annexation from ukraine. we begin with missing flight 370, the myriad theories of what happened and why so much of the story is about the politics of malaysia, itself. while the latest update from malaysian officials found the transport and foreign ministries defending the country's actions once again, "the new york times" today had a fascinating report. it said basically that the changes to the plane's intended flight plan were directed from a computer likely from the cockpit. in other words, whoever changed flight 370's course likely had substantial knowledge of onboard airplane systems. also, the thai military said today for ten days it sat on radar data that shows a plane, perhaps, flight 370, shortly after the plane broke communication. the reason for sitting on the data? they say because malaysia never asked for it. the drip, drip of news along with the confusing sometimes contradictory statements given by malaysia as well as others has helped turn flight 370

theories into something of an online industry. there's the hacker or terrorism theory. they're the ones focused on pilots and crew, for instance, pilot error or perhaps pilot suicide or crew sabotage. there's also the very outside shot that the plane made an emergency landing somewhere but is unable to communicate. there are also the theories about a technical catastrophe, for instance an onboard fire. and lastly, that weather, even a meteor strike, could be at fault. some theories obviously are more plausible than others, but the thing is, nearly 11 days into the hunt for the missing plane and its 239 passengers and crew, these aren't conspiracy theories like the ones we heard after 9/11. these are mostly serious. and they're filling a void created by the malaysian government's poor response. in fact, today some of the government's top officials seemed most intent on pointing out that now is not a time to play politics. >> the search for mh-370 is

bigger than politics. i urge all malaysians to put our differences aside and unite during this difficult time as we focus on finding the aircraft and the 239 people onboard. >> politics is not important, and i do not think, i do not think anybody should see cheap publicity of what happened. >> of course, the first rule of politics is when someone says don't play politics, that means someone's playing politics. in this case, the coalition government coordinating the search and which has been in power since malaysia achieved independence in the 1950s is slowly losing power. after elections last may, it stayed in power despite losing the popular vote. as is often the case, gerrymandering helped determine the victor. that's one theory that seems to be gaining the most traction about flight 370 is that the search for it is a kind of stress test to the majority party. a stress test that it may be

failing. robert hager is an nbc contributor and former aviation correspondent. steve clemens is an msnbc contributor who covers international affairs for "the atlantic." we've gone through the various theories. hackers and terrorism theory, pilot error theory, technical failure, or an act of god. which seems the most plausible to you 11 days in? >> most plausible? most plausible, i think it was an intentional act. frankly, my own opinion. nothing to prove this. my own opinion is that the about was so skillfully done that it has to be done by pilot or co-pilot. my guess is not the two together. one or the other. motive is up in the air. i don't know. suicide, murder, or just some deranged show of force and flying it around until the end when probably the fuel ran out. so for 7 1/2 hours, this is a

very weird scheme. some f thoof those other things can rule out right away. the chances this plane landed anywhere, i don't give that any credence. i don't think it was a mechanical accident, although it sure would be nice to find some wreckage and you could say that better. i think one of the things was natural disaster, act of god. i don't think that was a factor at all. i think this was an intentional human act. we're working with, again, very, very little hard evidence. theories are fine but we don't have hard evidence of anything here. >> indeed. steve, one of the reasons we're working on hard evidence is the malaysian government has either been, i guess people can characterize it as competent, slow with information. getting things piecemeal. the government of thailand saying no one asked us for our radar data, so we didn't turn it over. what does that tell you about the way the malaysian government is handling this case? there the incumbent government in malaysia under the prime minister as you just indicated, that government has largely been

in place for 56 years and it has not been there largely through being responsive to public needs and whatnot. it's been there as an incumbent power, held power in an authoritarian sense. there's a vene er of democracy. not a healthy civil society and healthy press. what motivates bureaucrat, what motivates those people in government is different than what you would find in a western democracy. they're not prone to reveal. they're not prone to reach out. what drives their calculations every day is conquering any threat to their political preeminence. and i think we've seen that in some of the behavior. we saw it recently with some of what looks to like be the sliming and attempted sliming of one of the pilot of the airplane as a supporter of anwar ibrahim who's the leader of the opposition party in malaysia who's recently been indicted in

really what has been a 15, 16 year court torture of him inside malaysia. what we're seeing revealed because of this tragic airline case is really the dirt and grime of malaysian politics come to the fore. >> and, i mean, bob, so one of the results of that obviously to the point that steve is making is that sort of blame the pilot. i mean, not that it's being done overtly, but you're seeing focus from sources unnamed, sort of going into the pilot's political leanings. at the end of the day you come back to what you said before, we have a pewter that was programmed. i want to read you something quickly that was wrote in "the new york times" today in their piece today. he said "when mass murderers took over the cockpit, four airliners of september 11th 2001, they turned off the transponders so the planes would not register properly on civilian radar." is there any way to get around that having to be done by one of the pilots? >> it's hard to it without. you could postulate some passenger or somebody --

>> with flight knowledge. >> yeah, with flight knowledge. gets through the cockpit door and then they could do that very easily. if they had something to hold the crew at bay with, they could do it. but that takes -- that's a stretch to imagine how they could get in the cockpit and do it. i mean, this really points the finger much more politics aside, i mean, the few little facts we have, circumstantial evidence, but that sure does point toward one of the crew members. >> going back just a little bit steve, the political leanings of the main pilot have become an issue as you said because of his support for the opposition leader. if indeed it was laid at the feet of the pilot ultimately, what would that do to the standing of the main opposition leader mr. ibrahim in malaysian and what could this case theoretically do to the malaysian government? >> it's one of the weirdest aspects of this mystery. to be affiliated with and supportive of anwar ibrahim's

party in malaysia is to be affiliated with radical secularists, who believe in women's rights, radicals who believe in free press. when this first got reported because the malaysian government doesn't see it that way. they see him as a deep threat to their survival politically and thus by working, you know, the machinations behind the scenes in which they were trying to make the pilot look like a bad guy for being affiliated with this, to the rest of the world, who is somewhat informed about malaysian politics, they're basically saying this pilot is a good guy. unless there's some sort of secret conspiracy of women's rights activists in the sort of southeast asian muslim world that rather than being islamic radicals or essentially islamic secularists and moderates which doesn't, of course, make any sense at all. to a certain degree, by the background machinery trying to savage the character of the pilot in this particular case, they've actually highlighted him

as a very interesting political personality in a very tense political time. and i think, you know, the one kind of scenario and, again, it's all speculation, because we know very -- we know nothing, that five, six days ago anwar ibrahim after an appeals court process were zooindicts -- most everyone who's been in this has been seeing these round of justice actions as highly politicized and completely off base. i happen to know both the prime minister najib as well as deputy prime minister anwar and they've been locked in a dog fight for quite a long time. i think what has happened in terms of this being laid at the feet of the pilot is making the pilot look like a good guy who maybe had a pang of depression or something of that sort related to the actions by the court. it doesn't make sense to me, but, again, many press when they heard this story began trying to

paint the pilot as a radical islamist and that couldn't be the furthest from the truth given his political leanings. >> which only makes this mystery even deeper. steve, while i have you here, i want to ask you quickly about ukraine. moments ago the white house said more sanctions against russia are coming. secretary of state john kerry said he's disappointed by vladimir putin's threat of sanctions against the u.s., picking out senators like dick durbin. what do you make of all that? >> look, this is a complex knot and terrible, tragic knot for crimea, in my view is largely gone. what the president is trying to do, hopes there's a didnplomati solution that will get a standown in the process. that's unlikely. what we have to look at is vladimir putin in speech he gave today, this was a deeply nationalistic speech. a proud speech. a speech that wasn't repentant or have an ounce of contrition or uncertain. putin has courted this on

confrontation because he sensed western weakness and the kind of sanctions they've deployed are pin pricks in terms of their intention and where they'd like to go. in my sense, vladimir putin sees this as a defining challenge for himself and has risen to it and is showing the west you don't have much to control over me or not nearly as much as you think you do. so we have two powers going like this and both happen to be critical strategic stakeholders in the global stability equation. so it's very, very worrisome. because it's not clear what the end game for russia in any of this will be nor is it for the united states and europe, frankly. so we're going to be talking about this for a while. >> yeah. hopefully you'll come back and keep talking about it with us. steve clemens, as well as bob hager. thank you, both. >> thank you. to seattle now. investigators are on the scene of an horrific helicopter crash near the space needle. at least two people were killed and one person on the ground was hurt when a news helicopter crashed and exploded during

takeoff. the chopper belonged to the abc affiliate. it clipped a building and spun into three cars on the ground. coming up, republicans are supposed to be trying to re-brand, reboot and reach out to women and minorities. look at what they're doing, not what they're saying and realize not a whole lot has changed. a big mac attack. workers nationwide are protesting at mcdonald's. they're waging war, saying the fast food giant is pulling a fast one on them. [ female announcer ] tampax radiant protects 30% better. plus, it comes with a resealable wrapper for discreet disposal. you'll be ready to wear anything with the tampax radiant collection. you'll be ready to wear anything transferred money from his before larry instantly bank of america savings account to his merrill edge retirement account. before he opened his first hot chocolate stand calling winter an "underserved season". and before he quit his friend's leaf-raking business for "not offering a 401k."

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growth and opportunity. that's the goal republicans set for themselves in a 2012 election postmortem report that turns one-year-old today. happy birthday. the full 100-page autopsy makes for truly interesting reading.

specifically the party's descriptions for what it acknowledged were major demographic deficits with minorities and women. all right. it's been a year. let's take a look at the new and improved gop. >> my father had a ranch. we used to fire 50 to 60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes. >> i think parents became -- both parents started working and the mom is in the workplace. it's not a bad thing. i'm going to get in trouble. i can just see. i can see the e-mails tomorrow. >> for everyone who's a valedictorian, there's another hundred out there that they weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. >> we have got this tailspin of culture in our inner cities, in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working. >> you know, maybe those folks missed a key part of their own report. mainly the minority groups that

president obama carried with 80% of the vote in 2012 are on track to become a majority of the nation's population by 2050. or the republican party lost young and women voters in 2012. therefore, it is imperative that we reverse this troubling trend. now, today, democrats released their own autopsy on the autopsy. their conclusion on the republican reboot, new year, same party. that, of course, prompted a swipe from rnc chair reince priebus on twitter. "good luck on that ground game and turnout effort with your $16 million debt." dnc chair debbie wasserman-schultz hit back tweeting "keep beating that chest. when our ground game beats you again like we did in 2012 and 2013 you'll need more than words and an autopsy. ouch. joining me now, sahil kapur, senior congressional reporter at "talking points memo. okay. the gop, you actually wrote

about this change one year later on the autopsy and you wrote this. you said "tpm checked in with the rnc on what policy recommendations congressional republicans adopted from the report. rnc spokeswoman kirsetn kukowski didn't point to any. but told tpm in e-mail that immigration was a difficult problem." explain. >> what the committee is doing is looking back at the autopsy report and trying to find areas of success that it can point to. the areas where it has succeeded, i would say this is true they have, the more voter outreach, adopting the newest and latest technologies and changes the presidential primary process. the one area where they seemed to have failed completely and don't really dispute this is policy. that's the most important thing. it's rare, very remarkable for the rnc to talk about, urge the party to make policy changes after the 2012 election. that's not really the committee's job. they saw two issues, you know,

if particular. immigration reform and gay rights, as reflective of the ground shifting beneath them and they urged the party to get onboard in order to stay relevant, you know, with the changing electorate. >> you know what, when i look at that fact, sahil, the party recognizes that it needs to do more to diversify, create ads with a diverse cast of people saying i'm a republican and making a wonderful sort of visual presentation to show that they are trying harder to be diverse. but then at the policy level, they're actually not changing on immigration or gay rights. ron brownstein wrote something interesting in "the atlantic" last september. he writes this. "the key question facing the gop is whether obama's 2012 performance represents a structural democratic decline among whites that could deepen further in the years ahead or a floor from which the next democratic nominee is likely to improve. in recent months, a chorus of conservative analysts bet on the first option. they insist by republicans by improving both turnout and already gaping margins among whites can recapture the white house in 2016 without

reformulating their agenda to attract more minority voters." do you see any evidence that perhaps the voices in the party saying we don't need to change policy, we just need to get out more white voters, are actually winning the battle? >> they're winning the battle in congress because i think congressional leaders are more focused on the 2014 election and the paradox here is republicans are going to be just fine. they're probably going to do well in the 2014 elections because the electorate there tends to be older, whiter, more male, more conservative, but, you know, and that's why they haven't shifted policies on major issues because that exact electorate wants them to stay in place. the problem is those policies are going to doom them i think in 2016 if they don't make significant shifts. the reason 2012 was a rude awakening for republicans is many thought 2008 was a fluke, right, that president obama's constituency there was a one-time thing, an anomaly that wasn't going to change. in 2012, despite a bad economy, you know, and all their efforts, republicans came, fell way short. so the idea of the autopsy was that this, it reflects a new

normal and we have to get onboard with it. so far they failed to do that. partly the 2014 elections. they're eyeing a sort of whites-first strategy. just not thinking beyond that. >> yeah, it depends on what you think the new normal is. i guess that's really the tension in the party. "talking points memo" sahil kapur. thank you. to harlem now where the first lawsuits have been filed in last week's deadly building explosion. a 46-year-old woman is suing con edison and a owner of one of the buildings claiming she sustained severe and permanent injuries when the blast caused her to fall in her own apartment located more than a block away. in a separate suit, a 20-year-old student who was on a passing bus is seeking $10 million from the city for injuries he suffered when the force of the explosion threw him from his seat. it's time for the "your

business" entrepreneur of the week. jen launched rent the runway on the web in 2009. customers rent dresses and accessories for a fraction of what it would cost to buy them. mobile became 25% of their traffic, so they launched a very successful app last year. for more, watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. how was prugh.ce? that bad? i dropped 2 balls, mom. eye on the ball! that's all it is. eye on the ball.

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the lines about republicans bashing the president. again. and what it all has to do with wrestling bears. that's coming up. but first, it's time for the stories you can't stop buzzing about on social media in a little segment we like to call "we the tweeple. "the big bang theory. this picture from the harvard smithsonian center for astrophysics shows the waves released immediately after the big bang. what went viral is this video of stanford physics professor andre lind who developed this wave theory in 1983 finding out he was right. >> so i have a surprise for you. >> wow. >> it's at .2. >> what? >> .2 plus minus -- >> lind shared his joy with a member of the discovery team saying, "if this is true, this is a moment of understanding of

nature of such magnitude that it just overwhelms. thank you so much for doing it." love it when geeks are happy. also on your minds, the march 31st deadline is looming for signing up for the affordable care act. a site launched by the state of rhode island called the nag tool kit designed to help rhode island moms nag their kids to sign up for health care using social media. not just any social media. we're talking snapchat, okay cupid, the dating sites no one wants their mom to go anywhere where. "we're playing with the idea that kids don't want to sign up for health insurance. they don't want to talk about it and don't really want to be nagged by their moms." critics are calling it creepy, but you can't deny, it's a creative way to get the elusive millennials to get health care. sign up or your mom will find you on tindr. ww. last but not least, st. patrick's day green. this was one of our favorites.

we had creative lads like this man. join us on twitter, facebook, instagram and msnbc.com and tell us what's important to you. and next, waging war over worker pay. the big push to get mcdonald's to pay up. are you flo? yes. is this the thing you gave my husband? well, yeah, yes. the "name your price" tool. you tell us the price you want to pay, and we give you a range of options to choose from. careful, though -- that kind of power can go to your head. that explains a lot. yo, buddy! i got this. gimme one, gimme one, gimme one! the power of the "name your price" tool. only from progressive.

an update on missing th ini malaysian flight 370. the chinese government checked the backgrounds of 2/3 of those from china. it found no links of terrorism. family members are reportedly threatening do go on a hunger strike in protest of the way malaysia handled the lost plane. an economic issue that became democrats' rallying cry for the 2014 campaign season. the wage wars. president obama has made economic equality the theme of nearly every speech this year. calling on congress to give

america a raise. expand opportunity for all. and give people who work hard overtime pay. he's even taking direct action to get the ball rolling from the executive branch. so with a little presidential momentum, fast food workers are reprising last year's power play with plans to walk out in about 30 cities today. they're protesting the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. now, the president has said he supports raising minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. fast food workers say anything less than $15 is not a living wage. this round of protests is giving greater urgency with the addition of a new round of wage theft lawsuits aimed at mcdonald's in new york, california, and michigan. workers allege they're being forced to work off the clock before and after their regular shifts. having the cost of their uniforms deducted from their paycheck and denied overtime pay under federal law. today we've learned new york state has reached a settlement with the owner of seven mcdonald's franchises that will give nearly $500,000 to more

than 1,600 current and former employees. and joining me now, joseph sellers, counsel for the workers in the mcdonald's cases. joseph, we did reach out to mcdonald's and received a statement back. i'll read it in part to you. "mcdonneacdonald's and owner/op are each committed to undertaking a comprehensive investigation of the allegations and will take any necessary actions as they apply to our respective organizations." have they, in your view, before responsive to their complaints? >> it's a little early to see whether mcdonald's is going to be responsive. we just served the complaints on them last week, but we expect to hear from mcdonald's soon and hope it will remedy the violations of law that these complaints have identified. >> and what is your reaction to the settlement in new york? >> well, i think it's an indication that the company is prepared to be responsive when there's attention called to the workplace violations, as there was there, and there is in

connection with our cases. >> and is it entirely coincidental, or was there some impetus to the lawsuit and the president's really making inequality a focus this year? >> the lawsuits were really prompted by the complaints of our clients and the speed with which we were able to investigate their claims. it was coincidence that the complaints were filed on or around the time the president announced hi intentions to change the wage laws. >> tell us a little bit about some of the people you're representing. tell us what situations they're facing. do they have any alternatives outside of this suit to trying to seek remedies for what they say have been stolen wages? >> most -- these workers are among the most -- the working poor. many of them have multiple jobs just to be able to survive. and they have -- they're working at mcdonald's sometimes because they have no other options. indeed, many of the workers who we heard from, we've heard from a number of them, have been afraid to launch this kind of lawsuit. fortunately, there's some

courageous men and women who have decided to step forward and bring these cases on behalf of themselves and others. >> and you talk about men and women, but a lot of times what you hear on the other side of this argument about minimum wage is that most of the people who work in these kinds of jobs are teenagers. in terms of the people you represent, give us sort of an age distribution. are we talking about parents with children, or are we really talking about people just out of high school or even in college? >> no, no. well, the people we're talking about, who are leading these cases are adults. some of them are single parents with children. some of them have multiple jobs in order to survive. these are people who have taken these jobs because in many cases they have no other options. >> if you look at the difference, even if the living wage demands of a lot of mcdonald's workers saying that $15 an hour is a living wage and the president saying $10.10 an hour is what they're shooting for in terms of the federal wage, there is a big gap there, right? you do have businesses that are

saying our franchise can't survive if we're forced to pay people $10 or $15 an hour. what's your response to that? >> i'm here really just to get mcdonalds's to pay these workers from the time that they've worked and to comply with the minimum wage law as it currently exists. i don't have a means to be able to offer an opinion whether the minimum wage should be $10 or $15 an hour. >> how widespread is this alleged really i guess you'd say abuse of these workers, if people have a certain shift and being forced to add extra hours or not getting paid for what is legitimately overtime? how widespread is this or are you targeting this in specific regions of the country? >> these cases were brought because this is where we found evidence where the workers were prepared to step forward and bring these cases. these cases, alone, include probably 30,000 to 35,000 workers over the course of all 3 states. but we continue to hear from

workers with similar claims involving other mcdonald's, parts of mcdonald's than just in those states. >> and you said that workers, those who were not afraid to come forward. if, for instance, a worker were to join this class action suit then be laid off or fired, were you in your capacity as a lawyer, would they have some legal remedy? >> well, if they were -- if they were laid off or fired because of their participation in this lawsuit, that would be unlawful and that would be something we would bring to the court's attention. and i trust that the court would act swiftly to protect them. if they're simply laid off or fired for reasons unrelated to their involvement in the lawsuit, the company has the prerogative to do that. >> right. then it would be a manner of proofing the causation. joseph sellers, thanks so much. >> thank you. to the pentagon where a just-released report says last fall's mass shooting at the washington navy yard could have been prevented. an independent review reveals supervisors knew of aaron

alexis' erratic behavior before the shooting but failed to notify higher-ups. had the alarms been raised, his security would have been revoked. aaron alexsis killed several people before police fatally shot him. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. predibut, manufacturings a prettin the united states do. means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. [ mala body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion.

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it has soothing scents, and makes fabrics so soft. so you can tuck in, relax, and finally turn off. shhhh... ♪ they are three men of uncommon valor who risked their lives serving the country in the war in vietnam. santiago erevia shut down several enemy gunners and helped get the wounded to safety while also bringing the dead back home. sergeant first class melvin morris crossed enemy lines and single handedly destroyed enemy forces attacking his battalion. he was shot three times as he raced back to friendly territory with american casualties. jose rodela dodged enemy fire for 18 hours, bringing survivors to safety, attending to the fallen and disabling an enemy

rocket position. these men faced a familiar battle when they returned home, fr prejudice. served honorably in world war ii, korean war or vietnam but went unrecognized because of race or ethnicity. president obama makes things right when he awards the entire group of 24 the medal of honor. today's ceremony follows an exhaustive congressional review of whether service members of jewish, hispanic or african-american heritage were wrongly denied the honor. most members of the group passed away, still waiting. erebia, morris, rodela are the only living honorees and all three will be at the white house today. i'm joined by jack jacobs, himself a proud medal of honor recipient for his service in vietnam, also a msnbc military analyst. and goldie taylor who served in the united states marine corps. now a columnist for the grio.com and msnbc contributor as well. jack, i have to start with you.

we were talking a little bit in the break about my shock that you had this happen really with this congress and this president together. you said that's not unprecedented. >> that's right. anything that works out with this congress and this president is unprecedented. it's nice to know they can do something together. congress mandated the defense department, belongs to president, take a look at these files. it's not the first time this has been done. i remember some years ago when an entire swath of recommendations were looked at again from the second world war, and a fairly substantial number of medals of honor, many posthumously, to the 42nd regimental combat team, the most decorated in the united states army, in the second world war made up almost entirely of japanese-americans many of whom had been placed in concentration camps after the japanese attack and volunteered to go fight for their country. it's been done before, but this is the largest group, i believe,

and it includes 21 people who did not survive. >> yeah. and goldie, there's something poignant also about sort of righting a wrong that was based on, you know, an historical fault line in this country around race, around religious identity and sort of righting those wrongs. for this particular president, how poignant is that? >> i think it's very poignant. this particular swath started back in 2002 when we began to really take a look, a hard look at those people who had received another medal who were jewish and/or latino. then we added african-americans to that mix and came up with this mix of 24. there may be more we do not know. but what we do know is this nation is still perfecting itself and our men and whoomen o serve on the front lines ought to receive the same level of pay for the same level of work they put in every day. they should be rewarded based on the same level of heroic, you know, behavior they show out there on the battlefield and the

same way that their brothers and sisters are in arms. so i just think this is truly a mementos day. to say that 21 of them did not survive, i think their families are going to be very happy to see this kind of award has been bestowed upon their really do h hand in celebration of the three who survived, did get to see this day and this president is the one who is able to do this. >> colonel jack, i'm going to keep doing so. as somebody who has received this honor, yourself, medal of honor, what does it mean to the individual? what will this mean to these families? >> it's interesting. i'll tell you an anecdote. when i was decorated, before the dawn of recorded history, at the time when there were almost 400 living recipients. now there are only 74 alive and 77 after this ceremony. the first event i attended is the biannual get together of medal of honor recipients. back then we got together every other year. the guys who are long gone were very, very young.

much younger than i am now. right after that dinner, a general who was jimmy doolittle who led the raid on tokyo right after pearl harbor, put his arm around me and took me to the corner of the room of the ballroom and said, young man -- you got to realize this is jimmy doolittle. a very big deal. he said, young man, you're no longer jack jacobs, you're jack jacobs, medal of honor recipient and you carry a heavy burden and you must comport yourself properly. do you understand what i'm saying? i said, yes, sir, i sure do. everybody who gets decorated for anything, no just a medal of honor, recognizes he wears that medal not just for himself but all those what can't. >> indeed. goldie, we're in such a stratified country. there are so many fault lines of every kind. >> true. >> it is an especially difficult time in terms of the disunity in the country. the military really remains one of the few kind of unifying forces in the country. one of the few organizations,

entities that the majority of the public respects. is there some chance that in honors like this, we do give the country a breath from all of the ugliness? is this the sort of event that can unify left/right, all of the different factions in the country? >> well, it very well should. i mean, this is just that opportunity. you know, it is no irony, no coincidence that men and women who are returning from world war ii were the very people who brought back that air of freedom with them during the civil rights movement. many believed it was returning servicemen and women who really sort of urged on or were more aggressive about gaining human rights for all americans during the civil rights movement, and that that was sort of the spark that the nation really needed. those returning servicemen and women. so i think that this is a tremendous opportunity for all of us to stand back and take a look at ourselves and know that when we're out on the battlefield, we're one color, we're green. we fight for this nation. we fight for its liberty.

we fight for religion. we fight for freedom of speech, freedom of press an all ought to be honored no the same way. i think this is a tremendous opportunity for us to put aside whatever partisan differences may or may not spring up and stand in front of these 24 servicemen and honor them in the way that they fought for. >> and it's such an important philosophical point. i want to ask a little question on the mechanics of doing this. >> ask away. >> how do you go about finding, verifying and sorting through -- i mean, i'm sure everyone comes back with battle stories. some don't want to talk about them, frankly. some do. how do you actually locate and find people in order to make sure all that are honored are -- >> well, that's what makes it difficult. if it hasn't been written up at the time, there's nothing to go look at and you have to have witnesses who have to be verified. it's extremely difficult. in the end, we fight for each other and important we recognize these people represent millions of men and women who served and sacrificed for us. >> yeah. and, you know, goldie sort of in a generation from now, the medal of honor recipients are going to

come largely from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. right? these are the wars they're going to be looking at. these wars like vietnam are so contentious in terms of the way they were begun, the terms of support or lack of support in the country for them. talk about that a little bit. you have now wars that go beyond, and vietnam is one of them. can you look forward to us a little by in terms of honoring people from these very contentious wars, especially in iraq? >> you know, some of these medal of honor recipients today are coming from the vietnam war which was a very contentious war. first sergeant morris said when he returned home, only his wife and children were there to greet him. you know, i just think as a nation we've got to learn from that. that we've got to learn that even though it may or may not be a war we agree with, there are people, men and women, who are putting their lives on the line for us every day. and that they deserve to be honored. no matter if we agree with the war that they're serving in or not. they serve on our behalf. >> all right. the great colonel jack jacobs

and my friend goldie taylor. thanks to both of you. >> thank you. all right. m msnbc will have complete coverage of today's medal of honor ceremony beginning at 3:40 p.m. eastern time. next, we'll read between the lines on the gop's bromance with vladimir putin. co: i've always found you don't know you need a hotel room until you're sure you do. bartender: thanks, captain obvious. co: which is what makes using the hotels.com mobile app so useful. i can book a nearby hotel room from wherever i am. or, i could not book a hotel room and put my cellphone back into my pocket as if nothing happened. hotels.com. i don't need it right now.

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republicans have spent the last year vowing to change. they're going to be a party that's more open and inclusive to minorities, lgbt community, to women. while there's evidence it's not going so well, they can't pitch ted nugent or stop offending women, get ben carstop to stop comparing our country to germany because of universal health care. there's one aspect that the party hanlsn't efsh tried to change. >> i think vladimir putin must

be -- the absolute timidity that the president said, quote, we will consider other options. the president should have said we're going to provide military assistance to ukraine and that will be in defensive weaponry. >> consensus is a great idea. sometimes you have to lead. this is one of those times. and i'll tell you, there are three things that president obama can do and should do. one, stop pretending that negotiations will solve all the world's problems. >> makes a decision and he executes it. quickly. then everybody reacts. that's what you call a leader. >> hmm. republicans seem to have looked at the president of their own country and the autocratic president of russia and decided they prefer putin. his bear wrestling, ostentatious use of the russian military. actually, i'll just let jon stewart sum it up. >> the weirdest thing about this isn't putin invading ukraine. you expect a crazy guy to act crazy. the weirdest thing is seeing

conservatives in our country point at the crazy guy and go, i'll have what they're having. >> ditto malaysia. john bolton. demand that the bad guys produce the plane or else. >> the fear of acknowledging that perhaps it was a terrorist incident, that perhaps it involved islamic terrorists and drew back, and at the top levels just did not want to give the impression this was as serious as it may turn out to be. >> now, what's strangest about all of this is the tea party takeover of the republican party in theory meant the sunset of the neocons. those superhawks who see military action as the answer to all things component, of course, when it came to their own participation in vietnam. polls show americans want no part of getting into a militaristic fight with russia over ukraine. yet, it's remarkable that more than a decade after iraq, otherwise known as the last time we listened to the neocons, the

gop still seems enamored of the awesome feeling of threatening force, calling people tyrants and terrorists and generally behaving, well, like vladimir putin. that's what they want in a president. bill kristol, the wrongest neocon of them all, even calls for the war-wary public to be awakened and rallied. and because president obama won't do that, they've taken the guy who got osama bin laden, and recast him as a weak girly man who should really be more like vlad. now that putin is doing his own sanctions list, watch the right declare how manly awesome sanctions are. that's wraps things up for "the reid report." see you back here tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. eastern. visit us on thereidreport@msnbc.com. you make vladimir putin sound so cool. why can't our leader be more like him? that's all we really need. we'll have a lot today on the missing plane that everybody in the world is thinking about and looking for. we're going to be at the

white house with the medal of honor ceremony that's going to be so patriotic and so powerful. we're going to talk to medal of honor winner about what it's like to win a medal of honor. >> that's awesome. can't wait to see that. sank thanks so much. and "the cycle" is up next. that creates a moisture reserve so skin can replenish itself. aveeno® naturally beautiful results.

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pradaxa side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you or someone you love has afib not caused by a heart valve problem... ...ask your doctor about reducing the risk of stroke with pradaxa. it is the highest honor of bravery. >> the professionalism and patriotism that we should strive for. whether we wear uniform or not. >> awarded by the commander in chief. >> what our country can be at its best. >> but for two dozen american heroes, that honor has been a long time coming. three of them are still living, but all of them are still with us. united in the american spirit. >> i think our nation needs this ceremony today. >> this hour, the medal of honor

takes on an even more special meaning. >> we come together, again, with gratitude. >> and we invite you to witness history along with us in "the cycle." today's ceremony will take place in about 40 minutes at the white house. we will bring it to you live in its entirety as soon as it begins. but we start with breaking news concerning the missing flight out of malaysia. flight 370. now the longest search for a missing airliner in history. 11 days in counting. the search zone enormous. stretching from kazakhstan to australia. search teams from 26 countries looking over more than 3,200 miles from the last contact point. three americans were onboard. u.s. homeland security says no information on what led to the disappearance. china had 154 passengers onboard. it says it has cleared all of them of links to terrorism. fami