reelection efforts. but we begin with the search for malaysian flight 370. in just a few hours it will be daylight in australia and searchers are hoping that saturday's efforts prove more fruitful than today's search which spotted no trace of the debris spotted by satellite imagery five days ago. the search revolves around those images of two large pieces of debris, one almost 80 feet in length, the other shorter, about 16 feet in length. no evidence exists yet, but these are definitely -- that these are definitely from flight 370or than the fact that they were spotted in an area flight 370 could have reached and that lies in one of its possible flight paths. today australian authorities promised the search will end only with the discovery of flight 370. >> it is an extremely remote part of the southern indian ocean. it's about 3,000 kilometers southwest of perth. it's about the most inaccessible spot that you can imagine on the face of the earth.

but if there is anything down there, we will find it. >> ships and aircraft from countries, including australia, china, india, japan and great britain, are combing the waters off the coast of perth with more ships headed to the area. however, an advanced u.s. search plane won't be able to join efforts tomorrow due to maintenance and required crew rest. the u.s. has spent almost $3 million in the search but even with all the resources in the world the search would be one of the most daunting ever. first, the search area is one n one of the most remote places in the world, measuring nearly 117,000 square miles. to put that in perspective for you. they're searching for a 79 and 16 foot piece of debris from a boeing 777, about 209 feet in length in an area roughly the size of arizona. second problem, the conditions. the area is known by sailors as the roaring 40s for the strong winds and currents that lie

between 40 and 50 degrees of latitude. also, the weather, which was somewhat better today, changes frequently. third, undersea conditions mirror the weather in terms of turbulence. fourth, there are the technology issues. bad weather can affect radar, which so far has found no trace of the debris and sonar, which is used to find objects you should t-- under the water work best in a narrow search area. fifth and finally there's the timeline factor. those images were taken a week ago. so when you factor in the currents, the debris could have drifted up to 100 nautical miles away if, indeed, it's still on the surface at all. none of that takes into account the roughly 1 days left before the battery in the data flight recorder, the so-called black box, fades. for more we turn to nbc's bill neely in perth, australia. >> reporter: well, another day of frustration here in perth in western australia where there's been a search 1,400 miles off this coastline but, again, it

has come up with nothing. five planes went out today from australia, from the united states, and five came back having seen no debris and having seen no signs of anything unusual. the australian flight crew said actually visibility was quite good, they could see for about six miles, unlike yesterday the when visibility was very poor, indeed. but they reported strong winds and they weren't actually able to stay at the site as long as they wanted. the crew of the u.s. navy surveillance plane came back again reporting that they had seen nothing. they fly over the site for about three hours, it's a bit more of a sophisticated plane, they can fly at 5,000 feet and then go down to 1,000 feet if they spot anything but, again, they came back with nothing. tonight here it is nighttime, the search has been suspended but a norwegian cargo vessel is actually out on the seas using search lights to try and spot any debris and today the crew of that ship were on deck using

binoculars. so you've got this curious thing of very high-tech planes, satellites, of course, 22,000 miles above the earth and very low tech men on deck with binoculars. but, sadly, all coming up with the same thing, that is nothing. the australian prime minister, tony abbot, a little bit defensive today saying this is just about the most inhospitable, inaccessible place on earth to conduct a search like this and he was also hinting that this area can be where shipping containers can be in the ocean having fallen off ships. so it is a difficult area. it is a difficult search. the search will resume tomorrow but sadly, today, another frustrating day, nothing found. bill neely, nbc news, perth, western australia. >> thanks, bill. anthony roman is a security expert and former commercial pilot and jackie dixon is the dean of the college of marine science at the university of south florida. i want to start with you here anthony at the table with me.

let's talk first about this report of an earthquake today. how does that impact the search? >> well, i understand that the earthquake was approximately 3,000 nautical miles north or so from the scene that's being searched right now. the u.s. geological service has just cancelled the tsunami alert so we don't believe it's going to affect the search site at all. >> so let's talk about the fact that we have five day old radar images. so far even though we have ships, planes, everything, edded to that area, they've spotted nothing. what does that tell you as an investigator. >> well, they can have the satellites tracking this debris. we don't know if they are or not. however, nasa has wonderful -- and the u.s. navy and the air force have wonderful drift tables, that they track the weather, they make adjustment in the drift tables so there's still a very good chance of locating it. >> let's go to you, jackie, about this area we're looking at. we've talked a lot about on top

of the surface what people are looking for. talk a little bit about beneath the surface what we're talking about. this isn't like a swimming pool, right? this isn't clear watter where there's nothing below. >> no, this is not clear water with nothing below. the depth to the sea floor is roughly about two miles below the surface of the ocean and if you go all the way down to the sea floor it's a part of the mid-ocean ridge system. so it's very rough terrain, it's a part of a continuous string of volcanos that are like a zipper through middle of all the ocean basins and so it's deep, it's rough, and it's very poorly explored because of the rough conditions and the remoteness. >> so you have an inhospitable territory and the prime minister of australia calling it specifically that. enough under sea that is already craggy, mountainous beneath the water and now we're learning there could be other things in the water that maybe could have

even been mistaken for the debris from flight 370, shipping containers that have fallen off ships. technologically how would you determine the difference between a false lead, something that fell off a cargo ship, and a piece of a plane? >> well, the difference occurs between the surface middle level layers of the ocean and the bottom. and different technology is used for all three. radar and night vision, infrared is primarily used for the surface and the p-3 and the p-8 orions use this type of technology. in the middle regions of the ocean they use sonar buoys to detect any subsurface debris. and for the lower section, the very bottom where these crags and volcanos are present and crevices, they have something called side scan sonar. now, this can go out a half mile in each direction and really provides very detailed views of

what's down there. however, there is a caveat. side-scan sonar needs to have some lead because it's been described as looking through your house for your keys with a straw. >> but when you talk about that technology, anthony, what frustrates people i think about this and confounds people is we all this high tech equipment, all the technology you describe and we can't seem to find this plane even when now we have some idea where it might be. should people be confounded by that? >> no, i don't think they should. i once flew a very small aircraft from new york city so san juan, puerto rico, and i remember being over the open atlantic thinking, the world would never hear my scream nor find my aircraft. it's a very big world and aircrafts, no matter what size they are, are small compared to the rest. >> jackie, i think that's the

point, right? how much of this particular part of the world's oceans are really unexplored and really sort of unknown to us? >> the general topography is understood and well known but, you know, detailed mapping i would say probably the majority of the sea floor in that area is still unexplored. >> as an investigator, anthony, and someone with experience in this area in terms of the way that a pilot sort of looks at this, is there any logical reason to ever fly into this kind of unexplored area on purpose? >> no. as a matter of fact, when they first developed the locations of the two corridors, the northern corridor and the southern corridor, logic would have dictated that if this was a hijack or if the pilots had some nefarious plot that they wanted to steal this airplane or defect to another country i chose the

northern route simply because there are places to go. there is absolutely nothing there other than australia and that's not the area they're looking in. they're looking 1500 miles west. >> this is unbelievable. all right, anthony roman, thank you very much. as well as jackie dixon, thank you. >> you're welcome. thanks for having me. up next, we're focussing on the search but also looking at the security. why where you fly from makes a huge difference in how safe you are. and the other huge story we're following is the crisis in crimea. we'll explain how the sanctions on russia could already be working. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, like me, and you're talking to your rheumatologist about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain. this is humira helping me lay the groundwork. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block

a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage in many adults. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. take the next step. talk to your doctor. this is humira at work.

[ male announcer ] can't take a sick day tomorrow. [ coughs ] [ male announcer ] so he can't let a cold keep him up tonight. vicks nyquil. powerful nighttime 6 symptom cold and flu relief. ♪ because an empty pan is a blank canvas. [ woman #2 ] to share a moment. [ woman #3 ] to travel the world without leaving home. [ male announcer ] whatever the reason. whatever the dish. make it delicious with swanson.

we've been trying everything we've at that area to try to learn more about what this

debris might be. now, it could just be a container that's fallen off a ship. we just don't know. >> that's the australian prime minister expressing just today how difficult the search for possible debris from flight 370 is at this moment. while the search for missing flight 370 continues, aviation security experts already are finding holes in how we protect flights from potential tragedy. now, there are, of course, questions about the pilots and report that the co-pilot entertained women in the cabin during an earlier flight. also, the question of how much are we willing to pay for satellite technology to track each and every jet across the world? individually, neither may be related to what caused flight 370 to deviate from its path or give us a clue as to its fate. nevertheless, they do concern those who are responsible for our air safety. let's start with what is making

people mo o who fly nervous. how stringent are the checks, number one, on pilots who get into the cockpit of the plane? >> okay, across the board even here in the united states they are not. as far as we're talking about the psychological evaluation of pilots. for example, i started off in the nypd. to become a police officer i had to take a written psychological exam and an oral psychological exam because before we give you a loaded weapon and put you on the street we need to make sure you are emotionally and mentally stable. however, you would they pilot who was commandeer ago plane with how many souls on board? this particular case 239 souls, that they would have to go through some type of psychological testing. there is none. there is no psychometric testing or standard for aviation pilots. all they say is basically if you're a pilot and you feel that something's not right you yourself raise your hand and say "i'm not mentally and emotionally stable" and at that point you lose your job. >> okay, my goodness.

there is the story that the co-pilot may have allowed someone to go into the cockpit. we know we have that locked lead door that you can't get into if someone tried to break into. how common is it for pilots to open it up? >> i would think it's somewhat common not here in the united states. everybody thinks that the rest of the world operates on our level of intensity and standardsment it doesn't. a lot of the countries are relaxed. malaysia probably very relaxed. it depends on the airline. so i could see them opening the cockpit door. i've seen it on international flights myself where the cockpit door has been open and i'm thinking somehow that open? but it does happen so we need to deviate from what we understand here in the u.s. and assume that, you know what in the same thing goes on in other countries. it doesn't. >> let's go to the passengers now. we did have two passengers who -- we're not saying it's anything nefarious -- but they were traveling on stolen passports acquired in thailand. how stringent is the screening of passengers getting on international flights? >> it is not as far as the passports go. we do check passports to see if

they're stolen or what not, counterfeited or whatever the case may be, but we don't always so not every passport is always checked. it takes too much time, a lot of resources and money. so we do it here in the u.s. not everybody, but outside of the united states it's even done to a lesser degree. so there are people flying with stolen passports, maybe counterfeit passports and nobody's the wiser. >> are there air marshals aboard international flights? >> it depends on the country. here in the united states we have air marshals. i have flown overseas commercially with certain countries where they put people on board. not everybody does this. some countries -- i remember one country in particular they had the official who was on board, he made sure that you knew that he was armed and he stood at the front of the walkway when you walked in and you could see his weapon, he was in a suit but he was tacked out and he let everybody know and he watched everybody on that flight. >> now let's talk about the thing that you and i have talked about this in the green room. how much are these countries really cooperating? so you have all these different

countries. you have australia, the united states, malaysia, theoretically are all cooperating. do they really share their ray car? do they really want to share -- there's a submarine under there let's just say looking for this plane, would people tell each other, these governments, what they're doing and what they have? >> a lot of the information, the raw information they're not putting out. what these countries typically do is they look at their own information, analyze, for example, their raw data then they interpret it and then they say here you go, malaysia, here you go, united states, this is what we're willing to share with you. nobody's turning over any raw data to anybody. now my understanding is the malaysians are doing that with us here in the u.s. but initially they weren't. that's why this investigation took so long to take off. as far as submarines go, i've been asked this, are there submarines involved. you better believe they are involved but anybody to's going to come out and say yes, we do have our submarines and by the way they're positioned here. that's a very classified thing. so these things are going on but you have to understand governments don't want to put this out there because everybody's worried about what?

spying on one another. which is saturday because you're thinking we should be looking for the people and the plane but sadly these are the political issues and national issues we have to deal with. >> let alone the united states shows up and we're like "hey, turn over your data" and they're like "no." i'm sure we would do the same thing. >> we would. imagine malaysia saying "bring over your raw data." we'd look at them and say "absolutely not. you can't come near here, whatever you need comes through us." >> evie, thank you so much. always so inciteful. a utility company in north carolina faces new charges that it dumped millions of gallons of toxic coal ash that into a river that provides drinking water for state residents. north carolina regulators say duke energy deliberately and illegally dumped $61 million gallons of the toxic material into a canal that feeds into the cape fear river. and that it did so from september of last year until as recently as last week. last night, many i colleague rachel maddow showed how a group of private citizens forced state

regulators' hands. >> the river keeper guys last week were motoring just off the cape fear river up that canal that goes to the duke energy plant trying to figure out what was going on and then this happened. >> what y'all got going on today. >> just cruising. >> why would these gentlemen tell you not to keep going further and you keep going. >> i figured we have a right to use the water. >> you do but what's the point of going all the way up there? you fishing or anything? >> we're just looking around. >> okay. well, do y'all have your i.d.s or anything on you? >> yeah. >> just need to see those real quick. >> have we done something wrong? >> no, i'm just checking your i.d.s man, y'all coming up here, this is all for the power plant. this is all the power plant's property. >> including the water that we're boating on? >> pretty sure. i can get wildlife out here, they'll scratch you a ticket. i'm not going to scratch you a ticket for nothing, i'm just going to check your i.d.s and let you go down there and tell you not to come back.

>> reporter: officials for the electric utility claim the pumping was part of routine maintenance and was monitored according to the plant permit. state regulators begged to differ. duke energy is the same company being investigated by federal regulators for a massive spill of coal ash waste water last month. . og#wvs#q)pst;v?2v.ac=u÷jf&ée

...of america's number-one puppy food brand... on zyrtec® products. ...with dha and essential nutrients also found in mother's milk. purina puppy chow. ameriprise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement? i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry.

what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today. coming up we read between the lines about the battle to vote. why what's happening now reminds many people of the fight to vote back in the early '60s. but first it's time for the stories you can't stop buzzing about on social media in a segment we like to call "we theweeple." we're excited because it's twitter's birthday. eight years ago today twitter co-founder jack dorsey sent this very first tweet and today twitter launched the first tweet web site where you can look up anyone's first microblog. here's my first tweet and, yes, it is ah-ha rets articn article.

and here's senator barack obama's first tweet in 2007, it's about the possible end of the iraq war. love this one from ellen degeneres, it says "tiz my first twitter or tweet, is this anything?" everybody knows ellen's record breaking oscar selfie made history. and wait toer is causing a stir in turkey. twitter prime minister erdogan banned the social media last thursday. he was implicated in a corruption scandal over social media and decided to clip twitter's wings. of course he did it while sending turkey's very last tweet. "we'll eradicate twitter" he tweeted ironically. "i don't care what the international community says." well, the reaction has been swift. this map shows the hashtag "twitter is blocked in turkey" which trending worldwide and you're tweeting at a rate of

7,000 tweets per hour. the people are watching, mr. erdogan. from twitter madness in you are the i do march madness right here, social media is on fire about the ncaa basketball tournament. in less than -- it's less than 24 hours old but upsets are upsetting about everybody's brackets. in day one yesterday my alma mater harvard beat heavily favored cincinnati. go crimson. and dayton pulled an upset over ohio state by one estimate 95% of the millions of people who filled out brackets just lost their chance for a perfect score. billionaire warren buffett is relieved. he offered a billion dollars to anyone with a perfect bracket. hmm. maybe i should have filled one out. all right, well you really picked winners today. join the conversation with fellow reid report fans on twitter, facebook, instagram and msnbc.com and tell us what's important to you. next, the frustration grows deeper for the families of malaysia airlines missing passengers. first a lack of information and now some family members are being pushed out of their hotel

because of an auto race. seriously. and the crisis in ukraine. the annexation of crimea by rush that shah now a foregone conclusion and today there's new evidence the u.s. sanctions could be more effective than you think. ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor my she's awesome.st, when i go in there, i want to be awesome too. so i've totally gone pro with crest pro-health. go pro with crest pro-health. the first time i tried crest pro-health it felt different, i mean it felt clean. crest pro-health protects all these areas dentists check most. she's going to do backflips when she sees this. 4 out of 5 dentists confirmed these pro-health products

helped maintain a professional clean. i am extremely impressed. i guess that's what happens when you go pro. go pro with crest pro-health. excuse me, did you say you want to see my teeth, oh i'm sorry.

are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule.

the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. now more on the mystery of missing malaysia flight 370. today officials confirmed to nbc news that the plane was carrying lithium ion batteries in its cargo hold. the batteries are commonly used in laptops and mobile phone and are prone to overheating, sometimes exploding. but officials stress the batteries on flight 370 were within regulation so they were not regarded as a threat. meantime, the already-tense situation for families and loved ones of the passengers and crew may have been made worse today. some of the chinese families were forced to change hotels to make room for formula 1 racing fans. you may recall this iconic photo earlier this week when several chinese women tried to storm a

media briefing room determined to get answers about their missing relatives. nbc's keir simmons is with the families. he has more now from kuala lumpur. >> reporter: two weeks ago, flight 370 took off from this runway. since then, relatives have clung to hope. now another agonizing wait, fearing the worst. this week another mom pleaded with reporters for information. then heartbreaking scenes and she was carried away by security. now there's a police guard on the media briefing room while relatives were taken to a two-hour meeting but they left having been told nothing, this father says. he's decided not to leave kuala lumpur until they get some real news. families with so many questions while in the indian ocean the search continues for answers. real frustration for many of the families who are still saying

they aren't getting the information that they deserve, the information that they want and waiting for news of their relatives, many of them saying they are still crossing their fingers and hoping that that debris off australia is nothing to do with flight 370. joy? >> nbc's keir simmons in kuala lumpur. thank you. to moscow now where just minutes ago fireworks went off in red square as thousands gathered to celebrate russia's annexation of crimea. the celebrations come just hours after president vladimir putin signed the treaty immediately after it was approved by the upper house of the russian parliament. in doing so, he restored a piece of the soviet union, but also invited stepped-up sanctions from the united states and europe. initially the white house limited punishment to just the handful of russian and ukrainian officials, a move widely criticized by republicans. >> this president's response, i don't know how it could have been weaker besides doing nothing. seven people being sanctioned after naked aggression is taking

place. >> on wednesday, the "new york times" posted an op-ed from a member of the russian opposition currently under house arrest. in it, he suggested that the targeted sanctions, precisely like the ones the president announced this week, would be the most effective way to punish putin provided by they target the right people and entities. he writes: western nations could deliver a serious blow to the luxurious life-styles enjoyed by the kremlin's cronies who shuttle between russia and the west. this means freezing the oligarchs' financial assets and seizing their property. we reached out but were told he's being banned from communicating to anyone other than his immediate family. nevertheless, it's possible his message was received. on thursday president obama sanction add russian bank as well as 20 government officials and members of putin's inner circle including five of the nine individuals specifically mentioned in navalny's op-ed. steve clemmons is washington's editor at large for the

"atlantic." let's start with, steve, the idea of sanctioning these oligarchs, putin's banker, other members of the inner circle. how effective, in your mind, will that be to stop the aggression of russia toward its neighbors? >> regrettably i don't feel it will be very effective because we've chose on the create personal pain for something a government is doing. when you see fireworks like we just saw in red square, that's one of the most globally obnoxious thing i've seen in a long time. this is a government, this is a great number of people inside russia who solidly support vladimir putin and so to a certain degree the more we go after oligarchs or people who have enormous wealth and try to swat them even with the banks and supposed luxurious life-style, they have lots of other ways and back doors to continue to benefit out of the corruption and positions they've put themselves in. so i don't find it effective, i find it symbolic but not enough. >> now, the sort of argument that was in this navlny op-ed and he is a dissident from the government of mr. putin is that he is saying that the luxurious

life-style these guys are able to live outside of russia, their access to the rest of the world is what they value the most and if putin is responsible for taking them away then the popularity he's built up through this nationalism could fade because those guys might turn on him. do you see that argument? >> i think he's a very, very brave crusader, i have a lot of respect for him, it was a compelling op-ed in the "new york times" but we have to face the fact that despite what we might want to do to the oligarchs in sending a message to vladimir putin on this, we need putin on syria, we need putin on iran. putin has energy strength in the world with europe, with ukraine itself and with places like japan that we can't also write out of the kwags. there's a lot of anger and frustration including for my own self about what they've been doing but nonetheless you need to look at the larger map. doesn't mean you appease putin and go soft but you can't throw your eggs in one basket and think by swatting the oligarchs that that's somehow going to bring this nation that's been

pushing every button income to frustrate the west. this is by design. this is not an accident that putin stepped in to. he's been wanting this confrontation. >> one of the things he's been doing is stoking nationalism. he did it on the religious fundamentalism aspect when he was there. he pushed it on something that is for a lot of russians a thing about nationalism, right. the crimea region they see as being part of russia. >> i think the obnoxious treatment of lgbt people, the treatment of pussy riot, the crack down on the press, crackdown on western civil society organizations that have been trying to help russian democracy who have bailed out russia after the fall of the soviet union and really helped give russia a hand up, all of those things that putin has been doing, it kind of reminds one in a different way of ronald reagan. there was a lot of self-doubt and anxious in the united states and reagan positioned himself to be its morning in america

ascendant, let's fund the b-2 bomber, let's do these things and in a harsher way vladimir putin is posturing to be the new nationalist, the one who is restoring the old semblance, the architecture of the old soviet union and its grandeur and mystique. >> walking the country back from the humiliation of the disillusion of the soviet union? >> this is why we have to be careful of giving him what he wants. >> thank you so much. and an update now to the deadly hotel bombing in afghanistan on thursday. we've just learned that one american was killed in the attack. the state department condemned the attack as senseless and barbaric. fourteen age taliban gunmen broke into the hotel armed with pistols. sources told nbc news the attackers shot at least nine people in the head, including two children. and coming up, the battle over the ballot box. why it just got harder to vote in kansas and arizona and that could hurt democrats in november.

general hyman launched rent the web on the runway in 2009. customers rent dresses for a cost of what have it would cost to bye them. mobile became 25% of their track stois they launched a very successful app last year. for more, watch "your business" on 7:30 on msnbc. . if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. transferred money from his before larry instantly bank of america savings account to his merrill edge

retirement account. before he opened his first hot chocolate stand calling winter an "underserved season". and before he quit his friend's leaf-raking business for "not offering a 401k." 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. your hepatitis c.forget it's slow moving, you tell yourself. i have time. after all there may be no symptoms for years. no wonder you try to push it to the back of your mind and forget it. but here's something you shouldn't forget. hepatitis c is a serious disease. if left untreated, it could lead to liver damage and potentially even liver cancer. if you are one of the millions of people with hepatitis c, you haven't been forgotten.

there's never been a better time to rethink your hep c. because people like you may benefit from scientific advances. advances that could help you move on from hep c. now is the time to rethink hep c and talk to your doctor. visit hepchope.com to find out about treatment options. and register for a personalized guide to help you prepare for a conversation with your doctor. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

now to a story we've been following exclusively for you here the reid report. two new tweaks to florida's controversial stand your ground law have just passed in the statehouse of florida. representatives of the so-called warning shot bill passed yesterday by a vote of 93-24 following a tense two-hour debate on whether lawmakers should repeal the entire stand your ground law. instead of repeal, legislators voted to make it legal to avoid retreat and fire a warning shot if threatened. lawmakers also approved a provision that gives judges more leeway in sentencing people convicted of firing a gun, relaxing mandatory minimum sentencing rules. both changes were inspired in part by the case of marisa alexander, the jacksonville mother who faces 60 years in prison if she's convicted of firing what she says was a warning shot at her estranged husband after he allegedly attacked her. the senate takes up the bill next week. we're also paying close attention to the assault on

voting. this week we saw yet another setback. this time a federal judge ordering the u.s. elections assistance commission to uphold laws in kansas and arizona requiring proof of citizenship at voter registration. it means new voters will have to show a birth certificate or passport when they register. this despite any evidence of widespread voter fraud. kansas secretary of state crisco back helped push the law through. he's the same guy who questioned president obama's birth certificate. he called this week's decision huge victory. >> it's a victory for all 50 states and this decision reaffirms the right of the states to control the qualifications for electors. >> reporter: the "new york times" called out co-back and other republicans for their real motives behind the laws. today inning in an editorial today "republican lawmakers who work to impose higher bars to voting either through proof of citizenship or voter i.d. laws are well aware that many of those otherwise eligible voters

who still struggle to come up with the required documents, which includes a birth certificate, passport or driver's license, are more likely to vote democratic." and in wisconsin where the state assembly is aggressively moving forward with new restrictions on voting, one republican lawmaker is finally fed up. here's state senator dale schultz on madison's progressive radio "the devil's advocate" program. >> it's just, i think, sad, when a political party -- my political party -- has so lost faith in its ideas that it's pouring all of its energy into election mechanics. but the fact is it ought to be abundantly clear to everybody in this state that there is no massive voter fraud. >> new york university's brennan center reports in the months before the 2012 election lawmakers in 41 states pushed 180 new restrictions on voting. the laws passed in 19 states. with key swing state governorships up for reelections

in 2014 -- not to mention the balance of power in the u.s. senate at stake -- those laws could have a very real impact. and joining me now, jonathan kay part, opinion writer for the "washington post" and goldie taylor for from they from owe.com. so ladies first, i'm going to start with you, goldie. these restrictions we're seeing are really aimed at democrats and republicans aren't exactly hiding it, right? >> well, no, they haven't exactly hidden it but kobach out of kansas crafted a team played for states across the country to use. he's right about one thing, states do have the right to control the qualifications of voters within their states however they don't have the right to direct these undue barriers so people can't get over them and into the voting booth. they can not impede someone's fundamental right to vote which is what some of these laws are out there doing. this really is an answer in search of a problem, a problem

that really doesn't exist, but for the gop a problem does exist. there is a corner of voters out there, they are non-traditional voters, voters that are most likely to be disenfranchised, most likely to be black and brown, most likely to be elderly, most likely to be college students, most likely people who don't vote in midterms all that often. they are most likely not to come to the poll if you reject just a little bit of a barrier. so they're out there erecting barriers so they can keep people who are traditionally democratic voters away from the polls. that is way of short cutting the process. they ought to reach out to these voters. they ought to sell their plal form to these voters, instead they're trying to keep them away from the polls and this's what's most unfortunate about this. >> typically the democratic base doesn't come out in the same numbers in the midterm elections. i want to show you, we have 11 states right knew have introduced photo i.d. laws then you have kansas city and arizona that require proof of citizenship laws. that's the map. let's look at the map of the gubernatorial elections that are going to be held in 36 state this is year.

36 states including 31 incumbent governors. 31 governors who are seeking reelection and not only that you have about a half dozen of these 2010 tea party governors in purple state, governors races do bring out voters. >> yes, governor races do bring out voters and, yes, what we're dealing with here is the circumstance of the midterm election. the democratic party base usually doesn't show up because they show up for the big ticket races, the presidential races. but i caution people here on something. yes historically this is the case but we saw what happened in virginia. in the virginia governors race people said terry mcauliffe would never win because it's an off-year election, the democratic party base isn't going to come out, don't worry about it, the republican ken cuccinelli is going to win. and what ended up happening? not only did terry mcauliffe win, but how did he win? the obama voters who came out in no,sir in 2012 to turn the

state, virginia, to have their president twin state and win the presidency, they came out in the gubernatorial race in virginia in the same intensity that they did in the 2012 presidential race and so virginia, i think, is -- should be sort of the template that democrats need to use to bring out the base. president obama's not on the ballot but president obama is on the ballot. and that's what needs to happen to thwart what's going to -- what republicans think will happen and that is they'll deep house but also they think they'll take the senate. >> they think they'll take senate. and one of the things, goldie, that was not on the table in 2010 because you had that big oil spill that people remember, the b.p. spill that took president obama off the playing field and he was sort of accused by a lot of democrats of not playing hard in 2010 because of that circumstance and others. but let's take a listen to the t the yesterday because now he seems to be all in. and the president said yesterday "in midterm wes get clobbered either because we don't think it's important or we become so

discouraged about what's happening in washington we think it's not worth our while." will president obama be an effective get out the vote personage in the midterms given that a lot of democrats are terrified of the affordable care act? >> you know, he would be a very effective vote getter in some districts and in some districts not. i really sort of take issue with the notion that in midterms we always get clobbered. we don't. we get clobbered in midterms when we don't have a message to vote for and what democrats have failed to do in some of these elections is really sort of put out a clear and convincing message rather than fight for the affordable care act as we saw in district 13 in florida. we saw a candidate running away from the affordable care act and she lost by 3,500 votes. i think that democrats have to get on message and policy and take that to voters and do the retail door-to-door vote getting that the obama campaign did with obama for america. unless we do that, we're going to continue to win -- continue to lose off-year elections. you've got texas, you've got the

state i'm standing in north carolina, you've got georgia, you've got other states that within a cycle or two if you can -- and the demographics are changing in those states. within a cycle or two those states can conceivably turn blue if democrats do the work of running on their platform, running on policy and turning out voters like they put behind on--year elections as they do in presidential races and as they did in thor terry mcauliffe race in the gubernatorial campaign. >> and you have purple states being governored by republican legislative law and fiat and the voters voted for president obama but the policies that they are living under are the policies of the tea party. so if that doesn't motivate democrats to vote, i really can't help them. >> that should tell you something. >> goldie taylor, jonathan capehart, have a great weekend. and don't forget to watch jonathan who will be guest hosting melissa harris-perry this weekend on msnbc. next, we read between the lines on the right's campaign to

dismantle the voting rights act. . we only know one direction: up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here. or start a new business here... and pay no taxes for 10 years. with new jobs, new opportunities and a new tax free plan. there's only one way for your business to go. up. find out if your business can qualify at start-upny.com

ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today.

before the voting rights act of 1965 it was common across the jim crow south for voters to have to register separately for federal and state elections. as literacy tests and poll taxes were struck down, states like mississippi simply kept them on the books for statewide elections. that way, newly enfranchised black voters couldn't vote out the officials who discriminated against them. section 5 of the voting rights act ended the two-tiered system of state and federal registration, creating a single voting standard. when the supreme court gutted zx 5 last year it brought back the potential for states to pass separate statewide voter registration standards. what just happened in kansas and arizona, where a federal judge upheld those states' demand that the federal agency charged with helping register people to vote issue special voter applications

to take into account their stricter voter i.d. laws which require a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship is another nail in the coffin of the voting rights act. as ari berman writes in "the nation" "the proposed two-tiered system of voting and the harmfulness of proof of citizenship laws warrant legal scrutiny. over 30,000 voters were prevented from registering in arizona after its proof of citizenship law passed in 2004. in kansas, 17,000 voters have been blocked from registering this year. a third of all registration applicants because the dmv doesn't transfer citizenship documents to election officials. the aclu has vowed to sue kansas if the state continues its non-compliance with state and federal law." as ari reports and as we've mentioned, the strict birth certificate voter i.d. laws are the brain child of kansas secretary of state, kris kobach,

promoter of immigration hysteria. he's not alone. this is happening across the country in wisconsin and ohio with the slashing of early voting, in texas, north carolina, mississippi and arkansas to name a few. the reason? the minority electorate is growing. hispanics, because of population growth, african americans and asians because of increased turnout. and even the white electorate is changing. it's getting more secular, more urban, more college educated. all markers for democratic voting. which means it will get harder and harder for republicans to win the huge margins among white voters that it would take to win the white house. mitt romney got 59% and lost. now, republicans could adapt their policies to broaden their base, but thanks to the supreme court, stopping minorities from voting is a viable alternative. and there's more to come. section 2 of the voting rights act is the next target. stay tuned. and that wraps things up for "the reid report." see you back here monday at 2:00 p.m. eastern and be sure to

visit us at thereidreport at middle east.com. the psych is next. what's up next today. >> what you were saying is really important. we're going to do another special edition of "the cycle" all about the plane from stem to stern. we'll talk about the search, the investigation, we'll talk about the psychology of the whole globe and why we want to sit around and talk about this missing plane and this mystery all the time and plus i'll tell you about another plane, another boeing 727 that just disappeared similar to this although different in different ways. we'll talk all about that plane today. >> wow, that is absolutely must-see tv. thank you so much, and "the cycle" comes up next. . [ 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. ♪ my mom works at ge. how was prugh.ce? that bad? i dropped 2 balls, mom. eye on the ball! that's all it is. eye on the ball. that's a good tip. i'll try it. by the way, bill... this is delicious! so many grilled tastes and textures. and all the nutrition i need. go on. no really. top notch. (laughing) there it is - there ya go. new american grill from kibbles 'n bits... go together like... food 'n family.

don't worry! the united states postal service will get it there on time with priority mail flat rate shipping. ♪ whoo-hoo! ♪ [ male announcer ] our priority has always been saving the day. because our priority... amazing! [ male announcer ] ...is you! the amazing spider-man 2 delivered by the united states postal service. breaking news once again as another week of the cycle wraps up. investigators from multiple countries circumstancing the globe. one of the most remote parts of

the globe hoping to pull off the impossible and discover missing malaysian flight 370. the first plane to reach the possible debris area returned to australia empty handed. four other planes those the region today, too. so far no news to report. in this case no news, not good news. one of those planes is the u.s. p-8, a commander of the seven fleet which is coordinating these flights called into msnbc's chris jansing and explained why this is being called the human eyeball operation and an exhausting one at that. >> the tremendous length and distance out in this search area. so, you know, a typical flight will be about nine hours and three hours is just to get out there. and then i'll have another another three hours on station time and then three hours back. so quite a long distance out there in the range of 14, 1500 nautical miles. >> as you just heard from the commander, one of the