a new purpose. a new promise... to help all those wishes come true. cvs health. because health is everything. 1:00 p.m. on the east coast, 10:00 a.m. on the west. here's what you need to know right now. we're going to start out with breaking news. three new york city men arrested on charges they were planning to head to the middle east to join isis. investigators are saying they discussed launching attacks here in the u.s. if they couldn't make it overseas. joining me from washington nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. what more do we know at this point? >> well, quite a bit more. we have the court documents now. it appears this all starts last august when one of these men who is a lawful permanent resident of brooklyn from uzbekistan posted something in the uzbek language on a website overseas saying he supports isis and he would even be willing to kill the president if ordered to do so.

fbi agents visited him at his house last august and he repeated that claim. so for the next several months it's quite obvious that the fbi was keeping a very close eye on him and a close friend of his, recording their conversations, sending a confidential informant to talk with them, someone they did not know who was working for the fbi, and watching as these two men hatched a plot to go to syria through turkey. they both bought plane tickets. one of them was arrested at jfk today. the other was to travel in late march. a third man has been arrested, also from brooklyn, accused of helping them giving them money and helping them plot all this. now, as for their talk about staging attacks here that's all that it is. they said that if they couldn't get to syria, they would do all sorts of things here. one of them said he was willing to kill the president if ordered to do so by isis. another said he would get an assault rifle and shoot police or fbi agents. they talked about putting a bomb at coney island but they never

did anything. that is all talk. but the fbi monitored a lot of their discussions, including their discussion one of their discussions with a person who ran an isis website. the isis website person is saying, you know, why aren't you coming here are you unwilling to join jihad. one of these men charged today says well the fbi is on to me i have to figure out some way to sneak out of the country. so they've all been charged with material support to a terror group, namely isis. >> and how big a priority is this for the fbi at this point, pete? and how difficult is it to identify these kinds of cases when it really is just internet chatter you're looking at to start out? >> well it's pretty clear that it's among the very highest priorities for the fbi. the fbi director has talked about this a lot, about homegrown people here being inspired by isis propaganda. he said today, added a little further detail to all that saying the fbi has not necessarily isis related but terrorism investigations going

on in every state, which was something of a surprise. but it's obvious how this thing got going. they saw this posting on an uzbeki website. so clearly they're watching carefully. >> and is uzbekistan a focal point of this a new piece of the story? >> well isis is getting support from countries all over the world. we focus a lot on people who are going there from the u.s. or from western europe but they are coming from everywhere to support isis in syria. two of these men are from uzbekistan. the other is from kazakhstan. >> and this is aay of still more kidnappings by isis. this time claims that iraqi men and boys were taken from a village near tikrit. there's new video today from iraqi armed forces showing their troops in the taunown of al

baghdadi. joining me from istanbul richard engel. let's start with these new claims of kidnappings. what more do we know about that? >> well it's not exactly a kidnapping. what it is is isis captured around maybe another 100 or so sunni tribesmen. this happened on the outskirts of tikrit. what happened there really reflects how complicated and how tribal and sectarian the war is in iraq and syria right now. we often oversimplify it as an international fight against isis. but on the ground in iraq and s syria, it's a civil war. outside tikrit right now, tikrit is a sunni city there are 2,000 to 5,000 shiite militiamen. they're called the popular mobilization force. they're iranian-backed shiite

mely thatme ly -- militias. they've been threatening to attack. it seems isis went in to a village and grabbed 100 or so men and boys from this village to try and stave off that shiite assault, to say that these people would be killed if the baghdad government went ahead. but certainly to put pressure on the group. this is a tactic we've been seeing from isis in many cases. they will go they will grab large numbers of people. they will either exchange them execute them make propaganda out of them but it's not the same sort of hostage taking that you've seen with western journalists, for example, where they'll take a single or a small group of hostages put them in an orange suit, parade them and demand large sums of money for them. this is a more primitive war tactic of capturing some of your

enemy's fighters and holding them and threatening to do horrible things to them if the enemy attacks. >> i want to highlight for everybody an important point you made there that's not made often in western media. from the outside t may look like this monolithic confrontation. from the inside this feels very much like a civil war. certainly maybe one of the reasons the iraqi army is releasing that new footage, trying to stress its capability to confront that situation. richard, always a pleasure to get your updates. and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has turned down an offer to meet with senate democrats. that would of course have happened during his visit to capitol hill next month. senatoring dick durbin and diane feinstein invited him to meet with senate democrats behind closed doors. that letter also criticized the prime minister for accepting speak you are john boehner's invitation in the first place. netanyahu responded today with a letter of his own. quote, i believe that doing so at this time could compound the misperception of partisanship

regarding my upcoming visit. justice. that's how family members are responding to the guilty verdict in the american sniper murder trial. eddie ray routh showed little emotion as that verdict was read after two hours of deliberations. a short deliberation period, we should add. the jury found routh not insane the night he killed former navy s.e.a.l. chris kyle and his friend chad littlefield. littlefield's family spoke exclusively to our colleagues at "today." >> it was an answered prayer. we've waited a long time to hear that. and we feel justice was served. >> routh was sentenced to life in prison without parole. and over to chicago, where that city's mayor is now faced with a runoff election. mayor rahm emanuel and challenger chuy garcia.

the mayor spoke out about it last night. >> we have come a long way, and we have a little bit further to go. this is the first step in a real important journey for our city. >> following this in chicago, nbc news correspondent kevin tibbles. we talked yesterday about how he had a tremendous fundraising advantage, how he had support from president obama. what went wrong for the mayor? >> well first off, i think the mayor loves a fight. he's going to be a bare-knuckle guy from now until april 7th when the runoff takes place. really i think what we saw happen yesterday ronan, is that a lot of the people who perhaps were fed up with the way the mayor has been running this city with regards to the minority areas. you know, we had a teacher strike here last year that a lot of people disagreed with. the teachers unions were against the mayor. we had a number of school closings that many people pointed to the minority areas

and say they were the ones bearing the brunt of those. i think a lot of those people were the ones that came out to vote yesterday. they voted for chewy garcia. what's going to be interesting over the next month or so now is to see how mayor rahm emanuel sort of gathers his strength and gets his troops out in order to vote on that day. but the point has been made all along that, yes, you're right, mayor rahm e manualmanuel had the financial support. he's got the money behind him. are these the people that you really want to have running the city of chicago? why didn't you voe for chuy garcia a community actist and see where it goes from there. it's going to be an interesting month. >> we know one thing. rahm emanuel is a tough campaigner. it will be an interesting run up to april. >> sure thing. and in paris, mysterious drones have appeared over the city's landmarks for a second night straight. police are no closer to knowing who's operating them either.

spotted last night, these sightings are being taken seriously in a city where last month's terror attacks are still an acute, painful memory. nbc news chief global correspondent bill neely is following this in paris. >> good afternoon, ronan. there's a mystery unfolding here in paris. it's really unsettling people. this, of course a city that was so famously relaxed. well not anymore. it wasn't just last month's terror attacks. last night, for the second night in a row, people and this time police spotted a number of mystery drones hovering over key landmarks in this city like the eiffel tower and the u.s. embassy. now, this also follows other sightings in recent weeks over nuclear installations, over the presidential palace. people are wondering, is there an innocent explanation to all of this or is this

technological toy possibly being used as a tool of terror? now, last night the police were able to spot the drones but they weren't able to track them sufficiently so they could find out who was operating them. they don't even know in fact how many drones there are and of course what the purpose of these drones really is. it's not just here. last month in washington, a drone was spotted above the white house, which eventually crashed into the white house lawn. there are serious concerns. the police here taking this very seriously indeed. they've even set up an aviation unit to deal with these mystery drones. so people here after last month's terror attacks, really unsettled, looking inging up in the skies, probably again will do it tonight, and asking, is there a new threat from above? back to you, ronan. >> thanks, bill. nbc's bill neely. another unsettling mystery plague out in toronto right now where a sophisticated tunnel was

discovered near a venue for the upcoming pan-am games. it's 30 feet long tall enough for a man to walk n and has reinforced walls. beyond that, investigators are drawing a complete blank. following this in toronto, ctv reporter, peter ackerman. has anything been found in that tunnel? any clues to go on? >> they found a lot of clues, actually. they discovered this tunnel mid-january. they went in there. police brought in the forensic unit. there was garbage from food containers. there were bottles that people had drank from. they got dna from that. they also found a generator with a sound dampening device around it to keep the noise out while they were digging. they many moisture resistant lightbulbs in there to work through the night. there were sheets of plastic down to keep the muddy situation. they even found a sump pump that had been working up until it was discovered with a hose that ran down the hill. now, police say now the dna came back with no leads. there was one interesting thing as well.

a rosary with a remembrance day poppy, a red poppy attached to it that was pinned inside the tunnel. still, they have no idea why it was built. you mentioned the size of it. it actually doesn't go anywhere. it's 30 feet in length and then it stops. if they continued going, it would poke out the side of a hill and just basically end there. they say there's no terror threat from it. they've collapsed it in now and covered it back over. it's now frozen up with snow. but at this point, they have no clue. they've got to the public and said, if you built this please let us know. we'd like to know why you built it. >> big mystery there. thanks peter. up next frozen. president obama thwarted by a federal court and stymied by congressional republicans. his executive order on immigration frozen in place. congressman joaquin castro of texas joins me next. there's only one egg that just tastes

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the clock is ticking for congress to reach a deal to fund the department of homeland security. a deadline looming in just three days. it now looks like republicans are making some concessions in this fight. mitch mcconnell agreeing to split out the bill to fund dhs from one aimed at stopping the president's actions on immigration. but democrats are saying mcconnell's word on the senate side means nothing without buy in from house speaker john boehner. >> to have senator mcconnell just pass the ball over to the house isn't going to do the trick. i'm waiting to hear from the speaker. we have to make sure that we get a bill to the president, not that we send a hot potato to boehner. >> but boehner looks to be kicking the ball back to the

senate. >> i'm waiting for the senate to act. the house has done its job to fund the department of homeland security and to stop the president's overreach on immigration. we're waiting for the senate to do their job. >> it's a time-honored tradition shared by both parties, passing the buck. one major voice on immigration issues, especially those at stake here democratic congressman joaquin castro of texas. thank you so much, congressman. always a pleasure to have you on. so simply should the senate move forward with mcconnell's clean proposal and hope speaker boehner goes with it? >> well i think you see harry reid being cautious because we've seen speaker boehner make deals with the president before for example, and not be able to deliver the votes from his republican conference when it comes time to put it to the floor for a vote. and so he wants to make sure that at the end of the day, as he said there's going to be a bill that's sent over to the president and it's going to be a clean bill on funding the department of homeland security. if they want to have a separate

vote on whether they support the president's executive action that's fine but the important thing is that we not hold the nation's security hostage to political differences. >> but congressman, does senator reid just risk scuffing the entire glimmer of hope by demanding these assurances? >> no, i think this is the first big deal that's going to be made between mitch mcconnell and harry reid now that the roles are reversed. so i think there's still some degree figuring each other out. my sense is that because this is on the table, a clean dhs bill my sense is that things are going to work out in the end. but there's no doubt there's going to be politics around it before the deadline which is what we're seeing now. i would point out, ronan, that there were reports today which speaker boehner didn't deny that he and mitch mcconnell have not spoken in a few weeks. now, these are the two leaders

of the house and the senate both of the same political party, and we're dealing with very big issues including this looming deadline and they're not even speaking to each other. that's a very bad place to be. >> right. another classic on the hill not communicating. let's talk about the underlying immigration issue here. the obama administration has asked a federal judge in your state, texas, for an emergency stay on a decision that had come out of that same judge, blocking the executive action that would shield millions of immigrants from deportation. a decision on that actually could come as early as today. what are you hearing from your constituents about that? >> well i think we had in texas hundreds of thousands of people who were anxiously awaiting the expanded daca order for parents of u.s. citizen children. so there are a lot of people whose hopes have been dashed at least temporarily. i believe, as many others do that this was the first step in a long legal dance, and when the music ends the president's executive orders are going to be

found constitutional, and these immigrants will find the relief that the president sought to extend to them. and again, this is about prioritizing deportations. these folks are not being granted amnesty. they're not being conferred citizenship by the president. he can't do that. this is about who you're going to prioritize in terms of who you deport. that should be criminals and felons before you're deporting families. >> and the president's holding a town hall that'll touch on immigration in a big way. it's going to be here on msnbc. that should air at 8:00 p.m. everybody at home i recommend you watch. i certainly will be. congressman, what do you want to hear from the president on this subject right now? >> well i think for him to reassure the people who were going to benefit that he's going to vigorously pursue the constitutionality of his executive order, that he's going to defend his order, which i expect that he will. and also that he's willing to renew his push for comprehensive immigration reform. now, i think that the president

and democrats and really everybody realizes how tough that's going to be when you've got a presidential primary going on particularly on the republican side where folks like steve king are vetting all of the 2016 republican primary candidates. so we know it's going to be tough, but i do believe those people are going to want to hear he's committed to seeing this through for the rest of his term. >> congressman joaquin castro thanks so much. always a pleasure. >> thank you. everybody at home don't forget to tune in. our own jose diaz-balart is going to be hosting that town hall meeting with president obama. you're looking at a live picture of the room right now as they prepare for that tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on msnbc as well as telemundo. just ahead, america, it's our special american style edition of "the daily spike." american institutions going by the wayside, and not just this show. introducing preferred rewards from bank of america the new banking rewards program that rewards

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dirty, degrading, soul-crushing work, but someone has to do it. we did, and the trends today are all about america. first up the american sniper trial dominating the interwebs. late last night, eddie ray routh was found guilty of capital murder in the deaths of chris kyle and chad littlefield. not only was this the top-shared story on facebook last night and this morning, but the terms american sniper and eddie ray routh are playing out in a big way on twitter right now. 120,000 tweets in just seven hours. the former navy s.e.a.l. chris kyle being mourned too. almost 74,000 mentions of his name since the verdict was announced. and we say good-bye to an american institution of sorts, "parks and recreation." #parksfarewell still dominating twitter with over 300,000 tweets. even america's crazy uncle joe weighing in with support. there he is. show ended after a long stretch of low ratings but with a clutch of devoted cultish fans. we wouldn't know anything about that, huh? finally, what's more american

than good, old-fashioned capitalism? a man in massachusetts is selling snow yes, snow to people in warmer climates. we heard about this obscure activity because it's trending on facebook. the website is we're serious, shipsnowyo.com. a bottle of snow goes for $19.1e9$19. $19.99. i know what i'm going online and buying right now. ah, capitalism. and just ahead, breaking news. the sound almost never heard in silicon valley the sound of breaking glass ceilings. although, a lot of ceilings there seem to be mostly intact at tech firms, and hillary clinton hones her message to an audience from that world. we've got an inside take right after this.

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i interviewed president obama last week and i'm very eager to interview another president. so -- [ laughter ] >> that's good. >> is america still enjoying this game of will she or will she? apparently the tech world is. hillary clinton got a huge round of applause yesterday during her first public remarks to a u.s. crowd this year speaking at a silicon valley women in tech conference with the one and only kara swisher, co-executive editor of recode. one of our favorites. thanks so much for doing this. you asked hillary clinton about her smartphone allegiance, about fitbits. she doesn't do wearables. how do you rate her tech cred? >> it's pretty good. i don't want to say someone her age. but they originally started with blackberries. she seems to have a wide-ranging

interest. like most people she has an ipad. she's got an iphone. she has to stick with that blackberry because of various reasons in washington security and other things. they get used to them there in d.c. >> i remember her scrolling through a blackberry in the office once and asking me with a look of utter confusion in her eyes, what is a flicker? actually, the world is now asking that question. so ahead of the times there. you also got her to talk about tech companies like google and apple adopting new encryption technology that the nsa can't get through. she said that's a classic hard choice. is that a dodge? >> no i don't think so. any intelligent person -- i mean, there's two sides to this. the issue of civil liberties and the issue of protecting americans from different terrorist plots. and i think the ideas are both laudable on both sides. the question is how far has the nsa gone to do this. after 9/11 as she noted, everybody sort of signed up for as much maximum spying as possible. and it got out of hand. she used the word -- i can't

remember what it was. they needed more flexibility. that means more spying to me. but i think the idea was to pull it back more. i think that's where she was. i think to go on one side or the other if you're a politician and you have companies pushing you because this is really hurting them globally it is a difficult choice. >> we'll see if flexibility becomes the new code word in washington for spying. in this conversation, she also made comments about the nsa leaks. it seemed like to me, a shift in tone from last year. at this point, she was saying edward snowden's behavior was, quote, outrageous that he was helping terrorists. now she simply said she couldn't condone his actions, but she hit hard the point that people feel betrayed by the nsa. what do you make of that? >> i think now in the light of day with a lot of these revelations, it's clear they overstepped rather significantly. i think the question is which politician is going to pull them back. obama had said that he was going

to do that and hasn't really done that in a more significant way. so it's going to be an interesting question going forward for the next president. there's just so much heat around this issue globally that you have to sort of consider how much it's hurting the companies in silicon valley if they're courting these companies and these people in silicon valley. there's some major issues that have caused big problems. >> one thing that's gotten covered out of this is the logistics of getting hillary clinton to speak at an event, particularly the fee, an estimated $300,000 she was paid this time according to "the new york times." did that money come from organizers of the event? >> yes, i think it's a group that puts on lots and lots of events. i don't know how much she got paid. i didn't get paid at all. but i did enjoy a lovely sandwich there. >> that's another glass ceiling. women in tech getting paid less than women in politics. but does that kind of commission change her ability to talk about, say, income inequality, which she did hit in this conversation, to this kind of audience? >> look, she's rich. that's just the way it is. she's made a lot of money since leaving office.

both of them have. they are rich. they are wealthy people. i mean republicans can hit back. i'm not sure mitt romney should be doing the hitting. you know that's going to be -- they're going to try to hit at it because they've made so much money doing speeches and books and all kinds of things. >> i counted about five different ways where you asked hillary about 2016 trying to get that exclusive, the kara swisher presidential announcement. here's one of her responses. >> what about the president thing? >> you know, there have been -- look, if you don't tell anybody, i am obviously talking to a lot of people thinking through. >> how did that savvy tech crowd respond to this staying coy approach that she has at this point? >> i don't think she was particularly coy. i think she's running. she was essentially saying she's going down the list to get there. >> that it's a matter of time. >> yeah it's just one of these political game we play.

i did sort of an iphone or android. i did a fitbit or jawbone or something like that. or apple watch. and then i said president of the united states or oscar host both jobs are open. so anyway, she can't say anything. she's got to make this big announcement. they do this. i think i asked brooklyn or queens, where she would do it. they want her to run. this crowd was so friendly to her. it was a ridiculously friendly crowd. it was all women mostly. a few men sprinkled in there. it's a tech crowd, which tends to favor democrats. >> it was a fun conversation to watch. we'll put up a link on our website. i recommend everybody go to that. kara swisher, always a pleasure. up next crisis. a frank and open conversation about a too-often stigmatized crisis among returning veterans. the creators of the newly oscar winning short "crisis hotline: veterans press one" join us after this.

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i want to dedicate this to my son evan perry. we lost him to suicide. we should talk about suicide out loud. this is for him. >> from publications like "time" and "the washington post" wrote about these latest academy awards, it listed that as the most moving moment. ellen kent and dana perry winning their documentary. it's about the va suicide hotline in new york. >> do i get angry? i get very sad. i start to question whether i did a good enough job. could i have found him faster? was i doing all the things i was taught to do? did i make any mistakes? and how dare you take your life. >> this win comes as the number of calls to veteran crisis centers skyrockets. it's up 45% in just the last two years. and just days after president obama signed the clay hunt

suicide prevention for veterans act into law. i'm joined now by the women behind this film. thank you so much for doing this both of you. i'll start with you, dana. we heard that testimony from you. tell me about how the personal roots of this project informed what we ultimately saw on the screen. >> well as everyone knows in the audience now, i did lose my son to suicide. he was not a veteran. he was 15, struggling with bipolar illness. i made a film about him called "boy interrupted." since then, i've wanted to keep the dialogue open about suicide because what i learned as i worked with suicide prevention groups was really the best prevention is dialogue and awareness. you know it's not really anything else in their tool kit other than talking out loud. and that's why i said that. so when hbo approached me with

like, i think we really want to look at these numbers, these 22 per day about veteran suicide numbers -- >> shocking numbers. >> absolutely heart-stopping numbers. it took a while, but with ellen's experience doing veterans films, she's done several pieces on ptsd and so forth, we felt the hotline was a really good way to highlight the issue, to show what's being done, and to offer an opportunity to tell people that there's help available. >> ellen, we were talking in the break about just how vast this problem is of post-traumatic stress and of veteran suicide. we've reported on it a lot on this program. our audience cares very much about this issue. is the veterans affairs administration doing enough to confront this? >> i think, you know, the awareness has grown. the numbers are there. i think that the hotline was started because, you know, the volume of struggle the volume of need the volume of crisis,

you know needed a central place to go. and there needed to be a way for veterans and their families to navigate a complex system. so when you call the hotline, you not only get somebody who can help you find a reason to live who can give you, you know, some time to work through your issues but also can help navigate the va help connect you with services in your community, help sort of jump through the labyrinth a little more quickly, and that's huge. >> and the incredible thing about this film is you watch this play out through the eyes of these call center workers. tell the audience for people who don't know what this call center is. what do they go through? ellen. >> wow. well, you know, i think that one of the people in the film said it best. she said you try to give people a reason to live a reason to keep going, but in the end the decision about what, you know --

the decision is theirs. so i think the responders feel a tremendous responsibility that they want to offer everything in their ability to keep this person alive. >> and sometimes it's simple things we were talking about. >> they might say, you know, are you going -- who's going to take your 3-year-old to preschool? who's going to feed your dog? really simple -- >> or even the mechanics you mentioned of delivering prescription pills to veterans in blister packs so it takes more time to get a deadly number out. >> interrupt the impulse. try to buy some time for that veteran. calling a hotline by its nature means there's some ambivalence there. >> this is such an important film. we will point everybody to it. thank you for your work and putting a spotlight on this very very important issue. >> thank you so much. up next, john rid lee, the oscar-winning screen writer of "12 years a slave" making a comeback on the small screen.

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could i get you to stand up for me please? >> why? >> stand up, put your hands behind your back. >> what's going on? >> you're under arrest for murder. >> i didn't kill anybody. >> you have the right to remain silent -- >> no no no. >> he just took the car. >> so it's a comedy? next week, abc debuts "american crime," a dark look at players in a racially charged murder trial and maybe a window into a

new paradigm in network tv as new platforms from premium cable to streaming video bring darker edgier, less censored material to the table. john ridley won an academy award for best adapted screen play last year for his work on "12 years a slave." he's the creative force behind "american crime." thank you so much for doing this. people talk about this moment as a renaissance for tv writers, but most of the renaissance talk is happening on the cable side on the streaming side. why did you go network with this project? >> well, first and foremost, you know, abc approached me with this area the subject matter they wanted to pursue and excavate prior to a lot of the wonderful things that have happened to me over the last year. so i'm fortunate, i'm blessed for the academy award for "12 so i'm blessed for the academy award for 12 years a slave but when they want to do a film about where we are now, about

family and faith and not about police officers or the investigation or the judicial system, that is something for any writer or creator, you have to pay attention to. >> is it your sense that abc is unusual in that respect? have you had your conversations here. does bob green blat had something different here. >> i love bob. and his partner back in the day. but people talk about the difference between network and cable. cable is doing wonderful things streaming services are stepping up the game. but look at abc, with the thursday night and the shows and blash black-ish and fresh off the boat and i don't like to use the word diverseity diversity, that is a throw-back word and the reality right now cable is not in the business of doing shows about or for or from the perspective of people of color and when you look at shows like "empire" --

>> and you think less willing to go there than network. >> and if you look at the shows on the air and where are the shows that are in terms of being reflective like other shows on network television, and audiences, you look at where "empire" is it is not just black people but everybody is watching these shows. >> let's talk about what you are reflecting on. it deals with racial tensions very rim nissent -- reminiscent of the headlines the last year. what do you want people to take away from this. >> we can read the headlines and take a rooting sense and our lives move on. and one of the things that impacted me here in new york i was here during central park five and we were led to believe these young men were led to

believe what they were pa cused and -- that we were accused of but we were wrong. and we moved on and those young men stayed in that circumstance and even though it wasn't resolved emotionally from them. it is about people and families caught up in a system over a long period of time. >> the show depicts a hands-up don't shoot moment that resembles, that moment in the ferguson protest. what was behind the choice to include that and were you surprised by the reaction? people saw this and were uncomfortable, even? >> if people are uncomfortable with that imagine people there and dealing with it every day and people of color going into towns and not feeling comfortable. even though this is a fictional story and we can't pretend this show or the reason it exists or the parallels brought with it isn't from some other universe that don't exist. our point is to talk about things going on and often in

imagery, not to proselytize and watch and wag our fingers at you, and those moments mean something and if people are uncomfortable, they should look at why they are uncomfortable. >> and that is one of the things, 12 years a slave is uncomfortable. >> art as its best is an apparatus for conveying emotions and if you get to a place that you are uncomfortable and forced to be in that moment that is where art is doing our job. >> changing tv landscape and important issues you are tackling. i can't wait to see the show. john ridley thank you. >> thank you. we're going back to the top story, the arrest of the three new york city men on charges they were planning to head to the middle east to join isis. investigators are saying those men may have discussed launching attacks here in the u.s. if they couldn't make it overseas. two of the men will be in court today in new york and one will

be in court in florida. following this the chief investigative reporter jonathan deets. what do we know about what the men said and how the fbi was tracking them? >> the fbi and the nypd arrested them at jfk overnight as he was trying to travel overseas to turkey and then on to syria where he would allegedly join isis. a second man also from new york bought a plane ticket to leave in march so that these are overt acts according to law enforcement that these men were taking concrete steps to travel overseas and join the terror group isis to conduct attacks and join the fight over there. but they've been tracking them since last summer and they have recordings and in some of the recordings they allegedly discussed if they didn't make it overseas they would help isis here in new york. and according to the recordings

and the fbi, that involved talks about bombing coney island which is a beach and amusement park area in brooklyn new york or stealing or getting a gun to shoot police officers. and we know we had controversial attacks here in new york city and talked about wanting to target the president. so you have recordings and chatters. the fbi apparently first got on to them because the men worked together in cell phone stores and one of them went online last summer to a jihadist based or radical-based site and that is how they got on to them and they found them. one a ringleader and providing money and support and they are concerned it wasn't just the three of them and in contact with others here in the u.s. and that investigation is ongoing. >> and concern that this is the

tip of the iceberg and this broader issue of home grown recruitment is a bigger concern. jonathan thank you. it's a pleasure to have you. and we appreciate you taking the time. that wraps up today's rf daily. up next "the reid report" with my colleague joy reid. don't miss it. it used to take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome; with the microsoft cloud we can analyze 100 per day. whatever i can do to help compute a cure for cancer, that's what i'd like to do. most of the products we all buy are transported on container ships. before a truck delivers it to your store, a container ship delivered it to that truck. here in san diego, we're building the first one ever to run on natural gas. ships this big

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good afternoon, welcome to "the reid report." i'm joy reid. and developing news we are watching. jeh johnson is set to hold a news conference alongside tom ridge and michael cherdoff and expected to mount a argument to congressional republicans amid a long partisan battle over funding dhs expires and we'll have that for you live when it gib -- begins. but we begin with three men

arrested at jfk in new york city today accused of planning to go to syria and join isis. and if that didn't work out, they were planning direct attacks here at home. let's get the very latest from pete williams. what do we know about these two men, pete? >> reporter: well three in all, two who planned to fly to syria the fbi said, that they bought airline tickets, one arrested at kennedy airport on a flight -- trying to board a flight to turkey that the fbi said would take him to syria. another had a ticket to go in just a couple of weeks. it appears the fbi -- these are the three people who are arrested. the one at the