Weekend, but not before his weekend address. Time to finish the job by cutting the deficit 4 billion. You can make bigger cuts to education and job training and Social Security benefits. Senior citizens and working families to bear the burden of deficit reduction, while the wealthiest are asked to do nothing more. That wont work, we cant cut our way to prosperity. Republicans arent holding back, criticizing the president over the upcoming threat of sequestration, if nothing is done to avoid it, massive funding cuts to the federal government will be triggered march 1st. In his state of the union address, these cuts were a really bad idea. What the president failed to mention was that the sequester was his idea proposed by his administration, and the debt limit negotiations in 2011. And now we in the house on behalf of our constituents are calling on the president to join us in replacing the sequester with better, more responsible spending cuts. Meanwhile, a glimpse of the president s personal side in a rare moment, he discussed his own childhood while talking about family values in his adoptive hometown of chicago. We have single moms out here, heroic of what they are doing. We are so proud of them. But at the same time, i wish i had a father who was around and involved. Joining me now, nbc news correspondent kristen welker, good saturday morning to you, kristen. That was very revealing. Does the president see this as a particularly personal cause . I think he does see this as a personal problem this is part of his broader strategy. The president using more emotional appeal as he has argued for stiffer gun control laws. Thats an uphill battle, not just with congressional republicans, but a number of democrats. The president showing this other side of himself as he makes this case, not only for stiffer gun control laws, but really investing in inner cities like chicago. As you pointed out, chicago is his adoptive hometown. The city where the first lady grew up, they raised the first daughter there for a number of years before they were actually the first daughters and of course, the city gave birth to president obamas political career this is personal for him. Chicago, one of the cities at the epicenter of the gun violence debate because of the high rate of violence, and it witnessed the murder of hadiya penned heelton, chit teen who performed at president obamas inauguration and then gunned down in a random act of violence. Take a listen. There was something profound and uniquely hal are heart braking about a group of 6yearolds killed. But last year there were 443 murders with a firearm on the streets of this city. And 65 of those victims were 18 and under some of thats t that equivalent of a newtown every four months. Reporter alex, also unique about president obamas comments yesterday, he talked about the root of gun violence and said it was due to economic inequalities, broken homes and again, called for investing in these community as a way to try to prevent this violence. His fry speech came on the heels of a series of speeches he delivered this past week to sell the core message of the state of the union address. We timed it out, and fridays speech was the longest of all of them. Kristen, thank you very much for the live report. Well see you again. The president s call to raise minimum wage. Will that happen . Well talk about that coming up at the bottom of the hour. In russia, cleanup crews hard at work after the Meteor Strike yesterday. We are live with the very latest from london and good day to you, annabelle. New numbers on how big this was and the kind of damage it did. Pretty outstanding. Reporter thats right, alex. Good morning. A big cleanup going on in chelybinsk. The shock wave blew out windows in more than 4,000 buildings. This is a really cold area. Local officials promised they will get all the windows fixed within a week. Thats a long time to wait when your midday temperature there is about 10 fahrenheit. So lots of people out there today, busy blocking up the windows and the glazers will be extremely busy the next few days. 1,200 people injured, 200 children. 15 remain in the hospital, 1 in a coma. Most injuries caused by flying, breaking glass as you can see in the pictures. What happened, the meteor flew across the sky, everybody saw the strange light, ran to the windows and, boom, all the windows the huge blast and the glass shattered in those winos across this area. There were also reports that a chunk had fallen into a lake, a chunk of the meteor. Divers are busy looking for the large chunk under this icecrusted lake. So far, nothing found. We understand the meteor traveling at 19 miles a second and it was 50 feet in diameter, it broke apart about 20 miles above the earth. But there is some discrepancy between what russian scientists are estimating for the size and what american scientists are saying regarding the size. But no question, alex. This was a very, very big, cosmic event in russia. Well, you know, annabelle, looking at the pictures, just remarkable and you absolutely describe how people of course would you go to your window to try to see whats going on. Who knew glass would shatter like that. The asteroid misses us by 17,000 miles yesterday. Folks in san francisco, california, are saying they saw something streaking. It just so peculiar. Are scientists talking about anything unusual happening . They say this is just a huge and extraordinary coincidence. We get a hit the size of the one that took place in russia yesterday about once in 100 years. The fact that there was another asteroid spotted that missed earth on the same day is just a huge coincidence. Weve got nothing to be worried about, alex. Okay. Were going to take your word for it Annabelle Roberts from london. Thank you so much. Back in the u. S. , time for your weekend forecast. And we have nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer with that. Good morning, alex. Colder air working into the northeast and it comes with snow. Were seeing snow across the dakotas right now that will dip into nebraska and eventually into kansas later on today, cold air surging in from the north and creating lakeeffect snow on the great lakes. You can see the cold front stretching from new england to parse of flori parts of florida. Where were seeing most of our rainfall right now. The cold blast will surge in here. Belowaverage temperatures as we head into today and sunday. Thats when we see the coldest of the temperatures. But you can see where were even dealing with snow across portions of North Carolina into virginia, and its in that area where we have a winter storm advisory. It looks like well see 1 to 3 inches of snow in that area. Moving north, Winter Weather advisories, warnings and blizzard warnings across portions of eastern maine. There is the chance we could in Northern New England see another foot of snow. And, again, that would be in the northern extremes of maine, but were also looking at the potential for three to six inches across the eastern coast of massachusetts to rhode island. Dealing with light snow today and tomorrow in new england, elsewhere, also about the cold for today. Highs in minneapolis, 18 degrees, so belowaverage temperatures working back across the country. Alex. Dylan, thank you for that. One day passengers aboard an illfated Carnival Cruise line, one of them is filing a lawsuit. A woman from texas is suing carnival for negligence, fraud, and breach of contract which she claims led to the deplorable conditions on the ship. Reaction from some passengers thursday when they got back to dry land. We didnt have water, we didnt have showers for a while. We didnt have hot meals. It was literally liking being in a floating portapotty. Human waste everywhere. The crew, unbelievable. Those guys had worse conditions than we did, and they were serving us. Lets go to mark potter, in mobile, alabama. What a story, mark. Its wrapped up on one level, except now there is this lawsuit what do we know about that . Reporter a lot more to follow. That lawsuit was filed in miami, alex, by a passenger from texas seeking damages. She accuses Carnival Cruise lines of negligence and fraud and says she was quoting from the lawsuit, injured as a result of the unsatisfactoea wo unsafe conditions. Carnival cruiselines says it has not yet seen the lawsuit so cannot comment. The triumph has been moved to a shipyard for extensive cleanup and repairs. The investigation now under way. Since this ship is registered in bahamas, the bahamanian Maritime Authority is the lead investigative authority, but the coast guard and ntsb are also heavily involved. They are trying to determine how the fire broke out, how it was handled and ultimately trying to prevent Something Like this from ever happening again. Real kudos to the crew. Ive heard nothing but applause for their efforts under really what they were living in really deplorable conditions. Have you heard anything otherwise . No. Not really. Some of the passengers have complained about not being properly informed at the time of the fire, some of the people we talked to said that was the worst moment actually. When the fire broke out, they knew something was going on, but not getting enough information. That scared them. But they also said the ones we talked to, said the crew in the same conditions that they were in, but having to work on top of it, did a remarkable job and kudos all around, again, according to the people we spoke to. There is at least one silver lining. Mark potter, thank you very much, from mobile. The good, bad, and ugly surrounding chuck hagels nomination. Is it all personal . ] [ justin ] mulligan sir. Mulligan. Take a mulligan. I took something for my sinuses, but i still have this cough. [ male announcer ] truth is, a lot of sinus products dont treat cough. They dont . [ male announcer ] nope, but alka seltzer plus severe sinus does it treats your worst sinus symptoms, plus that annoying cough. [ angry gibberish ] [ fake coughs ] sorry that was my fault sir. [ male announcer ] alka seltzer plus severe sinus. [ breathes deeply ] oh, what a relief it is [ male announcer ] try alka seltzer plus severe sinus day and night for complete relief from your worst sinus symptoms. We all work remotely so this is a big deal, our first full Team Gathering i wanted to call on a few people. Ashley, ashley marshall. Here. Since were often all on the move, ashley suggested we use fedex office to hold packages for us. Great job. [ applause ] thank you. And on a protocol note, id like to talk to tim hill about his tendency to use all caps in emails. [ shouting ] oh im sorry guys. Ah sometimes the caps lock gets stuck on my keyboard. Hey do you wanna get a drink later . [ male announcer ] hold packages at any fedex office location. Can make any old day a special occasion. So she makes her new mini cream pies with real cream filling and milk chocolate on a cookiecrumb crust. Marie callenders. Its time to savor. And milk chocolate on a cookiecrumb crust. A hybrid . Most are just no fun to drive. Now, heres one that will make you feel alive. Meet the fivepassenger ford cmax hybrid. Cmax says ha. Cmax says wheeee. Which is what you get, dont you see . Cause cmax has lots more horsepower than prius v, a hybrid that cmax also bests in mpg. Say hi to the allnew 47 combined mpg cmax hybrid. Its shocking that my republican colleagues would leave the nation without a fully empowered secretary of defense for the sake of our national security, lets put aside this political theater and thats what it is. Its tragic that theyve died decided to filibuster this qualified nominee. Its really unfortunate. It gotting youly and really personal in the battle over the chuck hagel nominee for defense secretary. Joining me now, political reporter lauren fox and political reporter aaron blake. Thank you for joining me. Good morning. Lauren, well start with you. Whats the status of the whole thing . Where are we in the process . We dont have a secretary a new secretary of defense right now. What happened was republicans really wanted more questions answered when it came to the nominee, chuck hagel. They wanted to know nor information about what happened in benghazi and more information about chuck hagels financial records and some of the groups he had spoken in front of, but harry reid said they had enough time, this had gotten voted out of committee, and he was ready for the vote, even though they didnt have the 60vote threshold that republicans asked for. Right now, chuck hagel in limbo. Okay. Are you right to milwaukee a distinction, we dont have a new secretary of defense. Leon pan 80 is not going anywhere until this is over. No, no. Very active. And here is the reaction by harry reid to the filibuster. Lets listen. The filibuster of senator hag hagels nomination is unprecedenced. I repeat never in the history of our country has a secretary of defense nominee been filibustered. Never, ever. Has this ever happened before . Anything similar . Or are we talking about the details to secretary of defense nominees . It is unpress denned for a secretary of defense nominee. The closest example to a cabinetlevel position being filibustered or attempted to be filibustered is steven johnson, epa secretary under president bush. Some tried to filibuster him, they couldnt get enough votes. That wasnt technically a cabinetlevel position or an actual cabinet position this is actually the first time that a cabinet secretary has been filibustered, and republicans dont want to call it a filibuster, thats the practical effect of what we see here today. Lets take a listen to what senator john mccain said about the issues that republicans have about chuck hagel. To be honest with you, neil, it goes back to there is a lot of ill will toward senator hagel, because when he was a republican, he attacked president bush, mercilessly at one point said he was the worst president since herbert hoover, said that the surge was the worst blunder since the vietnam war, which is nonsense, and was very anti his own party and people. People dont forget that. You can disagree, but if you are disagreeab disagreeable, people dont forget that. What is the gop strategy here . They creating more bad pr for the people. Do people really think he wont be confirmed . Republicans are dragging their feet, not because they dont think he will be confirmed. They dont like his views on israel and iran. Many of them were not fond of him. Very critical of the Bush Administration and of the surge in iraq. One of the situations where he will eventually be confirmed. In the meantime, i dont know if its bad pr for the republicans, Many Americans not glued to the Television Watching this confirmation hearing unfold. We may see enough time between now and the next Congressional Election for republicans to make up for dragging their feet on this particular issue. Aaron, it sounds very personal from john mccain there. Is that the situation . Is this a personal i guess not attack, but you following up on that level . Yeah, i thought mccains comments were particularly interesting. You generally dont see somebody acknowledge that its that personal to them. I think this is very much personal, political, you know, and policy oriented. A lot not to like with chuck hagel as far as republicans go. Not that he just deserted the party and spoke ill of the iraq war strategy. A lot of the stuff he said about israel. A very important thing to republicans and the republican base. Even absent the personal stuff that mccain was talking about. I think republicans would find a lot not to like about his nomination. Very quickly before i let you both go, i want to ask you about sequester, a couple weeks away. What is conventional wisdom is it going to happen, lauren . Conventional wisdom is that the sequester train is rolling and nobody is trying to stop it. Republicans are divided within their own party, between the deficit hawks and defense hawks. They would like to see cuts rather than go with the president s plan, which involves freezing more revenues with the tax loophole system. What do you think, aaron . What happens toward the end of the debate, one side says were going over the cliff, going to the sequester, say were done negotiating, this is going to happen and what they are really saying, i want the other side to give me everything i want in order to avert this disaster. Thats where republicans are right now. They are more prepared to go over the life, so to speak, but i think its a negotiating tactic many. Thank you very much. I put out a twitter question today, here it is. Personal, politics or policy . Whats behind the delay in chuck hagels nomination for defense secretary . Ill read some of your tweets throughout the day. Is apple in trouble . Well tell you why it might be. A and reimagined nearly everything in it . Gave it greater horsepower and classleading 38 mpg highway. Advanced headlights. And zero gravity seats . Yeah, that would be cool. Introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. Its our most innovative altima ever. Nissan. Innovation that excites. To volunteer to help those in need. When a twinge of back pain surprises him. Morning starts in high spirits, but theres a growing pain in his lower back. As lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. But after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. Just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. Today, jason chose aleve. Just two pills for all day pain relief. Try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. This is another tadaa try charmin ultra strong. It cleans so well and you can use up to four times less than the leading value brand. Oh there it is. Thanks son. Hey [ female announcer ] charmin ultra strong has a duraclean texture that can help you get clean while still using less. And its four times stronger versus the leading value brand. Charmin ultra strong helps keep you and your underwear clean. We all go. Why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra strong . [ woman ] too weak. Wears off. Been there. Tried that. Ladybug body milk . No thanks. [ female announcer ] stop searching and start repairing. Eucerin professional repair moisturizes while actually repairing very dry skin. Its so powerful you can skip a day. But light enough you wont want to. Dermatologist recommended eucerin. The end of trial and error has arrived. Try a free sample at eucerinus. Com. Now to the three big money headlines, no carnival for cruiseline passengers. The oracle of omaha see a future in ketchup and sour apple . The cruise turned in a real nightmare for those passengers. The boat adrift for four days. Can this Company Survive . Yes, actually. The analysts i was speaking to, said its pretty much a given it will be able to survive. Even though the stock price took a 3. 7 hit this week. The reason why, in addition to it being a complete pr nightmare this happened in the past to carnival in 2010, another cruise ship that was adrift in the Pacific Ocean for three days had to get tugged back into san diego, and also you remember the kosta concordia, still off the coast italy, on the side of that island and 32 people tragically died what carnival did do is make every single passenger on that ship sign a 15page document saying, for the most part, they are not liable for any sort of problem. The passengers may have something so sort through there. What about Warren Buffett . He has a mega deal to acquire ketchup maker heinz. What is so valuable here . Warren buffett looks at companies that have a very solid Balance Sheet and a lot of cash on the books. He acquired this company for 22 billion. And he said how this fits into his portfolio perfectly. Known for investing in iconic American Brands like cocacola, anheuserbusch and dairy queen. He has been eyeing this for 20 years as a potential takeover. Interesting. How about apple dropping the prices of the macbook pro and the macbook air. 14 million, how many ipads apple sold in the last quarter of 2012. Compare it about the number of macbook pros they sold last quarter. What apple is doing, dropping the price of macbook pros by 200 to spark the return. In todays oneminute playback. More than 12,000 videos posted. Even our friends at the today got into it with a valentines day themed routine. Here is Jimmy Fallons version. You know my heart burns for you. Im up next, but now im singing the heartburn blues. Hold on, prilosec isnt for fast relief. Cue up alkaseltzer. It stops heartburn fast. Oh what a relief it is [ male announcer ] from our nations networks. To our city streets. To skies around the world. Northrop grummans Security Solutions are invisibly at work, protecting peoples lives. [ soldier ] move out [ male announcer ]. Without their even knowing it. Thats the value of performance. Northrop grumman. Welcome back to week ends with alex witt. Your fast five headlines. Fugitive excop Christopher Dorner killed himself with a single gunshot to the head. The sheriff reiterated at a news conference, deputies did not intentionally burn down the cabin. Facebook says its Computer System has been hacked. No user information has been stolen. It traces it back to a website visited by some employees. A tank holding radioactive liquid is leaking at the shuttered Hanford Nuclear site. There are no high radioactive levels at the washington site. And bus drivers have ended a monthlock strike without getting the job protection they were seeking. Another fireball in the sky. In the upper righthand corner. What folks saw in the bay area of california last night. An astronomer in oakland said it was unrelated to yesterdays passing asteroid and just a sporadic meteor. In his new weekly address out today, president obama spoke about the state of the Union Proposal to raise the minimum wage. How do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living . No one should work full time and raise their children in poverty. Lets raise the minimum wage so its a wage you can live on. Joining me now is mark murray. A pleasure, good morning. Good morning, alex. How has congress reacted to the minimum wage proposal . Democrats like it, derubpy lanes dont and the prospects of its passage are probably slim to none. Economists were also divided on the merits of raising the minimum wage. I can tell you this. The minimum wage and raising it is very popular in Public Opinion polls. Republicans are a little on the defensive on this, and why president obama, if its not going to Pass Congress this is a very important political tool. Almost a political weapon hes using against republicans. In terms of priorities, how big a priorities, and what kind of timeline do we have to get something done . Not that big of a priority. A few things for passage in the congress. Immigration reform is one. Gun control measure are another thing. But out this along with some of the other measures were basically for the president to illustrate and enunciate the priorities that hes for, his party is for and as i mentioned earlier, some of the things poll very well and might put republicans on the defensive. Are they putting out counteroffers, republicans . This is one of the problems theyve had in the past several years. You know where they stand, particularly on measures that president obama is for and they are against. Republicans havent done as good of a job saying what they are for, particularly with pocketbook issues. House majority leader eric cantor laid out a softer tone for the Republican Party. Gave vouchers to lowincome children to attend private school. Not something they have on the table thats as powerful politically as raising the minimum wage. People get an idea of what this looks like. Minimum wage, 15,000 a year. The proposed minimum wage would be 19,000. Thats well under the poverty line for a family of four. Not a comfortable level anyway. Vouchers for kids to attend schools. Anything else on the table to chop away, eat away at the disparity. One thing that president obama talked about when he visited the suburbs, is universal prek as a way to break thepoverty. Thats one measure. Democrats who championed raising the minimum wage, economist whos do the same. They believe that raises incomes for everybody. If you raise it at the bottom, it pushes all the incomes up and that shows you why its politically popular. Speaking of numbers, take a look at the president s approval numbers. Prior to the state of the union, 52 Approval Rating, after the state of the union, you see it dicking down to 51 . Is that enough approval to get minimum wage through congress . 51 , 52 , about as high as weve seen it from president obamas presidency over the past four years. This country is so decided, if you are around 50 or right around there it shows political winds are at your back. I dont think minimum wage will Pass Congress. But wione thing to keep an eye is gun control. A 50 Approval Rating can help you. Always helping us, mark murray, appreciate it. And an fbi investigation to Robert Menendez found no evidence to support claims he has visited underage prostitutes in the dominican republic. Interviews conducted in recent weeks, acting on leads by an unknown tipster. The senator calls the allegations false smears. Rahm emanuel has designed on making a run for the oval office in 2016. But lynn sweet says that once again an emanuel spokesperson denies that. But the spokesperson also denied running for chicago mayor, an office he now occupies. Just saying. And in this weeks office politics, i asked Jonathan Alter about the role of the tea party and got a somewhat bipartisan answer with him on that we began talking about the high points from the state of the union speech. The most emotional part of the speech was clearly toward the end, where he said, give them a vote. He used that word vote over and over again. Whats so important about that, alex, this will apply not just to gun control, but to a whole series of bills, which in the past for many years now, the way to stop them has been to keep them from even coming up for a vote. That doesnt mean he will win all the votes, but at least the American People will be able to through their elected representatives, have a chance to vote on gun control, immigration, a whole series of other issues. And then there is the tea party response. When you look at rand paul and the tea party, are they living in an alternate universe . Or do they have viable issues worthy of discussion in some sort of merit . They are a thorn in the side of the Republican Party. But their moment in American History has come and gone. They were an extremely important part of the last two years in our political life, and, you know, i have a little chapter about them in my next book and they did a lot of damage to the United States by by wrenching it so far to the right or attempting to wrench it so far to the right that it hurt not just the country, but the Republican Party. But they you know, they are a they are an implacable and still powerful minority faction in american politics. They are not going to be driving the train. But they will continue to be, you know, a problem in moving forward to address our central concerns. But the tea party issues on the economy and their, you know, deep concern about the 16 trillion ballooning deficit, are those concerns legit . Concerns about the deficit are legitimate. The important thing to understand is that the Republican Party as a whole doesnt give a rats patootie about the deficit. They can say they do all day, but if you are not for what the president calls a balanced approach, which all the experts say is the only way you will really address the deficit, a combination of steep budget cuts in certain areas and some tax increases in other areas, you cannot get from here to there in deficit reduction. So anybody who says that just budget cuts, no tax increases is not serious about reducing the deficit. And republicans have been a tax cut party, not a deficit reduction party for the last 25 years. When it comes to things have you in your house, one thing i love is this gathering of campaign buttons. Yeah. Where did that come from . That collection is actually my fathers. Adeli stevenson. I see a lot of that. They got involved with adlai before they were married, and they were kind of the equivalent in the early 1950s of very, very idealistic progressives. My mother was the first woman ever elected to Public Office in cook county which is chicago. So they led a very interesting life. Well have more of our conversation today at 12 00 noon when jonathan talks about his loyalty to the chicago cubbies and shares behind the scenes insights from writing his best selling book on president obama the promise. New word from the family of Oscar Pistorius. What they are saying about the olympians murdered girlfriend. [ male announcer ] zzzquil™ sleepaid. [ snoring ] [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] its not for colds. Its not for pain. Its just for sleep. [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] because sleep is a beautiful thing™. [ birds chirping ] zzzquil™. The nonhabit forming sleepaid from the makers of nyquil®. Is efficiently absorbed in small continuous amounts. 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Facing multiple charges, the 10yearold not charged. New today, the family of Oscar Pistorius is defending the p paralympic scar. Star. Hes accused of killing his South African model girlfriend. What is his family saying now . They released a statement through pistorius agent saying they dispute the alleged murder charge in the strongest terms and pistorius wanted to send his deepest sympathies to the family of his girlfriend. He is right here now, in a holding cell in this police station, not in a prison, where most people in this type of case would be held is that special treatment . Yeah, it is. In fact, the magistrate at his first appearance brought that up and said, well, would soandso in this other case be given this treatment . But prosecutors didnt hold any objection to it. A few minutes ago, we saw members of pistorius legal team arrive. They stayed not very long. One of his lawyers said he is doing fine. Hes likely to stay until tuesday, when he will have a bond hearing what is interesting about that each side will argue whether he should or should not be set free. And that is likely to shed much more light on exactly what investigators think happened inside that house. Pistorius gated home early valentines day morning. Ending with his girlfriend of eight months being shot four times. One legal expert said he thinks its likely that pistorius will be set free, even though prosecutors are calling this premeditated murder what it boils down to, whether or not hes perceived as a flight risk and dangerous. Alex. So, michelle, with regard to how the shooting happened, do he know those details . Where they were inside the house, the gun that was used, anymore details coming to light . Not very many. It did come out and was confirmed, police said that the girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, shot with a. 9 millimeter pistol registered to Oscar Pistorius. Surrounding the scene, lots of media reports coming out. When you trace them back, it seems some information is coming from a neighborhood of pistorius. Newspapers and other outlets have been reporting that it seemed steenkamp was found in the bathroom of pistorius home. The neighbor apparently claimed that he was told there were bullet holes in the bathroom door. None of that information is confirmed. One of those cases where police arent saying much. But lots of reports circulating. Alex. The mood there now . This is a man that the entire country was cheering on just a few months ago last summer at the olympics. Yeah, its really a sense of being stunned i would say. And, of course, thats not just here in south africa. He was this hero, this golden boy, but much of the world felt that way too. Who didnt watch the olympics and see him and not get a thrill from this person who has overcome such odds. Lots of talk of how terrible it is. Whatever happened in this situation that it has happened. And to see this man that the world is used to seeing with his head held high, winning medals, making history to be sobbing uncontrollably in court with his face buried in his hands. Everybody wants to know what exactly did happen. Police said they believe only pistorius and steenkamp were in that home. So the only information they could find out about potentially other than any hard evidence they find is what pistorius said happened. Also, today in media reports, seeing more about pistorius personality, interviews with people who said not only was he a great person, but on the other side there, are acquaintances who are being quoted saying he had a temper, he would get into fights, he carried a gun and kept loaded guns in the house. Alex. Michelle kosinkski, thank you very much. In a moment, why are valt canoe fis vatican officials hoping appoint a pope earlier than planned . And throw out any doubt. 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I love the fact that quicken loans provides va loans. Quicken loans understood the details and guided me through every step of the process. I know wherever the military sends me, i can depend on quicken loans. Mortensen. Reports out of rome today suggest catholics may get a new pope sooner than they thought. A secret conclave of cardinals was supposed to condition convenient between 15 and 20 days after Pope Benedict steps down at the end of the month. The vote could be held earlier than planned. Joining me now from rome, nbc news vapt cannon list george weigel. It is very good to see you. As we get to the process of selecting the new pope, how soon can that begin and do you hear these reports as well that it may go earlier than expected . I do. I prankly think thats a very wise idea. The 15 to 20day provision in the current constitution that govern it is election of a pope, was created to allow time for a i did any tied funeral mass, a period of mourning for the deceased pope, and a set of meetings among the cardinals and then the enclosure of the conclave. Of course, there is no funeral this time. So when the seat becomes vacant at 8 00 p. M. Rome time february 28, i would imagine, indeed i would hope, that about a week would pass before the conclave would be enclosed and the voting process would begin. This is simply a matter of amending the apostolic constitution which is the pope can do or he can assign the authority to the dean of the college of cardinals to do that himself. So we have welfare days or so leading up to february 28. What happens to benedict in this period and immediately afterwards, george . Reporter hes continuing his normal daily routine. Tomorrow morning at moon here behind me in st. Peters square he will have his week lly addre to what i expect to be tens of thousands of people pack flood the square. The vatican bureaucracy and the pope are going on retreat beginning tomorrow night and until next saturday morning. And then it will be just a few brief days before the popes advocation takes effect. Hes already announced he will go to the papal summer residence southeast of rome for an unspecific period of time before returning to live quietly and privately in what has been up until now a convent of cloistered sisters on the back side of the vatican at the end of the vatican garden. George, as you well know, there have been increasing demands to modernize this church. Do you think Pope Benedicts successor will yield to these calls for any sort of structural reform . Does the fact that this pope is doing something that was last under resigning as opposed to dying while in the papacy, does that mean that hes giving license for everyone to think differently than what has become the norm . Well, alex, as you know, and as i think most people realize, the change of pope is not like a change of president or change of governor. What the Catholic Church teach cess not a matter of policy. It is a matter of settled belief. Im hearing discussed quite openly here in terms of change is the imperative change of reforming the roman bringing the papacy into the 21st century and communications world. So that the popes mission as a pastor and evangelist can be much more effective than it often is now with a rather clotted bureaucratic process and a very, very slow communications process. And you talk about the bureaucracy. In pact the pope talked about internal rivalries, george, that defiled the face of the church. What do you mean . Well, Catholic Church is a human institution. There are different people with different ideas of how things should be done. And Different National and ethnic loyalties. Thats all part of the mix of catholic life. There should be nothing surprising about it. What has been missing, many feel, in this roman curia, vatican bureaucracy is a strong cardinal secretary of state to temper those rivalries and get everybody moving in the same direction. All right. George weigel, many thanks for your insight. Appreciate that. Thats a wrap of this hour. Twohour edition at moon today. Next up with chris hayes. Hickp but she loved it so much. I told her it was homemade. Everyone tells a little white lie now and then. But now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] shes right behind me isnt she . [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] shes right behind me isnt she . Its been said that beauty is in the ewell. Behold. Der. 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