>> mike taibbi starting us off from phoenix tonight. mike, thanks. >>> now to a new fight that's erupted in public today over the end of the war in afghanistan. fed up and frustrated, the president of the united states issued an ultimatum to the president of afghanistan today. after 13 years of war, it affects how and when every american finally comes home. our pentagon correspondent jim administration chef ski is tonight traveling with the chairman of the joint chiefs in afghanistan. he joins us by satellite from bagram air base tonight. jim, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. u.s. and nato leaders were already scheduled to meet tomorrow in brussels to talk about the way ahead in afghanistan. instead, they may now be looking for the way out. joint chiefs chairman general martin dempsey was about to land in afghanistan tonight when he got the word. start preparing to pull all u.s. troops out of afghanistan by the end of the year. >> we are at a point where we have to begin planning for other options. >> reporter: in a phone

nbc's mike taibbi has our report from london. >> reporter: surging wind-whipped seas, torrential rain, or both. one official said a conveyer belt of storm systems since the first of the year has made this the wettest, most dangerous winter on record. overnight, masonry from a london building was blown out to a car below, killing the woman at the wheel. a monster wave crashed on a cruise ship killing a passenger. and 3 people were rescued from a restaurant when the surf driven by hurricane-force gusts invited it self in. >> the winds just smashing itself against the win dose. there was glass everywhere. it was not safe for anyone. >> reporter: and it is not safe for tens of thousands of homes now swamped after major rivers including the thames burst their banks. the only way to get to some neighborhoods is by boat or in our case, by amphibious duck boat. by one weather service estimate if the rain stopped today and it has not, it would take weeks if not months for conditions in the flood plains for the river thames to get back to normal. the floodwaters have crippled rail service and m

mike taibbi has our report from london. >> reporter: surging wind-whipped seas, torrential rain, or both. one official said a conveyer belt of storm system since the first of the year has made this the wettest, most dangerous winter on record. overnight, this woman was killed at the wheel after a crash. a monster wave crashed on a cruise ship killing a passenger. and people were rescued from a restaurant when the surf driven by the hurricane-force gusts invited itself in. >> the winds just smashed itself against continue window. there was glass everywhere. >> reporter: and it is not safe for tens of thousands of homes now swamped after major rivers burst their banks. the only way to get to some neighborhoods was by boat, or in our case, by amphibious duck boat. if the rain stopped today and it has not it would take months or weeks for this river to get back to normal. the flood waters have crippled rail service and made walking difficult. and escaping by car, as many have tried, difficult at best. you're going to wait all night? >> got nowhere else to go. >> reporter: meanwhile, these pu

here's nbc's mike taibbi. >> reporter: dylan farrow's letter is graphic. she says when she was 7, woody allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic, told me to lay on my stomach. then he sexually assaulted me. she said other inappropriate touching happened so routinely, i thought it was normal. allen's attorney responded it's tragic after 20 years a story engineered by a vengeful lover resurfaces, even though it was investigated and vetted by authorities. the one to blame for dylan's distress is not dylan or woody allen. allen's publicist added after an investigation experts concluded there was no credible evidence of molestation, that dylan had an inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality and had likely been coax bid home run mother mia farrow. no charges were filed. dylan and her adopted mother, mia farrow, first reprised the abuse allegations last fall. then came last month's golden globes when allen was celebrated with a lifetime achievement award. >> a genius who takes chances. never compromises his position. >> repor

our report tonight from nbc's mike taibbi. >> reporter: the torrential rains took a day off today, but the consequences of six weeks of nonstop storm systems did not. tens of thousands of homes and businesses in southern england remain swamped by floodwaters with utilities damaged and disfigured rail lines needing repairs that will take weeks to months. in addition, monster wind-driven seas pounded the coastline, smashing a cruise ship where one man was killed and everyone else was terrified. >> it was like a hand grenade had gone off. >> reporter: and prime minister david cameron says there's more punishing weather on the near horizon. >> what we do in the next 24 hours is vital. tragically, the river levels will rise again. >> reporter: it's not just england enduring unprecedented winter misery. it's across all longitudes. in northern india, transportation reduced to walking. in japan, as shown in this amazing time-lapse sequence, there's been more snow than some regions have seen in half a century. in the u.s., the west is encased in a drought for the ages and east coast storms have

nbc's mike taibbi is in phoenix. mike, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. governor brewer has just arrived back in arizona after a conference in washington. while she hasn't tipped her hand yet, the momentum toward a veto is building fast. there have been daily protests over the republican bill allowing businesses to refuse to serve anyone based on religious beliefs. gay rights activists say there's no question about the targets of the bill. >> this is absolutely about legalizing discrimination. and it is so broadly based that it can allow any business to discriminate against anyone. >> it happened in washington state, where a florist refused to provide flowers for a same sex wedding. and in oregon where a baker wouldn't make a wedding cake for a similar couple. the other side, michael salmon of harvest christian church says the bill protects the rights of any private business to serve whom they please. >> if that person wants to refuse your money, he is in the business to do that. >> reporter: but there's been a ground swell of voices this week urging gove

mike taibbi, nbc news, london. >>> from overseas, the need for some sort of solution to end the long and brutal war in syria was made clear once again this weekend, because new pictures show a situation both difficult to watch and equally impossible to ignore. we get our report tonight from our chief foreign affairs correspondent, an drdrea mitche >> reporter: he appears to be only 5, perhaps 6 years old. he cries, my brothers died, my brothers. my brothers. the dust from the bombing still on his eyelashes, mixing with his tears. one of the youtube videos this weekend impossible to verify but u.n. officials say telling the story of incalculable horror. what the u.n. and u.s. call a war crime, people are starving. but the bombing continues. bombs dropped by helicopters. despite a cease fire. evacuees say only a trickle of food is getting through. this man says we were eating leftover wh sff we used to throw out before, nelg anything just to keep us alive. talks collapsed this weekend. the video that has been sent out by opposition rebel groups, how can the administration ignore this?

nbc's mike taibbi has our report. >> reporter: pope francis greeting the faithful in st. peters square today had already been taking steps to deal with what he called the shame of the church. but the report was unsparing saying the church imposed a code of silence over decades of priestly sexual abuse, moved abusers from parish to parish to cover up such crimes, and the policies have led to the continuation of the abuse. >> they have replaced the preservation of the reputation of the church and the protection of the perpetrators above children's best interests. >> reporter: distorted and unfair, the vatican responded. saying the u.n. had failed to consider measures the church has introduced to protect children. the report also requested the release of all vatican records on abuse claims by thousands of children so more perpetrators can be held accountable. victims like barbara doris assaulted as a child for years by a local priest, are encouraged. >> this isn't a moral failing. this isn't a mistake. this is crimes against children. and they need to be investigated by law

nbc's mike taibbi reports from ventura county in california. >> reporter: for ventura county ale avocado farmers, the drum beat of bad news. the quickly shrinking reservoirs spelling disaster for than on this growing season. >> the industries as a whole will be affected, at least three years because of this situation that we're in right now today. >> reporter: he has been relying on county water for irrigation and has not been shut off yet. and has even cut off older, more thirsty less productive trees to save additional water. but all the numbers that describe a drought and its impact are at historic extremes. january rain days, usually southern california's wettest month, zero. january wildfires, last january there were none, this year, 406. snowpack amount, a mere 12% of normal. >> nobody can remember anything like this because nothing like this has happened in over 100 years. >> reporter: and it is not just farmland that is at risk. unless there is a dramatic and unanticipated weather turn around 17 california water districts say they will run out of drinking water in two to three mo

has precipitated a massive backlash, and joining us now, nbc's mike taibbi joining us from phoenix, arizonarnor's people saying about the decision she made? >> i think the most important thing, chris, that we've heard in the last three days while we were waiting for this decision, the least surprising decision given all the words that we've heard all the advocacy we've heard was in an aide to the governor who said two days ago, this bill was never part of her agenda, making that clear, and that being the case, and her being term limited at this point has seemed very clear, given all the pressure that's come to bear in the last 48 hours that there was only one way she was going to make a decision, and she announced that a moment ago as you just heard. >> do you get the sense that the governor and the state political leaders were taken back by the breadth of opposition. you had everything from jpmorgan chase to major league baseball to the nfl to both republican senators. it has been swift and broad the backlash to this piece of legislation. >> yeah, as you know, you've watched arizona politi

. >> nbc's mike taibbi joins us from phoenix. what do we know from the meetings today? >> reporter: well, the governor is going to be very busy today, tamron, she's going to have a number of meetings, one with the three state senators whom you just refer. we spoke to one, who expects to explain why he and his two senate colleagues changed their mind. as you say, originally supported for the bill believed it had nothing to do with lgbt or identity issues, that it was a religious freedom bill, as it says in the text, the words gay, lesbian, lgbt don't exist anywhere in the bill, senator pierce pointed out, so he did support and vote for that, along with his republican congress, then you saw the fallout and saw that whether there's a difference between reality and perception or not, perception is what matters, it's what people are reacting to. he said we made a mistake, we got to fix it. he's going to go and tell the governor exactly that. then the governor is likely going to hear from the phoenix economic council. we spoke to the executive director. he said he's been spea

mike taibbi is live in phoenix. >> governor brewer actually had until saturday to make up her mind but after just one day of soliciting opinions on both sides of this controversial issue she has heard enough. when governor jan brewer returned to arizona after five days in washington the daily demonstrations against the so-called religious freedom bill were still going on. >> we will not stop with our opposition until this bill is vetoed. >> reporter: late wednesday afternoon brewer did just that. >> i have not heard one example in arizona where business owners' religious liberties have been violated. the bill is widely worded. >> reporter: warning of negative consequences, corporate and political voices kept piling on demanding a veto and warning of economic disaster if the bill became law and after political stallworts decided to abandon it. >> we made a mistake and now we got to fix it. >> reporter: the governor made the predicted decision to the cheers of protesters gathered outside the state house. >> we were standing shaking with tears in our eyes. something finally -- our voices

nbc's mike taibbi is in phoenix. good morning, mike. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. governor brewer has until the end of the week to make the decision. the pressure is mounting to kill the bill at the very least has reignited the culture wars. to the devout christians, the bill triggered daily protests is nothing to do with religious freedom. >> i have a right to refuse to serve you for whatever particular reason. >> reporter: what if the reason is the customer is gay like the same-sex couples refused wedding flowers in washington state or wedding cake in oregon. by show of hands, how many think that's okay? >> to refuse? >> yeah. absolutely. >> reporter: but a lot of business owners have been doing the math. like the hotel owner ben bethel who emphasizes he serves everyone but has already heard about possible cancellations. >> $12,000 to $14,000 of lost revenue to the hotel. and that itself results in almost $2,000 in local and state sales tax revenues lost. >> estimates are it's not thousands but untold millions at stake if the bill becomes law and triggers corpora