♪ >> good morning. it's friday, november 28th. >> my gosh. how much did you eat? >> we got through it. how many calories do you think you consumed? >> i had probably about 2,500 because we fried the goose and the chicken and the turkey. you shove them all in. >> i'm definitely -- >> you know what? have you ever done turgoosen. >> did you have a nice thanksgiving? >> i made a pumpkin pie and i ate the whole thing myself. >> thomas? >> lovely.

it was lovely. >> we have mark halperin here as you can see. mike barnicle as you can see and in washington, d.c., correspondent senior editor and white house correspondent for "the huffington post" sam stein. >> how long are you out of school? >> just a week. >> you must be so happy to be home in your own bed. >> it's joyous. >> it never gets old. this morning we'll look at two lame duck sessions and lame duck congress for the next month and lame duck presidency for the next two years and the list of politicians jockeying to succeed barack obama continue to grow and he talks about that new car smell. mark halperin, obviously this has been a tumultuous week for the president of the united states. still a lot of people reeling from the executive order. where does he stand going into the new year? >> the lame duck session has a lot of ambiguity to it. i think state of the union. people haven't started to focus on that. we're just a couple months away

from his last big chance to reset everything. he'll be talking with john boehner, speaker of the house, and mitch mcconnell installed as majority leader. >> how important is the republican response to this president? does this president get defined by how well or how badly the republicans act moving forward? >> yes. going to try to trick them into behaving badly and the leaders, boehner and mcconnell, want a productive nine months. despite comments this week about blocking confirmations, i think ted cruz recognizes he doesn't want to go into his presidential campaign as seen as the guy that obstructs everything. he'll take some passes. >> chris wallace said he doesn't want to be seen as the guy that's kept eric holder in town. >> do you think this is a moment of opportunity for the republicans and what do you hope they will do? >> i think it's a time of great opportunities for republicans.

we talked about it earlier this week. whether they're going to be the party of christine o'donnell or joey ernst who won in iowa. a state that barack obama won twice. whether they'll be the party of richard murdoch and todd aiken or the party of cory gardner and cory gardner, sam stein, a guy that won in colorado. yet another state that barack obama has won twice. i get the sense i could be wrong. you're on the hill more than i am. i get a sense that these republicans just got elected understand what went wrong in 2010 and they're going to school to make sure that their actions over the next two years don't elect hillary clinton. >> i mean, mitch mcconnell has waited his entire career to be majority leader. he'll do whatever he can to hold onto that title in two year's time. it's a difficult balancing act obviously for him because you have people like ron johnson and

pat toomey running in democratically leaning states in a presidential cycle while at the same time in the same caucus he has people like ted cruz and rand paul who will be probably running for president along with marco rubio. you have two dynamic polls going on here. mitch mcconnell has a difficult job. he is savvy enough and knows what he needs to do to make sure the party has a chance to hang onto senate majority and that may not be satisfactory to the base of the party. >> republicans have learned so much about what they did right this time around. >> we hope they did. >> it was interesting when we saw an interview with president obama and he was talking about hillary clinton and whether or not she may run and having to distance herself from him. it seemed like they have that figured out. >> i think so. >> maybe he was distancing himself from her. >> if i'm going to do this, don't be offended, i'm not going to call on you but i might and take a few swipes at you first. >> you're right. it reminds me something that

democrats have this planned out. they have everything lined up. they have one person that's going to be running for president. >> there's also this talk that lamb duck presidency obviously in terms of the calendar there's lame duckness to it but in terms of reality, i don't think there is. you can make a case that isis, afghanistan, iraq, syria, the middle east, that precludes any lame duck presidency. that's his hold card to play dealing with not only congress but the american people. >> he needs to get in the room with boehner and mcconnell and have trust and a sense of shared mission. >> is he going to do that? >> that's not going to happen. >> has he figured out the only way i'll get anything done in the next two years is sitting down and dealing with people he doesn't like. >> people around him have figured it out. i don't think he's yet there in a place where he recognizes --

>> why not? >> he doesn't like to sit with people he doesn't like. >> he likes boehner. >> he likes boehner more than mcconnell but he's disappointed in boehner. a breaking point was negotiations over the budget and the grand bargain. this immigration thing was a big break. he knows if john boehner put the senate immigration bill on the house floor, it would pass. >> that's one thing they think at the white house. they may not love mitch mcconnell, but they say mitch mcconnell always does what he tells us he's going to do. whereas john boehner can't keep any promises that he makes. not because he's a liar, but because he can't control his caucus. >> right now they have to figure out how they want to keep what they've won together and if they want that trajectory to go toward the white house. and if they want that to happen, then they will all get in a common room together and try to figure that out. >> go ahead, mike. >> sam, i want to ask you off

mark's observation about the president and mitch mcconnell and john boehner, does this not open the door even wider for the greatest vice president in the history of the republic, joe biden, to play a pivotal role in the next few months. i mean, he's a guy that knows what a deal is and likes dealing. >> he does like dealing. the old dynamic was this. the white house looked at congress and said, okay, anything that we can sign has to go through john boehner and harry reid and we'll let those two people negotiate because it has to pass through both chambers of congress anyway. we won't put our stamp on it until then. there's a new dynamic now. the bill has to be negotiated not just between john boehner and now mitch mcconnell but the white house knows if they're going to affect legislation, they're going to have to do it in congress and there is where joe biden enters. he's the negotiator on this

white house. much to the dismay of a lot of senate democrats who thinks he gave up way too much during the bush tax cut fights and during the shutdown debt ceiling fights. they're going to have to start getting into these negotiations because you're going to see a bunch of short-term spending measures which means there will be every three or four months this specter of a shotdown cout coming and that will require negotiations. >> where is joe biden right now? the white house staff froze him out. >> he's in tijuana hanging out. >> he goes to nantucket for thanksgiving. >> he's up in nantucket right now. he gets out swimming with his shirt off. he's doing it yesterday i guess. where is he as far as the white house goes? he was frozen out. the staff treated him terribly. is he still frozen out? >> people focus on the

president's relationship with boehner and mcconnell. his relationship with pelosi and reid is just as important. is he going to do what they want or cut them loose? if he cuts them loose, i think biden can make deals. >> why would he not cut harry reid loose? >> he's worried about the 40% of the country that supports him if he is still worried about helping harry reid get re-elected. i don't know. he needs to politically. he has governed exclusively asking nancy pelosi and harry reid, what can i do here? >> how has that worked out? >> saved the auto industry. reregulated the financial sector with their help. >> you're talking about things that happened five years ago. how has that worked in the last five years? >> not very productively. >> they got a tax hike in there and they got the debt deal that got sequestration. liberals hate it but they did deficit reduction with divided government. >> on the larger picture, sam,

of the economy in general, you just mentioned that it will be all sorts of short-term spending bills introduced. this does nothing for rebuilding the confidence of the american economy. >> exactly what economists say we shouldn't do. maybe we'll avoid it. maybe at the end of the year they'll say we want to fund the government for a year. we have a template to do in the budget deal but the likelihood of that happening is remote because of what happened with immigration. the republican party doesn't want to fund the government too long until they can get back into the majority in the senate so we're looking at short-term deals. >> on that immigration, who wins this immigration standoff? is it the president or has he perhaps made a prediction that the republicans are going to misbehave when they won't? >> if the republicans misbehave, they have played into the president's hand so the president wins. there's also the possibility that even if this is ruled

unconstitutional and nobody really knows how the supreme court is going to go. nobody knew how roberts was going to go on obamacare, but you have the very real likelihood that his executive order is overruled. republicans celebrate victory. and then they end up losing in the long run because the president is seen as a person that's trying to help hispanics in america. >> the human aspect of the immigration issue. >> the human aspect. you have this moment in the latin grammys where everything stopped. you had these pictures of people weeping and crying and hugging hispanics all across america. >> protesters outside of the white house. across the country. >> again, how do republicans answer that. even if the supreme court strikes down this executive order, they have to come back with a response or they could lose hispanics by 43% just like mitt romney did and if they lose

hispanic, i go back to if ronald reagan had the same percentages with voters across demographic groups in 2012 as he did in 1980, he would have lost. >> when we look at common sense republicans who have come out to talk about immigration reform and they like the ideas that the president presented and he came out first talking about border security and talking about funding for that and what needs to happen there and then talking about saving families and not felons. most republicans agree with that. is it the way of the presentation that's the distraction to the republican side of things that is going to get everybody caught up with the semantics and then republicans lose in the long run? >> the problem is, there are a lot of house members -- this isn't a problem. they're representing their districts -- who oppose

immigration reform. the problem is for presidential candidates. did you get an immigration bill talking politically -- you get an immigration bill, passes the senate, it passes the house, and it passes the house with a lot of democrats, and less republicans and you have people running for president, republicans, that don't do what mitt romney did at the beginning of the presidential campaign last year when he was in a debate in iowa coming across as so harsh he could never recover within the hispanic community. that's what's going to have to happen. some republican senators in iowa and in colorado are going to have to be right on the issue. mainly it's presidential candidates in these debates that can't just come out and feed to an anti-immigrant bias that they sense is with a base that i don't know it's with. i could name quite a few republicans who supported immigration reform. lindsey graham in south carolina. a very conservative state. jeff flake in arizona.

they still won. >> it goes back to the polling question we talked about earlier in the week cares about people like me. last week i asked bobby jindal and scott walker, forget your views of the president and what he did, how do you feel about the people who live in your state there illegally living in shadows families divided how do you feel about them personally? their answers were not that personal. they weren't that emotional. they have to figure out a way to talk about the plight of people here living in the shadows. yes, they broke the law. how do they feel about them as human beings. if they can't do that and if presidential candidates can't do that i don't think boehner and mcconnell can. that's what a lot of hispanic voters care about. >> where do you see it going in the future? >> we think of support for immigration reform as this killer in republican politics but john mccain was the candidate in 2008 having been a vocal supporter of immigration reform. i know that it's tough to get through the process. tough to get through the caucuses being that supportive and certainly he lost in iowa.

i don't see it as a killer. i am with you, joe. they need to figure out a way to get it off the table entirely and maybe just ignore the executive order or they pass a bill that is certainly to the right of what the president wants but it's something he'll have to sign and heavy on border security and in favor of what the business community wants which is visas and then they can say we were constructive in this process. we didn't like the executive order so we passed this and that's it. i think that's the best reality republicans could make for themselves. >> the thing about immigration reform and i think the biggest reason that john boehner didn't put it up for a vote in the house after the senate passed it is that members of congress, republicans among them, are much more in tune with their districts than the united states senators or candidates for president. they go home every week. they know who these people are. you meet these people.

you meet them and you say, yeah, fine. they can stay here. they ought to be allowed to stay here. >> say one thing about the president. he's tougher on enforcement on the border and deportation than any predecessors and republicans should deal with the reality of that and not just say we need to be tougher on the border. he's been tough on the border and deported way more people than george bush. >> there's a lot ahead including george clinton joining us on set. the legendary funk master is here with great stories from his new memoir.

i found a better deal on prescriptions. we found lower co-pays... ...and a free wellness visit. new plan...same doctor. i'm happy. it's medicare open enrollment. have you compared plans yet? it's easy at medicare.gov. or you can call 1-800-medicare. medicare open enrollment. you'll never know unless you go. i did it. you can too. ♪

>> funk is a force that tour off the sucker of modern music. there was something futuristic and that was only fitting since they played a huge role in creating the future of music. >> you want to see pure funk, it's george clinton. that's the only place you find it. >> he's the groove man.

that's his contribution. so he's the raw. he actually is -- when you think funk, he's the rawest of it. >> just a sample of musicians describing the impact george clinton has had on the music world and joins us with his new memoir. >> it's crazy. that was almost the title of my last book. i don't know where to start here. music is incredible. i got to say, even if you're not a music fan, mike barnicle, the stories are crazy. you said you once laundered counterfeit bills and you were tripping on acid when you heard martin luther king, jr., was shot and you lit a hotel room on fire while smoking crack naked. that's on the first page. is that true? >> if memory is good from that

era in the '60s and '70s, it's true. >> it was a crazy time. >> you can't remember most of that. those things -- >> if that's the part you remember, god help us with what you don't remember. >> i don't remember the rest of it. it was fun. i'm here. i feel better and changed my life. wrote the book. told the stories. i feel a lot better. >> so why did you decide -- at what point did you decide to write the book and talk about the great music and also all of the crazy times? >> i'm going to put it like this. on page 379, i'll tell you that story. it's about the copyrights. i was messing up my inheritance for my heirs. people were stealing music and fighting in court over to the supreme court, that made me change. i don't mind myself. i messed up so i can pay for that but when it comes to the

kids and family, i had to straighten it out. >> you got clean and sober to take care of the legacy of your music and to make sure financial protection of your kids because people are ripping off your music. >> you can't do that on crack. the agenda is to be messed up. >> four years clean now? >> four years. i'm not counting because i'm not going back. i ain't even thinking about it. >> one day at a time. >> forever. >> that you're sure of. >> i'm positive. >> do you ever wonder what you might have done other than what you have done if you hadn't spent so much time blasting on crack and coke and that stuff. >> i don't think so. that don't bother me. that's in the past. i can't live it. i can't change it. i don't want to think it. a lot of it might have had to do with the fact that i was struggling to get out of debt. especially in the '60s. >> what was that like? your struggle?

what would that be like? >> i think i can beat it. i thought i could. that's the problem. you can't beat it because the idea is to be messed up. you pay a lot of money to be wrecked. let's get wrecked. let's get bombed. if you're wrecked and bombed, you do wrecked and bombed things. >> you know, talk about -- all artists, i don't care whether they are painting or whether they are writing music or whether they are performing on stage, a lot of them are doing it because they are tortured in their personal life. i always told my mom because she asked -- i played music. she always asked why i brought in what you would call strays. i said, mom, there's a straight line. accountants are over here. great musicians are over here. closer you are over here, the less they can play. it just is what it is. >> it's a balance. >> it's a balance.

why is that? >> crazy is a prerequisite in entertainment. you can't be crazy and take care of business. people went to school to know that. they prey on you. you dream of being a star. you got accountants and lawyers that went to school to do this. >> so when did you first know growing up in north carolina that you wanted to do music? >> around 56 when i heard the song "why do fools fall in love." i wanted to be that in every kid in every school that had a group. brooklyn was loaded. new york was loaded. jersey was loaded. >> born in north carolina. you moved to jersey. you started a group. >> parliaments back in the day when who wrote the book of love. the four seasons. through motown into the 70s

where we took over. >> you guys took over and you influenced people like prince and so many others. who was your biggest influence? musically? who was the one that really pushed you? >> probably motown really -- i worked there. and then sly stone and the beatles. i worked on broadway. i know that era. but actually when motown came along, you know, that was it. i used to go to the shows. those were my things. when motown showed up -- and then english invasion. all of that. i went into all of that. >> crazy. >> but then rock 'n' roll came along. funk was our version. james brown. we had our day. and then hip-hop came along.

those are like our kids. funk is the dna for hip-hop. >> so 40 r & b singles. you were inducted into rock 'n' roll hall of fame in 1987. is there a particular song or album you look back at after all these are years and go, man, i was really onto something there. i was bending it hard there. >> since i've been on this book tour, i had to focus on that a lot. as i think about it more, it's got to be mothership connection. the mothership is in the smithsonian in the african-american wing of the smithsonian come this next year so that led to hip-hoppers wanted to sample a piece of it. it has to be mothership even though i like a lot of the songs at different times. mothership probably is the one. >> you enjoying your book tour?

>> i'm having a ball. this is like a hit record. we got five songs in the book. if you take your phone -- >> i don't believe you. >> yes. take a picture of this cover. you download the app and when you do, five songs, videos. >> that's amazing. >> new technology. >> that's something. >> george clinton, thank you very much. >> more "morning joe" in just a minute. how can power consumption in china, impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.?

at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 70% 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.

and you'll see just how much it has to offer, especially if you're thinking of moving an old 401(k) to a fidelity ira. it gives you a wide range of investment options...

and the free help you need to make sure your investments fit your goals -- and what you're really investing for. tap into the full power of your fidelity green line. call today and we'll make it easy to move that old 401(k) to a fidelity rollover ira. toothbrush... sweater... extra sweater... headphones, sleeping mask... oh, and this is the xfinity tv app. he can watch his dvr'd shows from where ever he wants. hey. have fun, make some friends. alright.

did i mention his neck pillow? (sniffs pillow) watch your personal dvr library where ever you go. with the x1 entertainment operating system. joining us now the author of the new book "david hume ke hume kennerally." >> this approximatic tur picture here that we're showing, you took that with an iphone. >> it's the first question everybody asks. you took all those with the iphone and, yes, i did.

>> how do you help us take better pictures with iphones? >> one of the biggest things that i learned is people -- i watched people when they shoot. amateurs. this he come into a situation and they just start shooting. take a breath before you take a shot. that's how my career has gone. you have to see what you're doing before you can shoot it. >> i love it. look at that. >> what are you looking for? are you looking for lighting? are you looking for angles? what are you looking for when you take that breath? >> well, i'm looking for everything. i think what really helps most people is actually thinking about what you're doing. that's one of the biggest hints i can give anybody. also, patience. i did a photo in the book in central park and there's one situation underneath a

pedestrian overpass that looks like a painter's palaette but i waited for something to happen in the frame and someone came through with their dog and that made the picture. i don't think a lot of people think about it. they are too busy taking photos of their face blocking the eiffel tower. >> this was your passion to be a pulitzer prize winning photographer and do you think it's weird that we all carry these devices around and take so many pictures and don't realize the ability we had at our fingertips to do a better job. >> i think it's great that everybody can do it. one of the other things i would suggest is if you take 20 pictures, don't put them all up on facebook. pick the one best. i got that drummed into me. i was here in new york as a upi photographer when i was a young guy. i used to have pictures thrown at me because they said these aren't any good. what happens if you edit your

pictures, pick one best. that will make you a better photographer. next time around you won't take as many and you'll be more careful about what you do shoot. >> how is the quality of this one? my daughter did this with an iphone. >> i love it. >> that's fantastic. she's a little photographer. >> what else do you expect me to say? >> isn't they perfect. >> you have a great dog. i love that photo. that's exactly what i'm talking about. good angle. great subject matter. >> attitude. >> everything about it. i started this mission by doing a picture a day in the year 2013 but it morphed into a philosophical photo journey. my wife said, look, you got to share some of your knowledge with people. that's what the iphone turned out to be. >> i like it. >> as you share your knowledge with everybody, why don't we start a campaign here, david, if it's okay with you. why don't we speak out against

these people that do this massive colorization so it looks like they vomited all over their photos. there's enough beauty in nature and enough subtly in nature but it seems to me that especially on the iphone everybody wants to super charge it. >> are you saying just because technology is there we shouldn't use it, right? >> yeah. >> well, in this book, all of the -- i do use apps. i did no post production work other than photo shopping which i would do with any photographs. i didn't do anything after the fact. i agree with you except i also believe in a more libertarian way probably that people should do whatever they want to do. but for me i'm an old shooter who learned new digital tricks and i like the idea of old fashioned photography where you go to content. >> one last thing.

a seagull flying in front of your camera on santa monica pier, how long did you have to wait? >> that's my seagull pete. he comes by. that boils down to patience and luck in many cases. everybody has the capability to do this. your daughter has a good eye. a good eye is important and i really believe you can't teach people how to see but i can help point you in the right direction for a photo. >> what do your kids fall into the spectrum of printing? do people print pictures? >> when i learned how to take pictures, i went into the dark room and printed my own pictures and i learned from my mistakes that way. that's back in the film era. my son, james, we have a big cannon printer and we use that

to make prints and that's an art form. digital printing is not that hard once you learn how to do it. if you have it on your monitor and say i like the way it looks, you can print that. >> the book is "on the iphone." david, thank you. great advice. beautiful book. thanks for being on. we'll be right back with more "morning joe." ring ring!

progresso! i can't believe i'm eating bacon and rich creamy cheese before my sister's wedding well it's only 100 calories, so you'll be ready for that dress uh-huh... you don't love the dress? i love my sister... 40 flavors. 100 calories or less. there are more reasons than ever why now is the best time to be on verizon. one: verizon's the largest, most reliable 4g lte network in the country. that's right america. with xlte in over 400 markets. two: and here's something for families to get excited about. our best pricing ever! get 2 lines with an incredible 10gb of data to share for the low price of $110! or just $140 for a family of 4! and three: get $150 credit for every line you switch. the more you switch, the more you get. verizon. you pay your auto insurance premium every month on the dot. you're like the poster child for paying on time. and then one day you tap the bumper of a station wagon. no big deal... until your insurance company jacks up your rates. you freak out. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it?

hey insurance companies, news flash. nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. try zyrtec-d® to powerfully clear your blocked nose and relieve your other allergy symptoms... so you can breathe easier all day. zyrtec-d®. find it at the pharmacy counter.

zyrtec-d®. think the tree we carved our names in is still here? probably dead... how much fun is this? what? what a beautiful sunset... if you like sunsets. whether you're sweet or salty... you'll love nature valley sweet and salty bars.

>> the national park is the only hope this region has. >> you must justify why you are on this earth. >> wow. that looks absolutely beautifully done. that was part of a new documentary "virunga" available now on netflix. with us now, is the film's director. very good to have you here. stunning, stunning. beautiful pictures and moments that you all have been able to capture all to get around a problem that you would like to bring awareness to. can you start by telling us the

overall effort here? >> sure. one of africa's oldest national park home to the last of the world's mountain gorillas and incredible place which is really trying to kick-start development through tourism, agriculture efficiency so it's one of the best hopes to bring about stability and long lasting peace and the real problem at the moment is that british oil company with an american ceo and board threatening the integrity of this park. >> so what is your connection to this? >> it goes back 20 years. i arrived in congo to work in wildlife conservation and in 2008 was appointed as director of the park and since then there's been a succession of wars that have been enormously threatening to the population and to the park and then more recently this huge threat which

is the threat of illegal oil to the national park and so my work has been very much tied to a team of rangers who are trying to deal with this problem. >> throughout the continent it seems from country to country you find different issues and different problems that happen whether it's poaching or big oil coming in and different specifics for each country. explain how a belgium prince who works at a national park reserve and a director get together to produce a film like this. how did you two come up with this idea to share this story and try to get it told? >> so as a filmmaker, i mainly work in african countries because it's a deep of the world that i care about so i've been interested in telling a positive story of from congo. i learned about the work of the park rangers and the inspirational development work they were doing and i went out to try to tell that story and within a couple weeks this new

civil war started and then i learned about the very serious concerns about this oil company. >> so how are you able to keep on track the narrative and this is obviously a passion project for you having invested much of your life there. how are you able to help craft this narrative as you are both working together on this story obviously that you are so close to. >> well, my background is different. the fact that i'm a prince of belgium is incidental. i'm a conservationist and i work for the government as a park warden. my responsibility is to ensure the rule of law is respected in the national park and so when the laws are broken, we have to act. congo has come out of 20 years of civil war and our institution, government institution is very fragile. it's very difficult for us to do

that. that's why we drew on the skills as a filmmaker and investigative documentary worker to break that problem and bring it to the world, which was the only way for us to really tackle this enormous problem. it's very powerful institution which is an oil company from doing the damage that they were doing in the park. >> so you obviously are capturing some of the more beautiful narratives that are happening but this is still a dangerous place. and confront some of the dangers in your work. tell us about when you were ambushed. >> you're quite right. it's extremely dangerous. 6 million people have been killed in eastern congo. it's one of those underreported wars which have been absolutely devastating and of course we've been caught up in that war. 140 of our staff have been killed since the war started. i was attacked in an ambush earlier this year. just one of many who suffered injuries. i was fortunate in that i survived those injuries.

but unfortunately part of a much bigger problem tied to the illegal exploitation of natural resources which is the driving force behind this terrible conflict in eastern congo. because we're park wardens, because we're park rangers, we're on the front line of that war trying to protect natural resources so we're up against 12 militias and a large corporation which is tied into illegal exportation of natural sources. >> when you suffered injuries, you were shot in the chest and stomach. >> i was driving in my car and came under attack. and then got shot in the chest and stomach as you say. >> that's incredible. is the park safe? what's the status now? >> the park is still extremely vulnerable. these problems haven't been resolved. we are still losing some of our rangers. we lost a man yesterday in fact

in an attack on our staff. and it's continuing. over the last three years we've lost on average one of our staff every six weeks approximately. it's still very, very -- >> before we go, just what are you hoping people will take away from this film? >> we would like everyone to watch this film. this is an issue that every single one of us around the world needs to care about. protecting this park is about more than protecting the gorillas. if some areas as iconic as this national park fall to the face of business interest, what is safe on our planet from human greed? we should care about what happens in this park. >> "virunga" is available on netflix now. thank you both for being on the show and thank you for the work you've done. we'll be right back with much more "morning joe." the volkswagen golf was just named

motor trend's 2015 car of the year. so was the 100% electric e-golf, and the 45 highway mpg tdi clean diesel. and last but not least, the high performance gti. looks like we're gonna need a bigger podium. the volkswagen golf family. motor trend's 2015 "cars" of the year. get to the terminal across town. are all the green lights you? no. it's called grid iq. the 4:51 is leaving at 4:51. ♪ they cut the power. it'll fix itself. power's back on.

quick thinking traffic lights and self correcting power grids make the world predictable. thrillingly predictable. twhat do i do?. you need to catch the 4:10 huh? the equipment tracking system will get you to the loading dock. ♪ there should be a truck leaving now. i got it. now jump off the bridge. what? in 3...2...1... are you kidding me? go. right on time. right now, over 20,000 trains are running reliably.

we call that predictable. thrillingly predictable. nature valley crunchy granola bars give you energy from 1/3 of your daily whole grains, so 1/3 of this commercial is dedicated to what you could do with all that energy. energy to take the road less traveled. i just received a text from ddiscover hq?. yep. we check every purchase, every day and alert you if anything looks suspicious. nice. i'm looking into some suspicious activity myself. madame that is not a changing table. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card at discover.com

you know what i see, joe? >> what's that? >> a school of fish. >> a school of fish. >> the executive chef of oceania here in new york, ben pollinger.

out with a new cookbook "school of fish." >> it's important because, you know, it's easy to throw a steak on the grill, right. fish, very difficult. and by the way, thomas, if you're going to make oyster rockefeller for the hubby and the friends, you need to know how to do it. this is such a tricky dish to get right and nobody does it better than you. talk about the book. >> what we're doing here in "school fish" is demystifying cooking fish for you at home. the fact is,er likes to eat fish. you guys know because you're in the restaurant all the time. everybody knows that fish is healthy, that it's tasty. it's actually a lot simpler than most people think. >> is it really? >> i don't know about that. is it a lot simpler? >> how hard would it be? >> i think savants like you can make it. >> it's one of the easiest dishes in the book. >> i always mess up fish. >> the grill is simple.

the key with the grill is to oil the grill before you start cooking your fish. you take an old rag or a towel, oil it up and you oil the grates. >> i'm sorry, i'm sorry. >> make that for joe. >> so you're telling me i can learn to make this grilled salmon burger at home? i know this so uns like an infomercial but i'm so intimidated by fish. even though george w. bush said man and fish could exist peacefully, i want to eat fish, i just don't know how to make it. >> you just take fresh alaskan salmon, grind it, and you can buy it ground now a days. make the mohorseradish sauce. >> scallops with the peach salsa here. >> right. >> scallops i find terribly difficult to cook because i

never know whether they're done. how do you do them on a grill? >> you want to cook them medium rare, first. you want a little pink on the inside. that's the best way to do it. >> that's where i've messed up. >> and then i got a trick to tell the doneness of fish in general. tack your hand and leave your hand out without flexing your fingers and press right here between your forefinger and that thumb, right where that feels now is basically rare and raw. as you close your fingers, that muscle tightens up. that's going to feel medium rare. if you close your fist without squeezing hard, that's about medium well. if you clench your fist, that's well done. so you have to learn to cook by touch. feel it a little bit. pinch it a little bit. that's where you're going to get your key to tell your doneness. >> wow, i never. >> pretty much most fish. all fish that you want to cook

temperature. like swordfish, i like medium. scallops, i like to do medium rare. certain fish i like to cook through and it's pretty simple to tell that. >> what about buying the fish you cook? how do you tell -- you go into a store and they say, you know, we have swordfish. how do you tell the difference between buying a fresh swordfish? >> it's an important question. when you have fresh fish, what you want to be looking at is a couple different signs. swordfish, you see as steaks or as a fill lay. often you're going to see a little red spot on twli is part of what's called the bloodline. which is this part of the muscle of the fish. you want to see when that's on there you want to see that be bright red. you want to see that be an intense red color. as it starts to age, it's going to start to turn brown, a little bit black. when you see steaks or fill lays. when you have whole fish, what you're looking for is glistening

on the skin. it should be shiny. if you are able to touch it, you should be able to press it slightly and have it come back a little bit. you want to have the fishmonger show you behind the gills. the gills should be bright red. the best thing to do is smell it. it should smell fresh, salty like the sea. shouldn't smell like fish. >> should we be less intimidated or more intim tated by doing something fried like calamari? >> i have great tips in the book for teaching you how to fry at home. totally simple to do. >> the book is "school of fish." we look at that tuna tar tar. >> we'll be right back. ♪ (holiday music is playing) hey!

i guess we're going to need a new santa ♪(the music builds to a climax.) more people are coming to audi than ever before. see why now is the best time. audi will cover your first month's payment on select models at the season of audi sales event. visit audioffers.com today.

we are about to make more gooddeliveriesverybody. to more places than anybody on earth. we have the speed. we have the technology. and we have the team. we made over 15 billion successful deliveries last year. 15 billion! football has a season. baseball has a season. this is our season. it's more than the car.er. for lotus f1 team, the competitive edge is the cloud. powered by microsoft dynamics, azure, and office 365, the team can gain real time insights and instantly share information around the globe. when every millisecond counts, staying competitive begins with the cloud.

this is the microsoft cloud. hey guys...guys! pillsbury cinnamon rolls, with cinnabon cinnamon, are an irresistable sunday morning idea. nothing calls them to the table faster. make breakfast pop! ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

welcome back to "morning joe" on this friday after thanksgiving. it's good to have you all with us. mike halperin, mike barnacle and thomas roberts with us. joining us, we have the co-host of cnbc's "squawk box" and editor of "the new york times" "deal book" andrew ross socurn. good to see you. did you eat a lot? >> i am stuffed. >> we want to know exactly what happened yesterday for quite some time. or actually -- >> later today. >> all right. let's do that one more time. you guys are going to have to cut it. ready, 3, 2, 1. we're not going to know how the day turns out.

what is wall street expecting as far as consumer confidence goes? >> you look at today, black friday and shopping, as sort of an indicator of confidence. i think actually we've given up on friday as an indicator of anything anymore. >> why is that? >> in part because black friday isn't black friday anymore. people have been shopping yesterday. shopping on thanksgiving. >> they shop online. >> walmart, target. everybody. macy's. they opened yesterday. it's being pulled forward throughout all of frankly november at this point. black friday by the way has been always a bit a myth for a shopper. if you're sitting ground watching us this morning, you're thinking of going to the store to get a great deal. it's not clear you get the deal today or even yesterday anymore. so looking at that as a sort of barometer of where we are, i'm not sure it's necessarily what people are going to be focused on. broadly speaking, i think going into christmas, this is the best christmas we will have had in

the last four or five, six years. >> oh, wow, mika, i didn't buy a single present. other than in local stores in my community. if it was a homegrown business, a homegrown book store, i would. but i spent my saturday mornings when i wake up at 5:00 in the morning, staring at the ceiling, on amazon, ordering all my presents. >> that's you. that's been you for years. >> i use the main street in my town a lot. i'm also one of those really organized christmas shoppers and i do it over the past three months. >> oh, that drives me crazy. >> i have a whole closet done. >> they know me as "mr. one click." >> one click shopping. you buy stuff online at all or not? >> yeah, i do. i buy a lot of stuff online. i also like to go to stores not in a mall. i never go to a mall. malls depress me. i stay out of them. the parking lots. i hate them. i go to local businesses. >> if you go around and you have a map of the greater boston

area, there are restraining orders. about 75% of those malls. >> there are two sides to every story. >> -- with the sunglasses, stare at the women. >> is it illegal in massachusetts to impersonate a mall santa? >> mike's done it. >> the statute on that ran several years ago. >> all right, seriously. >> are you guy, when you go to the stores, are you using it as a browsing library and not buying anything or are you actually buying at the store? are you looking around and going online and buying the cheapest product? that is the biggest problem retailer face right now. >> i go in and buy. i certainly see people go around and browse and go home and get it online. >> amazon's been the beneficiary. amazon now opening up brick and mortar stores for the very first time. >> why are they doing that? is amazon healthier at the end of this year? or are they actually facing some growing problems? >> i think they're facing some growing problems. what happened now is they have so many of their own products.

whether it be the kindal or things where they want people to actually touch it or their tv product. somewhere where you can go touch it, feel it. they've realized there is some benefit to that. >> let me ask you a question off of that theory of yours. i assume it's a theory based in fact. but people would go to stores for big ticket items like refrigerators, tv, big screen tvs. you know, things that they like to see and touch before they buy it. has amazon impacted -- does online shopping impact that at all? >> oh, huge. i mean, you could argue -- >> refrigerator, dryer? online as opposed to -- >> what's happened is people who walk into a pc richards or best buy was suffering from this for the last two years. they finally have figured it out. people would walk in, look at all of the tvs. they'd get the nice, you know, customer service person to help

them. then they'd say thank you very much. they'd leave the store, go online. finally best buy has brought a lot of their prices down. have tried to bring their prices down to compete finally with the amazons and those folks who don't have the same type of cost issues because all they own is warehouses. a real issue when it comes to tvs, refrigerators. all of that stuff people are buying online. >> what you see happening, if you want to get the best of a certain product, chances are the store near you won't have it in stock so you end up going online and ordering it. >> andrew what are consumers responding positively too? why is there higher consumer confidence and more spending? >> it's on the high end -- look, on the high end, clearly, you see what's going on in this country when it companiy comes. luxury segment of the market continuing to take off, but i

think what's happening when you look at the walmarts, targets of the world. look at unemployment in this country. it is finally coming down now. underemployment exists in a major way. if you look at what's happened since the financial crisis, we now are finally, you know, creeping under 6%. i think there's some estimates that would tell you that by the end of 2015, we could be close to 5% and we can debate what that means -- >> do americans have more cash in their pocket? do they have more disposable income, andrew? >> well, some -- it depends is the answer. i think arguably yes to some degree because there are people who literally were out of work before. i also think to some extent when you talk about the higher end of the market, it is a stock market, it is real estate. the stock market is now nearly at an all-time high. it's that feeling. it's that effect. >> we've been talking about washington. we've been talking about congress. how much of a drag is washington's inaction on -- forget wall street. i mean, wall street's doing

pretty great. but just the growth of american business. >> it's a great question. i would argue that up until about a year ago, it was a huge drag because there were so many people, executives, companies would weren't willing to hire, weren't willing to make new capital expenditures. sort of waiting to figure out what was going to happen in washington. in an odd way, all this gridlock, maybe they've figured out what to do, but things have started to take off a little bit where you're starting to see incremental spending by companies to hire more people. i don't think we're seeing it nearly at the rate we want. then you get to keystone, you get to tax policy, immigration, what that all is going to mean or not mean. by default, it's holding us back. the question of course is how much. >> andrew, have you seen or has anyone seen any evidence of pullback in terms of online shopping due to fear of credit card hacking and things like that? >> not much. you know, it's funny, for all of

the headlines that we talk about all the tyime, whether it comes to our own credit card security or even security in terms of things we've put online, facebook, whatnot, people continue to use it even more. i imagine this holiday season with the addition of apple pay, we will see even more people using credit cards online. ultimately, at least at the moment, the bank is really the one that's on the hook. it's not you yet. i mean, i worry. i worry about that day you're going to open up your bank account online and you'll be at zero. at least even for just a moment. i think that's the day people will have a real freakout moment. as long as that doesn't happen, i think people will continue to spend. >> you mentioned about the cbo and the projections for unemployment pretty much on target through 2015. we've got the new congress coming in. the trend lines going in the right direction. but let's talk about wages. there's this really interesting piece within the l.a. times about hotel workers going up to

almost 16 bucks an hour. do you think congress will take up what it means to have an increase for a federal minimum wage that's increased for inflation? >> i think it's tough to get the minimum wage to be higher. especially given the parties that will be in charge come january. so i don't think we'll see that debate happen on a meaningful state by state basis. maybe it edges up a little bit more than where we're at now. but i don't see it. i think there's been a lot of resistance to it actually. >> what about wages in general and the impact on the economy and consumer confidence? >> well, that's the fundamental issue. which is wages -- again, wages on the low end are not going up. wages on the high end are going up materially. there's lots of issues that relate to that. the question is, when are companies going to have enough both profits but also demand

with the competitive landscape recognizing they can -- they think that for certain types of these job, they can get them done chooper abroad and the technology that's involved. this is the issue i worry about the most. but i worry about it as much from a policy perspective as -- i think it's a technology story. it's a globalization story and a technology story. because ultimately a lot -- especially the lower end jobs are going to be the ones threatened by technology. >> that gets to the corporate mind-set of america. part of the answer that you just gave. i would ask you this. it's probably unanswerable. corporate profits increasingly grow as the stock price increasingly gets higher. now there's talk in the incoming congress there will be a real effort, perhaps successful effort, at some sort of tax reform legislation that would greatly benefit corporations i think probably than regular

individuals like me or you. when does corporate america get to the point where they realize they have a role to play in the increasing disparity of income in this country? >> you want the most unsatisfying answer? >> oh. >> they don't. >> what? >> they don't. they don't think about it as a social issue. they think about it as a demand issue. which is to say, as long as their business is humming along. as long as they can find employees willing to do the job at the lowest price humanly possible, they're not going to be raising -- they're not going to be hiring more people, now are they going to raise wages. now, look, in 10, 20, 30 years from now, you're already seeing this. we used to outsource to india because the prices were so low on labor. those prices are coming up. the good news globally is wages are coming up across the board everywhere. so at some point, i don't know if we'll ever get to parity, but that will force the issue in the united states.

but we are so far from that. >> all right. we've got -- andrew, thank you very much. we've got a lot more still ahead this morning. turkeys of the year. as well as what we're all thankful for. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. she inspires you. no question about that. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right.

you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any allergic reactions like rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30-tablet trial.

transparency is a huge political advantage. call it the stupidity of the american voter or whatever. basically, that was really, really critical to get anything to pass. it's the second best argument. look, i wish mark is right, we could make it all transparent, but i'd rather have this law than not. >> mit professor and obamacare architect jonathan gruber on how the health care law was able to be passed. those comments make him one of "morning joe's" turkeys of 2014. >> is he at the top of your list? >> i guess so. if these things could have been uncovered earlier, he could have been like three years running. so irresponsible. you know, he apologized. still, like --

>> but you say it, too, it wasn't just a bad day, he was very proud of calling the american people stupid. >> mike barnacle's very familiar with the category of human being. arrogant boston area professors. >> oh, yes. >> that's where i was going on this. >> we're smarter than the receive rest of the world? >> arrogant academic with a microphone in front of him. thrilled to spew out, you know, things that are maybe i don't know half true or whatever true. >> maybe even all true. >> mika, wasn't the first time the white house has mishandled a crisis of sorts. it took him a while to state the obvious. this guy is arrogant. a jerk. instead of denying that they knew who he was and he's just not that important. no, he's a very important guy in crafting romney care. a very important guy in crafting obamacare. they bungled it. they should have said what david axelrod said. >> what an idiot. i also want to go back to the truth of it.

because if you put it in historical perspective, it can be true and also not the enof the world, mark halperin. >> if the president and his advisers had been forthcoming about people losing access to their policies, their doctors, having higher prem yumiums, i d think it would have passed. they were not led through a debate about what -- >> they hid the tax. the president said if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. not true. president said if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plain. not true. i think you're right. if they told the truth about this bill, they had enough trouble passing it. >> as is. >> and then you had nancy pelosi afterwards, and will say this, nancy pelosi afterwards really underlying the real problem here, mike, saying, well, we'll have to pass the bill before we see what's in the bill. this whole thing was such a mess. >> what about -- it's not a theory, it's -- a lot of people

believe it to be fact-based. that the bill was so huge, so complex, that when the president said things like, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, he actually thought that was true, because nobody really, really got all the complexities. >> do you really think that? >> i think they understood social security better than this. another turkey of the year. three letters. they may have cleaned up their act. but the nfl. what a horrible year for the nfl. >> that could be at the top. >> yeah, they haven't had a good year at all. we've seen the latest for that being with adrian peterson and goodell coming down very hard. >> that's possibly a good sign, right? >> well, is it an overreaction after bungling ray rice? is it a guy that's trying to give a better image to the nfl in a situation that's horrible and that has to deal with child abuse as opposed to spousal abuse. does it go to a bigger culture

within the nfl of turning a blind eye to persistent issues that are happening in a culture being baked in. so roger goodell has a lot of work ahead of him to turn down the image. perception is reality. we kicked that topic around the top a ton. there were two different stories that went with that. especially the post-dragging the fiance out of the elevator. we all knew what happened in the elevator. when the video came out that reported the facts of it, then that's when everybody freaked out. >> am i being overly optimistic in thinking in roger goodell's response to adrian peterson not seeming to get it, he lowered the boom on him? i mean, am i being overly optimistic to think this might show that roger goodell and the nfl understand they have to be completely beyond reproach, any of these abuse cases, be it against women or children? >> it appears the national

football league are quite cognizant of two things. one, they have some real problems. and the ray rice adrian peterson thing, was a reaction to ray rice. but they know they have personnel issues. it's a very violent game. they have some disreputable characters playing the game. they know thanksgiving day millions of americans glued to their tvs watching these games. despite the fact that young married couples with children -- they're kind of reluctant about football because of the violence of the game. the nfl just rolls. >> it's a pretty successful season by most standards. it's a competitive year. there are a lot of teams in the hunt. they got to fix their problem. i think the commissioner got a huge responsibility, turn them from being turkeys to not but so do the owners. the owners have to step up in their communities. >> the challenge is not short term.

they'll make billions and also about of dollars this year. >> next on the list, we have donald steriling. >> do we have to even talk about that? >> no. does anyone need to pontificate? i'll just check him off as a turkey. >> he's well cooked. >> former governor bob mcdonnell. >> a really sad trial this year. the family turning against each other. the mcdonnell's turning against each other. he had a chance to just plead to one count and it would have all been over. >> sentencing is january -- >> we said during the trial, even at this time of thanks and forgiveness, we said at a minimum he was sloppy in how he conducted himself. i was surprised he was convicted. but he certainly disgraced the office, whether or not he committed a crime. >> it was just one of those stories, as the trial continued,

you just didn't want to read about. you felt like you wanted to take a shower after reading about it. >> speaking of taking a shower, let's talk about alex rodriguez. the other turkey of the year. the baltimore oriole go against a guy in the a.l. east. this is a guy that yankee fans like willie geist don't even want on their team anymore because they found out this guy, like so many others, lying all along about using steroids. >> the sad fact is arod is a sociopath who can sit and lie through his teeth and try to perform at the highest level. make all of this money. take yankee fans. kids that are supporting him. wearing his number, wearing his jersey. that want to see him as this super hero. he's doing everything he can by getting prescriptions through his brother-in-law or what was that, mike? >> his cousin. >> his cousin, you know, getting these prescriptions.

doing everything he can to scam the game and then lie. >> to lie through his teeth. and then, mike, refuse to pay his lawyers. here's a guy would makes so much a year, i mean, $20 million? i don't know how much he makes a year. >> $25 million a year. >> $25 million a year. >> he's still got $62 million left in his deal with the yankees. >> what a lot of these players need in their life is somebody responsible and serious who will monitor what they do. these pro athletes need some sort of counselor. because this guy behaves so irresponsibly and he really didn't need to. >> final turkey, mika. i'm going to let you go with this one. vladimir putin. >> total turkey. >> dangerous turkey. >> he's an idiot. i don't know why so many people dance around him. thank god for the prime minister of canada. >> so we're going to talk about people to be thankful for. but why don't you start with the prime minister of canada? you absolutely love what he told putin. >> i like when they met at the

summit and he said, get the heck out of ukraine. just said it. >> what was putin's response? classic bully's response. he left. >> he left early. because he was tired. >> he's a baby. >> mike, also, you look at institutions -- unfortunately we've had to talk about this throughout the year. institutions that americans have lost faith in. we can name a lot of them. the presidency. congress. the irs. the v.a. you can go down the list. one institution after another institution. the catholic church in the past. not so much this year. but there's one whose standing continues to rise with the american people. the u.s. military. such a radical change from the '60s and '70s. now the u.s. military stands alone in being revered. >> and it ought to. it deserves to. we've been through the longest war in the history of the republic and afghanistan. you combine that with iraq and

the ongoing action against isis in the middle east. and less than 1% among us, the members of the american military have carried that load and their families have carried that load with multiple deployments over the course of the last 15, 1 years. and they stand proud. they stand tall. they represent us in the best ways imaginable. not just in the theater of war but around the world, joe, fighting ebola in africa. it's the american military. they're our finest foot forward. >> their performance level is extraordinary. the level of excellence. there's nothing else like it. except maybe cable show hosts. >> it's unbelievable. on this network. and we limit it to that. mika brzezinski, areayou're a g catholic girl. mike barnacle's a good catholic boy. i'm going to go to you first. pope francis.

nobody saw this guy coming. >> who i'm thankful for. pope john paul ii was always my favorite pope personally with his polish origin and the way he was able to rally the youth of the world. but this pope, this pope has been able to bring the catholic church back from the brink of having no credibility. not being able to bring in a new flock. he's done it in surprisingly straight forward almost -- he has gone there on major issues that another pope 10, 20 years to address. maybe two or three more. >> what's so remarkable -- >> he's amazing. >> he hasn't changed church doctrine. but he's changed the attitude. he's open-minded. when he's asked about gay marriage. or when he's asked about other issues. he doesn't go there preaching church doctrine. he said i'm not perfect.

who am i to judge? i mean, it's the most biblical thing in the world. thomas, obviously, your church as well. you've got to be looking at this pope differently than post popes. >> no, i think for a lot of people like me who would consider themselves to be a disenfranchised catholic as a child of divorce, a gay adult, as a kid who was sexually abused by a priest. >> that would cover it. >> he's met with six european sexual abuse survivors. he has spoken directly about what it means to reembrace lgbt catholics within the church. he's also spoken about the divorced catholics need to be remembered and respected and not thrown aside. for a lot of people, that covers millions and millions of catholics around the world. >> does it give you hope? you can move from the

disenfranchised catholic. even if you disagree with the dogma of the church. a leader who is open minded and willing to confront past mistakes. >> would tell you they hate to give up that habitual love they have of the church that they've grown up with, the spirituality they have, the connectivity to god and church and faith. and the fact that that was taken away from them somehow. from the pulpit. directly from some type of spiritual leader. this is a great way to say -- from the top down. because that's where it's going to come from. someone like pope francis. this is a great way to come back and feel embraced, feel reengaged. >> do they really know what they were getting? >> they knew. they had to know this would help the church. maybe save the church. the other thing is on the back end, he's done all this. you don't hear panic in the church. i'm sure privately some people are upset by it.

he is holding the more traditional conservative part of the church together. it's an incredible feat. >> pope benedict lives in the back. >> he's still around? >> he's still around. >> living in the back with george. >> washer/dryer privileges. >> i also think this week the people over at st. patrick's cathedral across the street said there's a good likelihood he's going to come to new york. >> on "morning joe." >> how exciting. >> can i finally say one other group of people to be thankful for. those are the men and women. we talk about the men and women who fought for this country, defend this country. how about the men and the women who have put their lives on the line to go over and treat ebola patients? in west africa and across the world when they know it could lead to their death.

and we include in that of course the doctors that went over and came back and survived ebola. and also the doctors and nurses that went over. and even some who weren't treated very well when they came back and were forced to live in a tent. and possibly having to leave maine. what a great story of selfless sacrifice on their part. >> much more "morning joe" is still ahead on this day after thanksgiving.

yoplait light is now better than ever. it still melts in your mouth. with 90 calories. and is now aspartame free. yoplait light. it is so good; it's better than ever. you drop 40 grand on a new set of wheels, then... wham! a minivan t-bones you. guess what: your insurance company will only give you 37-thousand to replace it. "depreciation" they claim. "how can my car depreciate before it's first oil change?" you ask. maybe the better question is, why do you have that insurance company? with liberty mutual new car replacement,

we'll replace the full value of your car. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. a secure retirement. a new home. earning your diploma. providing for your family. real associates, using walmart's benefits to build better lives for their families. opportunity. that's the real walmart.

here with us now, president and co-founder of farm sanctuary, gene baur, author of the book "farm sanctuary," changing hearts and minds about animals and food." you're swimming upstream right now a little bit with this crowd. because ignorance is bliss when it comes to what happens in our country and about the industrialized farm industry for animals. so explain the mission of your organization. also, why you want to write a book. >> well, farm sanctuary works to prevent cruelty to farm animals. encourage people to make choices they can feel good about, about their food. as you mentioned, a lot of times people don't want to look at this. ignorance is bliss. there are consequences to ignorance,en cluding horrible animal cruelty. including our own health

problems. in this country, we spend a lot of money to address preventable health deceases like heart disease and cancer. if we ate a whole foods, plant-based diet, we could limit our health care costs and improve our health and improve our well bei-being. when people live in a dissonant way and say, "i don't want to know," there's this stress in dissonant that is unnecessary. i've been a vegan since 1985. it's a very healthy humane way to live. >> explain the difference between vegan and vegetarian. there's a distinct difference. >> as a vegan, i don't eat any meat, dairy or eggs. vegetarians will sometimes eat dairy products. so that's the main difference. >> mike barnacle. >> you know this is admiral what you're involved in. there are realities that affect millions of people in this country. it's shocking in this country that so many children go without a nutritious diet.

it's shocking there's such obesity and health problems caused by eating the wrong kinds of foods. but the additional cost to families who live on the margin through efforts that you're promoting is nearly prohibitive. >> well, there's this assumption that eating healthy has to be expensive. i don't think that's necessarily the case. there are now many efforts and food movement to provide healthy food to people who need it. there are food, not lawns, movement, where people are growing food in their lawns. there are people growing food in the margins of, like, street areas. there are organizations that collects fruit that falls from trees. that otherwise wouldn't be used. we're in the midst of an awareness that we need to change our food system. there are organizations and individuals stepping up to provide healthy wholesome plant-based foods that are very affordable. so i don't think that healthy

food has to be expensive. there are more and more efforts now making healthy plant-based foods more and more available. >> two questions. one is, can someone be meat eater within the guidelines that you set here? in terms of having healthy diet that, you know, is nutritious and good for you? and secondly, do you recall the last bite of a cheeseburger that you yourself had? do you look back on that with, you know, emotional trauma or do you remember it fondly? >> when i think back about how i used to eat meat, you know, i did that really without thinking about it. i grew up eating meat like everybody around me. it was just a habit. when i started looking more into my food and recognizing where it came from, i didn't want to be part of that system. so i now look back and don't have any strong feelings about it. it's just something we grew up doing. i feel very good about the decisions i've made. in terms of people deciding to eat meat or not, each of us has to make our own choice.

as a nation, we would do much better to eat more plant foods and fewer animal foods, if not no animal foods. by moving away from animal foods and processed food, we could all improve our health. >> more specifically, to sam's point here, for people who want to respect what you're doing, is admiral. is is there a guideline, a respectful way that goes about supporting farming institutions that are raising animals for those that would choose to then want to digest them, to do it in an ethical and honest way that doesn't go against the grain of what you're trying to promote? >> there's a movement in animal agricultural to start marketing products as humane because there is growing awareness and concern about factory farming. unfortunately, a lot of the labels use that say free range tend to sound a lot better than they are. that's something i will say up front. in terms of killing animals for food, it's not something we have to do. each person can decide whether to do it or not. i'm not here to judge and say you're a good person or a bad

person. each person has to come to term, with their feelings about that. the bottom line from my perspective is we can live well without causing harm to other animals. but i also should say even the most vegan vegen isn't perfect. just by living on this planet, we cause harm. this is an aspiration to do as well as we can while recognizing none of us is perfect. >> is it frustrating, though, given the culture that we're a part of, in terms of what you'd like to see happen and what you're work ing to see happen? you get on a car and you see a highway, you don't pass a mccelery. >> not yet. that's a million dollar idea right there. >> these are tremendous odds. the reality is you're swimming upstream. >> we've been dealing with a very challenging issue. eating animals has been considered to be normal for many years in this country. the number of animals being

consumed has been increasing for decades. i'm happy to say, starting around 2008, the number of animals being slaughtered and consumed in the u.s. has started going down. i think it's because people recognize we've been eating way too much meat. it's hurting our health. it's hurting the environment. >> ways yohat's your thought on hot dog? >> i like veggie dogs. farm sanctuary started back in the mid-80s by selling veggie hot dogs at grateful dead concerts. >> that's the hipiest thing i've ever heard. >> he has a lot of gotcha questions for you. trying to corner you in. >> how about kosher hot dogs? plant-based. >> so mccelery is the next thing from the barnacle factory. it's going to be huge. gene, thank you. the book is "farm sanctuary, changing hearts and mind about animals and food." right back with more "morning joe."

get to the terminal across town.

are all the green lights you? no. it's called grid iq. the 4:51 is leaving at 4:51. ♪ they cut the power. it'll fix itself. power's back on. quick thinking traffic lights and self correcting power grids make the world predictable. thrillingly predictable.

whoa! if you have dandruff sign up for shampoodelivery.com get out of here!! 50% off laser hair removal. you've been matched. linda s. is only 3.2 miles away. no no no. request accepted. match confirmed. message from linda. what's up brandon? control your entire home without your private data ever being shared. introducing wink. it's like a robot butler, but not as awkward. right now, you can get a single line with 3 gigs for $65 a month. 3 gigs ... is that a lot? that's about ... 100 app downloads, 45 hours of streaming music, and 6 hours of video playing. (singing) and five golden rings! ha, i see what you did... (singing) four calling birds...three french hens ...(the guys starts to fizzle out) two... turtle...doves... i really went for it there ya you did ... you really, really did now get 3 gigs of data on one line for $65 a month. switch to at&t, buy a new smartphone and get $150 credit per line.

here with us now from washington, president and ceo of brand usa. the company is working to bring in 100 million visitors per year into the u.s. by 2021. >> thanks so much for being with us. this brand usa is a public/private partnership. i didn't realize it, but the federal government is actually in the business of helping pull more people to america. tell us about it. >> yeah, we are our nation's destination marketing organization. our mission is to drive international visitation. spend. market share. we were founded and started by a travel promotion act that was passed in 2010. we partner with over 400 brands and destinations. and we're marketing all 50 states, five territories, district of columbia, too,

through and beyond the gateways. >> ways that's the goal? >> shortly after the travel promotion act was passed in 2012, the president called for a national tourism strategy. targeting 100 million international visitors. and $250 billion in spending by 2021. that's the target we're trying to hit. >> what are the friendly countries you're going after the tourists in? who has the biggest pockets you'd like to see come to the u.s. and spend their dollars? >> so i guess the number one destination for international visitation is no surprise. it's canada. and then second is mexico. because we share borders. but then after that, it's the uk. it's japan. it's germany. it's brazil. it's china. it's south korea. it's australia. and it's france. so a lot of those probably are ones that most people would think we get visitation from.

>> you think the problems we read about every day in the papers, the problems political paper talk about every day in washington, terror, points of entry into the united states, will that present a problem to your goal which is admiral and we'd be behind that goal of increasing tourism, but would it be more difficult to achieve the goal with all of this in the background? >> so what's very interesting by the research we conduct is that when people can actually travel to the united states and they actually have a chance to experience all that is the united states of america, their perception of our country changes dramatically. 75% of them are more favorable towards the country. and 60% of them actually say that they're more predisposed to u.s. policy as a result of coming to experiencing the u.s. as opposed to what they've heard or read. >> how much of an obstacle is u.s. policy overseas? do people even want to come to the united states? >> not any that we're able to detect. and certainly, you know, that changes by the day, by the

month, by the year. so everything -- so we're laser focused on making sure we put all that is the united states of america in front of international visitors and promote their ability to come to and through and beyond the gateways. >> you look at $180 billion a year in tourism revenues, you get a sense of why this partnership exists. any concern, chris, given the ebola story that has been in the headlines and talk about travel restrictions? along with already in place homeland security measures. how does that work with or work against what you're trying to do? >> so, as it relates to the ebola scare, certainly we have all the confidence in the world in the federal agencies involved with that and security is the utmo utmost importance to us. we manage the entry on a regular basis. we're certainly -- feel confident that our federal agencies that control the entry process will be able to incorporate anything related to that into that. and then that's one of the

things we're also charged with, is marketing the welcome. which is working with our definitions and our federal agencies to make sure they understand what's involved with the entry process and making that as smooth and as amicable as we can. >> all right, fascinating. >> chris thompson, president, ceo, brand usa, thanks for being on the show. we're back in just a moment. than ever why now is the best time to be on verizon. one: verizon's the largest, most reliable 4g lte network in the country. that's right america. with xlte in over 400 markets. two: and here's something for families to get excited about. our best pricing ever! get 2 lines with an incredible 10gb of data to share for the low price of $110! or just $140 for a family of 4! and three: get $150 credit for every line you switch. the more you switch, the more you get. verizon. we are about to make more gooddeliveriesverybody. to more places than anybody on earth.

we have the speed. we have the technology. and we have the team. we made over 15 billion successful deliveries last year. 15 billion! football has a season. baseball has a season. this is our season. think the tree we carved our names in is still here? probably dead... how much fun is this? what? what a beautiful sunset... if you like sunsets. whether you're sweet or salty... you'll love nature valley sweet and salty bars. as the company that's all about printing. but did you know we also support hospitals using electronic health records for more than 30 million patients? or that our software helps over 20 million smartphone users remotely configure e-mail every month? or how about processing nearly $5 billion in electronic toll payments a year? in fact, today's xerox is working in surprising ways

to help companies simplify the way work gets done and life gets lived. with xerox, you're ready for real business. and life gets lived. ♪ (holiday mhey! is playing) i guess we're going to need a new santa ♪(the music builds to a climax.) more people are coming to audi than ever before. see why now is the best time. audi will cover your first month's payment on select models at the season of audi sales event. visit audioffers.com today.

>> but i'm good at this. and i want to share this with you. i want to teach you what i learned. i get to touch people's lives with what i do. and it keeps me going. and i love it. and i think if you give it a shot, you might love it too. >> yes, sir. >> now, should we have served that sandwich? >> no, chef. >> that's my son. get back in there. we got some hungry people. he's ready to cook. >> there we go. a teachable moment. a clip from this summer's hit film "chef." two chef's passion for food that's behind a very unique collaboration that just opened in new orleans. joining us now, the co-star of the food network series "chopped." guys, it's great to have you here. this new operation, this collaboration of egos and food you've decided to put under one roof, right, as you laugh at me.

it's called johnny sanchez. two locations. one is in baltimore, right. talk about what's taking place in new orleans. and then we'll get into the ego stuff. >> i think that's important. >> yeah, the ego stuff is very important. >> really honored my mexican heritage. >> oh, wait, that's your line. >> yeah, exactly. for us, it was a collaboration and celebrating the food i think has a lot of appeal for a lot of different people. mexican food is the one thing that chefs eat when they're not working. people have very strong opinions about it. we wanted to make a restaurant that was just fun. >> thomas' reference, i mean, chefs are notoriously, at least the chefs we're familiar with, are notoriously like almost crazy people. >> they tend to be. >> how does this alliance form? how did you come together with this. >> been good friends for years. we battled it out countless number of times. really solidified the relationship then.

past ten years, worked with me on a number of fiphilanthropic measures, and through authorization we started doing those -- we had these taco parties. then became like one of the things -- look, come to your house, we'll have this charity, we'll throw a taco party for you and your friends. we said, we're pretty good at this, let's do this for real. let's create a business model that's about having fun. tacos being, you know, the one thing that kind of brings us all together. >> so from people that do know the personalities from tv, how do they personalities meld off tv, off the cameras, when you're trying to figure out the influences that you want to bring to new orleans and to bald more? >> yeah, i think -- it breaks down -- for me, i know the food very intimately. my mom had a restaurant here in new york city. so for me growing up in that

environment, it was easy to put forward some greatest hits and dishes we thought would be home runs. then it was just a matter of us teaching that and ensuring its consistency. that's where john comes in. he's such an admirer of the food. really, coming together through food and communities very much how you eat in louisiana. so he identified with that. >> i love mexican food. i think a lot of people love mexican food. but new orleans might be one of the last places i think of to start a restaurant like this. >> right. i'm in new orleans. so that's how -- would be thing we're really lacking was, you know, mexican food. we wanted to bring that to the forefront. and to collaborate with somebody who's truly an icon in that cooking is just priceless. >> one thick, we talk about new orleans. it's known for good food. it's known for having a good time. you've got over 45 different tequilas. >> very tequila-centric.

>> so people know they can find good pairings. >> we have a taste you mentioned in baltimore. >> that's a lot of fun. pretty dangerous. >> i was going to say, dangerous. but everything's good in moderation, right? >> absolutely. >> but nower can come in and see and taste for themselves his th great food you guys are making. at johnny sanchez. thank you so much. great to have you here. look at this, they were great. >> i'm stunned. we got then at a table together. they're totally fine. >> we really have bad reputations. >> no, security was off to the side, it's all good. thanks, guys. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪

try zyrtec-d® to powerfully clear your blocked nose and relieve your other allergy symptoms... so you can breathe easier all day. zyrtec-d®. find it at the pharmacy counter. zyrtec-d®. hey guys...guys! pillsbury cinnamon rolls, with cinnabon cinnamon, are an irresistable sunday morning idea. nothing calls them to the table faster. make breakfast pop! just take a closer look. it works how you want to work.

with a fidelity investment professional... or managing your investments on your own. helping you find new ways to plan for retirement. and save on taxes where you can. so you can invest in the life that you want today. tap into the full power of your fidelity greenline. call or come in today for a free one-on-one review.

good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt. a black friday frenzy. millions of shoppers hitting stores today. it's the busiest shopping day of the year. our sara dahllof is standing by. first, nbc's kerry sanders reports today's shopping is becoming a contact sport. >> 3, 2, 1. >> america's holiday shopping season -- is now at full tilt. with bargain hunters determined not to miss out on those after thanksgiving deals. >> last year, i came late and, like, there wa