cnbc's julia bornstein with us. >> c.o. michael lynton saying we're excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on christmas day. he goes on to say, quote, while we hope this is only the first step of the film's release, we're proud to make it available to the public and have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech. this is an about-face after sony canceled the schedule release for thursday after terror threats against theaters, threats which prompted the nation's five largest theater chains to pull the film from their screens. today's announcement from sony comes after president obama said friday he thought it was, quote, a mistake for sony to cancel the release saying he wished sony had called him first. there has been an outpouring social media asking for the

movie's release. show times are up and available and excited to release the film and respond to that huge demand and outpouring of demand and support they've seen. >> thank you. what a total turn-around. new reaction from "the interview" star seth rogen tweeting, the people have spoken. freedom has prevailed. sony didn't get up. "the interview" will be shown at theaters willing to play it on christmas day. james franco had a little fun with president obama's flub of his name saying, celebrating "the interview" and starring seth rogen and james flacco by president obacco. sorry. now, a weather alert across the country. roadways and runways looked like this. not good. gloom y gray and sloppy. now as millions of people hit the roads and try to catch flights, severe threats of

tornados and thunderstorms have been firing up throughout the day. let's get right to wnbc meteorologist steven sosna who is tracking the storm. >> it's been pretty bad in terms of rainfall and even strong winds. but the tornado threat has somewhat been weak here so far this morning into early this afternoon. but that may change later on today. we are tracking a line of very heavy thunderstorms across mississippi where we have one tornado warning in effect right now. in fact, the storm prediction center monitoring areas of flood for more severe storms throughout the morning and evening. the problem is these storms are coinciding with the big travel time. a lot of airports being impacted by these storms up. see all the green on the radar, that's heavy rain, flash flood watches in effect for areas like atlanta and all that rain is going to be riding up the coastline. you can see the storm is huge. it takes up the eastern part of the country. with that, expect widespread travel delays. not only for atlanta, but up to

new york, lagarde, yeah jfk you'll see airport delays there and chicago eventually as the back part of this storm heads your way, you'll be looking although snow. a big, widespread area impacted by this winter storm. >> i feel bad for the people who had troubles for thanksgiving. now for christmas. hopefully they'll be safe and stress-free. time to check in with jennifer monitoring things from schiller park, illinois. this is expected to be chicago's biggest travel day and it's looking blue skies and sunny so far. >> reporter: it's beautiful and sunny in chicago. that is interesting. this is the day to get away, if you can, if you're trying to leave this area. one in three americans is traveling this holiday season. most of them in the next couple of days. and as you can see, it's blue skies and beautiful, but we're expecting a snowstorm starting tomorrow. this time tomorrow it should be snowing and that will affect flights in the midwest. hubs like o'hare could be

affected and travelers could be delayed. you know how that causes a ripple effect all across the country when a hub like that is affected, especially on a travel rush day. they say there is a 3% increase of travelers expected at o'hare tomorrow as people head to the airport for the holiday season. and we can tell you that 98.6 million americans plan to travel over the next few days. the airports are socked in with that low ceiling. we have delays, we can report to you, an hour and a half at newark, laguardia. two hours in philadelphia. that one storm is the problem we're having today and tomorrow the midwest will be effected. gas prices at four, five, six-year lows depending on where you live. maybe the road trippers is onto something. unleaded is averaging $2.37 a gallon today. in 27 states can you actually

buy a gallon of unleaded for less than $2. pretty amazing news. 80 cents less than it was this time last year. the bad news is your weather might affect those road travelers. back to you. >> enjoy it while you can. jennifer, thank you very much. now, to the very latest on the murder of two nypd police officers. in just over 40 minutes from now at 2:47 p.m. local time new york city mayor bill de blasio will lead a moment of silence at city hall. that's the moment officers liu and officer ramos were killed by ismaaiyl brinsley. in the backdrop, the blame game over why this happened. mayor de blasio and protesters both feeling the heat. de blasio has asked for a halt of those protests during this time of mourning. moments ago the mother of 12-year-old tamir rice renewed

her call for peaceful demonstrations. >> i would like to say that i'm against all violence. i want to thank the people in the nation for all you -- all their support. may god bless this nation. >> meanwhile, new video showing the alleged gunman at a brooklyn mall just before ambushing those officers. another piece of video shows the moment brinsley open fire. bill bratton spoke about the fallen officers in rhode island this morning. >> i've come to know these two men and their families. two extraordinary men. two extraordinary cops. that is what you want police to be. and they are actually representative of the nypd and the city of new york. >> msnbc's adam reiss joins me from brooklyn. what's latest from there? >> reporter: we're seeing

hundreds of new yorkers from all over the city come here to the memorial to mourn and to grieve. hundreds of police officers, firefighters, sanitation workers. now, as you mentioned, in about 40 minutes, the mayor called for a moment of silence citywide to remember these two officers. we're also learning more about the police investigation and brinsley's social media profile. they found 119 photos on his instagram account, including one video he took at a rally, an anti-police rally on december 1st in union square park in new york. they also found 1,000 photos on his telephone. one of them anti-police and a lot of it invst vective and anti-police, anti-government. they also found a video of him in a brooklyn mall. between noon and 2:30 they lost track of him and they're looking for any help the public may be able to provide, any more information into those hours leading up to this shooting.

francis? >> the mayor has really urged for the protests and all of that to be put aside to focus on the family. so, how are they? i understand former mayor rudy giuliani and cardinal dolan visited one of the families today. >> they're suffering. their faith in god and their faith in jesus is helping them. they're just wonderful people. he must have been a really remarkable man from the things you hear. he must have just been an exceptional, exceptional man, which is basically what our police officers are like. >> reporter: officer ramos will be buried on saturday. we're still waiting to hear from the liu family. they are trying to get visas for the family to come over from china. francis? >> heartbreaking to deal with this the days before christmas and the days after. adam reiss, thank you so much for following that story for us. the food and drug administration says it will

recommend ending the ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. the ban had been in place for the past 40 years. there was a push for change since scientific advances now allow for better and faster hiv testing. restrictiondzs would still remain. gay men would only be allowed to donate if they have not had sex for another man for one year. still to come, we'll take you live to new york city hall for a moment of silence in honor of the two police officers killed in brooklyn. plus, new york's mayor has called for demonstrators to call off on protesters until the two officers have been buried. we'll talk to one protester about what's next for their movement. antix. i had tried to do it in the past. i hadn't been successful. quitting smoking this time was different because i got a prescription for chantix. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. the fact that it reduced the urge to smoke helped me get that confidence that i could do it. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix.

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back now with break news we want to bring you.

reaction from president obama to sony to allow limited release of "the interview." a white house spokesperson says the president applauds sony's decision to authorize screening of the film. as the president made clear, we are a country that believes in free speech and the right of artistic expression. the decision made by sony and participating theaters. an about-face after the president called sony's decision not to release it -- or pull it from christmas day release saying, i wish they would have filled me in and asked me about it first, but now applauding them. now to this story as new york city tries to heal from the murder of those two nypd officers. perhaps one question here. whether protests in the wake of eric garner and michael brown's grand jury decision should end. more protests are planned for today but some have put blame on the protests for fostering a culture of animosity towards of police. in a press conference yesterday, new york city mayor bill de blasio asks for a pause of the

protests. >> i'm asking everyone, and this is across the spectrum, to put aside protests, put aside demonstrations until these funerals are passed, let's focus on these families and what they have lost. >> amanda has been covering this story for msnbc and glenn march stin a protester and the president of just leadership usa. we appreciate both of you being with us here today as we talk about this. so much to tackle with this. glenn, you know, you heard from the mayor saying, let's set this aside in this time of mourning. you've been engaged in that, so will you respect what the mayor asked? >> these two heroic police officers were out there protecting the right of -- people's constitutional right to protest. to peacefully come together and protest against government, against conditions they think are oppressive.

conditions that have been around for decades if not centuries. >> will you be there? will you be out? >> if folks decide to protest, i'll be there. >> it's our understanding people are saying, they still will continue to be out there. >> these are not anti-police protests. these are protests for justice and peace. these protests are in line with what these police officers stood for. >> that's what makes is-t difficult for some people because have you a generalization. what are you hearing when some of these demonstrators say you -- >> they came out to condemn the killing over the weekends. they were urgent in saying the actions of one troubled man does not reflect the greater movement at large. this is a very difficult position for many of the protesters because many of them do feel very genuine anger and frustration over a system they feel is working against them. so, they want to be able to voice those opinions and be able to voice those -- that anger and it be all right.

>> how do you put that in perspective as far as a differentiation between these protesters here, who are doing so peacefully, and then the other ones here who are the ones -- the few who have been chanting, you know, what do we want? dead cops. when do we want them? now. then you have the other side of the spectrum here, these maniacs to pull off something like this. how do you make it so these lines are not blurred at all. >> i don't think can you divide that down the middle. if you look at the group of people who are protesting and yelling, kill cop. that was a very small group of peel. it happened after 6:30 p.m. when the official march was actually over. and in an audience of 50,000 you're not going to look down and suddenly see 100 people chanting. >> we don't have to show that's not reflective of our entire group of 25, 50,000 people out there. >> if it were an anti-police protest and police officers lining the entire route, it would have been a pretty violent protest. clearly peaceful. >> let's talk about basketball

legend kareem abdul-jabbar wrote an op-ed in "time" magazine. he says, those who are trying to connect the murders of the officers with the thousands of articulate and peaceful protesters across america are being deliberately. this is the same strategy used when trying to lump in the violent and looting with legitimate protesters who have disavowed that behavior. when we hear about this and the protests becoming devisive, is this being corrosive to the proteste protesters? >> we've seen this since ferguson, missouri, after the nonindictment decision in darren wilson's case for michael brown. and this has been an issue with the looting and violence and that's the headline, not the hours of peaceful marches that happened throughout the entire day and the 20 minutes of violence that did come up. so this is an issue for many

organizers because how are they supposed to be preempt these small subsets of the crowd. they've been coming up with different tactics to be able to key in on several members and maybe try to de-escalate tensions but it's a very difficult position for many of these organizers because they still want to be out there day in, day out. >> how do you keep your goal alive here when you deal with the mourning for these families as well and these officers that were lost? >> because i'm marching alongside people who care about peace and life, it's actually not difficulty in feeling compassion for the families who have lost loved ones. there's a historical precedence. if you look back to civil rights era, people like giuliani and pat lynch coming out and trying to delegitimize the movement, it didn't work then and it won't work now. this is the civil rights movement of our day. >> how about the momentum we're talking about. you see the momentum there. there was a little bit of a lull leading up to this and then you have people like glenn saying, you know what, some of my fellow

demonstrators are going to be out there. i'm going to join them. >> there's the pocket of a chilling effect. we had mayor de blasio asking for a small reprieve from the demonstrations out of respect for the slain officers and we see several organizers who are looking to that. at the same time, it was exactly one week earlier we saw thousands of people take the streets of new york. so, this is coming right as this movement is starting to gather steam. it's not likely those people who did show up will suddenly stop believing and stop feeling that anger and that and those issues. >> glenn, what do you see as far as the message you'll have and how f at all, that will change? not only in the next days to come but down the road, when the families have had a chance to mourn and there is some healing that has come into play. >> the message is not going to change. the message has been pretty clear. it's about justice, about peace, about stopping police pru talty

against poor people and people of color. that message will not change. what we're hoping is more and more americans will take a close look at what we're doing, listen to what we're promoting, come on board and drown out the messages of people who are trying to delegitimize this movement. >> for those unfortunate few who actually stand back and have applauded and supported the killing of these two cops, they say, you know what, in their mind, yes, we took two of theirs, we're going to take two of theirs. >> this is america. it's a democracy. when numbers of people decide there's a movement to undo the kind of damage we've seen from police officers against poor people and people of color, i don't think that that's something you can stop. i think that's -- that's a movement that's here to stay. >> msnbc's amanda and glenn martin, we thank you for being with us here this afternoon. >> thank you. now to three things to know this tuesday. less than an hour ago michael graham pleaded guilty to one

count of tax fraud in a federal court in brooklyn despite facing charges before election day. easily won re-election in november. lawyers for the staten island republican have no comment. earlier today democratic leader nancy pelosi called on john boehner to act, saying now that the election is over, congressman grimm is finally admitting the truth to his constituents. speaker boehner insists he resign immediately. the latest obamacare numbers are in. according to hhs sylvia burwell, 6 million people enrolled on healthcare.gov. she said 1.6 million were new sign-ups. holiday cheer from wall street. the dow broke 18,000 for the first time ever this morning. investors were encouraged by a new report showing the country's gdp grew by 3%. that's the best in 11 years. i'm only in my 60's.

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it's time now for "we the tweeple" and the stories you can't stop buzz being on social media. we begin with #nypd where at a rate of over 1,000 tweets an hour, almost 440,000 tweets have been sent today. you still decry the killings of officer liu and ramos and sending tweets like this, r.i.p. nypd officers. also defending police online saying the police are the ones who wake up every morning and face local try rants to keep us safe from harm. god bless them. and protests over recent police killings of unarmed black men are being met on social media with accusations for authorities. this man tweeted, this nypd thing is out of control. officials want protests to stop and want memorials and lights lit for their men. this nypd killings reinforced

h howlalkanized the usa has become. you can't -- you can't stop buzzing about these experiments. they allow people to easily imagine themselves as a different race and the prospects look good. researchers report white women who are embodied in black avatars became less biased in their test scores while women with white or purple avatars showed no change. some of are you uniting around festivus. >> it's a made-up holiday, especially if you watched "seinfeld" and it starts today as you get out your metal poles, you're joining senator rand paul in the ritual called the airing of grievances. earlier today paul tweeted, i'll be back later with grievances about the immediate, yeah the

fed and a few others. remember, air your grievances today for festivus. second year in a row of airing his grievances, paul included a tweet with a slogan, rand paul 2016. and you're buzzing about this hinted of a presidential bid with greetings like this, happy festivus to all. i'd tell everyone to begin airing your gripes. and jason alexander. happy festivus. join the conversation with fellow reiders on twitter, facebook, instagram, also on msnbc.com. happy festivus. now this news. we are looking back at the year in search. here are the top five most searched items on the internet according to google. thanks.

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behind me. can you see it's lit up. we've seen tornado warnings on occasion for the last couple of hours. now just on the latest image, north and east of baton rouge. these are flying at 60 miles an hour. the drive you do on an interstate, these are how fast they are moving. if you're on the roadway, pull over. the blinding downpours, gusty winds, it will slow you down. you can see it's not just louisiana seeing these storms here this afternoon. it's all the way across georgia, alabama. this rain is not going to stay just in the south. it's going to ride up the entire east coast. we have just begun with the problems here and that means airport delays and you also see a lot of slow conditions on the roadways. here is the storm. essentially you can follow the storm from south and north dakota to the coast of florida and then up the eastern seaboard. that's why we've been alerting you. pack your patience with this one and you don't want to be in a hurry if you have last-minute christmas shopping. just plan on delays. there will be plenty through

tonight. >> all right, be careful out there. we appreciate it. a delta air lines employee has been arrested, charged for aiding a former delta employee with smuggling guns into new york city. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joinsz me from washington. >> here's what happened according to federal employees. a current employee of delta air lines who works in atlanta at a baggage handler would take guns into the airport complex using his secure i.d. that he had as an airport employee to get inside the perimeter. then he would take those guns into the terminal and another man who was actually the gun runner would enter the airport through the regular way, through the tsa screening with an empty backpack, meet the delta employee somewhere inside the airport, get the guns and then carry them in his carry-on backpack on to the airplane and new york where they were sold on the street. what the gun runner didn't know is those guns were purchased by

undercover police officers. according to federal investigators this happened several times that are recorded in a federal arrest warrant but new york city officials have also said this particular gun runner had made this run or ones like it hundreds of times. so, that is something the federal authorities finally made an arrest on. it's not clear whether nypd knew this gun runner was carrying guns onto the plane and let it happen or whether the federal officials knew about it and watched it to see how it worked. in any event, both have now been arrested. >> really alarming on so many fronts. nbc's pete williams, thank you. now i want to take to you a live picture of city hall in new york city where in just a few minutes mayor bill de blasio will lead the city in a moment of silence for the two nypd officers killed this weekend. mayor de de blasio and eric

holder have come under criticism. joy reid sat down with the outgoing attorney general for an exit interview. in part one of that interview aired last week, he discussed the relationship between local police and black americans. in part two, he discussed his own accomplishments in office when it came to race. and here in part three, he enand joy discuss the importance of the civil rights movement and how protests made it possible. >> do people appreciate enough this -- you know, what was accomplished by the civil rights movement? do people forget the lessons of it? >> i think we're surrounded here by some stark reminders of how different our nation was. people tend to forget all that we had to go through to get to the place where we are now. a nation that has made substantial progress. still work that needs to be done, but people sacrificed, people died so i could be an

african-american and attorney general of the united states. we as americans tend to have short memories. and i think this is a place where every american probably ought to spend some time to understand how deem deep the problems were, how courageous the people were. there's a lot we can learn here that would be useful in the 21st century. >> very young people seem to remember it because they're out in the streets right now, 100 days of protests. what do you think when you see those young people out there doing die-ins and galvanizing their own movement. >> that's the essence of who we are as americans. we protest. we get loud. all with the hope we're going to make the country better. they have raised issues that we need to discuss, that we have needed to discuss. this is an opportunity for this nation to listen to those young people and some of them aren't so young. it's a multiracial effort that i

see. this nation needs to deal with the concerns they have raised. >> well, the original fight for voting rights and to make the nation better, as the attorney general just said, is now the source for a gripping new film called "selma" set for release on christmas day. it depicts the voting rights marches of 1965 and is getting oscar buds for its leads as well as the woman behind the camera who recently sat down with joy reid. >> ava is the director of the movie "selma." thank you for being here. first of all, congratulations on the film. it's really -- not only is it a breathtaking film and the timing of it is really interesting. what did it feel like to have this movie prepare to come out in the midst of what's happening in ferguson, in new york, in oakland and all of these protests, a lot of things that resonate in the film.

>> it's a storytelling, a piece of art can meet a specific cultural moment in this way. it's so connected. what we're talking about with selma, ferguson, eric garner, protests around the country. it's a jaw-dropper in the way the themes of selma, the film and selma 1965 are aligning so closely with what people are feeling now. for me as a storyteller, i'm excited about people finally seeing the film. >> down to issues of protests and the ability of protesters to march across that bridge, now whether they have to keep moving, and issues of policing. did you have conversations with cast and crew about specific issues as you were in the eding phase and post-production phase. >> when we were making the film, we were focused on vra, the dismantling of that and the destruction to that act which is really what we chronicle in the film, the events around getting the voting rights act created and passed.

issues of race relations and police aggression, it's really ambient. it's part of the atmosphere of being of color in this country. that's definitely there. it's interwoven in our narrative but it wasn't top of mind as i was making it. it wasn't the point of making it. and now it seems like the point of it being in the world at this moment to really amplify this moment isn't new but it's cyclical, it's on a continuum. it continues to happen. so, no, i feel -- i feel just really honored that we have something to share and add to the conversation. >> let's talk about some of the performances in the film. david and carmen, two fantastic actors playing dr. king and kor ret that scott king. what's interesting to me is you have two actors that are brit, of african descent. what was intriguing about that particular casting, number one, and did they in a sense, receive these historically narratives in

a different way than north american actors may have? >> in the casting of carmen because david was already attached, he brought me into the film, he would have been my number one choice, we worked together before, he's like a muse for me. with carmen, she's extraordinary, underrated. she's who i wanted for the picture. getting into the work, i do think the fact they are not american added to their work and the depth of their work because they're not as film with king and coretta as icons. my mother had king and jesus pictures hanging on the wall at equal level. the way african-americans feel about king is much different than the way that brits do. it's not the same. so, it made them have to dig deeper, learn about, explore, and i think that examination added nuance in a few different fas sets to their performance. >> and the great lorraine tucson, gives a fantastic performance. bringing forth the character people may not know as much in

history. >> absolutely. amelia, a dynamic freedom fighter. enough people don't know her name, as people don't know enough of the names of the women of the movement. you can count a dozen men right now whose names we know right off for those of us who know our history in that way. but the women have been somewhat on the margins. amelia boynton still living, 103 years old. some people say she's 104. she doesn't have a birth certificate. it wasn't tracked for black citizens. she invited dr. king to selma and that's why he came. >> oprah is in the film. the film really puts forth the women in the movement. it's an interesting choice. >> that's important. it shouldn't be a choice. it should be no question that women are in any narrative to not have us there is to not be telling the truth of the world we live in. i'm getting a lot of praise for

having women in it but, come o how else should it be? >> what was the most poignant in the film for you? what resonated the most? >> it's heart. it's like choosing amongst your children. it's like sophie's choice to choose one thing. i think one thing i'm proudest of is the way the film handles both the epic moments with king heading a march or giving a speech from the pulpit, wrestling with the president in the oval office down to the quiet moments with his best friend in jail, rob abernathy or difficult moments with his wife, coretta, or being bolstered by the young john lewis, those quiet moments are the ones i'm most proud of, maybe. >> the film is "selma," it opens nationwide on january 9th. brilliant film. congratulations. >> thank you very much for having me. >> now to developing news out of new york city where we are waiting the moment of silence to begin for officers liu and

ramos. let's listen to mayor de blasio. >> time of pain for our city. it's a time of mourning. for two good families and it's so important we all stand in solidarity with them. i want to thank everyone here at city hall and everyone throughout this city who in a moment will participate in a moment of silence for officer ramos and for officer liu. we visited their families yesterday. they are going through so much and they deserve our support and our solidarity. they need to be first in our thoughts. officer ramos and officer liu believed in something. they believed in making this world better. they believed in making this city better. they gave their lives for the belief that we could do better. that we could come together.

that we could keep people safe. talking to the families, hearing what motivated these good young men to serve. it's a reminder to us all. it's humbling. remind us that we have to keep serving. we have to keep working for something better. there's a lot of pain right now. we have to work our way through that pain. we have to keep working to bring police and community closer together. we have to work for that more perfect union. we have to put the divisions of the past behind us. we have to overcome them. we need to protect and respect our police just as our police protect and respect our

communities. we can strike that balance. we must. right now i want everyone to focus on these families, on their pain. put yourselves in their shoes. be there for them and the extended family of the nypd because every police officer is hurting right now and the family of every police officer is hurting right now. we have to be there for them. we have to keep them in our prayers. and move forward together. it's never easy to overcome this kind of loss. the families will be with them their entire lives and we will support them for all their lives ahead. we made that clear to both families and the nypd has a

rich, strong history of supporting families in their hour of need and then never letting them go. these children will always know the support that they will no longer have from their fathers who have fallen. we'll make sure of that, all of us together. so, just want everyone to think, what can we do to help those families? what can we do to move forward together? it feels tremendously painful right now. but it's always darkest before the dawn. these families want a city filled with peace and unity. it's our job, all of us, to create that, to support them and work for a better day. i want to ask everyone to assemble here and everyone who is watching or listening, all

throughout new york city, all throughout our nation, to now bow our heads in memory of officer ramos and officer liu.

thank you, everyone. god bless you all. please embrace those around you as a symbol of our belief that we will move forward together. thank you.

>> a live look at city hall there and embrace of mayor de blasio with his wife on the night officer liu and ramos were killed by ismaaiyl brinsley, as the city mourns losing two of their fallen police officers here. msnbc's adam reiss joins me live from brooklyn, new york. adam, how else has the city been honoring these fallen officers? >> francis, i just want to show you for a minute the memorial here and the thousands of people that have come here over the last couple days. hundreds of police officers from all over this city, all the precinc precincts, firemen, sanitation workers. you heard the mayor say moments ago, they will do everything in their power to continue to support the families as their fathers have done. the silver star foundation is raising money to support the

families. we learned bodin college in maine where one of the sons of officer ramos attends school, they announced on monday they would pay for the rest of his education. i can just tell you that the hundred people that are here right now, they didn't know it was at 2:47, but at that moment, silence fell over the crowd here. and somehow they knew that it was 2:47. >> very moment when those two officers were killed. the mayor asking to take a break and focus on the family, focus on their mourning and their healing. msnbc's adam reiss, thank you so much. and we'll take a break and be after. sign-then-drive event. for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a german-engineered volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta...

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something for and about proceed krast -- procrastinators. i can relate. kate, i feel like this is -- this report is pointing directly at me. what's it like out there now. >> reporter: no offense because i'm definitely a procrastinator. you can see crowds are beginning to grow. analysts tell us thanks to gas prices that continue to fall, a stock market that continues to soar, customers are really going to likely probably spend more this holiday season. so nielsen did a report and found 40% of americans have extra cash this season to burn thanks to falling gas prices. once they put the money towards bills they have to pay it off, next they'll spend it on holiday gifts. we caught up with shoppers to see what they are looking for and this is what they had to say. >> in store you're getting better deals than online and you don't have to worry about shipping. >> actually i'm looking for some

uggs, but i need to go to the ugg store, which is in new york. >> everybody wants clothes this year, so don't really have too many deals for clothes. >> reporter: francis, you know what else we're seeing here at the mall? we're seeing traditional retailers pull out all the stops to get shoppers in their doors. stores like macy's and kohl's are extending their hours. macy's is having rare sales. whether that works remains to be seen. we'll follow up and let you know. >> i'm sure it's going to get crazier. it's local time, it's close to 3:00. people getting off work. then i'm sure it's going to really whip up there. >> oh, yeah. absolutely. when we got here at 7:00, hardly any crowds. this mall is a million square feet and they say there are thousands of people in it. >> hopefully that man will find his uggs. thank you cnbc's kate rogers. that wraps it up for us here

on "the reid report." i'm francis rivera in for joy. joy and "the reid report" return next monday at 2 p.m. eastern. be sure to visit us online at thereidreport.msnbc.com. "the cycle" is up next. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone.

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officers are being sent to patrol in pairs and wear bullet proof vests at all times. in new york city all auxiliary officers have been pulled from the streets. officer ramos's funeral is this weekend. funeral services for officer liu are on hold as they secure visa for family from overseas. fellow police officers doing everything possible to save their brothers. on this christmas week, a city, a country, most importantly, two families are in mourning. mayor bill de blasio is urging our focus and prayers to remain with the families. we start at the crime scene in brooklyn, new york, where the makeshift memorial is growing. msnbc's adam reiss is there. we've seen clergy, everyday new yorkers come to pay their respects. what is the feel there right now? >> reporter: abby, it is amazing. three days after the shooting. crowds continue to grow. a lot of