. >> kevin: (groans) >> esther: deedee, guess what? pinkerton told me she wants to play with you. there you go. okay, let's see-- hankies. oh, my gosh. everyone's gonna need hankies. >> jill: oh, esther, for god sake. >> victoria: i know that pinkerton and mcruff are gonna love it that you're keeping them company, too. >> billy: yeah, and who wants to sit in a drafty old church, anyway? >> kay: when your mother and kevin come home from their honeymoon, you can wear your lovely flower girl dress for all of us. >> chloe: (crying) (sighs) here. >> jill: what's the matter? >> victoria: is it kevin? >> billy: this is billy abbott. what's going on? okay, thank you. (laughs) that was delia's doctor. her latest blood test results are back, and her white blood count is high enough to fight infection. >> jill: (gasps) >> billy: she's doing great. she's doing better than great. guess who's going to a wedding? >> delia: (screams) >> all: (laughing) >> chloe: yay! are we so excited? (giggles) >> billy: mwah! >> chloe: mwah! >> kay: and that, my friend, is a christmas miracle. >> jill: (laughs)

esther, you've been talking about occupy a lot. themes of the movement being articulated by the president himself? >> witnessing evidence of the power of a movement. literally. like, he said, it is not that barack obama hasn't spoken about inequality before. he's done so many times. this is the first time he's framed it in that language it's not the 1% or 99%. that's a framework established by the occupy movement. so 1% now firmly in the minds of america will be goldman sachs, wells fargo, will be wall street. the 99% will be who? it will be us. you know what i mean? the us and them has now been firmly framed in a way that the president has failed to do up until this point. >> but kansas is a really interesting test case. thomas franks spoke, what's the matter with kansas? for decades we saw whites voting against their economic interest. so, is there going to be a shift now? >> yes, no -- i mean, you know, there's a shift happening in this country. you know, we have been a country where people vote based on their aspiration, not on

. >> george clooney and stacy keibler don't have anything on bruce and esther hoffman.couldn't remember what their granddaughter told them. she just wanted to take a picture. but the video is rolling close to three minutes of them having fun. ♪ >> that's a remix. that's bruce's remix. >> i like when he starts flirting with esther. >> see how pretty her hair is? just drop your dress a little bit and see your boobs. >> stop it! >> where are his hands? where are grandpa's hands. >> based on where he was looking -- i have a pretty good idea. >> boy, he's just like nick. >> he's 80-some years old and he's definitely still a dude. >> that never changes. >> but he's still a dude for his one main squeeze. it's not like he's out there looking at internet porn, he's looking at his wife. >> that's right, beth, he is. >> i like that she's going to town on a hard candy. that's so grandma. >> these two seniors have nearly ten million hits on the internet and they spawned a facebook page, the happy hoffmans. >> i think they're the youtube couple o2011. >> no doubt! >>> a toothpick to

the organization of the year award goes to the family violence prevention fund, esther is the executive director, and the family violence prevention fund, a quick description, works to prevent violence within the home and the committee to help those whose lives have been devastated by violence, because everyone has the right to live free of violence. for more than three decades they have work to end violence against women and children around the world. please join me in welcoming her. she's the director of the family violence prevention fund. [applause] >> thank you so much for this wonderful honor. this is an organizational award. those of you who are directors of organizations know that the only way that you could do the work is by having an extraordinary staff. on behalf of the family violence prevention fund and the staff in this room, debbie lee, who has changed the way health care providers help women who come into emergency rooms, health clinics, and is now making sure that middle school kids get to go to school to learn and have friendships and not be bullied and not to be raped

with thanks to al and esther thompson for what they call their annual tacky light tour. 170,000 lights, 150 home-made hand painted figures, we are guessing all of it visible from space. >>> up next, what one family saw in our making a difference report that inspired them to pick up the phone, calling to help even before we were off the air. >>> all this week here we are following up our making a difference reports, checking back in to see what's happened since our stories aired originally. well, tonight the heart-warming story of a family that had fallen on hard times like a lot of other folks, and the strangers who saw the story of their plight. they are not strangers anymore. nbc's chris jansing has tonight's making a difference report. >> reporter: to the unknowing eye the hidalgo family is doing something very ordinary -- decorating their christmas tree. the extraordinary thing about it is this will be their first real christmas in three years. >> they were waiting for the moment when we can finally have something that we really, you know, wanted for christmas like every kid. >> re

government, literally minutes ago, has passed a vote on a new austerity program outlined by prime and esther mario monti. it has passed its first hurdle in the lower house in the past few moments and is expected to go to another vote in the upper house shortly, before it is turned into law. as we follow the unfolding events in the eurozone efforts to deal with the mountain of sovereign debt, the italians have passed in the lower house of parliament, a new austerity package. still to come on "gmt," defying the odds -- doctors in california preparing to send home one of the smallest premature babies ever to survive. the european council president has offered to the british what he called a technical role when eu and leaders meet at the end of january. but tensions between britain and france are still high. the bank of france chief says credit rating agencies should downgrade britain before france. >> fears of isolation in europe after the british prime minister vetoed plans for a new eu treaty last week. to have evacuated. britain will not have a vote on the content of the treaty, but represen

and esther newland of the san francisco d.a.'s office says it is back on the rise especially here in california. >> they are preying on that feeling, that emotion, that gut reaction that you have, when you hear your grandchild is in trouble. >> but it was may who ended up in trouble. according to western union's records someone she never heard of picked up the money intended for her grandson and something may thought was impossible. >> one of the questions i asked when i sent the money, how positive are you the money can be picked up only by joshua and she said 100%. >> once the payment goes through western union, it is gone. >> nicky dunker of the resource center says they have protection like photo i.d. and confirmation notice but savvy criminals find the ways around them. >> they're cunning. they are smart. and they have a way with words. >> we asked western union to investigate laura may's case. meanwhile, laura may is hoping her bad experience will serve as a lesson for others. >> when you get frightened, you don't think. >>

to these are amongst the fast of esther awaits revolution with a monument to the man who set himself aligned around his das on the leash to protest movement that gave birth to the arab spring but many people in the country are frustrated that lack of change says the uprising that so hopeful real reforms. kazakhstan's all sorts he's impose a curfew no time in the west of the country saying it's by going to control after friday's riots that left at least eleven people dead the rest began during celebrations marking twenty years since the central asian country one independence from the soviet union. and a trial in absentia agnew court ruled that iran provided material support to al qaida the nine eleven attacks in america critics however say tehran is not guilty on the verdict is merely a pretext to demonize iran and wage war. up next moscow has just the same for those hungry for more curious cuisine. hello and welcome to the pride when this speech i will take a look at that through to restaurants in moscow from persian food today to meet face to russian capital with cuisine from all ov

reporter: the well meaning senior isn't a western union money transfer to her grandson for $2,700 and esther of the san francisco d.a.'s office says it's back on the rise especially here in california, the grandma scam. >> they are playing on that feeling that emotion that gut reaction that you have when you hear your grandchild is in trouble. >> reporter: but it was may who ended up in trouble. according to western union's records someone she never heard of picked up the money she intended for her grandson something mae didn't think was possible. >> one of the questions i asked when i sent the money, how positive are you that this money can only be picked up by joshua? and she said, 100%. >> once that payment has gone through western union, it's gone. >> reporter: mickey junker of the id theft resource center says western union has protections like requiring a photo i.d. and confirmation number but savvy criminals find ways around them. >> they're cunning and they are smart. and they have a way with words. >> reporter: we have asked western union to investigate laura mae's case. meanwhile,

esther, we'll be back. bruce? champion and just to intimidate you a little bit, i'm going to wear a web cam while we do this. all right? because i know those things freak you out a little bit. so i got the web cam. >> this is my bucket list. >> this is, playing pingpong with me? hold on one second. >> go, babe. >> i'm focusing on you. >> i'm ready. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ah! tried to get aggressive on me. >> wait. here we go. >> good. >> hold on. >> you are good. >> whoa. that was good. bruce and -- go ahead. a spinner. >> ah! >> all right. hang on. you have a ball over there? ♪ mm-hmm. >> ah. >> you see? under estimated the young guy here, didn't you? >> well, yes. where is it? >> it's behind you. bruce and esther hoffman, thank you very much. thanks to all of our 2011 internet stars. we really enjoyed catching up with you guys. and happy new year. way to go, pal. nice job. >> thank you, matt. >> we're back after this. all right. you got it. >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morn

with thanks to al and esther thompson for what they call their annual tacky light tour. 170,000 lightshome-made hand painted figures, we are guessing all of it visible from space. >>> up next, what one family saw in our making a difference report that inspired them to pick up the phone, calling to help even before we were off the air:. have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue or throat swelling, occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lune

. >> reporter: at the windmill cafe today, esther, a farmer, seemed to symbolize where the republican party finds itself at the moment. >> i am not definite yet. >> reporter: you are leaning? >> it's between two people. >> reporter: she likes gingrich's experience and romney's personal life and story. the most important thing to her -- she does not want four more years of obama. >> i want the republican candidate to be the best candidate that we can put forward to run against the president. >> reporter: now, the romney campaign, diane, has shown a willingness to make its attacks a little bit more personal than the other campaigns. one surrogate for governor romney, the former governor of new hampshire, john sununu said today of gingrich that his mind isn't so hot and that his commitment is terrible. so, in response, the top supporter for the gingrich campaign in iowa said all the romney attacks are a load of crap. diane? >> this is more than just gloves off. jake, thanks to you. i'm going to bring in "gma" co-anchor george stephanopoulos. so, george what are mitt romney's advisers say

with thanks to al and esther thompson for what they call their annual tacky light tour. 170,000 lightshome-made hand painted figures, we are guessing all of it visible from space. >>> up next, what one family saw in our making a difference report that inspired them to pick up the phone, calling to help even before we were off the air. help even before we were off the air:. have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue or throat swelling, occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness and morni

al and esther thompson have more than 170,000 lights and counting.ou'll meet them and other deca-holics on a tacky lights tour later on sunday morning. >> osgood: ben tracy opens a few holiday e-cards. bill flannagan shares his list of musical gifts. martha teichner introduces us to the american guy who made it big at the bolshoi blue jay ballet but first the headlines for the 18th of december, 2011. the last american combat forces have left iraq. the final convoy rolled across the border into neighboring kuwait at day break this morning. nearly 4500 americans died in the nearly nine-year war. thousands more were wounded. more than 100,000 iraqi lives were lost. our jim axelrod was with the troops as they pulled out and we'll hear from him in just a few minutes. the house is expected to vote tomorrow on a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut and of jobless benefits. the extension, passed by the senate yesterday, would also require president obama to approve or reject a proposed oil pipeline from canada within 60 days. he wanted to wait until un

esther's had sold out almost all of their stock before the i.p.o. typically an i.p.o. is when insiders are venture capitalists have a chance to cash out some of their money but in this case almost all the money was already cashed out the c.e.o. cashed out for over a billion even before the i.p.o. this seems to be a new chapter in the i.p.o. scandals going back decades without a doubt there's something called second market that you know in theory is a good thing because it's providing liquidity to early stage companies it's allowing people to trade shares with zero s.e.c. oversight on of the exchange where regular investors are not permitted to tread it's really only people that are qualified to be there whether by virtue of how high their net worth is or whether or not they're an insider in one of these companies so essentially they were arranging for buying and selling in a market that is not an s.e.c. registered market like the new york stock exchange like the nasdaq now there is a good part of that but there is a bad part of that the good part of that again it facil

. >> esther is unemployed, putting three children through college and raising her developmentally delayedon. he and the family were 48 hours from losing power to their san francisco home because they couldn't afford too-to-pay their bill, but then, emergency pro visions kicked in. >> she worked with me as far as saying whatever is past due she'd add partial payments of what was past due to my current bill. >> the pro visions put into place in february, 2010 and require pg&e to give customers who qualify three months to pay off their bills. and pg&e must personally meet with the customer and if diskkted- -- disconnected the utility is prevented from charging to restore power. when california public utilities commission implemented provisions pg&e had the lrjest disconnection rate of poor people out of all four major utilities in california. more than 8% but that dropped to 5.6%. and many credit emergency pro vision autos we have income qualified customers such as care and reach program. what we've been doing is doing a better job of getting word out to customer autos the consumer advocate

john esther was arrested on ten counts of felon sex crimes. he's accused of assaulting a 14-year-old boy at az home and another boy ten years ago. neither victims were students for the list of schools he works out in the diablo, school district. >>> police arrested two men accused of a four-month long robbery spree. 27-year-old darrell doug and 32-year-old matthew howard will appear in court january 18th. the pair would identify potential victims and follow them home before robbing them at gunpoint. they robbed 20 people from oakland and fremont before they were caught. police say they targeted older asian victims who were wearing gold jewelry as they shopped. >>> a san jose mom is due in court accused of an unimaginable crime on christmas. the 24-year-old cortez initially faced several charges for tossing her 22-month-old son out of a second story window. now she'll face child abuse charges, not attempted murder. she barricaded herself and the boy in a bathroom, then dropped him out of a window before jumping herself. the toddler did survived

. >> this esther randolph, she's relentless. that, icky? my desk which used to be in my suite when i ran the [ bleep ] city is ready for use. >> will there be anything else? >> no. >> jimmy: that's what i'm talking about. [ cheers and applause ] nucky! steve buscemi, "boardwalk empire" airs sundays at 9:00 p.m. on hbo. check him out this weekend on "saturday night live!" we'll be right back with darrell hammond, you guys. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] there are over half a million apps and counting on the iphone. apps that can take you anywhere and do anything. you might say there's no limit to what this amazing device can do. so the question to ask is -- why would anyone want to limit the iphone? [ phone beeping ] we don't. truly unlimited data for your iphone, trouble hearing on the phone? only from sprint. visit sprintrelay.com. truly unlimited data for your iphone, trouble hearing on the phone? a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch"

. >> esther is unemployed, putting three children through college and raising her developmentally-delayed cas. they were 48 hours away from losing the power to their san francisco home because they couldn't afford to pay their pg&e bill. but then the emergency provisions kicked in. >> she work with me and saying whatever is past due she would add partial payment of what was past due to my current bill. >> the provisions were put in place back in february, 2010, and require pg&e to give customers who qualify a minimum of three months to pay off their delinquent bills. pg&e must personally meet with the customer before shutting the power off if the customer depends on power for their medical needs. if they are disconnected the utility is prevented from charging the customers a credit deposit to restore their power. >> we would be happy to help but that. >> when the california public utilities commission implemented the provisions, pg&e had the largest disconnection rate of poor people out of all four major utilities in california. more than 8%. but that has since dropped to 5.6%. many credi

. >> esther is unemployed, putting three children through college and raising her developmentally-delayed

." >> he's looking no worse for wear for dealing with esther. >> you know, i'm 29 years old.re 18 and look what esther as done to both of you guys. >> i was 6'4" before. >> more "morning joe" in just a moment. >>> for the holidays we put together a special segment for you folks called barney frank -- oh, for the love of god, barney frank, congressman, massachusetts retiring. the segment is barney frank, oh, for the love of god. >> so yes, we are aware of the importance and i would just repeat what i said at the first because i have found surprisingly that not everybody listens to everything i say the first time i say it. >> dick cheney, the only thing about dick cheney, he was vice president for eight years and best known for shooting a buddy in the face. and he's saying now that the united states -- now is the time for us to invade iran. yeah, now is the time. and here's my prediction. we will get ourselves into another war in the mideast when monkeys start riding dogs. you know what i mean? oh, no, wait a minute, hey! is this the greatest country in the world? [ female anno

>> i really don't know what the circumstances of those sales -- >> esther baxter, do you? yes or no woodward? >> there are provisions in law for bona fide purchaser. and those transactions come while i don't remember acid as perhaps i wished it, jafa, you help but i think the bankruptcy may approve some of those transactions. and ice in the bankruptcy court would not have approved transactions if the bankruptcy court felt they were violated of law. >> mr. kitchen? >> i know no more a congressman than that. i do have some recollection. it was approval but i know nothing more directly. >> mr. duffy speakers i have no other knowledge other than what i read in the paper also. >> mr. kirk? >> i have nothing further, circuit. >> mr. berkovitz? >> i can't really comment on where the money, where the transactions wait passionate may have gone. where try to trace these. were trying to get the money back. >> do you think would be reasonable for customers to expect some clawback starting with mr. baxter? >> again, there are protections in law for transferees who are bona fide purchas

so compelling is that as women and muslim christians are coming together you look to the book of estherif you will. >> when we decided to protest, liberia like any other place even here had been divided on social lines status, ideological, everything. and you could not mobilize a group of people to work for peace because everyone in one community was a hero to his people. so it was difficult to get anyone so when we brought these women together the fact the first thing we had to do was move beyond religion, ethnicity, ideological or political ideologies and bring us to a place where it was about womanhood. who cries the most when a baby dies? who does this the most? who does that the most? who are the ones being raped? then they understood that part and then before we could even move into the you need the separate groups identities as christian women and the thing we were getting was women have developed in these things so we have to take the christian women back to the bible, si tester. these were revolutionary works that is the women did. they got out there and put their faces in the

esther! ya voy para allÁ para que empecemos.pero no chistero. >> pero tiene sentido del humor que es lo importante. >> y tiene una capacidad para improvisar grande. inmensa y eso tiene que ver con el humor y en la improvizaciÓn tambiÉn estÁ el asunto. >> ademÁs de que es un gran conductor, es un buen comediante, y gran imitador! >> me cerrÓ entrando al canal. [risas] >> ademÁs de que canta precioso. yo no sabÍa. en una over nigth. se pegÓ con un piano ahÍ compadre! >> yo soy sordo de las dos piernas. >> tÚ imitas a oscar de leÓn? >> no todavÍa. >> por quÉ? >> no porque le falte voz, carisma y trayectoria que le sobra sino que el gavÁn que llevo me lo regalÓ el propio juan luis guerra para su imitaciÓn, vestidos de lola flores, guantes de a michael jackson que en paz descanse pero hasta que no tenga el bajo no podrÉ sacar el contrabajo de oscar de leÓn. uno de esos que sobren, que ya no use. [ aplausos ] >> cuando ya no uses le das a... [risas] >> todavÍa lso usa. lo usa. >> le va a dar un bajo que no sea yo! [risas] >> esto prom

. -- esther ecological reasons. you heard george w.d people in texas say don't mess with texas. the evangelical right here has the same attitude -- don't mess with israel. that has a huge foreign policy effects in the political marketplace. we might disagree whether it should, but in fact is and does. thank you for your call. this is michael. good morning. what's on your mind? >> i was listening to ron paul earlier when he said he did not accept the retirement package. i wanted to ask him if he ever thought of asking the senators to make three times the average salary if they should be paying for their own health care, their own insurance for their cars, their own gas like the average person does instead of what their $175,000 a year. we have to pay for all of these things for them. when you save pennies, it runs into dollars. >> i will leave that as a rhetorical question well stated. thank you. this is taught. good morning. >> our you doing? >> i'm great. thank you for calling. >> that like to say to everyone in iowa, if you're not th

so compelling is that as women and muslim christians are coming together you look to the book of esther and say something about that if you will. >> when we decided to protest, liberia like any other place even here had been divided on social lines status, ideological, everything. and you could not mobilize a group of people to work for peace because everyone in one community was a hero to his people. so it was difficult to get anyone so when we brought these women together the fact the first thing we had to do was move beyond religion, ethnicity, ideological or political ideologies and bring us to a place where it was about womanhood. who cries the most when a baby dies? who does this the most? who does that the most? who are the ones being raped? then they understood that part and then before we could even move into the you need the separate groups identities as christian women and the thing we were getting was women have developed in these things so we have to take the christian women back to the bible, si tester. these were revolutionary works that is the women did. they got out the

so compelling is that as women and muslim christians are coming together you look to the book of esther about that if you will. >> when we decided to protest, liberia like any other place even here had been divided on social lines status, ideological, everything. and you could not mobilize a group of people to work for peace because everyone in one community was a hero to his people. so it was difficult to get anyone so when we brought these women together the fact the first thing we had to do was move beyond religion, ethnicity, ideological or political ideologies and bring us to a place where it was about womanhood. who cries the most when a baby dies? who does this the most? who does that the most? who are the ones being raped? then they understood that part and then before we could even move into the you need the separate groups identities as christian women and the thing we were getting was women have developed in these things so we have to take the christian women back to the bible, si tester. these were revolutionary works that is the women did. they got out there and put their f

esther johnston, you are recognized for five minutes. >> chairwoman biggert, ranking member gutierrez, thank you for allowing me to testify on this important issue. i also want to thank you for having the young courageous witnesses on the first panel, and there is certain evidence all of us need to do more. to help someone in this nation have no place to call home. families with children make up to large a share of our homeless population. u.. importantly, this overall decline reflects reductions in all groups, individuals, the chronically homeless, veterans, and families with children. the reduction of homelessness among families was 2.4% from 2010 and 5% since 2007. while we as a nation have a long ways to go, given high record poverty rates and unemployment rates, it's heartening that we are seeing at least some progress again in reducing homelessness. these reductions are a testament to both recent nationwide homeless prevention efforts as well as continued funding of proven programs authorized by this subcommittee, that provides supportive housing to homeless families and individ

at the same time, it is really foreign minister lieberman was in moscow meeting with prime and esther putin -- prime minister putin, and in front of the tv cameras mr. lieberman said he talked to is really observers of russian elections and they all told him that there were no serious issues. i can assure you that mr. lieberman, whose family came from the soviet union, and who is a very conservative is really leader, to the right of netanyahu, that he is not naive about russia and about russian politics. i know he was not -- by the russian government. he had very difficult with -- negotiations with putin and others because israel had serious disagreements with russia over russian militant support of syria, iran, hamas. and lieberman came to moscow to try to persuade russia to change seriously question positions of all of these issues of great importance to israel. lieberman made a calculation that as he was negotiating with russia on matters of great importance to israel, that would not be the best time for him to criticize russian government domestic policies. during last 20 years, w

. >> esther date and congressman asked a question -- yes today congressman asked if anything had been done wrong. it is a simple question. are any of the charges made against you from but the other commissioners or from the nrc staff true? >> my experience has been there is not a chilled work environment. the staff tell me their views candidly. i have not seen a situation where people are afraid to raise their views with me. i can be passionate, intense, i am committed to the safety job i have, and if that is ever -- that has ever been misconstrued, i want to know that immediately so i can address that and assure people that it is not the case. i have had for two and a half years the same core group of senior managers. i have had over 15 or more staff working in my personal office, 10 of whom at this time are when and. none of them has ever express' any concern to me -- expressed any concern to me, and they have very much enjoyed working with me. >> to all the other commissioners, he testified he believed you have fulfilled your oath by signing a letter to the white house expressing y