a final farewell. details on the funeral for one of the police officers slain last week as a massive crowd pays its respect. a u.s. combat mission ends but is the longest war really over? fresh criticism against the u.s. on internet hacking and now directs comments towards president obama. why retailers may be taking a different approach in this season of sales. good morning, everyone. welcome to weekends with alex

witt. they came from across the street and across the country to mourn two fallen nypd officers, and the funeral for one of those officers, officer ramos, will be this morning. >> my father was a man of character. he was a selfless man. i am forever grateful for the sacrifices he made for me and jaden. >> they were gunned down as they sat in their patrol car on a brooklyn street. >> reporter: a somber procession in silence. the casket of officer ramos carried into the church draped in the nypd flag. >> it's nice to see everybody get together the way they have. >> hundreds lined up awaiting

foyer turn to share their grief and condolences. >> we love raffaele ramos. >> he and his partner were gunned down last saturday as they sat in their patrol car. an assassination, city leaders said, targeted because of their uniforms. lu's widow sobbed. >> we want to help lift them out of some of the despair that they are in today. >> a makeshift memorial continues to grow where the two died. and as many as an estimated 25,000 officers are expected to pay their respect to their fallen colleagues over the weekend. as two families begin to say their final good-byes. kurt gregory, nbc news. >> vice president, joe biden,

will attend the services for officer ramos. we will have coverage throughout the morning. denver is in the grip of single digit temperatures at this hour and it comes a day after a christmas snowstorm there. the blast is expected to blast through new year's day. alex wallace is here with the forecast. >> good saturday to you, alex. as we return home looks like it will be nice for our saturday in the northeast, and a good bit of sunshine expected, and temperatures in the 50s. but we have a cold front moving towards the east and moisture being pulled out ahead of it as the cold front incountered that, and that forms the clouds and eventually the rain. we will see that today in a good chunk of the mississippi valley. further easter, carolinas, florida, good travel times.

atlanta sees the rain, and portions of the carolinas as well. if you can get out and do the traveling today, your saturday, the best bet, because sunday the showers begin to move its way in. and in the northwest, we could be watching areas from the cascades all the way down to the wasatch as we head to the weekend. heads up. snow is coming in here and in some areas one to two feet will be possible. other news now. the actor that played screech on the '90s show "saved by the bell," is facing several charges. he was arrested christmas night after an altercation with two men which led to one of the two men being stabbed. new worries in the northwest about the avian flu.

they are concerned the outbreak in washington and oregon will hurt exports by prompting some nations for trade barriers. >> so far we had three positives for two different strains of the avian influenza. >> it's not the only thing killing birds right now. a respiratory disease is behind a duck die off. they are testing all the bird caucuses that they find. a man in need of a kidney didn't have to look too far to find a kidney. he tested his wife of 24 years and it turns out she was perfect. >> my life was changing forever. it was not something that i could just take a pill and it would go away. >> we knew the day was going to come, we just didn't know when. we just didn't know it was going

to be me. >> well, the surgery was a success. only about 2% of spouses wind up being a perfect match. anybody regardless of age or medical history can be an oregon donor. angry words today and even a racial slur from north korea's leader blames president obama for encouraging the release of the movie "the interview." it's a comedy that depicts the north korea leader as a buffoon type of leader. what the statement does not mention is the recent hack attack on the sony station gaming system. and we have more on the war of words in the on going headache. this is just seemingly never ending. >> it's like a new development overnight. north korea now blaming the united states for that suspected

cyber attack that crashes the country's internet earlier this week. u.s. officials denied any involvement. but this fight is getting nasty with north koreans slamming president obama with an ugly slur. the war of words escalating overnight, and the spokesman saying president obama goes reckless like a monkey in a tropical forest and promises deadly blows if they continue their gangster-like practices. more rhetoric after "the interview," which is a fictional plot to kill kim jong-un. another suspected hack, this one blocking gamers from logging on to the play station network, but the group taking credit appears to be separate from the hackers responsible for the cyber attack against sony's studio arm. the branch of the company that

made "the interview." the branch of the company that made "the interview" -- >> i think this is all coincidental. i would be hard pressed to say any connection between twot is taking place here. >> multiple platforms are letting people buy or rent "the interview" online. and box office numbers are available. the comedy that played only at 331 theaters grossed more than $1 million opening day. >> at this point the currency of the movie is awareness and not dollars. >> it's almost unprecedented the movie theater is made online and in theaters at the same time. but cinema owners don't seem to mind. >> i think them releasing it online makes a lot of business success. >> this experiment born of necessity may be short-lived. >> i don't know if that sets a new standard. i think it's one of the most

unique situations we have ever seen and it's unique to "the interview." >> something that is not unique to this movie, the number of illegal downloads online, something analyst say is a problem system wide, and it has been pirated more than 1 million times in the last day. >> thank you. the funeral for the slain new york police officer, officer ram ramos, is expected to get underway soon. funeral plans for officer lui have not been announced. and adam, good morning to you. tell me what is happening out there. set the scene. >> reporter: alex, good morning. we are seeing officers lined up. you can expect to see a sea of blue as thousands of new york

city police officers come to pay their last respect and say good-bye to officer ramos. he was an usher here on sunday mornings, and always looking to help the young and old and beloved by many and was studying to become a chaplin, and he will receive that degree from the seminary, and he will be promoted by the police department. we expect the service to begin in three hours, and vice president biden and the mayor and police commissioner in attendance. >> there have been controversy with mayor de blasio and he relationship with the nypd as of late, and do you think he will be welcomed today as he goes to speak? >> reporter: i don't know if he will be welcomed by all, but i can tell you those disputes and that discussion will be put off for today. today is a focus on officer

ramos, his service and burial, and that's the only thing on peoples' minds here today. >> all right, thank you so much. a new report on what might cause isis to fail even if the u.s. military can't wipe out the military group with air strikes. america is hitting new targets in syria. new details on who can volunteer to drive in presidential motor kaeudz. the answer may absolutely shock you.

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because of the extraordinaiextraordinary service the men and women in the american armed forces, afghanistan has a chance to rebuild its own safer. it's going to be safer. >> that, of course, president obama, on christmas night telling troops in hawaii the mi mission in afghanistan is ending there. >> we still have difficult missions around the world including in iraq, and we still have folks in afghanistan helping afghan security forces and we have people dealing with ebola in west africa, and we have folks stationed all around the world. >> steve clemens is an editor at large at the atlantic. he joins me now. good morning. >> good morning. your impression of the president's statement, are they bold, accurate, too bold? >> i think they are hopeful.

we were supposed to be 1,000 troops shorter than we are right now and there's an uptick in taliban violence in afghanistan, and after the next few years those numbers are supposed to be half that of what they are now, and many anticipate there will be a new spring offensive by the taliban, and i think the president is hopeful. this is a fragile time, and we will see if all the training and money will yield the results that they can take care of most of their security. >> how can it be afghanistan is never going to be the source of terrorists attacks again? the president did imply that? >> we have enough capacity in the region now that i think it's harder and harder for that kind of formal large style terrorists attacks on the west to occur from afghanistan. that said, a lot of chaos can happen within afghanistan, and we see a rise of taliban influence in parts of the country that we departed.

we also have a rise of old time w warlords in afghanistan. it's okay for the president to say we're not likely to say an al qaeda-like capacity build with bases and the export capacity that it once had. >> your statement about a rise in the taliban, a rise of warloads that's validated by this statistic, 5,000 afghan forces were killed. can the government sustain itself without military support from the united states in combat missions? >> it's something we don't know. if you look at the horror that continues to unfold in afghanistan, it's a messy place. what joe biden has said is it will be able to preempt any kind of takeover of kabul and destabilization of kabul, but there will be a question of how

much the rest of afghanistan is going to trust and work with the kabul government or not. and thus we are giving kabul a chance to make it work, but it's not clear that it can. when people look at the number of deaths on going terrorism within that society, they may lose faith. >> civilian casualties -- 2014 is going to be the deadliest year since 2001. statistics have been kept since 2009, but it's up 33% among children deaths, and up 12% among women, and sthr a sense within the afghanistan people that they are welcoming the departure of u.s. troops? do they feel safe they can handle it alone? >> i think they don't feel safe at all, and i think there was a lot of pressure. it was interesting. different picture than iraq. the afghan people wanted u.s. troops to stay and both

candidates signed on to u.s. troops staying, and so there has been a lot of concern about what comes in the future. senator john mccain is in afghanistan now punctuating that same point he worries with the increase of violence and deaths that maybe we are pushing this a little too early. >> with the reduction of troops in afghanistan does it mean we can have more troops assigned to fight isis? >> the president signed a secret order and unstriction that the combat mission could continue in certain cases for both these troops and that they would have missions more broadly in the region, and we are stockpiling military equipment in kuwait, which i assume and many people assume may be directed for a new push against isis to bring the isis chapter to a quicker close. we will continue to be very involved militarily in the broad middle east region and in the

south asia region, but with less specificity to the afghan proper. you will see attacks on broad transnational terror network region without calling them afghanistan. >> how about isis and them governing the areas they have taken because there is trouble there? >> the slick videos they have put out belie the fact that they are incompetent when it comes to running cities. raqqa is coming apart. people don't have power in these cities and there is no rubbish and waste collection and people can't drink the water there, and it's a very miserable existence in any area in which the isis pretends to be the local government. so there are real problems throughout anywhere where isis is in control.

they can't run the basic services of government. >> all right. steve, good to see you and happy to you, my friend. america's economy new numbers this past week, and it surprised experts and it has more to do with you than anything happening on wall street. before we go, a demolition fail in crimea. yeah, that even prompted laughter here in the studio. the crowd could be heard laughing afterwards and the controlled explosion was supposed to take this ten-story building to the ground, and they did not use enough explosives.

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mall this morning. what is up there? >> reporter: beautiful sunrise here. in just a few hours this parking lot will be packed. shoppers looking for deals and hopefully easy returns. it's estimated almost 4 in 10 americans will return something during the holidays. this morning the post holiday rush is in full swing. >> trying to get a few bargains. >> reporter: a crucial weekend for retailers. >> we're shopping for clothes because we got gift cards for christmas. >> reporter: hoping to make up for disappointing sales on black friday last month and super saturday a week ago. >> i am not returning anything. >> reporter: and holiday sales increased 5.5% this year. that's higher than the retail federation predicted. >> people looking for the best deals on apparel and accessories and gold and silver jewelry. >> reporter: walmart is testing

an unprecedented gift card swap. you can exchange gift cards for more than 200 stores and restaurants and even airlines for a walmart card. one from best buy, $92. and starbucks, almost $73. >> it's something unique and could be a driver of walmart sales. it helps to drive traffic to walmart stores and helps to boost sales in a low month typically, in the month of january up to 70% of gift cards are redeemed. >> and then regional green got here early to beat the crowds at the mall. >> i am not an after christmas shopper, but 60% off is 60% off is really good. >> have not seen a whole lot of great deals. >> reporter: on friday many retailers opened as early as 6:00 a.m., and today some waiting for 9:00 and 10:00, and

today shoppers will get to sleep in, and i won't, and sleep is overrated alex. >> no, it's not. gabe, thank you so much from atlanta. a new poll finds americans looking ahead to 2015 for optimism. and almost half in a poll think it's going to be better than 2014. michelle, good morning to you. this optimism comes with good news. the dow above 18,000, and gdp for the third quarter up 5%, and unemployment below 6%, and we saw the falling gas prices over the last few months so how much is it going to affect the u.s. economy in 2015? are you hopeful? >> we did see good news this week from the gdp consumers, and the consumer, it was strong, and we saw the consumer seeing the benefits of lower gas prices which are around $2.30, the best

in 5 1/2 years, and job gains, and they are on track for the best year since 1999, and we need a job loss of 45,000 to ruin that in december, and we're seeing that in the spending numbers. >> how about from the global perspective here? russia's economy is taking a hit because of all the falling oil and gas prices there and the sanctions imposed by the u.s. and european union. does that affect us in 2015 and if so how? >> the idea is we are showing strength in the face of the global slowdown. we have seen this from federal reserve chair, janet yellen, and the job gains and gas prices are helping to cushion that blow from the other economies overseas. this could weigh on the trade numbers in the fourth quarter

whereas trade was in the gdp, and we may see showing domestic strength. >> do you have a sense of how it's going to impact the average investor out there? >> well, you know, the average investor is looking for strength in the u.s., but maybe not as much in the emerging markets as we saw in the past few years, but, you know, bottom line is the u.s. is looking strong, and 2015 as far as we know from economists is looking to be a great year, global growth should be above 3%, and that's actually -- you know, they may resize them upward for the first time in about five years, and my colleague simon kennedy looked at how the forecast has been down for growth in the past few years, but 2015 could be the year we look sunnier than we have been. >> not to throw water on this but what do you think is the biggest risk to the economy

growing in 2015? >> we have the global pressurers and any economists will tell you there's the unseen risk, and the first quarter of this year that we saw that pweulg weather severity that slowed down the economy. you never know what could be out there. the gas prices could, you know, eb and come back and rise. there are so many could bes that have not happened and i think headed into next year we will see good things in the u.s. economy. >> thank you so much from washington. >> happy new year. >> and to you, thanks. the funeral for one of the officers killed in new york is almost underway. one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history, and you will see some of the remarkable recoveries after being hit a decade ago by a tsunami.

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." two officers were gunned down last saturday while sitting in their patrol car on a brooklyn street. nbc's ron mott is outside that church where the service will take place. what is happening there? >> reporter: an emotional day ahead in queens as a nationwide of police officers are going to bid final farewells to officer rafael ramos. officer ramos, as you mentioned was killed last saturday and vice president biden is expected to speak and he is on his way here to pay his final respect. the funeral for slain police officer rafael ramos today is expected to attract a show of force, and long lines of mourners filing in yesterday at

the officer's wake. >> it's a little part they can do, we can be there for the department and family and it showed the camaraderie. >> he was a man of great faith and his faith formed his world view, not just as a police officer but as a husband and partner. >> officer ramos and his partner, wenjian liu, was ambushed while sitting in their patrol car. protests over police-involved killings of black men heightened tensions of late which imposed friction between new york's mayor and officers, and some of whom turned their back when de blasio got to the hospital after the shootings. the mayor's office responded, this is a time to think about the families and honor our fallen officers, and dividing people won't help our city heal. police are stepping up their n

own. emotions are raw on many fronts. >> he was loved. he was loved. it's like you losing your brother. >> reporter: as friends and family of officer ramos and liu, they are preparing to say good-bye, starting today. >> reporter: de blasio is expected to also speak at today's service. liu's family in china making arrangements to get here and jetblue is making arrangements to pay for those arrangements. the funerals for the police officers killed in the line of duty are always very somber and formal and almost precision affairs. is that the expected scene there

today as well? >> unfortunately they have had too much practice. there's something about this one that is particularly tough. partly, i think, it's a combination of every cop in new york knows that it could have been anyone of them, and it was a completely random attack and these officers were murdered because of the uniform they were wearing, and you will see thousands of cops in that same uniform today outside that church, and the other thing that makes it really tough is that who this particular guy was, and this was a guy that grew up in the toughest most dangerous neighborhood in new york, east new york, and his nickname as a kid in the middle of the war zone was from a expression, jar of goodness and that goodness is what led him to become a police officer, and while he was waiting to join the department he worked as a safety officer at

a school. and ramos, every workday, would sit at the front desk and behind him was a reproduction of the shield, and people would point and say you sure you want to go on the pd, and he did. that was his lifelong dream and he was living that when he was murdered. >> yeah, a man that was studying to become a chaplin in his church in his spare time. what an extraordinary man. the slaying of these officers has certainly brought the tensions between new york police and mayor de blasio to the forefront but do those tensions take a backseat to today? >> i think what everybody is thinking about today is saying good-bye to this particular magnificent police officer in the city of new york. >> michael, what i think is so extraordinary are reports of tens of thousands expected to be

there in attendance, officers in uniform, not only from new york city, but from across the country. i mean, that speaks volumes about the loyalty of the men in blue and when you wear that uniform? >> that's true. i was walking down the line at the wake yesterday, and you saw shoulder patches from utah, from minnesota, boston, and i mean, just about every place you could imagine and they were there and standing in line just like anybody else to pay their respect. >> it's an extraordinary statement they make by doing so. i know we will speak with you throughout the day as the funeral gets underway. appreciate it. and another concern over security protocol and this time it's the secret service of letting unstrained citizen drivers behind the wheel of some presidential motorcade vehicles. kristin welker is traveling with the president vacationing in

hawaii. what is the word on this latest security debate? >> this is a practice that goes back at least three decades. the secret service bringing in volunteers to drive white house staffers and journalist in the white house motorcade, and there's questions as to whether that could be putting the president in jeopardy. the presidential motorcade known for flashing lights and high levels of speed, and volunteer drivers with no special training assigned to drive the press and white house staffers. while the practice dates back to the 1980s, it's coming under new scrutiny after a graduate student posted a picture of herself on facebook showing her standing next to the president's limousine. he was among the volunteers on the trip to san francisco this past fall. natalie tyson told the new york times she received little training from the secret service, but the agency defends

the practice saying the vehicles driving the volunteers are nowhere near the president. the motorcade has a police escort and typically there is no other traffic on the road at the time the presidential motorcade is moving and still some critics worry the untrained volunteers could put everybody at risk. >> nobody should be behind the wheel of a vehicle in the presidential motorcade other than secret service agents or sworn law enforcement officers. >> this comes as the secret service tries to regroup following a major embarrassment for the agency, when a man made it across the north lawn and all the way inside the white house. the white house had no comment. we tried to reach taoeusen for comment but were unsuccessful. the white house hired a couple

of drivers for the moder cade here in hawaii. >> i was reading about this and you make that point, it's a tightly packed, and usually with nobody else on the road, but we should say they often reach speeds of 80 miles per hour in the presidential motorcades. this is an interesting story. thank you. we will see you again. >> that's right. no problem. thanks, alex. coming up, minimum wage going newspaper 21 states january 1st. plus, one company is going to have to really pay up. okay, call me crazy, but i like it when my hygienist lets me know

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[ male announcer ] fedex® has solutions to enable global commerce that can help your company grow steadily and quickly. great job. (mandarin) ♪ cut it out. >>see you tomorrow. ♪ a decrease in gas prices will be felt in the states where the minimum wage is going up next year. 29 states plus d.c. will mandate a federal minimum wage higher than in 2014. they improved increases at the ballot box this year with legislators in 11 other states enacting increases as well.

and with a welcome to you, can you give me an idea how many people this will affect? >> yes, i can. those these minimum wage hikes go into effect at the end of next week, and it's expected to directly impact 2.3 million workers, and this is people that earn less than the state's new minimum wage, and people who earn more than the new minimum wage will benefit, but just barely, and they will see a bump as a result of employers paying more. >> over 3 million people are affected by this. why does this issue get more traction at the state level than the federal level? >> yeah, there are a few reasons. the federal minimum wage has not been increased in five years, and part of that is because, you know, we have historically an enactive congress. this was almost their worst year for taking action on record. not quite but almost.

and states are responding in a lot of ways on a lot of issues, including the minimum wage. >> i am looking at los angeles stats here, and i am considering hiking the minimum wage by 2019 up to $20 an hour. how high can it go? >> $15 seems to be the limit. a city in washington state has already done that, and it encompasses the airport out there, so $15 so far seems to be the limit, and some states have plans to push it up to $11 in the next few years. >> they say it could push away business? >> there's a negative affect on employment, but it's a tradeoff. a lot of people will also benefit. earlier this year the nonpartisan congressional budget

office reported that raising the wage to $10.15 will kill 5,000 jobs but it will benefit 16.5 million people. that out numbers the number of jobs loss than more than 30 to 1. >> thank you so much for joining us from the washington post. appreciate that. ten years ago the world woke up to the aftermath to one of the natural disasters recorded in history. that caused a tsunami that devastated much of southeast asia. katy tur is in thailand with a look back. >> although it has been ten years since the indian ocean tsunami, and for millions that call this part of southeast asia home, the memory is still fresh. it was december 2004. ten years ago. the world woke up to mother nature at her worst.

a tsunami like nobody has ever imagined that killed more than 230,000 and left entire cities flattened. but nothing compared to what we saw on indonesia's northern tip. >> reporter: it is said over 1,000 bodies clogged the area under the bridge and they are still pulling bodies out today ten days later. >> but now the town is rebuilt and they say that, yes, they have recovered. after a decade, the stars are healing. the economy rebounding. and life is going on. everything is now back in its place. almost. he was fishing when the wave came in and on hoar 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 thing that i said or i asked to him was, where's my mother? then, where's my brother and sister? and then he say, suchi, let it go. >> reporter: now it's in her 1-year-old son that she sees the face of her lost brother. then there's a sorry. in the days after, he describes how he ran with his 5-day-old daughter under his arm. today, nami, nicknamed for tsunami, is 10. the memory of that day is strong but, then again, so is it future. although banda aceh was the

hardest hit and the community didn't seem to be able to recover, the town is rebuilt and they now have hope. katy tur, thailand. reading before bed time. new research suggests it could be a dangerous practice. zero heartburn! prilosec otc. the number 1 doctor-recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 9 straight years. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn.

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a new study shows going to bed with an ipad or a kindle makes it harder for you to go to sleep. there was a study done and the gadgets interrupted internal body clocks, making it difficult to sleep. joining me is a doctor. what is it about these e-readers that disrupt sleep? >> well, they emit the blue light that is telling the brain that it is actually the daytime

rather than in the evening, ready to go to bed. and so it sends an alerting signal to the brain that actually wakes us up rather than helping us to go to sleep. it shifts the timing of the release of melatonin to a later hour, which is a hormone that helps us usually go to sleep and changes the internal structure of sleep. it takes longer to get to rapid eye movement sleep and it takes longer to fall asleep after reading from an ipad. we're more alert during the evening hours and less alert the next day. >> i want to ask you about long-term ramifications in a moment but how is this different than reading with a bright light at your bedside? is it significantly different? >> yes. because the light -- first of all, from these devices is actually shining directly into our eyes rather than being reflected and it's also of a wave length that is shorter and the intensity generally higher. >> all right. so long-term effects -- you have

actually considerable medical concerns, right? >> i do. because sleep deficiency is associated with an increased risk of obesity and diabetes, affects the immune system and perhaps of greatest concern is the fact that it suppresses the release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin. in fact, people exposed to light during night shift work, that has been labeled as a carcinogen. >> what if it's a short period, like ten minutes? are you equally concerned? >> well, in our study, they read for several hours. the average teen spent ten hours of recreation nal media. ten minutes, we didn't evaluate

that. >> nonetheless, it's important information and applicable to so many homes across the country. thank you so much, sir. appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> that's a wrap at this hour on "weekends with alex witt." meantime, francis rivera will be here with more of today's news. . bounty. the long lasting picker upper get ready foat the volkswagen engineered holidsign-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. introducing...

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