just pistorius trying to convince the judge this was self-defense. >> simply trying to protect reeva. >> violence is erupting in eastern ukraine, armed gunman stormed government buildings and pro russian activists clashed with police. >> generally upbeat mood. i think a lot of afghans thought it went better than expected. >> it's not that afghans want american style democracy but do want to run their country. >> someone who comes to our country because they couldn't come legally and crossed the border because they have no other means to work to provide for their family, they broke the law but it's not a felony. it's an act of love. first up today, search teams may be closer than ever to finding malaysian air flight 370.

australian ship detected a second ping today in the indian ocean. the vessel picked up noise consistent with that of a black box and held contact for a full 13 minutes. clearly this is the most promising lead and probably in the search so far, it's the -- it's probably the best information that we have had. >> the pings are in a northern part of the search zone with waters up to 15,000 feet deep. remember, black boxes have an average shelf life of 30 days give or take a few and today marks day 31 since the flight vanished. so isolating the source of these pings is quite literally a race against time. to give us the latest on the search effort, we turn to nbc news correspondent ian williams in perth, australia. >> reporter: it is being described as a most promising lead, the best information in a month of fruitless searching,

but the search coordinator is urging caution. a u.s. navy device called a ping locater towed behind an australian ship twice picked up under water sounds consistent with the pings of an aircraft's black box. they are working around the clock to reacquire that signal and better pinpoint its source. the plan then is to send down an unmanned submersible vehicle in such of a black box or aircraft wreckage. at a depth of 2.8 miles, the vehicle will be working at its level, the complete lack of any wreckage that might confirm that location as the flight where flight 370 hit the water. officials warn it could take days to verify if the signal is coming from a black bok, which in theory has already reached the limits of its 30 day battery life. ian williams, nbc news, perth. >> thanks to nbc's ian williams

for that. now an inside look at the highest profile trial in the world, which reached a very emotional crescendo today in a courtroom in south africa. oscar pistorius testified in the first day of his defense. he began with a wrenching apology to the family of the woman that he has admitted to killing, his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp. >> not a moment and hasn't been a moment since this tragedy happened that i haven't thought about your family, i wake up every morning and you're the first people i think of and first people i pray for. i can't imagine the pain and sorrow and emptiness i've caused you and your family. i was simply trying to protect reeva. >> nbc news correspondent mike taibbi has been in the courtroom in pretoria.

we of course can't hear -- we can't see him but we did hear him there. tell us, what was his demeanor like during that apology? >> reporter: yeah, hi, ronan, everybody in the courtroom was absolutely riveted. the emotion was raw and drama was high and question was whether or not he would be able to keep his compose you're and continue to testify after that emotional apology at the beginning. he had been sick several times throughout the four weeks of this trial and this was during the testimony of one of his witnesses, a pathologist describing his interpretation of the death scene where reeva steenkamp had died. pistorius covered his ears and eyes and became sick again. he lasted a little less than two hours after the apology, calmed down a little bit, his lawyer brought him through the story of his own life, his own character

witness talking about the charity work he had done and vn been given an honorary doctorate for charity woman and role model for those who lost limbs due to land mines and taking in rescue dogs and saving a friend who having his car carjacked because he learned they were targeting that particular make of car. his struggle with disability growing up and talking about how unstable he felt when he didn't have his prosthetic legs on, maybe keying up testimony about the night that pistorius called a tragic accident. he lasted a little less than two hours before the judge even conceded, he was clearly exhausted, he's suffering from insomnia, nightmares and the judge allowed his testimony to conclude a half hour sooner than it would have. the only person who knows exactly what happened that night, trying to convince the

judge his version of what happened is the truth. ronan. >> seems like oscar pistorius seeming very vulnerable, whether strategic or not. oscar pistorius spoke about what his life has been like since that agonizing night of reeva steenkamp's death. >> i have terrible nightmares about things that happened that night where i wake up and i smell -- i can smell -- i can smell blood and i wake up to being terrified. if i hear a noise, i wake up just in a complete state of terror to the point that i would rather not sleep. >> to dissect the legal stakes is tom mesero who has

represented many. he wasn't obl galted by law to testify today. why do you think he decided to? >> he had to do. this is not a who done it but why he did it. he had to explain who he is and the experiences that shaped his perceptions and fears and concerns in life. they want to paint a subjective picture of someone because of his disability and celebrity is especially vulnerable and want to explain he's not just the nars sisist that he's a caring person and grew up with hardships and vulnerable to home invasion robberies and had to put him on and explain the subjective state of mind. >> pistorius cried in court, thrown up, covered his head. how important is his demeanor while on the stand? >> demeanor is as important as

what you say. the judge is examining him very carefully. she knows the defense lawyers will often talk to their client that sometimes rehear-hearst kps sometimes too much. she want to see if this is who he is or whether con trifed for the courtroom. it's not over until it's over. you have to see what happens on cross-examination. i think this prosecutor is very skilled and he's going to examine him on whether or not he was reckless with guns or shotguns in restaurants and out of cars, whether he asked people to take the fall for him. his credibility can be really tested on cross-examination and his demeanor will be equally important then. >> to that note about seeming sincere, did he strike you as sincere? >> yes, he did strike me as sincere. i think he's extremely troubled and devastated by this whole thing. his life is on the line, looking at the possibility of 25 years to life in prison if the judge determines this was premeditated murder. so he has to explain i'm a human

being, sensitive, never intended this, i'm vulnerable and disabled. if an intruder gets to me, what can i do. grew up in fear. my father was never there. all of this is very important for the defense. >> essentially the substance of what he has to establish, that he shot through the door four times and wasn't a premeditated attack on her, he thought it was an intruder and could have reasonably thought that. how do you establish that? four times in the house, no other evidence of a break-in. what is his argument going to rest on? >> there's a subjective component, who he is, what fears he grew up with and also an objective component, crime in the neighborhood. how many break-ins do you have on average? do people on average own guns and fire guns quickly? are there a lot of saults? he's not only disabled but a celebrity, he's a target. he knows that. the objective facts about the neighborhood, about crime, how

people react to crime and as well as his subjective paranoias and fears will factor into whether or not this judge decides it was premeditated murder or something to a lesser degree. >> you mentioned that surrounding context of crime in this community and in this country, south africa does have a tremendous rate of violent crime, really big struggle in this particular neighborhood where he even lived. how big a part of this story is the surrounding context of growing up in such a violent country where people do have such a fear of street crime? >> well, it certainly factors into how many people own guns, why they own gun, how best you protect yourself. if there are people who experience enormous injury or death because of break-ins in the neighborhood, that will all factor into his perceptions that night. he heard noise he says, someone was coming into the house, he thought. was that a reasonable fear or perception? given his subjective upbringing and factors surrounding that neighborhood. let's wait and see.

he's going to be on the stand for a long time. >> you mentioned his upbringing in particular and talked about being afraid of crime, having weapons around because of that. it will be interesting to see if that's a theme he continues to hit. speaking of what he continues to do, he will be back on stand tomorrow perhaps for cross-examination. how risky is that part of this process for his case? >> it's very risky because i've seen people do very well on direct examination and then good cross examiner completely turns them around and makes them angry. this cross examiner is not just looking for particular answers but looking to change his demeanor to show he's a narcissist and and has a sense of entitlement and reckless and thought he could do things that other people aren't supposed to do. we have to see what happens on cross. he's going to be sitting in that witness box very vulnerable, vulnerable to attack, he's not used to that situation. he's a national hero. let's see how he holds up. >> he seemed pointedly

vulnerable today and will be legally vulnerable in the days to come. thanks for that assessment, tom messer roe. >> what is this pop star have to do with today's brutal street violence in ukraine? she'll be here to explain. ♪ it says here that a woman's sex drive

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forever. roadside bombs killed 26 people, although many feared the toll would be much worse and turnout was so high that officials were forced to extend voting for an extra hour. they sent more ballots to polls and had to mobilize all of the country's security forces to protect the polls. joining me now from kabul is nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel keeping us updated on this situation. first i want to ask about the voting process. back in 2009 as many as 20% of the ballots had to be thrown out. how do you think the fraud level was this time around? >> reporter: the voting that we saw looked like it was going quite smoothly but judging from the number of complaints, this is not a comparable situation to 2009. the process isn't over yet and there could be surprises, but compared to where we were right now, a few days after the election in 2009, it was a

totally different scenario, i was here in 2009 and tonight if it were 2009 we would be working on a story about fraud. we had video of people stuffing ballot boxes. they were complaints coming in from all over the country. we're not hearing those kind of complaints right now. we don't have those kind of pictures. we're not out of this yet but it doesn't seem to have been anywhere near this situation that we had in 2009. >> early good news, so much hangs in the balance for afgs and actually for the united states. tell us what difference for the future of that relationship with afghanistan and the united states this election will make? the two front-runners are relatively moderate compared to what we had now with karzai, both support the deal to keep american troops there. tell us what the main difference -- >> reporter: i think the biggest difference is no more karzai. karzai has been the face of international relations coming

out of afghanistan for over a decade. he initially had very good relations with washington. and then those relations became very ak moan yus, karzai is finished as president of this country and two other players are coming in. working closely with the international community, might be a little harder to deal with because of his explosive person knelt. he has a bad temper but someone who is reasonable. he has an economic plan for the country and organized person with a folder for each different crisis this country is facing, that's the way he approaches the world. academic, briefly taught at columbia university. abdullah abdullah wants to have very close relation with the united states, smoother politician, very polished, he's gotten more polished since the last run in 2009, the election he thought was stolen from him by karzai. there's an opportunity for either of these candidates to establish a brand-new

relationship with the united states which over the last several years has been tainted by karzai's personality and his american nalt clashes not just with president obama but many leaders in washington. >> i was in afghanistan in 2009 and remember vividly how many hopes within the obama administration rode on someone other than karzai getting in. richard, thank you for this update and all you've been doing to keep us briefed up to this election. it's been an interesting take from the ground from you. all right, now, we move to another country in crisis, ukraine. pro-russian demonstrators seized government buildings in three cities over the weekend in the country's more ethnically russian eastern region. protesters are clashing with police in riot gear and eventually overtook buildings and hoisted the russian flag in the stiz. they have accused vladimir putin of stoking unrust and yat sen

yuk said they are part of a plan to destabilize the country and bring in nor russian troops. will the protests tear ukraine apart. it is the singer and former parliamentarian, thank you so much for being here. >> i'm so happy -- >> it's a pleasure. >> really important moment to inform you with hot news from these region because i call to my friend and really ask people over the world, pay attention for this information. >> let's talk about the latest beat in the story. violence and people claiming they are pro-russian demonstrators. what do you think of that claim? >> believe me, when i call to my friend who is ukrainian citizen of my country, i'm ukrainian. and these guys, my friend

ukrainian. we ask these guys, you watch right now on the future, these guys not ukrainian citizen. >> you think these are plants? >> absolutely. >> from vladimir putin? >> i can use a picture from my music video that is why i understand putin because he organized that picture to inform everybody that it's true but putin lies every day. you have to understand it. these guys is russia radicals who come to ukraine, organize this really bad things and nobody can stop these guys because these guys have weapons and so aggressive. and i talked to -- sometimes they don't know exactly what building is for government. >> because they are not from there, out of towners.

>> yes, these guys tried -- and everybody knows that you have to understand it's second aggressive plan step of putin. don't sleep, don't wait, act. when i met with michelle obama and met with mr. biden, mccain, senator murphy, i informed these people you are really strong politicians, you are really strong people of the world. please, if you see that it's not enough to just promise sanction, you have to -- you have to be stronger and more concretely act, please act, economic sanction, more deeper, longer. with military mission, we need it. we don't have power. we can't -- it's about our

budapest agreement. >> you want action from the world and want them to honor their commitment to protect ukraine. i heard you sing the ukrainian national anthem incredibly beautifully at tina brown's women in the world conference the other night. everyone in that audience stood up and flashed lights as they did in independence square, i think you brought one now because they were gripped by that spirit of revolution you brought to the table and we have them here. i will treasure mine. >> it means if you switch with me this light, it means we are really speak about truth. we have a lot of propaganda, it's bad weapon of putin. we switch on these lights to show truth, truth about ukraine, about -- >> you were something of a beacon of truth during the initial rounds of revolution, you told a story on that stage of standing in the line of snipers, singing to mobilize the crowds. what would you say to the crowds that are in ukraine right now?

>> in ukraine right now, we have to mobilize. we have to understand that we don't have enough power -- i mean, with new government. you know, it's young team. we don't have any possibility to organize everything right for this region, which have a lot of problem right now with russia radicals but we have power. we have people power. we have people movement, against putin, unite, united for ukraine, unite for to -- to give politicians, you know, to do everything but not sleep, not do nothing. please, it's really, really bad moment. it's not about ukraine, which have really -- you know, putin

destroyed my country. putin kill my country. please, don't like watch the news and do nothing. it's very, very bad situation. >> it's an important message for the world. thank you so much for everything you bring to the table emotionally, i really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> up next on "rfd" we're going to ask for your votes on the week's most underreported story. stay with us for that. when folks in the lower 48 think about what they get from alaska,

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welcome back, now it is your chance to tell us which underreported story you want us to cover next. you can send your nominations on twitter and facebook using the hash tag rfd under and i'm hearing from the control room we have chatter about the polio like virus spreading in california and interesting congressional hearings on

sunscreen. all right. because curt did not say, always wear sunscreen. we'll be right back with a special guest to look at the infamous mass murder of almost a million people and whether it is happening again. ♪ i know a thing about an ira ♪ and i got the tools ♪ to do it my way ♪ i got a lock on equities ♪ that's why i'm type e ♪ ♪ that's why i'm tyyyyype eeeee, ♪ ♪ i can do it all from my mobile phone ♪ ♪ that's why i'm tyyyyype eeeee, ♪ ♪ if i need some help i'm not alone ♪ ♪ we're all tyyyyype eeeee, ♪ ♪ we've got a place that we call home ♪ ♪ we're all type e ♪

welcome back, we are monitoring developing news unfolding in mississippi. these are aerial pictures just coming in of damage caused by an early morning tornado. this video is from covington county, mississippi, minor injuries have been reported there. we'll keep you updated as that story unfolds. welcome back, everybody. on a different note, i want to turn to something very disturbing in the history of america's relationship with the world and we're going to talk to an insider who was there at the time and has a call of the heart on how to prevent it from happening again. can you imagine for a moment out

of a population of only about as large as new york, 8 million people, seeing almost 1 million, probably everyone you know and love, hacked limb from limb? can you imagine what the world would do? that is exactly what happened in rwanda 20 years ago when the death of that country's president was used to incite genocidal blood shed. the world did nothing. right now world leaders including u.n. ambassador samantha power are gathering in rwanda to mark the anniversary to express shame and to say as they did in 1994, never again. but has never again really come to pass? look at that very question is john prender gast, in the years immediately following the genocide and john, thank you so

much for being here, my friend. >> thank you, ronan. >> what do you think the world can learn from rwanda's legacy? >> in 1994, as you said, the world wasn't prepared to respond to something of this enormous magnitude of human suffering and it turned away. i think the shame of it and i like you used that word, the shame of it which was felt by world leaders all over the world starting with president bill clinton, in the aftermath of that genocide led to all kinds ever rethinking of what to do about responding to something as it happens or preventing it from happening if we start to see the warning signs. i think it sparked a slow steady reexamination internationally of what we can do to respond to these kinds of enormous human rights crimes. >> john, you mentioned the clinton administration. do you think bill clinton bears culpability for this? >> i think he bears culpability as do so many world leaders at the time for not responding.

and for turning away. i think that you remember the moment, it was six months after remember blackhawk dawn, our soldiers, u.s. soldiers have been shot out of the sky in somalia and there was this six months later this feeling, what are we doing in these places all over africa and around the world? why are we in these locations putting americans at risk? when the genocide erupted in 1994, the instinctive reaction from congress and clinton administration at the time was to pull back, not to jump in. and that's what happened. they even -- not only did they not respond to the genocide during the 100 days in which it took place, but they actually blocked other countries from pushing particular initiatives to respond to the emerging genocide. >> you mentioned how much blame there is to go around, not just u.s. leaders but international

leaders, nixing french participation of any kind in this event, given that they in his view were culpable for this, he claims they trained some of those extremist killers. do you think there's any merit to that specific claim? >> sure, i mean at the time the french government was a major donor and supporter of the regime that eventually perpetrated the genocide. they helped organize and what they thought they were doing professionalizing this army, what they were helping actually to do was organizing it better to carry out the mass slaughter, to not have seen that coming, to not have instituted some kind of panic button and saying stop the assistance, call out what is happening at the moment, they didn't do it. so i think there is some culpability there that needs to be addressed. do they still have to drag it out 20 years later? i think that's where the french had a very strong negative

reaction to how the president unfurled that particular charge. but certainly the legacy continues for those that survived the genocide in rwanda as if it was yesterday. >> maybe more a case of not doing enough than being as actively involved. so many people are looking at syria right now obviously. as we part ways here, what's your message to people across america that want to do something about future mass atrocities? >> there are things that can be done right away that don't require sending u.s. troops, the 82nd airborne straightaway into harm's way. i think that we've learned a lot in the last couple of decades, particularly since 9/11 about how to counter terrorism and the movement of funds and create accountability for people committing terrorist attacks. so similarly, we need to apply some of those tools to use them for those that would commit

genocide and terrible atrocities. we have the knowledge how to isolate these orchestrators of human rights crimes and need to apply them more quickly once we recognize a terrible atrocity is under way or about to be perpetrated. >> thank you so much, john, with that knowledge i think comes responsible for all of us. appreciate your joining us. we are launching another piece of knowledge that bears with it responsibility, our call to action marking the anniversary of the civil rights movement. it's coming up next. the passat tdi clean diesel gets up to 795 highway miles per tank. salesperson #2: actually, we're throwing in a $1,000 fuel reward card. we've never done that. that's why there's never been a better time to buy a passat tdi clean diesel. husband: so it's like two deals in one? salesperson #2: exactly. avo: during the first ever volkswagen tdi clean diesel event, get a great deal on a passat tdi, that gets up to 795 highway miles per tank. and get a $1,000 fuel reward card. it's like two deals in one. hurry in and get a $1,000 fuel reward card and 0.9% apr for 60 months

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fight back. >> that was vice president biden today highlighting a truly disturbing truth. 50 years after the civil rights act, civil rights in this country are far from secure. that is especially true for black americans who fought so hard for their civil rights those decades ago. it is especially true for the right to vote. that's why this week four u.s. presidents are traveling to texas for a civil rights summit and it's why for our call to action this week we're looking at the current state of civil rights in this country. we're asking you to contact your secretary of state or lieutenant governor to demand more hours for early voting, including on weekends, disappearance of which in many states is disproportionately keeping black americans from the polls. let us know what your state official says on twitter at ronan daily and facebook or e-mail us at ronanfarrowdai

ronanfarrowdaily.msnbc.com. we'll have the contact information for your secretary of state along with a suggested set of points to e-mail them. of course, we'll be looking at different angles on there struggle throughout the week starting with that particular issue of early voting. i look at that with two people in the trenches protecting that, danita judge from the advancement project and former u.s. assistant elections chair and former secretary of state in new jersey, dealt with this hands on, i'll start with you and thank you both of you for joining me. you're very much in the fight on this so you'll have a hands on take. tell me about your departing from the oversight role. you expressed a lot of frustration about the access to the vote at that point. do you think it's gotten better or has it gotten worse? >> i think we've gone backwards not since 2005 but the year 2000, the commission that i

chaired was formed as a consequence of the 2000 debacle with the hanging chads and help america vote act was passed to not only fund the purchase of new voting machines but to create federal standards for voting. that's the key, when we talk about voting rights. voting rights function within the context of election administration, early voted started back in those days. what happens is the convergence of partisan bickering and underfunding, lack of training and no standards at all and so we can go literally county by county, state by state and find different levels of administration, different standards for voting. in fact voting in india is more uniform than voting is in america. >> that disparate quality around america is in your opinion making things slide back. >> it's certainly a major factor. there are other factors that

danita works on every day. what i'm concerned about what exists due to lack of standards and lack of consistency and lack of modern perspective on voting. we are co-hering today with standards that were established in the 18th century. everything in the world changed. >> real human cost because we're seeing stories around the country as you do in your work, with people not getting to the polls enough. let's talk about early voting and removal of early voting hours in particular. how big an obstacle is that? >> it's become a huge obstacle and states like ohio and north carolina, where the reason they have early voting is because of the problems with guaranteeing the right to vote, what we're seeing now is that these states have decided to now roll back the tide. and to reduce the number of early voting hours and early voting days. and in many instances they have taken away the sunday, the last sunday, which was a crucial

voting day for the african-american community. many churches organize what we call soles to the polls, it has become a family day, for children to watch parents engage in the voting process to see how important it is. these states have now taken away that last sunday, which is extremely crucial. we're really concerned if we don't stop the pattern, that we will start to see more of our opportunities to vote taken away. >> i do want to push back slightly because we did see in 2012, a record high turnout from african-american voters, they actually surpassed whites in terms of voting rate for first time in 2012. what do you attribute that to if we're back sliding as you have indicated? >> in 2012 we had early voting. we had same day registration. we had all of the laws that they are now overturning. and i think if you look at the laws and statistics, you will see that the numbers of

african-americans increased xpoen ent shally as a result of early voting. to take those away when in fact the members of the state legislators who are overturning these laws were actually elected as a result of some of these laws, to see them turn back the hands of time, i think we need to be concerned as we move forward and certainly into the election, people of color, particularly african-americans in the south and latinos throughout the states and country. >> this is something that worked in your opinion and now they are rolling back these rights. given your experience overseeing some elections in a government capacity, what would you say to current elections commission officials? >> well, on a federal level there are none. >> that's the problem in your opinion. >> there are no election officials on a forecast level. we were the first commission to oversee a federal election. the average american on election

day does not know where to vote. two, we still don't know how many people vote in a presidential election. we know how many votes are cast for particular candidate, but there's no federal mandate that states report to the federal government the number of voters. that's important because we therefore don't know the undercount or overcount. we don't know how much people went to the polls to vote and their votes never counted. there's no federal requirement. and so fill slos fill sofically state right? >> we'll get more of your take on it and our guests are going to stick around for our heroes and zeros of the day. you won't want to miss it. there's an unexpected appearance from a bush. we'll be right back. . time to take care of business with century link's global broadband network and cloud infrastructure. we constantly evolve to meet your needs

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welcome back. i am here again with danita judge and deforest. i'm getting their take on today's heroes and zeros. first up, a new report from north carolina and the state board of elections officials there chronicled, machining other voting anomalies, suspected cases of dead people going to the polls. this is something that has happened in fringe cases around the country. it may be happening there. the board cautioned, though, that the findings are still under investigation and may well be the result of poll worker mistakes. that didn't stop north carolina senate president phil burger and house speaker tom tillis from saying that the report would "put to rest ill-informed claims that problems don't exist and help restore the integrity of our elections process." look, this report may or may not be true, as i mentioned, and it's fine to point out these problems, but leaping to use that as a rationale for cracking down on the vote more, which that statement is very clearly code for, we're going to get

danita and deforest's take in a moment. i'm going to give him a zero for that comment. now we turn to a hero with the last name that anyone who has seen that boufl impressionistic putin portrait knows is heroic. bush, but we're not actually talking about w. this time. yesterday jeb bush made a refreshingly nuanced statement on immigration. >> the way i look at this is someone who comes to our country because they couldn't come legally, they come to our country because their families, you know, dad who loved their children was worried that their children didn't have food on their table and they, you know, wanted to make sure their family was intact, and they crossed the border because they had no other means to work, to be able to provide for their family. yes, they broke the law.

it's not a felony. it's an act of love. >> not a felony. an act of love. immigration, like so many issues, is a human struggle with a lot of complexities. jeb bush's humane shades of gray commentary could cost him politically, as he alluded up top there, especially with hardliners, but it is exactly the kind of nonsoundbyty comments that we all need in this country. i'm going to give him the big old hero for it. so, guys, what do you think? first up, jeb bush, valid choice for hero? >> absolutely. thumbs up for jeb bush. i mean, we participated last week in a 24-hour fast for families for immigration reform. none of us want to be in the business of tearing apart families. i think so for him to come out and to make that statement, let's give him a hero thumbs up. >> all right. what do you think, pastor? >> we have to be politically agnostic on issues that go to fairness and justice. unfortunately, we often put justice and fairness to the back

burner and focus on what is expeditious for political party. he rises above that. >> ain't that the truth. all right. thank you both of you. always a pleasure to have you here. hope you'll come back. >> thank you. >> we will stay with this issue throughout the week, so don't go away. more of our call of action to come. all right. well, up for today that wraps things up for my job. thank you for joining. catch my show week days at 1:00 p.m. eastern time right here on msnbc. now it is time for the reid report with my colleague joy reid. joy, you're back. where have you been all my life? >> happy monday. well, i've been right here. interesting choice for hero on jeb bush. we're going to be talking about jeb a little bit on the show today too, so interesting choice. all right, man. next, coming up on "the reid report, democrats are getting aggressive in slamming the pope brothers and their big money donations. how the race for the cash is changing the race on both sides of the fence. then a big clash in the classroom. how something called common core

is making parents angry to the core. and how jeb bush is weighing in on all of that, on immigration, and why that's also causing controversy. the reid report starts just minutes from now. ♪ [ male announcer ] you're watching one of the biggest financial services companies in the country at work. hey. thanks for coming over. hey. [ male announcer ] how did it come to be? yours? ah. not anymore. it's a very short story. come on in. [ male announcer ] by meeting you more than halfway. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing.

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those three important reasons are why i'm shooting for something better. eliquis. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor today if eliquis is right for you. good afternoon. i'm joy reid. republicans have new marching orders. defend the mega donor coke brothers at all cost. they're on defense because democrats have decided to name names in the war against unlimited campaign spending. it's a strategy republicans fear could pay off. why? because it's worked before. whether john kerry ran for president in 2004 republicans repeatedly maim checked george soros. the billionaire behind america coming together and their $200 million effort to defeat george w. bush. now, full disclosure. i worked for act at the time,

and they couldn't coordinate with the kerry campaign, but what soros made very clear was why he was spending his millions. now, republicans thought it's no problem saying his money came from drugs, calling him a nazi or just plain dangerous. so personalizing politics is nothing new, but for democrats the stakes are even higher. flat to soros who sank $25 million of his own money into the pro-kerry effort, this year democrats also have california billionaire tom stier trying to fight climate change deniers. democrats are routinely outspent by the mega bucks of the koch brothers and sheldon adelson. democrats are striking back. as the "new york times" points out, they're using the same tact they did against mitt romney in 2012 by paint aing dark picture of bain capital. they are taking aim at the koch brothers seeking to make