run for president? frozen over. a unique view of the hudson river as the bitter cold keeps its grip on the northeast, but it could be over soon. details in the forecast. too much too soon? does "saturday night live" cross the line with a parody highlighting isis? hey, everyone. it's high noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." at this hour israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is headed to washington, d.c. on what today he is calling an historic mission in a move that's now stirred controversy for weeks. he's set to address the u.s. congress on tuesday to try to convince the u.s. not to cut a nuclear deal with iran. house speaker john boehner invited netanyahu without telling the white house, and that is something that nearly half of american voters say was wrong, this according to our news nbc news "wall street

journal" poll released this morning. kristen welker is at the white house with more on the uproar over this visit. let's talk about the latest. i believe he's on his way here now. >> he is. he's going to land later this afternoon. this is an uproar alex. the relationship between president obama and prime minister benjamin netanyahu has historically been frosty. we all know that. but according to foreign policy experts, this visit marks one of the lowest moments between the united states and its closest ally in the middle east. when israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu addresses congress on tuesday, he'll face a major boycott. vice president along with more than 30 democratic lawmakers plan to skip his speech. they say netanyahu snubbed the president by accepting an invitation from the republican house speaker without consulting the white house. >> this is really pushing close to being the worst dysfunctional relationship between an american president and an israeli prime minister that we've seen in the modern period. >> the white house says the president won't meet with netanyahu because of the upcoming israeli elections.

top officials here are still fuming over what they call a breach in protocol. >> there has now been injected a degree of partisanship which is not only unfortunate, i think it's destructive of the fabric of the relationship. >> i couldn't disagree more. the american people and both parties in congress have always stood with israel. nothing and no one should get in the way of that. >> at the heart of the dispute, the president's efforts to strike a deal with iran over its nuclear program. netanyahu saying it puts israel in mortal danger. the president recently tried to down play the rift between the two leaders. >> i talk to him all the time. our teams constantly coordinate. >> this latest dust-up comes at a critical time, as the u.s. faces new threats at home and abroad. >> even after invitationgate or even in the face of a u.s./iranian agreement, these two countries are going to have to find a way back toward one another to restore some

semblance of trusted balance in their relationship. >> now, on monday netanyahu will speak at the national security advisor susan rice and ambassador to the united nations samantha power will also speak at apec. all of this adding to those mounting tensions because you're going to hear those two very different visions for how the u.s. should deal with negotiations with iran. >> and it's also going to be very interesting to see which of our electeds show up for that speech to congress. we'll take note of that. kristen welker thank you so much. overseas now, the mourners on the streets of moscow today number more than 20,000, defiant behind a banner which reads "those bullets are for every one of us." they remember opposition leader boris nemtsov, gunned sown edned down just outside the kremlin. today was supposed to be his march. but instead, it was his memorial. joining me now is the former u.s. ambassador to russia now a professor of political science at stanford university.

mr. ambassador welcome to you, sir. i understand you've described boris nemtsov as a loyal and loving friend 20 years' duration of that friendship. what kind of man and leader was he? >> he was a charismatic political leader who believed in a democratic russia a prosperous russia. he was a big personality. back in the '90s when he was a two-time governor and then a deputy prime minister, he was considered one of the top leaders in russia. and boris yeltsin writes in his memoir he almost chose him to be his successor. it's a real loss for everyone. a loss for me his family but a loss for russia. >> before we get to the recent history, i'm curious, what happened? why did boris yeltsin change his mind and tap vladimir putin? >> so nemtsov was a young

maverick leader reformer out in the city where he was governor for a couple of terms. yeltsin liked him a lot, brought him in. they say it was kind of like his son that he didn't have that relationship. and he was a big, you know, kind of western-style personality and politician in that he knew how to speak, he knew how to be funny, he knew how to speak to big audiences. at the end of the day, it is alleged that yeltsin decided he wasn't ready yet to be president and wanted putin as somebody who would keep his family secure after he stepped down as president. >> okay. you have said, sir, that when you were ambassador there, often there were death threats against you. they almost always came from the hardline nationalists. there are a lot of theories i'm sure you're familiar with now that are being floated, including a few seemingly unlikely ones from the kremlin. what do you think was the most likely motive in this

assassination? >> i really don't know, and i don't want to speculate about the facts, right. i hope that putin is true to his word and will have a thorough investigation. but what i can tell you, from my own experience as ambassador and what i knew was happening to boris nemtsov as ambassador is there was a propaganda campaign against the west against the united states and against people like nemtsov who were accused of being traitors of russia. that was on television almost every day when i was ambassador. so if you fuel this kind of hatred, if you fuel this kind of conspiracy that we're out to get russia and he's out to cause a revolution, you know you can't control these kinds of emotions. and what i find really just reprehensible is this theory being floated by some russian government officials now that nemtsov was quote/unquote the sacrificial lamb that he was killed deliberately by the

opposition to spark a revolution. that is the height of cynicism and hypocrisy to me. >> hypocrisy why? just something being put out there to cover up? >> again, i don't know the facts. i want to know the facts. but to somehow assert that the opposition would kill one of their leaders to spark a revolution, one, i just find it -- you know, it shows how paranoid this regime is. two, it shows how disrespectful they are to the intelligence of their own citizens. it really is a crazy idea. >> do you think there's a sense that president putin has drummed up this nationalist fervor and may have lost control of it? >> yes. that's -- exactly. so in my own case when there were threats against me and the russian government officials, to their credit helped to track those down more often than not they were somebody who was, you know, whipped up with this nationalist fervor that was on

television. not controlled directly by the russian government, but believing that they were somehow doing their patriotic duty to do these kinds of threats against me and threats against people like nemtsov. at some point, i hope the kremlin says enough is enough and will stop this kind of witch hunt against the so-called enemies of the state, people like boris nemtsov. >> nemtsov was reportedly going to release some sort of pamphlet on russia's involvement in the ukraine. is there an indication yet what those revelations may have been? he surely was not the only person that would be familiar with what they were going to release. >> so boris was known and famously known for exposing corruption in the putin regime. he put out several pamphlets and little booklets exposing corruption. one, for instance about the sochi olympics. and the next one was due to be released next week with one of his colleagues to talk about the

ways that soldiers and weapons flowed into eastern ukraine. and i suspect that will eventually be released. you know again, i do not want in any way to assume or to presume or connect dots that shouldn't be connected. he was killed because of that report. but he did do these kinds of things. he was brazen and bold in his defiance of the regime. and people around him and even his mother said very famously just a few weeks ago they feared for his life because he was so -- such a bold challenger of the current regime in russia. >> as did he. so ambassador michael mcfaul, thank you so much for your time and insights. i appreciate them. >> thank you. other news now. disney land lit up the sky on saturday but not with fireworks. rather a small fire broke out near the "it's a small world" attraction saturday evening. a disney spokesperson stated the fire appeared to have been started by a fireworks show that was nearby and quickly extinguish extinguished. there have been no reported injuries.

two people were shot during a party featuring the rappers t.i. and young jeezy in north carolina. one woman was found shot at the scene. the other arrived at the hospital later in the evening. the nightclub label has stated the weekend's events would continue as planned. the search for around 18-year-old hiker has been suspended in hawaii due to some bad weather. he was last seen on friday morning boarding a bus to the haiku stairs also known as the stairway to heaven. those have been closed since 1987, but it's still a popular destination among hikers who manage to get past the guards and those gates. a rough weekend in many parts of the country, from snow to freezing rain. but it's all snow for the past month in massachusetts, which has almost caused a tragedy saturday. a roof collapsed at a skating rink in canton scaring the coaches, parents and players there. it came shortly after the youth hockey team started practice. about 30 people were on the rink at the time including players ranging in age from 8 to 14. >> heard a second snap and started screaming. we knew something was wrong.

>> i immediately started screaming to get off the ice. i just knew that wasn't a natural sound. >> those seven kids we were staring at that were right underneath where it collapsed and, you know, luckily mike's voice just was so loud that it forced them to move. >> almost miraculously all those kids were brought to safety, no one being injured. the roof was inspected just a day before the collapse and there was some concern about the amount of snow on the roof. also here's a view of the frozen hudson river in what looks like poughkeepsie, new york. only a very narrow channel remains unfrozen so the tug boats can get through and get the ice breakers moving through. and a rough day for drivers in oklahoma. slick roads caused hundreds of wrecks across the state there. >> i've slipped a couple times, and there's two cars that almost hit me. it's scary. it's not good. i mean i suggest everybody stay in until it just goes away. >> just go home. call it a day.

it's just too risky. >> so what's in store for the start of the workweek? here's meteorologist keith carson from the weather channel. hi keith. >> hi. yeah unfortunately, more wintry weather here. yet another weekend leading into the workweek and more snow in through d.c. new york city. about to get snow in here as well. this system isn't as strong as what we've seen past couple weeks. this one a little weaker. however, it does have warmer air in it. you look towards washington, d.c. seeing some freezing rain there. i think there in through baltimore, that's the story. new york city expecting an inch to two inches of snow. not a huge storm system for them but something through sunday afternoon and sunday night that we'll be watching. we have a lot of winter weather advisories. typically the advisories mean it's not as big a storm as the warnings. the warnings in here through the d.c. area that's where we're going to see ice. that's the story with this particular storm, not huge snowfall numbers. widespread, 1 to 3. a few spots of 3 to 5. maybe a bull's eye of 5 to 8

across rhode island and connecticut. because of that warm air getting in, we'll be looking at some mixing going on. so here's a look at what we call the ice akreegs. you'll notice baltimore, parts of jersey philadelphia. 0.1 inches usually not enough to cause power outage, but certainly enough to cause problems if you're driving. the storm system continues tonight across the eastern seaboard. we'll get it out of here as we head into tomorrow. that's some good news after tonight. we clear it out by tomorrow. so the beginning of the workweek across the east relatively quiet. our next storm system comes in midweek. this time around, it looks like it will be largely a rain event. this is the first day of meteorological spring. hopefully we can get some actual spring weather. >> i was going to say, all right, it's march, we're getting rain. no more snow please. thank you very much. 200 miles out, a dangerous mission in space still under way at this hour. why are these astronauts risking their lives?

we'll bring you the latest. and controversy surrounds a "saturday night live" sketch that parodied teenagers joining isis. does it go too far? we're bringing you now a live look at vale colorado. picture perfect for all us ski lovers there in one of the snowiest years on record in that state. we used to have so many empty rolls! (cha-ching!) (cha-ching!) (cha-ching!) it felt like we were flushing money away. mom! that's why we switched to charmin ultra mega roll. it's charmin quality and long lasting. with more go's per roll, it pays to use charmin ultra mega roll. charmin ultra mega roll is 75% more absorbent so you can use less with every go. plus it even lasts longer than the leading thousand sheet brand. for us, mega roll equals mega value. cha-ching! we all go. why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra mega roll? ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived.

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and now to some high-flying happening right now outside the international space station. american astronauts are outside the iss on a very tricky space walk, which could wrap up in the next few hours. nbc's kristen dahlgren is keeping her eyes trained on the sky and following all this for us. what are they doing up there? >> you know what, alex, they're making parking spaces to put it very, very simply. i'm no rocket scientist, but some day maybe you or i or our

kids will be able to go up there and dock at the international space station. this walk has a little bit of high drama. water was detected in one of the astronaut's helmets after the last walk. ultimately nasa looked at everything decided it would be safe to continue with today's walk. i'm sure a lot of flight engineers on the ground watching this very closely right now. >> everything is clear, and i'm ready to go. >> this is no walk in the park. it's more like a carefully choreographed ballet more than 200 miles above the earth. engineers watching every move to make sure seals on terry virt's helmet hold. there was concern when they found a small amount of water following wednesday's space walk. but experts say they've seen condensation like that before and they're sure he'll be safe outside the international space station today. >> if the astronauts report something is building up in that helmet, they stop the space walk

right there. >> during the almost seven-hour space walk the astronauts will roll out more than 400 feet of cable and install a communications system to help guide future space taxis as they park at the iss. all part of a push toward commercial space flight a dream still alive in spite of some recent setbacks. this dramatic video shows space x's falcon nine booster crashing back to earth in january. but today the countdown is on to another falcon nine launch late tonight. while sir richard branson admits he considered scrapping virgin galactic's program after the crash of spaceship two last year. he says his teams convinced him to stick with the pan to take paying customers into space. and a dutch company just named 100 finalists for a one-way trip to colonize mars. >> we won't just be visiting planets, we'll be staying. >> the pull of the final frontier as strong as ever

leading astronaut terry virts to take time out of his preps to tweet this. >> so it's not the starship enterprise, but amazing stuff happening right now. this is the point of view of the astronauts doing the space walk. you can see here on his wrist he's got a list of tasks that he needs to get done. this is one of the clips that they used to make sure they stay tethered to the space station, getting everything done they need to get those parking spaces ready for you, alex. >> i cannot believe they're setting up parking spaces in space. that is just a phenomenal thing to comprehend. thank you very much. some new concerns today over the radicalization of western young people who might ultimately find their way to join isis. there's some new surveillance video of those three british schoolgirls who entered turkey nearly two weeks ago now and could be headed to join isis in syria. british officials are still searching for those girls. and today secretary of state john kerry addressed the issue of individuals involved in terror and the way they

communicate. >> there is an uptick in the level of terrorism and specific incidents of people being killed, and that threat is very very real. nobody's trying to minimize it. president obama has put together a coalition of countries that have come together. we're all super focused on this. and we are focused on the internet cyberspace battle also. >> joining me now is peter newman, professor of security studies at kings college in london. peter, welcome back to the broadcast. i know you heard the secretary there. are western nations doing all they can to stem the flow of foreign fighters to isis? >> i think they're starting to do that. i think they started a little bit late. a lot of western countries really only started taking this problem seriously about a year a year and a half ago. and it's also true that a lot of european countries, especially smaller european countries, who didn't have to deal with this kind of threat before are

lacking capacity. so they are trying to catch up but it is kind of hard. >> can you put your finger on what it is that young people from the west seem to find so enticing about isis? >> it's very hard because there isn't a single monolithic foreign fighter. there are a lot of different types of profiles. certainly for the younger ones for some of the younger ones it's almost a sort of counterculture. they're joining this because it is the most outrageous thing you can do and they're also seeking thrill and adventure. other people are more ideological. some people are pious. other people are not so pious. some people go there because they're motivated by the suffering of the syrian people. other people go there because they're drawn by the notion of the caliphate. so you have a really big set of motivations. >> i'm curious about the unmasking of the british man that we've seen in all the isis

videos. we've seen now his pictures from college. we know a lot about his history. does this attention work against isis, or do you think it might help recruitment? >> i'm not sure about this how exactly this will play out. for example, after the terrible burning of the jordanian pilot, a lot of people said this would actually be a victory for isis. you know it actually turned out to be the opposite. jordanians are very much against isis now. let's see what happens here. one thing i'm certain of is that jihad jihadi john or however we want to call him will be back. for isis, there's a great incentive to use him even more as a spokesperson. i think we will hear from him, and it will be part of the theater, the drama that isis is so good at constructing. >> so particularly with these british schoolgirls, but in general, many westerners will find their way into syria. they go through turkey. european governments have called on turkey to try to stem the

flow of the potential foreign fighters into syria. can turkey do more to secure its border with syria? >> well i think so. and i've said so many times. turkey has been upset with me. i've been to the border area. i've been to border towns in turkey from where a lot of people go into syria. when i was last there in april of last year with my colleagues we saw very little interference by turkish authorities. the turkish authorities are always saying they need exact names of people in order to arrest them but if you spend time there, you basically just have to hang out. you can see the foreign fighters walking around. everyone will be able to tell you where they are staying, where they are praying. it doesn't seem to me that everything is being done. my hunch is that the turkish authorities are somewhat in two minds about it because they know that these infrastructures are so deeply entrenched, if they crack down on them they might

go after turkey. >> very quickly, peter, do you think westerners who go to join isis are more of a threat than the lone-wolf, stay-at-home sympathizers? >> i think they both are. not only are we dealing with a foreign threat, we're dealing with an isis threat. >> all right, peter. many thanks. the texas nurse who contracted ebola on the job is heading to court. we're going to tell you the reason why. feet...tiptoeing. better things than the pain stiffness, and joint damage of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. before you and your rheumatologist decide on a biologic ask if xeljanz is right for you. xeljanz (tofacitinib) is a small pill not an injection or infusion, for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can relieve ra symptoms, and help stop further joint damage. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including

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satsd night live is catching some flak today for a sketch some people say is in poor taste. in this fake commercial done in the style of a toyota ad dakota johnson says good-bye to her father, but it's not because she's going off to college. >> hey, dad. >> yeah? >> thanks. >> you got it kiddo. looks like your ride's here.

you be careful, okay? >> dad, it's just isis. >> take care of her. >> death to america. >> okay. here's what we've been asking you all day. did this "saturday night live" skit go too far? split responses here. some tweets reading, that was in poor taste isis is not a laughing matter. i'm sorry, but peter, i just laughed at that. anyway, absolutely not it's a damn comedy show sketch. move on. dewayne tweets, it's comedy. people are way too sensitive. it was hilarious. and debra write, i can't believe someone didn't say, hey, this is a bad idea. we appreciate you talking to me.

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yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." for headlines at the half nbc news has confirmed that ebola survivor nina pham plans to sue texas health prezsbyterian hospital and its parent network. she said she suffers from nightmares, body aches, and insomnia since suffering from ebola. texas health just released a statement saying we remain optimistic that constructive dialogue can resolve this matter. newly released e-mails from the man known as jihadi john suggests had he suicidal thoughts in an e-mail exchange with the british news outlet

"mail" on sunday. and he talked about taking too many sleeping pills and called himself a, quote, deadman walking. hong kong police pepper sprayed and arrested almost three dozen protesters in that city. they're upset about mainland shoppers who have been blamed of voracious buying habits that distort the local economy. as we take you to washington, d.c., we're going to give you a look at the capitol right now. that's a frozen overview of things. so cold down there. ice has formed on the camera lens. the fight of department of homeland security may be over for now. this after legislators passed a bill that will last a mere seven day, which means more wrangling on capitol hill likely up to this coming friday's new midnight deadline as the beat goes on in congress. and this morning in washington, well, take a listen. >> i have no problem with them passing a bill which they can do. we've passed an immigration bill by a huge vote two-thirds. it went over to the house. the house took no position.

and now what they've done is they've put a president's executive order on top of a must-pass national security bill. >> it's the house of representatives, as it said in the opener. the house is a ram bunkbunctious place. >> can you lead those members? >> i think so. i'm not going to suggest it's easy because it's not. >> joining me now, msnbc contributor robert traynham. welcome to you both. robert i'll reach out long distance to you first. speaker boehner didn't sound really confident there. there's a recent poll suggesting more than 50% of americans would blame the gop if this pushes to a dhs shutdown. republicans now controlling both houses. so why can't they make this work? do gop members in congress have a real sense of the cost-benefit here to the party? >> well it's a little bit more

complicated than that. first, the gop and the senate seems like they're very approachable to passing a dhs bill. it's the ideological wing of the republican party on the house of representatives side that is causing speaker boehner some heartburn here. he's in a bit of a pickle here because apparently the -- you know, this whole whether or not democrats can vote for this republican bill, it seems like that can happen if in fact it's a clean bill. republicans on the house side do not want a clean bill. that's where speaker boehner is in a bit of a bind here. so the question becomes is can he get some of those ideological hard-right folks of his caucus to be able to vote for a bill that perhaps has a little bit of less language than they want? the answer right now seems to be no. if that's the case his speakership is very much in jeopardy jeopardy. so i don't know. i really don't know. >> okay. what do you think the president should be doing in this fight? i mean he held the town hall. it was aired here on msnbc,

reaching out to the latino community. talking about the subject of immigration orders. should he be spending more time reaching out to republicans on the hill? >> i just don't think that there is any utility in doing that. i think the republicans have over and over and over again demonstrated that they're addicted to this shutdown politics and allergic really to responsible governance. i think that the senate passed an immigration bill and they let it sit for a year and a half before the president signed his executive order. what i think here is that this is a come-to-jesus moment for the republicans. are they going to be in charge? are they going to responsibly govern the country? or are they going to continue this side show shutdown politics game people's livelihoods and mortgages at stake in terms of the department of homeland security. >> okay. so robert, on the subject of immigration, i want to play you what former governor jeb bush said on the subject at the cpac gathering. >> the simple fact is there is no plan to deport 11 million people. we should give them a path to

legal status where they work where they don't receive government benefits where they don't break the law, where they learn english, and where they make a contribution to our society. >> so is this a viable position to get jeb bush the nomination? i mean how does jeb bush survive places like iowa like south carolina with this kind of a position on immigration? >> what you just heard is a common sense immigration thought process through jeb bush. remember, he's a former governor from florida, of all places, so he knows immigration like the back of his hand. also remember that in order to get the republican nomination, an iowa caucus voter is very different from a new hampshire caucus voter. his language has to be a little nuanced here but he can thread this needle. in fact, i believe he's the only one that can thread this needle because he's the only one that has credibility on this issue. his position is not that far off from president obama's. the difference is in terms of how he says it and in terms of how it's implemented. i think jeb bush is on the money

on this. i think he can do this in a way -- or articulate this in a way that republicans are comfortable. and remember, his brother tried to pass immigration reform back in 2006 and obviously got pushback. i do think he has a lot of credibility on this issue. >> but what you're saying that his position is not too far from that which the president holds. isn't that the problem? we're not looking at general election here. that may play very well in the general election. but he's got to get the nomination. >> you're exactly right. here's the nuance here. president obama said through executive order, which very well could be illegal, we don't know yet. so that's not what governor bush is saying. he said something a little bit different. the policy is the same but the implementation is much much different. we don't know whether or not it's legal or not, what the president's trying to do. the courts will decide that. but what governor bush is saying is something a little different from president obama in terms of the execution. >> so zerlina, from a democratic point of view let's say jeb bush does get the nomination.

does that worry democrats? because what he is saying might fall much in line with what they would say. >> i don't think it worries democrats. he has a lot of baggage because his name is bush. there are a lot of open questions in terms of the bush foreign policy legacy that really he needs to answer for because the republicans have been shown to really have trouble in this area and particularly with so many different serious issues with foreign policy and questions around isis and syria. i think that he has a lot to answer for and i think that he has a lot of baggage that's going to hold him back. but that's only if he's able to successfully win the republican primary, and there's still a lot of open questions to see if that's going to be the case. >> right. let's talk about that straw poll with you. rand paul winning, of course. third year in a row he did that. who do you think hillary clinton would most be afraid of running against of these names there? >> well, i think scott walker perhaps. i think right now he's certainly

surging. he's in second place. rand paul, this is his third year in a row winning. now he has to deal with translating this success into actual electoral success. i think perhaps scott walker. but honestly i think any of these people she could take them on and become successful because the republicans have to demonstrate in congress and also in the position of president that they are going to responsibly govern the country. that's the job they're running to do. >> okay. zerlina maxwell, robert traynham, thank you so much. all right. new questions about if vitamins us healthier. happens again. you know what? plenty of guys have this issue not just getting an erection but keeping it. well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop

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and it's big business $32 brake light in 2012. joining me now, the author katherine price. a welcome to you. i just want to clear up semantics here. what's the difference between a vitamin and a dietary supplement? >> i'm very happy you asked that question. that's commonly confused. so there's actually only 13 human vitamins. those are the ones that usually go by letters, the a, c, d, e, k, and then eight b viet minutetaminsvitamins. but only 13 of those. there's a much larger category of products called dietary supplements, about 85,000 products is the last estimate i've seen. they're regulated the same way, but they're not the same. >> can you tell me how we went from 13 vitamins to 85,000 dietary supplements? >> yeah i think we really latched on to the word vitamin itself, which is a very appealing term that was only coined in 1911. and then we took that to apply to a much broader category of things we thought would be good for us that you can buy as

pills. the 13 human vitamins are absolutely essential for us. without them, we would die. they cause horrible nutritional deficiency diseases. that's not the same as the larger category of dietary supplements. >> when did the food industry start putting dietary supplements into food? >> they started putting synthetic vitamins into food the man made form in the '30s and '40s when it became possible to do so. some of the products we love the most happen to be the most refined and processed. when you have that it needs to last for a long time on store shelves. you also accidently destroy many of its vitamins. these days if we wanted to eat the same diets we do today, we would be at risk of nutritional deficiency were it not for those synthetic vitamins. >> so how many of us need to take one of these 13 vitamins or dietary supplements?

>> again, dietary supplements, totally separate category. not many people need those. in terms of vitamins people say, should i take a vitamin? i can't answer that question without knowing what you eat. you have people on one side who are existing primarily on kale and butternut squash. they're totally fine. unless there's a case of specific medical necessity or lifestyle choice like being a vegan, probably don't need a supplement of any kind. then there's a much larger middle category who are maybe occasionally eating our kale salad but also eating a lot of things it like breakfast cereal or breads or cookies or whatever. for those, that larger category a lot of those foods have a lot of synthetic vitamins in them. if you're eating a diet based heavily on those foods, chances are you're not deficient in a vitamin, per se, but you're missing out on everything that's potentially beneficial that's found naturally in foods that these supplements don't contain. the last category is people who

are eating such nutrient poor diets they actually are at risk of vitamin deficiencies because they're not eating the foods that naturally contain them. unfortunately, those are the people that are least likely to be taking a dietary supplement. >> right. i want to go and get through this because the vice president of the council for responsible nutrition said this about your book recently. quote, overall it is a good philosophical discussion of the food supply but we think it lacks some practical applications. it's really not based in the real world. he goes on to point out the government last month issued some new dietary guidelines saying 40% of the population doesn't get enough of vitamins a, d, e, and c as well as enough folate calcium, and fiber. does this counter the idea that americans are taking too many vitamins? >> well the real world comment always confuses me. everyone lives in the real world. i think, yeah it's true. not everyone is in the butternut, kale category. but i don't think you need to be getting your vitamins through pills, necessarily. that's conflating these two

categories of vitamins, which are essential, and it is concerns that americans, even with dietary habits may not be getting enough. >> can taking too many vitamins damage our bodies? >> yeah definitely. it's a common misperception that it's totally safe to take as many vitamins as you want to. i'm sticking with the 13 vitamins here. totally wild world of supplements can definitely have dangers. with vitamins you can have the risk of acute toxicity with something like vitamin a, which really can cause liver damage. the rest of the vitamins probably aren't going to hurt you if you od on them in one day. but you can have problems with taking really high doses over time. for example, if you take vitamin d at a really excessive doses, far higher than what you could get from the food or sun, over time that can mess up your calcium metabolism. you need a certain amount of d to have the proper amount of calcium for your bones.

you can have calcium deposits in places you don't want them, like your kidneys it or arteries. lastly is this idea that if a little bit of a vitamin is not just safe but essential, then if you take a super dose of it it's great for you. you see this all the time with stuff like vitamin c. what i say in response to that is we actually don't know what the long-term effect of doing something like that is. there's a lot of research coming out now that the idea of taking massive doses of antioxidants for example, of which vitamin c is one, actually may have bad effects over time. >> well i can't believe there's something you don't know. got to look it up in the book. katherine price, thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. the man from boston who's selling snow, and people are buying it, really.

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as new preparations are being made to expand the war against isis new questions about the u.s. commitment to the fight are being raised. the cover story in the current issue of "time" examines what it calls the isis trap and the arguments for and against u.s.

involvement in the fight. let's bring in "time" editor at large carl vick. glad to have you here. why does "time" cause this the isis trap? >> there's a couple of answers to that. one, in the cover story, it's pointed out the real trap is if you start something, you don't know how it's going to end. we saw it with the iraq war. any time you have a major military operation, you say you want to remove somebody that's as far as the popular thinking the popular impulse is. and to sort of think through the end game for the extraction of troops but also what the end state is. we spent more than a decade in iraq and left the situation such that we're back. the other piece of the trap the other way to see it is that -- is the question of whether you send in u.s. troops at all in large numbers. and that has to do -- is has to do with isis the philosophy isis is preaching and their

narrative. and they've got this sort of millennialist -- they see themselves as actors in a prophesy that says we will confront, we will redeclare a caliphate, which heavythey've done, and confront rome, which is the west. they're quite keen to lure us in and confront us and then they get to their whole book of revelations kind of like end of the world thing. >> okay. but if you look at the horrors, the atrocities, they literally just roll over communities and populations there is there a concept of how defeating isis on the battlefield could make a situation worse there in the middle east? i mean getting rid of them could it be worse? >> they're sort of what happens when you have chaos, when you have a failed state, as you've got in syria and the makings partly in iraq. this is the sort of horror that

fills the void. so, you know, you're asking the right questions, like what does defeat look like? because right now, they're almost like an atmosphere. there's the concrete specific military question of the territory they hold and the forces they field. then there's the larger question of, like this environment we live in this atmosphere of beheadings and this con today on of recruitment. we've been conditioned by 12 13 14 years of the war on terror, ever since 9/11 of this unseen enemy out there. it's now as if we see it, and it looks large and really formidable formidable. and it looks really fearsome because they sort of revel in this grotesquery. >> there's an argument here for u.s. troops on the ground that

it made by the magazine writer. here's what he writes. credible estimates of how many troops we should send range from 10,000 to 25,000. it is imperative that u.s. advisers be able to operate on the front lines with the local troops they support in addition to sending advisers we should be sending joint special operation task forces. but what's wrong with that argument? >> to some extent it's giving them what they want. i was in afghanistan when kandahar fell, the whole country fell because of the way we're doing it now, with american air power, and guys on the ground who care about that country and who are enlisted as our allies. they're at risk on the ground and they're much more effective fighters as long as they have close air support. maybe you need to bring in, you know, some forward air controllers. you're talking about a few hundred guys to sort of help guide in the bombs, which is

what we did in afghanistan. like a larger force than that i think, really just runs a great risk of sucking the u.s. in in a way that provides oxygen to isis and fulfills their wishes and their prophesy. >> well it is an extraordinary article. very far reaching. i thank you for coming and sharing it with us karl vick. thanks. 94% white, 100% male. that's who's in charge of the hollywood film studios. what happened to the plan to add diversity diversity? credit belongs to the man who strives valiantly who errs who spends himself in a worthy cause and who, if he fails at least fails, while daring greatly sfx: background city noise ♪ [ hoof beats ] i wish... please,

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hey there, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." just a little past 1:00 p.m. here in the east, 10:00 a.m. out west. here's what's happening now. we begin with 2016 politics with senator rand paul beating out all of the top contenders at the annual conservative political action conference, or cpac with scott walker not far behind and jeb bush falling to fifth in his chance to find his brand of conservativism. >> there are a lot of committed conservatives in this room. this is why it's such a spectacular gathering. there are a lot of other conservatives that haven't been asked. they don't now in they're conservative. if we share our enthusiasm and love for our country and belief in our philosophy we will be able to get latinos and young people and other people that you need to win to get 50. >> nbc's kristen welker is at the white house for us with more. so how did this fit into jeb bush's run for that house right behind you? >> well alex look jeb bush

was under no illusions. cpac is not his crowd. he was there to, in the words of one political analyst, do no harm. he wanted to defend his conservative credentials. he talked about his vision for immigration reform. interestingly, he called for a path to legal status instead of a path to citizenship. that's a word that infuriates some of his fellow republicans. he also defended his support of common core education standards, making it very clear he's not calling for a government takeover of education standards. but look he knew cpac is a crowd that supports rand paul ted cruz scott walker. that's why you have a rand paul winning the straw poll for the past three years in a row. he did get some boos when he talked. a few people walked out. for the most part he got a pretty warm reception, alex. i would underscore one point, which is that all of the other potential candidates set their sights squarely on him. they targeted him, criticized him, underscoring the fact that

they see him and the polls show him as the likely front runner at this point. >> so jeb bush being a target but also there was somebody who was not in the room who got a lot of attention. how much of a rallying point was the name hillary clinton? >> well she was arguably the biggest rallying point. take a listen to what the potential candidates had to say about her. >> hillary clinton embodies the corruption of washington. >> what am i for? what am i really ready for? i'm not ready for hillary. >> hillary may like hashtags but she does not know what leadership means. >> it's time for hillary clinton to permanently retire. >> so republicans clearly preparing for the possibility that clinton could become the democratic nominee, the big challenge for republicans is what will their strategy be? how are they going to attack her? will it be on her foreign policy credentials, over benghazi, over c fwrks

cgi, the fact she's clearly a political insider? that's going to depend in large part on who the nominee is. for example, if jeb bush does become the republican nominee, it's going to be very hard for republicans to attack her as someone who's a part of a political dynasty because obviously jeb bush would have that same background. so republicans setting their sights on clinton and jeb bush at this point, but alex we're still so far away. and no one's declared their candidacy yet. >> good points you make there, as always. thank you. developing now overseas, more than 20,000 people are marching today through moscow. a memorial for opposition leader boris nemtsov, who was gunned down late friday. kelly, a good day to you. what are you hearing about this march today? have there been any developments in the investigation? >> well, alex, this was originally supposed to be a march for peace in the suburbs of moscow organized in part by boris nemtsov. after his murder it was turned into a remembrance rally.

the kremlin took the unusual step of allowing these massive crowds to gather in the center of moscow right next to the kremlin walls. the crowd's number in the thousands to tens of thousands, depending who you ask. a somber march today. they carried russian flags. interesting because that's typically the sign of nationalists in russia. a symbolic gesture, they said. members of the opposition saying that they're patriots as well. some also carried pictures of boris nemtsov and signs saying "we are not afraid." it was largely peaceful, as i mentioned. they laid flowers at the spot where nemtsov was killed late friday. in terms of the investigation, not much movement unfortunately. investigators say they're looking at several theories at this point. today authorities even suggested that someone from within the opposition may have been behind it to make nemtsov some sort of martyr and help unify opposing factions. leaders in the opposition

basically said that's ridiculous and blamed those in power for nemtsov's murder. investigators are now offering a $50,000 reward for information. they say they're pursuing leads, alex, but so far no arrests. okay. kelly, thank you for that latest update from london. meantime american astronauts just finished an extremely difficult space walk. it took about six hours to accomplish it. astronauts installed cables and antennas it on board the international space station, and engineers watched this walk a bit closer than ever after condensation was found in astronaut terry virts' helmet yesterday. quite the show at disney land last night, but not for the right reasons. a small fire broke out near the it's a small world ride on saturday night. according to a spokesperson, the fire appeared to have been started by a nearby fireworks show. it was quickly extinguished, and there were no reports of any injuries. so the calendar now says

it's march but winter is not over yet. the snow continues to hit cities throughout this country, including almost 10 inches hitting new mexico just in the past three days. and freezing temperatures here in the northeast have left the hudson river completely frozen over barely enough space there for the tug boats to plow through that ice. and the snow has already begun in the northeast and midwest. it will continue to make its way further west throughout the week. rick adams is joining us from washington, d.c., to give us the latest on the continuing cold there. i'm hoping marng is goinge inging march is going to be a turning point. rain may be better than snow right? >> alex you've got to hope that really rain is going to be better than snow but in this case, it's not. it's something most of the transport organizations really fear because snow is something you can do something with. you can shovel it away get rid of it. ice is a big problem because what we have right now is freezing precipitation. what happens when that hits the ground, which is already freezing means of course you've got an instant ice rink.

that's what's happening here. luckily the roads in d.c. have been pretty well salted. the mayor got on that about 6:00 this morning. but it means it makes things difficult for transport and for power lines that really build up that thick ice. now n terms of transport for airlines, there's been some kind of 1600 delays across the u.s. and some 1400 canceled flights because of this horrible situation we have with the weather. dallas airport apparently, isn't impervious to those delays and has been having a considerable amount of problems. oddly, reagan international seems to be running fine at this moment. that's what happens when you have this strange mix of weather. i can tell you, just because it's raining doesn't mean that it's still not winter and still not icy, snowy, horrible and cold, alex. >> you make a good point. ice really is a mess when it turns into a skating rink. come on june. that's what i'm calling for. thank you very much rick adams, from the weather channel. well they're on the run.

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switch today and get the no mistake guarantee. comcast business. built for business. presidential invitation or not, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is on his way to washington right now. on tuesday, he'll deliver his controversial address to congress. at stake, the iran nuclear talks with a framework due by the end of this month. in a new interview this morning, secretary kerry tried to temper expectations. >> we are going to continue now to the next step to see. i can't promise you we can, but we are going to test whether or not diplomacy can prevent this weapon from being created so you don't have to turn to additional measures including the possibility of a military

confrontation. >> joining me now is one lawmaker who is not planning to attend prime minister netanyahu's address, a democratic congressman from washington, jim mcdermott. welcome. nice to see you again. thanks for joining me. >> good to see you, alex. >> so congressman, let's talk about yesterday. prime minister netanyahu spoke at the western wall in jerusalem and said he respects president obama and that quote, he still believes in the strength of a relationship between israel and the u.s. in your view what is the state of that relationship today? >> well around the issue of iran, i believe that there is no deal that president obama can strike with the iranians that the israelis will think is acceptable. i think that's what netanyahu is coming to say to us again and again and again. and that's why most of us aren't going to bother going over there, because we think president obama has done with senator kerry is to drive a

very -- they've worked very hard at finding a solution and we ought to support them in that effort. >> at this point, sir, as far as we know with our tally, there are 30 in the house, 40 in the senate who say they will not be attending. do you know any differently? because you said most. >> well i think what you're seeing is the tip of the iceberg in those of us who aren't going. there are an awful lot of people who aren't going simply because they feel like it shows disrespect to the israelis or to the jewish people in their district or whatever. but i think there's a great understanding, at least on the democratic side that netanyahu is not up to any good as far as the united states' efforts in driving a deal with the iranians is concerned. he is simply against anything. >> and in terms of disrespect, you, sir, said recently that the side benefit for prime minister

netanyahu's speech is that his speech makes president obama look weak something that would be deemed disrespectful. is there something the white house could have done to better resolve this situation? >> no i think john boehner put the president in that position deliberately. that's what you do when you make -- when you do something like that you make the president look bad. he's been trying to do that since 2009 when he was elected, or 2008. so nothing new in this. there's nothing the president could have done. >> but on the flip side sir, are possibly lawmakers like yourself who are not attending this speech and the obama administration which will not meet with the prime minister are you putting politics ahead of an important opportunity to consult with israel at a critical time? >> i believe we're personutting american interests ahead of anything else at this time. our interest in -- i was just in hiroshima and saw the effects of

what atomic warfare does. i think the president is trying everything he can to prevent one more country from entering this arms race across the face of the earth. and i think that's in our best interest in the long term. and that's what the president is supposed to do. he's not supposed to worry about anybody else. he's supposed to worry about the american people. and i'm supporting him in that. >> just this past week, prime minister netanyahu, a very savvy politician, said it appears the u.s. has, quote, given up on -- do you think this is to bolster support of his election? >> it's hard to tell what he believes frankly. it certainly serves his electoral needs. i think he's doing it for his campaign. part of what he wants is a picture of him in front of the congress with the congress jumping up and down applauding him, that he can put on television as he did four years

ago. i think that whoelt business makes it very hard to tell what he really thinks about this issue. i don't think he thinks that we're trying to let them develop a nuclear weapon but you couldn't tell it from what he's saying. >> all right. i want to switch gears here and talk about the house, which of course nearly avoided a shutdown of the department of homeland security on friday. you now have less than a week until this stopgap measure runs out. what do you think is going to change this time? >> well what changed was that john boehner finally faced his caucus and said look if you guys are not going to support me, i'm going to talk to nancy pelosi, and i'm not going to close down the department of homeland security. i'm going to get the votes for the democrats. and in doing that he's made an agreement with her that i understand is that we will have a clean vote on funding the homeland security department next week and i think it will pass with probably 150 democratic votes, maybe more

democrats than republicans vote for it. but john boehner just faced the reality of what he had. he had to eat crow and do it. >> but sir, in terms of perception, this fight comes at a time when the u.s. is leading the charge against one of if not the most egregious terrorist groups in history. this country is in the middle of high-stakes negotiations with iran. there's upheaval throughout all the middle east. russia, ukraine, cyber threats from china. the list goes on an own. so ignoring for a moment whether this debate exposed the country to actual threats, what is the impact on america's reputation overseas? if it's perceived it can barely keep the lights on at its own security agency. >> well i think that's one of the real problems of the republican plan this 45 or 50 people in the republican caucus who think that you can bully the president by holding back the funding on something like the homeland security department. they have no understanding of the place that we play in the

world. they're just playing for local politics. you know sort of power how to get something done for the president by bullying him. they simply don't understand that the rest of the world watches everything we do. they're watching this program right now, and they understand that the americans are having a hard time -- or the republicans are having a hard time getting any legislation through despite having a huge majority. >> democratic congressman jim mcdermott, good to talk with you, sir. thank you so much. >> see you again. a new timetable in the fight against isis and it means more time for the militants. that's next.

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rethinking their timetable for a coalition backed counterattack of isis forces in iraq's second largest city. the daily beast is reporting a planned spring offensive to retake mosul has been pushed back for several months at least. a pentagon spokesman friday kept away from confirming any kind of timetable. but just last week central command officials said a major attack on mosul could happen as early as april. mosul has been controlled by isis since the middle of 2014. secretary of state john kerry said today the u.s. is on the road to success in iraq. >> we are growing in the capacity on the ground martha. each time the iraqis have now gone forward in an offensive effort together with allies the coalition, we have routed isil. >> joining me now is retired lieutenant general daniel bulger, the author of "why we lost." and general, with a welcome to you, sir. do you agree with the secretary

in a palpable way? are we on the road to success in iraq? >> alex i don't agree with secretary kerry, and as a vietnam veteran, he ought to know he's looking at a movie we've seen a couple times before. >> so why do you think we're seeing mixed signals there on a coalition offensive in mosul? >> i can't for the life of me figure out how anyone in uniform would have gone in front of the american people and start giving out timetables. that's dumb military strategy. you don't let the enemy know what you're going to do. you just show up when it's time and you surprise them. >> your sentiments are being echoedly eded by elected members of congress, others in the military. you can't see one reason for doing it? >> no, i don't know what was possessing somebody to say that

maybe to put some kind of pressure on the iraqi ministry of defense to plan something. who knows. spring is coming in iraq, and we can expect an isis offensive for sure. i think we can count on that. >> so where do you think isis strikes next? and how important do you think the defeat of mosul is to re -- rather to retake mosul. >> well mosul is a fault line. it sits on the sunni-arab areas. there's a lot of oil pipelines, a major dam. it's not far from turkey. it's a strategic site, the third largest city in iraq. certainly something the government would like to retake. the problem is isis has been in there for months now. rooting them out is not going to to be easy. >> the iraqi army has been criticized for a lack of dmitment to the iraqi government. the army has seen some success lately. it claims to have liberated the city of al baghdadi. but according to new u.n. casualty figures, 1100 iraqis

were killed nationwide in acts of terrorism and violence just in the month of february. can iraq's army succeed in controlling the violence without the use of american troops? >> alex, iraq's army can succeed, but they're in the middle of a rebuild that's been going on since we went in 201003. you have to clean out all their noncommissioned officers, their san sergeants, their generals. some of those guys were removed when they were there. some were left in. retraining leaders takes a long time. it takes 20 years to train somebody to be a battalion commander. so we shouldn't expect to see immediate turnaround in one season. >> which then by your estimate sir, in your calculations and description of the iraqi army you saying it is not capable of taking over and defeating isis at this point. >> i don't think so. i think it's got a major fight ahead of itself. isis is entrenched in all the sunni-arab areas.

they have plenty of support coming out of syria. it's going to take a lot of work to knock them out. it's not going to be a campaign that wraps up in a week a month, a season. you're talking multiple years of effort. >> can isis be defeated by military strikes alone? >> i've heard the statement saying we can't kill our way out of this. we could kill our way out of this, but you got to kill an awful loott of isis people. >> if isis gets defeated what fills that power vacuum? >> alex that is the question of the day. because the reality is isis is nothing more than the rebranded al qaeda in iraq that we fought from 2003 to 2011 and they're still active. >> so if you were in charge what would you want to do? what would be your plan of attack? >> i think the most important thing we can do is support the iraqis and the kurds, the kurdish militia up there is pretty good. support them and very much

follow the pattern we did in the early days in afghanistan. special ops, some air controllers, and let the locals carry the fight. >> given what we know about isis and reports that it is only growing in strength and in numbers, what do you see as being on the horizon if as you say, it's capable of being defeated certainly by the iraqi army any time soon? >> it's going to be on the horizon. endless fighting in that region. alex, it's been going on for centuries. it's going to continue to go on. we got to keep in mind american interests. that's no terrorist attacks on our homeland. that's got to be our focus. we need to do whatever it takes to prevent that and keep our focus there. if that means keeping isis fighting it means keep them fighting. >> if isis is not controlled there, don't you worry that isis will somehow creep into our homeland? >> well absolutely. and that's why we got to keep them running over there, keep them busy with fighting over

there. our air strikes and what we're doing now shep ingis helping, but it's a long struggle. >> lieutenant daniel bulger thank you for your insights. moscow's who dun nit murder mystery. why suspicions center on the kremlin. and tisit's missing from so many tvs and movies. what will hollywood do to direct the problem? why do i take metamucil everyday? because it helps me skip the bad stuff. i'm good. that's what i like to call, the meta effect. 4-in-1 multi-health metamucil is clinically proven to help you feel less hungry between meals. experience the meta effect

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the comcast business voiceedge mobile app. it lets you switch seamlessly from your desk phone to your mobile with no interruptions. i've never felt so alive. get the future of phone and the phones are free. comcast business. built for business. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." it was an anti-war march turned memorial. today more than 20,000 people took to the streets in moscow in an act of sal darety against the killing of opposition leader boris nemtsov. one of russian president vladimir putin's harshest critics. in an interview this morning, russian activist and chess grand master gary cast prove argued that the white house needs to change its stance on president putin. >> stop pretending he was a democratically elected leader. stop making deals and try to bring putin to the negotiating table. his agenda is totally opposite to the agenda of the united

states or europe. putin wants to destroy ukrainian statehood. putin wants crisis because crisis, war, the lack of international security, those are elements that are absolutely vital to survival in russia. >> well joining me now, former new mexico governor bill richardson, who previously served as secretary of energy, ambassador to the united nations, as well as u.s. congressman. a welcome to you sir. look, we have no idea who pulled the trigger at this point, and what the motivations were however, supporters of the opposition and a lot of russia watchers are blaming the nationalist fervor that president putin has worked up. you look at ukraine. you look at the human rights crackdowns. is it out of control? >> i think the situation in russia may be starting to get out of control. there's obviously a lot of repression, a lot of opposition figures that have been either silenced or killed. this is another very disturbing pattern. you've got the russian

separatists in crimea and ukraine. you've got putin not responding to any kind of international pressure from germany, from the united states, from the european union on sanctions. the economy in russia is falling apart. the ruble, investments are down. oil prices are down. russia's in a tail spin. now, the issue is how do you make some kind of arrangement so that the u.s.-russia relationship, which is vital in many areas, nuclear weapons, syria, iran the united nations security council, how can you keep it from virtually falling apart? that's the key. >> do you think nemtsov's death will send the opposition into hiding out of fear, or is it going to prove to be some sort of catalyst for real reform? >> i think it's going to be a catalyst, not necessarily real reform. i think you're going to see putin for the first time. there's going to be a big dent

in his 80% approval rating because of what he's done in ukraine, which was very popular. but i think the russian people are going to see a pattern of repression, a pattern of lawlessness, of impunity and i think in the longer run, it's going to cost putin domestic support. now, does that mean he'll be dislodged? probably not. but it might temper him. i mean there are already some signs in the ukraine that the policy of aggressiveness with crimea, with ukraine, with the russian separatists, is receding a little bit. now, this is a very disturbing assassination. you can't blame putin directly but it sure smells like there's some kind of complicity. and worse, the investigation agency has given theories of why it happened but never did they mention that it could have been government inspired. so there's no support.

there's no concern that there's going to be a fair investigation. >> so you don't trust the russian government to do thorough and transparent as both our president and secretary kerry have called for? >> no i don't. i think there should be an independent investigation. i think putin should say, all right, the european union, a credible human rights organization, the united nations should be the power here. that's what he should do if he wants the smell taken away from his government. >> all right. i want to talk about prime minister netanyahu's address scheduled for tuesday to congress. a little more than 30 democrats as well as four senators say they're not going to attend. those are being house democrats i was talking about. if you were back in congress, would you go? >> yeah i would go. i respect the u.s.-israeli relationship too much. this is a very serious spat. this is a low point in the relationship, but u.s. and israel are going to continue to be firm allies and friends. we'll get over this.

but this was a breach of protocol. and i think prime minister netanyahu, who i like and i think is a good leader breached protocol. i think speaker boehner breached protocol. i think the administration has handled it well but at the same time, i wish the national security adviser had not said that the relationship is heading towards some kind of -- i think she used the word destructive. it's going to survive this. this is a spat. we should build after this terrible incident and try to find ways to strengthen the relationship. you know i think netanyahu's message on congress with iran i share some of the concerns about the negotiations with iran. but let's see what the administration comes up with before you start criticizing a final deal. i have reservations about it because of iran's activities in the region because it's not going to completely dismember iran's nuclear capability. >> so then the impact of this speech is it being overblown at

all? >> no, it's not, because there was a serious breach of protocol. obviously, the two leaders don't have a good relationship. is it going to be repaired? i doubt it but that doesn't mean the american people the congress, many people that care about the u.s.-israeli relationship -- the relationship will stay standing strong. nobody's going to punish israel. i think there's just too much support for israel in this country. they're our firmest ally in the region, but this is like a lover's quarrel gone really bad. and the issue is going to be how can we repair it. i think it can be repaired but this is not a good incident that's going to happen when the prime minister addresses the congress. i hope never something like that happens again. >> you know secretary kerry said this morning that he cannot promise that the iran talks are going to reach a deal by the deadline on march 31st but he

does remain hopeful. do you think the leaders involved in those talks are at all overestimating iran's commitment? >> well i have real doubts about iran. you know they kidnap american journalists. they kidnap american marines. they're messing around with hamas and hezbollah, with syria. they're not constructive players in the region. i want to see a deal where the enriched uranium is terminated. it's not temporarily halted. i want to see the strong sanctions continue. but i'm willing to see what comes out of an agreement. maybe they'll pull something out. and i think the president is doing his very best as is secretary kerry. but that doesn't mean as a foreign policy and as a former government official that i trust iran. i don't. i think they're up to their typical games, and i doubt their sincerity in pursuing these talks. >> all right. i thank you for your candor,

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well a boston man who's just had it with all the snow says there is something i'm going to do about it. he's selling it. no seriously, he is. >> i was shoveling the front walkway with my wife. we were just kind of joking around and just talking about shipping it to our friends and family just to get it out of our front yard. when we started thinking about it, just decided to launch a simple joke website. >> well that website is pitching bottles of boston snow for about $20 or a container for about $90. and there are takers, would you belief it. more than 130 orders so far. so he's one person who might want to see winter hang around for a whole lot longer. mapping the human brain and making a digital copy. it's not the basis of science

fiction. it's the long-term work of scientist henry markram. it's being documented not only in scientific journals but what will be a ten-year documentary film. >> this is the beginning of henry's lab. >> scariest thing is by the end of the movie, we could have a number of these working. >> the blue brain project is i think, it's a controversial project definitely and it's very polarizing in the community. >> msnbc's exploring today's most innovative minds with seven days of genius. it's a project and partnership with new york's 90-second street cultural community center. let's bring in the director of the "blue brain" documentary project, noah hutton. welcome to you. big question here how does one commit to a ten-year documentary project? >> it's 15 years now.

>> really? >> it is. >> so even bigger question. so answer that. 15 years. >> well he set out a timeline so he was going to simulate the whole human brain in ten years. he gave that in a t.e.d. talk very controversial. i said you can't make this film in one or two years, as i would normally do. you have to cover that timeline with the timeline of your film. >> so you went to that t.e.d. talk. you went there and got inspired by all this. you've had to put a lot into this. i mean i understand self-funding and the like. you're going to switzerland every year. you take off and shoot this. talk about the challenges though, of doing this of getting the interest. i think people are fascinated, but they might wonder how are you going to put this in film form? >> people want answers from neuroscience now. you want to solve diseases. you want stuff that we can take home with us from these findings. but the reality of the situation is we're very early in our understanding of the brain and the challenge for me as a filmmaker is to communicate that responsibly but to chart this actual work that's going on which is fascinating. it's just the insights are

coming slower than we would hope. so i have to self-fund this project. i go there once a year. now it's 15 years because they became the human brain project last year which was another ten-year reset of the timeline. so now i'm 15 years in. i'm six years into a 15-year film. >> well, it's going to be an extraordinary thing. let's listen to another clip from the project thus far. here's that everyone. >> next year we'll jump to the next level of super computing. it's basically getting prepared for a quantum leap to hold brain simulations. >> there's a bottle of champagne waiting in my desk when he can built a 10 million self-circuit. we're going to have a little party. >> look, noah, you're not a scientist. you're a filmmaker. how difficult is it for you to get your head around what is going on to be able to properly document this in film form?

>> it's difficult. part of why i like making the film is i get to go there every year and try to do exactly that. you use that to communicate to the public. it works both ways for me. i try to understand it and help people to see what's going on. i did study neuroscience as an undergraduate, which did help. i'm able to hang a little bit with these people. but they're at the highest level. >> but that must explaining why when you heard him at the conference it was a natural click for you to pick this thing up. are you able to do anything else with your time? >> absolutely. i do this for about three or four weeks out of the year. >> oh. >> otherwise, i do a lot of other projects. i have a new film premiering next month at south by southwest. >> down in austin. what's that about, quickly? >> it's called "deep time." it's about a small town in north dakota in the midst of this oil boom that's been going on. completely dirnts topic. >> absolutely different topic. we also should say to people you come from a show business family. your mother is debra winger. your father is timothy hutton. do you think this is just natural for you to forge a

career in the arts? despite your neuroscience major. >> it might have been yes. but i'm not interested in acting at the moment. so i'm acting at the moment so i'm interested in directing. but i did grow up on sets and around the business. i did grow up with a camera in my hand so maybe it's natural. >> i think it's natural, indeed. noah hutton thank you for coming and talking with us we're going to follow it. >> appreciate it. >> okay. so who are the greatest minds in modern history? you tell us msnbc has created a bracket and is asking the public to join the debate. cast your vote by going to msnbc.com/geniusshowdown and watch for seven days of genius all week here on msnbc. so who were -- why doesn't hollywood look more like america? that's next.

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to the west coast now. a new study looking at the entertainment industry. it's called the hollywood diversity report and was just released by ucla this past week. let's take a look at these

numbers. of all the leading actors in films in 2013, 83% of them were white. gender in film 75% of those actors are male. kelly carter joins me now to put some of these numbers into context. good to see you again, my friend. i want to get your main take away from these numbers. what do you think? >> who knew? who knew that people actually wanted to see diversity in themselves reflected in hollywood. >> dripping with sarcasm, okay. >> completely completely. i think that you know hollywood is finally seeing what viewers really want, and that is to see a reflection of themselves on film. >> okay. let's take a look at though who runs these studios according to this report. you've got 94% are white, 100% are male. so does this all stem from the top? >> i think so. i think that probably the diversity shift needs to happen with behind the camera because those are the people that are creating shows, hiring people developing and trying to tap into what people want to see.

so we need to see studio execs who are women and people of color, in order to see some real progress in hollywood. >> uh-huh. i'm sure you don't forget oscar host neil patrick harris he joked about the best and the whitest. but he wasn't joking really because all the actor winners went to white actors and actresses. that's all they had to choose from. they were all white. did the study find films with casts about 30% diverse did best at the worldwide box office? i mean is that part of what's influencing what we see? >> that's part of what's influencing what we see. if you kind of go back to the end of 2013 hollywood watchers were shocked that the best man holiday, all films centered on black casts did as well as they did at the box office. what's that going to mean now in 2013 a lot of films that were green lit on the heels of that success come out that represent, you know, a bit of a broader audience, you know there's a

bruce lee biopic coming so asian americans, latinos at the box office and definitely more black americans, and i think that's what should be happening. >> even what should or for moral reasons be happening, didn't this study also show that the more diverse the cast the more money you're going to bring in? >> absolutely. it's been said a million times before but the only color that really matters in hollywood is green, and if it's putting butts in seats and money in wallets, that's what's going to be the selling cost. >> this is a topic of discussion, has been for some time. how confident are you, though that the discussion is changing and actions are going to be followed up? >> i actually feel pretty good. you look at the top tv shows, the top new tv shows that came to our television sets this year are fronted by diverse casts, and that's what's selling and we're going to see more of that coming. >> all right. kelly carter i told you in the commercial break we might have to do this short and sweet and you did it. thank you very much, appreciate it. packed it in.

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this sunday, the politics of this sunday, the politics of security. is dysfunction in washington jeopardizing our safety. >> we're going right into the valley of death. >> the department of homeland security narrowly avoids a shutdown, temporarily. republicans are now in control, are they ready to lead? i'll ask a key gop house leader. plus 2016, the fight to become the conservative alternative to jeb bush. ben carson joins me exclusively. and murder in moscow. after a critic of vladimir putin is shot dead, putin said he'll personally lead the investigation. can he be trusted? then there was senator james inhofe. >> it is very, very cold out. >> proof that global warming is