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high noon here in the east. 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." new today, president obama is considering changes to the planned troop drawdown in afghanistan. secretary of defense ashton carter made the comments today in that country, his first trip there since being sworn in. here's what he said. >> our priority now is to make sure this progress sticks. that is why president obama is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for president ghani's security strategy. >> nbc's kristen welker is live at the white house for us. with a good day to you although certainly the weather isn't that great for you, but why is the president considering this drawdown right now? >> reporter: i think a couple of reasons. the united states has a much closer partnership with the new afghan government than it did

with the former government of president hamid karzai. secretary carter said the hopeful outlook of the relationship with afghanistan is one of the reasons the president is considering slowing down the drawdown of troops. the president will make this a big focus of his meeting with president ashraf ghani. they believe that ghani's coalition government has opened new possibilities on the political front and also in terms of security in the country. just as a reminder of where we stand in terms of troop levels, the plan right now is to cut troop levels in half by the end of the year and then to get that number to zero by 2016. there are currently 10,000 u.s. service troops serving in afghanistan. president ghani is advocating for that slower troop withdrawal because he wants help trading and assisting afghan forces. he says they have a big fight

when it comes to combatting the taliban. afghanistan remains a critical foreign policy front. there are still remnants of al qaeda there and there's also deep concern that isis which is currently situated in iraq and syria, could be looking to expand, could be looking to expand into afghanistan possibly. >> which brings me to my question about isis because as you know "the new york times" is reporting this planned soif offensive against isis to retake mosul in iraq. that could begin in april or may. two senators say, quote, never in our memory can we recall an instance in which our military has knowingly briefed our own war plans to our enemies. these disclosures risk the success of our mission and could cost the lives of u.s. and iraqi coalition forces. what's the white house reaction to this? >> reporter: it's interesting. white house press secretary josh earnest was asked about this very issue on friday. he wouldn't comment on that

centcom briefing or confirm that that briefing occurred wouldn't confirm the accuracy of the details and the times you cited. earnest would only say the defense department is working closely with iraqi security forces to train and equip them and said any offensive would begin only when iraqi security forces are ready. but this is the big question. will ground troops be needed to call in air strikes? the air strikes will be critical to any offensive operation. and the obama administration continues to insist they're not going to put boots on the ground. but a lot of military experts saying that that could be needed if they want to take back mosul. >> comprehensive reporting out there in the elements for us thank you, kristen welker. for more we're joined by retired colonel jack jacobs. colonel, the question to you, with "the new york times" reporting this situation, the takeback of mosul requires

25,000 iraqi and kurdish troops, expected to begin in april or may. this is information coming from a centcom leader telling this to reporters. first of all, how unusual is that? >> it's very unusual. i think it's also irresponsible. one of the things that you do in conducting a military operation, once of the principles of war is the element of surprise. what you don't want to do is telegraph what you're going to do let alone when you're going to do it. it doesn't make a great deal of sense, except in one sense, no military sense but it would appear it's an attempt on the part of the administration to convince everybody that something is being done in iraq. >> so does that mean military commanders had to have released these details with approval from the white house or could it have been done without? >> well unless it was a leak and i don't think it was a leak i don't think the pentagon is going to release anything unless

it first gets approved by the white house. just about everything is very closely controlled by the white house. and i can't imagine that this is any different. i'll be shocked if the pentagon went ahead and released this information on its own recognizance. my guess is that the white house was heavily involved in making that information public. >> but interestingly, ash carter, the new secretary of defense, he was in afghanistan and was asked about the mosul offensive, he declined to offer any specifics. if somebody does -- if it proves that somebody was behind some sort of a leak what kind of consequences could there be? >> that's very bad news, indeed. everything operates in washington on the basis of leaks in any case. you get leaks from the pentagon leaks from the white house, leaks from the congress and their staffs. getting information like this, which is criminal to the success of a mission, if it was a leak that was not condoned by the national command authority, then whoever did leak it is in really

big trouble. >> and do you think that u.s. soldiers' lives, let alone those of iraqi and coalition forces could be put at risk ultimately? >> sure. any time you violate the principles of war, you put not only soldiers' lives with the risk but the accomplishment of the mission at risk. you try not to violate things that have turned out to be principles for millennia. if you violate them you're usually taking risks that you don't have to take. so very bad news indeed whether it was leaked with everybody's concurrence or it was a statement of fact for some political purpose, it was a very silly thing to do. >> i have to say, a lot of us are scratching our heads over this one thank you very much, colonel. to the weather now, live pictures of the white house. trust me, it's there. you can barely see it there. the bottom half of your screen it's certainly getting pounded

with another round of serious snow there. other parts of the country as well are in the path of this fresh snowfall. low temperatures expected in the eastern and central parts of the country, and the weather channel's dr. greg poetstalel is here to give us the details. >> let's show you what this afternoon's weather is going to look like. parts of new york state and pennsylvania, the ohio valley getting some significant snows. farther to the south over the kentucky and tennessee valleys and even the mid-atlantic including parts of north carolina, watch out for a little wintry mix. over tennessee and the deep south, rain and thunderstorms will be the story this afternoon. overnight tonight, it will be snowing in the northern part of new england and new york state and pennsylvania. but along the coast and the i-95 corridor watch out for that snow to turn over to a wintry mix including freezing rain which could make the roads very trickily overnight and tomorrow morning.

early tomorrow, we have everything ending traps as some rain showers. but cold air will be working back in from the west. so things may refreeze as the cold air comes in to replace those showers. how much is coming in the ohio valley? several inches. maybe up to 12 to 18 in west virginia. and in the northeast, 8 to 12 interior pennsylvania. but right along the coast, the snow amounts will be kept down by that mix over to sleet and freezing rain overnight tonight and tomorrow morning. generally 1 to 3 in boston, new york city as well. perhaps 5 inches in d.c. alex, back to you. >> dr. postel, thanks for that. in tennessee, it's not so much the snow but flooding. the weather channel's mike seidel has more from nashville. hi, mike. >> reporter: hi, alex. here in nashville, they finally broke freezing after six days climbing above freezing just after last night. the freezing rain went over to rain. we have a cold rain right now. temperatures approaching 40s.

so the roadways in much better shape than in past days this week. but what has happened is all the sleet, freezing rain and snow and rain have frozen. and this is what we have back here at the symphony. this is what we're seeing around yards and neighborhoods across middle tennessee is this thick sheet of -- it looks like plastic. it's really ice, sleet and snow compacted together. this is not going to melt. what's happening today and tonight, the heavy rain will run off this solid surface and that could cause localized flooding on rivers and creeks. so the weather service has issued a flood watch. but all this warm air is heading north. so as you head up towards d.c. baltimore, philadelphia new york, even boston the precipitation may start as snow. but for many of you, it will go to sleet and then freezing rain before it ends tonight and by midday sunday across coastal nugd new england. then more arctic air coming in. not as cold as we've seen over the past few days where we set

all-time record lows for the entire year or even the month of february. but it is going to get colder than average and will stay that way through the rest of next week. >> thank you, mike. other news now, today, a clean-up operation is taking place in dubai after an overnight fire at a high-rise apartment building. the fire broke out in the early morning hours today in an 86-story apartment tower. hundreds of residents poured into the streets as high winds fanned those flames. >> some things went wrong, for example, people are claiming that the alarm went off more than half an hour late. >> fortunately, no deaths or injuries were reported. an investigation into the cause of that fire is under way. iran's foreign minister is expected to meet with secretary of state john kerry tomorrow in a new round of nuclear talks. the talks are aimed to stop iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. iran denies it has goals of

developing nuclear weapons. jerusalem is recovering after a blast from a winter storm. heavy rain fell on the city this morning. 10 inches of snow fell between thursday and friday. several roads leading in and out of jerusalem were closed. >> jerusalem is such a beautiful city. the white only makes it more beautiful. >> snow also fell in other parts of israel as well as lebanon, jordan and syria. what does isis want? a new examination on exactly how to interpret the terror group's motivation and their killing ways. crisis avoided after nine long months of clashes, how a big strike on the west coast ended. ople a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement? i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. start building your

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a breakthrough in the effort to get america's west coast docks back up and running after a week-long slound. the tentative agreement ends

nine months of clashes between dock worker unions and their employers. there are 29 ports involved in the deal. >> right now, we have about 1,200 containers that are in limbo. >> difficult on my family life right now. >> during the that slowdown, container ships were blocked from delivering their cargo. at the white house, counterterrorism submit president obama entered a debate at the forefront of the u.s. how to define isis. >> al qaeda and isil and groups like it are desperate for legitimacy. they try to portray themselves as religious leaders, holy wars in defense of islam. they're not religious leaders. they're terrorists. we are not at war with islam. we are at war with people who have perverted islam. >> a new article looks at isis' true beliefs and how its dogma could be its downfall.

joining me is the author now. graham, with a welcome to you, you write that not only is isis islamic, it is very islamic. it follows traditional islamic law to an exacting standard. explain their philosophy. >> they have a very particular version of islamic law. it's not shared that view by almost any other muslims. but, yes, they do look deeply into the islamic texts and tradition and they care a great deal whether what they're doing is following those traditions. they have a very strange, selective interpretation. but their brutality is not completely without basis in islamic tradition. >> you talk about selective. one of the tenets of isis is they decide who is a true muslim. this is that would seem that president obama and other leaders could have to go into this same kind of business could that backfire?

>> i think that's tricky to do. a president of the united states doesn't have the authority to decide these things. isis has abriogated that authority. if you decide not to be a muslim and you claim to be one, they believe that you have to be executed. >> you wrote that perhaps the most terrifying thing was that you found you actually enjoyed the company of some of these isis id logeologues that you spoke to. >> they have a view of these things if you can vaj yourself reading a fantasy novel about the end of the world and good versus evil they think they're actually in it. so it's thrilling to be in the presence of that kind of charismatic, crazy belief about what the end of the world is going to look like. they say they have a front-row

seat in all of this. it's very interesting to be in that presence. >> if we look at al qaeda, the mission going back almost 20 years was to strike a blow on the u.s. does isis have any intentions of an organized talk in the u.s. spreading it beyond the caliphate? >> it definitely thinks it's a caliphate. and it's against the united states. but the focus of isis is to draw in muslims from outside the islamic state, to bring them there, not to send them out to perpetrate attacks in europe or the united states. that will certainly happen. it will happen more and more. but it's definitely the main project to create an islamic state and to make sure that it's fully staffed with people with technical knowledge and that sort of thing. >> has the west misinterpreted isis? and if so how has that hurt the ability to fight it? >> the first thing we've done is we've viewed them not as a religious organization but a bunch of crazy people without

any particular dogma or ideology. and what we really need to do is understand what that ideology is. and luckily they're willing to tell us. they mass produced propaganda. and if we listen to it carefully, we have a sense of what they think attracts recruits and what unifies them. it's definitely incumbent on us to know our enemy that way if we're going to fight them. >> you write that isis' devotion to fundamentalism could be its undoing because according to the koran, if the caliphate loses its territory, it ceases to exist. would a ground invasion work an overwhelming force around iraq and syria? >> depends on what you mean. we have the military power to wipe out the islamic state and deprive it of territory. that would be an extremely bloody and extremely unwise, i think, thing to do. in part just because the propaganda narrative of isis is to say that the crusaders are attacking islam. so if we have these images of

americans fighting isis we will be playing directly into what they want, really they keep on goading us in their propaganda to keep on doing that. so we should be a little bit cautious about fulfilling their fondest desires in that way. >> you close the piece with an incredibly eloquent quote, to paraphrase, if he were killing a mouse, he would know how to make it seem like a dragon. hitler said to people i offer you struggle dang and death and as a result the whole nation flung itself at his feet. hard to imagine why that attracts people, especially young men. do these community outreach initiatives, do they stand any sort of chance against adventure and purpose? >> it's a lovely quote. i don't really think it's possible in any easy way to offer that same kind of purpose to people. 23 you offer jobs, it certainly

helps. but there's always going to be a certain portion of the populated that's motivated not just by these things but certainly by the idea that they're going to be part of good versus evil and an armageddon struggle. that's an extremely comparative narrative to offer. >> it's a compelling article. people should read it to help understand it further. thank you so much. making the best out of a bad situation, the artists putting this freeding weather to good use. if you don't think beat con men at their own game when you think aarp, you don't know "aarp." the aarp fraud watch network helps everyone protect themselves and their families against scams and identity theft. find more real possibilities at aarp.org/possibilities.

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because the information they need to file is not accurate. and despite the frigid temperatures, the ice on the great lakes actually receded somewhat this weekend. the ice cover went from 85% on wednesday to just 80% on thursday. what's behind the change? experts say wind can make ice bunch up and break up thus affecting those percentages. the important thing to know there's been no big thaw. all the lakes have tons of ice cover right now. new developments today in las vegas in an alleged road rage shooting that left a 44-year-old woman dead. police have a suspect in custody but the story continues to change. nbc's miguel almaguer has more. >> reporter: in jail this weekend, 19-year-old eric nowsch is the teen detectives say shot and killed 44-year-old tammy meyers. her family says the mother of four was gunned down after a case of road rage. but the details surrounding that story continue to change. and now a new development, the

victim knew the suspect and had taken a motherly interest in him. >> we knew how bad he was but we didn't know he was this bad. >> reporter: police had been told by meyers' daughter meyers was caught off by this unidentified driver. after the incident meyers picked up her 22-year-old son who was armed with a handgun to look for nowsch's car. the suspect followed the meyers' home where up to 22 shots may have been fired. one ending tammy's life. >> the suspect involved in the killing of mrs. meyers is in custody and off the streets of las vegas. >> reporter: but this morning, police are looking for a second suspect, possibly a friend who drove nowsch to the meyers' home. police documents say the teenager may have even boasted about the shooting. neighborhood jonathan lee says he spoke to a distraught nowsch after the gunfire.

>> i know he wouldn't do anything that on purpose. >> reporter: this morning, the investigation is still under way. but it's unclear if either family will ever have answers to their questions. miguel almaguer, nbc news, las vegas. prosecution rebuttal in the case of the ex-marine accused of killing american sniper chris kyle continues on monday. yesterday prosecution expert witnesses testified suspect eddie routh was not legally insane at the time of the shooting. routh is charged with capital murder in the shootings of chris kril and kyle and chad littlefield back in 2013. i bring in lisa green. let's talk about the experts who on both sides agreed that routh doesn't seem to suffer from ptsd. so when you talk about insanity plea how does that affect it? >> it shouldn't affect it technically because it's not a requirement that your mental illness be ptsd.

be i think what it affects is the jury's perception of routh. remember, at the beginning, we thought tragedy, two veterans, both suffering the effects of the war meet murder awful. now routh looks like someone, didn't have combat experience didn't have ptsd and the prosecution made a very strong showing to suggest lying, drugs, almost a clever attempt after the fact that create a story and a smokescreen of insanity. >> prosecution rebuttal witnesses say he doesn't have a mental illness rather this paranoid personality disorder. is that a compelling argument? >> the prosecution did an excellent job with two expert witnesses who kept hammering home a couple of points one, if routh was hallucinating, it was self-inflicted. two, you can't trust his story.

and once you can't trust that person's credibility, the defense has a problem with an insanity plea in this case. >> is there any effect on this trial -- enormous popularly of "the american sniper." it's all the talk of the oscars. everybody's been going over to see it. it's made over $250 million. >> the jurors will have an opportunity to watch the academy awards the next morning. they go back to the courthouse listen to closing arguments and they have promised that they can remain unbiased. but it's -- i can't remember another circumstance like this where a jury will assemble to determine the fate of a man who killed someone about whom america's most popular movie is made and is now being -- >> what happens on monday? >> the prosecution has a little more testimony to take. both sides will make closing arguments. it will be in the hands of the jury. remember, this isn't a guilt or innocence. it's a reason for jail or mental institution. very different type of jury

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the law, a little knowledge is a very useful thing. >> slightly bossy guide for legal issues. listen to what's in this book. i know i'm biased. but it really is fantastic. i'm super proud of you. >> thank you so much. >> congratulations. >> thank you. >> thanks for joining me, too. see you again. as we have told you, the nation's capital is getting hammered by snow at this hour. you can see it for yourself. this is a live picture of the capitol, looked like earlier. there's the white house. and the weather channel's raegan medgie is joining us from chinatown there. this is all part of the siberian express, right? >> reporter: oh, yeah, and pandora. my goodness. invite all those winter storms over for coffee at this point. people are trying to keep warm. you've got the verizon center. why are we here? that's a big game today.

the new york islanders are taking on the washington capitals. the new york islanders are the top in their division against the washington capitals. you can see everybody's bundled up. i just stepped in said and they said the the temperature is 24 degrees in there. throughout the day, we're looking at 3 to 5 inches not breaking a record. that was back in 1929 when they had 7.5 inches. not happening this time. but you see with the 3 to 5 inches forecasted for today, look at the roads. this is what we're dealing with here in washington, d.c. not only here in chinatown but dupont circle and the other major areas in this section of washington. so people are going to definitely have to take it slow on the roads. what about the rest of the day? by 6:00 tonight, this is all going to change over the sleet and even rain because there is some warmer -- well 30s

weather coming up from the south changing this snow into a rain tomorrow. and then tomorrow you don't have to worry the snow. let's look back over here. we'll do a little controlled experiment. earlier today, we decided, we're going to see just how much snow's been falling. i did a live hit for the weather channel about 12:15 or so. and we thought, let's see how fast the snow is falling. we went over to this pick-up truck and said, let's wipe off on area. this is the area we wiped off. back here is what's been falling a good portion of the morning. this is what we wiped off. as you see, this is how much has been accumulating in 15 minutes. washington, d.c. you're in for a treat, if you like snow. and hopefully at 6:00 this will change over. if it doesn't, you're either going to smile or not smile depending upon what happens here at the verizon certain between the new york islanders and the

washington capitals. >> i do not know how you keep your smile but you definitely keep it no matter what you're reporting on, raegan. thank you so much. good job. we appreciate that. the gulf coast oil spill, what's changed five years later? my colleague ed schultz will join me in the next hour to talk about it. here's a programming note. i'll be in the much warmer los angeles tomorrow with a preview of the academy awards that includes a close-up look at all the contenders for best picture tomorrow at 12:00 eastern time. ome 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 ok, well, good talk ring ring!... progresso! it's ok that your soup tastes like my homemade. it's our slow simmered vegetables and tender white meat chicken.

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we need to do more to help lift up voices of tolerance and peace especially online. >> joining me now is nbc contributor michael sheehan, ambassador at large for counterterrorism as well as a retired officer in the u.s. army special forces. we're awfully glad to have you here, michael. as you know the white house laid out these three main focuses to fight extremism, building awareness, countering extremist narratives and emphasizing community-led intervention. if you do all that does it do the job? >> i think i would focus on the second one because it's all about the narrative, in my experience. i've been studying these guys for the better part of 20 years. they come from all different -- some are rich, some are middle class. it's not necessarily about jobs. it's a narrative to join a cause, to go to fight to create an islamic state, to fight and

throw the westerners out of islamic lands and overthrow what they consider apostate regimes, many of which are our allies. it's the narrative. it's the narrative. >> okay. the white house on its part really emphasized the community aspect of this so much so that the administration said that the fbi director was not invited to the event because they didn't want to seem overly focused on law enforcement. so do you see any political or diplomatic motivations behind that tactic? >> quite frankly, i find it astonishing because really the front line of defense against these people in all of the countries are the investigations by the fbi, nypd which i was a part of. you have to find these individuals conspiring to conduct violence either in the united states or traveling abroad. we have not found that this type of wide community outreach really has much of an impact at all. >> interesting the developing story out there today that three british teenage girls are believed to have fled london, set to join up with isis in syria. obviously we've seen thousands

of young men go to the middle east to fight with several different insurgent groups. for all the fear of these people returning home are these usually one-way trips? >> they are right now, alex. and there's a lot of them. these three young girls don't know anything about the real world, have been swept up again, by this narrative to join this organization to join the fight against the west to join the support -- the islamic ideal of this caliphate they want to create. and really they are very naive. if they do get over there, it will be a one-way ticket, very difficult for them to leave. isis will try to turn them into suicide bombers. >> i look at the details of these three girls. two of them are 15. one is 16. what is the narrative that isis could put forth to them that would make them want to leave their homes in london and head to syria? >> well part of the narrative -- i'm not sure what in each case inspires them. but part of the narrative is to

go join this cause and if you die as part of this cause, you'll immediately go to heaven. if you don't die, you'll be part of this marvelous and exciting movement to create this new caliphate, this new pure and strong islamic state. all these narratives play to these young individuals who when they get over there find it's a bloody nasty, vicious war. >> let's switch gears to the possibly offensive with retaking the iraqi city of mosul which fell to isis this past summer. many have called the background briefing by the pentagon officials on thursday extraordinarily detailed. we're hearing details like 20,000 to 25,000 iraqi and kurdish troops needed. a time line of launching this in april or may. first up in your extensive military experience what is the benefit to tipping your hand this much? >> i was a bit surprised by that kind of detail. of course, these plans could change, number one. and number two, it's no secret

that the coalition really needs to get back in control of mosul, one of the most important cities in iraq and the offensive they've been trying to organize will take months to do that. so it's not really a secret. but i do find it unusual that the pentagon would go into such detail in briefing the press. >> and also the involvement of kurdish troops. the kurdish government, never had much interest. what will convince them to join a risky mission like this? >> the kurds are interesting, pushing back isis to protect their territories. and probably what they're referring to is arming and getting the kurds involved on the northern flank of this operation to keep pressure on isis from all sides that will allow the coalition coming from the south from iraq into mosul to have the best chances of success. >> you think the iraqi army is anywhere near ready for this? >> i don't think so. and it's sad how far they've deteriorated since when we left several years ago.

our special forces troops are over there training them and advising them. and they will unfortunately not be able to accompany these forces forward. if they were they'd probably be able to direct air strikes and keep them kogttogether in a more coherent way. but they have to fight this out on their own. but they have a long way to go. they've deteriorated so far, their leadership is so poor. now it's about getting better leaders in charge of these units, get them trained, motivated and organized in order to conduct a fairly complex operation to retake mosul. >> michael, good to talk with you. thank you so much. we want to invite all of you to watch an exclusive town hall with president obama moderated by my colleague coming up this wednesday at 8:00 eastern right here on msnbc. could the maker of your iphone be getting into the car business? a bit later on the bizarre accusations that led to nascar suspending a champion driver

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the freezing weather did not stop these two girl scouts from selling their cookies in one of the coldest places in the country. those minnesota scouts tried to try a new market to fishermen on a local lake. their new customers are thrilled, as well as the scouts. >> we are selling girl scout cookies to ice fishers. >> would you like to buy some girl scout cookies? >> yeah. >> it's a great idea. for sure. ice fishermen are always looking for snacks. why not? >> cha-ching. first time out, they sold 30 boxes. five years from now, you may be able to buy a car from the same company that makes your ipad and your iphone. apple is reportedly targeted an electric car for production in the year 2020. but why cars and why now? christina warren, senior tech

analyst is joining me now. with a welcome to you, apple is not saying anything about this. what do we really know at this point? >> we don't know a lot. but there are a lot of rumors. and there's so much smoke that there's got to be some fire. we've seen reports from reuters, bloomberg, "the wall street journal" all reporting that apple has about 1,000 people on a car team looking at either building -- we've heard rumors of an electric car or a self-driving car. something is in the works. >> why would they make cars? why now? is it one of those things where, other people are jumping in the game, so we need to as well. >> it's a little bit of that. getting into the car business isn't for the faint of heart. but a lot of tech companies including tesla, google others are really making big bets on the future of tech really being in the car. if you look at the automotive industry, it's really ripe for disruption right now. we're about to shift from gas-powered car into the electric car era. that provides a lot of

opportunities for companies to get in the door and control to end-to-end experience. >> you mentioned the others. tesla, for example, how does apple compete with car companies that have been in the car industry for more than 100 years? >> the brand is what differentiates them from each other. apple creates the aura around a brand and creates a great experience. so putting aside the technology involved with the car itself if apple can design a great experience about being in the car and getting from place to place and having a great-looking car as well as their strong brand cachet they could really take on the big automakers. >> they're saying 2020. that's five short years for this kind of novel technology. how successful do you think they can be? >> it really depends on what they're trying to do. if they're trying to build something from the ground up five years would be too short a period of time. but if they're taking

off-the-shelf components and customizing the software and obviously the exterior it's not outlandish to think they could do it in five years. >> would you want one of those cars? >> i'm not really a big driver. i'm not that great of a driver. and living in the city it's not my thing. but if it were self-driving and had a great apple experience absolutely. >> any idea to project price? any guesstimate on that? >> no idea whatsoever. at this point, apple is making the play to be more of a luxury company. attainable luxury, they could probably get it down to being more affordable. but if we look at tesla, that's probably the closest to the model that apple would be appropriated. but that's speculation. >> educated speculation, let's say that. thank you so much, christina. chilling sentences specifically delivered online to the wives of members of the american military. the words came from an apparent isis sympathizers. how did they find these women to target? a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return

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where are they? the latest on the global alert to find these three girls before they possibly join isis. threat from isis a hacked twitter account leads to frightening threats to u.s. military wives. off track one of nascar's biggest winners gets suspended for alleged domestic abuse before the legendary daytona 500. five years later, the gulf oil spill and the lingering devastating impacts still happening today. msnbc's ed schultz joins me with his investigative look. good day to all of you. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." here's what's happening right now. developing now, the new concerns about western teens being recruited to join and fight for isis. the latest three british schoolgirls are believed to be heading to syria to join up with isis forces. british security officials say the girls were seen on surveillance video preparing to

board a flight to turkey. nbc's katy tur is in london with the latest on this. we're now hearing from the family of one of the girls. can you tell us what they're saying? >> reporter: they're obviously very upset and are begging for their daughter and her friends to come home. they say they're not quite sure why they left but they do want them to stop what they're doing, not to cross the border into syria and to get on a flight back to the uk as soon as possible. more on that in just a minute. but a little background here, these three girls traveled to turkey on tuesday and raised alarm bells tuesday night when they didn't come home. a 16-year-old and two 15-year-olds they all wept to the same school. described as normal teenagers with good grades. parents say they didn't expect this. but the metropolitan police clarified today that they had spoken with these girls before back when their friend managed to run away in december run away and cross the border into syria. they had spoken to these girls as part of a routine

investigation as to what exactly happened. now, david cameron, the prime minister here, issued a plea for them to come home today, as well as those parents. to give you more of an idea of exactly what they said they said we miss you terribly and are extremely worried about you. please, if you hear this message, get in touch and let us know you are safe. we want you home with us. you belong at home with us. we understand you have strong feelings and want to help those you believe are suffering in syria, but you can help from home. now, this statement, though, seems to sort of contradict the fact that they say that they had no warning about this. it does seem to imply that their daughters -- at least one of their daughters seemed to be concerned about what was happening in syria. but not much details as to what they believe may be why they are going to head over the border and why they believe they are going to -- or their resolve is to join isis. all they have to go on that they've released to us is that one of the girls tweeted a known

isis recruiter asking her to private message with her. alex? >> as we understand it also these girls gave their parents some sort of a plausible explanation why they were going to be gone all day so the parents didn't necessarily have concerns that way. but i'm curious about, any idea how these girls pay for trips to turkey? they're young. they certainly don't have a lot of work personally under their belt babysitting money only goes so far, right? how would they get the money? >> reporter: it's unclear, alex. unclear whether or not they saved enough money to buy a plane ticket or used credit cards. once you're within europe plane tickets to other countries are really not that expensive. you can get one for 50 pounds, $100 or so. and so the idea that they're going to need to save a lot of money to get on a flight is a little bit of a misconception. if you're flying from new york or anywhere in the states over to turkey it will be multiple hundreds of dollars if not thousands.

but if you're flying from the uk, it's not that expensive. they did that passports. these girls are -- they speak multiple languages. so the idea that they are going to be able to get on a flight is maybe a little bit more foreign to an american parent who doesn't see how that could be possible. but traveling between countries and having a passport and having enough money to travel between countries is a lot easier here. in some ways it's like crossing from state to state, from new york to new jersey. obviously you're getting on a flight, it's a little more difficult, you have to go through customs. but it's not as daunting as it may seem in the states. >> katy tur, thank you very much for the latest on these three missing girls in london. let's go to the new and chilling messages which appear to have been sent from an apparent isis member or sympathizer to wives of u.s. military personnel. it was sent from a hacked account of a marine wife. last week, angela rickets

received this threat. one of the notes read in part, we're coming for you. the woman whose account was hacked told nbc news the fbi is investigating. the fbi on its part did not respond to calls from nbc news seeking confirmation of its investigation. meanwhile, one of the victims we mentioned, angela ricketts is joininging joining me right now. angela, i can't imagine what went through your mind when you saw these messages. what did you think? >> good morning, alex. thank you for having me. it kind of took a few minutes for me to absorb it because receiving -- family members receiving threats is completely unprecedented territory. so i didn't -- i couldn't quite wrap my mind around it for a while. as i reread them and thought about it then it started to sink in. >> how many did you receive? >> let's see, i got a message, i

got a friend request, i got a twitter. and then last week when i was actually live on a fox broadcast, i got another series of attempted contacts from someone appearing to be in the same group. >> and i just want to confirm that the message you got as i've read in accounts dear angela bloody valentine's day, while your president and your husband are killing our brothers in syria, iraq and afghanistan, we're coming for you. >> that's right. >> and your family. you immediately contacted law enforcement, i suspect, right? >> i did. well, i wouldn't say immediately. i would say as we -- i wrote a book called "no man's war," so i have a pretty public presence. and there were three other military bloggers -- military spouse bloggers. and we were all quoted in a cnn article about a month ago. so we think that that's how we were chosen as this group.

but as that first day went on i guess it was about ten days ago, we started putting our notes together and realized that we all had similar messages. and then one of them contacted the fbi and we've all spoken to the fbi since then. >> what are they telling you about this? >> really kind of nothing. there is an ongoing investigation. but i'm not a part of it. >> okay. >> and, you know -- you go ahead. >> these five messages have gone out to somewhat higher-profile military wives. and i also see that michelle obama got one as well. it said we're watching you, your girls and your husband. so clearly whomever is sending out this while broadly they sound the same, they are being tweaked. so at&t specific to the recipient. >> right, that's right. and mine specifically said children as well. and i do -- i have more than one child.

so it kind of frightened me. and then the messages that i got last week one of them was of a man in the snow holding a knife. so that scared me because i live in a snowy area. >> they said that we're closer than you think also, in one of yours, right? >> that's right. >> is there any reason to believe that someone's near where you are there in colorado? has law enforcement or the fbi indicated you could be in some serious danger? >> you know i hate to make this about these threats because i just -- i almost kind of feel like it's just something that is purposely trying to scare us. and, yes, we're being vigilant and taking precautions and upping you are the ask. but most of all, i think that the cool thing that's come from this is i've had an -- and i know that the other ladies have too -- an outpouring of support from my husband's brothers in

arms the women in the army wife sisterhood. the other night, i got about a dozen messages from my husband's old soldiers from when he was in task force ghost and they all said things like i copied one, i want to read it. it said, you and yours need to know that protection is now yours. we are in the shadows. so there's so much comfort in that. and that's just really cool to know that even after the war is over and after all of this we're still looking out for each other and we still are a family. >> absolutely. they have your back so to speak. >> yeah. >> has this at all changed what you're doing online? have you changed your profile or taken down things or anything like that? >> you know because of my book, i'm so out there. it's a little bit late for me to pull back. i have pulled back my children from social media. but as far as i go, i'm not going to change anything. in fact, i would like to use

this as a platform to discuss all of the complex issues facing our military today and our veterans and our wounded warriors, our families. we have an entire generation of military that only knows wartime. and now that that's ending i just don't think americans have -- i think that their sympathetic to us and i think they have been supportive. but i don't know that they have the grasp of what we've been through and how difficult the struggles are that face us. so i'd like to really call awareness to that. >> angela ricketts you have just done so. know that you do so with our admiration and thanks for your courage and bravery in the face of all this. talking to you, i couldn't tell if you were shaking like a leif at any point. well done. best of luck. >> oh, no. >> you've got it calm cool and collected. >> thank you very much. >> angela thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. >> you're welcome. we're following breaking news from minneapolis.

a police officer has been shot and wounded and the police chief says the officer was intentionally targeted. it happened this morning as the unidentified officer and his partner were standing outside their car after answering a burglary call. the wounded officer is hospitalized in stable condition. the assailant still at large. several areas in the nation in the midst of deep freeze this weekend. take a look at the nation's capital. in tennessee, the national weather service has issued a flood watch for the middle part of that state. the area expects at least 2 inches of rain with as much as 4 inches in some parts. up north in ohio they're coping with the colder temperatures as a winter festival is under way where the activities include an ice carving competition. seems appropriate. reynolds wolf is in quincy, massachusetts, where they've been battered this winter. >> reporter: let me tell you, it is so cold here this morning. we got here earlier this morning, it was minus 2 degrees. it dropped a little bit more. now it's going to rebound into the afternoon. one thing that will not rebound

well, snow. we won't see the same kind of intense snowfall we've seen over the last few weeks. but you see the snow mounds we have everywhere. may see a few inches overnight, switching over to rain on sunday. that could cause a problem for these roofs. there's a house back here, we spoke with the homeowner. the roof was built by the homeowner's great grandfather when he came home from the civil war. still standing pretty tall. but there's a flat section farther back behind the house where you have a big ice dam and you have some flooding that is going into parts of the house. that's a headache so many people across much of the region are going to be dealing with. they don't need any more precipitation. unfortunately, it looks like a few more inches will be coming through over the next 24 hours. and actually some drier conditions into much of next week, maybe another chance of snow. possibly more snow as we get to the following sunday. keep your fingers crossed. the great people of new england are so sick of winter.

spring can't get here soon enough. >> they're so sick of hearing you predict snow. thank you, reynolds. developing now, take a look at these live pictures. two astronauts at the international space station are on the first of three scheduled space walks. they are rewiring the outpost for new crew capsules. it's one of the most complicated jobs in the 16-year history of the space station. good luck up there. the daytona 500 kicks off this weekend without one of nascar's star drivers. nascar announced it is suspending kurt busch indefinitely because of a domestic abuse allegation. nbc's kristen dahlgren has been following the story for us. this is a big deal. >> reporter: it really is. for nascar the daytona 500 is the biggest event of the year. so going on right now, kurt busch is appealing that ruling. his camp also vowing to appeal the domestic court ruling from family court in delaware.

it's a bizarre case. it's seen allegations from abuse to trained assassins. >> and kurt busch has the inside -- >> reporter: he is nicknamed the outlaw. but now former sprint cup champion kurt busch is out of nascar, suspended indefinitely for what nascar calls actions detrimental to stockcar racing after a family court judge ruled that he more likely than not has committed an act of domestic violence. >> it's like the super bowl or the world series. >> reporter: this comes after his former girlfriend accused him of slamming her head against a wall last september. busch hasn't been charged with a crime. but the allegations played out in an unusual family court hearing. in which busch accused driscoll a gun enthusiast and heads a defense firm, of being a trained assassin.

she claimed that comes straight out of a screenplay she was working on. friday, the judge ruled in favor of driscoll leading nascar to issue the suspension. almost immediately, chevrolet pulled its sponsorship of busch and the name ray rice scrawled on the glass at busch's garage. in a statement, busch's ex said nascar took an important step and deserves to be commended. busch has vowed to appeal both the suspension and family court ruling. his attorney promising new evidence accusing driscoll of witness intimidation and saying quote, this action against mr. busch will turn out to be a travesty of justice, apparent to all as this story continues to unfold. now, per nascar rules, busch is without his lawyer before a three-person panel made up of former drivers, promoters or executives. that's going on right now. nascar will make a statement after.

it sounds like nascar would like to get this finished today so the focus can return back to the race. his racing team has already made other arrangements for this weekend. >> okay. thank you very much, kristen dahlgren. interesting story. mission to mars the next step is taken on a journey, a one-way trip to the red planet. one of the people who wants to go will join us. it's a new day of pay for the world's largest retailer. walmart boosting the minimum wage? breathing air can be difficult. if you have copd, ask your doctor about once-daily anoro ellipta. it helps people with copd breathe better for a full 24hours. anoro ellipta is the first fda-approved product containing two long-acting bronchodilators in one inhaler. anoro is not for asthma. anoro contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. it is not known if this risk is increased in copd.

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half a million low-wage workers are about to get a rage. that's because walmart will increase its pay by $1.75 to $9 by the next month. the move will affect about 40% of walmart's workforce.

>> it means a lot just to be noticed, that they are noticing that they do acknowledge the associates and how hard they are working. i think it's great. so people can actually not just worry about making ends meet. they can have a little bit of their money. i think it's wonderful. >> joining me now is a personal finance reporter for "usa today." hadley, thanks for joining me. this federal minimum wage, $7.25. but several states are now over $9 an hour. walk us through this. why is walmart making this decision now? >> thanks, alex. i think walmart has been under pressure for years to increase their employee pay. they've been the subject of protests by employees the last several years, especially around the holidays. and i think their under new management. they brought in doug mcmillan who started last february. they have a new head of their u.s. business. and it just seems like minimum wage has been a big -- a hot topic in the past year.

and walmart is the largest retailer -- the world's largest retailer. i think they're trying to take the lead on this. >> they're doing so and are getting to nine bucks an hour, certainly better than $7.25. that said won't these workers still be below the poverty line? >> once it goes up to $10 an hour next february, that's still less than $22,000 a year. so, yes, depending on the makeup of your family how many children you have under 18 in a household, you could still be below the poverty line. >> the wages apparently aren't the only change here. here's the company's ceo. let's take a listen. >> the changes that we're making include structural changes in the stores wage increases, training programs and this company, as you probably know has always been a people business. our associates their pride in the company, the ownership that they take these things are vital to running a good detail today.

today we're investing in them and we want them to know how important they are. >> all these changes cost money somewhere. will they get passed on to the consumer the increased wages here? >> that's a good question. they are spending $1 billion in the next year to invest in this employee training and giving people raises. their ultimate goal that they talked about in an earnings conference call with media this past week is to have better customer service and to make customers happier or more welcome shopping in walmart stores. so i think they're trying to make employees happier to ultimately make the shopping experience better. >> we've seen other companies take this kind of action before. you had last year ikea gave thousands of its american workers an average rage going up to $10.76 an hour. the gap which is just ahead of walmart in its action raising its hourly minimum wage to $9 last year, $10 this year. how much do you think this is a result of a tighter labor

market? >> walmart is definitely under pressure and a lot of other people have already taken the lead. you've mentioned gap and ikea costco has long been known to pay their employees up to $20 an hour. and even on a local level, seattle raised its minimum wage last year to $15 an hour. so i think that walmart has, i guess, just kind of caved, i guess you could say, under pressure to recognize low-wage workers. >> and when this happens, domino effect, you've got a "time" magazine article that says walmart will put pressure on mcdonald's. does this force the fast-food giant and others into rethinking their salaries now? >> i think it could. walmart is a huge player in the retail space. and when they make changes like this, it definitely can have a trickle-down effect to other retailers or even low-wage workers in any field. >> okay. hadley malcolm, thanks so much.

>> thank you. the red carpet's ready but what about all those acceptance speeches? the most thanked person in oscar history next. you stay up. you listen. you laugh. you worry. you do whatever it takes to take care of your family. and when it's time to plan for your family's future we're here for you. we're legalzoom, and for over 10 years we've helped families just like yours with wills and living trusts. so when you're ready start with us. doing the right thing has never been easier. legalzoom. legal help is here. ♪ ♪ ♪ "here i am. rock you like a hurricane." ♪ fiber one now makes cookies. find them in the cookie aisle.

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hollywood's getting all gussied up for tomorrow night's star-studded academy awards. you can met some of the nominees are fine-tuning their acceptance speeches. with that in mind the website analyzed the 1,400 such speeches on the academy's website to see who received the most thanks. the most acknowledged? steven spielberg. he's been thanked 42 times. that is more than twice the number god has received. his 19 thank yous rank him sixth -- or her, depending on how you look at that. seve learned from the new u.s. defense secretary's visit to kabul that u.s. forces may be staying longer there than planned. and think rudy giuliani is backing down from his comments about the president? he's talking again. a debate on whether he should apologize ahead.

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." new indications today that the timetable to withdraw troops from afghanistan may change. in his first visit to the country, secretary of defense ashton carter says president obama is considering changes to the planned drawdown. >> our priority now is to make sure this progress sticks. that is why president obama is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for president ghani's security strategy, including possible changes to the time line for our drawdown of u.s. troops. >> nbc's kristen welker joins us from the white house. kristen, what led to this change? >> reporter: alex, first of all, the united states has a much closer partnership with the new afghan government which is led by ashraf ghani than it did with the former government of hamid karzai. secretary carter said this

hopeful outlook is one of the key reasons the obama administration is considering slowing down its troop withdrawal. the president is in discussions. he's discussing a range of options with top officials here. he will make that a key focus of his meeting with ashraf ghani when he comes to the white house next month. the obama administration believes that ghani's coalition government has opened new possibilities not only on the political front but also in terms of security in the country. just as a reminder about what we're talking about when we discuss the troop levels, the plan is to cut troop levels in half by the end of the year and to get that number to zero by 2016. there are currently about 16,000 troops serving in afghanistan right now. forces are still struggling to combat the taliban there. afghanistan still has remnants of al qaeda there. and there are deep concerns that isis which is currently centered

in iraq and syria could be looking to expand and expand into afghanistan. >> you mentioned concerns. "the new york times" is reporting this planned offensive against isis to retake mosul in iraq which a u.s. centcom command officer tells reporters it's going to begin in april and may. and you have senators mccain and graham releasing a comment criticizing this disclosure they say never in our memory can we recall an instance in which our military has knowingly briefed our own war plans to our enemies. it could risk the success of our mission and cost the lives of u.s. and iraq military and coalition forces. is the white house responding to this? >> reporter: not really. on friday josh earnest was asked about it. and he wouldn't confirm the accuracy of those details. he would only say the defense department is working closely with iraqi security forces to train and equip them and he said that any offensive wouldn't begin until the iraqi security forces are ready. but he wouldn't get into the

timing. the big question though once that offensive operation does begin, will ground forces be needed to call in air strikes? that's the big debate that is going on here behind the scenes with the obama administration. alex? >> kristen welker at the white house, thanks, kristen. be sure to catch msnbc for a town hall with president obama, wednesday night at 8:00 eastern. the bilingual event will focus on immigration and be simulcast on nbc and telemundo. rudy giuliani isn't just doubling down on his comments against president obama but he's going all in. he towles "the new york post" that the president has been influenced by communists since his youth saying quote, from the time he was 9 years old, he was influenced by frank marshall davis who was a communist. it comes on the heels of giuliani's new comments last night criticizing the president. >> he may love america, i don't know, in his own way.

when i listen to his language i hear language of a man who is never talking about the greatness of america. he's not a cheerleader for america. he's a critic as if he were a movie critic as opposed to the guy acting in the movie. >> joining me now, republican strategist and former spokesperson for president george w. bush mercedes schlapp and jimmy williams. mercedes, why are we hearing this kind of rhetoric from giuliani? what does he have to gain? >> i don't think he has much to gain. i think it was a poor choice of words he said and it gives fuel to the fire for the white house to go after giuliani, i believe. so i think for him, he was trying to capture sort of this frustration that americans have towards president obama's lack of isis strategy where he positions himself and what he thinks americans' positioning should be in the world.

but i think his choice of words really i think, has backfired. although he's not going to back off from his comments. >> doesn't sound like he will back down. but do you think he should apologize? >> you know, i don't think he should apologize. he's not -- he's a public figure. he's entitled to his own opinion. he feels very passionate and strongly about the fact that he doesn't agree on what president obama's policies -- should he have used other words? yeah, he should have. but i just don't think he needs to apologize to the president. >> how about from your perspective, jimmy? assess the motivation behind this and how much do democrats care about this? >> first of all, i think that democrats welcome anything that uncle cray i'm mean rudy giuliani, has to say. he seems out of touch. i don't think most republicans think that rudy giuliani speaks

for the republican party. he does not. but he is quote, the guy that saved new york. so i would suggest it is a long way down a long way away from the guy that helped bring new york and the country together to a large degree in the aftermath of 9/11 to today. this is a tragic figure. he has attacked president obama's character. he has said the president doesn't love the united states. you don't run for the presidency if you don't love the united states. you run for the presidency of a different country. and so i think any rational person in his or her mind whether republican democrat or independent, will look at what he is saying and say, he's lost his mind. he's no longer a dominant figure within the republican party and no one expects him to. however, politically, i want him to keep talking. that makes every single republican running for president have to actually answer to whether or not they agree with rudy giuliani and guess what?

some of them are saying they do or won't touch it. and that's going to be a big problem for the republicans going into 2016. >> i have to keep myself from laughing every time you call him uncle. jeb bush has distanced himself from what jewelgiuliani has said. here's bobby jindal -- the gist of what mayor giuliani said that the president has shown himself to be completely unable to speak the truth about the nature of the threets from these isis threats is true and if you are looking to condemn the mayor, look elsewhere. what is it about the president that leads to these types of statements. >> it goes back to the fact that you have this president who, in the eyes of so many republicans, is just viewed as weak. he's viewed as a weak leader. when you think back about the paris terrorist attacks where we had no white house or administration representation united there with france, where

he kind of steps back and talks about strategic patience on how to deal with isis while isis is rolling through syria and through iraq it just really makes republicans very very nervous. and americans very nervous. a majority of americans disapprove on how the president is handling isis. so i think that for mayor giuliani to go out and -- of course, he made -- again, the comments being comments that i think were a poor use of words. the republicans are saying there are those republicans saying, we agree with the idea that yes, we are frustrated with the way the president's handling this. however, the way he worded it was, i think, poorly done. >> can i just ask you quickly, jimmy, do you think this administration has a weakness in terms of foreign policy? >> no, i don't. i don't think we've been attacked since 9/11, especially under this president. i'm okay with that. i think this president sent the troops in to kill osama bin laden. i think this president killed more terrorists and terrorist

leaders than any president in the history of the united states. i'm perfectly fine to stand on that foreign policy ground. >> what i want to ask you about, now turning to 2016 politics, i'll ask both of you about this. jeb bush had a speech earlier this week and here was "the washington post" reaction to all of it. dana milbank says when he addressed the chicago council on global affairs luncheon, he combined his father's awkward oratory with his brother, like his brother, he said nuclear instead of nuclear. and he hunched over the lectern with both hands on it. but he oozed discomfort. is jeb too much a combination of his father and brother to truly break from their shadows? mercedes, you go first. >> they're raised in the same family, so they might have the same dialect. could be why he said nuclear the way he did.

but i have to say, i've had the opportunity to spend time with both president bush and with governor jeb bush. and they're very different individuals. jeb bush is very much a policy wonk. he takes into account very detailed information. and i think he tries to be very thoughtful in his way of moving forward in terms of policy. so i think when you're looking at the foreign policy he was interesting, he went out and said there have been mistakes made in iraq. the question will become will he be able to really distance himself from president bush especially when he's hiring a lot of the foreign policy experts that were in fact part of the bush administration back in 2000 and 2004. >> jimmy, i wanted to get your response. >> i just hope it's not cheney 2.0. i think he's his own man as he says, but the dna is the dna.

if he wants to walk away from the republican base on certain conservative issues, i would like to see that. but if he wants to be his own man, i suggest he stop hiring certain types of people. >> good to see you both. the siberian express is barreling through much of the united states this weekend including the nation's capital. that's where the weather channel's raegan medgie joins me now from washington, d.c. where they are battling the freezing temperatures and the snowfall. hi, raegan. >> reporter: hello there, alex. doesn't matter if you're a tourest or resident, you have to deal with this, 3 to 5 inches expected today. the washington monument look at the visibility, not too good right now. 130 years ago today this bad boy was dedicated. temperature then? 7 degrees. today, about 22. we'll flip it around here. a tour bus is coming through. you can see the visibility is so bad that the lincoln memorial beyond this point, you can't really see. and look at that, thank you, bus.

look at this. you see all of this, the roads. this is what washington, d.c. has to deal with today. these roads, this is an example of how the d.c. and the greater metro area looks like. the salt trucks have been out. i have yet to see a plow. but the cars are moving at a reasonably slow pace as well everybody should. when you look at the tourists coming out, you see them all over this area looking at the monuments here in washington, d.c. but i'll tell you right now, this is changing later on today. about 6:00 at night, it turns to ice and then rain. back to you. >> can't wait, i'm sure. thank you so much raegan. five years after the devastating gulf oil spill, many victims of that disaster are still waiting for help. msnbc's ed schultz joins us with that next. won't keep you up at night. know you have insights from top investment strategists to help set your mind at ease. know that planning for retirement

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♪ by 1914 the dodge brothers quit the ford motor company and set out on their own. they believed in more, than the assembly line. they believed driving was a holy endeavor. a hundred years later, the dodge brothers spirit lives on. the five-year anniversary of the deep water horizon spill is approaching. the deep water rig and the ma

macondo oil rig exploded. next week, ed schultz will examine the deepwater horizon settlement and the businesses still waiting for payment. here's some of what you can expect to see. >> no one down there where i was fishing at have got any restitution. >> and have you gone through the process? >> i'm still going through the process. been lied to been told we'll get you this on this date, and nothing. we have to wait a little bit -- we need more information. we need more of this, we need this. i don't know how much more information i can give these gentlemen. >> ed schultz, host of msnbc's "the ed show" is joining me right now. thank you for being here. based on that sound bite, i have a million questions to ask you. first of all, how many businesses are affected by this? who's doing the lying to this guy? >> let's just say that there have been over 300,000 claims and the vast majority of those claims have not been settled. they've been contested over and

over again. there are people who have been paid. but i think it's very safe to say that bp is doing this like a business. they're not going to pay out a dime to anybody that they don't think doesn't get it. and the sound bites we've picked up from people down there, they really have got the reputation now of just running out the clock. that they feel like they've paid enough and don't have to do anymore. we've asked them to come on the series to counter the testimony from the people we've gotten and they keep telling us to go to their website. they've taken out a tremendous p.r. campaign over the years making people think the gulf has come back and it's not. my motivation was to go down there and see how to recover from an oil disaster. i went down and found one story after another from the environment to health issues to business restitution, to business loss all of these things have come into play and

the restoration projects on the environment now coming up on monday, we'll talk about the business. $20 billion was committed. where's the money? it's nowhere near that number. >> there's got to be legal fights around all this. put that into perspective. >> there are legal fights and there's several different ways that people are going at it legally differently. and there have been some court rulings that are favorable to these folks. but their confidence is not very high that they're going to be -- get restitution the way they believe she should. there's medical claims. there are -- there's what's called a congressional fund and then there's also the economic settlement fund that's there. if you throw all the numbers together -- and i'm going to give you a ballpark right now. i'll have the exact numbers because they change daily, on monday, and i'm giving bp some room here 70% of the people haven't seen anything. >> 70%? >> oh, yeah. easily. easily. there's no question about it.

>> but what does bp say is the hold-up? how many times can they say the same thing over and over to people, say, go to the website? website, come on. >> mr. gillirard, who was a partner in the major accounting firm down on the gulf that actually was commissioned to put together the settlement plan -- >> uh-huh. >> he gave us an interview saying that, you know, there are $200,000 claims presented and bp takes it down to a $25 expense fee and hold up the payment. bp agreed to a settlement program, and then at the 11th hour, they said no we're not going to do it. they backed out on the agreement that they had previously agreed to. there's legal wrang lgs beyond. they're trying to run out the clock. there's frustration and people losing hope, and the pr campaign that bp took out focussed on fraud. and you may wonder well how could there be such a big oil spill and only what.

300,000 claims? these are the people we interviewed. bp was so effective to talk about fraud they scared the living daylights out of people. i better not go for a claim because they'll come after me with a fraud charge. and that basically was the mindset of a lot of people. it's big time stuff. and basically bp has done some good things. they have worked on the clean up and spent a lot of money on that and made some claims out, but it's nowhere near the $20 billion. and you know alex the obama administration has a hand in this. they have not paid attention. that food on the neck they were going to keep on bp has turned into a bedroom slipper. >> >> sounds like you're doing good as well getting some questions asked and answered. >> and you know what i found out, the culture of this in the gulf, there's a study for everything. >> all right. and there's a word for this tune in check it out, ed's reporting the gulf coast five years later. the legal fight continues monday

at 5:00 right here on msnbc. great to see you. one-way ticket to mars sounds like a joke right? someone bold enough and willing to die on a journey to the red planet joins me next. ♪ the bold nissan rogue, with intuitive all-wheel drive. because winter needs a hero. now get 0% financing or up to $1,000 back on the 2015 nissan rogue. nissan. innovation that excites. sunday dinners at my house... it's a full day for me, and i love it. but when i started having back pain

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100 people have made the first cut to possibly be the first humans on mars but it is a one way ticket with no return. this is one of the candidates, and sonia joins me now. with a welcome to you, i understand you were as a child a fan of star trek and you loved the concept of space exploration, but this is taking it this kind of far. why do you want to do it? >> mars 1 project has thrown down the gauntlet for space exploration. this could conceivably be the next giant leap for mankind. i don't know why more don't want to be away with. >> they're literally leaving the earth and everything they know and love behind. are you scared when you think about the prospect? >> i'm more excited. i'm thrilled i'm challenged

i'm of course parts of this are a little unnerving for sure. but, i'm far more excited about what this would mean for humanity and the future of space flight. >> what makes you such a curious candidate as well though. you're a happily married mother you have two stepsons and your husband's reaction to this saying,ly mourn her a million times before she dies i will not like any of this but i love her, and this is a horizon worth crossing like the astronaut wives before me,ly man up. that's pretty extraordinary. was his initial responsible like this? >> you know it was. and that piece that you quoted from him really just underscores how extraordinary a man i married. i would not be doing this if i didn't have the 100% support of my family. and my husband has been my greatest champion loudest supporter, the minute he tells me that i'm not supposed to do this anymore, he wants me out, i'm done but he won't do that. >> sonia, i wish i had more

time. we are going to talk again because i'm curious about all that lies before you. thanks so much. with that everyone that's a wrap for the show, i'll see you from l.a. tomorrow. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 60,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire. so you can make owning a business even more rewarding. ink from chase. so you can. ♪ ♪ ♪ "here i am. rock you like a hurricane." ♪ fiber one now makes cookies. find them in the cookie aisle. doers they don't worry if something's possible. they just do it. at sears optical, we're committed to bringing them eyewear that works as hard as they do. right now, buy one pair

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