at the desk. david gregory and chris matthews. you heard them on the political agenda for 2014. plus mandela's message for a generation born long after he was released from prison, became south african's first black president and tried to change the world with a spirit. now one hollywood movie is trying to bring madiba's word to children today. >> we will fight for our homes. we will fight for our freedom. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington where the president will be facing white house press corps one final time in 2013. reporters eager to ask about a host of topi. starting off with another rule change to the health care law announced quietly. the change was announced quietly last night. actor east coast evening newscast joining me chuck todd chief white house correspondent, host of "the daily rundown." chuck, they put this out after 8:00 last night and after an extensive briefing on health care and the problems and fixes. are they trying to slide this in under the deadline? >> it's what it looks like, andrea. it really is whether they intended to or not a bit of a slap in the face. they promised the briefing on health care designed everything you needed to know before the deadline. lo and behold, four hours later they announced, oh, by the way, there's one more little change. let me explain the change. there's a number of americans, republicans say up to 5 million, white house says it's down to half a million. a number of americans have gotten cancellations from their insurance company. the president turned into a broken promise, if you like your plan you can keep it. to try to fulfill that promise or correct it as much as they can, they asked for some flexibility from insurance companies, see if they would offer old policies again. not all of them did that. they still have some folks falling through the cracks. what they have done is added a new exemption. there's always been a hardship exemption in the law, which means if you've had a personal financial problem, debt in the family, something through the year, you can ask for this exemption and buy a special catastrophic care only type of health insurance policy. was not available to everybody just a small group of people with specific hardships. now the add manage is saying if you've received a cancellation notice, that's a hardship. of course, andrea, this creates two classes of people. essentially you have folks unhappy with the choices they got. they got this cancellation and are upset. some bought insurance before this catastrophic policy was available. now if you did delay and wait, which is clearly happening. that's why the administration felt they needed to do the last second change before the deadline, then you do have this cheaper catastrophic policy now available to you. so it is sort of make confusion now. more confusion at the end. the rules are changing again here late in the game. yes, it's affecting a small pool but still a pool that's a thorn in the side of this law from the very beginning, andrea. >> what are you expecting at the press conference today? are you hearing there's an opening statement? will he talk about economy? certainly good gdp numbers today. what are you expecting the thrust to be of the press conference. >> my hunch had been, a little bit of a sum up of the year to try to take some -- they are expecting a bunch of questions that have to do with the bad year he's had politically. he certainly is ending on a political low. it's been a frustrating year and all that. there would be some illusion and reference to that. considering the news of the morning, this change in the law, the fact suddenly healthcare.gov, talk about bad timing, within three hours of the president facing press corps, down again for three hours just 72 hours before the deadline for people to get insurance january 1st. i have a hunch if they had something else planned, they may end up leading with health care because that's what's staring them in the face right now. >> chuck, i know you've got to get over there for the press conference, get ready. we'll see you just before. thanks so much. >> yes, ma'am. >> see you at the end of the show. joining men your studio, nbc's david gregory, moderator of "meet the press" and chris matthews host of "hardball" right here on msnbc and author of "tip and the gipper, when politics worked." a great reminder. >> used to work. >> used to work. used to work very well but perhaps not always as well as we wanted it to work. what's not working now is obviously, david, the health care issue right now front and center for the president. the last thing he wanted today on getaway day. >> because it slipped under the radar, implementation of health care great challenge of his second term. scrutinized at every level. never easy to implement something this complicated with the scale of this. now political class is going to scrutinize every level to determine whether it's crumbling of its own weight. there are a lot of conservatives opposed to this on principled levels that think this will be the latest evidence it is, crumbling. health care gets to something quite large. the upheaval in the politics. we have two fundamental things, the role of government. health care, big problems or resolution on these big problems like about the budget. >> behind the problems of implementation, which are real and huge is the real philosophical difference. the republicans have not felt a need to offer the alternative. despite tyranny support from the president looms the other part, three-quarters don't think republicans are good on health care. it's not like they are winning by winning. they are winning by other side losing. it's not just a difference of how well they have done. we agree they have done poorly, it's a difference of government responsibility. >> also this issue of republicans feeling from a conservative point of view it's not the government's job to try to inject efficiency into a health care system this big. it's only proving it's not doing that well. that's why conservatives are waiting to be vindicated, which a lot of people disagree with and a lot of people agree with. that's the split. >> philosophical split is republicans saying all along, this is a market issue. let the market take care of it. democrats, this president saying you have more than 40 million people not covered. you can't have a major industrialized nation that doesn't protect its citizens with health care. >> but the way president falling into his own public relations campaign. he didn't sell it the way you did or i might or a progressive. this is 40 million people working that don't get it. no, good for middle class, upper middle class, great pre-existing conditions. made a case more efficient for the milling of the country economically, better than middle. now he's found that it's a real philosophical question because he has to say, yeah, it's been a difficult, bone headed attempt to bring it into existence but at least we're right on the values. he never really argued the values in terms of the way ted kennedy used to do it. he helped it wouldn't help philanthropy. the public couldn't be told, hey, you're doing this for somebody else. you've got to do it for yourself. >> the quest to do good is government coercive in the process. that's a conservative question. >> at the same time the economy could lift this president and white house. you've got better gdp numbers today, 4.1%, the best numbers we've had in a couple years. janet yellin's nomination, the senate is rushing to get out of town. janet yellon got 59 votes on procedural votes, she only needed 51 on the nuclear option. they are not going to confirm the incoming head of the fed who is not that controversial except rand paul and a few out liers. that makes no sense. until the 31st, ben bernanke is there. the same issues with health care you talked to christine laguardia, head of the imf, a little clip from upcoming "meet the press" interview. this is your exclusive. >> pope talking about income inequality being a huge problem in this country and around the world. >> income inequality around the world is a big issue. we have done some work and there's a clear indication that rising inequality leads to less sustainable growth. not to mention the fact social fabric of society can be at stake. so reducing inequality, making sure people have a job. making sure there is growth, adequate redistribution through various systems is important. >> a profound problem for our country as well as the rest of the world. >> i don't know what this president is going to be able to do about it. it's argument, not legislation. maybe a fight over the minimum wage is a good way to do it. maybe republicans don't want to have that debate. again, he's taking on a huge role for government at a time when a lot of the welfare programs are running into trouble. to then talk about government intervening and lack of social inability, inequality, political will to put it through. >> economy gets better in macrosense dovish fed share coming of war and no crewups on the fiscal policy, a short-term deal, two-year deal, not any drug for screwing up of the politician. there is blue skies facing us economically. best combination, a combination of better economics for everybody and a posture on his part looking out for the poor. see what i said? not getting anything done but a posture that does small potato stuff like minimum wage combined with good economic news put him in a better position in terms of the polling a year from now. >> look towards 2014 midterms. lo and behold today he announces he's going to nominate max baucus yesterday, new ambassador to china. baucus's allies in the senate said he had experience working on trade issues with china but certainly no foreign policy experience that any of us have been able to determine. there is criticism of this even from the foreign policy community, even from within the state department. >> issues are big, economic relationship is huge with china. maybe he has insight into that. you made the suggestion earlier he knows congress well and maybe china seeks that out as well. our security issues in that part of the world are quite serious. the fact that baucus doesn't have that background is curious. i think the choices they have made in china going back to jon huntsman as well, gary more well received. he's thinking about politics 2014, mary landrieu on the energy committee. >> finance chair. meanwhile the governor in montana. >> you made every case of merits. >> governor in montana is running as an underdog. now the democratic lieutenant governor in montana can be appointed to the senate, get a leg up, get experience. >> is it better to be an incumbent in 2014? >> that's a very good question. >> all the arguments make sense in terms of rubik's cube. as for him, he hasn't been a loyalist to obama. he didn't do a great job finance chair getting together a bipartisan -- at least semblance of bipartisan approach to health care, which is his big goal in life. didn't do it. we lost enzi, orrin hatch. remember that? there was a hope there. >> talking about in 2009 when the finance committee was -- >> a real grown-up approach to health care instead of partisan one. >> we will hear from the president shortly and thank you both very much. david gregory, chris matthews. part of the ceiling looking overseas part of the ceiling at london's 112-year-old apollo theatre in that city's west end crashed down onto the audience bringing down sections of the balcony injuring 76 people. fortunately no fatalities and it happened 45 minutes into the performance. chunks of plaster and wooden beams on the audience causing panic and confusion. >> loud bang. i think it was an explosion and the ceiling came down. dust, chandelier, wood and all of that stuff and landed on five or six rows. >> we thought it was sound effects of the theater. then we just looked up and the whole ceiling like slow motion came down. we're going across america to let people try the deep sweep power brush by oral-b for the first time. wow. it's "wow," you know? wow. wow. that feels "wow." 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[ male announcer ] guaranteed "wow" with deep sweep from oral-b. #1 dentist-recommended toothbrush brand worldwide. ...are the hands that do good things for the whole community: the environment, seniors, kids, and animals. that's why we created the share the love event. by the end of this year, the total donated by subaru could reach 35 million dollars. you get a great deal on a new subaru. we'll donate 250 dollars to a choice of charities that benefit your community. it feels good to be a helping hand. the senate is wrapping up business for the year after passing the defense bill last night and opted for compromise on the controversial issue of handling sexuality assaults. president obama put military on notice saying he wants reforms bit end of next year. new york senator kirsten gillibrand replied, that isn't good enough. she wants her bill which would separate prosecutions from the military. joining me for our daily fix chris cillizza msnbc host of "in play." ann guerin. welcome to you both. chris, first to you. the whole issue that divided claire mccaskill from kirsten gillibrand. year after year presidents have said we've got to fix -- charms, joint chiefs, we've got to fix this problem and nothing happens. it's hard to imagine why this statement would have more of an effect? >> sentiment is one thing, legislation is another, andrea. we know time and time again the best sentiments expressed by democrats, president run into a legislative brick wall. what's fascinating kirsten gillibrand seems unlikely to give this up as her statement you read made clear. she's already gotten, frankly, a lot further than many people who watch congress for a living thought. remember, this was a bill carl levin, chairman of the committee who oversees this bill was opposed to. he did not want her proposal to get a hearing. she has pushed and pushed and pushed. my sense is she will continue to push because president obama is saying he wants military to address and come up with solutions. i'm sure she's thrilled he said this. she knows how the process works. the only way it changes if you have a legislative change because otherwise seems unlikely given what we know about the history in this issue that going to change without that prompt. >> the president is going to have his news conference today. we expect it will go for an hour. another news conference, end of the year news conference by another president. vladimir putin wrapped up with a four-hour plus marathon. ann guerin, quite a performance, comes out, music plays, he's on a big page. toying and sparring with reporters. they are intimidated by the crackdown, unthe thumb, hardly democratic or free press, waving all sorts of things to get attention. he did today sign the release, clemency, pardon for one of his strongest opponents, the oil tycoon after 10 years is going to get out. >> he's out and in germany where he'll see his ailing mother. it was an amazing turn of events. not one putin let word out of during that four-hour news conference. my favorite part being when a reporter waved a stuffed yechi. we made need more of that in obama news conferences. >> he discussed greenpeace prisoners and two women from pussy riot sent to hardened labor for 75 seconds of a performance. >> and putin's explanation for the pardons for clemency, the maneuver to let them out is a humanitarian gesture and he still thinks all of the activists you just mentioned did was wrong. this was clearly an effort by putin ahead of the sochi olympics in february to improve russia's human rights record abroad. he couldn't resist, he just couldn't resist making a few points to say, well, yeah, but everything they did is still completely wrong. >> also chris cillizza, a jab at the president over the nsa. you've got former kgb chief from east germany during the soviet era. he, a trained spy and spy chief takes a jab at president obama on nsa on the spying. they are harboring edward snowden. he says he envies, is jealous of president obama because president obama can get away with these things and nobody does anything about it. >> first of all, a four-hour news conference. i don't know if that's a reporter's dream or nightmare. you're right. this week has been sort of a public trading of jabs and public sign of how bad relations are. president obama announcing sochi delegation, he, vice president biden or first lady will not attend. first time since the sidney olympics that will be the case. with several openly gay members of our delegation, i don't think that was by accident. putin sort of responding in kind as he sees fit. this is -- you guys both know more about this than me. seems to me when diplomacy is being conducted via this way, it's rarely a good sign for more serious talks. vladimir putin seems like a kid throwing san in the sand box. >> indeed. ann, happy new year. safe travels. >> thank you. >> lets hope we're not on the road again with john kerry in the next couple of weeks. vacation. chris cillizza, we'll see you at the end of the show, leading into the president's news conference. thanks very much. meanwhile target feeling plenty of heat, a day after notifying 40 million customers their credit and debit card information could have been compromised during busy holiday season starting with black friday. authorities don't know how the culprits did it. experts believe it could have been malware inserted into the system either by sophisticated, organized criminals or inside job. secret service is now leading the investigation into this massive security breach. target says it has fixed the problem. for some of the victims, the damage has already been done. >> there are about five fraudulent charges, over $60, $80, $90 each. >> noticed my bank account low, $1273 to microsoft store. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. ♪ ♪ the original premise for opening gitmo, that detainees could not challenge their detention was found unconstitutional five years ago. in the meantime, gitmo has become a symbol around the world for an america that flouts the rule of law. imagine a future 10 years from now or 20 years from now, when the united states of america is still holding people who have been charged with no crime on a piece of land that is not part of our country. is this who we are? is that something our founders foresaw? is that the america we want to leave our children? our sense of justice is stronger than that. >> that was last may of the president trying to explain why he had not closed gitmo as he promised before taking office. now it may be easier to fulfill that promise because last night the defense bill lifted a decision that kept white house from transferring detainees back to foreign countries. now the general who first set up the prison after 9/11 is having second thoughts about that decision. major general michael leonard, first commanding officer at gitmo joins me now by phone. general, thank you very much for being with us. tell me what has caused you to change your mind? >> well, andrea, my mind was changed several years ago. i've spoken out actually while i was still on active duty saying that we need to closed guantanamo. currently i'm part of the nonpartisan coalition of 55 retired generals and admirals around the country that believe u.s. terrorism should adhere to geneva constitutions and our international domestic legal operations. so i'm in good company. i've had this opinion for some time. the reason that you're hearing so much now is because the national defense authorization act legitimately gives us an opportunity to gain some traction on the closure of guantanamo. >> at this time do you think the president could have done anything? his hands were tied to a certain degree by restrictions congress laid on? >> that's exactly right. that's why we're very happy with the bipartisan bill that came out last night that you mention on your show. because it does provide the administration an opportunity to at least return those detainees who, as you pointed out, have been cleared for some time for return to their country of origin. so the ball is back in the administration's court and they have the opportunity to move these detainees. two sudanese were released, so we're getting traction. >> 69 have been cleared for transfer quite sometime. you mentioned two sent back to sudan. what about all of those still on hunger strike? there's very little attention given to them? >> well, i would hope there's more attention given to it. we've got 71 detainees, some of them very bad people whose status will be reviewed by periodic review boards. the legislation that was put forward in the original national defense authorization act by my senator, senator levin provided for movement of those detainees to the united states and prosecution under federal law. sadly that part did not survive. at least we're hopeful we're able to move those detainees. thanks for joining us together. raul castro said to president obama when they shook hands at nelson mandela's funeral. according to his brother he shared discussing ties to mandela. he said his brother introduced him to president obama english telling him, quote, mr. president, i'm castro. the photo of the two leaders shaking hands sparked speculation about whether it signaling a warming of ties between the two countries which both leaders denied. still, fidel congratulated his brother on friendly but firm gesture, quote, unquote. avo: the volkswagen "sign then drive sales 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delivered reinforcements from burundi to help african union forces already there. >> we stressed that those responsible for atrocities must be held account able. that's an important element to future violence and cycles of violence. >> we now know the identities of six u.s. soldiers killed in afghanistan. the single largest lost for our military in afghanistan in six months. 19-year-old sergeant peter bowler was the helicopter's crew chief, the oldest of three children from willow spring, north carolina. he came from a long line of soldiers. 30-year-old staff sergeant jesse lee williams, his third deployment to afghanistan. williams leaves behind a 6-year-old daughter madison who he met for the first time in 2008 while home on leave from iraq. specialist terry gordon from mississippi, he was only 22 years old. 35-year-old chief warrant officer joshua silverman called scottsdale, arizona home. 34-year-old chief warrant officer randy billings from oklahoma. finally 28-year-old sergeant first class omar ford was from marietta, georgia. we send our prayers to their families and the families of all of our military servicemen and women who have made such terrible sacrifices for their country. 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[ girl ] make dinner pop! as we wait for the press conference which will start at the top of the hour, president obama is likely to get a few questions about the results of that review panel on nsa surveillance programs and how many changes the president is willing to make. he has said he will not make final decisions until january or the beginning of the year. ron widen is a leading voice opposing nsa's metadata programs and joins me now. senator, thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me back. >> what did you think of the review panel? does it go far enough? >> i think the review panel made substantial and meaningful suggestion. andrea, the bottom line is this has been a banner week, a banner week for intelligence reformers. the combination, the judge's decision and then what the review panel offered up in virtually all the major areas supported our argument, for example, with respect to collecting millions and millions of phone records on law abiding americans. this review panel headed by distinguished individuals who are certainly not soft on national security, they said, number one, that those records were not indispensable in terms of trying to prevent attacks and they really thought they weren't needed. >> some signals when the president makes his decision is not opting or going along with the recommendation they divide cyber command under nsa and give civilian authority with better oversight. if he does make that decision, is that a major problem for you? do you think -- are you going to be pressing him to make that decision or less important -- >> andrea, that is not a showstopper. the whole debate with respect to accountability is what we care about number one. i've been joking with the staff. take a look at 104 of the review panel, telephony metadata is not essential. that's key. their recommendation that we no longer allow this back door search loophole that permits collection of records on law abiding americans that's significant. then, of course, the fisa court recommendations are quite dramatic as well. those are right at the core of the bipartisan interest in the capital to make sure that people understand security and liberty are not mutually exclusively, we can have both. >> nsa indicated we don't know how much edward snowden leaked. there's another leak "the guardian" of the "new york times" posted more than 1,000 targeted including then prime minister of israel's office. mr. olmert. what do you think about what snowden did given you and others in the committee could have been an outlet for what he did and taking all these intelligence secrets an putting them out. >> andrea, until we have the bipartisan changes senator collins and i and others advocated with those that came forward, i'm not sure that much would be different. the bottom line here is that the government's arguments for the status quo have consistently been falling apart. for example, for years when i and others raised questions, we were told oh, ron, don't worry about this. the fisa court is going to take care of it. the fisa court is going to oversee everything. things were declassified when judge bates and walton had the opportunity to speak, they, in effect, said them consistently mislead to the point there wasn't a system of rules at all. you had general alexander, for example, say at one point, you can see it on youtube, we don't hold data on u.s. citizens. andrea, i consider that one of the most false statements ever made about u.s. surveillance. >> before i let you go, congratulate you on what is expected if everything falls into place. max baucus, chair of the finance committee will be nominated ambassador to china. you would be next up to chair the committee. how will things be different? what are your top priorities? >> andrea, i'm going to certainly wait for speaker reid to make any official announcement here. i'm going to continue my long-standing interest, bipartisan pro growth, you've seen work with senator greig, coates, begich, medicare reform, tackling a chronic disease. this is an opportunity to show medicare in 2013 is very different than medicare in 1965. each of those will be bipartisan efforts and continuing long-standing work. >> exactly what happens. >> look forward to it. >> thanks very much. the new biographical film nelson mandela, "long walk to freedom" is teaching a history lesson in the classroom. >> we will fight for our freedom. if they want a war, we will give them a war. >> weinstein company that produced this film has come up with a national lesson plan based on the legacy of nelson mandela. this is part of a teaching partnership with american federation of teachers. education materials including movie clips already reached 10,000 classes in america. joining me randi weingarten and harvey weinstein producer of nelson mandela, "long walk to freedom." congratulations on this partnership. harvey weinstein, congratulations on the film. tell me about the film and why you decided it was really important to place this in classrooms, reach another generation. >> we've been involved in trying to make a movie. at one point washington was going to do it, another was morgan freeman. having met him on several occasions and how inspiring he was, i wanted to see if we could get kids in schools to come see a movie that wasn't avengers or superhero movie and see what a real hero looked like, a real hero's life looks like. it's pg-13. they should see animated movie and run to this movie. it's good dinner conversation. then randi teamed up with our company. i've been at one of the screenings and seeing hundreds of kids react is important moment in my life. >> also golden globes nomination for the film. randi, we've talked a lot about the importance of bringing these lessons to kids what does it mean in practical term for a teach tore have these film clips as a tool. >> exactly. first, film is a tool. you watch. i've been privileged to be in two of the screens and after screens with high school kids. you watch kids who are totally silent through the movie. you can't hear a pin drop, then listening to them talk about how the movie changed their lives and listening to them talk about the nuances of the movie as if they were the producer of and director of the film. brings to life what's important, a launching pad to talk about freedom fighting, apartheid, reconciliation, leadership. it's just -- i love this partnership. i just love how you use different medium to engage kids. that's what we've tried to do. we put lesson plans on the site so more and more and more, over 400,000 people have access to it. with the film getting more and more reach, if we can actually help kids see, they, too, can change society by doing these kinds of things acting on their beliefs, i think it will change the lives of kids and our nation. i want to thank harvey for letting us be a partner with you. it's very exciting for us. >> the message of reconciliation, that is probably the most important message to young people. >> i think not only young people but we could show it to congress, too. i do think that a man in prison 27 years walks out and becomes president of the country. the people he brought with him to his inauguration was his jailers. he understood forgiveness was the way to go forth and forget about the pain of the past. it's great lessons. it's also not medicine for kids. there's action. there's a love story. we don't make movies boring. we make movies that are exciting and get older kids to think and dream and one of the things i will quickly say how great corporate america is react, howard shultz from starbucks and ken from american express, sorenson, they have reached out and made screenings on campuses and schools and paid for buses and just an incredible movement to try to use the lesson of this man's life to inspire a new generation. >> thank you so much, harvey winestein. president obama gave what many people believe one of his best speeches. he wrote it on air force one going out. i know from talking to white house officials it meant a great deal to him and sort of sad that most of the commentary afterwards was about the translator, the deaf interpreter and other things. but people should go back also and look at that speech as we wrap up this week and this year. thank you. >> thank you, andrea. >> which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? we think that's next on "andrea mitchell reports." we'll bring the president's news conference live on msnbc. i think we know which political story will make headlin headlines, it's going to be the president's news conference. chuck? >> andrea, we do expect -- >> chris is also with us. but chuck, take the lead. >> andrea, we do expect the president to talk about enrollment figures in some form or another, just less than 72 hours to go when we're going to get some update from him on status of health care. of course, coincidentally the site went down for a couple of hours this afternoon just before the president conference itself. i wouldn't be surprised if a lot is dominated by health care. this is an end of the year press conference so there's likely to be a little more wide-ranging, once the health care questions are out of the way from his perspective on how this year went when you compare to what he thought the year was going to be like at least year's end of the year press conference versus what it ended up being. hearing his assessment of himself and all of that, don't be surprised if you see those questions as well. >> thanks so much, chuck. chris, as chuck was suggesting we'll hear about the nsa and economy and priorities for the second term with john podesta. >> the year end press conference is sort of a tradition at this point in washington. my guess would be president obama could be on a plane to hawaii rather than face this group, he would be. this has been a very tough year for him. nsa has been difficult for him. health care obviously very difficult. and his poll numbers reflect it. i'm interested to see the tone he takes. i'm not sure how much new ground he breaks, in the year that can be in 2014, it's a midterm election year, maybe the last for him to get potentially big things done, legacy building pieces done. i'm fascinated how he frames it. >> chris, when we look at this coming year, so many challenges and he doesn't have a whole lot of time to reboot it. he's got to grab the initiative on health care primarily but also on other agenda items and figure out what he wants his legacy to be. >> and you know, an drdreaandre2 was the year of legs lating his legacy, we thought that might be drug control and climate. i think 2014 is the year of executive action. >> is this does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." we'll have the presidential news conference coming up next. so i tried depend last weekend. so i it made the difference between hearing about my daughter's gym meet, and being there. yeah! nailed it! i got back to doing what i love. that's my daughter. hi sweetie! gotta dial it back a little bit on the rock climbing. one weekend can make all the difference. unlike the bargain brand, depend gives you the confidence of new fit-flex® protection. it's a smooth and comfortable fit with more lycra strands. it's our best protection. take your weekend on with a free sample at depend.com a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation -- an irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto®, jim's on the move. jim's doctor recommended xarelto®. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. so jim's not tied to that monitoring routine. 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"news nation" is following breaking news. president obama is about to hold a news conference on what's scheduled to be the last day of the year, his last day in washington, d.c. the president and his family are set to head to hawaii for their annual holiday vacation. the news conference comes on the heel of another change in the president ses health care law. millions of people whose