besides wisconsin, protests are now happening in other states including ohio, michigan, and indiana. the protests to eliminate union rights are being closely watched in other states with huge budget gaps and the outcomes could have far reaching implications for national and state elections including the next presidential election. the focus is on 29 republican governors, 12 elected in the 2009 and 2010 election cycles who may believe they have a mandate to dismantle the president's agenda. let's begin in wisconsin where republican governor scott walker was apparently pranked by a blogger posing as billionaire bis man and conservative supporter david koch. the governor's office confirms it is his voice on the call made hours before governor walker delivered his so-called fireside chat just yesterday. >> i talk to case sick every day. john's got to stand firm in ohio. i think we do the same in florida. snyder if he got a little more support probably could do that in michigan. you start going down the list. there's a lot of us new governors who got elected to do something big. >> you're the first domino. >> yep. this is our moment. >> mike tie ean beis in madison, the capital of wisconsin. he says this is their moment and this adds, as you know, mike to the theory that some democrats and liberals have that this is a coordinated effort by republican governors to beat back unions who greatly support democrats. what's been the reaction there? >> reporter: well, it may well be a coordinated effort. it doesn't make any difference. the reaction here is going to be predictable. some of the other comments made in that call were the governor saying this is madison. it's full of '60s radicals. let them protest all they want. an apparent disdain. the governor didn't change any of the positions he's articulated publicly in the ten days of this crisis or when he proposed this bill in the first place. i think he'll be able to stand on that. some of the language he used was intemperate. they're upset at everything about this billight now, tamron. here's one thing the republicans have done to try to force the 14 awol democrats to come back to the city so there can be a vote on the bill. they have suspended direct deposit of all paychecks can of members who don't show up for two sessions in a row. they capital get their paychecks and many of these senators rely on their $48,000 salaries as their so or primary means of support. it might try to force some of them to come back. at least one of the senators might come back, one is pregnant and one observer says she certainly doesn't want to have her child in illinois where she is right now. but the serious issue, of course, is what really is the difference between these two sides. the unions who are still occupying the state house and the governor who is saying he's not going to move. there's nothing to negotiate. the standoff continues. >> mike, thank you very much. now to cnbc's aim mon jabbers in columbus where officials locked the doors of the state capitol yesterday to prevent protesters from getting in. what are you hearing there? >> hi, tamron. interestingly when they lock the doors of the state capitol yesterday, that was state troopers. many of those belong to the same unions that were outside the doors protesting. they were block their own fellow union members. just a couple hours ago, we had jesse jackson here at this teamsters hall columbus, ohio saying that this effort on the part of the republican leadership in the state house is an attack on middle class families. got a lot of cheers as you can imagine. a very partisan audience here in columbus at the teamsters hall. we had a chance to talk to reverend jackson just after the event. here's what he had to say. >> it's not about the budget deficits because you when you do a trillion dollar tax cut deal in december and cut workers en masse in february, there's something else. in the case of wisconsin and the case of indiana and ohio, workers are willing to negotiate wages and benefits but not the right to collective bargaining because that is their ability to survive. >> now, tamron, some news heartening to the crowd in this room today. a "usa today" gallup poll out this morning said 61% of americans favor the rights of public workers to continue to clving and only 33% support the position articulated by republicans here in the state house. >> for clarity and so people know what's going on, the state legislature there is considering a bill that might end collective bargaining rights. some 400,000 public employees could be affected. the governor of the state says he's looking at an 8 billion dollars budget gap, right? >> that's right. republicans here say they need to break the collective bargaining because they need to get the wages and benefits down on state and municipal employees if they're ever going to do anythinging to tackle the budget deficit. >> thank you. now to indiana where just like wisconsin, democratic legislators left the state to avoid voting on a bill that would restrict union rights. in this case, then-backed measure would restrict the rights of private sector unions. this was the scene in the state house yesterday with nearly all of the 40 democrats missing. republicans hold a 60-040 senate majority but two-thirds or 67 house members must be present to hold a vote. now with the latest -- now let's get the latest out of libya where thousands of foreigners are making a desperate attempt to flee the country which may be moving closer to civil war. anti-government protesters say they are taking more areas and are now in control of a large city in western libya. there's a report that they've taken a town less than ten miles from the capital. protesters say they won't stop till gadhafi is gone. >> there's no retreat. no retreat. we will continue until even we have to confront you with our bare hands. >> meantime, pro-gadhafi supports are crowding the streets trying to keep protesters out. there are reports gadhafi militia men are firing guns at random. a local newspaper reports two libyan air force pies bailed out of their jet and let it crash today, defying orders to bomb the city of benghazi which is under protester control. also, a paper is reporting libya's justice minister claims he has proof that gadhafi personally ordered the lockerbie bombing in 1988. the minister recently resigned on the deadly attack on demonstrators. the white house says president obama strongly condemns the violence and will make a statement either today or tomorrow. he's meeting this afternoon with hillary clinton. nbc's richard engel joins me by phone everyone libya. richard, give us an assessment of what we're seeing as some are already categorizing this as a civil war. >> reporter: yes, we've spoken to people here. we're about 300 miles from the egyptian border and we've been drying through rebel-held territory all day. people here do not call it a civil war. they strongly on the to that. they say this is a revolution, that this is an attempt by the people to overthrow the regime of gadhafi and that the only people are fighting at this point are gadhafi and mercenaries and his paid loyalists. they say a civil war would be when tribes and libyan civilians start fighting amongst themselves and that we have not seen. we've seen a great amount of solidarity in areas that are under rebel control. as we drove through the highways about 300 miles from the border today, we saw many egyptians going in the opposite direction, these are people who work in libya and how refugees escaping the fighting here. we've seen protesters working with army units and even some protesters who have taken over heavy weapons that were in army hands before including apcs, that was being driven by demonstrators. so this is an armed rebellion against the government. that's the way it looks from where we are. >> so richard, tell us a little bit more about i guess the area, the amount of space, if you will, that's being crowed by these rebels at this point. give us perspective there. >> reporter: according to rebel leaders who we've spoken to extensively today, they control solidly and from what we were able to see today that those claims seem accurate, a large stretch of territory that extends from the egyptian border and goes west to just beyond benghazi. you talked about benghazi today being in the protesters hands, in the rebels' hands. that is very significant. it is the second biggest city in this country and so if they control the second city and control all of the territory along the northern coastline, which is the strategic med t mediterranean coastline, that is a large portion of the country and accounts for about a third of the entire territory of libya and a lot of its populated areas in the south, it's mostly desert. >> richard engel, thank you very much for the update. there is breaking news coming out of the connected to the crisis. we're watching in libya. the violence there has pushed oil prices on the new york mercantile exchanging to $100 a barrel for the first time since 2008. brent crude, which is shipped around the world, is inching toward $112 a barrel. let's take a look how wall street is reacting right now to the crisis. dow is down another day, now down 99 points so far. we'll keep you up to date on reaction from wall street and, of course, regarding the crude oil prices. rahm emanuel has his work cut out for him. what hurds the former white house chief of staff is facing in his soon to be new job as mayor of chicago. plus, what's next for the pirates accused of killing four americans as the sea? where will they stand trial? and senate majority leader harry reid takes on the world's oldest profession in his home state and the reaction is not maybe what he expected. 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>> well, he is going to take on pension reform of city workers very sensitive. i was in chicago the last few days. i was there last night. and one of the things he's careful to do is not to criticize mayor daley for contributing to the financial mess that the city's in. you know, frames it rather he will do things differently. t . he's going to be more aggressive in dealing with the city council to make sure that they do try to take his plans, you know, maybe combati combative, maybe not if he could get their cooperation. what you have is after more than 20 years, you truly have a new mayor in town who is intent on doing things his way, not necessarily anyone else's way. >> as i mentioned, he got 55% of the vote from your perspective, were people voting for rahm emanuel for his ideas, his concrete ideas how to solve the issues you just named or possibly the association with the very popular administration, at least when you look at the demographics of chicago? >> well, he swept -- chicago still has white wards, black wards and hispanic wards. he won every black ward. even though there was a well-known african-american capped, carol moseley braun, rahm emanuel made a lot of his association with barack obama. a south sider, nation's first african-american mayor. he used that this nonendorsement endorsement was used in commercials. and that helped him a lot in -- that testimony helped a lot in his election. people liked, i think he sold his celebrity and toughness as tools that could be used to help the city of chicago, whether or not you liked him, he presented himself as a man who would get the job done. >> lynn sweet, thank you swech. great big breaking news we mentioned. the mexican army says soldiers have detained a suspect in the murder of as immigration agent. jose diaz balart joins us from mexico. what do you know about this news? >> good afternoon, it is indeed breaking news. this just happened just a few minutes ago that officials of the mexican government announced they had indeed as part of an operation with the mexican military arrested one person they say is probably responsible for the shooting that occurred a week ago tuesday where eighth jaime zapata was shot dead and his partner was injured. there are also reports up to 12 or 16 other people related to that incident may have been detained, as well. but mexican officials are being very tight-lipped about this. they are confirming one probable shooter is in custody, thanks to mexican government, mexican army operations which was very carefully carried out through information that they have been able to glean during these last eight days. >> jose, last week, it was u.s. representative mike mccall of texas said they believed or at least authorities believed the zetas gang had something to do with this murder. >> yeah, willet me tell you why that is. again, i'm really not basing myself on any specific bit of information that i've been able to get from the mexican government. but i am able to tell you this. that the congressman and soushss in the united statesents feel it was probably that it was the zetas because this incident happened just 20 minutes south of st. louis luis, an area close to monterey and the morn area of mexico, and it is in the area between san luis and monterrey that the zetas operate. i can't base myself on any specific intelligence. we'll certainly know more in the next couple hours and days, but odds are if it's going to be a hit man from a narcogroup, it may be the zetas. >> greatly appreciate you bringing us the latest on this breaking news. still ahead, snow in san francisco. a rare winter storm is on the way to the bay area. we've got the forecast and where that sorm is headed next. plus, why the justice department is no longer defending donald rumsfeld in a lawsuit brought on by an al qaeda operative. 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>> tamron, it is cold. temperatures right now are in the 30s. to the north of me and just to the south, we are seeing some snow right now. to the north, some reports of six to eight inches of snow. the deal is you get these bands of snow setting up. right here, we don't have anything. in fact, the sun is starting to come out right now. we're going to see the moisture come up from the south. and we'll see the very cold air come down from the north. the frazier river valley. the river valley is going to be where we'll get the very cold air coming in. it's hard for seattle to get snow. it look like it is going to be one of the situations here where we do see some snow. as you mentioned, wes are also expecting some snow. north bay hills in san francisco potentially as we head into thursday night into friday, could be seeing snow, as well. you talk about the mountains, looking up to feet of snow. could see a couple more feet in the mountains, as well. >> it has been an incredible winter. thank you very much. coming up, a live report from new zealand where a woman was pulled from the rubble 24 hours after that devastating earthquake. the latest on the certainly for any more possible survivors. plus today's gut check. revenge for patdowns. a restaurant owner bans tsa agents from eating at restaurant even getting police to escort the agents out of the restaurant. pure... and also delicious. like nature valley. granola bars made with crunchy oats and pure honey. nature valley -- 100% natural. 100% delicious. host: could switching to geico 15% or more on car insurance?l. host: what, do you live under a rock? man: no way! man: hey rick check this out! anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save 15% or more on car insurance. but my doctor told me that most calcium supplements... aren't absorbed properly unless taken with food. he recommended citracal. it's different -- it's calcium citrate, so it can be absorbed with or without food. citracal. rely on e-trade. find investments with e-trade's top 5 lists. use pre-defined screeners. work smarter. not harder. depend on yourself to take charge of your financial future. e-trade. investing unleashed. welcome back to "news nation." well the pirates accused of murdering four americans stand trial here in the u.s.? plus new threats to kill from other pirates holding ossages at sea. nevada may be in the middle of a budget mess, but harry reid, well, seize taking up a new issue of sorts. why he's calling for an end to prostitution in nevada. now, and ipad 2.0, apple could be ready to unveil the next generation of the ipad as soon as next week. and today's "news nation" gut check, pay back for patdowns. a business owner is banning agents from eating at his restaurant. is that even legal? the search for survivors in quake-ravaged new zealand is growing more desperate as the death toll climbs to at least 75 people. the death toll is expected to rise amid fears victims of the 6.3 magnitude earthquake are buried under the rubble. there are glimmers of hope. a woman was pulled from the debris of a building today after being trapped for 24 hours. obviously, other people not been as fortunate. >> just heard from my friend that my -- our school collapsed. and i saw on the telly and i heard that my friend, they didn't come out. >> nbc's sarah james joins me live on the phone from christchurch, new zealand. you've been on the ground almost 24 hours. what do you see there as people race to try to save anyone who might still be alive? >> well, tamron, just now the sun has risen a couple of hours ago. it's thursday here on the south island of new zealand. and that light is helpful for the rescue workers who are trying through the most difficulty circumstances to get through to anyone who may still be alive. in a situation like this, every minute counts. it -- people can't stay under that rubble for too much longer. and in addition, the rescue workers face the most daunting conditions because aftershock after aftershock continues to rock through this island. making the already unstable debris incredibly perilous for the work ersz. in fact, yesterday the police commissioner said that it was time to say no more at one particular site. the ctv building, and that was very distressing for some japanese citizens because there are some japanese citizens who are buried there in the rubble and they were hoping they could be released. the commissioner saying he is 100% certain no one at that site could still be alive. attention is turning to some other sites where they're hoping to find people in the rubble, meantime this island still deals with water problems, gas breaks, and all sorts of other issues as the aftershocks continue. >> sara, thank you. joining me fema's deputy administrator tim manning on the phone from chist church, new zealand. thank you for joining us. how do you assess, we heard sara say at one location, authorities don't believe they can find nina live under that debris. >> good morning, yes, there's a great deal of damage throughout the city center, throughout the city of christchurch. the rescue crews and the city and military people from throughout new zealand have been working tirelessly for the last day and a half. and will continue. i've seen countless acts of selflessness trying to rescue their fellow neighbors and citizens, but it is an extremely dangerous situation here that aftershocks continue and the officials continue to try to balance between rescuing people as quickly as possible and the safety of the rescuers. >> tim, how long have you been there? >> i've been here just about a week now. i was in new zealand as part of a u.s. delegation working with our new zealand partnerses. when the earthquake struck. i've been here helping however i can in support of the state department, usaid in charge of the government's provision of assistance in international disasters. i'm here in christchurch doing what i can to help the country and the ambassador to provide assistance to all of our citizens. >> as we mentioned, hundreds are still missing. thank you for joining us. please be safe. i know everyone here is proud of you for the work you're doing sonding to this crisis so far away. thank you. >> thank you. >> absolutely. 15 somali pirates captured after hijacking an american yacht and killing those aboard may face trial in the united states. the u.s. military, fbi and justice department are investigating the murders of the americans. the suspected killers are being held aboard the usa enterprise" while officials decide what to do next. jim miklaszewski joins us live from the pentagon. what are they weighing to determine whether these pirates accused of these murders will stand trial here in the states? >> tamron, military officials say these pirates are not technically mirt combatants. so they become essentially common criminals, and so therefore, the justice department, fbi have pretty much taken control of this investigation. the 15 pirates as you said, are being held aboard the uss aircraft carrier "enterprise" along with the bodies of the pirates, two killed by navy s.e.a.l.s and two others killed by pirates. interestingly enough, military officials had planned to pretty much conduct a burial at sea for those pirates but apparently, fbi investigators say no, no, hold on. we'll need those boys fdies for forensics. at the time the pirates are expected to be brought back to the united states to stand trial here, the bodies of those four pirates may accompany them for forensic investigations to figure out exactly how they died and in terms of figuring out who did what, they would have then the medical and forensics evidence to back that up. but it appears likely at this point, that all 15 pirates will eventually end up here in the united states to face trial, tamron. >> mick, thank you very much. and nine years in prison for a brutal hate crime tops our stories around the news nation. derek donchak and brandon peck car ski could have faced 12 to 15 years in prison for their involvement in the beating death of an illegal mexican immigrant. prosecutors say the football players attacked the man because they wanted hispanics out of their town. the judge says he strayed from sentencing guidelines because of the mens' character and conduct before the beating. a new mugshot has been released of arizona shooting suspect jared loughner. his attorneys are trying to block the release of the photo you're looking at. you can see loughner has a cut on his forehead in the photograph where the mugshot released. and a new study shows holding a cell phone against your ear changes your brain activity. the national institutes of that they will found less than an hour of cell phone use is linked to increased activity in the brain's closest to the phone antenna. it's not clear yet if the increased sensitivity is harmless or hurtful plaintiff is recalling nearly 150,000 pickup trucks to fix air bags covering trucks sold in 2005 and 2006 in the u.s. and canada. harry reid dropped a bombshell on his state legislature. he said it is time to outlaw prostitution in nevada. he says when people think about nevada, they should think about new careers, not the oldest profession. >> if we want to attract business to nevada that puts people back to work, the time has come to outlaw prostitution. >> dennis hop owner of the moonlight bunny ranch said "harry reid will have to pry the cat house keys from my cold dead hands. joining me now is nationally syndicated talk show those michael smerconish. with that said, you know, this man who owns the bunny ranch and it's apparently a legendary place, the response tons reid has been interesting. there weren't a lot of amens if you will from the crowd there. >> i talked about it on the radio earlier today. i say reid is wrong. my view is that government has nos business regulating consensual sex between adults. and overwhelmingly, people agreed. it's the ultimate free market approach. tamron, i don't know what the difference is if i buy a woman a cosmo at a bar with the intent of luring her into the sack or giving her 100 bucks. >> i'm processing that comparison. i'll get to you later with why there is a difference. but with that said, there are 28 legal brothels in that state ranging from i guess trailers on desolate highways to more elaborate plays. why do you believe reid might take on something when you look at the budget crisis? we were just in nevada for the electronic show. there were casinos that were stuck in the middle of being built, malls and the unemployment rate is well above the national average. why take on something like this? >> i don't know. you know, the speech was about eight pages long, and this was only a paragraph or two. but he had to know, this is what we would be focusing on. i can't even tell you what he said in the remainder of the speech. it does seem very, very ill timed. and the reaction from those rural counties in in has been wait, this is our tradition, this is the livelihood of a lot of people. this is the way we want to continue to do it. it doesn't seem like it's a politically smart thing for him to do at home. >> it is an interesting time to take this home. in his memoir "the good fight" he recounted learning to swim at a brothel in his hometown and he wrote there were 13 broth he wills and no churches in that town when he grew up. >> he said he learned to swim in a brothel swimming pool and when i interviewed him, i said today, senator, we call that a jacuzzi. >> you're full of it today. you've got them coming one after the other, man. i will be calling you to tell you the difference in the cosmo and the brothel later. thank you, mike. >> see you, tamron. just a few days to go before hollywood's biggest night. and this actress, melissa leah, did she ruin her chances of oscar gold by posing in this ad? courtney hazlett is live in l.a. but first, there's a lot going on today. here are some things we thought you should know. justice department dropped its legal representation of former defense secretary donald rumsfeld and more than a dozen other bush era officials in a law saw the by jose padilla who spent years behind bars before being charged. his lawyers compared the conditions to torture. the government hired private lawyers to defend the officials. now the justice department said conflict concerns propt this had move. an oregon congressman dividend wu said it was "unprofessional and inappropriate" for him to send pictures of himself dressed like this dressed as a tiger. he sent it to staff. he said the picture was taken before halloween when he was joking around with his kids. he acknowledged poor judgment when he took a prescription drug from a campaign donor last year. there are reports his staff encouraged him to seek psychiatric help before the election but he refused. and christine o'donnell says she's been invited to be a contestant on "dancing with the stars." the former senate candidate says she has two left feet and a book to finish. but she did not rule out going on the show. those are the things we just thought you should know. ♪ i'm not just someone who's quitting with chantix and support... our kids go to school together. -we work together. -i'm in your cooking class. we play ball together. 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[ male announcer ] accu-chek aviva. born in the usa. hi, everybody. coming up at the top of the hour on msnbc live, we'll take a closer look at ideas for how to educate your kids and one man's mission to make math a lot more approachable. also, what will you be paying more for when oil prices go soaring this summer? and a student's sign project goes lost and when it's found, a bonanza of cool pictures and an incredible story bound for an a coming up. >> the new version of the ipad which reportedly was not going to be released until june now is expected to be revealed at an event in san francisco next week. carolyn mccarthy is a reporter for cnet.com. we always see you when we have a new product. >> new apple announcement. >> as i stated, at first we thought it was a rumor. march 2nd, it is official. >> there were rumors whether it would be coming out this month and people were saying it's been delayed possibly till june. there were all sorts of rumors whether this has anything to do with the fact that steve jobs is on a medical leave. but they're going to launch it next week. they sent out an invitation that this will be an ipad announcement. >> what do we know about the new ipad 2? >> we don't know really know anything. but the two most consistent rumors seem to be there will be a front facing camera so you can use facetime technology and that it will be thinner and lighter. there will probably be a processor speed revamp in there. >> we know ipad is not the only tablet in the game. >> tomorrow, the motorola zoom which is running honey comb, the google android system for tab legs is coming out. one of the most interesting things i'm looking for, this apple announcement next week is whether in conjunction with dropping a new one, it drops the price on the old one. one of the initial complaints about the motorola zoom shown off last year is that it's really expensive. if apple drops the pricen ot original ipad, which obviously doesn't have a camera and will be a little bit heavier than the new one, that could be a direct jab at the zoom and its high price tag. >> we'll see what he it ends up looking like, the improvements they make from the first to the second generation. carolyn, i'm sure we'll talk to you march 2nd. >> looking forward to it. >> thank you. lindsay lohan will go to trial on charges she stole a necklace. and did melissa leo ruin her oscar chances? let's get the scoop from today show.com columnist courtney hazlett live in los angeles for the oscars weekend. let's get to lindsay lohan. was she offered a plea deal, courtney? >> she actually was offered a deal. and i witness the craziness that went along with that today with the courthouse behind me. the judge actually said that he has nos crystal ball. however, he doesn't see lindsay taking this plea deal because it definitely includes jailtime. if she pleads either guilty or no contest, she will go to jail and that's just a fact. so in all likelihood, she and her lawyer are going to be spending between now and march 10th deciding they'll probably go to trial and another court date for when that begins. this is far from over. >> i have to comment on her outfit because we can't talk about her work because she's always in in court. people again talking about what she wore to court. >> a little low cut. a little low cut. i don't think it was the best outfit choice, but maybe an improvement from the last one. >> melissa leo, what is going on with her? >> we all know she's been nominated for an academy award. she was a favorite in the previous academy awards and never won. there's been a big oscar push. this is very common. the studio gets them out there in front of the academies. melissa leo took a picture that caught a lot of people's attention. it was super, super glam. seemed a little bit out of character for her to put herds out in that way. she was criticize and said hey, listen, everybody campaigns. the criticism didn't stop. so now she's done something of a 180. you know what? the studio made me do it. what are you going to do? fun to see the back and forth that goes on out here oscar week. of course, it's anybody's game on sunday. >> i know we're going to talk with you some of the predicts who actually might win this weekend. thank you, courtney. enjoy your stay out there. we'll talk to you tomorrow. for the latest entertainment news, logon to skop.today show.com or be a fan on facebook. next in today's gut check, a restaurant owner reportedly refused to serve tsa agents because he did not agree with the new screening policy in airports. get the details on it. what does your gut tell you. a programming note for you. tonight lawrence o'donnell will speak exclusively with ian murphy, the journalist who prank called wisconsin governor walker posing as a billionaire donor. that's on last word tonight p.m. eastern only on msnbc. somewhere in america, there's a doctor who can peer into the future. there's a nurse who can access in an instant every patient's past. and because the whole hospital's working together, there's a family who can breathe easy, right now. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest healthcare questions. and the over 60,000 people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. and more. if you replace 3 tablespoons of sugar a day with splenda® you'll save 100 calories a day. that could help you lose up to 10 pounds in a year. that's how splenda® is sweet...and more. nation gut check. according to the consumer's blog, a cafe near the seattle-tacoma airport says it's refusing to serve tsa agents. christopher elliott said an employee told him and until the invasive patdowns stop, the agents aren't allowed in. she said "we have the right to refuse service to anyone. we turn our backs and completely ignore them and tell them to leave. their kind aren't welcomed in our establishment." the employee also reportedly went on to say they've even called the police to escort the tsa workers out of the restaurant. joining me now from seattle is karen russell. karen, i should store the off by saying the tsa says it's not received any reports from the employees regarding this. nonetheless, this is a blog that's been picked up by a lot of folks. can a restaurant say that? their kind? obviously, it makes me think of a different time in this country. can you legally refuse service to someone? >> yes, actually the restaurant can because tsa agents are not part of what we call a protected class. so i think what you're thinking about, tamron, are lunch counters. and so that would be race or you can't discriminate against people because of religion. and so they're legally allowed to say tsa agents can't come here, like the no shirt no, service. >> you make an interesting point that while legally i guess a restaurant if they so choose to, by the way, the blog never identified the restaurant, they can refuse service legally. do you think this may be reed to another issue toward workers? >> yeah, i do. i mean, i think that the tsa agents have recently gotten some collective bargaining rights. and i think you can link it to this sort of anti-government worker. they're a pretty easy target. people don't like going through this process. there was a recent story here with an alaska lawmaker who had some ehealth issues and felt thy went too far. i think when we're thinking about the union busting and other issues, that this is somewhat related to pick on a government worker. that's an easy target. >> you mentioned the alaska state representative, sharon sis na. we're talking with her tomorrow. her aide indicated she was flagged because of a mastectomy she had had and that required additional screening which she was obviously like a lot of people are not comfortable with. with that said, it's so interesting you've got a restaurant that would turn down business these days. why would you refuse money, and again, these tsa employees have families they are trying to take care of and they don't make policy. they're just carrying out the marching orders they receive. >> yeah, and it also seems like these airport workers are regular customers. people like you and me are going through the area and aren't regulars. you might not want to alienate your bread and butter customer >> he it certainly is interesting and counter to what a business is supposed to do which is make money. have you clear it up and let us know what is within the legal realm. what does your gut tell you? should the restaurant be able to refuse service to workers even if it is legal? go to news nation.msnbc.com to cast your vote. yesterday's gut check, was a diabetic man discriminated against by a sushi restaurant for not eating rice in an all you can eat offer? 35% of you say yes. 65% of you say no, he wasn't. autumn wrote since when are restaurants allowed to tell people what they can and cannot eat? what happened to the customer is always right. paula wrote if he is really diabetic, he shouldn't be eating all he can eat. discrimination? give me a break. that does it for this edition of news nation. you can catch "news nation" every weekday only on msnbc. thomas roberts will pick up coverage after a quick break. e is crammed to the core with chocolate peanut buttery goodness... ♪ chips ahoy! crammed with joy! i know what works differently than many other allergy medications. omnaris. omnaris. to the nose! did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? 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