president obama overseas. new response today on the turmoil in yemen and how it affects the fight against terror on the home front. early warning. new word today that a potentially historic blizzard is heading for the northeast. we're going to bring you where and when it's expected to hit. there he goes again. coach bill belichick with a new and more elaborate explanation, denying anyone from the patriots tampered with game balls. "american sniper," new controversy and clamor surrounding that movie.

i'll talk with a decorated veteran who says the country has an appetite for war films. hey, everyone. it's high noon in the east 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." the northeast is bracing for another snowstorm. this could be of historic proportions. snow and ice blanketed new england saturday. up to 8 inches fell in parts of massachusetts, making travel hazardous there. now a system moving from the midwest could bring one to two feet of snow to the northeast coast by tuesday night. let's bring in nbc meteorologist rafael miranda. take it away. this is pretty historic sounding. it's a little unnerving. >> this could be crippling. you were asking me about bombo genesis before. we're going to be hearing that a lot with this storm. it's basically when a storm rapidly intensifies. a storm becomes very strong very fast. that's what we're going to have. that's measured in millibars of pressure. when a storm deepens 24 millibars in 24 hours or less

that's bombo genesis. that's going to happen with this storm later on. right now it looks pretty tame. not a major storm just yet. once this storm hits the coast, that's when it's going to rapidly intensify and bomb out. you can see on satellite picture, snow now spreading through the midwest. we have snow falling in places like cleveland, ft. wayne and in detroit. not a lot of heavy snow just yet. this is the precursor to this actual storm, which will become a raging blizzard. a winter storm watch in effect all the way from d.c. you can see these are the cities really going to be under the gun. all of the major cities along i-95 from d.c. through new york city. a blizzard watch in effect for new york city and the suburbs for monday night into tuesday. monday night is when things go downhill. here's the european computer model showing just how much snow we could get. this purple swath here extending from philadelphia through new york city into boston into maine, that's where we could see

well over a foot maybe even over two feet of snow in some spots. this has the potential to paralyze the i-95 corridor monday night and especially tuesday morning. these are the snowfall forecasts we're going for right now in d.c. not so much down there. 3 to 5 inches. baltimore, 9 inches. when you get into philadelphia, that's where you see half a foot to a foot potential. new york city could see a foot and a half maybe more. hartford, up to two feet. same story in boston and even bangor maine. the storm winds down late tuesday night into wednesday. but we're going to be feeling the effects of the storm probably from monday night right through wednesday night just because of how powerful and how much snow and the wind. that's another story we're going to see winds gusting over 50 miles per hour at the coast. white-out conditions are expected. so you want to avoid those travel plans if you can for monday through wednesday. >> everyone just hunker down. got to make atlternate plans for work and traveling. rafael, many, many thanks. president obama is now pushing back on reports that the

political situation in yemen is having an effect on the u.s. counterterror operations there. thousands have taken to the streets in protest against the houthi rebels who have tightened control over the capital city. the u.s.-backed president of yemen resigned friday. the president was asked about it this morning in a joint news conference with india's prime minister. he says the u.s. is still doing whatever it takes to protect americans. >> i saw some news reports that suggested somehow that that counterterrorism activity had been suspended. that is not accurate. we continue to go after high-value targets inside of yemen, and we will continue to maintain the pressure that's required to keep the american people safe. >> nbc's kristen welker is live at the white house. kristen a good sunday to you. what else did the president say in terms of details about the u.s. efforts in yemen? >> well alex good afternoon. president obama said that the united states has two key

priorities in yemen. first, protecting the united states citizens who are serving there, u.s. personnel. we know a number of diplomats have been evacuated in recent days. although, important to point out the embassy does remain open there. he said the second priority, counterterrorism operations. we know that those operations started back in 2002 but they really intensified under president hadi who is pro-american. he worked hand in hand with the united states and its counterterrorism operations which included drone strikes. here's where the problem comes, alex. those houthi rebels you mentioned are staunchly opposed to drone strikes and to the united states' counterterrorism strategy. so even though president obama was very firm today, he said that counterterrorism operations hadn't been impacted at all, it is hard to see that they won't be impacted on some level, at least when you think about information sharing, for example. we know that the united states is watching the developments, the unrest in yemen very

closely. president obama who continues with his travels in india, getting regular updated. he heads on to saudi arabia. that's another country experiencing some type of instability given the recent death of king abdullah. he's going to meet with the new leader there and extend his condolences. undoubtedly, what is happening in yemen will be a key part of those discussions. alex? >> president clearly on a very important trip right now. thank you very much kristen welker, from the white house. joining me now with more here in studio, retired army colonel jack jacobs. always glad to have you here. you heard the president there saying that the u.s. operations in yemen will not be affected by the toppling of this government. however, does that hold true -- or how can that hold true for operations on the ground? >> well i think kristen had a very interesting point there when she talked about information sharing. getting information about the enemies of the united states and enemies of our allies is very very important. without a close relationship with the yemeni government

that's going to be much more difficult. but most of our operations are not on the ground. we attack high-value targets using drones. our overhead capabilities with satellites and aircraft our imagery capabilities will continue. i don't think things will slow down necessarily. >> do you have any concern with the situation there as it affects united states security? >> oh, sure. any time you've got a lawless area a place where there's no control like there is in southwest yemen, you can have the possibility of a vacuum. as a result, you'll wind up having a haven for terrorists. terrorism can be exported everywhere and anywhere. we saw it ourselves. they see it in europe. it's a particular problem, for example, in syria. any kind of volatility down in yenl is very bad news for us. >> a lot of what we talked about, the volatility and the terrorism we've seen evidenced in europe, geographically it's a lot easier for terrorists to get from yemen, traveling on land

to different parts of europe. does that extend in terms of your concerns specifically to the united states? >> less so. it's still possible. what we don't want to have is a breeding ground for terrorists. any time we can find them -- and the president's right. he's going to gho after them. we're going to continue to do that. >> speaking of geography, yemen and its location there, it is located right next to a very very important straight through, which i believe the bbc reports 20,000 ships pass annually. this is a very strategic bottleneck area. does that increase the global risk of an unstable yemen? >> always. any time there's instability in the region -- we saw this off the coast of somalia with the pirates. you're going to have a threat to shipping. threats to shipping are going to do things like raise the price of oil. i know we're enjoying very low oil prices. but what's really important is a lack of volatility. we want no volatility in prices. we want no volatility -- we don't want any threats to shipping and so on. one interesting thing about

yemen that's worth remembering is the houthi are allied with iran, and they're violently opposed to al qaeda. so as long as we're attacking al qaeda and we're -- as long as we're attacking their enemy, i think they're going to be happy with it. >> well, sometimes hard to keep all that straight. but thank you very much colonel jack for that point. okay. don't go too far. i want to let all of you know colonel jack will be back later this hour to talk about "american sniper." does hollywood's latest war flick row mant size lifestyle on the battlefield? other news now. no bombs were found on two airplanes forced to land in atlanta after online threats set off a security scare. twitter posts gave a chicago address and challenged the fbi, cia and nsa to quote, come get me i got guns come get at me. chicago police found the person behind the threats did not live at the address on that post. it took about 90 minutes before the airport could announce the airplanes were safe.

a parking garage collapsed in northern new jersey destroying a car and injuring a snowplow driver. the details of his injuries were not disclosed. the combine weight of the snow and the plow caused that collapse. the parking deck serves a nearby hotel. the garage owner says engineers will be investigating. and take a look at this surveillance video of a 1-year-old boy boarding a bus alone. unbelievable. this incident happening earlier this week in central china. luckily for the boy, there were a few passengers who volunteered to take care of the toddler. kind of looking around going, where's his mom or dad? the bus driver called police. the boy was soon reunited with his parents who told reporters he'd wandered away the day before while playing outside. good grief. a new twist today in that ongoing controversy clouding one of america's biggest sporting events. in a surprise move patriots head coach bill belichick delivered a more elaborate explanation on how footballs used by his team in a game last

week might have become underinflated. all this just days from the super bowl. nbc's ron mott has been following the story and has more from glendale arizona, site of the big game. >> reporter: t-minus seven and counting for super bowl xlix. tonight they'll be playing the pro bowl here in arizona. folks are still talking about that interesting press conference bill belichick held yesterday in massachusetts. he went on for about 19 minutes, talked about football and a whole lot of football science. with another day of deflategate research behind him, coach bill belichick said he's convinced there was no deliberate attempt by the patriots to cheat last weekend. >> i have personally and we as an organization have absolutely followed every rule to the letter. i just feel that on behalf of everyone in the organization. >> reporter: often called a football genius, saturday he tried his hand at science. >> we all know that air pressure is a function of the atmospheric

conditions. >> reporter: hoping to explain how his team wound up playing with footballs deflated below nfl standards, injecting a dash of pop culture humor. >> i would not say that i'm mona lisa vito of the football world. >> reporter: in a reference to "my cousin vinnie." while trying to keep his team focused on the super bowl belichick told reporters, chilly air may have been the culprit. softer footballs are considered easier to throw and catch, and a "wall street journal" report highlights the team's league lowest fumbling rate over the past five seasons. >> either bill belichick knows that the patriots didn't do anything wrong and didn't break any rules, or he believes that the nfl knows nothing. >> reporter: meantime quietly by comparison the seattle seahawks continued preps as even sesame street seemingly weighed

in on deflategate reairing an episode with a certain word of the date. >> what does inflate mean? >> when you fill something with air. >> reporter: the word on the street is we've heard the last of deflategate, at least as far as bill belichick is concerned. he says he will not talk about that topic once this team arrives in arizona. they're due here on monday. the seattle seahawks remember them? they're also playing in this game. they're set to arrive later this afternoon. the pro bowl set to be played here tonight. that's the latest here in glendale. >> thank you so much ron. so for all of you, did coach bill belichick put this controversy to rest at least for now? i'll be speaking with lawrence tynes, two-time super bowl kicker. that's coming up later this hour. two potential gop front runners for the white house are now talking income inequality and manmade climate change. why the party's sudden and surprising shift from 2012? former vermont governor howard

dean and michael steele will join me to answer whether the gop is trying to co-opt the democrats' message. but first, more than 60 measles cases across the country, all stemming from a single case at disney land last month. just how dangerous is it? [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. [ m'm... ] [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.® for over a decade, doctors have been prescribing nexium to patients just like you. for many, prescription nexium helps heal acid-related erosions in the lining of the esophagus. there is risk of bone fracture and low magnesium levels. side effects may include headache abdominal pain and diarrhea. if you have persistent diarrhea, contact your doctor right away. other serious stomach conditions may exist. avoid if you take clopidogrel. nexium 40 mg is only available by prescription. talk to your doctor. for free home delivery enroll in nexium direct today.

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new numbers out this weekend show the measles scare in this country is spreading. the outbreak linked to disney land has now infected 68 people from 11 states most of those cases in california, as you can see by the map. joining me now, nbc news medical contributor dr. natalie azar. with a welcome to you. he's a statistic that was put out by the cdc. the measles is so contagious that one person has it 90% of the people who come in close contact who are not immune will also become infected.

90%. >> yeah it's one of the two most highly contagious viruses we have. it's a very robust virus. it also survives on dry surfaces for a number of hours. it's not a -- not like ebola. >> this all starts at disney land. this has thousands and thousands of of visitors. how can you effectively track the possible victims of this? >> ironically we do it in a similar way. it's the whole contact tracing that we talked about with ebola. the incubation period is roughly the same up to 21 days. it's a typical virus in that way. so all contacts of those patients exposed and potentially and certainly infected need to be followed and quarantined for 21 days. that's going to be the easiest way to contain. fortunately here, as soon as it hits an area where there are vaccinated people, it's going to be stopped in his tracks. in that regard, it's very very

different. >> i've just come to understand that even those of us who have had the shots and have been immunized, we still have a small chance of incurring the disease. i go home to southern california all the time. this is the epicenter. do i need to get a booster? >> the recommendation for the two series booster really only came out in 1990. i keep on saying to people including myself if you were born in the '70s or '80s, you probably only got one shot as an infant. if your school or workplace did not require evidence of immunity, you may have never gotten that second booster shot. we this they two shots is really what confers the highest immunity. bottom line, if you're unsure about your antibody status, it's a simple blood test. it will show whether or not you still have antibodies to the mmr. if you don't we recommend doing that series now. one shot now, another a month later. that gets you as close to 100% as we can. >> who needs to worry most about this outbreak? >> children under the age of 12 because they are too young to

get the vaccine. and also something we haven't been talking about a lot, is the fact that people who are on steroids people whose immune systems are compromised, people with autoimmune diseases are not only more susceptible to developing measles mumps, or rubella, they're also not candidates for the vaccine. the vaccine is what we call a live vaccine. it's a weakened virus, but it's still live. they are not immune. so i always -- i kind of had this thing that's my marching order. you're not just doing this to vaccinate you're, but you're doing it to sort of get what we call herd immunity. we've said that term a number of times now. it's really for the livelihood of those around you who can't benefit from vaccination. >> can i just ask you how long you think until this is contain? ed. >> i don't think it's going to be that long. again, the clusters that are going to be vulnerable are the unvaccinated areas. as we've seen not to single out a particular state, but it seems to be very much contained in that area. again, once that incubation period and now there's an awareness, people are not allowed to go to school they may not be allowed to go to the

workplace. i think we're going to see it within the next few weeks, it's going to quitely shut down. >> okay. thanks so much. ahead, it is called the bible belt for good reason. where the good book is most and least popular. it's in today's number ones, and it's up next. with the incredible fuel efficiency of 38 miles-per-gallon highway you can feel like royalty in the nissan altima. now, get great offers on the 38 mpg highway nissan altima. nissan innovation that excites. we come by almost every day to deliver your mail so if you have any packages you want to return you should just give them to us i mean, we're going to be there anyway why don't you just leave it for us to pick up? or you could always get in your car and take it back yourself yeah, us picking it up is probably your easiest option

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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. the northeast could be facing a major historic snowstorm this is expected to start as early as tomorrow. the national weather service has just issued a blizzard watch for the new york metropolitan area. the storm system dropping freezing rain and snow in chicago now is predicted to develop into this major snowstorm with blizzard conditions as it heads east. it could have a major impact along the 95 corridor from boston well up into maine. the weather channel's janelle klein is joining us from chicago. what can we expect? >> reporter: chicago is certainly living up to its name the windy city this morning. you can see how much the wind is picking up here in the midwest. the story really is that this

storm is going to move east and it is going to pack a punch. here in chicago, we are seeing gusts up to 30 miles an hour. and this snow that's starting to accumulate now will be about an inch on the ground before the day is over. but the bigger picture is what we're focusing on. that is that this system is going to move east. it will go through cities like columbus and pittsburgh and it will pick up intensity as the day goes on, eventually hitting the east coast where it will bring with it as much as two feet of snow and wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour. here in chicago, we are expecting about an inch of snow. a little bit more than that to the south, especially south of i-80. again, wind gusts as well as colder temperatures. but this really is the calm before the storm because the bigger picture is that as this system moves east it is going to pack a punch. in chicago, i'm janelle klein, back to you. >> okay. yikes. we'll take it. thank you much. in today's number ones we begin with the good book. the cities that read the bible

the most and the least, places where folks can cite chapter and verse or not. birmingham, alabama, chattanooga, tennessee, and tri-cities, tennessee, are tops in bible reading. and where's the bible least appreciated? providence, rhode island albany new york and boston. however, boston tops betterdoctor.com's ranking of the healthiest cities. memphis ranking last in that one. the miami heat may have lost the best player in the league in lebron james, but its fans haven't abandoned their team. a new "forbes" list calls miami fans the best in the nba. and an oscar-contending film took the biggest prize at last night's producers guild awards. "birdman" was named top film. on the tv side "breaking bad" won for best drama and "orange is the new black" for best tv comedy. those are your number ones.

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several of the gop potential contenders gathered in iowa for the freedom summit. nine straight hours of speeches designed to appeal to the conservative base and dole out some red meat. >> we need tax reform and the most important tax reform we can do is we need to abolish the irs. >> i can assure you that being pro-life is not a political liability anywhere in america. >> so here is what i say. if washington refuses to secure the border texas will. >> i see a need for change but it's by offering real change again, you know? coronation rinse, repeat. or clinton, rinse, repeat. >> joining me now, nbc's benji sarlan. by your read who impressed the crowd the most? >> there are a few names that really stood out with the crowd. the biggest by far was scott

walker, someone who hasn't gotten quite as much attention in recent weeks as jeb bush or mitt romney, but has always been popular in iowa thanks to his midwestern roots. he threw a lot of red meat to the crowd, recounting his pretty solid conservative record in wisconsin. they really ate it up. that was definitely the name that got the biggest attention. >> so when you think about yesterday's event, what's your biggest takeaway? >> the biggest takeaway i'd say, is it's going to be an extremely competitive field. there were a lot of candidates there who gave well-received speeches, who had a good, polished arktpolish ed argument, and who the crowd was really excited about. the sense i get is they are very, very early in the stages of making up their mind whether they're on establishment side in choosing between, say, jeb bush and mitt romney or even marco rubio, or on the more tea party conservative side where they're stuck choosing between ted cruz, rabd rand paul, or huckabee and san

santorum. >> benn jirksji, thank you so much. on heels of that record let's bring in howard dean and former national republican committee chairman, michael steele. hello hello, guys. michael, what i heard from ted cruz abolish the irs? really? >> i'm all for it but it ain't happening. so this is feeding the base. this is hitting the talking point and sort of driving the energy as much as he possibly can with some very, you know tried and true conservative themes. remember back when reagan wanted to abolish the department of education? it's still here. it's that kind of thing. it goes around and it comes back every once in a while. i think the broader point is the impact that a scott walker has had and watching a mike huckabee

and some of these other guys move into the position to really start a race for the presidency. >> do you agree with congressman steve king who organized and sponsored this whole thing that you're seeing the next gop nominee, if not the next president, on that stage? >> probably one of them could be likely would be. i think there are others who weren't on that stage that you just can't dismiss because they weren't there. i get why congressman king said what he said. you know he felt a little bit jilted by the establishment types, the christies, the rubios, the bushes. but they're taking a different tact. given congressman king's position on immigration, his hot rhetoric on that issue you have others in the party who are going to try to reframe the conversation a different way. that's not the space they want to do it in. >> okay. so governor how about you? do you think anyone at that summit should concern democrats? notably, as michael was alluding too, there were two big names that weren't there, romney and bush. >> i'm hoping they have a lot more summits like that.

it reminded me of the debates that went on four years ago. there's a difference between saying is abolish the department of education and abolish the irs. if you abolish the department of education, you risk putting off middle of the road voters who care about education. if you want to abolish the irs, you're really talking crazy stuff. then the country has no way of raising revenue. and i think that's not going to escape people's attention in the general election. i love these kinds of events where people are encouraged to get out as far as they possibly can. don't you think every word that was said there isn't going to get recorded and reappear in the general election campaign if any of these people end up on top. >> okay. michael, again, relative to mitt romney and jeb bush some of whom say the two would be front runners if for no other reason than their ability for name recognition and ability to raise money. let's listen to jeb bush talking about income inequality. >> they're frustrated. they see a small portion of the population on the economy's up

escalator. portfolios are strong but paychecks are weak. millions of americans want to move forward in their life. they want to rise. but they're losing hope. >> okay. and then you have mitt romney talking about climate change last week. here's the quote from him. "i'm one of those republicans who thinks we are getting warmer and that we contribute to that." do you think this is the direction the republican party is headed? is this where the gop base wants to go? >> welt i think, a, they are the right people to shepherd these messages. there will be others like rand paul and a few others who will do the same. rightly so. rand paul carving out space of criminal justice and the judicial system and all that. i think these voices are important within the party. i think that they're going to be a part of sort of guiding the next alliteration of policy around these issues. i'm not afraid of that at all. i certainly welcome it and am

excited about it. there's going to be pushback on common core. there's going to be pushback on immigration and pushback on climate. i think the next presidential nominee is going to be the one who stands and has that sister soldier moment with the gop and says this is the way forward, these are the policies that will make america better and stronger, and if they're able to do that, you'll be surprised how folks will rally around them. >> governor, these are messages that usually come from democrats. what do you think of some republicans kind of co-opting that? for the betterment of the country, isn't that what you want to hear from the gop? or are you just not buying it? >> no, no. well, i'm not buying it because i think mitt romney has a particular problem with this because he was so far on the opposite end of most of those issues four years ago. i actually think that a romney/bush primary is good for the gop. i think it'll sideline most of the people that went to iowa this weekend. those are the people whose voice kills the gop. what jeb bush had to say is going to be of a lot of interest to the middle of the road americans who are going to make

up -- who are going to choose the next president of the united states. and look the smart people in the republican party understand that you cannot be as far out as steve king is on immigration, on gay rights on things like abolishing the irs and all these crazy things. and the future of the republican party, to appeal especially to young people is to have an economic program which was somewhat libertarian and a social program which is also somewhat libertarian. so i think bush and romney are talking the kind of thing that, you know, is going to make them a formidable adversary in 2016. >> governor, i want to switch to the president's state of the union, specifically this portion where he talks about ending the wars in afghanistan and iraq. >> tonight for the first time since 9/11 our combat mission in afghanistan is over. [ cheers and applause ]

six years ago, nearly 180,000 american troops served in iraq and afghanistan. today, fewer than 15,000 remain. >> is the war really over? >> yes and no. that remains to be seen. what remains to be seen is what happens when the taliban comes back. you know i am not convinced that the afghan army is able to defend democracy and women's rights and the things that i think are important in afghanistan. i am convinced the iraqi army is hopeless. and that the only chance we have is to arm the kurds, who do have the ability to train. we're not going to get drawn back into iraq because the american people won't permit it. but we have interests still in iraq. we have a big interest in making sure isis does not continue to train people of the sort that shot up paris. although, they were actually trained by al qaeda. so it's an unstable region. we're going to be involved in it. i think we've got to keep the

military off the -- we can't fight their wars for them. we can advise them. we can arm them. we can't fight their wars for them. i hope the next president is going to understand that. i think the american people certainly understand that. >> michael, this could be a big subject in the 2016 race. he's certainly not his brother, but how much will it be difficult to defend the war? will jeb bush have to answer to that at all? >> no i don't think he will. he wasn't in office at the time. he wasn't in the administration. his brother is his brother. he is himself. he has a different perspective and view on these issues, which he will lay out for the country over the course of a campaign. i think anyone who wants to try to make, you know, him his brother's keeper when it comes to george bush's policies in iraq and afghanistan, i think, are going to miss an opportunity to hear where this jeb bush will take the country in this regard very much in terms of what howard was just saying. the next president of the united states is going to have to strike that balance.

i don't agree we're not going to have a greater role in iraq than certainly this current administration would like us to have because of the gaps because of the holes that are being filled by al qaeda and isis. i think the u.s. is going to have to look at this a little bit more strategically. that probably means at some point, unfortunately, some form of boots on the ground very much as barack obama has begrudgingly acknowledged by sending advisers back into iraq now. >> okay. chairmans -- >> i disagree. i think jeb bush is going to have to answer for his brother. it may not be fair but i think it's going to happen. >> why? >> because we've already had two bushes send troops to iraq. the likelihood of a third one doing it -- the question you just raise is going to come up. how he answers is going to be absolutely critical. and the bushes do not turn their backs on their own family. this is going to be a big problem for jeb bush should he be the nominee. >> okay. we'll see, guys. howard dean michael steele. thanks good chat. all signs point to a war-weary nation after more than a decade of ongoing conflict in

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in vision or hearing. ask your doctor about viagra. i just want to get the bad guys. if i can't see them i can't shoot them. >> look all these guys they know your name. they feel invincible with you up there. >> they're not. >> they are if they think they are. you just keep banging on the long gun. we'll let these dogs sniff it out. >> that's a clip from "american sniper," a film about navy s.e.a.l. chris kyle. it's been a blockbuster at the box office. in fact just this weekend the film sold over $64 million in tickets. that brings the total to more than $200 million overall since the opening. the film already the winner of several awards and it could get more after being nominated for six academy awards. it's also the subject of controversy with some criticizing it as having a pro-war agenda. joining me now, retired army colonel jack jacobs medal of

honor recipient. you just saw the film. what did you think of it? >> good film. when was the last time clint eastwood made a poor film? >> good point. >> it's well casted, good photography. >> this is a movie. it's made for entertainment and to make money for the studio and the like. is this controversy warranted? do you think it does have a war agenda? >> i don't think it's got a war agenda. although, people can argue that clint eastwood always has an agenda of some kind no matter what he's producing, that he's not even handed. but any time you produce a war movie, there's going to be controversy because the large majority of american people have not been to war. and their view is stilted by the fact they have absolutely no experience in war. war is mostly boredom pungtctuated

by periods of terror. >> so this really ro mant sizes war. >> there's a certain element of romance, but that's mostly in the minds of people who do not know about war, who haven't been to war. people who have been -- whose minds have been formed in the crucible of war, who remember the horror of it how bad it is i think it's very very difficult to glorify war among people who know about war, who have been there. >> why do you think it's been so successful? >> a couple reasons. one of them is it's as much a soap opera as it is -- i mean, it's a love story in addition to being a war movie. second, most people haven't been to war and they don't know what it's all about. so this is an entertaining film in an era when there are not very many entertaining anymore inging films. we are now completely divorced from our notion of war. we were at war for an entire decade. the president said we're out now. we're not there anymore. you hear a collective sigh of

relief among the american populous. so now it's safe to go look at war movies we know it's over. >> so it's timing as well. had this film been released in the middle of iraq and afghanistan, five, seven years ago, you think it might not have had the same level of success? >> i think it would not have had the same level of success. i'll do you one better. if we had a draft during the last decade or so and the movie were released then it would not be very popular at all. as long as the american people are having somebody else fight their wars for them it's okay. the farther removed you are from the war -- the president says we're out, we're out. the farther removed you are from the war, the more successful war movies are because there are not a lot of people who know about it. and our notion about war is far removed from us. it's entertainment as much as it is anything else. and it's easy to glorify war among people who don't know about it. >> all right. colonel jack jacobs thanks for

weighing in. he says it was all because of the weather, but bill belichick's latest news conference, will that put the football controversy to rest? was not expecting to get a ford. we went around the country talking to people who made the switch to ford. 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. ♪ ring ring! progresso! i can't believe i'm eating bacon and rich creamy cheese before my sister's wedding well it's only 100 calories, so you'll be ready for that dress uh-huh... you don't love the dress? i love my sister... 40 flavors. 100 calories or less. you can find a new frontier. there's nothing stopping you

and a lot helping you. technology that's with you always. this is our promise. it's never been better to wander because wherever you go, you'll find us doing everything we can, so you can. we come by almost every day to deliver your mail so if you have any packages you want to return you should just give them to us i mean, we're going to be there anyway why don't you just leave it for us to pick up? or you could always get in your car and take it back yourself yeah, us picking it up is probably your easiest option it's kind of a no brainer

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as expected "saturday night live" had a little fun with the controversy surrounding the new england patriots and the news conferences held by bill belichick and tom brady. check it out. >> came here to tell you i have absolutely nothing to do with inflating those footballs. that's all i have to say on the matter period. but i still have several minutes left so i'd like to spend the remainder of the press conference throwing my quarterback under the bus. now, i don't know if this is relevant, but i remember right before kickoff tom got this crazy look in his eye, and he whispered to me i'm going to do it. i'm finally going to do something about those damn footballs. also even though you didn't ask, i'm just going to say that i never really trusted the guy.

someone that good looking and rich, you've seen "american psycho." >> so that spoof came hours after coach belichick took to the podium for the second time in a week in a news conference that's been described as pointed and defensive. belichick explaining how game balls during last week's afc championship game could have lost air pressure. he said it all came down to one thing, science. >> they were adjusted to the climatic conditions, and also the fact that the balls, you know reached an equilibrium without the rubbing process that after that had run its course and the footballs had reached an equilibrium that they were down approximately 1.5 pounds per square inch. >> and with one week to go before new england takes on seattle in the super bowl the controversy shows no sign of

dissipating. joining any now, lawrence tynes and ken belson. hello, guys. good to have you both. >> thanks for having me on. >> lawrence belichick's explanation, does it make sense to you? >> not to me not at all. you know players have access to the balls. listen, i played the position where if i wanted something done to the balls as a kicker i could somehow make it happen. >> and how would you have gone about doing that? >> well there's a bunch of ways. the ball boys are very accessible on the sideline. i had a relationship with all of them. you play in so many stadiums, obviously your home stadium as well. it's very easy to establish a relationship with that guy who's going to have control of the balls throughout the ball game. you can pretty much, you know without pumping the balls up there's a lot of things these guys can do to the footballs on the sidelines. >> okay. so ken, this explanation offered up by belichick, does it seem legitimate to you? if that's the case should they

have also tested the indianapolis colts' footballs? >> that's a good question. what he said may be true in the experiment they did, but it doesn't explain why none of the indianapolis colts' balls or the backup game balls were affected to the same i diddegree. it also doesn't explain why we're not hearing of this problem in, say, green bay or chicago or cleveland or buffalo, other cities where there's freezing cold temperatures, much more dramatic changes in conditions. why haven't we heard about this before? maybe because it hasn't been an those cities. >> okay. but as you say, they're the ones with bad weather. the coach referenced the comedy movie "my cousin vinnie." here's a short clip. >> i'm not a scientist. i'm not an expert in footballs. i'm not an expert in football measurements. i'm just telling you what i know. i would not say that i'm mona

lisa vito of the football world. >> so "my cousin vinnie," that was trending on twitter as a result of this reference. do you think he was trying to be funny? and this is a guy who's, you know cantankerous on a good day. >> yeah, i was surprised he even had the news conference at all. almost felt like he was put up to it. but they're perhaps in damage control mode and someone asked him to do it. i think it's great theater. i'm sure the nfl didn't engineer this crisis but it certainly kept the super bowl in the news for the last week probably the quiet week. and it's going to make more people watch the game. so in effect he played his role contributed to the theater of the super bowl which as we all know didn't need any help already. it just got a bit more. >> lawrence what is belichick's reputation among players? in the league? >> this is what you would expect. there's kind of a -- you respect the heck out of him, but you kind of don't like him.

the way he comes off in the media. i do have friends on that team that have said he's a good guy. and i obviously respect him as a former player. but you kind of get the sense, much like you would in the media, that you just want more. you wish there was a little bit more to him. but he gives you what he is. that's who he is to the media. so he's not well liked. i mean obviously with all the scandals that have been behind but obviously there's a huge amount of respect for what he's been able to accomplish. >> absolutely. you can't do away with any respect. can i ask you also lawrence does this really distract players from the game as you're going in? >> you know i think new england is going to rally. i think it's much like us in 2008. we were the team that was going to play the 18-0 patriots. we rallied because there was kind of this us against the world mentality that we had, much like the patriots i think will have this week. they've been beaten down and kicked. they're going to rally. you know i think this is only

going to be -- you don't want to say a good thing, but i really expect the patriots to rally behind this. they're a veteran team. i think they'll play well. >> okay. ken, lawrence, you guys thank you so much. have yourselves a great sunday. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> that's going to wrap up this sunday edition of "weekends with alex witt." up next, taking the hill with patrick murphy. ♪ 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. [ male announcer ] you wouldn't leave your car unprotected. but a lot of us leave our identities unprotected. nearly half a million cars were stolen in 2012, but for every car stolen 34 people had their identities stolen. identity thieves can steal your money,

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