this came two weeks after michel sam announced he is gay.ent collins a tweet, saying to my friend jason collins, exciting to see you do work out there. meanwhile sam got a lot of attention today from several nfl teams. he could become the country's first gay professional football player. >> reporter: when it came to media availability on saturday he was definitely the most popular. he tried to use that time to take the focus off of him being a gay football player, and simply a football player quite frankly if you look at the numbers, heing didn't perform the way maybe he needed to improve his draft status. he performed the 100 yard draft at one of the slowest in his position. middle of the road at best. so how did he think he performed in the wake of all of the pressure here? shortly after his workouts concluded he spoke to nfl network. >> i thought i did pretty good, matt. it was a good experience to be able to show any talents to the scouts and coaches. >> anything you were disappointed with? everybody has numbers they want to run with. >>

. >> michelle obama calling sam an inspiration to us all the first lady wrote she couldn't be prouder>> and stanford grad jason collins tweeted tweeted i can't wait to cheer for whatever lucky team that drafts sams. collins has not been signed to play for new nba team this svenlt he's at the tail end of his career. you can't necessarily cause and affect. right >> but in this case how do you think this is going to affect his pros snekts >> he was projected as let's say a third, fourth round pick. does it help him? hurt him? i think the important thing is that he's got to go to the right team with the right leadership. you don't want him with miami dolphins after what they went through last season. that could be a disaster. but you have to find the right situation. and is important to note i he told his teammates last season so. this day is coming. it's a question of, you know when that is in the nfl. >> do you think nfl has a plan to make this work? >> there are rumors that the nfl had been meeting with four professional players. guys in the league now and planning a joint announcement

. >>> and one more note of support for michael sam, first lady michelle obama tweeted quote -- you're an inspiration to all of us, we couldn't be prouder of your courage both on and off the field. >>> next tonight, a new and very specific threat in the air. an unprecedented warning about airlines flying into u.s. airports. abc's brian ross has the details tonight. >> reporter: the airplane terror warning was stark and unprecedented. the u.s. embassy in guyana said americans should avoid all flights on caribbean air from guyana to the united states until at least thursday, because of what it termed a specific but unconfirmed threat. >> again, this is out of an abundance of caution. this is unconfirmed threat information. >> reporter: some officials say the threat was not that serious. and today's flight to new york was allowed to land at kennedy airport, met by three homeland security squads with portable x-ray scanners. passengers said they were worried, but not enough to cancel their plans. >> i was scared of going on caribbean airlines but i have to take my chances. >> reporter: u.s

michelle nunn, daughter of sam nunn so far proven to be a strong candidate.ave a potentially large secret weapon. 600,000 unregistered african-americans in the state. you heard me right. thousands more unregistered latinos. asian-americans. women and millennials according to one of our next guests. if you could register those voters, not only would the senate race be effective, but georgia could move closer to being the next big swing state in presidential elections. joining me, ben jealousen, former ceo and president of the naacp. and georgia state representative, house minority leader, stacey ibram. you have this piece on our website, msnbc about this. this is easier said than done. 600,000 unregistered african-americans. get them registered. it's hard to get people registered and to the polls. >> comes down to $8 million is what it will take. $12 per person on average. this can be done. we saw $1 billion spent just by one candidate in the last presidential. this would be less than 1% to put a huge state into play for 2014, for 2016. so there's work that ha

sam also got supportive tweets from michelle obama and joe biden. >>> let's get a live look at sochi, russia, where it's a little after 11:00. quick reminder before we get to the results, a lot of these competitions have not been aired yet. so if you want to wait till tonight, the prime time telecast, plug your ears for the next 20 seconds or so. go! all right. for the rest of you, american julie watts won the bronze in the olympic alpine super combined. the hockey, the u.s. smashed switzerland 9-0. team usa has five medals so far, two gold, three bronze. it might be called the winter olympics, but the weather in sochi is anything but. warmer temperatures are making some olympians sweat. 60-degree weather forced organizers to cancel one ski jump. >>> the weekend rain put a dent in the drought and boosted california's water supply. snow pack provides about a third of california's water supply, while the storm didn't take us out of the drought, many were happy to see impressive amounts of rain and snowfall. >> people depend on the sierra. they depend on the snow melt for their water. so

the world, and they just keep coming today, including from the first lady, michelle obama, and vice president joe biden. sam's announcement comes week before the nfl's scouting combine and the draft in may. michael yves is here. >> it's something that the sports world has been wondering quite some time. who will be the first openly gay player of the nfl. last night we got an inkling when michael sam used an interview with espn to tell the world that he is, indeed, gay. >> i'm not afraid of who i am. i'm not afraid to tell the world who i am. i'm michael sam. i'm a college graduate. i'm african-american, and i'm guy. >> joining us is michael samuel's publicist, howard, thank you so much for joining us today. as i understand it. you were hand selected by sam and his agent because they wanted to put this announcement out before the nfl draft. hyou've worked with other hee profile cases abou before comin. >> our first concern was that the story would break before we had a chance to tell our story, which is why we did it a little perhaps sooner than some people think we should have, but we knew this had a big pote

go like a pro. >>> today shortly after michelle obama tweeted her support for michael sam it was retweeteds, including by many celebrities who wanted to echo its sentiment. and when president obama tweeted essentially the same thing, he was retweeted by even more people than retweeted the first lady. and then i tweeted, "will everyone tweeting support for michael sam now please tweet opposition to name of d.c.'s nfl team? can someone in white house start this?" well, no one in the white house took up that offer, but the discussion of the name of the washington team continued on twitter. i invited defenders of the name to join the discussion. i asked, "what do defenders of d.c.'s nfl team name tell their kids when their kids ask what the team name means?" imagine a 3 or 4-year-old watching football and asking mommy or daddy what does patriots mean? there's a nice little story to tell there. as short or as long as you want. you can include the midnight ride of paul revere if you want to mention one of the individuals who's being implicitly invoked and honored with that theme. and there are w

. >> following the interview, sam got a lot of support from some high-profile people both in and outside of the sports. first lady michellebama and vice president biden called him inspirational in tweets. joining me with more on michael sam is rich eisen. a few unnamed league executives are saying that they don't think the league is ready for an openly gay player and according to the cbs draft spots, he dropped 70 spots. could it be bad for him coming out? >> i don't know what the fallout would actually be, to be honest with you, jake. i don't know what metrics i guess the website that you're referring to used to drop him down any spots. i would hope that this is not an issue in the national football league where professional football players care about winning and losing and whether a teammate can help them win or not regardless of what they do or who they are or what their sexuality is. and for anybody who questions that, i know that there are some unnamed scouts or personnel department individuals who think it may not work. all you have to do is look at a bunch of 18 to 23-year-olds at the university of missouri who kn

sam in 2014. carolina panthers runningback dee angela williams agreed saying all that matters is winning games and being respectful in the locker room. and today fisct lady michelleo your locker room. -- baggage, so when you think about michael sam, all of a sudden, can the players handle the media attention that they're going to get. >> assuming he's drafted, sam will join a small number of professional athletes who have chosen to come out while still playing. basketball star britney greiner did so last year. after she became the number one pick in the women's national basketball association draft. and basketball backup center jason collins came out last april. while where the washington wizards of the nba. 35-year-old is not playing with a team this season. >> and michael sam announcement does raise plenty of questions about how the nfl, its players and sam himself will deal with all this. we explore that with wade davis, a former nfl player who came out as gay after he retired. he is the executive director of the you can play project, an advocacy group working for equality for lgbt athletes in sports. he spoke with sam before his announcement. and kevin blacks

sam in 2014. and this morning, first lady michelle obama tweeted her support writing, quote, you're an inspiration to all of us. we couldn't be prouder of your courage both on and off the field. the support has been widespread, there are still many within the sports world questioning what this could mean for his career going forward. sam is a first team all-american, defensive player of the year in the s.e.c., widely considered one of the top players in all of college football, and in other words, he's a big deal. "sports illustrated" talked to eight anonymous nfl executives and coaches who suggested his path to the league will be daunting. one went so far as to say, i don't think football is ready for an openly gay player just yet. in the coming decade or two, it's acceptable but at this point in time, it's still a man's game, to call somebody a gay slur is still commonplace, it chemically inbalance an nfl locker room and meeting room. howard bragman, michael sam's publicist, vice chairman of reputation.com. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me, craig. >> start with the timing. befor

sam will be taking part in the nfl draft combine this week. michelle? it is not the first time a team from brooklyn has made history. not at all. this time it is the nets but in 1947 the brooklyn dodgers broke the color barrier when they signed jackie robinson. >>> we will, the winter olympics in sochi rush are now history. >> yes. the bear mascot shed a bit of a tear yesterday with a spectacular closing ceremony last night. the event included music played during the closing ceremonies of the 1980 summer games in moscow which, of course, the u.s. did not attend. fireworks exploded over the stadium and the athletes wept onto the field to-athletes went onto the field to celebrate. there were no security scares. the event was terrific. south korea will be the next venue for the winter olympics. now everyone is going through olympic withdrawal. >> i know. >> the closing ceremonies were terrific. did you watch it, liz? >> i did not. i don't know what i was doing last night. what time was it on? >> well, it was pretty late. >> i bet it was great. >>> well, le

. >> as you heard there, the first lady, michelle obama, also vice president biden have legended their support to michael sam, as well. pretty clear from this and other steps the administration has taken, they're seeing the fight for acceptance in the gay community as a defining issue. wolf? >> all right, joe, thanks very much. we're going to have more of the interview, charles barkley's interview with president obama airing later today this hour. also, by the way, at 5:00 p.m. eastern, "the situation room" charles will join us live. we'll discuss what he saw at the white house, the behind the scenes moves, his impression of the president, more. charles barkley joining me live in "the situation room" 5:00 p.m. eastern. >>> a hijacked plane landing and the co pilot claiming out the window. it was that co pilot who actually hijacked the plane. our frederick taken is joining us from berlin. he landed in switzerland. what happened? >> reporter: yeah, wolf, there are so many bizarre details that it's hard to actually name all of them. apparently he waited until the plane reached cruising altitude over africa and

. >> first lady michelle obama moved quickly to praise former university of missouri football player michael samn expected to become the first publicly gay player in the national football league. the first lady adding her initials to show she was personally tweeting, quote, you're an inspiration to all of us,@mikesamfootball, we couldn't be prouder of your courage both on and off the field. she hosted jason collins, the first openly gay nba player, and white house aides say the president is sending a clear message. >> any athletes' abilities should be measured by what -- in the traditional way, in terms of how he or she performs in the sport. >> a more far-reaching announcement came saturday from attorney general eric holder. in a speech to the human rights campaign's annual gala. >> formally instruct all employees to give same-sex emergency full and equal recognition to the extent possible under the law. >> now, same-sex spouses of individuals involved in civil and criminal cases will have the right to decline to give testimony, citing the spousal privilege. federal inmates in same-sex marriage

. >> sam said she told his teammates last august and they were very supportive, the nfl issued a statement saying they support his honesty and look forward to welcoming him and michelle obama called his actions a inspiration to us all. >> let's look at the winter olympics and a quick reminder before we get to those results a lot of those competitions will not be aired until tonight so if you want to wait for the primetime telecast plugs your ears. here we go, julia mancuso won, and in hockey the the usa smashed switzerland and they have 4 models, two gold and two bronze. and it is anything but cold there, it made athletes sweat. it forced them to delay events and cancel others and they say people didn't know that. >> people don't understand how they can do that in the weather. >> coming up temperatures there are supposed to be in the 50s and 60s all week. >> all right, coming up now there is actually a chain way to help you attain your weight loss goals quicker. >> lost for a year and now back in civilization, they didn't believe it but what the real life castaway is revealing on his way home. >> they are flowing and we are here with all the new watery details as new

sam also getting high praise for his courage from the league and even first lady michelle obama.eted, you're an inspiration to all of us. we couldn't be prouder of your courage both on and off the field. >> airlines expecting to make record profits in 2014 thanks to stable fuel prices and growing travel demand. just don't expect ticket prices to get slashed any time soon. >>> and finally, a husky mix named roo awarded best mixed breed dog at the westminster kennel club's first agility competition. it's the first time mutts have mingled with the purebred dogs since 1884. welcome back. >>> well, the desperate search for a missing american in mexico. an online trader who quit his job to travel the world was last heard from back on january 25th when he texted his girlfriend saying he'd be in touch with her later that evening. but instead, he just vanished, leaving his family fearing for the worst. trace gallagher is live in los angeles with more. what do we know about his disappearance? >> reporter: we know the last time he exacted his girlfriend back on january 25th, he was in the m

sam making him a game changer. in santa clara, marianne favro, nbc abare brks krrkbc bay area >>> michelle ocbama said you're an inspirationo all of us, we couldn't be prouder of your courage, both on and off the field. >>> another major step for gay marriage. same sex couple haves new federal rights, they are in effect even if gay marriage is not allowed in their state. they can file for bankruptcy together, they can't be made to testify against their spouse and they can receive military survivor benefits. back in june the supreme court ruled federal law cannot discriminate. conservatives are calling it an over reach of federal powers. same-sex marriage is legal in 16 sa stating including california and washington d.c. >>> experiencing some growing pains even though more than 600,000 people signed up for coverage, budget short falls are projected. they are setting aside $200 million to balance the short falls and hiring staffers for call centers so the waiting time isn't so long. most jobs will be based out of fresno. >>> it's a political hot potato. should the country raise the minimum wage? >> the rest of the country is

almost immediately, sam was met with a flood of support from his teammates at missouri and even from the twitter accounts of president obama and first lady michelleready for michael sam, while also asking, is the nfl ready for michael sam? many nfl players and alumni said, yes, and the league itself issued a statement that said, quote, readmire michael sam's honesty and courage. michael is a football player. any player with ability and determination can succeed in the nfl. we look forward to welcoming and supporting michael sam in 2014. but when asking who is part of this "we," that's where it gets a little tricky. terrell thomas of the new york giants offered this to the "new york post" about sam being gay. quote, i don't believe in it, i don't respect it, but if that's what you want to do, so bit." and the "we" may not even include michael sam's own father. michael sam sr. who got the news about his own son a week before the world did was quoted by "the new york times" as saying he's old school, a man and a woman type of guy, and deacon jones is, quote, turning over in his grave. sam's father later alleged he was terribly misquoted by t"the tim

michelle obama, invited him to the state of the union. >>> the brooklyn dodgers back in 1947 broke color barriers, signing jackie robinson to their team. and michael sam came out earlier this month. the defensive end out of missouri is projected to be a mid round draft pick this up coming spring. if he makes the roster in the nfl, he will be the first active nfl player to be openly gay. >>> happening today the dalai lama will speak today to a sold out crowd at the santa clara levy center. kit is there with more. the excitement is building! >> reporter: yes. people are really looking forward to this event. yesterday people were waiting at 5:30 in the morning. these guys not so much. we are expecting to see that in a couple of hours here. all right. here is a look at what it sounded like in berkeley yesterday. [chanting] >> reporter: the event starting off on a some better tone with a deep, tibetan chant. he is considered one of the world's leading voices on peace and universal ethics and today's lesson on happiness was simple. don't be trapped by money. be compassionate. think of others before yourself and think of the planet. what is the mood on campu

out pouring of support for michael sam who said he is gay and athletes and entertainers congratulated the lineman on social media and got a seal of approval from michelle tweeted support for the university of missouri defensive lineman saying you're an inspiration to all of us and we couldn't be prouder of your courage both on-and-off the field and sam tweeted thank you for your kind words and humbled by your support. there are questions about how sam's revelation will change his world on-and-off the field and he himself came out on the air several years ago as gay and joins us this morning and thanks for being with us. i think some people assume the nfl is homophobic and it was said on the sound bite earlier and sam must have had some confidence he could come out as gay and be accepted by the league. >> he played under a team where all of his teammates new last season he was gay and made it through the season and at the beginning of the season when he first told them during team building exercise in training camp he had the best season of his football career. for myself and as a talk show host i needed to be open and honest and success followed of whe

lady michelle obama called him an "inspiration," tweeting: >>"we couldn't be prouder of your courage both on and off the field." >> reporter:the n-f-l saying, on twitter: >>"we admire michael sam's honesty and courage.we look forward to welcoming and supporting michael sam in 2014." >> reporter:analysts expect him to be drafted. >> reporter:he'll likely face challenges. >> reporter:like this comment from san francisco forty-niner chris culliver, last year, just before his team played in the super bowl. >>"they dont got no gay people on the team. you know, they gotta get up outta here if they do. can't be with that sweet stuff." >> reporter:culliver later apologized. still if drafted, sam could be playing a harder game than he imagined. in washington, im shannon travis. >> pam: at the winter olympics in sochi. day 4 has wrapped up. and american skier julia mancuso added a gold and a bronze to the u-s medal count. >> pam: that pushed the u-s up to fifth place in the medal count with 5. >> pam: .that's behind canada, the netherlands, and norway -- all tied for first with 7. >> pam: russia sits in fourth place with 6 -medals. >> pam: and the netherlands got three -medals -- one each

michelle tonight on c-span. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. our guest for this segment is sam baker from medicare advantage program." thank you for being here. we are talking about the medicare advantage program. explain what that is. guest: medicare advantage program, a subset of medicare. instead of the traditional medicare program, these are private plans that you can buy. they can have wraparound coverage in addition to the traditional benefits. they are reimbursed by the federal government. host: how is it affected by the affordable care act? guest: it cuts medicare advantage program rather significantly. one of the bigger cuts in the law. this is a program democrats have paying insurance companies more to provide the same service the government was already providing. and insurancear companies are afraid we will see additional cuts on top of the cuts in affordable care act. host: we have a chart. what does that mean for a person involved in this program? guest: to some extent we are still figuring this out. sayrance companies will there's no way to make those cuts without

michelle. >> all right. >> touch my finger. >> pull my finger. >> no, please don't. >> that's what richard says. >>> real estate titan sam zell backing developerge fund core of ex-capital in an activist campaign. they want to unseat the board and management of commonwealth, an investment trust that owns more than 300 office buildings in the u.s. if successful, zell will take over as chairman of commonwealth. joining us from sun valley. nice. in an exclusive interview, sam zell, investment groups chairman. i'm trying to figure out where you were and whether you're going to the pioneer tonight, have steak and lobster or something? sun valley, great place, sam. i'm envious. >> yes, for sure. >> what's your plan here and we defer to you on all things real estate, you buy low, sell high. what do you see here that's being mismanaged or that's attractive? >> first of all, this particular situation, the commonwealth situation, is a situation where a structural impediment results in shareholders having almost no voice. by virtue of an externally managed structure of which there are very few equity reits. all of the rest of them are self-managed and avo