what is the latest? >> we're hearing 24 to 48 hours until the passengers are back on dry land. this certainly an easy process and it won't be easy. the massive carnival ship splendor is dead in the water, drifting out to sea. the 3,300 passengers on board were rushed to the upper decks as the crew of the ship battled an engine fire for about three hours monday morning. now, we should point out, carnival says nobody was injured, including the crew of more than 1,100 people, but the blaze did cut off vital power supplies. those on board, as you mentioned, did not have hot food or hot water. the toilets weren't working for several hours, and there's still no phone service. now some of the services have come back online, like the restrooms, but it's still miserable conditions. this morning the uss coast guard was on scene, and the uss ronl reagan is plans to drop supplies to the cargo ship relatively soon. two commercial tug boats are on their way out. they should be in position to tow the ship back. but we're told that could take as mentioned between 24 to 48 hours because the ship is so large, those tugs will be going about 4 miles per hour. now once they're back on dry land, those passengers will then board buses, and they'll be bussed back to long beach. carnival says right now that's the safest and the quickest way to get these passengers back to long beach where this cruise originated from, tamron. >> miguel, thank you very much. another developing story from southern california. pentagon and military officials are trying to figure out who launched a missile off the coast there, and why. officials tell nbc news they have not been able to get information from anyone in the navy or the air force. nbc's jim miklaszewski joins us live from the pentagon. why have they not been able to get information from the navy or the air force on this? >> well, tamron, that's because the avenue and the air force all still insist that there's no evidence that the u.s. military u.s. military launched a missile of any kind. we talked to a missile expert who we relied on at nbc for 25 to 30 years, and he took a very close look at the video shot by the helicopter tv crew out of los angeles. and after looking at the video, he concluded that this was an airplane. that it was an optical illusion that made it appear that it was a missile headed towards the upwards towards space. but instead he said what this is an airplane flying over the horizon because as the objects get further from the camera, the plume or the trail actually gets smaller, where as if it were a missile as it rises, that plume would get larger. and we also have seen comparative video that looks exactly like the video shot over california, that was shot in florida in january, it looks exactly the same, and that, too, was concluded to be an airplane. now we can't say this is mystery solved. because norad is stilling looking into every possibility. but a norad official told us they're looking at the strong possibility that this indeed was an airplane. still no firm conclusion yet. right now president obama is making a long awaited visit to indonesia where he lived for four years as a young boy. it's his second stop on a ten-day trip that will include visits to south korea and japan. his two prior trips were canceled this year. one to pass health care reform. the other because of the bp oil spill in the gulf. and this trip may also be cut short because of an erupting volcano spewing clouds of gas and noxious fumes for two weeks, forcing a quarter of a million people to flee their homes and countless lives also lost as a result as a result of the volcano. they discussed the homecoming of this president. >> when you visit a place that you spend time as a child, as president it's disorienting. i feel great affection for the people here. the sights and the sounds and the memories. all feel very familiar. >> and president obama's visit to the world's most populous mu muslim nation has prompted protest by indonesians saying the u.s. oppresses muslims. one is to foster relations with muslims. the president says he wants to make sure america is building bridgeses. his words with muslim countries. we're going to talk about his efforts to reach out to the muslim world at the bottom of the hour. in the meantime, former president george w. bush showed up bright and early at a store in dallas, texas, to sign copies of his new memoir, decision points. this went on sale today if you haven't heard about it. about 500 people lined up at that store. some waited overnight to see the president kick off this book tour. in an exclusive interview, the former president talked about his mistakes and the most controversial decisions including waterboarding terrorist suspecteds. >> let's talk about waterboarding. we believe america is going to be attacked again. there's all kinds of intelligence coming in. and one of the high valued operatives ordered the attack on 9/11. they say he's got information. i said, find out what he knows. and so i said to our team, are the techniques legal? and a legal team says yes, they are, and i said, use them. >> joining me now to discuss the president's interview, former assistant press secretary for president bush reid dickens and david, good to see you both. thanks for joining me. >> absolutely. >> so reid, some people with are calling this the no apologies tour for this tour. >> i think that's a d.c. story. it's missing the point of the book to psychoanalyze what if he knew then what he knew now and is he sorry enough. this book gives readers a fascinating front row seats to some of the most difficult decisions that any president has ever had to make. it's a snapshot of the role of the presidency, which is a chief executive job where you have to make hundreds of decisions. some wrong. some right. presidents don't get doover ls. they don't get the luxury of knowing then what they know now. >> in any role in our live wls the president of the united states or somebody running your family, you look back ot your decisions and you do ask yourself, did i make a right or wrong decision. that's not d.c. that's reflection. >> no, but that's not fair. he's had a lot of reflection and a lot of time to reflect. i think he was clear last night. last night was authentic bush. he's sorry about a lot of the mistakes that he made. but what people want him to be sorry about was would you knowing then what you know now go into iraq? that's a ludicrous story line. at the time he knew what he knew then. and he had the best information available. and everyone -- >> you speak of iraq. hang on, david. reed was talking about the president and his comments regarding iraq and the war. let's play what he told matt and get your response, david. >> your words. no one was more sickened or angry than i was when we didn't find weapons of mass destruction. you still have a sickening feeling when you think about it. >> i do. i do. >> was there ever any consideration of apologizing to the american people? >> i mine,ean, apologizing woul basically say the decision was a wrong decision. >> david? >> well, i have to agree with everything that my republican friend here says about getting into the mind of the president and making decisions, and yet whattic thats many different is that we are still living with the aftermath of these decisions. this is not yesterday's news. we still have in iraq. we are still are in afghanistan. we still are recovering from the worst recession since the great depression. all of which happened on this president's watch. so what i found so striking about this interview was a seeming disconnect in president bush's mind between what he did and what we witnessed now. he has no regrets? that says he's not paying attention. >> he didn't say no regrets. he said he wasn't apologizing. i do want to play what he had to say as far as regarding the m mission accomplished moment. let's play what he said about it. >> if i had to do it over again, which you don't get to do when you're the president, i would have said, good going, men and women. great mission. or something. i don't know what it is. >> that struck me as interesting. something or i don't know what it is. what do you make of the trailing off of that thought and not being as clear and defiant as he was on so many other topics? >> well, i can only tell you my perspective from being around him every day for several years. i don't think, going back to david's point, i don't think the consequences of the iraq war are lost on this president. i watched him hold the parents of soldiers who have died in iraq. and i've watched him cry with them. i've watched them yell at him, curse at him. i've seen him weep with them. the consequences aren't lost on this president. i think this is a president like most presidents who isn't very good at publicly opining about his regrets. i think he has plenty of regrets. >> weaver almost out of time. one of the regrets was hurricane katrina and flying over as there was misery below. let me play what he told matt. >> huge mistake. >> and it made you look so out of touch. >> detached and uncaring. no question about it. >> whose fault was that? >> that's always my fault. >> david, he says it's always his fault. the buck stops with him. >> interesting contrast with that and then the treatment of the iraq situation and the treatment of the current economic situation. i think the man is capable of understanding and regretting things that he did. what i find so fascinating about this particular interview and this particular book is where he chooses to draw the line between i admit and no, no, i would do the same thing today if presented with the same facts. that's interesting to me. i think it's not lost on the american people. >> the interview, the book in the end, you believe will clang the image or the opinions people have of this president, or if you supported him before, you do that, and if you did not, and do not understand or respect some of the decisions you made, you stand there firmly? >> believe it or not, that's up to you, i don't think he's trying to change opinions of critics right now. i think he wanted this a data point for historians. i don't think history will be written until after we're all dead. and that's genuinely how he feels. this was a man who was comfortable to make decisions that were in the long-term good of the country regardless of the short-term political consequences. that's hard for a lot of d.c. people to process. >> great conversation, thank you. and you can see matt's full interview with president bush by logging onto decision points at msnbc.com. you'll also find an extra unaired portion of the interview where the former president visits his childhood home. and a new report says employers are ready to start hiring again. we're going to tell you where you may soon see jobs open up. plus, why the battle over that still undecided senate seat in alaska is coming closer perhaps to an end. and lady gaga in the classroom. i'm going to talk with a professor teaching a college course devoted entirely to lady gaga. ♪ [ man ] i thought our family business would always be boots. until one day, my daughter showed me a designer handbag. and like that, we had a new side to our business. 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[ male announcer ] see how the hartford helps businesses at achievewhatsahead.com. but now, to get it really cooking, you need a little website development. some transparent reporting, so you know it's working. online ads and 1-on-1 marketing consultation. yellowbook's got all that. yellowbook360 has a whole spectrum of tools. the perfect recipe for success. visit yellowbook360.com and go beyond yellow. in the "news nation" money minute. a new report shows the jobs picture is looking up despite the seemingly stagnant 9.6 unemployed rate. tell me more about the report and the optimism here. >> well, it's an improvement, although there's still a way to go. it's from the young president's organizations which surveys 200,000 ceos globally. in the u.s. there's really a lot more optimism. these are all kinds of companies from all sizes and industries. 36% of the ceos surveyed expect to hire over the next 12 months. that means most aren't. but that is an improvement over the only 25% which did hire in the last 12 months. so we're seeing more expected hiring. 60% of companies expect to see sales climb and nearly half the ceos expect economic conditions to improve in the next six months. that number has moved up. only 12% of ceos expect economic conditions to worsen. one of the most interesting things about this, tamron, is there's a lot of optimism in manufacturing services, but even in construction, ceos which is have seen no improvement are expecting to see better sales and better employment over the next six months. >> are you talking about housing construction? what type of construction? >> all kind of construction. whether it's commercial or housing. construction generally, which has gone nowhere, as you know, over the last few years. starting to ceos finally express optimism. >> does that have anything to do with the stimulus money at all? >> it doesn't break it down that much. it's just like, can things get any worse? now, does this mean they're going to get better over the next six months? that sales are going to start picking up? we don't know yet. but that's their feeling at this point. the us ceo optimism level is 59.9, which is relatively robust and up from the last quarter. so optimism is moving up. >> interesting report there, jane. greatly appreciate it. developing now the justice department is announcing that no one in the cia will be charged for destroying dozens of videos that show agents waterboarding terrorist suspects. one of the top officers approved the destruction of 98 videos. the justice department is looking into whether cia interrogators were beyond legal guidance giving to them on the suspect's treatment. and elizabeth smart takes the stand to reveal the torture she endured at the hands of her abduct abductor. a live report from the courthouse next. and more campaign money was spent attacking nancy pelosi than any other candidate this election season. we'll tell you just how much was spent. plus -- ♪ she's a gold digger >> okay, that was actually kanye west taking over the mike mid flight on a plane. what? we've got the scoop coming up. 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[ male announcer ] how would you use toyota technology to make a better world? learn how to share your ideas at toyota.com/ideasforgood. but the financial landscape is still full of uncertainty. learn how to share your ideas in times like these, you need an experienced partner to look out for you. heads up! and after 300 years we have gotten pretty good at that. welcome back to "news nation." the search for answers. an innocent teenager is savagely attacked and killed by a group of other teens, and now that boy's mom wants justice. and president obama works to repair america's relationship with the so-called muslim world. he says stronger ties will help improve the security of americans. will his effort work? then a lesson in lady gaga. i'm going to talk with a college professor who created a class about the soaring fame of one of the biggest celebrities in the world. and fired over facebook. a woman loses her job for comments she posted about her boss. was the company justified in firing her? that is today's "news nation" gut check. and a georgia woman is in mourning today after her 18-year-old son was beaten and kicked to death outside of a house party. this happened over the weekend. bobby tillman, just 5'6" and 124 pounds was randomly attacked and killed by four larger teenagers as he was leaving the party. his mother monique is calling for justice. she says her son is a silent hero who did not die in vain. >> well, tamron. let's set the scene. it was saturday night and bobby tillman, 18 years old, was attending a party in a suburb 20 miles west of atlanta. there were about 80 teenagers inside. according to authorities what happened, two girls outside of the party got into a fight over apparently a facebook posting. and one of them eventually ended up hitting a boy who was nearby. a teenage male. that teenage male said he would not hit a girl, so he said he would hit the next boy that he would see. unfortunately that was 18-year-old bobby tillman, he was across the street leaving that party. and apparently after that young male hit bobby tillman he fell and his his head on the curb. by the time the deputies arrived he was still breathing. they tried to perform cpr, but he died at the hospital. making this more tragic, his mom moved him las vegas a couple years ago to escape gang violence, and apparently he fell victim to that. his mom says he was her hero and now she's trying to work through the process and try to understand this crime that the district attorney called senseless. the district attorney says this was an unprovoked crime and attack because tillman did nothing to provoke and bring the kids onto him. so we have four suspects. ages 18 and 19 in jail and charged with murder. >> did they talk about the possibility of charging the people who witnessed this and did nothing. some of the reports there were 50 or more people standing by watching that happen. >> they'll have to go through the process at this point. it doesn't look like they're going to charge any of the witnesses. and no charges for the parents who won the party. they did not serve alcohol. there were no drugs found there. the parents of the house party were trying to quiet things down because it got out of hand so quickly. and they were trying to get kids out of the party and that's when the attack happened, tamron. >> thank you for the latest. also president obama is now in indonesia, as we report at the top of the hour, where he's hoping to improve u.s. relations with muslims. but his visit prompted protest by protest groups. some say he's no better than president george w. bush who incured muslim anger. president obama made these comments. >> with respect to outreach to the muslim world, i think that our efforts have been earnest, sustained. we don't expect to eliminate the misunderstanding that developed over a long period of time. but we do think that we're on the right path. >> joining me to discuss this, bobby, there are reports that the pat has lost support with moderate muslims since the speech he gave in cairo in 2009. what do you find at this point? >> well, there's a lot of disappointment. the cairo speech raised expectations to a very, very high level. >> too high? >> perhaps. because he was coming after president bush. there was also going to be a certain amount of expectation. in cairo he perhaps set the bar too high. he's certainly not done very much in concrete terms since then. to follow up on the speech. and in the muslim world they're looking at the middle east peace process. they find not a lot of change from their perspective in the american policy. they think the palestinian policy are not getting a better break under obama than they did with previous presidents. they're not entirely convinced he's following through the on the magazine. i think he will find more skepticism now than back in cairo. >> how much of the skepticism comes from the fact that he's added more troops on the ground in afghanistan. >> the troops on the ground. and the fact that no progress has been made. i mean, it's one thing to put more troops on the ground, but if you can show progress at the lives of afghans has improved as a result of these troops on the ground, they may convince people that it's a good idea. if you're in indonesia, you're wondering what was the speech about then. >> what was it about? can you turn words into action which is the words he has here. he says we're not going to completely eliminate the misunderstanding and mistrusts that have developed. you can't erase all things, but you can try to improve. but with the challenge has domestically over the next two years, is it even possible? and also the skepticism here about his ties to the muslim community. >> well, it's going to be very difficult. as we've seen here in this country, a rising tide of islamaphobia. people around the world have paid attention when a pastor of a small church in florida decided he wanted to burn koran. that changes perceptions of america. and in addition to all over that overcome the disappointment generated by his failure in people eels perception to deliver on his promises. >> thank you very much. great having you on. >> election workers in alaska are beginning to count more than 30,000 absentee and early cast ballots. they hold the lead over republican nominee joe miller. it's not clear how many of the write-ins are for senator murkowski. and the transition team is focusing on making the house more transparent and accessful. the team met for several hours last night and into today to begin applying the bureaucratic touches needed to govern the new house. the new team is not responsible for policy changes. and steny hoyer's bid seems to be gaining traction today. hoyer received the formal endorsement of seven committee chairs. south carolina congressman james clyburn is hoyer's direct competition for the democrat's number two spot, house speaker nancy pelosi says she wants to stay at the top of the party leadership. and bp's former ceo admits his company was unprepared for the golf oil spill. it tops our look at stories around the news nation. in an interview, tony hayward says bp was making it up day-to-day in the company's contingency plans were inadequate. heyward also says the company came close to financial disaster. and a brooklyn store owner fights back against a robber who has a knife. a brave shopkeeper or store owner grabbed a garbage can and smacked him in the head and arms to prevent him from stealing from the register. the robber is still on the loose. and a weekend wedding many massachusetts almost didn't happen when a thief car jacked the limo with the bridesmaids. the limo was parked outside the church before the ceremony. as the thief fought with the driver, bridesmaids escaped into the church. the bride and group found out about the trouble after the wedding ended. okay. >> well, break out your finest meat dress and put on your poker face. i don't have one after that story. lady gaga is going to college. not exactly to college the always talented poll star is set to become the subject at a college course at the university of south carolina. next spring usc students can sign up, get this, for the lady gaga and the sociology of fame class. i'm joined by matthew deflem, sociology professor at the university of south carolina. thanks, professor for joining us. >> good afternoon. >> so let's start off with how you came up with the idea. i understand you're a huge lady gaga fan. you've attended more than 28 concerts across the counted. you own 300 cds, and you just apparently love all things gaga that you created a website. was this class to feed your lay dpi gaga for black of a better description, obsess, or is it to teach us something about what she represents? >> yeah, of course, i'm a sociology professor. this is taught at the university of south carolina in terms of a sociology program. the fact that i'm a gaga fan is not altogether surprising not only because i think she's a very talented artist, but i've been a popular music fan for more than 40 years. i'm really not obsessed with her at all. i'm just a big fan of her music as i have been a big fan of popular music in general. and my interest in now doing a course on the sociology of fame as exemplified by the case of lady gaga goes back to my long standing interest in cultural sociology and popular culture and music and specifically today in terms of the culture of fame and celebrity. >> what does she teach about the culture of fame? what do you think lady gaga teaches us about the culture of fame right now? >> well, i think there is something specific about the career of lady gaga and initially it took a long time for her to become popular. so her first record was released in 2008. it took eight or nine months before the single became a number one song, and then she had a second single. so we had this first period of almost a year when she was relatively unknown in 2007. she was dropped from an initial record contract. >> what does that tell us aboutous? >> well, it tells us, i hope, of course, that it tells us the changing way in which celebrity and fame can articulate themselves as opposed to 10 or 20 years ago, which i assume is to be a very important factor is the changing technology. particularly, of course, the popularity of the internet, and the changing ways in which music is distributed from vinyl and cd towards downloads, and the way in which celebrities and music artists can articulate their concerns with fans. directly through twitter and facebook, which i think are very important media. >> it's an interesting argument you make there. we'll see how the students receive this new class at that university. thank you very much, professor. greatly appreciate it. >> okay. >> coming up, black ops blitz. it's being called one of the biggest video games of the year, and it is finally for its fans hitting store shelves. details next. first there's a lot going on today. here are some things we thought you should know. it's been ten years since the historic florida recount that helps make george w. bush president. today the judges, lawyers and other people who participated in reuniting. their chads are now banned in florida. and more money was spent on ads targeting house speaker nancy pelosi this midterm election than any other congressional leader since newt gingrich. campaign analysis group found more than $65 million was spend on more than 61,000 ads against pelosi. the most ad money was spent in pennsylvania where five house democrats were defeated. and the first lady will leave president obama in asia. she's travel to germany to visit troops. she will also stop at the regional medical center to visit wounded troops. those are some of the things we thought you should know. - i volunteered. - i was drafted. - i enlisted. - i was nervous. - and there i was in asia. - europe. - the gulf. - and i saw things. - incredible things. - and people you never forget. - i did my job. - for my country. - my buddies. - for total strangers. - and i was proud. - so grateful. - for my family. - my freedom. for all who served and all who serve, we can never thank them enough. 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[crowd cheering] what's considered the most anticipated video game of the year is on store shelves. call of duty black ops went on sale at midnight. one retailer says it's the biggest launch in the industry ever. take a look at the people waiting in line to buy the game in pennsylvania. worldwide 3 million people preordered black ops which goes for about $60. cnbc's julia boorstin joins me live from los angeles. i won't start by asking you if you have the game. it seems like this is ahead -- a heavy male driven audience. that's a lot. another game in the call of duty franchise called call of duty modern warfare two. if it hits that number, it means we may see strong video game sales this holiday season. this game could sell 16 million copies in the first quarter alone. it's pretty huge. even though it's a shooter game and it really is a natural fit for the hardcore gamers, activists from the company that makes the game has a fun ad campaign trying to show this is a game really for everyone. for women, for men. for younger and older players as well to show it has wide appeal. we'll see if it does 13 million or 16 million. >> well, do people really care if you smoke pot? californians outgoing governor has an answer for that question. and kanye serves up a treat in the friendly skies. let's get the scoop from pop culture columnist. look how smooth you are. >> i was very nervous about that walk-in. let's start with arnold schwarzenegger. he was on jay leno. california voters rejected the initiative to allow adults 21 and over to grow small amounts of marijuana if they wanted to. that said, the governor isn't so uptight about the subject on the whole. >> it makes it from a misdemeanor to an infraction, which is like a speeding ticket. and no one, you know, cares if you smoke a joint or not. >> so, sorry, there was a little bit of confusion there. the governor on leno. i think people like to see this side of him. interestingly, i don't think you see this side of politicians until they're on their way out. now this would make for an interesting flight. you see celebrities on the flight all the time. it's not rare to walk past first class and see them enjoying a drink while we're shuffle thod the back of the plane. well kanye was on a flight from minneapolis to new york. >> okay. >> and after the flight took off he decided to do a little impromptu performance. listen. ♪ now i ain't saying she a gold digger ♪ okay, that's it. thank you. god bless you guys. >> how do we know that's kanye? >> it sounds like it. for starters. you brought up an interesting point. is he allowed to do that? apparently as long as he wasn't interrupting safety instructions and it was safe to move about the cab, if he has permission to get on and do a little rapping, he's more than welcome to. >> does he have a new cd coming out? >> well, he has the single just release ad few weeks ago. >> it seems like his persona is the gossip rather than making music. getting out there and getting a career back. >> i think he's everywhere. you may not be able to go anywhere without seeing kanye west. and tonight on "dancing with the stars," we're going to vote off another contestant. most notable thing about this crop is bristol palin is still in the hunt, despite being near the bottom almost every week. she dawned a gorilla suit to do a jive dance recently. people thought that would get her out. but a lot of people will be watching this to see if the end has come for her. and the "today show" has a piece saying is this just because she's sarah palin's daughter. seems like the answer would be yes. the producers seem to think not. check it out. >> for the latest entertainment news, log onto scoop.todayshow.com. or be a fan. up next, a woman posts a comment about her boss on facebook, and then she gets fired. now the company that fired her is being accused of breaking the law. what does your cut tell you about this one? [scraping] [piano keys banging] [scraping] [horns honking] with deposits in your engine, it can feel like something's holding your car back. let me guess, 16. [laughing] yeeah. that's why there's castrol gtx... with our most powerful deposit fighting ingredient ever. castrol gtx exceeds the toughest new industry standard. don't let deposits hold your car back. get castrol gtx. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. join the news nation. e-mail me at msnbc.com. tweet me at twitter.com/tamronhall or on facebook/tamronhall. time for today's news nation gut check. now to the case of an employee fired after criticizing her supervisor on facebook. in what labor officials and lawyers view as a ground breaking case, the nlrb is accusing american medical response, that's an ambulance service in connecticut of illegally firing an emergency medical technician. the company said she violated a policy that bars employees from depicting the company in any way on facebook or other social media sites. but the nlrb says workers' criticism of their bosses on a social americaing site are generally a protected activity, and that an employee would be violated the law by punishing workers for such statements. whether it takes place on facebook or the watercooler. they denied the allegations saying they were without merit. an administrative law judge is set to begin hearing this case on january 25th. but should an employee be fired for criticizing their supervisor on facebook or other social media? go to newsnation.msnbc.com to vote. take a look at what the ne"news nation" is saying about yesterday's gut check. 25% of you say no. never. 20% of you say, yes, but only on halloween. 55% of you say yes, any time the boy feels like it. and woody from south carolina says parents should try to guide children into their sexual roles but go slowly and protect the child's own choice. and jim says there are two opportunities here to create open and loving acceptance and spread it onto all people who are different. by the way, when i was 5, i looked great in heals and still do. i did not write that. that does it for this edition of "news nation." tomorrow i will talk with harvard university president drew faust about why student interests has dropped so dramatically. cenk uygur picks up coverage right after the break. ♪ [ male announcer ] ever have morning pain slow you down? introducing bayer am, an extra strength pain reliever with alertness aid to fight fatigue. so get up and get goin'! with new bayer am. the morning pain reliever. oh. about what? uh, they don't really think you're an exchange student. what? they think you're a businessman, using our house to meet new clients in china. for reals, player? 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