cascade. now that's clean. happy new year nerd land! five, four, three, two, one! good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry and it's been three weeks since i last sat at this table. and you know what i really missed you. seriously, i did. in the final weeks of 2014 there was plenty of political news, social movement activity and pop culture happenings and you got to hear all about them right here on msnbc, but i missed having the chance to talk with you all about it. because you know what there's something powerful about a good long talk. research shows for us humans the ability to learn, develop and

grow is deeply connected with how long we are able to talk. it constructs the cog any ty framework for algebra, poetry and physics classes later on. we crave talk. not only do we need others to hear us. we need a chance to talk ourselves. students retain more learn more, and are better able to draw connections between ideas with when they have a chance to talk in class rather than simply listening to the teacher. talking is not only the foundation of growth it's also the foundation of democracy. the american idea is thicker than gauging the public mood through voting. now yes, we ultimately make choices through majority rule by casting ballots. but voting is supposed to be the culmination of a process. a process that includes a lot of talking. we're supposed to decide what we

want only after we've talked to one another. after we've heard multiple sides present their case. after we've asked our question made our points and presented our ideas. after we have talked to those with whom we agree and disagree. then we vote and let majority rule. but we're supposed to talk first. think of our nation's founders fiercely debating ratification of our constitution in 85 separate articles and essays we now know as the federalist papers. or senators henry clay and daniel webster in 1850. provocatively and passionately making the case for the preservation of the union and of slavery. are those homes where it has been the people who have done the talking. women using their voice to demand the right to vote. african-americans speaking out to insist on equality. citizens declaring their opposition to war. young people giving voice to their experiences of inequality.

you see, to be together in a democracy is to commit to deliberation, it's key to decision making. in order for our actions to be legitimate, we must first talk. we must talk about difficult issues. we must talk to people whom we deeply dislike and who we fundamentally disagree. we have to talk even when it seems pointless and boring and maddening and even self defeating, we need to talk. and as we enter the final two years of the obama presidency two years when he'll a face congress more powerfully entrenched against him. two years where both parties will commit substantial time and resources in their request to secede him. we may get a glimpse at the genuine power of talk. despite the many nay sayers, president obama's tenure has been one of his tor ig action. as a result of his policy choices and political decisions,

the u.s. auto industry recovered. the american economy has expanded and job market has expanded. the mix to find and kill osama bin laden was completed. don't ask, don't tell was repealed. an act to reduce criminal injustice disparities. two women became supreme court justices and one has been nominateded to the post of attorney general. millions of families felt the fear of deportation and separation left. and of course president obama's landmark health care law has allowed more than six million americans to sign up for insurance coverage. love him or hate him, agree or disagree, think it's all too much or still not enough but you can just not argue that this president has taken no action. and now if the final two years of his presidency we come to a different part of his legacy. this president of action began first as a candidate who made a controversial claim about the power of talk.

>> would you be willing to meet separately without precondition during the first year of your administration in washington or anywhere else the leaders of iran syria, venezuela, cuba and north korea in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries? >> senator obama? >> i would. >> candidate obama's claim that he would talk to our enemies is what "time" magazine would later call quote, a shocking brief of foreign policy establish etiquette. it was labeled a gaffe, a blunder. except it wasn't a slip-up. he actually really meant it. and that moment was an early glimpse into what has been six fascinating and often frustrating years of governance by a president deeply committed to the dlibhe allowed warren to talk, even though many on the

left saw warren as a dangerous opponent of reproductive rights and marriage equality. obama invited all the parties to come to his place for beer and a chat. over the years this president has called into talk to reverend sharpton on the radio and sat down to talk with fox news's bill o'reilly on tv. when he discussed the evolution on marriage equality te credited conversations with his own two daughters as important to the process of his attitude change. president obama not only embraced the process, he encouraged the entire party to engage in difficult talk with the people. remember that summer's town hall? it was not all pretty. but it was democracy in action. the president has spent many hours on the phone with speaker john bairner even though the two rarely agree. and the president has hosted meals for the republican leadership after both brutal

midterm elections and you know having the guys over who just shellacked you and they're going to come to the house for dinner has led to uncomfortable conversations. but the president has been committed to talking. it's a commitment he has carried beyond our borders as well. remember when we all found out on twitter that he had been talking with iranian president? that was surprising. or more recently when we learned of his conversation with raul castro. so why he has been a president of action president obama has done plenty of talking. by some there's still not enough talk. for others too much. in his conversations he has angered opponents and alienated supporter ls. by talking he has not always gotten his own way and sometimes seemed to give away too much. but there's still a lesson about process. leadership in that democracy requires if willingness to talk. even when the talking doesn't

produce immediate tangible outcomes that we prefer. so as we enter into this new year, we here in nerd land have been wondering what would happen if we made a broad national new year's resolution to allow 2015 to be the year of talk. i'm not just advocating this because i have a talk show. what if we allow 2015 to be a year when we give ourselves over to the transformative power of talking and listeninging? can we talk to one another when we disagree? can we talk to one another when we are hurt or offended? can we talk to each other when the topics are hard? can we talk to each other when we don't share the the same language? can we talk to each other even at the end of conversation we don't feel better are and have come not come to a final agreement? can we commit ourselves and our nation to do more than just

shout past one another? but instead to actually talk. what could happen if we the did? and that's the question i'm going to ask my guests when we return. feel free to talk back to us on twitter. we really do want to hear from you. so go ahead. talk! we'll be right back. super fans. wow! [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbell's chunky soup. it's new chunky beer-n-cheese with beef and bacon soup. #

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. the issue of police and communities of color being mistrustful of each other is hardly new. that dates back a long time. it's just something that hasn't been talked about. i think the fact that there's a conversation about it and that there are tools out there that we ne can make a difference in bridging those gaps of understanding and mistrust should -- should make us optimistic. >> that was president obama discussing the resurgence of a national dialogue on race in a wide ranging end of the year interview with npr. joining me now to talk about the power of talk is kristina greer. associate professor at ford university. alfonso is and marcus mabre editor at large of "the new york times" and neil the staff

writer for role call. kristina, i want to start with you. the president goes to a very important place there. police community and relations and then says a valuable way of addressing it is conversation, is talk. in the the broader sense, is talk over or underrated as a way to bring about substantive change? he said something i don't agree with. he said people haven't been talking it. it's happened for a long time but people haven't been talking about it. they have been talking about it. they haven't been getting the attention. >> they may not have been talking about it across the power. >> that's the piece. but the communities are always talking about it. they just haven't gotten the results they want or need. so talking is great. but there have to be action steps and follow-ups post talking. the frustrations with this president and leaderships in

general is it seems to be a lot of conversation that have goes in a circular direction. when it comes to solution time in academia we call it the task force. so let's talk about the problem that we talked about two years ago and we can keep talking. but when do we have substantive solutions? and, you know -- >> it's interesting you say that. on one hand people are interested about too much talk. it also you hear the talk from the bottom but there's not enough talk. it's interesting the president still has optimism abtsout dialogue across difference. both sides across the aisle would have to say it's been frustrating. >> i agree. i would say it's ironic that as president obama talking about a conversation when this is a president who can talk. giving speeches is not talking. when you have a conversation you talk to the other party, you try

to find consensus. but historically this person has done nothing to establish a good working relationship with the congress. and not only with republicans, but with democrats as well. >> you know, i sometimes hear this coming out of d.c. this is a president who has fewer of those sort of hands-on friendly chummy skills than previous presidents. but i'm wondering whether or not his reticence for small talk is actual political problem or whether there is -- and certainly folks on the left see it as obstruction behavior on folks on the right. the right will say he hasn't reached out to talk to us. >> but it's also the importance of being good work at staff level. a lot of people -- when it comes down to the legislative mi knewnutia.

whether it's issues with police, whether it's immigration, whatever the issue is most of the work isn't going to be done by the president or even by the actual members of congress, and so one of the things that the administration has been doing lately is they've made a couple of moves in their personnel department basically to try to bring on an old legislative hand into the white house a guy named martin paoni to try to work on those relationships because i think that's maybe more important in the next two years than even the president himself. >> immediately after the midterm there was a hit piece on valerie jarrett, right whether or not it was accurate i can't say. what i can say is it was pretty intense. and almost seemed to blame jarrett. not only if the outcome of the midterms but the general staffing problem. it's really relevant to talk about the staff piece. i also wonder if because staffers are representatives of their elective officials, whether or not those relationships could build if not

happen at top. >> i love the president's optimism to think what you're talking about, the police and african-american communities and other communities or color or whether talking about this this administration and the new congress. i love his optimism. i think barack obama's life story is a story of compromise and coming together. even internally as an african-american and a white man himself. this is his story. he believes in the struggling. i don't think talk matters and interests to not align. i think it's interests that matter. and i think this president spent the first two years of his administration, you look at the health care bill and what his efforts were. he didn't go for a singer payer plan. which the democrats have gone for. he went for a compromise. republican interests are not going to align when he's weaker

than before. >> is there no longer any realistic possibility of dialogue in washington leading to attitude change? >> there would be. there would be. the republicans just won an election based on it being a base election. they think even though the electorate will be different in 2016 than 2014 the republicans think they won that senate back. they won that midterm election because they went to their base. >> but there is room for consensus. >> there's always room. the number one job of the president of the united states is to this build consensus. if you don't talk. if you don't have your staff developing working relationships. in this years he has left we can get something done on immigration. i think republicans have ideas on immigration. i think we get something done. >> here's one to coalesce with the president? >> but here's the thing, so it's interesting this question about what will happen. ment. >> reform on both sides needing something. >> so the wall street juror number is telling us the white house plans to pivot from president barack obama's alliance on executive actions,

invest more in the legislative strategy in trying to advance key policy goals. but i want to listen to what the president said to npr. there do seem to be two messages here. let's listen to what the president said about this pen he hasn't used frequently. >> i haven't used the pen very often since i've been in office partly because legislation that i objected to was typically blocked in the senate even after the house took over. or republicans took over the house. now i suspect there will be time ms when i've got to pull that pen out. >> so strategy so vetoing or talking? what are we going to see? >> well, you're going to see both. there are areas on which the president is not necessarily in line with the democratic base. trade is the biggest one in this category where he's more in line with the republicans irt seems. so in areas where he's going to be more agreeing there's going to be more space to talk.

when they send them things like repealing obamacare and the pipeline and other things. >> i don't appreciate he's going to veto repeal of his own law. up next police speak loudly and clearly even while perfectly silent.

last weekend at the funeral of rafael ramos, one of the two nypd police officers killed. some put in the powerful silent statement. while watching on screen, the viewers outside of the church, hundreds of officers turned their back when mayor bill de blasio spoke during the service. it mimicked a similar gesture that some officers previously directed towards the mayor as he tried to address the public hours after the shooting occurred and following the

increase tension it has blamed the mayor for the climate of mismany trust and putting police lives at risk. on tuesday that silent was broken when police union leaders joined the mayor for a meeting that appeared to yield no concrete results. but it did result in two ice breaking hours of talks. so we have, bratton actually saying -- we've got a buzzfeed headline about him saying tomorrow at the funeral don't turn your backs. right? a hero's funeral is about grieving, not grievance. you're bound by tradition of honor and decency to go with it. man, if we're talking about the power of conversation, police top community, this is police to the mayor, who is presumably their boss in an important way. >> well certainly turning their back on the mayor is not appropriate. however, i must say the mayor of new york like the president of the united states, the attorney general of the united states are

facilitators. they should be trying to promote conversation promote talk inging but it's hard when the mayor of new york is undermining the the police in his speeches. he says african-americans can't trust the police. how are you promoting conversation when one of the parties feels undermined, under attack. >> they represent constituents. this mayor was electeded by african-americans overwhelmingly. and this represents african-american interest and the fact that as the father of a mixed race and african-american son, speaks very poignantly and honestly and truthfully about the danger of being a black man in new york city. but the danger that comes from the hands of law enforcement. they could kill you. >> so when i go to the question of facilitation that you levelled for us here and this idea of what we hear the facilitators saying.

what we hear the leaders saying. it does feel in this moment there are people speaking different languages. everybody may be speaking presumably the same language. the very idea what pauline heard from the mayor was an indictment and from the communities it was the first time somebody in power saw them saw their experience. >> right. we have to remember a few things. one, mayor de blasio has made missteps, however, he is their boss. no technically, you know, hypothetically, he is their boss. but you also have a yun kwonunion leader. it's sort of the third leg of the stool, lynch. he's not really listening. he's just waiting to speak. there's a difference. he's galvanizing the troops. but de blasio is speaking for many people. the difference is for the the past 20 years in new york city they haven't had a voice. >> now i wonder about that pat lynch ross. on one hand i'm no fan of 99% of the words that came out of

pat lynch's mouth. i wonder in a conversation if provocoteur. sometimes it's the one person who will say all the stuff. what? it will at least get you talking. i wonder if there's a role for provoking? >> i think in many contexts there is certainly. now in this context, of course it's not that lynch may be a provokoteur, it's the long standing political role of a police union. and whether that's here in new york or in d.c. where i live. where the police union is involved in every mayoral election. so it's the police themselves are a political interest. >> again if interests align and they actually raise interests and bring them into the dialogue that would not be there

otherwise and then they're addressed. yes. >> and that's why i want to come to you on this question part of what is important when the mayor says the words, whatever else the police has, they have the actual power of the state, right? the civilian control of police and military is critical to a stable democracy. but it worries me that the people who are armed, who have the power of the state -- >> i agree. what we're seeing is not a conversation. it's a confrontation between provokotors. we need someone to facilitate those two sides to have a conversation. >> i want to listen for a minute for nypd police commissioner bill bratton on "meet the process." here goes. >> their perception is the reality that we have to deal with. so there's no denying among the

black community that there are those concerns in policing that sometimes it's difficult to see those. i made comments in my eulogy about seeing each other to understand. seeing each other, that means not looking past each other. but to see what is motivating and what we're experiencing. >> to really see each other and really hear each other. we're going to talk much more about that issue tomorrow on tomorrow's mhp show. still to come this morning, i'm getting on a scale on tv. seriously, i'm going to do that. and up next the question ed schultz asked. 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

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proponent than ed schultz. and he's always asking the most interesting questions. >> do republicans care more about obstruction or americans? are you happy he never became vice president? do you think senator marco rubio would be a good science teacher? do republicans prefer to have an uneducated electorate? >> now, i know those seem like rhetorical questions, but they're not. ed wants to know what you think. he really does. all of those questions are polls. if you heard ed say it once you've probably heard it 100 times. >> get you cell phones out. i want to know what you think. >> and the results are usually something like this. take a look. yeah, 97% to 3%. they're not exactly scientific

surveys. and the results are almost never very close. except there was one day back in november. november 13th last year to be in fact. this was the ed show poll question of the day. >> tonight's question do you think we should bring more conservatives on the ed show? now we checked with our friends at the ed show and they told us hands down the response to this question was among the closest in the history of the show's polling. 55% of those responding said yes. 45% said no. yes, even msnbc viewers want to see more conservative voices on msnbc. i couldn't agree more. in fact i would like to see them with nerd land with me here on this program. which is why as we seek for 2015 to be the the year of talk, i am issuing a clear invitation and i mean it. senator paul you're invited. governor christie, you are

invited. dr. carson you are most definitely invited. governor pens it would make my executive producer so happy if you would accept the invitation. governor schneider, governor jindal, despite all those letters, you're invited. governor perry, we got the same last name. you're invited. senator cruisez you're invited. secretary rice we're both black women political scientists. you know you're invited. governor walker you're invited. if you're running or thinking about running or ever ran for the republican party's nomination you're invited to come on this program and if you're a conservative you're still welcome here an msnbc. it's 2015 the year for talk. come on over everybody. especially you eric cantor. we keep calling. we think one day you might say yes. we promise to have a big bowl of m&ms right here on the set for you. dayquill cold and flu doesn't treat your runny nose. seriously? alka-seltzer plus cold and cough fights

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supposed to talk to the people. even people with whom they disagree. arguably especially with people who they disagree. right now there's at least one member of congress wishing he never accepted one particular invitation to talk. steve scalise, now in his third term is a republican party's new majority whip, and right now he's in hot water for talking. scalise admitted he spoke at a conference held by the european american unity and rights organization, or euro in 2002 while he was still still a louisiana state representative. the anti defamation league listed the 2002 conference as an extreme event that year. the story was broken by third-year law student and political blogger lamar white jr. and provoked calls from the chicago tribune, usa today and one congressman for scalise to

resign. congressman scalise admitted to talking to the group. he says it's a group with whom he does not agree. he released a statement that said 12 years ago i spoke to many louisiana groups trying to build support for legislation. and stopping tax hikes. one of the groups i spoke to regarding this political legislation was a group whose views i whole hardedly condemn. it was a mistake, a regret and i emphatically oppose the views that groups like these hold. i'm disappointed anyone would infer otherwise for political gain. marcus mabre and neil lestuinski. let me start with you, marcus. retweet does not imply agreement. scalise says he was talking to a lot of folks. let's listen to him gean real quick. i just want to listen to what he

said and then have you respond. >> basically a group called me and ask me to go speak. i would go and talk to them about my plans to oppose the plan and also work on eliminating slush funds. i'm not privy with who the group was. they don't represent the values that i represent. i just detest hate groups of any kind. >> should we take him at his word? >> yes. we should take him at his word. this is an opportunity for them and the republican leadership to stake out very early in the new congress this is what they're about. not about race tensions they're about bringing race tensions together. let's see what legislation that propose. judging what legislations and actions that propose to make it clear this is not where they are. i am so worried this becomes a

racial go the, cha moment like a don sterling moment where we can ignore anything that increases racial inequality or any of the ways in which certain discourses become cowords for race. what we're looking for is did you say the "n" word. did you talk to the klan. those are problematic but not what constitutes racism and inequality. >> one thing i haven't heard a lot from democrats but i suspect we may be hearing more when congress gets back from the break is the voting rights act is one of those items that just seems like it could be the kind of thing that if someone wanted to take a claim to moving this in a positive direction that they would call up the republican from wisconsin who is the leader on that issue, and has been for a very long time. and i think that would be the

opportunity that they would have if they wanted to turn this into a positive. >> if we could get scalise to release a new proposal as a result of this it would make the whole thing worth it. and yet i want to pause for the thought of whether or not talking to a group is inherently evidence of support of that group. i just wanted to listen to in the last campaign. governor romney spoke with the the naacp. i just want to take a listen. i'm going to split every program i can find. that includes obamacare. and i'm going to work to reform and save -- [ crowd booing ] >> so there he is. he's speaking to the naacp. clearly we can hear from the boos there is disagreement.

since we all sort of think the same thing, come along with me? did he just give a policy speech? which is unlikely. and knowing mitt romney spoke in front of the naacp does not mean he's a supporter of obamacare. and also we want to see the speech right? i've followed politicians before and they give the same speech to different nations they given in the groups. however, when they're talking to poor people or wealthy women on the upper east side or whoever it may be i'm working for you can mean different things. but going back to wurn of neil's earlier points about the staffers, when you're in the small time, you didn't have people around you. the job of a staffer is to research every single person who gives you money. every single person you take a photo with.

so that was just banter. now he's in the big time. he's the third leading member of the republican party right now. he has so many people within his own party. and it would be a perfect opportunity. with him, he may be the best person to actually get something done because of this crisis. >> the very fact that it wasn't what we heard at the table, which is let me demonstration how much this is not what we're about. and it's not just an unconventional support of scalise. more than a decade ago representative scalise made an error in judgment. he was right to acknowledge it was inappropriate. and it may all be true. i also wonder in this question of conversation if that sounds like -- to the very groups, black and brown groups who they're going to need in the election cycle. >> i can't name the spirit of

conversation. some of the attacks were unfair. clearly you don't talk to white supremacist groups. to be fair he said hi talked to the group but he wasn't sure they were white supremacists. >> he knows this man is not a racist. >> i can't do he is not or she is not a racist thing. i think we know too much about impolice zit attitudes. the question isn't what is in his heart? the question is what is in his politics. but again, he apologized for it. there's a point where you have to say it was 13 years ago. he made a mistake. the guy is not a racist. question move forward. the president of the united states just talked to raul castro. that's a dictator. this day is violating human rights. >> right, right. >> they are complaining about

that. >> undoubted edundoubtedly, but as is china. and up next when the money does the talking, why congressman scalise's campaign contributions may be more damaging than his schedule.

six years after mr. scalise delivered those remarks, kenny night gave $1,000 to scalise's congressional campaign. that gives the date of the donation as may 1st, 2008. now knight is the same man who claims he arranged for scalise in 2002 to address a neighborhood group not the euro conference in the same hotel where the the eu are, o conference was taking place. despite his denials that he was a part of the group, the new orleans times reported on thursday that documents filed with the louisiana secretary of state office list him as treasurer of the national organization for european

american rights in 2000. so this one feels different to me. i don't think anyone buys influence with a thousand dollars. i don't think that happens. but i've been close to enough local campaigns that you have to be on the phone. oh, well you're my guy. you're going to have my interest at heart. and that feels very different than whether or not you talk to a group. >> well it depends on whether or not that is -- and this is one of those things there's no way for us to know one way or the other. if they were actively soliciting mr. knight's donation and they knew who he was -- >> or he just -- >> -- or if he was just a political powerbroker of some sort in louisiana among republicans and gave thousand dollar checks to anyone who was a republican whose name was on the ballot. >> which is an empirical question. we could go look and see how

many thousand dollar donations. >> david duke won, when he was running as a state lawmaker. he won tp majority of constituents. >> "the new york times" headlines says it's basically pulling from a david duke playbook. i'm not sure i buy that. but they do make a bit of a claim there. i was very happy, for instance it brought to the floor the white martyrs of the cause. but thun thing it made clear is the politics of our nation. the great splip of the south over the civil rights legislation that went from dixi cats who rr racest and supported jim crowe, those people flipped from being democrats to being

republicans. now the politics of it. >> david duke ran for president in both parties. in the democratic and republican party. >> exactly. things didn't change overnight there. >> all right, so being a southerner and having lived in louisiana, all those back ward racist southerners. hello! >> yeah. like the notion that race impacts american politics is true. it doesn't just go south of the mason dixon. >> i find fascinating his comment. the story is broken by a third-year law student. he's not a journalist. so this stair could have legs. so boehner is like, everyone come down. i'm the heidi fleiss of the republican party. >> let me show people what you

mean. so this is david duke talking to -- giving an interview. and what he said basically is i am going to name names. he says if scalise is going to be crucified, if republicans wabts to throw him to the woves, they ought to be looking over their shoulder. it's an absolute distraction. >> exactly. in the spirit of conversation i don't know how this helps promote conversation discussions and negotiations between the democrats and the republicans. i don't think the story has legs. yeah, david duke makes this comment and trying to get attention. but again, he made a mistake. let's move on. this is somebody who can be very constructive. but for the spirit of conversation, for the last two years of this administration and

this congress i don't know what this -- you know fishing expedition, or let's look at this background, whatever. >> let me ask this. what if the thing he was talking to people about, which is reducing wasteful spending is in part motivated. the notion of smaller tax base. fewer public services also being motivated. for a broad group of the american people and the leadership by a desire to keep dun desirables from happening. it's based in presumptions about race. so to me the run reason it would be valuable is to play with this idea of what does it moo ento say reduce government? is it entirely race neutral? >> you're absolutely right. that's where it comes into play.

looxsed a lusz ed a so looking a t the legislation today. this is an opportunity. >> yeah. this is my favorite. i love the the steve scalise as the voting rights authorization lead guy. there you go louisiana. thank you. kristina and marcus will be back in the next hour. coming up, why are inmates dying in florida prisons? a shocking investigation by the miami herald. and those new year's resolutions. instead of changing what we do is this the year to accept who we are? there is more nerd land at the top of the hour.

my hygienist told me that less tartar means less scraping. so i'm going pro. [ male announcer ] new crest tartar protection rinse. the only rinse that helps prevent tartar build-up and cavities. a little swishing. less scraping. yes! [ male announcer ] new crest pro-health tartar protection rinse. it helps you escape the scrape. welcome back. i'm melissa harris-perry. we begin this hour with one question. why are people dying in florida prisons? jerry washington was an inmate at santa rosa correctional institute in florida's panhandle. not far from pensacola. he died behind bars on december 17th 2013. just seven days before he died

he sent his sister a handwritten letter. this letter. this letter with a chilling warning. i got real real bad high blood pressure. and if they gas me and jump on me and i happen to have a stroke or a heart attack don't y'all believe believe. he had said to the the inspector general in that grievance, washington accuses a corrections officer of assaulting him. washington wrote, quote, this is clearly a retaliation, and i am in fear of my life in this the dorm. 14 days after washington filed his grievance, and just eight days after that grievance was denied washington was dead. the medical examiner ruled his death a decide after he became seriously ill inside his cell. washington's sister said the prison chaplain told her jerry took 50 pills, something she

says would never happen. around the same period of time another inmate from washington's family, he said that he too had been sexually harassed and they were being gassed for no reason and starved. and here's a portion of this letter. after washington's death. naomi, they say your brother is dead. i don't know. but if it is true please don't let them get away with killing him. a week before i wrote it up in my statement that they were going to come at him. washington's death is detailed in a recent report by miami herald investigative reporter julie brown. now, you might think washington's story sounds familiar. similar to one you heard right here on this show. it is from another report in brown's ongoing series of inmate deaths inside florida prisons. in october we told you about lacandra elington. she wrote a chilling letter about a threat from a corrections officer. he told me he was going to beat

me to death. he was all in my face. then he grabbed his radio and he said he was going to bust me in my head with it. ellington ended her letter asking her aunt to call the prison and express concern for her safety. when ellington's aunt called the prison, she says an official told her he would make sure her niece was looked after. less than 24 hours later, ellington was dead. a private autopsy paid for by her family revealed blunt force trauma in her abdomen consistent with being kicked or punched. her death is still under investigation according to the department of corrections. elington is one of 320 inmates to die behind bars in a florida prison in 2014 alone. the year's tally is the highest inside florida's prison system ever. and now six months since brown started her investigation the u.s. department of justice is gathering evidence for a

possible investigation into civil rights violations and on monday a florida senate criminal justice committee is scheduled to meet for a hearing in which witnesses will testify on the treatment of inmates. we asked the florida department of corrections for representative to appear on today's program. we made clear we wanted to talk about the stories of inmates dying in florida prisons. the department declined our invitation. we also invited florida governor rick scott. his office also declined our invitation. however, i'm very pleased to be joined by my next guest. joining know now julie brown, investigative reporter at the miami herald. nice to have you this morning julie. >> thank you. >> a series of reforms was promised by the corrections department earlier this year. what more are those reform ms and have they resulted in any accountability or transparency based on you reporting? >> i think the most important part of the reforms is they are sending a message to people in the the corrections system here in florida, that there is some change coming. and i think that there is an

effort on the part of the legislature now to make some serious change in the system in light of all the reports and all the investigations. some of those changes involve the treatment of mentally ill inmates who know that that was inadequate and also involving the reporting of these deaths. they now put these online. so to some degree there has been a new layer of transparency. but critics say they still have a long way to go. there's still a lot of documents, for example, that families can't get without going to a lawyer. >> okay. so i want to talk about those documents for a moment. i just want to show my audience how redacted they are about the death of an inmate. but it wasn't until i saw this myself. just all of this basically a black sharpie over this report that is supposed to be the

report of what happened to their loved one. can you help me to understand. the department of corrections is saying they have to do this to protect privacy under the federal law. is that a reasonable explanation for why the reports are so redacted? >> well the hippa law could be interpreted in a number of ways. it can be interpreted very narrowly or very broadly. in the case of the department of corrections, some of the redaxs they make. it's hard to understand how it could be medically protected or health information. so for example, we know we have received, some have given us unredacted. so for example, if they bring in a certain piece of medical equipment to tend to an inmate that's redacted. if the inmate is found in a pool

of blood, all that information, the fact that there's blood in the area all that is redacted. and so you know i'm not a legal expert on hiipa, but in general, the public perceives this as an effort on the part of the department of corrections to try to hide exactly what happened. and so, you know in their view they're doing what's legally they feel is legally necessarisy. necessary. so i think that you know some kind of legal minds have to get together and look at this because for families to not be able the to get information on how their loved ones died is something that i think, you know, has to be addressed. >> we sent a number of questions about your reporting, about claims that they made. and one of the arguments they made is the way that miami herald is reporting the number of incidents in the use of force

is the wrong formula to use. that you're counting use of force incidents multd pl times because multiple people were involved with it as opposed to incidents. we did not get back to them a clear statement to answer the question, why are people dying. they said those who choose to discredit the agency the department has no tolerance for such actions. and they will be met with the gravest of consequences including dismissal from the department. are their concerns about your reporting fair, and have you seen in your reporting evidence that in fact they really have no tolerance for misconduct? well, for the first part of the question about the use of force. there's things called yuls of force reports and use of force incidents. so we got reports.

so that's what we got from them and that's what we reported. so after we reported that information, cl, it basically what a use of force is whenever an inmate is gassed or they have to restrain them do a cell extraction or any kind of force against an inmate the officer writes up the the report. so they gave us the reports they had throughout the years. then after we reported that they were very high numbers. they conceded they were higher numbers. they ordered an audit as a result of the fact that the numbers have doubled. they said wait a minute, the miami herald inflated the numbers because each incident draws several reports. so when they brought that up. we said fine we'll report that too. this is how many incidents you have. this is how many reports you have. so we try to be fair to them. but we're only basing our information on the information they provide us. >> i have to say, thank you so

much for your continued reporting on this. the letters are chilling. when he said president obama is talking about bombing syria for using gas on its own people when it's going on every day in here against us this is a form of terrorism against prisoners in the usa, it was a chilling statement to read in the handwriting of this individual and you bring these pieces to life has been very important. we'll continue to follow your reporting. julie brown in miami, florida. before we go to break, we have the latest developments in the search to recover the wreckage of airasia flight 8501. indonesian officials say search teams have recovered four objects believed to be from the downed plea. they are attempting to get images of the objects, but a strong current is interfering with the tools used to send back pictures. heavy winds and waves don't hamper search efforts. the plane crashed into the java

sea last sunday with 162 people on board. no survivors have been found. at least 30 bodies have been recovered so far. stay with msnbc throughout the day for the latest on the plane investigation. up next we're going to switch gears and talk about the new year. and facing realty in 2015. and i'm stepping on the scale. literally. [ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans. wow! [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbell's chunky soup. it's new chunky beer-n-cheese with beef and bacon soup. i love it. and mama loves you. ♪ ♪

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yeah two days into 2015 and i'm where many found thmss themselves on new year's day. on the scale. taking the measure the year before and the one i hope to become in the months ahead. even when the scale does not read what we want this time of the year can be exciting.

because oh the possibility. the beautiful crisp new calendar with 365 blank squares to fill with a new year and a new you. there's the possibility of leaving behind your mistakes and failures, your flaws and transforming to the better self you imagined you could be. and i'm not alone. look how many of us make a new year's resolution. according to a december poll 44% of americans said they were likely to make a new year's resolution for 2015. and we make a lot of the same kind of goals. 45% of resolvers said their resolutions were about physical health. losing weight or exercising more. eating healthier or quitting smoking. we also resolve to spend less or save more and in general to be a better person. now the idea of self improvement goes to the core of our identities as americans. we are the country of rugged individualists venturing into the frontier and claiming our manifest destiny. and turning rags to riches by

one's own hard work a endetermineenand determination and virtue. it's not only an exceptionalism of the collective america, of our government and our land oo and or foreign policy but the exceptionalism of individual americans an the idea of self improvement or self help resonates deeply for us. but it comes with a potential downfall. as we focus on trying to fix ourselves we can lose sight of repairing the larger structures in which we find ourselves. americans like to think of ourselves as fully self determined individual units, but we live in communities and society and an environment. when it comes to time to start the new year, most of us focus on changing ourselves. we resolve to lose weight. yes, you may make poor decisions about what to eat and whether to exercise, but this is far from an individual problem. 69% of american adults over the age of 20 are overweight. it is at least in part a problem of our unhealthy food

environment. we eat too much of the wrong foods. foods that have been scientifically engineered to be as delicious and addictive as possible. and expertly marketed from the time we're children. or we live in neighborhoods where it's hard to access safe and affordable exercise options. we resolve to quit smoking. yes, no one forced you to pick up a cigarette, but tobacco companies have designed cigarettes to deliver more and more nicotines to smokers to keep you smoking despite your desire not to. we resolve to get out of debt or save money. we're living at a time where wages were stagnant. on january 1st we focus on individual changes, not broad social ones. just a fraction of 1% of us resolve to get more involved politically in the new year. it is at the bottom of the list. we find ourselves in the midst

of a social movement pushing for change on a much grander scale. and so keeping our eyes not inward but outward. we resolve to build a more criminal justice system from police to courts to prison. we reso to rid our streets and sidewalk of violence. we resolve to raise the wage and strengthen the safety net so all people have a decent place to live enough to eat and can see the doctor. we resolve to make the world safer for our girls and our boys. we resolve to speak up and get involved. we resolve to build a fairer and better nation. and next up, we're talking more about new year's resolutions and how to keep them with a harvard professor who explains why we're all so resistant to change. but i think women would rather curl up with their favorite man. but here's the thing: about half of men over 40 have some degree of erectile dysfunction. well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection.

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we all know how hard it is to keep new year's resolutions.

according to the most comp rehence iive research out there, we stick with it for six months but only 19% of us are keeping it two years later. lasting change is hard but not impossible. according to the next guest, we're all doing it a little wrong. back at the table, associate professor, marcus mabrey editor at large for the "new york times" and professor leahy from the harvard graduate school of education, cofounder of "minds at work" and author of "right weight right mind." all right, ladies. so what is it that we are doing wrong? >> well, we are using an approach that is basically the default for most of us called the will power approach. sometimes we call it the new year's resolution approach they're all the same. it's the basic idea if we amp up the will power and keep applying it consistently we're going to achieve our goal. and actually sometimes that does

work. but more often than not, it doesn't. and those are the times we need to recognize we need an approach that basically honors recognizes that we're more complex than the conscious goals. >> i want to go to that a little bit. part of what i found fascinating about your verj is this idea that we care. maybe america in particular. we care about being free and autonomous autonomous. so we don't like to set budgets and diets because we don't like to be unfree decision makers. >> it's so ironic we can say we wan to lose weight for example, and then we can have an unconscious goal which is believing that we don't want to be run by somebody else's reduces. forgetting we are in charge of do we want to lose the weight or not. >> all right. i want to play with that a little bit.

here it is new year. we're all thinking about individual change. i also want to think about the idea of change as a political, social big concept and r wonder if the the insights about our difficulty on individual change is difficulty we have in social change. we were in the break and talking about this idea of you know whether or not president obama needs to be tougher, right, have more will power to bring the change. i wonder if that is a similar insight? >> i wonder. i'm always so optimistic in january. i struggle with that. especially politically. listening to governor cuomo's inauguration speech, i was, you know filleded with joy. that tends to wear off, just like the resolution to lose weight and drink less and do other things that sort of come together.

i wonder as we approach the new people coming to d.c., will the new idea of right mind enter in d.c. politics. many people don't think so. i don't want it to be a situation where we assume that it isn't so we don't see the change happening in front of us. i do. i hope. there's nothing wrong with using this. look, i don't think there's anything wrong with using this time period to actually try. >> mm-hmm. >> and change our mindset a bit. >> i think it's lovely optimism and the starting over and renewal that fueled sense of renewal people have. but the fact is january is just another month. >> oh! >> i hate to tell you. it is not a magical new beginning. in fact, i kind of think maybe i'm a naturalist in this one. i feel a greater sense of renewal in springtime in the change of the cycles like the northeast of the united states.

maybe it's from being almost a 50-year-old man. i realize the point of resolutions are useless. i've not made them in probably ten years. >> you and i are both college professors and certainly september is the start of the new year. as opposed to january. or it could be at your own birthday. which could be at any part. is the problem that we start it at the beginning of the calendar year, which is like the moment after we've been you know indulging in the holidays and therefore in not a good mind set for making change? >> oh i'm sorry. i think we have lost our remote and we can't get her sound. >> i think we can use it as a series of time periods where we can make our own recess right? i choose january. i also choose when we set the clocks the forward and back

ward. i choose september when we have to come back to school. >> what i love about that is you're resetting it. >> i'm trying. >> giving yourself more opportunities. >> i'm trying. >> and the the goals are about individual change in the the sense of something being wrong with you. no seriously. part of what i want to z is what if instead we set resolutions about radical self f acceptance. 2015 will be the year that i accept my thighs no matter what size they are. and maybe i'll want to spend less but still feel good about myself if i have a credit card balance at the end of the year. >> that could make for a terrific goal. and i think we have serious counter messages that we're constantly bombarded by by the medias and movies and so on that basically keep eling us that we need to be -- you fill in the the blank. attractive. we need to make a lot of money and have a lot of stuff in order

to feel happy. and that's really the key thing. realizing that any change we want to be taking on there are forces that are working against us. and the whole process that we invite people to embrace is basically recognized even inside of you, there's part of you that may want to achieve the goal. but there's an unconscious goal at the same time driving you in a very conflicting direction and to the extent that you are unaware of that goal you will always be at the mercy of not being able to achieve your goal. so the main thing i would want to encourage people to think about as they take on whatever their goal is that when you start off in a very excited way, which is terrific and you don't make the progress you intend be kind o yourself. an recognize that there's something else going on inside of you. our approach, this immune thety to change approach helps you

identify that unconscious goal that once you see it, once you recognize it, allows you to be freer of it. >> marcus i want to ask you on this. what if we tied that kind of approach and resolution about the individual. i want to eliminate racism in the country, and therefor resolve to make friends of another race. or, you know i want to be fitter. so engage in a protest march and burn calories while protesting. right? but is there a way to tie our individual and collective? >> what i love about that is you're not saying my goal is to have six-pack abs by the end of the year. you're not saying my goal is a bank balance of this or credit card balance. there's nothing in the world i would like to change. here's what i'm going to do. here's what i pledge to do for myself, my community, my country, my world this year with regards to that. that's modest and achievable. and i love that. i think that's much better than all the other inner focus goals

which as the professor said we can't achieve it everybody needs therapy. >> if i get six-pack abs, that's fine too. thank you to lisa in boston, massachusetts. and thank you to kristina and marcus. and up next, my first letter of 2015. ike a sure thing but i'm a bit skeptical of sure things. why's that? look what daddy's got... ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!! growth you can count on from the bank where no branches equals great rates. esurance was born online. which means fewer costs, which saves money. their customer experience is virtually paperless which saves paper, which saves money. they have smart online tools so you only pay for what's right for you which saves money. they settle claims quickly which saves time, which saves money. they drive an all-hybrid claims fleet which saves gas, which saves money. they were born online, and built to save money, which means when they save, you save. because that's how it should work in the modern world. esurance. backed by allstate. click or call.

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poverty. that's why any all right is to rick schneider. it's me melissa. you were busy in the last days of 2014, right back to bill signing the day after christmas. inclooding one bill establishing quote a pilot program intended to remove barriers to employment. at least, that is how your press release described it. unfortunately it turns out the bill has little to do with the barriers to employment and much more with stigmatizeing the poor people. the bill you signed establishes a program with food individuals in your state to be drug tested. individuals in three counties who rely on your family independence programs to help feed themselves and their families will be subject to a suspicion based edd screening and testing program. individuals who fail the test twice lose their benefits. individual who refuse the test

lose their benefits. the day after christmas you made it to the office to sign the bill to subject people in your state who are living in property to a personal privacy invading test based on whether or not that appear suspicious to the person whose job it is to help them access benefits to help them feed their families. now, presumably this pilot program is based on some kind of evidence that poor people are more likely drug users. but governor there's compelling evidence from your colleagues in the governor association who tied the same program. like tennessee governor bill haslam who signed similar bill in 2012 that went into effect in 2014. one month into the program, more than 800 individuals were screened. one tested positive for drug use. during the first 11 months of a similar program in utah only 12 people out of nearly 5,000

individuals tested positive for drug use. and just last month, a federal appeals court struck a similar 2011 law down in florida, writing the state has not demonstrated a more prevalent, unique or different problem than in the general poblation. in 1999 your state tried a pilot program of mandatory drug tests for all benefit recipients. the program lasted one month. and then was halted by a federal court ruling for violating the fourth amendment. governor schneider, you said this bill is intended to remove the barriers that are keeping people from supporting their families and to ensure recipients get the wrap around services they need. but helping people feed their families did not seem to be a top priority in december when you opted not to take action that could have avoided a harsh reduction in federal snap money for michigan residents. a cut of $76 for more than

150,000 michigan families. which makes me wonder, what are your real intentions with this pilot program that targets the poor, has been proven ineffective and unconstitutional in other states. the political classes have been doing chattering about you in recent weeks wondering if maybe you're just the kind of moderate republican governor who could have national appeal and deliver the white house win for the gop in 2016. but of course you know your biggest problem as well as anyone. all that moderate reasonableness may be good stuff in the general election but to make it to the republican primaries, you have to point to freshly polished conservative -- and drug testing poor people who need help buying food just might help you look a little more pal able to conservative primary voters. who cares if the program is not necessary, doesn't work and has been deemed unconstitutional? who cares if people in great

need are subjected to an invasion of privacy and stigma stigmatized as drug users. if it helps you look more conservative, i suppose it's worth coming to the the office during your holidays to make sure the signature is on it. if you do run on this record in 2016, please don't keep calling yourself one tough nerd. it sullies the whole nerd land brand. sincerely melissa. introducing... a pm pain reliever that dares to work all the way until... the am. new aleve pm the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve.

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a private funeral and burial service was held friday for the transgender teen whose apparent suicide struck an emotional cord across the country. 17-year-old leila left home and walked in front of a tractor trailer. she left behind a heart

wrenching suicide not on tumblr talking about feeling like a girl trapped inside a boy's body and cried with happiness when she learned at 14 what transgender met. but when she came out to her parents, they took her to religious therapies and denied her procedures. she wrote either i live the rest of my life as a lonely man who wishes her were a woman or live my life as a loanier woman who hates herself. there's no winning. there's no way out. people say it gets better but that isn't true in my case. it gets worse. each day i get worse. in an interview with cnn, her mother says the family did not support her decision to live as a girl for religious reasons, but she says she loved quote, him, unconditionally. in a separate statement to a local affiliate, the father said he loves his son and is devastated by his death. he says there's no desire to enter a political storm or

debate. and according to a family minister her funeral was kept private because of threats against the family. in her final plea for acceptance, she writes the only way i will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren't treated the the way i was. they're treated like humans with valid feelings and rights. my death needs to mean something. fix society. please. many are beginning to heed her call. a candle light vigil was held last night in columbus ohio. some people who have transitioned from one gender to another have been sharing their stories online under the hashtag #reallifetransadult. this is a reminder of how important it is to share the stories of acceptance and hope. stories like our foot soldier. founder and ceo of creative design firm transtech social enterprises. in this msnbc original report she talks about how she turned

her life around and the lives of others. one thing i love that people say about me is that i look young. i love that. they're usually very shocked to hear all the different experiences that i've had. how can you have that much experience? you know. but i'll be turning 34. for me i'm really proud about that. because it's a badge of honor. it is to be a transwoman of color. it is almost a gift that you even get to live that long in this sort of environment. people who are not trans don't understand exactly how much effort it takes to show up. just to walk out the door. society told me that i could only be a show girl or a sex worker. and it almost proved its point when i was fired from job after

job after job and i had no other choice but to consider the adult industry. but i quickly realizeded that it just wasn't me. what i discovered is that i had technical skill. with technology i didn't have to sell my body. it pushed me to an edge where i had to leap. i did not have a boat tied to the dock. i didn't have a job lined up. i didn't have investors lined up for trans tech. we still don't have the money we need to truly operate this program. but i know that we are going to do what is necessary. i know this program is going to grow. i believe in this vision because i've had it for so long. >> what i like about this is this here screams music. but it doesn't have a lot of busyness going on.

unfortunately trans people across the board are experiencing high levels of discrimination in employment housing, health care. >> every day, like being trans, you have to watch your back. i had dropped out of college when i was 18. i had been failing my classes because when in my freshman year of college, i came out as tra in, s. i was homebound the entire time because it was too scary to leave. i mean you don't want to go out leaving your house and then get made fun of every day. that was rough for me. and i couldn't focus on my studies at all. >> so i wanted to create an environment where you're not being harassed. you're not being told you are not who you say you are. that we allow you to identify as who you are and learn the uniqueness of who you are. >> i've just been able to come in and do the work. it isn't like i have to think about, okay well my gender is a

specific way. also as a person of color i don't have to be like well i'm a black person and i'm going to be treated a certain way because of my race. and so all of the general like social labels of like discrimination are kind of put to the side and like the person is put forth. >> the thing that's been so exciting is creating this environment where they can try and they can fail. they can make mistakes. when i'm mentoring them and seeging their growth and confidence build because they're doing stuff they never had the opportunity to do before. >> i want to succeed. like i've been -- i've been kind of down in the dumps for the past four years. i'm just kind of tired of it. so like i have this determination to do better. >> as we bring on more trans people at the beginning of the stage to discover what they can do. they'll be able to be leaders and to mentor them and create more mentors. and create more mentors. i am working from sun up to sun

down. because i am giving every waking moment to this vision that i have. i feel that the pain now will yield an experience that will not only give me more personal freedom, but will give our community more freedom to be who they are and to be successful. >> and that's our foot soldier of the week. and up an exnext, some good news to start us off in 2015. it felt nicer than my bmw. good gas mileage... ecoboost makes a four cylinder engine feel like a six cylinder. my dad went and turned in his lexus and got the exact same car as me. he had to have it... i'm very happy with my escape. i don't know if i'll ever not buy a ford. make the switch to america's favorite brand. check out special offers on ford escape at ford.com or see your local ford dealer. ♪ i have a cold with terrible chest congestion. i better take something.

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this week people across the globe gleefully rang in the new year with champagne, confetti and those novelty glasses. and even though the new year's celebration is an annual tradition, this year it felt as though there was particular reason to celebrate because 2014 was kind of rough, from the rise of isis to the ongoing ebola outbreak in west africa to the deaths of eric garner and michael brown, 2014 gave us cause for grief.

while many of the tough issues of 2014 are going to stay with us right into 2015 the new year is starting off with at least some very good news because you see the new year is not just a metaphorical new beginning, it's also the beginning of the calendar year in which hundreds of real monumental policy changes start making a difference in people's lives. this week about 2.3 million people got a pay raise as 20 states and the district of columbia increased their minimum wage. in addition to that employers of federal contractors around the nation will now pay a minimum wage of $10.10 an hour. in california now for the first time ever affirmative consent for sex will be required by law on college campuses ending some of the legal ambiguity that's plagued sexual assault investigations and codifying the principle that yes means yes. that first of a kind law in effect across more than 100 college campuses in california could become a model of how to

fight our nation's college rape problem. at the federal level, the affordable care act's employer mandate is now officially in effect for companies with more than 100 employees. yet another way the law will help previously uninsured people across the country to get covered. many of these new laws in effect today are big changes aimed at helping people live their day-to-day lives like california's law allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's license. other new laws work in smaller ways to help keep people safe like in new york where a new law is working to curb a popular social media trend known as the tiger selfie because sometimes it's the government's job to save you from your own bad decisions, unless you're an actual tiger. and i would be remiss if i did not mention the hens because for hens in california and iowa in ohio life is about to get a lot more roomy.

hens albeit still caged, per a new california law now get 70% more room in those cages. the cost of a dozen eggs may rise about 27 cents according to these in the egg industry. but those hens that supply so much of our u.s. food source will now live in what many say is still only a moderate step towards more humane conditions. this year, more cage space, next year, free range. the struggle continues. yes, 2015 is already shaping up to be a very different kind of year. and now at the end of each year i usually like to take time to say thank you to the many nerds who produce this weekend program. our staff is a deeply committed and passionate group of individuals without whom the show would not go on. last wookdeekend, our regular show wasn't on. so we're going to forego our usual year-end credits and are beginning the year with credits. think of it like one of those

super awesome 1980s movies where they roll the credits at the beginning. enjoy these archival photos of the nerdland team in commemoration of baby new year. roll it. ♪ ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ ♪ you're only young once. unless you have a subaru. (announcer) the subaru xv crosstrek. symmetrical all-wheel drive plus 34 mpg. love. it's what makes a subaru a subaru. a survivor's story. a 7-year-old girl walks away from a small plane crash then finds a home nearly

three-quarters of a mile away. you'll hear from the man whose door she knocked on. a critical find. reports today on what searchers may have found in connection with that airasia plane that went down last week. we'll bring you the very latest. they're here hundreds of new laws all across the country from the important to obscure. we'll run you through some of the most interesting. and attack of the drones the new concern over all of those flying objects that turned up as christmas gifts this year.