♪ . >> ts it is extremely part of the indian ocean and 3,000 kilometers southwest of perth and about the most inaccessible spot you can imagine on the face of the earth but if there is anything down there, we will find it. >> breaking news. crews are up in the air looking for those two objects spotted by satellite over the indian ocean. could it be missing flight 370? choppy waters, two and a half miles deep, nasty weather in the skies, and it's all happening in one of the most inaccessible

places on earth. we have got it covered on multiple fronts this morning, with live reporting from malaysia, australia, and our experts from around the country. plus, russia is massing troops along its western borders as pro-russian forces take whatever they want in crimea including ukrainian ships and sanctions flying both ways. russia is borrowing members of congress from entering the country and president obama is moving into the second phase of his squeeze on putin. where does this go next? here at home, underaged drinking in a horrifying new light. why teenagers are documenting their worst moments on twitter. what your kids are showing the entire world online. good morning. it's friday, march ste21st. with us on set is bob hager.

good to have you back. senior political analyst mark halpern with us. a lot going on with the president covering all fronts. obamacare and ukraine. the president of the council on foreign relation, richard haass. good to have you back. in washington, associate editor of "the washington post" and msnbc political analyst, eugene robinson. thanks for being on board this week. planes are back in the air this morning looking for possible pieces of debris from the missing jet in the southern indian ocean. it has been 14 days since the malaysian huge plane last communicated with air traffic control and these satellite images gave officials a renewed sense of hope that the mystery surrounding flight 370 would be solved. crews are, right now, looking for two objects about 14 miles apart. one is about 79 feet long. the other, 16 feet long. but, yesterday, poor weather

conditions, including strong winds, heavy cloud coverage and rain made it difficult to locate any debris at all. so, today, the search continues as officials still consider this their best lead yet. three australian p-3 ryans and p-8 poseidon are scanning the area. and ships are in the sea to search for the ship. >> we owe it to the families and the friends and the loved ones of the almost 240 people on flight mh-370 to do everything we can to try to resolve what is as yet an extraordinary riddle. we owe it to them to do everything we can to resolve this and because of the understandable state of anxiety

and apprehension they are in, we also owe it to them to give them information as soon as it's -- >> impressive he came out to speak. what is getting in the way of the hope here, these two pieces of debris is the weather. let's go to weather channel headquarters in atlanta and sam champion. you have a team there looking at this. tell us about the weather patterns in the search areas and how they might pan out in the days to come. >> mika, no problem. when i saw the first interview and they said that weather is the issue here, i knew we were uniquely positioned to deliver the information that was necessary but let's get to it. we know this search area is 1,400 miles away from perth. the problem the airplanes have before we get to the weather is like flying from chicago to l.a. and spending two hours in l.a. to do a little work and flying back. these planes have no place to go to get fuel but back to the

coastline so only two hours a shot at their deal. the weather conditions in that area, sloppy and bad weather conditions. you couldn't see anything. the water was pitching. there were big, high waves in that area and you're looking at for a little piece of debris in moving white caps in that water. today a surface area of high pressure and doesn't last very lo long but relatively long conditions for that area. seas at their calmest about 5 to seven feet. when you think about it that is a five-foot wave. you get these big peaks and valleys which means on one side of the way you have a glisten and on the other side you have a dark look. so it's virtually impossible to see anything like an oil slick or the sheen. the surface of the water is so broken up. remember little pieces of this plane, and some of them are large but if you're looking for a little piece of this plane then that is pitching as well. we had conversations about how

long would it stay floating because we are talking about 13, 14 days now. there's also marine layer. the best way to describe this to the audience is if you live in california or long island, these are places and even the coast of maine and the coast of massachusetts, you're used to this layer of clouds that is always there. even if the sun is shining and if it's a clear day there is like this hazy film of clouds it's very close to the water. so you would have to fly super low to get below this marine layer to be able to see anything any way. that is like putting a mickey coating or film on a glass. you can't see through the marine layer until it breaks. no storms in the area i'm looking at it right now. a low deck of clouds. the currents in that area are moving about 3 to 4 miles an hour. that is a pretty strong steady current to take something in one direction. then add the chop of the wave in there so it really is moving and looks sloppy. so i think by sunday, this

becomes another storm zone. they have between now and sunday to find something or it gets increasing difficult. >> that's a small window. we also have the black boxes on the plane which have a shelf life as well of 30 days, if they are even intact or in a location where something can be heard from them. bob hager, you've covered so many air disasters in your career. the time span here is frustrating. is it possible that they will be able to get something, given those weather conditions? >> well, each if yven if you ge wreckage the prize is the black boxes. even if this is confirmed to be wreckage it will take a lot of time to trace it back where the black box is. they will be hundreds of miles away from possible floating wreckage. >> ocean that is two and a half miles deep and it's being characterized as the most inaccessible place on earth. we will keep trying because

everybody wants to know what happened here because we are left with a sense of unease around the world. >> we have to damp down expectations that we will learn something in a feud or half a week or something like that. >> with us from denver is former senior air safety of the national transportation safety board greg feith is back with us. greg, we are focused like a laser on these two pieces of debris. are our hearts going to be broken when we get to them? >> i'm not very optimistic. normally -- we saw this with the china photos where there was a large piece of debris, the dimensions of their debris just didn't make sense for a 777. we don't have the fidelity or the resolution and the photographs on these two pieces, mika. and, right now, if there is any hope that this is part of mh-370, you would expect that around these pieces of debris, there would be other floating debris with it, not just a piece of debris. and these two pieces are

separated by 14, 15, 16 miles. you would have expected they would have been in the same sea state and been a lot closer. >> richard, what do you make of the fact that the prime minister of australia came out to speak about this and pretty much made it certain that they are hell-bent on finding it and hopeful? >> this is so important to australia's relationship with its neighbors, with china, which is one of australia's two biggest trading partners. australia's relations with countries like malaysia and indonesia are central to its foreign policy. australia this is not a human interest story but central to their economy and entire foreign policy and their regional relationships. for them this is issue number one, two, three right now. the fact the new. >> spero: is out there is exactly what he should be doing. >> greg feith, anything new in the investigation beyond the facts? we know certain facts about computer programming in the plane, making the turn, the last

words heard from one of the pilots. we know those facts. and then we have these pieces of hope that we are stringing together. at this point, what direction do you think this investigation is taking? what are your instincts telling you? >> the big thing right now is that we are kind of in a holding pattern because we don't have wreckage, the technical aspects of this investigation are really on hold. the investigators have exhausted the satellite information. it's basically given us the track that we are on and helped us redefine the everyone is area so the technical aspects are really on hold until we do confirm whether or not these two pieces of debris are, in fact, from mh-370. the real focus is really with the fbi. now that they have a hard copy of the mirror image of those hard drives from the computer that is where things are really

going to settle is what are they going to find on the hard drives on those computers? is there any kind of telltale sign that would give any indication as to the motive of somebody intending to take this airplane and turn off the transresponders and acars and fly it into a place in the world that is literally no man's land. >> bob hager, what can you tell us about those so-called black boxes on board the passenger planes? they seem like almost the only piece of hope that we can look for. >> it's one of the few things and they can tell you a lot if you find them but this is, still, i got to say it's a long shot that we can find them. but as i say, they can tell you a lot. let's take a look here. >> black boxes have been crucial in solving many crashes such as the loss of air france plane off brazil five years ago and it took two years to find the boxes, two and a half miles

deep. they revealed pilot error as a factor in the crash. the black boxes are actually bright orange to make them easier to spot. they are located in the plane's tail and can only be disabled by pulling fuse-like circuit breakers in the balk pit. the flight data recorder logs about 25 hours of information, hundreds of details about the flight, including time of day, directions and turns, air speed if the plane is nose down or nose up. the cockpit voice recorder captures private conversations from microphones on the pilot and co-pilot as well as from a third mike that picks up sounds of anything unusual in the cockpit. noise of a struggle, an intruder or how the engines are running and possibly even the sound of the black boxes being disabled. that recorder on a two-hour loop. the fears if it kept running longer it could have erased early conversations early in the flight when the flight first veered off course.

they have an ultrasonic pulse or pinging and the pulse is picked up by sonar or other listening devices on ships passing over and even as far away as 5 to 10 miles but the batteries stand out to run out in 18 days or a little longer so time is critical. aviation expert bill waldon. >> it's absolutely essential that we find the flight recorders. the information they are going to have on them is probably the only way that we're ultimately going to be able to really solve this mystery. >> so it's really the flight data recorders and the other avenues as greg mentioned, the investigation into the lives of the crew. that's very important too. those are the only two avenues at the moment. >> obviously, the main track is looking for this plane but lots of discussion about reforms and changes that could be made. in this day and age, battery that lasts 30 days, why can't we put longer lasting batteries in these things? >> absolutely. that bo be possible or there has been a lot of talk should there be a way to beam the information down in real-time so if the

recorders are later lost. you know what they said before. >> what is the range of a black box? how close does something have to be to pick it up? >> it's five or six miles and sometimes out to ten. and that could be in any direction so it could even be deep if it were in a straight line. >> given the range, that seems stunningly archaic. >> yeah. >> why not thousands of miles? why wouldn't you have multiple signals being sent out? the technology here seems literally decade behind capability. >> yes. i think one of the things playing here is that crashes are so unusual that then they start figuring cost benefit analysis and they think, no, it's not really going to help that much in the long run for that amount of money. >> gene robinson is with us from washington. obviously, throughout the show we will be covering another major story. i think arguably a far bigger story in terms of its implications depending on what we find out with the plane so not sure yet. on this story, gene, do you have instincts or questions? >> i just have a question for

greg feith, which is, basically, does the size or the reported size of the debris that was spotted by the satellite make sense in terms of this type of aircraft? >> gene, there is one piece, that piece 78, 79 feet long, that could be part of this airplane. when you consider that the wing span on the airplane is almost 200 feet that would be a little over, you know, about a hundred foot per wing and the tail section is about 60, 65 feet. that piece that is 79 feet long could be either a wing panel or part of a fuselage panel. so there is a little bit of hope there that, yeah, this piece does match. unlike the chinese debris where they measured it 75x79 there is nothing that large, that square on the 777 so it was easily

discounted. this one just giving us that one dimension and it's that 79-foot dimension. >> greg, really quick, halpern. >> australian government setting a great example for the malaysian government. >> i agree. >> clear leadership in a time of international crisis, so important. >> what a complete failure on so many levels on the part of the malaysian government. it's probably impacted our ability to find this plane. >> still giving out information about the satellite. >> i know. four day old pictures. coming up on "morning joe," we will have ongoing coverage of the search in the indian ocean with live reports from australia an malaysia. so far, sanctions don't seem to be pushing vladimir putin in a different direction. ukraine officials are on high alert with loaded weapons across their border. the latest on the tense situation there when "morning joe" comes right back. before larry instantly

transferred money from his 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." larry knew the importance of preparing for retirement. that's why when the time came he counted on merrill edge to streamline his investing and help him plan for the road ahead. that's the power of streamlined connections. that's merrill edge and bank of america. improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we'll raise it yet again.

♪ ♪ ♪

♪ mark, you want to help me with the papers? >> oh, of course. >> "the new york times" afghan officials say at least nine people were gunned down by the taliban in a hotel used by staff at the united nations in kabul. at least four of the victims are said to be foreigners. local police say four gunmen opened fire in a restaurant. the attackers were killed by security forces and the attack raises new questions about concerns about next month's presidential elections which insurgent groups have vowed to disrupt. how good are the elections looking, richard haass, given all this? >> you'll have violence during the elections and before them and certainly after them. this is about the drawdown in international forces and afghanistan will get more ragged and politics will as well. >> mark halpern? >> from our parade of papers from the "new york post."

a stunt devil with the lack of working video cameras inside the one world trade center. he climbed atop the freedom talker. he convinced an elevator operator to take him to the 88th floor. he climbed past a sleeping security guard. the teen is charged with trespa trespassing. the video is expected to be online later this year. lots of concern in new york about this. >> he climbed to the top? >> to the top. >> what was the sleeping security guard charged with? >> incompetence. >> what an incredibly young man. >> he has. he has a reputation of kind of a dare devil. >> his parents need to lock him down. the hartford "the courant." a 15-year-old taken into custody after doctors accused her parents of medical child abuse. her parents deny the claims and are fighting to bring her home. the judge could release her to

her home state of connecticut or to her parents and he could also keep her in massachusetts. "the wall street journal," 29 of the 30 big banks in the united states are strong enough to face a severe economic downturn. federal reserve's annual stress test showed all but one of the largest financial institutions in the united states have enough capital to keep lending even if the economy were to take a hit. only zion's bank corps based in salt lake city posted levels that are below the fed standard. "the boston globe." air b&b is on track to become one of the most valuable start-ups. industry insiders say the company is in talks to set a $10 billion valuation just for your information, we had the ceo here. i think i could have been his mother. just saying. the online service allows people to rent out their homes to travelers. the valuation is more than big name competitors like hyatt and wyndham and shows the great

people in our force have great ideas. >> not that you own anything and everybody rents things. a different relationship. >> it's a smart business idea and it is paying off. "usa today" law in hawaii that allows undercover police to have sex with prostitutes. >> excuse me? >> sex with prostitutes. the honolulu police stepped back on the law that cracks down on prostitution. they fought to keep an exemption for undercover police officers to have sex with prostitutes. they say it's needed to catch them in the act. it goes before the hawaii senate this morning. i think that one is an april fool's for you. that can't possible be true. >> is it april fool's day? >> don't even want to go there. >> does any other state have a law like that? >> who would do that? >> crazy. >> do they -- >> i'm not sure it happened. i read it but i'm not sure that

could be true. crazy. >> you now are an anchor! that's crazy. "the washington post" the 555-foot tall washington monument will reopen in may after being closed for nearly three years and it had all of that scaffolding around it. >> david rubenstein was one of the people who funded the repairs. >> fantastic. it shut down following an earthquake in 2011 which caused major structural damage. the repairs cost an estimated $15 million. thank you, david. >> tough change. >> the washington monument has 70,000 visitors a year and is extremely beautiful. in this weekend's "parade" magazine excerpt from new book jeff bauman he describes his courageous journey learning to walk again. >> there is a young lady who lost a leg and is in "dancing with the stars" i will watch

that show now. new developments over night on the crisis in ukraine. moments ago, the country signed a deal to establish closer ties with the nation and the same deal that ukraine's president refused to sign and sparked widespread protests last november. the united states and russia going back and forth swapping sanctions as tension rise between the two countries over the crisis in ukraine. the crisis with russia. president obama yesterday issued new sanctions aimed at the inner circle of russian president vat miles an hour putin. the president warned russia that is risked further isolation. he also admitted the sanctions could impact not only russia's economy but the world's as well. the sanctions target a top bank and 20 russians including putin's chief of staff, his banker, a childhood friend who also happens to be his judo partner. put putin fired back.

with russian sanctions against the following. john mccain seemed unfazed tweeting this. i guess this means my spring break in siberia is off. secret bank account in moscow is froz frozen. basically, he could care less. t the he u added in. russia's assault on crimea continued yesterday with three ukraine war ships were stormed. witnesses reports that shots were fired and no one hurt so far. at this hour, ukrainian forces in eastern ukraine are bulking up near the border to prevent additional advances by russia. a lot of competing stories going on here as this crisis continues. it's ratcheting up. are the sanctions getting closer to squeezing putin or is he just making a joke of obama? >> they are beginning to get closer. they are not quite there yet but

getting closer. we have the first round of sanctions against political figures and symbolic and now going after the financial and bus cronies and one of the banks and beginning to have some effect. central credit cards central to the operation of lives of people in russia shut down in connection with that bank. this is not the end of it and see what the european do and the question is how far do you go now? the president warned yesterday, it's not just us inflicting pain on russia. some of this will hurt us. the integration now. we can't do all we want to pressure them without, in some ways, hurting ourselves. this is a ability our inflict and -- >> tell us how it would hurt us and how do you think the president is doing in managing this? >> first question how it would hurt us would be if russians move all sorts of assets out of the united states and if american companies or banks are penalized, if european banks are penalized and if russia cuts

exports. the question we would make it up or their economies would grow at a slower rate and have an impact. it's an integrative world. you can't deal with these things in isolation. that said, russia is more vulnerable at this stage than are we. certainly over the medium and long term. this is all taking place against a russian economy that essentially has not grown for several years. this is not -- we are not working against a country of great economic strength. >> so, eugene robinson, richard haass says russia is more vulnerableship i'll believe you. having said that look at the war ships being stormed. they don't seem vulnerable. they don't seem to hear this. >> they don't look too weak or helpless to me. clearly, militarily, vis-a-vis ukraine, russia is not vulnerable. the point about the economy is a good one. the sanctions haven't yet hit

important sectors of the russian economy like, you know, oil and gas and whatever, and if they broaden and broadly damage the russian economy they can really wreak havoc. but, you know, for richard haass, i'm curious about the effect of the sanctions in a place like london. there's so much russian money sloshing around and are the brits really going to go -- how far with they going with us down this pan path? >> part of this they are reluctant for economic reasons, gene, that they are worried about how this would hurt them. partially they want to keep their powder dry. i think they are prepared to see crimea essentially stay part of russia or become part of russia and stay there. their concern is trying to discourage mr. putin from moving beyond that eastern ukraine. at the moment, they want to

threaten additional sanctions rather than oppose them and i think a question of timing and reluctance in europe and reminiscent about the cold war. we are seeing interesting echoes of that where the french and the germans in particular reluctant as are the brits for that matter to play all of their economic cards at this point because they are, obviously, worried about the implications not just their banking sector but economies across the board. >> we will continue to cover this crisis and reports coming in, quite frankly, all over this story. the president is working on multiple fronts, mark halpern, and pushing back against critics and faced backlash for appearing between "two ferns" and i believe they want to get to 6 million in the coming months to get people signed up for obamacare. critics say it is not

presidential and one critic specifically said abraham lincoln would have never done so. yesterday, president obama said, no, that's not the case. >> if you read back on lincoln, he loved telling the occasional body joke, and, you know, being out regular folks and one of the hardest thing about being president is being in there bubble that is artificial and unless you make a conscious effort, you start sounding like some washington stiff. >> president obama also made an appearance yesterday by satellite on "ellen" to talk about, well, some of their dance moves but he also wanted to talk about the obamacare deadline and why he was there. he compared washington-based show like "house of cards" and "scandal" to real life washington. >> life in washington is a little more boring than displayed on the screen.

>> i hope so. >> yeah. yeah. you know, the truth of the matter is if you followed me most of my day is sitting in a room listening to a bunch of folks in gray suits talking about a whole bunch of stuff that wouldn't make very good television. >> oh, well, that's what i do and we make great television. >> i have to tell you, though, ellen, there is not much dancing in the situation room as a general rule. >> i love ellen. is that okay? i think the president is trying to reach young people for sure. i know that to be the case and they have been doing it on multiple levels in the white house because his signature legislation which has been repeatedly hold down by critics is gaining some membership. they have 5 million now, mark halpern. what do you make of the president's media campaign to

reach young people if an appropriate time of crisis, or is it what a president does? >> well, going on shows like that, presidents have done forever. nixon, "laugh-in." and we talk about the examples all the time. i think they are smart. they are reaching on web and broadcast tv and they have to do it and there is lack of understanding about the deadline. one thing i'll say the crisis with russia is a big deal and the extent he is being seen as treating it a big deal. i don't think it's inappropriate. >> here is how you switch back totally, richard haass and then eugene. when it escalates to a point of crisis where the american people need to be brought in and he is looking for international collective support isn't that to address the nation? >> he has to do that particularly if the russians move into east ukraine and it's the major crisis since the berlin wall came down and what is frightening about this crisis

we are essentially in a world where there is not rules. unlike the cold war where there were clear understandings we don't have those understandings. the potential for escalation is real and at that point, he need to go to the american people. >> i want to ask you coming up what escalation means to the american people and how bad this could get. i think there is a sense this stays there and we don't have to therefore worry about it. gene robinson, you want to jump in? >> no. i just want to echo something richard just said. we are kind of writing a new playbook here. nobody quite knows how to deal with this situation post cold war. and, richard, do you have a gut feeling as to whether putin really has territorial designs on chunks of eastern ukraine? or does he just want to project russian influence on -- against a government in kiev and kind of have a friendly or more

compliant -- >> can i guess what your answer is? yes on both. >> a minimum that he wants to have what the french on would call, sorry, basically and oversight over ukraine where they would not make any serious decisions without saying what is moscow thinking or my hunch is much more than that. this is all tactical. i'm persuaded he is improvising and he is seeing how it's playing at home and playing in the united states and the west. at the end of the day this is less about ukraine than it is about russia. mr. putin is about the extension of his own power. what he is trying to do is tap into this late russian nationalism. if you read his speech carefully the other day that is an extraordinary document. that is an extraordinary appeal to fairly crude basic russian nationalist feelings and sentiments, the language he used, i'm told by my friends who are fluent in russia, was quite specific. not just about russian citizens

but people with russian heritage and ethnicity. at the end of the day it's about doing something in response to the humiliations of the previous two or three decades which has been a terrible era for all russians. and to also perpetuate his own power. i think he will do what he decides is necessary to make sure that he is strong so there will never be anything that looks like a moscow spring in his own country. still ahead we go back to the search for the jet. the multinational effort to find that missing plane. up next, what a day for march madness. louis is going to show you the can't miss moments from the round of 64. "morning joe" will be back in a moment. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work.

and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him,

and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. it's just common sense. great. this is the last thing i need.) seriously? the last thing you need is some guy giving you a new catalytic converter when all you got is a loose gas cap. what? it is that simple sometimes. thanks. now let's take this puppy over to midas and get you some of the good 'ol midas touch. hey you know what? i'll drive! and i have no feet... i really didn't think this through. trust the midas touch. for brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling)

louis, you going to do okay here? >> i think i'll do okay. >> buzzer beater, buzzer beat h hbeater. the action did not sfoi and four games went into overtime and a few major upsets and one incredible buzzer-beater. here is a look at some of the

best moments. >> dupree getting the bucket on a little floater! >> they advance to the round of 32 as they pull the upset north dakota state over oklahoma. >> uconn outlasts st. joe's. >> chambers. got it! they are heading to the round of 32 in spokane! they get it back. he'll try again. got it! san diego state survive and advance. >> can add to their lead. cox lets it go by. the three-pointer is good. >> how cold blooded is that? >> they will march on to defend their title. >> here is lee for three now. desmond lee adds to nc state's lead! see what st. louis does here. jets going to go to the hole. he is fouled and count it! jordan jett has tied it up!

what a comeback for the pelicans! >> taylor three seconds. jumper. off the mark! at the horn! it goes! texas is moving on! >> craft behind the back. up top. oh! are you kidding me? eight seconds to go. craft. sanford. 3.8! vee sanford all the way. craft, up. no! unbelievable! the kiss to be remembered in dayton! wow! >> excitement is unreal. dayton over ohio state and north dakota state over oklahoma and

harvard over cincinnati. i don't think anyone about win warren buffett's bracket. espn darren revell only 2.3% of the 11 million brackets are perfect and that is just more than 41,000 entries and i think that is going to get a lot less as the tournament goes on. >> that's a lot. i'm amazed. >> i'm doing okay. the california panther fans are still upset that the panthers released steve smith last week. >> the panthers said steve smith is not on the team any more. they fired him. >> why did they fire him, daddy? >> because they said he was too old to play. >> why was he too old? i don't know. but now we won't have steve smith. we can't cheer for steve smith any more on the team. >> so now we have to cheer for cam newton!

ah! ah! >> who will you cheer on sundays now? >> nobody! >> oh, my god! what? >> is that parenting? i think it's a good sports indication there but it all worked out for the little guy. take a look. >> it did? >> yeah. little gavin met with his hero in times square after smith tracked him down through twitter. it probably made his year. >> that was good. that's good. >> let's go to my favorite game show. even though it's not sports, i have to work it in. >> "wheel of fortune." >> right! this might be the most incredible puzzle solution of all time. >> try and guess it. >> you stopped all of a sudden there. >> three more constanants and a vowel. >> h, m, d. >> and a vowel.

>> o. >> okay. >> oh, no! vanna? hello, vanna? wow. well, this looks tough to me! it's a thing. you're a vegetables puzzle solver but i don't know. you have ten seconds. keep talking. maybe the right thing will pop out. good luck. >> new baby buggy. new baby -- new -- oh! >> buggy? i know that. >> pat sajak. >> a pat-down here from pat sajak. >> how did he get that? >> he walks away with $45,000! he walks away with it. >> you can now walk away with your dignity. you're done. louis, thank you. >> thank you for the opportunity. >> don't walk in front of my camera! okay. >> i did so well! >> he is still a rookie. >> still a rookie.

governor chris christie, he responds to a tough question about his handling of the george washington bridge scandal. don't go away. we will be right back with much more "morning joe." ♪ ♪ spread out now. rose looser blame. little baby's game ♪ ♪ [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ she can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge. ♪

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♪ a live look at the capitol. the sun coming up over washington. some time soon on this friday morning. turning to 2016 politics. since news broke of the george washington bridge scandal governor chris christie has opened five open-ended town hall

meetings and not once asked about the incident. some criticize saying they screen the questions so they don't let those people in but he was asked about it yesterday and it happened in front of a packed house in flemington, new jersey, about an hour into the q&a. one man asked the governor why the firing of the staffer bridget anne kelly was about her lie than the bridge closure itself. >> don't take away from the fact i fired her because that is a lie. if you told me she got fired is the truth because what have she did but i never had a chance to hear the truth. and the offense, the offense first and foremost is not being honest for the person you're working for. the secondary fence if she had been honest and told me she would have been fired any way. i don't approve of what happened and i'm making sure that something like that never happens again.

>> mark halpern, just taking a look how he did in the polls over the weekend in new hampshire. i believe he came in second place. i'm looking ahead to 2016 and how he is handling this and these town halls which some would argue is exactly what he should be doing and buckle down and work in new jersey. i've been trying to text him. i don't know if it's the transfer from my iphone to samsung bi haven't heard back from him. >> i'm sure it's the samsung. >> how do you think he is dealing with this crisis and is there more coming? >> the attorney general is still working and legislative committee is still working. he went longer yesterday than he already has than the first press conference and denying any involvement in it. if he wants to run for president he needs to work with the democratic legislature. he did that before but harder now because of the investigations. i think, yesterday, people i talked to were surprised at just

how long he went in denying any involvement whatsoever. the bar is already pretty high there. but we will see what the investigate yields and we are expecting a ruling pretty soon on whether the two top aides who were dismissed have to turn over their documents to the legislative committee. the big question remains when will the u.s. attorney put people under oath in a way that puts more pressure on the people around the governor. >> okay. so i mentioned my phone. i'm dead serious because i got rid of the i-phoiphone and appay apple has a hold on the ability for your contacts to be transferred to this phone so people cannot get your texts or text you unless you call apple and have them release it. i've called three times and i've still not gotten any result. i think there is a story there. anyhow because this is fascinating a phone that works really, really well, but you cannot get the transfer going

unless apple releases it. you call and call and call and they don't. that doesn't make any sense, does it, richard haass? >> unless it's just you. >> unless it's just me. i must be just some weird outlier that can't figure out a phone. that must be it. i'm just a little girl, you know? i don't have time anyhow to make equal pay or understand my phone. still ahead, we will preview sunday's "meet the press" with david gregory. plus teens have always partied but didn't post compromising pictures of themselves. i mean really compromising and doing that partying. why your kid may be part of a growing trend and how this could change the face of their futures. keep it right here on "morning joe."

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on monday's show, former president jimmy carter will be joining the discussion. he has got a new book out. it will be great to see him. coming up, the tensions are russia, the growing crisis there at the top of the hour, the race against time in the search for flight 370. "time" magazine's world editor bobby ghosh will join the table with his thoughts. we will be right back with much more "morning joe."

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it is an extremely remote part of the southern indian ocean. it's about 3,000 kilometers southwest of perth. and about the most inaccessible spot you can imagine on the face of the earth but if there is anything down there, we will find it. welcome back to "morning joe." it is the top of the hour. joining the table "time "magazine's international editor bobby ghosh. great to have you back. thank you. in washington the moderator of "meet the press" david gregory on board with us. thank you very much, david. >> good morning. >> a lot to get to.

the search for the flight 370. planes back in the air this morning looking for possible pieces of debris from the missing jet in the southern indian ocean. it's been 14 days. since the malaysian huge plane last communicated with air traffic control and these satellite images gave officials a renewed sense of hope that the mystery surrounding flight 370 would be solved. crews are, right now, looking for two objects about 14 miles apart. one is 79 feet long. the other, 16 feet long. but, yesterday, poor weather conditions, including strong winds, heavy cloud coverage and rain made it too difficult to locate any debris at all. this is waters two and a half miles deep to make it even more difficult. so, today, the search continues as officials consider the two pieces of debris found on five

day old satellite their best lead. three australian p-3 ryans and p-8 poseidon are scanning the targeted area. chinese are sending three war ships to assist in the torch. australian prime minister tony abbott decided to release the images out of respect to the families. >> we owe it to the families and the friends and the loved ones of the almost 240 people on flight mh-370 to do everything we can to try to resolve what is as yet an extraordinary riddle. we owe it to them to do everything we can to resolve this, and because of the understandable state of anxiety and apprehension they are in, we also owe it to them to give them information as soon as it's -- >> there is a lot to talk about. first the weather conditions that are hampering any efforts.

here is sam champion of the weather chan. >> we know this area is 1,400 miles away from perth. that is like flying from chicago to l.a. and spending two hours in l.a. to do a little work. and then flying back. these planes have no place to go to get fuel but back to the coastline so only two hours a shot at their deal. the weather conditions in that area, sloppy and bad weather conditions. you couldn't see anything. the water was pitching. you're looking for a little piece of debris in moving white caps in that white water. today a surface area of high pressure and doesn't last very long but relatively long conditions for that area. it is pretty choppy in the seas. even at their kaucalmest is fivo seven feet. when you think about it that is a five-foot wave.

you get these big peaks and valleys which means on one side of the way you have a glisten and on the other side you have a dark look. so it's virtually impossible to see anything like an oil slick or the sheen. the surface of the water is so broken up. remember little pieces of this plane, and some of them are large, but if you're looking for a little piece of this plane then that is pitching as well. we had conversations about how long would it stay floating because we are talking about 13, 14 days now. there's also marine layer. the best way to describe this to the audience is if you live in california or long island, these are places and even the coast of maine and the coast of massachusetts, you're used to this layer of clouds that is always there. even if the sun is shining and if it's a clear day, there is like this hazy film of clouds it's very close to the water. so you would have to fly super low to get below this marine layer to be able to see anything any way. that is like putting a milky coating or film on a glass. you can't see through the marine layer until it breaks.

no storms in the area. i'm looking at it right now. a low deck of clouds. the currents in that area are moving about 3 to 4 miles an hour. that is a pretty strong steady current to take something in one direction. then add the chop of the wave in there so it really is moving and looks sloppy. so i think by sunday, this becomes another storm zone. they have between now and sunday to find something. >> the weather channel sam championship, we will get back to you. thank you. for david gregory, i'll start with you. for the australian prime minister tony abbott it's interesting to hear directly from him. he called the malaysian prime minister. he spoke to his parliament about this. had you heard him in his press conference and talking about respect for the families. this is really an important leadership moment for him internationally in this, but also his words must have meant so much to the families who are in agony. >> i thought it was particularly poignant when he said that they have got the satellite imagery. maybe it wasn't perfect.

maybe it was a little bit old but you owe it to family members who are trying to figure out what is going on here. so many conspiracy theories. i think when you do have a credible sighting of wreckage that goes to the most obvious conclusion here that whatever happened before the plane crashed that the most likely scenario is that it crashed as opposed to landed somewhere that we haven't heard about it and i think it is important to release that. this relates to america getting the ntsb involved and getting the fbi involved. >> right. >> the malaysians have been criticized in part how they have handled information and how communicated not just with the families but the world about this and that becomes a big issue. you have all of the resources brought to bear to figure out exactly what happened and maybe bobby can talk a little bit about some of that international cooperation as well. >> bobby? >> well, yes. the mailingsia ianmalaysians an contrast how poorly they handled it and how tony abbott is

handling it out of australia. he is showing empathy and showing the appropriate amount of sympathy toward the families which the malaysians early on did not do and today i saw the paper that the malaysians admitted they handled it poorly. it is going to be hard. yesterday, incidents where the families were very critical of the malaysians answers attacked officials and video went around of a family of one of the victims, a member of the family saying can we trust you any more? can the world trust i any more and the rest of the families broke into an applause after that was said. >> two things about australia. one is that australia is an asian country in many ways and important economic partners are asian and the idea here being heavily involved a signal to china and so many of the people on board were chinese nationals and a way to make that point. also people here underestimate australia. this is a country is the 12th

largest economy in the world and one of the three closest countries to the united states along with britain and israeli in terms of the intelligence and military connection. australia is a phenomenally successful country and one of the measures i saw in terms of gpp it's the fifth most wealthy country in the world so this is a country that is successful and integrated and the contrast between malaysia, i'm sorry to say, is critical here. >> david, the malaysia start to this has been so difficult and painful to watch. painful how they have handled the families. we will have keir simmons coming up soon live to talk about that angle of the story. the fact that these two pieces of debris are not even a fact, david, yet, and, yet, there's so much coverage and so much hope being placed on them, it's not just us. we have been criticized for overcovering something that is nothing yet. there is so much international interest in this and international implications even to not finding this plane. there is interest on so many

levels as to why we need to know what happened and the prime minister stepping up, i think, backs up that point. what parts of the story, what are the facts that we know that stand out to you at this point and do you agree with what i just said about the coverage and about the gravity of this story? >> well, we live in a media age even absent a lot of hard information there is still so much interest in the story and small pieces proliferate and go viral and take on a life of their own, so they get magnified in importance. but look. the australian government put on this the agenda saying we have credible information and here is maybe it's days old satellite information but it's credible information that points to the most logical end point of this. why all this interest? look. planes don't drop out of the sky. it's an incredibly rare occurrence and i think, from a security perspective, you know, we were just talking about it. you look at how the world is linked and how these countries are linked and especially our

closest allies in the west. security around aircraft and around commercial air travel is a huge issue and when that gets compromised either if it's a road crew and could that have been detected, did somebody interfere with the flight, which has ramifications for both the security screening beforehand and during the flight, these are very important things to know and to try to get to the bottom of when you have, you know, so many flights moving around the world every day and it's still being a prime target for terrorists who want to wreak havoc. >> gene, you write about the fascination with this story. i wonder if you could put on your figurative gray beard and what would you compare this to to the story? is there any story you recall like this? >> i'm not sure if i can recall specific story just like this. it's a mystery that is, i think, what grabs us collective,

humanity about the story is that it's so open-ended and we kind of -- we're eager to write an ending for the story and to find out what happened. so there's the very practical issue of did something untoward happen, you know, with the crew or with mechanical failure, whatever, but there is also just this -- this younger for narrative that i think, we, as a s species probably have and we grab on it and kind of elaborate on it. it is a gripping and compelling story. >> think about twa 800. i mean, look. this was an aircraft that was discovered right away and look at the mystery that per assissi for years and it's to this day stuff about novel about what potentially happened there. i think that lack of a very clean ending, you know, the

trite phrase of closure to really understand the ending, it goes to an area here that is not just mysterious, but gets to people's primal fear about being on an aircraft. >> that's it. worst nightmare. >> there will always be conspiracy theories about this too. when we finally do get an answer, i think a lot of people won't accept it and will believe something else. >> right. gene, you talk about everybody wanting to write an ending to this and we certainly aren't trying to do that here but we are curious as well. i think it's okay to say that part of that comes from the heart. >> absolutely. >> part that have is the emotional. part of that is human curiosity and human fear as david pointed out. bobby ghosh, the answer is needed also legitimately and credibly for whatever it means for air travel international, whatever it means for different airlines and how they work inside their airplanes. it might have connections to terror. we still don't know. or security. i mean, there's so many

important reasons why we want to know the answer. the frightening thing for the heart, as well as for the practicality of it is that we might never get it. >> that is incredibly right. we are all on planes. this week alone i've been on a plane for 30 hours. whatever else, you know, somewhere deep down when you get on a plane there is always let's of fear but you always think someone knows where i am. one of the big takeaways from this incident is actually every day, hundreds of thousands of people are flying over vast expanses of water and nobody knows where they are. as a frequent flyer that came as a shock. i didn't think that was true. the airlines, the aviation industry has to make some changes. they don't make changes typically until something like this happens. in our magazine this week we have a story and somebody saying this industry has a tombstone mentality. unless there is bloody or a body they don't make changes.

>> you're absolutely right. we have been talking about the malaysian angle here and the families who are waiting there, as well as in beijing and how they are being handled and how malaysia is handling the situation overall. let's go live now to malaysia and nbc's keir simmons has been covering this part of the story. keir, what is the very latest you can tell us? >> reporter: well, mika, it's pretty impressing really to be honest. the families woke up yesterday with news from australia or waking up today and still not knowing what that means. we are hearing after another day -- remember, here, we are getting towards the end of the day and certainly in australia, now they are coming back and the search teams. again, having seen nothing. we had a news conference here in which the transportation minister wasn't really able to tell us very much more. he was able to tell us that there were lithium batteries on board the plane and that has been reported before but journalists are asking about that.

just asking the question whether there could have been some fire or gas leak on the plane. one of the many theories, though, mika. to be honest, the passengers relatives are just as frustrated as they have ever been. they had a meeting last night with some of the officials here and it lasted two hours because they had so many questions but afterwards, they came out and told us really the answers they got were not very different from what they had been getting the past few weeks. they were given forms at that meeting in which they were asked whether or not they wanted to fill in to give their contact details so they could be told each even in an emergency about early news. an extraordinary two weeks in and the passenger relatives are just asked that now whether they want that. work with counselors and that kind of thing to be there for the passengers families. at the same time, they are struggling to really support those families effectively

during this incredibly difficult time. >> we have questions for you. for the viewers i think you realize a live shot from malaysia we have about a three-second delay. bobby ghosh has a question for keir. >> i'm curious, keir. we have been saying for days now the malaysian authorities have been mishandling. that you have access to the family members. are they forming support groups of their own? since they are not getting the information they need from the malaysians where are they turning for support for help and for information? >> reporter: well, they are not really able to turn anywhere, i don't think. we had the incredibly distressing scenes where a mother came here to where a large number of the journalists were gathered to ask for help and information and some of them wanted to seem to want to protest. she was carried away by officials. they now have security in there. they have police officers guarding the hotels that only the media can be allowed in.

you do get the impression that they are trying to keep the journalists and the relatives away from each other although it has to be said i think some of the relatives want that. at the same time, i think some of the criticism is unfair. some are saying the australian government are doing a better job of updating people and telling people what is going on. but i think they are trying within the malaysian government to not say anything that would get families' hopes up or that would be something that the families would latch on to until they are absolutely confident of it. the truth is this is a really, really unprecedented and difficult situation and it does look as if the malaysian authorities are still trying to figure out how to handle it as far as the families are concerned. >> nbc keir simmons live in malaysia, thank you very much. david and bobby, stay with us if you can. we are going to have more on the hunt for flight 370. we are going to get a live report from nbc's bill neily in australia and kathleen dohan will explain the impacts of the

missing plane perhaps two and a half miles under sea level. jo john talkower, we want to get b to crane. >> senator chris murphy will be here and andrea mitchell. >> more "morning joe" coming up. at delta we're investing billions of dollars,

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a packed show ahead for the rest of "morning joe," tensions continue to mount along the border between ukraine and russia. we will talk to senator chris murphy about the latest sanctions who is just back and bring andrea mitchell into the discussion as well. later, they partied. and then they posted everything online. why teens are so eager to share their racy photos. photos that could impact their future. photos that could keep them from getting into college. why would they tweet this despite the serious consequences? we will have that story coming up. first, let's go live to perth, australia. nbc news chief global correspondent bill neily with

the latest there. bill, what can you tell us? >> reporter: yes, good morning from perth in western australia. an air base that is home to australia and the american planes that have been scouring the ocean 1,400 miles off this coast and part of the most intense search for a missing plane ever mounted. one australian air force plane landed earlier and another is circling as i speak. the first plane the crew reported they had found nothing. they did, however, say that weather conditions were very good and they hoped to spend longer at the search site but actually high winds had meant they took a long time to get there, so they weren't able to spend as much time as they wanted at the site. also returning from the search area, a u.s. navy surveillance plane. the crew hopes to do what they did yesterday, which is spend about three hours over the search site mostly at about 5,000 feet, but also dipping down to a thousand feet if they see something on radar that

interests them. yesterday, however, the weather was not good. they saw dolphins and saw a freighter but they saw no debris. that plane due back here in about three hours time. so that is a high tech plane. there is also low tech. there is a cargo container ship out there with 19 filipino crew on deck with binoculars. it is dark now so the search has effectively ended for today but this is difficult search one australian aviation expert say you could not pick a more difficult place to search for anything. >> i want he to it to david growing who has a question. >> i'm wondering, there is reports here this morning about the need for human spotters. i mean, pointing up the difficulty of even what the military forces can do in australia, especially with potentially more bad weather coming in. how do they use human spotters and how difficult is it for them

and what are the ramifications of debris potentially moving and getting out of sight here if they lose time because of wind and weather? >> reporter: answer your last point, there have been strong winds the last few days. people reckon that the debris could have moved up to 200 miles from the sight if, indeed, this is the debris from a plane, that it could have moved 200 miles from where the plane went down. remember, the plane, if did did go down there is in 10,000 feet of water. so, once again, incredibly difficult areas, high waves, high swell waves of about a hundred feet and high swell. terrible visibility. so, you know, human eyes can only see so much. it's brave of people to be on deck in areas like this. an indian and chinese ship due tomorrow. what they can see really is very, very limited.

australian officials are warning this could take days. >> bobby ghosh? >> you were talking about the indian and chinese ships. is the indians sending vessels into that area? eventual it has to have eyes to see what is in the water than what we are seeing on the planes? >> yes, there is an australian ship due in take area tomorrow. remember when i talk about that area, this is a vast area which is why a plane traveling, you know, perhaps several hundred or even a thousand miles above the area can achieve a lot more than a ship. but i think it's the two together. and it is extraordinary. that is why this story is so fascinating. we have got satellites, we have got planes and ships and eyes on deck. we have got everything that man kind has invented but it can't find a plane that disappeared off radar screen two weeks ago.

it is extraordinarily. >> bill neely, thank you. kathleen, you ran data for us what it's like in the area of the search. what did you find that can be useful for the viewers? >> reporter: so i use satellite data to calculate surface current. this is currents in the top 30 meters just off the ocean so what the surface of the ocean is doing. we are looking at here is just a global map of what the currents look like around the world. but what we want to focus on today, of course, is down southwest of australia there. you can see there's this line of currents like a strong line of color. what the color is speed of currents. and where the debris was located or spotted on the satellite images is right at the northern edge of this antarctic current that goes around antarctica and it's a strong current for the open ocean. what that means is that there is

a lot of -- there is a lot of potential to move debris along and there is a lot of fluctuations and turbulence that can randomize where it might be. so what i've done is i've taken the position of the debris spotted in the satellite images and then i ran a bunch of situations where i moved particles along from that star point and tried to see where they would end up. doing it thousands of times just with minor fluctuations and changing the amount of wind that i add to push the debris along. because it all depends. the debris is sticking up quite far out of the water which is unlikely but it could. something could be sticking up. then the winds would push on it as well as the currents carry it. as you've been talking about, this is a really high wind area. the reason why you have this antarctic is you have strong

westerly winds that are 30, 40, 50 miles per hour at this time of year. so i added different strengths of the wind and different fluctuations to simulate the small scale, but strong, currents that i can't capture out of the satellite data to see how far it could have gone. if we look at the plot of these ends points, what we're looking at is a plot of yellow dot, the large dot is the start point where the debris was spotted in the satellite images and then all of these colors are different types of scenarios and potential end points for something that started at that point, depending on which scenario we're working with. so really you can see you can be hundreds of miles from the start point but the more realistic conditions are the collection of

color points, green, black, blue and red that is centered around 40 or 50 miles from the start point and this is after four days of drifting so now we have another day of drifting on top of that. so it's likely about 40 miles east of the start point and about 20 miles or so north of the start point. but there is a widespread. so it's -- the good news is that it's likely not 600 miles from the start point but the bad news there are some situations where it could potentially have traveled that far. >> kathleen dohan, thank you for your insight. what is next in vladimir putin's playbook? can anyone even predict it? we will talk to senator chris murphy who is recently back from ukraine and nbc andrea mitchell will join us and we will talk about this escalating crisis and what exactly that means with richard haass. "morning joe" is right back. d is really what makes it like two deals in one. salesperson #2: actually, getting a great car with 42 highway miles per gallon makes it like two deals in one.

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♪ the president is going to europe next week, and he has the opportunity, along with our allies, to make a very strong statement about the unity of the west and not allowing ukraine to be a country that is completely, in some way, destroyed, and not allowed to have the people make their own decision. i think it's a crucial time and

absolutely essential that the west unite. >> that was former secretary of state madeleine albright. here on "morning joe" yesterday. joining us from hartford senator chris murphy. also with us nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports" at noon time on msnbc, andrea mitchell. i'd like you to take it to the table and bounce off what secretary albright said because if this escalates, a lot of people have sort of some sort of understanding that this is a contained issue over there. what are the implications of a massive escalation in this crisis? >> secretary talked about western unity. the problem there isn't that. the economic stakes shall we say are so different the french still want to sell arms and british are worried about bank deposits and germans and others

have energy dependency. western unity is anything but a reality and hard to make it a reality which is something in putin knows. this is not about ukraine. it's about the nature of international relations and how politics will play out and what is the ability for countries to use force to change maps with impunity and what is the character. if you remember, right after the cold war ended, when saddam hussein did that against kuwait you can't change the map and absorb this country into your own. now mr. putin has done something with crimea who knows what he is going to be doing with ukraine. the question is has the world changed enough where now there is space to use force in this way? think about some other reactions. ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons. what happens? it gets invaded by russia. other countries don't give up their nuclear weapons like north

korea and they don't attack. >> mark halpern? >> senator, the president made it clear this is grave and serious and requires the attention of the world, yet he is ratcheting up sanctions gradual. ly. >> i think the president is in a little bit of a box because he is attempting to do this in concert with europe and what we know, especially in the last few days is that europe just is not on the same time schedule that we are. which means we will likely have to move faster, i would argue that it's probably time to move in a much more serious sanctions against russian petrochemical companies and their banks put about the united states doing it alone won't have the same effect as doing it with europe. it's not going to change putin's calculus if it's just the united states that are engaging in these sanctions so we have to do it with them and it's frustrating for because it should matter more to europe. five years ago it was ridiculous to think putin would march his troops into ukraine.

five years from now who knows who is next. if europe doesn't get serious and message sent to putin he can go anywhere without an ally. >> andrea, jump in real quick. >> a quick point i was going to make is that there are 20,000 russian troops right now across the border with attack helicopters and that is a hair trigger. there would be no warning and nothing they could do and ukrainians have asked for ammunition and the u.s. said no. the u.s. is still trying to find, quote, an off ramp for russia and it's not clear that that is really very practical, given the threat. >> also do they want one? because, bobby, i'd like you to show andrea and i know she knows this around but show andrea and go to our viewers. the individuals who are close to vladimir putin who have had sanctions imposed against them. what are the sanctions and who are they and why would they care? >> these sanctions are targeted

against people very close to the sort of putin's immediately inner circle. the one to look out for most is the chief of staff was defense minister and they go back to putin's days when he was middle officer in st. petersburg and a powerful figure in russia. the rottenberg brothers were judo partners with putin. they are billionaires and thought to make in the order of $7 billion out of contracts in sochi. if you get contracts in sochi, that means you're very, very close to putin. >> do they care? >> they will wear it as a badge of honor but money is money. >> where is the badge of honor? >> just in the way that here you have -- you pay people like -- >> put the graphic up again. because the sanctions then were thrown back from russia to boehner, reed and mccain but it was like travel. you can't come to russia.

who cares at this point? i'm not sure anybody should have gone to sochi but that's a different story. >> political sanction are not serious. >> they are not serious. >> what matters is where the economic sanctions go next. >> i want to go to andrea and then chris murphy. mark, you can jump in. andrea, go ahead. >> one bank is the 17th largest bank in russia, the bank that putin uses but presumably he will move his bank account to another bank. there was plenty of warning that this was going to happen. the two brothers, that is important. $7 billion in sochi contracts. the railroad magnate. these are important figures. the cronies. until they get to the petrochemical sector and sectors beyond energy and other major industries and the major banks, it's not going to really have an effect. >> the leadership moment for this president is that the next sanction what andrea was just talking about, mark?

>> the question i have is what actually alters putin's behavior. are the sanctions symbolic or game changing? senator i'm not dr. phil and never had the chance to meet putin but i'm wondering what you think would change his behavior? it seems to me based on the politics he plays internationally and playing to his domestic audience, the more he is being seen as forced to back down or the economy is -- his economy is being challenged, perhaps the less likely he is to change course. >> west i think that is exactly right. i mean, this is a real difficult situation because he seems to get much more domestically from beating up on the united states from engaging in this extra territorial behavior that he did in investing in his own economy. the stock market is in free-fall and his approval ratings in the next poll probably at 80%. here is the danger. if you arm the ukrainians which is a feel good temporary solution because the russians will still mow them down, then you essentially give him the argument he beat not only ukraine's military but he beat

the u.s. military as well. that actually could accelerate his approval ratings. >> we put ourselves in a precarious position if that step is taken. david gregory, take it to richard haass and my question, i hope it isn't too naive but even from family members i've heard from who have had meetings with putin and have gone to his country home, have stories about a world that he lives in which is out of -- off the hook. completely out of connection with reality, and it brings to mind kind of some weird empirical leader who is obsessed with himself. i don't know how you do business with this person. >> the story with president bush who meets barney out at the ranch and scottish terrier and when bush comes to st. petersburg he says to bush that is a real dog, bigger, stronger, faster and comparing dog size gives you some insight into

putin. >> and he is serious. >> yeah, he was serious. but to a more serious point about that. if you go back to the bush years, richard, you were a part of, 9/11 happens and putin send a very warm signal toward bush, we got your back. a lot of that was used to have a free hand in chechnya and vader russia in 2008 and he still knows that is the case. i guess my question is how does america get past this unity of the west and lead and use its influence in 2014 when putin understands the limits of what american wants to do certainly militarily? >> you're exactly right. i would say a couple of things we want to do besides just sanctions. you're right there is disunity in the west on that. one is american manager exports. we should change our licensing requirements and laws. we should now open up the spi t spigots so the united states can

export oil and national gas in large quantities the best way to offset the one real power that mr. putin has which is the leverage he gets from energy. we ought to put together a massive package for ukraine. not just ignore that. you have to stabilize 95% of ukraine that mr. putin doesn't yet control. we have to go there. we can do things with the rest nato and not think about arming ukraine and that is symbolic. >> bobby just sent me a note about that so we are all on the same page. i have a lot of notes here. >> strengthening the hand of the nato countries. mr. putin will cross that line, i believe. i don't believe he will cross that line because he knows what it would mean. there is lots of things we can do besides thinking about sanctioning mr. putin which has problems because the sanctions could come back. >> a start but we have war ships and ukrainian ships being stormed and troops on both sides of the border. it seems like there is two different conversations. >> the ships that are in crimea, we are focusing too much on

crimea. we have to go back to where this at all started. the young people who went out in the square in kiev and asked to be a part of europe. let's make their lives better. let's make those crimeans regret having voted to become part of russia. the best revenge is living well as we all know. make ukraine a success. it's not going to be easy. their leadership problems there. make ukraine a success story. that is a slap on putin's face and that is what will make putin to the extent that his behavior can be modify at all, that is what is going to make -- >> i don't disagree with that. >> localize this as a military crisis. we have other tools to play here. >> andrea mitchell, we will definitely be watching you at noon here on msnbc. thank you. >> thank you. >> and david gregory, come back next hour. dad is coming on. >> i always -- when bdad is in town, i always come on. >> i'm a little nervous. two weeks of searching for flight 370 and there is new hope in the southern indian ocean. but how close are crews to finding the missing plane? new details next on "morning

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♪ 48 pacst the hour. 14 days since flight 370 went missing and clues few and far between. joining us from washington is nbc tom costello with the latest developments. >> so far search planes flying deep into the indian ocean have not spotted anything. they are looking, of course, for those two large objects that were picked up on satellite right here and right here. but, of course, this was five days ago and the concern is that they may have already shifted rather dramatically. this was 1,500 miles off the coast of perth, australia, way up there in the south indian ocean. now, australians plan to focus on human spotting rather than emphasizing radar to look for debris on the ocean surface.

>> reporter: the question this morning are the remains of flight 370 somewhere out there in one of the most remote corners of the earth? did the plane simply fly until it ran out of fuel one day after australia released these satellite photos of what could be floating debris, the search zone was today targeted by aircraft from australia, the u.s., and new zealand. dropping buoy markers that transmit ocean current data. the australian prime minister this morning. >> it's about the most inaccessible spot that you could imagine on the face of the earth, but if there is anything down there, we will find it. we owe it to the families of those people to do no less. >> reporter: while the two pieces are thought to be 79 and 16 feet long, the ocean is a very big place with rolling waves. on the water itself, the australian naval ship "success" should be on site by sunday. but a norwegian cargo ship traveling through the region has already diverted with crew

members ordered to keep watch. the ship's captain talked by phone to a norwegian newspaper late thursday. >> the visibility is poor at times in every -- every mile or two. >> reporter: speed is of the essence since there's now only 16 days of battery life left in those underwater locator pingers attached to the plane's black boxes. it'll be up to ships or submarines working the yar to listen carefully with underwater microphones. >> they would set up a search grid, and they would travel through that grid, listening for this frequency to locate and localize the wreckage. >> reporter: while the pingers may die, the black boxes should survive, designed to withstand both the crash impact and the pressure of 20,000 feet of water. >> the data recorder will give us the objective parameters to look and see how the airplane was being flown, what data entry

was made into the computers, when it was made. it won't tell us by who. but it will tell us when. and that may very well, in all likelihood, will explain this mystery. >> reporter: the black boxes from air france flight 447 were found in a similar depth of water two years after it crashed into the atlantic ocean. it was up to submersible vehicles to find the critical evidence that helped solve that mystery. there is also this from the news conference this morning in malaysia. the plane was carrying a load of lithium-ion batteries. small batteries for laptops in the cargo hold. these have been known to catch fire. but the ceo of malaysia airlines said they were in approved packaging. that announcement will likely fuel the theory a fire could have brought down this plane, and that is why it ended up at the bottom of the world if it's at the bottom of the world. guys, back to you. >> nbc's tim costello, thank you very much. still ahead, teens in long island are taking to twitter to show off their binge drinking and other horrific activities

that they would never want their parents or anyone else to see, and yet they're showing them to the entire world online. the photos, of course, could spell big problems long after the party's over, and it's not just long island where this is happening. we'll be right back. we asked people a question, how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪

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up next, australia's prime minister calls it one of the

most inaccessible parts of the world. will a search of the southern indian ocean end the mystery of the missing malaysia flight? all right. the latest on flight 370 is next. just take a closer look. it works how you want to work. with a fidelity investment professional... or managing your investments on your own. helping you find new ways to plan for retirement. and save on taxes where you can. so you can invest in the life that you want today. tap into the full power of your fidelity greenline. call or come in today for a free one-on-one review.

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thank you so much for coming in this week. mark halperin. richard haass. and in washington, eugene robinson. we start, of course, with the search for flight 370. planes are back in the air this morning looking for possible pieces of debris from the missing jet in the southern indian ocean. it has been 14 days since the malaysian plane -- a huge plane -- last communicated with air traffic control. and these satellite images gave officials a renewed sense of hope that the mystery surrounding flight 370 would be solved. crews are right now looking for two objects, about 14 miles apart. one is about 79 feet long. the other, 16 feet long. but yesterday, poor weather conditions, including strong winds, heavy cloud coverage, and rain made it difficult to locate any debris at all. so today, the search continues as officials still consider this their best lead yet. three australian p-3 orions and

u.s. p-8 poseidon and civilian gulfstream are scanning the targeted area. and the chinese are sending three warships to assist in the search. australian prime minister tony abbot defended his decision to release the satellite images out of respect to the families of the missing. >> we owe it to the families and the friends and the loved ones of the almost 240 people on flight mh-370 to do everything we can to try to resolve what is, as yet, an extraordinary riddle. we owe it to them to do everything we can to resolve this, and because of the understandable state of anxiety and apprehension that they're in, we also owe it to them to give them information as soon as it's to hand. >> impressive that he came out to speak. of course, what's getting in the way of the hope here, these two pieces of debris, is the weather. let's go to weather channel's headquarters in atlanta. managing editor of the weather channel, sam champion.

sam, you've got incredible resources and a team there looking at this. tell us about the weather patterns in the search area and how they might pan out in the days to come. >> mika, no problem. it is exactly -- when i saw the first interview, and they say weather was the issue here, i knew we were uniquely positioned to deliver the information that was necessary. but let's get to it. so we know that this search area is 1,400 miles away from perth. so the problem -- the first thing the airplanes have, even before we get to the weather -- that's like flying from chicago to l.a., spending two hours in l.a. to do a little work, and then flying back. these planes have no place to go to get fuel but back to the coastline. so they really only get two hours at a shot at their deal. now, let's go over the weather conditions in that area. yesterday, sloppy. really bad weather conditions. you couldn't see anything. the water was pitching. there were big, high waves in that area. remember, you're trying to look for a little piece of debris in moving whitecaps in that water. today, there's a surface area of

high pressure. it doesn't last very long. but there are relatively calm conditions for that area. that area is not only remote, but it's usually pretty choppy in the seas. seas are generally, even at their calmest, about five to seven feet. if you think about it, that's a five-foot wave. so you get these big peaks and valleys, which means on one side of the wave you have a glisten. on the other side of the wave, you have kind of a dark look. so it's virtually impossible to try to see anything like an oil slick or a sheen, because the water, the surface of the water is so broken up. remember that little pieces of this plane, by the way, mika, and some of them are large, but if you're looking for a little piece of this plane, then that's also pitching, as well. and we had conversations about how long would it stay floating, because we're talking 13, 14 days now. there's also marine layer. the best way to describe this to the audience is if you live in california, or you live in long island, these are places -- and even the coast of maine and the coast of massachusetts -- you're used to this layer of clouds that's always there.

even if the sun is shining, a clear day, there's like this hazy film of clouds, it's very close to the water. so you would have to fly super low to get below this marine layer to be able to see anything anyway, because that's like putting like a milky coating or film on the glass. you just can't see through that marine layer until it breaks. so there's no storms in the vicinity. i'm looking at it right now. there's some clouds, a low deck of clouds. and the currents in that area are moving 3, 4 miles an hour. that's a pretty strong, steady current to take something in one direction. then add the chop of the wave in there, so it really is moving and looks sloppy. so i think by sunday this becomes another storm zone. they have between now and sunday to find something, or it gets increasingly difficult. >> okay. so that's a really small window. we also have the black boxes on the plane, which have a shelf life, as well, of 30 days. if they're even -- >> yeah. >> -- intact or in a location where something can be heard from them. bob hager, you've covered so many air disasters in your

career. the time span here is frustrating. is it possible that they will be able to get something given those weather conditions? >> well, even if you get the wreckage -- i mean, the prize in terms of the investigation is the black boxes. and even if -- even if this is confirmed to be wreckage, it'll take a lot of time to trace it back, where the black boxes, floating wreckage. >> horrendous weather conditions. ocean that's two and a half miles deep, and it's being characterized as the most inaccessible place on earth. great! we'll keep trying, because that's what everybody wants to know is -- what happened here? because we're left with a sense of unease around the world. >> we do have to damp down expectations that we're going to learn something in a few days or half a week or something like that. >> okay. with us now from denver, former senior air safety investigator of the national transportation and safety board, greg feith is back with us. greg, we're focused like a laser

on these two pieces of debris. are our hearts going to be broken when we get to them? >> i'm -- i'm not very optimistic. normally -- we saw this with the china photos where there was a large piece of debris -- the dimensions of their debris didn't make sense for a 777. we don't have the fidelity or the resolution in the photographs on these two pieces, mika. and right now, if there is any hope that this is part of mh-370, you would expect that around these pieces of debris there would be other floats -- debris with it, not just a piece of debris. and these two pieces are separated by 14, 15, 16 miles. you would have expected they would have been in the same sea state and been a lot closer. >> richard, what do you make of the fact that the prime minister of australia came out to speak about this and pretty much made it certain that they are

hellbent on finding it and hopeful? >> this is so important to australia's relationship with its neighbors -- with china, one of australia's two biggest trading partners. australia's relations with countries like malaysia and indonesia are central to its foreign policy. so for australia, this is a -- this is not just a human interest story. this is central to their economy and really to their entire foreign policy and their regional relationships. so for them, this is issue number one, two, and three now. so the fact that the new prime minister is out there is exactly what he should be doing. >> greg feith, first of all, is there anything new in the investigation beyond the facts that we know? we know certain facts about computer programming in the plane, making the turn, the last words heard from one of the pilots. we know those facts. and then we have these pieces of hope that we're stringing together. at this point, what direction do you think that this investigation is taking? what are your instincts telling you? >> mika, the big thing right now

is that we're kind of in a holding pattern, because we don't have wreckage. the actual technical aspects of this investigation are really on hold. the investigators have exhausted really the mr sat satellite information, it's given us the track we're on, helped redefine the search area. so the technical aspects are really on hold until we confirm whether or not these two pieces of debris are, in fact, from mh-370. the real focus is really with the fbi. now that they have a hard copy of the mirror image of those hard drives from the computer, that's really where things are going to start to settle, is what are they going to find on the hard drives on those computers? is there any kind of telltale sign that would give any indication as to the mostive of somebody intending to take this airplane and basically turn off the transponders, turn off the acars and fly it into a place on

the world -- in the world that is literally no-man's land. >> bob hager, you've been covering airline safety issues for decades. what can you tell us about those so-called black boxes on board the passenger planes? they seem like almost the only piece of hope that we can look for. >> it's one of the few things. and they can tell you a lot if you find them. you know, this is still, i have to say, it's a long shot that we can find them. but as i say, they can tell you a lot. let's take a look here. black boxes have been crucial in solving many crashes, such as the loss of an air france plane off brazil five years ago. it took two years to find the boxes, two and a half miles deep. they revealed pilot error as a factor in the crash. the black boxes are actually bright orange, to make them easier to spot. they're located in the plane's tail and can only be disabled by pulling fuse-like circuit breakers in the cockpit. there are two. the flight data recorder logs about 25 hours of information,

hundreds of details about the flight, including time of day, directions, and turns, airspeed, if the plane is nose down or nose up. the cockpit voice recorder captures private conversations from microphones on the pilot and co-pilot, as well as from a third mike that picks up sounds of anything unusual in the cockpit. noise of a struggle, an intruder, or how the engines are running, and possibly even the sound of the black boxes being disabled. that recorder is on a two-hour loop, so the fear is if it kept running longer, if could have erased crucial conversations early in the flight, when the plane first veered off course. the boxes emit an ultrasonic pulse, or pinging, once every second for 30 days, maybe a little longer. the pulse is typically picked up by sonar or other listening devices on ships passing over, even from as far away as five to ten miles. but in this case, the batteries on the boxes stand to run out in 18 days or a little longer, so time is critical. aviation expert bill waldot.

>> it's absolutely essential we find the flight recorders, the information on them is probably the only way that we're ultimately going to be able to solve this mystery. >> so it's really the flight data recorders and the other avenue, as greg mentioned, is the investigation into the lives of the crew. that's very important, too. but those are the only two avenues at the moment. >> obviously, the main track is looking for this plane, but lots of discussions about reform and changes that can be made. in this day and age, a battery that lasts 30 days? why can't we put longer-lasting batteries in these things? >> absolutely. that would be possible, or there'd been a lot of talk, should there be a way to beam the information down in realtime, so if the recorders are later lost, you know what they said before. >> what's the range of a black box, what it sends out, how close does something have to be to pick it up? >> yeah, it's five or six miles, and sometimes out to ten. and that could be in any direction. so it could even be deep if it were in a straight line. >> given the range that -- that seems stunningly archaic.

>> yeah, you should -- >> why not thousands of miles or something like that? why wouldn't you have multiple sources sending out signals. the technology here seems decades behind capability. >> yes, and i think one of the things playing here is the crashes are so unusual that then they start figuring cost benefit analysis, and they think, no, it's not going to help that much in the long run for that amount of money. >> so gene robinson is with us from washington. obviously, throughout the show, we'll be covering another major story. i think, arguably, a far bigger story in terms of its implications, depending on what we find out with the plane. >> yeah. >> not sure yet. but on this story, gene -- >> yeah? >> -- do you have instincts or questions? >> i just have a question for greg feith which is basically does the size, or the reported size of the debris spotted by the satellite make sense in terms of this type of aircraft? >> gene, there is one piece,

that piece that's 78, 79 feet long, that could be part of this airplane. when you consider that the wingspan on the airplane is almost 200 feet, that would be a little over -- you know, about 100 foot per wing. and the tail section is about 60, 65 feet. that piece that's 79 feet long could be either a wing panel or part of a fuselage panel. so there is a little bit of hope there that, yeah, this piece does match. >> coming up on "morning joe," senator mccain won't be visiting russia anytime soon, as he joins the list of american officials barred by the russian government. how moscow's duelling sanctions with washington impacts everything from the war in syria to iran's nuclear ambitions. more "morning joe" when we come back. ♪

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♪ all right. time now to look at the morning papers. "the new york times," afghan officials say at least nine people were gunned down by the taliban in a hotel used by staff at the united nations in kabul. local police say four gunmen opened fire in the restaurant. the attackers were killed by security forces. the attack raises new questions about concerns about next month's presidential elections, which insurgent groups have vowed to disrupt. how good are those elections looking, richard haass, given all this? >> you'll have violence before the election, probably during

them, and most certainly afterwards this. this is taking place against the drawdown of american and international forces. the politics will get more ragged. >> mark halperin? >> from "the new york post," a daredevil is showing the lack of working video cams in the 1 world trade center. he climbed to the top of the freedom tower. the teen convinced an elevator operator to take him to the 88th floor. he then climbed past a sleeping security guard. the teen is charged with trespassing. lots of concern in new york about this. >> he climbed to the top? >> very top. >> and was the sleeping security guard charged with? >> incompetence. lots of questions -- >> incredible young man. >> he is. he has a reputation of a daredevil. he does stuff like this all the time. >> his parents need to lock him down. a judge is expected to rule today on the case of a seriously

ill teen who has been in the care of the state of massachusetts for the last year. the 15-year-old was taken into state custody after doctors accused her parents of medical child abuse. her parents deny the claims, and are fighting to bring her home. the judge could release her to her home state of connecticut or to her parents. he could also keep her in massachusetts. >> "wall street journal," 29 of the 30 big banks in the united states are strong enough to face a severe economic downturn. the federal reserve's annual stress test showed all but one of the largest financial institutions in the united states have enough capital to keep lending, even if the economy were to take a hit. only zion's bank corp., based in salt lake city, posted levels below the standards. >> "washington post," 555-foot-tall washington monument will reopen in may after being closed for nearly three years. and it had all that scaffolding around it. >> david rubenstein was one of the people who funded the repairs. >> it was shut down for repairs

following an earthquake in 2011, which caused major structural damage. the repairs cost an estimated $15 million. thank you, david. >> chump change. >> yeah. the washington monument sees 700,000 visitors a year and is extremely beautiful. halperin? >> this weekend's "parade" magazine, excerpt from the new book "stronger" by boston marathon bomber survivor jeff bauman, describes his story of learning to walk again. >> and there's a young lady who lost a leg who's in "dancing with the stars." i will watch that show now. >> all good stories for boston and the country. new developments in ukraine. moments ago the country signed a deal to establish closer ties with the european nation, the same deal that ukraine's former president refused to sign, which sparked widespread protests last november. the united states and russia are going back and forth, swapping sanctions as tensions rise between the two countries over

the crisis in ukraine. crisis with russia. president obama yesterday issued new sanctions aimed at the inner circle of russian president vladimir putin. the president warned russia that it risked further isolation. he also admitted the sanctions could impact not only russia's economy, but the world's, as well. the sanctions target a top bank and 20 russians, including putin's chief of staff, his banker, a childhood friend, who also happens to be his judo partner, president putin quickly fired back, issuing sanctions of his own against white house aides, including lawmakers. house speaker john boehner, senate majority leader harry reid and senator john mccain. senator mccain seemed unfazed, tweeting this. "i guess this means my spring break in siberia is off, stock is lost, and secret bank account in moscow is frozen." basically, he could care less. the european union also joined in, announcing it would sanction

12 people linked to russia's takeover of crimea. russia's assault on crimea continued yesterday with pro-moscow forces storming three ukrainian warships there. witnesses reported that shots were fired, no one was hurt so far, and at this hour, ukrainian forces in eastern ukraine are bulking up near the board to prevent additional advances by russia. a lot of competing stories going on here as this crisis continues. it's ratcheting up. are these sanctions getting closer to squeezing putin, or is he making a joke of obama? >> they are beginning to get close. they're not quite there. but getting closer. we've had the first round of sanctions was just against political figures, symbolic. now we're going after some of the financial and business cronies, and against one of the banks. this is beginning to have some effect. this is all taking place against the russian economy that's essentially not grown for several years. so this is not -- we're not working against a country of great economic strength. >> eugene robinson, obviously richard haass says russia is

more vulnerable. i'm going to believe you. having said that, looking at warships being stormed and the troops amassing along the border, they don't seem vulnerable. >> no. >> they don't seem to hear this. >> they don't look too weak and helpless to me. clearly, militarily, vis-a-vis ukraine, russia is not vulnerable. but, you know, the point about the economy is a good one. the sanctions haven't yet hit important sectors of the russian economy like, you know, oil and gas and whatever. and if they -- if they broaden -- and broadly damage the russian economy, they can really wreak havoc. you know, for richard haass, i'm curious about the effect of these sanctions in a place like london where there's so much oligarch money, so much russian money sloshing around. are the brits really going to go -- how far are they going to

go with us down this path? >> at the moment, the europeans, not just the brits, are reluctant to go much farther than they've gone. part of this is the reluctance for economic reasons, gene. they're worried how this will hurt them. partially, they want to keep the powder dry. they're prepared to see crimea essentially stay part of russia, or become part of russia and stay there. what they're real concern is, trying to discourage mr. putin from moving beyond that to eastern ukraine. so at the moment, they want to threaten additional sanctions rather than impose them. >> we're going to continue to cover this crisis, and we have reports coming in, quite frankly, from all over this story. but while we're at it, the president is working on multiple fronts, mark halperin, and he's pushing back against critics who say he isn't paying enough attention to the crisis. he's faced some backlash for appearing on the comedy web series "between two ferns" and late-night talk shows to push obamacare. they're at 5 million and want to get to 6 or 7 in the coming months. critics say it is not

presidential, and one critic specifically said abraham lincoln would never have done so. yesterday, president obama said, no, that's not the case. >> if you read back on lincoln, he loved telling the occasional body joke. you know, being out among regular folks. you know, one of the hardest things about being president is being in this bubble that is artificial, and unless you make a conscious effort, you start sounding like some washington stiff. >> president obama also made an appearance yesterday by satellite on "ellen" to talk about, well, some of their dance moves. but he also wanted to talk about the obamacare deadline, and that's why he was there. he compared washington-based shows like "house of cards" and "scandal" to real-life washington. >> life in washington is a little more boring than displayed on the screen. >> i hope so. >> yeah.

yeah, that -- you know, the truth of the matter is -- if you followed me most of my day is sitting in a room listening to a bunch of folks in gray suits talking about a whole bunch of stuff that wouldn't make very good television. >> oh. well, that's what i do, and we make great television. [ laughter ] >> i have to -- i have to tell you, though, ellen, there is not much dancing in the situation room. >> no? [ laughter ] >> as a general rule. >> mark halperin, what do you make of the president's now media campaign to reach young people? is it inappropriate in a time of crisis? or is it what a president does? >> well, going on shows like that, presidents have done forever. nixon "laugh in," we talk about that example all the time. i think they're very smart. they're reaching out on the web, cable tv, broadcast tv. they've got to do it. there's still lack of awareness for the deadline. it's all fun. the one thing i'll say is, the

crisis with russia is a big deal, and i think it is the case that when he switches back tonally it undermines the extent to which he's being seen treating it like a big deal. i don't think it's inappropriate. >> up next, it's one of the more disturbing trends on social media -- drunk teenagers posting pictures of themselves doing things no parent would ever want to see. by the way, no college would want to see this, too. and if they do, they probably will not accept your child. dr. gail saltz describes the very real damage being done here and what can be done to stop it, if anything. our teens they know what they're doing. keep it right here on "morning joe."

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♪ all morning we've been following the developments on malaysia flight 370. let's dig into some of the latest details on the search with nbc's tom costello in washington. tom? >> reporter: hi, mika. the australian military just a few minutes ago put out a press release. here's what they're saying about the search today. they're saying conditions improved in that area, visibility improved a bit, as well. they say a number of military aircraft have now assisted today on station in the region. they had four australian p-3 aircraft, one navy p-8 poseidon aircraft -- the u.s. navy -- and

a new zealand p-3 orion. the "hmas success" is en route to the area, expected to be there on sunday. that's the australian naval ship. two merchant ships also in the area looking. the headline continues to be they found nothing, in this vast area described as 23,000 kilometers in the area where they've tried to isolate. so every day they kind of shrink the zone, and it was 102,000 square miles. we're now down to -- quick math on 23,000 square kilometers, somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 miles or so, something like that, as they try to get a better handle on where this debris might be. again, this is not the big search zone, identified by the ntsb. this is a smaller zone identified by those photographs from the satellites. and those -- you know, we hasten to add, and the australians have tried to emphasize this, we don't know if those photographs show debris from the plane. in theory, it could be debris just out there in the ocean.

they think that it is suspect, and that it is something they should definitely be looking at, and they're curious about. but every news conference, the australian prime minister, the chief of maritime safety in australia, the officers with the military, all stress we aren't sure, and there is still a good chance this debris is not from the plane. >> really quick, why is it suspect? i mean, there's got to be debris all across the world in the ocean. >> yeah, i think that's absolutely right. there's debris everywhere -- >> why is it suspect? >> why is it suspect? >> yeah. >> oh, i'm sorry, why might the debris? because of the size. the 79-foot piece and also the 16-foot piece, and because it is right at that intersection of where the ntsb said we are looking at the length -- the maximum length or distance that the plane could travel based on its fuel reserves and its speed and its heading at the time. and here's the other interesting point this morning, is the lithium-ion battery question, the airline today is confirming that, in fact, in the cargo hold they had lithium-ion batteries.

they emphasize these were properly stored. there's been a lot of emphasis on properly storing lithium-ion batteries in plane cargo hold, because they've been known to catch fire. and so, they are emphasizing that they think they did properly stow them in the cargo hold, but nonetheless, that will certainly fuel the thought that maybe something, you know, catastrophic happened to this plane, and it was incapacitated. >> nbc's tom costello, thank you. >> all right. still ahead, incapacitated and proud of it. drunk teens taking compromising photos of each other. posting them online. why your kids could be doing this, and the consequences that could follow. why is this happening? "morning joe" will be right back. ♪

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♪ okay, i'm just pulling it up right now. long island party stories. a troubling trend on twitter shows off underage binge drinking in a horrifying new light. it's actually commonplace what these kids are doing, but you're actually seeing it, and it is horrifying. the twitter account, lipartystories is posting pictures -- kids are posting pictures of themselves. high school students from long island completely passed out after binge drinking and doing other wild activities from their raging parties. there are naked pictures of these kids. there are kids that are so passed out and covered with vomit that their friends are taking pictures of them and posting them. something to keep in mind, teens, when you go to a party and you get drunk and you lose control, you, one, open yourself up to being a victim of something that you don't want, and number two, your picture, in

some terribly uncompromising situation, could be blasted all over the place, thus changing your future completely. so why are teenagers, knowing these consequences, being compelled to document their every movement at a party, especially if they're just completely stoned and drunk out of their minds? joining us now on what parents should do, psychiatrist and bestselling author, dr. gail saltz. nbc's david gregory, who's a dad, also joins the conversation. thank you, david, for coming back. >> sure. >> i know it's one twitter feed in one town, gail, but it's representative, though, of the world that these kids live in and the sharing that goes on. >> absolutely. i think, you know, technology is moving at this rapid, rabid rate, and kids' brains aren't changing at the same rate. which basically means that teenagers have a frontal lobe that's not fully developed, which is the part that houses

consequence and judgment. like, if i do this today, what will happen to me tomorrow? >> so any parent out there of teens who thinks, oh, mine wouldn't do that -- >> it's absolutely every teen is at risk. not because they're bad, but because their frontal lobes aren't fully formed, their superego or moral compass isn't fully formed, and the deep brain structure, the migdabula that says this is risky behavior, that's -- >> so it's why they drink, we they do other thing, david gregory, the teenage brain was there when we were teens, too. but we didn't have facebook. >> right. >> and twitter. >> right. >> and this. i mean, these kids have put each others' names next to -- like one girl is covered in vomit, and they've got her name, saying a long night for whoever. i mean it -- imagine if this was your child or mine. >> right. >> believe me, i've got teens. >> it's so tasteless. right.

it's tasteless, but it's also -- first of all, this wholly different sense of what's appropriate to be private, right? >> yes. >> and a lot of young people not feeling that those barriers should exist. and let's be honest. in our media culture and in our culture more broadly we're celebrating these ridiculous moments. >> yeah. >> and we're celebrating the fact we pose the picture and get a great laugh out of it. so it is glorified and not embarrassing. >> that's right. >> i think there's a lot less shunning and shame and community saying, this is not appropriate. >> david, it's because we have the housewives beating each other up and sleeping around. >> right. right. >> doing whatever they do on the reality shows. we have the people from new jersey, "jersey shore," it's cool to act disgusting. >> that's right. >> and so, now we've got our own kids doing it on facebook and social media, and you wonder why it's happening? it's because that's their reality. >> it's definitely -- it's not a mystery, but i do think parents could be making a much bigger -- schools and parents could make a bigger impact. first of all, you have to start

early with what are the consequences? do you have to be involved in any social media you let your child have. >> yeah. >> you be their friend on facebook. you follow their twitter. >> you have their password and account. you reserve the right to take a look randomly at what's going on, and you also have the right to remove their access to these things. >> gail, do you have a right to their phone? >> absolutely. >> do you have a right to look in their phone and read their text messages, as a parent? >> as a parent of a teenager, i believe so. and i would discuss this with my teen. >> right. >> i would say, look, there are dangers out there. you're not fully prepared to deal with them. i am trusting you, but i reserve the right to take a look, because these bad things are happening. they could damage your future. they could kill you. >> right. >> these kids could die of alcohol poisoning. >> there's no reasonable right to privacy in your home with minors who are taking internet-connected devices into their rooms, which, you know, we don't allow -- a lot of families

don't allow, we get a lot of good advice saying don't allow that. what's going on there? you have this kind of posting going on. you have sexting going on, video chatting going on. lots of different things going on they may not be using good judgment to say, maybe i shouldn't be doing this right now. i don't think there's any reasonable right to privacy. the advice i've gotten, you know, independence is earned. >> that's right. >> when you see this kind of behavior here, you have to understand that, hey, we do know better as your parents. a teenager, posting pictures of yourself covered in vomit, it's not a smart decision. just like if you're showing disrespect in your classroom, that doesn't behoove you when you get into the workplace later, trying to navigate that for you. >> there need to be consequences earlier. you see, the problem is, if you're waiting until the terrible thing happened -- like they don't get into college because somebody saw that or they don't get the job -- if there are early consequences, then you start teaching them to have a moral compass. >> right. >> so earlier on, you see

something, you say, okay this was unacceptable. you lose your phone for the month. parents are not -- parents are still trying to be their friend, and they're torn between wanting their kid to be popular, to be socially involved and not isolated. >> -- we need to have you back and do a much bigger -- in fact, david, i see, like, a public service of doing a show called "don't post it," and why. because these kids are being put in a horrible position. i'm going to take the responsibility off of them. but i'm looking at pictures here on this twitter feed alone from one town where clearly in some of these scenarios, a sexual assault could have happened. >> absolutely. and schools need to have policies. schools need to have policies that say, if we see this, there will be consequences. >> we have to. >> and follow through on the consequences. >> at nbc, we have to look at this. we have to look at this. david, thank you for doing this with us. >> you bet. i think it's a smart topic, absolutely. >> dr. gail saltz, come back. up next, david gregory will stay with us, because from gail

saltz on teens texting and tweeting sex and drugs to vladimir putin who has defied western nations, signing a law that makes crimea a part of russia. ukraine's response? taking another step toward the e.u. dr. brzezinski joins the conversation next on "morning joe." it doesn't operate out of basements or back alleys.

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♪ the russian people need to know, and mr. putin needs to

understand, that the ukrainians shouldn't have to choose between the west and russia. we want the ukrainian people to determine their own destiny and to have good relations with the united states, with russia, with europe, with anyone that they choose. that can only happen if russia also recognize the rights of all the ukrainian people to determine their future, as free individuals and as a sovereign nation. >> that was president obama yesterday while announcing new sanctions against russia. and joining us now from washington, former national security advisor for president carter, dr. zbigniew brzezinski, who is the author of "strategic vision: america, and the crisis of global power." what are you wearing, dad? you look good! what is that? he's going to the serengeti next. david -- yes? >> mika, i'm sitting here in

this icebox. if were sitting here, you would be wearing a fur coat. >> i totally agree with you. the studio is freezing. okay, it's allowed. david gregory is still with us, as well. dad, let's talk about it. a second round of sanctions and we're going both ways really, the u.s. toward russia, specifically focused at vladimir putin's inner circle, even his judo partner. and they're economic for the most part, bobby ghosh, squeezing on them, and sanctions fired back by putin against members of congress, basically disinviting them ever to come to russia again. and then, we look at what's happening along the borders. you have vladimir putin signing a bill this morning officially making crimea a part of russia. and ships being stormed. do the sanctions mean anything? >> they're simply a signal, but a very limited signal. i think what we have to face, painful as it is to say or to think about, is the possibility

that putin will now take military action to subdue ukraine and incorporate it, in effect, into russian empire. this is a real possibility. he may try to do it piecemeal or he may try to do it across the board. but in either case, he obviously is contemplating a possibility. and crimea, so far, gives him the confidence that perhaps he can pull it off. and we have to think very hard what we can do in a constructive way to prevent this from happening. or if it does happen, to make it very costly for mr. putin. >> david gregory? >> so, dr. brzezinski, what is that calculation? is it a nato play? is that the line he won't cross, because we've been talking this morning about on the economic front there's not a united western response here about ratcheting up the economic pain. so what's he listen to? >> well, first of all, nato is

bound to respond if a member of nato is attacked. and i think that stands. and i think the majority of the nato countries are committed to that proposition, and i don't think anyone should have any doubt the united states would not be responding. we would respond. ukraine is more complicated. ukraine is not a member of nato. the president has just said to putin, look, we are willing to have a deal with you. we both help ukraine. we'll both make it successful. it will be a constructive link between the east and west. but there's something more that has to be asked. we have to establish if the ukrainians are determined to protect their freedom if mr. putin decides to invade. and if they are determined to protect their freedom, they're really able and willing to resist, then i think we have to engage in some contingency planning regarding how to make that ukrainian effort more effective and more costly to mr. putin. otherwise, there's nothing to stop him.

>> so, dad, on that note, can you tell us about your perceptions of vladimir putin? you've been in his company. you've been to russia many times. you've actually been at several of the locations. is there someone in there that actually you can negotiate with? >> i am a little worried mr. putin's kind of eccentric form of behavior, and has been eccentric, very narcissistic. it has been somewhat m megalomaniac, has created a situation where he probably feels he is irresistible, error-free, and the carrier of some great russian destiny in which he's been given the responsibility of re-establishing russian power as an empire across the space of the former soviet union. he's under the influence of a

preacher, semireligious who has been teaching him the fate of russia as a great empire. he seems to be moving in that direction. this eurasian union he wants to impose, but also in uzbek and others, part of the grandiose scheme which really is not part of the contemporary reality, but which he might try to impose by force. and i think we have to find ways of seriously discouraging him without contributing to more likely outbreak of violence, but not adopting the posture in advance that will be totally passive if he does something violent. >> dad, it's chilling, the way you describe him. david, quickly, who's on "meet the press"? >> chairman mike rogers of the intelligence committee, more on this topic, as well as the malaysia airlines mystery. >> we'll be right back. i'm looking forward to... for some, every dollar is earned with sweat,

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time now to talk about what we learned today. obviously, ukraine and flight 370 were the top stories. but i learned that you can find out if you want what your kids are doing when they party by getting their facebook passwords and going on instagram and following their tweets. and you will be horrified. you ought to find out. mark halperin? >> best anagram for putin,

input. >> bobby ghosh? >> putin is a dangerous guy. we should all be very, very scared. >> you have learned my father well. thank you very much. if it's way too early, what time is it? it's time for "morning joe." but now, it's time for "the daily rundown" with chuck todd. have a wonderful weekend, everybody. as russia crosses the "ts" and dots the "is" on adding crimea, putin fights back with sanctions of his own for top politicians, and they're ready to wear them as a badge of honor. also this morning, illinois governor pat quinn is here, fresh off his primary win and ahead of a potentially rocky road to re-election. a tdr 50 look at the pension problems plaguing the land of lincoln. plus, a ton of 2016 headlines this week thank you might have missed amid all the other news, some of it in quotes, major and minor moves that turned heads, raised