threats from the tea party. >> tea party favorites lost in all of the most important republican races. >> in kentucky mitch mcconnell cruised to victory. >> alison grimes is barack obama's candidate. >> as kentucky's next united states senator, i'll answer to the people of this state. i will speak for myself, and no kentucky woman, mitch mcconnell, will sit on the back bench. >> now for the bombshell lawsuit against the nfl. >> the lawsuit claims doctors gave players painkillers to hide serious injuries and keep them on the field. >> the fbi is considering the relaxing the policy on marijuana smokers. >> one of our challenges we face is getting a good work force, at the same time when young people's attitudes about marijuana are leading more and more of them to try it. they serve our country, but

are we serving them in their hour of need? after weeks of controversy about alleged deaths linked to delayed care at the va facilities, president obama is finally speaking out. >> if these allegations prove to be true, it is dishonorable. it is disgraceful. and i will not tolerate it, period. >> pretty strong words. will they be enough to quell what has welcobecome a growing of outrage. president obama's decision to stand by eric shinseki, whom he met with right before the presser. people are out for blood. the president's not having it. >> i know that ric's attitude is, if he does not think he can do a good job on this and if he thinks he's let our veterans down, then i'm sure that he is not going to be interested in continuing to serve. at this stage, ric is committed to solving the problem. >> the tone of those statements, no forced resignation, calls for

a longer term slower investigation, is already getting heat. particularly from top republicans. john mccain just said, quote, his remarks are wholly insufficient in addressing the fundamental systemic problems plaguing our veterans' health care system. but here's the thing, president obama's approach is systemic. one of the frustrations people seem to have with the remarks is he chose to focus less on the blood letting and more on the longer term inadequacies in health care. the president is sending his deputy chief of staff to phoenix to start a broad review of the veterans health administration. part of what we now know an even larger investigation of 26 va facilities nationwide. nbc national correspondent peter alexander is inside the white house briefing room for this conversation. peter, there have been reports that president obama is very mad about this scandal. so why is he standing by shinseki, do you think? >> i think the president wanted

to come out today as white house officials would say to demonstrate his frustration as well. it didn't help when other people said he was madder than hell, he wanted to make it clear that he's as outraged as anybody else in this. he described general shinseki as someone who wants to correct the problem. the white house wants to have a better understanding of the breadth of this as the president said, that it's not just episodic, but systemic issues within the va. i think what really underlied the remarks made by the president today, ronan, is the fact that this is not a story that's exclusive to washington, like a lot of political fights sometimes are. this is a story that's getting headlines in local communities right now, in newspapers and local newscasts across the country, with the veterans affairs inspector general investigating 26 separate va facilities right now.

this is happening in, i think at least ten states. they recognize that drum beat is something they need to address. it's why the president said that there are things that can be done right now, and called upon his secretary of veterans affairs, eric shinseki, to try to move forward and reach out to the individuals who are still in line waiting for care. >> look, there are these two separate responses, one about accountability, which is going to be longer term, and that's frustrating a lot of people, but also the desire to fix this right now. the problems are here right now. it seems like he's focusing on that. thank you, peter alexander. the president's methodical approach we've been talking about is engendering a lot of frustration, particularly from both the hill and from the military side. joining me now are those two voices for the military, medal of honor recipient colonel jack jacobs, and from capitol hill, we're joined by congresswoman stheel a jackson lee of texas. a big military state. and the site of some of these allegations about the va health

care. colonel jacobs, did the president go far enough? >> i think it went far enough. he's a little late. he needs to get out ahead of the story. >> this was several weeks where all we heard from was aides and spokes people. >> that's correct. it goes back further than that. months and months ago, indeed years ago we had this problem. and when shinseki first took office, those people with pts, agent orange exposure, opened the doors to them and said, that they could sign up and come in for va benefits. and the fact of the matter is, the organization was not structured, wasn't capable of actually handling it. this is an old story. unfortunately, the white house did not get in front of the story, even when the size and scope of it broke several weeks ago, a little bit too late. >> congresswoman, your state as we mentioned is home to some of the allegations. there's one whistleblower who worked at two texas va facilities and claimed he was coached on how to cook the books, and conceal some of these long wait times for patients.

if those allegations turn out to be true, does the buck stop at the white house for this? >> let me just say that our medical system for our veterans have been on fire for a long time. and the water holes has not been able to get close enough to put it out. as the veterans health system is on fire, and i can tell you that the administration is on fire, and i frankly believe the president appointed a cabinet officer and expected that that cabinet officer would do his or her job and get the job done. today he has indicated he is willing to stick with his general and that he holds his general accountable and responsible. and that means that it will not be ten months, two weeks, it should be two days, three days, within weeks, within days that he gets his hand around, along with dr. nabors. we have a great deal of respect for him. we worked with him on the hill. we know he's going to phoenix. it's going to make a difference.

>> his report is expected in a week's time. >> in a week. in a week. what i would say is, we don't take lightly those who put on the uniform and leave these shores and come back and expect the kind of commitment to the obligation that they deserve. so i'm not going to make any excuses. what i am going to say, 40 dead and more is unacceptable. and i would like to say, in the medical term, and various illnesses, if it is cancer, let's cure it and carve it out. if it is heart disease, let's provide the surgery that is necessary. if it is stroke, high blood pressure, and when i say that, if that's what it is, let's get the remedy right there. because i don't think we can tolerate any more cover-up employees. that's what members of congress are looking for. get the cover-up employees out. get them out quickly and begin to repair the system. >> let's talk about one tool that could better allow the removal of employees. the house tonight is scheduled

to vote on the va accountability act. it gives general shinseki to target the employees, about 450 who serve as hospital directors or executives. the expectation is that will pass with bipartisan support. first of all, do you think that will address the issue sufficiently, and what else can congress do? >> let me first of all say that there are thousands, hundreds, and there are thousands of va employees that i see, and know that they are working their heart out, and have a great concern for those who they take care of. and i think we should say that. secondarily, democrats always want to respect workers' rights. and we should put that on the table. but right now, as i said, we're on fire without a hose that's working. and i think that authority is going to be important. because it has to be those respective heads of hospitals that are not looking down into the second floor, the third floor, into the operating room, into the paperwork, and they're

not seeing what is going on. and so frankly, i want to throw, if you will, wisdom to the wind as it relates to what we've done before. and let's do some things going forward, that is going to focus on our veterans. let me also say, maybe there needs to be some collaboration with our public health system outside of the veterans, and therefore, if the veterans is overloaded, get them into some system right away. >> clearly a lot needs to change here, congresswoman. i did want to ask you, colonel jacobs, last word from you, when the president goes to this point of politicizing veterans and obviously this is something you have a personal interest in, reince priebus just released a statement saying our veterans have had enough, and we all deserve more from our president. it's time for an independent investigation. do you think that that is part of the politicization of this? does that count as using the vets as a football? >> the subject of veterans is

always going to be a politicized exercise, particularly in an environment where very few people actually serve in uniform. it's heavily involved in politics. there's money involved in all the rest of that sduf. an investigation, whether it's internal or independent, is going to produce pretty much the same result. it's going to say we need to give it more money, more capability, more people, and a bigger bureaucracy, and that's exactly what it doesn't need. the structure of the veterans administration health business, it's not organized in order to deliver health care, unless you break it down. and have a public/private partnership, you're not going to be able to give health care to veterans who really need it. >> that does seem in line of what the congresswoman was suggesting, too. appreciate it, colonel jack jacobs and congresswoman sheila jackson lee. >> good to be with you. we'll all be visiting our hospitals this weekend. >> appreciate that. thank you. up next on rfd, the results are in. six states had primaries last

night and they settled all the political fights. just kidding. the fighting is worse than ever. we'll explain why up ahead. i missed you, too.ou. hi buddy. mom! awesome! dad!! i missed you. ♪ oh... daddy. chevrolet and its dealers proudly support military appreciation month. with the industry's best military purchase program, for all that have served. 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.

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the results from yesterday's big showdown are in. the former gold medalist beat the girl from full house. we are talking about "dancing with the stars," right? no, we're talking about yesterday's primaries, where six different states went to the polls to select candidates for this year's midterms. the biggest story, republicans prevailing over the tea party. we'll talk about how they had to change their tune to accomplish that. the tea party or mainstream, in all these races, everybody's anti-washington. or at least trying to be. look at the kentucky race, for

instance, where sno mitch mcconnell defeated tea party challenger matt bevin by 25 points. he's already painting his opponent as a washington loyalist. >> my opponent is in this race because barack obama and harry reid want her to be in this race. a vote for our opponent is a vote for obamacare. the president who sold it to us on a mountain of lies. barack obama's candidates preach independence but practice loyalty above all else. tonight i'm confident of this. kentuckyians are not going to be deceived. alison grimes is barack obama's candidate. >> yes, that is the minority leader of the senate complaining about people being too washington. grimes for her part wasn't too pleased with the characterization, firing back that she is the most unwashington of the washingtonites. >> well, i'm here to tell you tonight, my fellow kentuckyians,

i am not an empty dress, i am not a rubber stamp, and i am not a cheerleader. i am a strong kentucky woman who is an independent thinker, as kentucky's next united states senator. i'll answer to the people of this state. i won't answer to the president, no matter who he or she might be. >> see, guys, she's got no ties to washington at all, not to barack obama, not to any clintons, forget about bill clinton campaigning for her. politicians trying to get to washington generally have ties to washington. aren't you a little tired of primary candidates pretending otherwise, all the time? joining me now, former democratic governor of most, brian schweitzer, and republican strategist hogan gidley who worked with both mike huckabee and rick santorum. brian, let's talk about this

trend of competing to be the most anti-establishment. do you think that's going to work in this particular midterm? >> that's about all they've got. poor mitch mcconnell, he hasn't thought of anything good that he's done during the last 20 years. so he's just attacking alison. alison is pretty doggone smart. all she has to say is i'm not from washington, d.c., and he is washington, d.c. frankly, with congress less popular than cockroaches, you want to go after washington, d.c. even if you're a member of congress, you want to go after washington, d.c. the country's fed up with what's going on in washington, d.c. and the successful candidates are going to hitch their horse to that wagon. >> look, it's low hanging fruit for all of us. that said, more transparency in these races would be good. i guess it's too much of a dirty word to admit how deep you are in your washington colleagues. it's down to president obama's numbers. listen to alison grimes

specifically. >> mitch mcconnell would have you believe that president obama is on kentucky's 2014 election ballot. president obama is not on kentucky's 2014 election ballot. nothing about this election will change who is in the white house, but we can change who is in washington, d.c. and finally put some in with the commonwealth of kentucky. senator mcconnell, this race is between you and me. that's the name that appears on the ballot. >> hogan, is making this a race about barack obama and the referendum on his presidency a smart move on mcconnell's part? >> it could be. it's going to be tough. obviously, his acceptance speech was one where he tried to tether grimes to the president. i'm not sure you can do that at this point.

obviously we would advise a lot of clients, i'm sure democrats did the same, running against washington is always a good thing, because we don't like washington collectively. it's that old saying, we hate congress, but we love our congressmen. what i'm excited to see are these two people debating each other. i'm not sure who can give as good as they can get, and i'm excited to see that, because this is politics at its finest. you have two people with washington ties, trying to distance themselves from washington, going against each other and trying to sell their own brand of politics, their own policies to the people from kentucky, who quite frankly couldn't be any more further removed from washington, d.c. it's fascinating to watch, especially for political junkies like all of us. >> insider or outsider, the trend seems to are more money flowing into the races. brian, what do you think of the influx of money? and let's use kentucky as an example. mcconnell is about to begin a $5 million campaign to defeat

grimes, led by the pac kentuckyians for strong leadership. specifically in the coming two weeks, they're launching a $575,000 ad campaign that starts today. mcconnell has already spent millions, up to $53 a vote, according to some sources in this primary. do you think grimes can even compete? >> you bet. because this is a race that democrats need to win. and they're going to marshal their resources, and she's going to be competitive on money. there will be outside groups that come in for old mitch mcconnell, you can bet on that, but there will be outside groups that come in for grimes. she will not lose this election for lack of money. the democrats have a chance to knock off two republicans, one in georgia and one in kentucky. if they can do that, they could lose one or two of those six races. you can bet allison grimes is going to get a lot of support. >> and of course, in all these

cases, we have to caveat these are gop groups aligned with the candidate. this is the difficulty of super pac money, allegedly not directly connected with the candidates. do you think that there needs to be more reforms, governor sch t schweitzer on the influx of money? >> absolutely. but how do you stop it. you've got a supreme court and citizens united saying it's completely okay. we have every member of congress right now bemoaning this outside money. they want more transparency. well, i guess the republicans don't care. when it comes right down to it, the incumbents are reelected because they can raise more money than the challengers in most cases. so they're not going to change it. now they talk about a congress stugs al amendment. that would take years and years to get. in the meantime, those members of congress are going to raise money from every rascal they can on capitol hill. >> brian -- i'm sorry, last word to you, hogan.

which seats do you think are really winnable for dems at this point? >> i'm not sure. let's be honest, no one has cornered the money on morality and money here. it's just disingenuous. that happens across the board. they know what's at stake here. the policies that this president has failed to pass, they want to keep control of the senate in order to pass them. he hasn't been able to do the things he wanted to do, because he doesn't have enough members there. republicans take control of it, obviously it stops anything this president wants to do. the flip side of what the governor said, which is if they -- if the democrats lose the two seats he's talking about in georgia and kentucky where they have fielded very good candidates, then it is going to say volumes about how unpopular this president has become. >> all right. we'll see about that. clearly a lot of races where candidates are trying to make it about that. we shall return to both of you on this. we appreciate your participation. just ahead on today's program, edward snowden gets a little

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welcome back. time for an update on this week's underreported competition. the part of the show where we ask you to tell us the story you think us big dumb media types are ignoring. this week's options are the deportation of gays as political refugees from african regimes fighting to stay in countries. shocking efforts are being made to kick them out. runner-up, a super pac for the poor, following on our coverage to use super pacs to rein in campaign spending. finally, a lot of you voted for segregation in charter schools. of course, these were hailed as a great hope for poor neighborhoods. but are those schools a civil rights failure as well.

you can vote op our website and we'll stick our best reporters on it and give you the story. on today's program, before we get to that, the secret memo that is causing all sorts of problems for the obama administration. and turning one rand paul into a mini jimmy stewart. stay with us. ♪ you've reached the age where you know how things work. this is the age of knowing what needs to be done. so why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long- term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action.

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rand paul likes freedom in all things. except maybe the freedom to use of drone strikes. >> i rise today to say that there is no legal precedent for killing american citizens not involved in combat, and that any nominee who rubber stamps and grants such power to a president is not worth being placed one step away from the supreme court.

>> not quite the 13-hour filibuster. but he did give a compassioned 30-minute to us. outlines the government's authority for killing u.s. citizens potentially overseas who are suspected of terrorism using those drones. the obama administration agreed to a court order to make edited versions of that memo public. the senate is expected to vote on whether to proceed with baron's nomination within the hour. some lawmakers actually called for a full review of the drone program before voting on baron's appointment. this is a hot bed of controversy right now. i'm joined now to look at all of this by ali, senior editor of "the daily beast," and raul. great to have you both on the program. ali, i'll start with you. rand paul is attempting to reignight the debate over drone programs, something that's been out of the news in the

mainstream after the killing a terrorist. is this going to get back in the headlines? >> i think it has, yeah. i mean, we're seeing that it's being covered on television, obviously, we're all here. it's back in the papers and it's something people are talking about. also, just a modicum of publicity creates a snowball effect where more members of congress hop onboard. in fact, that's what we've seen. unlike rand paul's 13-hour filibuster that you mentioned, this time around we've seen a lot of members of congress from both sides of the aisle come to support his position, that these memos should be made public and that they should be evaluated in order to check out baron's credentials for the federal judgeship. that doesn't mean that this isn't going to be a vote that comes down on party lines, but members from both parties have come out with essentially very close positions to rand paul's. >> but isn't it a little bit odd that this confirmation hearing is the trigger as opposed to not

only a man but a teenage son by drone strikes? if there was going to be a human appeal against drones, that would have been the moment i would expect this to come at. what do you think is behind this particular timing? >> i think the public is more and more aware after the nsa story and edward snowden. now we want to know more of what the administration is doing in our name, who are they spying on, and what kind of instrument and consequences of that. i think the moment that line was crossed, when al awacky's son, no proof of his involvement and position with al qaeda, or other groups. so why was he killed? he was a u.s. citizen and he was killed in our name. it's time to go back to that memo and time to understand what the legal role was of that. today there is many countries that are using drones. john brennan, the head of cia --

>> a different type of drone, in search for the girls in nigeria. >> exactly. but brennan himself said in 2012, and he said this clearly, he said if we want other nations to be responsible in using drones, we should start being responsible. we've been using drones in the philippines, in afghanistan, in iraq, in yemen, somalia, pakistan. the consequences of that on the ground is terrible. in terms of, you know, looking for al qaeda. what is the future of drone attacks? >> that is absolutely the case in countries like pakistan. it has really turned the public against us. ali, how profound do you think the public opinion around the world is in america? how linked are we now to drone strikes? >> i think to a great extent. that's partially because it's this sort of expensive view. i think it's actually mistaken that it's just drones that are important, because this is a program that's much broader than

that, that includes special forces raids, that includes cruise missile strikes. you know, last year we had two raids that happened on the same morning, one in libya and one in somalia that were both carried out by special forces, and those are boots on the ground. but i think drones have kind of become the buzz word to represent these policies. and rula is right, they are causing harm to our image. every mistake that happens, every civilian killed, is something that people pay attention to across the world. and moreover, these people living in these countries, you know, every innocent yemeni farmer has this constant din of a lawn mower hanging over their heads, not knowing if it's their compound that's mistakenly going to be taken for an al qaeda facility. >> it will be interesting to see if this hits home in terms of politics. new technologies, in

different ways, maybe more productive. social media is having a big impact right now in thailand, where a lot of people have begun taking selfies as the military goes about imposing martial law. pretty dramatic incongruous people there. in front of soldiers, in front of jeeps. do these selfies help promote the army's contention that this is not actually a coup? >> i don't think so. i mean, if you read thomas friedman's piece this morning where he talks about no prif sieve at all, any person with a cell phone can become a reporter. anything that uploads a video on youtube can become actually a video filmmaker. today there's not only no privacy, every government will be held accountable. if you don't do anything wrong, you shouldn't do it, because then the public opinion will judge you on this of the if you look at what's happening in iran, in terms of these videos where people are dancing and singing --

>> people dancing to that song. it's overplayed but is it worth imprisoning people over? >> it's not worth it. >> ali, what do you think of the iran story? if farrell spoke out and said these guys shouldn't be in prison, that seems uncharacteristic with the face they want to put forward to the world right now. you see the videos that went viral. now the world is saying, why crack down on people? #happiness is people's right. what do you think? is this a backsliding for iran in terms of personal perception? >> first, we should note that the six iranian views you can see in this video were released today. that was confirmed by a couple of human rights groups in touch with their families. one of them posted a picture on instagram. another social sharing site. but yeah, i think that this is part of the push-and-pull of iran's internal politics. you know, the iranian people are really just deploying this. it's a shame.

i think rihani's tweet is great. he made a speech this weekend saying that iran should be confident enough to open up web censureship. >> the country has a long way to go. >> he's got to really fight it. it's got to be more than just a couple hash tags. >> thank you both of you. appreciate your coming. next on the program, retired nfl players remember the passes they dropped. they also remember the pills they popped. [ male announcer ] some come here to build something smarter. ♪ some come here to build something stronger. others come to build something faster... something safer... something greener. something the whole world can share. people come to boeing to do many different things. but it's always about the very thing we do best. ♪

but it's always about the very thing we do best. 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. you need a bunch of those to clean this mess. then i'll use a bunch of them. then how is that a bargain? [ sighs ] no, that's too many -- it's not gonna fit! whoa! cascade kitchen and math counselor. here's a solution. one pac of cascade complete cleans tough food better than six pacs of the bargain brand combined. so you can tackle tough messes the first time. that is more like it. how are you with taxes? [ laughs ] [ counselor ] and for even more cleaning power, try cascade platinum.

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duckworth. we're going to have coverage of that right here on msnbc. a story we've been following closely. stay with us for that. but first, on rfd today, it turns out a contact sport that centers on bone-shattering bodily collisions may in fact not be completely safe. you know that, i know that. but according to a new lawsuit against the nfl, the players didn't always know that. that's because team doctors allegedly hid broken bones and other injuries and pumped injured players full of painkillers. those are some of the allegations against the nfl in a new lawsuit led by eight retired players. with over 500 others joining. they claim the league ignored serious injuries to keep them in the game. supplying painkillers, without prescriptions. these players are suffering multiple health issues, even now. they claim as a result of this drug abuse. so is the nfl entirely responsible, or do athletes share some of this blame themselves? let's ask david cornwall, an

attorney specializing in sports law. he knows both sides of this. david, thank you for joining us. do they ring true with your take on drug use in the sports world? >> something that's certainly true is that players use painkillers, and other meds, more frequently than you and i would. i know that players, you know, on sunday use toridol and other meds in anticipation of the injuries that they're going to get during the game. >> and what happens to players who refuse to take these painkillers? a lot of these claimants say they were under a lot of pressure to do this. >> i don't think that's true. at least in today's nfl, that's not true. a player is fully aware of what he's taking. and has the -- it's his decision whether to take anything at all. >> some of these allegations are quite shocking. the super bowl winning

quarterback jim mcmann recently learned he suffered a broken neck during his career and nobody told him about it. he also had a broken ankle and was told it was just a sprain. how does the nfl repair its image after these kind of allegations? >> well, it's going to be hard, because the nfl has become a very attractive target for attacks regarding player safety. we had the concussion cases going, and now we have this allegation of leaguewide misconduct with respect to meds and injury. so it's going to be hard for them to repair their reputation. but they've got to fight it. so it's going to be an issue that's going to linger for a while. >> do you think the players themselves bear any responsibility when it comes to their own health, and what they were willing to endure in their time in the league? >> you know, by the time you get into the national football league, you've played high school and college football, and there is a general rule, you can't make the club in the tub.

and players know that there's a risk of injury. the issue is full disclosure, and understanding what the risk of your meds and et cetera are. but most players, by and large, if they're in the national football league, they're looking at a way to get on the field and stay on the field. so i think this may be an issue that arises in the context of suit. >> specifically, we all agree you should know what's wrong with your body before you hit the field. thank you very much. forget captain america, say hello to captain america is spying on you. i'll explain, next.

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edward snowden? not the super hero we deserve. but maybe the one we need. the nsa whistleblower is getting his very own comic book. tod

today, a movie is now stirring controversy. joining me now is the comic's author, valerie. thank you for joining me. why edward snowden, why now? >> i find him fascinating, and cryptic, and also he's a truth teller, and i love truth tellers. >> do you worry about him aboutly about lyonizing him? >> we go beyond the regular news stuff. we provide a balanced view on him, both the good and the bad. so it's definitely not a saint's biography. i love what he did with leaking the information of the nsa, and providing this for the public. but i think there's also a lot of unanswered questions in his story. >> it seems to me this is a generational issue to some extent. >> oh, yes. >> according to the numbers, no one is approving of his leaks. >> he definitely comes from a geek culture, so i come from,

too. i was able to identify with him a lot. i think a comic book is a perfect medium for his story. >> before you go, i wanted to get your take on other news about the power of just as your comment is. comicon is one of the larnlest events in this country. it's also emerging as a big pop culture event in the middle east. women, in fact, are now playing a central role. take a look at this. we want to take you inside the new comicon in dubai. there is through a collaboration with the data mining start-up vocative. >> reporter: this is the middle east comicon in dubai, part of the united arab emirates. >> middle eastern culture. superheroes are often dressed in

clothes that look like they've been painted on. there's a game of catch-up. it calls costumes and play. >> this is the strangest costume i have ever seen. >> certain things are considered a little bit dangerous in the states, but they're doing it here, and it's totally fine. ♪ >> we found the collision of cultures here also extends to gender and the muslim traditions around clothing for women. >> i have -- women in western comics. the outfit is -- >> here's a a conservetive country. you can't -- some will be revealing. too revealing. >> wau be dressed differently if you were at a western conference? >> no. >> has anyone pulled you aside and said something about it? here while you've been here? >> yeah.

>> yes? >> yeah. >> what did they say? >> like, what are you wearing? you know what, i'm free to wear whatever i want to wear. >> women with diverse clothing choices outnumber men among the local comic book artists here. >> there are a lot of female artists here, and i think that partially maybe has something to do with culture here in the middle east. zoo people prefer -- rather than their son to be an artist. >> it's no coincidence that marvel, the biggest brand in comics, has recently debuted its latest muslim super heroine khamalicon. >> we have a muslim editor, and she always felt that a lot of the marvel books while she was a fan of them, didn't really reflect her world, and she had been pushing for a while to come up with a book that really reflected her views and muslims around the world. >> the new ms. marvel is a pakistani teenager who lives in new jersey, or so goes the back

story. fans made it clear that marvel has its work cut out for them. >> when a western person does like a muslim character superhero, i think it's more like to attract audience than it is about equality and stuff like that. like they draw a muslim woman with a hijab, and her arms are all bare. what the heck is that? >> there's had misconception about the middle eastern people and the culture, but the muddle eastern people are very open. it's just not the notion that, okay, it's middle east, and it's conservative, but i don't think so. you can see the people here. they're so open. >> really interesting. really a changing landscape there. i'm back with comic book author valerie. i love particularly the marvel -- do you think comiced can break barriers down. >> definitely i think as we've seen in this video like the comics with the mainstream appeal is only growing. the international appeal is only

growing. it's definitely something for both men and women, and all people of all types, so definitely. i think it's a great common denominator for everyone. >> we talked earlier about what you called nerd culture and that being your background. >> uh-huh. >> so often there's a perception that that's a culture that's unwelcoming to women. do you think that's changing? >> i think it's definitely changing. even from, like, you know, six, seven, ten years ago when i first started, it's definitely becoming much more welcoming and, you know, it's -- comics are for everyone. >> have you faced any barriers in being a woman and what is still overwhelmingly a man's world in comics? >> i have. especially early in my career. i have written a memoir about it. you can download it for free on valley d'orazio.com. i tend to accentuate the

positive. >> what to you think of the big companies that are bank rolling and the manufactures have these marvel comics to incorporate some of the characters that aren't just white guys? >> i think they're very aware of that, and i think they are really taking solid steps to make comics much more inclusive, which is a good thing for everybody. >> well, and one way you're playing your part to make it more inclusive is this comic right here, which is -- i'm fascinated to read it. knee aunsed portrayal of edward snowden at a time when he is a hot button issue. in a format that one may not expect it. >> thank you so much, ronan. >> that about wraps things up for today's edition of rfd. thank you all for joining me. now it is time for the reid report with my superhero of, yes, msnbc. joy reid. >> indeed. i appreciate that. i like nerd culture, so big up to that. >> we're back at you on that. >> all right, my friend. great segment. appreciate it. have a wonderful day. coming up, next on "the reid report" house democratic leader nancy pelosi makes a major announcement on the select

committee on benghazi. we'll have that live. then the president speaks publicly for the first time on the scandal embroiling the v.a., and i'll talk to one of the lawyers suing the nfl on behalf of players who are saying the league illegally plied them with painkillers so they would play through the pain. 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.

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♪ [ male announcer ] great rates for great rides. geico motorcycle, see how much you could save. >> hello. this is "the reid report." we start with breaking news from capitol hill where house democratic leader nancy pelosi says democrats will participate in a house select committee on benghazi. pelosi is set to make the announcement any minute. let's go to luke russert on capitol hill. first off, luke, we do know who is going to participate. at least who we anticipate. who will the democrats be? >> well, the democrats will be a few heavy hitters. first you have elijah cummings, and he has a lot of experience in checking republicans because he is the counter point to darryl issa. you also will have adam smith, who is a ranking member of the

armed services committee, someone who knows the issue of benghazi very well, as well as what the military response was. you also have adam schiff with the appropriations and also on the permanent select committee on intelligence, so he knows a lot of the intel back ground. then you have linda sanchez, on weighs and means, and tammy duckworth, armed services committee member. tammy duckworth was wounded in had the wars over this past decade. someone who democrats like to have front and center on national security issues because she's so well versed in that culture. the big story here, joy, is that nancy pelosi after going back and forth within her conference and, there is a division in the leadership. jim cli burn said they should not participate in this because it gives too much credit to this "kangaroo court." ultimately, made the decision it was better too participate in order to check republicans on the spot, especially if there was high profile democratic members that were called before this committee through subpoena. perhaps someone like a hillary clinton.