good morning. i'm francis rivera. developing now, we are expecting a news conference from the st. louis county chief of oh police about a fatal police involved shooting just a few miles from ferguson oh, missouri. it sparked new anger overnight in the city of berkeley where police say an officer approached two men at a gas station last night. they say one manle pulled a handgun and pointed it at the officer. police say the officer, fearing for his life, fired several times at the man, killing him. crowds gathered at the gas station taunting and yelling at police following the incident. police haven't confirmed the victim's identity. a woman at the scene identified

herself to reporters as tony martin and said her 18-year-old son antonio was the victim. police say a handgun was recovered at the scene. we'll bring you the news conference live as soon as it happens. for uh now, two devastating tornados in southern mississippi. four deaths and dozens of oh injuries have been blamed on the storps. the gov author declared a state of emergency for two counties near the louisiana state line. scores of homes and businesses were also wiped out. nbc's jacob rascon is live in mississippi. what do we know? >> reporter: columbia was hit hardest of all where we are right now as we speak as the sun is coming up, families are coming out. for the first time, some of them seeing the scope of the damage. i'm looking at one across the street now. they were hugging, crying, their home a total loss. behind me is an office building and a home.

everything was in the trees behinds us. the city is only six square miles and the tornado went right through the middle. severe storms battered the south with gusts up to 65 miles per hour and dangerous golf ball sized hail. tuesday afternoon the deadly storms crossed mississippi. a tornado cut a path of destruction through marion and jones counties killing four. >> my house is totaled. i lost everything. >> reporter: some people were trapped and had to be rescued. dozens were injured by flying debris. >> debris well over 50 feet up in trees. it's a grim sight. >> reporter: an ambulance carrying a patient flipped on a car. the patient was put in another ambulance and rushed to the hospital. there was a close call at a day care center where 35 infants were evacuated to safety.

>> the roof at the day care blown off the building. toys flew across the other side but everyone was safe. >> reporter: in louisiana oh fishes believe a tornado touched down twice uprooting trees, damaging more than a dozen homes and causing widespread power outages n. the florida panhandle, drempbling rain caused flash floods. tallahassee residents saw three inches an hour, the wettest day ever for december. we are turned around now. you can see the family i was talking about behind me in what's left of a home. on the other side there was another building. the story is seven people were inside and the tornado came so fast they had no time to leave. they hunkered in a bathroom. all survived. at least 50 a people have been or are being treated at a nearby hospital in the deadliest december tornado in a half

century. back to you. >> so tough the day before christmasment jacob rascon live in column yarks mississippi. thank you very much. now for a check on the weather across the country. here is dominica davis. how are things looking. >> the severe weather threat has shifted to the east. we have a tornado watch until 2:00 this afternoon for the florida panhandle. just the southeastern part of georgia and just the southern tip of south carolina. that's until 2:00. we have seen thunderstorm warnings and actually one tornado warning, radar indicated. that's where the worst weather will be. the squall line east past i-10. that's the area of concern for at least the next couple of hours. t rain extends up the coast. gusty winds and low visibility affecting the i-95 corridor now.

wisconsin, illinois into indiana. it will be tough traveling along the east coast. the main thing is the visibility. we are down to 5 miles in new york. less than a mile in d.c. and philly. average visibility is ten miles. we are not doing great. as far as airport delay ares the only one is in philadelphia. one hour. that's due to low ceilings. that's a problem we'll have. >> hopefully it doesn't change too much. thank you very much. the severe weather could cause chaos for people with travel plans today as they head out for the christmas destination. let's check on the travel situation from gabe gutierrez in atlanta. any major headaches out of there so far? >> good morning. it is a soggy mess out here. a lot of rain. er more than yesterday. we had a lot of fog in atlanta

but no major delays in atlanta. the world's busiest airport. the security lines are creeping up. up the east coast, philadelphia is seeing problems. they are beginning to see delays in newark as well. . more than four million passengers expected through the holiday season and more than 98 million travellerers in total are expected to travel more than 50 miles during this holiday season. the vast majority will be on the roads. as we saw earlier, a lot of severe wet wither threat yesterday. as the winterer storm rolls east, there will be a lot to watch this christmas eve. back to you. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you very much. now back to the developing story we are following this morning. let's go to clayton, missouri, where the st. louis county police chief is talking about the fatal police-involved shooting. >> operating a hrk maed car in

uniform responded to a call for a larceny, a stealing. in the 6800 block of handley road in berkeley. the officer encountered two individuals at the time in the 6800 block. one of the individuals was armed with a pistol. at the time the officer didn't know that. he had a flash flight in his left hand. heel called an individual who stood toward the grill. the other individual came to the driver's side. the officer was talking to them. the individual that's going to have the firearm backed away to the east, just for a few steps, turned back around. the officer started engaging him in conversation again. then -- produced a -- with his arm straight out, pointing at the officer from across the hood of the police car.

the officer produced his service weapon and fired what we think is three shots. he did this -- and you will see the video -- the officer when encountered with the pistol we gins to quickly, rapidly move backwards. he loses his balance, throws his flashlight, loses that but gets three rounds off. i don't know everything yechlt the medical examiner is conducting an investigation. one shot struck the suspect. one shot struck the tire of the police car. we can't account for the third round. it appears three rounds were fired from the officer's weapon.

the suspect was arm. five rounds in the chamber and one in the magazine. the officer retreated to the west behind gas pumps. he approached the suspect again. berkeley ems responded to the scene. they were able to examine the suspect and the 18-year-old male was pronounced by the ems crew there. chief mccall being apprised of the situation made a notification to st. louis communications to investigate this. got the call around 11:45 last night. they arrived approximately 12:15 in the morning and began to conduct the investigation.

we were able to partition this young man's body off so nobody could see it while we were working the ian scene. we transported him approximately 1:30 to 1:40 hours this morning. we seized video from the mobile on the run station. they have several cameras. i have a still footage and i will show you some of the video. you will be sent that. we have at least two witnesses that saw this incident happen, too. i talked a little bit about the fact that the individual, the decedent had another individual with him. that's a person of interest on the case that we want to talk to. there is video footage i would like you guys to show if the media to see if we can identify this person. >> all right. that's st. louis county police chief running down the events leading to an 18-year-old man shot by police overnight at a gas station after the

18-year-old suspect and another man pulled a gun and pointed it at the officer. the police chief saying the officer fired three shots, one killing the 18-year-old man. now identified as 18-year-old antonio martin, identified pi his mother. that has to be confirmed by police. this happening a couple miles outside of ferguson, missouri, setting off a new round of anger and teng there as crowds gathered at the gas station, taunting and yelling at police following the dichblt the police chief saying there is video. we'll follow it and bring you the latest as the story develops. now to president obama who is applauding sony's decision for a limited release of the film "the interview ". the studio allowed individual theaters to begin screening the movie tomorrow. more than 200 theaters are preparing for capacity viewings. there was a massive hack attack blamed on north korea.

let's bring in gina kim in los angeles and here in studio, chairman and founder of identity theft 911 and credit.com. adam levin, thanks for being with us on the day before christmas. what's sony saying about its about face here? >> sony said it was their intention all along. almost as soon as they cancelled the release last week they were scrambling for alternative ways of showing it. their answer came when all the independent theaters throughout the country pleaded with sony and said, let us show the film. the result is that now hundreds of these small art house theaters across the nation will be screening the film on its intended release date tomorrow. a small theater owner in los angeles told us the stars, seth rogen and james franco, will make appearances at los angeles theaters tomorrow to reallile rally the fans. of course now the question,

francis, is will the bigger chains follow suit? amc and regales have not said what their intention is so far. >> we'll wait to hear from them. in the meantime, adam, now that sony decided on the limited release of this film, what do you think the reaction will be, specifically from the group that threatens sony over the release and when they are saying we are going to retaliate if this movie comes out. watch out oh. >> it's a wilder card. a lot of people are looking at the situation. hollywood is uniting behind sony. when they were aproechd by george clooney and others you had crickets, nothing. the government is stepping up in terms of putting pressure not only on sony but talking about what needs to be done in the cyber security area. we have the attention of

government and every board room at corporationses in america. >> wait a second, do i have to start watching what's out there thinking this could happen to us? you call this hack attack a watershed moment and an example that the cold war was replaced by the cyber war. this is a new threat. what do you mean snm this is the new way countries will go at each other. they will go at each other either through grids. they will go through important services or take down companies. take down a sufficient number of companieses and you will impact the economy negatively. the problem in this case is ony was a sitting duck. it hadn't learned from breaches it suffered. >> the fear is the president said so this, y backed off. they turned it around. this is going to happen in the future. how will the companieses react? thank you for being with us. will you see the movie? >> uh i probably will. >> we appreciate it.

now to a developing story from syria. nbc news confirmed a jordanian fighter jet was shot down by isis. they have captured the pilot alive. social media accounts published reports purportedly of the pilots being held by isis fighters. isis said it shot down the jet with a heat-seeking missile. jordan is one of four countries whose aircraft has been flying over syria. the u.s. is trying to root out isis in the region. much more on this throughout the morning on msnbc. former president george h.w. bush rushed to the hospital. we'll have an update next. the holiday season is here,

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former president george h.w. bush is in a texas hospital this morning. the 90-year-old was brought by ambulance last night after he had trouble catching his breath. mark murray's nbc political editor joins me now. thanks for being with us. nice to see you. >> good morning. >> let's talk about his condition. what do we know about that and his prognosis? >> the office release add statement saying this was a precaution for a shortness of breath. he's being held for observation purposes. of course he was hospitalized back in 2003 for a couple of months. he's since been very, very active. president obama and the obama white house, francis, released a statement last night reading "president obama and the first lady send good wisheses to the entire bush family during this holiday season." this comes as the bush family

has been in the news. former president george w. bush release add book about his father. and their son jeb bush from florida has been actively pursuing the presidential bid and might run in 2015. >> hopefully the family will be together for the holidays. active with that tandem parachute jump over the summerer. mark, thank you very much. >> thank you. protesters didn't heed the call to suspend their prozests until after the officer is laid to rest. plus, there are a lot of stores open on christmas cv for last-minute shoppers, myself included. where you can get great deals, coming up.

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good to relax a little bit. he has a huge day ahead. and you can keep close tabs on st. nick as he travels the world on his sleigh deliversing presents. joining me from colorado with ap undate is this, orad and u.s. north com coordinator. thanks for being with us. merry christmas, admiral. >> merry christmas to uh you and yours. >> we can't wait to hear. i know santa is not on the road but in the skies at 6:00 a.m. what's the latest? >> he just passed over guam,

delivering over 700 million packages thus far. >> he's headed our way. they get christmas first. i love the back story. as we look and follow santa and the kids are asking. i love how this started as far as tracking santa. it really began as a mistake. tell us about it. >> well, it is our 59th year. it was a mistake. norad was tracking. the watch team took a phone call and it was a mistake. there was a misprint in the local newspaper that was supposed to call in and talk to santa. they were calling to headquarters. the watch team being on the ball started tracking santa. we have been doing it ever since. >> i love it. there was a colonel who became known as santa colonel that night. you have gotten high tech. we are talking about high power radar, fighter jets and special

santa camerases. >> that's correct. >> you're tweeting, too, i guess. >> you know, we are going high tech. you can track santa on noradsanta.orgment call in. we have 1300 volunteers working throughout the day and evening. should the children want to know where santa is, you can download apps and tweet it. >> we are going to be watching. the kids want to know when santa is coming down the chimney with their presents or maybe not. thanks for being with us. happy merry christmas eve, admiral, thank you. while santa starts to make the rounds delivering presents you have some time to get your last-minute shopping done. according to a survey by the national retail foundation, 9.1% of shopperers are waiting for today to get their last gift. the last minute shoppers will likely be men. 10.5% versus 7.9% of women.

where can you go to get gifts in the final stretch? joining me now to answer that and more, usa contributor regina lewis. thanks for being with us. >> of course. a lot of people are hoping to get gifts today. how long will the store be open? some people are pushing it. >> i would remember 6:00 p.m. in general. macy's and kohl's. they have been open for six days straight. cost ohco at 5:00 p.m. target at 7:00 p.m. walmart is the latest i could find at 8:00 p.m. >> definitely for those of us waiting to the last minute, myself includeded. one thing people will turn to is gift cards. some can be e-mailed. are those the best gifts now? how do they work oh? >> it's interesting. they have made progress here. if you have never looked at them or not in years, i encourage you to do so.

amazon has an amazing collection. you can send them in 50-event increments. they arrive instantly. you can text them, add a photo, even add through your smartphone a text message. all kinds of options here. has the added benefit of not making it seem like you waited for the last minute. the recipient is less likely to lose it. gift cards, you can misplace them. when they are gone they're gone. in this case you have a record. it's on your phone. good staying power. >> so true. other creative ideas out there. what are some of the other ones? >> sticking with this e-gift certificate idea, you can give them to restaurants. maybe you say, let's get lunch or breakfast. ihop, incredibly progressive. as is applebee's. starbucks. i love movie tickets. so you can get a regal cinema e gift certificate and charities. this is well received. st. jude, for instance, the renowned children's hospital

does a lovely job. the person gets an e-mail saying the gift has been given in their honor. they don't name the price point which is graceful. again it's been well received and it is efficient for the charities. win-win. >> this is really a time we should be with our familieses, kicking back, relaxing and enjoying it. a lot of us are stressed because we have so much to do, navigate and get the last minute gifts. what are tips to help navigate and help us enjoy this a little bit more and get everything we need. >> it's a great point. if you are going out, don't expect deals. we mentioned men at the top. they know they've got you boxed in. guys will buy almost anything now. i would resist the urge. don't make christmas an art tishl deadline. if you can get a small something and go out on the 26th and get this together. people want to spend time together. i love airline tickets. give a gift certificate to delta, southwest, united. if you have a family member, an event and maybe somebody doesn't

have the means to get there, you could each give them a gift certificate to an airline ticket, pool it and get there. very are thoughtful. more choices than you think. >> sometimes you want to give them experiences instead of just things. >> i agree. >> regina lewis, usa today contributor. thank you very much. merry christmas. >> thank you. you, too. >> turning now to other headlines we are following. two boeing 737s clip wings at new york's laguardia airport tuesday. a denver-bound southwest plane was taxiing out when it clipped an american airlines flight waiting for a fwaet. both planes were damaged and taken out of service for inspection and repairs. some israeli pub lirk officials were swept up in a massive corruption sting. aplong the suspects the deputy interior minister and other officials accused of everything from bribery and fraud to money laundering. in the u.s., federal officials are closer to over turning a

decades old policy banning blood donations from gay and by sexual men. the fda proposes to lift the ban but replace it with one which bans men who had sex with other men in the past year. some say the change still stigmatizes gay men unfairly. cleanup is under way in at least three states after severe storms and tornadoeses tore through yesterday. here is a look at atlanta. the airport there. the severe weather threat continues for the eastern half of the country with thunderstorms, flooding and more tornadoes possible. we'll get the latest for you next.

dwoming now the threat of thunderstorms in the country. it is shaping up to be a challenging weather day as millions head home for christmas. let's go to new york's laguardia airport and the weather

channel's regular members of the jury. how is it looking besides wet? >> the wetness just kills the idea of christmas. you expect some snow. unfortunately the rain will be lasting throughout the day. then it will be tapering off overnight. then tomorrow we'll have sun, not snow. after that, we'll have wind gusts about 40 miles per hour. let's look at it now. the windshield wipers are on. the pavement is wet. we pan up to look at the cloud cover. believe it or not, there are no delays here at laguardia international airport due to weather but that's changing in philadelphia. we have about an hour delay right now. the low ceiling. jfk is experiencing a ground stop, a half hour. also because of the weather and the low ceiling. let's look inside of laguardia international airport.

this is a shocker. i was just here and the lines aren't here. we have elveses here. helloment we're going to continue talking about the arrivals and departures. some are delays. cancellations and you look at this as well. when you look at arrivals, departures and delays, laguardia, we are doing good. newark, doing good. jfk, you have a half hour delay. philadelphia, the low weather ceiling and low ceiling with the clouds. we'll have ab hour delay. for now it seems like everybody is in the christmas spirit at laguardia. flights are on time now. it niece the 50s outside.

rain throughout the day. then tomorrow, sun and some wind. the wind gusts, 40 miles per hour. that could cause a possibility of power outages, trees falling and wires. let's hope santa can deliver toys to the good girls and boys throughout the day. right? >> i saw a little detour. maybe there is a little flight to catch. santa, all right. nice to see you. regular members of the jury, thank you very much. hundreds are marching through midtown manhattan. despite calls for a halt to the protest for the mayor. also the lights were dimmed on the rockefeller center tree. to honor the fallen officers. the white house announced joe biden and his wife will attend the federal of officer ramos on saturday. joining me is new york city

democratic congressman gregory meeks. thanks for being with us. let's get them through the morning period. afterwards resume the protests. what do you make of that since the protesters hit the streets last night. >> the right thing to do is what the mayor said i and we should respect the familieses. that's basically what the protesters, when we protest about. we want to headache sure there is justice in the criminal justice system. when we talk about a change in policing. respect for the community. therefore here we have fallen officers. it's the right thing to hold off. trying to get the message across

as far as justice within the criminal justice system and police reform. then postponing it until such time that these officers are doing, giving back to the community. we need to mourn with the families. >> given that we can't ignore the tension that's been between mayor deblasio and members of the new york city police department. how do you think that's going to move things forward? we saw some of the officers at the hospital where the two police officers tied turning their backs to the mayor. how can they move forward in starting that kind of healing? >> the president of the pba needs to tone down his rhetoric. clearly, no one criticized him when he had the police department demonstrations.

he leads demonstrationses to police officers. that's his right to do. the people demonstrating, that's proper to have police officers there for those who are nonviolent. there should be a dialogue between the community, police, the pba and the mayor's office so we could have or get back to the city in a unified manner. that's what everybody wants. >> some things departments across the country will be watching, not just new york city, in the days to come. let's switch gears now. this is the new threat when it comes from other people. the new terror threat is the cyber war. >> i think your guests talked about things that could be done to help prevent the hacking that took place at sony.

i'm confident the president of the united states, irrespective of what we do when we get back to congress the president is taking the proper protocols with reference to the white house, pentagon and make sure we shore it up. a number of people have come to say what's going to happen with regards to north korea. my response is with this president, i'm sure you may not hear about it. he's shown in the past that he means what he says. he does what he means. we may not know about it. he may not publicize it. he's a cool president but he gets it done. i have confidence in the president. >> as far as the response, the internet going down saying we are not involved in that. what should our response be with those closed door meetings behind the doors you're talking about. >> the president said there will be action taking place. i don't think the president needs to announce it. some on the other side would lo to headache it a political issue because they want to brag about

it. that defeat it is purpose. the president will do what he thinks is appropriate. i believe something will be done whether it's announced publically or not. but there will be, i think, north korea will feel effects due to bad actions here. >> we'll have you back the talk about it. gregory meeks, thank you. you have last minute christmas shopping to do. we'll send you on your way. >> thank you. merry christmas. >> still ahead here, the top internet searches of 2014. we have the biggest wow moments on the web in just a few minutes. ♪ (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.

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here's a question for you. what did you search on the internet for most in 2014. hoo's top ten searches. let's run through them letterman style starting with number 10e. you searched for jennifer

aniston. number 9, the new iphone six. number 8, miley cyrus. number 7, "let it go," we all are still search ing if movie "frozen." number 6, reality star kim kardashian. number 5, kaley cuoco. number 4, jennifer lawrence. number 3, nickelodeon star ariana grande with the little kitty ears. number 2, minecraft and number 1 11 -- 1, ebola. alex, thanks for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> you have your picks. that was yahoo!'s picks. let's start with your number 1. out of everything, why ebola? there was a lot of misinformation.

people were getting this disease from a cough, not true or people illegally coming over the border. a lot of misinformation. people were looking for hard news and evidence. ebola, the search term, is a clear one. with ferguson, people were searching for michaelle brown, darren wilson. that's done over the year and ebola is a clear term. >> so many developments with the rules changing. mandatory quarantines. let's go to number 4. jennifer lawrence. a huge year for her in the movies and hacking with the private photos in there. what did yahoo! users want? >> jennifer lawrence had her third academy award nomination, second golden globe win. she was in mockingjay, the x-men series. she had a huge number of personal issues around the oscars. she had a little incident with the vomiting.

then the icloud leak which was unfortunate and the photos were searched for everywhere. it was a year of ups and downs. >> when she cut her hair. it was just a hair cut. that will set it off. >> i know. >> now to number 5. your pick, the iphone 6. over 10 million sold. this is the year of the fablet? >> the fablet are the phones that are bigger than your head. the move to mobile is incredible. iphone is one of the top searcheses for the past four or five years. this year the preorders were huge. the number sold in three days was over 10 million. this ginormification is interesting. >> that will be the case. definitely i have contributed to

making this one of the top picks. number 7, the movie "frozen" and "let it go." so many aspects of it multi-lingual "let it go," spoofs. >> oh, my god. >> everything. >> idina menzel is a household name. from "rent" back in the day. the director pop jazzed to the families saying -- apologized to the families saying i'm sorry you have heard it so many times. it's the top grossesing animated film of all time. disney sold 3 bajl of the costumes. people are getting married in "frozen" themed weddings. it's huge. >> thank you so much. happy searching, everybody. >> thank you. >> you're still looking for the perfect gift? up next, the hottest tech gadgets. we'll have that for you.

last minute shoppers, this is for you or anybody. the most anticipated gifts every year come from technology. according to consumerer electronics association tech spending over the holidays will increase 2.5%. that's an increase from last year. if you're looking for the perfect gift for the tech fan in your life, what should you get? what's the coolest thing out there? we've got it. joining me is mark spoonauer, editor in chief of tom's guide. i can't wait to get into it. i love everything tech. what are the things topping the techiest tech thing to get? >> at the top of the list is a drone. this is called the rolling spider. unlike other crones on the market this one has wheels. it can climb walls and go upside down. >> we have to see it.

use your phone or tablet to control et i. >> this is my first drone experience system step this way and i will send it and see what happens. can you see it? i love it. >> i need more flight lessons. >> get ing readier for next hour. >> i need more lessons. overall cool and the kids love it. >> i love it. >> $99. this is called the tile. you can attach it to keys, put it in the pocketbook. you can use an app in your phone and it's the lost and found for your stuff. >> you can call for it. it chirps. where are they keys? hear the sound? >> yeah. this is what's brilliant. it's not just keys. anything -- a purse, bag,

anything you lose. >> if you do, you could pull it up on a map and then track it down. you can use other tile users to find your stuff. >> like the iphone feature but for kiwi this is the fitness tracker that tracks steps, calories with a built in heart rate monitor. >> it looks cool. i like it. looks like a cool cuff bracelet. >> and it has built in gps which normally costs $300. for $200 you can track your pace on oh runs and it tells you how far you went, pace, things you don't usually get at that price point and you get smartpho

smartnotifications. >> the watch, the phone. what do you have here. the new projector thing. >> this is definitely a first for tablets. this is called the yoga tablet two pro. the pro stands for projector. this could stretch up to 50 inches in size. >> can you see it? >> it's better for a darkened room. this is the ultimate entertainment. >> quickly. that's where the projector is. >> yep. >> see that? man, very cool. i love it. mark, thank you. great ideas out therement we appreciate it. that does it for us. still ahead, tornado watcheses are back up in parts of the southeast after a violent weather day yesterday. ayman mohyeldin is here after the break with the latest on that. yourer other christmas eve headlines. keep it here on msnbc throughout the day.

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i'm ayman mohyeldin. we are following developing news. crews are out in force in mississippi, assessing damage, trying to help folks put the pieces back together after tornadoes pounded the state on tuesday. at least four people were killed. dozens injured. scores of homes and businesses were wiped out. >> just don't have anything left now. i was in columbia, mississippi with the latest. good morning to you. >> it's only six square miles tole tall and the tornado went through the middle. behind me, the roof of an office building. just torn off on the other side. a community of about 5, 6 homes, all gone. fortunately none were injured.

you can see the path where the tornado went by the trees which are left. then this. an office building of a construction company. the story is eight people were inside. they had about 90 seconds. they saw the tornado coming. everybody hit the floor. there is no roof. there are no windows, nothing but the foundation and the walls there. everybody. one other county. four people did die between those two counties making it the deadliest december tornado in a half century. there are 50 people who have been or are still being treated

for injurieses. right now people are getting a first look, a lot of them, at the real scope of the damage. the national weather service sending survey teamses to assess how violent really this tornado was. >> heart wrempbling scenes there. our thoughts go to the families. it's shaping up to be another day of fierce weather on christmas eve. let's go to dominica davis. what's this about a blizzard warning in hawaii? this system is rain and strong gusty winds moving over hawaii. there is a lot of weather going on. the lower 48 states. we do have a thunderstorm -- a

tornado rather posted until 2:00 this afternoon. we are expecting from this squall line that goes through the panhandle to georgia. just the southern edge of south carolina. that's where the main threat will be. we have already had a few watches and warnings start to pop up. it's this squall with line. out through chicago and out to the west. a brand new storm system is making it wet for the pacific northwest. looking at rain from seattle to oregon and even san francisco. then the rockies are dealing with heavy snow. winter watches and warnings out there for utah. mainly there some good skiing weather.

a lot of ground delays at airports. visibility will be a problem for the rest of the afternoon. visibility at two miles in the city. 2.5 in d.c. back to you. >> thank you very much. that was a view from the skies above. let's get a sense of how it's impacting travellers as people head out to christmas destinations today. many will be at the nation's busiest airport in atlanta. the security lines are now more than 30 minutes. around the country, there have been about 450 delays. also more than 200 cancellations. the only airport experiencing major problems.

so many people connect here. more than 4 million holiday travellers in atlanta. no major problems. that could change at any point today. >> stay dry out there. try to. >> i'll try, man. >> police in missouri are investigating the officer involved shooting that killed an 18-year-old black man last night, mileses from where michael brown was killed in august. police say one man was killed after he pulled a pistol on a police in berkeley. the police officer, fearing for life fired several times at the man, killing him. the incident drew a crowd of 300 that taunted and yelled at officers. this morning, police said several bricks were thrown at officers along with several explosive devices. >> you talk about explosive devices. those are felonies.

we would be interested to find out who did that. we can't have a situation where we have a crowd that gathers which is certainly something understandable. explosive devices is something that's not safe for the community, our businesses or our police officers. >> the police just released this video that they say shows the suspect raising a handgun at the police officer. there in the upper left corner you can see it there while you see someone raising an arm it is unclear if the suspect had a gun. we expect an update in half an hour. sony will release "the interview" on a limited basis. it cancelled the theater release after threats and a massive hack attack. north korea experienced a second straight day of internet outages. two u.s. officials have denied any u.s. role in the outage. live to los angeles and gina

kim. what's sony saying about the decision to release the interview after holding it for so long? >> well, the ceo of sony pictures said we have never given up on releasing "the interview." apparently right after they decided to pull the film they were frantically scrambling for alternative ways of being able to release the film. the answer came independent theater chains across the country will be showing the film on its intended release date tomorrow. a couple hundred is a far cry from the 3,000 or so theaters that were originally supposed to screen the film tomorrow. and all the big theater chains have stayed mum on whether they

will jump on the interview bandwag bandwagon. a lot happened in the past 24 hours. >> they still want to push ahead with further distribution of the movie. >> streaming on amazon or itunes. the big theater chains, amc and regal will likely decide not to show "the interview" at all. sony has. they are calling for immediate release. they may release it online. that would put them in a tough spot. >> are you going to try to make it to the movies tomorrow to catch it? >> absolutely. i'm hearing through the grapevine a small theater owner

in los angeles said seth rogen and james franco will be hopping around to the local theaters in l.a., trying to rally the fans. charles hadlock joins me from houston, texas. what can you tell us about the former president's condition? >> former president bush was taken last night by ambulance from his home here in houston. his long-time spoke s man said the president was suffering from difficulty breathing. they expect him to be okay. there is no update on the condition this morning. the hospital is nothing new to the former president. he spent almost two months here two years ago. in fact he spent a week in

intensive care suffering from a bronchitis-like cough. he recovered from that. there was no stopping him after that. last summer he celebrated his 90th birthday. he's the oldest living president. he celebrated by jumping tandem in a sky dive out of an airplane. he was also at his library up the road in college station earlier this year. also he attended a texans football game in houston. hopefully this is just a temporary set-back. now the president and michelle obama sent a statement to the bush family saying in part president obama and first lady send good wishes to the former president and the entire bush family during this holiday season. hopefully we'll get an update on the president's condition later today from the family spoke s man. >> charles hadlock in houston. thank you very much. we'll follow the former president's health on that story. thanks again. we are following a developing story from syria. coalition jet fighting isis has

been shot down and the pilot captured. we'll have the latest with colonel jacobs coming up. plus a new congress led by republicans. will that help the grid lock or does it just mean new fights? we'll look at the hot issues. more protests in new york city. despite the mayor asking for them to pause out of respect to the two fallen officers. we are live with the latest next. get ready for some german engineered holiday excitement. at the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. right now, for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a new volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta and the precisely engineered passat tdi. ah, the gift of clean diesel. for the new volkswagen on your list this year, just about all you need, is a pen. festive, isn't it? get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on select new volkswagen models. and i quit smoking with chantix.

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a shooting killed two police officers last weekend. scores of protesters marched down 5th avenue. it comes as the city prepares to

lay the first of the two officers to rest. msnbc has been following the story. he joins now from brooklyn. let's talk about the protesters. tell us what you know and what happened. why did they go ahead with them. >> good morning. it wasn't a large protest. about a thousand protesters in manhattan blocking 5th avenue and lexington. mostly peaceful. they defied the mayor's request not to protest until after the funerals of the two officers. about the same time there was a moment of silence last night at 9:00 p.m. as lights dimmed around the city at particular landmarks in honor of officer lu and ramos. >> they are just like their dad. they will be fine.

they are going to be good men like him. we're good. it's just hard. the next few days will be hard. >> officer ramos will be laid to rest on saturday. vice president biden and his wife will be in attendance along with the mayor and police commissioner bratton. >> do we know about any other funeral preparations? we know the vice president has been asked to attend by the president. he'll be there. what about other funeral preparations ongoing for the other officer? >> city officials are trying to work on visas for his family. he still has family members coming from china. once that happens they will be able to begin to proceed with funeral arrangements for officer lu. >> thank you very much. outside the memorial in brooklyn. a record-breaking day on wall street as the dow closed

above 18,000 for the first time ever. i will talk to one financial expert. plus, still have shopping to do today? where you can get great deals on last-minute gifts. don't worry. and a live look at columbia, mississippi. tornadoes touched down in three strait states yesterday. the threat of oh severe weather continues today. one of the busiest travel days of the year and an update on what to expect coming up.

isis has shot down a jordanian fighter jet and captured the pilot according to the officially news agency in jordan. joining me now, congressional medal of honor recipient, retired army colonel jack jacobs. significant development if it is shot down and not as the jordanian government is claiming that it may have crashed. >> it's significant.

some aircraft are easier to shoot down. helicopters are easy when landing or taking off. they're big, low, slow. they are susceptible to small arms fire. machine guns. conventional weapons. but taking down a jet plane, far more significant. that requires something sophisticated including missiles which appears to be the case here in the jordanian jet. it's troubling. it means isis has the sophisticated weapons and they are a threat to all aircraft in the region. >> does it change the dynamics of the ongoing flight campaign? it's much more symbolic perhaps. >> unless the weapons are widely distributed, they are in every isis unit. the threat will be local. there is a lot of talk about establishing a no fly zone. people talking about that will think twice after the shoot down in the jordanian jet.

>> we have seen images that are being floated around social media, purportedly showing isis has him. how can this play out for the jordanian government? >> isis uses. groups like isis have been localized in terms of the fight in the battlefield between syria and iraq. a lot of questions after we saw things happen in australia and elsewhere. should people in the u.s. be concerned during the holiday season about the lone wolf style attack? >> there is not much you can do about it. what you can do is encourage the government to be more vigilant. the government is trying to be as vigilant as possible. we have first amendment and privacy concerns butting up against security concerns. always a delicate balance. people want to be safe but don't want the government intruding.

it is intrusion, listening to phone conversations and so on is the way the government finds out what's going on. i think the government will continue to do that. it's one of the reasons why we have been as relatively safe as we have been since 9/11. lots of intrusion trying to get as much individual intelligence as we can. but it's always going to be a difficult balance between intrusion on the one hand and safety on the other . >> let's shift gears to north korea. the hack that happened from the military perspective. the president described it as cyber vandalism. would you say it is hr or less. there are whole organizations whose sole purpose in life is to steal secrets.

the more interconnected we are, the more sophisticated we are, the more vulnerable we are. >> there is a military response to this attack from a cyber military perspective. cyber warfare perspective. >> there is an argument that says we have already done it. when the north korean network is up for ten hours. we have a lot of stuff at risk. the grid, for example. medical devices. things we haven't thought about. it's something we have to work on. >> it's something we'll watch to see how it unfolds definitely in the coming weeks and months. a lot of people anticipating the release of the film and possible consequences.

>> there will be a theatrical release. >> if we take the hackers at their word. >> if you have data it can be hacked. that's the thing to remember. >> colonel jacobs, thank you very much. alan gross, the american releaseded from cuba just received a 3.22. he was arrested and jailed in 2009. homeland security officials says they are screening after the le re lease of a man who police say was smuggling guns in his bags for the last few years. pete williams has the latest.

>> i think this is a wake up call . we have to shore up every aspect of the airports. not just for passengers but for employees. >> mark henry got the guns this atlanta and gave them to a delta airlines baggage hander henry carried 16 guns at jfk. both men have been arrested. at most u.s. airports, once employees undergo a background check and get a security badge they are not screened when they enter the terminal. >> for us to make a change we have to do airport redesign. it costs tremendous money and equipment. >> homeland security.

>> a live look at times square. mayer juror travel delays are possible with the threat of severe weather. the latest just ahead. this runny nose. i better take something. dayquill cold and flu doesn't treat your runny nose. seriously? alka-seltzer plus cold and cough fights your worst cold symptoms plus your runny nose. oh, what a relief it is.

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u.s. economy. let's look back at it with the head of oh global investment zachary carebell. >> should we plie? >> i can't do it. >> i'm glad we're sitting. >> sometimes they dance together and sometimes apart. with gdp growth revised up to 5%. that doesn't mean we are growing at an annual rate of 5%. nor does growing at an annual rate of 5% mean tens of millions are on unemployment. suddenly doing 5% better. there is a degree of disconnect. i don't are think that's going away any time soon. >> is this a santa claus rally? >> santa claus rally is something wall street talks

about. psych lonlcally it's better to go into giving time with the markets doing well. unless there is going on. for consume rs and individuals this is a real tail wind going into 2015. you will be paying less at the pump and for heating bills in the winter. that's not factored into the economic picture. it's an embedded rebate to the cost of living.

i think we'll see the effects of that. >> predictions, 2015 anyway that we have hit the record milestone. >> predictions are a dime a dozen. they are usually a reflection of what you see now. there is no reason to assume this trajectory of decent economic growth, a lot of disconnect s and decent market activity that it won't continue modestly into the new year. it's also absolutely true i can predict that uncertainty will be a product of next year and things will happen. we'll watch and see if it continueses into the new year. >> absolutely. >> developing now, the threat of severe weather could make for a challenging travel day as millions head home for christmas. nbc meteorologist dominica davis is back with us again. >> a lot of rain. it's not only going to cause ground delays but also air

delays. something for everybody. we are looking at the tornado watch in effect for the florida panhandle. from tallahassee to savannah, we are following the squall line pushing off to the east. the threat will be over. the watch louisiana is looking at sunny skies. alabama as well. certainly good news. up to the north we are we have snow on the radar. christmas forecast for wisconsin down through iowa. you are getting in on the snow. this is the back edge of the system that's affecting much of the country. that's where the cold weather is trapped. we are look at warm weather. rain in chicago.

indianapolis looking at rain. you could get snowshowers later today. the rain and mild air is sitting right across the east coast and up and down the eastern seaboard. temperatures are running above normal. we have highs in the low 60s from d.c. to philadelphia. this will be where your travel. a very heavy rain we are going to deal with from start to finish. the system moves out for christmas day. we'll be left with winds but nice dry conditions. the snow starts to ramp up on christmas day. through the cascades and the rockies, they will be looking at a new system there that will likely dump four to six inches of snow. a little something for everybody. the main thing now is the rain and these unusually warm temperatures. >> indeed. a very messy day.

we'll take a look at the hottest political issues just days from now. plus -- ♪ >> the battle over the best christmas tv ads. the story from london. also ahead -- >> it's time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. it happens nearly every day. his new oxford pennsylvania store the christmas house is closed only four days a year. he says it's because of instant demand. watch more sundays on msnbc. >> brought to you by american express open. ideas to help you grow your business. g 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

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it is official, we gave the people what they wanted. the nation's strongest lte signal. this is a big deal! soak it in! just let it wash over you like a warm bath. let's talk politics for a minute as the president enjoys his vacation in hawaii. here is the president taking a hike with the family yesterday. the new congress convenes and the first big fight ahead is all about immigration. >> let's talk about the big fight ahead in 2015 with mark

murray. merry christmas, mark. >> happy holidays. >> happy holidays to you. >> a lot of people will be watching what happens in the early stages of the new congress. what do we expect in terms of the fight around immigration come january. >> there will be a big fight over funding come the end of february. as we know, congress ended up passing spending bills this month. decided to go home and adjourn. it was essentially fun.

other important immigration enforcement. there will be a big political fight. you can hear how house speaker john boehner said they will hit president obama on his executive action when it comes to immigration. >> it's hard to imagine it. is there anything both parties and the president will be able to agree on next year? do you see potential deals on the horizon? >> it's not likely. you know, one is free trade. you have an obama. democrats are sometimes opposed to free trade measures.

the devil is in the details. those are two areas where there could be compromise. we have seen compromise is hard to obtain. >> mark, thank you very much for that. we'll see if there is a deal that comes out of the new congress. back to one of the top stories at msnbc today. the nightmare before christmas. the threat of thunderstorms and tornadoes in some parts of the country. the weather channel's regular members of the ju reagan medjie. >> the weather is putting a wrench in everything. you see behind me you have the wet roads. you pan up and you can see the cloud cover. what does this mean? it means bad news for the airports here. laguardia, where we are at now is at a ground stop. that means that any flight coming in here, wherever origin

they're at, they cannot come in here right now. a lot of it has to do with weather. if we go to jfk, another airport in the new york city area. that's at a gate hold for 30 minutes. if you're at the gate you are not going anywhere. you can expect that your loved ones coming out of jfk will be delayed where they are going. alsole to newark. that's another airport in the new york city area. they are at a gate hold, 30 minutes as well. the same thing again. if you are waiting for them, expect a delay. philadelphia. they are on an hour delay. they have a ground delay. so they are not really moving too much. you see behind me people checking in. this is an active scene. we back up a little bit. we'll show you what it looks like inside the airport. if we can possibly go inside. i like to look at the outside first. give you a cespedes of where we're at. the inside is important, too. you want to see what it's like inside when we are looking at the lines. it's clear now.

this has been fluctuating all day. you have the lines and you don't got the lines. what can we expect for the weather today? it will be raining all day and in the 50s. looking at the arrivals and departure s, some are late. we are on time for a majority of them. this is for this airline, not all of them. when we look at rain through christmas eve it will taper out through the night. then it be basically be over and we'll have sun and wind. no snow in the forecast. my apologieapologieses. leave early and wait for your loved ones. >> we hope it doesn't delay santa's trip across this part of the world. the top retail department stores are battling it over the best tv ads. it's a decades long fight all in the holiday spirit. jim ma ceda has more on the contest from the streets of london. >> reporter: good to be with you.

the shoppers are equally men and women. it's a ground zero for british retail giants like john lewis behind me. you can call it the british equivalent of macy's. it's become an annual battle of the christmas adverts. ♪ >> reporter: tis the season and the store wars are raging. [ shouting ] >> reporter: britain's top retail and department stores have battled in the quest for the ultimate christmas tv ad. not for any one product but to sell a whole brand with deep, feel-good emotions. >> it's a time for charm wars ratherer than price wars. you will see the charm offensive that all of the major retailers,

brands are really playing with each other. ♪ >> reporter: among dozens of brands the british retailer john louis is the uncrowned king, spending millions of dollars and making much more back on the simple and saccharin christmas tales. like this young boy's impatient wait not to get a present but to give one. or this love struck snowman's dangerous journey to london to find the perfect gifts for his snow woman. this year's effort, monty's christmas hits all the right notes. a two-minute, $1.5 million story of sam and his penguin pal monty who finds may bell and love on christmas day if only in sam's imagination. monty has a twitter account and tens of thousands. online sales are up ten times.

this year, john louis has met its match. ♪ all is calm ♪ all is bright >> the supermarket chain sanesberry recounted the true story of world war i's only christmas truce. belgium, 1914. christmas eve. when british and german troops for opposing trencheses and at dawn put down rifles, shook hands and played soccer with an improvised ball. artillery fire sent both sides back to the trencheses where, in the ad, otto, the german finds as gift from tommy, the brit. his message, christmas is for sharing. the ad struck a chord on this centennial year. not always well. >> shameless, reads this tweet.

many call this year a draw and wonder what the retail giants wills think up next. >> there is still more innovation. there are more ways to touch and connect with people. >> reporter: even the church of england is getting the message. this this year, the original christmas story. >> well, it may be a draw between john louis and sansberry which has announced it is donating all proceeds made on the sale of the antique-looking 1914ish chocolate bars to a top british military charity. that's of course the spirit of oh christmas. it may also keep a lot of the naysayers at bay. back to you. >> thank you, jim. still ahead, nine movies are coming out on christmas day. which ones you need to see, coming up next.

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in addition so tony's addition for a limited release. some of the movies are vying for holiday dollars. one of them is "into the woods" take a look. >> bring me a cow. >> magic! >> the cape as red as blood. >> oh, dear. >> the hair as yellow as gold. joining me now is chief film critic for variety. good morning, scott. merry christmas. >> good morning! >> i want to start off by asking "into the woods" an adaptation of the popular broadway new musical. how does it stack up? >> i think it's a happy surprise. they've been trying to bring into the woods to the big screen for about 20 years. it there have been all kinds of versions. it was originally supposed to be made in the '90s with goldy haun

and cher in the cast. it's been mired in a long hollywood development process. what is refreshing, i think, the movie is incredibly faithful to the broadway show compared to the other big musical of the season "annie" which tries to reinvent everything to disastrous ends. i think they've managed to bring into the woods to the screen in a version that will satisfy fans who are familiar with the show but it will also introduce a new generation that doesn't know the material and doesn't really know stephen who is probably the greatest broadway composer of his generation. all the way around, this is a really satisfying experience. >> the next film getting a lot of attention is "unbroken." it's important to note it is a universal film. let's take a look at that. >> you will be treated

accordingly. >> sort of. >> each prisoner will teach him a lesson. >> angelina jolie directed that. it looks powerful. what do you think of it? >> it's an incredible true story. a lot of people will be familiar with it because the book by laura hillenbrand was a best seller. it's the story of a champion li olympics distance runner was shot down and managed to survive the long ordeal only to end up in a japanese prisoner of war camp. it's a well made film. there's no question that angeli angelina jolie can direct. she's surrounded by an incredible team of collaborators. roger deacon did the camera work. it's a good looking movie. and the story is undeniably really powerful. i think the movie is a little

bit too long. it's almost two and a half hours. a certain point it becomes a little bit repetitive in showing all the incredible suffering man went through. and curiously omits some of the sections of the book that might have given a little bit more variety to the movie such as this attempt that he and his fellow prisoners made to revolt against their sadistic camp commander who is played in the movie by this japanese actor. but, you know, basically this is a really solid piece of story telling. i think people will be moved by it. it's an a wonderful showcase for the young british actor jack o'connell. it's his first hollywood movie. you'll hear a lot about him. >> let me ask you quickly. watch or no watch? >> i think this is one you can wait for dvd. >> all right. we have to leave it at that. thank you very much! we're running out of time but

appreciate your insight. it's going to be a busy movie going day for those who venture out. appreciate it. i'm ayman mohyeldin for watching. my colleague francis is up after the break. the holiday season is here, which means it's time for the volkswagen 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... and the 2015 motor trend car of the year all-new golf. if you're wishing for a new volkswagen this season... just about all you need is a finely tuned... pen. get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on select new volkswagen models.

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♪ push it real good. it's what you do. ♪ ah. push it. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. ♪ ah. push it. i'm pushing. i'm pushing it real good! major news we're following on several fronts this christmas eve. holiday weather turns deadly in mississippi with tornados from a storm system that is causing travel chaos. shot down. isis forces take out a coalition aircraft from jordan. could american pilots be at risk? hospitalized former president george h.w. bush rushed for treatment. we'll have the latest on his condition. protests flair in the st. louis area after the deadly police shooting of a teen. police say the teen was armed and pulled his gun on the officer. police in missouri where the shooting occurred is expected to hold a news conference at any moment. when it happens we hope to bring it to you.

thank you very much for being with me on the busy news day. we'll begin with the weather. on the day before christmas, several parts of the country are taking a vicious pounding. in mississippi more than 3600 customers are still without power this morning after a tornado tore through marion and jones counties killing four people and injuring many more leaving a path of destruction in the wake. >> buildings completed destroyed. >> approximately 30 children inside the building when the tornado hit, and it just took the tin roof off the building. they evacuated to citizens bank. citizens bank provided shelter for us. >> that same storm system is on the move while more severe weather from coast to coast could cause chaos on this big travel day. we're covering the holiday weather from all angles. dominica davis is here with a christmas forecast. jacob rascon is in mississippi with the latest on the tornado

damage, and gabe gutierrez is tracking travel delays from hartsfield airport. severe weather slamming both coasts. and the threat of tornados isn't over yet. what can we expect throughout the day? >> we have the tornado watch that is up for the pan handle of florida and it goes through georgia and the southeastern portion of south carolina. it's all along and ahead of the squall line pushing off to the southeast. we have seen a couple of thunderstorm warning and tornado warnings so far this morning. as the line continues to advance to the east, it will weaken. the watch will go until 2:00 and the threat ends, which is certainly good news for the folks down to the south. here is a look at the squall line. you can see the line right now is passing i-75. from augusta all the way to albany. that's the worst of the weather right now. they're not out of the woods but this is quickly moving off to the east, which is good news. as you mentioned, yes, we have rain slamming both coasts.

a new storm pushing into the pacific northwest is not only going to bring rain from seattle to san francisco today but also snow through the cascades and the rockies. we have winter weather warnings and advisories posted through today and they'll also see the snow through the cascades and rookies for christmas day. a white christmas for them. but really for much of the country, we're just looking at wet weather. the worst of the weather is right along the east coast up-and-down the eastern sea board with very heavy rain. look at the temperatures, francis. 62 for the high today in d.c. it's cooler -- it's warmer in d.c. than it is in san francisco for christmas eve. so how about that for those mild temperatures. >> it is mild. easy to get around out there but certainly not with the rain and the mess. dominica davis, thank you very much. nbc jacob rascon is in columbia, mississippi where residents are beginning to survey the scope of the damage from the deadly tornado.

what is the latest on the ground there? >> this is a small community known as haul circle. you can see behind me one of the families that lived here picking up the pieces. there is not much left. i spoke to the hall family. the woman there, she was inside her suv when the tornado hit and the suv is all smashed up. miraculously she and everyone else here survived. behind me is what is left of a convenience store. there was a laundry mat on the other side. all the buildings and homes were destroyed here. it's the same story across the street. there were a number of people inside a business there having a christmas party when the tornado hit. they say they had about 10 to 15 seconds before it hit. fortunately everybody survived. four people were were killed in the storm making it the deadly

tornado in mississippi in about a half century. the governor declared a state of emergency including this so help can get here faster. >> certainly so tough the day before christmas. jacob rascon, thank you. gabe gutierrez is in the heart of holiday travel at atlanta's airport. how is the weather impacting flights today? >> hi, francis. good morning. the rain has tampered off a bit. things seem to be going pretty smoothly here. there's a lot of volume here. the security lines are topping 30 minutes here in atlanta. there are no major delays to speak of thankfully here. different story around the country. according to flight dl dlgsaware.com there are more than 600 delays and more than 200 cancellations. some of the problems have been in philadelphia.

that airport is experiencing about an hour delay for inbound flights due to low cloud cover. la guardia there was a ground stop set to expire at 10:00 a.m. and washington dull lis is experiencing delays of about a half hour. out west sfo, low clouds there. that's nothing new there but a lot of travelers are paying attention to the air. more than 98 million holiday travelers are expected according to aaa. the vast majority are hitting the roads. as you mentioned, there have been threat of severe weather throughout the south as the winter storm rolls through. here in atlanta, no major delays so far. a lot of people here heading home for christmas. back to you. hopefully they stay positive and patient in their travels. gabe gutierrez, thank you. back here the united states former president george h.w. bush is under observation at the

houston hospital. the 90-year-old was rushed to houston methodist last night as a precaution after experiencing shortness of breath. nbc charles hadlock is live in houston. thank you for being with us. let's get an update on his condition. >> good morning. there's no new update on the president's condition. as you mentioned, he was rushed here last night from his home here in houston. he's in methodist hospital undergoing treatment for shortness of breath. they say he's merely here for observation. they expect him to be all right but there's been no update so far this morning. this hospital is nothing flu new to the bush family. barbara bush has been admitted here several times. two years ago the former president was admitted with a bronchitis-like cough. he stayed two months getting over that spell. he eventually recovered and even though he's unable to walk because of parkingson's disease, it's been hard to slow down the

former president. he's 90 years old, he's the oldest living president. last summer he celebrated his birthday by jumping out of an airplane in a tandem sky dive. he made an appearance at his library a couple of weeks ago. at the texans game, he took part in the coin toss to start the game. there's little slowing down of the president. the bush family got a note from the white house. michelle and president obama told them happy holidays and best wishes for a speedy recovery. we hope to get an update possibly from the bush family spokesman later today. >> i'm sure they'll be hoping he'll be able to head home for christmas day. any word on his sons on where they are and where they may be celebrating? >> we don't know any information. the hospital is not saying anything and the bush family spokesman jim mcgrath has not

communicated anything this morning. we don't know if any family members are here. if they were here, we wouldn't be able to see them. there's so many entrances and the entrances are private. you can't see them from the street here. >> all right. thank you very much. two people are in stable condition after a shooting last night inside an atlanta movie theater. police say the incident started as a verbal altercation at the movie release party for the comedy "fitness." the argument escaladed leading to gunfire and two people were struck. one in the leg and another in the buttocks. police are investigating the incident this morning. so far no arrests made. now to sony pictures. surprised reversal despite threats from some people claiming to be the hackers. the controversial comedy "the interview" will be released on christmas day in select theaters. what is behind the change? we have the story from los angeles. thank you for being with us.

let's talk about how many theaters will screen the movie and give that other plans for a wider release for the larger theaters? >> francis, of course sony would love a wider release. originally about 3,000 theaters were supposed to show the film starting tomorrow. as you know, last week that number went down to 0. then yesterday shortly after the announcement, about 200 smaller theaters across the country said they will indeed start showing the film on its original intended release date tomorrow. now that number could grow but so far the bigger chains like amc are staying mum about whether they'll change their minds. >> what is reaction from hollywood here and the two stars seth rogan and james fray koe knowing they said it wasn't going to happen and now it is. what are they saying? >> the reaction from hollywood is a lot more muted compared to the fear created a week ago when sony decided to cancel the

release. there's a lot of congratulations pouring in. seth rogan tweeted the people have spoken, freedom has prevailed. sony didn't give up. lots of exclamation marks and james franco tweeted. clearly they're thrilled about it happening. >> we're hearing leading up to it the critics weren't so kind. a lot of people for the sake of the principle will be going out to see it. now to some developing news this morning. the syrian observe story for human rights confirms two nbc news that isis shot down a jordanian fighter jet this morning in syria. the coalition jet was downed in roca and the pilot was reportedly captured alive. we go to london for the latest. we understand this is the first time isis has downed this kind of war plane. >> that's right, francis. if it turns out to be true, if the plane was brought down with

an anti-aircraft missile, this would be a first for isis since air strikes began. isis claim it is shot down the jordanian jet with a heat seeking anti-aircraft missile and captured the pilot. you see some of the pictures unverified by nbc news which are popping up on social media. the jordanian military confirmed that a jet did go down saying in a statement one of our planes crashed. the pilot was taken hostage. the statement went on to say jordan holds the organization and those who support it responsible for the safety of the pilot and the preservation of his life. the pictures very disturbing of a man isis claims is the pilot, the relatives have reportedly confirmed it is him. a 26-year-old lieutenant in the jordanian military. in the pictures, he's wet, he looks like he's been dragged out a river or lake. he's wearing only a t-shirt. isis has also posted pictures from what appears to be wreckage

from a jet crash. isis claim it is shot down the jet with an anti-aircraft missile but it hasn't been confirmed by the jordanian military or u.s. central command. >> a lot more waiting. thank you. and we'll continue to keep you posted on any developments in the story and talk to two foreign policy experts coming up in our next hour. still ahead here on this christmas eve morning. protests at the scene of another police shooting. police-involved shooting in missouri. investigators say the man had pointed a gun at the officer. details next. and vice president joe biden will head to new york city to attend the funeral of fallen police officer rafael ramos. as protesters take to the streets of new york once again despite mayor de blasio's call to wait until after the officer's funeral. a live report coming up.

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we're keeping a close eye on the live pictures from missouri where we're expecting to hear at any moment from city officials about a police shooting overnight. welcome back. a teenager was shot and killed there in berkeley which is just outside of ferguson. this is survey lengs video of the incident posted by the st. louis county police. it shows the suspect there coming out of a vehicle and then approaching a police officer pulling a gun. that is when the officer fired killing the 18-year-old there. the man identified by his mother as antonio martin. keeping a close eye on this story as we're expecting to hear from berkeley police and law enforcement. so we'll follow that and bring it to you as it becomes available. this is what some of the other officials had to say earlier this morning.

>> you know you talk about explosive devices, those are felonies. we would be interested in finding out who did that. we can't have a situation where we have a crowd that gathers, which is certainly something that is understandable. but to come there armed with explosive devices is certainly something that is not safe for our community. not safe for our businesses. certainly not safe for our police officers. and after that shooting at least one police officer has been hospitalized after being injured by explosives when it came to the unrest at the crowd gathering after that. four arrests were maded for allegedly assaults on police following the shooting. new tensions in the wake of murders of two police officers. last night protesters defied the mayor to hold off on demonstrations. hours early de blasio tried to mend the strain relationship with the nypd. he visited the makeshift memorial and observed a moment silence. i spoke earlier to new york

congressman greg meeks. >> i think the right thing to do is what the governor and mayor has said. we should respect the families. that's basically what the protesters are protesting about. you know, make sure there's justice in the criminal justice system. but when you change in policing a respect for the community. and so therefore you have fallen officers and i think it's the right thing to hold off for respect for the fallen officers. >> vice president joe biden will attend the saturday funeral for officer rafael ramos. arrangement for wenjian liu are still being finalized. adam reese is live in brooklyn where the two officers were killed. based on the last time i spoke with you, it looks like the memorial continues to grow. >> that's right. they're coming through the driving rain. new yorkers, police officers from all other the city coming here to mourn, dropping off flowers and candles, and cards. regarding the protests last night, they weren't particularly large. about a thousand protesters took to the streets of manhattan blocking off fifth avenue with

chants of black lives matter and calling for commissioner bratton to resign. at the same time around 9:00 last night, lights were dimmed at landmarks across the city to honor officers wenjian liu and rafael ramos. officer rafael ramos will be laid to rest on saturday. vice president biden and his wife dr. biden will be in attendance along with the mayor and the police commissioner. >> adam reece, thank you very much. coming soon sony decide to move forward with the christmas day release of the controversial movie "the interview" a decision applauded by hollywood and by president obama. will north korea follow through on threats against the film? and what can they really do about it? we'll talk about it next here on msnbc. i'm angela,

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employees. having said that, yes, i think they made a mistake. we cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the united states. >> that was president obama just five days ago clearly frustrated that sony pictures had pulled the movie "the interview" out of threats from hackers. let's fast forward. sony has done a turn around. the white house released a statement saying the president applauds sony's decision to authorize screenings of the film. as the president made clear, we are a country that believes in free speech, and the right of artistic expression. a staff journal west the national journal and the miami harrold's political writer join us. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. mark, let's start with you. the president, well, went all in here. we have to wonder is there the potential this could backfire

politically if anything happens once these hundreds of independent theaters start showing the film tomorrow especially with the clear threat that they would retaliate? >> well, that's a good question. i know, the president said it was north korea. is it north korea? that's what we're saying. it's a possibility it could be a bunch of hackers who are are having a real good time and laughing all the way at everyone's overreaction to this. i really doubt -- i imagine the theater owners doubt there's going to be any significant act of terrorism. if was north korea, i don't think they have a capacity to carry out terrorist attacks in the united states. a lot of this doesn't make sense except for the fact it sounds like sony is a pretty cowardly corporation if you see the hacked e-mails that opinion will be further underscored. you wonder why the president is getting involved. we hope it's north korea now he said it. i have doubts on a country so unwired would have the capability. it's a government attacking

potentially a corporation. it could be possible. >> you made it clear you don't think north korea is blind it. you think people are getting a chuckle out of releasing e-mails that angelina jolie was a spoiled brat. >> i don't know. that's the thing. >> would north korea want that released? north korea is smart enough to know it will embarrass sony. we bought the administration line pretty quickly to blame north korea. i'm not saying they're good actors. it's a pretty evil government. >> you're saying they don't have the capability. they don't have -- >> they might not be. let's be skeptical of the idea that north korea is behind it. >> what options does, if in this case, if you believe that north korea is behind this. what options do they have to retaliate as far as political risk on our side. >> i think it certainly ups the

ante if north korea decides to carry through with an attack. obviously the movie theaters that decided to release the movie on christmas day with confident that something like that isn't possible it suspect going to happen. the president's strong remarks indicate he's not very concerned about the threats that we're seeing response i think that, you know, moving forward i think congressional oversight is going to be important here. john mccain will have a committee hearing when they get back. i think there's some discussion to be had. you know, what are the risks of cyber terrorism. and what can be done in the united states to thwart future attacks. >> especially we want to talk about the response here. mark, i want to bring you in. there were reports that north korea's internet outage continued overnight. do you think that our involvement there and as far as response what is your idea of a response that would be adequate? >> i have no idea. i have seen satellite pictures of the globe and you see that north korea is dark at night. because it has no electricity.

they have nuclear warheads but no real power system. cutting off internet connections to north korea is like removing snow from the streets of miami beach. you really wonder how many people does it affect. the 10 people in north korea who have a internet access. maybe we're behind it. maybe not. i'm sorry if i sound like a skeptical person, but -- >> it's interesting to hear. we've been hearing a lot of takes about this. your take is interesting, too. there's the thought out there that, you know, it didn't happen necessarily indirectly from north korea but they ordered it. and they used, you know, somebody from the outside to pull this off. >> maybe. let's talk about this as far as what the president -- aside from saying he applauds this now. do you think that the president should have done something more while he's on vacation, maybe agreed to a hosted screening or maybe promised to watch it on vacation. >> i think that the president is going to be using this next few

days in hawaii, you know, for relaxati relaxation. i think the president's vacation time, you know, he doesn't take a lot of it compared to other past presidents. i think it's pretty sacred family time for him. i don't know if this is the time where he's going to be involving engaging politically on something like a movie release. >> it is the holidays. a colorful conversation. i appreciate it. you don't have to worry about removing snow from your streets. thank you. all right. not snow but it is rainy, dreary here on christmas eve for millions of americans on both coasts. we'll get an update on the holiday forecast and take you outside there in tallahassee, florida. we'll do that.

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country. a mess of the major travel day. let's check with nbc meteorologist dominica davis. how are we looking? >> it's looking very wet. we're dealing with severe weather. basically down to the south. this is getting better and it certainly not as terrible as yesterday. but never the less, tornado watches still in effect for the florida pan handle. this goes into georgia and the southeastern tip of south carolina. this will be in effect until 2:00 p.m. the call line continues to push to the east. it's moving to savannah and it's weakening. that's good news. this is a part of a much larger system and a broad area of rain that extends all the way up to i-95. we have rain through d.c. up through boston and windy conditions as well. but very mild along the east coast. temperatures about 10 degrees above normal. lake effect snow through the great lakes and some very gusty winds. winds gusting right around the eastern great lakes upwards of 40 miles per hour. snow off to the mountains and

the west. >> all right. we'll check in a little bit. to the developing story the mayor and city manager of berkeley, missouri are starting a news conference on a police-involved shooting overnight. >> i had the opportunity last evening to review the video of the incident. what i saw in this incident is not what people portray. this is not a -- as we say, you know, black lives matter. this was not the case. this was you couldn't compare this with ferguson or the gardener case in new york. the garner case in new york they had the video.

ferguson they did not. we have the video. i can assure you that what is on the video is what we're going use. i don't think they used the video in new york for whatever reason. maybe the elders of our community have better eyes than we do. but the city of berkeley will be doing the investigation. along with the st. louis county. and our goal is to project the truth to the residents because the first thing occurred last night was when we got there we're saying the same thing. here is a white policeman killing a black young man. so when does this stop? i can assure you that did not happen last night. we had a policeman responding to

the call protecting the residents of the city of berkeley and the call came through the dispatch office in reference to this young man was shoplifting. when the officer came there, the video shows that the deceased pointed a gun that has been recover recovered, at the officer. and i think that the officer because he stumbled might have saved his life. because when he stumbled and had a chance to fire and take the young man's life, he was fortunate enough in his stumble that one shot was necessary to take his life. so the st. louis county now is doing the investigation. city of berkeley is doing an

independent investigation. we don't want to jump ahead and provide you with information that we have to retract. what we're going to do now the city of berkeley's police department will be doing this investigation independently from the st. louis county. okay. and let me, first, thank all the cities that responded last night to protect the property because if they had not respond ed the officer wouldn't be standing today. because of the quick reaction of protecting that, the city of berkeley is grateful for what the officers -- officers put their life on the line every day, and we are proud of that. so with that we would like to

ask if anyone would like to ask a question. [ inaudible question ] do your mind, your name and who you're representing. [ inaudible question ] the mayor of berkeley missouri there defending the police department after police-involved shooting of an 18-year-old at the scene of a robbery at the gas station where the 18-year-old suspect pointed a gun at the officer. the officer fired back killing an 18-year-old reportedly identified as antonio martin. but there the mayor speaking defending the police department saying that the video shows they're proud of what the police officer did and no way can you compare what happened at the gas station in berkeley, missouri to ferguson, missouri or even new york city with a case of michael brown and eric garner as well. i want to bring in st. louis community activist john gas kon.

the mayor was adamant about he did the right thing. >> i think we have to take a look at the city of ferguson is a bit different from the city of ferguson, which is literally two miles away. the city of berkeley, as you saw on tv there the leadership there is 100% african-american and the police chief is also african-american. for this particular situation, it appears to be much different from what we saw in staten island and much different from what we saw in ferguson. so there are so many questions at this point. i think we should somewhat pause and wait for some of those details to continue to come out. however, one thing that is very concerning to me this morning it's our understanding that the officer had on a body camera, however, it was not recording. the question becomes everyone has been asking for body cameras

for law enforcement officers to wear them. what difference does it make if the body cameras are not on. we've seen that a number of times in recent month here's in the st. louis area and i'm sure across the country where incidents are occurring the officer has on the body camera, however, it is not recording. >> argument is made in the case of eric garner. there was video of that choke hold death. people are saying what more do you need. there was video in that case and there was body cam. there was surveillance video of the incident and the mayor saying it clearly showed the suspect raising a weapon at the officer before he was shot. let's talk about that. you're saying the difference between this area of berkeley, missouri. very different from ferguson in the fact that the city leaders there are african-american. there was not -- there is not -- there was not that divide. yet we saw about 300 people come out after this shooting clashing

with police with a few arrests coming out of that. what is your take on that knowing there is still an arrest when you first hear about a police shooting an officer-involved shooting. of course, the tensions are there. in this case, the 300 people that came out, what is your take? >> well, when i got the news early this morning, i was alarmed as well. people i across the country are on edge. the level of confidence especially between the african-american community and law enforcement, the relationship at this juncture is in shambles. they don't trust law enforcement within our communities, and so the second we heard there was a police-involved shooting and the officer was white everyone's antennas went up. as we take a look at the movement across the country, people are beginning to pay attention to these police shootings. whether it was a situation where the officer acted justly. i think it's good people are

beginning to pay attention to these shootings. to begin to ask the proper questions what happened? where is the footage? what took place? was there medical treatment? all those are very critical questions regardless of if the officer acted justly or not. ic those are critical details people need to be asking the questions. >> the mayor as well, as you said, there will be some investigations still into this incident. thank you so much for your time. we appreciate it. >> thank you. happy holidays. >> and to you. we'll be right back. hey bonnie, can i hold her? yes... you can... cup your hands together for me... ...rub it all the way up your hands. any exposed skin.

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rally the best period of economic growth in more than a decade with gdp soaring 5%. here is the question we're asking. when will the economic upswing hit home for everyone? here to answer that question is msnbc contributor and senior fellow at the budget and policy priorities. jared burnstein. when gdp is up 5%. what does it mean? what is driving it? >> it means that the value of the economy, if you just price out the goods and services you actually come up with a number that is $17.6 trillion. that's what it takes to buy the u.s. economy. when it grows 5%, that's growing off that base. you ask what makes it grow? that's not that complicated. there's consumer spending within that was a big plus. it helped in part by low gas prices. there's investment and businesses and households.

there's net exports. how much we sell to other countries. how much they buy from us. and government spending. put it all together. everything is firing on all cylinders. >> nice to break it down that way. put it in perspective this way. people are spending more but the wages aren't rising proportionately here. wages up .5%. why the disparity here and when that can change? >> okay. so this is a very long-term important economic problem really goes under the rubric of income inequality. that is if you go back a number of decades, we used to get growth that was much more broadly shared. the economy went up 5 percent you would see the incomes of low, middle, and high income people going up about the same amount. but lately most of that growth is kind of done an end run around the middle class and gone to the top. one of the things that helps to

answer your question is a tight labor market. when the unemployment rate falls and we're creating a lot of jobs, workers, employees just have a lot more bargaining clout. and employers have to bid up there ware wages, pay if they want to get and keep the workers they need. it we stay on the path of an economy that is improving at the slightly faster rate, i hope we get to that condition. >> yeah. if you're saying the rich keep getting richer is, hey, let's share some of that! let's spread the love to all of us! >>, i mean, like yesterday one of the observations i had you see this in gdp you see it in the stock market. you don't quite see it in paychecks. that's an important missing piece. >> yeah. let's talk about gas prices. and the role they're playing in the economy. average prices of gas around $2.35 falling for three straight months. so how far do we expect prices to fall and really is it going to be a thing like, you know, after the holidays they're going to jump up again.

>> i don't think they'll jump right back up again. people who spend their whole lives trying to figure out where oil is going didn't see the big drop coming. that tells you it's hard to forecast. most people expect that we should stay about where we are. kind of carved out a bottom in the market is the way folks think about it. by the way, on the wage story, this actually has implications. because it means even if your wages is growing at the same rate in nominal terms. the prifact that prices are low your paycheck goes further. it's why we're seeing a better holiday season than we might have expected. >> it's not what you spend it's what you save when you come to shopping. that's my motto. thank you very much. we appreciate it. coming up many of you take time out of a long holiday weekend to head to the movies. several of the oscar-nominated films are released this year. we'll break down the favorites for best picture and best actor.

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'tis the season for big hollywood block busters. and award worthy films set for the most anticipated movies. and this hollywood is lining up big hitters they hope will rack up a lot of award come oscar time. unbroken, selma, and into the woods starring meryl streep all open this week. there's the into have a getting a limited release on christmas day. joining me with a preview from los angeles senior editor for in touch weekly. love it when you're on the show with us. >> thank you. thank you for having me. >> kim, we have to talk about sony and the interview. many expressed outrage for the decision to pull it after the theater chain refused to show it. what is the turn around. what are people saying as far as reaction. especially the pressure from the a listers on the studios. >> yeah. obviously people are happy to see it out here. now we know that people can see the interview.

it's in over 200 theaters. different than the 3,000 theaters that it was initially planned to be in. and the potential that it might in on demand some way. so obviously people in hollywood happy. the actors happy and tweeting about it. freedom of speech and victory. there's humor about it. obviously people care about freedom of expression and speech. this is a comedy and it's hard to believe it's came about from a seth rogan comedy. >> freedom of expression over reviews. initial they didn't have the great reviews. let's move on to the movies that have gotten better reviews. we're talking about award season here. the academy will announce nominations for the oscars. who do you think the front runners are? >> yeah. you know, we're seeing the initial nominations when you have the critic's choice

nominations out there. it golden globes, s.a.g. awards. it helps you see a pattern developing. right now the frontrunner is boyhood. one of the big front runners. the interesting film richard made it over the course of 12 years. he shot a few days every day so you saw everyone age in real time. so it's a whole complete new way of film making. and just so much buzz around the movie. it's not just a gimmick. it's got a lot of heart. it's everyone's top choice. >> like coming of age. >> yeah. it's amazing watching this kid who was cast when he was 6 turn into a college student and watching patricia arquette. everyone age in the movie. not because of makeup but actual ageing. it's incredible. and bird man. this is another one getting buzz. it's gotten so many nominations. golden globe nominations.

it's another big one starring michael keaton. >> is he on the list for best actor? >> yes. and this is shaping up definitely michael keaton for bird man. everyone talking about him. he's a frontrunner. even david who was the in selma stars as martin luther king jr. everyone talking about him. not quite as well known but an amazing actor. he just playing martin luther king jr. in a movie, the first movie that is completely about martin luther king jr. is incredible. >> quickly how about best actress. who are the names getting the nod. >> julian moore for still alice. and jennifer aniston for cake. it would be nice to see her get her due. he's an incredible actress. it's an incredible role. >> reese witherspoon, lots of names. >> thank you very much. have a good holiday. >> thank you. you too. thank you for being with us

that wraps it up on msnbc. i'm francis reve. who will have a white christmas and a wet christmas? take a look at this shot from tallahassee florida where it is pouring. former president george h.w bush hospitalized overnight with shortness of breath. we'll get the latest on his condition in a live report next.

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clashes break out after another teen is shot and killed by a cop. why the police say the officer feared for his live. thank you for joining us. i'm ayman mohyeldin. we begin with the severe weather. slamming many parts of the country today triggering travel headaches. we're tracking the storms from all angles this morning. nbc dominica davis has the latest on the holiday forecast. keith carson is in mississippi in the aftermath of a deadly tornado that killed four people. first, dominica. what is the latest >>well, good news down here to the south we've been monitoring the tornado watch in event for the pan handle and georgia and parts of south carolina. it is narrowed now. we're looking at this threat start to diminish which is certainly good news. however, the drenching rain goes all the way up through the carolinas of i-95 we'll continue

to see this through the day. a broad area of rain extends from new england all the way down to florida today. if you are traveling by road or air along the east coast, it is quiet a nightmare out there. with just drenching rain. heavy pocket right now pushing over the d.c. area moving up into philly. it's caused a lot of fog out there. we have warm air associated with this storm and that is creating just a lot of fog and visibility issues. so right now current visibility in boston is less than a mile. it's down to 3 miles in new york. six miles in washington. it's the best we've seen it this morning. that will cause some delays. we have the mild temperatures around, which feels good but you have to deal with the visibility right through the evening as well. lake effect snow coming in behind this system. that's where the cold air is. so from wisconsin to illinois and even off to indiana and michigan we're looking at snow.

off to the west the pacific northwest from seattle down to san francisco showers today and some snow through the cascades and into the rookies for christmas day. so definitely an action-packed couple of days with the weather. ayman. >> no doubt about it. thank you very much. get a sense of the action it's affecting the travel for some of those making those last-minute journeys. now let's go to gabe gutierrez in atlanta outside hartsfield international airport. are we seeing an impact on the flight ran -- plans in atlanta? >> good morning. the rain pushed out. it's extremely overcast. things seem to be going pretty smoothly. there's a lot of volume, of course. more than 4 million travelers are expected to go through atlanta's airport during the christmas season. the security lines have been deepening throughout the morning. they're now more than 30 minutes. while there haven't been many flight delays or cancellations here in atlanta, not the same

story elsewhere in the east coast. philadelphia dealt with delays. new york's la guardia airport had a ground stop for awhile. they're experiencing an average delay of about 30 minutes. and even out west sfo, an airport used to delays, they're dealing with some minor delays because of low clouds. more than 98 million americans are expected to travel during the christmas season according to aaa. the vast majority of them will be on the roads. we have been monitoring the severe weather that has been going through parts of the south and up the east coast. thankfully here in atlanta so far this major hub, the world's busiest airport is not seeing many problem. so far that could change. back to you, ayman. >> thank you for the update. and good news for the folks at atlanta but bad news for the folks in mississippi where a town is reeling this morning after a deadly tornado ripped through killing four people. the weather channel's keith

carson has the latest from columbia, mississippi. >> reporter: we have several lives lost during the afternoon hours yesterday. a lot of injured were since released. that's good news. over 60 people were injured in a town that only had 49 beds in the local hospital. let's show you what it going on through the morning hours. this is an area that used to be apparently a convenience store and also a lane do mat. what is left is rubble. something that struck me from a meteorological standpoint you have wood tossed around. that is fairly typical stuff. some roof. but cinder blocks that are knocked over the entire side of the building. that something that says the winds were a little bit stronger than initially thought when the storm came through. as far as the size of the system itself they're going to go through and survey that. the national weather service

will give you an ef rating. so the strength of the storm and also the size of the storm. but just by looking by the naked eye you have where the power crews are at is one edge of the damage and spanning to the left it's about three or 400 yards what we estimated. that's the diameter of the storm system. the tornado when it was in this part as it crossed over route 13 here in columbia. never a good time for a tornado, for sure. but here we are on christmas eve and people are going to be cleaning up for this for awhile. >> keith carson, thank you with the report. developing news today out of syria. you're looking at pictures reported to be of a jordanian fighter pilot captured by isis fighters. nbc has not verified these paragraphs. they were posted online after isis claimed it shot down the pilot's coalition jet this morning near the tush irkish bo. steve clemons is an msnbc

contributor as well as washington editor at large for the atlantic. good morning. >> good morning. >> steve, i want to ask you what do you make of the isis claims. the jordanian government has acknowledged a pilot is now in isis captivity. but they're not saying it was a result of being shot down. they say as a result of a crash. does isis have the weaponry and the level of tactical ability to shoot down the plane or simply capitalizing on what could be a cash. >> both things could be true. it could have been mechanical failure of the plane. it went down among four fighters from jordan that were part of the coalition a bombing raid on isis assets around raqqa. isis has sophisticated equipment it acquired from lots of sources. it's in syria that has some of the best air defense machinery in the world it's not

inconceivable that isis has the capacity to shoot down a plane. the honest answer is we don't know whether they shot it down or it went down because of mechanical issues. >> pj, if isis claims are true that they did shoot it down, even if they didn't but now they have the fighter pilot, what would it mean for u.s. fighter jets in the region and perhaps the coalition of the four arab countries involved in the air strikes? i think it's one of the reasons why the united states while it's talking to turkey about the idea of establishing security zone inside syria, you know, through air power there obviously are dangers involved. as steve said, you know, syria is a very thick, you know, anti-air, you know, environment and the islamic state has people with real military skill. they recruited a number of members of saddam's military. as they have overrun various bases in iraq as well as syria, they've acquired the weaponry and ability to use it.

>> i want to switch over to north korea a little bit. i want to talk about sony's decision to go ahead with a limited release of the interview. sony is a corporation that is one thing. we've seen what happened as a result of the hack. what kind of larger targets should we as a country be worried about. is there a risk to the u.s. infrastructure following an attack like we saw on sony? >> absolutely a risk to u.s. infrastructure. i think that most of our attention when it comes to creating resilience and protection within our kind of i.t. system focussed on financial protection. financial institutions. and what we see in the sony case is a vulnerability that goes so far in a different direction and far more deep and your able to sort of look at what another government, north korea, was able to do. that can happen to virtually any firm. i think we're focussing a lot on the rogue nation, north korea, but the fact is there are a lot

of problematic countries in the world that are taking lessons and notes now. i think recently i was talking to some of president obama's national security team who said it was interesting that sony had very little real protection of its systems. that's going have to change. i think you're going see that part of the u.s. economy in business really get more robust across our economy. everyone is vulnerable. >> pj, where does all of this leave us with north korea? should we be concerned about the impact it has on broader back door diplomacy. is north korea a country with nuclear program. how concerned should we be about the program restarting in the wake of this fallout? >> i think north korea's demonstrating another capability besides just having nuclear weapons and they use the nuclear weapons as a survival weapon. but now nay have a weapon they can use, you know, to strike, you know, out at adversaries including the united states. i don't think we should necessarily overreact.

we have to -- as the president said the other day, our response has to be in proportional but also in a way that sends a clear message to the north korean leadership without risking escalation. so as the state department said this week, you know, some of our response will be visible. some of our response will not be visible. who knows who is succeeded in shutting down the north korean internet, you know, for a period of time. it was an easy thing to do. but i think you have to find a way to send it, you know, to make the north korean leadership feel pain but not necessarily have it be public. because the one thing that north korea has shown skill at over decades is the ability to escalate and the belief that bad behavior pays. we have to change the calculation. >> pj, steve, happy holidays to both. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. update now from berkeley, missouri. the scene of a deadly police-involved shooting overnight. we heard from mayor hoskins a

short time ago. he commented on the surveillance video released by the st. louis county police. an 18-year-old was shot and killed outside a gas station. police said in a statement that one of the men pulled a handgun and pointed it at the officer. fearing for his life the berkeley officer fired several shots striking the subject fatally and wounding him. protests and clashes did break out overnight but moments ago the mayor stressed that this case is not ferguson. what i saw in the incident is not what people portray. this is not a policeman in the city of berkeley -- as we say black lives matter. this was not the case. this is -- you couldn't even compare this with.

>> george h.w. bush was taken to the hospital overnight for shortness of breath. protesters were out in new york city despite the mayor asking him to hold off until after the funeral of two police officers shot last weekend. we'll talk about the politics of it all surrounding mayor de blasio and president obama coming up on msnbc. my name's lo, and i quit smoking with chantix. 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. some people had seizures while taking chantix. if you notice any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental health

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we're back now and continuing to monitor the condition of former president george h.w. bush. the 90-year-old is under observation at houston methodist hospital after experiencing shortness of breath last night.

charles hadlock is live in houston. what do we know about the former president's condition? >> well, good morning, ayman. we haven't gotten an update on the president's condition here in houston. he was admitted to the hospital last night taken by ambulance to methodist hospital complaining of a shortness of breath. his spokesman said he's okay and only being sent here as an observation. they want to observe his condition over the next few hours, perhaps days in the hospital. we're not sure. we don't have an update on his condition. this isn't the first time, the first christmas the bushes have spent in the hospital. two years ago, the president spent two months in the hospital over the holidays with a bronchitis and severe cough. he eventually got over that. even though he has parkingson's disease which makes it difficult for him to walk, he's been very active. last summer he jumped out of an airplane in a tandem sky dive as he often has since he lost

office back in the '90s. last month he appeared in his library with his son george bush. just a few weeks ago, the former president appeared at the texans football game helping to toss out the coin to start the ball game. the white house also issued a statement last night saying that the president and michelle obama wish good wishes to the former president and his family during this holiday season. that's the latest from here in houston. back to you, ayman. >> we wish the former president a speedy recovery. thank you very much for that update. after the break new york city mayor holds a moment of silence for the two officers killed in the patrol car last weekend. as protesters return to the streets in new york a live report from brooklyn is straight ahead. and all is quiet on capitol hill this christmas eve, but in just a few weeks a new congress with a new look will return to

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let's take you back to new york city. the city is preparing to bury one of the two police officers twofs murdered over the weekend. a wake for rafael ramos is friday. vice president joe biden will attend his funeral on saturday. arrangements for officer wenjian liu are still being made. meanwhile protestersers marched in new york last night defying mayor's plea for a halt in demonstrations until after the sla officers were laid to rest. we are live in brooklyn. what is the latest on the ground there? >> ayman, good morning. it's four days later and the driving rain, it's christmas eve, and they continue to come. i want to show you a picture here of the officers who have lined up to pay their respects and to mourn the fallen soldiers

laying wreaths and flowers and candles and cards. they've come from all over the city. we just spoke to a group of them from the 19th precinct on the upper east side of manhattan. to talk about the protests that happened last night, about a thousand protesters took to the streets of manhattan chanting black lives matter and calling for the police commissioner to resign. this at about 9:00 while lights were dimmed around the city to memorialize the two officers. officers liu and ramos. officer's ramos' sister came out to speak yesterday. they don't know how the family will get through it but they'll do it together with the community. he'll be laid to rest on saturday. vice president joe biden along with his wife dr. biden will be there along with the mayor and the police commissioner. >> adam, thank you for the update. for more i'm joined by new york times reporter and the senior white house reporter for politico who also covered new york politics for several years.

matt, i want to start with you. the protest happened last night. didn't head ted the call by the mayor. the head of the police union is doubling down in the criticism of the mayor. how much trouble is the mayor in in? >> he's a difficult spot. it comes on the heels of the campaign in which he cametactic. the men -- even before the protests and the shooters the officers have not feint sufficient support in their minds. that's been kmup candidacommunih the union. >> it's not just the mayor it's president obama and eric holder who have been brought in the conversation. some are being critical of them saying they've been too quiet on the new york police department murders and protests. >> the president tried to walk this line of dealing with the issue of race very carefully.

this is an issue that as a new york city issue and the president issued a statement saying he -- completely condemned the attack on the police officers on saturday night when it happened. other than that left it to people in new york to be handling it. >> matt, you know, we've heard from former mayors and other officials. some have been critical saying you need to have the police department. you need to have the backing but the commissioner has said there never has been a mayor who hasn't lost some support of the police force. how does the mayor go about rebuilding this friendship or relationship? >> i think the commissioner is a critical bridge here. he's somebody who has credibility with the department. he was the commissioner under giuliani in the '90s. what remains to be scene whether bratton's credibility has been strained by the relationship

with the mayor. >> you're saying the mayor sent out a message. >> he sent out a statement at protest i think it was peaceful but there was chants sort of chants nypd. they sent a statement trying to hit the notes of support for the officers say it was cowardly to have the threats. we're going to protect the people who protect us. it's the attempt to bolster any support for the officers. >> how does the president and the justice department go about mending community police relations before the next time something like this happens, god for bid. >> it's something the president has been working on for a couple of months since the ferguson shooting. there was a task force that was announced last week a couple of days before the officers were killed in new york to get into some of of these issues. this is a deeper issue going on in new york than one that can be dealt with on the federal level. there's a lot of tension here that was just exacerbated by what happened to the officers. but it predates what happened on

saturday by a long shot. >> thank you both for joining us. happy holidays to both of you. >> thank you. it's a rainy gloomy christmas eve for millions of people across the country. some areas of the south are still under a tornado watch this morning. the latest forecast is straight ahead. plus, will santa's slay -- sleigh be able to travel through the nasty weather. norad is tracking santa. i told my dentist about my sensitive teeth,

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in 2015? >> to me, it's more the same, ayman. yes, we have a change in the senate now. it will be a republican-led senate. we have divided government. we have president obama who seems to be a man who is more feeling his oats these days. i have no doubt we'll weelield veto pen handily. we need to be looking for issues that appeal to both sides. looking to bills that appeal to both sides. in fake, i'm proud to say i think i introduced more bipartisan bills in u.s. house than any other democrat in the 113th congress. that's just a matter of looking for things that everybody can get behind. >> congressman, you mentioned some of the bills.

i wanted to pick up on the point of bipartisanship. you called for the spirit of bipartisanship. what are some of the bills you've introduced. what examples of bipartisanship can we expect? what areas? >> sure, ayman. they're not hard to find. you find them by going out and talking to your accideconstitued saying what do you think we need to do? the number one thing for me is jobs, and so going out and looking for bills that will promote american manufacturing jobs. job training programs. things that will give economic benefits to employers to revamp their manufacturing processes and making them more energy efficient. i've done bills along those lines. i've done bills that help american veterans beef up the amount of money going to veteran care that take care of american

military families. for example, supporting military spouses and their professional careers. things like those appeal to everybody and they constantly garner bipartisan support. i think we did 27 bills the last congress that got both democrats and republicans behind it and i was proud of that. i think we need to do more of that. >> congressman, you voted against sending the cromnibus bill to the senate. why? >> ayman, i'm glad you brought that up. i hope you'll indulge me by giving me a chance to talk about that a little bit. that cromnibus bill contains a lot of great things. there's more spending. there's beefing up of pramts -- programs that need to get federal money. there's a lot of things that everybody liked about the bill. at the last minute, they put in something that weakened the dodd-frank bill that clamped down restrictions on reckless

wall street investment banker activity. remember that's what brought down the economy in 2007 and 2008. we're still digging out from that. i'm not going to give you elizabeth warren's entire speech here, ayman, but the point is we're still digging out from that great recession. look, what they've done is they've weakened dodd-frank in the name of stimulating the economy and getting job growth back. well, look at the economy right now. the last two quarters have been the strongest six month period since 2008. the economy is chugging back on its own. consumer confidence is higher than it's been in something like ten years. the last quarter was the best we've had since 2003. you don't need to take the clamps off reckless trading on

wall street to revamp -- to revitalize the american economy. american consumer confidence is as high as it's been in 10 or 12 years. that's not because of loosening restrictions that were put in place to protect the american economy from the catastrophe that we saw in 2008. >> pennsylvania congressman matt cartwright thank you for joining us. happy holidays to you and your family, sir. we continue to keep a close watch on the storms hitting the u.s. on the day before christmas. nbc meteorologist dominica davis is here with an update on the holiday forecast. >> hi. we're continuing to monitor this broad area of low pressure that has rain coming from the upper midwest all the way across the eastern sea board. so this is a lot of rain and creating a mess. severe weather it down to the south. we're watching a tornado watch

until 2:00 this afternoon. the squall line continues to go to the east. it's coming out of augusta now and starting to weaken. the threat is starting to diminish as we head to the early afternoon hours. here is a look at the wednesday forecast very mild up-and-down the eastern sea board. a lot of fog along with rains. visibility is comprised from boston all the way to washington. snow in chicago and kansas city. and snow through the rookies. rain today in seattle >>well, i'll tell you a lot of travelers are probably looking at the map wondering how they're going get out of the airport. kids around the world are probably coming up with a sligtly different question on their mind. it's the question on the mind of so many kids. where is santa? there's one easy way to find out. since early this morning volunteers at norad have been tracking santa's every move as he delivers presents to children around the globe. major general charles lucky is on santa detail today. he joins us live from pettersson

air force base in colorado springs. where is and how is santa doing? >> ayman, good morning from norad quarters here in colorado springs. so santa is doing great! i'm concerned about the weather forecast i just heard. so we make sure we have rudolph in front before he hits the eastern sea board and make sure we don't have any navigational issues. he's still over russia and delivering presents to kids there. we anticipate he'll hit the eastern sea board of the united states between 8:45 and 9:00 p.m. eastern standard time. we're making sure he's okay. everything is good. fuel loads are good. and delivers about 1.6 billion packages already in the last few hours. he's on pace. he's a little bit ahead of pace now. >> major general, i want to ask you for those who may not be

tuning in. where can they track santa from home? norad has a smartphone app? >> we have a smartphone app, we answered e-mail. the best way to get ahod l of us is to go to the website www.noradsanta.com. or 1-877-hi-norad. we have the capacity to take a lot of calls. i encourage folks to talk to members of the team. we're in constant communications with santa to make sure any last minute requests get pushed to the sleigh. if he has the opportunity to deliver the last-minute gift he has the information he needs. >> let me ask you how do you think santa does it? >> he does it beautifully. he's traveling -- we take good care of him. we make sure he gets safe passage around the world.

he's a citizens of the world. you never -- we make sure whenever he goes he's safe and secure. he has a great track record. >> thank you very much! happy holidays to you and everyone following santa and serving this country. thank you, sir. ayman, thank you very much. appreciate it. appreciate the opportunity to talk to you. >> the holiday season is one of the most important times of the year for charities across the country. every year millions of americans give to people in need through a number of charities including the iconic salvation army. what happens to the spirit of giving after the holidays? joining me now is national spokesperson for the salvation army. >> good morning. >> i want to ask you about the drive and how things are going so far this holiday season. >> it's hard to tell. one of the beauties of the s

salvation army is everything is local. how the kettles are doing around the country. i know, that basically nationally it looks like we're on pace to do what we did last year and hopefully go a little ahead of last year. the fact is every penny dropped in a kettle in the local communities stays there. >> how much money through the holiday donations come in during the holiday seasons? >> i think we probably do a little bit more at christmas simply because of the salvation army has a higher profile at christmas when people identify the holidays and particularly christmas and outreach to the less fortunate with the salvation army. in some communities, it could be as much as 30 or 40% of their annual income comes in during the latter part of november into december. >> there's going to be the question of how people's money is spent by the charities.

some, obviously, expressed some concern about that. >> yes. and those are valid questions for people to ask. the salvation army spends 82 cents of every dollar on program. so when you drop a dollar in that kettle out here at rockefeller center or whenever you might drop it in the 25,000 locations where we have red kettles today, 82 cents of every dollar goes to help people through programs. >> back into the community. >> that's right. >> and the whole 100% goes into the community. 82 cents of every dollar goes to the programs in that community. >> thank you very much for joining us. happy holidays. >> thank you very much! >> thank you for amazing work you are doing at salvation army. coming up on msnbc. the cuba shift. why the u.s. government is giving former prison alan gross more than $3 million. we'll talk about that and the roll out of the president's new policy toward the communist state next.

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we're back with more news from sony pictures on the release of the controversial comedy the interview. we learned as reportsed by nbc news partner sony will stream the film online starting tomorrow. in addition to the screenings at select theaters across the country beginning christmas day. sources say the movie will be available for rent on youtube and google play. we'll bring you more as we have it. the american held in a cuban jail for five years is getting a big payday. alan gross is getting $3.2 million by the u.s. government. that payment is part of a larger contract yule claim filed by his former employer. gross was working to expand internet access for cuba's jewish community when he was convicted of being a spy. with me now is the former hispanic media director of the white house. thank you for joining us. >> good morning.

>> about the settlement is there a precedent for the payout? >> well, look, i think the most important thing for alan is being able to rejoin his family. the u.s. government put him in the position that he was in when he was detained. and there does need to be something done. i don't know the specific about of the settlement. i know, this is one of the problems with the policy we had in place. it was promoting harebrained schemes which was a program to create a fake twitter rather than doing what the president did last week open the doors and let the real twitter show up in cuba. let the real google play stores and other tools that allow people to have better communication information and contact with one another take hold. i think the change is important. alan gross is an example of what happens when we try schemes instead of opening the door to real contact. >> is the rollout of the new cuban policy or the policy toward cuba going in the way the obama administration wanted it to go? >> i think so.

it's been overwhelmingly positive coverage and positive reactions from across sectors. not just the president's base by any means. you've seen wide acceptance and approval in latin america. you've seen editorial boards around the country. you've seen media personalities. you've seen opinion leaders and frankly everyone in congress there are a lot of members of congress from both parties that are looking at this now and saying we weren't going to jump into this before. they're interested now in seeing how else congress can update the policies. because the fact is they're outdated. they don't meet the realities of the 21st century world we live in. i think you'll see in the coming weeks and months there's actually a lot more consensus on both sides of the aisle that this isn't the partisan issue anymore. >> let's widen it out a little bit. how do you see the new relationship with cuba having the ability to change the electoral map here domestically inside the u.s.? >> it has little impact. i think that's one of the reasons the president felt

comfortable acting at this point. cuba has been becoming less of an issue domestically. you have an electorate in miami where in most matters that is increasingly split on the issue. even though that want to keep the embargo. agree it hasn't worked. there was an fiu poll that showed 3/4 of cuban americans in miami-da miami-dade -- conducted an exit poll that showed even for those whom it's important they're split on whether or not to continue the status quo or try an alternative. i think that realistically in terms of the map of politics and elections in south dako s southt going have an impact. the folks that wanted to maintain a status quo and hold a hard line we're never going to vote for a democrat anyway. i don't think it will have an impact in 2016. perhaps in the primary and prshl

primary but not more broadly. >> thank you very much for joining us this christmas eve morning. home for the holidays might take a little longer for travelers today. they're battling wide spread delays. reagan is at la guardia's airport. what are you hearing? >> ayman, hi. they're hoping everything goes well. it's been an ever changing situation here. we were at ground stops, ground delays now we're all right. we're okay. you shift to jfk we're dealing with issues. i'll run down the list. if you're on one of the flights, here with go! if you're going jfk you have about an hour hold at the gate, which means they're sitting pretty and waiting until the traffic moves about. newark international airport 30 minute gate hold. again, kind of waiting.

philadelphia international airport 30 minute gate hold. also, the flights coming into the airport are delayed about an hour. so if you're looking to find a relative at philly international you can expect they're going to be delayed. san francisco all the way out west have a 40 minute flight delay arriving. it's due to this weather! let me explain a little bit. this is my show and tell moment for the day or throughout the day. you have all the rain on the ground. let's think about the airline. you look at the ground delay and stop. the sky is like a highway. you see how it's going everybody is slowing up. this is what they're doing in the air spacing everything. if you look back there. there was another car coming through the area. that person if it was an air traffic controller that plane was allowed to go. these are planes, believe it or not, they don't have wings. if you go on this side of the highway this is a ground stop. nobody is moving because they have to wait until this area is

clear for them to go in. that's kind of how you can kind of look at the ground delays or whatever. and now i'm going to ask my poor ronnie camera man to go backwards. we're going to walk inside. i think it's better if i show you what is going on inside the. i can talk about that ground delay program all day, what about the passengers inside? here we are. laguardia national airport. merry christmas, everybody. merry christmas, wave, you're on live tv. we've got some people in the christmas spirit. we've got the hats going. maybe santa's elves are going up to the north pole. >> thank you very much for that very animated report. and hopefully the travelers do get to their flights on time. coming up after the break, a story about the true meaning of the holidays as the children and spouses of fallen military he heroes are celebrated in a special way.

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this can be the most wonderful time of the year. but when you're missing someone in your life, the holidays can turn into a really tough time. that's why there's a place to go for the families of our fallen military. how snowball express works. >> merry christmas. oh, look here. jason. >> you can't buy a ticket for this flight. >> it's not scary. >> or a dozen others like it. this is a snowball express. and it's just touched down in texas. >> so much fun. every december, hundreds of children and mostly moms 6789 are invited for four days of holiday fun. they are the sons, daughters and spouses of fallen military heroes. >> it's bittersweet because you know why you're here. >> for jennifer strathen, it's been five years since she lost her husband mark in afghanistan. she comes here every year from

virginia where her children who are now 7, 10, and 12. >> friendships develop and i get to know more and more of the widows. so it's -- you feel like you're coming home every time for christmas. which is very nice. >> as for volunteers there's a cast of thousands. the most significant expression of support comes from the people of ft. worth. >> merry christmas. >> moms and dads who load up their own children and wait by the side of the road to cheer on 50 bus loads of military families as they drive back. >> i'm here to tell them we love them and we support them. >> it's a mess of undertaking. the flights, the hotel rooms, the activities and the food. it's all donated. no one pays a dime. >> we're here for the kids. we want to remember what they sacrificed for us. >> for the parents, it's a shoulder to lean on. >> it's been 15 months. long 15 months, but i'm grateful

to be here. >> but it's mostly all about fun. new memories in the making. nbc news, ft. worth. >> that wraps up this hour on msnbc. francis rivera picks up the coverage next hour. she'll have the latest on your holiday weather. including a tornado watch up for several southern states. and another fatal police shooting in missouri. this one miles from where michael brown was killed in ferguson. this time, police say the victim pointed a gun at the officer. more on this coming up next. it's time for "your business" entrepreneur of the week. christmas may come just once a year, but at roger's company, it happens nearly every day. his new oxford, pennsylvania, store the christmas house is closed only four days a year. why? he says it's because of customer demand.

for more, watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does.

it is noon on the east coast on the day before christmas. good to be with you: you are watching msnbc. here are top stories this hour. four people have been killed in a wave of tornadoes yesterday. now another tornado watch is in effect in some southern states, and nasty weather around the

country. we'll have a live forecast in just a minute. former president george h.w. bush is in the hospital as a precaution. we are live from houston where he is under observation. and first, they were, then they weren't and now they are again. sony will be showing "the interview" tomorrow at a couple hundred theaters around the country. will you watch it? on this christmas eve, millions of americans are dealing with severe weather. both coasts are being slammed. tornado watches are in effect in the south, and a blizzard warning has been issued, and of all places, hawaii to take us through it all. i'm joined now by domenica davis. strange that sounds on christmas. >> so, francis, if you wanted a white christmas, you should have gone to hawaii. what were you thinking? >> what were we both thinking? >> i know. exactly. that's where we do have a blizzard warning, on the big island. and this is for the highest elevations. it's not something the entire island is seeing at all. a lot of rain, though, with the system moving on. it's certainly not picture

perfect weather in hawaii like you would want if you traveled there. here's a look at the forecast. look at the lower 48s. we're talking snow in hawaii, and now we have these warm temperatures for highs today. 61 for the high in d.c., philadelphia, 59, new york, 57. this is a very mild air, temperatures running over ten degrees above normal and a lot of cases. but with that, there is a lot of fog issues because of the warm air and the rain around. it is producing very low visibility. less than a mile in boston, a mile and a half in new york, and about 1.3 in washington. that's going to continue to be a problem. rain up and down the eastern seaboard. but the severe end of this is through the southeast from the panhandle of florida up through georgia, and the southeastern portion of the carolinas. this is going to go until 2:00. we're seeing the squall line advance to the east. it hasn't been too potent. that is certainly good news. here's a look at the wednesday forecast. chicago, you're dealing with some snow and that rain is right through the ohio valley, as well.

lower ohio valley and tennessee valley, you could get some severe weather later today or some strong thunderstorms. out to the west, it's a brand new storm system moving in that will be rain in seattle all the way down to san francisco. and then by christmas day, it translates to some heavy snow out through the rockies. salt lake city, they could get about 6 inches of snow on christmas day. so there's your white christmas, francis. >> yeah, a little bit of something for everyone. thank you. we'll check back with you again soon. as we have reported, a tornado watch is in effect until 2:00 p.m. for the florida panhandle, georgia and south carolina. but mississippi has already been struck by devastating tornadoes that left four people dead and dozens injured. here's jacob rascon reporting from columbia, mississippi. >> francis, almost everywhere you look along highway 13 in columbia, mississippi, is about like this. behind me are several families picking up the pieces, but there's not much left. about five, six homes back there have been destroyed.

this is what's left of an office building, the roof just tossed away. this was a convenience store. and then over to the left was a laundry mat. all of this small community is gone, and across the street, it's the same story. four people, as we know, have been killed in this tornado. that spanned three states. several reported tornadoes touched down. but there were many, many injuries. and just now as we're waking up and seeing in daylight all of this damage, we're really realizing the scope of it. we just ran into some of the storms survey teams from the national weather service. they're on the ground investigating how violent this tornado actually was as the governor of mississippi has already declared a state of emergency in two counties, including this one. and it is already the deadliest december tornado in half century. francis? >> it's so tough with christmas a day away. jacob rascon, thank you very much. an overnight police shooting of a robbery suspect in berkeley

a few miles from ferguson has left a black 18-year-old man dead. and a short time ago, the town's mayor said the investigation is ongoing but said all evidence so far suggests the officer acted appropriately. >> we reviewed the video. and it appears that there was a gun pointed at the officer before the officer fired. police released part of the video of the shooting. you can see, we've highlighted it there for you. you can see a police officer responding, police say, to a report of shoplifting. two men later identified as suspects are then seen approaching the car. and about a minute of tape goes by before police say one of the men raises his arm, carrying according to police, a gun which is difficult to see in this video. police say the officer fired his weapon, possibly three times killing the 18-year-old. and a woman on the scene who

identified herself as toni martin says the victim was her son antonio martin. joining me now is john henry of ksdk. he is on the scene of last night's shooting. and what can you tell us as far as the latest on the ground? especially given the mayor spoke within the last couple of hours? >> yeah, well, right now, there are about ten people here on the ground, the mobile station where that all happened. you can see that here over my shoulder here. here in berkeley, they're holding up signs by a little makeshift memorial that they have here. but that's nothing in comparison to what it was like earlier this morning around 2:00. there are anywhere from 200 to 300 people here at this little intersection. here in berkeley, upset as to what happened with that officer involved shooting. now, right now, a lot of people in the community are trying to come to grips with what is once again another officer-involved shooting in the st. louis area. during the press conference with berkeley's mayor, there was a

pastor who was talking to him and saying it's hard to believe what the mayor was talking about with everything that's happened in the community thus far. to give you a little bit of an idea as to where we are in comparison near ferguson. we're only about 5 miles away from where michael brown was shot and killed in august. so the emotions are very raw here, as well. but the chief of police with the county police department here in st. louis county police department said it's been one thing to control the crowds. and also try to investigate what happened at the same time. so they're dealing with a lot, as well. but as you can see with that mobile gas station here, there's a crowd building and still closed off to the public here. >> interesting to see if that number will grow on this christmas eve as more information comes out. i want to ask you about a st. louis county police who say the officer was not wearing his body camera. did they say why? >> that's correct. yeah, they said it was issued to him, but he wasn't wearing it. he was just leaving the department in a hurry.

but something we're still trying to look for more information on it at this point. >> all right. and how about acts of violence last night. i understand about 300 people came out. there were some arrests there at the shooting scene afterwards. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: yes. underneath that gas station pavilion right there, there was actually a car, not a berkeley car or ferguson police car, but another municipality hazelwood. that car was smashed. there was a rock or some item thrown through the back of the car. and then immediately after that, while we were on scene, there was something that looked like a fireworks, small little explosive device that went off underneath that gas station pavilion right there. and then another one went off in the intersection, as well. people started to scurry about after that. so that caused panic, as you could imagine here. >> all right. and, again, the mayor adamant saying this shooting, this case is not a ferguson in the case of the shooting of michael brown and not new york city with eric

garner. john henry for ksdk, thank you so much. new developments on "the interview." the comedy at the center of the sony hack drama. sony pictures now has a strategy for distributing the movie online starting on thursday. sony will rent the movie on sony's own site. and youtube and the google play store. but if you still prefer the theater to home viewing, sony pictures has released its own christmas list for you, a list of over 200 theaters where "the interview" will screen starting tomorrow. the movie's co-star seth rogen tweeting, freedom has prevailed. sony pulled the film after a group of hackers referenced 9/11 in their threats and demanded it not show. that group still made a dent, though, "the interview" is only set to screen in a tenth of the theaters originally planned. also considering online and on-demand releases. and what's the reaction in hollywood to this release and

the fast developments here that youtube and google will be released in that sense. >> fast developments are absolutely right, francis. you know what this means, this probably means that sony had failed in the attempt to negotiate with the big theater chains, the amcs, the regal cinemas across the nation to try to show the film on its intended release date tomorrow. that is probably one of the only reasons why they are now deciding to stream the film tomorrow, making it available to the entire world via youtube. as far as hollywood's reaction, well, it is a lot less energetic than the outrage that poured out last week when sony decided that it was going to cancel the release. but we are, as you just mentioned, hearing now from the film's stars who had up until this point been mostly silent about this ordeal. you already talked about seth rogen and his tweet, james franco tweeted, celebrating,

victory in all caps, and randall park tweeted, we did it, thank you all. so a lot of celebration coming from hollywood. but slightly disappointed celebration knowing it's now 200 theaters instead of 3,000. >> and also some concern there when it comes to security and threats, especially with the word retaliation if they move forward. so any word on whether the theaters have any other security concerns or they're stepping that up in in way. >> there is absolutely no doubt that theaters have concern about security. there's no doubt that movie goers are going to have concerns about security. it's all over social media. people asking, i'm going to the movie, now what, how are you going to protect me. the fbi has reached out to a lot of the theaters it has confirmed telling them about the threats that they could potentially face, which we are hearing is mainly limited to the potential that these theaters could be hacked themselves. some theaters we are hearing in media reports are not allowing big bags into theaters. not going to allow oversized

coats and hiring extra security guards. sony has said it will not pay for any of this extra security despite all of this, a lot of the theaters showing the movie have already sold out of "the interview" tickets. >> thank you so much for the update. former president george h.w. bush is under observation in a houston hospital today after experiencing shortness of breath tuesday. according to a spokesman, the 90-year-old former president was taken to the hospital by ambulance as a precaution. charles hadlock is in houston and joins me now with the latest. thank you for being with us. and what's the latest on his condition and the treatment he's receiving there in houston? >> reporter: all right, francis. well, we haven't gotten an update on his condition yet today. but last night, he was rushed here to methodist hospital at his home here in houston, complaining of a shortness of breath according to a spokesman. his spokesman says he's okay and he's only here as an abundance of caution. they want to observe him over the next few hours or so.

we have not gotten an update on his condition today. hopefully we will from the family spokesman. the hospital had is not commenting. this isn't the first christmas holiday the former president has spent in this hospital. if you remember two years ago, he was in intensive care here suffering from a cough and bronchitis-like symptoms. he got over that ailment and went on to celebrate his 90th birthday last summer by jumping out of an airplane in a tandem sky dive. he was seen last month at his library up in college station attending an event with his son, and later that month, he was a coin captain at the texans' football game throwing out the coin to start the game at a game that honored u.s. armed forces. the white house issued a statement last night from the obamas wishing the bushes well this holiday season. francis? >> all right. and you see there that statement on your screen. charles hadlock in houston, thank you very much.

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welcome back. the militant group isis is claiming it has shot down and captured a jordinian fighter pilot. now fighting isis in syria. the group released these stills of the man they say is the fighter. and while nbc news has not confirmed the authenticity of these photos, jordan's state news agency has confirmed his capture. kristen welker is traveling with the president there in honolulu. and good to see you, kristen. >> reporter: francis, good to see you, as well. i've reached out to the white house about that. we're still waiting on reaction

from the white house. so far, no response. but they're, of course, monitoring the situation and we anticipate we will get something a little bit later on today. meanwhile, i just spoke with republican congressman ed royce, the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee. he said, quote, it's a reminder that we need to roll back isis and that we haven't done enough yet. and he emphasized the fact that this underscores the need for making sure that coalition forces have the weaponry and all of the resources that they need to properly fight isis. now, of course, jordan is among the coalition partners joining with the united states in the fight against isis in syria. that also includes the united arab emirates as well as bahrain. of course, they are watching this, monitoring this quite closely. and according to recent reports, there have been about 1,000 jihadists killed inside syria since the campaign against isis began there in september. and just this week alone, there

have been seven raids in syria, and three in iraq. so this is an ongoing campaign, francis. and you'll recall at the outset, president obama emphasized this was not going to be a short-term engagement by the united states, by its coalition partners. and i think that what you're seeing in terms of this jordanian pilot getting captured is a reminder of that fact. an ongoing campaign. a campaign that will cost lives. of course, president obama has been very insistent, he's not going to put u.s. troops on the ground, but of course, u.s. forces engaged in this military effort against isis in syria and in iraq, francis. >> given this news and development, how would the -- how do they rate the effectiveness of the air strikes against isis overall? >> well, i think they believe this is an ongoing effort. so i think they feel as though they have been able to push back isis in some areas, certainly, but there are other areas,

kobani, for example, have been much tougher where you've seen the strength of isis and how difficult it is to root them out of those areas. so, again, i think that, you know, senior administration officials the fact this is an ongoing campaign. there are going to be setbacks, casualties and lives lost. but that ultimately, it is worth it in the end to stop isis, which has claimed so many lives so far, including a number of americans. francis? >> nbc's kristen welker. good to see you working on a holiday, but at least the sun and sand there. hope you can enjoy it a little bit. >> and you, too. thanks, francis. >> sure. happy holidays. more good news for alan gross, he's been back in the united states for a week after spending five years in a cuban prison. and now the u.s. government says it will pay him $3.2 million. gross has been working as a contractor for usaid when he was detained in cuba. a company called development alternatives managed his

contract. it filed the claim to the government for expenses related to the arrest and incarceration. and in a statement, usaid said the settlement does not constitute an admission of liability by either party. all right. it is almost the night before christmas, as a reminder. now as we speak, the u.s. military is playing a very special role in christmas eve toy deliveries. every year since 1955, the aerospace defense command called norad tracked santa. it uses all kinds of high-tech stuff. radar, satellites, fighter jets, even, and other tools to make sure santa is safe and gets those toy deliveries on time. and as an additional public service there, children all over the world can call norad to ask where santa is. and when he's expected to arrive at their homes. major general charles lucky is the chief of staff at norad. and he's tasked with deterring, preventing and defeating threats and aggressions aimed at the united states. all that serious stuff. but also tonight, those aimed at

santa. we thank you for being with us, major general. thank you. >> thank you, francis. and general lucky had to take some phone calls from some little children. >> nice to have you with us. >> we're very -- thank you. we're very busy, you know, last year we had over 117,000 phone calls from children around the world. and we're on a pace to beat that number so far today. >> well, i love the high-techness of everything you do in doing your job and tracking santa. i was following on twitter and said that santa was spotted flying over by india 12 minutes ago. where can we expect him? and especially once he gets here in north america and the united states. we've got weather to be concerned about. >> well, just a couple minutes ago, he went through mumbai and

he's over pakistan right now. we have some weather along the way, but santa never has a problem with the weather. you know, he has a very good system of delivering the packages to all the good little boys and girls all around the world. right now, he has delivered 1.9 billion packages so far. >> wow. >> and we expect him to make the east coast of the united states by about 9:00 eastern time. tonight. >> we are a few hours away. so lots of kids making sure they are good at the last hours. tell us a little bit. he's got rudolph, too, to help with the weather. what are the other resources that kids and families can use to make sure they can find santa? >> yeah. the easiest way, a lot of people over 20 million hits on our website last year was noradsanta.org. and that's a really good way to

track santa or dial 1-877-hi-norad. and you'll get one of our 1600 volunteers who can tell you up to the second where santa is. >> i love it. >> it's a very good system, and we -- we've had 59 years of experience tracking santa. and we do it really well. >> well, doing it really well. 59 years for something that all started, really, as a mistake. it was basically a misprint in an ad. tell us about that. >> well, in 1955, actually, a couple years before norad, there was another air defense command here in the united states. and someone called a sears ad in 1955. and the number by mistake was the air command number. and a colonel took the phone call and, well, we've been tracking santa ever since. and it's grown and grown. and we take it very seriously, but we also have a lot of fun.

and it's really a testament on christmas eve where 1600 people would volunteer to answer phones and to track santa for people around the world. because the phone calls we get are from around the world. >> well, we love it. we thank you for taking those calls. keeping our families up to date. and also, just as importantly for the service and your service, as well. major general, thank you so much for the dedication of this mission. we appreciate it. >> thank you, francis. merry christmas. >> and to you. santa may have a sleigh and reindeer to help him get around. but you probably aren't that lucky. what you can expect if you're traveling today and the roads aren't much better than the airports. here's a look at indianapolis here where some rain and snow, you know, looks like those cars are moving along okay. be you can imagine, they need to get where they need to get. kind of tough for them. we'll be right back.

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hectic holiday travel in full effect made even more complicated by storms from coast to coast. how is the weather impacting travel so far? for many americans still scrambling to get home for the holidays, gabe gutierrez is at the nation's busiest airport in atlanta with the update on the travel situation there. how is it looking? >> reporter: hey there, francis, good afternoon. well, we have some good news to report. not only has the rain stopped here, it's still overcast, but inside security lines that have been more than half an hour throughout the morning. all of this volume. people trying to get to where they need to go this christmas eve. those security lines have dissipated. and it's pretty smooth sailing here in atlanta. there really haven't been in delays or cancellations here in atlanta. but around the country according to flightaware.com, there have been more than 1,300 delays and about 250 cancellations so far today. still, it could be a whole lot worse. philadelphia is one of the airports that has been experiencing the most problems due to low clouds. new york's jfk. also, some delays about half an

hour or so. due to the weather as well as san francisco's airport sfo has been dealing with some problems. but for the most part, this could be a whole lot worse. 98 million holiday travelers are expected this season. but, again, here in atlanta's airport, the nation's busiest, smooth sailing so far. francis, back to you. >> great. and hopefully that'll be good news waiting for when people get there. you know, afraid of the worst. gabe gutierrez with travel out of atlanta. thank you. >> you bet. new york republican congressman michael grimm is holding on firmly to his seat. this by pleading guilty yesterday of tax fraud. he could face up to three years in jail for it. outside the courthouse, he stopped to speak to reporters accepting full responsibility for his misdeeds, but also making clear, he has no plans to resign from office. >> now, i know that some are going to use this to demonize me. they're going to use this for

political purposes. as long as i'm able to serve, i'm going to serve. as of right now, i'm still in a capacity to serve, and that's exactly what i plan on doing. >> all right. what about his future? we thank you for being with us this day before christmas. >> good to be with you, francis. >> let's start with the prospects of what's in congressman grimm's future here. it seems kind of overcome. a lot of controversy recently. how can you forget, you know, this past november. he won reelection despite the indictment hanging over him and that threat to a reporter, local reporter to throw him off the balcony. it seems like he really hasn't been fazed as far as his constituents. will he be able to survive this, too? >> well, i think it's unlikely, francis. i think a couple of things are going to happen. i think you'll see speaker boehner put a lot of pressure on him to resign. and the reason he will do that is because the house ethics committee now is basically obligated to consider michael grimm's case. and certainly when you've pleaded guilty to federal tax

fraud, when you've admitted hiring illegally hiring undocumented workers and also other felonies, the ethics committee certainly i think would recommend at that point he'd be expelled from the house. so i think that the handwriting's on the wall, again, because of the ethics committee's obligation to consider his case. >> it's interesting, because you have nancy pelosi saying, speaker boehner must insist on the resignation and he's had private discussions with him about it. but the spokesperson for the speaker says they haven't spoken yet. so what should be done as far as something in tangible terms. with the approval of 2/3 of the members. expel a felon from the ranks is what the "new york times" is reporting. how can you see that play out? >> well, i think it's in michael

grimm's best interest and the house republicans best interest to essentially for him to resign. they don't want a public trial. on expelling one of their members. that's not going to bode well from them. if michael grimm remains stubborn as he sounds like he may be, he's going to be in for an awfully uncomfortable time. i've served on the ethics committee, i know the chairman and the ranking member. they are very upstanding members of both parties, and i think there's virtually no chance he would not be expelled by the house. >> how about his constituents. quickly, there's that sense of bounce backability in the midterms being reelected and he came alive in that sense, again. so what do you think these voters will say and think? do you think this is kind of the final straw? >> well, i think it is the final straw. he maintained his innocence until he did plead guilty. and i think a lot of his constituents gave him the benefit of the doubt.

fell for his argument that this was a political witch hunt. and in this partisan environment, you know, that's understandable. but now that he's pled guilty to one charge and admitted others, i think, you know, he always has the opportunity to run for re-election after he serves whatever sentence he is given. he can test the voters down the road. i think in the meantime, everybody's best interest is served by him stepping down. >> let's look ahead. only a few days before the gop takes over the senate. so what are you expecting? >> well, i think what you'll see in the senate is a lot of procedural changes. i think mitch has given an interview within the last couple of days in which he talked about returning to regular order, making sure the minority has a voice. making sure amendments are allowed on the floor. all things i wish speaker boehner would do in the house. we'd love to have some votes on things that he's not been willing to vote on.

but i think mitch, again, will try to open the senate up. the question is going to be, still, whether there are enough issues where we can find common ground or some compromised position other than the things that mitch mcconnell already wants to do, which is kill -- build the keystone pipeline and do free trade. burr things like immigration and other things where -- >> sure. >> i think there is an opportunity we need to -- we'll see what he can do with that. >> yes. the priorities at the end of 2014 and going into 2015 definitely still there on the top of the list. we thank you so much. kentucky congressman, thanks for being with us today. enjoy the holiday. >> my pleasure. merry christmas to you. >> thank you. just ahead, protests in new york city last night defiant to the mayor's call to put a halt until the funerals of two officers killed last weekend. we're live in brooklyn and will bring you there after the break. n 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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deadly tornadoes ripped through parts of the south. in mississippi, four people are

dead, dozens are injured and thousands left without power. and we may not be in the clear just yet. tornado watches are in effect until 2:00 p.m. for the florida panhandle georgia and south carolina. we'll bring you more details here in just a few minutes. and now to the latest on the shooting deaths of two nypd officers as the family of one officer prepared to lay him to rest on saturday, crowds continue to protest the july police killing of eric garner despite a plea tuesday from new york city mayor bill de blasio to cease protests, at least until both officers killed saturday are buried. >> everyone to put aside political debates, protests, all of the things we will talk about in due time. >> following the story and joining me now from brooklyn. and adam, what can you tell me about these protesters and the protests in defiance of what the mayor was asking?

>> reporter: the protests weren't particularly large. several hundred people last night in manhattan blocking fifth avenue traffic. they were mostly antipolice slogans and calling for the commissioner, the police commissioner to resign. now, about at the same time around 9:00 for about five minutes, lights were dimmed at landmarks across the city to remember officers liu and ramos. his sister spoke for the first time yesterday. >> my nephews are -- just like their dad. they're going to be fine. he -- the air he breathed in his lungs was his family. and they're going to be good men just like him. it's hard. the next few days are going to be extremely hard. >> reporter: back here at the memorial nearly four days after this shooting, even though there's driving rain and it's

christmas eve, we're seeing a steady stream of officers from around the city come to pay their respects and remember these two fallen officers. officer ramos will be buried on saturday. vice president biden and his wife dr. biden will be in attendance along with the mayor and the police commissioner. francis? >> and funeral arrangements are still up in the air with some trouble from family members there traveling here for that. thank you very much. for more on police shootings and tactics, a former fbi agent and profiler and msnbc contributor. he joins us now. thank you for being with us. >> all right. good to be with you, francis. >> well, i'm sure you heard the mayor of berkeley being very clear that this is not ferguson. it's not new york city referring to the cases of michael brown and eric garner. but when it comes to silly police tactics here and what happened there at that gas station in berkeley, missouri, what comes to mind? what stands out in your mind for you? >> well, you know, as an fbi

agent who carried a badge, a gun for 25 years. one of the worst things you're going to run up against is you go up to talk to somebody and all of a sudden they produce a gun and stick it in your face. i mean, they have the -- they're moving faster than you have. their action is faster than your reaction. and you may die within a second or two. and in this case, we're told that this individual pulled out a fully loaded 9 millimeter pistol, he drew his gun, stumbled and fired and one of his three shots hit the person with a gun. you know, as was said in that community, nobody wins in a terrible situation like this. a life is lost, a police officer didn't want to take that life. he thought he was protecting himself. the round that went off somehow found its way into that individual pointing a gun at a

police officer. these are terrible, horrible situations that no police officer ever wants to face. and, you know, i don't think these are necessarily black and white situations. the two officers killed in new york city were both minorities. that department has more minorities than they do whites. and in this particular case, whether it was a white officer or not, i would suggest that most law enforcement officers confronted with a loaded gun pointed at them may have had a similar reaction. >> we were seeing video from that gas station of the incident there. st. louis county police say that the officer in that shooting was not wearing his body cam, that he forgot. so how big of a chance for police -- when it comes to the body cameras and saying when it comes to the video, body cameras may help. but there was video and what happened there. what's your take? >> well, we're not going to be able to accept i forgots anymore. it's just like wearing body

armor. over the years, police officers said, it's hot outside, i'm not going to wear it today and wind up getting shot. so the body armor's necessary for the protection of the police. but that -- but that camera is also necessary for the protection of both the citizens as well as the officer. just like the camera inside his car is important to have. i mean, you know, cops have run away from this camera situation for years. but looks like if we want to establish what happened, not eyewitness testimony, but actual video testimony, that's the way it's going to have to be. and police officers around this country are going to get used to putting on a camera just like they do body armor and a badge. >> all right. well, we thank you for your perspective. clint vanzant. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> all right, now, we are continuing to track a big weather system around the country, including numerous tornado watches. we'll bring you the forecast coming up next. [ male announcer ] take zzzquil and sleep like...

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it's a mad rush to get home or get out there. some nasty weather, though, as millions of americans are on the go for the holiday. let's get another update on that weather. domenica davis joins me now. how are we looking, domenica? >> well, it's looking nasty out there. storms on both coasts. it's up and down the east coasts where everybody is getting hit with the rain. so here's what we're looking at. because we do have some severe weather associated with this line of storms that's up and down the coast. thunderstorm, a tornado watch, rather, still stays in effect for the panhandle of florida, and this goes through georgia, and just the southeastern portion of the carolinas until 2:00. so we still have roughly another hour to go. as that squall line continues to push off to the east, it will weaken. now, out to the west, brand new storm system is moving in. and that is making for rain from seattle all the way down to san francisco by later today. christmas morning, it is going to mean that we will have a

white christmas in places like salt lake city. the cascades and the rockies, they are going to get 4 to 6 inches of snow for christmas day. here's a look at your christmas day forecast. it is snowy and a white christmas out west. snow in minneapolis, and we're still looking at residual winds on the east coast but much drier conditions. francis? >> domenica davis, thank you very much. well, in just moments, that notorious comedy, "the interview" will be available to watch online. starting at 1:00 p.m. eastern time, 10:00 a.m. pacific, you can rent or buy the movie on youtube and the google play store. sony says it will also be available to xbox video customers and also at seetheinterview.com. sony pulled the film after a group claiming to be the hackers reference 9/11 in their threats and demanded it not be shown. the movie will also screen in more than 200 theaters starting tomorrow. all right. perhaps good things do come for those who wait. up next, great gifts you can

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on this christmas eve day, shoppers around the country are scrambling to buy the last-minute gifts. and if you're still in a panic like i am, you have time. retailers like target, toys r us are extending the hours to make sure the presents get under the tree. and when it comes to toys, a lot out there to wow the kids. joining us now is toy insider mom lori. thanks so much for being with us. >> and you're right. some people have those presents wrapped and ready. but for some, they're going to be rushing it and there are great toys to get. let's start with the big box toys that will wow the kids under the tree. like, for the little ones. who doesn't love a pony? this is a patriot pony. and i love this. it's plush, it's beautiful. and as you can see -- >> it's not your old school pony. >> it speaks, the tail wags beautiful. and i love it because it becomes an heirloom in the house.

>> and if you're like me, the kids are making it crazy, the other ear. i love it. >> and i love a play set with play value. one kid or many kids, they pretend to blast off. over 200 sounds and lights and the spaceship goes up and down. comes with aliens, vehicles, everything. i have it turned off right now. >> if i could fit in that, i would jump right in. >> construction toys, you can't go wrong with it. look at this. it's magnetic construction, really taking those stem concepts to life. when you're talking about mag t magneti magnetism, science. this is actually a few pieces of a very big kit. >> and how much is this? >> that's about $119. so the big set that you can get, less expensive sets. and what's the only thing that's cooler than an alien robot that transforms into a vehicle is an alien robot that transforms into a dinosaur. so it's our stomp and chomp.

isn't that adorable? it's great. now what about the stocking? kids love the little things they love in the stocking. a lot of kids are going to ask for things like pets. >> okay. >> not always a favorite for a lot of people. little life pets. how cute are these? they fit in the palm of your hand. let's see. >> and if you're like me, a parent who says mama's allergic, we can't have real pets in our house this is perfect. >> i've had birds, not messy at all. not messy and you don't have to feed them. >> how much is something like this? >> about $12.99. or you can buy them for a few more dollars with a cage. this is our grunting pig and it's a puppet. it's great for story time. kids will put on fabulous shows with these. and these are $29. a little pricey for the stocking. but squish them so you can get them in. >> it's right in the belly. >> yeah. and it's great to have props. >> okay. >> look at these. >> love it. >> hot wheels hyper racers.

these are cool. we love the hot wheels. but now we've made them bigger and by pushing buttons, we can bring them to life with music, with lights, the button in the middle will make this take off on us. >> oh, yeah. don't want to do that. go right at the camera. right at you. >> assembly line power builds. kids actually build this. it comes apart, they put all the pieces there, snap it together. no glue, no tools, put a battery in, stickers on and they can race this. >> okay. and what do you got here? >> okay. we know that kids love to make things. whether it's cupcakes, painting seashells. but a lot of times, they want to turn -- my toys like to talk. a lot of times they want to turn it into a business. it's the ultimate business guide. it's really made for girls. it has receipts, hang tags, comes with a calculator. when they start rolling in the dough, they can calculate it. really teaches girls to become a she-eo of her own business. >> that can be -- >> right. >> when it comes to gender specific toys, now seems like those roles are out the door.

>> it's great for everybody. and finally for those hard to shop for tweens and teens -- if they're going on a sleepover or just for their room. and actually, if we had dimmed the light, you would see the reflection of flowers, peace signs because it's groovy. >> that's awesome. >> and inexpensive. these are $19. >> someone at home is saying i'm sold, i want that. i want that. >> it's not too late. so walmart's open until 8:00, toys r us is open until 9:00. target is open until 10:00. >> we'll get on it. thank you so much. have a very merry christmas, too. >> merry christmas to you, too. >> i appreciate it. thanks for being with us. up next in the next hour, the latest on the tornado damage in the south. really tough for them to deal with. and much more on the pending release of sony's "the interview." my colleague has that after a quick break. >> it's time for the entrepreneur of the week.

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it's the day before christmas and there's a lot to talk about. our top stories today, let's get into them. after violent tornadoes led to four deaths in mississippi, there's a tornado watch in effect right now for parts of the south. the forecast in just a minute. protests in st. louis, in the st. louis suburb after the shooting death of yet another teenager by police. we're live from the scene in a minute. and former president george h.w. bush is at a houston hospital. we're live in houston there, as well. before we get to all of that, millions of americans are being impacted by storms and dangerous weather on this christmas eve. from coast to coast, to the midwest and the south. domenica davis is here with the latest on that. >> we're talking snow off to the west, but the worst weather is certainly up and down the east coast where we have this broad area of rain. that does have severe weather associated with it down to the south. so we're still dealing with this tornado watch. and you can see some yellow

squares are. those are some severe thunderstorm warnings. the biggest thing with the squall line that's been moving through is the winds. the winds have been very gusty. and that looks to be the biggest threat. this tornado watch is in effect for the panhandle of florida, georgia, and it goes up to charleston and south carolina. this will go until 2:00. as that line continues to push off to the east, it is weakening, which is good news. off to the west, though, we do have winter weather. this is a new system moving in. it's causing rain from seattle all the way down to san francisco. but by tomorrow morning, it'll make for a white christmas in the cascades and rockies. they are going to be looking at a lot of snow. 46 inches in some cases. on christmas day. it dries out for the east coast on christmas day. so that's certainly good news. but we'll still have residual winds and lake effect snow will continue on christmas day. eamon? >> thanks very much for that. we'll be following that weather development throughout the course of the hour. deadly twisters now have

already wreaked havoc in the south. the aftermath of the tornadoes that swept through louisiana, georgia and mississippi on tuesday. mississippi bore the brunt with four people killed by the storm. scores of homes and businesses were simply wiped out. communities there are still cleaning up and digging out in the -- out from the wake of it all. jacob rascon in columbia, mississippi, with a snapshot of where things stand today. >> behind me, crews are getting ready to replace some of those power poles ripped out of the ground like twigs when the tornado ripped through columbia, mississippi. there are several homes and a couple of businesses here that were also badly damaged or destroyed. and one of the office buildings, there were eight people just finishing a christmas party when they saw the twister and say they had 10 to 15 seconds before it came upon them. they all hit the ground and, fortunately, all of them survived. it's a story like that almost everywhere you look along highway 13, going through

columbia. we know that in two counties, we had four reported deaths because of the tornado making it the deadliest december tornado in half a century. the governor of the state is now in town we'll speak to him about what happened as people are picking up the pieces on this christmas eve day. >> our thoughts out to the families affected. thanks for your reporting. and now to missouri where an overnight police shooting of a shoplifting suspect in the town of berkeley a few miles away from ferguson has left a black 18-year-old man dead. all evidence so far suggests that the officer acted appropriately. >> we reviewed the video and it appears there was a gun pointed at the officer before the officer fired.

>> police released part of the video of the shooting in the upper left hand corner which we have highlighted here. you can see a police officer pulling into a local gas station. two men later identified as suspects are then seen approaching the car. one of the men, 18-year-old antonio martin raises his arm. hard to see in this video, police say he is carrying a gun. the officer fired his weapon possibly three times killing the 18-year-old. with me now, nbc's b john yang on the ground in berkeley, missouri. >> it was a small group of protesters here, only a handful. overnight, there were skirmishes between police and protesters. protesters descending on the scene as words spread about the incident on social media.

e a little bit of fisticuffs, melee between protesters and police. someone threw a fire cracker, a small explosive in the middle of the gas pumps back there. luckily, nothing happened. although this community is right next door to ferguson, only a few miles from all that happened in ferguson over the last several months, the mayor of berkeley has gone to great pains to point out this is not ferguson. there is videotape, surveillance video, appears to show a gun being pointed at the officer. they say a gun was recovered, a 9 millimeter handgun. it had five, five rounds in the magazine and one round in the chamber. ready to be fired. they point out that half of the officers on the berkeley police

force are black and that the chief is african-american and that the two the three top officers are also african-american. taking great pains to say this is not ferguson. >> there's been a lot of debate about police officers using body cameras. we understand in this case, the officer was not wearing his body camera. do we have a sense of why that was? >> he was issued a body camera at the beginning of the shift. he did not have it on. we haven't been told why. the dash cam on the camera of the dash camera of the patrol car was also not turned on. we don't know why. police say that there are a number of other surveillance cameras in this area. obviously, a convenience store, gas station another one across the street. there are a number of surveillance cameras they're looking at. they think might have captured other angles of the incident.

but they still have not released anything new other than what -- that bit of tape they released this morning. >> despite some of the officials that obviously this man they say was a suspect in shoplifting, there were acts of violence by some members of the crowd that appeared at the scene of the shooting afterwards. what can you tell us about some of those clashes afterwards? >> there was some skirmishes afterward that lasted the crowds lasted here, remained here until about 4:00 in the morning. the incident took place a little bit before midnight. there were four arrests overnight, but there were nothing like the arson, cases of arson and that ferguson saw. there were also some reports of looting at the convenience store across the street. but only four arrests last night. >> nbc's john yang in berkeley, missouri, thank you for that report. i'm sure you'll be following it throughout the course of the day, john. breaking news at this very hour, you can watch that infamous movie "the interview" online now.

just moments ago, the film became available on youtube and the google play store. sony pictures will also make it available to xbox video customers an and @seetheinterview.com. sony pulled the film after a group claiming to be the hackers referenced 9/11 in their threats and demanded it not show. the movie will also screen in more than 200 theaters starting tomorrow. joining us from los angeles with the latest on that. what's the reaction to this online release? >> the reaction is absolutely explosive. social media is all abuzz with this just breakneck developments in this story since this morning. and you already mentioned it, but here it is, google play within the past eight minutes, it's gone live. you can now purchase "the interview" for $5.99 on google play, youtube, so forth as you mentioned. this was not even available

eight minutes ago. and basically, sony gave the world a little more than an hour heads up now we'll be able to see this extremely controversial movie, which 24 hours ago wasn't even going to be released in the comfort of our living rooms away from the threats that have swirled around this film. this is a very unusual move by a major studio regarding a major film. in fact, industry experts say that this is the very first time they know of where a studio film will now be shown simultaneously in theaters as well as on video on demand. sony's reaction to all of this, they released a statement about an hour ago saying we chose the path of digital distribution first so as to reach as many people as possible on opening day. and we continue to seek other partners and platforms to further expand the release. i don't know how much more you can expand the release beyond making it available to everyone around the world who has internet service. but i think they mean movie theaters here.

the major movie theater chains. but with this vod release now, the chances are slim to none that the major movie theater chains will now be showing this film. >> the drama continues. i'm sure it'll be a lot of people watching to see if there's any backlash to this release from the threats that were previously made by some of those hackers. thank you very much for the updates on that. president obama is sending his well wishes today to former president george h.w. bush who is under observation in a houston hospital. bush 41 reported shortness of breath and taken to the hospital out of precaution according to his spokesman. charles hadlock is in houston and joins me now with the latest on former president's health. what is the latest on president bush's condition and the treatment he's receiving, charles. >> we still don't know his condition other than what was reported last night by the family spokesperson. the former president was rushed to methodist hospital from his home here in houston complaining

of a shortness of breath. they said that they were keeping him overnight as an abundance of caution and looking after his health here. this is not the first christmas season that the bush family has had to deal with the hospital. two years ago, you might remember that president bush spent two months in the hospi l hospital. he was in intensive care two years ago at this time suffering from a cough and bronchitis-like symptoms. he finally got over that. and even though he has parkinson's disease, he's been able to get out and visit with people. and in fact, last summer, he celebrated his 90th birthday. he is the oldest living president, former president. and he jumped out of an airplane to celebrate his birthday in a tandem sky dive. he was seen last month at his presidential library in college station, and a few weeks later at a football game here in houston. now, the white house issued a statement to the bush family wishing it the best wishes for this holiday season and a speedy recovery for the president.

hopefully he won't be spending another christmas day in the hospital. it's too early to tell. we're waiting to hear more information from the family spokesman. >> charles, have we had a chance to see any family members arrive or any visitors or do we know anything about anyone that may have visited the former president while he's been at the hospital? >> no, there's been no comment from the family spokesman or from the hospital. methodist hospital is in the middle of the texas medical center. it's very difficult to see the comings and goings of any of the patients here. there's so many entrances. they also have underground entrances and blocked entrances. we don't know who has come to visit the former president. >> charles hadlock, thank you very much there from houston where former president george h.w. bush is receiving treatment. and just ahead, this is a live picture of honolulu where president obama is vacationing right now. we'll talk about some of the issues on his plate while he relaxes in the sun. next. the holiday season is here,

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welcome back. president obama is enjoying holiday vacationing in honolulu. part of that time will be devoted to politics, anticipating the demands of a new gop-controlled senate and strategizing for 2015 and beyond. nbc news' kristen welker is traveling with president obama. and obviously the president's relaxing. but what sort of fights is the white house expecting from republicans now that the gop controls both houses of congress? >> reporter: well, the president's going to have his plate full when he returns from vacation. both president obama and republicans have said they want to find some common ground in the new year. they want to find common ground possibly on corporate tax reform, infrastructure projects,

some trade deals. we're just learning, though, that president obama's going to have potentially a little bit more leverage in some of these fights when he returns. that is because we learned yesterday that the economy grew by 5% in the third quarter. the dow closed above 18,000 on that news. the highest ever. so that's going to give president obama a little bit of a boost. you can expect him and other democrats to be touting that when they return from their holidays and their winter vacations. but where we're going to see the battle lines being drawn, i think over health care and keystone. he's been very clear he's not going to give an inch when it comes to the signature piece of legislation. and on keystone while he hasn't said he's going to veto that, he has signaled that he doesn't think it's going to create as many jobs as republicans are arguing. so i think that's where you're going to see some of these big fights occurring in the new year. and, of course, president oba obama's going to have to implement his immigration executive order, which he

announced a short while ago, as well as his new policy toward cuba. of course, he announced that the u.s. will be normalizing relations with cuba and setting up an embassy in havana. all of those things are going to be on president obama's plate when he returns. while he continues to vacation here in hawaii, he is monitoring the situation with north korea and trying to come up with a way to respond. of course, that includes a range of options, everything from more sanctions to possibly a countercyber attack. and over the weekend, president obama said he was considering adding north korea back to the terror list. >> kristen, do we know if the president has plans to be watching "the interview" now it's available online this weekend? >> well, i've asked white house officials that very question. they say they don't have any new information from what the president indicated. of course, he said he's not going to reveal his movie watching choices, but he does watch a number of movies. i would anticipate that if he does watch it, and i wouldn't be surprised if he does, that we will get some type of statement from the white house once that

happens. >> i'm sure they must have gotten an advanced copy. >> i bet. >> thank you very much, kristen for that update. it's almost the night before christmas. and as we speak, the u.s. military is playing a very special role in santa's christmas eve toy deliveries. every year since 1955, the north american aerospace defense command called norad tracks santa. it uses radar satellites, fighter jets and other intelligence tools to make sure santa is safe. as an additional public service, children all over the world can call the agency to ask where santa is and when he's expected to arrive at their homes. lieutenant general mike dooby is the vice commander at norad. tasked with responding to threats aimed at the united states and tonight, those aimed at santa. he joins us from colorado springs. lieutenant general, thank you very much for being with us. i know it's a busy day for all of you there at norad. what's the situation on santa? where is he? >> well, he just left st.

petersburg, russia. and santa's on his way to georgia as we speak. he's delivered 2.2 billion packages to little boys and girls so far today. and we expect he has a lot of packages to deliver between now and the end of christmas eve. >> well, tell us a little bit about the logistics of the santa tracker. what resources are deployed for this, i would say massive global operation? >> it is a massive global operation. and you mentioned some of our technology. you know, we track at norad everything that flies or floats or goes up into space anyways. and so tracking santa really, you know, utilizing our satellites and our radars. it's something that we routinely do. but this one day of the year, we put all our focus on making sure we can track santa and then we report it either on the website at noradsanta.org, or what --

almost 120,000 people did last year call our 877-hi-norad phone number, and they get one of our 1,600 volunteers that tell them exactly where santa is and when to be santa can be expected at their locale. >> we have that number up on our screen. but lieutenant general, before we go, how can folks get in touch, really, to get an update on santa throughout the course of the day? >> i think the best way is the website. www.noradsanta.org. and that is a live website. is and you'll see that santa is -- moves very quickly to deliver those billions of packages around the world. that's the best way to keep up to date is on the website. >> michael, thank you very much for your dedication to this very important global mission. i'm sure children around the world are going to act like that, as well. thank you very much.

this busy travel day is already off to a very rough start. more than 200 flights were canceled and more than 450 others delayed before 9:00 a.m. this morning. up next, what you can expect if you're heading out of town. why do i take metamucil everyday? because it helps me skip the bad stuff. i'm good. that's what i like to call, the meta effect. 4-in-1 multi-health metamucil now clinically proven to help you feel less hungry between meals. experience the meta effect with our new multi-health wellness line.

there's still plenty of folks across the country scrambling to get to loved ones for the holidays. what's it looking like at the major travel hubs across the country? to help us answer that, gabe gutierrez in atlanta at the nation's busiest airport where he's been keeping an eye on the travel situation for us there. i see it's slowed up a little bit on the rain. what's the latest in terms of movement at the airport? >> hey there. good afternoon from your hometown. you traveled out of this airport many times. you know it can get pretty rough. and throughout the morning, the rain has tapered off, thankfully, it even slowed down here. the security lines dissipated. we're starting to see traffic picking back up again. that's to be expected as the day goes on. no major delays or cancellations

here in atlanta. but according to flightaware.com, there have been about 1600 or so delays throughout the country. and about 275 cancellations so far today. the biggest problem has been of up in the northeast, philadelphia experienced some delays because of low clouds throughout the day. we also had about a 30-minute delay for departures at new york's jfk airport. and also out west. sfo often deals with low clouds. that's been a bit of a problem. here in atlanta, again, this is the world's busiest airport, about 4 million travelers are expected here throughout the holiday. and so far, no major delays or cancellations to speak of. but we do have good news within the past hour or so. wonderful story. tsa agent was proposed to by her long time boyfriend, flowers were here outside the security line. definitely a lot of smiles here in atlanta. and despite the winter storm that's rolled through here. so far, it appears to be a merry

christmas eve here. >> do we know if she said yes? >> yes, she did say yes. it would be a little awkward. wouldn't be such a merry christmas eve. >> congratulations. >> congratulations to her. >> gabe, thank you for that update np atlanta keeping us posted on all of the travel delays across the country. and we want to share with you very important new video that just made it into our newsroom. take a look at this. yes. that's a water skiing santa, jet skiing on the waters of the potomac river in the chilly d.c. area. how is he doing it? how is he delivering presents if he's relaxing and water skiing? he makes the job look so easy. but if we get answers, we'll get back to you on that one. and just ahead, protests in new york city. last night in defiance of the mayor's call to put a halt until after the funerals of two officers killed last weekend. we're live in brooklyn right after the break. introducing dance-all-you want bladder leak protection.

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boom. pillsbury crescents. make the holidays pop. an update on that breaking news story we brought you earlier. the notorious comedy "the interview" is now available to watch online. it's available on youtube, google play, xbox, and its own special site that sony set up which we're showing you there on our screen. the studio pulled the film after a group claiming to be the hackers that caused so much havoc in the last month referenced 9/11 in their threats. and demanded it not be shown. the movie will also screen in more than 200 theaters starting tomorrow. let's switch gears now into the latest on the shooting deaths of two nypd officers last weekend as the family of one officer prepared to lay him to rest saturday, crowds continue to protest recent police actions. such as in the case of eric garner. despite a plea tuesday from new york city, mayor bill de blasio

to cease protests at least until both officers killed saturday are laid to rest. >> time for everyone to put aside political debates, put aside protests, put aside all of the things that we will talk about in due time. >> msnbc reporter has been following the story from the beginning. he joins us now live from brooklyn, new york, outside that growing memorial for those two officers. adam, what can you tell us about these protests that happened overnight? >> good afternoon to you. the protests weren't particularly large, they were anti-police. and only about a couple hundred people on 5th avenue blocking traffic last night, at the same time around 9:00, about five minutes of silence, and the lights were dimmed at particular landmarks around the city. here at the memorial, we're seeing more and more people come to pay their respects. there are about 100 police

officers this afternoon from as far away as west chester. also, yesterday, we heard from officer ramos' sister for the very first time. >> my nephews are -- just like their dad. they're going to be fine. he taught them to be good boys, he loved them. the air he breathed through his lungs was his family. and they're going to be good men just like him. we're not worried. we're good. it's just hard the next few days are going to be extremely hard. >> now, ramos will be laid to rest on saturday. vice president biden and his wife dr. biden will be in attendance along with the mayor and the police commissioner. >> do you have any other information on the investigation? i know that we throughout the course of the week have been trying to piece that time line before the shooting. any developments on that front? >> we've learned that they found out that the suspect in this shooting apparently had quite a bit of money on him.

and that he made a number of calls leading up to the shooting just hours before the shooting. and that's about all we've learned today. >> adam, thank you very much for that update. stay dry out there, my friend. now to the fight against isis at a victory for the group today. isis captured the pilot of a coalition war plane. it crashed in northern syria according to the jordanian government. both the plane and the pilot are jordanian. the first aircraft lost to isis since strikes began back in september. msnbc contributor steve clemens joins us now. washington's editor at large for "the atlantic." thanks for being with us. we talked about this earlier in the day about isis' claims they shot down this plane. but regardless, they now have a jordanian pilot in their custody. how does that change things for coalition forces in this ongoing campaign? >> well, i think isis has shown

it's able to demonstrate the horror that it brings to this arena by putting faces on these horrible crimes. and you're going to have jordanian citizens, an important coalition partner of the united states that worry about that. this is the nightmare that any -- that happens in wars and it happens more often than we may think. but isis is very good at social media of essentially trying to hold a nation hostage. i think the one thing that hasn't been said lately, despite the moment of success for isis, the real story of isis right now in the region is its juggernaut expansion has been checked back. and there have been more losses that isis has recently experienced than gains. and we've seen that in northern iraq, we've seen that in sinjar mountain. we have a lot of successes against isis recently despite what they're going to brag about in the next few days.

>> steven. and to that point, we probably hear from a lot of similar people you and i. there are growing questions as to whether the air campaign or the air strikes alone are actually going to successfully degrade and destroy isis as the president has said. but do you think this capture is going to be used to make the argument for more u.s. intervention, perhaps, troops on the ground or a larger intervention by this coalition? >> well, i think that is an ongoing debate and discussion regardless of what isis does with this particular hostage that they have. that air campaigns and creating sort of safe zones and taking n on, you know, sort of moving elements of the isis military machine are all important. but fundamentally, they can hide, they can move, they can act as a guerrilla force. and at some point, if you're going to squeeze isis out of the picture, there needs to be a ground component. that's the view of many analysts. it's not likely those will be u.s. troops. but it's important for that

neighborhood for that very complicated region to figure out how it can put its military forward. and i think the united states is trying to create the conditions for that to happen. but everyone says there's not a chance that american military ground troops will be used. >> steve, when you look back at the air strikes over the past several months, do you from your perspective see a pattern or a strategy in how the u.s.-led coalition is targeting isis? because from some perspectives, it looks like a game of whack-a-mole. it's just this kind of back and forth. >> that's about what i was going to say is a whack-a-mole. isis has shown a great ability to be resilient and pop up wherever we're not taking action. and so right now we're basically we've been focused. the coalition focusing, before that, other cities, and all of a sudden, you know, really hundreds of miles away you'll see isis action against other villages and whatnot. they're very sophisticated. their command and control is very sophisticated at moving the

ball. and trying to demonstrate that it has ongoing capacity wherever we're not hitting. so that is their strategy, our strategy is how do you hit multiple targets and multiple fronts very widespread apart at the same time and rob from isis those bragging rights it's continuing to take ground. >> steve clemens, msnbc contributor, thank you very much for your insight. happy holidays to you and thanks for joining us again. >> thanks. now in the fourth year. coalition air strikes are a new addition to the fighting there. this week, the observatory for human rights released new numbers on casualties from those air strikes. they've documented 1,171 people killed and 800 wounded in the u.s. led air war. many think the actual numbers are higher. of those, the human rights group claims 1,046 are isis fighters. most of them nonsyrian. but not all casualties are isis. the observatory says 72 are al

nusra fighters. and 52 are civilians. keep in mind, these numbers are solely from coalition air strikes and do not include those killed by fighting by various factions or the assad regime. as if being in hawaii weren't enough, president obama has another reason to enjoy his winter vacation. the big political news today is good news for the president. we'll bring you that next. not all toothbrushes are created equal, oral-b toothbrushes are engineered with end rounded bristles so brushing doesn't scratch gums and angled perfectly, to remove 90% of plaque for a healthier smile. trust the brand more dentists and hygienists use. oral-b.

alright, so this tylenol arthritis lasts 8 hours, but aleve can last 12 hours... and aleve is proven to work better on pain than tylenol arthritis. so why am i still thinking about this? how are you? aleve, proven better on pain. president obama got an early christmas gift this year. a strong economy to come back to next year. democrats are boasting about the new economic growth figures that added more than 300,000 jobs to the economy last month. the numbers prompted the dow jones industrial average to clear above 18,000 for the first time in history on tuesday. this comes as a federal judge threw out a lawsuit over the president's executive actions on immigration. joining me now is msnbc reporter

and aaron blake senior reporter for the washington post the fix. let's start with the economy and how good is this news for president obama? >> we've had a steady recovery for the last couple of years. we're two years ahead of schedule on unemployment. but the interesting thing, it usually takes some time for people to say they actually feel better in the economy. and the good news for president obama is that in addition to all the indicators you mentioned, people are now telling pollsters they're feeling better about the economy, including folks who make less than $50,000 and across the demographic spectrum. i think it's very good news that there's now this feeling of positivity both towards the economy and towards president obama himself. >> how could the strong economy help alter the political landscape in 2015 and beyond? >> well, any time you've got a president in his final two years. the question is whether he's a lame duck or commands the respect of people on capitol hill who he p wants to work with to get his final accomplishments in his legacy done. i think if obama can make a case on the economy that things are

getting better, if that can bring his approval ratings up, i think that makes republicans much more likely to work with him instead of just kind of waiting for the 2016 election to figure out will be. >> a federal judge threw out the lawsuit on the president's executive action, can we expect more victories to come over immigration for the president? >> the last resolved was the one brought to by joe arpaio in arizona. the judge ruled he didn't have standing. that's a particular kind of victory when it comes to the immigration action. the next stage is going to be this lawsuit that's been brought by the states. that's a more conservative jurisdiction. the next step might be a judge that is favorable to the argument that obama has overstepped his constitutional authority or violated the administrative procedures act. we'll have to see on that one. >> aaron, it seems the president got a little bit of a bump in polls over his shift in the cuba policy and immigration.

do you think he'll be successful? >> the things about those moves is they both, at least on a policy level were quite popular. the immigration decision was obviously somewhat controversial because of the means that president obama used. the cuba policy is looking very popular. the abc washington post poll that came out over the weekend showed that upwards of 3/4 of americans support relaxing the embargo so, you know, i think the more that he can come forward and put his name on popular policy proposals like this, the better it's going to be for him. the question is whether or not everything is kind of baked in at this point. and people have decided how they feel about president obama after six years. sometimes those long standing feelings can be hard to change. >> so, you have a republican controlled congress, both the house and the senate coming into power in 2015. what are the areas where they're going to be major for president

obama to try to get passed? >> well, a lot depends on mitch mcconnell and what he's going to do with the senate he controls. he has given interviews. he gave an interview in the "new york times" saying he plans to try to get things done. he still has a pretty unwieldy republican caucus there. but one thing he said for sure he's going to do is he's going to push an unconstitutional ban on abortion after 20 weeks. that may be something that president obama has already said he's going to veto that he'll be backed into a corner. the other question is, are they going to want to hand obama any kind of legislative victories in these last two years since the 2016 campaign has already really begun? >> and let me ask you the flip side to that question. areas of bipartisanship where we can expect, perhaps, a republican congress and the democratic white house to work together, do you see anything on the horizon? >> you know, i think if there's one thing that maybe would be a good omen for bipartisanship over the next couple of years, it would be cuba policy. but you still got part of the republican party who is just not very on board with, you know,

having a more of a relationship with cuba, with lifting the embargo. we've seen senator marco rubio talk a lot, be very vociferous this is not the right policy. and as long as basically half the party agrees with him on that, you're not going to see any kind of a consensus on working with obama on an issue like cuba. so i don't think people should be too optimistic about a whole lot of things getting done over the next two years. but anything can happen. >> well, that's not certainly going to be a surprise to many folks across the country to hear that. thanks for that assessment. thank you, both, for joining us. happy holidays to both of you. >> thank you. happy holidays. >> "the interview" may be the most talked about movie being released this christmas. and yes, it is being released online in theaters tomorrow. but it's one of several big movies opening in theaters. and we'll look at some of the other new releases like this right after this.

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an update on the breaking news story, "the interview" is available on google, xbox and other sites shown on the screen. it is available now after hackres caused so much hacking and at attacking on sony's servers. and now tho big screen, the presidents and the screens and it is one of the biggest days at the box offices, and nine films

coming out including the controversial release of "the interview" that with we mentioned, the movie that is so controversial after a major hollywood hacking scandal. and joining me from los angeles in what to expect is entertainment correspondent niki novak. and good morning to you out there in los angeles. >> morning from you in los angeles. how are you? >> happy holidays to you sh, an lot of questions not just about the "the interview" but the movie lineup. and it is coming out across the country and online now, and some theaters are are sold out and how hard to get tickets in l.a.? >> it is as tough to get the tickets to the rolling stones at h this point. they are selling out quickly and james franco and seth rogen tweeted how thrilled they are. and seth rogen used the expletives that i can not use on television. >> please don't. >> and added boo-yah and so people will go out to see it. >> and christmas is about celebrating with the friends and f

families and some of us will try to go to the movies, and look at some dark and dramatic movies and some are out there on the darker side of things, and there are some biggest themes in movies this holiday season. >> well, it is the buyopis this season, you have the angelina jolie movie and "sell ma"selma, it is going to be darker movies well. >> and "american sniper" with bradley cooper. >> yes, and the movie is getting mixed reviews. >> and with all of the family around the holidays and talking about the darker movies, what are some of the best movies to take the kids to? >> well, i think "into the woods" and it is funny, because this year, there are not a lot of the fluffy feel good and warm blanket movies as in past years so by default, "into the woods"

it will have a big weekend and whether it has legs moving into the season is different story. and annie has been out for a couple of weeks, and that is something that the family can see, and fewer choices for the families than in the past. >> and so to put on the movie critic hat, and tell me if there are a lot of big movies with the big names, what do you want to see if you want a purely good movie? >> well, first of all all my favorite movie is "imitation game" with kyra nighty aly and of the charts, and "selma" and definitely a lot of the nominations, and people are buzzing about the best picture at the oscar this year. and one of my favorite performances this year was eddie ra rainmain in the "theory of everything" and on of the favorite performances by an actor of all time and if you want the fantastic performance

even though it has been out for a little bit, it is something to check out. >> and some people are surprised to learn that "selma" is the first film to feature the life of martin luther king and that is a surprise to many and why so long to the make this an important movie? >> well, it is years in the making, and lot of people tried to get the movie made, but of course, when all else fails, go to the oprah. she is one of the executive producers on the movie, and i'm surprised that it has not seen the light of day before, but, you know, it was definitely worth the wait. widely applaud ed by the critic and it is rating off of the charts. so, better late than never. >> and any front-runners to some of the movies that may be coming out that are clear-on favorites for golden globes or the oscars? >> well, it is hard to say and this years it is a mixed bag in terms of the awards and there is not one movie ha is going to sweep everything. but i definitely think that you

are going to be looking out for "selma," the one to watch this season. >> is i have had a chance to see "imitation game" and incredible performance by benedict couple berbatch, and is there a shift for movies in hollywood, "theory of everything" made in britain, and is there is going to be a trend? >> i pretend that there is going to be a best actor oscar for a british actor, and between eddie redmain's role, a that is a shoe in. >> and if we can get off early, many of us will try to make it out to the holiday's movie theater and avoid the crowds, but do you expect a large turnout tomorrow? what is the industry projecting in terms of the christmas viewing? >> i think that i lost sound. >> well, i think that we lost

ni nikki there, but it is a wrap for me for this hour, and now i hand off to my colleague francis rivera, and we will have much more on the holiday weather and how it is affecting the travel for the holiday. and the political elf on the shelf is getting confused. we will tell you more. stick around. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it gave me the power to overcome the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. some people had seizures while taking chantix. if you have any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix or history of seizures. don' take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these, stop chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. tell your doctor if you have a history of heart

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u. this is christmas eve and i'm francis rivera at 30 rock in new york city. this hour, we are are on storm watch. >> the trees are snapped and the buildings are destroyed and the ambulances have flipped on top of a car. >> a deadly line of severe weather have stunned residents down south, and it is not over yet. jacob rascon is watching the weather wall. >> and you get on the plane and

hope you are landing where you are supposed to be going. >> for millions they hope they have a sleigh like santa's this christmas. hundreds of flights are grounded, and frustration is building. >> we have been together for 1,000 episodes! >> congratulations. >> and now, showing "the interview" coming to theaters and your computer, and kim jiang u.n. will not be tuning in. >> and now the elf on the shelf is political, and yes, we are going there. and we are going to begin this afternoon with the weather, which is the story as one-third of the country is hitting the road for the holiday. dominica is tracking the dangerous storms. and the dangerous weather is down south where the first tornado to hit mississippi in 60 years is already causing heartbreak. >> francis, this in columbia, mississippi, there is heartbreaking scenes like this. several families picking up the

pieces, but there is only five or six homes back there destroyed. this is what is left of the office building and the roof just tossed away. this is a convenient store and then over to the left was a laundry mat, and all of this small community is gone, and across the street, it is the same story. four people as you know, they have been killed in the tornado that spanned three states, and several tornadoes have touched down, but many, many more injuries, and just now as we are seeing in daylight all of the damage, we are realizing the scope of it, and we have ran into some of the storm survey teams from the national weather service there on the ground investigating how violent this tornado was as the governor of mississippi is already declaring a state of emergency in two counties including this one, and it is already the deadliest des december tornado in a half century, and francis. >> so heartbreaking to see the christmas decorations in rubble there. and thank you, jacob rascon.

and we turn to domenica davis, and the threat is not over yet. >> yes, it is diminishing and that is the good news. we look at the joplin radar and we will sew you the can concern. this is from the florida panhandle up through georgia and southern portion of south carolina. you can see the squall lines breaking up, which is a good sign as it passes i-95,r it is breaking apart, and clearing on the back edge. a much quieter evening than they have had a day. here is the storm tracker and you can see that it is rain soaked up and down the east coast. we are talking about the drenching rains from virginia beach, washington, new york, and boston and the heaviest rain is still to come for this evening. on the back edge of the system, it is not without the problems in the ohio valley dealing with the rain and the thunderstorms, but we have snow coming down through wisconsin and chicago could get in on some of that by

later in the evening, but not a whole lot, because the system is more about the rain. that is because we have mild temperatures with all of the gulf moisture coming up. it is 51 right now in d.c. and 53 in philadelphia and 45 in new york. the mild air is creating for the fog and the visibility has been one of the biggest issues that we have been seeing in the northeast, and visibility is less than a mile and boston is down to four miles in new york and two miles in d.c. and that is going to continue right through the evening. so just keep in mind etch the-- even the you are driving around going to dinners, fog is an issue, fot just in the no-- not northea northeast, but back through the middle west as well. >> and it is not going to be just a white christmas, but a wet one. delays up and down the heavily traveled i-95 concourse and also

at the nation's busiest airports. gabe has been there all morning, and what are you seeing now? >> well, the clouds are low here, but it has been raining. it is looking miserable, and it is looking like a rough day here in atlanta, but the security lines are dissipated and things are going smoothly here at the world's busiest airport. however, across the country, some problems. according to flightaware.com, there are 1,700 delays so far today and 300 cancellations. most of them concentrated in the northeast. philadelphia dealt with problems, and has throughout the day because of the low clouds. new york's jfk airport is dealing with delays and chicago had cancellations, and san francisco's sf osho airport, no stranger to low clouds there, they've also had some delays throughout the day. and again, here at the world's busiest airport things seem to

be going smoothly, and the travelers are doing everything they can to stay in the nice spirits, and one nice story. a tsa agent within the past hour or so was just proposed to by her long-time boyfriend. she said yes, and it appear ss be a very merry christmas eve here at the world's busiest airport. >> and it is so nice to hear those stories especially at the world's heaviest airport. >> and last night former president george bush was take oen the hospital, but those closest to him say he is expected to be okay. charles hadlock is there, and any word if president bush can go home for christmas? >> hi, francis. i am sure that the family hopes so, but no word from what we heard last night from the spokesman for the family jim mcgraph who said that he was

rushed by ambulance to the hospital here in houston suffering from what is describe canned a shortness of breath. they said that he was admitted to the hospital as an abundance of caution to make sure he is okay. we have had no further updates. this is not the first christmas season that he has been in the hospital. he was in intensive care for persistent cough and managed to get around that a couple of years ago. he has parkinson's-like disease and uses a a scooter to get around. and to celebrate his 90th birthday, he jumped out of a airplane in a and ttandem sky d. he has been seen at the library of the presidential library at college station, and all of us

around the country wish him a speedy recovery. >> thank you, charles hadlock. >> and everyone is still talking about the sony pictures reversal to hold the release of the "interview" and they announced they would stream it online starting today. it is available to rent or purchase on google play, youtube, xbox or the website here where you can see "the interview".com. and over 200 theaters have agreed to screen it, and tickets are are selling fast. in some cases, they are completely sold out. nbc's jinah kim is going to join us now from los angeles. and gina, since we spoke to you from this morning, there have been so many developments, what has changed? >> well, what a difference a day makes, francis, and in this story, what a difference the hour or two makes. this time, a little more than this time yesterday, and a

little more than 24 hours ago, much of america was under the impression that this very controversial film, the interview may not see the light of day, and then yesterday, the announcement, it would be released in limited theaters nationwide and then two hours ago, sony decided to the release it to everybody and their mother, and so now if you have youtube or google play or access to the internet, you can stream the movie online and we are learning that netflix may be in talking with sony to ultimately stream the movie as well. we all know that the huge audience that netflix reaches. all of this, this deal to go online has apparently been about a week in the works. google and sony getting together to discuss the alternative ways to release the film in light of the attack last week. and google on its official blog said that we agree that we could not sit on the sidelines and quote allow a handful of people to determine the limits of free speech in another country

however silly the content might be. and so, this now allows google, and sorry, not google, but sony to capitalize on the holiday clouds -- crowds that many people are off work and now tempted to watch the filtm -- film that is exploding on social media and so "the interview" may have the last laugh with sony if it gets the sales it is predicted. >> and without any threat or retaliation at home that we have been reporting. thank you, jinah kim. >> thank you. and the landmarks in new york dimmed the lights in honor of the two fallen nypd officers in rockefeller center. >> and now, miles from ferguson, another police-involved shooting. our john yang is there on the

ground. and dominica is continuing to follow the storm that is frustrating millions of holiday travelers today. keep it right here. this is msnbc.

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there is renewed tension in the st. louis area this christmas eve, a police officer shot and killed a teenager at a gas station in berkeley, missouri, two miles west of ferguson. surveillance was released by the police department which we have highlighted for clarity here. it shows antonio martin raising a weapon at the officer right before he was shot, and if you can see whether there is a gun is unclear. the police officer a arrived based on the report that someone was shoplifting. demonstrations immediately followed the shooting, and there were protests and a police

officer had to go to the hospital. today, the berkeley mayor is dismissing any comparisons to what happened to michael brown and eric garner. >> you cannot compare this with ferguson or the guaardner case in new york. and some people die because the police initiated it, but some people die because they initiated it. at this point, our review indicates that the police did not initiate this, this like nein ferguson. john yang just arrived there. >> at this gas station and grocery store where this happened late last night, quite a different scene this the moments after the incident. as the word spread on social media, a large group of protesters gathered and clashes with police, and at one point,

someone threw a firecracker the in the midst of all of the gas pumps, and luckily, nothing happened. four arrests overnight, and the crowds were mostly gone about 4:00 a.m. now, officials in this community and police are quick to point out that this is different from ferguson. it is a neighboring community of ferguson and only the few miles away from all that would happen there. they point out that there is surveillance video that they have released that they say shows the young man raising his arm with a pistol pointing it at the officer before he was shot. they say that a pistol was a 9 mi millimeter gun was released with one round in the chamber ready to be fired. the investigators are looking for more surveillance video, and they say that the officer was issued a body camera before the shift began, but for some reason he didn't have it on.

they also say that for some reason, the dash cam in the patrol car was not turned on. the incident is being investigated by the local berkeley police, and by the st. louis county police department. back to you. >> thank you, john yang at the scene of the shooting in berkeley, missouri. thank you. >> meanwhile, the protesters have returned to the streets of manhattan and that despite bill de blasio's halt of all protests until the funerals of the fallen police officers, the first of which happens this weekend. adam maurice is in brooklyn of that still growing memorial for officers, and adam despite the damp or the rain there, law enforcement members kept coming to pay tribute. >> that is right, francis. four days after the shooting through the driving rain on christmas eve they continue to come in droves to stand here and in silence in front of the flow flowers a and the candles, and the cards and really an

incredible sight. and last night, they took to the streets to block fifth avenue despite the mayor's call to wait until after the funerals. the protests were general peaceful anti-police protests calling for the police chief bratton to resign. then lights were dimmed at particular landmarks around the city in honor of the officers ramos and liu. vice president biden and commis the funeral. back to you, francis. >> thank you. the season shopping is coming to the close, but there are deals still. and there are some old school favorites, and maybe you will remember these toys. we will tell you about them next. you got that right! bam! just gotta check your bag. huh, charmin ultra strong.

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welcome back to msnbc live on this christmas eve. whether it was a cabbage patch kid back in the day or the beanie baby or the tickle me elmo doll or remember the furby and the huge craze? families all throughout the country have felt the urgency to get "the toy" you foe, tknow tha that is hot and paying more than it is worth to get it. you can't disappoint the kids, right? so what is hot this year and it is christmas eve, and is there any hope of getting it at all? i am joined by the toy insider melissa barlow and i love ta that you have brought all of these things to us, and it is realistic and i love the retro here, and the old school lite brit brite? >> yes, the parents can share the experiences with the kids, and lite brite is a favorite and only $19.95, and it is a aftered

forable price point and still available. >> it is, you know, the old school one, and the wedge, and lookt at this, how thin it is with the big lightbulb. >> and it stores easily, and lights up in a lot of ways an fun for the kids. >> how much is that? >> $19.99. >> we can't do a toy segment without the "frozen" and this is not the typical elsa and anna. >> and "do you want to build the snowman" and you can. these are from the build-a-bear workshop. we have olaf and elsa and they are plush bears from the "frozen" pals and you can acc s accessize them with the with wigs and outfits. >> and this is the sound. can you hear it? >> it is a little bit light. >> first time in a long time and we have to not turn it up

because we will not stop singing. >> right. we won't be able to let it go. >> and what is this? goldi-blocks? >> yes, it is going to excite girls to get excited about engineering. it comes with 190 pieces, and the kids will read through the diary and build some fun inventions like the teacup bride over here. >> and this is part of the goldi-blocks here? >> yes, the girls can build it using her notes in the diary. >> and breaking through all of the gender-neutral and it does not have to be pink and blue and whatever. and look at this, scooter for each foot? >> yes, the days of the kick push are over, and now it is about the wiggle. >> the kick push is over? >> yes, this is the ride evolution flickr. >> i won't go on this for fear of a live tv catastrophe. >> yes, it is lightweight and easy to travel, and the kids get

on here and wiggle. >> and so you don't do the pushing the leg thing, but you wiggle the legs? >> yes, like you are skiing. skiing motion. >> i have seen the toy things that you ride on to wiggle to make it go, and it is the same pri primer? >> yes, for the for kids 7 and up. this is the real hero gift. $129 and up. these are the y-flickr airs. >> and you have to go on these things? come on here. >> and you can put on your helmet here. >> and you can do it in the fabulous heels? >> yes. >> do you dare? >> hopefully the kids don't have the heels on. >>ly leave i will leave it to y. that thing is awesome. >> so much fun. >> and especially this the urban setting where everybody does the scooters and everything. this is going to take up a little bit more space. >> yes, fold up nicely and super light. >> tell us about this one here. >> yes, this is a tablet.

the tablets are topping the kids' lists, and top ten for boys and the girls, but parents want to buy something safe and something to get the kids moving because you don't want the kids sitting on the couch for ten hours staring at the screen. this is the tablet that is motion-activated games and the kids will get right into the play and the action. >> and somebody is saying, i could get it, and i want it, and how do i get it, what do people know? >> well, the toys with the exception of the build-a-bear are at toys "r" us, and they can have the option of ordering it online and then picking it up at night. >> you see they are open at 9:00, and you can pick it up. >> and yes. >> and kohl's is open until 6:00, and best buy until 6:00. so, yes, you can still go out there. the tornadoes that ripped through the deep south two days

before christmas, and i will speak to a storm chaser who got a close look and sharing the images with us. >> and some areas who are still on alert, as we will get an update from our weather expert domenica davis in a moment.

♪soft holiday music ]♪ can you help me up? [ snow intensifies ] [ sleighbells ring in the distance ]

aleve. all day pain relief with just 2 pills. get back to being you. as we hit the half hour here on msnbc, we want to give you a unique look at the deadly tornadoes that moved through the south last night, and so close to the christmas holiday. this is storm chaser video pr columbia, mississippi, where four people were killed tuesday. damaging twisters also touched down in three other states. bret adair shot this video and he is a storm chaser with live storms media, and he joins us from birmingham, alabama. bret, thank you for being with us the day before christmas after a day that you experienced yesterday. >> yes, thank you for having me. it was a somber day for us in the holiday season going over to southern mississippi and witnessing such a devastating

storms. >> and what exactly did you see and what were you able to catch on video? >> well, myself and storm chaser brandon clement actually captured a lot of the damage in columbia, and up tin into the summerall county, and i captured the tornado that hit the day care near me, and it ripped the roof off, but all of the children were okay, but we unfortunately lost a couple of people who lost their lives in that event. >> this is the deadliest tornado to hit mississippi since 1953. and it is good to hear that the kids and the people in the day care were able to get out of there in time? >> well, we have to give credit to the people in jackson, mississippi, because they were

issuing warnings in realtime, and a lot of lead time was given for those tornadoes that struck and i believe they saved many, many lives in the way of damage and loss of life and injuries prevented by their actions of getting the warnings out. >> i worked in tornado alley in oklahoma city and wichita falls, and spent years chasing the tornadoes, and you do it for you time and time again and you put your life at risk here, and is there a time when you say,ly turn away from the storm and the twister instead of going right towards it, and have you had that the experience? >> oh, absolutely. yesterday was one of those experiences. i have been through the to tornadoes such as the tuscaloosa tornado in 2011. this this past year, we had the tornado that struck mayflower, arkansas, and i was there for that, but yesterday, we had to get close to the core of the tornadoes, because they were

rain-wrapped and the tornado was coming close to the location, so we had to actually move out of the way, and we had to move back east down county road 42 to keep from being hit by that tornado. >> and also, part of the thrill and the adrenaline rush, what keeps you going back especially with the national weather service, and the meteorologists doing the work for you, and why time and time again to chase the storms and put yourselves in harm's way? >> well, that is a great question. i'm a senior meteorologist student at mississippi state university, so i am an aspiring meteorologist, and soon to be hopefully, and it is something that is always of interest to me, and it is always very important, because i believe, you know, even with the national weather service doppler radar and those guys at the warning desks, people want to see the images, and we technically use the media to broadcast them out live through the streaming capabilities that we have, and the images touch the people so much more than the radar,

itsel itself. >> knot morgue fascinating and devastating than the images, and hopefully, you can continue to do that and keep safe most importa importantly while you do that. storm chaser bret adair, and thank you and have a good holiday despite what you went through and people there have gone through. thank you, you, too. thanks a lot. and as we said, the threat is not over, and domenica davis is manning the map, and people have to be in alert. >> yes. and up and down the east coast, because we are dealing with a lot of rain and poor conditions, especially if you are driving around which a lot of people are this evening. the the good news is that we are talking about the severe component of the storm that we are seeing right now, and it is an expansive storm pushing through the great lake, and the severe weather is down to the south. we have had a tornado watch for much of the day through the panhandle of georgia and through parts of south carolina, and that is over now, and the squall line passing i-95 is weakening

and we have gusty winds through the savannah area, and all of it is dying down which is certainly good news. up up to the north though, we still have a lot of rain and more rain to come especially for this evening. so it is are torrential rains along with the low visibility up and down i-95, and lake-effect snow back through the upper midwest and windy conditions through the eastern part of the great lakes, looking at winds tonight that are about 50 miles per hour as a cold front passes through, and out to the west, they are not without the prob m problems and the pacific west has a brand new storm moving in, and through seattle to san francisco, the rain translates into snow for parts of the rockies and the kcascades tomorrow. so they will see a white christmas, and salt lake city could get more than four inches of snow tomorrow. tomorrow on the east coast, it is much different and quietter, and we will have the residual lake-effect snow, but no major problems which is nice after the

past few days. >> yes, a silent night for a lot of us in christmas. domenica davis, thank you very much. >> and now to the developing storer ri for the fight against isis. militants claim to have shot down a jordanian fighter jet and captured the pilot alive. this is the first time that it has happened in the battle zone near raqqa. we have our newsroom following the latest. >> francis, we have confirmed that a fighter pilot was captured by isis militants since his fighterr jet was captured over syria. there are conflicting reports whether it crashed or shot down. jordan did confirm that one of the jets was crash and the pilot was taken hostage, and the statement says that jordan holds the organization and those who support it, in other words,

isis, responsible for the safety of the pilot and preservation of his life. and now, pictures of the pilot, he is looking wet and dazed and surrounded by gunmen in the pictures. those accounts also posted pictures of what appears to be be the 26-year-old pilot's i.d. card. p if isis claims are true, this is going to be the first shoot-down of a coalition fighter jet since the airstrikes began and no immediate comment from the pentagon. francis. >> a that is kelly out of london, thank you. coming up, a republican congressman pleads guilty to federal tax charges, but he maintain has he won't step down. so what is next? >> first to hawaii where the president is spending the holiday. and oh, look at how kelly drew the short straw on reporting this one. look at how she is spending it. boo-hoo.

a hike in the mountains and piggyback ride.

nice, huh? that is how president obama has spent his christmas holiday so far in hawaii. the first family is taking a much needed break from washington politics. yesterday, the president was spotted hiking in oahu with daughter malia and spotted giving a piggyback ride there on the trail. and kristin, anything official on the president's schedule today or flip-flops under there, too, or are you taking it easy as well? >> well, i know that i am doing a little bit of work first, francis, and then a little bit of down time, but nothing official on president obama's schedule. he is at the gym right now. this vacation is a chance for him to spend some quality time with the family. as you mentioned, he went hiking yesterday, and tomorrow, on the official holiday, he is going to be be visiting with the troops scheduled to be in honolulu and then he going to be placing phone calls to service members

who are stationed overseas. tomorrow, they will traditionally sing christmas carols and have a christmas feast, and having said that, he is the president, and the office of the presidency travels with him wherever he goes, so he continues to monitor the situation with north korea and prepare for 2015, and what he hopes will be a more productive led legislative agenda, and both the president and the republicans who are set to take over congress have signaled, they are looking to find some common ground on things like corporate tax reform, and trade deals and infrastructure project, and it is possible that president obama is going to have a little bit more leverage in the new year. we learned yesterday that the economy grew by 5% in the third quarter, and that led the dow to close above 18,000, the highest it has ever closed in history. that is going to give president obama a little bit of a boost heading into the 2015 year. we are also seeing some battle lines drawn, though, francis, specifically over health kcare

and the keystone pipeline, and the president saying he will not give an inch when it come ts to the republicans' efforts to scaleback the health care legislation, and he has signalled that he is not supportive of the keystone, and the republicans say that it will create a number of jobs, and the president says that the job estimates have been over done, and that they are not going to veto keystone, he is say hag he is not supportive of the legislation. so those are among the things that the president will have on his plate when he returns, but again, francis, trying to to get some r&r over the next few days and be here over the new year. >> thank you for the report, and certainly, and honestly, we are distracted by the lapping waves behind you. so hopefully, you can enjoy it as well. kristen welker, thank you, and have a great holiday as well. >> you, too. >> and politics are not e definitely taking a christmas

break on the republican side. >> did you see this, rand paul declaring the 2016 presidential candidacy via a mock turtleneck. chris christie and marco rubio and they drop their bids the in holiday card. and looking at in austin there, and former bush/cheney adviser, robert trainham, and we thank you both for being with us one day before christmas. >> happy holidays. >> victoria, we want to the start with you and talk about congressman michael grim here, and will he resign or not? he said he won't. is it only a matter of time before he is pressured tin to e resigning? >> you know, this is a guy that doesn't give into the pressure easily, so i think that he is doing to be in here for a while, and it is so frustrating,

francis, because i mean, that none of us like to pay taxes, but we do it, because not only is it the right thing to do, but it is the law. so personally, i get very angry at politicians who are not following the the laws that they make. look, i don't care about what politicians do, and in their bedroom or the personal lives or the relationships, but how they follow the law, that is something that matters to me, and we will see if public pressure mounts, then maybe michael grim will step down, but otherwise, he will be there for a while. >> and yes, robert, you have nancy pelosi and john boehner saying, you have to get him to step down and supposed to be sworn into the third term there and is john boehner going to have ta that happen? >> well, john boehner has a short leash when it comes to things like that, and when a member of congress has done something unethical or against the law, speaker boehner has said, you know what, you have to go, and although having said that, he can only recommend and the speaker can not force someone to resign, a only a member of congress can do that,

but to the answer the original question, fran circumstances i think that the congressman will resign in a matter of weeks or month, and he should do it sooner as opposed to the later, but he has personal reasons as to why he is not doing it now. but his constituents voted for his re-election a couple of weeks ago and as bizarre as it sounds, he has the right the to represent them this the next congress, and he has the right to put the pressure on them. >> and you are talking about his constituents, but they forgive him with the re-election with the indictment looming and the video and the threatt to the local are reporter, i will throw you off of the balcony and i will break you like a boy, and all of this, and how can he bounce back from this resignation or the future or what happens afterwards? >> well, you know, the fact that he had that episode with the repo reporter earlier, i think that maybe it endeared him to even more of the constituents because

when you are a voter, you want the representative to be tough and represent you, and he is definitely the tough. so i this think that the folks at home are obviously happy with him. we saw that he won with a landslide election this past november, and the question is that as the trickle of media attention and pressure from boehner come in, is that going to be enough to push the constituency to get michael grim to resign, and maybe a couple of weeks or months. >> we will see, because he actually spoke with john boehner, but the speaker's spokesperson says that he does not confirm that meeting took place. and victoria, looking at the 2016 and the card of christie and others, and what is the best strategy for voters? >> oh, i can't wait for 2016, francis. this dribble, i don't know if it is that effective, because most of us are too busy with the h

holidays and the last-minute shopping and getting our own cards out, but once 2015 rolls aroun around, we will see the snowball effect of folks saying that they will run for president. i would give it at the latest february, because once you see a jeb bush jump into the field, everyone else is going to do it, because it is the money, and they want to make sure they get the fund-raising dollars sooner as opposed to later. >> robert, the last word, rand paul for 2016 ha has a shot, yes or no? >> well, a shot, and i did get the memo with the mock turtleneck. >> and we have to get through 2014 first and 2015. so, happy holidays to both of you, victoria and robert. sgr happy holidays. >> happy holidays. >> and now, a big topic here in the newsroom is the elf on a

shelf, and is that preparing your kids to be living in a police state? begins with the cloud. this is "titanfall," the first multi-player game built and run on microsoft azure. empowering gamers around the world to interact in ways they never thought possible. this cloud turns data into excitement. this is the microsoft cloud.

we have a serious hairball issue. we clean it up, turn around, and there it is again. it's scary. little bit in my eye. [ michelle ] underneath the kitchen table, underneath my work desk, we've got enough to knit a sweater. [ doorbell rings ] zach, what is that? the swiffer sweeper. the swiffer dusters. it's some sort of magic cloth that sucks in all the dog hair. it's quick and easy. pretty amazing that it picked it all up.

all right. you better watch out and you better not cry because not only is santa coming to town, but the elf on the shelf has been watching and keeping an eye on kid cans a all over the world to looking in on the kids to see if they have been naughty or nice, but is the elf getting ready por your child or getting your child to live in a police state? there's a new academic paper that questions whether the popular children's book character is preparing a generation of children to accept and not question ip creasingly a intrusive and albeit whimsically packaged elf. joining us is ellen pinto the, and the professor of the institute of technology, and thank you for being with us, and i can't wait to delve into this, laura, and get started, especially since this elf is the sole source is of discipline and authority in our house following

thanksgiving. and so for those who don't know, explain the premise of this elf on the shelf, an h aand how kid are watched. >> well, it is a elf on the shell sf a toy that comes with a book. so how the game works, and it sounds like what you do, francis, is that the parents place the elf on the shelf and it watches the children all day long, and if they touch it, it will lose the magic, and then it requires the elf to report back to the north pole every night to let santa know about your kids' behavior, and then the elf plays the role of the employee of santa and carrying out the surveillance on behalf of santa and the good and naughty list. >> and the elf is watching chosely, and reports back and my kids know that, you know what, they got to step it up. so how is that different from basically saying, you know what,

for me as a parent, por one month i'm going to rely on our elf to keep these kids in line, and kin d of give me a pass for playing the disciplinarian here. and what is wrong with that this is. >> it is not necessarily anything wrong with it, but one of the thing ths that we know at the research of play is that the kids learn a great deal by interactive play, and especially when there are other people involved. so, a lot of the moral conscious occurs when they are for example playing with the barbie and the hot wheels and the people around them give them a feedback loop or the parents are having discussions with them about the human impacts of good behavior or the behavior you want to change a little bit and where the elf departs and the interaction that you would otherwise have is that the elf is completely hands off, and it watches and you don't have the feedback loop and that is different from santa who i know

has written back to some children when they have written to him, an i know a lot of kids who have gone the meet santa at the mall. so the elf lacks that interactive loop in the feedback element. >> and the elf is definitely watching you and reporting back and he leaves us notes this the house, and treats sometimes, too. but isn't it up to me as the parent and the others out there to explain maybe why and guide so that the the kids do understand that? >> i think that understanding is really important and we have heard -- my co-author and i have heard from a lot of parents since. i mean, we knew about this prior, that playing with the elf is a great opportunity to have some really important discussions about privacy and surveillance. so we hope that parents are doing that in the course of playing with the elf. but at the same time, if there is no discussion, it just becomes a normal everyday thing that at least for the month of december, you have an item watching you. >> and like everything else, it

is a matter of how much the parparn parns -- parents participate, and what you do with it. and for those who celebrate hanukka hanukkah, it is a minch on the bench, and something else to delve into the next time, too. >> yes. >> and that does wrap it up for me. i'm francis rivera, and my colleague will continue the coverage right after the break, and we will have an update on the deadly tornados that struck the south. and msnbc meteorologists are tracking the powerful storms, a and we will have the forecasts ahead. >> and new details on the sony hacking scandals. and since we are talking movies what else you can expect to see here this weekend. keep it right here on msnbc. it is time for the "your z business en are tre preneur of the week." christmas may come once a year, but at roger's company, it happened nearly everyday. his new oxford, pennsylvania,

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