hamburgers shaped like hot dogs. that's not really in our wheelhouse... you don't put it in a wheelhouse. you put it in your mouth. get your credit swagger on. become a member of experian credit tracker and find out your fico score powered by experian. fico scores are used in 90% of credit decisions. historic move. the u.s. supreme court agrees to take up the question of same-sex marriage. why now and how will it rule? mitt romney laying out his plan for a potential third run. but could it be a case of right message, wrong candidate? and seeing the world from up above it all. how drones are giving new inspiration to would-be travelers. hey, everyone. it's high noon in the east. 9:00 a.m. out west.

welcome to "weekends with alex witt." 11 years after the first state legalized same-sex marriage, the supreme court is taking up the issue and could potentially make it the law of the land in just a few months. yesterday the court agreed to hear arguments beginning in late april and a decision is expected in june. joining me now in studio emma margolen. let's talk about the states in question and how they've been defending their ban. >> they've been defending their bans with everything they've got. we've heard arguments based on federalism to a precedent upholding same-sex marriage bans to highly questionable recent stating that same-sex calms make inferior parents. but the one argument that sticks is the one we heard in the sixth circuit ruling upholding these bans and that's based on states

rights. voters enacted these restrictions on marriage and those decisions should be respected by the courts. >> so main argument to be presented in support of same-sex marriage, what do you think it's going to be? >> i think that will probably be the main focus of their argument. we may see some briefs talking about the parenting issue, but i think primarily this will come down to, is it a matter of states rights or is it a matter of constitutionality that the supreme court needs to resolve. >> okay. what about the four cases that are behind these challenges? talk a little bit about those. >> these cases are coming from same-sex couples. in two of the states ohio and tennessee, it's couples wanting their marriages that took place out of state to be recognized. in kentucky, it's both. it's plaintiffs who want their out-of-state marriages recognized and also plaintiffs who want to be able to marry in the state. and then in michigan, it's two plaintiffs who wish to marry in the state so that they can

jointly adopt the children they're raising together. >> look the supreme court has declined to make a sweeping national ruling on same-sex marriage in the past. what do you think has changed? do you think it may be as much about just the last 10 11 years that people have sort of adopted and conformed to this? >> i think that makes a big difference. but more so than the last 10 or 11 years, it's the last two years. in 2013 when the supreme court declined to answer this question of whether gay and lesbian couples had a constitutional right to wed, only nine states allowed same-sex couples to marry. and there were three more on the way. now we have 36 states plus the district of columbia that allow same-sex couples to marry. so those numbers can't be ignored. plus, the last time the court refused to hear these cases was in october. and at the time no federal appeals court had ever ruled against same-sex couples' right to wed. now we have one court, the sixth circuit, finding these same-sex marriage bans to be constitutional. and when you have that kind of circuit split, the supreme court

usually needs to step in and set a nationwide standard. >> but statewide it all began in 2004 in massachusetts, right? >> right. >> that was it. emma, thanks so much. let's head overseas where police across europe are cracking down on terror suspects. today in belgium for the first time in 30 years, armed soldiers are patrolling the streets. they've been deployed to guard some possible terrorism targets. the united kingdom hassished its high ert everest ever alert for threats against police. joining me from paris, nbc news's ron allen. ron, any indication at this point how successful all these police raids have been in the region? >> reporter: well alex it seems the one in belgium was very successful in stopping an attack. the authorities there said that they thought that the suspects that they raided a couple of nights ago were hours away from launching an attack --

>> unfortunately, guys i'm sure you're having the same problem i am, which is hearing ron allen right now. we'll get back to ron when we can and get that hook-up back in paris. mitt romney is starting to sound like a presidential candidate again. the 2012 republican presidential nominee gave a campaign-style speech to top party officials last night. he laid out a platform for republicans to win back the white house. it all comes amid speculation ramping up that there's word of a third presidential run for the former massachusetts governor. kristen welker is following the story for us. what kind of a reception did mitt romney get? >> reporter: well, alex in talking to those who were in the room, they say the reception was somewhat mixed. there were some in the party brass who were excited. others had a raised eyebrow. mitt romney didn't come right out and say he plans to run but he did sound a lot like a candidate when he spoke in california last night mapping out a platform criticized the

democrats' current favorite hillary clinton, but he is missing a key ingredient for another presidential bid -- support within his own party. speaking to the party faithful in california mitt romney joked about the one thing on everyone's mind. >> let me state unequivocally that i have no intention of running for u.s. senate in massachusetts. >> reporter: but the former republican nominee got serious fast mapping out what sounded like a platform for another presidential run. focused on national security and opportunity for all. even taking direct aim at possible democratic contender hillary clinton. >> and the results of the hillary clinton/barack obama foreign policy have been devastating. >> reporter: the clearest signal he's serious? his comments about wife ann. >> she believes people get better with experience. heaven knows i have experienced running for president. >> reporter: but there is skepticism within his own party

after romney was trounced in 2012. >> how is now going to be different from four years ago or four years before that? >> reporter: if he runs he'll face off against a strong field of candidates as the party tries to appeal to a broader base scott walker chris christie rand paul and tea party favorite texas senator ted cruz. then there's former florida governor jeb bush who's already getting big donors on board. >> in 2012 most of the rising republican stars, chris christie, scott walker those sorts of people decided to stay on the sidelines. they're not on the sidelines this time around. >> reporter: when asked about the news that his former rival is considering another bid, president obama decided to stay mum. >> i have no comment. >> reporter: last night, romney also talked a lot about lifting up the -- democrats painted him as out of touch who didn't care

about the poor an image fueled by his infamous 47% comments the rnc, by the way, announced it would hold nine presidential debates instead of the 22 it had last cycle, representing a clearer attempt to protect gop candidates from making potentially damaging remarks during debates. >> thank you so much kristen welker. we have the hook-up again with ron allen who's in paris for us. ron, you dropped out talking about all these police raids across the region and how effective they've been. pick it up from there. >> reporter: i was saying that the one in belgium obviously was very successful according to authorities there. they think they stopped a terrorist attack that was going to happen within hours, they said aimed at targeting police officers on the streets and perhaps a police station there as well. there are now hundreds of soldiers on the street and that number might be increased. the first time that's happened there in a very long time. belgium has been a focal point of militant activity for a long time. it's a place where weapons can be had, money, there's organized

crime activity. so it's no surprise that that country has come up in connection with these investigations that are all going on. there have also been raids in germany. and here of course in paris, there are still 12 suspects who are in custody. and they are thought to be connected somehow perhaps to the kouachi brothers or to amedy coulibaly who pulled off those two attacks -- the two terror attacks here last week. authorities are still trying to figure out where they got their weapons and their money, if anyone provide them with hideouts. still trying to tie up those loose ends. and it's unclear how long authorities will keep those suspects in custody. the anti-terrorism laws here are tight. a number of issues are being raised as france moves into something of a new era in fighting terrorism. here things remain on high alert. perhaps you hear the siren in the background. they've been wailing throughout the city all week. but tonight, a calm night here.

a lot of families are out on the plaza, a lot of children a lot of skateboarders who are coming at us at times. but for now, this country is trying to move forward. but there's still a very heightened sense of alert, some anxiety as each day passes by things are calming down. but until authorities tie up these loose ends and account for the people who might be involved in this plot, there will still be tension here. the other underlying problem is authorities here say there are as many as 1,000 young men who have gone off to fight in the jihadi wars in iraq and syria. unclear how many of them have come back. but the number could be in the hundreds and that's the home-grown threat that lurks here for a long time perhaps for forever here until france can get on top of that. >> ron allen, glad we re-established the connection with you for that report. other news now, police officers in florida responding to a shooting this morning at the melbourne square mall about an hour outside of orlando. a witness says a gunman opened fire near the food court of that mall.

that same witness heard about five or six gunshots and saw two people later taken away in ambulances. the mall was not open at the time. the melbourne police department's twitter page says the gunman has been contained. 22 people are confirmed dead in a tugboat accident in china. the boat capsized in a test voyage thursday. it was carrying several tourists from singapore, indonesia, malaysia, india and japan. three chinese nationals were saved. the cdc says flu season is reaching epidemic levels, particularly in children. 45 kids have died and 19 of those deaths are in the last week across the country. doctors say it's because of an aggressive flu strain and a vaccine that did not live up to expectations. >> about 70% of the strains that we're seeing circulate this season have drifted, meaning they've changed a little bit and sort of outsmarted our vaccine this season. >> in the las vegas area four hospitals have been overrun with flu patients. one hospital there calling it an internal disaster.

new figures show that 2014 was the hottest year in recorded history. nasa and noaa say it averaged 58 degrees fahrenheit. nine of the ten hottest years have occurred since 2000. let's go to the weather on that. clear skies in the northeast but not for very long. a developing storm along the east coast is bringing rain and snow to the northeast this weekend. the weather channel's reynolds wolf is here with the forecast. hello, reynolds. >> let's take a look at what we can expect for this weekend or the latter half of the weekend. we have a storm brewing across parts of the northeast. we're going to have freezing conditions out towards the west. but along the coast, temperatures above the freezing point. we have a frontal boundary to deal with. we're going to see first the moisture pulled from the atlantic inland. where it's farther back out towards the west in places like buffalo, might see some

snowfall. same deal in places like syracuse. but primarily along the coast, it's the rain showers. the rain and snow we can anticipate, not too heavy along the coast. most of it will be in spots like burlington perhaps up into northern maine where some locations could get several inches of snowfall some approaching 8 inches of snowfall. in terms of the rainfall along the coast, it's going to be a story of 1 to 2 inches in most spots, places that have low-lying spots, places with poor drainage you might have a touch of flooding there. as always, be careful out there. keep the lights at low beam and drive slowly. that's the story, alex. back to you. >> reynolds, i'll take it. thank you so much. get your passports ready, everyone. the travel and trade restrictions on cuba are quickly coming down. but is the tourism industry there ready for an american invasion? that's straight ahead. how can power consumption in china impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.?

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the obama administration's new rules relaxing some travel and trade restrictions to cuba are now in effect. while you're not completely free to travel to the island nation as a tourist, it won't be too difficult to find a way to get there. the question remains, is cuba ready for an influx of americans? nbc's mark potter is in havana for us today. mark, what changes is cuba expecting? >> reporter: hi, alex. with the new rules, there's a widespread hope here that a lot more americans will soon come to cuba. but experts say, given the conditions here it could actually be some time before that occurs. on the day the new u.s. travel rules went into effect there were hundreds of americans already visiting cuba. they and even those arriving today arranged their trips before the rule changes. joining expensive tour groups controlled by the u.s. and cuban governments. >> we're learning about history a great deal, we're learning about the city. we have a lot of contact with

the people. it's just a total pleasure to be here. it's a privilege. >> reporter: many wonder what it will look like when thousands of americans begin to arrive here under the new, more relaxed travel rules. at the havana airport friday american seniors and a bird watching group arrived for their cuban tour. believing travel here next time will involve much less red tape. >> certainly the red tape is going to lessen at least on the u.s. end. >> reporter: but a question being raised here and especially in the united states is whether cuba, with its stagnant economy and a shortage of resources, will actually be ready to embrace a flood of americans. experts say cuba already has a sizable tourist economy serving visitors from around the world. but it's maxed out and will need time to repair for a lot more americans. this travel editor thinks it could take several years. >> it's going to take a while before they can expand the

airport, build hotels add taxi cabs. >> reporter: still to be arranged the use of american credit and debit cards here. under the old rules, u.s. tourists could only carry cash. landing rights for u.s. air carriers will also have to be secured. but on the streets, many cubans say they're ready now for all those changes to start taking place. u.s. officials say they hope this will eventually lead to a lot more opportunities for the cuban people and less reliance on the state-controlled economy as they also vow to push cuba to improve its political and human rights record. alex? >> nbc's mark potter getting the head start on all of us there in havana. two months after a federal court ruled to upstate states' bans on same-sex marriage, the supreme court is stepping in. will this issue finally be resolved? welcome, glad to see you and talk about this.

this is a huge moment. put in it perspective. >> yeah just to set the table on this this is the culmination of years of litigation that started in 2004 in massachusetts, which is the first state to allow same-sex marriage. since then, there's been a state-by-state strategy that ultimately culminated in federal litigation that's been punted on the issue of whether or not there needed to be a 50-state solution with regard to same-sex marriage being constitutional across the land. and now it's confronted with the question it punted on in 2013. >> why now? what's compelling to take it up? >> it's with regard to the circuit split. they were waiting for deference in the courtings below. prior to the decision you just alluded to in november from the sixth circuit, all of the federal courts ruled in the same way. they all ruled in favor of the same-sex couples. usually the supreme court will

not take something up until there's a difference among the circuits. once the circuits split on an issue, it makes sense that the federal constitution can't mean something different according to where you live. >> and wasn't that one of the issues in one of the cases where people are saying we are legal in one state but we're not in another and we want to be able to live there and -- >> exactly. it's slightly different from the circuit split issue but it is raised in one of the cases. in the ohio cases, ohio has a statute that says we don't recognize marriages that are performed out of state. so those plaintiffs are adding that claim. so that claim is also going to be argued in the supreme court. >> it's a divisive issue in the country. it has to be divisive among the supreme court members as well. but when you look at them can you deduce where they will come down on this ruling? >> it all comes down to justice kennedy. i was talking to one of the lawyers on the other side meaning for the state in this case and then -- because i support the plaintiffs in this

case. and what he was saying was he hadn't written a word even in the lower courts or said a word without thinking about how justice kennedy would receive it ultimately in the supreme court. there are five votes in the windsor vote saying only marriages between a man and woman be recognized for federal purposes. i think those five votes are still there. i think it will be a 5-4 decision with kennedy swinging with the liberals to make marriage a national reality for same-sex couples. >> but it's not a done deal. if that does not happen that means it swings back and basically punts to the states or is it even bigger than that? >> it goes back to the strategy of doing a state-by-state solution. but if you go state by state incrementally, that could take an awfully long time. takes a long time for the supreme court to reverse an adverse decision. 17 years was the difference between the court decision upholding sodomy statutes which was a 2003 decision striking

down sodomy statutes and overruling bowers. that was short for the supreme court, 17 years. oftentimes it's more like 58 years. >> i know you guys hate reading the tea leaves. but let me put it to you a different way. do you think six months from you if you're a betting man, that we'll have a uniform decision that will apply across the entire country? >> yes, i'm quite happy to say that -- what should we bet, alex? a trip to cuba. >> i'd love to go to cuba. that's a good one. i think we both want the same thing on that. we both want to go. kenji, thank you so much. >> thanks so much. a miami area police department is suspending a controversial training program after national backlash what they were doing that had so many up in arms. i heard you lost a close one today. look, jamie, maybe we weren't the lowest rate this time. but when you show people their progressive direct rate

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police in florida under fire for using mug shots of african-american men for target practice. they say they're suspending the sniper training program. late friday the north miami beach police department said that it realizes how if taken out of context, the image of the six black males in the photo lineup may appear to be offensive. penn state students held a rally to celebrate 112 football victoried restored by the ncaa. those victories had been stripped because of the jerry sandusky child molestation scandal. joe paterno is also reinstated as the winningest coach in college football history. and michael sam popped the question to his boyfriend this week and soon after sam tweeted a big thank you to his new fiance for saying yes. well europe is on edge as the search continues for anyone who may have been involved in the deadly attacks in paris and the thwarted plots in belgium. this comes as armed soldiers

patrol the streets of belgium for the first time in 30 years. nbc's chief global correspondent bill neely has more from belgium. >> reporter: a muslim backlash is building. in algeria, police struggle to contain huge crowds angry that the french magazine has once again published a cartoon of the prophet muhammad. in jordan demonstrators carried pictures of the paris killers and confronted police. and in pakistan protesters marched to the french consulate in karachi where police fired teargas. there were protests too, in iran, turkey and elsewhere. muslims are rallying and europe is rattled. dozens of armed police responded in paris to a deranged man in a post office. in belgium, it was real. police gathering evidence of the two armed men just back from syria they shot and killed.

men who had weapons, explosives and police uniforms for an attack police believe was imminent. police in germany arrested men for allegedly sending recruits to syria. and in britain, police stepped up security at synagogues. >> it's a time for heightened awareness but not to be running around and to be very scared. >> reporter: britain's prime minister was talking tough with president obama. >> the world is sickened by this terrorism. so we will not be standing alone in this fight. we know what we're up against. >> it is widespread and it has penetrated communities around the world. >> reporter: the u.s. is now promising more help to europe at a time of trouble and deep trauma. and today, alex for the first time belgian troops are being deployed to guard key sites. in this country, they're even rewriting laws here in belgium to deal with this threat.

what happened here and of course in paris really has sent shivers right across europe. back to you. >> and here as well. thank you so much bill neely. joining me now with more international affairs reporter michael kay, former adviser in the ministry of defense. with a welcome to you, there are three good examples of what's going on there, at least the severity of what it is. bill was talking about armed guards, policemen patrolling the streets there in belgium. in the uk policemen are put on the highest alert ever. you should the ark de talk about the attacks we've seen the last ten days. >> what you've outlined is this multilayered multifaceted problem that we've got and we need to address what the counter is across a number of different layers and a number of different areas.

there's no silver bullet on this. we can't just fix it quite easily. in order to work out what our response is we need to first define the problem. what is the problem, what is the context of that? if you look at freedom of speech there's fundamental disagreement on what freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom of expression is from the west all the way across to the muslim world. the pakistan government for example, recently condemned the cartoons and said freedom of expression should not be misled as a means to attack or hurt public sentiment as religious beliefs where you've got the muslim council of britain who are saying, yes, the cartoons were hurtful but appealing to their community for patience and tolerance. then you've got the mayor of rotter rotter rotterdam who's saying to his muslim community, if you don't like the values under which the west live, pack your bags. that's a quote. there's a number of different ideas of what freedom of speech means.

trying to get a definition of what that is will help this approach in countering the problems. >> the way you're describing it i think back to the press conference with uk prime minister david cameron and president obama. and the president used the word "solved." that terrorism could be a problem that is solved. can it be solved? how would one go about solving it? >> there's problems by using terminology such as "solved" or "win" or "victory." in this new era -- one of the words he used was ungoverned spaces which i thought was important. ungoverned spaces allow asymmetric groups like isis and aqap to thrive. this is one part of that approach. we went into iraq that was an

ungoverned space and insurgency thrived. libya, the same thing. if you look at syria, the reason why isis thrives is they live in raqqa, an ungoverned space. if you look at yemen, it's an ungoverned space. boko haram, somalia, al shabaab, across mali there's a common thread. but we as the west have to look at not only how do we address that ungoverned space but we shouldn't be creating them. and then look at the mosques. what are the imams talking about? look at globalization, social media, porous borders, the list is extensive. but you have to compartmentalize each one and start addressing them individually to create this broader synergy of addressing -- >> when you talk about the west. divide it up to the united states versus europe. there seems to be a far greater problem over in europe. why is that? is it because of proximity to the middle east? is it because denser groups of populations are living there? is it colonialism?

what is it? >> first, addressing the context of the problem you outlined. 330 million people in america. we have about 100 jihadists that have gone to syria. france, 1,200 jihadists. that outlines the problem you see in europe. to answer your question, geography is a huge piece of this. it's harder to go from jfk to syria in terms of going in and out of immigration, customs and so on and so forth. if you're in france and you want to get to syria, you can travel across the european continent, no problem at all. you can get into turkey and those porous borders through turkey into syria. turkey is a big, prominent piece of this puzzle. there was hesitation when isis came out last year. turkey were sitting on the fence. there's a reason for that. the kurdistan workers party has been a prominent force since 1984 fighting the turkish government on an insurgency. the syrian kurds who were up

against isis turkey thought they didn't want to get involved because if they didn't get involved, isis were doing a good job at countering the threat facing turkey since 1984 and the syrian kurds. a lot of dynamics are going on at the geopolitical level there and turkey remains a key pivot specifically in this situation with isis. >> it is always an international class with you on set. thank you so much. we invite you to watch "meet the press." among chuck todd's guests will be gerard biard. let's go to publics now. the 2016 race for the white house is starting to heat up. we're starting to see some movement on the republican side with folks like jeb bush making moves toward a run. but lately all the talk has surrounded mitt romney and whether the 2012 republican nominee will mount a third run. in his speech to the party brass last night, he said he's

considering the future and put forward a potential platform on which to run. >> first, we have to make the world safer. second we have to make sure and provide opportunity for all americans regardless of the neighborhood they live in and finally, we have to lift people out of poverty. if we communicate those three things effectively, the american people are going to be with us and with our nominee and with our candidates across the country. >> joining me now, msnbc contributor and executive editor at blue nation review jimmy and joe watkins. romney was giving what sounded like a campaign-style speech if he does run again. do you think he can take the lessons learned from 2012? could he run a successful campaign? >> i think certainly realizing what caused him to not be successful in 2012 would be instructive for 2016. but he's got to raise the money and raising the money will certainly help him put together

an organization to be competitive if that's indeed what he wants to do. not a lot of time to do that because you have jeb bush out there who's raising money and putting together a strong organization. chris christie, others rand paul all people right now along with even others raising money to try to build organizations to be competitive in 2016. >> jimmy, mr. romney talked a lot about poverty and blamed president obama for the lack of upward mobility. let's listen to this. >> under president obama, the rich have gotten richer income inequality has gotten worse and there are many people in poverty in america than ever before under this president. his policies have not worked. their liberal policies are good every four years for a campaign but they don't get the job done. >> so what i was asking joe about whether he's learned some lessons, is that statement as a result of the 47% comment in 2012? >> well he's certainly welcome to flip-flop on his campaign policies and promises from four years ago. or three years ago.

but what i don't understand about mitt romney is his striking a populist tone. if people like ronald reagan's speechwriter and publications like "the wall street journal," the editorial page saying why are you running, your policies aren't any different than they were the last time and the time before that i think that probably is very telling of what the gop establishment thinks about mitt romney as i tweeted yesterday, the political lynching of mitt romney has begun by the gop establishment. and in fact it has. so he's got to offer up actual policy prescriptions, per se. i don't know what those are. if he does do that i'm looking forward to comparing them to the last two times he ran and what those policies were. >> some will say tlailhey'll be different because he's changed -- >> it's a very different republican, then isn't it? >> you mentioned peggy noonan. there are other republicans who

are not offering up any support, in in fact even taking it a step further. let's listen to what charlie dienst said this morning. >> i'm not encouraging him to enter the race. there's not much to be gained by a third kick. i don't think it will work out for him. >> in a new interview with politico wisconsin governor scott walker said about hillary clinton, quote, i think the best way to counter something from the past is with something new. so joe, do you think romney just doesn't pay attention to what everybody else is saying? do you think he's going to run anyway? >> we live in a free country. so anybody that wants to run can. and clearly wanting to run and being competitive in the process are two different things. you have to raise the money, you have to build an organization. you have to be poised to win iowa and then new hampshire and then take it right to super

supertuesday. so it's more than a notion to run for the presidency of the united states. it's a big job, expensive proposition. you have to consider the fact that others are doing it as we speak. jeb bush has been out raising money and building an organization. and so have some others. he's got his work cut out for him. but it's not impossible. and it doesn't matter what people say as much as whether or not the donors are willing to support him and put the dollars in place to make his run plausible. >> you make a point there. jimmy, romney was speaking at the rnc winter meeting, where the party released their debate schedule. there are going to be nine debates with the option of adding three more. having more controlled the debate seems to be in response to the feeling that mitt romney was damaged by the large number of debates back in 2012. do you think this helps republicans? >> it's certainly less than they had in the last cycle. but with the possibility of having 12 debates, listen first

of all most people don't watch debates. secondly and more importantly, if they do they're nerds like us. and there hadly and more importantly, this is the sad part about it no one really watches republican debates because you'll have ten guys basically ten white men with the exception of ben carson if he does run, get up on a stage 12 times and talk about how barack obama is a terrible person. that's very boring frankly. >> except to us nerds. joe, they announced an earlier convention today. it's going to be held in july of 2016. are they addressing the right things to have a better shot at the white house? >> i think so. all this -- reince priebus is a smart guy. they're trying to streamline the process. >> i'm going to start calling you guys jimmy joe.

>> thanks. business leaders from around the country have descended on atlanta, georgia, this weekend with a single goal in mind -- bringing the country to a step closer to economic equality. we'll have a live report when we return. next. ♪♪ expected wait time: 55 minutes. your call is important to us. thank you for your patience. waiter! vo: in the nation, we know how it feels when you aren't treated like a priority. we do things differently. we'll take care of it. vo: we put members first... join the nation. thank you. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ thanks. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] fedex® has solutions to enable global commerce that can help your company grow steadily and quickly. great job. (mandarin) ♪ ♪

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and more on the way. minuteclinic. another innovation from cvs health. because health is everything. many of the nation's top business and political leaders are gathering in atlanta today for the 2015 hope global forum. their goal to outline a future for the global economy that will lift millions of people out of poverty. msnbc is a media partner of the hope global forum, proudly, i might add. and trymaine lee is at the forum there in atlanta. trymaine, good to see you. i know you spoke with julian castro a bit earlier. how does he think washington will be able to help poor communities? >> reporter: this forum is about expanding opportunities and getting millionaires and big

business together with people who have ingenious ideas to expand. castro says there are practical ways to team up with communities. one big idea was the idea of expanding broadband cable services in public housing complexes. so often in poor and low income communities and in public housing they just simply don't have access to the internet. so you have a bunch of young people who have great ideas about businesses, students who want to do research and further their careers and their value, their lives, but they simply don't have access. so there are big ideas happening here with shifting millions of dollars around and microlending there are basic elemental outlines folks are trying to achieve here. >> looks like a packed crowd there. the makeup -- people come from all over the country to this event? >> reporter: that's right. you have ceos of coca-cola and

others -- you hear the crowd roaring. young people are pitching their ideas to these ceos. >> we're going to let you go for now. see you back in an hour. thank you so much trymaine lee. virtual vacations. you can see the world from the comfort of your living room. out of 42 vehicles... based on 6 different criteria... why did a panel of 11 automotive experts... ... name the volkswagen golf motor trend's 2015 car of the year? we'll give you four good reasons the all-new volkswagen golf starting at $17,995. there's an award winning golf for everyone. good job! still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male

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9. a new website is making sightseeing available by computer, famous locations around the world are accessible with just a couple of clicks. the creator of this website joins me from zurich via skype. you started this less than a year ago with 20 videos you uploaded. there are now more than 8,000. what inspired this? >> alex yes, it's a library of

the best videos you can find on the internet. what i did is i reached out to the community, the pilots the drone pilots and said share your videos on this platform, travelbydrone.com, tell me exactly where you filmed these videos and then i'll place it on a map. and on the other hand the virtual traveler can now navigate through this map and anywhere in the world can scout out drone videos and see the world from a new perspective wherever they want to see the world. >> jan, it is beautiful. and you put music to them and it's always sort of responding -- i looked at a piece yesterday, i saw the napolean monument and there was beautiful music in the background. you could see all of paris for quite some time. but what about the safety of flying drones into places that are monuments and revered places

around the world? do you have any concern about safety when they're making these videos? >> of course, safety is really important for the pilots for the people on the ground. there are many rules and regulations that all of the pilots have to adhere to. and that's why when we upload the videos when we share the videos we always make sure we have to keep in the regulations and not violate them. >> so if somebody wants to contribute something to this site, what makes the perfect video for you? >> the perfect video on travel by drone is a video that shows the location, where the virtual traveler can discover a location. and we're looking for really nice quality so no wobbly images. and also nice composition of the video. >> well i'll tell you, it is a wonderful way to spend like an hour or more looking at this.

i had the best time yesterday. so thank you for that as well as for the conversation. good luck with travel by drone, jan. >> thank you very much. coming up in the next hour a pittsburgh restaurant is breaking the mold by banning tips. and employees are all for it. the unconventional idea that may soon come to a restaurant near you. we need a bigger car. hi, how's it going? whatever you're looking for, start by test-driving nearly every make and model all in one place. carmax. start here. listen up... i'm reworking the menu. veggies you're cool... mayo, corn dogs...you are so out of here! ahh... the complete balanced nutrition of

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making history. the two key questions the supreme court decides to answer on same-sex marriage. but will it put a division at the end of the alter. some speculation on whether i'm about to embark on a political endeavor in which i've been previously unsuccessful. let me state unequivocally that i have no intention of running for u.s. senate in massachusetts. >> mitt romney, is he running or not? who's more likely to want him to run, republicans or democrats? no tips for you.

a restaurant eliminates gratuities for servers and offers them a salary instead. is this really the right choice for servers and customers? and the diversity factor. the oscar academy president responds to critics of the all-white slate of nominated actors. good day to all after you. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." here's what's happening. a historic move by the supreme court, the justices have agreed to take up the question of same-sex marriage and perhaps settle the controversial issue once and for all. nbc's justice correspondent pete williams has more. >> reporter: in suburban detroit, april and jane who want to gets married cheered the news that their legal fight will be part of a potentially historic ruling on gay rights. >> we set out for a goal and that goal was equality for our family. we are proud that we are affecting so many other families and proud that we are an

inspiration for other families. >> reporter: the justices agreed to answer two questions, can states refuse to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples and can states refuse to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed somewhere else? the court takes up the questions after a surge of court rulings from coast to coast, striking down state bans on same-sex marriage. nearly 60 separate decisions in more than half the states over the past year and a half. >> there will not be many cases like this that we are going to lack back in 300 years and say, gosh that was a critical moment in the country's history. >> reporter: a total of 36 states now permit gay couples to get married, covering roughly 70% of the u.s. population. the supreme court's order comes just three months after it declined to take up the issue last fall an action that allowed same-sex marriage to begin in 20 more states. since then lower courts have split on the issue. the obama administration says it will urge the court to rule in

favor of same-sex marriage saying it would help ensure equality for all americans. the cases will be argued in april and the court will issue its decision by late june. pete williams nbc news at the supreme court. >> why now has the high court decided to take up the issue? just last october, it let stand appeals court rulings that struck down bans in five states. we'll delve deeper in that in about half an hour. let's head overseas now. europe is on high alert. today the united kingdom put its police on the highest ever threat warning and is now patrolling jewish communities. in belgium for the first time in 30 years, armed soldiers are on the streets guarding potential terrorist targets. this comes after police across europe made sweeping raids interrogating dozens of terror suspects. threats against "charlie hebdo's" cartoons have become increasingly violent in europe. in niger, police fired teargas

at protesters who through rocks and burned the french flag. joining me from paris, nbc news's ron allen. what are you hearing from authorities about these anti-terror raids and their success? >> reporter: well, in belgium, they claim they had a great success because they think they stopped a plot that was about to be launched that would have targeted police officers. here in france unclear how much progress they've made. they've rounded up as many as a dozen suspects still trying to find people connected to the kouachi brothers and to coulibaly who pulled off the attacks that killed 17 people here last week. unclear if they've gotten to the bottom of the network that provided money, weapons, hideouts, vehicles. this is a deep web endemic to the society. authorities knew of these suspects before all this happened but weren't able to stop it. so they're still digging into this. these are preemptive raids in other places, not just belgium, but germany as well. you've said what they're doing in the uk to put themselves on

the highest possible state of alert. so this threat is not going away anytime soon, it doesn't seem. here there's still anxiety. but as we move further and further away from the attacks, it's morebeen more than a week or ten days people are trying to get back to their normal lives. but the threat remainsed and it will be here for a while. >> ron allen, thank you so much from the place de la republique. the u.s. is continuing its campaign of air strikes against isis. on friday u.s. and coalition airpower hit isis targets with 29 strikes in iraq and syria, 11 focused on kobani syria. to politics now, mitt romney is going public with his interest in a third run for the white house. the 2012 republican nominee spoke in front of a group of top party officials last night where he gave a campaign-style speech and laid out a potential platform for his run. nbc's kristen welker is following this story for us. kristen, with a good day to you

from the white house, what notes did romney hit on in that speech? >> reporter: well, a number of different notes, alex. he didn't say outright that he plans to run, but romney certainly sounded a lot like a candidate when he spoke last night in california. he mapped out, as you point out what sounded like a platform. focused on national security and opportunity for all, he even took direct aim at possible democratic contender around former secretary of state hillary clinton saying that the foreign policy problems like isis and the crisis in ukraine are the result of the obama and clinton foreign policy which he said has been, quote, devastating. but the clearest signal he's serious may have come in the comments he made about his wife, ann. take a listen to what he said. >> she believes that people get better with experience. heaven knows i have experienced running for president. >> reporter: so a little bit of humor there. but reading into it it was interesting that he invoked his wife, ann. a lot of people have said she's been on the fence.

he said she's behind him. but there's a lot of skepticism within his own party after romney was trounced back in 2012. party insiders who i've been talking to say if he does run, he's going to have to explain how this campaign would be different in 2016 than it was in 2012. he's also going to face off against what some consider a very strong field of primary candidates, the party, of course, is trying to appeal to a broader base. so you're getting some younger, fresher faces, potential candidates like wisconsin governor scott walker new jersey governor chris christie and former florida governor jeb bush who has been trying to build up a donor base. last night, romney talked a lot about lifting up the poor as well. it was a clear attempt to try to distance himself from 2012 when democrats tried to paint him as someone who was out of touch, who was an elitist and didn't care about the poor. e h he didn't help himself with those infamous 47% comments. one more point, the rnc announced it would hold nine presidential debates this cycle instead of the 22 that it had

back in 2012. of course, you and i both remember, there were a number of gaffes that occurred during those 22 different debates. >> yes, there were. you bring up the debates which brings to mind there has to be a time frame in which mr. romney has to make a decision. you have debates you have to register for you have the caucuses and primaries. a year from now, it's going to be full steam ahead, significantly before that even. any sense of when he'll make the decision? >> reporter: it's a good point. a lot of people thought he was going to come out even stronger last night, that he would have been more definitive. but if he is serious about this he's going to have to make some significant moves in the next six to eight weeks, make his intentions very clear because he's facing off against potential contenders like former florida governor jeb bush who has name recognition and who's already building up a strong donor base. if he's serious, we're going to see real action in the coming

weeks if not the next few months. >> kristen welker, thank you so much. bill cosby's lawyer says he plans to prove the comedian was not at the playboy mansion the night his latest accusers says she was attacked. he says cosby was in new york on that day. the 24-year-old accuser met with police earlier this week to detail her account of the alleged 2008 sexual assault. she claims that cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her. this is a as a handful of protesters continue to taunt cosby while on tour. what are the chances the flu vaccine will protect you and your family? in the wake of the terror attacks in france new questions emerging about home-grown terrorists returning from fighting in the middle east. what is the u.s. doing to make sure they don't strike here in the states? introducing aleve pm... the pm pain reliever. that dares to work all the way until... [birds chirping]

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the cdc says that flu season is reaching epidemic levels particularly in children. 45 children have died and 19 of those deaths were in the last week across the country. doctors say it's because of an aggressive flu strain and a vaccine that didn't quite live up to expectations. the president of the academy of motion picture arts and sciences today is responding to the controversy over this year's oscar nominations. none of the nominees for lead or supporting actor rs and actresses are people of color. the academy's first african-american president spoke to the "associated press" about the firestorm these nominations have created. she told the a.p. quote, i would love to see and look forward to see a greater cultural diversity among all our nominees in all of our categories. let's bring in nikki novak, entertainment correspondent for young hollywood. with a welcome to you -- >> hi, how are you? >> i'm great. i hope you are, too. this is the buzz of hollywood

since the nominations came out on thursday morning. do you think the president of the academy can quiet this controversy? >> i think she was very smart in what she said. she also in addition to saying she hopes for more diversity in the future talked about how ever nominee was deserved this year. i think she's right in that statement. >> okay. let's talk about the "l.a. times" survey. it was academy award voters and found that 94% of the voters are white, 76% were male. an average age of 63 years old. so can you expect a change without a change in the makeup of academy voters? >> it would be great to see a makeup in the academy voters in the future. but you have to look at what happened last year. "12 years a slave" won for best picture. i don't know if you can actually make that argument. a lot of people are now coming out and saying that the reason why "selma" wasn't more highly nominated was because of its late release, that it was actually being edited down to

the wire and that a lot of gild members that might have gotten behind the movie didn't get screeners on time. >> well, that's a huge issue. that's a prominent theme that's coming out here. i understand also isn't paramount the releasing movie studio and there's word some of the publicists might have dropped the ball or not done things the right way there? there's a lot of finger-pointing going on. >> yes. the historical inaccuracies, people pointed fingers at that. i don't know if that played into the academy voting. another point to make is that the academy -- it's a preferential system. so what happens is it's not necessarily the popular vote. it's how the academy nominates these films in order of ranking. if a lot of these films aren't ranked number one or number two, they're not going to get a nomination. >> how about the group you belong to, young hollywood? are you seeing in the youth and the filmmakers coming up today a

lot more diversity and representation that way? >> definitely, i think so. it's funny because we talk about the birds and the bees. this is the year of the bird and the boy. smaller more niche film. for young hollywood and for people who are up and coming and people that want to break out into the business, this is a great opportunity for smaller films to sort of make their mark. >> i love that. the bird and the boy, both fantastic films. i want to pick one? >> my favorite of the year was "the grand budapest hotel." it was a fantastic movie. >> and i loved "whiplash." that was a heck of a great film. >> a heck of a lot of drumming in that film. >> and maybe he gets best supporting. clearly, you have to come back and we'll talk about more things with you. thank you so much. >> thank you. a pittsburgh restaurant ends the practice of servers getting tips all in the name of a living wage. how do they get paid? we'll talk to one of the owners coming up.

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as the u.s. drawdown in afghanistan tentatively begins there are now signs that a new threat is emerging. the "associated press" reports that isis is now spreading its tentacles in the country leading to deadly clashes with the taliban. it is only the latest threat for the afghan people who have suffered and persevered for generations. joining me now is graham smith, author of the new book "the dogs are eating them now, our war in afghanistan." it is a stark chronicle of the four years he spent as one of the few western journalists in the taliban hotbed of southern afghanistan. graham, with a welcome to you, i want to first ask you, are you seeing this reported presence of isis in the region? >> yeah the area where i spent years reporting down in the south is where we're hearing some of the most disturbing reports about black flags going up over taliban groups. so the white flags are coming down, the black flags are coming up and they're fighting each other, some of these extremists

good news for the afghan government. good to see your enemies shooting at each other. but on the other hand it means that there is this new sort of even more extreme version of jihadist ideology being bred in the south, making it perhaps a little more difficult for mainstream, more moderate taliban to negotiate at this point. >> what do you think the average afghan wants the future to look like? is it a strong government out of kabul? is it a return to the taliban? is it some kind of a mix of both? >> well here in kabul where i'm sitting right now, it's pretty easy to have afghans over to my house for dinner parties. they all want to see a moderate democracy, the english-speaking liberal people in the cities that i talk to who are my friends would like to see a very modern vision of afghanistan. but the problem is that a lot of people in fact the vast majority of afghans, live out in

the villages. that's why i spent years down in the south getting dust on my boots and really trying to get a sense of why ordinary people would send their sons to fight american soldiers, why they would fight us. and a lot of it comes down to they have a very different view, a very different vision of what the country should be. >> graham i shudder to ask this question. but i want to figure out what it is the story that's behind the title of your book "the dogs are eating them now." >> well you're right to shudder a little bit before asking that question. i have trouble saying this on breakfast shows because i don't want to put people off their cereal. the title is a quotation from a guy who was working in a reconnaissance platoon. they were having trouble finding the taliban as they often did. they would shoot at them and hide in the bushes. the taliban were very good at pulling the dead bodies away.

they would make sure they gave a proper muslim burial to their comrades. so when this reconnaissance platoon actually found some taliban bodies they dragged them out into the open and marked them with glow sticks hoping to use them as bait to catch other taliban. just like so many other tactics in this war, it failed. the taliban were too smart. they didn't take the bait. so the snipers watched all night through their scopes while the dogs ate the bodies. >> wow. you're right, i did have reason to shudder. but a powerful statement with that title. i want to also read the final lines of the book quote, the soldier who told me that modern civilization cannot tolerate empty spots on the map was probably right. we cannot write, here be dragons in the blank spaces cannot turn away and ignore countries that become dangerous, that kind of neglect always bites us in the ass. is there hope that is not going to happen this time around?

>> well that's the one maybe sort of strange bright spot about things like isis cropping up in afghanistan. it's a reminder to the american people that, look you cannot simply walk away from afghanistan and ignore it. the war in this country is getting bigger day by day and more women and children are dying and the reason you should care is not just because you should care in theory about women and children dying but also because these ungovern pded spaces can produce problems for the western world. >> can you tell me if there's been an evolution of the taliban, what it stands, the way it presents itself now as compared to what it was like before 2001? >> sure, absolutely. i have a friend who put together one of the very first internet systems in afghanistan. and at that time in the 1990s no one had ever seen the internet in afghanistan and the taliban were very afraid of technology. and the taliban came to his office and said no no no you

can't have these things. and he said no we need this we're helping the people of afghanistan. and they finally said okay you can keep the internet but you can't have those tv monitors on top of your computers, that's not allowed in islam. so that was sort of the level of kind of medieval thinking they were dealing with at that time with the taliban. and now just this evening, i was checking updates on the taliban website. so they've completely changed their approach to technology. >> absolutely. graham smith, thank you very much for the conversation, best of luck with the book. >> thank you. when the supreme court issues its ruling on same-sex marriage later this year will it settle this divisive issue once and for all? we'll explore the possibility. it's a fact. kind of like mute buttons equal danger. ...that sound good? not being on this phone call sounds good. it's not muted. was that you jason? it was geoffrey! it was jason. it could've been brenda. i've had a lot of hondas. we went around the country talking to people who made the switch to ford. i loved the look of the fusion...

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joining me now with more chris guidener chris, with a welcome to you, what does this say about the court that it even wants to take up this case? >> well this is the second time that the justices have decided to hear this issue. back in 2012 the justices decided that they would hear the case of california's proposition 8 marriage amendment. and, of course in june 2013, they decided that they would dismiss that case on a technicality that left this issue for another day. and now they've decided to take the case and we'll get a decision on this issue once and for all most likely by the end of june. >> and they've taken this on chris, because of the split in the circuit courts right? they basically punted back to the states initially on that prop 8 ruling that you talked about. but once it was apparent that the circuit courts were split on this is that why they basically

said, we've got to figure out something that will be for the lay of the land? >> yeah back over the summer justice ruth bader ginsburg mentioned that thus far, it's been agreed that these bans are unconstitutional. so because of that there was no urgency for the court to take a case. but then in november the sixth circuit court of appeals where these cases out of michigan, ohio, kentucky and tennessee are from decided the bans are constitutional. so that set up this split and made it so that the court basically had backed itself into the position of having to do what they did yesterday and now they're doing it in a landscape where all of those cases they denied review of in october now have marriage equality. >> chris, do you get the sense that this all rests on the way justice kennedy will go?

>> i think that justice kennedy will be the key vote. but i think that -- i wrote a piece last night talking about the fact that the way the court has handled this issue this year has basically almost preordained the outcome because they have taken the country from 19 states with marriage equality on october 5th to 35 37 states where same-sex couples are marrying today because of the way that they've denied review of some cases and they've allowed other cases to allow same-sex couples to marry even while the case is being appealed. and because of that it's hard to unwind everything that they've already done. >> so you think that this will go -- that all 50 states have the same rights that the 36 37 now do? >> i think it would be very surprising and setting up a real

mess if the court did anything other than continue the trajectory that it's been on over the past -- really since the windsor decision in june 2013 striking down the defense of marriage act. >> chris, thank you. >> thanks, alex. last weekend, millions took to the streets in paris and today return to calm but not for the police and the military. anti-terror raids have spread across europe with dozens of suspects arrested and interrogated. but is that the true answer to stopping extremism? joining me now is julian tehran a political analyst in the geopolitics of conflict and an instructor at the university of versailles. are the raids like the one we've been seeing across france and belgium in particular this week are they the answer or is this solution to start much sooner before extremism even takes hold? >> well clearly it's very

important that we ensure security for all citizens it's not just against islamic radicalism but against mumdzsslims themselves. there's been a lot of reaction against mosques in france after the terror attacks. so it's very important to ensure security first. but the real answer to bring to the phenomenon hitting europe is way more developed than just security. >> what is driving the anger of this level among some repeat some in the french muslim communities? >> the trouble -- it's not only in french muslim communities. it's a kind of global debate with the technology information out. the debate is going on in pakistan, in niger and as well as france and the rest of europe. so the idea is that the muslim community, even though they condemned pretty harshly the terror attacks in france they

hardly can understand that we can express criticism against islamic radicalism by drawing the prophet which is forbidden for them. so that's a different phenomenon than just jihadism. >> yeah, absolutely. what about muslim communities throughout europe for example, and their ability to assimilate? why has that not happened more smoothly? >> a lot of them actually are pretty well included in the society. they are engineers, they work in companies. they are pretty much integrated. and if we look at say, the london terror attacks, for instance, the touristserrorists were already integrated into the society. so it's a question of radicalism. but there are a lot of troubles for europe in regard to immigrants and we have to do more to include them into the

population. we have to get into areas where they live, we have to integrate them more. but not all the radical islamists come from immigration. a lot of them are also converted people. so it's a complex thing. >> to say the least. there's also a debate going on about the civil liberties in the wake of the paris attacks because france has been seriously cracking down on what previously may have been considered free speech. do you think we are in the first stages of a french version of the american patriot act? >> it's a real debate here. the trouble is that a lot of things are said about the fact that the patriot act was not that -- that reducing freedoms are not sufficient to securing freedom. but there's a lot of new

initiatives which are taken, for instance, the idea of free -- people who want to go fight in syria and iraq among isis. so even through the security question, we can take some steps regarding social matters, to the working market and that's very important for them that we do not just put them in prison because it's not just a solution to put them in prison. while in prison, they can radicalize more. so prison in itself is not a solution. we have to develop a broad strategy not only a security strategy. >> julien theron thank you. here in the u.s. home-grown terrorism was among the issues on the agenda for yesterday's meeting between president obama and british prime minister david cameron. the president spoke of strategies to combat recruitment by terror groups. >> we both recognize that intelligence and military force alone is not going to solve this problem.

we'll keep working together on strategies to counter violent extremism that radicalizes recruits and mobilizes people especially young people, to engage in terrorism. >> let's bring in connecticut democrat congressman jim himes. welcome to you. good to see you. >> nice to see you. >> you heard what the president had to say. what strategies can the u.s. employ to counter the draw of terrorist groups? >> well i'd answer that question two ways. we have to keep doing what we're doing and doing it more which is taking the fight to groups like isis and boko haram and others around the world and of course doing the very good work that our intelligence community and our law enforcement folks are doing that sort of, as you saw, resulted in the disruption of the plot against the united states capitol. but the second thing, which we don't talk nearly enough about which is absolutely essential is we're dealing with just constant

eruptions from societies and of course the overlay of religion, islam, that are in profound crisis. we're seeing it this weekend with saudi arabia sentencing an individual to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes because he dared to sort of poke up some moderate ideas. we see it in egypt. we see it all through the islamic world with some exceptions of course where deeply liberal policies are really angering people. and of course an absence of economic growth is giving a lot of young men no alternative or what they see as no alternative than to go get radicalized. >> so you cite these examples here. you look at what's been happening over the last ten days with all sorts of raids and arrests and questioning. what kind of red flags is this raising for you as security officials? >> well again, we'll be struggling with this as long as -- it's a little like the

ebola crisis, right? unless we adequately deal with the crisis of ebola in africa where it is we will always have to be on the lookout for people coming from there to the united states with that disease. there's an analogy to be drawn with radical islam and terrorism. as long as these societies -- again, with few exceptions we are talking about from morocco to afghanistan -- are failing to provide largely young men with a sense of belonging, with a sense of an ability to influence their lives, to make some money. and until that changes -- by the way, there are things we can do without the use of our military to help effect that change -- until these societies are something other than wildly pathological, we will constantly be trying to deal with it on the ground through our military and here through our law enforcement. so i'm all for continuing to do what we do when we take the fight to the terrorists. but it's time for us to spend a lot more time talking about how

we can push these societies, many of whom are our allies like saudi arabia to start doing the work internally to moderate to provide economic growth to provide a sense of accountability in their governments so that we don't 50 years from now have to have another discussion about whether we're using drones or air strikes or boots on the ground. >> how concerned are you about u.s. passport holders that leave to train with terror groups and then they return? >> yeah, i'm quite concerned. we know and of course the horrible events in paris are an example of this. we know there are americans there. they are of course acquiring skills that they could come back and use as it appears these paris attackers did here in the united states. so it's a very serious problem. now, the good news is that our intelligence community is second to none and they're trying to keep an eye on these guys while they're in syria and iraq. and when they come back, our law enforcement will do what they do. but just like everything else in life, it's very hard if not

impossible to be 100% competent. we're just not going to be. >> connecticut democrat representative jim himes, thanks so much for joining me. >> thanks. more than 45 million americans live in poverty but what's being done about that? a meeting of business and political leaders is being held today to address that problem. what can they accomplish? that's next. next. ♪♪ expected wait time: 55 minutes. your call is important to us. thank you for your patience. waiter! vo: in the nation, we know how it feels when you aren't treated like a priority. we do things differently. we'll take care of it. vo: we put members first... join the nation. thank you. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ the world is filled with air. but for people with copd sometimes breathing air can be difficult. if you have copd, ask your doctor about once-daily anoro ellipta.

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programs that encourage people to take their medications regularly. introducing cvs health. a new purpose. a new promise... to help all those wishes come true. cvs health. because health is everything. former president bill clinton is expected to address the 2015 hope global forum in atlanta later this afternoon. the gathering of the nation's top business and political leaders aims to create programs that will help lift millions of people out of poverty. msnbc is a media partner of the hope global forum. and msnbc's trymaine lee is in atlanta at the forum for us. i know it's been a great day so far. what are some of the highlights as you see it, trymaine? >> reporter: so far, the highlight had to be this group of young entrepreneurs, eighth

and ninth-graders took the stage and pitched their business ideas. a group of young men started a lawn care service. another young lady was a jewelry maker, sells jewelry. another young guy was a deejay. the winner of the contest created this mini mart that he pushes around the hallway of the school and sells different candy and goods and treats. he identified a need and found a way to deliver. when you talk to the chairman of the foundation he says this is all about creating stability in communities. you do that by identifying the unkept brilliant communities and find a way to give them all the capital floating around america and get them close to the millionaires and the big businesses. right now behind me detroit mayor mike douglas is talking about some of the changes in detroit. lights were out, abandoned homes, by lighting the neighborhoods and getting people moved back into those homes, you create stable environments for ingenuity and a business to thrive.

there have been 2,700 registered guests. former president bill clinton will be coming. it's just fulfilling this energy around the idea of promoting the business culture. >> i love the energy we're feeling from these live shots. every time there's a lot of applause and people seem so enthusiastic. do you know what's expected in bill clinton's keynote address? >> reporter: i do not know. clearly, the organizers of the hope global forum are tapping into the good history that president bill clinton has paved with his clinton global initiative, providing micro loans and other innovative ideas on a global sense. they want to bring that home, bring it to detroit, to atlanta, to our underserved depleted communities. >> so exciting. hopeful it's all good. thank you for bringing it to us trymaine lee. a pittsburgh restaurant is taking an innovative approach to you ever offering its workers a livable wage. it is banning tips.

it's offering a $35,000 salary base in addition to ten days of paid vacation, health care, 500 shares of stock and a maximum workweek of 44 hours. joining me is the restaurant's co-owner, justin steele. which sounds really great, justin. the federal minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13 an hour. tipped workers experience a poverty rate nearly twice that of other workers. so this sounds like a fantastic plan. talk about how it's affected trying to get employees. >> yeah. we've always been fortunate at our restaurant. we just finished our third year. what we've gotten so far because of our employees and we certainly recognize that. when we first opened it was just the four owners who were the employees. so we knew from the get-go that it was all about kind of customer interaction and what the employees meant to the business. so now that we've grown a little

bit, we're realizing that and we're going to reward our employees and allow them to be part of the business and grow as we do. >> you sound like an awesome boss. i want to ask you about how this affects your bottom line. >> yeah. so an efficient restaurant can run at about 10% net profit. 25% or so to cost of goods sold another 25% to employee costs and 40% overhead, rent, things like that. what we're going to do this will raise our employee costs a little bit. but because of the employees that we have both in front of the house and back of the house, we're going to add a little bit of value to our menu and our food and drink costs are going to go down slightly. flipping the model a little bit. our bottom line is going to stay and grow steadily. >> sounds like you're trying to average it out there. i'm curious with this 44-hour max workweek and everything else you're doing, what are you hearing from other restaurant owners about your approach? >> it's not a model that we're

saying that every restaurant should follow. it's not the case -- we have 34 seats at our restaurant here in pittsburgh. all of our employees are insanely passionate and want to be here. this is their career. and we're going to treat them like professionals because it's what they are. but, again, it's not a model that every restaurant should follow. it works for us here. but we would encourage ore restaurant owners and business owners to evaluate what their employees mean and how they can reward them and help the business grow as well. >> what if someone says to you, justin what about making these changes and letting us continue to accept tips? what do you say to that? >> yeah so any extra money is left to the house are going to be donated to our charity, which is food revolution pittsburgh. again, all of our employees have reviewed the documents and reviewed the contracts that their going to sign here come april. the support has been overwhelmingly positive.

we couldn't do this if the employee support wasn't there. that's the driving factor here. >> okay. if anyone's going to pittsburgh sounds like this is the place to stop in. good luck. >> thanks alex. mitt romney sure looks and sounds like he's running for president again, will his republican critics convince him to stay out? ere's a new card in town. introducing the citi® double cash card. it lets you earn cash back when you buy and again as you pay. that's cash back twice. it's cash back with a side of cash back. the citi double cash card. the only card that lets you earn cash back twice on every purchase with 1% when you buy and 1% as you pay . with two ways to earn, it makes a lot of other cards seem one-sided. can this decadent, fruit topped pastry... ...with indulgent streusel crumble, be from... fiber one. fiber one streusel.

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while mitt romney considers running for president in 2016 he'll need to shore up support from his own party. not everyone's on the band wagon. he's a smart, nice and accomplished man who thinks himself clever and politically insightful, he should devote himself to supporting and not attempting to lead the party that has raised him so high. okay, lauren fox with the national journal. you guys we'll have to make this quick, let's get right to

it. do you think, lauren with all this backlash romney seriously considers a run? >> certainly. i think we saw this last night, he's starting to shift his tone. instead of talking about business owners he's talking a lot more about workers, and he's made it very clear, he's interested in running and making the calls around capitol hill trying to shore up the support that he had in 2012. >> okay. david, let's take a listen to what some of morm said last night talking about 2016 here it is. >> for our party, and for the nation 2016 is not going to be about the obama years, it's going to be about the poached obama era. and in the post-obama era, conservative principles are needed as perhaps never before during our lifetime. >> how does his campaign be different this time around david? >> well lauren identified some of it he's talking a lot more about the income gap and wages. and things that matter to

ordinary americans, but he's also hitting hard on foreign policy. when he's talking about the future, he's going to talk a lot about hillary clinton's record on foreign policy which he says is a failed record and tie her to president obama. i think he's going to talk about his strength which could be on the foreign policy side but then also shift his message a little bit on the domestic side and the question is will people buy into that and believe it? >> absolutely. okay guys, the issue of same-sex marriage, we have the supreme court announcing they'll make a decision by june. how does this effect the presidential race particularly from the republican side? >> certainly it might make makes republicans have to weigh in on this issue. i'm sure reporters are going to be asking them about it, but it also has the potential of taking it off the table right before 2016. maybe the stream court will have made a decision and it won't be the major factor that it could be without the supreme court's decision. >> of course david the obama administration is going to urge the court in rule in favor of same-sex marriage, what would the impact be if they rule against it? >> well certainly the president

himself has come a long way on that issue and come firmly behind it now. so has hillary clinton. i think she looks more forward to 2016 with something, i'm sure she'd be happy to talk about, gavel niez support among the gay and community liberals who believe in this. for the president's legacy there's obviously, he's trying to set a progressive part of his agenda that, you know he's talking about more lately. i think it's obviously very important for him to sort of solidify all these things he's put in place. >> quickly looking ahead to the state of the union address on tuesday, one built point you're certain it's going to be in the speech, lauren you first, real quick. >> i think the president's going to have to talk about cyber security, its been a major issue and he's been talking a lot about it it. i think it's on the forefront of where foreign policy is headed. >> i agree, david. >> certainly about the income inequality and lower income americans, the economy is getting better he's going to talk about the community college

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