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era and his new single about mlk. but we start this hour with breaking news on the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. australian officials overseeing the search say that signals detected by a chinese ship and reported by chinese media earlier today are consistent with the kind of signals that could be emitted by black boxes. a ship detected a pulse signal in the south indian ocean. the chinese press indicated that at this point it's not clear if the signals are related to that missing jet. australian officials leading the international search are still trying to verify the source of these reported pings. but if a connection to the missing plane is found, this could be a major breakthrough. the pings emitted from the voice and data recorder are critical in finding that missing aircraft. the pinger's batteries are expected to die as early as this weekend. and the chinese are saying that they spotted a number of white floating objects in today's search near the investigation area. nbc's ian williams starts us off with the very latest from perth, australia. >> reporter: good day to you, craig. these reports come from chinese state media which has reporters on board the patrol ship equipped with a black box detector. there's not too much detail in the reports. all they say is that the ship detected a pulse, which is on the same frequency as that emitted by the black box. it says that it was unable to establish at this time whether it was from the aircraft. now, these reports have been met with some caution here in australia. the australian defense minister saying there have been several things over the last three or four weeks which have turned out to be disappointing. of course what he didn't say is a number of these false leads have come from the chinese authorities. now, the australian-led organization which is overseeing and coordinating the search seem to be taken somewhat by surprise. in a statement this evening, they said they are unable to verify the reports and they've asked china for more information. craig? >> ian williams for us in perth, australia, ian, thank you. in the coming hours, investigators will try to confirm if indeed these signals are coming from one of the two so-called black boxes. greg fife is a former ntsb investigator. it feels like we've been here a number of times over the past month or so. is this another false alarm or are you optimistic this time? >> i'm not optimistic, craig. i work on fact. while we've seen this before with the chinese with the satellite photos and releasing information, we're back to it again, especially after the malaysians really put the australians in charge and said, you're going to handle this search. yet the chinese are releasing this information. there's got to be one unified voice i'm not sure why they felt compelled to release this information before it was verified. >> correct me if i'm wrong here, there are two of these so-called black boxes. you've got the flight data recorder, you've got the voice recorder. are those two -- are they kept together? >> there are combination boxes. typically they're separate. so you'll have two different pingers. one for each box. again, with this pinger, they're only mounted on the outside of the case. they're held on by brackets. in my past experience, those pingers have broken off the top end or the front of those boxes so you could have the pinger that's actually operating but not be with one of the two boxes. >> and is that likely? it sounds like you're saying there's a high likelihood that they could find the pinger but it's detacheded from one of the two black boxes? >> it's going to depend on the impact sequence. if we had a slow impact, the plane stayed relatively intact, the boxes will have stayed relatively intact and there's a higher likelihood or probability that the pinger is still attached. if it's a high-speed impact where you have a catastrophic destruction of the airplane, there's a high likelihood that the box itself has shredded and the pinger's been dislodged. >> what are some of the most valuable pieces of information that we can get from these black boxes? >> i think there's a couple of things. of course with the flight data record because it records 25 hours of data, if in fact it was working as it should, then we're going to have what the airplane did. we won't know why it did it. but we'll know how the flight path originated, who was controlling it, how much of the automation was being used to fly the aircraft. the cockpit voice recorder is going to be the key. and unfortunately i don't have a lot of optimism because if this airplane is flown four, five, six, seven hours, it has overwritten itself after the first two hours, unless the pilot pulled the circuit breaker for the cockpit voice recorder thinking that he was going to be able to do something and not record the rest of the flight. we found that with silk air in indonesian where we had the pilot pull the circuit breaker but capture good stuff so we could put together the story line as to what his motive was. >> greg, former ntsb investigator, anything you want to add as we continue to wait for confirmation? anything i didn't ask you? >> craig, i think the big thing here is that for everybody that's watching and while we all want to believe that we're going to find this wreckage and hopefully these pingers are going to point us in the right direction, we have got to continue not to try and make a story line out of just factoids that unfortunately come up. so i think the big thing here is handling it with caution and talking about it in generalities until it is vetted. >> greg, thank you, sir. we appreciate your insight. >> you're welcome. let's move on. to the latest on the massive shooting at fort hood now. investigators say an argument of some sort happened before that massacre perhaps about army specialist ivan lopez trying to take some time off. beyond that, officials admit they may never be able to figure out precisely why lopez shot and killed three, then wounded 16 others at the army base wednesday. those killed have now been identified. 38-year-old staff sergeant carlos rodriguez, 37-year-old sergeant timothy owens, 39-year-old sergeant daniel ferguson. sarah is live at fort hood. what more do we know about the moments leading up to wednesday's mass shooting? >> reporter: good afternoon, craig. we are hearing from some of the people who actually witnessed those first shots fired who were inside the personal office when ivan lopez came inside to get paperwork to request time off. he was told to come back. he left, returned with a gun and started firing. we're also hearing more tales of heroism. one army major who was hit directly in the abdomen with a bullet, he put pressure on that wound and continued to usher other soldiers to safety while tending to his own wound. we are also hearing some good news about the wounded. ten of these 16 have been released from the hospital. three of the most critical patients upgraded to fair condition. doctors do expect everyone to survive. we have a memorial service coming up on wednesday to honor both the fallen and the wounded and to support those families and those here on base affected by this massacre. >> nbc's sarah dallof for us at fort hood, thank you. the conversation about post-war treatment of our troops will only intensify later this year when the remaining 33,000 u.s. forces return from afghanistan. many wonder whether our system can handle the mental and physical needs of every veteran that's returning. leo shane iii is a congressional reporter and dan nevens is with the wounded warrior project. good to see both of you on a saturday afternoon. thanks for being with me. >> thank you. >> we know that specialist lopez was suffering from a number of post-war issues. we do not know at this point if that's what led to the shooting. but it speaks to the ailments of our many veterans. is our system prepared for 30,000 more to come home? >> a lot of the veterans groups are concerned it might not be. the veterans department has done the best it can to hire new mental health specialists, to do more outrage and try and improve the system. but folks within the veterans advocacy groups are saying you've got so many folks coming in, you've got so many issues, it's tough to keep up. >> why is that? is it because we don't have enough manpower, because of technology? what are the problems? >> it's a little bit of all of that. the number of mental health specialists in the country is lower than what a lot of experts believe. so getting enough for veterans is part of a national problem. the v.a. has made a lot of strides, the groups will tell you. but it's figuring out, how do you deal with ptsd? how do you deal with traumatic brain injury, how do you deal with depression and sleeplessness? basic questions that are problems throughout the country, not just for the v.a. >> sergeant nevens, the father of ivan lopez released a statement yesterday saying in part, quote, this situation has caused great pain, my son must not have been in his right mind, he wasn't like that. when you returned from war, sergeant, what was your frame of mind? >> my frame of mind was just fine, craig. we all -- when you serve in combat, unfortunately your exposed to a lot of things that we're so thankful that the majority of americans aren't exposed to. but what's really important to know is that you're surrounded by people who love you and care for you and support you on the battlefield and then when you return home as well. that's why i'm so fortunate to work for wounded warrior project where we make great strides to make sure warriors stay connected with each other and connected with our families and our communities when they return home. it's important to realize that one in five of us that return home are living with combat stress, posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. the example on fort hood, it's really important to note that that has nothing to do with combat stress. it's an act of a single individual who's dealing with whatever he may be dealing with. >> leo, you write this week that as the military community struggles to make sense of another base shooting, veterans are also left wondering whether this latest tragedy will again stoke misconceptions about their combat experience and post-war mental health. sergeant nevins alluded to that. what kinds of misconceptions? >> it's the rambo narrative, the idea that all veterans come back from war angry and ready to snap. there's not medical evidence that shows that. as dan said, plenty of folks do come back with posttraumatic stress and adjustment issues. but the medical research hasn't shown that that necessarily leads to outbursts of violence like we saw at fort hood. right now, army officials are saying the shooter had some pretty severe mental issues. but they don't know that that was the trigger. they don't know what role that really played. veterans are concerned when stories like this get out, when you see things like this, people just assume that all veterans are unstable and should i have them in class with me? should i hire them for a job? it makes the adjustment back to civilian life much more difficult. >> sergeant nevins, very few ptsd patients become violent. but there are red flags that we know about. specialist lopez went on numerous facebook rants about -- he was talking about his dark demons on march 1st, the same day that he took tha that .45-caliber used in the attack, he posted, quote, my spiritual peace has all gone away. i am full of hate. i believe now that the devil is taking me. we know that he sought treatment. do we think that the military let him fall through the cracks? >> that's a really good question. i can't really speak to that specifically because whatever darkness was in his life -- obviously there was something going on with him to do unspeakably what he did. first of all, our hearts and thoughts go out to those affected by the tragedy at fort hood. it's absolutely horrible to hear and horrible to witness the quasicorrelation that's been drawn between that single act and ptsd in general. and it's important that we -- when we discuss those, we lean away from the sloppy journalism and headlines and leads correlate ptsd and this incident because it's just not fair to the hundreds of thousands of wounded warriors and families who are living with this every single day. >> i'm glad we made the distinction. thank you both so much for your time. leo shane, did you have something you wanted to add? >> no. just the point that dan raised is spectacular. it's what we're hearing from a lot of veterans right now. the frustration of, let's make sure that this doesn't become a veteran story. let's make sure this is a story about a tragedy that we need to respond to. >> thank you both. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. the people of afghanistan came out to vote in huge numbers for a new president today. this could lead to the nation's first democratic transfer of power. turnout was so high, in fact, some polling places ran out of ballots. some 7 million votes were cast in the mostly peaceful election. a third of those who voted were women. preliminary results will be announced on april 24th. coming up, at first glance, you might not think that a virtual reality world like this could help a soldier with ptsd. however, that's exactly what one group is using. we'll talk to that group straight ahead. it's today's big idea. first, though, the supreme court may have made a game-changing decision this week themselves. what it means for money and politics and your vote. this is msnbc. i have low testosterone. there, i said it. how did i know? 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[ male announcer ] in a clinical study, over 80% of treated men had their t levels restored to normal. talk to your doctor about all your symptoms. get the blood tests. change your number. turn it up. androgel 1.62%. it's a decision that could very well change politics. earlier this week, the supreme court struck down restrictions on the grand total that any one person can contribute to federal candidates running for office. chief justice john roberts wrote the majority opinion saying, the government must fight corruption but, quote, that must be limited to a specific kind of corruption, quid pro quo corruption, in order to ensure that the government's efforts do not have the effect of restricting the first amendment rights of citizens to choose who shall govern them. former congressman martin meen sponsored the legislation. groundbreaking law regulated the financing of political campaigns. he's now the chancellor of the university of massachusetts in lowell. he joins me from there. good to see you. thanks for being with me. >> great to be with you. >> campaign finance limits are what you fought for. what's your take on the supreme court's decision? >> i don't think it's a very good decision and doesn't look at the reality of american politics. the fact of the matter is, this has been national policy for 40 years and judicial precedent for 38 years. after the watergate scandal in the early '70s, congress passed new limits on campaigns and how much money people could spend. those have been reinforced by some cases. the fact is, in a democracy, you need to avoid corruption or the appearance of corruption. the fact of the matter is, when you can give unlimited money to campaign, when candidates themselves can ask for $1 million or $2 million, that has a corrupting influence over what and how the government functions. >> how do we fix this? what can congress -- what should congress be doing right now to fix this? >> well, when i saw the decision and i disagree with it strongly, i thought of sandra day o'connor who left the court a few years ago. she was an independent republican appointed by ronald reagan from arizona. left the court to take care of her husband. and that shifted the court from a 5-4 in favor of these limits to 4-5 on the other side of it. so i think congress is trying to do what it can. but what both parties are doing right now, they're trying to figure out how to take this law, set up joint fund-raising communities so that members of congress can now start soliciting million-dollar contributions to all the various parties from individuals. a candidate for president now will be able to set up a joint fund-raising committee and solicit a $1.2 million contribution that would include maxed-out contribution to the political candidate but also maxed out to all the various parties, maxed out to the democratic or republican parties around the country. i don't think that's good in a democracy. imagine the speaker of the house, john boehner or nancy pelosi, the minority leader, being able to go out and ask people for $1 million, for all their democratic and republican candidates? how can that be good in ha democracy? you had a great piece about veterans and what we're doing about posttraumatic stress disorder. do we really want a country where we're deciding how we're going to use our special resources and those with all this money are able to influence that process? it's not good. >> let's look at some of the folks who have all this money that you just mentioned and the folks who have been trying to influence politics. just to give you a sense of who these big money oligarchs are. top five individuals funding outside interest groups this year. thomas steyer, michael bloomberg, robert perry, thomas and salary jordan. jonathan and jennifer soros. three out of five of those are supporters of liberal causes. what does that tell you? have we been wrong at all about who we've been calling the boogeyman here? >> i don't think that you should necessarily blame one party or the other. i think the fact is, do we want decisions in washington to be made on the merits? if we do, then clearly -- there are 1,700 people that have contributed the maximum amount to congressional campaigns in this country. so there's a large group of people who could give a whole lot of money. most of them have an interest in legislation before the congress. do you really want members of congress from either party to be able to go out and solicit $1 million, $2 million from these individuals? doesn't that have a corrupting influence over the process? i think what's going to happen, once we have the next presidential election where either presidential candidate, democrat or republican, can go out and raise -- solicit $1.2 million, then you're going to get all that information and figure out who these people are. then i think the court and the congress will say, we have to do something about this. >> martin, thank you so much. appreciate your time. >> thank you. it's time to raise the bar for congress. but not how you might think. according to outgoing congressman james p. moran, his colleagues in congress are underpaid. he's proposed a boost to their current $174,000 salaries. he says some of his peers have resorted to living out of their offices because the pay is simply too low to live in or around d.c. congressional salaries have been frozen since 2010. you're watching msnbc. [ male a] this is karen and jeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some financial folks who will talk to them about preparing early for retirement and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. it's about the amount of time and you getting to experience all the firsts like look how much he's changed in just a few weeks, in just a few weeks from when he's come home. >> my wife thinks it's a good idea. so do a lot of other people. why is it that more fathers do not get a chance to spend time with their newborn kids? we're going to talk about that in our next hour. new rules and new controversy about the way certain women are and are not being allowed to wear their hair in the military. and the lieutenant governor as the head of a historic southern college, sounds like a good idea, right? might make sense if it were not for some of the things that the south carolina's glenn mcconnell has said and done in the past that has some students outraged down there. before all of that, it's legendary soul singer sam moore live right here in our studio. you look, sir. thanks for stopping by. ♪ marge: you know, there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious, and a good source of fiber to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge: the tasty side of fiber. from phillips. ♪ you have to let me know [ female announcer ] when sweet and salty come together, the taste is irresistible. sweet and salty nut bars by nature valley. nature at its most delicious. welcome back. an update on the breaking news we've been following in the search for that missing malaysia airlines plane. australian officials overseeing the search say signals detected by a chinese ship and reported by chinese media earlier today are consistent with signals that could be emitted by aircraft black boxes, could being the operative word there. but the same officials caution there is no confirmation any of this is actually related to the missing jet at this point. this is video earlier today of an australian team searching the indian ocean to detect pingers. we'll keep on top of this story and bring you any updates as soon as we get them. here's a quick look at some of the other top stories making news. only hours after a prayer vigil in oso, washington, the community is coming together for yet another funeral for a victim of the tragic mud slide there. as of today, 30 are dead, 13 people are still unaccounted for. and a crash involving a greyhound bus and five other cars leaves two dead and a dozen more hurt. before the crash, officials received a call about a vehicle traveling the wrong direction. 46 years ago last night, april 4th, 1968, dr. martin luther king, jr., was assassinated in memphis. here's how senator robert kennedy broke that news during a speech in indianapolis. >> i have some very sad news for all of you and i think sad news for all of our fellow citizens and people who love peace all over the world. and that is that martin luther king was shot and was killed tonight in memphis, tennessee. >> later that year in june, senator kennedy would also fall to an assassin's bullet. the lorraine motel opened as a museum in 1991. it's been closed for a year and a half for a sweeping renovation. that motel is reopening today. msnbc.com's tremain lee is in memphis. good afternoon. what's the scene like there today? >> reporter: first of all, the culmination of the day happened about 15 minutes to go when museum officials broke the chains to open the doors of the museum. they released doves. and a minister declared it holy ground and said that violence will not be victorious. violence has played such a major role in american history. but so has nonviolence. you see it inside the walls of the museum in a remarkable collection of exhibits that span the slave trade all the way through the modern civil rights era. >> $28 million reconstruction, i understand. you've been inside that museum. what's inside? how does it help tell the story of the civil rights movement? >> reporter: i went back in about an hour ago. and the first thing you see when you go in is a replica of the belly of a slave ship. and you see slaves, shackled africans crouched down. you get a sense of the inhume y m -- inhumanity of it. you make your way to the modern civil rights era, rosa parks, the freedom riders. and you end up at room 306 on the second floor where martin luther king spent the last minutes of his life. it's just remarkable to tell this story in a way that is both impassioned and visceral at the same time. but it's laid out with facts and dozens of scholars that contributed that make sure every detail was right. it's truly a remarkable scene inside the museum. >> thank you, sir. >> reporter: thank you. >> next week marks 50 years since president lyndon johnson signed the civil rights act. to mark that, today's leaders and civil rights advocates are meeting for a civil rights summit. we're going to have special coverage of that summit all next week right here on msnbc. the sound of southern soul came in the form of sam and dave. take a listen. ♪ i'm a soul man ♪ i'm a soul man ♪ i'm a soul man ♪ i'm a soul man >> soul legends sam moore and dave praytor. sam moore's just recorded a tribute to dr. king. ♪ he led a peaceful march with his darker skin ♪ ♪ they killed a king ♪ a man named king ♪ his only weapon was believing in a dream ♪ ♪ they killed a king >> sam moore, good afternoon to you, sir. >> good afternoon, my dear friend. >> you've still got it. >> you think? >> no doubt. >> you think it? >> the song "they killed a king" written shortly after the assassination, why did you record this song now? >> well, it was just introduced to me a few months ago. but at the rate of seeing where he left things, unfortunately getting assassinated and seeing where things are going now, i think i can get some verifications like from bill cosby and others that have been around the clock more than one time about this. and this song came about. and i said, wait a minute, you're showing all this good stuff and what happened and what he left -- the legacy that he left. but now you have now slipped back to where he didn't -- it doesn't belong. that's why i was so happy. >> you were, of course, part of one of the most successful soul music duos in the history. sam & dave. you were also a major part of the stacks record success as well, located in memphis, tennessee. how did memphis change? how did the music change with the assassination of dr. king? >> if you want to, you can actually put in the middle of all that because everything was okay, then you had the beatle thing coming about. and then after that, you had everything -- disco and whatnot. it never got a chance to reverb itself, to come back and sing and dance and enjoy going to a concert, feeling bad and leaving there better than you felt when you went in. that doesn't happen anymore. the change was very, very drastic. >> what do you remember about dr. king specifically? what do you remember about those days and weeks after the assassination? >> i tell you, the day of the speech in washington, i was at the hotel in washington. and when he came up -- i remember when he came up. he was speaking. and i knew that i had been told -- he was going to speak about 10 or 15 minutes. but as he was speaking -- and if you go back into the records, he was going to walk away because he wasn't -- the message wasn't getting across. he was walking away. and from below where he was speaki speaking, someone said, martin, martin, tell them about the dream, martin. tell them. and he stopped and he turned and he walked back up -- oh, man, just to say that now -- and without a script, that's when he spoke "the dream". >> let's talk about sam moore a little bit before i let you get out of here and head back to arizona. how often do you get back in the studio these days? >> not that much. but we're working on it. after this is all over and hopefully we can get people to get it together, hopefully -- >> i saw you recently in that pbs -- i assume you saw the pbs special from 1989. you were playing at the inauguration of the first president bush. >> yeah. >> that was just -- it was just released on dvd. this was also you last year at the white house. take a listen. >> please welcome the great sam moore. >> there you are. i want to go back to '89 quickly. you were there with bo diddley, percy sledge, a lot of greats performing at that inauguration. and what a lot of folks today may not realize, your presence there, it was a bit controversial back in 1989. was it not? >> sort of. >> lee atwater, for folks who aren't familiar with political history, lee atwater largely regarded by many as the original race debater, big blues fan, big fan of yours. he invites all these black musicians to perform for president bush. there were some folks who weren't happy with sam moore. >> well, you know what happened behind that, i didn't know about this. what happened, i heard that lee said to the president at that time, if you were elected, i would like to do my kind of music -- >> yeah. >> and he said, only if you're elected. well, he was elected. >> and the rest is history? >> yeah, the rest is history. and the controversy came almost -- my wife is the one that produced the whole production. and i've got to tell you, i felt my heart drop because she went up to billy preston and lee and she said -- was talking. i said, what's going on? she said, don't worry about it. i said, yeah, i'm up here, what's going on? she said, don't worry about it. the next thing i knew, they brought the president over. come on, man. that ain't cool. and a lot of people thought, hey, man, i had something to do with that. >> didn't have anything to do with it? >> i didn't. >> the great sam moore. appreciate your time. >> my friend, good talking to you. >> safe travels. coming up, video game or therapy? the latest innovations in treating posttraumatic stress disorder in our vets returning from afghanistan and iraq. we'll take a look at this. plus, the new pick for college president in charleston, south carolina. his history of confederate sympathizing is angering a lot of students in the country. we'll go live to charleston in a few minutes. hanging out with my friends. i have a great fit with my dentures. i love kiwis. i've always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free -- it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. super poligrip free made the kiwi an enjoyable experience. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. made the kiwi an enjoyable experience. i missed a payment. aw, shoot. shoot! this is bad. no! we're good! this is your first time missing a payment. and you've got the it card, so we won't hike up your apr for paying late. that's great! it is great! thank you. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card with late payment forgiveness. this is actually not a video game. it's a tool that's being used to help treat veterans with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. it's a virtual reality system that encourages veterans to relive their experiences at war. some 70 clinics across the country are already using therapies like this. it's today's big idea. it's really cool. margaret harvey is the associate clinical director of the red sox general foundation. they are using this technology. dr. harvey, it looks like a video game. but how does this help treat a person with ptsd? >> ptsd comes from these experiences that are pretty closely depicted in the virtual reality system here. what we try to do is help the veteran kind of recall that memory. a critical component is accessing the memory so it can be processed and kind of cognitively processed to lead to better understanding and to decrease the stress associated with it. because of military training and deployments, veterans develop a real adaptive form of avoidance that leads them to perhaps not recall some critical components of a memory or not really want to talk about it. so virtual reality -- >> this clip, for example, where a patient experiences sitting in a humvee and getting hit by bullets and bombs, what's the benefit of reliving a trauma like that virtually? >> we want to access that memory so that we can process it and so that the veteran no longer has a kind of fear structure in response to that memory, rather is able to kind of be able to be more comfortable in recalling that memory, perhaps gain better understanding of events that happened and be able to move forward from the event. >> what success -- what kind of success have you guys seen so far? >> it's really remarkable. prolonged exposure in itself is very effective in treating ptsd and shows years after completing the treatment, the ptsd symptoms have still remitted. the buly about the virtual reality technology is it can happen more quickly. the protocol treatment is 10 to 15 sessions. some preliminary research has shown some average between four and seven sessions, using the virtual reality technology, can get the same effect. so to get veterans back in productive lives, that's what we're all about, what we're trying to to do. >> margaret, thank you. do appreciate your time. do you have a big idea? let us know about it on twitter. there's the hashtag right there. you can also e-mail us as well. the e-mail address there on your screen. afghans went to the polls today to choose a new president. they could be electing the first new leader in more than a decade. we'll get the latest from the afghan capital straight ahead. first, though, a tragic story. a tragic story on those covering this groundbreaking event out of afghanistan. a photographer killed friday morning in khost, afghanistan. these are just a few of the images that she left behind. so ally bank has a raise your rate cd that won't trap me in a rate. that's correct. cause i'm really nervous about getting trapped. why's that? uh, mark? go get help! i have my reasons. look, you don't have to feel trapped with our raise your rate cd. if our rate on this cd goes up, yours can too. oh that sounds nice. don't feel trapped with the ally raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally. 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[ female announcer ] olay total effects. nourishing vitamins, and 7 beautiful benefits in one. for younger-looking skin. olay. your best beautiful. ♪ protests like that have become common. some students and alumni are upset over a decision to pick glenn mcconnell to come the college's next president. many are annoyed by his past involvement in civil war re-enactments and his ownership of a confederate memorabilia shop. a reporter has been following this story from the very beginning. good to see you. walk us through first of all the thinking -- how do the board of trustees come to this decision? you would think they could have seen this kind of backlash coming. >> right. the board of trustee members say they selected glenn mcconnell because they think his experience in the state -- before he was lieutenant governor for three decades he served in the state senate. so he's really one of the most powerful men in south carolina. then he had to step down to the lieutenant governor's role when the previous lieutenant governor had to step down for ethics violations. state law required that glenn mcconnell step into that role. but he still has strong ties to the general assembly. i think the board of trustees thought that that would give -- he could possibly get more resources for the school from the general assembly because he had those connections. and also many members of that group just respect him. they think that he did a very good job in the senate. >> but they had to have been aware that there were folks out there that would not have been thrilled with the idea of a guy like glenn mcconnell running the college of charleston? >> absolutely. and they did. a couple of weeks before they decided to hire him, there was a rally on campus from the local, state and national naacp calling for them not to do this for many reasons, but one of them being his support of a confederate flag flying on the statehouse grounds. and they voted to hire him on saturday, march 22nd. but that friday when the board went into the final interviews with the finalists, glenn mcconnell was one of three, there was a group of students outside the building protesting with bullhorns, glenn mcconnell is not our man. and so did they have to know? absolutely they had to know. i think perhaps they underestimated how strong the backlash would be. but they did know there was opposition and they did know there was strong opposition. they went forward and did this anyway. >> diane, keep us posted on all of this. thank you. the latest on the desperate hunt for that missing malaysia airlines plane and why new clues are giving hope to some. also, father time, a comment on sports radio is bringing a necessary national conversation about paternity leave to the fore. i'm going to weigh in on that. ♪ velocity 1,200 feet per second. 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[ male announcer ] the all new cadillac cts, the 2014 motor trend car of the year. good saturday afternoon. i'm craig melvin. you're watching msnbc. nearly a month after it disappeared, today, new but unconfirmed reports of a possible ping, which many hope may be from that missing malaysia airlines plane. the latest on that straight ahead. plus -- >> this is not an open-ended effort, never has been. it's reality check time. >> john kerry's blunt comment about middle east peace have some raising questions about the white house policy in that region. and one key u.s. senator has a lot to say about that reality check phrase. plus, the u.s. army has some new regulations about grooming standards and the rules on african-american women's hair has raised more than just eyebrows. >>. it is exhilarating. my wife and i really enjoyed the experience. she is too good of a woman for me. >> daniel murphy never thought taking time off to be with his newborn son would cause such a ruckus. but, boy, did it. we're going to talk more about new dads taking leaves. who's that guy? we'll talk about the benefits. something i have come to know a bit about over the past few weeks. first, though, breaking news we've been following on the very latest in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. australian officials leading the search for the missing jet now say that the electronic pulse signals that were reportedly detected by a chinese ship are in fact consistent with those of an aircraft black box. but they cannot verify any connection with malaysia airlines flight 370. chinese state media reported the presence of those signals earlier today. the pings emitted from the voice and data recorders are critical to finding the missing jet. and there is a race against time right now as the pingers' batteries are expected to die as early as this weekend. this all comes as chinese officials also say today that they spotted a number of white floating objects near the investigation area. nbc's katy tur has the latest from kuala lumpur. >> reporter: so far, everybody is being optimistic but very cautious as we speak. the families especially. they've been led to believe that there's been spottings so many times in the past, either from satellite images or radar images or just spottings on the ocean. so far, nothing has turned out to be part of mh-370. they're going to wait and see until they get confirmation before anyone gets their hopes up that these could be the spotting that could lead them to find this play. the chinese said they've heard pings under water, pings consistent with the black boxes. so far, only one set of pings, not two sets. there are two black boxes usually in jetliners. so it could just mean that one of the black boxes, the batteries had run out or it's in app different area and they have not detected it. that doesn't necessarily mean anything. but it is something to watch out for. the head of the jacc out in australia says, yes, it is consistent with the binges of a black box but it is not confirmed yet. they have to send more assets out there before they fully confirm or debunk that this could be part of that missing airline. as for the malaysian government, they're also being cautious right now. they don't want to confirm anything until they know for sure. they've been led to believe so many times in the past as well that they were going to find something. and so far they haven't. so everybody right now is just waiting. it is overnight here in malaysia and in australia and the indian ocean where they're searching. it will at least be a few more hours before we find out anything for sure. craig? >> katy tur for us in kuala lumpur, thank you. to get a better sense of what this reported ping detected deep below the ocean's surface could mean in the search for that missing plane, i want to bring in arnold carr, the president of the american underwater search and survey. he's also a sonar expert. he joins us from monument beach, massachusetts, via skype. arnold, the joint command out of australia released a statement a few hours ago saying, quote, the characteristics reported are consistent with the aircraft black box. a number of white objects were also sighted on the surface about 90 kilometers from the detection area. however, there is no confirmation at this stage that the signals and the objects are related to the missing aircraft. what does that tell you? what does all of this tell you? >> i see that they don't have the right signal on the pinger. the pinger is very limited in range. and the depth there is great. usually the pinger is something you acquire after you determine the debris field, exactly where the plane rests because it can only be detected up to a mile or two. and that, i fear, is the depth that they're looking at. i hope it is. i really do. the other aspect of it is, i think, i was surprised to hear about debris. usually at that depth, debris comes up really at impact and very little thereafter because of the pressure. so i'm sorry i'm a wet blanket. but that is the way i would see it at this point. >> no need to apologize. we're just looking for the facts here. is there anything else in this part of the ocean that would set off a ping like the ping that china says it's detected? >> the locater they're using -- i'm not sure of the quality of the locater. i've used locaters before and they can be very effective. i can put a diver right on top, standing on top of a recorder of a black box. we've done it before. but in this case, there could be interfering signals coming out. doesn't have to be exactly the same frequency as the pinger, 37.5 kilohertz. but if there were 50 or 100 kilohertz, that's a frequency these used on sound gear looking at depth under the vessel. i wonder if that might be interfering with looking at this signal and determining it. i'm glad to hear it's consistent with the pingers. and i wish them the best. >> arnold, how real is the possibility that even if they do find out that this is one of those pingers that the aircraft is not close enough, is not close by? >> the recorders are usually in the tail of the aircraft, which is one of the safest places. the aircraft hitting water like that would really break up. but i would say that they would be within maybe ten miles or certainly less than 20 miles if that is the recorder of the aircraft. example, if you look at twa-800 that went down off long island, that debris was spread about 11 miles. and they quickly -- of course it was very shallow. but they quickly were able to get at the pingers and recover the recorders. >> arnold carr, president of american underwater search and survey, thank you, sir. >> you're quite welcome. three days after the shooting at fort hood, we are learning more about what happened as army specialist ivan lopez killed three and wounded 16 others. officials say an argument happened before that shooting. two texas congressmen talked to reporters right after visiting some of those wounded in the hospital. >> we just met with one of the soldiers. and he described how they heard the pop, pop, pop of gunfire. . he immediately realized he needed to get as many of his people into a closed office as he could. as he was ushering them in, all of them in uniform, as he put it, he got shot in the gut point-blank with a .45 pistol. >> nbc's sarah dallof is live for us at fort hood. what else did the congressmen say? >> reporter: this really was a chance for the congressman to pledge his support toward the investigation, toward the families of those killed and toward the wounded soldiers. as you saw there, they've met with some of the wounded and offered their condolences to those who have lost loved ones in this rampage. we do have some good news about those folks. ten of the 16 have been released from the hospital and are back on duty amazingly. three of the most critical patients, upgraded to fair condition. and now begins the chance to examine the deeper questions in this case, which the congressman touched on. that being, are there enough support services from servicemen and women returning from overseas? one thing the congressman mentioned was that we need to be there more. we need to offer them more support for these people as they return and ask them, are you okay? what do you need? do you need mental health services? those types of questions. we're obviously going to get into those much more in the coming days. the investigation, still ongoing. we're told it's about a two city block long crime scene. here on the post, it includes three buildings and three public areas. they believe some of the soldiers that ivan lopez shot, he did in fact target. they were involved in this argument that he reportedly had shortly before the shooting. but they believe some of his victims were completely random and that this attack was not premeditat premeditated. >> sarah, thank you. the people of afghanistan flocked to the polls today in what could be the nation's first democratic transfer of power. 7 million voters turned out. some polling places actually ran out of paper ballots. voting has been largely peaceful. but there have been some incidents of violence. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in kabul. >> reporter: craig, the votes are now being counted. it will take about two weeks for the results to be known. just that the election took place is an accomplishment. the taliban said it would stop the vote. it attacked the headquarters just a few days ago of the electoral commission here in kabul. but this was not a violence-free day. in fact, any other country, this would have been considered a bloodbath. there were 146 attacks on voters. these were suicide bombings. there were at least two suicide bombers. they were both shot by afghan police. two other suicide bombers were arrested wearing the suicide vests. there were 16 afghan policemen and soldiers who were killed. four afghan civilians. there were 89 militants who were killed. this was a very violent day. but it's all relative. the last time presidential elections were held here in 2009, there were more than 600 attacks and about 100 people killed. so the afghan government says that it was a huge success. president hamid karzai who is not running, this is the first time that he is not allowed to run for presidential election, instead three of his former ministers are running. but karzai came out and declared this a national success in part because the afghans did this themselves. american troops, roughly about 30,000 afghan troops still in this country, nowhere to be seen today. they were on their bases. according to both the u.s. military and the afghan government, those american troops were not called into action. they were not needed to back up the afghan security forces. craig? >> nbc's richard engel for us in kabul on this saturday. thank you. still to come here, with the new supreme court ruling on big money in politics, what does it mean for the way campaigns are run? first, it's dad time and how much time is enough time for new fathers to spend with their kids? stick around for this one. this is msnbc. 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[ zach ] yeah, this definitely beats hanging out on a step ladder. if you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom. paternity leave. it became quite the hot issue this week when new york mets second baseman daniel murphy missed the first two games of the season to be with his wife when she gave birth to their first child. that decision sparked a heated discussion, first in and then outside sports. >> at second base, number 28, daniel murphy! >> little did daniel murphy know when he missed the first two games of the new york mets' season to be with his wife and newborn son, his absence would strike such a chord, especially with the sports talk crowd. >> c-section before the season starts. i need to be at opening day. i'm sorry. this is what makes our money. >> get your [ bleep ] back to your team and you play baseball. that's my take on it. nothing you can do anyway. you're not breastfeeding the kid. >> the second baseman defended his decision before taking the field thursday saying he wanted to be there for his wife. >> it is exhilarating. my wife and i really enjoyed the experience. she is too good of a woman for me. it was a humbling process to see how well she handled it. it was an awesome occasion to see just the birth of your son. i can't really describe it. >> major league baseball allows three paid days for new dads. most american companies don't provide any. according to a 2012 study, just 13% of businesses provide paid paternity leave. still, roughly 85% of new dads use vacation days or forego a paycheck altogether to take time off. something previous generations didn't even consider. >> the expectation around fatherhood was, you made money. you might pop in for a few key moments. but you really were a dad if you were providing resources for the rest of the family. >> in my house these days, the family expects more from dad. meet delano joseph melvin, 25 days old. we call him del. at nbc, we have what's called a baby bonding period, two weeks paid paternity leave. i took both and added two vacation days. my wife, lindsey, led me to believe she's grateful. >> it's not just the help. it's more about the time that you've been able to spend with him, right? >> yeah. >> and you're not going to make me cry because that's not going to happen. and i'm five words in -- this is hormonal. >> i asked one question. >> but i think that it's about the amount of time and you getting to experience all the firsts like look how much he has changed in just a few weeks, in just a few weeks from when he's come home. >> the chance to enjoy and celebrate the small moments. together. oh, yeah! our child is not going to appreciate that one day. >> kenneth moto is from the work and families institute. leah goldman is the features and special projects editor at "marie claire" magazine. thanks for wearing your tv outfit. >> it's my uniform. >> i love it. we should note, boomer esiason apologized friday for his remarks, profusely, actually. take a listen. >> my flipping comment wasn't meant in any way, shape or form to insult anybody. but it obviously did. for that, i am truly sorry. >> the question is do those original sentiments that boomer esiason espoused, do those sentiments reflect the prevailing attitude in this country when it comes to fathers taking time off from work to be at home with a newborn child? >> i'd say it's inattitude. but we've found that early fatherhood is really about more than just the paycheck. it's about the emotional and practical support that husbands give to their spouses as well as figuring out how to share the joys and responsibilities of child care. >> what do we know about the number of guys who are taking paternity leave these days versus 20 or 30 years ago? >> well, we know that more men are taking paternity leave, but what paternity leave really means depends on whether you're talking about a day or two or a couple of weeks or the 12 weeks that the family medical leave act allows. >> here's the thing if the family medical leave act. and it's important for a lot of folks to understand. because i didn't understand, because i didn't have to understand. i didn't have a kid coming. the 12 weeks we talk about, that's just the time that these medium and large-sized companies have to hold your job. >> right. >> that's the time that if you get medical benefits, health benefits, they have to continue to provide those under the family medical leave act. fmla does not compel businesses to pay you. >> right. it's unpaid. so it's at the discretion of the companies. a few states require -- they have differing statutes with regard to paid paternity leave. but on the whole, unpaid. and it goes company by company. which is unfortunate and it sets the standard, i think, for a lot of fellows who decide -- they have to weigh the financial aspect of it. is it worth it? does it make sense for my family? which is frankly a tough consideration. >> and i think the reality is while we can afford to miss a few days from work, the average american can't afford to miss a paycheck or two. >> no. that's what we're talking about. we're talking about when you take even a week or two weeks, you're talking about missing a paycheck. we've heard a lot of discussion about how tight things are across the country. and it becomes a do-or-die kind of decision. >> many still see it as a double standard when you start talking about maternity versus paternity. quote, women who take leave are seen as bad workers but good mothers. the men are often seen as bad workers and losers as men. that's from brad harrington. it's the 21st century. is that still the case? >> i think there's definitely a change happening with -- especially among younger people. our research shows that younger people have a different sense of what fatherhood and motherhood means and have a much more integrated perspective on both those roles. >> i wonder why. do we know why? >> i think that -- >> is it because a bunch of kids grew up without their dads -- zb probably. >> two parts of it. there's been a much greater conversation about how women have dual roles and the realization that you can't have women being in two places at once unless men are also being able to switch back and forth with them. >> when you look at some of the countries that provide paid paternipa te te te te ternty -- paternity leave globally, our friends in russia have paid paternity leave. cambodia, rwanda do it. why don't we do more of it in this country? >> doing it makes good business sense. why? those early days after the baby is born are critical when there's that subtle negotiation between a woman and her partner over the housework. and we know historically one of the biggest challenges that working women face is juggling that second shift, the housework. all the duties that come with rearing a child. if the partner is more involved in those decisions, you end up with a happier woman, a happier employee, better attention. that's only upside for a company. >> what do we know about the correlation between the involvement of a child's father in those first few days and later in life? >> we've seen that when fathers are more involved in their child's early years, they're much more involved in the rest of the child's life as well. so there's just a long-term benefit in terms of allowing fathers to be involved right at the beginning. >> i heard from so many people -- i've heard from so many people over the past few days who -- government workers, very few government workers get paid paternity leave. the lion's share of folks in this country don't get paid leave to be with a child. and it really is -- it's odd. it really is odd -- do you have kids? >> i have one. and my husband took a couple of weeks off. he was working for a different company at the time. but part of it was vacation days that he cashed in. >> sure. thank you so much for stopping by. appreciate your time. >> thank you. it seems former president george w. bush has unleashed his inner rembrandt. an exhibit of his paintings is displayed at the george w. bush presidential museum in dallas. it houses everything from portraits of foreign leaders to a likeness of his beloved former dog, barney. though a painting of the first lady apparently is still in the works. and thanks to his new hobby, the former president says, quote, a whole new world has opened up. you're watching nbc. row, it's what we do. but when we put something in the ground, feed it, and care for it, don't we grow something more? 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[ female announcer ] olay presents the new regenerist luminous collection. with skin energizing complex. renews surface cells to even skin tone. and reduce the appearance of dark spots. ♪ now see bright pearlescent healthy looking skin, in just two weeks. when your skin is luminous, so are you. new regenerist luminous. from olay. your best beautiful. an update on the breaking news we've been following this afternoon in the search for that missing malaysia airlines plane. australian officials overseeing the search said signals detected by a chinese ship and reported by a chinese media earlier today are in fact consistent with signals that could be emitted by aircraft black boxes, those so-called black boxes, the data and voice recorders. but the same officials caution there's no confirmation the reported pings are related to the missing jet. this is video from earlier today of an australian team searching the indian ocean to detect these type of pings. we're going to keep on top of this story and bring you updates just as soon as we get them. back here, the white house is expressing some disappointment in mideast peace talks which at this point appear to be at an impasse. secretary of state john kerry friday indicated u.s. patience could be running out. >> this is not an open-ended effort, never has been, the president said that from the beginning. and i've said that many times, including in the last few days. so it's reality check time. and we intend to evaluate precisely what the next steps will be. >> nbc's kristen welker is at the white house for us. chr kristen, is this a move just to increase pressure on the israelis and palestinians or is the united states likely to reduce its effort to move these talks forward? >> reporter: i think it's both. i think you're right. you heard that language coming from secretary of state john kerry saying that this is reality check. the u.s. is going to pull back from this process. you talk to senior administration officials, they say, look, ultimately this is up to the israelis and palestinians. so i think this is a moment where you're going to see secretary kerry take a step back and allow negotiators there to take the lead. a little bit of background, craig. these talks reached this point, this stalemate earlier this week when palestinian leader mahmoud abbas announced his intention to gain membership to 15 international agencies, a defiance of the peace talks. abbas said that was a reaction to israel reneging on its promise to release more palestinian prisoners. prior to that point, though, craig, it appeared as though the talks were moving in the right direction. president obama had met with abbas and the prime minister of israel, netanyahu, here at the white house. secretary kerry had made more than a dozen trips to the region. so it appeared as though there had been some progress. but when abbas made that move this week, kerry canceled a planned meeting with abbas. that's when you heard that strong language from kerry. the white house not very hopeful right now that these peace talks are going to move forward. >> kristen welker at 1600 pennsylvania for us. kristen, thank you. >> want to bring in david rohde. you have spent a fair amount of time traveling with secretary kerry to these regions. he's made more than a dozen trips to try to move the peace process along. is it fair at this point to characterize john kerry's middle east mission as a failure? >> i think so. he is completely committed to this personally. and there's one person who can stop john kerry from continuing to pursue these peace talks. and that's barack obama. kristen mentioned these signals from the white house. there was a quote from ben rhodes for the president who said the white house only had so much bandwidth. it can't keep pouring time into this peace process. it's worried about three things -- a nuclear deal with iran, what is vladimir putin going to do in ukraine and i think afghanistan. this is a historic, a very positive vote today in afghanistan. and there will be a new president that obama should engage with. he doesn't want afghanistan falling apart as his presidency comes to an end. >> let's talk about afghanistan here for a second. you spent years in that region as well. voter turnout there, quite high today. about 60%, despite taliban threats. the overwhelming majority, still men voting. but a significant number of women voted today in afghanistan as well. how good of a sign is it -- these elections, how good of a sign are they for the post-karzai regime there, the post-karzai afghanistan? >> they're a great sign of public sentiment. 60% turnout in afghanistan. that's higher than the turnout in the united states in the 2012 election. this is a vote that the taliban said they would kill anyone who voted. the other positive thing, the afc security forces carried out all the security nationwide. they did fantastically well. >> kristen welker still standing by for us at the white house. i understand we have some reaction to the elections today in afghanistan from the white house. what can you tell us? >> reporter: this reaction just coming in, craig. i'll read you the top part of this statement from the white house. it says, quote, on behalf of the american people, i congratulate the millions of afghans who enthusiastically participated in today's historic elections which promised to usher in the first democratic transfer of power in afghanistan's history and which represent another important milestone in afghans taking full responsibility for their country as the united states and our partners draw down our forces. craig, i have been speaking to senior administration officials about these elections behind the scenes. and they say this presents an opportunity to reset the u.s.'s relationship with afghanistan, to potentially get a deal on the b.s.a., the stat of forces agreement, which would set the american troop level post-2014 -- remember hamid karzai wouldn't sign the b.s.a. agreement. it could be several weeks, several months before we have an actual president in place of afghanistan. still the united states seeing this as a positive development today. craig? >> kristen welker, thank you. david rohde, moving forward in afghanistan, what are we talking about here? what's the transfer of power going to look like? >> i think there will be a runoff election. there won't be a clear winner in this round. and then all the major candidates who are leading, one of them is a ph.d. graduate of columbia university, ashraf ghani, he's seen as a more effective partner than karzai. the hope is, again, a fresh start. american troops, maybe 6,000, 10,000 at the most. but that the afghan security forces will take the lead, which they should do, and if they can perform as they did today, this could be a positive foreign policy legacy for president obama. he doesn't want this to be like iraq. hell doesn't want the taliban taking over communities as has occurred in iraq in the last few months. so it is an important moment. and back to the middle east, what is this white house going to decide is its priority? >> you mentioned the middle east again. senator john mccain yesterday took john kerry's reality check statement saying, quote, in fact, it's reality check time for our entire foreign policy in the middle east. do you agree with him? >> i think the key to this -- i mentioned it earlier -- was this iran nuclear deal. it relates to putin as well. unprecedented economic sanctions, the tool that barack obama said would be the defining element of his foreign policy. he didn't invade countries like george w. bush. he would use economic power. it's brought the iranians to the table. so as he looks at this, i could see this white house shifting from middle east peace deal to focusing on an iranian nuclear deal that will show economic sanctions work. sanctions poised against putin, he may back down in ukraine because of that. it's a critical year for barack obama in terms of foreign policy. >> david rohde, always appreciate your insight. >> thank you. the next race for president may be a race for the hearts and minds of about ten people. here's just one of them. who are the others? and why we should all care. our "brain trust" is coming up right after this. 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[ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™. politics as we know it got yet another jolt from the supreme court this week. the high court's ruling on mccutcheon versus the f.e.c. could have a huge impact on the 2016 presidential campaign and could mean millions of americans could lose their voice. i want to bring in the "brain trust." angela rye, david weigel, peter suterman. thanks for being with me. angela, 5-4 decision, mccutcheon ruling handed down wednesday removing limits by individuals on aggregate campaign contributions. what's this going to mean for democrats? what's it going to mean for elections? >> well, when you talk about the big ten party, i don't know what exactly it will mean for them. only 700 people gave at this level for the 2012 election. so we know whether it's 2014 or going into 2016, this doesn't impact most of the 312 million people that reside in this country. it really doesn't. this was a decision for a few. sean mccutcheon is a ceo in alabama who was worried about maxing out to his local party or state-based party in alabama. this really doesn't impact a number of people. he wants to protect free speech, he said. unfortunately this is not free speech. this is the speech that you pay for. most of us aren't in this game. >> dave weigel, are we now going to see candidates just basically pushing to appeal to these large donors? >> we're already seeing that. but we have to look forward in the future, the near future, as soon as somebody files this kind of lawsuit and gets to the high court, is a case that would undo limits completely, undo any kind of cap for how much you can give to a campaign, give to a candidate. right now, you can do that anonymously, give that to a 501 group or something. there is interest out there in letting anyone like a shelton adelson or a warren koch give money. john roberts was citing his own precedent in arguing that it was time to revisit some of the ways we view speech as money. there is grist there for a decision that would totally wipe away the limits. this one doesn't really do that. >> peter, "the new york times," picking up on what dave was talking about with regards to the citizens united states -- "the new york times" quoting, according to experts in election law, there is no reason to think that the march toward deregulating election spending will stop with this ruling. how strong a signal, peter, about campaign finance laws is this court sending? >> i think it's a mistake to interpret it too heavily as a very strong signal. one of the things we know about john roberts and the roberts court is they like narrow decisions that don't have really big, sweeping impacts. i think that is what we're going to see out of this. part of what they're saying is, well, if you were able in the past to give to 18 candidates, give the maximum amount to 18 candidates, is there a big difference between giving the maximum amount to 18 candidates or 19 or 20? i'm not sure there is, especially for the folks who are already giving to the maximum number of candidates. >> let's pivot here and talk about what seems to be happening inside the gop right now. republicans, angela, may not have totally abandoned their hopes of repealing the affordable care act. but louisiana governor bobby jindal seems to be saying replace not just repeal. take a listen. >> i'm certainly for repealing the obamacare law. but we need to show the american people, we ha've got a better p on health care costs -- >> he outlines this 26-page plan to repeal obamacare with the sort of republican program. is bobby jindal trying to position himself as the ideas guy for 2016? is that what we're seeing? >> i not only think we're seeing that from bobby jindal, i also think we're seeing something old from them. their original strategy was to repeal and replace. however, when it got time to go to the negotiating table, they were fresh out of ideas. in this plan, jindal suggests there should be a block grant system. those are terrible and democrats aren't going to support them. it's not really a new idea here. the other unfortunate thing for him is with the cpac plan he placed tenth. >> peter, i saw you nodding in the affirmative. do you think that jindal -- is he the guy who's trying to say, look at me, look at me, i've got ideas? >> jindal is one of the sharpest minds -- policy minds in republican politics. his problem in many ways is he's perceived as too wonky and too focused on sort of being a conservative technocrat. this is a plan that tries to address that but also to play up that technocratic cred and say republicans can have ideas and he's going to lead on that front. i still think it's a plan that's not quite specific enough that despite some of the detail that we have gotten there, there's actually a lot that's left out and a lot more that we need to hear from the republicans in terms of what they might do. >> dave weigel, the republicans have launched an initiative that seems to be aimed at john q. six pack, the average american. the new ad highlights bobby jindal and a fellow named jeb. take a listen. >> if you believe that every parent ought to be able to choose their child's school and that the economy should be driven from the bottom up, not the top down from washington, then you're thinking like a new republican. >> if you don't think the republican party should be the party of big government, big business or big anything, you're thinking like a new republican. >> the new republican, dave weigel. what is that? what is that about? >> the existence of it is more interesting than anything actually contained in the pitch. jeb bush hasn't won an election since 2002. but as soon as obama was elected, he was helping republicans start a republican rebranding operation. that was in 2009. he does this quite a lot. he's showing some interest in ideas not so much because he thinks he's going to come up with one that the republican party can adopt, but because he, like jindal, is informing the donor class of the party that he's very serious and they should keep considering him. i'm not trying to demean anything that they come up with. but that's the reason why they're pitching this. i don't think anything they're mentioning right now they plan on being held to if they run for president or if they win the presidency. >> dave weigel, angela rye, peter >> up next, style points from the pentagon. this is msnbc. i'm l-i-s-a and i have copd, but i don't want my breathing problems to get in the way of hosting my book club. that's why i asked my doctor about b-r-e-o. once-daily breo ellipta helps increase airflow from the lungs for a full 24 hours. and breo helps reduce symptom flare-ups that last several days and require oral steroids, antibiotics, or hospital stay. breo is not for asthma. breo contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. it is not known if this risk is increased in copd. breo won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. breo may increase your risk of pneumonia, thrush, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking breo. ask your doctor about b-r-e-o for copd. first prescription free at my breo.com worst morning ever. 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[ hans ] warm, flaky, gooey. toaster strudel! hey kevin...still eating chalk for hearburn? yea. try alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heart burn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. alka-seltzer fruit chews. enjoy the relief! there's a news twist for servicemen and service women and it means no twist at all. the army this week released new guidelines on appearance and grooming. they address everything from tattoos to uniforms to hair styles, but some say they unfairly target african-american women, especially because of a ban on dreadlocks, multiple braids and a twist wider than an inch. a group is calling on president obama to reconsider the decision. joining me, sergeant jasmine jacobs of the georgia national guard. thank you for being with me. >> thank you for having me. >> these are some of the unauthorized hair style, the hair has to be properly secured, no unbalanced or lopsided air styles, the part has to be one straight line. this is getting a lot of folks up in arms here, the headband, not plain there, the twice, no longer authorized, multiple braiding, the braids have to be smaller than 1/4 of an inch in diameter. what's your problem with all of this? >> for me when i found out about the impending regulations and changes in the uniform policy, it kind of took away all of my options as far as my natural options go. the only options are to wear a wig, get a weave, wear our hair in corn rows and all of these options are damaging to ethnic care. it's a matter of not having healthy options. >> the army said "the army recognizes the concerns expressed by soldiers who believe they are restricted by the number of natural hair styles authorized. the army continues to review uniform policies for improvement. they also say these guidelines were recommended by a military focus group. what do you say? >> i believe there was a focus group but i wonder about the representation of african-american females in that focus groups. there are discrepancies that would leave me to believe there wasn't enpinput from a female w color. >> has it impacted your ability to wear your uniform or headgear properly now? >> no, not at all. i can wear my head gear properly, remove and don my gas mask properly. if anything, i think that having to don a wig would be more of an interference because there's all of the wig caps and this evenings -- things that go on in donning that. >> you told "usa today" that most african-american women's hair don't grow straight out. they've white-washed it all. how has that gone over? >> when i explain and educate them on the options we're left with now, a lot of the feedback i've gotten is, wow, that's difficult, i think there should be something done about that. i haven't got a lot of pushback as far as my terminology used. >> thank you, sergeant, for your service. keep us posted on this, okay? we're going to follow this story. >> thank you. will do. >> that's our story. i'll see you tomorrow afternoon, 3:00 eastern. right now "disrupt" with karen finney. have a great afternoon. and cavities. a little swishing. less scraping. yes! 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[ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ reckless seeding. a backyard invasion. enter homeowner, and ortho weed b gon max. kills weeds without harming innocent lawns. guaranteed. ortho weed b gon max. get order. get ortho®. (agent) i understand. (dad) we've never sold a house before. (agent) i'll walk you guys through every step. (dad) so if we sell, do you think we can swing it? (agent) i have the numbers right here and based on the comps that i've found, the timing is perfect. ...there's a lot of buyers for a house like yours. (dad) that's good to know. (mom) i'm so excited. thanks for disrupting your afternoon. i'm karen finney. ahead in this hour, the gop just can't handle the truth about the affordable care act. we have a bold act that could give an advantage. >> put

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