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 villainses of the reclusive

billionaires in a new round of campaign ads. now ads attacking on a carbon tax have been called false and not true. who is behind the attacks? >> the koch brothers. >> the billionaire koh brothers. >> they buy our refinery. >> just running it into the ground. >> what's different this time around is the political climate. we're coming off a week when the supreme court knocked down individual campaign spending limits and paul ryan released a budget slashing aid for the poor. the daily beast sums up the gop agenda this way. protecting the well off from redistribution of their wealth to those who don't deserve it. david linker takes it a step further saying the gop course is essentially a reverse course of the gop process which once belonged to only white mail property owners.

births the lack of deaf rensz shown to the research. the immrekz being that those at the top of the economic pyramid sdefsh greater public honors and power than they currently enjoy. the washington post jonathan kapart calls the strategy genius. why? thanks to harry reid's obsession, folks have faces to put on the problems. that's important to democrats because up until now as this recent george washington university poll shows, 52% of registered likely voters have never heard of the koch brothers. democrats are going to make sure that changes, and new york democratic senator charles schumer said on "morning joe" -- >> they're the ones running these ads almost single-handedly. they've done i lot of batted things in the state. if it's our only strategy, we'll lose. we must have a positive agenda. that's what our fair shot agenda is, but we also have to have a shield that protects us from these ads, and i think the koch brother thing will work.

>> here we every with me now to discuss this is eric bowler, and msnbc contributor and washington post opinion writer jonathan kapart. i want to start with you, jonathan, because you did write the piece in the washington post that essentially this is a smart strategy for democrats. flesh that out for us. >> you talked a little bit about it in your setup in talking about how when mitt romney was running for president all the attacks on bain capital and showing how sort of dark ask sinister bain capital was worked in nicking at some of the support that mitt romney could get. when i saw finally realized what harry reid was doing, thanks to michael tamaski's great piece, it reminded me of what happened when the 47% video came out, and i think the reason why the 47% video of mitt romney disparaging the 47% of folks he knew weren't going to vote for him is that by the time the video came out, all

of the attacks on bain, on mitt romney not releasing his tax returns, on all of the criticisms about mitt romney and his wealth and him being out of touch, being seemingly on safari in his own country, that it made sen that he would say something like this. so by laying the ground work, harry reid, by obsessively hammering away when no one at the time was paying attention, when no one really knew who the koch brothers were, now with the three things that happened last week, the ryan budget, the 7.1 million people signing up for the affordable care act, as michael tamaski pointed out those three things crystallized for the american people what really is at stake here and who is involved in it. >> yeah. eric, the point being that you put up a face to the idea of this sort of olagarchy creeping in. when you put a face on it, it's

interesting that republicans use the exact same strategy with soros. >> he was the real boogieman in 2004. if you look at the scale and the secrecy, there's no comparison what's going here. i mean, george soros made headlines in 2004 committing something like $25 million. as you just pointed out, you know, the koch brothers backed groups in 2000 into the last election, $400 million. who doesn't think they're not going to spend a couple hundred million in the midterms? by 2016 it's going to be -- they're going to spend $1 billion and george soros, supposedly the puppet master of spending a couple $10 million, $20 million. also the skres where i. there's an elaborate network. you need a tax attorney to figure out where this money was going. when george soros gave $1 million, he put out a press release. we weren't trying to hide anything. >> then i think there's also the small point that the koch brothers have industry on the tapes that want deregulation and want tax breaks. i want to read sgu that was written by one of your colleagues at the washington

post, cathleen parker. no far righty, but this is what she wrote about the strategy. he says harry reid's mccarthy-esque namecalling took hell to the devil. it was not only cringe-inducing and profoundly sad. one would hope the leader of the senate democrats might have better rett cal devices at his intellectual disposal. reid owes the kochs and the american people an apology." this sort of gathering around them to protect them, what is that about? the kochs have a lot of money. they can protect themselves, right? >> well, right. i don't know exactly what that is about. maybe it's part of the koch machine pushing people out there who are maybe sympathetic to their cause and to the pain that they're suffering to get out there and defend them, but when i read cathleen parker's piece, i thought of george soros. he was called a communist when

he was giving his own money at the time, and i don't remember anyone saying that he was owed an apology. i think, you know, this is politics. politics is a rough business. when you are a multibillionaire doing the things that you are doing, you are going to have to expect that people are going to come for you, and the other thing is, joy, i think you're absolutely right. these attacks are working because charles koch wrote a bees for the "wall street journal" defending himself. that to me was a clear signal yet that the attacks from harry reid and the coming attacks from other democrats are working. >> and there is coordination as well because not long after that piece came out by charles koch, you saw the sort of army of conservatives who probably themselves don't know who he is themselves going after anyone on social media defending the great patriotic koch brothers. i want to read you something that chris eliza wrote about this. he is saying that reid's focus is not about making the koch brothers a household name for the ordinary voter. "they want to make sure the democratic activist base and the

party's major donors know the kochs and what they believe, how much they're spending on the election. if the kochs make the base angry and passionate and open up the check books of democratic voters." isn't this what we're seeing here on the part of harry reid? >> i think he wants to put a face to it, and, again, you know, they try to do that with soros. i don't think they were that successful, but they're going to try to do it again. again, you know, the thing with the koch brothers have you to keep in mind is this is all sort of designed to shield their companies from regulation and oversight and things like that. this is not some sort of heart felt political movement, i don't think. this is about profits for them, which makes it even more troubling. >> and it's amazing the passion that they have induced among ordinary people with no money, but who are now out there as sort of the futile knights of the kochs. >> just a quick point about poor george soros. glenn beck that was his programming content. you know, in nazi sympathizer communist, things like that. that was the anchor of his smear

campaign, and it was mentioned, i didn't hear any calls for apologies back then. >> jonathan, do you expect the democrats to keep this up? >> oh, absolutely, because it's not just about shaking the checkbooks of democratic party donors. it's about shaking the democratic party base to get them excited to go to the polls, not to just fight this faceless, nameless influence on the political system, but to specifically stop the koch brothers. if you have someone you can envision who is stopping you and stopping your president if you are thinking that way from getting things done, then that's a much more motivating factor than fighting the faceless others. >> it's called politics. i have great respect for cathleen parker, but come on. it's politics. thanks so much eric and jonathan. >> thanks, joye. coming up, yet another promising lead in the search for esmissing malaysian plane, but is this for real or just another deadend? then immigration is causing more frustration for republicans. why what jeb bush just said is

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the owners of a new mexico photography business have a first amendment right to refuse to shoot a gay couple's commitment ceremony. that means a lower court ruling will stay in place if found that the photographer violated a state anti-discrimination law. meanwhile, each time there's a new lead in the search for missing malaysia flight 370, there's this pattern of hope followed by disappointment. a promising lead develops only to turn out to be less than it seemed. this time according to australian authorities we may finally have a real lead in the biggest aviation mystery in a

generation. >> what happened to the missing boeing 777 and the passengers and crew? last night australian authorities reported that a ship scouring the southern indian ocean detected pings consistent with airline black boxes. the australian navy ship ocean shield has been scanning the new search zone of 123,000 square miles of ocean and over 1 1240us miles off australia for the better part of a week. it has now found what's being called the most encouraging news yet by the head of the agency conducting the search. the ship picked up the signal twice, including once for a full two hours and 20 minutes before the ship's detect ors lost the signal. the ocean shield then turned around and picked up a signal again. this time for 13 minutes. two des ikt pinger returns are consistent with the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, but are the pings from the black boxes on mh 370?

that could take days to discover and houston urged restraint. >> he would ask all of you to treat this information cautiously and responsibly until such time as we can provide an unekwifl cal determination. we haven't found the aircraft yet. we need further confirmation. >> time is of the essence. after a month of searching, the black boxes could lose their battery life in a matter of days. it's already been 31 days since flight mh 370 went missing after taking off from kuala lumpur on its way to beijing. meanwhile, malaysia's acting transportation minister says malaysian authorities are trying to stay optimistic. >> despite all this, we are cautiously hopeful that there will be a positive development in the next few days if not

hours. >> tom, what happens next? >> it's to triaction newsing late the pings. this is the area they're working in, and to give you some sense, you may recall that the chinese thought that they heard pings as well over the weekend. this now seems much more credible, the area the australians are looking in, but the problem is that area is two to three miles deep. the ocean is very deep there. they're going to once again come in and search in area yet again, and they're going to try to get another reading on the ping. they would like to have three directional ping locations here so that they can triaction newsing late the exact location of the ping hopefully, and then if they're able to do that, they will drop what's called the blue fin. the blue fin 21 looks like a torpedo. it's an unmanned submarine kind of a device. it would be lowered down from the australian naval ship ocean

shield to a depth of about 14,800 feet, which we should tell you is the maximum that it can operate anyway, and that's as deep as it goes there. it would then traverse the bottom of the ocean and using sonar to map it all out, and if there's any anomalies that it identifies, then it would try to map those anomalies out. it might even take photographs of what the anomalies are. if that is wreckage, then the next step will be, of course, to see if it can identify and find the black boxes, which, of course, as weave said many times, they're not black. they're actually orange. the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. on the second go around they heard the pinging twice. in other words, two different devices pinging at the same time. that could be the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, two different devices pinging in this general area. so they would then go, try to photograph the wreckage. they may get very lucky and find the black boxes right there on

the ocean floor. that seemdz unlikely. if it's still existing in the tail of the aircraft, for example, let me show you where the black boxes are located. they are located -- they are located in the tail of the plane. if we are going to take the plane like that, the black boxes are located in this general area right here, and that's near the gally, above the gally, actually. if they survived a wreck, if they survived a crash, right there, then they would either still be in the tail or they might have fallen out and be in the -- be sitting right now on the bottom of the ocean. figuring out exactly what the conditions are there, what the terrain is like, that's going to be a big challenge as well. >> tom, just to -- i guess the obvious question would be, is there anything else that could give off the kind of a signal that you are talking about, those double pings? is there a benign potential source for that pinging that's not the black boxes? >> well, the experts tell me that that is always possible, but unlikely given this location because it is in such a very

remote area of the indian ocean. as you mentioned, we're talking about 3,000 miles or so. i'm sorry. 1,000 miles or so off of the coast of australia into this area right here, and it is -- there just really isn't anything out in this area beyond that. that's unlikely. the other interesting point here is that these black boxes transmit on 37 kilahertz. that's the dedicated frequency. they heard this at 33 kilohertz. why would there be a difference? when the batteries start to die on the black boxes, sometimes that signal can waiver a bit and bend and distort, and it may not be on an accurate reading. they say this is still a very, very good lead if it's at 33 or so kilahertz and it's transmitting a regular pulsing signal. >> all right. nbc's tom costello. excellent explanation. thank you very much, sir. now to the big story out of south africa. for the first time today oscar pistorius testified in his murder trial.

the olympian is charged with killing his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. he was emotional and tearful on the stand today and began his testimony with an apology. pistorius chose want to be on camera for his testimony, so only the audio is being broadcast. >> i'd like to apologize there hasn't been a moment since this tragedy happened that i haven't thought about your family. i wake up every morning, and you are the first people i think of, the first people i pray for." >> the trial was later adjourned after pistorius's lawyers say he was exhausted by lack of sleep. the first day of testimony, pistorius will be back on the witness stand tomorrow. [thinking] i'm still working. he's retired. i hope he's saving. i hope he saved enough.

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tweeple. president obama and first lady michelle obama are both buzzing big-time on twitter today on a snashgy note. there's this week's new yorker cover. it shows republicans taking their medicine from president obama. a bitter pill for the gop after millions signed up last week for his health care plan. cover artist berry blitz said this of his drawing. "i enjoy drawing ted cruz and michelle bachman at pet lant children." meanwhile, some students around the country are not enjoying what they're being fed at lurchl time, and they're blaming first lady michelle obama. they've taken their complaints to twitter complaining about their healthier school lunches as mandated on to the healthy hunger free kids act promode by the white house's east wing. here's an example of one unwanted healthy plate, and here's another. the unhappy kids are also tweeting messages like this one, "all we get for lunch today." thank you, michelle obama. now, it should be noted that the healthy hunger free kids act doesn't determine your school's menu. that just that it be made with

healthier ingredients. take it up with the lunch lady, kitties. good thing that vice president joe biden is back on twitter. get your finger guns ready. his@joe biden account came back to life today with this personal tweet from the veep. dusting off the twitter handle for a big midterm election year. let's get to it, folks. the most important question is will biden tweet selfies? now, biden would likely selfie with anyone, but the white house might need an official selfie minder after this pi kre landed boston red sox star david ortiz in hot water. samsung used that big poppy twit pic in a viral campaign, so the white house announced that obama selfies might be a thing of the past. let's hope not. something else is going viral on your social media accounts. it's this brawl between members of the nypd and new york fire department. check out this shocking footage. new york's brave sxes new york's finest went head-to-head, literally, at their 41st annual

charity hockey game yesterday afternoon. both departments have so far declined to comment on the melee, but you have piped up on facebook, and you are not amused. "i hope these agents of law and safety have ae good alibi." we'll see. just join the conversation on this and more with fellow readers on twitter, facebook, and msnbc.com. he is back. it looks like yet another bush is eyeing the white house. a pesky thing called immigration can make it really tough for jeb to get through the primaries. it says here that a woman's sex drive

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you're looking at live pictures of senate floor just back in session for about 30 minutes now. senators are expected to vote later today and pass a bill that would extend for five months unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless. more than two million of those folks got cut off when their benefits expired in december. if and when the senate passes, it heads to the house next week -- next where its future is a far less certain.

meanwhile, who would have imaged five years after the presidency that brought us the iraq war, the botched hurricane katrina response, and the worst financial collapse since the great depression that someone named bush would be mentioned as a serious contender for the white house. it's happening. john ellis bush is thinking about it. more than that, he is taking the kinds of steps you would expect a would-be presidential candidate to take. take immigration. this weekend jeb broke with party doctrine drawing a line between those who cross the border illegally, those who overstay visas, and those who are looking for work to provide for their families. >> someone who comes to our country because they couldn't come legally, they come to our country because their families, you know, a dad who loved their children was worried that their children didn't have food on the 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, but it's not a felony. it's kind of the -- it's a -- it's an act of love. >> now, you'll recall that jeb, like his brother, george, has long been a strong proponent of comprehensive immigration reform. it was part of his supposed appeal and the way he could woo the hispanic vote. he publically opposed arizona's papers please laws back in 2010 backed business his protege marco rubio. that was before rubio changed his mind and supported the law. then in 2012 jeb wrote a book studying long-time jeb watchers only to try and where iingle out of that position including our morning joe last year. >> there is a difference if you can craft that in law where you can have a path to citizenship where there is an incentive for people to become illegally.

i'm for it. i don't have a problem with that. i don't see how you do it, but i'm not smart enough to figure out every aspect of a really complex law. >> well, now the old pro-immigration jeb is back warning against harsh political red rick on the issue. let's not forget his trip to las vegas to receive two tap on the shoulder from the sector of gop wannabe king maker sheldon adelson last week. is jeb in, and more importantly, is he viable? for more on that let's go to democratic strategist kevin tate and washington political post reporter nia malika henderson. i have to start with my florida homey. jeb bush, is he the honey badger? is he just believing that despite the last nature or the flip-flops on immigration, he is running? >> he sounds like a raging liberal to me, but here in florida we call that position on immigration practical. it's something that jeb won by 13 noints his last gubernatorial

election coming right off of the 2000 presidential electric. that took a lot of independents and democrats as well. he has some practical positions, and that's one of them, and that makes him look like a rhino, if you want to call it, or someone for voters in iowa and perhaps other primary states, but also probably gives his commence give some cover to marco rubio and his presidential aspirations too because he said similar things as just pointed out by alex leer where i at the tampa bay times in his memoir similar to what jeb bush said about immigration being an act of love, whether it's legal or illegal. >> i find it so hard to believe that he would try to give cover to marco rubio rather than compete with him. i take your point. the other word for rhino is somebody the establishment might want to invest in, right? somebody that may be able to get across in a general election more so than a primary. walk us through the case for how jeb bush could actually do it? yes, he could be very viable in

terms of winning florida but is this someone they see as viable in south carolina and new hampshire? >> new hampshire, though. south carolina, probably not. i think it depends on the field, right? you know, chris christie and jeb bush are occupying the same place. they're making the same argument. chris christie, if he runs, he would have to talk about assigning a dream act in new jersey. rand paul looks like somebody that's against immigration reform. he certainly voted against that senate bill, but he is also softening his rhetoric there. maybe he ends up doing well in south carolina. george bush did do well in south carolina. i think florida would be a big state that he could obviously win and then you have a couple of states after that likely out west all of those states that rick santorum was able to win, but i think if you look more broadly, you look at a state like michigan, you look at a state like iowa, all of those big states he could certainly

play in because he could have the money. is chris christie tying up a lot of the oxygen, or is it all jeb? >> i think a lot of people think the bushes, all of them, are from kennebunkport maine. i want to go back to something you say about the is that the the thinking inside florida in terms of political strategist that is given the two of their both of them had positions all over the place, but jeb overall is a stronger potential candidate?

>> i think what they're telling me is that it's not so much about, you know, what kind of crazy primary candidate the republicans might produce out of iowa. it's more about what is going on with his own family and his wife being a huge factor in that, and also, george p. who is on the cusp of winning a state-wide election in texas. what does this do to his potential national electoral progress? so i think what you are seeing here is jeb having a public conversation, but a lot of private conversations going on in his family and those closest to him. >> i think one of the things that's probably oversold of jeb bush potentially to do well with hispanics. i've seen polling that shows he doesn't do better than any republican candidates among hispanics right now. in terms of when they look at this potential field, how do you -- do they see that as such a liability that he would be somebody they love to see get

that nomination, or are democrats a little worried about a bush on the ticket? >> you know, i think democrats would be worried, are worried about any candidate who they feel like has some sort of cross. chris yooisie being that person. he has had a lot of troubles lately, and bush seeming to be able to argue that he does have that crossover appeal. he did do well among latinos in 2002. he won 08% of the cuban vote. about 60% of the non-cuban vote. florida is increasingly non-cuban in terms of the latino voters down there. i think just his resume does cause democrats to sort of say this would be someone who republicans can present as a mainstream candidate in the way that a lot of the other candidates like rand paul or ted cruise rsh those are the dream candidates, at least as far as democrats are looking at in 2016. >> all right. republican primary politics remains absolutely fascinating. kevin kate and nia malika

henderson. great duo. jeb bush is also taking sides in the battle over what your kids are learning in school. believe it or not, it's the story that's got tea partiers, black nationalists and white suburban moms all agreeing. we'll explain. >> it's time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. ellie and mike were designers who started makerhaus in seattle. it allows aunt prebures steeped in the new maker economy to have access to sophisticated prototyping equipment, from woodworking and metal shop tools to 3-d printers. for more watch your business sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone.

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who gave him a fresh perspective on his portfolio. and with some planning and effort, hopefully bob can retire at a more appropriate age. it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. president boem obama was in maryland this morning to announce the winners of the youth career connect competition. it was created by executive action, and it provides more than $100 million in grants for education opportunities, job training, and academic counseling. it's all part of the president's plan to get high school graduates ready to compete in a high-tech economy. >> we don't do it by just resting on what we've done before. we got to outwork and out ino vat and out hustle everybody else. >> it's another classroom curriculum that's drawing backlash across the country. it's bringing together an unlikely coalition of conservatives, parents, unions, and teachers in the fight. adopted by the national

government association, common core sets a uniform curriculum for grades k through 12 by creating standards for what kids should know and be able to do at each grade level. since 2010 45 states and the district of columbia have adopted common core, but last month indiana became the first state to repeal the testing standards. oklahoma and more than a dozen other states are considering similar legislation to overhaul or to halt the implementation of the program. the legislative rebukes come as millions of students across the country began taking common core for the first time last week. in new york parents held protests, and at one brooklyn school alone an estimated 80% of the 300 test-age students opted out. opposition to common core has managed right both sides of the political aisle. on the left teachers unions and democratic lawmakers question the cost of implementation on school districts. on the right tea party conservatives argue the

standards exert too much federal influence in the classroom. even as establishment republicans, like former florida governor jeb bush, voiced their support. >> people don't recognize that dumb down standards are going to achieve -- yield the same result that we've had, then we're really missing the chance to move forward as a country, so i'm totally committed to this. rahima ellis is -- and janet duderman is for the allies of public education. she's also the parent of two school-aged children. i want to start with you because this is something i think gets in my own head. can you explain the difference between no child left behind, race to the top, and common core? what is the difference? >> first of all, no child left behind was signed as a legislative act by george bush with strong bipartisan support in 2002. that said essentially what it does say. leave no child behind when you start assessing how a school is

doing in this country because some schools were saying they were doing very great, but they would leave out the numbers of poor minority students and particularly special ed students. nclb said you cannot do that, and it said by 2014 every single student in america must be proficient in reading and math. that's a very tall order to be 100% efficient or you're at risk of being considered a failure and your school could be shut down. many people saw it as now you are saying federal mandate that said it was not fully federally funded. people felt they were pushing, pushing, pushing students, and training them just to prepare them for the test. a lot of opposition to it. one thing many people said they thought was good about it is that it forced all schools to look at all of their students as they evaluate it. well, because there was a lot of op sfwligs to it, some people thought it was even something that pushed people into cheating in order to reach those mandates. along comes race to the top

under president obama. $4.5 billion that was basically a carrot, if you will, encouraging states to up their standards because many people are saying the standards weren't being improved. well, that's race to the top money. race to the top money many people now said was being used to help many states decide to accept common core. common core is a set of standards adopted as you pointed out by 45 states, and why did they do that? because of all of these initiatives. let's share some figures for you. in the latest national assessment of educational progress done by the federal government, in 2012 only 34% of eighth graders in this country were proficient in reading. 35% were proficient in math. only 32% of our students were proficient in science. the governors, the president, legislators looked around and said we cannot compete on a global basis with those kind of numbers, and we have to do something. common core was an attempt to

say we will set a common standard. not a common curriculum, but a common standard of excellence for students all across the country, and that an a in massachusetts will equal an a in kentucky. before common core, it did not mean the same across the country or within states. >> okay. so with all of that now explained, what could be wrong with the idea of making sure that an a is an a is an a across the country? >> because you have different students that perform dirchly. you have a whole -- we're not testing and we're not teaching to the exact same demographic across the entire country. then to teach them the same, to have the exact same standards that they have to meet at the exact same time, it does leave -- it does exactly the opposite of what they were saying. >> do you feel that the goal is worthy? that essentially what they're saying is they want to make sure that across the country you don't have students in oklahoma with one set of skills and students in mississippi with another set of skills and the

two being so disparate. do you agree with the overall idea of doing that? >> yeah. you know, we've always said that in theory common core, you know, it works in theory, but that's the problem. that's all we have is the theory that's working. the actual implementation across the country is not working. the teachers don't like it. the patients don't like it. the students are not succeeding with it. they don't -- when teachers don't feel that this is something that is good for their classrooms, how can it succeed? >> rahema, what i want to ask you is between the three programs, the core does seem to be standardized testing. am i wrong about that? is common core utilizing standardized tests to assess whether an a is an a? >> they will test the students, and one of the things they will do is under common core, unlike the other tests, students will no longer simply be asked to fill in the bubble. is "charlotte's web" is charlotte a spider? students will now be asked to say what kind of spider is charlotte? explain is she a good spider,

and how do you know? refer to something within the story of charlotte's web that tells you that she's a good spider. so, yes, standardized testing is at the core of that, and that is what many people are concerned about. some people also say even though the teachers union, american federation of teachers, even the united federation of teachers here for new york city, which has the largest population of students in the country, a million students, they say they're not against common core, but they think that it is -- it has not been tested. we're rolling out something that we have not had a chance to fully evaluate its effectiveness and it may be happening too fast. they've called for a moratorium of up to three years, i believe. the american federation of teachers says delay the implementation of this for at least two years. again, many of them saying it's a clumsy roll-out of this because even at my son's school, the principal informed us last year he was going to be tested on the common core, and he said let me prepare you. we haven't trained him. he hasn't been taught any of the material in common core, so

guess how the scores turned out. really bad. >> we have to go, but do you look for it to be repealed or just reformed? >> reform. we need everything to be re-evaluated. it's insane to have a set of standards that the teachers aren't allowed re-evaluate and look at. we've never had standards that are just set in stone and that's it. this is the way it is. we need to take a look at it and see what's wrong with it. >> a debate that will surely continue. rahema ellis, thank you so much, nbc news education correspondent. invaluable today, and, of course, janet duderman, mom and activist, politician. thank you for being here. coming up, does this woman look too emotional? the guy who used to run the cia says senator feinstein is too emotional. how that's the new buzz word being used to marginalize women. ...you could be a victim of fraud. most people don't even know it. fraud could mean lower credit scores, higher mortgage rates... ...and not getting the home you really want. it's a problem waiting to happen. check your credit score, check your credit report,

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i really want to do reid between the lines today. just give me a minute. just need to give myself a minute to get myself together. that was me getting all emotional. this is not dianne feinstein

getting emotional. >> if the senate can declassify this report, we will be able to insure that an unamerican, brutal program of detention and interrogation will never again be considered or permitted. >> but don't tell that to former bush era cia director michael hayden. >> i read an article by david ignacious earlier in week. he said that dianne feinstein's report so skwaiting that it would insure a brutal program of interrogation would never again be considered or permitted. now, that sense, that motivation for the report, chris, may show deep emotional feeling on the part of the senator, but i don't think it leads you to an objective report. >> hayden was trying to man-splain senator feinstein's relation to the torture conducted by the cia which may

have been lied about giving themselves undue credit for intelligence, not gleened by torture and destroying evidence in the form of videotapes depicting so-called enhanced interrogation. revelations contained in a 6,300 page report which the white house is considering declassifying. not to mention feinstein's completely predictable reaction to revelations that the cia, which her committee the senate intelligence committee is charged with oversight of, improperly accessed senators' computers to take back a draft of a report the cia inadvertently placed on computers that senate staffers could access. according to hayden, it's all driven by feinstein's girly emotionalism, and why wouldn't he think that? you would have to be a girl to object to what ignacius, in the column he was referring to, rightly calls one of the darkest chapters in modern u.s. history in which the agency harshly interrogated al qaeda suspects to obtain information. the report, according to the column, includes grew soom new

details about interrogation practices in the first year after september 11th, 2001. before the cia's program was formally established with the misplaced approval of president george w. bush's justice department. these details recounting filthy conditions and vicious interrogation techniques will shock the conscience in the same way the abu grab and waterboard egg revelations did. by shock the conscience, i think it's safe to say he also includes eliciting an emotional reaction like disgust. that's emotion, right? feinstein's reaction to these revelations can be called a lot of things -- belated, about damn time, surprising given heifer past support for the cia. emotional? really isn't one of they know them. let's hear harry reid sum it up. >> this woman has been an outstanding leader of that intelligence committee. she has been fearless. she's been thorough and fair. for this man to say that because

she criticizes tactics led by general hayden that was torture, she's being too emotional. >> amen, senator reid. i'm a girl, so maybe i'm just being emotional. that wraps things up for "the reid report." i'll see you back here tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. eastern. be sure to visit us on-line at the reid report.msnbc.com. "the cycle" is up next. ♪ ♪ 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 ♪

we've gone practically mad beginning with the mad search for missing mal'sian flight 370. this weekend brought the most promising developments yet, but we still have not answered the most maddening of all the questions? where is the plane? >> a mad dash in the senate today to bring back benefits for three million unemployed americans. i'm crystal ball. well, that's if you consider a mad dash four months. >> and this is also the week of "mad men" returning for its seventh and final season this sunday night. what's drawn millions of americans to the show?

well, their stylish suits, cool furniture, office day drinking. what's not to love? of course, march madness. uconn ask kentucky face off tonight for all the marbles. >> they're giving them marbles? >> okay. i'm abby huntsman. did you know a national champion has already been crowned? >> we are hopeful that there would be a positive development in the next few days, if not hours. >> clearly this is the most promising lead, and probably in the search so far it's probably the best information that we have had. >> that is the most hopeful we've heard the malaysian or aussie government sound since the flight vanished off radar screens a month ago. the optimistic change is all thanks to the.s