of the bullying saga. "first look" begins right now. good morning. devastation in the philippines. right now, there is a humanitarian crisis of gigantic proportions, with thousands feared dead. nbc's ian williams joins us live from manila with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: we're still trying to get together the precise information about what happened down there. we do know that the devastation has been widespread. but rescue workers are still trying to get to some of the more isolated communities, where communication is still down. where roads are blocked. they have reached a major city on the coast that was battered when the typhoon came ashore. the local authorities estimate that perhaps 10,000 people died. it's hard to say for sure. the official death toll is just over 250. but that's certain to rise, as officials and rescue workers reach some of the outlying areas. the destruction has been massive. cutting aswath across the philippines. a large area of the coast has almost been wiped clean. supplies are beginning to arrive. hundreds of soldiers are there to stop the widespread looting that we understand is taking place. one small bit of good news was the birth of a baby at the airport, among those waiting to get out, which did provide a little of good cheer to those people who have suffered so badly. watter is short. food is short. so are medical supplies. there's an enormous amount needed will. >> ian williams, we appreciate it. thank you. the reaction from washington has been swift. and nbc's tracie potts is there with that part of the story. we saw the first usa aid plane is heading towards the headest-hit area. >> reporter: exactly. a lot of the supplies that are so desplatly needed are on the way. the u.s. sending in food. that should last 35,000 people for 5 days. we're sending $100,000 to assist with the efforts there. and we're told that a couple of surveillance planes that had been stationed in japan will be heading down to assist with the research and rescue effort there, along with what will end up being about 90 marines and sailors helping with that effort. back here at home. food and donations. and money. filipinos make up the second-largest group of asians in the united states. we saw this coast-to-coast. a 5k run in new york. another in l.a. prayers and donations at churches and communities all over the country. and they'll continue. >> thank you. the typhoon and its aftermath is gripping the entire world. at the vatican sunday, pope francis led tens of thousands in silent prayer for the typhoon victims. afterwards, he assured those in the region he was close to them. if you would like to help out in the relief effort, go to the world news section of our website at nbc news.com. moving at the bahamas and the investigation into a single-engine plane crash. a cirrus 22 had just taken off from grand bahama island. the plane radioed it was having engine problems. it crashed in the waters a few miles away. all four victims are believed to be americans on a sightseeing tour. >> did you see anything fall from the sky last night? this european research satellite plunged through earth's atmosphere sunday. but it disintegrated and caused no known damage. it crossed over the eastern indian ocean and antarctica. it should have scattered 500 pounds of debris over an area spanning hundreds of miles. its fuel ran out last month. today, the nation pauses to thank the veterans who fought for our freedoms. businesses are offering freebies galore. veterans can head to denny's. starbucks will pour you and your spouse a free cup of joe. and head to the national parks free of charge. walk into great clips for a free cut. or go to california pizza kitchen where any pizza on the menu is free. golden corral is offering a free dinner and drink. and go to red robben for a free burger. let's get the latest in sports from betty nguyen. >> we begin with the saints dominating the cowboys. drew brees finds marques cols n colston. and brees to darren sproles. brees piles on with this long pass to kenny stills. and another saints touchdown. saints win over the cowboys, 49-17. the lions with a big-time win over the bears. game tied 7-7 in the second. just seconds left. jay cutler's throw for the t.d. is tipped by suh. for a second touchdown of the game. and the lions win 21-19. and in green bay, the packers whipped out aaron rodgers fall. more division rivalries, the bengals with the luckiest hail mary pass of the season to force overtime right there. but the ravens win, with a 46-yard field goal by kicker justin tucker. better late than never. the jaguars pulled off the tennessee titans. and get their first win of the season. denver broncos over the chargers, 28-20. peyton manning had three touchdown passes. he hurt his leg. he'll get an mri today. major upsets to tell you about. the rams demolish the colts. rams win 38-8. and the panthers beat the 49ers with their dominating defense, winning 10-9. this was the fifth-straight win for carolina. finally, soapbox road racing. red bull at it again in argentina, with this crazy car race. 40 contestants barrel down a closed road in handmade cars, decked out in outrageous costumes. i'm not sure what that one was exactly. >> no idea. bill is here with your veterans day forecast. >> good morning. the pictures of the supertyphoon is just as bad as we feared. vietnam wasn't hit even a quarter or even an eighth or a tenth as hard as the philippines were. by the time it got there was weaker. there is a tropical depression about to move through the philippines. it could add some rain any inclimate weather. people are outside, don't have shelters. try to get ships and planes in there were relief. that's not going to help things. here in the lower 48, the only story is going to be the cold. the windchill right now, negative one in fargo. those temperatures are plunging in minneapolis. all of the cold air will make all of the eastern u.s. over the next 48 hours. there's a shot of snow across minnesota this morning. we will see snowflakes later tonight. even washington, d.c. could see a couple of snowflakes on your tuesday. that's the only story out there. >> bundle up. straight ahead, america's lost appreciation for military men and women along with their families. colonel jack jacobs weighs in next. how are things with the new guy? all we do is go out to dinner. that's it? i mean, he picks up the tab every time, which is great...what? he's using you. he probably has a citi thankyou card and gets 2x the points at restaurants. so he's just racking up points with me. some people... ugh! no, i've got it. the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn 2x the points on dining out and entertainment, with no annual fee.to apply, go to citi.com/thankyoucards ♪ just in time for veterans day, a special homecoming at the unc virginia football game. during halftime, first class shawn ziegler's wife and four kids were expecting an overseas video greeting. instead, they got this, the real thing. he's retiring from the navy after 20 years of service. on this veterans day, the nation pauses to thank those who have fought and sacrificed for their freedom. joining us from los angeles, jake jacobs, a medal of honor recipient. colonel jacobs, good morning. thank you so much for joining us on veterans day. thank you for waking up early with us. >> thanks for having me on. >> you served in vietnam and received a congressional medal of honor. you recently went back. and many veterans return to the battlefield to find peace. is that what you found when you returned? >> i found a dramatically changed vietnam. in saigon, for example, which had been rather seedy, even before colonial days, the city was awash with mercedes, rolex stores, all for the international clients, business people who come to develop business with vietnam. 3 1/2 hours south of saigon, where i fought, we went by van. and found -- i found a vietnam that had not changed at all. the rural part of vietnam looked pretty much the same as it had more than 40 years ago when i fought there. the odd thing was that it didn't feel the same. principally because nobody was shooting at me. but the paths and the roads were all full of people. the place looked the same as it had over 40 years ago. >> what was that feeling like? describe what you felt when you returned. >> a great feeling of displacement. your heart and your eyes are supposed to see the same thing. but they didn't in this case. and my recollection of the place was a very unpleasant one. what i saw was not particularly unpleasant. i got an opportunity to meet with the commander. the enemy commander, who at the time, in 1968, was a vietcong district chief. they had a spy in the chief's office. they knew we were coming. they had three days to prepare and launched an ambush where we lost lots of soldiers and so did they. he and i talked at great length about the battle. i got a lot of answers to questions. he verified what i suspected. it was an interesting meeting. at the end, he said, you know, in vietnamese, he said, we have peace and we're friends. and i said, we certainly have peace. there's a lot of business going on here between the united states and vietnam. but friends, i'm not so sure. >> an amazing story, jack. jack, i wanted to ask you if you think enough is being done to support the veteran population in the u.s. there's issues with unemployment, homelessness, even issues with the care that's been provided at v.a. hospitals. what more do you think the department of veteran affairs can be doing? >> well, they're working hard to do what they can. their problem is they have an antiquated i.t. system. they're having a hard time dealing with the huge influx of veterans who are making demands on the system. i think it's going to be quite some time before they finally get their house in order. sothing that's been long overdue. but the secretary of veterans affairs, himself a decorated and wounded combat veteran, knows what to be done. and is working hard to make sure we deliver. a lot of the things that veterans need, they don't need right away. 20 years from now, when the veterans of the current conflicts start to develop the problems that are the result of the conflicts, they're going to show up at the department of veterans affairs, requiring treatment. and we better be ready for it. >> thank you so much for your service. we need to thank others for their service today on this veterans day. it's so nice to see you this morning. >> thanks for having me on. for resources for veterans, head to the web. veterans.com. nbc news.com. more women in america getting ahold of big guns. and it might not be what you think. plus, chris christie made the sunday show rounds. but does he make the case of what republicans must do to connect? [ man ] adventure, it means taking chances. it means trying something new. [ woman ] that uncertainty of what's to come. ♪ ♪ he was a matted messiley in a small cage. ng day. so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angie's list. we found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angie's list. join today at angieslist.com before william hughes fought in vietnam... and john hughes jumped into normandy... and john anderson hughes served in world war i... and before robert hughes joined the spanish-american war... there were families connected to the belief that freedom was worth fighting for. we're proud to help veterans and their families succeed here at home. welcome back. stories making news this morning now. suspended miami dolphins guard richie incognito said jonathan martin sent him a threatening text message. but he knew it was a joke. he told fox sports he does not bullying martin. >> if you go by just the knucklehead stuff i've done in the past, we're sitting in your home and you're thinking, this guy's a loose canon. in guy's a terrible person. this guy's a racist. that couldn't be farther from the truth. if i was a racist and i was bullying john martin, this locker room would have said, we saw this and that. >> he regrets the language he used with martin and he would apologize. gasoline prices in the u.s. have dropped 15 cents a gallon over the past three weeks. home prices are on the rice in all 50 states. led by the top five. michigan is number five, with 11.9% year over year gains. followed by georgia and arizona. california at 22.5%. and nevada, topping that list at 25.3% year over year gains. new jersey governor chris christie made the rounds at the sunday talk shows as speculation runs high about whether he will run for president in 2016. on "meet the press," christie said there are ways to expand the reach of the republican party to black and hispanic communities. >> you go and you show up and you listen. and you start to make your argument about your policies. i think the results of the elections show, that's the kind of engagement we need as republicans all across the country. the start of hunting season means more women are going out in the woods with guns. the census bureau says women make up 11% of the nation's 13.7 million hunters. which is actually up from 9% in 2006. oh. coming up, "washington post" reporter david nakamura joins us to discuss the day's stories. 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[ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call an allstate agent and get a quote now. just another way allstate is changing car insurance for good. welcome back. joining me from washington for our first look at politics, "washington post" reporter david nakamura. it's nice to see you this morning. >> hi, veronica. >> after a big win in new jersey, governor chris christie was doing rounds on the sunday talk shows. he was dodging questions about his conservatism. is he conserve enough for a republican presidential primary? >> that might be difficult. and it will be interesting to see over the next two or three yores how christie plays on big, national issues. he'll be asked to weigh in all the time now. he likes to have this bipartisan appeal. he made a point after winning re-election. look at the big margins i ran up in a blue state. people in washington need to look at what we're doing here in new jersey. he has that. on the other hand, he's asked yesterday about immigration reform. he supports some sort of reform. on issues like that and others that are controversial and conservative voters are going to be looking for their party to take a hard line on this. he's going to have trouble. and he may weigh in on issues. and shift a little more to the right if he's getting more serious in a couple years about making a run. you need to do that in a primary. >> another question, he says he's focused on new jersey. how focused can he be on his day job with all of the constant media attention about his future? >> he's a good position. he's running the state. he's popular. he ran up a big election. there's a major issue, like hurricane sandy. that would allow a big spotlight on him. and he can focus on his state and did what what's important for the people. he has a built-in spotlight. he's in the eastern corridor between washington and new york. people will be there doing stories is christie running. he's the president of the national republican governors association. he has a big platform. and he wants to use it to help his state and to help his political fortunes. and that's going to be quickly. for him, he's probably in the best position possible. >> you've been on the road traveling with the president for the last few days as he talks about obama care. he was in louisiana, where he called out governor jindal for failing to expand medicaid. he is one that decided to opt out of medicaid. explain what is happening here. and explain how this has affected people. >> the white house is making the point, we're working on this website. but here's another piece of the affordable care act that these governors can take advantage of. the supreme court ruled it's up to the states to take advantage of this provision if in the health care law that allows them to provide more medicaid benefits to more folks. the president said, you have to do it here in new orleans, would take 200,000 more people. so, the president's making that point everywhere he goes now. >> thank you so much. nice to see you. this is "first look." stay tuned because "way too early" starts right now. the wind was coming at me. it was just really eerie because it would pick up and gust. so strong a burst you couldn't stand up. most people that i saw got in trouble with the storm surge. a combination of the wind and water coming at you was way too much. >> the images and anecdotes continue to pour in. we will have a live report from the capital of manila. what might save the u.s. postal service? how about amazon?