unintended ways. right? once people start to die, there's an action/reaction process that's very did i feel to stop.

>> look, you've been there in these situations. is there a chance that the united states and russia will come to some sort of a diplomatic, comprehensive agreement and de-escalate the situation? >> i'm not optimistic. again, i applaud president obama. i applaud secretary kerry for trying to do just that. i think they brought some creative ideas. in fact, i know they brought some creative ideas to london as a way to de-escalate the crisis. but so far it's very clear to me that president putin has decided that just staying the course unilaterally is what he prefers. >> what is the likelihood president putin has his sights set on something larger than the annexation of crimea? >> i don't know, but i'm deeply worried about fighting in eastern ukraine, because that will be an all in all out war in europe. we have not had that for a long,

long time. and to me that will be the next flashpoint that we need to watch very closely. >> i'm curious, mr. ambassador. this is a world in which syria can basically gas its own people and get away with it. what does russia have to fear from the west? >> economic sanctions will be serious. i mean, it all depends on how far they go, of course. and it really depends on how far germany and great britain go because that's where the most economic activity for russia is. but, you know, the discussions i'm hearing that they will be more profound than the russians think, that will hurt them. and russia's economy is not in great shape right now. they've been struggling over the last two years. you already see reactions in the stock market. you see people moving money out of russia. that's not going to be an easy thing for president putin to deal with. >> all right. former u.s. ambassador to russia

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most likely as a result of, quote, deliberate actions by someone on the plane. malaysian authorities searched the pilot's home in kuala lumpur this morning as the investigation refolks on the 239 passengers and crew on board that missing jet. malaysian prime minister says the massive multinational search effort is also shifting from the south china tea sae to two possible corridors. one extend as far north as kazakhstan, the other as far south as the southern part of the indian ocean. with the news it changed flight path because of a deliberate act, families are clinging to hope passengers and crew may be alive. joining us is james wood the brother e of passenger phillip wood, an ibm exec frif oklahoma. james is joining us on the phone. glad you're here with us. your thoughts about this latest development. that what's going through your mind? >> alex, the latest thing that we've -- just hearing all this is that we're thinking about honestly it gives us a little hope, as irpic as that might

sound. if someone has intentionally done something like this, and why would -- you know, it's hard to talk about this, but why -- if they're just wanting to hurt people, they would do it right then and there. if they're wanting to do something later, then at least it gives us hope that there is still life and that we're going to have an opportunity to see our family again. >> i'll tell you, that would be an extraordinary thing. certainly our prayers go with you if that, indeed, is the outcome. that said, i'm curious, how are you getting this information about the updates? are officials reaching out to you and your family? >> we are getting occasional e-mails from the state department and a few e-mails from the malaysian airlines. just giving us little updates. granted, i'd say a lot of the information is coming from you guys, to be honest, all over the media. >> yeah. how did you first hear about the plane going missing?

>> sara. sara called us, called my dad. >> and sara is? >> and let me know. >> and who's sara? a member of your family? >> sara is phil's basically fiancee for lack of a better word. >> okay. have you talked about your frustrations and the pain and ordeal you're going through with other family members? >> ask that again? have away talked -- >> have you been in contact with other family members of those that are on board this jet, and have you talked about the difficulties you're going through? are you guys comparing notes and sharing your thoughts and feelings? >> we haven't been able to communicate with family members for other passengers if that's what you're asking. but we have -- we're trying to get things out there and be a little more public. a friend of sara's and ours has created a facebook page called finding phillip wood. it's a community page and we're asking people to go and share and post, you know, if they

have -- to ask questions, to put more scrutiny on authorities, to basically, you know -- if someone hasn't thought of it, then what are you thinking as an individual? what could be -- you know, don't put kooky things on there but serious questions that need to be asked. we want help. we want everyone to be involved in this. we heard about that other site. and we're doing everything we can, you know, recognizing we have limited control over the situation and at the same time, you know, on the spiritual side we're playing. we're praying. >> james, as we are along with you that you get through this horrible, horrible ordeal and get on the other side to some brighter days. but i know you are grateful for that time you spent with your brother philly not too long ago, that week-long visit he had with your family. i know you're glad you had that time with you. >> thank you.

>> take care. we'll be in touch again. the mystery behind malaysian airlines 370 is triggering questions about the plane's technology. investigators say some communications systems were active several hours after the flight lost contact with air-traffic controller air-traffic controllers. they're looking at this technology for clues about the location. joining us is brian if you think, technology reporter at "the washington post." brian, thanks for joining us. you put out a great article that answered a bunch of questions. we'll go after some of that. after the transponders were disabled how can the plane send back information to the airline or the engine manufacturer? >> well, in addition to transponder there's other technology on board namely acars, that's a system that basically delivers information about the plane's systems back to either the airline or other operators on the ground. now, acars was also disabled technically on board the aircraft or so we think.

but even after acars is turned off, acars sends what are called handshake signals to satellites. and what authorities are saying is that some of these signals were detected by satellite, and from that we've been able to calculate the distance from the satellite that the plane may have been. and that's what led to that map that you were showing earlier. >> and share what you discovered about passenger cell phones. a lot of them are equipped with gps system. they have those chips. one would think that maybe that might help in the search. >> well, that's a really great question. you know, what gps chips do on cell phones they're a lot unlike what you might find in a car, for example. you know, what cell phones have are called assisted gps which typically relies on, you know, connection with the cell tower and a data connection in order to get a more precise fix.

now, without data connection or connection to a cell tower your gps chip in your phone is not going to be as functional as it would be on the ground. >> okay. and the radar, the fact that radar is not as effective, i mean, it's because if you're going to be out over a vast body of water, right, you need the towers on which to bounce off signals. right? >> that's right. you can't put a radar tower in the middle of the ocean which makes it really hard to pick up a plane when it's flying both low or over a vast body of water. and, you know, what typically happens in that situation is that air-traffic controllers will communicate with planes by radio. now, in this case, the aircraft cut off all vocal communications and so that's why we have to rely on things like acars or other forms of nonverbal communication to see where the plane may have gone. >> very interesting if anyone wants to look this up, there in "the washington post" from you, brian fung.

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a new study this week on alz suggests the disease causes as many as six times the deaths officials would indicate. a new book is suggesting future technologies could dramatically ease the burden of alzheimer's as well as possibly making you smarter by just swallowing a pill. that's the book, "the future of the mind," and the author, michio kaku, joining me now, with my congratulations you are the number one position on "the new york times" best seller list, your first number one. very good. congratulations. >> thank you. >> that's great. before the pill that will make you smarter, i want to know the effects of alzheimer's and how it could be eased by technology because i read your mother suffered from the disease. never easy to go through. >> that's right. we're talking about the possibility of a brain pacemaker. that is you hit a button and it injects the memory of who you

are, who your children are, who you live and where your keys are. a brain pacemaker could be coming in the next few years. just last year for the first time in history a memory was recorded in a mouse, reinserted back, so this means that in prime mate in monkey, we'll be able to record their memories and insert them back so remember next we'll experiment on human trials, mainly alzheimer's patients to create a brain pacemaker. beyond that, who knows? maybe we'll upload the vacation that we never had. >> well, potentially. here's something else we were joking about during the commercial. the truth about in the future we'll be able to have a motion picture of our thoughts, that vacation you talk about, but also with regard to dreams. how is that possible? >> this was once considered preposterous and now the first breakthrough are being made. we scanned the brain with an mri machine, then a computer analyzes 30,000 dolts and then creates a picture, a picture of

what you're looking at. and if you fall asleep in the mri machine, the compute ler try to generate a photograph of what you're dreaming about so one day in the future you'll push a button and see the dream that you had the previous night. >> okay. some of these may not be actually a good thing to do. that said, you do talk about the book and how groundbreaking technologies in the mind are going to change our daily lives forever like taking a pill which could make you smarter. how would that work? >> we've already had forgetful pill, pills for people who have traumatic experiences and war injuries. and we're also designing pills that actually accentuate people's attention. as i said before in the future, when the mind's memory is recorded we'll have a brain net, not just an internet, but an internet of emotions and memories and experiences. can you imagine teenagers going crazy on facebook sending the emotions of their first date or their first kiss? i mean, teenagers would go crazy

once we have a brain net, not just an internet. >> you mentioned that forgetfulness pill. is it legal? >> it's undergoing human trials. however, i should point out that the president's commission on bioethics recommended against the forgetful pill because they said that even harmful traumatic debilitating memories are good for you because they make you better people. i don't think so. i think some experiences are so traumatic that and so paralyzing that a forgetful pill could actually ease suffering and make people more productive. >> okay. you also talk in the book about artificial intelligence and the emergence of consciousness in the book. i'm going to get a little pop culture here. are computers going to develop feelings like the film "her" when a man falls in love with a computer program? >> the next generation of computers will try to master emotions so you can bond with them. we're trying to this make

robotic pets that purr, that try to caress you when you're tired and lonely, robotic pets that can interface with people and also robotic children to be used in hospitals, so this is one way in which to ease the pain of people who are in hospitals and elderly and suffering, for example, a terminal illness. and then gradually we'll work up to "her," but we're not there yet. we have a long ways to go before we have robots that are indeting wishable from a human being. >> with such admiration for what you do, may i say as a parent true you were a child looking up to both albert einstein and flash gordon? >> that's right. when i was a child, i wanted to complete einstein's dream of a theory of everything. but i also watched saturday morning television and there was flash gordon and i began to realize that the key to the future is physic, that if you understand physics, you understand computers and

technology and mri scans by which you can see the future. >> all right. well, the book is "the future of the mind" by michio kaku. thank you very much. are republicans making a bill deal out of a gop election in florida and the president's appearance on an internet comedy show? skin cells lose energy, making skin look tired. wake it up with olay regenerist. formulated with a skin energizing complex, it penetrates 10 layers of the skin's surface, revving up surface cell regeneration and bringing out younger looking skin. ♪ because energized skin is younger looking skin. the latest, from olay regenerist. ♪

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today's topics, between two ferns, florida's 13 and best week, worst week. let's bring in my big 3 panel. goldie taylor whose column is featured on the grio every week, morris reid and kaiton dawson. between two ferns, let's take a listen to this. >> how long have you had that? >> four months. >> really? >> spider bites. i got attacked by spiders.

>> you need to get that checked right away. you need to get on healthcare.gov, that's one of the most disgusting things i've finally seen. >> is your plug finally over? >> i suppose so. >> which country were you rooting for in the winter olympics? >> seriously? i'm the president of the united states. what do you think, zach? >> i think it was funny. goldie, maybe from the critics, they said the president shouldn't be doing this type of show. what's your reaction? >> presidents have done comedic acts for a very long time. we saw it with ronald reagan, we saw it with richard nixon. we saw it with both president bushes. so i think it was a master stroke. certainly drove more people to the healthcare.gov website and certainly drove enrollment for aca. >> the day it came out, traffic on healthcare.gov was up 40%. good strategy? >> it's pop culture. we live in a society where more

people get their information from people like zach, steve colbert, news from msnbc. so i think this is the way of the world and i think if you want to communicate with people, you need to go where you can communicate with them, particularly that demographic. so i think it is a good strategy for him to do it. >> there are some in the gop that say that all this came and somewhat is degrading to the office of the presidency. do you share that sentiment? >> alex, i've been on the other side where you usually ask, what do i get out of it? what did we get for it? and i want to know, which big, big donor asked the president's people to put him on that show because i thought it was demeaning and degrading. a little funny but he's the president of the united states. so those are the questions we usually ask. what did you get out of it? how did it work out and which donor asked you to do it? that's the only reason i can figure out why the president of the united states went between the ferns. >> that's crazy.

that's ridiculous. >> well, they're saying you're crazy. >> that's okay. >> they're trying to reach out to the young people and they do that fairly well. republicans, wouldn't they want to get some sort of an idea that reaches out to the youth of this country? and this may be to the youth -- if they're the ones getting on and logging on and looking at healthcare.gov, isn't the point then made? does the gop think about doing something like this? >> well, the gop thinks a lot and we're going to move on to florida. that's where we've been concentrating. look how well the affordable care act worked down there in the last election cycle. >> speaking of florida, let's talk about district 13. that special election there. the republican defeated the democrat there. after jolley won, quote, tonight one of nancy pelosi's most

prized candidates was ultimately brought down because of her unwavering support for obamacare, and that should be a loud warning for other democrats running coast to coast. any chance that republicans may be overinterpreting these florida results? >> i wouldn't say that. the winner around there was probably the super pacs that moved in on both side. again, it was an upset. the president won it in 2012. the democrats are going to downplay it as some type of fluke. certainly we are encouraged by it, alex. >> former white house senior adviser david plouffe is calling the loss a screaming siren for democrats. goldie, what do you think democrats should take away from this special election? >> i think democrats have to take away that they have to let their electorate know that every election counts. this election was decided by about 3,500 votes. that has a lot to do with how the candidates performed on the

ground, with what happened on election day in terms of gotv. this is about voter turnout. if you care about gerrymandering, you ought to care about who we're sending to congress in every election. if you want to break the back of gerrymandering, you're going to do it on the back of midterm elections. >> 26% of voters saying they're more likely to support a candidate if they're a strong supporter of the obama administration. morris, is this politically dangerous to support the president and his policies and specifically at obamacare? >> i think you have to decide what's best for the country and what's best for your district. sometimes people make the decision that what's best for the country may not be necessarily best for their district to get reelected. that's an individual decision. i think my colleague here from south carolina is doing what republicans tend to do. when they win, just like democrats tend to do when they

win, they overemphasize it. this was one moment in time. alex sink was not necessarily a great candidate. they won and they should be complimented for it. >> i have three seconds to p wrap up this show. very thanks to you all. that is a wrap. see you back here tomorrow. i'll be live in burbank, in southern california. up next, t.j. holmes, ready to go. you want to see something cool? snapshot, from progressive. my insurance company told me not to talk to people like you. you always do what they tell you? no... try it, and see what your good driving can save you. you don't even have to switch. unless you're scared. i'm not scared, it's... you know we can still see you. no, you can't. pretty sure we can... try snapshot today -- no pressure.

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[ female announcer ] olay total effects. nourishing vitamins, and seven beautiful benefits in one. for younger-looking skin. so while your life may be ever-changing... ♪ ...your beautiful skin will stay beautiful. total effects from olay. your best beautiful. these movements are consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane. >> you heard that. deliberate action. good afternoon to you all. i'm t.j. holmes in for craig melvin. you are watching msnbc. the mystery of what happened to flight 370 deepens now. if someone on the plane flew it far off its intended path, the big questions now, where did they go and why?