on benghazi. >> cycling now, putin's next moves. military drills doubling down to critics and throwing a bone to the opposition. >> #spin cycle, the crisis in nigeria. the world re spobds, critics call it too little, too late. others say you can't tweet your way to a solution. >> more of a problem than her husband. what mrs. sterling is saying about the clippers and what he's saying about his racist rant. from l.a. to clear across the country, more on why i'm here in atlanta. lots going on in "the cycle." it starts now. in just a few short hours, the republican led house is expected to create a select committee to investigate the 2012 benghazi terror attacks. four americans were killed, including u.s. ambassador chris stevens. the first u.s. ambassador killed

in the line of duty in three decades. let's remember how this unraveled. it was september 2012 two months before the presidential election. the u.s. consulate was attacked. and this is what it looked like afterwards. that sunday, then u.s. ambassador susan rice made the rounds saying a film mocking e muhammad was attacked. accountability review board launched an investigation, and so did several house and senate committees. then secretary of state hillary clinton also spent hours testifying on the hill. but, last month, the state department gave a watchdog group previously undisclosed documents. one e-mail was sent by deputy national security adviser ben rhodes, and discusses the appearances, including underscoring that these protests are rooted in an internet video, and not a broader failure or policy. and reinforced obama's strength

in dealing with this. this e-mail was not turned over in 2012, after congressional republicans subpoenaed all benghazi related documents. and that has given the gop claims of a white house cover-up new momentum. they have subpoenaed current secretary of state john kerry ooh testify. house speaker john boehner says, quote, the obama administration is so intent on obstructing the truth about benghazi, it is even willing to defy subpoenas. senate leader harry reid claims republicans are wasting americans' time by staging a partisan political circus. white house minority leader nancy pelosi is pushing for equal representation on the select committee. voting this evening will create seven republicans for the division and five dems. whoever is in the majority typically has majority. like pelosi did with the climate change panel. and the special committee that investigated watergate had four dems and three republicans. we start with nbc's luke on the

hill. luke, this was a tmiscommunicat administration to cover their behinds during an election year. because of that, this continues to play out. but let's talk about the purpose of this specific panel. because it doesn't sound like it's being formed to answer some of the biggest questions, like why the ambassador was killed and how we can prevent this from happening again. is this committee just politics and the blame game as usual? >> well, depends who you talk to, abby. if you talk to republicans, some of them equated benghazi with watergate. the cover-up goes all the way to the top. a lot of democrats think this is simply a waste of time, because house republicans don't have a real legislative agenda from here to november. immigration reform, extending unemployment insurance, possibly having jobs bills, those are difficult legislative things that don't seem necessarily accurately possible at this moment. now, in terms of this committee specifically, what this really

was sort of something that was borne out of four separate committees investigating this in the house. they were tripping over each other. they said there's not a lot here in benghazi. and others said there's a ton here. john boehner as leader of the party in the house saw what was happening of the he wanted to sort of bring this more under his control, have the select committee. and the eshs mails last week, i can say from conversations for those close to the speaker really did offend him. he thought they should be out early on. john boehner did not call for the select committee, even though 180 house members said this should occur. moving forward is a difficult dance. obviously the house gop is running into some sort of issue because of the nrcc fund raising off of benghazi. i asked speaker boehner about that today. he dodged the question simply saying we have to get to the bottom of this. essentially greenlighting fund-raising off of this. the big word moving forward is this committee in the eyes of americans, obviously

republicans, because it gets at their base, but is this distracting from issues americans care more about and are they using to fund raise when four people did in fact die in that terrible attack. >> luke, this long-term right wing benghazi creates a message in having something to say to america rather than this administration's corrupt. even though the questions have mostly been answered over and over again. they continue to say, we have questions. we still have questions. this is a partisan stunt to create an atmosphere of scandal. there's not really an actual effort to improve the situation, or figure ot what really happened. they're just trying to point a finger at somebody in the administration.

they can say it's fully bipartisan. we're doing the way nancy pelosi wanted to set this up. it gets some political legitimacy back. right now, i feel like it looks like nothing more than a partisan stunt. >> what do you think about the notion of this looking like a partisan stunt and nothing more? >> well, if you look at the breakdown of the committee, which would favor republicans, obviously you've seen that historically on the select committees. but the question moving forward, towere, is will democrats participate. we still do not know that. i've spoken to a lot of democratic members, they're 50/50 on this. a lot of them feel what chuck says is completely accurate, that this is nothing more than a political stunt, that this is something that the gop is doing to fund raise off of. there's another school of house democrats that say hold on here, one of the things we were able

to do on the oversight committee is when darrell issa was going down the rabbit holes of all sorts of variety of issues, elijah cummings, being able to check him on the spot. do we want to lose that ability. especially if someone as high up and hillary clinton who testifies before the committee, then house democrats lose the ability to offer those large-scale figures in the democratic party cover, especially ahead of hillary clinton running in 2016. it's a very interesting sort of conundrum house democrats are in regarding this select committee. they don't want to acknowledge it should occur. they think it's a partisan political stust, but do they participate to save people who come before it. >> that's an interesting debate on the hill, luke. the battle must be joined even if you think the forum is illegitimate. i think you're telling us that in your reporting today, you're interviewing and asking questions of john boehner, and he will not categorically, specifically condemn and rule out the kind of fund-raising

they're doing off these brave men who died out there. and these are the very people -- some of these republicans, maybe not house republicans, but some of them stood up and said, we want to honor these men who died. that's what this is about. and now here we are going towards the select committee where they're putting out fund-raising e-mails saying we need our donors to be benghazi watchdogs. it's gross. for members of the house republican reelect committee, they are now part of dishonoring these men. if the speaker can't say that explicitly and condemn it and make it stop, we know a heck of a lot of exactly what this committee is up to, and it's gross. >> it's an interesting divide within the house gop conference, ari. because yesterday on msnbc's trey gowdy the guy leading this select committee said there should be no fund-raising off of it. that it is an effort designed to

find the truth. john boehner, i asked him twice, jake sherman asked him right after me, he had three occasions, three chances today to say, no, there should be no fund-raising done off of this benghazi. but if you look at what the nrcc does, this is valuable data money. people who sign up to be benghazi watchdogs, they'll surely turn out in 2016 to keep the house -- sorry, 2014 and keep the house in republican hands. but this is an interesting side issue that is wise to bring up is, how does this play out moving forward. as soon as these fund-raising solicitations keep coming out, and the nrcc is not the only one doing it, there are a lot of other groups, that gives democrats a ton of ammo saying this is the only reason why this is happening. you'll see that sort of, this is all about politics. some democrats say, hey, maybe this could turn out into a bill clinton 1998 midterm situation where they get so caught up in the side issues that americans don't care about, they end up

losing a few seats, or break even. hard to see that happening with the gerrymandering the way it is, but it certainly adds another arsenal to the weapons past democrats have against the select committee on benghazi. >> luke, it seems to me the type of people signing up to be benghazi watchdogs, they'll be voting republican in 2014, and 2016 anyway. it doesn't seem to me like they need this additional push. we've seen republicans in some instances sort of gin up their base about something, the government shutdown would be a perfect example. and even though they don't really want to, they're sort of pressured by the base and far right of the party, to follow through with the strategy that they know is really quite fool hardy. is this a situation where the base is driving the bus, and the republican leadership doesn't actually think that they are benefiting politically from going forward with yet another committee investigation into benghazi? or is the republican leadership really thinking this is a good thing for them politically going

into the midterms? >> it's an interesting question, krystal. here's what i will tell you. if you go back to the beginning of april, john boehner on fox news said there's no need to have the special committee on benghazi. even though there are 180 members of his house conference calling for it. basically saying, the committees who started their work, finished their work of the then after the release of those newer e-mails by the outside group that brought them forward, ben rhodes saying, let's make sure there's not a failure of administration policy, john boehner felt sleighted by that. that's why he realized there is a lot of folks in his conference that wanted the red meat. he let it move forward. all that being said, krystal, if you talk to aides privately, they realize this is a potentially dangerous strategy. if they get too wrapped up on this, not to mention it allows for some of their more outspoken members to get a lot of possible national tv time, and imagine one of these members, although

john boehner is going to select them to put on this committee, if there's a contentious back-and-forth on hillary clinton, that could blow up in their face. if you poll gop aides right now, the majority of them would say, maybe this is not the best way to go. but they realize that after those e-mails that happened recently, they really have no other choice. at the end of the day, yeah, the base always drives the bus. >> as long as they can get on tv and raise money, that's the key. >> that actually hurts legitimacy. luke, you're in the thick of things. it sounds like this is just the beginning. so hold on title. thank you so much for joining us. >> take it easy, guys. when we come back from one international incident to another, vladimir putin show-and-tell, giving his doubters second thoughts.

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we're talking about 139, when winston churchill said i cannot forecast the action of russia. it is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. the words still ring true today. vladimir putin announced russia has withdrawn troops from the border with the crane. nato said they have not seen any troop movement at all. putin will accept the presidential election on may 25th. >> love that music. any excuse to get in the music, ari. putin will accept the results on the condition that ukraine's eastern region be allowed to be autonomous, robbing the presidency of much of its power.

many say if putin is indeed pulling back, it's because he loeths chaos. but he does do a good job of creating it. the judo wrestling kgb'ing geopolitical bent newar is on the cover of "time" magazine co-authored by michael crowley. michael, it seems like part of what has happened here is putin has gotten what he wanted. he didn't want ukraine to become part of nato. and he's created enough leverage that he can sort of ruin the presidency or delegitimize the presidency of ukraine and get control over the eastern regions he wanted. thus keeping ukraine from joining nato. but doing so in a way that doesn't force the west to come in in a much stronger way economically, or even worse, militarily. he's a sly dog here. >> he really is sly. and he's effective. and he has had the west on its heels throughout this process. and you're exactly right, he

seems to have achieved his obvious goals. he's doing now, if he really is kind of stepping back and toning down, and i hasten to say washington is very skeptical, and it's really not clear what's happening at this moment. but he is talking about returning to diplomacy. he's talking about pulling back his troops. i don't think there's any evidence that's happened. that would be consistent with what a lot of people thought would be the most rational thing for him to do. which is, stir up the east, retain at least barely plausible deniability that russia was invading, incurring, agitating. don't actually cross the border and force the west to really hit with big hard sanctions. so he gets what he wants without the worst punishment possible. so that would be the rationale outcome if that's what he's doing. in recent days people have been questioning he's rational in the way that we think of it that he's willing to suffer more

consequences than washington and the eu had expected. so it's a question mark now. but there is potentially logic to this. >> you think about, michael, where we were a month ago. we were all wondering what was going on inside putin's head. was he just full of crazy thoughts? but, you know, now we know the lengths that this guy is willing to go. it's pretty clear that he's not only capable of following through with his words, but he's actually -- he has a plan. he knows exactly what he's doing. >> right. there's still some dispute as to how thought out this is. i think there's a lot of evidence that he has this idea of a new russia, of rebuilding the glory of old russia, reacquiring old territories. you know, as we argue in our story, he has a lot of admiration of the old czars and maybe acting in their tradition. i interviewed michael mcfall, the last u.s. ambassador to moscow, and his take is that putin has been reacting in a

kind of ad hoc tactical way, after yanukovych was chased out of kiev by those protesters. we all remember the big -- the conflagration and fires in central kiev. that he wasn't really expecting that. he didn't really have a clear plan. he didn't have a master plan to take back crimea. and he's reacting tactically ever since then. at a minimum, this does fit conveniently with long-standing ideas he's had with a return to russian greatness. a grievance he had about how the west treated his country, and the independent countries on russia's border really belong to russia. whether it's a master design or not, it's working out the way he thinks it ought to as far as russia's place in the world. >> that begs the question of how far is this going to go. does this end in ukraine. putin said he's acting in support of ethnic russians. there are ethnic russian populations. one of the things you write is a move on latvia, where 26% of the

population of ethnic russians could put a match to the tinderbox, and move to the baltics with western will. is putin going to stop in ukraine? >> well, i would say that, a couple days ago, i would have been gloomier about this. what he's doing in the last 24 hours or so, gives you a little bit of hope that he's stepping back from the precipice. but it was starting to look like he was going to push as hard as he possibly could. i think the next line in our story is one of my favorites, a former director of the cia, who warns that if putin were to go into latvia, it would be a potential dagger to the heart of the nato alliance. i do think there would have to be -- there would be an internal debate within nato, are we really going to go to war over latvia. you can imagine the debate in the u.s. congress, are we going to put u.s. troops at risk to defend latvia. >> the answer is no. >> i think the answer might be

no. but i would say, i'm more optimistic that that's not going to happen than i was a few days ago. >> near the end of your story, you land on something that's really interesting, a counter explanation of putin's lack of interest in going deep into ukraine. you say simply, ukraine is an ungovernable mess. tell us about that. >> well, you know, i think not for this story, but somewhere along the line someone reminded me of colin powell's pottery barn theory. that was the idea that if -- he warned george w. bush if you invade iraq, if you break it, you own it. if putin goes into eastern ukraine with his military force, suddenly he owns it. crimea is already looking like sort of an economic and social mess in all kinds of ways. it's going to be really expensive for russia to absorb it and restabilize it. i think the same would go much more so for eastern ukraine. not to mention that crimea has an overwhelmingly really does have a pro-russian population.

eastern ukraine not quite so much. and you could very much be looking at a guerrilla war there. you would have people potentially coming from western ukraine to fight and possibly eastern ukraine. the whole country of ukraine is an economic basket case. there are a lot of skeptics that -- who say that's not likely to change anytime soon. who really wants this country. you want it as kind of a prize between east and west. there's not a lot of positive stuff given back. >> people in ukraine telling pew they want the borders to stay the way they are. michael, good to see you. the clippers and the thunder are tied in their play-off series now there are two sterlings making a play to keep the team.

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calls for eric shinseki to step down are glowing this afternoon. we just learned he will appear in front of the senate veterans affairs committee next thursday. a retired doctor there claims as many as 40 veterans may have needlessly died as a result. shinseki told our nbc news correspondent he has no plans to step down. >> they want you to resign or be fired. will you resign? >> i would say i serve at the pleasure of the president. >> are you willing, as the secretary of veterans affairs, to accept full responsibility? >> i am. i have, and that's the reason the ig is down there doing the investigation. >> president obama's choice for

his next health and human services secretary appears to be in healthy political shape. sylvia mathews burwell appeared in front of a senate committee today. she promised to lower health care costs through the affordable care act and deflected republican criticism about the rollout. that disaster happened under the watch of outgoing secretary kathleen sebelius who announced her resignation last month on the same day she announced enrollment numbers exceeded expectations. the folks at radar online obtained a recording that they say is from a close friend of donald sterling, in response to the backlash over his racist comments. >> i mean, how could you think i'm a racist, knowing me all these years? how can you be in this business and be a racist? do you think i tell the coach to get white players? >> still unclear if he

understands what racism is there from that recording. nbc news has not confirmed the authenticity. we'll keep you updated on that as warranted. sterl's estranged wife shelly is determined to keep the team. her desire to maintain ownership presents a new wrinkle that nba officials hadn't expected. stay tuned. we turn now to the continued search for those kidnapped any nigerian school girls. the jihadist group kidnapped 276 school girls last month and another eight on monday. the outrage has caused a worldwide social media movement. the first lady even joined in, tweeting this picture of her holding a sign with that hash tag. the white house has taken heat for not taking action sooner. we're now pledging aid in both military drones and hostage negotiators from the fbi.

while the hash tag movement has drawn attention to what's happening in nigeria, a new cosmopolitan piece examines the argument that so-called hash tag activism doesn't actually achieve the goals and nigeria is not the first example. we're now joined for a special spin on it. this is about attention being one thing, action being another, right? >> it is. my concern about the bring back our girls hash tag is it will become another coney 2012, where we saw the massive social media movement. ask somebody today what country was joseph coney from, and see if they can answer you. that's my concern here. that we'll lose context and lose sight of the fact that boko haram has been operating in nigeria for years. they've done kidnappings before, and quite a few killings and killed school children, but mostly school boys. it's great now social media is pointing us to boko haram and pressuring the nigerian

government to act. but we need to be smart activists and make sure we're contextualizing this and keeping it in the necessary nuance. >> it's an interesting point. the only pushback i would have. you brought up coney, that happened two years ago. everybody was talking about that at the time, when the 30-minute video was released. i think it had 100 million views in the first six days. now coney is still out there. so that leads right to your point. but the reality is, i i probably wouldn't have known, many people wouldn't have known about coney had it not been for this campaign. many of us would not know what was going on in nigeria without the hack tash trending and talking about it. it brings attention to this. and you hope the attention leads folks to act on it. >> actually, what happens when we get to know about this via twitter, we feel like, i like that facebook page, i sent a tweet, instagramed the first lady's picture about it. it lulls you to sleep.

this is not real activism. you feel like i contributed, i'm a good person. i can feel good about myself. when actually all you did is make a teeny tiny noise in a teeny tiny community. you didn't actually affect the decision-making ak ti i.ism. others say, wow, this is actually a serious frightening situation. these people are risking their lives out here. or risking their bodies, as you see with occupy, or the things that the black panthers did, or many others. that shakes them out of the status quo. >> is the answer not doing anything on social mead ja? it's better to do something than nothing. >> i think hash tag activism. it may not be laying your body on a line for a cause, but these are small little blips of voices. but those have added up to a huge force. especially with the nigerian government, which tends to be unfortunately much more responsive to the international pressure than its own people. >> when you give people that

off-ramp to do something small, the energy doesn't build up to make them have to do something larger. >> what i appreciated most in your article was, the point about not what are we trying to achieve, hopefully something good. right? 20 women senators now all weighing in. harry reid weighing in, john mccain weighing in. this is a sense this is a bigger thing in our politics that can come down to the benefits over there. but you also speak to the fact that there is a danger of us trying to entertain ourselves with these types of stories. and social media feeds into that. and perhaps, tell me if this is the problem, we're using the prism of humanitarian social media intervention to actually just gorge on these images of their own sort of dark kind of exciting, sad story. >> yeah, i think that's right. in february, boko haram killed 50 school boys. there was really no social media push for that. what they did, they went into a

school, they separated the girls from the boys, they sent the girls home. and said don't come back to school, go home and get married. and then they slaughtered the boys and burned down the school. you weren't seeing that on social media. you weren't seeing that overtaking the u.s. media the way that this story is. to me, that's a real tragedy. i think all kids matter. school boys matter, school girls matter. i think sort of the fact that we see school girls is so vulnerable. that they sort of are this picture of innocence. and that we also sort of sexualize them in u.s. culture, with the catholic school girl, as a thing. that little bit of kind of luridness was one of the reasons the story really took off. i find that troubling. >> action is what we all need to get to. interesting piece. thank you. we appreciate it. up next, women breadwinners, and the guys who can't seem to handle it. that's next. good job!

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we are far from total equality. but the gender pay gap is shrinking ever so slowly. a few reports that women now earn 84% of what their male counterparts make. and younger women actually make 93 cents on the dollar to men. compare that to 1980, women made just two-thirds of what men made. also digest this. women are the breadwinners now in 40% of households with children. while that may be great for the equality movement and great for the family bank account, it could also mean problems for the family dynamic. a unique look at managing those challenges in a new book, when she makes more, ten rules for bread winning women. and you say that being the bread winning woman actually complicates your relationship in a lot of ways. tell us about that. >> there's nothing wrong with being a bread winning woman. i just want to make that clear.

when she enters a relationship, the problem is that men and women are still holding on to these very antiquated ideals about what it means to be in a male-female relationship and what money means in the relationship. there's higher chance for divorce and infidelity. i found when she makes more, she's really feeling overwhelmed, how to make her career work, her household, domestic drudgery work, child care, and her romantic life. and men, they can feel emasculated. >> oftentimes men don't want to admit it. you have a list of ten rules for bread winning women, one is to develop a thick erskine. unfair judgments are par for the course when a woman is making more money than her man. i know a thing or two about that sitting at this table every day. the only thing i would say, too, that developing a thick erskine-hoe. >> what are you talking about? >> that's why i developed the thick erskine.

also finding a level of compassion. knowing that it is difficult for the man, even though they may not voice that all the time. knowing that it is sensitive, and you have to be thick skinned but be compassionate. >> this is a new territory for everybody. the headlines are like, why can't the guys get on with this. our intelligence brains are telling us this is totally normal, get with the times. women also have challenges with this. that chapter you point out is one of my favorites, because it's personal to me as well. my mother had an issue with me marrying someone who made less, because while my parents always supported me to get my education, pursue my career, stand on my own two feet, it was never expected that i would be the breadwinner in the relationship. my mom was concerned that i would be conflicted. and now i'm almost ready to pop, guys -- >> congratulations. >> thank you. that maybe i would feel stuck, right? i have to pursue my career like a hamster on a wheel and come home and take care of everything else. >> you know, most moms do that

anyway, whether they're the breadwinner or not. these men who feel their masculinity is challenged because their woman makes more than them, which can be a blessing in a lot of situations, meaning if you're not man enough for that, why is it her burden to make him feel better. >> it's not her burden. we're in a relationship, guys. >> it takes two to tango. >> men sometimes -- just because he's a little insecure about the fact that you're the breadwinner and he's not, doesn't mean he's not going to love you, he's not going to support. he just needs time to reconcile this. women go through the same psychological issues, too. we're not prepared all the time to be the breadwinner. sometimes we feel resentful we're in this position. i don't want to put all the blame on men. i want to remind everyone when you're in a relationship you're not at work. it's not just like shape up, or ship out. you've got to work with one

another. and figure out why are we insecure. men want to provide. okay? they want to be able to support the most important person in their life. if they can't be providing for you in a financial way, you've got to repurpose the relationship. what is it you can now bring to the table where you still feel like my hero. those couples win. >> very interesting stuff. thank you so much. >> you're welcome. still to come, the journalist making news for the way that he covers it. sfx: car unlock beep. vo: david's heart attack didn't come with a warning.

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do you ever wonder where courage comes from? why people are able to do amazes things. the journalist and musician pursues that question in the bravery tapes, which follows extraordinary people powering through major hardships. like isabel, a chilean miner who became the first woman to own a mine in that country. the series uses reporting and music to share stories from survivors from the boston marathon bombing, and the choice a man had to make after losing his brother, wife and two young daughters in tragic accidents. jen is a reporter for "time" magazine, a former mexico correspondent, and musician.

he's also a good friend of mine. >> whoa. >> thanks for being here. >> that says a lot. >> thank you. >> that's shocking. >> what we saw there in the chilean miner story, and in many of these stories, is a type of adversity overcome where people are doing even greater things. why did you feel you needed to leave a traditional journalism to tell that story? >> i love journalism. i've been privileged to cover a lot of amazing stories, and i still love that. but i took a look at the craft, and i noticed that the stories where i came across people like that were the ones i had gotten goose bumps about, the ones i was most inspired by. i thought, why don't i make a genre out of bravery. >> the first video that you made when you decided to make this move into the bravery tapes, you went to mexico, and you looked at people who are impacted by the mexican drug war. and it's a really powerful thing. you talk about school children, you talk about people who

basically have ptsd, people who deal with family members being kidnapped. and really amazing stuff. why did you decide to start there? >> well, first, because i used to be -- i covered mexico for a few years. but second, i think it's a story often misunderstood in the u.s. we see death, kidnapping, violence in the headlines here, but there's a side we don't see. there's a whole lot of courage going on there among a whole slew of people. before i did that piece, i went and met with editors of the largest newspapers. they couldn't tell me about stories of bravery. so even the mexicans are so desensitized to the violence they can't see the good of what's going on. i wanted to tell that story. i thought the best way to tell that story is to find examples of children and teenagers who have confronted the adversity, and done something extraordinary. >> let's talk about ted's story. ari sent me the video this morning.

it was so incredibly moving, i think for both of us. this is a mab who lost pretty much everyone in his life, first his brother, then his wife whom he loved so much, and then his two little angel daughters and his mother-in-law. and he was left with a choice, do i commit suicide or restart my life? he decided to admit himself to get some help. let's actually take a look at the film. >> i chose to check myself into a treatment center. for alcohol and drugs. and i didn't do either. and luckily, i was accepted. those 28 days of being held in a cocoon, to just find me again, it was like a spaceship had picked me up and taken me to their planet, allowed me time to heal, find my true self, let go of dysfunctional behaviors, and really let go of the craving. i was craving those girls so bad. i just wanted to hold carrie and amy one more time. >> the strength of this man is

unbelievable. >> what really struck me about that story is what he did with it. he was considering suicide. he was considering riding out the rest of his life in that kind of state. that. that's what i thought was so brave about what he did. >> in ted's story, he's faced with horrible circumstances and makes a choice to be brave and rise to the occasion. a lot of the stories you highlight, is it people finding them in those sorts of tough situations where they have to be brave or just not going to make it, or is it more sort of an intentional act where people are seeking out situations where they can be courageous and brave? >> you know, it's a mixed bag. i have a couple of new segments that haven't been released yet where it was life circumstance that came upon them, and the same with ted, the same with mexico. but i've highlighted people who have take continue upon themselves, they've seen some

kind of situation they didn't agree with and wanted to do something about it and push forward. i think -- i think bravery comes in all shapes and sizes and it's going on all over us and all we need to do is highlight it and we can find it. >> you are putting yourself at some risk especially when you leave the united states and deal with these dangerous situations. are you now or in the future going to deal with the bravery that it takes to actually report some of these stories? there that's a question that sometimes people ask me, how are you brave? right? and i am only very inspired by the people that i report on. and i apspire to be as courageos as they are. i get inspiration from them. if i can do even half of that, that would be amazing. in terms of the reporting, i mean, there are a lot of journalists much more at risk than i am. >> of course. >> but i enjoy it. i really enjoy it.

>> the flip side to the bravery can courage is fear. and you think about this moment in american life we are afraid of so many things. a politics of fear in a lot of the stories that we cover. and to go back to the ted story which i was looking at, perspective that emerges when you look at someone who has been through that, right, and think about what counts as things i'm afraid of in my daily life or what i worry about in my daily life and it knocks you back. another part is music and musics universal language because it connects people and puts things into perspective. how much tez to have that wider perspective? >> well, two things. as americans we're entitled. you're right, we worry about things that most of the world wishes they could worry about, right? and so, i would like us as americans to take that into account and be grateful for what we do have.

talking about fear, i think that a lot of us, as journalists, focus on the fear when we report stories rather than the opposite side of the coin, so that's what i'm trying to do with "bravery tapes." >> seem like a great guy, friends with this one. >> he's got a big heart. >> every segment has a mystery. i get to be friends with you. jens gould. >> time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. with the help of her children, jenny doan of hamilton, missouri turned her quilting hobby into the missouri star quilt company. her youtube videos drew followers to her town and now her company's booming as well as other small businesses around her on main street. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is

my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. when folks think about wthey think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america. i missed you, too.ou.

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last weekend the four of us had the honor of attending the white house correspondence dinner. having been to the dinner once

before, i had an idea of what to expect. humor, tradition, at times costaphobic, and celebrities made journalists who looking the red carpet best feel like last week's tulips, this is true, except krystal ball who always looks stunning. one thing i didn't expect, a table of "cycle" hosts decided to remove ourselves from the craziness as crab cakes making their way to the table and decided to hold hands and say grace. i will forget many things that happened but i won't forget that moment because it was a reminder of a commonality that even for a brief moment, bound all of us together. the idea that regardless of our religious background, we all had something to be thankful for. at our table a jew, baptist, mormon but it didn't matter because it wasn't who we were praying to, it was about taking a few moments away from the insanity to reflect on something bigger than ourselves. this week the supreme court ruled in favor or of prayer

before public meetings. as kennedy put it our tradition assumes that adult citizens firm that their own beliefs can tolerate and perhaps appreciate a ceremonile prayer. if citizens hear prayers that make them feel excluded or disrespected ignore them. adults often encounter speech they find disagreeable but there was a ton of backlash to the decision. the aclu said they were extremely disappointed and, quote, official religious favoritism should be off-limits under the constitution. here's the thing, prayer in the country has nevin been intended to isolate or convert anyone. prayer is part of our tradition, our heritage. my own family is its own melting pot of religion, my dad's side is mormon. my fourth great-grandfather was one of the early leaders of the latter day saints movement and great-grandfather of mitt romney. but that's one side. my mom's side is episcopalian

and my sisters bring in buddhism and hinduism from china and india. we appreciate the diversity. prayer does not need to be something done with religious fervor. it comes in many forms with different purpose. whether in church, at a 3,000-person dinner at washington hilton or a public meeting appreciate the american tradition that is ceremonial prayer, appreciate the fact we can pursue religious beliefs freely and openly and the men and women that fight for us keep free donees. if you don't like it, plug your ears as the rest of us reflect on a moment. after all, isn't that and why the pilgrims came here in the first place? that's it for "the cycle" "now" with alex wagner starts now. >> this ain't to tea party. a strong cup of contempt. thursday, may 8th. this is "now." >> welcome to witch hunt week.

>> once again this week, after republicans continue our focus on the number one issue in the country, jobs and the economy. republicans continue our focus on -- >> the irs. >> the irs. >> the irs. >> the first official lois lerner in contempt of congress. >> i don't think lois lerner was saying whoopi. >> lois lerner can go to jail. >> this is all about the circus. >> this is all about the sideshow. >> between benghazi and the irs, the white house is on defense. >> republicans continue our focus on -- >> benghazi. >> benghazi. >> were are republicans fund-raising off of benghazi. >> you cannot overstate how much his riles up the republican base. >> nothing about climate change. >> nothing about the investigation. >> all they want