another apparent hack attack on sony. this time, it disrupts the games people play. the details on whether it's any link to the release of "the interview." >> this is an important year. we've been in continuous war now for almost 13 years. over 13 years. and -- and next week, we will be ending our combat mission in afghanistan. >> the longest war. president obama with newer marks leaving afghanistan. but is it really over?

and america reaches farther into the unknown. we'll take a look at that. a good friday morning to you. i'm craig melvin here in new york. hackers are taking credit for a interrupt of microsoft xbox. does not appear related to the original hack. this happened on the same day the controversial comedy "the interview" opened in select theaters. sony had said it would not release that film after threats from a group identifying itself as hackers prompted the country's largest theaters to pull it. i'm joined now from los angeles by gina kim. here's the thing, man, this christmas day, timing could not have come worse, at a time when people were opening those xboxes, opening those playstations. what's the latest on this particular outage? >> the latest is a group called lizard skwaquad is taking responsibility for the outage on twitter, on social media at least. but that has not been confirmed.

nor do we know the cause or reason. this was not the same group that attacked sony in the first place. so why are they doing this, other than sony is now an easy target? as far as the movie is concerned it barely made a ripple. in fact, on youtube and google play, "the interview" became the most downloaded movie yesterday. because it was available on those two other platforms, really the fact that xbox and sony playstation had issues did not deter people from watching the movie. >> there have been some problems in the past in terms of hacks, in terms of problems for the network as well. sony tweeting at one point, quote, our engineers are continuing to work hard to resolve the network issues users have experienced today. thanks for your continued patience. that was posted yesterday, if i'm not mistaken. at this point, are we hearing anything else from sony about when those game consoles might

be back online? >> i'm sure engineers are hard at work. it doesn't just affect the movie. obviously, people have brand-new playstations, us included. we got a playstation for christmas. >> hey. >> yeah, and we didn't experience any problems with it on our end, although, you know, like you were saying so many people were reporting it, there must be issues. but i think a lot of those issues are being resolved today as people kind of get out of the holiday doldrum here. i don't expect this is going to cause much of an issue beyond this weekend. >> gina kim for us in los angeles, this is a story we're going to follow throughout the day, thank you. >> thank you. >> a spokesman says former president george h.w. bush is in great spirits after spending another day in the hospital. the 90-year-old bush was taken to houston methodist hospital tuesday. he was experiencing shortness of brea breath. yesterday, he got a christmas visit from his wife and his son.

you might remember, he was at the same hospital for being treated. it was a white christmas in the rocky mountain region. more than 13 inches snow fell in one part of idaho. in california, sierra nevada mountains, up to 10 inches fell on the highest elevations. some areas got between 3 and 6 inches. as you can see, their people took advantage of the winter wonderland. for some to baggin time. what's the word here? >> we're looking slowy through the cascades, the rockies to the upper midwest. we have advisories that stretch from new mexico up to minnesota. where we're expecting an additional 2 to 4. where you see the pinks, those are our warnings. we could get an additional foot before this system continues to push off to the east. so these delays are going to continue. this one will eventually start

to push off to the east. but then the cold air is going to come into the picture. look at this for denver. it snows today. into the 20s and 30s on sunday. then back down into the single digits. most of us have seen temperatures a little bit above normal. a pretty mild december. so this is going to take us back some. and it's definitely going to feel a lot cooler. that cold is eventually going to move to the middle part of the country and the east. here's a look at your friday forecast. snow to the west. a few showers developing down through the gulf states. that will continue through saturday and sunday as well. so keep in mind if you're going to be on the roads, watch out for some thunderstorms that will push from texas to south carolina, between saturday and sunday. craig. >> all right, domenica davis, thank you. the president and first lady visited troops stationed at the marine corps base in hawaii. president obama looked at the

end of more than a decade of combat in afghanistan. next week. thanking the troops for making afghanistan a safer place. no longer the source of terrorist attacks. >> this is important here. we've been in continuous war now for almost 13 years. over 13 years. and next week we will be ending our combat mission in afghanistan. obviously -- because of the extraordinary service the men and women in the american armed forces, afghanistan has a chance to rebuild its own country. we are safer. it's not going to be a source of terrorist attacks again. >> steve clemens is an msnbc contributor, also, editor at large, the atlantic. what do you make of that message? too bold or is that accurate? are we safer now? is afghanistan no longer going to be a source of terrorist attacks? >> i think it's a hopeful

message. i think the president is right that the united states and west are more protected, given what we've done in afghanistan. but afghanistan itself, as we look into the future, is going to be messy. we see a resurgent taliban in areas where the united states has left parts of afghanistan. and we see a rise of warlordism, which we rarely talk about, but an old return of warlords and weakening of the strength of the kabul government. afghanistan's going to be a messy picture but it's going to be less threatening to us. i think that is the truth behind the rather hopeful message the president shared. >> is afghanistan better off than it was more than a decade ago? >> i think the answer is yes. there's been an awful lot of input. women are getting educated in certain parts of the country in ways that they were not. there is essentially a railroad track with a representative government that was elected. though there's a power sharing arrangement between the two leading candidates who ran against one another. all of that is positive.

one could just only hope that, you know, we've created a guide path for it and helped afghanistan. and i think that it's hopeful for the government. i think it's still going to be mixed down the road. >> this, as you know, wass ethe bloodiest year in that country since 2001. some 5,000 afghan forces were killed in 2014. what's going to happen when this combat mission ends? this government you were just talking about, what are its chances of survival? >> well, i think that our role there is going to continue to be important. because while the 10,800 u.s. troops and some coalition troops that will remain behind are largely there to protect kabul, and just like vice president biden said before, we're no longer going to shape everything in that country. but we can use resources, aid and some military presence to kind of do a deal making across the country that hopefully

crea creates a pathway to modernity, that people reject the taliban, and we sort of continue to stay on that track. it's going to be hard. we're going to use other parts of the u.s. government to try to shape the afghanistan scene, other than the pentagon. that's healthy for us. i think it's healthy for afghanistan in the long run. >> president obama mentioned the other difficult missions around the world during those comments yesterday in hawaii. he talked specifically about iraq. will our resources shift to more of a focus there once combat troops are out of afghanistan? what does the fight against isis look like in 2015? >> they're already shaping up to be moving from one arena to the other. we're storing lots of military equipment and munitions and carriers be an whatnot in kuwait. one, ostensibly, thinks to create a surge of activity into iraq to really kind of nail isis there. so you would expect to see an uptick, i think, with this

drawdown. we've got about 1500 other troops going into iraq, who are going to help advise the iraqi military on dealing with isis. i think you're going to see a big surge of u.s. military capacity, if not soldiers and troops on the ground inside iraq. i think then the bigger question is what do you do with syria? syria's always been the big question mark in dealing with isis. i think you'll see increased military activity. but then you'll need to see some kind of coalition activity inside syria that squeezes isis out of of that terrain and deal with bashir al acssad there, wh has been the 900-pound question that people have not really thought through. the scene has been growing for almost a week now, with friends, family and fellow officers still paying their respects. today, a wake will be held for one of those officers, officer rafael ramos. we will go live to brooklyn,

new york. also, some are calling it a christmas miracle in the city of brotherly love. two police officers help deliver a baby boy on a subway train. that amazing story coming up next. right here on msnbc. so i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there are no branches? 24/7 it's just i'm a little reluctant to try new things. what's wrong with trying new things? feel that in your muscles? yeah... i do... try a new way to bank, where no branches equals great rates.

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a wake later today for one of the two nypd officers killed in an ambush. just a short while ago, the family of officer ramos visited that memorial at the scene of the shootings. the funeral itself planned for saturday morning now. the nypd has announced a total of six arrests of people accused of threatening police officers in the wake of that ambush. a seventh man was arrested on gun charges after he was overheard on a cell phone at a bank making threats against

officers. nbc's ron nmott has been trackig the story. he joins us now from brooklyn. >> reporter: there is a real pall hanging over this entire community, especially this street where they died. it's added a sense of loss and tragedy to what should have been a week of tradition and celebration. since last weekend's ambush killings of two officers, new york city police are stepping up efforts to ensure their safety after a ramp up of threats. officials say one man was overheard on the phone threatening to kill more cops. a search turned up weapons in his home. nypd officer s ramos and liu wee shot and killed. the suspect ismaaiyl brinsley killed himself nearby, authorities say. the deaths sparked outrage and further fueled controversial about the role of race in law enforcement, on the heels of two

high-profile deaths of two black men, michael brown in missouri and also a death in new york. setting off protests. rekindled in missouri after an 18-year-old man was killed by police tuesday night just five miles from the ferguson flash point. dozens of protesters gathered, some shutting down an interstate highway. authorities later released security video they said showed a man pointing the gun at the officer. back in new york, the slain officers' families in mourning. the family of officer liu made their trip to the memorial, laying two wreaths. ramos' son justin spoke about his father at an emotional ceremony. >> my father was an incredible man. he was a hero. he was an incredible husband to my mother.

and he was a really dedicated officer. rest in peace, dad. >> reporter: the ramos family came by this memorial again on christmas day yesterday. as you mentioned, the funeral services set for tomorrow. vice president biden is expected to attend. we're still waiting on details on officer liu's funeral services. jetblue, in new york, is offering to fly in members of officer liu's family from china as well as up to two police officers from police departments around the country who want to come here to new york to pay final respects. back to you. >> ron mott in brooklyn, thank you. now to some of the other headlines we are following on this friday morning. protesters used christmas day at ooze day to demonstrate against deadly police shootings. about 150 people flooded the streets in oakland last night, smashing windows and blocking streets and chanting "black lives matter."

saying it has cost the city more than $1 million in overtime so far. in south carolina, police and volunteers are searching for a missing boy with autism. there he is right there, 4-year-old jaden morrison, disappeared while visiting his grandparents in little river, south carolina, from new york. he was last seen christmas eve. his mother said that her son vanished while she was at the store. >> i can't leave and go back to new york and my baby's here. i got to have him back. >> and a mom and her new son are in good condition after a very special delivery on the philadelphia subway. two police officers sprang into action and boarded a train after hearing that a woman was in labor. they helped deliver the baby boy. >> i was hoping for a quiet shift. like, don't we all. but this experience was pleasant. >> everything just happened so quick but it was -- it was

amazing. >> i'll say. how about it. after the break, the post-christmas shopping season is under way. that means a whole lot of returns. we'll take you to the mall to see if there are any early shoppers out grabbing some post christmas deals. and we watched as the u.s. took a giant leap in the space program with the launch of the unmanned orion spacecraft. we'll look at the year in space next.

we are over an hour away i'd say from the opening bell on wall street where investors are hoping the so-called santa claus rally goes into overtime. cnbc's dominic chu joins us from the new port center mall in yeryer jersey city. >> we're still expecting volumes

to be somewhat light here because everyone's still on holiday. we're at record highs for the stock market right now it it's been driven a lot by what's happening, say, on the oil side of the business here. that means consumers are spending a lot more money. and that's why we're here at this mall. if you look at where futures are headed, we are expecting to go higher as well so maybe another record in today's session. that santa claus rally you were talking about it technically starts today, the day after christmas, and goes into the first couple of days in the new year. a huge focus is going to be on consumers. and the reason why is because the u.s. economy is driven by -- more than two-thirds of it is driven by consumer spending. when you, i, all of the viewers out there go and spend money it really helps propelle u.s. economy. now, according to the u.s. energy administration, 2015 will be better in consumer energy

prices. it will spend less on fuel costs. now the issue is whether or not they actually go and spend money at all of these stores in the mall. so a huge deal for consumers on this day after christmas. >> at a mall over in jersey city, thank you. from that major milestone on wall street just a few days ago, getting into -- getting the 18,000, to a whole different stratosphere of record breaking, nbc's ben fogel now with an out of this world look back at 2014. >> and liftoff at dawn. >> reporter: it's been a record breaking year in space. nasa astronaut reid wiseman just back from months at the international space station is excited by the milestones. >> i think we're living right in the middle of this golden age of spaceflight. we just landed on a comet. and now we've flown orion out past lower earth orbit.

>> reporter: the biggest adventure, sending humans to mars. >> we're going to need really reliable life support systems. those are the fundamental building blocks we're learning right now in the space station. i think by then, we're going to know what we need to know to go to mars. >> reporter: mar i may not be just a dream for so much longer. >> we can't go to venus. its sulfuric acid. what is needed is the political determination. >> reporter: time to get ready then for mars. it may well happen in our lifetime. back on earth in the austrian alps, they're testing robots that can deal with extreme martian conditions. >> is the key to colonizing mars is humans and robots working together. >> exactly. it's a partnership. >> reporter: and in the space lab on the austrian space forum,

scientists prep for simulated mars mission. >> this is actually putting on a full life support system that's like having your own ecosystem, your own little earth with you. if one single thing failed, you're busted. >> reporter: small things can create big problems. >> try not to sneeze in the suit. >> this is mission control. you're go. >> can you hear me? that's amazing. >> reporter: on earth, a suit like this weighs around 220 pounds. on mars, with its low gravity, it will be less than half that. i feel quite isolated already in this. what kind person does it take to travel so far to mars? a group of dutch entrepreneurs is looking for that personality. to go to mars on a one-way ticket. that's right, no return. >> because this is a mission of permanent settlement, we will get different applicants.

we're looking for people who want to stay on mars the rest of their lives. >> reporter: there's one real astronaut to take up the challenge. >> 15, 20 years down the road, maybe my wife and i will sign up together and head to mars. >> reporter: a dream that's starting to come into focus. in 2015, space is the place to watch. ben fogel for msnbc in austria. with the new year comes a new congress and a whole new set of challenges. coming up, i'll talk with congressman john yarmouth about working together on what's ahead. also, with all this talk about north korea and the sony hack, we have an interesting guest coming up in just a few minutes. author and journalist suki kim who sat science and technology in north korea to students who didn't even have the internet. stay with us here on msnbc. [ male announcer ] are you so stuffed up, you feel like you're underwater?

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is stirring, not even a mouse. when congress does get back to work in january, that will all change with republicans in charge of both houses. speaker boehner already promising a fight. >> early on, we'll make a challenge to immigration. you can expect that to include real action on border security. the house will restart that work again next month. we'll take that fight to the president on the smallest possible ground with new majorities that the american people elected. >> nbc's carrie dann. what is that fight actually going to look like against the president's immigration executive orders? >> well, good morning, craig. i think one thing that house leaders are mulling is how they want to maybe defund this issue. i think a big key date is

february 27. you remember congress barely getting done in time. except for the department of homeland security, that's going to be until february 27th. that's going to be a proxy war for this funding issue. another thing is in the new year the president has several nominees that he wants confirmed by the senate. that includes the attorney general nominee loretta lynch. that also will become a proxy battle on immigration. and then of course there's the issue of lawsuits. another thing that the house may pursue and is happening as well by the states. challenging the president's executive authority on immigration that way. >> trying to stay positive here, what does get to the president's desk next year that he actually signs into law? >> that's a great question. i think the two things that both sides agree that they want some kind of motion on is trade deals

and maybe some kind of tax reform. both sides agree that both of those systems are broken. the president and house republicans want the president to have additional authority on trade. the white house is working on a big, big trade deal right now. those are two things that i think could get done. if we start off this new congress with a big fight over immigration and a big fight over obamacare, even that low hanging fruit might be hard to find compromise on to get a bill through both houses can agree on. >> nbc news political editor carrie dann, thank you. for more on what we can expect from congress in 2015, let's turn to congressman john yarmouth. thanks for being with me. what do you see the biggest challenge ahead for the republicans in charge of both the house and senate? >> well, i think primarily the biggest challenge the

republicans are going to face is resisting the urge to overreach. i think, you know, what we've seen over the last congress was consistent efforts to repeal the affordable care act or to undermine it. to eliminate environmental protections. to weaken labor unions. if they stay on that agenda, and don't focus on a positive agenda to help middle class america, then i think that's their biggest challenge. because there's a real risk of their doing that. the other thing we're facing, craig, is the next budget year, which starts on september -- on october 1st of 2015, we're stilled to return to what we called sequestration, these across the board budget cuts. i think there's a real risk that if we do that, we damage a lot of the momentum created in the economy. >> that last point you raise is something i don't think a lot of folks realize.

we just played something, it gets mentioned a lot, the idea of border security. you correct me if i'm wrong. aren't our borders considerably more secure than they were five years ago? >> there's absolutely no question about it. illegal border crossings are about laugh half of what they w. i was part of the group of eight in the house, the bipartisan group, that worked on immigration reform during the last congress. our texas members basically said we wouldn't know where to put more border guards now. there's a possibility of using more technology to secure the border but you're absolutely right, the border is more security than it's ever been? >> what's behind the move to spend more money on border security? what's the real goal here? >> this has become a talking point of the republicans in congress when they're trying to explain why they won't do comb prehence itch immigration

reform. the mantra is we need to security the borders first before we do the other things. before worrying about the undocumented ingrants. employer enforcement and so forth. the border is very secure. if we're looking for zero border crossings, that's never going to happen. it would be explaining why they're not doing a comprehensive bill. i hope speaker boehner, when he's talking about overturning the president's action, means that we'll legislate in that area, because that's what they've been challenging for two years now. >> let's talk about some other ambitious moves. the moves to open cuba. the renewed effort to start closing gitmo. how do you see all of that, especially the resistance he's gotten so far on cuba?

>> i think probably workwise, people will look at the polls on this. the majority of the american people support the president's move. the policy we have in place, as i think the president very compellingly made the case is, we've been doing the same thing for 50 years and it hasn't worked. we need to try something different. the rest of the world is engaged in cuba now. i was there three years ago and went to the reception where there was like 15 ambassadors from all our allies. the uk, canada, france, the scandinavian cubs. they're all doing diplomacy in cuba now. we're not. it's kind of like what's wrong with this picture. so i think the republicans have limited options as your reporter explained. limited options to counter what the president's done. i think they risk alienating a lot of people if they try to move legislatively. the president has the authority

to do what he's done on the cuba situation. >> congressman yarmouth from kentucky, congressman, thank you. >> you're welcome, good to be with you. coming up after the break, didn't get what you wanted this holiday season? fear not. we're going to talk to retail expert about how hard it might be to return that sweater from grandma that you don't really like. and how retailers are waiting for you to come in and spend that gift card you got.

just as retailers recover from the last minute christmas shopping frenzy, now comes the onslaught of returns. stores bracing for an estimated $20 billion in returns this holiday season. that's according to forrester research. since you're in the store, well, you might as well redeem those gift cards. at least that's what merchants are hoping for. the national retail federation estimates nearly $32 billion, billion, worth of gift cards were stuffed into stockings or placed under the tree this year.

usa today contributor regina lewis is here. chances are most people got something that did not quite fit or wasn't their style or was just hideous and they didn't want it at all. how hard or easy is it going to be for them to make a return? >> well, they want to make it easy because it's actually an opportunity, craig, for retailers. they know they can build brand loyalty by handling that transaction fairly effortlessly. don't view it as an interrogati interrogation. they want you in that store. if they handle it well, odds are you're going to use that credit. you're going to say, before i leave, why don't i just look at the sales rack. and you'll end up spending. it really is a win for consumers. a lot of the stores opened at 6:00, 7:00 a.m. this morning. i'd go sooner rather than later. be armed with an identification. so your driver's license. again, not because it's an integration, because they are trying to guard against fraud, which costs the industry $4

billion a year. and they have a third party that is trying to find serial returners. but if that's not you, it should be a pleasant experience. >> serial returners, who are these people? >> these are people who, frankly, are trying to get cash. so they steal stuff and try to return it to get money. that's a small percentage of people. the reason some of these checks and balances are in place is because of that. the other category that's tricky is electronics. you hear about restocking fees. and that's because once you open it, the manufacturers, the dels and samsungs of the world, don't allow the best buys of the world to sell it as new. they have to capture that some way and that's why there's a 15% restocking fee. >> brick and mortar returns. those are designed to be easy. what about online returns? >> it's similar. here's where people go wrong. they'll see a prepaid return label and they think, fantastic. and it is, because it's very convenient. doesn't make it free. just because it's prepaid doesn't mean it's zero cost. what happens is if it's a $20

item and you've returned it, they deduct the $6 shipping when they credit your account so you'll get $14 back. they pmake it easy. the macies of the world have an advantage. people who have brick and mortar. because you can order online. if you keep all the packaging, you can go to the store and return it there. >> let's talk about my favorite gift. gift cards. as we mentioned, some $32 billion worth of gift cards out there. what kind of deals can we expect from retailers to entice folks to use those gift cards? >> a lot. i would say, you know, on black friday it was 15% off. the new number's 70% off. you have a lot of buying power. i also think people lose them frankly. so take a picture of the gift card. make sure you know the number so you have a track record. you have a lot of buying power today. people are buying for themselves. i say use them before you lose them.

>> i've got gift cards from 3, 4 years ago. every few months, i just go, oh, there's this gift card. rejij th regina lewis, "usa today," always learn something from you. russia offering to support north korea amid the recent sony hacking scandal. the fbi has blamed bepyongyang for the recent cyber breach but north korea denies any involvement. for a perspective now on life inside north korea, i'm joined by suki kim. she chronicled her experience teaching english in a new memoir, "without you, there is no us." thank you for being with us. you taught at a private university in pyongyang. you were there for six months. >> yes, i was -- i mean, i went undercover into north korea. and ended up teaching the sons of elite who were aged 19 and 20. in a sort of walled compound guarded by the military. >> what was life like there? what was it like for you?

>> none of us were allowed out. so it was heavily guarded. it was highly, highly regimented. my students are all -- they're the future leaders of north korea. they weren't really allowed out except doing endless great leader duties from 5:30 -- >> great leader duties? >> yes, many, many. they had to take classes on great leader every day. they have to guard the great leader building. there was a great leader building on the campus. they have to watch the great leader tower. >> when you say great leader, you're referring to kim jong-un? >> all three generationings. the three generations have all been called the great leer at one point or another. it's a role. the great leader is a role. great leader flowers, you know, the whole world revolves around the great leader. >> how do they view this country? >> an enemy, their number one country. >> even the children of these elites? >> absolutely. i think america is always considered the enemy.

on the human level, because i really fell in love with them, i mean, they are just like you and me also. and i think, you know, they also adored me on a human level. so it's like a two -- it's a contrast. they've always been taught to hate america but, you know, they also don't know america because they're not allowed to ever move within the country or leave the country. >> so much was made in this country, a few days ago, with regards to, you know, the outage in north korea as well. when their internet went down. i don't know if a lot of folks realize there's people who have internet access, correct? >> correct. it's usually the diplomats. or my students, the students of science and technology. i taught them english. but they did not know the existence of the internet at all. they'd never heard of it. >> how do you teach technology without internet access? >> the science teachers find a way around it. the whole trick is never to let them know anything about the

internet. then they would find out the rest of the world is not like north korea. >> last week, obviously, the continued fallout from the sony hack scandal, what do you make of that? >> the sony hack scandal, whether north korea did it or not, you know, fbi says they did it, north korea denies it. essentially, what i find really tragic from that whole thing is it's not that funny. i don't find -- it's a gulag nation. the whole thing is going to the international criminal court. it's been referred to by the u.n. as the worst place in the world for violence against human rights. it's been going on for 60 years. millions of people are dying from persecution. i don't know if it's okay to make jokes about that. i personally have no sense of humor when it comes to north korea. >> suki kim, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. still ahead here on msnbc, protest and prayer over the holiday after the fatal police shooting of an 18-year-old in

missouri. just five miles away from where it all went down in ferguson. up next, how this case differs from the police involved deaths here in new york city as well. 24/7 it's just i'm a little reluctant to try new things. what's wrong with trying new things? feel that in your muscles? yeah... i do... try a new way to bank, where no branches equals great rates.

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a peaceful protest on christmas day in berkeley, missouri, just days after the mayor there called for calm in the wake of another police shooting. 18-year-old antonio martin killed by a police officer at a gas station. this is some security video released later by authorities that they say shows the man pointing a gun at the officer. just five miles from ferguson, missouri. but officials are adamant this is different. because they say this man was pointing a gun. they also say the demographics are vastly different from the

demographics in that area. i know you've seen video from berkeley. is it clear what happens from what you see in that video? >> well, from the totality of the circumstances released by the mayor and the video, and the police chief there, i think it is property yetty clear. the officer arrives. he's basically using his flashlight and he's talking to some people standing around. and the one person who eventually dies starts moving back and then you see his arm come out which looks like he's holding a pistol. and the officer fires and hits him one time. he fires three shot, strikes him one time. of course, he is -- the deceased young man had a .9 mill liter pistol with an obliterated serial number, that in itself is a crime, and he had prior arrests for robberies, so forth.

this is a justified use of force by police. he has to defend his own life. so it's a justified use of force. >> regardless of existence of security video it does seem, you know, any police shooting now sparks questions. what can police do to assure that communities not just in missouri, not just here in new york city but everywere, what can they do to ensure that, you know, these communities feel safe, that they don't question -- they don't question the loyalty of the police? >> right, craig. first, you know, involvement with the community leaders, constant communication every day before these events happen. when the event does happen, police commanders, mayors, have to release facts fast. traditionally in law enforcement we want to hold everything. we want to have the investigation, you know, no comments in regards to investigation, but really what you have to do is release major pertinent facts. the first question i always ask when i hear a police shooting is

was the person who's injured by police, was the person armed. that's the first question i always ask. did he have a gun or a knife or was he unarmed. because that's where you begin your inquiry. people have to at least give the police a little time to get that information out and the police have to give the information out. at least major pertinent facts. >> diversity of the police force, a critical question in ferguson. the berkeley mayor is black. he pointed out a large percentage of officers in berkeley, missouri, are also black. how critical is diversifying police forces? how critical is that to building up more trust? >> it's absolutely critical. i mean, police have to be diversified and represent the community at large. the neighborhood, everybody, they can't be a force that comes in from another place. of course, ultimately, it's what's in your heart. people can read that. they can read what's in your

heart. but the force has to be diversified. so they understand what's going on in their town and their community. and people will respond to that. they're not particularly picking on one officer because of the color of his skin. but they don't want to be you treated as different than where the police come from. so it needs to be -- come from within the neighborhood. >> i want to get your take on body cameras. there's been a great deal of talk over the past few months about officers wearing body cameras in this country. how much of a difference would that make? would that remove all ambiguity? >> well, there's always going to be questions because cases get very complicated because i'm a great fan of body cameras. i wish i had them when i was a uniform officer. for good officers, they're going to really make the difference. they're going to show most times use of force is justified. bad officers will show up quick. and citizens are going to demand it. you were on the ground in ferguson. you saw what was going on out

there. you dealt with police and citizens. there's nothing wrong with having a body camera because these answers can come quicker. we can get down to whether it was justified or not. then we can go from there. >> it just seems like a no brainer. i guess i just don't understand why there's much of a debate over it. jim cavanaugh, thank you so much, sir. always good to see you. that is going to wrap up our coverage. then at the top of the hour, among the stories we're following, "the interview," the reviews are coming in. just as a separate hack shuts down sony's playstation network. details on that straight ahead. today marks a somber date in indonesia. and several other indian nations as well. it has been ten years since that tsunami killed hundreds of thousands. we're going to take a look back in our next hour. 

good news/bad news for sony

today. long lines and sold out theaters to see a controversial film about north korea. what's the bad news? details on another hack. the long road home. a look at what the weekend weather holds as the holiday rush works in reverse. ten years later, the remarkable scenes of recovery after one the most devastating national disasters in recent history. >> it's a so mamber day for thew york city police force today. as it prepares to hold a wake for one of the officers gunned down in an ambush. the family will honor him with a funeral on saturday. a makeshift memorial has been drawing crowds since the shooting six days ago. ramos' son spoke about his father's commitment to the police department and his family. >> he was an incredible father

to me. >> nypd has announced a total of six arrests of people accused of threatening police officers. a seventh man was arrested while he was overheard on his cell phone making threats against police. nbc's adam reese joins me now from queens in new york where the wake is scheduled for later this afternoon. adam. >> the wake begins at 7:00. we're expecting hundreds, if not thousands, of mourners to join the family. offic officer ramos was an usher. he was part of the life ministry. he was also part of the marriage ministry. the reverend said he was a real family man. always talking about his children. always willing to help out with an infectious smile. now, on wednesday, his wife and son went to the 84th precinct where he worked, met with his

fellow officers, thanked them for their support and they cleaned out his locker. at the same time, officer liu's family went to the memorial. they knelt in prayer. they left two wreaths. one for officer ramos, the other for officer liu. both officers will be promoted posthumously. officer ramos will be laid to rest here tomorrow with the mayor and the police commissioner in attendance. >> thank you very much. sony's dealing with another headache this morning as sony's playstation and microsoft's xbox live gaming networks were disrupted yesterday. a hacker group called lizard squad is taking responsibility for the attack. it doesn't appear this latest hack is related to the hollywood cyber breach last week. nbc's holly jackson has the latest. >> i never heard of microsoft ever getting hacked before.

>> today, gamers are hoping to log back on to xbox and playstation after a disturbing christmas outage that had many lighting up social media to complain. xbox acknowledged the service problems and playstation tweeted engineers are investigating. a hacker group called lizard squad is taking responsibility for the network crash. with one twitter account boasting, we truly are the grinch. >> what the heck just happened? >> the outages happened the same day as the big screen debut of "the interview," raising questions about whether the crash is a coincidence or something more. sony owns both playstation and the studio that made the controversial comedy. xbox is one of the platforms streaming the movie. >> we got the interview. >> right now, there's no indication it is connected to the earlier cyberattack against sony. that hacker group called itself guardians of peace and appeared to threaten retaliation if sony allowed the interview to go public. but it did in a big way.

with sellout crowds from coast to coast. the film's co-stars saluting those who showed up. >> if it wasn't for people like you guys this literally would not be [ muted ] happening right now. >> with reviews rolling in. >> hilarious in a stupid way. >> i'm a big fan of rogan and franco. but it's as much, if not more so, freedom of speech issue. >> that was nbc's holly jackson reporting. we can find out box office numbers soon for "the interview." some early predictions are the movie will only earn a fraction of what the top grossing movies will make because it's playing in just a fraction of the theaters. several states are under a winter storm warning this post christmas week. montana and idaho could get hit with several inches of snow. looking ahead to new year's, we

could see a severe plunge in temperature to kick off 2015. nbc meteorologist dominica davis has more. >> we're back to talking about the cold. we took a little bit of a break from it in december. it is going to come back before the new year. first, let's start with those winter storm warnings and advisories. they are posted from the rockies up through the upper midwest. so really stretching right now our advisory from new mexico all the way to minnesota. we're still looking at warning in parts of utah and colorado. and even new mexico, where they could see upwards of an additional foot of snow. here's a look at friday's forecast. the snow continues to come down through the rockies, all the way up through the upper midwest. this will move through the east through the course of the weekend. we are looking at showers and possibly some thunderstorms down from the south, to the gulf to the southeast, as we push in later to the weekend as well. temperatures are still feeling mild but this will change as we

go into the new year. here's that arctic air. remember we were talking about that right before thanksgiving. it is coming back. it will be plunging down into the lower 48. and that means we will start to see temperatures drop right around tuesday. so really just before new year's eve. places like st. louis will fall from 42 to 27 degrees for the high. and new york city will fall to 37 by tuesday. and that will just be the tip of the cold air. because it will certainly be a very chilly 2015 start. back to you. >> time to bundle up. thank you very much for that update. a spokesman says former president george h.w. bush is in great spirits after spending another day in the hospital. the 90-year-old bush was taken to houston methodist hospital tuesday. he was experiencing shortness of breath. yesterday, he got a christmas visit from wife barbara and son

neil bush. two years ago, he spent christmas in the same hospital being treated. up next, many travelers this holiday season are welcoming the low gas prices across the country. some places under $2 a gallon. how long or how low will it go and how long will it last for? i'll talk with an oil expert after the break. and it's been ten year since the indian ocean tsunami killed more than 200,000 people. we'll take a look at what's changed in the region. and what hasn't. next. ould be ould 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.

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developing now, the u.s. military just announced the u.s. and its allies staged 31 air strikes on isis in iraq and syria today. the strikes today using fighter bomber and remotely piloted

strikes. we'll talk to general mccaffrey later this hour about all of that. now we want to turn our attention to some oil prices. for more than three straight months of daily drops in the price of gasoline. aaa says the average price is now $2.32. that's down from 2.81 a month ago. and 3.27 a year ago. it's all due to the free fall in oil prices. let's bring in oil expert tom klosa. i think the question everyone's going to ask is how low can they drop. >> i think we'll see two of every ten people will be able to buy for less than $2 a gallon this winter. it may rally a little bit into the spring as it typically does. we're looking at generational change and a much, much cheaper 2015 than any of the previous

four years. i mean, these are really going to help. you look at an individual right now that are paying about 90 or $100 less than they paid in may or june. you look at a new, it's like a car payment. >> how cheap do you think we'll see it go down? >> i don't think you'll see the real cheap numbers first. we're seeing anywhere from $1.68 to $2. an awful lot of people can find it at those numbers. it will probably recover somewhere between martin luther king day and easter sunday. in the second two-thirds of the year, we could see some numbers we haven't seen virtually for the entire century. because we're talking about an opec meeting that could be just complete abject failure in june. >> talk to us about the big picture. what is the residual effect on the overall economy when prices of gas are so low at the pump? >> if you're not an investor or you're not involved in oil or gas drilling, you're not a beneficiary.

you're talking somewhat between $100 billion one-time savings. with diesel prices it filters down into the economy and we should see less deflation on a lot of food and items that gets shipped around the country. we're seeing lower jet fuel prices. for some reason, that doesn't drift down to you or i. the fares remain high and the size remains small. >> why are we seeing this dramatic drop? the middle east certainly still in some sur moyle. how do we make sense of why the prices are so low? >> there's too much oil. the saudis, the kuwaitis, the united arab emirates are tired of cutting when the other members of opec do not cut. and they probably perceive north american shale as a long-term threat to their survival. they can withstand prices of $20, $30 a barrel for six, seven, eight years. so the long game is being played by the saudis and some of the

other arab gulf countries. >> and we're going to talk about this, but why do we not see this spill over to air travel? >> i think that's the closest thing to a complaint. i don't think we should take it sitting down. i think we should really call our politicians and say, look, they're seeing jet fuel prices one-half of where they were last year. give me some leg room. or give me some -- >> literally, some people would want the leg room on some of those planes. >> absolutely. i think we're entitled to it. we should hold them responsible. >> tom klosa, take care. >> christmas, 2004, an epic natural disaster. a massive earthquake just off the coast of western indonesia triggered the deadliest tsunami in recorded history. memorial services are being held all across asia today. indonesia. the vice president led a delegation of officials would prayed and laid flowers at a grave where thousands of the

victims were buried. it was also the hardest hit. at least 100,000 people died in banda awe shea. >> it was december 2004. ten years ago. when the world woke up to mother nature at her worst. a tsunami like no one had ever imagined. that killed more than 230,000. and left entire cities flattered. >> it said that over 1,000 bodies clogged the waters beneath this bridge and they're still pulling bodies out today, nine days later. >> ten years later on this very same bridge, it's almost unrecognizable here. business as usual on the streets. they say that yes, they have

recovered. after a decade, the scars are healing. the economy rebounding. and life is going on. everything back in its place, almost. he was fishing when the wave came in. he found his home and 26 members of his family, including his son, daughter and wife, gone. >> first love, only love. >> the oldest, away in bali, was the only one left. >> the first thing that i said or actually asked him was where's my mother. and where's my brother and sister. and then he said, suchi, let it go. >> now it's in her 1-year-old shawn that she sees the face of her lost brother.

>> normally here and here. >> in the days after, he described how he ran with his 5-day-old daughter under his arm. today, nami, nicknamed for tsunami, is 10. acro acro across ache, the memory of that day is strong, but then again so is its future. >> heartfelt scenes there. president obama prepared for a military milestone while visiting with troops in hawaii. in just a week, the u.s. mission in afghanistan officially ends. but what will the troops be leaving behind? i'll talk with former congressman and iraq war veteran patrick murphy next.

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it's not going to be a source of terrorist attacks again. with just days to go before the december 31st deadline, for most u.s. troops to leave afghanistan, the president and first lady took a break from their vacation in hawaii to visit with american troops celebrating christmas at a nearby marine base. the end of the year will be a symbolic end to the 13-year mission. about 11,000 troops will remain to help with training and advisory roles and afghanistan is still a volatile country with suicide attacks claiming the lives of a busful of afghanistan soldiers just last week. joining me now, former u.s. representative patrick murphy an msnbc contributor. i want to start off by asking you in his christmas speech president obama called the drawdown a, quote, responsible end. do you agree? >> i do agree. and it's about time the afghan people stood up for their own country.

everyone knows, as you said before, we need a political solution. we need to let them lead their own country. we are leaving a residual force in the first part of twi2015. this is important because they're coming off probably the most violent year. this past year, over 34,000 of an over 4,000 afghan police and soldiers have been killed. it is time to bring our troops home. we have hot spots around the world. several thousand troops in afghanistan. i'm sorry, in iraq and also in africa fighting ebola. so when hot spots come up, it's always the american military that's asked to respond but now it's time to bring our troops home from afghanistan. >> patrick, what's your take on

the latest revision of this drawdown? they're going to leave an additional 1,000 soldiers, more in that country than originally planned. you were highlighting the fact this past year has been one of the deadliest in afghanistan. are we leaving the country in good shape or is it worse than when we went in? >> well, it depends on how you look at it. are the taliban, are your afghan girls going to school? yes. is the taliban still in control? no. is it a safe haven for al qaeda and extremist groups to launch attacks against america and other countries from there? no. is it daily violence? probably worse in afghanistan? yes, unfortunately. but there's only so much we can do, aymon. our men and women have lost so much. we've lost over 2,000 american men and women who have served their country over there. now it is time to bring them home. and, you know, the residual troop level for a temporary

measure is fine but it is time to start bringing them home. >> the navy just announced an investigation into robert o'neil, the s.e.a.l. who says he killed osama bin lad be, claiming he revealed classified information. >> the administration's been clear since day one. they do not have any tolerance for people who break the law. you take an oath to serve the country. you take an oath not to disclose secret or classified information. and they're investigating whether or not that happened or not. you know, hopefully that's not the case. if it is the case, then he's going to be held accountable. we have in our country and including the military justices, the principle of the rule of law, which means no one is above the law. >> i want to also get your comments briefly. on sunday, you'll take to a former sniper on taking the hill. this is in the headlines now

with "american sniper" in theaters. what can we expect on sunday? >> this sunday, we have u.s. senator joe donnelly talking about veterans committing suicide. also, the american sniper, the movie's out. he was the most lethal sniper in american history. over 160 confirmed kills. we have a navy s.e.a.l. sniper that knew him that was at his funeral that will be live with us. to talk about his life, his legacy, the movie. and the way forward. >> patrick murphy, thanks for joining us. don't forget to taking the hill on sunday right here on msnbc. we're under five minutes from the opening bell. the dow closing above 18,000 on the shortened trading day on wednesday. will the santa claus rally continue? plus, we'll take you inside the real-life alpha house. as lawmaker roommates move out of their frat boy home away from home. that's next on msnbc.

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a live look here at the new york stock exchange floor where we're just seconds away from the start of the trading day. the opening bell, there you hear it, is just about to ring. in fact, it is ringing as well as wall street wraps up a christmas shortened trading week. players coaches and staff from both penn state and boston college, who will be participating in the new era pinstripe bowl at yankee stadium tomorrow. with more on the day ahead on wall street, let's bring in cnbc's michelle caruso-cabrera. good morning. happy holidays. what are investors focused on? >> the fact we're probably at another record this morning. remember the dow closing above 18,000. it looks like we'll have another strong session this morning. at least that's what the futures indicated. right now, if we see a positive open, it's going to suggest that momentum continues at least today. it's a regular trading session today. the thing we're focused on is

retail sales. it looked like there's a late surge. if that continues today, because remember, 8% of the holiday sales now october actually occur after christmas. that's a big driver of the retail stocks we follow frequently. especially significant because of the plummeting gas prices. also having a big impact as well. it can literally translate to millions of dollars. we'll wait to see if oil stays low. >> a lot of people are going to looking to the year ahead. what do forecasters say about 2015? >> we had a gang buster year this year. when you look at the average of what forecasters are thinking, to gain for the s&p 400, maybe around 6%, what they call high

single digits, considering the last two years, have been strong. maybe not as strong as the previous two. forecasters frequently get it wrong. it's impossible to predict certain things. nobody predicted gasoline prices would fall -- or oil prices would fall 40% in a single year. >> we'll certainly be watching it. cnbc's michelle caruso-cabrera, thank you. we're opening in the green. from wall street to washington, the improving economy will be in focus in 2015. let's bring in republican strategist and former bush 41 aide joe watkins and msnbc contributor and executive editor of blue nation review, jimmy williams. joe, 2014 is seending on a very strong note. the economy grew by 5% over the summer. unemployment is at 5.8%. will republicans be able to find common ground with the president to keep this recovery going in 2015? >> i certainly hope so. those are a lot of good strong

indicators. we still have some challenges left with long-term unemployment. certainly with the workforce participation rate. we'd like to see more people get back into the workforce, looking for jobs and then finding them. we want to make sure as many people as possible can make the wages they used to make because we've got some people who are employed but they're underemployed. all the indicators are looking good. republicans and democrats have worked well together at points in the past. bill clinton did well with the republican house and senate back in the 1990s. got a lot done for the country. hopefully that can happen now. >> jimmy, the economy, not everyone is necessarily benefiting from the improved situation. most notably, wages have been flat. what's the challenge for the white house in trying to address this? >> well, i mean, it's two fold. i think the congress should work with the president to raise the minimum wage. states are doing this.

where that's happening, we're finding where it doesn't just affect those making the minimum wage but those above them. i think that's important. the congress should step up on a federal level to make sure that happens in the states that have not done that. secondly, the white house hasn't really -- corporate america needs to pony up here. corporate profits have never been higher in the history of the country. if that's the case, that means they're hoarding a ton of cash. they should probably do something that's economic pat o patriotism and pay their people more. wages are flat. that is not a good sign. but corporate profits are up. stock market is up. unemployment's down. what is the one lag? as you said, wages. so corporate america needs to do this. this is not the congress' responsibility. >> is it realistic for corporate america -- >> yes, they've done it in the past. and it will help if the congress and white house work together to pass a minimum wage that corporate america can handle. >> what kind of impact do you

think all of this improving economy will have on the 2016 presidential race? obviously the economy and politics go hand-in-hand. >> of course all politics are local. we don't know what the issues will be come 2016. if we project ahead one year and we have the same challenges and we see the economy getting better, obviously, the economy won't be the riding issue, it will be other things. it could be energy. lord knows what it might be. clearly, it depends on also who the field is. i mean, right now, it looks as if there really is no serious opposition to secretary hillary clinton. if she chooses to run for the presidency, the democratic side of the aisle, she's a lock to win the nomination. there are a number of great candidates who are interested and probably more to come, yet to announce. so it's still yet undetermined. >> and jimmy how important is the improving economy for hillary clinton's 2016

prospects? >> i think it helps. it doesn't hurt her under any circumstances. i mean, if you look at what happened with -- take president bush senior. the economy was one of the main driving reasons why he lost. obviously, that then turned around and that helped propel bill clinton into a second term. and so i think when you have an economy that is doing well, is roaring, if you will, and growing, that certainly helps -- listen, the president's numbers are up. we see that. that's obvious. the question becomes, will there be obama fatigue? will the economy allay that fear? because we do know after a two-titwo - two-term president, there's always fatigue for the outgoing president and his party. i just don't know if that will translate to hillary clinton. i think people see her as a separate entity, per se. >> do republicans have to -- even if it is grudgingly, that

president obama guided the country through one of the greatest economic crisis ever? if the president got it wrong, this country would not have seen 5% gdp growth, right? >> that's a good thing. that could be one of the legacies of the obama presidency if the economy continues to improve, as more americans are employed. that's something the president can claim he got done during his two terms as president of the united states. whether you're a democrat, republican, you have to give credit to people where credit is due. clearly, if that continues to be the case, this person will get the credit for having helped the economy improve during difficult times. whether or not that's going to impact the people that run on his side of the aisle in the 2016 cycle is anybody's guess. if republicans have strong candidates, as i suspect they will, people like jeb bush or chris christie, rand paul and some others, we don't know yet what the outcome might be. we thing the republicans will have a good chance in the 2016

cycle. >> joe watkins and jimmy williams, thank you both for joining us this morning. it's the end of an era on capitol hill. we're not talking about the change in leadership. a group of powerful democratic lawmakers who have lived together in a rundown rowhouse near the capital for decades are going their separate ways. nbc's kelly o'donnell was there as the lawmakers packed up their stuff and said good-bye. >> for more than three decades, this charming spot has been home to a high-powered, but lovingly low rent, congressional frat house. who's the messyist? you, senator shumer? >> i am. >> reporter: senior senate democratic leaders by day. >> that's where i sleep. >> reporter: new york's chuck schumer keeps a rumpled bed squeezed in next to the kitchen. why do you guys live like frat boys? >> it's close. it's affordable. and it's been a good pleasant social -- i'm the newby. >> reporter: the new guy, illinois senator dick durbin,

arrived 22 years ago. >> is the first piece of furniture my wife and i bought when we were married. >> reporter: george miller bought the place in the 1970s. >> he is the best landlord anyone could have. >> i've subsidized him for years. >> low rent. >> reporter: check out the record collection. yes, lps. linda ronstadt still on the shelf. relishing the rougher edges, miller makes sure i don't miss the rat traps. >> maybe a dozen of those around the house and they go off every now and then. >> reporter: this lawmaker lodging inspired the amazon series "alpha house." >> good morning, renters, first of the month. >> i'm good. >> me, too. >> no, you're not. >> reporter: the real-life cast once included former defense secretary but then congressman leon panetta. >> this will be panetta's bed. >> reporter: the arrangement never involved cooking. >> that's it. >> reporter: the fridge holds beer, wine and mustard.

smithsonian i believe is calling for this. >> that's -- george washington used that tea pot. >> reporter: this month, miller retired. he sold the house. schumer and durbin will move on separately. >> 22 years under the same roof. most marriages don't last that long. >> reporter: a sentimental surprise came at the end of our visit. they realize this was their real sendoff. >> bye, george. >> reporter: roommates no more. the band is breaking up. >> that house could probably be put in the national historic preservation society. nbc's kelly o'donnell, thanks for that. mccain and obama visit troops at home and abroad just days before the u.s. officially ends combat operations in afghanistan. retired army general mccaffrey joins me after the break to talk about what the u.s. needs to do to ensure progress in the country doesn't move backwards after u.s. troops leave. if i can impart one lesson to a

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officially end. ahead of that mile stone, republican senator john mccain made a christmas day visit to kabul and will travel to iraq later today. while on their vacation in hawaii, the president and first lady made a visit to marine corps base in hawaii, thanking the troops for their work in afghanistan. making the world a safer place. >> the world is better. it's safer. it's more peaceful. it's more prosperous. and our homeland is protected because of you. and because of the sacrifices you make each and every day. >> joining me now is msnbc military analyst and retired u.s. army general barry mccaffrey. good morning. happy holidays. general what does -- >> same to you. >> thank you. what does the president need to do in order to make sure afghanistan does not become the source of future terrorist attacks once our combat troops leave? >> clearly, our leverage is going down dramatically as the u.s. forces leave. the one fatal error we would

make is to turn off the flow of economic and military aid to the afghan security forces. if they can't pay these troops, they immediately go to all-oall civil war. that's really the key going forward. the small number of troops we'll leave and u.s. air power probably will have a positive stabilizing influence to some extent. >> we're keeping 11,000 troops behind obviously in a bit of an advisory role but still very much subject to a lot of danger and a lot of risk. so how realistic is it when we say we are winding down combat operations, that this may shift the psyche out of the american public's mind that we don't have troops there? >> well, it's a good caution, you know, i've been wounded twice as an adviser in vietnam. so i'm not unmindful. this is a continuing combat mission. but i think the bottom line is the big war with u.s. marine and army combat units is over. our casualties have gone down

dramatically. almost nonexistence. the poor afghan army and police have suffered some 5,000 killed, 2014. and over 10,000 civilians. so the war is heating up. it's turning into an all-out ethnic civic struggle. >> a bleak assessment. i want to shift to the subject of isis. we're just learning the u.s. and partner nations conducted 31 new air strikes against the terrorist group today in syria be an iraq. what is our strategy in 2015 against the terrorist group look like as the fighting continues in places, in both iraq and syria? >> well, general, our central command joint commander, has now got a bunch of allies, including asian nations. so we're in there with air power. we're in there with 3,000-plus combat troops as advisers and liaison officers on the ground

in iraq. the agency's helply involved. i think isis has been temporarily stopped in their expansion. they're not doing well. there's no drinking water in mosul. this giant iraqi city. so to some extent, the last three months has been positive to stop this inexorable momentum of isis. >> how does isis' inability to govern help them or degrade their ability to degrade that territory where they've had such a strong hold? >> well, they're clearly unable to provide government services. most of the giant iraqi population now under isis control, mostly sunni muslim. the salaries are still being paid by iraqis, not isis. doesn't appear to me the caliphate is going to work at all. they're still a terrorizing force. they're clearly the main

opposition to assad in syria. and the way forward's unclear. we don't have a lot of leverage. i think the sunni nations that surround iraq and syria have to sort out are they going to tolerate continued economic to support isis from their own populations, or are they going to rally around, see them as an effective threat to their own stability? it's not going to look very good in the coming year. >> have we lost sight of the fight in syria against the assad regime? are we just now too preoccupied with isis? >> well, i think we have. almost totally at odds missions here. are we trying to bring down assad whose principal enemy now are both al qaeda and isis factions in syria or not? and i think de facto we become almost an uncoordinated ally of

the assad regime. they're probably pretty pleased with the outcome. i'm not sure what the options are. was an immediate threat to iraq. >> general, thank you develop. we'll be talking later to you. still ahead on msnbc, the cost of flying is still sky high. we'll talk about what's behind the disconnect and when we may see prices come down next. we used to have so many empty rolls! mom! that's why we switched to charmin ultra mega roll. charmin ultra mega roll is 75% more absorbent so you can use less with every go. plus it even lasts longer than the leading thousand sheet brand. charmin ultra mega roll.

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as many of you prepare to head home you're far from alone. aaa is preincompetedicting with 99 million americans traveling this season up 4% from last year. it's a good year for airlines. profits way up. at least three of the major airlines this past quarter. what about the travel consumer? for more on that and travel predictions for 2015 let's bring

in gabe sagglia. good morning. happy holidays. the airline industry you're predicting is making $25 billion in profit next year. many americans are wondering with fallen gas prices will it translate to falling prices at the airport? >> the quick answer is no. at least not any time soon. the fact of the matter is, the biggest factor there's no major incentive for the airlines to bring air fare pricing down because we are flying. the demand is up. demand has steadily been up. strong numbers in the capacity and the number of airplanes they're putting in rotation, the number of airline seats being available strategically limited. that's keeping air fare up. we're still complaining about it around the holiday table. we're still flying and we're still, you know, paying the higher fares. and the incentive is in there. the industry is telling us that

obviously they're committed to contracts and probably not expire for another three to six month finance may be the mid 2015 we'll start to see a bit of a noticeable drop in air fare pricing. right now the demand is such that the incentive is not there. >> with the economy getting better people have more cash to dispose of. let's talk about 2015 and destinations travel zoo is predicting starts with brazil. the world cup was there this past summer. summer olympics will be there. >> more than 1100,000 americans travelled to see the world cup. i think that surprised brazil. they realized the u.s. market is big. 2015 is the sweet spot between the world cup and the 2016 olympicss. there's a push to drive travel out of the u.s. into brazil. between now and late next year, we're looking at about 400 brand new hotels opening up throughout

brazil. it will lead to more hotel rooms which should bring pricing down. across the board 2015 will be an affordable year compared to year's past. >> you don't have to travel oversays to get good deals. what does the hotel industry in places see in austin and stone? >> texas hill country on the list. it you know what is going on in areas outside austin, san antonio, houston is big. the culinary scene, the wine scene is big. we have at least six brand new hotels opening up in texas country next year. and marriott, opening up brand new hotels in the region to inkreei incentivize travel down there. the influx of people moving into the area ticked up nicely. i think it will will be met by more hotel rooms. >> and place i've been to many

times before dubai the world expo it's getting bigger and more luxurious. what happens there in 2015? >> yeah. earlier they saw the lowest tourism numbers in 18 years. there's plenty of dubai travel companies to kick up the value and deals. we're looking by 2020 we'll see the biggest arnirport opening i dub dubai. i think we'll see good deals. >> gabe, thank you very much. happy trails in the new year to the travelers out there. that wraps up this hour on msnbc. i'm ayman mohyeldin. my colleague, craig melvin picks up coverage at the tom of the hour. the interview overs in theaters an online. the reviews are coming in as a separate hack shuts down sony's play station network. glfs it a white christmas for people in california syria mountains. while in buffalo powerful winds caused major damage to buildings

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a hack asack on sony. this time it disrupts the games people play. the details on where there's any release of the interview. >> we've been in continuous war now for almost 13 years, for over 13 years, and next week we'll be ending our combat mission in afghanistan. >> the longest war. president obama with new remarks on troops leaving afghanistan. is it really over? >> ten years after the catastrophic tsunami in the indian ocean killed more than 230,000 people, a look how the hardest hit area has recovered. good morning to you on this friday. i'm craig melvin in new york. microsoft's xbox said it's online after an apparent hacking

disrupted the gaming network along with sony play stations. so far there does not seem to be a link between yesterday's incident and the original cyber breach at sony last week. the gaming outages came on the same day the film the interview opened in theaters amid controversy over free speech. we continue to follow the story. the update one of the gaming networks is up, the other app r appears to be struggling. is that right? >> that's a right. xbox is the good news back up and running with a exception of a couple of apps. sony play station not so much. it's still offline according to the website. the cause is unclear. a hacker is claiming responsibility for causing this, according to twitter. but no mention of north korea or the interview. the question might be how did sony and xbox and microsoft

allow this to happen. they knew they would be vulnerable to attacks once both companies announced they would be streaming the interview on christmas eve. how did they allow this incident to occur? the same cannot be said, however, for google play and youtube. the other two platforms that are streaming the movie. as far as we know, they have had no problems. >> so, you know, this gaming system hacking happens on the same day the interview is released. there have been threats made against theaters willing to show the movie. have the threats materialized? >> nothing happened. no 9/11-style attacks as the threats had been made. what did happen was a lot of patriotism. you would have thought yesterday was independence day and not christmas. theaters were reporting people were dressed up like uncle sam. they cited freedom of speech as

a prime motivator for showing up. a lot of theaters had sold out movie tickets. seth rogan made the rounds at a couple of theaters. rallying the fans who chanted usa as he up-and-down the aisles. as far as the movie is concerned, online it was the most downloaded film yesterday. >> of course. >> it's doing well at the box office. >> agree that for us on this friday on the west coast. thank you very much. >> what are the reviews saying about the interview now it is out? i'm joined by abraham reeseman. it enjoyed some of the best advertising that a movie got in a long time. it paid off. >> absolutely. from an artistic standpoint, i have to wonder if it wouldn't have been better served if i never saw the light of day.

>> it became mythic. you can imagine -- >> we know in this age of technology and, you know, just piracy in general, that movie was going to get out. >> i know. it was perhaps inevitable. i saw a review screening a couple of weeks before it was slated to come out, and i walked out thinking, okay, this is kind of middle brow comedy georgia badge. it's not as offensive as it could be, i suppose. it has a few funny sequences. overall if you haven't already had a christmas viewing on streaming, i would say skip it. >> from a critical standpoint. it's not very good. >> no. and it's interesting there have be an couple of movies in the past few years that caused international uproar and one end you have the documentary "act of killing" about a mass genocide in indonesia. that's beautiful. gorgeous. then there's innocence of muslims that youtube trailer that came out that caused protests around the world.

that's fascinately bad. it's poorly made. and the interview is somewhere in the middle. it's fine. >> that mediocre. >> yeah. i mean, it has some wonderful comedy sequences. the opening ten minutes marvellous. you can watch it. it has a cameo from eminem. you can almost turn it off and had a good time. >> one of the directors he echoed your sentiment essentially saying the movie itself is garbage. he screened it last night. he said it was akin to the other rogan film -- >> "this is the end." yeah. i love "this is the end." it's terrific. it's so odd. it's unlike any other comedy that has been made because it has all the real life actors playing themselves. it's fascinating. that i love. this is just kind of predictable comedy. it's, you know, a little offensive toward women, a little

offensive toward people and there's some good jokes. >> and a little offensive for kim jong-un. randall park who plays him fantastic. great performance. >> thank you very much. appreciate the insight. tomorrow family and friends will be honoring nypd officer rafael ramos at a funeral one week after he and officer wenjian liu were shot in brooklyn. the memorial at the brooklyn shooting scene continues to draw people since it was set up after the killing. today a wake is being held for officer rafael ramos. he was a family man committed to protecting his fellow new yorkers. >> my father was an incredible man. he was a hero. he was an incredible husband to my mother, and he was a really dedicated officer. he truly cared about the people of new york city. rest in peace, dad. >> officer ramos eason.

adam reese is joining me now from queens. adam, i would imagine that turn out there is going to be pretty high. >> we expect hundreds maybe thousand of mourners to join the family. the viewing will be from 2:00 to 7:00, craig. and the memorial will be at 7:00 tonight. he was studying to become a chaplain. he was beloved in this community. he was a member for 14 years. he was an usher. he was part of the life ministry. he was part of the senior ministry and the marriage ministry. he was a family man. talking about his children. always willing to ladder helping hand with his smile. had an infectious smile. on christmas eve, his wife and son went to the 84th precinct to thank his fellow officers. they cleaned out his locker. at the same time, officer liu's family went to the memorial.

it was an emotional moment. both these officers will be promoted to dblgt first grade. officer ramos will be laid to rest tomorrow with vice president joe biden, the mayor, and the police commissioner in attendance. >> adam, we know that the nypd made several arrests this week concerning threats against police. what is the latest on those investigations? >> well, we know there have been many threats. they're trying to determine which threats are real. which might be pranks. of those there are about 40 they deechled would be serious enough to investigate. they made six arrests including one man on wednesday who was overheard making a phone call in a bank threating to kill officers. they made the arrests. in his home they found two guns, two bulletproof vests, and brass knuckles. >> adam reese for a somer friday here in new york city. thank you. to the gulf states and the southeast travelers they're battling thunderstorms this post

holiday. and we could kick off the new year with a cold front moving into the western and central states. nbc meteorologist dominica davis has been tracking this storm. it seems for days now. when is the good weather coming? >> it's over the east coast now. we're dealing with a little bit of snow. that's basically from the cascades, the rookies, and pushing up through the upper midwest. an additional 2 to 4 inches in some parts. we have in parts of utah and colorado they will see an additional up to a foot. that's in the higher elevations where they want it. the good type of ski weather. friday's forecast does show some shower developing down through the gulf states. as this system from the rookies continues to push east, that will start to spread some showers. as we go into the weekend, everybody's rain chances start to go back up. saturday's forecast, the rain is mainly to the south. we'll have a few light showers in chicago and kansas city. we'll see numbers this new

orleans. and by sunday, you know, that's the travel day. we will have showers up-and-down the east coast. light showers. i don't think it will be a problem travel area. i think poor travel will be to the northwest. the pacific northwest with with light snow and rain and slick conditions. and then down to the south with thunderstorms. we could see flight delays there. that's on the radar now. we'll keep you updated, and of course, the arctic cold that is going to be making a come back for 2015. >> all right. dominica, thank you. coming up president obama's approval rating is at a 20-month high. the economy growing, what will 2015 look like for the president? i'll talk to historian douglas brinkly up next. >> it was a christmas miracle in philadelphia. who police officers helped deliver a baby boy on a subway train. that amazing story up next.

on vacation with his family in hawaii, president obama is enjoying what some might call his christmas gift this year. strong economic numbers and a new victory on immigration. democrats are boasting about economic growth figures that added more than 300,000 jobs last month. on tuesday a federal judge threw out a lawsuit over the president's executive actions on immigration. will the president's good fortune continue in 2015? i'm joined by professor douglas brinkly. looking back at 2014 what were some of the president's biggest

accomplishments? i'm impress the by the climate deal with china. we were talking about the new article coming in. if you think about climate as one of the big issues of our time, i think the fact that you brought china to the -- at least the discussion globally was a big moment for barack obama. also, continuing not to be goaded into sending troops into syria or more troops into the middle east in danger zones where very war fatigued country. the president today was visiting with troops. we've been at war for 13 years, and i think any time he can try to keep our soldier outs of harm's way it's a good thing. president obama's approval rating at a 20-month high. the number 48% is better than he's seen for a long time. what are factors that contributed to an approval rating for the president? >> ronald reagan used to say get that approval rating. your box office at 50% or above

if you want to be an effective president. 48% is within striking range. it's gone up in the past week, oddly, because of the midterm election losses. everybody thought the president will be a lame duck. instead he moved in there with the executive order on immigration. he -- yeah. i think he came out a winner on the sony versus north korea by saying sony was a mistake not caring enough about freedom of expression and should have run it. it's about that economy. people are watching right now. go to their gas station today and they're paying very low prices. people that invested in wall street are watching stocks at all time high. it's about the economy. the president's numbers will go up-and-down, really, how the economy functions. >> historically for president in his second term where the president is, historically does the approval rating go up, down, or stay about the same between now and the end of his term?

>> well, by the very end, right before he's about to leave, we get a little sentimental about the president leaving than get a little bit of a bump. you're seeing some brazen moves by president obama. i think, for example, with the cuban policy, i mean, he's about six out of ten americans on his side for normalzation of relations. it was a historic move. if he keeps being the fdr, teddy roosevelt executive power president telling people i'm in charge but seeming cool and unflappable, i think his numbers will be pretty good his last year. he has a chance of in foreign affairs just the way reagan did with his diplomacy with gosh cho ch gorbachev i think he has a chance for foreign affairs to keep numbers high. he'll get quick accomplishments around the globe. you in mentioned cuba. immigration, also something that

is going to be at the forefront as congress comes back here. speaker john boehner promised to challenge the president's action on executive action. what are some of the big challenges that the president is going to be facing here for the next year and a half? >> well, the big challenge is congress itself. congress doesn't really want to do business with him. i think republicans make a mistake on trying to, you know, throw the immigration executive order, you know, into the courts and all of this. i think they're going to make a mistake on promoting the keystone pipeline early on as an issue. the president is going to most likely veto that. at least indications are. he'll suddenly become a folk hero with the environmental movement which is a big part of the democratic base. and the president without doing anything gets a lot of credibility by doing the veto. i'm not sure they're going to be able to get any kind of major accomplishment done.

we're basically now starting january 1 going full time into the 2016 presidential run. it's going to be hard to get a legislative record out of these guys. except on things -- i think the president a chance on foreign affairs. and maybe on cybersecurity. >> doug brinkly. good to see you, sir. >> merry christmas. >> merry christmas. president obama is working on fulfilling the campaign promise to close the prison at guantanamo bay. we'll look ahead as the administration speeds up the transfer of detainees. get ready for some german engineered holiday excitement.

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i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn. because it gives me... zero heartburn! prilosec otc. the number 1 doctor-recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 9 straight years. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. developing now we got the video into msnbc of air strikes against isis targets. earlier this week the new video released by u.s. central command show eed strikes against three buildings. it stayed some 31 air strikes on isis, iraq, syria. today using fighter, bomber, and

remotely piloted aircraft. video we just got in from cent come on strikes against isis and syria. looking to 2015 and the new year ahead for a new congress. republicans in charge of both house of congress. i spoke with congressman this morning. what he sees as the biggest challenges ahead. >> primarily the biggest challenge that the republicans are going to face is resisting the urge to overreach. i think you know what we've seen over the last congress was consistent efforts to repeal the affordable care act or undermine it, eliminate environmental protections, to weaken labor union. if they stay on the agenda and don't focus on a positive agenda to help middle class america, then i think that is their biggest challenge. because there's a risk of their doing that. the other thing we're facing, craig, is that the next budget

year, which starts october 1st of 2015, we're scheduled to return to what we call sequestration. these across-the-board budget cuts. i think there's a risk if we do that we damage a lot of momentum that has been created in the economy. i think that's a real point. >> the last point is something i don't think a lot of folks realize. it gets mentioned a lot the idea about aborter security and spending more money on securing the border. correct me if i'm wrong, aren't our borders more secure than five years ago? >> absolutely no question. illegal border crossings are about half of what they were before the obama administration took over. we have as many border patrol people on guard as question possibly need. i was part of the group of eight in the house bipartisan group that worked on immigration reform during the last congress, and our texas members basically

said we don't know where to put more border guards right now. there is a possibility of using more technology to secure the border, but you're absolutely right. >> so what is behind the move to spend more money on border security? what is the real goal here? >> well, no this has become a talking point of the republicans in congress when they're trying to explain why they won't do comprehensive immigration reform. we need to secure the border first before we do the other things worrying about the 11 or 12 million undocumented immigrants and what we do with them, employer enforcement and so forth. reality is that the border is very secure. and if we are looking for kind of zero border crossings that's never going to happen. i think this is a rationzation they use to explain why they're not doing a comprehensive bill. i hope that speaker boehner when

he's talking about overturning the president's action means that we'll legislate in that area. that's what the president and democrats in congress have been challenging republicans to do for two years now. >> my conversation with kentucky congressman last hour. the political story of 2015 what will it be? here is a hint. it's probably going to spill over into 2016. also, ahead crisis avert the overseas. where mcdonald's french fries are no longer being rationed. we can sleep a little easier tonight. we'll tell you what was behind the shortage to start with next.

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mails released earlier this week are giving a candid look inside his tenure as florida governor. meanwhile, on the democrat side of things, the question continues to be when and if hillary clinton will be announcing a run. speaking engagements now scheduled through march kerry dan join me to talk 2016. we're talking 2015 as well. the jeb bush e-mails, how versatile are they shaping jeb bush as a potential candidate? >> well, craig, florida actually has very open transparent public information laws. jeb bush as governor when he was writing e-mails probably knew they were very likely to become public. it's something he joeblgs about in the e-mails with the staff about how people in the future may read this response. he was cautious. we didn't get a lot of bombshells about his deepest, darkest feelings. we saw a lot about leadership style. he was engaged.

he responded personally to constituents, to job applicants, and hate mail. he would respond to those who would criticize the policy. he got heat from conservatives saying he wasn't conservative enough. he would reply personally and use the smiley face emotion. >> oh, no! >> he was a prolific e-mailer. you saw how engaged he was on decisions big and small during his tenure as governor. >> if he's an emoticon user that should disqualify him. iowa, iowa primary slated for february 1, 2016. how much lounger does hillary clinton have to play the waiting game and does impact someone like elizabeth warren in terms of considering a run? all though said it every way she can she's not in. >> right. well, back in 2007 hill

announced in january. about this time that cycle. an exploratory committee is something they do when they gauge support. hillary clinton knows the answers to the questions. she has third party organizations who back her who are raising money. she knows she has the support of the democratic party if she decide toss run. all signs are pointing to her announcing a little bit later in the cycle, probably in the spring. the big question for other democrats in the field if for some reason hillary clinton decides not run democratic activists will be upset if she doesn't announce it sooner rather than later so another candidate can become that standard bearer and build that organization. something like an elizabeth warren or joe biden. looking at the last poll hillary clinton is the person who has the support. 82% of democrats say they can consider supporting hillary clinton. the numbers now are there not there for elizabeth warren or joe biden. >> thank you very much.

let's take a look at the other stories we're following on this friday morning. two transit police officers in philadelphia made very special christmas delivery. a woman was riding the subway when she went into labor. two officers boarded the train and helped the woman as she gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. >> i was hoping for a quiet shift. don't we all. but this experience was pleasant. >> everything happened so quick, but it was amazing. a french fry shortage is no small fry situation in japan. mcdonald's japan saying it will resume selling bigger orders of fries on january 5-th. they started limiting customers to small fries only after labor disputes on the west coast in this country caused a bit of shortage there. there are 3100 mcdonald outlites in japan. >> just like old times for king james. he returned to miami for the

first time since rejoining the cleveland cavaliers. lebron catching up with old teammates. there's dwayne there. little chatting. little embracing. despite putting up 30 points and eight assists not able to pull off a win. with the heat beating the calves 101-91. putin under pressure to do something about russia's economic crisis as the ruble takes another dive. we'll get a live report. back here we continue to watch our markets. there you see it there over 18,000. the dow up. nasdaq, new york stock exchange up as well. will the santa claus rally continue? i'm angela,

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hit a snag. it fell today on new concerns about the russian economy which has been clobbered by lower oil prices and sanctions from the west as well. putin has come under increasing pressure to do something. anything about the currency crisis. the currency crisis there. lower oil prices have been a boom for consumers in this country, not so in russia. how bad has the russian economy gotten? >> it's gotten very bad. that's right. think about how completely different the outcomes are for russians it meant less spending power for the ruble than the russians have. the ruble lost at least 50% of the value to the dollar since the oil prices began to fall. and u.s. and western sanctions began to bite especially in the financial sector.

keep in mind russia is the -- is the most oil and gas dependent major power i guess you could say on earth accounting for more than half of the budget and 3/4 of the exports. hugely dependent on oil. a fall in oil prices has been catastrophic for russians. especially for the middle class russians who are consumers, many of them putin supporters who are now losing their jobs. they're finding it difficult to make ends meet. basic goods like meat and bread and milk are up 30 to 40%. an you're seeing major runs on the bank. russians are pulling their rubles out as quickly as they can. spending them on electronics and other goods, high ends goods just to keep inflation which is pushing 50% from literally eating up their savings. it's a mess, craig. >> what is putin doing to try to prop up the russian economy? >> well, first of all he's trying to project confidence

saying at the year end press conference he gave the other day that russians would come out stronger. he's blaming it all on the west. no surprise there. suggesting that what is driving this is nato countries trying to weaken russia. be so far no fixes have worked. he did ask yesterday or demand that his cabinets and all other major politicians cancel their christmas and new year's vacations. putin raised the interest rate by 17%. that did create some stability but as you said, the ruble tanked again today. and for the first time they had to bail out a russian commercial bank to the tune of $3 billion. nothing has worked so far. >> all right. jim, thank you. falling oil prices have clobbered russia's economy, again, they're having the on sit effect here in the united states. after 92 straight days of the declining prices at the gas pump, the average american

family saving about $100 a month compared to what they were paying last spring and early summer. i want to bring in jared burnstein. former chief economist to vice president joe biden. in addition to the lowest gas prices we've seen in this country in five years, lots of other positive signs right now. the stock market, as we've been talking about, record territory. the economy grew by 5% over the summer. unemployment right now sitting at about 5.8%. all of that together. what does that mean for 2015? >> well, it means we're starting off 2015 on a good foot. certainly a better one than 2014. the markets in particular like what they're seeing. you have gdp growth over the past six months. averaging the past two quarters has been between 4 1/2 and 5%. that's a good clip. you mentioned the price story. price is low. corporate profitability very high. federal reserve that continues

to help stimulate growth, and meanwhile all of this is coming together as politics really hasn't done much to hurt the economy. i mean, i don't necessarily ask this congress to do much to help given their gridlock, but unlike 2013 where they did stuff to hurt growth, last year it was pretty neutral. i think that's what we have as we start out. >> the dow remains in 18,000 territory. there it is as you can see. we talked about, you know, that's more of a psychological threshold, i think, than anything else. for what would be your advice for the every day john cuesack investor out there? >> first of all, i'm glad you brought up the everyday guy and gal. because in many ways, all of these great economic statistics are unquestionably helpful. when you mention the price at the pump. that works just like a tax cut for middle class families. it is true that this gap or this disconnection between all the

overall growth in profitability and markets and gdp hand really reached a lot of people in the middle class. so we're going have to keep going at the pace we're going. if we want some of this growth to show up place where it hasn't enough yet in people's paychecks. for the average investor, look, i don't think is a time to go out and sort of pick stocks and try to time the market. i think index funds make sense. as the economy picks up, they typically reflect that. >> as we speak here, as you know lots of folks back at the malls returning gifts, spending those gift cards as well. at this point any idea how this holiday shopping season will stack up compared to years past? >> well, interestingly the numbers so far aren't that flattering. we see a couple of percent gains over last year. but i actually believe that maybe once all the data come in we'll find out we've done better than that. the reason i think that it gets back to the gas price story.

even while wage growth has been pretty stagnant in nominal terms, the fact that prices have fallen quickly means people have had more buying power. at least we are hearing people say i spend more this year. we like to say that the plural of that is data. we'll see. >> appreciate your insight. thank you. the obama administration hoping that 2015 will be the year that president obama comes a little closer to his promise of closing guantanamo bay detention facility in cuba. the obama administration is preparing to move dozen of inmates out of the prison aiming to reduce the population in a big way. joined by msnbc military analyst retired u.s. army generally as well general mccaffrey. signing that executive order to close guantanamo bay. one of the first things president obama did as president, as you know, now 2014

still hasn't happened just yet. will these new efforts get him to that goal? >> well, it's going to be very tough. a lot of these remaining prisoners are extremely dangerous terrorists. who have been educated jihadists in the prison system. and also many of them are come from a country at civil war. probably a third of these detainees when we released them went back to fighting us. we're in a real conundrum here what to do about it. it's costing us, allegedly about $3 million a prisoner to keep them locked up in guantanamo. we could put them in a four seasons for a lot less than that. it's a tough situation. state departments fighting with the pentagon over this. so the government and congress ared a odds on what to do going forward. >> from a military standpoint, what would closing gitmo do in

terms of the war that is winding down in afghanistan and the war in iraq? >> well, personally i think we got to close it down. i've been to guantanamo. it's an extremely professional place. the horror stories during the rumsfeld era are well gone. it's one of the most professionally run operations anywhere in the face of the earth. but it's a huge problem for us in the international community. it's widely viewed as a disgraceful place of incarceration. we have to close the thing. it's not clear how we're going to do it. unless we brought them back to a federal max security prison in the united states. but congress has blocked that option. they probably ought to be in a utah max facility locked up for the rest of their life. >> general mccaffrey, thank you, sir. happy new year to you. wish we had more time. still ahead remember the shocking images? it has been, believe it or not, ten years since the indian ocean

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ten years ago christmas 2004 an epic natural disaster. a massive 9.1 earthquake just off the coast of western indonesia triggered the deadliest tsunami in recorded history. memorial services are being held all across asia today. in indonesia the vice president lead a delegation of officials who prayed. indonesia was the hardest hit on that day ten years ago. at least 168,000 people died. that's just 150 miles from the quake's epicenter. what has changed and what has not. >> it was december 2004, ten years ago. when the world woke up to mother

nature at the worst. a tsunami like no one had ever imagined that killed more than 230,000. an left entire cities flattened. but nothing compared to what we saw on indonesia's northern tip. >> it's said other a thousand bodies clog the waters beneath the bridge. they're pulling bodies out today, nine days later. >> ten years later on the same bridge it's almost unrecognizable here. business as usual on the streets. the town is rebuilt. and they say that, yes, they have recovered. after a decade, the scars are healing. the reeconomy rebounding, and life is going on. everything is now back in its place. almost. he was fishing when the wave came in. he found 26 member was his fa

family including his son, daughter, wife gone. >> his oldest, away in bali was the only one left. >> the first thing that i said or actually asked him was where is my mother? and where is my brother and sister? and then he said, let it go. >> now it's in her 1-year-old son that she sees the face of her lost brother. >> then there's -- in the days after he described how he ran with his five-day old daughter with his arm. today nami nicknamed for nam is 10. the mechanimory of that day is strong. then again, so is its future.

>> thank you. new report said that global warming will trigger at least 30 days of flooding in this country's coastal regions by 2502050. bost boston, new york, philadelphia, washington, san diego, san francisco, all of the aforementioned cities are especially at risk. the report's coauthor at the noaa said, quote, unfortunately once impacts are noticed they'll become common place rather quickly. kate shepard editor of the huffington post joining me now. it's a report from the national ocean oceanic. why is this particular report different? >> well, i think this shows us that this coastal flooding is real. it's happening in the u.s.

already. it's going get worse in the foreseeable future. 2050 is not that far off. it's happening in places question visualize. we can visualize what new york looks like. i think it makes it real for people it know what the threat is. >> what the did researchers base the particular report on? >> they're looking at historical data about sea level rise along the coastal area of the u.s. and looking forward at predictions. they looked at the low level prediction of what sea rise will be which is about 1.5 feet and the high level which is 4 feet which would be worse. they found at the low level we'll see 30 days of flooding in the coastal cities. you know, pretty soon. >> is there a particular city of the ones we mentioned that we should be keeping our closest eye on, so to speak, i guess? >> well, you know, we already see flooding in miami. even on sunny days they call it sunny day flooding. there's part of miami that are affected.

there are places in norfolk, virginia that has flooding that is hurting infrastructure. it's already happening in places. so it's going to get worse there but probably going to happen in other places, too. i'm in philadelphia, it's one of the cities listed at risk going forward as women. >> -- well. >> you wrote a report saying, quote, coastal communities are beginning to experience sunny day nuisance or urban flooding. much more so than in decades past. what, if anything, can these cities and communities do to prepare? >> well, i think there needs to be serious conversation about what need to happen in the cities. in some place it is will require better drainage systems. it might require the construction of sea walls. you might have to raise roads or houses. it's happening in some places. what we need to see is clear policy decisions about where we should be building and how we should be building but to have real constructive conversations about how they deal with this.

>> good to see you. thank you so much. happy new year to you. >> happy new year to you. >> this wraps up this hour on msnbc. my colleague and friend ayman mohyeldin will pick up the coverage among the top of the hour. the wake that is going to be held in a few hours here in new york city for new york city police officer rafael ramos gunned down with his colleague almost a week ago now. ayman will talk to charlie rangel next. it's time for the "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 pennsylvania store the christmas house is closed only four days a year. why? he said it's because of customer demand. for more watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc.

hello everyone i'm ayman mog zone -- mohyeldin. it's 11:00 a.m. on the east coast. here are the top stories. the interview is out in theaters. now that audience had a day to digest it, was it worth the fus? and have hackers taken down parts of sony and microsoft's gaming networks as a result? the grievance process moves forward for family members of the two police officers killed last saturday in brooklyn as

word of a new threat to police emerges. and mission to mars. looking back at the number of milestones reached this year by nasa. the european space agency, and other space travelers. the interview hit the theaters on christmas day without a hitch, but there was a grinch that stole access on the gaming consoles xbox and play station. it appears to be a new hack. the group claiming responsibility calls itself lizard squad. microsoft and sony acknowledged the gaming systems were, in fact, down, microsoft said the system is back up. there's no indication that the outages are related to earlier cyber attacks on sony. there is news on that, too. a growing number of security experts are now saying north korea, was possibly not behind the hacking. instead they're saying it could have been done by a studio insider. what a surprise twist to the

story. what do we know about the outages on the play station and exbox gaming consoles? it's good news bad news now. xbox is the network officially back up with the exception of a couple of apps. but the sony play station network is still offline and so sony is staying mum about whether the network will be back up any time soon. no word on the cause of the outages. it was a hacker attack? that's the word that is spreading around. but some people are speculating it could be because too many people were trying to access gaming networks yesterday after they took out their christmas presents. if it was indeed the hack attack and attributed to the group lizard group, this is a well known group that has attacked sony many times this year. that is leading some people to wonder whether they and not the guardians of peace were behind the big massive sony attack that

brought us to this debacle and not north korea. >> so, you know, other than the problems with the gaming consoles, how did the rollout of the interview go both online and in theaters across the country? >> well, other than the fact it was not shown in 3,000 theaters as was originally supposed to happen, the 331 theaters, the small independents that did show it yesterday said it went swimmingly. there were a lot of sold out theaters and online it was the number one downloaded movie yesterday on all the platforms that were able to show it. we don't have any ticket sales officially. sony saying they will likely try to release it over the weekend and possibly day. but, of course, expected to do less than it was projected had it been able to be in all the theaters. >> the plot thickens. thank you very much for the update. we'll have more on the sony story later in this hour and throughout the day. now to the latest in the wake of the ambush killings of

two police officers here in new york city. just a few hours from now family and friends will gather at a wake for officer rafael ramos. ahead of the funeral services plan for him tomorrow morning. the family of officer wenjian liu made their first trip to the crime scene on christmas eve laying a wreath for both slain officers. ramos' son justin spoke about ramos. >> he was an incredible man. he was a hero to me. he was a wonderful husband to my mother. rest in peace, dad. >> in the meantime, police have increased their own protection in at least one new arrest has been announced after an alleged threat. adam reese is live in queens, new york this morning. what do we know about the latest threat against the police? >> ayman, the new york city

police department received hundreds of threats against the officers. they're trying to determine which are serious which are pranks. of the ones they believe are serious, 40 have made six arrests including a man on wednesday. he was at the bank making a phone call. he was overhead making threats he wanted to kill two white police officers. he was arrested in his home they found two guns, two bulletproof vests, and bras nknuckles. ayman? >> we know the community has been ridesing up to help the two families. what kind of support have they been receiving over the past week? >> jetblue offered to fly members of the liu family here from china, a foundation has come forward to pick up the mortgages of the ramos home and the liu home and bowden college in maine offered to pay the tuition for officer ramos' son. >> adam reese, thank you very much. joining me now is charlie

rangel. founding member of the congressional black caucus. thank you very much. happy holidays. >> as to you. >> how does the city move forward? there's been a lot of ongoing debate, grieving families, protesters wanting to demonstrate. it seems very much a city guide -- divided. >> it is. it's painful. a severe attack on our city. but, you know, i'm 84. i've been through blackouts, riots, 9-1-1, sandy. we're different. we're niew yorkers. we're going to overcome this. i was surprised to find out if you take a look at who we are, you know, someone gets their hands on the gun he's crazy and he assassinated an asian-american policeman, a hispanic-american policeman,

italian-german mayor. a black-white president, and we got the head of the policeman attacking the mayor, but you ask the question how is the community responding? it's been my experience as a new yorker we complain about our city and the services but don't let any outsider interfere with what we have to do. if people say they're going hurt the police department, the serious problems we have with them we will be solidifying and everyone will be doing all we can to protect our own. we're going to do draft. everyone said if i get in an accident don't take me to the hospital. when someone attacked that hospital we said that's our hospital. this is our plaolice force. i think it's the best in the

city and the country. we have to protect them. >> unwith the points of difference is that has been about the protests. the play yomayor has been askin the protests to be suspended until after the funerals. do you agree? the protesters have continued. >> there's a lot of pain out there. yes, i would agree with the mayor. i would suggest it. what do you do in a democracy when people are feeling pain? you know who is missing? the chaplains. this is a spiritual -- i don't know what they play now. they deal with allah, jesus, moses. their voices should be heard they should be telling us what role they're playing. we have the head of the police union putting blood on the mayor's hands, we have the community saying going after the police. then you historically for some reason and they can help the

politicians and help the elected officials and help the police because the polarization set in, but did you know that officer ramos was studying to be a chaplain? >> i did, yeah. >> isn't it a time for those around him to be reaching out saying his goal was more than protecting new yorkers. his goal was protecting human beings. he deserves better. >> so let me ask you about another institution. congress, is there a role for congress here in what lawmakers in washington can do to help new york through this? >> not new york. we can help our country. you know, those who have been sighing the recent motion pictures, some ought to take a look at it. i marched the 54 miles. we can talk each other and talk about what we're going to do about it. one of the president has been trying to do is say this is the

best country in the world we've had more progress than any countries ever had from slavery to president. but we have a racial problem, an economic problem with disparity of income and agency and living conditions. and believe me, problems you see related here in the city of new york. you don't see it happening in highly educated communities. there's a connection. we have to talk about it as a nation. >> congressman, just this morning someone or some group that asked to remain anonymous hired jersey shore aerial advertising to fly a political banner up the hudson river that reads "de blasio, our backs have turned to you." >> that doesn't hapelp. people take advantage of painful situations. if other people want to go back to their clan and say this is what i've done. they're making the problem worse. people who scream and -- are

entitled to do certain things. they shouldn't inflame a bad situation. we will be over this. it should bring the police closer to the community when we see their forces out there and even bigger than the fact that a lot of black kids lives have been lost as a result of overreaction. i know, in my heart that most policeman don't want this to happen. but now they've been put in a position which side of the are you on. i'm confident each year, each decade we make progress. we'll be over this as we've been over so many things. we'll continue to improve. we're the greatest nation in the world. and we will continue to become even greater as we use all the potential we had. not at each other but supporting each other. >> congressman, thank you very much for joining us this morning. happy holidays. >> happy new year to you. >> thank you very much, sir. let's tush to an ab ver--

anniversary commemorated across the world. it's been ten years since the earthquake off the coast of indonesia. it was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history killing 226,000 people. over a million people were displaced. one decade later, memorial services are being held in indonesia and other nations for the victims. we took a stroll on the beach. an hour later the beach was overcome and a wave like no one had ever seen was squashing into the hotel room. i never heard the tsunami before. suddenly they were sucked out to sea. eight hours later the super

model was clinging to a tree. >> a palm tree like this one. it was my savior. >> her boyfriend simon atly just one of more than 5,000 on the west coast of thailand who didn't make it. to the south 150 miles away from the epicenter of the 9.1 quake that caused the tsunami. there the anniversary was marked by prayers for the dead. 130,000, one-third of the coastal community killed in a matter of minutes. suchi never found her mother, brother, or sister. >> and the worse thing, you couldn't do anything. >> the focus is now on a brighter, stronger future. earthquake proof homes, the face

of a lost loved one in a 1-year-old child, and a ty beach where so much was taken, a smile from a survivor. >> the tsunami has given me many gifts and one of them is to be -- to have this consciousness of how lucky i am. >> protests continue over the killing of a black teen in berkeley, missouri. the incident is very different from ferguson. she joins me next. an update how former president george h.w. bush is doing after a health scare landed him in the hospital over christmas. ♪ p...push it real good! ♪ ♪ ow! ♪ oooh baby baby...baby baby. if you're salt-n-pepa, you tell people to push it. ♪ push it real good. it's what you do. ♪ ah. push it.

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in brooklyn, missouri today attentions remain high around the role of race.

over the holiday protests took to the streets following the shooting of an an 18-year-old black man by an unidentified white policeman. the teen pointed a gun at the officer after viewing this surveillance video in which we have highlighted the interaction with the officer for you. berkeley mayor held a news conference on wednesday asking his city and the nation not to compare this incident to any other. >> this is not a policeman in the city of berkeley -- as we say, you know, black lives matter. this was not the case. this is you couldn't even compare this with ferguson or the gardener case in new york. >> a democratic missouri state senator. good morning tofor joining us. you heard the mayor. you've seen the video.

what is your reaction. >> i have to tell you, i've been gathering intelligence since this happened. i've been receiving several phone calls from people who have been engaged in this process. and i have to tell you this case is clear. there was a young man under the age of 19. in order to have a gun you have to be 19. he was 18. i saw the gun and i'm still collecting information, but what we see right now, to me, i believe that the shooting was justified. however, i do have constituents who do not agree and i respect their opinion. >> senator, the l.a. times article was reporting about the officer's body camera and said this that the officer's dash board camera had not been activated because the car's lights were off. and that he had also forgotten to turn on his body camera, which berkeley's officers have not yet been fully trained to use. would a body camera or the dash board camera change anything in this particular investigation?

>> absolutely! i believe that body cams are a should be mandated in the state of missouri and throughout the country. one of the problems that we saw in the michael brown case as well as this one is that the police officer did not have his or her body camera on and so that is something that we need to address. i believe that many of the police officers in this country do not feel comfortable wearing them. but we are at a point in time in this nation where we have to be accountable. and body cameras not only protect the victim but also the police officers. they should become more comfortable with them. >> is there a way, senator, to incentivize the police officers to keep the body cameras on? >> absolutely. one, we already know that president obama has released dollars so that police departments throughout the nation can have body cameras. but as well i filed legislation in december this month to ensure that every single police officer in our state is wearing a body camera. and that is something simply

that the people of missouri deserve to have is more accountability. but at the same time we want to offer an opportunity to police officers to share their position with a video. if they're right, the camera will show it. if the victim is right, then the camera will show it. >> senator, i want to ask you quickly what is the mood today on the ground in berkeley? what are the protesters focussing on? >> the protesters are upset there's another black life taken. and i currently understand how they're feeling. there's a lot of pain. and a a lot of the anger. i believe that the facts in this case will show them this is a different situation. but i also want to be sensitive to how they feel right now. they've simply seen too many cases throughout this nation of young people, young black men and women who are having their lives taken. and many of these incidents are wrong. and they're not justified. and so that's why i understand how they are feeling right now.

>> missouri state senator marie chappell-that dahl. thank you. former president bush is still in the houston hospital this morning. his officer issued a statement saying mr. bush is in great spirits after christmas visits from his wife barbara and son. the 90-year-old was taken to houston methodist hospital on tuesday after experiencing a shortness of breath. a spokesperson said it was just a precaution and his officer relayed the former president's wishes for a merry christmas to all. still ahead on msnbc new reports of cybersecurity breaches and this time it's game consoles. that may have been hit. who might be behind the latest attacks? that's coming up. 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. hurry in to the sign then drive event and get a five-hundred dollar new year's bonus on select new volkswagen models. offer ends january 2nd. 'tis the season to return the unwanted holiday gifts and spend the gift cards. stores are braces for an estimating $20 billion in returns this holiday season.

that's a lot of gift giving back according to forester research. dominique chu joins us. how busy are stores this morning? >> ayman, there is a lot more traffic now as we approach the midday here but you hit on two very important points. the reason people are coming back. first of all, to look for the deals. there's a ton of them out there. return anything that maybe didn't fit or they want to upgrade. so a slot the return traffic and gift cards. a lot of people spend money on gift cards. the national retail federation estimates a third of all holiday shoppers this year will have purchased gift cards as part of their holiday giving. that's a big deal. last year the average gift card spent was $163. the gift card spending be the returns, stores trying to get traffic in is a huge deal. that's why traffic starting to pick up. you can't help it if you see a 50% off, 70% off deal.

big deals there. >> let me pick up on the gift card question you were talking about. you know, there's some $32 billion worth of gift cards out there. what kind of deals can we expect from retailers to try to entice people to use them and not just leave them in the wallets. >> that's huge deal. a lot of stores have huge promotions. i'm sitting in front of bath and body works that has a 75% sale. michael k or micha michael walmart has a pilot program where you can exchange gift cards and get walmart gift cards in exchange. they partnered with a company and what they want to do is get you to turn in the gift cards you may or may not use and get walmart gift cards instead. the world eats largest retailer looking to get traffic in their store by letting you spend other gift cards.

>> when they close the books on the 2014 holiday season, are we expecting a green christmas or a blue christmas for retailers? >> you know, ayman. i don't have a crystal ball. if theest malls are true, we could be bracing for a green christmas. the national retail federation estimates that holiday spending will be about $617 billion. that's a large amount of money. if it comes to fruition that would be about 4% more than the same holiday spending last year. it would be the highest spending growth since 2011. so chalk it up. people feeling more secure in their jobs. maybe feeling the effect of lower fuel prices. gasoline prices, whatever it may be. people are starting to spend a little bit more money. the forecast say that. we'll have to wait until the holiday forecast ends before we get the tallies. right now it could be a green christmas and not so much a blue

one. >> certainly retailers will be happy with the outlook. thank you very much. that. it's been a pretty mild christmas for much of the country. it could be time to bundle up as 2014 draws to a close. dominica davis has the forecast right after the break. 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.

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the southeast and the gulf states could get hit with flash flooding this post hall day weekend. six states under winter storm warnings colorado, utah, wyoming, new mexico, montana and idaho. as we count down to 2015 new year's day may be looking at high temperatures below freezing. nbc's meteorologist dominica davis is here with the nation's forecast. >> we're looking at snow from the rookies all the way to the upper midwest. that's where the active weather will be today. we have showers sitting down to the south. as the system spreads to the east saturday we'll look for the rain to continue through the

gulf states and start to push up to the southeast. sunday the big travel day everybody is heading home. it looks like our trouble area travel wise will be the pacific northwest. seattle off to montana looking at snow and some slick spots. and down to the south we could have some thunderstorms from the gulf all the way up to the southeast. along the northeast is light showers. i don't see any travel problems for them. but the other big story is the arctic cold. it's making a come back for the end of the year. it will start to seep down by the beginning of next week. we'll see it move into the plains and even the southwest will get in on the cold. here is a look at the drastic crop in the temperatures. minneapolis will fall from the 20s right into the single digits. the cold is definitely coming back. >> thank you dominica davis. this hour sony pictures said the interview grossed more than $1 million yesterday.

that's according to reuters. turning to the hacks that plagued sony pictures growing doubt that north korea was responsible for them. cybersecurity expert mark rogers writing the fbi and the president may claim that the kingdom is to blame for the most high profile breach in forever. but almost all signs point in another direction. he and other cybersecurity gurus think the hack was more likely done by a disgruntled employee according to new reports. joining me for more on this for the washington post and tara miller a research fellow and international security at the new america foundation. brian, what an unbelievable twist, if you will, in this ongoing drama. do you think this sony hack was an inside job? >> one of the things it highlights how much of a paradox we see in cybersecurity and sirer warfare. it's a big problem to pinpoint who is responsible for a lot of

attacks whether it's the hack on sony or the internet outage we saw the past week in north korea. i think at this point it's obviously too early to tell whether or not this was an inside job. certainly there's signs that suggest it could have been one piece of evidence that people have pointed to is that a lot of malware that we saw in the sony hack was, you know, had a lot of pieces that were naming specific parts of sony's infrastructure you could only have known had you already been inside the network. the theory is that perhaps, you know, some individual within sony had access to the information and coded the code to take aim at those pieces of the infrastructure. but, again, you know, if you were an outside hacker and had managed to successfully infiltrate sony beforehand and camped out on the network for a significant period of time, there's no reason why you couldn't then code that information into your code as

women. >> interesting stuff. who else could have been behind this? >> i think it's interesting because in the news over the past few days we've seen a lot of theories floated from individual insiders to nonstate hacking groups to north korea itself which the administration and fbi have come out and attributed the attack to. i think one thing key to remember in looking at the theories out there as with any type of attack you need to look at the motivation of the attack, the capability of the attack, and the forensic of the attack. in the public debate, we don't have the intelligence and the administration that the fbi are using. people can debate all day long but there might be other reasons to attribute it to other places but the administration has come out pretty conclusively and affirmatively publicly that it was north korea. now this doesn't mean that north korea wasn't perhaps working with other groups. they're not mutually exclusive. when people point to groups like guardians of peace or speculation about attacks yesterday on xbox and play

station, it doesn't mean that these groups can't be working in some somers of coordination. this is a lot of parallels to regular terrorism where you see groups being sponsored or coordinating with state actors. and these are things that the administration and the government are going to need to think about and how they respond in the future to the type of attacks based who are the actors. >> you whereabout edward snow anyone the national journal and said, quote, employees often pose a greater risk than foreign cyber spies. why is that? more importantly, what can be done about that? are we entering into an era where companies have to be concerned about their own employees? >> well, i think, you know, in the case of edward snowden, what snowden had access to was vast amount of information base order the permissions he had been given as kind of i.t. administrator. now, you know, obviously most employees and most companies aren't going to have that level of access. but it is important to point out that there are some companies and some individuals who are going have that level of access.

an, you know, whether or not their situation in the company is something that, you know, in other words i think the companies are going it have to think harder about their internal security practices as well as, you know, how they treat their employees so they're not walking away disgruntled. >> senator mccain others called this terrorism cyber terrorism. some called it an act of war. it it turns out to be an individual who is behind the sony hacks, how does change the political discourse around this issue? >> sure. one of the complications with cyber is terminology. it can be an act of cyber vandalism, terrorism, war in the latter case there probably need to be physical ramifications like an attack on infrastructure or loss of life. i think what we should look 0 over the next few weeks and months to see if it's going to give a little bit of a push to create more vocal policies about

how the u.s. would respond to infrastructure attacks or attacks like in the future. >> thank you very much. when we come back an entirely different type of technology story. so you want to go to mars? that might be possible soon enough. getting back home, well, that's a whole different other issue. we're looking for people that want to stay on mars. the fascinating year in space next. into my own hands where it belongs. olay regenerist instantly changes the look of skin. it regenerates surface cells new skin is revealed in only 5 days without drastic measures. stunningly youthful, award-winning skin. never settle for anything less. the regenerist collection, from the world's number 1 olay, your best beautiful

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 problems, which could get worse while taking

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over their payments, we want to pay their mortgages off. in full. so they don't have that burden on that worry because they have enough to go through. and we show them that we can do this and we want to do this. our goal is try to have as much done by new year's. >> former new york mayor rudy giuliani was there announcing the mortgage of both officers will be paid. they raised $70,000 in just 48 hours. 2014 saw a number of big and scary stories. the rise of isis, the disappearance of malaysian airlines flight 370, and the ebola crisis. just to name a few. it also featured the resurgence of interest in space travel due to breakthroughs like the european space agency landing a vehicle on a commit, that's just one big space story this year. there are a lot more.

>> and lift off. >> it's ban record breaking year in space. nasa astronaut just back from the international space station is excited by the milestone it set this year. >> i think we're living in the middle of the golden age of space flight. we have roves on mars. we landed on a comet. the building blocks are in place. >> the biggest adventure of them all? sending humans to mars. we'll need reliable life support systems. and those are the fundamental building blocks we're learning now in the space station. we're going to run the space station out to 2024. we'll know what we need to get on a spacecraft to mars. >> we can't go to venus. it rain sulfuric acid.

getting to mars is not beyond our technology. what is needed is the political determination. >> time to get ready for mars. it may well happen in our lifetime. back on earth, in the al. s they're testing robots that can deal with the conditions. >> about key to colonizing mars is the humans and robot the working together. >> exactly. >> on the space lab scientists prep for a simulated mars mission. i get a taste of what life in a mars suit could be like. >> this is putting on a full system that is like having your own ecosystem. your own little earth with you. if one single fails you're busted. >> small things can create big problems. >> try not to sneeze in the suit. >> can i talk to you. can you hear me? >> it sounds amazing. >> on earth a suit like this

weighs around 220 pounds. on mars with the low gravity it will be less than half that. >> i feel isolated already in this. >> what kind of person does it take to travel so far to mars? >> a group of dutch entrepreneurs is looking for that mars personality. they've had some 200,000 applications to go to mars by bo 2025 on a one-way ticket. that's right. in no return. >> because this is a mission of permanent settlement. we'll get different applicants than the standard astronauts. >> there's one real astronaut who take up a challenge. who knows 15 or 20 years down the road maybe my wife and sign up together. >> a dream that starting to come into focus. in 2015, space is the place to watch. ben foeg l for msnbc in austria. >> a one-way ticket to mars that

sounds enticing on some days. the end of an era on capitol hill. not just with the challenge of leadership. a group of powerful lawmakers that lived together in a run down row house near the capitol for decades are going their separate ways. kelly o'donnell was there as they pack up their stuff and said goodbye. >> for more than three decades, the charming spot has been home to a high powered but lovingly low rent congressional frat house. who is the messiest? >> i must confess. >> you senator, schumer? >> i am. >> americans know better. >> democratic leaders by day. >> that's where i sleep. >> chuck schumer keeps a bed squeezed next to the kitchen. >> why do you live like frat boys? >> it's close. it's affordable, and it's been a good, pleasant social -- i'm the new by. >> the new guy illinois senator dick durbin arrived 22 years

august wiago with his castoff family hair looms. george miller bought the place in the '70s. >> he's the best landlord could ever have. >> since i subsidized them for years. >> '70s and '80s time capsule. check out the record collection. yes, lp. linda still on the shelf. relishing the rougher edges miller makes sure i don't miss the rat traps. >> they be a dozen. >> the lawmaker lodging inspired the amazon series alpha house. >> good morning, renters. first of the month! >> the real life cast once included former defense secretary but then congressman leon panetta. the arrangement here never really involved cooking. >> that's it. >> the fridge holds beer, wine, and mustard. >> what do you think? >> that's a george washington

used that teapot. >> but this month miller retired. he sold the house. schumer and durbin will move separately. >> 22 years most marriages don't last that long. they realized this was their real sendoff. >> bye, george! roommates no more. the band is breaking up. >> let's hope they don't make a national landmark. kelly o'donnell, thank you very much for the report. with the bustle of the holidays winding down. it's time to think about the next vacation. we'll tell you the best travel deals to get you a little further away from home. you won't have to spend a lot of money for that. that's next. 's right. it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees, from the bank where no branches equals great rates.

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weather you stayed home or got out of town for the holidays, chances are you are thinking about when and where to take your next vacation. the hardest part about planning

a vacation is not deciding the destination, but where to go to get the deal. joining me now is tom parsons. happy holidays to you. >> thank you. >> a lot of people are asking what great christmas deals are you seeing? >> each coast has their own specialty. when you look at new york, there is two destinations. this is unbelievable. there is an air line called transaero, a three star airline. they fly to moscow from new york for $400, all taxes included. when you look at them having a fuel surcharge, $400 is a great airfare. on the coast of costa rica, 90 degrees in january, it's $339. if we go to the west coast, los

angeles, san francisco, and san diego to los cabos, nearly 80 degrees, it's all under $299. from san jose into honolulu it's $318 round trip and oakland and san jose to honolulu and maui you are looking at $350. the cheapest city in america could be dallas. if you are looking for a super bowl place, dallas is definitely it. when we look at my coke rewards where you get $20 off southwest. when i look at airfares from dallas to new orleans or new orleans to dallas, $62 round trip. washington, d.c., baltimore, atlanta and phoenix, $78. i look at chicago to dallas and denver for $88 and sunny fort lauderdale for $108 and even new york city is $168 nonstop.

>> you are saying there a lot of options, but everyone has their own strategy. what are your strategies? >> this summer will be interesting. you have to sit back and be patient. if you are going to travel between now and february 12th, we are seeing it. southwest extended the summer schedule from june 5th to august seventh. when we look at the legacy airlines and southwest came out with last week -- i keep thinking this is monday -- we are actually seeing the airfares for summer anywhere between $100 to $200 cheaper on southwest. that's good because it could force the legacy airlines going for the jugular vain to reduce their prices. southwest is the largest airline in america right now. serving the 48 states and they are bigger. they may have to pay attention.

>> they can plan and they are worried about getting home from this current holiday. is there anything out there that concerns you this travel weekend? >> we should be happy with what we saw this week. we did have delays on the east coast and other midwest, but compared to other christmases, let's face it. december is a snowy month and windy and rain and fog and everything. i think we got it pretty easy. new years, we will just have to see we will have a happy new year. >> we will have to wait and see the guru himself. thank you very much, sir. >> thank you. >> that wraps up things for me. i will see you back at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. the latest on the plan for the two new york city policemen last saturday. we are expecting to hear announcements from presidential candidates next month who will

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[ high-pitched ] nailed it! hello, everyone. i'm craig melvin. here are the top stories we're covering for you. a viewing for one of the two police officers killed last week in brooklyn as mourners remember both men. hackers take down the playstation and xbox, gaming that is back online, but is this new hack connected to the release of the interview? we will take an exclusive investigation you will find only here on msnbc. how some veterans were possibly infected by hepatitis by dirty machines at va hospitals. the efforts to do battle in court for some of those who fought for the country. we start with the latest on the ambush killings of two police officers here in new york city. a few hours from now, family and

friends will gather at a wake for raphael ramos. his funeral is set for tomorrow. the officer of liu appeared emotional as the tunnel to towers foundation announced they will be paying off the mortgages of her home and the home of officer ramos. they made their first trip to the crime scene laying a wreath for both slain officers. ramos's son justin talked about his father near the memorial that has grown considerably. >> my father was an incredible man. he was a hero to jaden and me and incredible husband to my mother. he was a dedicated officer. he truly cared about the people of new york city. rest in peace, dad. >> new york city police officers remain on high alert this afternoon. several people have been arrested for threatening officers in the city. today new details on yet another arrest after an alleged threat.

live in kweequeens, new york. what more do we know about the latest threat? >> police have received some thousand threats and looking into them. they are not sure which to take seriously and which to consider pranks. 40 they looked into. there have been six arrests. one man was heard making a phone call at a bank, threatening to kill two white police officers. he was arrested at his home and they found two guns and two bulletproof vests and two brass knuckles. >> the community has been rising up to help these two families. we just heard a short time ago that a group came forward to pay off two mortgages. what support are they receiving? >> the community really is coming together. support from all-around. jet blue offered to fly members

of liu's members to come here from china. they offered to pay the tuition for officer ramos's son, justin. the tunnels to tower foundation offered to pay the mortgage for both officers's homes. let's listen in. >> we are not just going to take over the payments. we want to pay their mortgages off in full. so they don't have that burden or that worry because they have enough to go through. go there and we can show them we can do this and want to do this. the goal is to have as much done by new year's. >> now the wake here begins at 2:00 for a viewing. the memorial service will be at 7:00. the funeral is tomorrow. vice president biden will be here as will the mayor and police commissioner. a line is forming for the wake.

they have been paid to fly this banner. they have to look closely. the group has the current and retired nypd officers and statements. it is our opinion that the mayor's dangerous comments about his and his wife's safety that fuelled the names that led to civil unrest and potentially to the deaths of the police officers as well as continued threats against nypd personnel. the mayor shows no respect and encourages the public to follow his lead. that statement from the group. at this point no statement from

the mayor's office on this friday. let's go to the other big story we continue to follow. for a while, it did not look like the interview would make it to the big screen. the comedy overcame hacks and threats and hit theaters on christmas day and raked in more than a million dollars with numerous sell outs. a statement from sony said considering the incredibly challenging circumstances, we are extremely grateful to the people who came out to experience the interview on the first day of its unconventional release despite the fact that it was shown in less than 10% of theaters original planned. there was one problem with the roll out. it appears a new hack took down the gaming consoles. xbox now seems to be functioning normally. both microsoft and sony acknowledged their gaming systems were down. the group claiming

responsibility calling itself lizard squad. no indication that those outages are related to the earlier cyber attacks on sony. gina kim joins us from los angeles. gina, this point that the group is claiming responsibility and did they give indication as to a motive. >> we can't confirm that they were the group behind the attacks. we reached out to sewny and microsoft multiple times and asked them what's the deal. what's behind this outage? too many people logging on after christmas. was it because of lizard squad? they have not returned any of our calls or e-mails. we can't have official explanations so far. the most popular explanation on social media is that this hacker group was responsible for the attack. no mention of the movie and north korea. it has attacked multiple times

since the past summer and one of the attacks is what brought down the airplane involving a sony executive if you recall in early fall, late summer. this was the same group. that kind of leads to the question and if this group keeps attacking sony, could they have been the one to attack sony entertainment group a couple weeks back? just kind of pose as guardians of the peace. so many questions and developments and no clear answers so far. >> let's go back to the original hack. any indication that the hack helped the interview at the box office? >> you know, that's a mixed bag. the movie was supposed to be in 3,000 theaters. instead it showed 331. about 10% of where it was

supposed to be. sony is pleased. they said it grossed a healthy $1 million or so in box office tickets. a pretty good average for that small number of tickets. the other film that made the debut yesterday on christmas day, unbroken. the angelina jolie-directed film grossed $15 million. could have done better. >> thank you so much and we continue to follow the sony story. we will have an update on that later in this hour. let's go to hawaii where president obama and the first family continue their holiday vacation and obama celebrated christmas day opening gifts and tweeting out old school photos as well. we came across this one. they spent time absoluting the troops. they stopped by the marine base in hawaii to thank the troops. >> the world is better, it's safer, it's more peaceful, it's

more prosperous, and our homeland is protected because of you and the sacrifices you make each and every day. i know i speak for everybody in the entire country when we say we salute you. >> nbc's kristen welker traveling with president obama joins us from honolulu. how was the president's message received there yesterday? >> hey, craig, good afternoon. the president's message was received with cheers and applause as he thanked the troops for service and sacrifice, but he also acknowledged that there serious challenges on the horizon as the united states ramps up the fight against isis and iraq and syria. as it along with nato prepares to lead the groups, they will serve in a training and advisory role. here's more of what he had to say about that. take a listen. >> we still have very difficult mission says around the world including in iraq.

we still have folks in afghanistan helping the security forces. we have people helping deal with ebola in west africa and stationed all-around the world. but the world is better. it's safer, it's more peaceful, it's more prosperous, and our homeland is protected because of you. >> craig, the war in afghanistan stretched on for more than 13 years, has claimed more than 2,000 american lives and this last month has been particularly deadly with reports of about 10,000 civilians being killed there. clearly this continues to be an issue that is complicated for the united states and for the allies. it is worth noting that other top officials visited with u.s. service members on christmas day. vice president biden visited wounded troops who are currently at the medical center there in bethesda. walter reid and john mccain was in kabul, afghanistan meeting

with the new president. the hope is that the united states will have a stronger relationship with the new president than with his predecessor as they move into this next phase. craig? >> what's on the president's schedule today? what about the weekend? >> well, craig, nothing on his schedule today. nothing on the schedule throughout the weekend. we always say this. the office of the presidency travels with him wherever he goes. there conversations going on behind the scenes about a number of issues including north korea, for example. how the united states will respond to that. among the options they are considering, new sanctions, potentially a counter cyber attack and there is work being done in the state of the union address. president obama said he wants to find common ground with republicans in the ewe year. he talked about issues on trade, corporate tax reform and infrainstruct upper. as you and i both know, the devil is in the details.

it's hard to find agreement on anything. it's safe to say, there will be several more rounds of golf before president obama heads home after the new year. >> we hope you get to play golf there as well there in hawaii. >> thanks. >> back here, tensions remain high in berkeley, missouri after another deadly police-involved shooting this weekend. five miles away from ferguson. christmas day service brought in members of the black community on the westside. they gathered where he was killed by a police officer. after the break, almost here which means it's time to talk 2016. presidential politics. new hits. the actively exploring florida

governor jeb bush may be serious about running. another bush wants to be president. all that. plus the big bag of cash santa just gifted retailers.

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a somber sight right now in queens, new york. that is the casket carrying officer raphael ramos, one of the two police officers who was ambushed six days ago. broad daylight. a wake happening this afternoon. we heard from his son. a short time ago the father was not far from the memorial that has grown considerably over the past six days.

his wake is going to happen this afternoon. a funeral set for officer ramos tomorrow. vice president joe biden among those who will be in attendance. we found out a short time ago. they decided to pay the mortgages for both of the officers, officer ramos and officer lui as well. again, you are watching a somber ceremony in queens on this day after christmas as members of the police department prepare to lay one of their own to rest. we pivot back to politics here. now that the 113th congress and the least productive in more than half a century, thou that that kj is officially over, the conversation turns to the next congress and the big race ahead for the white house. chris christie, ted cruise, marco rubio.

all dropped holiday cards on iowa and jeb bush said he was actively exploring a presidential run announced he was stepping down from the board of a health care company that reportedly profited from obamacare. i am joined by politico congressional reporter. do we think that bush's business record is going to prove to be a complication at all. >> that's why he stepped down from the health care company and also stepped down from various other corporate boards and stopped doing paid speeches as he is actively exploring and jeb bush's advisers are making sure what he is doing is focused on

that presidential bid. >> we also got a look at it and a treasure trove of e-mails as his days as governor. were we able to glean anything from the e-mails? >> i think we are looking at what bush said himself. he would release what the wash post got an early lack at. that shows his style as a governor and they have an open record. that will continue to see more parts of bush as a governor as they go ahead. >> let's talk about marco rubio and rand paul. can they compete on a national stage in terms of fund-raising and organization as well? the hill reporting that rubio is going to have a very aggressive travel schedule. he is strongly considering a run here in 16. >> yes, he absolutely is. the thing that governor bush did by announcing so early that he

is actively exploring, they took the oxygen out of the room for the so-called establishment candidates like marco rubio and chris christie and mitt romney. rand paul has this whole other electorate that he is chasing. the 18 to 30, the coveted demograph demographic. the younger voters. the outside of the mainstream and the whole other pool he is looking towards. he will be raising money the way i think his father did. marco rubio has a lot to be worried about having jeb bush if he runs. >> then that jeb bush has not run for about 12 years now. does that complicate his prospects at all? will he be able to run a modern day campaign? >> that's a problem he will have to face. they just did a story on how his tech savviness may need brushing up. we saw that the day he announced

he is exploring a bid, and he has a lot of brushing up to do and that's an area he has to brush up on. >> let's talk about congress for a second. 114th congress starts on january 6th as you know. any reason at this point to be hopeful that this group is going to be more productive than the last group? >> that's going to have to wait and see. you have a few issues that the republicans and the white house might be able to work together on. they talked about reforming the tax code and trail deals. that might be about what we see. luckily they got a spending bill done through september for every department except for homeland security. that will be the big fight that you see coming into the new year. they will fight over the immigration executive action

tying that to spending for security and national security. >> at this point, any reason to think that tax reform could happen or that the trade reform could happen? >> if it comes to tax reform, it will only be on the business side. there is a lot of disagreement on the other parts of the tax reform and a deal is very unlikely to happen. in terms of trade, that is where the president and republicans in congress have agreed and democrats, particularly liberal ones in the house and senate opposed the president on this issue. we are looking at a very polarized congress. right now i think they are looking to do what they can to keep the lights on and make sure the funding for the most part is taken care of. they will have to take care of another debt limit situation n. early 2015. anything big and sweeping is kind of in a battle at this point. >> keep the expectations low. >> from "the washington post," a

big thanks to both of you. after the break, we will head down to the stock exchange for a look at how they are trading for the first full day after christmas. does the clause rally continue into 2015? fourteen years of stains. see? crest whitestrips work on a deeper level than paste. whitening toothpaste only removes surface stains, but whitestrips go below the enamel surface to safely remove deep stains. don't miss our buy one get one free offer this holiday season!

>> really quickly, a lot of folks were out and back in the mall returning gifts and redeeming gift cards. any indication how they are faring so far this holiday season? >> so far the retail sales were as expected. mastercard saying they rose 5.5% between black friday and christmas eve. the international council saying that growth is expected to be strongest in three years, about 4.1%. overall a decent christmas for retailers, up by rising employment and lower gas prices. shoppers are returning goods and maybe buying more. that's important too. you are probably going to see discounting and on the prices and that would hurt the margins. it will help them clear out as consumers are still in the spending mood.

>> mary thompson for us on this friday. thank you. that massive hack on sony may have done a big pr blow to the movie studio, but the controversy may have stopped the bottom line. how other movies fared at the box office, 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? hurry in to the sign then drive event and get a five-hundred dollar new year's bonus on select new volkswagen models. offer ends january 2nd.

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. >> now the countdown to 2015 is bringing arctic air and thunderstorms. winder storm warnings and advisories are in effect for other parts. domenica davis has more on the forecast for the last week of 2014. >> we are looking at winter warnings and advisories that extend from the cascades really all the way up to the upper midwest. we have the advisories. what you see here in white is an additional two to four inches of snow and the pink is the warnings. you can see in parts of utah and colorado an additional food of

snow to already add to another foot they got yesterday. a lot of snow. the system will continue to push off to the east. we will see showers down to the south. those will develop by later this afternoon and this evening. we are dry along the east coast and temperatures are going to be taking a big nose dive over the next couple of days. beginning of next week, the arctic air comes down. as we usher out 2014, we'll do so on a very cold note. we will see a drastic drop in temperatures by new year's eve in many spots across the country. look at denver. how it goes from 32 on second and they fall back down into the single digits. they have not seen temperatures that cold since the beginning of december. by the end of the ewe year, we will see temperatures in the 30s and by new year's day, temperatures about 30 degrees cooler from where they were on christmas day. that will be quite a change.

craig? back to you. >> thank you so much. it has been a dramatic few weeks to say the least for the comedy, the interview. it was pulled after sony pictures received threats over the film, but on christmas day, that movie made it to screens of 331 theaters and sony said it raked in about $1 million. costar and codirector seth rogen surprised movie-goers early yesterday. >> if it wasn't for theaters like this and people like you guys, this literally would not be happening right now. >> for more now on the interview and the rest of the holiday box office, we have the senior editor of hollywood reporter. the numbers are in. $1 million does not include online sales. how does that compare to other movies? >> $1 million is nothing compared to angelina jolie's broke in or into the woods, but

it's a respectable number seeing that it only played in about 300 theaters. particularly good for sony. i'm sure that they are pleased in hoping that's the beginning of a larger roll out to more theaters. >> how did the hacking scandal or did it affect the overall box office at all? >> well, if you look to the past couple of years, this weekend usually takes in about $75 million for all movies. this is what it has been tracking for this weekend. overall with all the fuss, basically this year will come out to be about the same as the last two years. there is not any real indication at the moment that people are staying away from theaters because of the threats of attack. if anything, people are curious about it and seeing it online or going to the theater and seeing something else. >> what are critics saying about

this movie? >> critics don't particularly like it. it's gotten savaged by critics. i don't think this movie was ever intended to be for critics and it's a comedy film. it wasn't meant to be taken seriously and we wouldn't be discussing it if it wasn't for the hackers. it would have came and went and there wouldn't have been too much fuss. the hammers have self-defeated and didn't want anyone to see the film and now everyone is talking about it. >> you mentioned angelina joliey movie, unbroken. how are the other movies faring? how did they do? >> pretty well. into the woods and the disney adaptation. it raked in about $12 million. then a lot of other films in limited release. american sniper, big eyes, this

is the season where a lot of studios release films just so they get ahead of oscar nominations. they wanted to be eligible. there is a lot of films playing in a handful of theaters. they are doing pretty well overall. these films will take in about $75 million this weekend. >> what's your must see? is there a movie you recommend all of us see? >> i think selma is certainly the movie that is going to be the one that everyone has to see. it's topical. it touches on a lot of issues that society is facing right now. if there is a leading contender at the oscars, this might be it. right now it's only playing in a handful of theaters in wider release in a couple of weeks. it's something that everyone should go and check out. >> really quickly for folks who are not familiar with the oscar schedule.

when do movies have to be out to be considered? >> by the end of the year. this week or next week. >> senior editor and hollywood reporter. thank you so much, sir. >> thank you. >> coming up here on msnbc, an indepth investigation in the va. we will take an exclusive look at the health system and how medical mistakes left veterans with infections that never should have been exposed to and angry. so i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there are no branches? 24/7 it's just i'm a little reluctant to try new things. what's wrong with trying new things? feel that in your muscles? yeah... i do... try a new way to bank, where no branches equals great rates.

 so ally bank really has no hidden fethat's right. accounts? it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees, from the bank where no branches equals great rates. the department of veterans affairs is under fire again. they were made aware of the agency before allegations were made public. this caps a bruising year for the va and allegations from whistle blowers about those

delays and manipulated patient data to cover up the problems. then the departure of top officials including the secretary. in recent weeks, the new va secretary robert mcdonald has been insisting the va has been moving on from the problems. for some veterans, moving on is harder and that includes thousands who learned a common medical procedure could have gone terribly wrong, changing their lives forever. that's a story the unit first reported five years ago. ronan farrow followed up and found even after the medical scarce, many veterans faced a new struggle. >> john served in the u.s. army in vietnam. >> loading the tanks. >> phillip from chattanooga, tennessee saw combat as a sergeant major and the army

reserves. >> vietnam, korea, bosnia, fertile rotation into bosnia and iraq for the invation in 2 thousand 3. >> five years ago both got a bombshell from the va. this letter warning them of potential danger when they had colonoscopy in tennessee, they could have been exposed to a small amount of bodily flute remaining for a previous patient's procedure. one of the tubes used had an incorrect valve and an auxiliary tube may not have been properly cleaned between patients. the va could not rule out the possibility that one or more patients were exposed to infection. infection with another patient's virus such as hepatitis or hiv. more than 10,000 veterans who had colonoscopies at a va facility got letters like that.

>> disturbing reports -- >> that disclosure made national news. >> what happened when thousands of american who is had already proudly served their country went to va hospitals for tests designed to keep them healthy. >> that are i offered precautionary blood tests to check for viruses? some understood themselves to be virus-free and took the tests and tested positive. >> we visited them and asked them about what happened. >> ronan farrow. it's a pleasure to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> he said he tested positive for phepatitis b that affects te liver and can cause permanent damage and a higher risk of liver failure or liver cancer. >> i can't explain the feelings that went over me.

i was mad, i was upset, aggravated. about everything you could be at the same time. i wanted to strangle somebody. you have to go home and tell your family something like that, it's hard. >> he tested positive for hepatitis b too. >> how did it feel when you heard that? >> it's devastating not only to you, but your family. you don't know your family members as a result of somebody else's miscarriage. both have had colonoscopies. serious lapses in cleaning between patients there with the other facilities. as they reported in 2009. >> how could this happen?

it came down to the two similar valves, with two loops and the other with one loop usinged for cleaning the equipment. a va doctor noticed a problem. the wrong valve, the cleaning valve was being used during a colonoscopy. >> there was a congressional hearing. >> about 80 veterans contracted illness, it is outrageous that they are warning about the possibility. >> they conducted retraining and changed the procedures. so this cooperate happen again. overtime the story faded from the headlines. an investigation this year found that some of the veteran who is tested positive including bell and ren ger think they have done the wrong thing since.

they denied the claims and fought them in court. in a statement to nbc news, the va said it is unacceptable that veterans were exposed to harm and said they had taken steps to prevent the steps from happening again. they did not answer questions about what they are doing about those who tested positive and declined the interview. both men said they decided to abstain from sexual relations with their wife, fearing they could infect their wives. bell, married 25 years to janine. >> that are must have been difficult for you and your wife. >> yes. yes. >> ren ger married 43 years. >> she loves me and i love her, but we don't seem to have the

real closeness that we used to have before that. >> the va reported the small number of the veterans potentially exposed later tested positive for virus infections. 92 overall. eight for hiv and 13 for hepatitis b and 71 for hepatitis c. this year in response to the request, the va gave the investigative unit a data dump, a listing of claims filed against it. the va noted it is a tiny percentage of visited in fiscal year 2015, there were 107 million visits and malpractice claims. 453 of those paid. the nbc news investigative unit found 76 claims related to potential exposures of infection. 21 of those cited positive results for infections.

the others claimed nonphysical injuries from the stresses of knowing about the potential risk. the records revealed that the va denied most of the exposure claims. even for veteran who is tested positive. listing after listing had this notation. claim denied by regional council. the claim's local lawyer. they included phillip bells and john ren gers. they sent letters to both men and other who is made similar claims. the letters said the same thing. our investigation did not disclose acts or omissions by employees of the department acting within the scope of employment for which the va would be liable. accordingly, this claim is denied. plaintiff attorney say self described army brat whose father and brother were combat veterans. they filed claims as well as

more than 40 others who had col colonoscopies. the va denied them all. >> after sending a letter stating they had done something wrong and exposed them to contaminants, they send a letter out after receiving the claims that they did nothing wrong. >> there was no negligence? >> no negligence. >> is there any possibility in your view that you could have contracted this in any other way? >> no. >> no possibility? >> no. none at all. >> you know when you live a clean life. haven't done any kind of drugs and i haven't been running around on my wife or anything. she knows that. that's where i think i got it. i don't know from anywhere else i could have got it. >> that was ronan farrow reporting. this investigation into the treatment of veterans will

continue in the next hour and we will tell you about the va efforts to set things right and how some feel theests have gone wrong. up next, michael sam opens up about the historic year he had as the nfl's 50 openly gay draft pick and opens up about other gay players in the league who opened up to him. stay with us. i'm angela, and i quit smoking with chantix. people who know me, they say 'i never thought you would quit.' but chantix helped me do it. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking.

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>> developing this afternoon in the fight against isis as jordan issues a warning of grave consequences against isis with the pilot is armed. coalition forces carried out dozens of air strikes against isis targets. the u.s. and the partner nations carried out a total of 31 air strikes in syria and iraqis. initial reports indicate multiple buildings and vehicles and staging units with the karg

targets. this is new sitcom video rele e released that shows three buildings being destroyed in separate strikes carried out on december 21st near syria. an update on the ebola crisis. this time from our own shores. the centers for disease control said one of the workers was potentially exposed while working in a secure laboratory in atlanta. the mistake reportedly happened monday when researchers in a highly secure lab mistakenly allowed samples to be handled in a less secure lab. the cdc is being looking to see whether others were also exposed and emphasized there was no exposure outside the laboratory and no risk to the public. 2014 was a tumultuous year in sports to say the least. they rocked the nfl while the nba was hit hard by the racist comments of clippers owner donald sterling.

there was one story they managed to capture and that was the story of the rams choice of the openly gay player michael sam. one of the picks in the nfl draft. he did not make the team. he was recently cut by the cowboys. sam, she opening up to oprah about how it changed his life. this was the first tv interview since being cut. >> there was a lot of us out there. i'm not the only one. i'm just the only one who is open. >> michael sam said other gay players quietly contacted him since he publicly came out. >> very few reached out. >> very few meaning one, two, three, five? >> very few. and pretty much how they were thankful that i had the courage that they wished they had the courage. >> michael sam, defense i end, missouri. >> he was drafted in may and it

marked the turning point for the nfl. >> i'm a football player and i'm gay. >> in the sports world and beyond. >> i'm doing it, but it's how everyone's reaction was these are my teammates and my brothers. >> he admits growing up with his own brothers wasn't easy. >> they called me a fashion and called me gay and anything just to hurt me. >> now he said he appreciates the gestures made by the other gay players in the nfl. >> gay men in the nfl. >> they showed respect and admired my courage. it was very good. >> despite the fact that he was cut from the rams, by publicly coming out, he changed the culture of the nfl. >> i think michael sam and what

he did was courageous. it had an impact definitely. >> as for those who say sam is being kept out of the nfl because he is gay, he does not believe that. earlier this month, he tweeted i know i have the talent to play and i look forward to getting an opportunity once again to prove i can help a team win. that is going to wrap things up for me on this friday. my colleague will pick it up after the break with a live report on the upcoming week for raphael ramos, one of the two policemen killed in the a.m. push last saturday. if i can impart one lesson to a

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you are watching msnbc. here are some of the stories we are covering for you this hour. in just an hour, a wake will be held for slain nypd officer murdered in his police car along with his partner, liu.

the interview raked in seven figures in its 50 day in theaters despite the threat against the movie. the road to 2016, looking into the crystal ball of who will announce and when. we begin this hour with a developing story in new york with the wake for one of the two police officer who is died in an ambush-style killing. the casket of raphael ramos was carried into christ tabernacle church where lines are forming for the service. funeral arrangements for his partner liu have yet to be announced. police are stepping up their own protection after they have been linked to an alleged threat against the nypd. live in queens, new york, what's going on and how is the mood as this service gets under way? >> as we wait for the ramos family to arrive, i can tell you about the threats to the police department.

they received dozens of threats. they have tried to determine which are real and which might be pranks. of the ones they deem serious, there have been six arrests and one on wednesday. a man was on a phone in a bank here when he was overheard making threats he wanted to kill two white police officers. he was arrested and when they referred, they found two guns and brass knuckles. >> throughout the day we have been talking about this ariel banner that has been flown from over a plane. the group has stepped forward and claimed they paid for it. what can you tell us about that? it's a group of former and current police officers. it's just fuelled the flame and once these two funerals are over, he will need to bridge the divide between his

administration and officers on the police force. >> who has been lining up and what is the atmosphere like? >> they began to lineup about three hours ago. his casket arrived within the hour. we expect the family to be here within the hour. the wake begins at 2:00. the memorial service will begin at 7:00 this evening. he was a 14-year member here at the church. he was part of the life committee and on the marriage committee. the reverend said he was a family man, talking about his children to love by many here. always willing to lend a helping hand as an usher. he was well liked here. >> is this going to be open to the public? >> yes. most of the people we see here first online are members of the public. we see firefighters and police officers. we hear that 500 police officers will be coming from neighboring

nassau and suffolk county. we expect hundreds of police officers if not thousands and expect officers from around the country to pay helps. >> tomorrow the funeral as you mentioned expected to be attended by vice president joe biden. you can tell us what we may expect for officer liu in the coming days? >> we know that jet blue made an offer to fly his family members from china. they are working on visas with the new york city police department and the state department. we expect that could be at least a few more days before we see the family come and they can begin planning a funeral for officer liu. >> adam has been following the story all week long for us. thank you very much. it has been a dramatic few weeks for the comedy the interview. it was pulled after sony pictures received threats over the film. on christmas day, the movie made it to the big screens and sony said they have banked more than

$1 million at the box office. a new hack took down the xbox and playstation. xbox now seems to be functioning normally by both microsoft and sony acknowledged the gaming systems were down. the group calls itself lizard squad. so far there is no indication that these outages are related to earlier cyber attacks on sony. nbc's gina kim joins us from los angeles. did the hack help the interview at the box office or hurt it? >> of course it's always a toss up. it brings more notoriety to the film. we had a lot of hype and here's even more hype. really the bottom line is that sony just can't catch a break. they had attack after attack on the cyber security. in this latest outage, xbox live as of this morning was able to get back online. we are hearing reports that they

are having network problems. the playstation network is down for the count and there is no word on when it will be resuscitated. as for the cause, is it anything to do with the interview or north korea? not a likely suspect at this point. if as all the social media is koipting to on twitter and on social media, the lizard squad is behind the attack and they have attacked sony long before this controversy came to light. if they are indeed responsible it may just be out of spite. who knows. sewny and microsoft are not returning our calls for comment. >> two quick questions. is there any reaction from sony about the roll out of the movie? the reaction it got and are they happy with the numbers we have been reporting and very briefly, now that the movie is out nks what are the reviews about the interview? >> if you are asking me, i happened to watch the movie and

i thought it was hilarious and funny and some say it was scary how it was really spot on in terms of the political sat ire. in terms of critics, they are trashing the movie. it really depends on what you like and what you don't like. a lot of people obviously are showing support for the movie simply for the principal of it. it's a cause now. not so much a movie, but all the freedom fighters are out there rallying behind it. they said they are happy about what the movie grossed. in comparison, they were grossing 12 to $15 million. that pales in comparison. >> to keep in mind, a smaller scale, the interview was not released nationwide. gina kim, thank you very much

for the update. there is another development in the hacking story. a growing number of security experts are saying north korea was not behind it. the cyber security expert mark rogers writing the fbi and the president may say they are to blame for the most high profile breech in forever, but almost all signs point in another direction. he and other gurus think the hack was more likely done by a disgruntled employee according to new reports. joining me now is a defense council adviser with the truman national security project and the chair of the cyber security summit. what an interesting twist. do you think this sony hack was an inside job? >> it's too early to say at this point. the fbi director and his teamworking with other partners like national security agency and others certainly felt confident enough to assert that they believe north korea is behind the sony attacks initially.

>> we haven't seen evidence of that, right? >> i wouldn't say that. there similarities. any time you are trying to piece together an investigation like this, there pieces of evidence and certainty mind them. in addition doing dns unpacificing to assign specific ip addresses to the attack. i would be hesitant about what was read to make a firm assertion with north korea, but i believe various authorities have been tapped into and various other government officials have looked at it. we will need more time before the public at large can safely say one way or another. we may not get to that answer. >> if you are combing through the data and technology evidence, say this was not an individual. what are the organizations or individuals that could have had

this or been behind this? >> it was a highly sophisticated attack. we need to look at the other side, the recent loss of the internet in north korea and speculation on who may or may not have been behind that. it's always a challenge when we are looking at cyber security and the threats using these attacks. that said, the north korean attack on sony assuming they are behind it was very sophisticated. it's not a reflection that they had. they have a primitive society and a thin type to their outward facing internet. shutting down the north korean internet was not a challenge. that could have been done by anybody buying on line services through hackers to accomplish that. there a couple of things they need to look at in attribution and technology. >> a twist to the whole story. thank you very much for your expertise today. >> thank you. >> let's go to a somber

anniversary being remembered across the world. a decade ago that an earthquake set off a tsunami in the indian ocean, creating one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. 226,000 people were killed and over one million displaced. years later memorial services are being held. nbc has the story for us from thailand. >> on the 26th of december, 2004, we woke up and took a stroll on this beach. >> oh, my god! >> an hour later, the beach was overcome and a wave like no one had seen was crashing into her hotel room. >> i didn't know what a tsunami was. i never heard the word before. never. >> she and the love of her life were sucked out to sea. eight hours later, she was

clinging to a tree. >> a palm tree like this one was my savior. >> her boyfriend, one of more than 5,000 didn't make it. a decade later, they rebuilt and the tourists have come back. but the losses are long from forgotten. to the south on indonesia's northern tip is banda afternoony. 150 miles away from the epicenter of that 9.1 quake that caused the tsunami. the anniversary was marked by prayers for the dead. 130,000. 1/3 of this coastal community killed in a matter of minutes. she never found her mother, brother, or sister. >> you could not do anything. >> the focus is now on a brighter stronger future. earthquake-proof homes and the

face of a lost loved one in a 1-year-old child. on a thai beach where so much was taken, a smile from a survivor. >> it has given me many gifts and one of them is to have this consciousness of how lucky i am. >> nbc in tieland with that. thank you, katie. after the break, reaction to the latest police-involved shooting a few miles from ferguson, missouri. what the community is saying today, coming up. tastes like my homemade. it's our slow simmered vegetables and tender white meat chicken. apology accepted. i'm watching you soup people. make it progresso or make it yourself

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>> protesters carried signs reading black lives matter and shut down traffic for two straight nights, following the

shooting death of a black man antonio martin by a white police officer who has not done named. martin pointed a gun at the officer after viewing this surveillance video in which we have highlighted the intersection between martin and the officer. the americaly mayor told the city this incident is unique. we say black lives matter. this was not the case. you cooperate even compare this with ferguson. or the gardner case in new york. >> liz brown is a lawyer and community activist. liz, thank you very much for joining us. you heard what the mayor said on wednesday and seen the video that we showed. what's your reaction? >> i think that ted is doing what any mayor would do.

he is advocating on behalf of the city. i think it is way too early to dharm whether there connections and whether there not connections. to suggest that we know everything from looking at the grainy film shot from a far distance at this point we don't know everything. the police officer was supposed to be wearing a body mike. she was not. he chose to leave it in his car. they had a camera on it and it was not engaged. we had two opportunities to have a fuller and a better understanding of what happened that night. we don't. so to say this is not like something else, it is way too premature for that. i understand the motivation of a mayor who does not want his city to have to confront what the city of ferguson did. i understand that motivation. but it's premature. >> you talked about the issue of body cameras and that is in the national spotlight all across

the country. does that change the circumstances? >> we don't know. the fact that there was a body camera that was supposed to be on and the fact that it was in the car and the police officer chose not to put it on and the mayor said it was a new thing. they were tops to engage in a new procedure and the police officer failed to do it, i'm not going to charge him with that yet. there will be charges for police officers that don't do that, but it's a very important part of the evidence of determining what happened here. there was a choice made not to wear a body camera. people's concerns come out of generations of distrust with the police department.

with the institution of police. to ask a community and ask citizens who had generational, factual experiences that do not lead to trust to trust that they say what a police officer sees in a grainy film shot from dozens of feet away is far too much. it's not going to happen. >> you yourself are a lawyer and the community activist, one of the issues that came out of this has in the past several incidents has been about transparency. in this case the authorities have been quick to try to release the footage we have been hearing from. the local officials are high up. do you feel there is more transparency in the way this incident is being complained to the public or not? >> i wouldn't use the word transparency. i watched the entire press conference from the county police chief. i believe it was pitch perfect. they have learned from the

ferguson incident from the killing of mike brown. they are presenting themselves and presenting facts differently and a more humane way. the fact is that we still don't know. we can't say that they that is a result of transparency. it's more of a result from pr training. they are better at communicating than they were back in august. >> you were there on the ground. what is the mood today there? st. louis in general in reaction to the incident? >> i think the mood is what will continue to be. citizens understand that yet another african-american young man was shot down by a white police officer. we don't know the white police officer's name. we don't have all of the facts. the situation is the same as it was back in august and the august before that. decades before that and generations before that. the citizens in the city of ferguson, the citizens in this

region continue to be engaged in a problem that is generations old. >> thank you very much for joining us on that. we will be following that story and the community's reaction to that shooting. thanks again for joining us. happy holidays. >> happy holidays to you. >> how stocks are trading on the first full day after the christmas break and how will wall street close out 2015? 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.

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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. this may have come and down, but the santa rally continues on wall street. mary thompson joins us live and after that record close, we now have turned our attention to today. how is the market doing? >> a record day. record levels for the dow and s, and p and small cap stocks as well as the dow utility average. the rally that we see between christmas and new year's appears to be well under way. there was a saying that the trend is your friend.

recently over the last two weeks, the trend has been upward. it remains in place. >> as we head towards the new year, what can we expect? >> a couple of key things that the investors are watching. they will be waiting to see and see steady improvement in 2014. there concerns about the situation abroad. slowing growth in china and continued concerns about russia and what the low oil prices might do to that country and those are what investors have been watching going into 2015. >> are retailers going to be in the green or a blue christmas season?

so far sales are tracking pretty much in line with expectation showing steady growth. how that will affect the profit margins. >> we will have to wait, but a busy day as people go back out. mary thompson. thank you very much for joining us. as the city prepares to lay officer ramos and l lirks u to rest, we will speak with the path to reconciliation between the community and the police. reluctant to try new things. what's wrong with trying new things? feel that in your muscles? yeah... i do... try a new way to bank, where no branches equals great rates.

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>> hundreds have lined up since early this morning. regular new yorkers and police officers not only from new york city, but around the country are expected today and tomorrow for

the funeral. this was also a security issue. we have seen police here put cameras on light polls. there bomb-sniffing dogs and snipers on the roof. >> you are talking about the security there. there have been growing threats against the police in the last week or so since this incident. what do we know about the threats? are police taking them seriously and what have we learned? >> dozens of threats made against the police department. they are trying to determine which of the threats are serious and which are pranks. 40 have been deemed serious. six arrests and one was on wednesday. a man was in the bank and overheard making threats that he wanted to kill two white police officers. he was arrested in his home. they found two guns and two bulletproof vests and brass knuckles. >> we know the community has put together behind the nypd and what have you heard about what is happening in terms of support

for the families? >> the community has really come together in support of these officers not only here, but around the country. jet blue offered to fly some members from china to new york for the funeral. they offered to pay the tuition for officer ramos's son, justin. we are hearing all kinds of acts of generosity made and one organization has even offered to pay the mortgage are for the liu and ramos families. >> a sombering scene where we are expected the wake to begin. thank you very much for the update. a democratic congressman from new york. thank you very much for being here. happy holidays to you. a lot of stuff going on and a lot of perspeckives. let's start with the threats. there is anger in the city. definitely. the growing threats the nypd is

taking them seriously. what message do you have for the nypd and the community. >> number one, we need to listen to each other. we need to talk. a time where the best way to resolve this is having honest dialogue. anyone will tell you that. we know i am talking to my district attorney and i will reach out to talk to the local commanders. here's where the conversation has to be heard and people should be listening. it's so important to listen to one another. i think we can get on a path that brings us together. >> one of the points that came up was the mayor asking for them to hold off until the two officers can be laid to rest. they are not. we are seeing today that there has been a group of retired law enforcement officers saying deblas

deblasio, our backs are turned on you and blamed the mayor for speaking out. >> again, i recognize the fact that people have the right to demonstrate. we urged them to demonstrate aft afterwards. i think that police officers and particularly the president of the pba, we have a higher standard. the language which we use as public officials should be cautious on that kind of language. >> they don't help. >> no. it generally shows if you have to be disrespectful to the mayor, if you. >> tro >> -- if you are proeling in the precincts. >> let me ask you as a congressman. is there a role on the national level? what can congress do?

>> this is a national congress that is clear. let me say quickly, the police officers demonstrate also. they demonstrate when they don't get what they want and they have done that here. we had the mayor lead almost a riot in city hall. with police demonstrations. that's something we do in america. as far as washington, d.c., i think what we have done is ask the president of the united states and the attorney general eric holder to do a complete federal investigation into the police incidences with reference to mr. garner and mr. brown as well as what took place in cleveland that is clear from the evidence how communities of color and the thought patterns of the police officers there. what we need to do is ensure once again this movie selma just came out which i want folks to lock at, but looking at selma, showing the need to have the federal government come to the rescue of rendering justice in a

balanced way for the good of all of the american people. >> what would you say to protesters who are being told to hold off. >> just as i say i want them to give respect to folks in the community, the folks in the community and those demonstra r demonstrators can give respect to the families of the slain officers and wait until they have been laid to rest. they want respect on both sides. knowing that you have the right to do it and simply out of respect for the families, because no one who is really part of the movement of the demonstrators believe and or condoned the assassination of these police officers. out of respect for their families, that's all we are asking. don't demonstrate. let them be placed to rest. they served on our we half. >> how do you have a debate to reform the police tactics and at

the same time grieve and prevent the hatred that we are seeing against the nypd at the chapnts and rallies. >> someone reminded me not to go in pennsylvania there was a depraved guy who shot and killed the police officer and took them a long time to get them. you didn't play anyone who was pro gun or anti-government on that. you can't blame the demonstrators who are 99% with the police and understand it and they want justice in this case. you can't blame them from the acts of an individual who he said he needed mental health care. we are not condoning that and not with them. not with the movement. they are against the movement. >> thank you very much for

coming: happy holidays to you and your family. the southeast and the gulf states could get hit with flash flooding. we have seen thunderstorms and the area has been battered across the region. six states are under thunderstorm warnings. nbc's domenica davis is here with the nation's forecast. >> we are looking at snow from the rockies to the upper midwest where the weather will be today. we will have showers sitting down to the south. as this spreads off to the east saturday, look for the rain to continue through the gulf states. then start to push up to the southeast. sunday the big travel day. everybody is headed home. it looks like the trouble areas will be the pacific northwest, seattle to montana will be looking at snow and slick spots. down to the south, we could have thunderstorms from the gulf all the way up to the southeast. along the northeast is light

showers. i don't see travel problems for them. but the other dig story is the arctic cold. it is making a come back. we will start to see down by the beginning of next week, we will see this move into the plains and the southwest will get in on the cold. here's a look at the drastic drop in the temperatures. minneapolis over the next five days will fall from the 20s into the single digits. the cold is definitely coming back. >> thank you, domenica. part two of the investigation on routine procedures in va hospitals that may have put the health of several veterans at risk. we will take a look at the department efforts to set things right.

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common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. i love myself as a non-smoker. ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. . >> the va is facing credibility in the wake of the scathing inspector general report and mistreatment within the system and cover ups of the behavior. in the last hour, they pose one of the stories.

horrifying inspections while under the care of the va. now we will meet valerie herman, another who worked at the facility where it all happened. she said the revelations were no shock to those working there. >> valerie herman worked where both men had colonoscopies. they are not the at the department who performed them. she didn't witness them herself, but they were common knowledge there. >> what were you told by those who had firsthand experience of the equipment being used? >> just the blood and the saline that came from another patient was going into another. >> hello! >> and they were disturbed. >> why doesn't people speak up? >> fear. that's the only thing i can say.

>> shepherd said he tried to meet with the va to discuss how they could do the right thing for the affected veterans. >> how did they respond to the efforts? >> no response whatsoever. >> no response? >> no. i called and wrote letters and let's meet and sit down across the table from each other and figure out what needs to be done. >> he wrote letters to try to get more answers. >> this was an effort to find out what went wrong and how to correct it. compensate them for injuries sustained. >> after the va denied the claims, they filed negligence claims in tennessee on behalf of nine veterans, including bell. their lawsuits as for

significant financial rewards. >> didn't have to be that way. >> the va responded with a legal defense. through the lawyers, the va said prove it. shepherd said the va took the position that no one would be able to definitively determine whether any veterans got infected. in ren ger's case, the va submitted a schedule of exams that indicated the patients getting them before on the same day were negative for hepatitis. the va refused to provide the full medical records which could have provided other evidence. >> they were not interested in looking at it from a chronological perspective or a cumulative negligence perspective. >> we read both bell and ren ger the legal arguments used against their cases. >> how does it feel to hear that legal language in response your human situation that you are

telling them about. >> i heard it before and i don't like it at all. >> they should come to each of these soldiers and told them this is what happened to you and we acknowledge that it happened. and it's our fault. we did it. we caused it. >> in the end, the federal court in tennessee dismissed all the lawsuits filed by veterans there. including bell's and ren gers. largely on the grounds of arguments. both received monthly disability payments for other medical conditions unrelated to the infections. conditions the va rated connected to the military service. both still get medical care from the va, feeling they earned it through the service. >> ren ger has chronic hepatitis

and he will monitor liver damage for the rest of his life. bell's hepatitis is not active. he credits he is a carrier who can infect others. what has been most devastating is the feeling that the va has not taken full responsibility for a problem it acknowledged. treating veterans as legal opponents instead of patients, offering no apologies, they say. not even expressions of human concern. >> how does it make you feel? >> you feel like it's all a matter of money. >> it's like you don't mean anything to them. >> what's the va said of this story, robert mcdonald has been

speaking out about the steps he and the department have been taking. the va didn't want to discuss this one. the council referenced in the injury claim listings whose signature is at the bottom of all of those denial letters is ava attorney named tammy kennedy. kennedy has been promoting to acting general council and the top lawyer for the entire va. the news investigative unit asked repeatedly for an interview and they declined an interview. stay with us. we'll be right back. turn the trips you have to take,

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the 113th congress wasn't the least productive in history but it was pretty close. the question now is, will the new republican-led congress be able to compete? when the 114th congress

commences, the political fights on the agenda, immigration and the keystone pipeline. but the political tides are also turning towards 2016 already. with several republican contenders, jeb bush, rand paul and marco rubio, quote, actively exploring the territory. and liberals are counting their push for elizabeth warren. joining me now, washington post columnist dana milbank and politics reporter for "the huffington post," sabrina sadiki. dana, i want to start by asking you, what is the new congress, what is the first fight going to be? is there any area you think republicans and democrats will come together, like, let's say on tax reform, or will it be hearing and partisan politics from the get go? >> it's heart to say what the one first big fight will be. it will just sort of be an all-out brawl from the start. you could see the president was getting ready for that in his end-of-year news conference. there's a lot of pent-up anger among republicans who will now have unified control of the congress. if there's going to be any sort

of deal-making, this would be the year to do it. an odd-numbered year when there's not an election. but as you point out, the election never really stops. so, now we're already going to have it influenced by ted cruz and marco rubio and rand paul, their presidential agendas competing with things there. there's not a whole lot of cause for optimism, but in the spirit of the new year, let's say, yeah, maybe we can get some deals done on the tax code. you know, maybe even there's an outside chance on immigration. >> there's also the question of how the gop leadership is going to keep its own party in line. in fact, there was a "new york times" piece last week about how much mitch mcconnell's goal is just to get the party to stop saying no to everything. do you think that's even possible? >> well, it remains to be seen the extent to which gop leadership in both chambers contain conservative rebels they have in congress. i think that the president has already said there are some areas where he believes he can

work with mitch mcconnell as well as john boehner. they've already talked about trade agreements for example. both republicans as well as the obama administration would like to see the transpacific partnership be approved. that's one area of common ground. as well as tax reform. i think leaders are already pushing back on anything comprehensive with respect to tax reform. they could look at reforming the corporate tax code. there is some room for agreement. and it remains to be seen, of course, how much ted cruz and marco rubio will be able to shake things up as they eye the presidency and their own campaigns. >> dana, let's talk about presidential politics. let's turn to 2016. do you think it's possible hillary clinton, if she chooses to run, will not have a primary challenger? how can she get the support of the ever-increasingly formidable supporters of the elizabeth warren crowd? >> it seems very unlikely she would go completely without a challen challenger. if she could, that wouldn't be desirable for her or the democrats to have somebody waltz in there untested.

there is a lot of questioning about hillary clinton on the left, populist left right now. no indication elizabeth warren will seize that opening and run for president but others may try to do that. certainly even if it's, you know, a guy like bernie sanders from vermont. he's not going to win, but it may be something of a protest that will at least give some focus to the lack of enthusiasm on the left for hillary clinton. >> sabrina, on the other side of things, what about jeb bush, some people say his investments may give him the so-called mitt romney problem. do you think that's true? i mean, this weekend he cut ties with a company that was profiting from obamacare. >> yes, i think that it is true to an extent. i think that's why his advisers are head and trying to get out ahead of the primary. he cut ties with a health care

company with obamacare. he's looking at some of his investments in the private sector. he doesn't want to suffer from mitt romney syndrome and be seen as this out of touch pudocrat. that will come down to whether or not he can survive a gop primary. >> and released those e-mails from his time as governor. jeb bush says he's actively exploring a run in 2016. how long do you think it will be before we get official announcements from both sides? >> they need to quietly line up supporters. line up big fund-raising people, potential advisers. key activists and strategists out there. so, you can get a long ways just with your exploratory committees and wait a good while into the year. >> i'm sure we'll be watching it and following it closely from d.c. onward. thank you, dana milbank and

sabrina. happy holidays. that wraps up things for me. as mourners continue to gather to pay their respects to police, officer rafael ramos. my colleague richard liu will have coverage.

very good afternoon to you on this holiday weekend. i'm richard liu and it's 2 p.m. on the east coast. ahead this hour sony's "the interview" making it to theaters and online. how much money did this film make in the end? former president george h.w. bush hospitalized in houston. lebron james on the court in miami. we begin with the latest on the two nypd officers gunned down last weekend. right now mourners are gathering at a church in queens, new york, for the wake of rafael ramos who was killed along with his partner wenjian liu in an

execution shooting last saturday. ramos was a married father of two who recently celebrated his 40th birthday. earlier this week, one of his sons talked about what his father meant to him. >> my father was an incredible man. he was a hero. he was an incredible husband to my mother. and he was a really dedicated officer. he really cared about the people of new york city. rest in peace, dad. >> the shooter, brooklyn native ismaaiyl brinsley open fire at ramos and liu as their sat in their patrol car before killing himself in a subway station nearby. he began his rampage by shooting and wounding an ex-girlfriend in baltimore. brinsley was unstable and a loner with a long criminal record with a hatred for police and government. let's go to adam reiss standing by at the wake of officer ramos. adam, what have you seen so far today? it's a story you've been covering now for the better part

of a week. >> reporter: richard, they've just opened the doors here at christ tabernacle church. the family is expected any moment now. officer ramos' casket arrived about an hour and a half ago and the lines have only grown. hundreds of new yorkers, police officers from not only new york city, around the country expected here today and tomorrow. now, officer ramos was a long-term member of this church. 14 years he was an usher. he was part of the lich ministry, part of the marriage ministry. his commanding officer was here moments ago. he told us he was always volunteering, not only here but at the police department. his name appeared always when there was a volunteer needed. it was officer ramos. now, we expect the family to be here momentarily. the wake will be from 2:00 to 7:00. there will be a memorial service at 7:00 tonight. his funeral is tomorrow morning. vice president biden is expected now with the mayor and police commissioner. richard? >> you know, as we've been

listening to his son, a very strong and courageous son, justin ramos, and we just listened to a part of what he had said about his father, what have you learned after a week covering this story about the family of rafael ramos? >> reporter: very tight-knit family, very tight-knit community supporting the family. as i said, he was a 14-year member here. very involved in the church as an usher. always someone to help out elderly people, small children getting to their seat. whatever was needed, it was officer ramos who came to the rescue. same at the police department. someone who always volunteered, someone who cared for others and he will be is sorely missed by members of the church and his precinct and the police department here. >> everybody watching this, no doubt, adam, hearts out for friends and family of rafael

ramos. thank you adam reiss. the killing of the new york officers has heightened tensions among the ongoing protest units. new york mayor bill de blasio calling for a suspension of demonstrations until both officers could be buried. protests in new york continue this week, including a march in harlem on sunday night. and another demonstration along the fifth avenue -- along fifth avenue, rather, on tuesday. joining us now from miami, editor-in-chief of global grind and a board member of justice league, a group that has helped organize protests in new york. thanks for joining us today, michael. starting with this, after the two officers are buried, what do you expect to happen? bill de blasio, the mayor, looking at that time very keenly? >> well, i am here in miami, richard, visiting families for the holiday. certainly i would love and wish i was in new york during a very tough time. i just got here a few days ago. this is a tough time for our city. a very difficult time. to see those pictures and see the son of officer ramos.

i knew some gooi guys who grew up with him. we discussed his life after the murder. it's a very difficult time. i don't think there's any demonstrator, not just new york, but around the country for 140 days plus since the death of mike brown doesn't feel for their family. doesn't have a sense of compassion for the loss of life that happened in brooklyn this past weekend. so, we will continue protesting because we have never said we were anti-police. we're anti-police brutality and this mad man who murdered two police officers has nothing to do with what we are setting forth in the past few weeks here in new york city. >> michael, how have protesters, ones you may have been involved in, how have they adjusted based on how the city is now mourning the loss of these two slain officers? what have you said, let's do this differently? >> yeah. we had a march planned in harlem sunday. we had a silence march, just with candles and ended up in a church in harlem and prayed for

the officers, for the families of eric garner and we prad for everybody in the church. we did a toy drive yesterday in staten island. we delivered hundreds and hundreds of toys to families in staten island and the community where eric garner was from. to look at this with compassion, don't demonize a group of young people marching for a better america because one guy came and murdered two police officers. don't demonize folks across the country. a young black man was just killed by a police officer two nights ago in st. louis. folks are hurting and trying their best to heal. and don't know how to do it the right way, because there is no handbook to this process. so i think -- i have a tremendous amount of respect for those who protest, but i also have loving compassion for those who are hurting and trying to heal after this week's murders in brooklyn. >> himichael, how much longer d you think this movement will last? what might cause it to either turn up or wind down? >> look, we have a list of

serious demands. we met with the mayor before the officers were killed in brooklyn and we discussed them with the mayor. we want to meet with the commissioner. commissioner bratton. we had a meeting with attorney general of new york. these are serious issues that have to be dealt with. the rhetoric of the police union, pat lynch, and as we saw today, there's a plane flying over brooklyn saying, de blasio, we turned our back on you, from retired police officers in the nypd. that doesn't help. we need a professional, mature conversation among those who to want see change and those who can see change in new york city. i think the police commissioner's mistake saying a few weeks ago this would peter out. this isn't going anywhere. we need serious change. i think we have a partner in the mayor, a partner in the police commissioner of bill bratton and new york city. i hope the police department will allow things to happen and not continue with this visceral divisive comments. >> i was speaking to the commissioner in ferguson, it was

100 days at that time, he said when you look to the 60s, how could you say it would be in the hundreds? they're looking at decades, certainly. thank you for your time today and have a very happy and peaceful new year, no doubt. >> you, too. more than $1 million, that's what the interview brought in for sony on christmas day at approximately 300 theaters nationwide. today sony putting out a statement thanking those who watched the movie. considering the incredibly challenging circumstances we are extremely grateful to those who came out to watch. jinah kim in los angeles. what about the screenings, how dp that factor into the numbers? >> sony has not released numbers yet for how much people rented or purchased the movie online since it made its debut online on christmas eve. let's put it into perspective. industry analysts predicted had

"the interview "hit major theater chains, all 3,000 it was predicted to do so before this ordeal broke out, it would have made probably $20 to $25 million. if you say each ticket is about $15 at the box office, that's about 1.5 million people. if those same 1.5 million people purchased the$5.99 online rental is a far cry from $20 million. >> a hit on numbers and a hit on brand equity as we have seen so far for sony. and as they look forward to what's happening with "the interview" and other films. some of the impact here that's come out in the last 24 thundershowers is sony's playstation, the hacking by a group called lizard squad. anything else you've heard about those threats being enacted? >> the latest on the outage is

that xbox was able to get everything together and go back online with its core services this morning. users are still all over social media reporting they're having a lot of problems get, onto xbox live. sony within the past hour it stayed mum for 11 hours on social media and then on its twitter account it basically said, we're still working to restore full access. so, it's still offline. but that was a little bit of an update after silence for almost the past half day. as far as the cause, no word yet. the lizard squad, the hacker, is the top guess at this point but people are also saying maybe it was a christmas outage with so many people trying to get online. >> nbc's jinah kim in los angeles. thank you for that. it has been a strange week for weather with warmer than usual temperatures in the northeast and a white christmas in all places, hawaii. there's more to come in the days

ahead. the weather channel's bonnie schneider joins us with a look at the weekend weather. great see you. what can travelers expect? >> in colorado, nebraska and south dakota it's snow. the cold air is diving to the south along with this jet stream and then it's a whole different animal throughout the weekend. moisture from the gulf of mexico will ride across the southeast creating heavy rainfall up to pennsylvania, new jersey and parts of new york as well. we're looking at heavy rain. the possibility of strong thunderstorms and heavy downpours with frequent looib lightning strikes. it will really be a rainmaker. for those on interstate 10, louisiana further to the east, you will encounter those downpours and it's likely to aaccumulate as we go through tomorrow night. saturday night into the overnight period on sunday. and then this all sweeps to the north, as far north as west virginia on sunday. so many people traveling. be prepared to use those windshield wipers and take it

slow on the road. remember, with all this rain coming through, 3 to 5 inches in parts of louisiana through the weekend, we're likely to see reduced visibility. drivers have to be extra careful, richard, this upcoming weekend because of the wet weather. >> keeping it interesting and exciting. bonnie snyder, thank you so much. holiday travel can be a headache. this year's no exception, certainly. according to trip adviser, one-third of u.s. travelers are on the road for holidays. traffic jams, flight cancellations are par for the course here for most holiday travelers. what should do you if you get stuck in weekend? tripadviser's advocate. what should we do if we get stuck? >> if you get stuck at the airport, that's the real problem that might face a lot of travelers. if you're delayed, what you want to do is find a place outside the circus of the terminal. think about buying a day pass to lounge club.

they now sell them for $25 to $50. >> that's not bad. >> use the gate guru app to find out what's nearby, if you're stuck for eight or ten hours. if your flight is canceled, you don't want to stand at the long line in the airport, don't get on stuck on hold for hours with the jammed reservation line. call one of the airline's overseas numbers, where they speak english, australian, england, use skype. when you're thinking about a smart route to get where you're going, look at where there are no weather issues in any airports. connect via a hub like los angeles, houston, somewhere southern where there aren't any weather issues so you can get to your destination faster. >> it's because those outside international lines have different capacities, i guess. >> yeah. if everybody's calling the same -- you know, so many people whose flights are canceled get

stuck for three or four hours. everybody's in a mad race at that point to get what few seats are available on alternate flights. >> i'll see you at the airport calling international overseas numbers together. appreciate it so much. for some of the other stories we're following this afternoon. former president george h.w. bush remains inspect hospital for the fourth day. he was admitted to methodist hospital tuesday after experiencing shortness of breath. a spokesman says the 90-year-old is in great experts and he remaining under hospitalization as a precaution. two years ago president bush spent seven weeks in the hospital with a bronchitis-related cough. the new openly gay pro football player in the nfl has something to say. he's not the only one. after being cut from the st. louis rams, he said other players had reached out to him. >> very few reached out to me. >> very few meaning one, two, three, five? >> very few reached out to me.

and pretty much just showed their gratitude and they were thankful i had the courage -- they wished they had the courage to come out. last night king james returning to miami, that sfe where he won two nba crowns. for the first time he returned since rejoining the cleveland cavaliers. lebron was greeted by a standing ovation from miami heat fans there before the much-hyped christmas night game. that love did not help cleveland or james. who sunk 30 point. miami won 101-91. coming up, a holiday gift for drivers across the country. plus two transit officers in philadelphia deliver a christmas miracle aboard a subway train. you're driving along,

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good new force 89 americans hitting the road, national gas prices, wow, down to an average of $2.32 a gallon. that fell 49 cents in just the past month. nearly $1 from a year ago. several states have seen prices at the pump dip below $2 this month as well, including new jersey, ohio and louisiana. that's $1.95. plunging oil prices contributing to a roller coaster month on wall street, but this week the market finishing up, recovering the last of the ground lost in the early december slump. the dow jones industrial average surging even further beyond the 18,000 point benchmark. this is more than a santa claus rally one might say. today the market is up across the board in light post-christmas trading. up 54 and change. joining us is "usa today" contributor regina lewis. you can tell i'm a little excited about it. >> i see you're excited about gas prices.

>> tell me about this, though, who and what is behind the oil drop? is this a middle east? is this a play here that ch has lower cost on production to shake out some high-cost competitors like the united states and russia when we're talking about energy? >> there is a bit of a shake-out or a standoff, if you will. it really is about supply and demand. demand down particularly because of what's happening in russia and china where the new predictions are that consumption will be down in 2015 then revised downward. >> in china? >> yeah. so they're expected to use less oil over the course of next year. here due to fraccing and look no further than north dakota and pennsylvania, we have supply. the combination of increased supply and decreased global demand is really what's getting prices to record low. >> i want to get into the weeds here but china will actually consume less energy next year? >> the forecast has been revised next year. not less year-over-year but the forecast has been revised.

>> what do you think when oil gets too low that it affects the economy in a deleterious way. >> it depends on who you ask. i think there will be consolidation. there are hints of $20 a barrel. new refineries, it's expensive. have you to make your initial capital cost back. that's where saudi arabia has the advantage because it's cheaper for them to extract oil. it's great news for consumers who are saving $80, $150 a month. importantly, it's helping the people who need it most. when you look at credit and debit card transactions, the vast majority are gas and groceries. i think we haven't felt that yet because people put it on debit and credit cards, the benefit hasn't kicked in. for those on the east coast heating their homes with oil, they'll be looking at lower costs. >> $20 a barrel, that must be in denver, i think. for various regions.

>> if that happened, it would be significant. >> thank you for your time and insights today. president obama and first lady michelle obama spent part of christmas day visiting troops at a hawaiian marine base. the commander in chief thanking the troops for keeping the citizens safe this holiday season. >> the world is better, it's safer, more peaceful, more prosperous and our homeland is protected because of you. >> nbc's kristin welker is in honolulu, hawaii, with the president. what else did the president say and do? >> reporter: well, he spent some time with family yesterday, richard, sang some carols. had a traditional christmas day feast but he visited with those troops, thanked them for their service and sacrifice. really, this is a bit of a working vacation, as all vacations are for the president, in addition to getting r&r, playing golf. president having discussions behind the scenes about some bigger issues, including what to

do about north korea. how the united states is going to respond. we know that among the options that they are considering to respond to that cyber attack against sony, increasing sanctions against north korea. possibly a countercyber attack. there's also work being done on the state of the union address which he will deliver on january 20th. you can expect him to taut big gains we've seen in the economy. the fact that the economy grew by 5% in the third quarter. and then he's monitoring some of the ongoing crises like the response to the two nypd police officers who were killed. of course, he's asked vice president biden to attend one of the funerals on saturday. this is, to an extent, a working vacation. also the president trying to get some r & r so you can expect him to have a few more rounds of golf. he stays through the new year. >> thank you so much. hopefully you're having lots of spam out there. as you know, a very popular dish. no? yes? >> reporter: trying to get some

down. i haven't yet. i'll do that tonight. >> thanks so much, kristin welker with the president. >> reporter: thanks for the suggestion. >> you bet. for more on those political battles, that may be upcoming, and we won't talk about spam, nick joins us from the new york tooimsz. let's start with this. this past week, interesting, as we watched approval ratings for the president, there were a couple of polls to look at in the last seven days. first from gallup showing 48% approval rating. also an uptick for him. we see the cnn/orc poll also up there. he's doing better than george w., but not quite as well as both clinton and reagan. what do you make in the up in tick in the two polls? >> i think things are going better than before. you know, gas prices are lower and jobless rates are a lot lower. folks have health insurance. there are all kinds of things

that are out there that are better for people. the stock market is very high. but i think, you know, consumer confidence is also high, which shows that the recovery in the stock market may be hopefully reflected a tiny bit in the lives of all other people around the country. >> everyday america, if you will. those answering these poll questions. immigration is part of the major moves in this last quarter. whether it may or may not be an input to these approval ratings, one could guess for a long time. we're watching that date of february 27th and the funding. what do you make of that fight coming in the new year? i think it's not going to be as big a fight as it has been. i think the republicans who now control congress see themselves as having a lot at stake in an orderly congress in not having any kind of a shutdown or a cliff. they want to show they can rule, they can be in power and be responsible. i think there will be a lot at stake for both sides, the president and congress to show they can do it in an oerrdinari

ways. >> it might be the first test as we look forward to the next congress. so, you do money. you watch money when it comes to the presidential elections. will we see a $1.5 billion campaign on either one of the two sides? and any early indications in terms of money flows? >> i'm going to say on both sides we'll see $1.5 billion and even more for superpacs outside spending. if hillary is the nominee, and if they could nominate four or five guys, there will be a lot of money. both parties have learned how to raise a billion dollars for a campaign. the people are out there, they have the experience. >> who becomes the nominee and the timing of when they become the nominee? how does that affect the money and when it's coming in? and the amount. >> it's interesting. so, after last time around with mitt romney, when he basically ran dry of money because the republican party had raised all this money, but he couldn't

touch it until after the convention. this time the convention is earlier and the primary will be front-loaded a bit more to shrink that gap a little bit. look, jeb bush is possibly running. chris christie. these are guys who can raise a ton of money without a problem. >> clinton and jeb bush on both sides. >> clinton and bush once more sdmroot numbers we're talking about will be absolutely incredible. which side do you see giving more? >> i'm going to give the edge to republicans only because they're hungry to have the white house in a big way. >> thank you so much. coming up, america and its allies unleash a barrage of fights against isis today. 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...

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targets. in just under five months, it's become a billion dollar operation. one that's killed an estimated 1100 isis fighters. joining me now msnbc military analyst general barry mccaffrey. great to see you. what's the significance as you've watched this development over the last five months and this ramping up i just described, today's strikes included, and the recent stepping up of just action overall? >> well, certainly our commander in the region, general lloyd austin, has now got a coalition of people involved in it. the saudis are involved, jordanians, gulf coast states. so, it's not just u.s. it's not just french and british. that's a key difference. and i think the second thing we're seeing happen is the disaster that overtook the iraqi armed forces who collapsed in the face of these initial attacks has reversed. over 3,000 u.s. come bass forces in iraq and they seem to have

stabilized the situation. so, the thing is, drawn back from the abyss, it now looks much better. >> than it was before. as you noted and probably watches isis reportedly holding a jordanian pilot. according to what we know at this moment, it's unclear whether they shot down that plane oar if he just crashed in their territory. but as you look at this either way, he's still the group's first military captive. what's the significance of this? >> it shows you the difference in times between, you know, today's day and age of digital communications and 50 years ago. this is one aircraft down. by the way, u.s. military saying it wasn't shot down. it was an accidental crash. there will be a tremendous amount of political leverage out of this one jordanian pilot. he was carrying out come bat operations against isis. it's unlikely we'll get him back at any time soon. they'll probably have to buy his

release, the jordanians at some point i'm sure will give them cash. >> "the washington post" saying, general, and i'll read the headline, isis failing an attempt at state-building. what is the state of how isis is doing? >> well, the caliphate certainly isn't working. the numbers we're using now, some 30,000 isis fighters. if that's the right number -- by the way, half of them are foreigners. che they're lousy at keeping the water potable in mosul. raqqa, their capital in syria is a disaster. these people are cruel, inhumane, but they can't make the country work. both syria and iraq are still paying government salaries and still keeping the telephone system working. these people are thugs and they're going nowhere with the caliphate so far.

>> reports of hepatitis spreading, flour becoming scarce. all that in the background, the united states sending another 1300 troops to iraq. what will they be facing? >> well, i think, you know, we're trying to -- 25% of the iraqi army ran for it. abandoned their m-1 tanks and blackhawk helicopters. there's tremendous ethnic problems, and i can't imagine the iraqi armed forces putting iraq back together. but i do think the troops who got on the ground have stabilized the situation and they've stopped a baghdad takeover, i think, which was threatened a couple months ago. >> the very latest on isis, general barry mccaffrey. thank you for your time and have a good new year. one decade later, how asia is marking the tsunami that killed nearly a quarter million people. plus, philly, my baby is

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we're turning now back to queens, new york, where family and friends are gathering for the wake of slain nypd officer rafael ramos, who was shot and killed saturday in brooklyn along with his saturday officer liu by a mentally disturbed man who ambushed both officers as they sat in their patrol car before turning the gun on himself. now, funeral service for officer ramos has been planned for tomorrow morning. with vice president joe biden expected to attend that. since the killings new york city officers have taken extra precautions for their own safety and police have made at least six arrests related to threats against the nypd as well as looking into about 40 threats against the department since that shooting. msnbc reporter adam reiss live at the wake in queens, new york, this afternoon. adam, do you know what has happened so far in the program during this wake?

>> reporter: well, i can tell you that the doors have opened at 2:00. we're seeing hundreds of officers, not only from new york city but as far away as upstate new york and around the country, lining up to come in, along with new yorkers of all stripes. i can tell you not only has the community come by to support the family, but organizations and companies have also come forward. jetblue will pay for the liu family members that aren't here already to come from china. there's an organization that will pay the mortgages for both the liu family home and the ramos family home. and bodin college where officer ramos' son attends college, they will pay for the rest of his tuition. >> adam, part of this has been the discussion of protests. we were speaking with michael earlier in the hour. it looks and sounds like it's been pretty quiet and respectful there today when we look to tomorrow when the vice president will be here to pay honor during

the funeral for mr. ramos, officer ramos. >> reporter: well, it's certainly quiet here. it's a somber scene. you're seeing a lot of emotion. a lot of tears. but the rhetoric between the mayor and some police officers on the force has not died down. in fact, there have been protests that do continue despite these funerals that haven't even happened yet. there was an overfly today of a banner that was anti-mayor de blasio. so the rhetoric conditions and the passions continue. so after these two funerals you'll have to look to see if the mayor's office looks to bridge the gap between himself and the officers on the force. >> adam reiss there at the wake for officer rafael ramos in quooebs, new york. we'll be stopping by with you next hour as that wake is ongoing. thank you for your reporting there. talk to you soon. now to overseas. ten years ago christmas 2004, an

epic national disaster on december 26th, boxing day, a massive 9.1 earthquake. just off the coast of western indonesia. triggering the deadliest tsunami in recorded history. memorial services are being held all across asia today. in indonesia, the vice president led a delegation of officials who prayed and laid flowers at a grave where thousands of victims were buried. indonesia was the hardest hit on that day ten years ago. at least 168,000 people died in banda aceh just 150 miles from the quake epicenter there in a matter of 24 hours. nbc's katy tur went to see what has changed and what has not. >> reporter: it was december 2004, ten years ago, when the world woke up to mother nature at her worst. >> get in! get in! >> reporter: a tsunami like no one had ever imagined. that killed more than 230,000

and left entire cities flattened. but nothing compared to what we saw in banda aceh on indonesia's northern tip. >> it's said over 1,000 bodies clog the bridge beneath this and still pulling bodies out today, nine days later. >> reporter: ten years later on this very same bridge, it's unrecognizable. business is back to business, and indonesians say, yes, they have recovered. after a decade, the scars are healing, the economy rebounding and life is going on. everything is now back in its place. almost. >> this man was fishing when the wave came in. on shore he found his home and 26 members of his family, including his son, daughter and wife, gone. first love. only love. his oldest, away in bali, was

the only one left. >> the first that i said i text off to him is, where's my mother? and where's my brother and sister? and then he said, let it go. >> reporter: now it's in her 1-year-old shawn that she sees the face of her lost brother. in the days after this man described how he ran with his 5-day-old daughter under his arm. today nami, nicknamed for tsunami, is 10. across aceh the memory of that day is strong, but then again, so is it's future. katy tur, nbc news, banda aceh, indonesia. and now to a very special christmas delivery. on a philadelphia subway last night two transit police

officers boarded a train when they heard a woman had gone into labor. moments before the mother-to-be reportedly shouted in the subway car, philly, my baby is coming! the two officers sprang to action, helping to deliver that baby boy and remove the umbilical cord. >> i was hoping for a quiet shift. like, don't we all. but this experience was pleasant. >> everything happened so quick, but it was -- it was amazing. >> not a quiet night for those guys. the mother and newborn are both reportedly in good condition today, thanks to all that good work. coming up, the hidden hungry. we'll look at how one minority group in america is feeling the brunt of the hunger epidemic.

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>> reporter: 79, being a u.s. citizen for six years and every year here he's been on the poverty line. >> we don't have enough money yet need. >> reporter: he is a face of the hidden hungry, of what's not the model minority. one in ten asian-americans and pacific islanders are food-insecure according to aaip data. greg white runs a d.c. area organization and see this is problem every day. >> this is more chronic. when i say that, this is food insecurity that isn't resolved. it happens over and over so we see them on a repeat basis. >> it's worse for the elderly. aarp found senior citizens are more likely to be on food stamps than the overall senior population at a rate of 14% versus 9%. >> the sense of community and community taking care of each

other also masks the need in the community. >> reporter: she believes multiple families often share food to help each other, but that, she says, in turn hides the problem. >> i translate this. >> reporter: another reason this group stays hidden, they don't speak english, which keeps them from accessing help. three out of four asian american adults speak glitch as a second language. >> they're more private. they don't ask for a lot. >> its center for economic security found 29% of asian-americans live in poverty, the highest group in the city. >> even though they have a little bit, they like to share it with others. i've gained 20 pounds since i've worked here because when they bring a gift like that to me, i couldn't possibly turn it down. and tell them how wonderful it is. you know, some day someone's going to bring me a live chicken, probably, because i get

all kinds of gifts. >> i think she may have gotten that live chicken. by the way, food panks have started to bring in language services and specific community outreach programs for asian american and pacific islanders where more than 100 different languages are spoken. retailers offered larger discounts to lure holiday shoppers, but did necessity take the bait? we'll have the top tips to make your holiday returns a bit easier. the holiday season is here, which means it's time for the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. for practically just your signature,

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it is the most quufl time of the year with kids across the country waking up early to new surprises under the tree, some adults too, and to the delight of many youngsters and adults the anticipated new toy with 42% of shoppers buying toys during the holiday season a scoreding to the national retail foundation, making the boy business a multibillion dollar business. we all knew that. sales of "frozen" toys and games alone could hit $1 billion by year's en. amazon reporting its customers

bought enough elsa dolls this season to reach the top of cinderella's calf 855 times. jackie briere of the toy insider is here to walk us through the biggest toy trends of 2014. so, our floor director here, who's coughing a lung over there, he was actually saying how his daughter was all over "frozen." let's start with this at the end. that's one of top sellers, right, this season? >> absolutely. this item was hard to come by even in november. it's the cool tunes sing-along boom box. it has three songs from the film built right in. it's got a mike seascrophone so can sing along. can you actually attach your own mp3 player. can you sing along to any song in your library. when you're done singing "let it go ". >> you add more in. >> yeah, can you sing any song you like. >> sounds good. let's turn that off. that was popular with the boys. this is popular for the boys. >> parents loved ninja turtles

when they were kids and thanks to the tv series, the movie came out in august, and my favorite are are these interactive talking turtles. they actually respond to one another. >> want to spar? >> so -- >> how do they coordinate? this is interesting. >> all four turtles are available. they will actually interact all together if you -- >> they will not talk over each other like i'm doing to you? >> no, no, not at all. >> that's cool. >> doc mcstuffens a favorite since it was introduced in 2012. kids want to fix the broken toys in their neighborhood and makes cool lights and sounds. >> it's got a back door with a gurney and has all the tools kids need. >> just this -- you'll never not be able to see this in the dark. that's for sure. >> super glitter y just the way

girls love it. >> what about this? >> paw patrol was the sleeper. this series came out on nick jr. last year. the toys just rolled out this fall. >> this is part of it? >> yes. they teach kids about teamwork and friendship. >> interesting. >> this is featured in every episode of the show and kids are looking to collect all these pups in their vehicles. this is chase with his police cruiser. it's a lot of fun. the periscope even comes off. >> any surprises to you in the entire season overall when you looked at toys? >> not to me but i think to a lot of people, the paw patrol was a big surprise. it sold out fast. i think everyone knew "frozen" was going to be hot. >> i like mixing entertainment as well as education along the way. this is a good idea, gift cards. >> kids can add onto the starter packs they received this holiday. these figures are $10 to $15 apiece. >> during the break, i have a lot of things to do here. thanks for stopping by.

appreciate your time as we looked at the toys of 2014. next hour, we'll go live to queens, new york, where family, friends and fellow officers paying their respects to slain nypd officer rafael ramos. millions of americans are on the move this weekend. we'll tell you where rain and snow could spoil your travel plans and trying to get home. 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.

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