thoughtful combinations, artfully prepared. fancy feast elegant medleys. inspired dishes like primavera, florentine and tuscany. fancy feast. a medley of love, served daily. alarming new report about climate change out today. but there is a silver lining. it may all hinge on how countries around the world respond to it. details in minutes. a cattle battle out west comes to an end. why did the government back down and how did it get to this point at all. a live report ahead. keeping the runners safe. officials map out new plans to protect the boston marathon as one report comes out with new information on last year's bombing and how it might have been stopped. and there's your tax freedom day, when does it come for most americans. we'll have that today on today's number ones.

hello, everyone. high noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. we have new word from outgoing health and human services secretary cakathleen sebelius. she spoke with andrea mitchell just one day after announcing her resignation. she discussed in candid detail the challenges she faced overseeing the obamacare rollout and the reason she decided to step down now. >> at the end of open enrollment was a logical time to leave. there is never a good time. there's going to be another open enrollment. there are changes down the road. but the president and i began to talk, you know, after the first of the year, and i went back to him in early march and said, you know, i'm really optimistic we're going to meet the targets, the enrollment is going well. the site is working well. i think once we finish this first chapter, you really should begin to look for the next

secretary. >> but there's more to the story. kristen welker is at the white house with more for us. how does secretary sebelius explain the major problems with the obamacare rollout? >> reporter: i think the one big headline to your question secretary sebelius told andrea if she could go back in time, she would have asked some different questions, in the run-up to rolling out that website. andrea asked her if she could have brought in another team, and secretary sebelius said they chose the best team possible given the competitive bidding that is required by the mandate of the federal government. she tried to set up the marketplaces in conjunction with setting up the website and rolling out the website was an incredibly complex and complicated task. and she acknowledged that those eight weeks that the website wasn't working were just dismal. here's a little bit more from secretary sebelius.

>> clearly the estimate that it was ready to go at first was just -- there were problems down the line. and that was very alarming, because that took some real diagnostics in terms of what all the problems were. and then an analysis about whether or not it could be fixed, and what kind of timetable it would take. oh, it was awful. it was awful. but all you could do is say, all right, we're going to fix it, hold me accountable. >> and andrea asked her if she was pushed out. secretary sebelius said it didn't happen that way. she decided to leave at this point in time because it is the end of the first open enrollment. underscored the good news for the white house, which is, they did reach 7.5 million enrollees which was, of course, their stated goal at this point. now the attention moves to

burrwell, president obama's pick to replace cebull use. she heads into a confirmation process. it's anticipated the hearings will be contentious, that the republicans will use them to attack obamacare, especially since we're in the middle of an election year. by all accounts, they believe burrwell will be confirmed. the white house wants to see that happen by may. as you know, alex, as i know, things don't always happen in a timely fashion in this town. >> really? thank you very much, kristen welker. a deadly turn in the ukraine crisis today as the conflict es ka latsz in the eastern part of that country. ukrainian officials undertook what they called an anti-terrorist operation against pro-russian separatists. one security officer died, five were wounded. it is the first reported gun battle in ukraine. in another ukrainian city, armed men in military fatigues stormed the police headquarters. they exchanged gunfire before giving up control of that building to the pro russian group. this story is developing at this

hour. at the half hour we'll take you live to ukraine and get you a report on the ground there. for more, i'm joined by ben carden, and chairman of the commission or security and cooperation in europe. senator carden, it's always a pleasure, sir, thanks for joining me. >> thank you, alex, it's good to be with you. >> it appears there is no longer a cold war, shots have been fired. where do you anticipate it goes from here? >> it's really up to russia. russia has provoked the type of violence we're now seeing, they put their troops on the border, they have people in the community trying to energize the community to do things, to take action against the government. ukraine has a responsibility to maintain order. so i just hope that russia would withdraw, just let the people make their own decisions here. quite frankly, it's a very dangerous situation. >> it sure doesn't look like sanctions have persuaded president putin to stand down. what else is the u.s. prepared

to do? >> we have a list of things that we will consider. i think right now, it's up to russia. russia obviously has taken over crimea. we know that. the real attention now is on east ukraine, and what russia's prepared to do in east ukraine. we also have many countries on the border who are very concerned about what russia might be doing. so if russia pursues this course, they're going to be further isolated. it's going to be very damaging not just to their reputation, but to their economy. there are options that are under consideration and it really is up to russia. >> senator, what is america's responsibility when an ally's sovereign borders have been breached? >> well, quite frankly, the international community is fairly well united in saying that russia -- what russia did is wrong. they have taken over by force a sovereign nation, ukraine, the crimea area. a military option is not really on the table. so we have to work through diplomacy and try to see whether

we can't reverse what has happened. there are countries that we have treaty obligations with that are in the region. so the circumstances differ for country. >> the nato supreme allied commander, general breedlove, said a buildup of nato force the in the area could be made. >> the military option is not really available in ukraine. what we need to do is strengthen ukraine's ability to have the strong economy, to further transition into europe, to work with the west, to build their economy and show, including the people in crimea, that their future is best with the united ukraine integrated into europe. that's our principal strategy. we will also do everything we can to prevent any further tragedies, as far as loss of human life. but we don't want to heat up the

circumstances. we're trying to calm it down. >> sir, let's turn back home now and talk about the unemployment insurance. the senate bill to restore the benefits passed last monday with bipartisan support. house leadership said they won't consider a bill like this until it includes job creation measures. what is your next move? >> we hope that there will be public outrage by what speaker boehner has said about passing the extension on unemployment benefits. it's correct president obama 49 consecutive months of job growth created almost 9 million jobs. but the unemployment rates are still in the mid-6 percents. when we put in the unemployment, it was mid-5 percents under president bush. the economy, we have a long-term unemployed or stubborn as far as trying to be able to find employment. it's critically important not only for their safety, so that they have money to support their families, but the recovery of our economy to extend the unemployment benefits. and we did it in the senate in a

bipartisan vote. i'm quite confident that if speaker boehner would allow a vote on the floor of the united states congress, it would pass. >> that is something that senator chuck schumer agreed with you on that, sir. are you hearing anything specifically from rank and file members, both democrats and republicans? >> yes, we have many republican members of the house that are urging speaker boehner to bring this bill up. because they want to pass it. there are many states that have very high unemployment rates. and they know that there are people there that have been long-term unemployed who can't find jobs. there is a lot of pressure building in the house to take this vote. and we hope that that pressure will continue to build. because it's the right thing to do. it's not only politically smart, it's also the right thing to do for the economy and the families affected. >> sir, secretary sebelius' departure from the cabinet there as hhs secretary, did that help or hurt the obamacare cause? did it all seem abrupt to you, or was it perhaps just a natural progression, five years now into

an administration where she was one of the original cabinet members? >> i don't think anything that the obama administration could do that will calm down the republicans in their efforts to try to repeal the affordable care act. it is well past time to move forward, to work on this bill. this bill is working. millions of people have enrolled in the exchanges. millions of others are getting benefits from quality insurance products, no longer any preexisting conditions. families can get affordable coverage. the elderly are getting much better coverage. it's time to move on. and secretary sebelius, i think she made her decision that this was the right time, after the open enrollment period for the next secretary of health and human services. so it is time to move forward, to build on the success of the affordable care act. >> senator ben cardin, i always appreciate your time. >> thank you. a new united nations report is out this morning on climate change, calling on governments to act quickly on the reduction of carbon emissions. it has a few suggestions on how

to do it. ann thompson johns me with more. hi, ann. >> hi, alex. the u.n. report essentially outlines how we can avoid the worst impacts of climate change. and it says we can do that by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, increasing our energy efficiency. but it says we have to get started on both those projects right away. the u.n. recommends cutting greenhouse gas emissions 40% to 70% by the year 2050, and to near 0% by the turn of the century. what that means is that we have to move to a low carbon energy supply. that means moving away from oil and gas and coal that we currently burn for power in transportation. and increasing renewable energy, things like solar, wind, geothermal, increasing nuclear energy. and when we do burn coal, using the technology called carbon capture and storage. now, the panel also talks about

natural gas. and it says it could be a bridge technology to this low carbon energy supply. it could replace coal, because natural gas creates fewer of those greenhouse gas emissions. but even if we do all that, the panel warns that we may actually have to come up with technologies that pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere if we want to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. there is no time to waste, the panel said, we're increasing emissions. in fact, the world's emissions increased at the fastest rate in the last decade. they say the longer we delay in taking action the more expensive and difficult this job will be. i'm ann thompson in detroit. alex, back to you. >> ann, thank you very much. he's now doing impersonations. a big name politician who decided to test his comic skills in new hampshire. how would you grade it? a standoff between a rancher and federal officials comes to

an end, or does it. why are more people showing up there. day of work. and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

but have you been on an airplane lately? oh. [ man ] man, this thing's got a lot of onions. it's good, though. i really wouldn't survive it without this scarf. it's like a little bit of home i can stuff in my bag. mmm. and i have tide plus febreze, which now gets it fresher for longer, so i can stay happy even when -- do you need a napkin? yeah. napkin! okay. oh! oh, my gosh. getting ripe in here, huh? whew! [ ding ] [ female announcer ] tide plus febreze. that's my tide plus.

a big weekend for the republican party, in what could be a preview of the 2016 presidential contenders. hundreds of conservatives rallied at the inaugural freedom summit in new hampshire. ted cruz wasted no time reiterating his opposition to obamacare. and also tested out his jay leno impression. >> they will tell you that kathleen sebelius resigning is a result of obamacare's success. well, if that's true, then i hope every democrat will follow her path and resign as well. last fall, jay leno said, so,

president obama called me. he said, jay, if you like your job, you can keep it. >> kentucky senator rand paul's message focused on inclusion saying the republican party needs to broaden its appeal. >> if you want to be consistent, if you want to grow the movement, we cannot be the party of fat cats, rich people and wall street. >> donald trump spoke at event focusing on obamacare, and criticizing jeb bush for his position on immigration. the cattle battle in nevada is over. the federal government backed down against a nevada rancher over the grazing of cattle and more than $1 million in allegedly unpaid fees. leann, this clash between the bundy family and federal government started about a week ago or so in this latest heated battle, shall we say. why did the government walk

away? >> reporter: the bureau of land management said it wanted to stop the cattle roundup to avoid violence and to restore order. every day the standoff became increasingly tense, and there was concern about the safety of employees and the pub rick. this morning, about 400 head of cattle from bundy's ranch are now free to roam, after nevada's bureau of land management stopped the roundup of animals on saturday citing serious safety concerns. the agency said they were grazing illegally on public lands. but the bundys claim they own the land and call it a range war. >> get off our land. period. give us back our property. >> reporter: hundreds of protesters, many of them armed, rallied in support of the family. captured on video and posted to youtube, the dispute escalated. agency police fired a taser that

struck bundy's son. >> they had the tasers, they had the weapons, they had the dogs. and we had nothing except us. we were almost equally numbered. and then they were the aggressors. >> reporter: the federal government said protesters were blocking a road, assaulting authorities and their dogs. but the video prompted a call to arms from self-described militia leaders and those fighting for states' rights. one arrived carrying an ak-47 as the crowds grew. >> i'm willing to lay my life down. >> reporter: federal authorities say the issue is clear, the bundys stopped paying federal grazing fees more than 20 years ago. >> the courts have rules that his cattle are in trespass. the courts have demanded that he remove his livestock. >> reporter: but for now the government is backing off, a temporary victory for the bundy family. but the conflict far from over. >> i want my dad in heaven to

know that he fought for this. my grand pa fought for this. i'm going to fight for this. >> reporter: even though the standoff is over, some of the protesters say they're not going home. the blm says it will continue to fight to get the cattle off the land judiciarily and administratively. >> a lot of people aren't going home. we'll check with you next hour and see if anything happens with all those folks sticking around. thank you very much. turning to the hunt for missing malaysia airlines flight 370 is about to enter its sixth week. it's five days since the searchers detected any new pings. this is the aerial search for debris over the indian ocean actually expanded today. annabel roberts is joining me from london. annabel, to you. >> reporter: that's right, alex. they expanded the area of the visual search today. that's really based on, we understand, weather forecasts

and ocean currents is really how they judge which area they need to search. of course, the whole target here really is to narrow the area of seabed that they need to search. when the time comes, they eventually will launch the underwater robotic vessel that searches the seabed for debris. that is the key thing. as you said, there have been no confirmed pings that have been picked up in the accuse tick search for five days. a previous ping picked up on thursday, that has been discounted as having any connection to the missing airliner. so really, that's quite a long period without any recorded signals from what's thought, or hoped to be the black box from this missing airliner. but of course, now, the -- as you said, the batteries really should be running very low, which means that the towed pinger locator that's collecting -- picking up these signals have been very, very close, right above the black boxes in order to pick anything

ul. >> but annabel, what i don't understand is they have narrowed down the search regarding the ping sounds, yet they've expanded the search today? why is that? >> reporter: well, that's based on the currents, the ocean currents, the weather forecast, whether they might expect the debris, any possible debris would have been carried by the ocean. but that really varies from day to day. sometimes the area to be searched goes up. that also depends on the visibility, on the weather forecast, what the crew from these aircraft that are covering -- crisscrossing, traversing this area, how far they can see from their aircraft, alex. >> annabel roberts in london, thank you. one city is expected to get up to ten inches of snow today. really? also, is there a double standard for eric holder and the president? a debate ahead over what the attorney general said after his intense exchanges with a congressman on capitol hill. c'mon, meatball yelling c'mon, you want heartburn?

when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast, with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact. and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum... tums! but add brand new belongings from nationwide insurance... ...and we'll replace destroyed or stolen items with brand-new versions. we take care of the heat, so you don't get burned. just another way we put members first, because we don't have shareholders. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ i'm bethand i'm michelle. and we own the paper cottage. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative,

we like interacting with people. so you have time to focus on the things you love. ink from chase. so you can. still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day?

when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories.

a huge weather system in the country's midsection hit michigan saturday, damaging winds and heavy rain leaving tens of thousands without power. now one colorado city is getting hit with snow. more on the forecast. okay, how much snow are we talking about here? we were saying ten inches earlier, greg. >> how does five to eight sound? >> better, but still -- >> i know, i wish i could do something about it. if you look at the radar, it's not snowy across parts of eastern colorado right now. areas of snow mixing in at times with rain of the not too bad now. i think more snow is coming in about five to eight inches for folks in the denver area tonight. farther to the east, we expect severe weather. right now, general rain and thunderstorms moving toward the chicago area. will be there in a couple of hours. no storm warnings with that right now. later on today, we do expect the probability of severe weather to increase across the central and

southern plains. we could time it out for everybody. it's really long zone from east central kansas to central oklahoma. thunderstorms will develop later on this afternoon. could be tornadic. what we think will happen after dark is we'll get a line of thunderstorms with tornado threats not real high, but the threat for damaging winds will linger long after sunset. all the way from the ohio valley down to texas. so an active night ahead. stay tuned for all the latest. alex? >> so important for the nighttime heads-up. appreciate that, dr. greg postel. the topic of taxes, with tuesday being the filing deadline. many americans may be in a filing frenzy. the burden on americans doesn't end this week, it comes on tax freedom day, when the government has earned enough money to pay all its taxes. folks in connecticut, new jersey is on may 9th. new york's arrives on the 4th, california comes at the end of this month.

gallup surveyed americans to see how satisfied they are with their hometowns. the most satisfied people in ft. collins, colorado, where almost 95% of residents like living there. san lewis obispo, california, were nearly as satisfied. on the other hand, the gallup survey found rockford, illinois, least satisfied with 73% okay with their community, followed by stockton and bakersfield in california. while movie krit, are generally unsatisfied with "rio 2," they w are on pace to win the weekend box office. (laughs) it's more than just a meal, it's meow mix mealtime. with wholesome ingredients and irresistible taste, no wonder it's the only one cats

ask for by name.

worst morning ever. [ angelic music plays ] ♪ toaster strudel! best morning ever! [ hans ] warm, flaky, gooey. toaster strudel! because you can't beat zero heartburn. woo hoo! [ male announcer ] prilosec otc is the number one doctor recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. welcome back to weekend with alex. classes are scheduled to resume wednesday at the pennsylvania high school where 21 students and a security guard were wounded during a stabbing rampage. the 16-year-old attacked his fellow students last week with a pair of kitchen knives. investigators don't yet have a motive for the attack.

an afghan official said 19 fraud complaints were filed in this month's election. abdullah abdullah is in the lead with 45% of the vote. new speculation this morning about the duke and duchess of cambridge as they continue their tour of new zealand. a woman knitted a shawl for prince george. the duchess was seen sipping a glass of wine at a new zealand today. the big question, could it lead to full-out war? government buildings in at least five cities are now under the control of pro-russian separatists who want to break away from ukraine and form ties with russia. the acting president is launching a full-scale anti-terrorist operation with the armed forces in ukraine. ayman is joining us.

do you see these, or is it being interpreted as a concrete step toward war? >> reporter: well, there's no dow, if in fact the ukrainian government does go ahead and escalate the situation, with the use of armed forces, this situation could turn ugly and turn violent very quickly. we've heard time and time again from the russian military and the russian government they would feel compelled to protect the rights of what they said are its interests, including the ethnic russian minority which actually makes up the majority of the eastern part of the country. if they feel their citizens are in danger here in ukraine, the russia military feels it has the pretext to intervene militarily. it depends on how the next couple of days plays out. the ukrainian government said it will not prosecute armed gunmen or others who participated in the seizure of these buildings and have given them until monday morning to vacate the buildings, otherwise the ukrainian armed

forces would be compelled to intervene and that could lead to more violence. >> if the ukrainian government tries to confront the separatists and reclaim these buildings, what are the actual risks involved? will we see firefights? >> reporter: absolutely. in some of these locations that we've been to, and we've seen for ourselves, the separatists have overtaken government buildings, including police stations. they have a lot of firepower. they have prepared molotov cocktails, they have long rifles, assault weapons including pass tolsz. many are par i caded behind layers of rings of fire, if in fact there is any kind of police raid. you will see in the short term an immediate strike of violence if in fact the ukrainian forces decide to use live ammunition and break these up with firepower. they will be met with firepower. they told us they're going to fight until the very end.

so yes, in short, it would be violent if in fact the ukrainian government moved in to try to break some of these protests up. >> nbc's aman mohilldin. a search for malaysia airlines flight 370. it has been five days since searchers detected any signals beneath the surface raising concern that the batteries in the black boxes may have died. robert, welcome back. is it typical after narrowing and narrowing again the search area over the past couple of weeks for officials to now expand this area like they did today? >> hi, alex. no, it's not typical at all. nothing about this search, this investigation has been typical, though, so we shouldn't be too surprised. i think what's happened is they've gone back and recalculated what the returns from the pingers have told them. they've redone the math.

and they've decided they really weren't as close with their calculations as they thought they would be, so they just expanded it a little bit. well, significantly, but still to the point they'll be able to attack the problem with sonars. >> do you see a discrepancy from the officials that they feel confident it is the black box? or do you think that's been diluted? >> it's been diluted a little bit. they believe they know the location of the black boxes, within some, you know, relative margin of error. i think that the -- it's exactly where we expect it to be a couple of weeks ago. we thought we would get to the point where the pingers ran out of juice. and we would have to start the search with sonar. and that's exactly where we've wound up. >> okay. and this sonar, i mean, this is a very laborious process. it's going to take a lot of time, right? it's the kind of thing that they

sent this missile down in uncharted territory. perhaps 15,000 feet? >> it's very deep. we've searched for airplanes that deep before with success. and it's a really laborious task. because it's so slow going. it took about two years to find the wreckage of airfrance on the bottom of the atlantic. and i don't suppose that it's going to be a very quick process here with malaysia air 370. but it's something that i'm confident that we will find. i think these are definitely the pingers that we've been hearing. and i think that we've got an approximate location for the wreckages. i think it's only a matter of time before we find the airplane. >> and if it takes a long time, robert, does that at all prevent the ability to extract information from the black box? is there a time frame for that as well? or will we always be able to get something from that, if it's recovered? >> if there's something there today, for all intents and purposes, if there's data on them right now, we'll be able to

extract data from them in a week, a month, a year, two years, probably even ten years. the data resides on a solid state chip. >> okay. robert, i don't know if you're hearing what i'm hearing, but i believe that's a voice of a reporter there talking about what we were showing that graphic. robert goyer, thank you so much, from flying magazine. >> thank you, alex. the five extra words that could fix an amendment. we'll share you with those wo s words. the fallout after a flare-up on capitol hill. 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 on tdi models. that's why i got a new windows 2 in 1. it has exactly what i need for half of what i thought i'd pay. and i don't need to be online for it to work. it runs office, so i can do schedules and budgets and even menu changes. but it's fun, too -- with touch, and tons of great apps for stuff like music, 'cause a good playlist is good for business. i need the boss's signature for this. i'm the boss. ♪ honestly ♪ i wanna see you be brave

they're like music to your nose. ♪ your love ♪ ♪ love keeps lifting me ♪ ♪ higher and higher [ male announcer ] lift your love with new gain flings! more gain scent than ever plus oxi boost cleaning power and febreze. it's our best gain ever. ♪ higher and higher ♪ higher and higher [ male announcer ] new gain flings! you are about to become very popular ♪ higher and higher because when you buy the new samsung galaxy s5 on verizon, you get a second samsung galaxy s5 for free. so, who ya gonna give it to? maybe your brother could use it to finally meet a girl. your mom, but isn't your love reward enough? it's not. maybe your roommate, i mean you pretty much share everything else. hey. your girlfriend. just don't tell her it was free. whoever you choose, you'll both get the best devices on the best network.

for best results, use verizon 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. retired supreme court justice john paul stephens said the battle over the right to bear arms can be settled by adding five words to the amendment. here's what the second amendment says. you'll notice the five words added by stephens in bold. quote, a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms

when serving in the militia shall not be infringed. the retired judge released this excerpt in the "washington post" from his upcoming book. he said the extra five words get back to what the original drafters of the constitution had in mind. it should be no surprise to watchers of washington that there's no love lost between the obama administration and republicans in congress. however, the animosity boiled over this past week in an exchange between the attorney general eric holder and louie goemer of texas. >> i realize contempt is not a big deal to our attorney general, but it is important we have proper oversight. >> you don't want to go there, okay? >> i don't want to go there? >> no. >> about the contempt? >> you should not assume that -- that that is not a big deal to me. >> let me ask you -- >> the time of the gentleman has expired, unfortunately.

>> joining me now, msnbc contributor jimmy williams and ron christie, who served as special assistant to george w. bush. i'll reach out to you, jimmy, first, the attorney general going off script at the national action network summit. let's take a listen. >> i am pleased to note that the last five years have been defined by significant strides and by lasting reforms. even in the face, even in the face of unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive adversity. if you don't believe that, forget about me, forget about me. you look at the way the attorney general of the united states was treated yesterday by a house committee. had nothing to do with me. forget that. what attorney general has had to deal with that kind of treatment. what president has ever had to

deal with that kind of treatment. >> jimmy, some are suggesting that was an overly sensitive reaction. what do you think? >> he was attacked. he continues to be attacked by people like louie gomer, and blake, et cetera, et cetera. i'm not saying that the attorney general holder is wrong. if you go back and look at how janet reno was treated, she was bill clinton's attorney general, she was treated pretty badly by republican-led congress as well. i don't know -- listen, people are saying, and holder has intimated this might be a racially motivated thing. i don't know the answer to that. what i can tell you is this. you have an angry southern white man treating the black attorney general of the united states very, very disrespectfully. by doing so, that is not a good way about leading your life. it's certainly not the role of a congressman to do that. you can get your questions in, and your oversight in and not be rude at the same time. >> ron, i'm going to have you

weigh in quickly before i ask you another question. because we were talking about this during the commercial break. >> the attorney general is trying to have it both ways, trying to insinuate because he's black and the president is black that they're treated unfairly by the republican-led congress, by the republicans who are looking into a number of scandals fast and furious. let's not forget, alex, the reason the former texas judge was pressing the attorney general is the attorney general has been held in contempt by congress for not turning over documents related to fast and furious. what this particular hearing was about was trying to ascertain why the attorney general would give documents to lawyers representing terrorists but wouldn't that turn that over to the congress. that's what this fight was all about. the fact he had to bring race into it is most unfortunate. >> interestingly, the push by some republicans to have attorney general holder impeached, senator ted cruz went there with a guest at the freedom summit yesterday. let's take a listen to that. >> that's right.

we need to get rid of holder. >> i agree. and i think eric holder should be impeached. he's contemptuous of the responsibility. >> does it help to hold the i78 peachment thread over his head the whole time? >> i think the gop has consistently tried to work with him for the last five years. i don't think it rises to the level of impeachment. i don't think he's committed high crimes, but i think he's become the most politicized attorney general in the united states. >> can i just ask you, how does one work effectively with someone when you're calling for impeachment? some of the highest ranking republicans have been doing that. how do you say you can work effectively with someone saying, by the way, we think you should be impeached? >> if you look back at president bush, harry reid called him

dumb. well, you do your job on behalf of the american people. i think that's what the attorney general should do. >> but there's a difference. calling the president of the united states dumb, a lot of people say the same thing about barack obama, is different from talking about impeaching. no one threatened to impeach george bush. you have a freshman senator clearly running for president who wants to impeach the attorney general. i hope like hell he does. i hope he introduces them next week while they're on spring break, when they get back. >> jimmy, you and i both agree on this. i think impeachment here is not useful. we should hold the attorney general accountable before the congress. but i think the impeachment articles, that's a bunch of nonsense at this point. >> jimmy, ron wrote this week that wednesday night the attorney general was saying that the republicans are racist and any criticism of the president is grounded in racism. can you see how republicans can

get that perception? >> look, i don't -- you can't get into the heart or the mind of someone like louie gomert and know emphatically whether or not this guy is being a racist. he hasn't made racial comments about eric holder, but he did treat him with complete disdain and disrespect. that is unbecoming of a member of congress. you can have disagreements, you're allowed to disagreements. but when you treat people poorly, i hate to break the news, but if you treat someone badly, they're not going to respond to you and not treat you back well. it's fourth grade politics, treat others as you want to be treated. if louie gomert continues to do this and republicans continue to do this against holder and sebelius, they should get nothing back in return, frankly. >> i want to say this with all great affection and respect to both of you, i feel like i want to take both of you at a little

bit at task here, you said congress is embarrassing themselves. then you spent your whole column going after the other party, accusing him of using race. so the question is, are we any better than them? >> yeah, we are, alex. if you look at my piece from "the daily beast" this week, you notice that i took republicans to the woodshed for their lack of civility. i think we can have a civil conversation. jimmy and i get along quite well, but you can politely agree to disagree. >> jimmy? >> look, that's exactly right. i said in my column that i complete cli believe in congress' ability to have oversight. i worked in the congress. i understand it. i emphatically -- it's in my bones, in my dna that congress is allowed to investigate and hold oversight hearings. that's democrats and republicans. but that does not give any sitting member of congress the right to treat any witness, whether it be a working mother, or attorney general like anyone else like a pet you lent child.

that is not acceptable. >> i always like having you guys on, thank you so much. >> thanks, alex. the one-year anniversary of the boston marathon bombing is approaching. in the nation, it's not always pretty. but add brand new belongings from nationwide insurance... ...and we'll replace destroyed or stolen items with brand-new versions. we take care of the heat, so you don't get burned. just another way we put members first, because we don't have shareholders. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪

i'm bethand i'm michelle. and we own the paper cottage. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative, we like interacting with people. so you have time to focus on the things you love. ink from chase. so you can.

this tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of the boston marathon bombing that took three lives, wounded another 264 people, and launched a manhunt that gripped this region for 108 hours. yesterday officials in boston announced new security measures for next monday's race, and they include 100 cameras and 50 observation points along the route, and increased number of uniformed and undercover police force in the race area. >> a lot of what we're trying to do is aim at areas that are on the side of the route, and places where there's large crowds, so we can watch for

suspicious packages, or ideas of crowds moving, which would be valuable. >> joining me, michael schmidt, who has been covering the bombing investigation for "the new york times." michael, welcome to you. we look at all these security measures. is there a consideration that it could have prevented last year's bombing had they been in place? >> look, any more security that they had last year certainly would have made a difference. but as we saw this week, the inspector generals for all the intelligence agencies in washington came out with a report that basically said on the investigative side leading up to the attack, there's not a whole lot that could have been done. there's certainly a few things, but nothing that they think was drastically done wrong. in terms of the -- although the report didn't address the security coming into the race this year. you know, it's hard to believe that more security would have hurt. >> speaking of that report, you write that it found that russia held back information from the u.s. investigators about

tamerlan, the older brother who was killed, two years before the attack they had this information. what kind of information was this? >> what happened, in 2011, the russian government came to the u.s. and said, we believe that tamerlan has jihadist ten dense sis and plans to travel ta russia. they went back to the russians at least twice and said, hey, what else do you have, why do you believe this? and the russians never got back to them. the thing to remember about this, though, the united states and russia thought that tamerlan was a threat to russia at the time. they didn't think he was a threat to the united states. at least this is what they were thinking. but the russians never got back to the u.s. what the fbi says that had they given them information, which they did after the bombing, what basically the information that led them to believe why he had this jihadist tendency, the fbi

would have done more. >> when tamerlan was returning from kazakhstan, his name was on a watch list but it was misspelled. that's sort of this trau mautic ball rolling here. >> there's some dispute when he came back, whether the fbi actually knew. this was sort of hashed out in the report. the fbi says, hey, even if we did know he was coming back into the united states, we wouldn't have done any more of an investigation. but what the inspector general said was that, you probably should have, if you didn't know. and the fbi and customs and border protection which is in charge of relaying the information about people coming to the u.s., have sort of tweaked their procedures to make sure that when people are on these lists, they come back into the united states, the fbi knows. >> so the accusations immediately following the bombing, made against the fbi saying they had missed all these obvious signs that tamerlan in

particular had become radicalized, have they been exonerated now? >> the inspector general said basically the fbi did what it could based on what they knew and followed procedures. they said the fbi could have done a more rigorous assessment, and that's the type of investigation they did at the time of tamerlan and they could have asked more questions of the family and looked at other databases and such. he said it's not clear they would have done anything up if they'd done that. >> michael schmidt with "the new york times," thank you so much. the superman hoodie, coming to the rescue in a moment of crisis. a full-blown controversy. how a popular hot sauce managed to get an entire community fired up. would be 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. [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. wman:scott: aye, or...ott?n, risks, fees and expenses a mornin' of tiny voices crying out, "feed us"! man: i don't understand... scott: your grass, man! it's a living, breathing thing. it's hungry, and you've got to feed it with scotts turf builder. that a boy, mikey! two feedings now in the springtime strengthens and helps protect your lawn from future problems.

get scotts turf builder lawn food. it's guaranteed. feed your lawn. feed it! anncr: visit scotts.com/goyard for the chance to win a $25,000 backyard makeover.

a short word that's a tall order. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday delta flies a quarter of million people while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again. i am convinced we are going to repeal every single word of obamacare. >> obamacare is an absolute catastrophe. it's a disaster. >> is it a losing argument?

gop lawmakers keep firing away at obamacare while a new poll shows a shift in public opinion. >> she was in shock, just as i was. and that prevented him from -- >> reliving the nightmare from the deadly bus accident talks about what he saw sitting right behind the driver. wild west showdown, rifle-toting ranchers face off with the government. apparently the standoff ended, but is it really over? everybody thinks this is about melting glaciers and polar bears. this is 100% of the story. >> a groundbreaking tv event on climate change on a day with yet another alarming report on how to save the planet from a global warming catastrophe. hello, everyone. welcome to weekends with alex wit. here's what's happening right

now. more people at this hour gathering in nevada to protest the government, even after the government left a nevada ranch. they claimed bundy owed more than $1 million in grazing fees. the demonstrators are sticking around because they don't believe the story is over. leann gregg is joining us from bunkerville, nevada. leann, let's talk about this confrontation going on for about a week now. it hasn't been violent, but it sure has been tense. here's bundy and the director of bureau land management making their cases. let's take a listen. >> this morning about 400 head of cattle from bundy's ranch are now free to roam, after nevada's bureau of land management stopped their corralling. >> watching them from the helicopter. >> we had the wrong tape being

played, but this is from mr. bundy. i go down along the virgin river and see a little herd of cows. this is my home, leave me alone. and put this up against the bureau of land management director who says he owes the federal government $1 million because he has not obeyed the law. but bundy claims this land is his. if the government has stepped down, but if the government, rather, feels so strongly, why did it fold? >> reporter: the bureau of land management said it decided to stop rounding up the herd because there was concern about violence. some serious violence. it said it wanted to restore order and prevent people from getting hurt who are employees, and just the general public. they say they're doing all they can, they're not standing down with the issue, it's still in dispute, even though the bundy family is celebrating a temporary victory, the fight is still far from over. it's been going on for more than

20 years. and yes, the government claims that the bundys owe more than $2 million in unpaid fees for grazing rights. they say that's just not fair when there are 16,000 other public land ranchers who are abiding by those laws and paying those fees. >> it's been a pretty emotional time for the bundy family. their family history in the state of nevada dates back to the late 1800s. let's listen to bundy's sister and son talking about the fight against the government. >> my dad in heaven, he fought for this. my grand dids pa fought for this. i'm going to fight for this. >> it is an effort of peace to make this right. but peace can't come at the cost of freedom. >> so, why not just do the judiciary route to get the money? why this standoff? why not deal with this in court? >> reporter: you know, they have

dealt with it in court, and there have been some judicial rulings saying the cattle are not to be there, that they are trespassing and mr. bundy needs to get them off the land. he says he doesn't recognize the federal government's authority over the state government. he said that he has fired the blm, and that's why he decided to not pay the grazing fee. so he wants no part of cooperating. and that's where the government is saying, you're going to have to. we're going to continue to try to force your hand judicially and administratively. >> okay. leann gregg there from bunkerville, nevada. sorry about the tape mix-up at the top. in you reaction today from key lawmakers to outgoing secretary kathleen sebelius. >> she accomplished what she wanted to accomplish. 7 million people signed up for private health care. 3 million others expanded medicaid. she's accomplished a lot. >> it's not going to quiet the

controversy. i think it's quite the opposite. what it has done is elevate some of the concerns. >> kathleen sebelius spoke exclusively with andrea mitchell this weekend about the obamacare rollout. >> do you have any regrets? >> i don't. if i had a magic wand and could go back to mid-september, and ask different questions based on what i know now, i thought i was getting the best information from the best experts, having outside and inside people come report, look, measure, but clearly that didn't go well. >> nbc's kristen welker is at the white house to talk about this. kristen, what else is kathleen sebelius saying? >> reporter: alex, the other headline is if she could have brought in a better company, a company better equipped to oversee the rollout of the

construction of the website. she responded they brought on the company they thought was best equipped, given the competitive bargaining process, which is mandated by the government. she also said that setting up the exchanges was a moving target, and so that further complicated setting up rolling out the website. andrea asked her what her low point was. here's what the secretary had to say. take a listen. >> i would say that the eight weeks when the site was not functioning well for the vast majority of people was a pretty dismal time. and i was, frankly, hoping and watching and measuring the benchmarks, but having failed once at the front of october, the first of december became a critical juncture. either it was going to meet the expectations the second time around -- i knew we didn't have a third time around.

>> andrea asked secretary sebelius if she was pushed out. the secretary said that was not the case. she said this felt like the right time to leave. it's the end of the open enrollment period. they did get their stated goal of 7 million people to sign up. so now the focus shifts to omb director sylvia matthews burrwell, president obama's pick to take over as hhs secretary. she faces what is expected to be a contentious confirmation hearing process. democrats a bit concerned that this is shining a spotlight on some of the problems with the health care law right in the middle of the midterm elections. the obama administration hoping that the confirmation process will happen quickly, so that they can move beyond this. it is anticipated that ultimately burrwell will be confirmed. >> kristen, stay right there. we'll come back to you and talk about the white house's perspective on what's happening in the ukraine in just a moment. developing there in ukraine, the unrest has turned deadly. a government security officer

and pro-russian separatist killed in the eastern part of the country. the government in kiev has now mobilized the military to take back state buildings seized by the separatists yesterday. russia is now calling it a criminal act. ayman has the very latest. ayman, to you. >> reporter: terrorism operation in the eastern part of the country to try to assert the state's control over some of the government buildings it has lost over the past several days. now, in at least seven different cities, there have been movements by the separatists to capture buildings, government buildings, including police stations and regional administrative buildings, to try and create the reality on the ground that the eastern part of the country is breaking away from the central government in kiev. so today the ukrainian president said he has ordered a large-scale operation to be conducted by the country's military. this could lead to a lot of violence and some analysts suggest it could also lead the russian military to move inside

ukraine. russia said if the ethnic citizens inside ukraine were in any way harmed, or their lives were risked, that he could be compelled to act. that would certainly lead to an all-out war between ukraine and russia. for the meantime, though, the situation on the ground in the eastern part of the country remains tense. many of these buildings that have been overtaken by pro-russian separatist militias have been enforced. a lot of these people in some of these buildings had weapons on them. they've also created molotov cocktails for any type of assault by the ukrainian security forces. it is a very tense situation and remains very volatile. >> thank you so much, ayman, for that. let's go back to kristen welker at the white house. you heard him using the word tense there. who are the options for the white house, kristen? >> reporter: right now, the white house using strong words, more strong warnings. u.s. ambassador to the u.n. samantha power today warning that the united states is ready

to impose stiffer sanctions if the unrest escalates in ukraine. and she pointed the finger directly at russia. she said that the unrest there she believes is linked to russia. take a listen to what she had to say. >> it has all the telltale signs of what we saw in crimea. it's professional, it's koord 2345i9d, coordinated. the forces are doing exactly the same thing. it bears the telltale signs of moscow's involvement. >> reporter: republican senator john mccain earlier today emphasized that point. he said this also seems to be the work of vat mlatimir putin. lavrov talked to the president

yesterday, and the united states is deeply concerned. and vice president joe biden will be traveling to ukraine, not this week, but the following week. he will meet with leaders there and reiterate the united states support for ukraine. >> kristen welker at the white house, thank you for that as well. >> reporter: absolutely. learning now details about the fiery bus crash in california which killed ten people. the nstd said the driver of the truck did not appear to brake before crossing the median and slamming head-on into that tour bus packed with high school students. stephanie, i know there are conflicting reports about whether or not that truck was on fire before it hit the bus. what are you hearing on that? >> reporter: yeah, good afternoon to you, alex. we are hearing those reports as well. before i get to that, i want to show you a picture of the bus behind me. we are at a cal trans maintenance facility where the bus and fedex truck are being held. the damage is unbelievable. the pictures speak for

themselves. the ntsb investigators are going over the wreckage as they try to piece together an exact cause. yesterday we heard from the couple whose vehicle was side swiped by the fedex truck. they said they saw flames coming from the truck before it crossed the grassy median. however, a man who lived near the crash site said he did not see any flames coming from that fedex truck. no doubt something ntsb investigators will be looking at. we're hearing stories from survivors. my colleague from our nbc affiliate knbc in los angeles spoke to an 18-year-old from his hospital bed. i should warn you that some of the information in this report is disturbing. >> reporter: over the last two nights, miles hill has awoken from the same dream. >> after closing my eyes all i could see was fire. and i could hear the screams of people who were burning alive. and i could hear the boom of the

bus when it exploded. >> reporter: as a survivor, it's hard not to go back in time, and remember all the ways the accident could have been prevented. >> our bus was late. it was an hour late. we were supposed to leave at 6:30. all of the bugses were supposed to leave at 6:30. >> reporter: he said earlier in the trip the bus had been involved in another small accident that led them to be in the wrong place at the exact wrong time. >> if that hadn't happened, the really bad accident wouldn't have happened. >> reporter: finally when the moment did arrive, he watched from right behind the seat of the driver. >> he had time to move out of the way. but he was in shock, just as i was, and that prevented him from moving the wheel. >> reporter: like other witnesses, miles disputes accounts that the fedex truck was on fire before the crash. >> it was in perfect condition. it exploded upon impact with the bus. it was not on fire at all. >> reporter: tonight there are things he wishes he would have never seen after spending nine hours getting to know other students and chaperones who lost

their lives. >> i watched him on fire before i kicked out the window. there were two, michael and madeleine, they were engaged, they died on impact and i saw that happen. >> meanwhile, we are back here live at the cal tran maintenance facility. you're looking at that bus. the ntsb said it has the black box that they will be analyzing. and they'll be looking at the scene closer, why there were no skid marks from the fedex truck, and also how the bus reacted. we understand there were about 145 feet of skid marks from the bus, indicating that the bus did try to stop. and avoid an accident. also, toxicology reports will be taken from the remains of both drivers. the ntsb expect to be out here for the next one to two weeks. >> pretty hard to get that testimony out of my head, having heard that. thank you very much, stephanie stanton in chico. guess who's warming up to

obama care? a new poll next.en yo u retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. to truck guys, the truck is everything. and when you put them in charge of making an unbeatable truck... ... good things happen. this is the ram 1500.

the 2014 motor trend truck of the year and first ever back-to-back champion. guts. glory. ram. 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. oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪

republicans' attitudes about obamacare seem to be shifting. last month, 72% of republicans said the health care law would make their family situations worse. well, today 51% republicans believe that. but that hasn't stopped republican lawmakers from criticizing obamacare. including senator ted cruz, this weekend, at the freedom summit in new hampshire. >> as a result of the men and women in this room, as a result of millions of men and women standing up and saying, obamacare is a disaster, it is not working, it is hurting millions of americans, i am convinced we are going to repeal every single word of obamacare. >> let me bring in msnbc.com senior editor and the

"huffington post" reporter. welcome to both of you. beth, how do you interpret this shift in the polls? >> there was so much buildup by republican leaders to think it's going to be the end of the world when it's finally implemented, in fact, when it was implemented despite the rollout of the website, the actual number of people getting onto obamacare went rather smoothly, and we now have 7.5 million people have health care that didn't have it before. they're starting to soften their opposition. >> and sabrina, now we welcome you, i believe we saw a guest down later in the show there, frank sitting there at the camera. they're attacking democratic incumbents in obamacare. in your latest article, you point to democratic senator of alaska, where one super pac supporting him touting obamacare, you're also citing a few new polls from a leading

republican challenger. does it suggest it's not as effective as they'd like it to be? >> they still have it as a central theme for elections. there are four democrats facing tough reelection battles where the law remains deeply unpopular. the biggest problem for republicans is they haven't produced a replacement plan of their own. and they keep on running on full repeal. when you contrast that with the fact that 7.5 million americans have signed up for private plans under obamacare exchanges and more than 3 million have enrolled in the medicaid extension, it becomes a tougher sell for republicans to keep on pushing for repeal. because without a replacement, without an alternative, the republicans are effectively arguing in favor of taking benefits of upwards of 10 million people. i think that democrats will press them on that issue. it won't be enough for republicans to say that the law isn't working and it has to be repealed.

>> beth, if the anti-obamacare message is not resonating as strongly with the voters, is the gop being overconfident in their assessment they will recapture the senate? >> they've still got a pretty good chance of recapturing the senate. there are more vulnerable democrats running for election. whether the obamacare issue is the driving issue or not, the obama coalition, the people that elected the president who are minorities, foreign poli africa hispanics, they tend not to vote as much in midterm elections. the people who tend to come out are older white americans who have been the most resistant to this president, whether it's been on obamacare or any other issue. >> sabrina, former massachusetts senator scott brown announced his candidacy this past weekend. he went after obamacare. let's take a listen. >> if we're ever going to get past obamacare and get america moving again, we need to hold

those responsible accountable. >> there's a brand-in you poll out showing that brown's democratic incumbent is ahead by about six points right now. are they running on an anti-obamacare flat form, do you get that is a fading narrative? >> i think it's fading somewhat like i mentioned primarily because they haven't been able to provide an alternative. what democrats are going to do is remind the public of the law's original intent which is to expand affordable health care, and those with preexisting conditions that have coverage, and to counterargue that the republicans haven't done anything with respect to health care policy. they've simply voted more than 50 times to repeal the law. not once have they proposed their own ideas. that makes it a fading argument. like beth mentioned, you have to remember this is primarily at the senate level going to be

contested in very conservative states. democrats do face an uphill battle. i would still say they're vulnerable and they have their work cut out for them. >> beth, do you think the results are more due to the fact the obama administration has done a better job of selling obamacare after the botched rollout, we should note, or do you think it might be real world experience by the public that's now changing the perception? i mean, they're using it. >> i think it's totally real world experience. i think the obama administration did a terrible job of selling obamacare. they passed it in 2010, immediately ran away from it of the tons and tons of democrats lost their seats in that fall's election. it was never that the president fully got behind and sold in an incredibly positive way. they always seemed to be on the defensive about it. once people realized suddenly they had coverage for themselves and their families, they

thought, well, that's a pretty great thing. but that wasn't anything the obama administration did particularly well, i would argue. >> that will be a wrap there, ladies. thank you so much. >> thank you. a hero in a superman hoodie and his act to help save a baby, next. fancy feast elegant medleys. inspired dishes like primavera, florentine and tuscany. fancy feast. a medley of love, served daily. well, between laundry pacs? detergent, stain remover and brightener, the average house-hold spends 47 cents a load on laundry. but with tide pods, you get all three in one easy-to-use pac. which, at 27 cents per load, makes a lot more sense. so try tide pods, and pop in savings. without standard leather. you are feeling exhilarated with front-wheel drive. you are feeling powerful with a 4-cylinder engine. [ male announcer ] open your eyes...

to the 6-cylinder, 8-speed lexus gs. with more standard horsepower than any of its german competitors. this is a wake-up call. ♪ (agent) i understand. (dad) we've never sold a house before. (agent) i'll walk you guys through every step. (dad) so if we sell, do you think we can swing it? (agent) i have the numbers right here

and based on the comps that i've found, the timing is perfect. ...there's a lot of buyers for a house like yours. (dad) that's good to know. (mom) i'm so excited. 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. you are about to become very popular because when you buy the new samsung galaxy s5 on verizon, you get a second samsung galaxy s5 for free. so, who ya gonna give it to? maybe your brother could use it to finally meet a girl. your mom, but isn't your love reward enough?

it's not. maybe your roommate, i mean you pretty much share everything else. hey. your girlfriend. just don't tell her it was free. whoever you choose, you'll both get the best devices on the best network. for best results, use verizon in times of peril u some people rise to the occasion and that was the case in dallas as fire ripped through an apartment complex yesterday. people scrambled to escape, but some needed help. how appropriate was it that a resident wearing a superman hoodie came to the rescue when he caught a baby dropped down from a second-story balcony. >> i seen this family on the patio trying to jump down. and they had the baby. so i just came in, i'm right here, i can catch the baby. and i was there for the kids. >> sure was. two people, though, are injured. two buildings destroyed. hundreds now homeless. everyone is thankful for the

courage and compassion of that young man who certainly lived up to the superhero ideal. hollywood heavyweights team up in a call for action. that's next. a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious, and a good source of fiber to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge: the tasty side of fiber. from phillips. ...we'll be here at lifelock doing our thing: you do your connect to public wi-fi thing protecting you in ways your credit card company alone can't. get lifelock protection and live life free. [ 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. ♪

welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." a dire picture of the earth's future if major changes are not made. the u.n. climate change panel finds global temperatures will continue to rise dangerously high if emissions from fossil fuels are not cut 70% by 2050. a now showtime series for a call to arms in climate change. years of living dangerously finds actors turned correspondents turning to the front lines of our environment. >> we've got to bring an understanding. there's an urgent need to change things or it's all going to be gone. >> people need to help make it right. >> let's go get it done!

>> forward, together! >> to think something could be done, let's go do it. this is about survival. this is the biggest story of our time. >> joining me now is a science adviser on the series, from columbia university. i'm awfully glad to have you here, because there couldn't be a more important topic out there. this show looks at a lot of different issues, the rising sea levels, looks at drought, deforestations, emissions. if you had to triage climate change, what is the most critical issue? >> i think the most fundamental issue to emphasize is what seemed like small shifts in average conditions, a small amount of sea level, a small amount of increase in temperature, can have huge impacts on how frequently we're getting these devastating extreme events. our research suggests a couple feet of sea level rise could triple the risk of coastal flooding of the type that we saw during sandy and the future.

higher temperatures mean more deadly heat waves. we need to take steps to reduce our vulnerabilities to these extreme events. >> one of the most interesting episodes is with thomas friedman. and he talks about the global change on global conflict. i think a lot of people don't understand that. we think of melting glaciers, hurricanes, drought. but is this what it can lead to? >> so, yeah, the second of these three ippc reports get into the impacts of climate change. the point that's made nicely i think in tonight's episode of years of living dangerously is that climate change increases these stresses that are already present throughout the world. population growth, maybe limited water initially. once you bring in climate change into that equation, it increases those risks, it increases those vulnerabilities. >> whatever the underreported issues we'll see on the series?

>> so the series really travels all around the world. we will hear -- we'll go to bangladesh and talk about the impacts of sea level rise there. we'll look across the u.s. to places like los angeles, and see what heat waves are going to mean there. i think drought is something that will get a lot of coverage in the show as well. >> what's interesting is the whole crew they put together involved in the show. you've got actors, journalists, politicians, scientists like yourself, how does that affect the way they approach the issues? >> speaking from the perspective as one of the science advisers, when you do a show in nine hours, as this series is, longer than the typical sound bytes, it gives you a chance to really get into some of the science. so we have time to explain how even though one extreme event can't be linked directly to climate change, we can see that the odds are going to increase of these devastating extreme events as temperatures gradually rise, as sea levels gradually rise. having the broad team gets a broad perspective out there,

touches audience that don't meet the message in the past. >> the report that i mentioned earlier, it calls for emissions to be slashed by 40% to 70% by the year 2050. do you see that being possible? >> i think we have to believe that it's possible. i think if we look at our history, there has been a tendency sometimes to put our heads in the sand, unless a threat is right in front of us in time and space. but we also, i think, looking to our history can see once we realize that we face a major threat, we can move quickly to form solutions. and there may be additional benefits beyond the climate benefits to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. better air quality, a new economy of green infrastructure, to name a couple. >> okay. thank you so much. good luck with the premiere tonight. it's on showtime, "years of living dangerously." americans are divided over the urgency of action to combat climate change. in the nbc "wall street journal", 27% of americans said the president and congress need

to make it an absolute priority this year. 29% said it should not be pursued at all. a gallup poll in march said they worried a great deal or a fair amount. 51% said it worried them little or not at all. all the hot sauce fans, listen up. the makers of this hot sauce are under fire after neighbors say a foul smell spewing from the southern california factory is causing headaches and burning throats. they've even declared the building a public nuisance. frank joins me now from our los angeles bureau. first of all, frank, how do you properly say the hot sauce's name? >> it's called sriracha. >> i'm sure i've used it. i love hot sauce. you've been to the $40 million factory, in the city of irwindale, east of l.a.

what did you find? >> i toured the factory at the tail end of a grinding season last year. and it's one of the largest factories in town, the one under construction, one of the largest factories under construction in l.a. county. trucks are pulling up several times a day with chili peppers and they're grinding them fresh right there. i toured the factory. they took me up to the top. i kind of plunged my head into this vent that this air was spewing out of. i took four or five deep breaths, and just tried to experience the health effects that residents were complaining about. and didn't have much success. wasn't a pleasant smell, but i didn't experience asthma, heartburn or any of the things people were complaining about. >> all this harvesting, you said it's done in the fall, august to october. a bunch of jalapeno peppers is what's being cut up there. hot stuff certainly. are they testing the air quality to get to the bottom of this? >> yeah. the city has conducted tests

with a santa monica environmental consulting firm. and the company is working with the south coast air quality management district. basically, they're testing the air around the factory, they're testing the air in the surrounding neighborhoods. garlic contain sulfur, peppers contain capsaicin. the vinegar can be acidic. there are definitely some compounds in this hot sauce that could be harmful. >> this public nuisance vote taken by the city council, what does it meanwhile all this is going on? can the company still make hot sauce? >> yeah, so grinding season isn't going on right now. there's an injunction in los angeles superior court preventing them from odor-causing operations. and that to us means grinding chilies. they're not grinding chilies right now. all they're doing is mixing, bottling and packaging the sauce and sending it out. what the 90-day nuisance

designation says is they have 90 days to fix the smell, or the city will be authorized to go on and make the changes themselves and assess the costs to the company that makes the sauce. >> so in essence, are they cooperating? the crucial time doesn't come until later this year. in the interim, the 90 days, presumably they will cooperate? >> right. yeah, so the city has been a little bit wary of the -- or excuse me, the company has been a little wary of the city. they've invited the management district in to mediate the process. they're working with them to find a solution. so yes, the company said multiple times that they will be cooperating with the city. >> and when you talk about the kind of reactions people get, the headaches, and stinging -- irritation of the eyes and throat, have people had to go to the hospital for this? >> not that i know of. there was one woman who waved a doctor's note at a public hearing.

but the doctor didn't specify any health problems. i don't know of anybody being hospitalized. the complaints have come from, i think about 30 people, and the city council, or the air management district has received about 65 complaints total. >> i'm curious that area of irwindale, it's a very industrial community. is it that -- has there been development there? have homes come closer to the factory? because this has been there for a while, this factory. >> irwindale is a very industrial city. there's not a lot of people who live there. i think it's around 1,700 people that live there. they've got a dog food factory, they've got a beer factory, plastic packaging factories, they've got all kinds of factories and smells there. a lot of people i talk to, who were upset -- to see if they were upset about the smell complained about the dog food factory instead. it's a city of many smells and many factories.

>> do you like it? >> yeah. i've -- i definitely eat sriracha a lot. less so now that i have to write about it so much. but definitely a fan. >> okay. good to hear. i'm definitely going to make sure i try that. appreciate it. the republican strategy for winning the midterms, the big three weighs in. [ male announcer ] at his current pace, bob will retire when he's 153,

which would be fine if bob were a vampire. but he's not. ♪ he's an architect with two kids and a mortgage. luckily, he found someone 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.

it's just common sense. can you start tomorrow? yes sir. alright. let's share the news tomorrow. today we failrly busy. tomorrow we're booked solid. we close on the house tomorrow. i want one of these opened up. because tomorow we go live... it's a day full of promise. and often, that day arrives by train. big day today? even bigger one tomorrow. when csx trains move forward, so does the rest of the economy. csx. how tomorrow moves. disturbing the pantry. ortho crime files. a house, under siege.

say helto home defense max. kills bugs inside and prevents new ones for up to a year. ortho home defense max. get order. get ortho®. oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪ it's time for the big three. lip service, your hometown, and this week's must read. let's bring in my big three panel. jason johnson, lauren fox, and msnbc contributor, robert trainan. thank you for joining me. >> good afternoon. >> let's go first to lip service here. kentucky senator rand paul, let's listen on his trying to broaden the gop appeal.

>> if you want to be consistent, if you want to grow the movement, we cannot be the party of fat cats, rich people, and wall street. the big states, illinois, michigan, ohio, pennsylvania, we win 80% of the geography, we lose the cities. why are we losing cities? we're not getting the african-american votes. i say don't give up on that vote. go after that vote. >> talking fat cats, wall street, african-american vote there. and yet you have the ryan budget which critics say will make draconian cuts to the program. how can the republicans defend rand paul? >> the point is that the republican party has to broaden its base, and obviously we know that in 2008 and 2012. what's interesting about it he didn't mention the latino vote, the largest minority population growing in this country. he does have a point reaching out to brown people. he doesn't have a point it

doesn't have to be lip service. it's the actual policies in the ryan budget. people think it's fiscally responsible, that it puts our priorities in place. i'm not one of those individuals. i do believe our most vulnerable in our society have to be taken care of by the collective good. there are a lot of individuals out there, myself included, who believe we're spending way too much money and cannot afford to go down this fiscal path anymore. or we will face bankruptcy. >> the problem is that the primary voters in the republican party, they're not going to vote for the more moderate guys. >> i think it depends. it depends on the state. there are primary voters in new hampshire and pennsylvania and so forth who are much more moderate than the evangelicals in the south. it really depends on what geographic base you're speaking to. it also depends on the nominee, or the potential nominee. i think jeb bush, who is a conservative, but also has the appeal to moderates, is the right person for 2016 who can ask appeal not only to arch

conservatives but the moderates of the republican party as well. >> lauren, president obama spoke on friday about republicans and voting rights. >> the stark simple truth is this. the right to vote is threatened today in a way that it has not been since the voting rights act five decades ago. across the country, republicans have led efforts to pass laws making it harder, not easier for people to vote. >> lauren, how can republicans broaden their base, and appeal to the groups as the president contends they're making it harder for them to vote? >> we have to look at so many of these republican state legislatures who have moved over the last three or four years to pass very highly restrictive voter i.d. laws. and i think one of the ways that republicans can look to broaden the base is, there is work to be done on capitol hill. if we're talking about rand paul, someone looking at 2016, he can be one of the

front-runners when it comes to strengthening the voter rights act. we have to remember that the supreme court took out a large section of that bill, and there's been a lot of work on capitol hill to do something more there that hasn't been done yet. i think somebody like rand paul, if he wants to be that person, can step up and certainly take that role. >> okay. you know what, jason, i'm going to ask you to conclude this all up. you can't have it both ways. how can republicans reach a broader base? >> voter i.d. end voter i.d. in all these states. that is the number one symbolic issue angering african-americans and causing them to turn out at higher rates. what's worse, voter i.d. caused a decrease in white voters in both michigan, ohio and florida. so republicans are shooting themselves in the foot with a plan they think will suppress the vote for barack obama, but actually ended up hurting them and galvanizing the base. they need to cut that down and then it will probably work. >> what about the ryan budget? >> the ryan budget's never going

to work. everybody is angry about that. that's mostly for policy. if we talk about the great fly-over country, it's like voter i.d. and taxes that the republican party keeps getting that the republican party gets wrong. the ryan budget is mostly for the d.c. crowd. >> okay. let's move on to your hometown. i mentioned the new gallup poll. the nation's most satisfied cities. fort collins, colorado, with 95% of residents saying they are satisfied with living there. the question is for you. i want to know what your hometown is. tell me something good and bad. robert, you first? >> my hometown is philadelphia, p.a. philadelphia has a strong work ethic. we love sports and food which is the bad thing about philadelphia in terms of being over weight and the obesity and diabetes dilemma we have here in the keystone state. >> okay. lauren, your hometown and something good and bad. >> my hometown is callisville,

montana. if we are looking at a place that's stun any beautiful i grew up close to glacier national trip, kayak, hiking, camping trips. we have to remember the winters are dreadfully long in a place like this. for a kid who didn't grow up skiing it was too much to take. >> i can't believe you wouldn't have gone skiing. that would have been a dream place for me. jason? >> my hometown is the dmv, the d.c., maryland, virginia suburbs. that's where i grew up. the best part is it's d.c. everything is free. the zoo is free, museums, smithsonian. it's a fantastic place to grow up. the worst part is the traffic and the horrible sports teams. nothing will improve about those things. >> i'm sorry. i will chime in. my hometown is los angeles. i love everything about it. i'm the randy newman song. "i love l.a." except the

traffic. i'm with you on that, jason. coming up, help for all of us who aren't rich. dleys. inspired dishes like primavera, florentine and tuscany. fancy feast. a medley of love, served daily. ♪ you have to let me know [ female announcer ] when sweet and salty come together, the taste is irresistible. sweet and salty nut bars by nature valley. nature at its most delicious. woman: everyone in the nicu -- all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days. everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child that needs you every moment.

i wouldn't trade him for the world. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. if you're caring for a child with special needs, our innovative special care program offers strategies that can help.

on this palm sunday pope francis broke from tradition addressing the faithful at st. peter cease square, remarks entirely off the cuff. after the ser moib -- look at that -- the pope goes into the crowd to pose for selfies with the young folks. we have big papi and potus, the pope doing it. it's the newfangled way. let's go back to the big three for must reads. jason? >> the e.u. 40 battle for your vote. a group of members of the european parliament decided the best way to engage young voters is a freestyle rap battle about policy. it's fantastic to see. they talk about everything from i will immigration to societying rights to actually how to get a job. it's how real politicians can engage voters if they are interested. >> where can you find ha?

>> on the e.u. 40 website. a caucus of members of european parliament under 40 who want to engage young voters. >> you always go outside the box for your stuff. it's cool. lauren? >> this week we talked a lot about lbj's legacy when it came to the civil rights act. the new republic had a piece that reached out and grabbed me about how we have to remember when we are discussing history and lbj's legacy that as we approach some of the landmark anniversaries we also remember overseas lbj was more agres are sieve and may not have been the liberal stalwart we talk about. >> interesting talking about him. no one talked about his legacy, but we are now. robert, 15 seconds for yours. >> the new york times has a great story about breaking down the misnomer about only the 1% having financially he will the think advisers. 99% of us should get one.

it is affordable. it's a must read. >> good advice. jay john johnson, lauren fox and robert traynumb. that's a wrap. up next we have "meet the press." have a great day and encell brating this week. it starts with little things. tiny changes in the brain.

little things, anyone can do. it steals your memories. your independence. insures support. a breakthrough. and sooner than you'd like... ...sooner than you think. ...you die from alzheimer's disease. ...we cure alzheimer's disease. every little click, call, or donation adds up to something big. alzheimer's association. the brains behind saving yours. sfx: car unlock beep. vo: david'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.

add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get $100 off for every year of safe driving. we put members first. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side (agent) i understand. (dad) we've never sold a house before. (agent) i'll walk you guys through every step. (dad) so if we sell, do you think we can swing it? (agent) i have the numbers right here and based on the comps that i've found, the timing is perfect.

...there's a lot of buyers for a house like yours. (dad) that's good to know. (mom) i'm so excited. good sunday morning. we're talking about the politics of health care. is the good sunday morning. we're talking about the politics of health care. is the resignation of kathleen sebelius a sign of success for failure for the president's health care law. we'll have an exclusive interview with the outstanding health secretary this morning. and with republican president candidates in new hampshire this weekend making it clear they'll continue the health care fight. we'll discuss what promises to be a pivotal issue in november's midterm. plus, boston strong. one year later. ahead of the anniversary of the boston marathon bombings, i went to the city for a special discussion on how boston is recovering from tragedy with a unique round table and an